The Binding

by Jenny Alexander

  ‘What about other kinds of berries?’ I asked, in a general sort of way.

  ‘Little round ones,’ Milo said, looking up from his game. He’d already got down from the table and I didn’t think he would be listening. When he’s playing with his cars you could tell him there was a tiger in the garden, or a massive Easter egg full of jelly babies (which he loves), and he wouldn’t even hear you. ‘Little round black ones,’ he added.

  ‘We saw some on a bush,’ Tressa said, quickly.

  ‘Oh, that’ll be blueberries,’ said Matt, gathering the plates. ‘They grow all over the Highlands and Islands.’

  ‘What, not just in Morna, then?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘And are there any berries that do just grow here and nowhere else?’

  ‘That’s a funny question!’

  It was time for a quick subject-change.

  ‘I know another funny question,’ I said. ‘What’s the difference between a flea and a wolf? One prowls on the hairy and the other howls on the prairie!’

  Matt laughed. Tressa managed a smile. Milo said he didn’t get it. He listened patiently while Mum explained, frowned as if he was thinking about it, and then asked, ‘Are those little round black berries poison?’

  ‘No, no—they’re edible, and very tasty too,’ said Matt. ‘Who’d like a hot drink?’

  You would have expected Tressa to be really angry with the big boy, but she wasn’t. She thought it was a brilliant trick because although you could be pretty sure the berries couldn’t really be poisonous, still you couldn’t help wondering, ‘What if?’

  ‘That was genius,’ she said. ‘Now I can’t wait to tell him about all the horrible effects I’ve suffered. That’ll put the wind up him!’

  Chapter 5

  A new moon is a magic moon

  ‘So you’ve come back then,’ the big boy said, when we arrived at the bothy the next day.

  ‘We nearly didn’t make it,’ Tressa told him, doing her best to look off-colour. ‘I had a bad reaction, like you said. I was up half the night being sick.’

  The boy gave her a steady look.

  ‘I don’t suppose you’ll want to join now, in that case.’

  I couldn’t tell whether he believed her or was just playing along. Milo looked confused. It was the first he’d heard that Tressa had been sick.

  ‘But Matt said. . .’

  Tressa talked over him. ‘Of course we want to join,’ she said. ‘The whole point about an initiation is that it’s supposed to be tough.’

  The boy slowly nodded his head. Tressa said that since we were going to join now, maybe they should tell us their names.

  ‘In the outside world, I’m Duncan, and this is Hamish and Elspeth. But inside the bothy we have different names.’

  He nodded to the others and they both got up and went inside. He stayed sitting there, so we stayed too, waiting to see what would happen next. You could tell he didn’t feel like talking because he stared straight out to sea and completely ignored us.

  What were they doing in there? It seemed to take forever. Tressa glanced at me a few times, rolling her eyes. Milo shuffled across to the edge of the grass on his bottom and started digging around in the stones.

  After about a thousand years, Hamish and Elspeth came back out and told Duncan they were ready. They stood aside to let Duncan go in first, then followed straight after him leaving us to bring up the rear.

  When we’d been in the bothy before, it had been dark and gloomy, and we had been trespassing. We had thought it was just an old fisherman’s house some kids had been using as a den. Now, as we went in, it didn’t feel like a den at all. Our mouths fell open in surprise.

  Hamish and Elspeth had put tea-lights on the floor all around the edge of the room, and their flickering yellow flames lit up the bottom of the rough stone walls. In the middle of the room, instead of three upturned fish-boxes, there were now six, and they made a proper circle around the makeshift table, on which someone had put the tin box marked Privite.

  Hamish shut the door, and we sat down where Duncan told us to. We couldn’t see each other’s faces very well because the candles were behind us. Milo was so excited he couldn’t sit still. You could tell he was slightly scared too, because he kept putting his thumb in his mouth and then remembering it made him look like a baby and taking it out again.

  Duncan took a small silver key out of his pocket and gave it to Elspeth. She leaned forward and opened the box. On the top, was a piece of black cloth, folded in a square, which she lifted out carefully and laid on one side. Then she brought out a thick stubby candle and a black candle holder shaped like a saucer with a handle.

