Darkly Wood II

by Power, Max

  “Hold my bike, or better still…” She took the bicycle back, wheeled it around behind him and gently lowered it onto the sand. “… Leave it here.”

  Then she took off. She half skipped, half ran across the sand towards the water’s edge. Looking back behind her over her shoulder, she called to Wormhold.

  “Come on, kick off the boots you old fuddy-duddy.”

  It was then that something extraordinary happened. An old familiar sound crept into his head. But it was different. It was loud and strong and it was instant. It was a warning thump, thump, thump and he grasped his temples.

  “Come on.”

  She called to him again as she reached the water’s edge and it was only then that he noticed, only in that moment that he saw that the young woman who had accosted him, was barefoot. He spun around and looked at her bicycle. The open top of the basket faced him. It only contained sea shells. There were no shoes. The girl hadn’t taken them off, she didn’t have any. Wormhold felt something, he had never felt before. It was strange and it was unnatural and he took a step back.

  CHAPTER FORTY ONE - THE WORK OF THE MASTER

  Daisy May remembered the place, the centre of Darkly Wood all too well. It had been a long time since her last experience in that place but as she looked around, she knew exactly where she was. Wormhold watched her and slowly made his way to something else that was familiar. He reached inside an old log and pulled at an unseen chain.

  The forest erupted and the earth shook. All around her, gravestones rose just as she remembered from her youth. The last time it was Woody who made the gravestones rise from the earth, this time it was Wormhold. She had been terrified the first time and she still recalled the names of all the missing people that she had read on the stones. She still remembered that her name had been there too. The forest shook and the noise was deafening, but it was not new to Daisy and Wormhold watched her take in her stride, a sight that would terrify most.

  When eventually everything settled and the silence returned, Wormhold walked across the makeshift graveyard that had suddenly arisen from the forest floor at his behest, towards Daisy May Coppertop.

  “You remember don’t you?”

  “I remember.” She watched him approach but didn’t move. He stopped short and sat on one of the gravestones.

  “Do you know how much effort I went to in order to create this little memorial ground?”

  He folded his arms and looked straight at Daisy. He knew she was brave, but he hadn’t quite expected her to be as strong as she appeared to be. She showed no fear. He would have to change that. For now he was testing, probing, teasing. He was still unsure just how much daisy knew. Wormhold knew that he had to be cautious.

  “So this is your doing is it? It all seems rather elaborate.”

  She was mocking him with her tone.

  “Oh you have no idea my dear.” Wormhold coughed. It was a strong, deep, throaty cough and he held his hand to his scarf. He cleared away his fit and hoarsely continued.

  “I once knew a man called Cathecus Flincher and he lived a long time ago now.” Wormhold look towards the heavens. “I’m afraid I didn’t treat him too well despite all the years of service he provided. What you see here is all his work.” He waved his hand to indicate that he was talking about the headstones.

  “He was a true artist, a gifted man. All this that you see before you is down to that poor, talented man. It is the work of the master so to speak. He knew not why he did this and perhaps that was the sweetest thing for me.” He smiled a cruel smile underneath his scarf. I tortured the poor soul, with a promise of damnation and I fulfilled my promise I fear. He was a God-fearing man when I first met him but by the time of our parting, it was only me that he feared.”

  Wormhold changed his tone as he continued, hoping to bring a chill to Daisy.

  “Cathecus killed for me and died for me. Well not for me, more because of me. Fear is a wonderful thing. It makes grown men cry and women deny their children if applied in just the right way. Are you fearful Daisy May?”

  He was watching her very carefully and she seemed unmoved. She copied him and sat just a few feet away on another gravestone. It bore the name Zachary Westhelle Hartfiel but she didn’t notice.

  “I wonder,” she began all the time looking straight into Wormhold’s eyes with a fearless abandon that unnerved him a little, “if you are not the one who should be afraid?”

