In the smooth water, the clouds were scurrying above them both. Slowly, he let his eyes adjust and find Katherine’s reflection; she nodded him gently towards his own.
He recognised the shape of his face, though it looked larger than he remembered, his jaw broader. His shoulders were wider and fuller, too, and his skin had a strange silvery quality to it. He moved back and forth a little over the water, trying to catch the light. It was then he saw his eyes. A low moan poured out of his mouth, but the tongue was alien and his voice rasped. His eyes were pure black, and now as he shook his head in horror he saw his hair was weaves of willow.
Suddenly his feet itched more than he had ever known and he fell backwards quickly, tearing off his shoes. Through his woollen socks, he could see white roots spiking their way through the weave, trying to snake their way into the soil. At this he rolled onto his front, and tried to throw up, but there was nothing to give. His fists, now also covered in bark, hit the dirt floor in fear and frustration. Across the courtyard, he could hear snorts of laughter from the knight and the beast.
“Katherine!” he barked out. “What am I?”
She held him until he caught his breath, then rolled and turned him so that his feet were in the pool. Almost at once, he felt nourishment and strength being drawn up and through his legs and, despite the sheer oddness of this, felt his breath ease and his temper calm.
Billy opened his mouth to speak, but could not string together his thoughts to form any questions.
“This is you. You are from here too.”
“I am? What am I?”
“We don’t have words for it in the way you are used to. You are from here. You are part of here, part of this place.”
“Part of what? Of where?”
“Time’s up, Billy.” The knight appeared at his shoulder, and his tone had changed completely. Saul started barking, but abruptly yelped. Billy spun around to see the Gargoyle pinning his dog and blowing gentle flame at the terrified mistletoe. Katherine leapt to her feet, and the knight knocked her into the pool as if she were weightless. Billy roared and glared up at the knight, but didn’t want to risk standing on his crawling, rooted feet.
“Leave her alone!”
“Or what, Billy? You’ll chase after me?” said the knight. “You know you ask really terrible questions. I’d have thought you wanted to know whether your father is like you, or whether you’re adopted. Or perhaps your father is from here, but your mother not?”
Billy turned around and threw out a hand to Katherine. She was already pulling herself out of the pool, spitting water and snarling at the knight.
“He’s like you, Billy. He’s from here, that’s why…”
“But not Mummy,” said the knight in a sarcastic tone.
Billy looked back at her.
She shook her head. “No, she’s human.”
Suddenly the knight had Billy by the neck and was dragging him away from Katherine. “Which, Billy Christmas, makes you a bit of a filthy hybrid. A mammalian plant crossed with a bad dream,” he pulled him close and ramped the sarcastic tone higher. “Or a mother’s worst nightmare. Why do you think she could barely manage to look at you in the last year?”
Billy roared in anger, but this was lost as the knight dragged him closer to the Gargoyle.
“It’s time to greet the master. I think we should make ourselves a nice little bonfire, right here and now. Nebulous, could you…”
The Gargoyle took a deep breath and blew a fierce blue flame that crackled, and now Billy actually heard the mistletoe scream, inside his head—Billy help us, please! He realised that though the voice had registered in his head, he had heard it through a single root that had snuck into the dirt floor from a toe. As the knight paused to motion the Gargoyle closer, working on instinct he let as many roots as he could enter the ground, and asked, Who can hear me?
We hear you, Billy—replied the mistletoe.
I hear you—replied Katherine.
Billy took a deep breath and spoke—I want to go home and see my father. Who wants to come with me?
We’re with you.
All with you.
The Gargoyle moved over to Billy, leaving Saul in a heap. The mistletoe crept off from around the dog’s neck and made for a crack in the wall. Katherine shivered by the edge of the pool, teeth bared, waiting. Billy looked back at Saul and nodded.
“You know Billy,” said the knight, “there are few smells I enjoy more than wood smoke…”
The Gargoyle blew a long stream of flame. It reached out from its split face and danced over Billy, but he barely acknowledged it. He felt Saul watching, preparing.
The knight leaned in closer. “Come on, Nebulous, we don’t want to serve up our guest cold.”
The Gargoyle took a deeper breath, and from where he was, Billy could see the ignition flicker in the beast’s throat.
“Now, Saul,” said Billy.
A single bark, huge and deep, echoed high above the Gargoyle’s head, surprising the beast so much it swallowed the igniting spark. Smoke poured from its split head. Spinning around, the Gargoyle backed up quickly into the Grey Knight, who only now was beginning to register what was amiss.
The deerhound, now standing at least twenty feet high at the shoulder, snarled, revealing canines two feet in length. Billy saw the stone beast actually shake in fear.
“No,” said the knight, turning back to Billy. “No!”
“Now!” shouted Billy and the courtyard turned pitch black.
At once, the Gargoyle spat a stream of fire up at Saul, which only served to reveal the dog was already on the move. The Grey Knight clapped his hands together, each time creating a small white light which quickly fizzled out again.
“Burn them! Burn them all!” he screamed.
