The Spook's Sacrifice (5 page)

'Missed you, Tom Ward,' Alice said, tears
threatening to fall. 'Ain't been the same
without you.'

She came towards me and we hugged tightly. I
heard her sob and felt her shoulders trembling. As we
pulled apart, I was suddenly filled with guilt.

Although I was now delighted to see her, I'd spent
long weeks obeying the Spook and turning away each
time she'd tried to contact me.

'Thanks for using the mirror to warn me about the
maenad, Alice. She would have killed me but for you.'

'I was scared you wouldn't listen, Tom. I've tried to
contact you before but you always turned away.'

'I was just doing what the Spook told me.'

'But couldn't you have used it one more time after I
warned you? Just to let me know that you were all
right? Worried sick, I was. Your mam told me she was
meeting you here when she contacted me with a
mirror and asked me to join her. So I had to assume
you were all right.'

I felt a little ashamed but tried to explain: 'I can't use
a mirror, Alice. I've promised the Spook I won't.'

'But that's changed now, ain't it? You don't need to
worry about Old Gregory any longer, do you? Going
to Greece, I am, with you and your mam. We'll be
together again at last. And I'm glad he decided not to
come with us. Won't have him looking over our
shoulder, will we?'

'Don't talk about the Spook like that!' I snapped
angrily. 'He's worried about me. Worried that I'll be
compromised and drawn towards the dark. That the
Fiend will win me over to his side. That's why he
won't let me have any contact with you, Alice. He's
trying to protect me. Anyway,' I continued, 'how do
you know he's not coming? Were you spying on us?'

'Oh, Tom, when will you learn that there's not much
I don't know?'

'So you
were
spying.'

'No, actually. Didn't need to. It wasn't hard to work
out what was going on when we all saw him storming
back to Chipenden.'

For a moment, despite my hot words, the thought
struck me that if the Spook stayed home in Chipenden,
then there really was nothing to stop me being with
Alice. But I felt another strong pang of guilt and
dismissed the idea instantly.

'Look, it'll be good on this journey, Tom. Your mam
thinks differently to Old Gregory. She doesn't mind us
being together and she still stands by what she said
last year. That together we can defeat the Fiend—'

'Your own father, Alice!' I interrupted. 'I found
out your dark secret. The Fiend is your own father,
isn't he?'

Alice gasped and her eyes widened in surprise.

'How can you know that?'

'He told me himself!'

She looked shocked. 'Well, ain't no use denying it.
But it weren't my secret, Tom. I didn't know until he
visited me the night before Old Gregory sent me away.
Terrified, I was, to be face to face with Old Nick, and it
was even worse when he told me I was his daughter!
Can you imagine what that was like? Thought I
belonged to him. That I was on my way to Hell. Going
to burn there for all eternity. I felt so weak in his
presence that I had to do anything he told me. But as
soon as I was back in Pendle, your mam contacted me
using a mirror. Told me I was a lot stronger than I
thought. Gave me new confidence, she did. I've come
to terms with it, Tom. So I'm going to fight him. What
else can I do but try?'

A mixture of thoughts and emotions churned within me. Mam and
Alice had been in contact using mirrors in the past. Clearly it was still
going on. And that made me very uneasy.

'I still can't believe that Mam's made an alliance with
witches!' I said, gesturing at the campfires around us.

'But all of them witches are sworn enemies of the
Fiend. Twenty-Five or more of 'em are coming with us.
They know it was a big mistake to bring him through
the portal, 'cos now he's trying to make 'em all do his
bidding. So they're fighting back. Destroy the Ordeen
and it's a big blow against the Fiend. Some from each
of the main clans are coming with us. Your mam's
organizing everything. It's just exactly as she wants it.
Glad to be here again, I am, Tom, away from Pendle.'

Only last year the Malkins had abducted Jack and
his family, Mam's own flesh and blood, but now here
she was, commanding the Malkins and the other
Pendle witches, forming an alliance with them to help
bring victory. It was hard to take in. And then there
was Alice – what had she been up to back in Pendle?
Had she moved closer to the dark again?

'What was it like back there?' I asked. 'Where did
you stay?'

'Mostly with Agnes Sowerbutts. Tried to keep away
from the others but it ain't been easy.'

Agnes was her aunt – a Deane who lived on the far
edge of the clan village and kept herself to herself. She
used a mirror to see what was going on in the world,
but was a healer and certainly not a malevolent witch;
bad as Pendle was, Alice had stayed at the best
possible place. But what did she mean by 'the
others'?

'Who else did you see?'

'Mab Mouldheel and her two sisters.'

'What did
they
want?'

Mab, although no more than fifteen or so, was the
leader of the Mouldheel Clan. She was one of the most
powerful scryers in the whole of the Pendle district,
able to use a mirror to see clear visions of the future.
She was also malevolent and often used human blood.

'They knew about the journey to Greece and what
we were going to do because Mab scryed it. They
wanted to come too.'

'But Mab played a big part in bringing the Fiend
through the portal, Alice. Why would she want to
destroy one of his servants?'

'They realize they done wrong and want to put it
right. Don't you remember how Mab was reluctant to
join with the other two clans? Soft on you, she was,
and only did it because you betrayed her and drove
her from Malkin Tower.'

That was true enough. I'd tricked her into releasing
Mam's two sisters, feral lamias, from the trunks. In
revenge she'd led her clan into an alliance with the
Deanes and Malkins to raise the Fiend.

'So what happened, Alice? Are they here? Are they
going to travel with us?'

'Your mam told me to contact Mab again and ask her
to come. Ain't arrived yet but they'll be here soon
enough.'

'Apart from Mam, do any of the witches know who
your father is?'

Alice shook her head and looked about her furtively.

