by Kate Forsyth
There was a well of silence, and Rhiannon spoke into it, trying to choose her words with care. ‘I was frightened. I ran away. I saw light coming from the laird’s library. I went down. There’s some kind o’ hidden doorway in the bookcase. It leads to a hall between the walls. I followed it. It goes to the auld Tower. They were there, the nine people in hoods. Chanting. They killed a rooster.’
‘Indeed?’ Nina said, exchanging glances with Iven.
Rhiannon was encouraged. She tried to remember more details to tell. ‘One o’ them whipped the laird all bloody. The whip has nine … what would you call them? Strings?’
‘A cat o’ nine tails,’ Lewen exclaimed.
Rhiannon was puzzled. ‘Nay, no cat. A whip.’
‘A whip with nine thongs is called a cat o’ nine tails. I dinna ken why. Happen because it makes the victim yowl like a cat.’
‘The laird did no’ yowl. He dinna make a noise. It must’ve hurt, though, for his back was all bloody.’
‘Ye are sure it was the laird?’ Edithe asked, scandalised.
‘I did no’ see his face, he had his back to me. But he had no beard, and when he spoke it sounded like the laird. And I’m sure he called the ghost “brother”.’
‘Which ghost?’ Edithe said. ‘Ye’ve seen so many it’s hard to keep track.’
Rhiannon stared at her in cold, white anger. ‘The first ghost to come, the one they seek to bring back from the dead. He called him “Falkner”, and then “brother and laird o’ Fettercairn”. He is the same ghost I saw in the great hall last night, the one that was killed by the young, rough-looking man. They chanted these words, I dinna remember what, and then he just sort o’ … floated out o’ the shadows.’
‘Laird Malvern wants to resurrect his brother? But he died so long ago,’ Nina said.
‘Twenty-five years they’ve been trying to bring him back to life. I heard them say so.’
‘Twenty-five years?’ Iven repeated thoughtfully. Cameron went to say something and the jongleur shushed him with an upraised hand. Rhiannon went on wearily.
‘They are the ones that have been messing with all the dead people, digging them up and trying to learn how to make them come alive again. He said so, I heard him. And killing people, experimenting with them.’
‘How awful,’ Landon said, whey-faced. Maisie gave a little moan and raised one hand to her bandaged head.
‘Then the other ghost came, the woman. She mocked them for standing on a heart o’ stars and calling the dead. They were all frightened o’ her. She said she would tell them the secret o’ raising the dead if they promised to raise her first.’
‘Indeed?’ Nina said again, exchanging an incredulous glance with Lewen.
‘Gracious, ye canna believe her?’ Edithe burst out. ‘Look at her, she’s sick as a dog. She canna even stand. How can ye believe such things o’ our host? He was a most charming and cultured man, and she’s accusing him o’ necromancy, and torture, and murder most foul. She must be mad!’
‘She’s been seeing ghosts everywhere,’ Cameron said, and Rafferty gave an unhappy murmur of agreement.
‘There are ghosts everywhere,’ Rhiannon said thickly.
There was silence. She saw Edithe roll up her eyes and gritted her teeth together, her eyes burning with tears. She looked defiantly at Nina. ‘Do ye believe me? Or do ye think it’s just a dream too?’
Nina chose her words with care. ‘I do no’ ken, Rhiannon. It’s true ye are sick and shaking with fever, and dreams are often more vivid when ye’re feverish, but even so, dreams can be true sendings at times. And though I do no’ see the ghosts ye’ve seen, that does no’ mean they are no’ there. I have felt troubled and uneasy since I came into this castle, and have fancied I’ve seen curtains lift when there is no breeze, or heard voices crying in the night. Happen ye have the gift o’ clear-seeing, more strongly than any o’ us. I do no’ ken what to do, though. This needs investigation. Edithe is right. These are serious allegations. I would no’ like to accuse a man o’ necromancy and murder without strong evidence. And my heart misgives me greatly, for if your dream be true …’
‘It was no’ a dream,’ Rhiannon said stubbornly.
Nina went on as if she had not spoken. ‘… then we may be in grave danger. I wish we had never come this way, but since we did, and we are here in Fettercairn Castle, I think we should do our best to leave as quickly as we can. This is a matter for the Rìgh’s men to investigate. We must try to send him a message now, just as soon as we can, for if Rhiannon is right then we are in a trap and may have trouble getting out o’ it. Iven, why do ye no’ take the boys and go and inspect this damage to the road? See if we canna make our way past it, even if it means leaving the caravans.’
Iven nodded. ‘Good idea.’