More fire erupted from the Gargoyle, but this time revealing only that the courtyard walls were rapidly being covered in mistletoe, which was streaming up the stone walls. It blew fire once more and there was a sudden stench of burning leaves, as the green limbs engulfed its snout and body, pulling the creature in hard against the wall and trapping it fast.
The knight finally managed to maintain a small orb of white light above his head, but there was now so much moisture rising from the pool that it could not penetrate far into the gloom.
“You’re out of time, Billy,” said the knight. “You’re an amateur at this. First day on the job. My master is almost here, and he will burn your creations down in an instant.”
Billy appeared at his shoulder. “Then we won’t trouble you much longer.”
The knight had been waiting for such a moment and dropped to his knee, reaching back as he did and pulling Billy clean over his shoulder.
“Foolish boy, do you think you can creep up on me? I’ve been visiting this place for years. Mastering its ways,” the knight stood and pressed a foot hard on Billy’s chest, making him gasp.
“Yes, but there is one large difference,” said Billy, feet again plunged into the ground and communicating away. “You always came alone.”
The knight looked down at him, therefore missing the huge punch that Katherine delivered to his jaw. He screamed in pain, and the light above him snapped out.
“Now, Billy,” cried Katherine.
In an instant, Billy whisked open the clouds and poured moonlight over the courtyard again, lighting it brightly from end to end. He allowed himself a single moment to revel in the ease in which his abilities had come to him. To one side, the Gargoyle was pinned to the wall by the mistletoe every bit as tightly as the cassock had held him. In front of him, Katherine was nursing a bruised fist but looking up in wonder. Above her with legs dangling in space, was the Grey Knight, held aloft by one arm in the great jaws of Saul, who had now reached twenty-four feet at the shoulder, and was shaking the vicar every time he moved or made a sound.
“Good boy, Saul,” said Billy. “Don’t kill him. Just yet…”
Katherine looked at Billy in wonder, and drew in her breath. “I sa
id you wouldn’t need those weapons.”
Billy shot her back a small smile, which quickly fell. He realised that the knight had started chuckling.
“You’re too late. He’s here, and you still don’t know a way out.”
Billy looked over his shoulder and could tell the air was once again beginning to thin and dry out. Katherine’s eyes suddenly looked hunted, just as Senga’s had in the alley.
“Drop him, Saul.”
The deerhound gave one last stunning shake of the knight before throwing him high into the air. He landed heavily at Billy’s feet, groaning at the impact. At once, Billy was upon the knight and searching through his pockets.
“Billy, what are you doing? We must try and escape,” said Katherine, with rising panic in her voice.
“Do you trust me?” asked Billy.
Katherine paused and replied, “Well, I always have.”
“Then that will have to do. We’re out of time.”
Billy handed her a small piece of moss.
“No, you can’t. You don’t know how…” whispered the knight.
“You can’t begin to imagine how little not knowing stuff bothers me any more,” said Billy, making sure he had gathered all the moss the knight possessed. “And I’m willing to bet this moss only returns you to one place, right? And you’re going to find it a lot harder to get there without this.”
The knight grimaced and then looked fearful. “Don’t leave me here, Billy.”
Billy spared him no more than a moment’s glance. Behind him, Saul has halfway returned to normal size, and a sprig of mistletoe had separated from the wall and was climbing the hound to ride his collar.
Billy turned back to Katherine. “Time to go home.”
Katherine looked around the courtyard. “Wherever that is. How does this work then, Billy?”
Saul, now normal size, arrived by their side, as the air grew thinner once more. Billy suspected he could hear a low growling from the mountains behind the courtyard. It reminded him of approaching thunder and galvanised him.
“We have to run, at this wall, right here, about as hard as we can.”
The mistletoe covering the wall parted enough to reveal an archway of bare stone.
“That would seem to be a painful thing to do, Billy,” said Katherine.
Billy handed her a thumb-sized piece of moss. “I’m hoping this will cushion the blow.”
“Oh. Good.”
“You know the alley down by the church in Marlow? Imagine we’re already there, close your eyes and run!”
Above them the moonlight turned an eerie red and neither could now pretend that the growling was thunder or far away.
“Go now!” cried Billy.
Billy and Katherine ran with moss outstretched, closely followed by Saul and the mistletoe. The wall melted and they stumbled out of the other world and onto the ice in Seven Corner Alley. Behind them, they heard the air dry, the growl rise to fury and the growing cries of the Grey Knight.
Katherine slipped, and Billy piled straight over her. Saul and the mistletoe followed, and there was a sudden rush of heat and air from the gap in the wall. Billy glanced back, and the courtyard was suddenly awash with bright flame. A body, dark and heavy, landed, and for an instant he thought he could hear Mike calling out his name. Then the wall snapped back into existence and the coolness of the ice was all they felt.
* * *
Katherine had shifted back into human guise. As they picked themselves up, Billy looked over himself and ran his hands through his hair.
“You’re back to normal, too,” said Katherine.
Billy looked at her for a moment. “Do you remember everything that just…”
“Yes Billy,” Katherine paused for a moment. “I think they disassociate me somehow, but I’m not sure if I’ll let them this time.”