  Wormhold threw his head back and laughed. He laughed loud and long until a fit of coughing took over. It was almost uncontrollable and he coughed while Daisy waited for him to regain his composure. When it eventually passed, he sat still for a few moments before reaching up and slowly unravelling the long scarf from about his face. Daisy had thought it strange that he had covered his face earlier but now that he removed it again, she could see the purpose of his action. This was a man expert in creating fear.

  What lay beneath was truly shocking. Daisy May tried not to react but she couldn’t help show her revulsion. Her lip flinched, as did her left eye. It was not the face she had seen just minutes before. Where there had been a full, handsome face, now there was nothing but the remnants of cheeks and jaw but they were not even that. They were something else. It seemed an impossible amalgam of flesh and scar tissue. It looked fresh and raw as though a wild beast had fed on his face and disfigured everything below his nose. There was space where there should not be space and tissue where it looked unnatural. There were teeth of sorts and it was only when he spoke that Daisy thought she saw something that looked like a tongue through the gaps in his face, but it seemed un-tongue like. Whatever moved in his mouth to form words, seemed to have a life of its own. It looked like uncooked liver and it was vile.

  CHAPTER FORTY TWO – GETTING TO KNOW YOU

  It didn’t take Holly and Rose long to come around again. When they did they found themselves under the close scrutiny of two strange looking creatures. Both beasts squatted on their hunkers in front of them, perhaps ten feet apart from each other and no more than five feet away from the girls, one to the left and one to the right. The women saw that they were still in the clearing and Rose pulled her daughter close. Neither spoke for quite some time as they tried to make sense of what was happening.

  The creatures looked slightly different than when they first saw them and they changed constantly anyway depending on their mood. Up closer than they had been, Holly noticed something peculiar about one of them. It was something familiar. She sat to her mother’s left side and the beast that squatted nearest to Holly couldn’t take his eyes off her. The other one flicked his gaze from one to the other constantly and seemed less focussed, more confused. She watched him and remembered that her grandmother had called one of them by name. She turned to her mother.

  “What did she call him…Grandma I mean… what did she call the creature?”

  Holly spoke very softly so as not to agitate the creatures, but they didn’t seem at all perturbed by the sound of her voice. Rose was surprised by the question, but knew the name very well.

  “Benjamin.” She answered simply.

  “Why, why did she call it Benjamin? Is there something wrong with her? It doesn’t make sense, has she lost her mind?”

  As they spoke, they both kept their eyes on the creatures, afraid they might react to them speaking, but the beasts remained disinterested. Well one seemed a little interested; the one nearest Holly tilted its head ever so slightly as she spoke.

  “I used to think she was crazy Holly but not anymore. Seems like she has lived with these beasts all her life and no one believed her.”

  Escape was no longer their prime concern. Now it felt more like survival was all that mattered. It was an impossible conversation, but they would clutch at any straw. Holly looked up at her mother, as she sat there and wrapped a protective arm around her. She loved her so much and wondered now why she was always trying to push against her.

  “I love you mum.” It was for no other reason than it came to her and R
ose leaned forward and kissed her daughter’s head.

  “I love you too darling.”

  “Why Benjamin?” Holly’s ability to sprout the first words that came to her head, or jump from one thing to another was uncannily like her grandmother. She was so like her really and Rose saw it in her every day. It was more than the head of red hair that they shared.

  “I think the creature is Benjamin Blood. Your Grandmother recognised something in him.”

  As she said his name, the creature to their right suddenly tilted his head and looked straight at Rose. He stopped bouncing on his hunkers.

  “There see, that one.” She nodded with her head to point at the one which reacted. Holly saw the movement. Although they talked, the very act of speaking felt unsafe. The creatures seemed oblivious but they spoke in hushed tones nonetheless.

  “Your grandmother met a boy in Cranby when she was just about your age. His name was Benjamin Blood and I think he was her first love. Well, he was her first love, I know that.” Again the creature reacted when Rose said his name.