  Hamish got up, fetched some matches from the shelf, lit the candle, and went back to his place. Everything they did felt like a dance, as if they knew all the steps by heart.

  The big candle in the middle lit up our faces so that we could see each other better, but the soft light and dark shadows made us look different somehow, and not like ourselves. Tressa’s eyes looked wider than normal, and they gleamed intently.

  ‘We are here to accept three new members,’ said Duncan, ‘into this secret society known as the Binding.’

  Elspeth took a silver pen from the box, and a pile of clean paper. Then, lifting it carefully like something precious and fragile, she brought out a small, flat parcel. She unfolded the brown paper to reveal what was inside. Pieces of paper, all the same size, covered with writing.

  ‘Tell them first,’ said Duncan, ‘the names by which we are known.’

  Elspeth pushed her pale hair back behind her ears. She selected a page from her parcel of papers, and read in her whispery voice.

  ‘First, the Lawmaker, who makes the laws we live by. Second, the Deputy. Third the Teller, who writes it all down.’

  She put the paper back on the pile. It wasn’t exactly hard to guess who was who.

  ‘Now read them the laws,’ said Duncan.

  Elspeth selected another page.

  ‘These are the laws,’ she said. ‘They are given by the Lawmaker, and written down by the Teller. One: it is forbidden to tell anyone anything about the business of the Binding. Two: it is the sacred duty of us all to inform on anyone who does tell the secrets of the Binding.’

  Elspeth paused, to give us time to take it in. Then she pushed her hair back behind her ears again and carried on.

  ‘Three: the members of the Binding will attend all meetings called by the Lawmaker, and do whatever he tells them to do. Four: anyone who disobeys the Lawmaker must accept the punishment.’

  She put the paper down. I caught Tressa’s eye. As a world-class bossy-boots, she’d definitely met her match in Duncan.

  ‘What is the punishment?’ she asked.

  ‘Whatever the Lawmaker decides,’ said Hamish. He pointed to the black cloth. ‘This is called the Judgement. The Lawmaker puts it on when he makes up the punishment.’

  ‘What’s on the rest of those pieces of paper?’ I asked.

  Elspeth started to leaf through them.

  ‘The secret past of the Binding. . . The secret places of Morna. . . Two simple rules about how to behave at home. . .’

  Tressa interrupted her.

  ‘Can you read us some of them?’

  ‘There isn’t time this evening,’ Duncan told her. ‘If you accept the laws of the Binding, we have to perform your naming ceremony.’

  Whatever we thought of the laws, we didn’t want to miss the ceremony, so we all agreed.

  ‘Then, Teller—write it down.’

  Elspeth got a fresh sheet of paper and wrote on it with the silver pen, ‘The names of the new members.’

  ‘Stand up, Milo,’ Duncan said.

  Milo stood up.

  ‘I name you the Page.’

  ‘Is that because you can read him like a book?’ I said, quick as a flash. When a joke pops into your head, sometimes you just can’t help yourself.

  ‘No,’ Duncan said, as if it was a serious question. �
��A page is a young boy, about seven or eight years old, who serves a master in exchange for learning the skills of a knight. It’s from the Middle Ages.’

  ‘I didn’t know that!’ Tressa remarked. Which wasn’t something you heard her say very often.

  Duncan looked pleased. Then he told Milo he would have some important duties as the Page, such as opening and closing the door for the Lawmaker. Milo was well happy with that. Pages were supposed to be seven or eight, but Duncan had said he could be one, and he was only five!

  ‘Now sit down, Page, and stand up Jack,’ said Duncan.

  Milo sat down and I stood up, but Duncan didn’t say anything straight away. He was so good at this. He made it feel solemn and real.

  ‘I name you the Joker. You will bring more fun into the Binding, not just by telling jokes, but also by organising games.’

  That took the wind out of my sails. No-one had ever actually asked me to tell jokes before. Whenever I hit my stride jokes-wise, nearly everyone tells me to go away.

