by Freer, Echo;
But, more worrying than any of that - there was no Kameran!
6
I came to the decision that I must have either fallen into a coma and sleepwalked several miles along the coast to some deserted spot that looked scarily similar to Whitby or, Wanda had being putting funny honey in my camomile tea again.
In the absence of anyone who was actually breathing to come to my assistance, I turned to Quill for an explanation. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Ah need ti show thi summat,’ he said, walking, or rather drifting, in the direction of the town.
‘Whoa! Hold on there Spirit Boy,’ I replied. ‘I’m not going anywhere till I find out where I am and where my friend’s gone.’
He turned and gave me this intense but, ohmylord, totally yummy look. ‘Ah’m tekkin’ thi ti see summat important. Tha’s got ti trust mi.’
I put my hands on my hips and stood my ground. ‘OK, two things - first, you still haven’t answered my question. And second, you’re going to have to start speaking in a way that I don’t have to translate every single word. Surely, if you’ve been hanging around for a quarter of a millennium, you must have picked up some of the lingo?’
He cocked his head on one side and raised an eyebrow. ‘Tha’s bin travelling t’world all thi life but duss’t tha speak owt but t’King’s English?’
Don’t you just hate a clever clogs? ‘I think you’ll find it’s the Queen’s English at the moment,’ I corrected. ‘Anyway, it shows what you know; I can say ‘hello’ in eleven languages - twelve if you include G’day in Australian.’
We stood there, eyeballing each other - well, I stood and Quill floated. Neither of us seemed willing to make the first move. Quill folded his arms as though he’d got all the time in the world - which, when you think about it, he had. So in the end it was down to me.
‘OK, I’ll come with you but only on condition that you tell me what’s happened to my friend,’ I told him. ‘I mean, excuse me for sounding paranoid, but one minute I’m enjoying a pleasant evening stroll and the next it’s as though I’ve slipped through a time warp into a parallel...’ And then it dawned on me. ‘Holy Karoly! That’s what happened, isn’t it? I’ve gone into a parallel universe.’
Quill shrugged. ‘’Tis more a goin’ back through t’ages. Look ‘ee over yonder.’
He was pointing inland, a little away from the town towards the silhouette of a windmill. But I was too busy trying to get my head round his last statement, to take in what he was showing me. He’d said it so casually, like most people would say, ‘Oh, I’m just popping to the shops.’ Only this time it was, ‘Oh, I’ve just popped back a few hundred years.’ I know that I’ve been reincarnated masses of times - but genuine time travel? This was mind-blowing. I couldn’t wait to tell Wanda! Although, on second thoughts, I’d have to wait and see if she’d forgiven me for the Eva Proudfoot episode - I didn’t want her getting jealous again - it really wasn’t good for her karma.
‘So does that mean that if I hang around for a couple of hundred years, Kameran’ll be right here groping around in the fog? I asked.
Quill nodded distractedly; his eyes were still fixed on a spot in the distance. ‘Aye.’
And then a thought occurred to me. ‘I won’t have to wait that long though, will I? I mean, I will be able to go back and see Wanda and my friends again - soon?’ I was trying to keep the panic out of my voice. I like to think of my reincarnations as generally being of a spiritual progression kind of thing; going backwards definitely doesn’t feature on any of the paths to Nirvana that I’ve come across.
‘Dain’t fret thissen. There be more important things afoot.’
‘OK,’ I said, with more than a hint of irritation in my voice. ‘Enough of all the thees and thous and yees and yays and thissens and wissens. You are going to have to talk at least half twenty-first century if you don’t want me to go into total brain overload.’
‘Ah’m sorry. I’ll try,’ he conceded. ‘It was never my intent to upset thi... thee...you.’ He paused then looked at me with a puzzled expression. ‘What’s a wissen?’
I flapped my hand. ‘Who knows? It has a nice ring to it though. Now, what is it you want to show me because, as exciting as this time travel stuff is, I’d like to get home; I have college in the morning.’
