The Spook's Sacrifice (8 page)

We didn't have long to wait for the attack. The pirate
ship drew close and then its crew hurled grappling
hooks across the gap and drew the two ships together,
their port side crunching hard against our starboard.
Some of the pirates paced the deck of their ship with
an arrogant swagger. Armed with knives, cutlasses
and big cudgels spiked with nails, they looked pitiless
and fierce. Others waited in the rigging, looking down
upon us like vultures, considering us nothing more
than dead meat.

But before the first of the pirates could leap across,
the witches came up from the hold, led by Grimalkin.
Wearing their hoods and bristling with weapons, they
looked like a force to be reckoned with. Some were
drooling, the saliva running from their mouths to drip
from the bottom of their leather hoods as they
anticipated the feast of blood ahead. Others were
baying like hunting dogs, their bodies quivering with
excitement. They looked fierce and deadly, none more
so than Grimalkin, who with a blade in each hand led
them close to the rail to form the first line of defence.
And Alice stood there too, looking as resolute and
determined as the rest.

The pirate captain, a huge man brandishing a
cutlass, was first to jump down onto the deck of the
Celeste
. He was also the first to die. Grimalkin slipped
a blade out of a shoulder sheath and hurled it straight
and true at his throat. He hardly had time to register
surprise before the cutlass slipped from his hands and
his lifeless body fell to the deck with a heavy thud.

The rest of the pirates boarded us immediately and
the battle commenced. The Spook and Arkwright were
required to play little part in the proceedings; they
waited at the rear, their weapons at the ready. The
captain and his crew were also redundant, no doubt
relieved that their services were not required.

Little of the fight took place on our own deck. After
a preliminary fierce skirmish with the witches, those
pirates still standing quickly retreated to their own
ship. Seeing what they faced, and having witnessed
the death of their captain, no doubt they would have
preferred to withdraw to a distance and blow us to
pieces with cannonshot, but the grappling irons now
worked against them. Before they could unhook them,
and separate the two ships, the witches went on the
offensive. Shrieking and howling with blood-lust, they
boarded the pirate ship and the slaughter began. And
Alice went with them.

They chased the pirates up the rigging, around the
deck or down into the hold. Those who stood and
fought lasted mere seconds before their life blood was
staining the deck. I strained my eyes to see what part
Alice was playing in all this, my stomach churning in
anxiety at the thought of the danger she faced. The sun
had set by now and the light was fading fast, so she
was lost to my sight.

We were spared the worst of the horrors but we
certainly heard the screams of those dying pirates and
their unheeded calls for mercy.

I walked forward with Mam to rejoin the others.

'I find it hard to stand by and let such things happen,
lad,' the Spook complained, giving me a hard glare. I
suspected that his words were also directed at Mam,
who'd chosen our witch allies, but if so, she made no
reply.

'It's a bad business, I'll give you that,' I heard
Arkwright say, 'but how many poor sailors have lost
their lives at the hands of those pirates? How many
ships have gone to the bottom?'

That was certainly true and the Spook didn't bother
to comment further. At last the cries faded and finally
ceased altogether. And I knew that, hidden by darkness,
the witches would be taking the blood and bones
they needed for their rituals. I knew Alice well enough
to be confident that she would play no part in that.

We lay at anchor until daylight, when the blood -spattered
witches rejoined the
Celeste
and retreated to their refuge in the hold
once more. I noted the contrast between Mab and Alice. The former was gloating,
clearly revelling in what had just taken place; Alice stood with her arms
folded and looked sick at heart.

We sailed north, tacking against the wind, with
the coast of Greece now always visible on our
starboard bow. I could see that this was a very different
land to the one I was used to. There was some
greenery, yes, with clumps of pine and oak and the
odd cypress tree spearing the sky, but it wasn't the lush
grassland of the County, with its high rainfall and
damp westerly winds. This was a hot, arid country, a
desiccated wilderness, the sun burning our heads and
necks, the hills parched brown.

We were within less than an hour of the port of
Igoumenitsa, but the sea and its denizens hadn't
finished with us yet. The first I knew of the danger was
a distant sound, high and shrill, audible even above
the pounding of the waves against the rocky shore.
The Spook and Arkwright stared at each other, eyes
widening. At that moment the
Celeste
lurched, hurling
us to the deck as the prow began to veer to starboard.
We scrambled to our feet as she came about, until, to
my astonishment, we were pointing directly towards
the coast and a wall of jagged rocks.

'Sirens!' Arkwright cried.

I'd read about sirens in the Spook's Bestiary. They
were creatures of the sea, females who used their
strange, melodious cries to lure sailors onto the rocks
and destroy their vessels. They then dragged the
drowning sailors into the depths and fed upon their
flesh at leisure. A seventh son of a seventh son had a
degree of immunity to their calls but an ordinary sailor
could easily be enthralled by their hypnotic voices.

