by Booth, John
"Look at the photograph of the garden."
I duly looked again.
"There on the patio," Jenny said when she realized I was still baffled. Drawn in chalk on the paving slabs was a hopscotch court.
"Just a coincidence."
"Turn to page two where there's more detail."
Bronwyn has vanished before, but never for so long. 'We put up the fences when she was ten to stop her wandering off,' her father Brian Mathews told our reporter. 'Bronwyn has a way of disappearing on us that started when she was eight. We thought she had grown out of it. She's very young for her age and is always us telling fantastic stories of places she imagines she's been. Her mother and I are frantic with worry."
"Can she be a wizard, or are they always men?"
I sighed. Without a doubt, Jenny was going to get me involved in this whether I wanted or not.
"Wizards can be female, or so the Master claimed. Female wizards usually stay in the background and keep to themselves as they rarely want to take over anything."
"You have to help her, Jake."
"If she's a wizard, she can take care of herself."
"Or be killed, or injured. That could have easily happened to you. You told me so yourself."
"The chances of two wizards being born in one small town in Wales must be astronomical. It's probably a coincidence."
"You help find missing people, Jake. Bronwyn's a missing person. Why can't you find her?"
I sighed even louder, but Jenny frowned at me.
"I only find people when their relatives ask me to look for them. I haven't had a call from this Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, have I?"
My mobile began to ring and Jenny gave me a superior look.
"This is a new mobile. The police don't even have the number," I said casually. I took my time getting the phone out of my pocket in the hope it would stop ringing before I could answer it. The damned thing kept on ringing regardless of my wishes.
"Yes."
"Jake Morrissey?"
"Yes."
"This is Sergeant Brandon Jones. We got your phone number from your mother. I wonder if we I can ask you to come down to the station."
"I'm in Kate's Coffee Shop and I'm busy."
"Wait there, we'll send a car."
The line went dead. Jenny looked at me expectantly.
"The police are sending a car."
"I knew it," Jenny said with a smirk on her face.
The police don't like me and I have to say the feeling is mutual. When the car arrived, the two constables didn't want to take Jenny with us, until I mentioned her full name. It was not that many months ago she'd been kidnapped by a sadistic serial killer. I helped him gain a close and intimate acquaintanceship with a concrete pillar, which ended his life and helped uncover another four murders.
The police never believed Jenny's story of what happened to her, mainly because it was a pack of lies. But then, it would be difficult to explain how the man ended up crushed three inches into solid concrete. I did it to him and I certainly can't explain how I did it. I was very angry with him.
The journey to the police station took place in an unhealthy silence. I asked no questions and nothing was volunteered. We were taken to an interrogation room on the second floor and nobody offered us tea and biscuits when we arrived.
"Jenny Owens," a man in his forties said as he stood up, "you don't remember me, but I met you a couple of times when you were a child. It was your father who rang me and suggested I ask Jake Morrissey to help with the search." He turned to me. "I'm Brian Mathews and you must be Jake."
We shook hands. Sergeant Jones turned up at the door and sent off the two constables who brought us to the police station.
"Jake," Sergeant Jones said curtly.
"Sergeant," I replied, equally curtly.
"Mr. Mathews has asked we bring you in on the search. You know my views on the matter."
"Peter Owens is convinced Jake can help."
"Jake didn't help with your escape from your attacker, did he Miss Owens?"
"Of course not, Sergeant," Jenny replied sweetly. "But Jake is very good at finding people, isn't he?"
The sergeant frowned and didn't answer Jenny's question.
"Peter said I should bring something of Bronwyn's with me." I was offered a small cloth purse. "She normally takes this with her."
"In this particular case I'd like to see your back garden, if that's all right with you?"
"My car is in the parking lot, we can go right now."
The driveway to the house had a police constable on guard and there were a number of photographers hanging around. Flashguns erupted as we drove into the drive. Brian told us a female police officer was keeping his wife company while they waited for news.
"There's a gate at the side of the house we normally keep locked. It's been open since the police started investigating Bronwyn's disappearance."
"We'll find it," I said casually. "We won't be coming into the house, but we will start looking for your daughter as soon as we've looked in the garden. I'm sure she'll turn up safe and sound."
We shook hands again and Jenny and I wandered around the side of the house to the gate. It was an impressive solid oak monstrosity. Barbed wire coiled along the fence and above the gate, making escape impossible.
"If I lived here, I'd want to get out the first chance I got," I whispered to Jenny. "Are you sure bringing her back to this place is a good thing?"
"Let’s find her first and we can ask her, Jake. What are you going to do?"
"If she used a stone to hop out into the multiverse, the court might still be open. I'm going to try hopping out on it."
"Then I can't come too?" Jenny sounded disappointed.
"Probably not safe, not until I've checked where it goes. Once I've got there, I'll return and take you with me."
Jenny nodded. I was keen to get her involved in this search. Perhaps if she saw how tedious this work could get, she wouldn't be so keen for me to take on the next job.
I looked around to see no one was looking and then hopped and skipped across the court. With no destination in mind and no stone thrown, I should have stayed on Earth unless Bronwyn had hopped before me.
