The Amber Pendant

by Imogen White

And with that, he jumped up, and a second later Rose could hear him already hammering down the stairs. She took a moment to compose herself. Life outside the workhouse was certainly VERY strange. And, she thought with a quick smile, very exciting! To think a workhouse girl like her was to have lunch with the mistress of the house. Placing her hand on her chest she swayed a little. Maybe she’d find out more about being a guardian to Miss Templeforth’s pendant and about the magic it contained! She couldn’t wait.

  Exhilarated, Rose rushed from the room, swerving just in time to miss Mr Gupta striding along the corridor.

  “Sorry, Sir.” Rose pinned herself against the wall, allowing him space to pass. Mr Gupta nodded as he swept by, while his monkey, perching on his shoulder, hissed at her. She watched Mr Gupta enter his room, and heard the key turning in the lock behind him.

  Rose paused. There’s something very wrong about that pair. I don’t trust ’em one inch.

  “Come on, Rose!” Rui shouted from the lobby below.

  As Rose reached the library door, she could see the fire cheerfully burning in the grate, while Miss Templeforth laughed at something Rui had said. A table had been drawn up to Miss Templeforth’s armchair, set with a tablecloth, cutlery and three steaming bowls. Rose breathed in the delicious aroma. Rui was sitting at the table with a space free next to him for Rose.

  “Rui,” Miss Templeforth gasped, wiping a tear of happiness away. “How I have missed your company.”

  “And I yours,” Rui replied.

  Rose coughed lightly from the entrance, but they were too engrossed to hear her, so she stood and watched a little longer. The pair seemed so happy alone together, it seemed a pity to interrupt.

  “Now, tell me, before young Rose gets here, how are the two of you getting along?” Miss Templeforth asked.

  “Well, I’ve little experience of spending time in the company of English people my own age. I’ve only encountered adult etiquette and formalities here. I do worry that I may be getting things wrong. I don’t mean to, you understand. I’ve tried to make the right impression on her, but I’m not certain it’s worked at all.”

  Rose stepped out of view behind the door frame. Make the right impression on me! She listened closely, though the stuffed animals goggled at her from the lobby walls and made her feel guilty.

  “You haven’t been Sherlock Holmesing her, have you?” Miss Templeforth enquired.

  “Erm… A bit.” He coughed.

  “I see. No, I wouldn’t say Rose would find that too agreeable.”

  “But tell me, Miss T,” he whispered. “What danger is she in?”

  Miss Templeforth choked a little. “All will be revealed.” She cleared her throat. “Just be sure to take care of her during your stay. She has some important work to undertake. Now, where the devil is she?”

  Rose pinned herself against the wall, uncertain what to do next. I can’t go in now, she panicked. They’ll think I’ve been eavesdropping – which I have.

  The grandfather clock opposite her gonged once, and Rose jumped. She couldn’t hold off any longer, so she stepped up and tapped lightly on the open door. Immediately the two faces turned towards her.

  “Ah, Rose, there you are,” Miss Templeforth said. “Rui tells me you have been getting acquainted? Do shut the door, my dear.”

  “Y-yes!” Rose stammered, pushing it to.

  “Come, Rose.” Rui patted the seat next to him, and then gestured to the lunch set out before them. “It’s English soup, vegetables boiled with water, no spice or flavour. You will love it.” Rui caught Miss Templeforth’s stern look and shrugged. “It’s the truth. The Englishman’s taste in food is like his choice in clothes. Bland and sombre, but…assuredly practical.”

  “Manners, Rui,” Miss Templeforth chided, with a wry smile.

  Rose took her seat at the table.

  “It’s just an observation, no malice intended.” He picked up the pepper pot, “and I will love this soup too, after a little tinkering.” Pepper particles filled the air as he smothered the soup with grey powder. “Perfect,” he grinned.

  Cook’s soup smelled delicious, and Rose’s eyes settled hungrily on the bowl set before her. Then she spotted the tray of cream fingers piled high on a plate in the middle. Oozing with jam and clotted cream: pudding! Catching Rose’s interest, Rui grabbed the plate and offered her one. She shook her head, knowing they were meant for afters. But Rui grabbed one and dunked it in his soup. “Umm.” He pulled a quizzical face. “Interesting.”

