“I’ll live,” I replied. “It’s only my ankle.”
George stood and pulled me gently to my feet. “You’re bleeding,” he said.
“It’s nothing. Surface wounds.” But I already knew that one of the first things I’d be doing would be to ask Millicent to create a deep cleansing potion to rid me of any corruption James had thought to poison me with, no doubt stored within the core of his wand.
“So this is the famous George?” Silvan asked, scrutinizing my fiancé with curiosity.
“Yes.” I nodded over his shoulder. “And this is Jed.”
George and Jed regarded each other suspiciously, while Silvan looked them both up and down in amusement. “My, my,” he said, eyes sparkling with fresh amusement. “What a tangled web.”
I glared at him, as Erik ran up to us, his wand aimed at Jed.
Jed held his hands up in surrender.
“Dad,” I said. “Jed was the one to finish off James. And drop the barrier.”
“He’s The Mori,” my father reminded me as though I’d forgotten, his face stern. “He can’t be allowed to go free.”
I looked at Jed, and then at Erik. “Look, just give us a minute, can you?”
My father nodded, reluctantly and stepped back. All of about two paces.
“Dad!”
“Alright, alright,” he said and retreated another few steps.
I tutted and indicated to Jed we would walk in the opposite direction. George followed me.
“Two minutes, okay?” I repeated and looking slightly hurt he joined my father.
I reached for Jed and linked my arm through his, partly because I needed the support in order to be able to walk steadily, but also because mixed emotions were jumbling my thoughts and I wasn’t entirely sure what I should be thinking or feeling.
“How did you manage to come back?” I asked. “I thought I’d banished you.”
Jed grimaced. “Your magick is no match for the combined power of The Mori.” He said this without sounding boastful, simply highlighted it as a fact.
“And are you still The Mori?” I asked.
He studied the corpse of his father lying on the lawn in front of us, his face strangely neutral. “I don’t know who or what I am now,” he answered. “I have a feeling the Circle of Querkus will get to decide that in the future.”
“What do you want though?”
“I think that’s kind of a moot point, Alf. I’ll probably never have my freedom again.”
His face turned bleak in the subdued light as we considered his future. The lines around his eyes spoke of the strain he’d been living under for the past twelve months.
Wizard Shadowmender had appeared in our peripheral vision. I nodded at him, and Jed and I stopped walking. The time had come for me to hand Jed over to those who had a purpose for him.
“Thank you for what you did today,” I said softly. “I wouldn’t have made it without you.” I wished I could help him. He had saved my life after all, and those of my friends.
He shrugged, tired and careworn. “I’ve been watching you these last few months. I would have given anything to have spoken with you once more.” I thought of the spinning globe I’d seen on the night of the vampire wedding. Perhaps that had been him.
“What happened… Before,” he continued, and his voice broke. “What I did. It was wrong. I regretted it right away. They gave me a mission. I couldn’t dare fail them. I feared them. I was weak.” He took my hands in both of his large ones and squeezed them together. “You’re so strong, Alf. I’m so proud of who you’ve become.”
I smiled, my eyes filling with tears. This man had meant so much to me and betrayed me so badly. But still, I wanted to forgive him.
“If there was anything I could do, to go some way to repair all the hurt I’ve caused and the damage I’ve done. You know I would do it.”
I stared into his eyes, saw the honesty there, and the despair.
A sudden vision of Vance gave me pause. What if…?
“Well, with my father’s permission, and a little help from a few of my friends, there is something you can do for us,” I replied, and smiled.
I’d hidden the Moridot among my underwear in the washing machine. After I’d added my clothes and Charity’s to the wash, and thrown in a washing pod, I’d elected not to put the wash on, but to hide the jewel in there—amongst the load—until morning when I could figure out what it was and what I was supposed to do with it. It probably hadn’t been the most secure place to hide a precious object, but I had been willing to wager it wouldn’t be the first place anyone would look for it either.