  “Look.” Rose indicated with her head again, afraid to point. They were so close. “See how he tilts his head when I say…” she paused just a little so Holly was looking at him. “… Benjamin.”

  He reacted even more now that his focus was on the girls, rising up off his hunkers slightly and bouncing again. He hissed a frightening, vicious sounding hiss and his twin became agitated also.

  “Wasssseeeeeeech.”

  Holly looked at the other creature and still saw something that she couldn’t put her finger on.

  “How is that possible mum? How could she be in love with a beast like this?”

  “Clearly he wasn’t always this way. Look around you. This place…it’s everything my mother told me it was. She thought this was a dream, but it was real all these years.”

  “What do you mean a dream Mum?” Holly simply didn’t understand.

  “It’s a long story darling.” She pulled her daughter close and hugged her and Holly felt great comfort in her mother’s embrace. “Your grandmother came here with Benjamin and fell in love. This place changed him and she thought he died. She somehow escaped from the wood and ended up in a coma in Wickby hospital. They told her it was all a dream. Nothing had happened to her here, it was just her unconscious mind playing tricks. There was no Benjamin and she had never been in terrible danger here in Darkly Wood. They told your clever grandmother, ‘it’s all in your head Daisy May’ but it looks like they were wrong.”

  “Daissssy Maaaaayeeeh.”

  Benjamin had been listening as Rose repeated his name over and over in telling the story. When he heard the name Daisy May, he couldn’t help himself. It had been a long time since he had used his words. He had spoken twice now in a short space of time, he found speech again and it was all very confusing.

  The girls were taken by surprise and they looked at him completely baffled. The other creature tilted his head at the sound of the words.

  “Yes…Yes Daisy May.” Rose spoke to him and the creature moved quite suddenly directly towards her stopping at arm’s length. It startled them and Rose pulled her daughter closer under her protective, motherly arm. The beast studied the young one carefully. She was familiar. He reached out very slowly to feel her red hair.

  “Daissssy Maaaaayeeeh.”

  Holly wanted to pull away from his vile claws, but there was nowhere to go and Rose realised what was happening. She whispered to her daughter.

  “He thinks you are my mother?” She was uncertain but she continued. “You look like she did at your age. You have her hair.”

  He very gently extended his long, claw-like fingers and took a strand of her red hair in his grip. He felt it, rolling it gently along the inside of his fingers with his thumb.

  “Daissssy Maaaaayeeeh.” It was a whispered pining sound.

  “Answer him.” Rose was desperately trying to find a way out of their predicament and as she watched the creature, she saw his features soften with every confused thought that this was Daisy not Holly. Holly could see it too. He was close now and there was even something quite beautiful in his eyes, something human and kind. He still frightened her but some instinct drove her to be bold. She reached out and very tenderly touched his cheek. It took all of her nerve, for despite the softening in his eyes, his teeth threatened with potential to rip her hand from her wrist and shred her arm.

  “Benjamin.” She said his name ever so softly and he closed his eyes, leaning his rough cheek slightly into the cup of her hand.

  “Shaa shaa shaaa … shaa shaa.” The other beast half hopped on his hunkers moving closer, confused and interested in what was happening. Like the Benjamin beast, he tilted his head constantly, listening with his sensitive ears to every word, the sounds meaning nothing but yet somehow familiar. He listened in particular to Holly’s voice, it felt good to him. He shimmied forward, inching in a barely imperceptible way. Like his near twin, this creature was drawn to the words and to something else, something he knew.

  “Keep talking, Rose whispered to her daughter. She looked around. Escape was still beyond them, but now there was a different feel to the wood.

  “Hello Benjamin… Benjamin Blood.” Holly was unsure, improvising with no idea what to say so she simply repeated the name that she knew had an effect. When the other beast suddenly appeared at her other side, she almost jumped. He had moved so quietly and she had been so focussed on Benjamin that she hadn’t noticed him. Now both creatures were hunkered right in front of her like two little puppies. She still cradled Benjamin’s face and he kept his eyes closed as though in some happy blissful trance.