Billy wanted to ask who they were, but for now decided they had better move on, just in case he’d left some moss behind. Saul decided to lead the way, and lacking a plan, they decided to follow him. He led them out past the church and onto the bridge. It had become slightly foggy, but as they passed the first tower of the small suspension bridge, Billy thought he could make out two figures. He paused and put out a hand to Katherine. Saul was working on different senses though, and bounded forward with the mistletoe, tail wagging hard.
“Oh, hello, Saul. Where are they then? Did he find her?”
At once Billy and Katherine rushed forward through the fog. The round shape of Agnes and the tall triangular outline of Teàrlag gradually sharpened. Katherine was soon tightly wrapped into the folds of Agnes, whilst Billy slung an arm tightly around the Tree.
“How were your travels, Billy?” asked the Tree.
Billy looked towards Katherine, then at his own hands and the bark of the Tree. “I don’t know where to begin,” said Billy. “In fact I don’t know if I know where I begin any more, Teàrlag.”
“Quite a journey.”
“How are we for time?” said Billy. “Because I have some questions I’m going to need to ask someone here. I don’t much mind who answers them, but someone is going to have to try.” The sentence started out jovially enough, but suddenly there was emotion behind the tone, and Katherine instantly shot out her hand to his.
“We have time now, Billy,” said Katherine, looking from Agnes to the Tree. “Don’t we? We’re safe now.”
“We are safe, and we do have time,” said Agnes looking at the Tree, “but…”
“…We have someone who Billy has been looking forward to seeing for almost a year.”
High above the fog in the church tower, the bell tolled midnight.
Christmas Day
“MAKE THAT EXACTLY A YEAR,” said Teàrlag, “and besides…”
“…Your father,” continued Agnes to Katherine, “is barely able to contain himself, and at the moment you know full well that we don’t want him to…”
“…No, we don’t want that,” said Katherine.
Despite the potential proximity of his own father, Billy was curious. “Why? What does the General become on the other side?”
“Pray you never find out, dear,” said Agnes, “but I must get Katherine back to him, or Marlow will have a few more lumps knocked out of it, and I think it is high time that this business took a quiet turn. Agreed?”
No one disagreed. Katherine took Billy’s hand and walked him off the bridge. Agnes, Teàrlag, Saul and the mistletoe followed behind at a discreet distance.
“I am going to find a way to thank you for coming after me,” said Katherine. “There aren’t words, Billy, but you saved my life tonight.”
Billy’s eyes were edging over towards Seven Corner Alley.
“Hey, are you listening to me?”
“Sorry, I was just thinking that we should have pulled him back.”
“The vicar?”
He nodded. “We just left him to die…”
“Billy, we have a lot to talk about. This probably isn’t over, and I don’t think that guy is dead. Just having a very, very bad night.”
Despite himself, Billy smiled, and Katherine returned it.
“Can you tell me how it happened? How Dad came to…”
Katherine suddenly looked impossibly sad. “I just…”
“I’m not angry or anything,” said Billy, squeezing her hand. “I just need to know what…”
“Mike, the Grey Knight, had been sent to find me. I’d been hidden here, and I will try to explain that, and your dad, well, he intervened. He didn’t know he would be taken. He just tried to give me a chance to be somewhere else at a particular moment, but then they took him. He’d been held in that courtyard, in an enforced night, for a whole year.”
“But why didn’t he just use his imagination to blow the place apart? In fact, why didn’t you?”
Katherine smiled, shaking her head a little. “Billy, you’re a wonder. Not everyone can do what you can. They don’t have your exotic breeding!”
Billy smiled un
certainly and began to wonder where his father might be now. “There is something you can do, Katherine.”
“Name it.”
“Tomorrow, can we meet up, before anyone tries to…reassociate you, and talk about everything?”
“I promise. We can.” Katherine smiled and looked over her shoulder before giving Billy a kiss on his cheek that lingered a good moment longer than it needed. Billy looked back, unsure of his new ground in their old arena. Katherine shot him a mysterious smile, and peeled off to join Agnes for the walk home, with Saul and the mistletoe following them.
Teàrlag joined Billy and motioned towards Higginson Park.
“He’s in here?”
The Tree bowed. “Merry Christmas, Billy.”
They walked into the park in silence. Here the fog was clearing, and Billy could see further ahead through the snow, and still he didn’t rush ahead. Rushing had never helped him find his dad, and even now he wasn’t completely convinced he was going to see him again. Something would happen, and even if it didn’t, there was still the matter of what his father was, and of course what he himself was too. He wished Katherine were still beside him; he felt alien and alone.
“You are who you always were, and so is he,” said Teàrlag.
“Can you read my thoughts even when my feet, my roots, are not…”
“I don’t need any such connection to know your mind, Billy,” said the Tree. “I never did. It is so sad that your discovery was forced upon you in this way.”
“I still don’t know what it means, and I know you won’t tell me,” said Billy, smiling.
Teàrlag stopped her low bounce across the snow and turned to him at once. “I know it means you will never go home to the life you craved and that will always hurt some part of you. But I also know you’re finding out you’re part of something much bigger and have much more to do. If anyone is to have such an interesting life, Billy, with the chance to turn it into something magical, I know of no person better suited to take that on.”
Billy Christmas Page 24