Solstice at Stonewylde (21 page)

Sylvie stood by the window, dazzling in a vivid scarlet cloak made of thick velvet, with a great hood. She turned to face him and smiled. She wore a black outfit underneath – trousers, warm
jumper, gloves, suede boots – which accentuated her tall, slim body. Her silver hair spilled out between the scarlet and the black, and her face was alive with excitement.

‘Yul!’ she whispered. ‘I was so worried you wouldn’t come! I’m all ready. Is that alright?’

She gestured to the bed where she’d stuffed an extra blanket and pillow. It was realistic, especially in the half light with the curtains drawn.

‘It’s perfect. Come on, let’s go right now.’

They slipped out of the wing and into the woods, Sylvie’s cloak billowing around her. Yul wished she were wearing something a little less brightly coloured and tried to hurry her along as fast as possible, out of anyone’s sight.

‘Do you like my new cloak?’ she asked happily. ‘It’s a present from Magus to keep me warm while I moondance for him tonight. Isn’t it lovely? And these amazing new clothes and boots – they were all a surprise. He said I must be very good for him tonight and give him all my moon magic and I mustn’t make any fuss about feeling ill afterwards. I can stay in bed for two days if I’m tired but then I must get completely back to normal. He said if I can manage that he’ll buy me some more winter clothes, really beautiful ones. I’m so excited! I’m fed up with Holly laughing at me for looking dowdy.’

Yul closed his eyes and groaned; he couldn’t bear it when she talked like this. The sooner he could take her to Mother Heggy and have the spell lifted, the better. But he had to agree, the cloak was lovely and he’d never seen Sylvie dressed like this, all in black and looking so stylish; she was stunning. They reached the tree where he’d tethered the mare and Sylvie jumped with pleasure.

‘Are we both going to ride her? We won’t be too heavy for her?’

‘She’s very strong. She belongs Edward, and he probably weighs as much as the two of us put together. Can you ride?’

She shook her head.

‘But I want to learn and I’m not scared.’

‘Well now’s your chance, Sylvie. We’ll use this fallen trunk here to help us mount. I’ll get up first and you sit behind and hold on tight to me.’

Soon they were up, Sylvie with her arms round his waist. Feeling her thighs gripping around him and her breasts against his back made Yul weak with wanting her. But he put a firm lid on his feelings and concentrated on guiding the mare back along the path towards the glade. Sylvie was chatty and animated, almost too much so, and he remembered how she was at Moon Fullness before the moonrise. Her hyper-activity could only get worse until the moon had risen.

The woods were misty and damp in the grey afternoon. Most of the leaves had fallen to make a soggy mulch on the woodland floor. Prickly sweet-chestnut cases were mixed up with the leaves, along with spiky beech mast shells and the split rinds of conker cases. Some yellow sycamore leaves still clung on to their branches, as did the serrated kipper-like leaves of the sweet chestnut, now a deep golden brown. But the sky was visible through the bare branches elsewhere, and although he was pleased it was so mild, Yul hoped the rain would hold off while he and Sylvie were outside.

Eventually they reached the little glade, a clearing deep in the woods where emerald green grass grew thickly. They dismounted and Sylvie darted about exclaiming over the dozens of fairy rings in the dell. The little toadstools sprouted in the wet grass in large near-perfect circles. Yul tethered the mare to a tree so she could crop the grass and take shelter if it did start to rain.

‘Why have you tied her up?’ asked Sylvie. ‘Are we staying here? You remember I need to be back before it gets dark? You know it’s the Moon Fullness tonight, and I must dance at—’

‘Yes, I know,’ said Yul wearily, thinking that maybe a gag wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. He really wasn’t so keen on Sylvie when she was caught in Clip’s spell – this wasn’t the real her at all. ‘Come on, we’re going for a little walk up here. There’s plenty of time.’

She skipped on ahead of him up the path. It wasn’t cold and
she’d thrown back her hood and put her gloves in his bag. Yul tried to keep her mind off the moonrise by showing her some of the fungi growing on the woodland floor, remembering she’d shown an interest in it before.

‘See this one, Sylvie? It’s the Earth Star. See how it’s split into segments like the points of a star.’