‘Rhiannon, my dear, go back to bed, please. The sooner ye are well again, the sooner we can go. Lassies, I think we should go and see what we can find out. If Rhiannon is right, then the castle is the source o’ all the evil and trouble in this valley and the Rìgh will need to ken o’ it.’
Nina’s voice was coming in waves, loud, soft, then strangely loud again. Rhiannon felt warm hands on her arms and looked up, her head feeling heavy and large on a thin, weak neck. Lewen bent over her. She looked up into his face and, to her surprise, tears sprang from her eyes.
‘Come on, leannan,’ he said softly. ‘Ye should be in bed.’
‘Do ye believe me?’ she whispered urgently, fixing her eyes on his.
He nodded, and gently wiped away her tears with his thumb. ‘O’ course I do. Come, let me get ye to bed.’
He bent and gathered her up into his arms. Rhiannon was too tired to argue. She put her arms about his neck, rested her head on his shoulder, and let him carry her from the room.
When Lewen came out of Rhiannon’s room, it was to find the maid Wilma hovering in the corridor, her ear bent to the door into Nina and Iven’s suite. She started at the sound of his step and moved hurriedly away.
‘I’m sorry, sir,’ she gasped, twisting her apron in her hands. ‘I’ve been sent to wake ye all and bring ye down to breakfast. I dinna ken if Master Irving warned ye … I ken it is early … I dinna want to intrude …’
‘It is early,’ Lewen agreed. ‘It’s barely cockcrow.’
‘My laird likes to rise early,’ she said. ‘I was worried … I ken it is no’ what is done at court, dining so early, I mean, but my laird does hate anyone being late.’
‘Does he?’ Lewen said genially. ‘I imagine no-one dares ever keep him waiting then.’
‘Oh, no, sir,’ she breathed.
‘Well, witches rise early too,’ Lewen said cheerfully, ‘so we are all awake.’
‘Och, so it’s true then!’ she blurted and then turned crimson. ‘About ye all being witches, I mean. I dinna believe it. I mean, ye all seem so nice, and my laird has let ye all stay and …’ Her words trailed away.
‘No’ all o’ us are witches,’ Lewen said. ‘Most o’ us are mere apprentices. Why, does my laird no’ care for the Coven?’
‘Oh, no, sir,’ she said in surprise. ‘Why, he used to hunt witches down and burn them, my da told me!’
‘Is that so?’ Lewen said, turning his head to stare at her.
Immediately Wilma was thrown into confusion. ‘’Twas a long time ago … times change, they say … I dinna ken if it be true …’
‘Times do change, and we must change with them,’ Lewen said, with no change to his affable manner. His veins were swelling with rage, though, and it took an effort to keep his voice steady.
Wilma looked at him doubtfully. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Is that tea I see there on your tray?’ Lewen gestured to the laden tray on the hall table. ‘Ye’ll be welcome at any hour if ye bring Nina tea. Come, bring it in, and tell us where we are to go for breakfast and when.’
‘I’ll show ye all down,’ Wilma said. ‘Master Irving said I was no’ to let any o’ ye go wandering off by yourselves. In case ye get lost, I mean.’
‘O’ course,’ Lewen said, opening the door for her. She picked up the heavy tray with a visible effort and carried it in, staring at Nina with apprehensive eyes as if suddenly expecting her to have sprouted horns and a tail.
Nina was sitting wearily by the fire, Roden on her lap, while the other apprentices were still all heatedly discussing Rhiannon’s news. Nina was not listening to them, but was staring into the flames as if their ephemeral, many-tongued shapes could speak to her. She was so entranced she did not notice Wilma at first, but as silence fell, she glanced round and smiled and thanked her.
Wilma poured the tea, Lewen and Landon helping pass the cups around, and then she said diffidently that she would be back in an hour to take them down to the breakfast hall.
‘Is that a different hall to where we ate last night? Thank Eà! I do no’ think I could manage to eat a mouthful if I had to do so under the gaze o’ all those poor slaughtered animals,’ Nina said.
Wilma gave a shy smile of sympathy. ‘I do no’ like them much either,’ she admitted. ‘Us maids hate having to clean the dining hall late at night. Their eyes gleam so, it looks like they’re still alive.’
‘Does the laird eat there every night? I wonder he does no’ suffer indigestion!’
‘My laird likes such things,’ Wilma said. ‘He has a whole stuffed bear in his library, and drawers and cabinets full o’ strange things – a webbed hand and the head o’ an ogre, and a braid o’ witch’s hair, and the jaw o’ a dragon, and the skin o’ one o’ the sea-folk, and a pickled baby –’
‘Urrk!’ Fèlice cried.