I followed the two spooks forward to the wheel. The
cries of the sirens were much louder now, filled with a
shrill intensity that set my teeth on edge. I felt the urge
to answer their call, but I fought hard against it and
gradually it diminished. Most of the crew were in the
prow, staring towards the source of that powerful siren
song. The captain was at the helm, his eyes bulging,
the muscles of his bare arms knotted, as he aimed the
ship directly towards the black rocks that awaited us
like the huge fangs of a ravenous beast. He gripped the
wheel like a madman, his eyes fixed upon the awaiting
shore.

I could see the sirens now, sprawled there on the
rocks. Beautiful women with bright eyes, golden hair
and skin, their allure very powerful, but as I concentrated,
trying to slow my breathing, their
appearance began to change and I saw them for what
they really were. They still had the bodies of women,
but their hair was long and green like tangled seaweed,
and their faces were monstrous, with huge fangs
sprouting from grotesquely swollen lips. But I realized
that the captain and crew had been separated from
their wives for long weeks; and without the immunity
possessed by spooks, they could only see the illusion.

Arkwright seized the captain by the shoulders and
tried to drag him away from the wheel. During my
training I'd wrestled with Arkwright and fought him
staff against staff so I knew to my cost that he was
extremely strong – but even so he couldn't manage to
prise the man away. As the Spook went to his aid, some
of the sailors left the prow and started to come towards
us brandishing cudgels, their intention clear. They
were desperate to answer the sirens' call, and aware
that we were trying to prevent them.

'Stand back!' cried the Spook, stepping forward to
swing his staff in an arc. But the crew kept coming,
their eyes glittering insanely. They were in thrall to the
sirens' song and would do anything to obey their
summons. The Spook struck the wrist of the nearest
sailor, sending the cudgel flying from his hand. The
man gave a howl of pain and stepped back a pace.

I moved forward to stand at John Gregory's side,
holding my staff diagonally across me in a defensive
position. Neither the Spook nor I had released our
retractable blades. We were facing the crew of the
Celeste
, after all, and didn't want to do anyone any
permanent damage. It was for that reason too that
Arkwright was still wrestling with the helmsman
rather than cracking his skull to bring him to his knees.

Suddenly Mam was at Arkwright's side; I glanced
back to see her roll something in the palm of her hand
and insert it into the left ear of Captain Baines.

Arkwright twisted the captain's head and she did the
same to his other ear.

'Now release him!' she cried, shouting above the
roar of the waves pounding the rocks, which were
dangerously close now.

Whatever Mam had done, the change in the captain
was sudden and dramatic. He gave a cry of fear, his
eyes filled with loathing as the sirens on the rocks now
appeared to him in their true shapes, and he began to
spin the wheel. In response the boat came slowly about
and began to veer away from the sirens. At that
moment the crew rushed us, but the Spook and I used
our staffs to good effect, bringing two of them down
hard on the deck. The next moment Arkwright was at
our side, pointing his staff towards them, clearly
prepared to use it if necessary. But by then the sirens'
cries were already beginning to fade as we sailed down
the coast in the opposite direction, the wind now to our
rear, driving the
Celeste
fast across the water.

I watched the crews' faces as the allure of the sirens
began to weaken and they could be seen in their true
shapes. By now the hideous creatures were hissing
with anger, showing their fangs as they began to slip
off the jagged rocks into the sea.

'I put wax in the captain's ears,' Mam explained. 'If
you can't hear the siren song, then it has no power. It's
a simple but effective method and has been used many
times by my people. Sirens are always a risk on our
shores but I thought this stretch of coastline was safe.
The power of the dark is certainly increasing.'

Within a few minutes the siren cries could be heard
no more. Once the captain had pulled the wax plugs
from his ears, Mam explained to the bewildered crew
of the
Celeste
what had happened. The ship was
brought about and we continued our journey northwards,
this time keeping considerably more distance
between ourselves and that dangerous shore. We'd not
even landed in Greece yet, but already the pirates and
sirens had threatened our survival.

We landed at the port of Igoumenitsa late in the
morning.

While our provisions were unloaded, we all stayed
on board, as if reluctant to leave the safety of the ship.
An alien land awaited us, the hot, spice-laden air
heavy with the promise of unknown danger.

Then, late in the afternoon, I saw a cloud of dust on
the road that led towards the port itself, soon followed
by a dozen fierce-looking men on horseback who
galloped towards the quay. All wore brown robes and
had swords at their hips; they were bearded, their faces
crisscrossed with scars. Behind them came a wagon
covered with black canvas.

The riders halted in a line facing the ship and waited
silently. Mam came up from her cabin, hooded and
veiled, and stood on the deck looking down at them.
After a while she turned to me.

'These are my friends, son. It's a dangerous land,
this, and enemies may try to intercept us at any time.
We'll need these people if the maenads attack. Come
and meet them . . .'