Soft stone and rubble crumbled below my feet and a wave of intense heat blasted at me. I almost slipped as I tottered backwards. Down the slope and not all that far away, molten lava rumbled past. The noise, the heat and the smell of sulfur were overwhelming.
Staggering backwards, I found myself in a small lee of land. Blocked from the radiant heat of the liquid rock my face still hurt from my short exposure. At the bottom of the slope, a flat black slab of rock was marked out with a hurriedly drawn hopscotch court. That was a relief, because I'd been worried Bronwyn fell to a horrible fiery death.
I certainly wasn't going to bring Jenny to this hellhole. I hastily hopped and skipped across the new court to another world.
And found myself in a flat stone desert. I spun around and looked out across the virtually featureless terrain. It was almost as hot in the desert as it had been at the lava. This Bronwyn girl certainly showed a talent for finding places I would never want to go. I looked down at the ground in the hope of finding some kind of tracks. To my surprise, there were cart tracks on the stone below my feet. Footprints remained in the dusting of sand over the rocks. Assuming the local sun set in the west, the tracks went North West.
I hopped back to the patio and started to shiver. Compared with the two places I'd just been, Wales was very cold.
"Coming?" I asked and Jenny took my hand. A second later, we were standing in the desert.
"God, it's hot!"
"Not as hot as the place Bronwyn hopped from to here. That had running lava flows."
"How will we find her? She could have wandered off anywhere." Jenny looked around the desert. If someone collapsed here they would probably be covered in sand in a short time. A hot breeze blew across the open plain and my lips were already feeling parched.
"
There are cart tracks over here and enough footprints to give us the direction the carts were going."
Jenny peered down at the marks in the dust.
"How can you be sure?"
"Welsh shepherd blood flows through my veins," I said grinning at her.
"I thought that only worked for finding the nearest pub."
"That too. Welsh shepherds are nothing if not practical."
"Do we start walking?"
"Only if you want to. Otherwise we could do this." I grabbed Jenny's hand and hopped us to the horizon in the direction of the tracks. Jenny staggered from me on arrival as the ground had a slope. I'm used to landing from a hop and remained standing at the spot I appeared.
"Next time, warn me if you're going to do that. Where did we come from?"
I pointed back across the featureless landscape. This was not particularly helpful as one bit of the desert looked exactly like the rest.
"And where did the cart track go?"
I pointed confidently in the other direction. The sun was sinking in the direction I pointed and Jenny put her hand onto her brow to try to see.
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I can see three covered wagons. It looks as though the ground rises fairly steeply over there. They're nearly at the horizon." To me, the wagons were easy to see. Each was pulled by a single horse and three people walked besides them.
"I can't see a thing," Jenny complained. "Either your eyesight would put an eagle to shame or you're cheating and using magic."
"It could be either," I admitted. I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if I was using magic subconsciously. I could never remember a time when I hadn't been able to see whatever I wanted, provided it was visible in the first place.
"Are we going to hop to them?"
"That might not be the safest plan. I'll hop us beyond them and then we can meet them head on. Given the way the ground slopes over there, they'll think we've come over the brow of a hill. Not everyone I meet in these places is friendly towards wizards."
Jenny nodded in approval of the plan and held out her hand.
We landed out of sight on the other side of the hill. One day I was going to have to investigate how my powers always put me exactly where I wanted them to. It was as if they were cheating and looking ahead.
"Act nonchalant and don't say anything when they greet us. I'll try and touch one of them to learn their language and then teach you. Just smile and look pretty until I do."
"I understand, oh great Welsh Native Tracker. You wantum squaw keepum plenty quiet."
"Chance would be a fine thing," I said under my breath. Why were girls so sarcastic?
The tops of the wagons came into view first. They were more like gypsy caravans now I could see them up close. They'd been gaily decorated once, but sand and the glare of the sun left their painted sides grey and faded. Each horse was being steered by a walker. The walkers themselves were dour looking men in faded red and purple clothing. Each man wore a sombrero and carried a large knife in a belt at their waist.
We got within fifty feet before they noticed us. The wind was blowing into their faces and they kept their heads down. To say they were taken aback by our presence would be an understatement. A closer description would be to say they looked profoundly shocked.
"Alit treddle bim?" the man leading the nearest caravan asked. I walked towards him with a wide smile on my face and hands open in front of me where he could see them. He frowned but made no attempt to reach for his knife.
"Alit treddle bim?" he repeated when I made no answer. He put out his hand in greeting and I grasped it gratefully. With any luck, we would soon be home and dry.
"Do you go with God?" he asked for the third time as I absorbed the language from his mind.
"We go with God," I replied and I saw the relief on his face. "This is my wife," I said waving towards Jenny. She had moved forwards as soon as she saw me take the man's hand and I held out my hand to her. Jenny took the hint and I fed her the language as I pulled her close.
"My wife and I are searching the trail for an errant child. Have you seen her?"
"We caught a witch woman. My son keeps a knife to her throat in vigil until we get her to town. Father Drog prefers all witches be brought to him to burn the evil from the creatures himself rather than allow them the quick and easy death of cold steel."