‘Come.’
He beckoned me to follow him and, before I knew what was happening we were about a quarter of a mile inland standing on a rough path near the windmill that a couple of minutes ago had been in the distance. Wow! This zooming about was fun.
In front of us was a group that looked as though it was on its way to a Hallowe’en party. There were three people draped in white sheets like ghosts, leading a couple of donkeys. The donkeys had their hooves wrapped in sacks to muffle the sound and, although they were fully laden, they were also draped in fabric except for their heads.
When they reached the mill, the men pulled off their sheets - and I almost freaked out because, there in front of us, was another Quill!
‘Oh my days - there are two of you?’ I looked to my Quill for an explanation. Do you have an evil twin, or am I starting to see double with all this going back through time thing?’
‘’Tis me when I was alive,’ Quill whispered then nodded in the direction of the group indicating that I should watch them.
‘This is probably a stupid question, but why were you dressed up as a ghost?’ I asked. ‘Have you never heard of tempting fate?’
He was still staring at the scene in front of us. ‘’Twas to scare off prying eyes. If folk thought there was a ghost on t’road, they’d be not inclined to venture forth.’
‘Still, nice touch of irony, don’t you think?’
He gave me a look that would have curdled custard. ‘’Twas how the contrabandiers distributed their cargoes free from fear of being seen. Word was put about that a haunting was due and folk closed t’shutters and stayed indoors.’
What was I hearing? ‘ Wow! You were a smuggler? How exciting!’
‘There’s nowt exciting about it. ‘Twere dangerous and difficult work but it gave a few extra bob to families that needed it and put a drop of good rum on tables that wouldn’t otherwise afford it. Now, sssh!’ he said,
I gave him a querying look. ‘OK, so if you cast your mind back ... ooo, let’s say, a couple of hundred years or so....to when you were standing there with your mates, are you seriously telling me you could hear someone whispering?’
‘No.’
Aha! Got him! ‘So why are you telling me to be quiet?’
‘’Tis not so they won’t hear, ‘tis so that you’ll listen.’ Humph! Get him! It felt like I’d just been told off by a teacher. ‘My mam allus says, you can’t hear if your mouth’s open,’ he went on, pointing in the direction of the men.
Cheek! I was just about to argue - but then I realised that he probably had a point. So I closed my mouth and edged forward along the road, all the time watching the little group who were standing uncertainly in front of the mill. The living Quill wiped the back of his hand across his brow.
‘Isaac, be off wi’ thi,’ he said to one of the older men. ‘Me an’ Robert can ‘andle it from ‘ere. Tha’s got a bairn on t’way. Get thissen ‘ome ti’ ‘Lizabeth. Dusty Miller’ll be out presently.’
Oh great! I’d just got the ghostly Quill to talk in a way that I could at least partly understand and now I was having to translate this lot. Why couldn’t I have been visited by a more contemporary spirit?
My Quill leaned forwards and whispered to me, ‘That’s Isaac Chapman. We worked in Coates’s shipyard as carpenters. I’d been serving my apprenticeship this two year, but Isaac was a journeyman. T’other lad was Isaac’s brother-in-law, Robert Elstob. Poor old Robert -if you put ‘is brains in a bee, it’d fly backwards.’
I giggled. Not only was he gorgeous
, he was funny too! Just my luck to have been born two hundred and fifty years too late!
‘Isaac Chapman?’ I queried. ‘He’s not an ancestor of Kameran’s friend Joel Chapman, by any chance?’ I thought of joking Joel who’d come to me for a reading.
Quill nodded. ‘Aye - family’s lived in Whitby since time. That’s who I need you to help. But just watch what happens.’
I turned back and watched the scene unfold in front of the windmill.
‘Nay lad,’ Isaac said. ‘Tha’ll need all t’elp tha can get wi’ young barley-brain ‘ere.’ He ruffled Robert’s hair. ‘Fancy turning up wi’ daft beasts like yon! Ah said ti’ fetch ponies, not donkeys tha daft lummox!’