So saying, she led me down the gangplank towards
the waiting horsemen. As we approached, they leaped
from their horses and ran forward, eager smiles on
their faces, to form a circle around her.

Mam turned her back to the sun and lifted aside her
veil, then spoke rapidly, her voice warm. I tried to
work out what she was saying. It sounded similar
to Greek, but I could only catch the odd word. Then
she put her left hand on my right shoulder and said
'
O yios,
' which means 'son'. And then, a moment later,
'
Exi
,' which she repeated. I think she'd just told them I
was a seventh son of a seventh son and that I belonged
to her.

Whatever she'd said, all their eyes were now fixed
on me, and once again their faces were lit with smiles.

'This is Seilenos,' Mam said, pointing to a tall blackhaired
man in the centre of the group. 'A good friend
and a very brave man. His courage is matched only by
his love of food and good wine! He's the nearest thing
we have in my country to a County spook. He's an
expert on lamia witches and fire elementals, which
should prove very useful if we manage to get into
the Ord.'

She spoke to him rapidly – again I couldn't follow
the words – and Seilenos nodded at me.

'I've told him that your life is just as important as my
own and asked him to do all he can to ensure your
safety at all times,' Mam explained.

'What language is it, Mam?' I asked. 'It's like Greek,
but I can hardly understand any of it. They talk so
quickly.'

'You'll understand most people we encounter without
too much trouble, but these people are from the
border. It's a dialect from what southerners refer to as
"the barbarous north".'

'It is all right,' said Seilenos, stepping forward and
beaming widely. 'I speak some of your words, yes?
Your good mother tell me you are an apprentice enemy
of dark. I teach you as well. I know this land and its
dangers.'

'Thanks,' I told him with a smile. 'I'd be grateful for
anything that may help.'

'Anyway, son,' Mam said, 'we won't begin our
journey east until tomorrow now. We'll spend one
more night on the
Celeste
. It'll be safer that way. Best
not to set off until we're good and ready. But in the
meantime I want to show you something and I've
things to explain. We're going on a little journey, but
we should be back here well before nightfall. We'll ride
in this . . .'

She led the way over to the wagon with the black
canvas top. The grinning driver climbed down and
opened the door for her. I was surprised how cool it
was inside. I'd have liked to look out of the window,
but it was a small sacrifice to have Mam safe from that
burning sun.

Accompanied by Mam's warrior friends, we headed
south for about an hour. After a while our pace slowed
and we seemed to be climbing. We travelled in silence,
not saying a word to one another for the whole
journey. I wanted to ask questions but there was something
in Mam's manner that made me hold back. I
sensed that she wanted me to wait until we had
arrived at our destination.

When we stopped, I followed Mam out, blinking in
the bright sunshine.

We were on a rocky hillside; the sparkling blue sea
was now far away in the distance. Before us stood a
large white-painted house with a walled garden. The
paint was flaking from the walls and the shuttered
windows also needed a lick of paint. The horsemen
didn't dismount but waited patiently as Mam led me
towards the front door.

She inserted a key into the lock, turned it and
opened the door. It yielded with a groan and a creak. It
was as if nobody had entered this place for years. I
followed Mam into the gloom. Once inside, she lifted
her veil and led me through the house. As I followed, I
caught a movement to my left. At first I thought it was
a rat, but it was a small green lizard, which ran up the
wall and onto the ceiling. Mam used a key to open the
back door, and after she'd lowered her veil again, we
walked out into the walled garden.

It was an astonishing oasis of greenery. Although
overgrown and neglected, it was a delight to the eye. A
spring bubbled from an ornate stone fountain at its
centre and that water gave sustenance to a mass of
grasses, shrubs and small trees.

'See that, Tom?' Mam said, pointing at a small
gnarled tree close to the fountain. 'That's an olive. Such
trees live to a great age and the olives they bear
provide a nutritious oil. That one is well over two
hundred years old.'

I smiled and nodded, but a wave of homesickness
washed over me. The tree Mam had indicated was
small – nothing compared to the great oaks, ashes and
sycamores of the County.

'Let's sit in the shade,' she suggested, and I followed
her to a bench set against the wall, out of the sun. Once
seated she raised her veil again. 'Your dad told you
about this house and garden, didn't he?' she asked.

For a moment I was puzzled. Then I remembered,
and smiled. 'Is this your house, Mam? The one where
you stayed with Dad after he'd rescued you from the
rock?'

Not long before he died, Dad had told me the story
of how he met Mam. He was originally a sailor, and
while ashore in Greece, he'd found her bound naked to
a rock with a silver chain. He'd protected her from the
sun – otherwise she'd have died. Then he'd released
her from the rock and they'd stayed together in this
house before returning to the County to be married.
The silver chain that had constrained her was the one I
now used to bind malevolent witches.