So now I hooked it out of its hiding place and slipped it into my pocket.
Dawn was breaking as fifteen of us—and an owl carried by Millicent—paraded single file into Speckled Wood. Gwyn led the way, her wand raised, intoning—from what I could make out—some ancient spell for the wellbeing of forests.
Gwyn, Millicent and I had been joined by Wizard Shadowmender, Mr Kephisto, Silvan, Charity, Penelope Quigwell and her two technical wizards, my father Erik, Frau Krause and Finbarr. For the first time I was able to command a full Speckled Wood coven, although in reality I think Gwyn took the lead, rather than me. In addition to the thirteen witches—and bearing in mind Charity could hardly even count herself as a novice—we had brought along George and Jed.
We followed the trail deep into the wood, winding along the path between the trees. The wood had never been so quiet. Hardly a rustle among the leaves or a tweet from the bushes disturbed the early morning, at a time when the dawn chorus should have deafened us in its unrestrained joyfulness.
I had never felt the passing of time so keenly as I did on that short hike. The trees, gnarled and ancient, bent over us, their impending doom seeming certain. A forest without fresh water cannot live. I trailed my hand lightly on each trunk I passed, as I walked by these wonderful guardians of the ages, offering reassurance.
All will be well, I told them.
I hobbled slightly, my ankle tightly bound up—both with a bandage from the first aid kit behind the bar, and with a healing spell uttered by Millicent—but as long as I didn’t intend to sprint for some imaginary finishing line somewhere, I could cope with the walk. Occasionally George reached out to help me, but I shook him off.
I could make my own way.
We shuffled quietly into the clearing in the wood. The one that surrounded Vance’s pool. In the faint light of morning the water appeared more revolting than ever. Several inches of yellow and green foam floated on the surface, like the mould on a tin of beans that’s been open too long.
Gwyn directed everyone to stand in a circle around the pool of water, with the exception of Jed and George who remained with me.
She floated around the circle, issuing instructions and offering words of encouragement, while I flicked off the sandals I’d chosen to wear to walk through the woods. When she came to me at the end, I murmured at her from the side of my mouth.
“Grandmama? You don’t want me to do it naked this time, do you?”
She deigned to look shocked. “Certainly not, Alfhild. Whatever are you thinking?” Before I could respond she wagged her wand at me. “Now are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied, and she turned to face the toxic water.
I reached inside my robes for my wand, stroking the ridges of the ancient wood, a piece of Vance I could cherish forever.
“Greetings, Vance, Keeper of the Marsh,” Gwyn intoned, and the other witches in the circle repeated her in a chorus.
“Hear us as the dawn breaks, our ancient and wise friend.”
“Hear us,” we repeated.
“Yet again we come to you with tidings and best wishes. We bring offerings and ask that you accept these and rise to hear our plea. In the name of Nerthus, and The Nix, of Belisama and Nymue, I call you from the depths of your slumber and ask that you grant us an audience once more. Hear us Vance, we beg, as you have heard us before.”<
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The ground around us began to vibrate and I watched enthralled as the water first rippled, the layers of foam bobbing up and down, and then began to bubble. Gently at first, then more rapidly as though the heat had been turned up beneath a cauldron. The water whipped up a fierce storm, displacing the foam to the edges of the pool where it clung to the banks and the rocks.
At last, the tips of Vance’s branches, coiled like a corkscrew, broke the surface and he exploded into the air. His branches whipped around our heads as he untwisted. Water, slime and pondweed rapidly drenched all of us.
George shot backwards. “What—”
I looked back at him and shook my head slightly. He took a few reluctant steps towards me. “What is that?”
“This is Vance,” I told him. “Only he can cleanse the water in Speckled Wood. We’ve come to seek his assistance.”
“Gwyn,” Vance bellowed in his deep voice. “You have returned at last.”
He twitched and stretched and rolled his trunk, bending down to me, his heavy eyes scrutinizing me carefully.
