Poppy Darke

by Colin Wraight

  As the battle raged on in his head Skuttlebucket’s shredded mind could take no more punishment. “Earwax...” He muttered. “That was my mother’s name... Beautiful? Aint it?” And then he hopped up onto the window sill and took a long look at the young girl standing before him. “What are you? I mean what are you really?” He asked and with that he launched his overweight body into the night sky. Underused and ragged, holy wings barely kept him aloft as he took a head dive. At the last second and much to his relief he managed to pull up and glide just above the stone crosses and weeping angels.

  Poppy didn’t need the Goyle; she had all of his memories. “Come along Midnight.” She said. “We have far to go and little time!”

  The stone steps were heavily worn and difficult to judge in the darkness and Poppy had to feel her way along the cold, rough walls. Stumbling on a loose step she plunged head first into the abyss only to be caught by the sure jaws of Midnight.

  “Thanks Midnight.” She muttered. “We must be almost at the bottom now.”

  “Yes you are...” A familiar voice said from out of the void some way below.

  Midnight began to snarl and the voice made Poppy jump with fright.

  “It’s alright..! It’s only me..! Jesse..! I’m standing just below you at the door.”

  Poppy gave a loud sigh of relief. “Oh thank god!” She gushed. “Where have you been? I was worried sick!”

  “Actually I was hiding from Skuttlebucket... Ok stop right there...” He said. “Now put out your hand and you will feel the bolt.”

  Poppy did as she was told and found the bolt straight away. After a little tugging and heaving the door groaned open to reveal a thick white carpet of snow on the ground and mist rolling in from the woods.

  “Why didn’t you help me?” Poppy snapped angrily. “You ran off and left me there?”

  “He’s still a Boneshiner Poppy..! If he’d caught me I’d be finished... Forever!”

  Poppy rolled her eyes at the young ghost and folded her arms. “Well never mind then..! But promise me you will never leave me like that again!”

  “I do..! I mean I promise!” He replied. “We have to get moving now..! There’s no time.”

  The trio trekked off across the graveyard but Midnight began to growl and snarl almost immediately. He scanned the tree line as if he sensed or saw something which the others couldn’t; and then he stopped dead in his tracks and gazed back over his shoulder.

  “Come along Midnight, there’s nothing there!” Poppy Snapped. “We have to get going now!”

  The dog reluctantly tore himself away from whatever had tripped his senses and the group once again moved off. They hadn’t gone more than five paces when Jesse stopped and gave Poppy a nervous glance.

  “What is it?” She said.

  “Don’t you see them?”

  “No..! I don’t see anything!” She whispered.

  “They’re all around us and you can’t see them?”

  “No I can’t...”

  Suddenly she realised what he was talking about! It was the mist, or what she thought to be mist. The whole graveyard was carpeted in a thick blanket of mist or fog, all except the small area in which the group stood.

  “What is it?” Poppy said nervously.

  Jesse turned to her, his face looked even whiter than usual. “It’s the spirits!”

  “What spirits?” Said Poppy and took a step backwards towards Midnight where she felt much safer.

  “All of them..!”

  People began to appear from nowhere and walk through the mist towards the trio; there were men and women, the old and young. At first there was just a few but numbers swelled and soon the graveyard was full to brimming with the recent (And not so recent) dead.

  “...They heard you were here and they’ve come to see you...”

  There were spirits from every age in history, Poppy noticed several Romans, a couple of Vikings and of all things a medieval king. There were Tudors, Saxons and soldiers from the Great War. Mixed in with this carnival of the dead were gents in top hats and ladies in great flowing dresses. There seemed to be masses of children running about and playing as if they were at a party. The seething exodus extended well beyond the confines of the graveyard, Burnham itself seemed to be holding a street party for the dead.

  Midnight growled continuously and snapped at thin air, with teeth bared and hackles up he charged the first of the ghosts only to run right through them. They were getting too close now and Poppy was beginning to panic.

  “Jesse... Jesse what do we do?” She screamed as a little old lady tried to stroke her face.