‘It’s lovely,’ she said, bending down and looking carefully at the white star on the dark ground. ‘Oh, those purple ones – they’re Amethyst Deceivers, aren’t they?’

‘That’s right,’ he said, surveying the great troop of purple-lilac caps. ‘They’re edible. We’ll come out mushroom harvesting one day and Mother can cook them for you to try. I love mushrooms on toast – it’s my favourite breakfast. And look, there’s Velvet Shank. See how smooth and velvety its stalks are, like the texture of your cloak. Oh, Sylvie, see those through there? Don’t ever touch those – that’s the Destroying Angel.’

‘They’re poisonous then?’

‘Deadly poisonous; fatal.’

‘They look quite innocent, just a white mushroom. I’d never know they were dangerous.’

‘That’s the trouble; some of the most deadly are the most innocent looking.’

‘I love their names. They sound so beautiful, don’t they? Amethyst Deceiver, Velvet Shank, Destroying Angel. You know so much, Yul.’

He shrugged, remembering what Mother Heggy had said about his ignorance.

‘I know very little compared to you and the other Hallfolk. But I know a lot about Stonewylde and that’s what matters to me.’

They covered some distance and he managed to keep her distracted for quite a time before she stopped on the path and began to fret.

‘I really think we should go back now, Yul. It’s getting late and I don’t want to make Magus angry. Please let’s go back now.’

‘Just a little further, Sylvie,’ he coaxed. ‘There’s a really lovely tree I especially wanted to show you. We’ll get back in good time
and I can make the horse gallop if you like, so our journey will be really fast.’

‘Oh yes, I’d like that!’ she cried and ran on ahead.

‘Look, Sylvie, you must know these!’ he said, pointing to a crop of bright red toadstools covered with white sugar crystal spots. They were too brilliant – poisonously scarlet, like something from a fairy tale. Sylvie, in her scarlet cloak, gazed down at the sinister toadstools growing under quiet silver birches and sighed. Yul remembered then a story Clip had told all the children once, long ago. It was a horrific tale about a wicked witch living deep in the woods, who lured children with exotic cakes, actually the caps of these red and white toadstools. She had a wooden cage hidden away where she’d fatten up her captured victims before feasting on their tender flesh and spinning their hair into thread for a magical cloak. Yul shuddered. The tale had terrified him as a boy and it still upset him now.

‘Yes,’ said Sylvie thoughtfully, remembering her encounter with the crones. ‘I’ve seen these before – they’re Fly Agaric! I always thought they were fatal but Mother Heggy told me she uses them in some of her potions as they have magical properties. And those two old women, Violet and Vetchling, they collect them too.’

‘Let’s see what else we can find,’ he said, taking her hand in his and leading her deeper into the overgrown woods.

But he could only keep fooling her for so long, and eventually she stopped and refused to go any further. She was getting panicky, looking at the darkening sky between the branches.

‘Please, please, Yul. I have to get back. You don’t understand. Magus’ll be so angry and I’m scared when he’s angry. He frightens me, the way he looks at me sometimes. Please can we go back now? You promised you’d get me home in time and he needs my magic tonight.’

Yul knew it wasn’t too far now to the tree cages, but he couldn’t force her there without either tricking her again, or tying her up to prevent her making a break for it. He wondered how he could
actually achieve this; it was all very well Mother Heggy saying he was much stronger than she was, but he wouldn’t use brute force to subjugate her. He decided to try to trick her first, and guided her off at a tangent, explaining that this was a different way back, a short cut. But after a little while she became agitated again and convinced they were lost. He managed to reassure her and started to point out things he swore they’d already passed on their way, to prove they were retracing their steps.

‘I know, Sylvie,’ he said, sounding false to his own ears but getting desperate as he realised this ploy wouldn’t last much longer. ‘We’re well on our way back now, so why don’t we play a game as we go along? It’s a sort of blind man’s buff game from our celebrations at Beltane in the woods and it’s really fun. You must wear this little piece of rope around your wrists. Let me show you.’

‘Okay,’ she said, ‘as long as it won’t slow us down at all.’