  Rose wasn’t sure if he’d just done it for a laugh – to impress her, or whether he genuinely didn’t know.

  Rose tried not to giggle, but caught Miss Templeforth’s smile. “Do you remember nothing that I taught you?” She leaned to Rose and whispered, “You’ll have to keep an eye on him, dear,” adding a little louder, “he’s very strong-willed.”

  Rose nodded with a grin.

  “What?” Rui asked, dunking it in again.

  Rose tried to eat her soup slowly as she imagined a companion would, rather than rushing it as she wanted to. She popped a bit of bread into her mouth.

  “Now…” Miss Templeforth continued, picking her words carefully. “Tell me about your tutor, Rui. Mr Gupta…how do you…find his company?”

  I knew it! She don’t trust him much either. Rose’s interest pricked as she remembered her mistress’s reaction to him earlier. She stopped chewing her bread to listen.

  “Quite enthralling, Miss T,” Rui enthused.

  “And you trust him?”

  “Of course. With my life.”

  “Very good…he is…certainly a learned man.” Miss Templeforth’s voice trailed off as she stirred her soup.

  Rui picked up his bowl and downed it. Smacking his lips together, he tapped his mouth with his napkin. “Magic, Miss T – is it time?” He grinned.

  “Yes, now, Rui has chosen a story for me to tell you both, Rose. The story he has picked may interest you… It is about the legend of the Amber Cup, and about my pendant too.”

  Rose’s neck stretched forward.

  “Yes!” Rui began, clapping his knees with excitement. “In India Miss T always wore her pendant and it fascinated me, you see. She would tell me many stories, but the one about the cup was always my favourite and—”

  “Why, you made me tell you it so often you must know it by heart. Perhaps you should tell it, Rui?” Miss Templeforth giggled, pushing her untouched soup away.

  “No, no, absolutely not! Only you can make the stories come to life. You make everything sound mysterious and exciting.” He rested his chin on his hands and stared across adoringly at the old woman.

  A rustling noise outside the door drew Miss Templeforth’s attention. “That will be all, John,” she called out, adding, “I am feeling quite well. At ease, man, at ease.”

  “Oh…er…yes, Ma’am,” Mr Crank snivelled from behind the closed library door. His footsteps retreated down to the kitchen below.

  “That man’s devotion in his service to me is quite remarkable. But a little overbearing at times,” Miss Templeforth cooed.

  He’s a blessed nosy parker, more like, Rose thought. He’ll get that lughole of his stuck fast to something he shouldn’t, if he don’t stop all that listening.

  “Well, let us begin.” Wheezing, Miss Templeforth leaned over and supped some medicine before beginning to speak. “This pendant, just like the Amber Cup in the museum, is ancient. Both items have a connection to Hove. I believe that objects as well as people have spirits, you see. And this,” she held up the luminous amber disc, “above all others, has a strong and wondrous one.” Her eyes turned to Rose.

  Rose’s skin prickled as she took herself back to the feeling she’d had when she’d held the pendant. The way it had throbbed like it was a part of her body. Her fingers twitched, and she longed to reach out and touch it – just…once…more…

  Miss Templeforth tucked it away inside her blouse again.

  “But Miss T!” Rui urged, gripping his chair.
“You need to start by telling Rose about the cup!”

  “Shush now, Rui, I’m not as young as I once was. I need to concentrate.” She patted her throat. “Now, as Enna said yesterday, they unearthed the Amber Cup in my lifetime, some fifty years ago, when I was just a girl of about your age, Rose. A stranger came to try to steal the cup, while it was being unearthed, but I overcame him, with the help of a boy – a dear friend – named Anthony Funnel.” Miss Templeforth’s eyes flicked briefly to the portrait of the woman with a fan. “But Anthony’s story is another tale altogether, and he is unfortunately no longer with us.” The old lady sighed and looked down, her eyes wet. “But I digress. Where was I? Oh yes, the Legend of the Amber Cup, and the evil trapped within.” Miss Templeforth settled back into her large chair, and Rose forgot about her unfinished soup and the jam fingers for dessert. Instead she leaned forward, eager for the story to begin.