  “Have you seen my Billy?” The old woman said. “I haven’t seen him in such a long time..! Can you tell him that I love him?”

  “Stand still!” He replied. “They can’t hurt you... They’re just ghosts!”

  Poppy wasn’t entirely convinced and tried to brush off another spirit who had begun to comb her hair. This one was even older than the first and had no teeth and only one eye.

  “I was murdered you know... Murdered right here in this graveyard.” She cackled. “But I know who did it see and I haunt him every night.”

  “I can feel them Jesse... I can feel them. It’s like brushing cobwebs off my face, it’s horrible. Get them off me Jesse... Please!”

  Jesse had his own reasons to be fearful; there was an army of Goyles in the area and it would only be a matter of time before they arrived.

  “Jesse... I can’t breathe... I feel like I’m drowning here. Help me!”

  The fear began to trigger something deep within, something she couldn’t stop.

  The scream began in the bowels of her stomach, a gut wrenching ball of pure fear. As it travelled up her throat its energy began to glow and pulsate. Beams of light shone from her eyes and nostrils and as her mouth opened to release the light inferno, a massive shockwave exploded across the cemetery blowing all the spirits back into the tree line.

  Poppy fell to her knees. “What the hell was that?” She gasped.

  “Why didn’t that hurt you Jesse? How come you’re not over there with them?” She asked and brushed snow from her jeans.

  Jesse shrugged “You did that Poppy!” He replied. “I saw it, I heard it but I don’t believe it.”

  Poppy suddenly jumped to her feet. “Oh no they’re coming back...”

  Ghosts by their very natures are fearless, partly because they no longer possess a brain to speak of but mostly because they are already dead.

  “What do we do?” Poppy screamed at the young boy.

  “Goyles..! We need Goyles! Lots and lots of Goyles”

  As the advancing sea of souls tentatively surrounded the helpless trio a tiny little girl who Poppy thought to be about four years old suddenly rushed forward. She was painfully thin and her face was grubby yet pale and frightened. A ragged grey pinafore dress which barely clung to her scrawny shoulders was all that she wore.

  Poppy stepped forward and knelt down to greet the child who jumped into her arms. “Are you my mummy?” The girl whispered into Poppy’s ear. “I do so hope that you are..! Can we go home now I don’t like it here?”

  Poppy realised immediately that she could somehow sense this small girls thoughts, feelings and emotions. She wasn’t quite reading her mind, but almost. “No I’m not your mummy...”

  The girl suddenly looked sad. “But I want my mummy...” Ghostly tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

  “I know you do...” Poppy said as softly as she could. “And I know that she’s been waiting for you in that special place... The place you’re afraid of.”

  The girl looked up into the night sky and wiped a tear with the back of her hand. “Is she really there waiting...? For me?”

  “It’s time you joined her isn’t it?”

  The massing crowds began to surge as spirits at the back tried to jostle for position and a fight broke out between a Roman Centurion and two Redcoats.

  “But the light is so bright and I’m so afra
id!”

  “Be brave little one and everything will be alright.” Poppy said. “Just head for the light and you will find that your mum is waiting on the other side for you.” She didn’t have a clue how she knew all this stuff but hoped for the kid’s sake she was right.

  By now the fight between the drunken Centurion and two Redcoats had erupted into a mini riot. Some sailors had got involved and then upset a group of Victorian toffs by knocking off one of their top hats.

  The little girls’ eyes drifted back to the sky and she smiled. “I can see the light now and I’m not afraid.”

  Poppy’s followed the little girls gaze but she saw no light, she saw nothing but the night sky and falling snow.

  Suddenly the Childs face lit up into a broad beaming smile. “Mummy... Mummy!” She cried. As her essence began to fade she turned to Poppy and smiled. “Thank you!” She said. “Thank you Poppy Darke.” And with that she was gone.

  Spirits at the front of the baying crowd had seen only too well what had happened, it was afterall why they were all there in the first place. For the briefest of moments the crowd was hushed and still, silenced by the joy of a tiny girl.