‘A pickled baby?’ Rafferty and Landon both echoed.
‘Surely no’!’ Edithe said.
Wilma nodded. ‘Aye. He collects such things. Folk hereabouts are always on the look-out for curiosities, for he pays well for them. He has drawers and drawers o’ old bones and stones and skulls, and lots o’ dead paws and hands. I seen them once. Normally us maids do no’ clean his library, his gillie does that for him, but I was sent to fetch something for him and I saw the bear, it’s near twice as tall as me and looks like it’s alive! And some o’ the drawers o’ the cabinet were open, and so I couldna resist having a quick peek. I had nightmares after, though, I tell ye what! O’ dead hands creeping after me –’
‘Wilma, have ye naught better to do than stand here gossiping?’ Dedrie spoke sharply from the doorway.
Wilma jumped as if she had been stuck with a pin, and made a hasty curtsy. ‘Sorry, ma’am, o’ course, ma’am, I’ll go now, ma’am,’ she squeaked, and hurriedly clattered everything onto the tray and made a hasty exit, almost tipping the whole lot to the floor in her discomfiture.
Dedrie shook her head indulgently. ‘Lasses! They are all the same. Will stand around all morn repeating idle gossip instead o’ getting their work done.’
‘Is there something I can do for ye?’ Nina asked in a cool voice. ‘We were just about to get ready for breakfast.’
‘Och, naught. I’ve just brought yon lassie some more borage syrup.’ Dedrie lifted her basket of medicines, but did not come in. ‘I would no’ have disturbed ye, but I heard young Wilma chattering on, and did no’ want her bothering ye. It is so hard to get reliable servants nowadays!’
‘Rhiannon is sleeping peacefully,’ Nina said, her brows drawing together. ‘I do no’ think she should be disturbed.’
‘I’ll only be a moment,’ Dedrie said with a warm smile, and turned to go.
‘Nay!’ Nina cried, getting to her feet.
Dedrie looked round in surprise. As the light of the room fell upon her face, Lewen saw in surprise that, as well as the nasty bruise blooming on her temple, the nursemaid’s skin was badly blistered and raw all down one side, as if she had been burnt.
‘I do no’ want her woken,’ Nina said, with a fair attempt at a smile. ‘Sleep is the best thing for her. Leave the medicine with me and I’ll offer it to her when she wakes.’
Lewen smothered a grin. He knew that witches all took an oath of truth-telling when they joined the Coven, a restriction that often irked those who worked in secret on the Rìgh’s behalf, like Nina and Iven, or Finn the Cat and Jay the Fiddler. He recognised an evasion of the truth when he heard it. Nina may offer Rhiannon the medicine, but both she and Lewen knew that Rhiannon would most certainly refuse it.
By the look on Dedrie’s face, she knew it too.
‘Och, my lady, no need to trouble yourself,’ she said. ‘Ye go on down to breakfast and I’ll look after the lass. That’s my job, after all.’
‘No need,’ Nina said pleasantly. ‘Ye have done enough for us all. I’m sure a morning in bed will work wonders for Rhiannon, and we will hopefully all be out o’ your hair by this afternoon.’
Dedrie’s smile was unnaturally rigid. ‘But my laird … I mean, what about the fallen tree? It has proved difficult to move with the weather so rough.’
‘Today looks set to be fair,’ Nina said, glancing out the window. The sky was crystal-sharp and azure-blue, and the windblown leaves of the trees glittered as if they had been polished. ‘I am sure the laird’s men will have no trouble moving the tree now that the storm has blown over.’
‘The ground is still very wet and slippery,’ Dedrie said sharply.
‘Och, we will go and lend a hand or two,’ Iven said cheerfully. ‘I’m sure we’ll manage. We have trespassed long enough on your laird’s hospitality.’
‘But the lass with the dog bites … ye canna mean to move her so soon. In those rough, jolting caravans!’ Dedrie sounded scandalised.
‘Maisie is much better,’ Nina said firmly. ‘Aren’t ye, dearling?’
‘Aye,’ Maisie said uncertainly.
‘She shall spend the morning resting too, and then when the tree is gone and the road clear again, we’ll be on our way. We’ll make sure Maisie is as comfortable as possible.’
‘I canna agree to ye moving the lass with the fever,’ Dedrie said. ‘I dinna think ye realise just how sick she is. I’ve seen fevers like that afore. Expose her to a nasty wind like that, and all the jolting o’ those caravans, and ye could kill her, I warn ye.’