“You have what I asked for?”
“I do.” I gingerly stepped down into the water, good foot first, then following it up with the injured one. I limped a few feet into the water, the sludge squeezing unpleasantly between my toes.
“Alf?” George asked, stepping to the edge and reaching for me. “I don’t think you should be in there.”
Jed merely stood alongside Gwyn, watching me as I reached into my pockets.
I drew out my wand and the Moridot. Jed’s eyes grew round, and for the first time I sensed fear.
I lay the Moridot on my palm and held it out so that Vance could see it.
“I struggled to find all that you asked,” I said, “but I think I have it all now.”
I turned back to Jed and George. “Guys,” I said, “you should join me.”
A brave heart and a bruised heart
A true heart and a pure heart
A dark heart and a false heart
A pulse that beats hot and red
And a sacrifice of the living … and the dead.
Those were the things Vance had requested I bring him, and then and only then could he contrive to purify the water.
I had puzzled long and hard about what such things constituted since the night he had told me of his requirements. And even once I had them all in place, I had no idea what would happen when I presented them to him.
So here we all were.
Jed eased into the water readily enough, casting a nervous glance at Erik and Wizard Shadowmender as he did so. Perhaps it crossed his mind to run, perhaps it did not. George for his part was more reluctant, but I smiled at him. “It will all be okay,” I said, and at last he climbed onto the rocks, close to where I stood.
I looked up at Vance. “I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was looking for one person or many. In the end I think I can probably offer you everything you need between the three of us.”
“Tell me,” Vance commanded, his voice low and somehow terrible.
I took a deep breath. “I believe that all of us who encircle you now, have a heart that is brave. We have all fought for what we believe in. Just tonight we have rallied against the enemy once more, and beaten them away from the doors of Whittle Inn. Jed here, killed his father, to help us do so.”
I swallowed. “And who among us can deny our bruised hearts? Certainly not I, dear Vance.” I flicked a look at George. “I thought our love was true, but I found photos of George on his phone, with another woman.”
George blanched. “On my phone? Wait. Alf, I can explain that. That’s Stacey—”
“I’m sure you can,” I said gently. “And one day I’d like to hear that explanation.”
“It’s—” George said hurriedly.
“But not now,” I said and lifted my wand. “Adipem bufo.” With a silvery flash of light, George disappeared, to be replaced by a fat toad.
Someone behind me guffawed. Silvan.
George, the toad, croaked in confusion.
I turned my attention back to Vance. “I do believe George’s heart was largely true. Love is a fickle emotion that confuses us. It is multi-faceted. Perhaps all of us experience loving many people at one time. Perhaps we shouldn’t apportion guilt and blame. All I know is I need some space.”
“I also bring you my owl.” I reached out with my wand hand as Millicent came forward. Mr Hoo hopped onto my forearm and I held him up to the giant tree above me, before settling him on my shoulder.
“This is my most precious friend, but I offer him to you as proof of a true and pure heart.”
Vance twitched and rolled, his branches raining debris down on us. I couldn’t tell whether this was a good sign or not.
I held up the Moridot in my left hand. I knew how Vance loved his precious stones. “This is a Moridot. It is a piece of the Morimonolitus, a giant stone at the heart of The Mori’s power.” It twinkled in my hand, casting off an impressive amount of red light on our surroundings. I watched as Vance’s eyes glittered. There was no doubting he appreciated this gift.
“You missed out a dark heart,” Vance prompted me.
I was about to offer Jed up, for that had been my intention, when I heard a loud splash. Cold rancid pond water spattered me. Silvan waded up alongside me.
“Oh take mine,” he said cheerfully.
“Silvan,” I protested, but he waved me away.
“I’m as black as they come,” he called up to Vance.
The ancient tree observed us with increasing interest. “So be it.” Silvan nodded in contentment. “Now young Alfhild, that simply leaves a sacrifice of the living and the dead.”