  ‘Poppy... Poppy!’ The voices began to ring out.

  ‘”Me next..!” An old man wearing a top hat and a monocle bellowed as if he had some god given right to be at the front of the queue.

  “Get lost old timer it’s my turn..!” Another man growled menacingly.

  “I’ve been here the longest.” Another shouted.

  Before long fights and scuffles were breaking out all over the cemetery and some even spilled out on to the road.

  “I don’t know about you two but can we get out of here?” Jesse cried.

  Poppy and Jesse began to follow Midnight through the riot, every now and then he would stop and bare his teeth at one ghost or another. Eventually the inevitable happened and they were spotted trying to leave.

  “Stop them..! They’re escaping!” The cry rang out.

  All the fighting and squabbling stopped immediately and the ghosts began helping each other up off the floor and dusting themselves down.

  “Help us Poppy Darke...” One of three elderly sisters said.

  “We just want to go to heaven.” Both her siblings added in unison.

  “I can’t help you..! Because I don’t know how to help you.” Poppy said. “I’m a nobody... I’m just a girl!”

  A large hulking man pushed through the crowd knocking the three sisters out of his way. Looming over Poppy he slowly pulled a long, sharp looking knife out of his belt.

  “Then I’ll have to make you help us.”

  Midnight began snarling and growling but the man just laughed at him. “You can’t hurt me.” He said and then snatched up Jesse in his powerful arms. “But I can hurt your friend!”

  “No..!” Poppy pleaded. “Don’t hurt him.”

  “Then hurry up and send me to the next place!”

  Suddenly and without warning three arrows ploughed into the ground right in front of the man. He stared at them, while his ghostly mind tried to compute the consequences. His eyes left the arrows and backtracked their trajectory into the sky, he gasped at the sight which met him. “Boneshiners!” He gasped as a warning to the others but he wasn’t nearly loud enough.

  Jesse realised that the man had relaxed his grip and struggled free dropping to the ground just in front of the arrows, he recognised the flights immediately they were Rottenoffle arrows.

  Although he couldn’t see them he knew the sky was full of Boneshiner Goyles and that he and all of the other ghosts no longer stood a chance. “Slurpe..!” He shouted at the sky. “Is that you?” He could hear the beating of a thousand wings and wondered why on earth they hadn’t descended yet.

  The man who had snatched up Jesse had come back to his senses and was now brandishing his knife at the unseen enemy and shouting at the others to defend themselves. His words were falling on deaf ears because those that could had already run away and those that couldn’t were hobbling as fast as their legs would carry them.

  A Goyle in full armour landed silently in front of Poppy, his wings fluttered gently to remove the dusting of snow. He drew his sword and offered the hilt to her as he knelt.

  She thought Slurpe Rottenoffle seemed somehow taller and somehow older now. “Hello Slurpe.” She said and smiled. “I see you have grown up a little.”

  “I am Slurpe Rottenoffle, Boneshiner Warrior and I offer you my sword Poppy Darke.”

  “No.” She replied. “But I fear you may need it yourself.”

  Slurpe needed no more warning; he had already sensed the man with the knife was within striking distance and lunging. In the blink of an eye he performed a looping back flick and landed on the ghost’s shoulders and plunged his sword down through his chest and into his heart.

  Wrenching the blade free he flew up into the sky and then landed beside Jesse, who was more than pleased to see his old friend. “I thought you were dead!” He said with a wry smile.

  “So did I!” He replied and then approached the ghost. “Nobody hurts Poppy Darke and gets away with it... Consider yourself Boneshined!”

  As the ground began to shake the ghost looked as if he were bound by some invisible force and rooted to the spot, he couldn’t speak but his eyes were panicky and bulging, conveying a message of a thousand terrified words.

  He silently pleaded with Poppy as she held on to Midnight to steady herself. The stench of sulphur filled the graveyard and then the ground beneath the ghost burst open to reveal a fiery pit. Dragged down by hungry, grasping creatures that would devour his soul he descended into the inferno abyss.