She held out her slim white wrists, smiling at him trustingly. He gazed into her exquisitely pretty face, her cheeks pink from the fresh air and her eyes bright, and felt a stab of guilt at the deception. Hands shaking in haste, he bound her wrists firmly together. He used much of the rope, going right up her forearms, and left a length as a halter with which to lead her. Then he took the gag out of his pocket and tied it firmly round her mouth. Her eyes were round with surprise but it was too late now. She was tied up, he had a lead with which to guide her, or pull her along if it became necessary, and she couldn’t talk him out of it or cry for help. He saw the bewilderment on her face and took her by the shoulders, looking her into her clear grey eyes.

‘I’m really sorry, Sylvie, and if there were any other way … But there isn’t. There wasn’t time to make a better plan than this. I’ll look after you until the moon has risen and then I’ll take you back to the Hall. Magus won’t steal your moon magic tonight. But I’m so sorry to trick you like this.’

She started to make muffled noises of protest and pulled away. He tugged the rope bringing her back towards him. She pulled really hard, trying to run in the opposite direction and as he
yanked her back she fell, silver hair spilling everywhere as she hit the ground. He crouched over her trying to avoid the accusation in her eyes.

‘I’m sorry, Sylvie, I really don’t want to hurt you. Are you alright?’

She shook her head violently.

‘Where does it hurt?’

She shook her head again. Sighing, he helped her to stand and led her further along the path. It was still about half a mile to the tree cage and he wanted to get her there as soon as possible. The light was beginning to fade, although it was difficult to judge the time on such a gloomy afternoon. Long skeins of mist appeared on the woodland floor wending around the tree trunks, and the cobwebs that laced the bare branches and dead bracken were jewelled with falling dew. It was becoming steadily darker and colder.

Sylvie followed him docilely for a while, only tugging on the halter in defiance now and again. But then she stopped dead without warning. When Yul turned to check she was alright, she swung her bound arms sideways at his head. The heavy clump of rope around her wrists hit him hard on the temple and he saw stars for a few seconds, the world turning black with shooting red and yellow flashes.

She took her chance. Yanking the rope from his limp hands, she ran back the way they’d come. He stumbled, trying to grab the rope, slowed by his dizziness and the pain in head. She was very quick but it wasn’t easy to run with her hands tied so awkwardly in front of her and it didn’t take him long to catch up. He leapt at her, knocking her down and landing on top of her. She felt lithe and wriggly underneath him, squirming onto her back to fight him. She thrashed about, trying to push him off and hit him in the face again with her bound wrists, fighting and growling like a captured wildcat.

Yul struggled upright and straddled her thrashing body, finally using his weight to subdue her. He remembered how effective it’d been when Buzz had sat astride him like this. Her eyes
screamed fury at him and he was sure that if she’d been free and had a weapon, she’d have tried to kill him. The moongaziness combined with the hypnosis had made her lose all reason and his head throbbed painfully where she’d hit him, proof of just how changed she was.

He gazed down at her lying stretched out under him. Her bound wrists were pulled above her head, his knees pinning her upper arms hard to the ground, and he felt her rib cage digging into him. He tried to figure out what to do next; they were almost there but he knew if he took any weight off her for a second she’d squirm and try to escape. But he couldn’t spend long sitting on her like this; she was gasping for breath through the gag and he was crushing her badly.

Eventually, seeing no other option, he told her that she’d have to behave or else he’d hit her as she’d hit him. The words stuck in his throat but he had to get her to the tree cage quickly. Darkness was falling and soon the moon would rise and then she’d really be uncontrollable.

He pulled himself off and hauled her to her feet quite roughly to show her he meant business. He wound most of the rope halter around her, pinning her bound arms down across her stomach so she couldn’t hit him again. Then, holding her from behind, he pushed her along. She resisted all the way, jerking and fighting him, until his patience wore thin and he became annoyed with her. He was only trying to protect her but she was making it so difficult. He shoved her along when she resisted, making her stumble, and prodded her hard when she wouldn’t move. She was so stubborn and as his irritation increased he became rougher with her. At last he could see the tree cage up ahead in the twilight. Relief flooded him – now he just had to get her in there and seal the entrance.