  “Many lifetimes ago,” Miss Templeforth began, “in a time we know now as the Bronze Age, when the ways of magic were very strong…”

  The words drew Rose closer; she balanced on the very edge of her seat.

  “…the legend of the Amber Cup took shape. In Denmark at this time there was a man called Tor, who had sons by two different women. One son was born to an immortal forest spirit – and this child was named Verrulf,” Miss Templeforth said.

  Forest spirits? Rose blinked, wondering what exactly they were.

  “The other son was born later to Tor’s wife, and this human child was called Albion. Neither woman knew about the other.”

  “So, these two were half-brothers,” Rui interjected. “One named Verrulf and one named Albion. Got it?” He looked at Rose.

  “Got it.” She nodded.

  “Thank you, Rui, yes. Now, I should warn you, Rose,” Miss Templeforth said, “this is a tale of terrible betrayal.” She paused staring into the fire. Her watery eyes danced with the reflected flames. “Now, Verrulf’s mother, the beautiful forest spirit, was known as Mags. She resided in the human world, in a forest in Denmark. She became besotted with the human man, Tor, who lived in a village on the forest’s edge. She followed him everywhere secretly, until one day, when he’d become separated from his hunting party, she revealed herself to him. They spent one evening together. After this, Mags wrongly believed Tor loved her back. But he did not.” Miss Templeforth’s bony fingers teased the air. “Giddy with this misplaced devotion, Mags changed herself from a forest spirit into a mortal human and returned to surprise Tor at his home. She assumed they would marry.” The old woman looked between Rose and Rui, her eyes glittering.

  “Many months had passed by the time Mags returned from the spirit world, and Tor had all but forgotten about her. Plans were under way for him to marry one chosen for him, with whom he was in love. He was horrified when he saw Mags again, and heard she had borne them a child – Verrulf. Tor would have told her of his horror at her news too, had she not revealed her magic gifts to him.”

  “Magic gifts?” Rose asked Miss Templeforth.

  “Yes. Mags had taken with her an amber cup and two pendants – which she’d stolen from the spirit world. With these three magical objects she promised that together she and Tor could have everlasting power over the people of the human world.”

  Wheezing a little, Miss Templeforth reached for another sip of her medicine.

  “Tor had no interest in Mags or Verrulf, but he was greedy and wanted the powerful objects for himself. So he set a trap. He arranged to meet Mags on an island in the lake and told her they would marry secretly by moonlight.” Miss Templeforth lurched forward, her eyes suddenly wild. “And there he betrayed her monstrously.”

  Rose gasped.

  “Tor took the gifts from her – the cup and the two pendants – and with them he immediately became powerful. Mags pleaded for his mercy as she held Verrulf in her arms, but it was of no use. Tor used his new-found dark magic to banish them both inside the cup. He planned never to see them again.” Miss Templeforth paused to catch her breath. “Tor’s act was barbarously evil; he had no right to treat Mags and his own son so brutally. And from that moment everything went horribly, horribly wrong. You see, Mags managed to snatch back one pendant as she was sucked away, but it was too late to stop anything – the gateway was already open. She and Verrulf were banished into the cup.”

  “So where did she end up?” Rose asked, filling up with pity for the woman.

  “In a gruesome shadow dimension, where violent creatures lurk beneath a black sun.”

  “A black sun?” Rose whispered to herself, suddenly remembering the tattoo she’d seen on that man’s wrist, and the same curious image on the back of the departing carriage.

  “This shadowy world has existed since creation. The wickedest and oldest creatures dwell here. It’s energized by a black sun that hangs low in a mauve sky, but the black sun does not radiate energy like ours – it sucks it away, endlessly hungry. Its inhabitants, the Creeplings, are filled with greed and hate and crave destruction.” Miss Templeforth looked out of one of the windows, her expression fierce. “Tor had activated the cup with both pendants, and it became like a tunnel to transport Mags and Verrulf to this sinister place, you see.”

  “Creeplings?” Rui asked, looking confused.

  Rose nodded, her pulse quickening. She remembered the horrible creatures she’d seen in her mind. Could they have been Creeplings? Did they belong to this shadowy world?