I glanced about at the witches who surrounded us. “I’m not sure about the dead,” I said, feeling nervous at what was to come. “But for the living you can take me.”
“Or me,” offered Silvan and I looked at him in horror.
“Or me,” said Jed quietly but firmly.
“Craaaaaarck!” said George.
“Hooo-oooo-oooo!” said Mr Hoo.
“Are you crazy?” I asked the owl, and he wobbled his head.
There was silence throughout the marsh as Vance considered all we’d offered him. It stretched on interminably. He gazed down at us, scrutinizing us all in turn and then looking at each of the witches who made up the Speckled Wood coven. I shivered in the cold water, partly from fear, but taking comfort in the security of Mr Hoo’s feathers close to my cheek.
The sun’s rays poked through the branches, low on the horizon, when finally Vance tipped back his mighty crown and began to shake. I started back, expecting his rage to fall upon us, but when I heard the bass tones of his booming laugh, I knew everything was going to be alright.
It turned out that Vance didn’t really require any sort of sacrifice at all. We mollified him entirely by gifting him the Moridot. I handed it over, much to his delight, by pushing it into his trunk. It looked rather like a navel piercing.
But big enough for a tree.
It shimmered in the light as he shimmied proudly in the water.
“You’re sure that’s all you want?” I asked in confusion.
Vance leaned down to me, so that we were almost at eyelevel—he had to bend almost double, not easy for a tree of his size—and shook his branches. “You passed my exam with flying colours, Alf. I just wanted to test your mettle as the owner of Speckled Wood and the estate surrounding it. You have a brave true heart all of your own. You’re compassionate and wise—for someone so young—and you pick your friends well.”
I breathed in relief. “The sacrifices?” I asked.
“By all that’s green! Great heavens, no thank you. Good magick does not profiteer from the misfortune of others. Be the good you want to see in the world, Alf.”
“I’ll try,” I promised. I gestured around at the rank pool that surrounded him, and the drooping trees stretching far away in every direction. “And the water?”
“Give me some time,�
�� he said. “Everything gets better with time.”
“Thank you, Vance,” I said and hugged him, his bark rough and reassuringly solid beneath my cheek.
“Any time you want a chat, come and visit me,” he instructed, and I promised I would.
As I started to walk away, he called after me. “You know, you’re as talented a witch as your great grandmother. When I tested her many years ago, she was industrious and ingenious. You are her match.”
That seemed high praise indeed to me, after all everyone was forever telling me what a brilliant witch Gwyn had been, and I have to admit I was buzzing with pride as I joined a group of my friends.
George sat on his rock croaking, and I half felt sorry for him.
Wizard Shadowmender and my father were just out of earshot at the edge of the woods, waiting to escort Jed to a secure location. I had no idea where that would be, but I doubted we would meet again. He met my eyes and we shared one last meaningful smile. There was no doubt that despite everything, Jed, now so accepting of his fate, had a brave heart too.
So it will probably come as no surprise when I confess… that my wand slipped in my hand. “Deformis bufo!” I called, and in a silvery instant, Jed had shrunk.
I stared down at the hideously deformed monster toad I had created. “Wow—sorry about that. You are seriously ugly,” I told him. Glancing back at the shocked faces of my father and Wizard Shadowmender I hurriedly pushed him towards George. “Now skedaddle you two!”
I watched in delight as they jumped together around the rocks, trusting that Vance would take good care of them for now, while I worked on forgiveness for them both.
And maybe sometime soon, when I felt mellow and kind, I’d come back for them.
I awoke twenty-four hours later to the sound of bird song. Not of the volume I had grown used to during my residency at Whittle Inn, but an improvement on the deafening silence of the past few days.
Better than that, Mr Hoo had perched on the window settle. The sheen on his feathers was evident, where just twenty-four hours previously he had been dull and out of condition.
“Morning, little fella,” I said and planted a kiss on his feathery head.
The Mystery of the Marsh Malaise: Wonky Inn Book 5 Page 17