  He had changed dramatically. Now as she looked at him she could see more strands of fair hair and there was a colour in his face. His features seemed to have softened and she was absorbed by the change. Rose watched her daughter’s interaction and could see both creatures fascination with Holly. It was as if Rose had suddenly become invisible. Whatever it was about Holly, they seemed to be completely enthralled by her.

  “There, there Benjamin.” She rubbed her thumb softly against his cheek and he sighed. It was such a contented sound. Holly looked at the other creature who couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  “And what about you my friend?” She offered the creature a big smile and he cocked his head then leaned forward and sniffed the air. “Would you like to be my friend too?”

  Now he definitely recognised the sound. This was more than he could bear. It was confusing and exciting, calming and contented all at the same time.

  “Shaa shaa shaaa … shaa shaa.” The beast repeated the earlier sound made by his twin, but more softly. Holly very gingerly reached out her hand to touch his cheek. Initially he almost pulled away, but something about the girl felt safe. His instinct was to strike but he knew he couldn’t. When her soft pale hand touched his cheek it felt so good. He allowed himself to relax into her touch and like Benjamin he closed his eyes.

  It was an incredible sight. Holly looked at her mother who made an ‘I don’t know’ face and they simply sat there with Holly holding the faces of these two vile and wild creatures, as though they were her loving pets.

  “Everything will be alright now my babies.” Her own words surprised Holly. She didn’t known what she was doing or saying, yet somehow she was working on instinct, controlling two of the wildest, most dangerous things she had ever come across and she was no longer afraid.

  Then something happened. She looked at Benjamin and could see the boy appear. He was a handsome boy. This was no creature of the wood. It was a shocking transformation.

  Holly looked to her mother. She didn’t know what to do. They looked at each other and it was only when Rose clapped her hand to her mouth, that Holly turned to see what she was looking at. It wasn’t Benjamin Blood that caused her surprise. Rose had been looking at the other creature and when Holly turned her head back to look at the beast whose face she held in her hand, she felt the blood drain from her face. The
creature was transforming too. It wasn’t a wild anonymous beast anymore. Although he was still very much the beast, Holly finally realised whose face she was holding. It wasn’t a wild animal. It was Charlie Callous Colson.

  CHAPTER FORTY THREE - SQUELBY

  “There is no such thing as cruelty really. It is only a matter of perception.” Blenerhorn Mastiff Wormhold was a giant of a man and when he spoke, even softly, his words seemed to boom about the room.

  “Take my bloody name,” he said “Blenerhorn! People think it was a horrible thing for my father to do to me, burden me with a name like that. To make matters worse, he gave me a middle name which is even worse. Cruel? Oh no. My father did me a favour. He launched me into this world fists first and damn any man that might challenge me for the sake of my name.”

  He sucked in a breath and looked out from his window onto the sea. There were six tall ships tied up in the port below his window and Blenerhorn Mastiff Wormhold owned five of them. He was a master trader and the new routes that had opened up in the West Indies had only made him wealthier. His chest pushed out, thumbs hooked in his vest, he stood there with his back to his guest, a man filled with false pride and little modesty. In truth, the empire he boasted of was a result of his father’s efforts, but Blenerhorn didn’t let that bother him. He turned to face the scrawny bearded man waiting patiently for the opportunity to say his piece.

  “What say you sir, eh? Do you think my name is something of a burden for me?”

  The quiet little man shifted in his seat and spoke up.

  “With a name like Matthew Squelby, I am hardly one to talk.” He smiled and Blenerhorn burst out laughing.

  “Squelby, off course…Ha! Your parents were worse than mine.” He finished off with a raucous burst of laughter and slapped the table with his enormous hand. Matthew Squelby didn’t flinch. He waited for Blenerhorn to calm down and when he finally did, both men exchanged a look of confused uncertainty for a few moments.