  “That will teach you to be bad? Wont it?!” Slurpe shouted into the hole and then rudely kicked in some dirt. Then he turned to Poppy. “He was a murderer you know... He just died before they could catch him!”

  Poppy was almost speechless and then she found her voice. “Did you just send that man to...? To Hell?” She said shakily.

  “I am a fully qualified Boneshiner now..!” He said as if Poppy were some kind of blithering idiot.

  CHAPTER 27

  After the ground closed up and the tremors ceased the snow began to fall in earnest. Poppy looked to the sky as a slice of the moon poked out from behind a cloud and caught a fleeting glimpse of the Goyle army flying in formation.

  “What’s going on tonight with all these Goyles everywhere? What are they up to” She asked Slurpe.

  “Dunno!” He replied. “All I know is that I’ve got to stay with you and watch your back!”

  “They must have told you more than that?” She snapped angrily. “There’s something you’re not telling me?”

  Slurpe’s shoulders drooped and he sighed heavily. “No there aint’ I’ve told you everything I know! Honest I have!”

  The party trudged through the virgin snow for mile after mile, deeper and deeper in to the woods they went. Midnight led the way, his keen nose sensitive to any scent on the wind, he would stop every now and then to sniff a tree or catch the breeze in his snout.

  Midnight had good reason to be so careful, he had scented the mutant feline some way back up the track, but so far she had avoided any confrontation.

  After passing through a small clearing they suddenly came upon a low tree line. The canopy of which wasn’t much higher than a grown man.

  “Howling woods!” Jesse said to no one in particular and stopped dead in his tracks. Poppy also stopped and then looked at her friend, she more than the others had noticed the tinge of fear in his voice. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a good place to come to in the middle of the night?”

  “But this is Howling woods!” He said again as if to emphasize the point that they should have somehow heard of its importance. “Even the spirits don’t come here..! It’s a bad place!” He spluttered.

  “Don’t be scared..!” She said, although she was very scared, and looked at Slurpe. “We’ve got our very own Boneshiner with us.” Then she strode out wi
th more than a little over played bravado to join the others.

  Slurpe and Midnight seemed quite unperturbed by the eerie forest and were already waiting at its edge. Deep snow drifts also waited there but none had managed to surpass the dormant blackberry bushes, an outer defense of thorns and stinging nettles to any would be attacker.

  Slurpe made short work of them with his mighty sword and after only a few short minutes they were once again on their way.

  It seemed to Poppy like stepping inside a library, the air was still and the ground dry, infact no snow had penetrated the thick canopy at all. She took her back pack off and fished out her grandfather’s old flash light, turning it on revealed a pine needle carpet and twisted gnarly trees their branches knotted together to make one single roof.

  “This is where the Gobelinus used to live...” Slurpe said suddenly. “But don’t worry they’re all dead now!”

  Poppy had heard of the terrible Gobelinus from her grandfather but just couldn’t imagine what they looked like. “You mean this is where they camped?”

  He shook his head and pointed at the trees with the tip of his sword. “Gobelinus lived there underground amongst the roots...They used to prowl the countryside at night and take any unsuspecting traveller while they slept... Then they would trade his soul to the demons... But like I said, they’re all dead now so there’s nothing to worry about.”

  “I believe you..! But can we just get out of here as quickly as possible... I’ve got a very bad feeling about this place.”

  Strange feelings of a seething evil popped into her consciousness, almost as if she were reading a mind. “There is life here still..! I can feel them... The Gobelinus live!” Poppy said. “I feel... I feel they wish us harm.”

  Slurpe immediately adopted a battle stance, holding his sword high and using his wings as shields, he awaited the impending attack.

  Midnight paced up and down impatiently, his senses useless in the battle between beings of legend and myth.

  “I can feel you..!” Poppy shouted. “You are alone... The last of your kind!” she boldly stepped forward and passed Midnight. “If you choose to fight you will be destroyed... I beg you to come out so that we may speak.”