  ‘How do you tease fruit?’ I said. ‘Bana-na-na-na-na!’

  Hamish grinned, Tressa rolled her eyes and Milo said he didn’t get it. Elspeth smiled as if she was far away and thinking of something else. Duncan smiled with his mouth, but his blue eyes didn’t flicker. They were going to be a tough crowd, but the thing about jokes is you have to wear people down.

  ‘So, sit down, Joker and stand up, Tressa,’ said Duncan. ‘I name you the Teacher. You called the test an “initiation” and that is a better word. You will share your knowledge here in the Binding.’

  How did he know that was the perfect thing to choose for Tressa? She was beaming as she sat back down.

  ‘What about Nee-na?’ Milo piped up. ‘What’s his special name?’

  Duncan looked at the little police car in Milo’s outstretched palm. It gleamed in the flickering candlelight.

  ‘This is not a place for toys. Don’t bring that here again.’

  He was spot on with Tressa but he didn’t have the measure of Nee-na at all. Nee-na goes everywhere with Milo, including to bed. Sometimes Milo wakes up with a little car-print on his cheek from where he’s fallen asleep on him.

  ‘Teller—read what you have written back to us, so that we can agree it’s correct.’

  Elspeth read what she had written and then passed the paper round, with the pen, and we signed our names at the bottom to show we agreed. Then she parcelled up all the sheets of paper and put them back in the box.

  Her hands moved delicately in the candlelight, like little birds fluttering from one thing to another. Her pale hair fell over her face as she worked, wispy and gold. The girls at home were loud and giggly, or sporty, or pink and girly. But Elspeth was a different kind of girl altogether, like someone hardly there, a trick of the candlelight.

  Hamish blew out the big candle, and our faces were plunged into the shadows again. Elspeth put the candle and its holder carefully into the box with the parcel of papers, the clean sheets and the silver pen. She put the cloth they called the Judgement in beside it, closed the lid, locked the box and gave the key back to Duncan.

  Then they stood up, so we stood up too, and we all joined hands in a circle round the makeshift table, with the locked box in the middle. The circle started turning slowly. As we moved to the left, Duncan said some words, and then, changing direction, we all repeated them.

  In the winding, round and round

  What we wind can’t be unwound

  What we bind can’t be unbound

  The Binding

  Duncan said, ‘We’ll meet here tomorrow at seven o’clock to record the history of the new members and reveal some more of the mysteries.’

  ‘But that’s after tea,’ I said. ‘Our mum will want to know where we’re going.’

  ‘Evenings are the best time for histories.’ Duncan got up to go. He went towards the door, but then stopped. ‘Where is my Page?’ Milo dived past him and opened the door, looking delighted with himself.

  We came out into the daylight. The sea was glassy and still. Elspeth looked up at the sky and following her gaze, we saw a thin white sliver of moon. I never knew you could see the moon before the sun went down. I’d certainly never noticed that in London. Maybe it only happened here.

  ‘A new moon is a magic moon,’ Elspeth said, in her whispery voice. ‘That’s what my granny used to say. A new moon is a new beginning.’

  ‘Yes, but your granny was a bit mad, wasn’t she?’ Hamish said, heading off to catch up with Duncan.

  All the way back, Milo trotted ahead like a dog on his favourite walk, but when he got to the bent-over tree in front of the house, he turned to wait for us.

  ‘I will have to tell the Lawmaker,’ he told me, puffing out his chest. ‘You talked to Mum and Matt about the berries.’

  I didn’t argue, and Milo disappeared into the house.

  ‘This should be good,’ Tressa said. ‘We’re going to see the Lawmaker in action. I can’t wait!’

  Chapter 6

  The eyes and ears of the Lawmaker

  Question:

  What’s the difference between Father Christmas and a warm dog?

  Answer:

  Father Christmas wears a whole suit, a warm dog just pants!

  Mum was fussing over Milo, making him put his coat on. You could tell she wasn’t happy about us all going out after tea, but Matt said what harm could we come to?