  “In the time that passed after Mags and her son were imprisoned, Tor married and had a human child, Albion, whom he adored. Tor grew to fear the cup, and kept it hidden. But he always wore the pendant, which helped him to become wealthy, and to make the right decisions in trade and barter. Tor never gave another thought to the suffering of his other secret family. Meanwhile, Verrulf, trapped in the world of the Creeplings, grew to despise his own human half. And within this terrible abyss, a deep hatred grew, both for his father and for the human race.”

  “And then he came back,” Rui told Rose.

  “He did?” Rose stared at Miss Templeforth, her mouth agape.

  “Yes. Some years later, Verrulf used his mother’s pendant to return through the cup. He murdered both Tor and his wife, and then he set about hunting down his half-brother. Albion had immediately fled from Denmark across the sea, and finally found himself in Hove with the remaining pendant and the Amber Cup.”

  “Here?” Rose said.

  Miss Templeforth nodded. “Here.”

  “Albion – I should say,” Rui interjected, “despite his father, was a good person. Right, Miss T?”

  “Quite so, Rui, Albion was.” She smiled at him. “Verrulf, by contrast, was driven by toxic hatred, and was enormously strong. He skulked in the shadows of this earth, planning to avenge his father’s betrayal by finding the second pendant and the cup, and using them along with his own pendant to unleash his army of Creeplings. A reality that would see our sun replaced by his black one, and in that darkness Verrulf would rule supreme – no longer thrust aside for another. At last, the master of his own destiny, while his Creeplings could feed and multiply.”

  “Miss T, what the devil are the Creeplings? You never mentioned them before today.”

  “I spared you the details, Rui, till now.” Miss Templeforth’s eyes darkened. “They’re wretched beings.” The old lady squeezed her eyes shut. “They feed on human fear and greed. They are unspeakably…evil.”

  “How do they…f-feed?” Rose managed, not at all sure she really wanted to know.

  “The more fear a victim exudes, the hungrier and stronger they become. They enter our soul through our shadows, and we…become one of them.”

  “Become a Creepling?” Rui asked, raking his hand through his black hair. “Miss T, why did you not tell me of these creatures before?”

  “You were too young, Rui.” Miss Templeforth trailed off and, reaching for her medicine, she took a greedy gulp.

  “They’re…horrible,” Rose murmured, feeling sick.

  �
�But enough of those unspeakable things for now. Back to our story. Where was I?”

  “Well, Verrulf was after his half-brother, Albion, to get the pendant and the cup, and make him pay for what his father did.” Forgetting herself, Rose urged Mrs T on. “Did he find him?”

  “Yes, he did. Albion had fled by boat to our shores, here in Hove, taking the Amber Cup and his pendant with him. Despite being only a boy of your age, Rui, Albion overcame Verrulf after a fierce fight on the shore where the West Pier now stands. The beach was filled with the terrified local inhabitants watching as the brothers fought. Albion overcame his half-brother and pushed Verrulf back inside the enchanted amber of the cup, trapping him for all eternity in the shadowy dimension he’d sprung from. The local people of that time hailed Albion as a hero. His bravery became the stuff of legend.” She peered at them both over the rim of her medicine tumbler as she took another sip.

  “But Verrulf’s pendant?” Rose murmured. “It is still ’ere?”

  “Alas, Verrulf sired a child during his time on earth. His human heir – the pendant became theirs – and has been passed down generation to generation ever since. Shielded by dark magic.”

  “And, so what became of Albion?” Rose asked.

  “Albion died some years later – of natural causes. His wife, along with the local people, erected a giant burial mound in his memory, here, overlooking the sea. Close to where Palmeira Square is in Hove today.”

  “Albion was buried in Hove?” Rose asked.

  “Yes, even the place name, Hove, is derived from his monument – it comes from the Danish word, Hof, which means burial mound,” Rui added with an assured nod.

  Rose thought about everything she’d just been told and realized she believed it. If the pendant was magic – then couldn’t other magical creatures and places be real too? Forest spirits, Creeplings, different worlds, even Verrulf… She tensed, as these possibilities spiralled in her mind.

  “The Amber Cup was buried with Albion, for safekeeping, under a mountain of earth.” Miss Templeforth leaned close. “The cup was never supposed to be removed. It’s a dangerous object that connects our world to Verrulf’s, where he still rules supreme.”