'I've told nobody,' she whispered. 'As far as they're
concerned, my dad was Arthur Deane, and I want to
keep it that way. If they knew who I really was, none
of 'em would trust me.

'Anyway, you hungry, Tom?' she went on, raising
her voice again. 'Got some rabbits cooking, I have. Just
how you like 'em!'

'No, thanks, Alice,' I told her. As much as I wanted
to be with her, I needed time to collect my thoughts.

There was a lot to come to terms with.

She looked disappointed and a little hurt. 'Your
mam's told us all to keep well away from the house in
case we upset Jack and Ellie. Don't want witches too
close, do they? Only way we'll see each other is if you
come out here to me.'

'Don't worry, Alice. I'll do that. I'll come out
tomorrow evening.'

'Do you promise?' she asked doubtfully.

'Yes, I promise.'

'Look forward to that, then. Will you eat your
supper with me tomorrow?'

'Of course. See you then.'

'Just one more thing before you go back to the
farm, Tom. Grimalkin's here. She's coming to
Greece with us too. She wants to talk to you. Over
there, she is,' Alice said, pointing to the large oak tree
just beyond the meadow. 'Best you go and see her
now.'

We hugged as we parted – it was really good to hold
her again. Then it was time to face Grimalkin. I looked
towards the tree and my heart began to beat more
rapidly. Grimalkin was the witch assassin of the
Malkins. At one time she'd hunted me down, ready to
kill me, but the last time I'd seen her we'd fought side
by side.

Better get it over with, I thought, and with a smile
and a nod to Alice, I set off towards the corner of the
field. There was a gap in the hawthorn hedge so I
pushed my way through, to find the witch assassin
waiting there with her back to the old oak.

Her arms were at her sides, but as usual her lithe
body was criss-crossed with leather straps and sheaths
holding deadly weapons: blades, hooks and the scary
scissors she used to snip the flesh and bone of her
enemies.

Her black-painted lips grinned to reveal the sharp
teeth within; they had been filed to deadly points. But
despite all that, she had a kind of wild beauty about
her; the grace and aura of a natural predator.

'Well, child, we meet again,' she said. 'When we last
talked, I promised you a gift to mark your age.'

In Pendle, she'd told me, on the Walpurgis Night
sabbath following his fourteenth birthday, the boy
child of a witch clan became a man. I'd turned fourteen
on August the third last year, and Walpurgis Night had
already passed. She'd promised me something special
to mark the occasion, and she'd asked me to go to
Pendle to get it. There'd been little chance of that. I
hardly thought the Spook would have approved of me
accepting a gift from a witch!

'Are you ready to receive it now, child?' Grimalkin
asked me.

'It depends what it is,' I said, trying to keep my voice
as friendly and polite as possible despite what I felt
inside.

She nodded, leaned away from the tree and took a
step towards me. Her eyes stared hard into mine and I
suddenly felt very nervous and vulnerable.

She smiled. 'It may help if I tell you that your mother
agrees that I should do this. If you don't believe me,
then ask her.'

Grimalkin didn't lie – she lived by a strict code of
honour. But was my mam in contact with all the
witches in Pendle? I wondered. Bit by bit, it seemed,
everything I believed in, everything my master had
taught me, was unravelling. What Mam wanted for me
seemed to be constantly clashing with the wishes of
the Spook. I had another decision to make, and whatever
I decided, one of the two would be unhappy. But
once again I decided that Mam's needs had to take
precedence over those of my master, so I gave
Grimalkin a brief nod and agreed to accept the gift.

'Here, child. It's a blade . . .' She held out a leather
pouch. 'Take it.'

While she watched, I unwrapped it to reveal the
short dagger within. I saw then that the pouch was
actually a sheath and strap.

'You wear it diagonally across your shoulder and
back,' she explained. 'The sheath should be positioned
at the nape of your neck so that you can reach for it
over your right shoulder. The blade is very potent and
can damage even very powerful servants of the dark!'

'Could it destroy the Fiend?' I asked.

Grimalkin shook her head. 'No, child. I only wish
that it could – I would have used it long ago. But I also
have a second gift for you. Come closer – I won't bite!'

I took a nervous step forward. Grimalkin spat into
her right hand and quickly dipped her left forefinger
into the spittle. Next she leaned forward, traced a wet
circle on my forehead and muttered something under
her breath. For a moment I felt an intense cold inside
my head, and then a tingling that ran the length of my
spine.

'There, it's done, child. It is yours to use now.'

'What is it?' I asked.

'My second gift is a
dark wish
. Has your master never
told you about such things?'

I shook my head, feeling sure he'd be furious if
he knew I'd received such a thing from a witch. 'What
is it?'

'It is called "dark" because nobody, even those
skilled in scrying, can foretell when and how it will be
used or the outcome of using it. It cost me much to
create: years of stored power that you can now unleash
with a few words. So only use it when you need something
badly and all else fails. Begin with the words "I
wish" and state what you want clearly. Afterwards
repeat your wish a second time. Then it will be done.'

I felt uncomfortable even thinking about using such
dark power.

Grimalkin turned to go. 'Remember to use the dark
wish with great care. Don't waste it. Don't use it lightly.'

With that she pushed her way through the hedge
and set off for the nearest campfire without even a
backward glance.

I went back towards the farmhouse and found
Arkwright chaining up his three dogs in the barn.

'Don't like to do this, Master Ward, but it's for the
best. Claw's very territorial. Your farm dogs wouldn't
last long if I let her roam free.'

'Have you decided? Are you coming with us to
Greece?' I asked.

'That I am. My one worry is leaving the north of the
County unattended. No doubt there'll be more than
one water witch to deal with on my return, but your
mam's talked me round. She's a very persuasive
woman. So the County will just have to manage: for
now, the really important work lies across the sea.'