  ‘All right,’ she said to me and Tressa. ‘Look after Milo and be home by half past eight.’

  It had felt like a long day. All I could think about was the Binding, but Tressa and Milo didn’t say a word about it in front of Mum and Matt, so I didn’t either, and the more we didn’t talk about it, the more I seemed to think about it.

  ‘So you’re going to meet some island children you’ve made friends with?’ Mum said, tugging at Milo’s coat zip. ‘And they’re about the same age as you?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tressa.

  ‘And you’re going to one of their houses?’

  Tressa said we were meeting them at the beach, but we’d be back way before dark, so it was just the same as going out in the daytime really.

  As we walked down across the grass towards the shore, we all agreed that it had been OK to tell Mum and Matt we’d made friends, because we basically had to, and we hadn’t given anything away.

  By the time we got to the beach, the bothy was in deep shadow under the low cliff, and they were sitting on the grass outside, waiting for us. Wisps of smoke were rising up from the chimney into the still air.

  Duncan asked the Page to open the door for us, wait until we were all inside, and then come in, closing the door behind him. Milo followed his instructions, and when Duncan thanked him, he wriggled like a puppy, all waggy with pride.

  The room was set out differently. The upturned fish-boxes were arranged in a semi-circle around the fireplace, where a bright fire of driftwood crackled in the hearth. There were candles placed on jutting-out stones in the wall all around it, and with all the light at one end, the other end of the bothy looked even more shadowy and dark.

  The makeshift table was in front of Elspeth, to the left-hand side of the hearth, and Duncan sat opposite her on the right-hand side. He gave her the key and she unlocked the box. Then she delicately took out the black square of cloth they called the Judgement, and the big candle.

  She put the candle in its candle-holder, and Hamish lit it. We didn’t need it in order to see each other’s faces because they were lit up by the fire. It was just the dance.

  We waited for Duncan to say something. To our surprise, he looked at Milo and asked him, ‘Have you brought Nee-na?’ Milo nodded into his chest.

  ‘Then go outside and stay there until I call you back in, and when you come back inside, don’t bring him with you.’

  I caught Tressa’s eye.

  ‘What if he wanders off?’ I said. ‘We’re supposed to be looking after him.’

  Duncan fixed Milo with his pale piercing e
yes and said, ‘He will not wander off. He will stay on the grass right in front of the bothy.’

  Milo’s bottom lip quivered and his hand moved to put his thumb in his mouth, but he didn’t.

  ‘B-but what if the seagulls take him?’

  ‘I told you not to bring him to the bothy,’ Duncan said.

  Milo went outside, shutting the door quietly after him. We sat there, looking at each other. I listened for the sound of him crying, but the only sounds were the crackle of the fire and the murmur of the sea.

  After a few minutes, Duncan called Milo back in.

  ‘Have you left Nee-na outside?’

  Milo said, ‘Yes.’ It was weird, because he didn’t look upset or cross—he just looked completely in awe of Duncan.

  ‘Then you can take your place.’

  When Milo was sitting down again, Duncan told Elspeth to start a new document. She took a clean sheet from her pile of papers.

  ‘You will call it, “The history of the new members,”’ Duncan said.

  She wrote it down.

  ‘Now, I’ll ask them some questions, we’ll listen to their answers, and I will tell you what to write.’

  He started with Milo.

  ‘Where have you come from, Page?’

  ‘London,’ said Milo.

  ‘What kind of place is London?’

  Milo immediately thought of all the things he loved about London. ‘It’s got cars, all sorts of cars. They’re parked in all the roads round us, and you can tell what sort they are by their badges.’

  Duncan nodded encouragement and Milo went on.

  ‘It’s got buses too, and ambulances and police cars. . .’ He glanced wistfully at the door.

  ‘And what else?’ said Duncan.

  ‘Trains and planes, lots of planes. . . And the tube!’

  ‘So the places you roam with the Joker and the Teacher are streets and stations?’ asked Duncan.

  ‘We don’t roam!’ Milo looked surprised.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because of bad people and getting lost and. . .and things.’