‘I think ye underestimate Rhiannon,’ Nina said. ‘She’s very strong and her fever really does no’ seem that bad. I think she’s just caught a chill.’
‘Well, on your own head be it,’ Dedrie said angrily. She turned to go.
‘Happen ye had best leave the medicine with me,’ Nina said, holding out her hand.
Dedrie grasped her basket tightly to her. ‘Och, no need,’ she answered. ‘If the lass is sleeping I’ll leave her be. I’ll look in on her later. Ye had best all be getting ready for breakfast, my laird does no’ like to be kept waiting.’
‘So we’ve gathered,’ Nina said dryly. Dedrie gave a curt nod of her head, a quick fake smile, and left.
Nina went and shut the door behind her. ‘Did ye see her face?’ she said quietly to Iven. ‘I told ye that Rhiannon spat her medicine out all over her. Do ye think …?’
‘Surely no’! Imagine what such medicine would do to your insides if … Eà’s green blood! I see what ye mean. Do ye really think so?’
Nina stood for a long moment, pondering, then turned to the apprentices, milling uncertainly near the fire.
‘Maisie, my dear, I do no’ think ye should go down to breakfast, ye’re still rather unsteady on your poor auld pins. Do ye want to go back to bed for a while, and I’ll arrange to have some food sent up to ye?’ Maisie nodded and got up stiffly from her chair. One heavily bandaged arm was in a sling and she limped painfully. ‘Rafferty, help Maisie back to her room, will ye?’
As Rafferty offered the injured girl his arm, Nina rubbed her forehead as if it pained her.
‘I do no’ feel happy about leaving Rhiannon all by herself, or Maisie either,’ she said abruptly. ‘Rhiannon did not seem delirious to me. Landon, would ye mind staying with them? Ye still have a bit o’ a cough and shouldna be out in that cold wind. I’ll leave Lulu with ye too. Send her to me if aught hap
pens to worry ye.’
‘Ye think Rhiannon’s wild tale is true then?’ Cameron asked in some surprise. ‘Ye suspect we truly may be in danger?’
‘I have a very bad feeling,’ Nina said. ‘I want to get us all away from here just as fast as I can.’
Iven put his arm about her. ‘Your wish is my command, dearling,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Besides, I have a strong suspicion that whey-faced seneschal o’ the laird’s waters the wine. That stuff he inflicted on us last night was undrinkable!’
‘Well, I never thought I’d say this but personally I’ll be glad to ride on,’ Fèlice said. ‘This castle gives me the creeps.’
‘I think ye are all absurd,’ Edithe said with an angry titter. ‘The MacFerris clan is one o’ the oldest and most respected families in Ravenshaw, and Laird Malvern was perfectly charming. Rhiannon is obviously a hysteric who canna bear no’ being the centre o’ attention. Personally I find her behaviour absolutely appalling. From the moment she joined our party she has done naught but cause one scene after another. It is all an act, I’m surprised ye canna see that, Nina. She is nothing but a scheming, conniving little cat …’
‘Thank ye for your opinion, Edithe,’ Nina said wearily. ‘I think we ken your position on the subject. Shall we all go and dress for breakfast now? I would no’ like to be late.’
Iven grinned at her. ‘I wonder what the penalty is for being late to both dinner and breakfast? The dungeons?’
‘Do no’ joke about it,’ Nina said with an involuntary shiver. ‘Happen it’s because I’m a jongleur born and bred and have no liking for high stone walls, but I really do no’ like this place. I feel most uneasy. Let’s just get through breakfast as pleasantly as possible, and get on the road again! Bairns, can we no’ talk about what Rhiannon thinks she saw last night? Let’s all pretend everything is fine. If by horrible chance any o’ it is true, I do no’ want to rouse their suspicions.’
The apprentice-witches nodded their heads solemnly, all except Edithe, who sighed and rolled her eyes.
While the others went to wash and dress for the day, Nina beckoned Lewen to come and help her. ‘I am worried about that stuff Dedrie gave Rhiannon,’ she said to him quietly. ‘Did ye see the blistering on Dedrie’s face? She forced some o’ that stuff down Rhiannon’s throat. I fear it’s some kind o’ poison. I may no’ be a healer but I ken something about the art, as all witches must. I’m going to mix up an emetic and give it to Rhiannon. It’ll make her very sick but at least it’ll get that stuff out o’ her stomach. The thing is, I’ll need your help to get it down her. She trusts ye more than anyone. Will ye help me?’