"I understand. This may be the one we seek. She displayed disturbing evil and was about to be tested when she fled from us." I wondered how I made this stuff up. It seems I absorb some of the local culture along with the language and I knew at some deep level that this was the right thing to say. Jenny frowned at me, so maybe the culture didn't take when I passed the language on.
"She appeared out of the very air itself the night before last. Her witch power must have been drained by her travel because we were able to capture and bind her without trouble. I will show her to you but you must stay clear of the wagon when I open the door."
"You do not see us as Children of God?"
"You wear strange clothes like the witch women, and speak in an accent unfamiliar to me. You understand that I must protect my family from strangers, lest they turn out to be demons in disguise."
"As would any prudent head of the family," Jenny chipped in. I could see the man's face go through a mixture of emotions as Jenny spoke. In the end, he nodded.
Our actions must have looked strange to anybody watching us. Jenny and I walked around the lead caravan giving it a wide berth. The other two men flanked us, staying at least ten feet away. The man we talked to walked to the back of the wagon and shouted out.
"Tyden, it is I, your father, Grimpt. I am about to open the door."
"What is the word of God, father?"
"Kill all witches," Grimpt replied with a grin on his face. I guessed his son passed some test by asking for the phrase.
Grimpt unlatched and opened the door at the back of the caravan and swung the door wide. Sitting on the floor of the wagon with his legs splayed wide in front of him was a scruffy fourteen year old boy with the wildest eyes I've ever seen. He held Bronwyn in front of him with a knife pressed against her neck. The knife had already pricked her neck many times and her neck was stained with blood. Her hands and feet were tied with rope and a similar piece of rope gagged her mouth. Bronwyn looked terrified and who could blame her?
"Strangers, father," the boy said in something close to terror.
"Come to view the witch woman, child. There is nothing to fear." Grimpt turned back to me. "Is she the one you were looking for?"
Jenny turned away so that the men couldn't see her face.
"She is the one," I agreed. "A witch just as we feared. She deserves to be burnt."
A murmur of approval rose from the men and I saw Grimpt and his son Tyden relax at my words.
"We will not trouble you further," I told them. "Come Jenny."
'Ask us to stay, ask us to stay', I thought at Grimpt as hard as I could. I walked to Jenny and took her hand.
"Stay strangers and break your fast with us. I take it you have come from Barren?" Grimpt asked to my intense relief.
"Indeed we have. We would be happy to accept your hospitality."
"Then it is decided. My companions here are Yuldu and Aldar. They are my brothers."
"I am Jake and this is my wife, Jenny."
Grimpt swung the door of the caravan shut on his son and Bronwyn, making sure its latch closed.
"Walk with me as we approach the campsite," Grimpt suggested. "Your wife may ride one of the wagons if she wishes."
"It would only make her soft," I replied, to general chuckles. "She may walk at the rear of the wagons if that pleases you."
"Well said," Yuldu commented. "My wife and daughter hide in my wagon against the sun. Your wife could make their acquaintance if you so desire."
"If God approves," I said piously. Many of these words and phrases seemed to be built into the language, like please and thank you.
Yuldu unlatched the door of his wagon and introduced Jenny to his wife Kallif and daughter Sinfal. Jenny climbed into the wagon and then its door was latched tight from the outside. It seemed the men didn't trust their wives and children enough to let them come and go freely.
The campsite was over two miles down the road and it took us nearly an hour to reach it. The heat was getting to me by the time the wagons were neatly parked around a small oasis. Small shrubs growing by the dirty looking pond provided a windbreak against the endless wind.
I still needed to figure out a way to rescue Bronwyn. The boy holding her was far too jittery for me to attempt to drag her away from him. He would stab her on the slightest excuse. I really must practice more magic, because I didn't have any trick lined up I could be certain would work. Even giving the boy a magical order to sleep would take a second or two to take effect and it would take less time than that for him to slit her throat.
I was working on the idea that if we stayed close to these fanatics I was bound to get an opportunity to rescue Bronwyn eventually. I wasn't sure Jenny would understand what I was up to, but there was no way to let her know.
The women were let out of the wagons. After Grimpt went through the same knocking and password ritual with Tyden, I discovered things were more desperate than I thought. Bronwyn looked alert when I saw her earlier, but when she was pulled out of the wagon by Grimpt and Tyden, I saw she was desperately dehydrated.
"She needs water," Jenny told them.
"That would require us to loosen the gag and she would cast a spell upon us." Grimpt said grimly. "She will live long enough to burn."
Jenny moved close to Bronwyn. She made as if to turn away and I tensed as I saw the look in her eyes. Her foot kicked out backwards, knocking Tyden's knife out of his hand.
Then all hell broke loose.
As soon as I saw the look on Jenny's face I knew she was going to do something foolish. I was moving towards Bronwyn before she kicked the knife from Tyden's hand. I can't really say I formulated a plan, but I grabbed Grimpt by the shirt and pulled, dragging him away from the girls.
Jenny followed up the kick by turning around and pushing Tyden to the ground. I found myself standing in front of Jenny and Bronwyn in a defensive posture as Grimpt's family pulled their knives and advanced towards us.