The living Quill was looking round outside the mill. ‘Leave ‘im be Isaac. ‘Appen ‘e’s only ten pence ti’ t’shillin’ but ‘e means no ‘arm and ‘e’s a good worker.’
‘Ten pence ti’ t’guinea, more like.’ Isaac smiled and gave his brother-in-law an affectionate shove. ‘When Ah wed thi sister, Ah nivver thowt Ah’d be weddin’ thee an all.’
Quill was scrabbling around on the ground by the mill, obviously looking for something. ‘Ah can’t see t’sacks that Dusty said ‘e’d leave out.’
Then Robert took something out of his pocket and began striking it like a match.
Immediately, Isaac snatched it away. ‘By ‘eck, lad! What’s tha think tha’s doin’ lightin’ a tinder box? It baint enough that t’fog’s lifted, leaving us on show for all ti see, tha wants ti give t’Riding Officer a light ti guide ‘im right ti us!’
To be honest, I could’ve done with Robert’s tinder box throwing a bit of light on the scene - it was difficult to make out what was happening. There was a lot of whispering and dithering and looking round the mill but there didn’t appear to be much action.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked Quill’s ghost. ‘Am I missing something?’
‘We were supposed to deliver t’goods to t’Union Mill and leave it in sacks for the miller to conceal in a consignment of flour. But when we got there, there were no sacks. Look what happens next.’ He nodded towards his living self and the other two.
The living Quill stopped suddenly and beckoned for the others to move away from the mill towards the road.
‘Ah smell a rat,’ he whispered.
‘Aye,’ Robert said slowly. ‘’Twill be t’wheat as attracts ‘em.’
‘Nay,’ Quill said, patiently, ‘Ah dain’t mean a real rat - Ah mean summat’s afoot. Baint like Dusty ti let folk down.’
The three of them looked anxiously around. Then Isaac spoke.
‘Let’s leave it any ‘ow. ‘E’s likely still down at t’inn. ‘E can tek it in when ‘e gets ‘ome.’
The living Quill shook his head. ‘Ah’m uneasy aboot it. Summat’s not right. Ah reckon t’Preventive men ‘ave got wind. Isaac, go ‘ome. Ah knows ‘Lizabeth’s confinement’s overdue. Me an’ Robert’ll tek this lot down ti t’Old Mulgrave Castle and stash it there.’
‘Nay,’ Isaac said. ‘’Tis three set out this night, and ‘tis three will go ‘ome. Come, let’s away.’
The ghostly Quill shook his head sadly. ‘Oh Isaac, if only tha’d listened to me.’ Then he turned to me. ‘Come on,’ he said, indicating for me to follow him.
‘Now where are we go...?’ but before the words had left my lips, we were back at the top of the cliff, although further along from where we’d started out. The moonlight revealed a tumbledown cottage built on the grassy slope which, about fifty metres ahead, crumbled down into the sea. There was a rough wooden fence around the cottage and a narrow path running a few yards in front of it.
‘T’Old Mulgrave Castle,’ my Quill said.
‘It doesn’t look much like a castle to me,’ I commented, seeing the ramshackle collection of buildings and outbuildings.
‘’Tis an inn. It fell into t’sea a hundred year afore you were born. But in my day, ‘twas a hive of activity for contrabandiers and was where t’landers used to store goods that they unloaded from boats.’ Quill pointed down to the beach below. ‘There’s caves down there full of the finest wines and spirits to grace any table.’
‘Wow!’ I was intrigued. And Kameran said history wasn’t interesting! He should’ve come with me - then he’d see how interesting it is. But something a bit less romantic than smugglers and their contraband was a heavy, choking smell in the air. I started coughing. ‘Ugh! What on Earth is that disgusting smell?’
‘T’lime kiln yonder.’ Quill pointed a little way behind the inn to where there was a huddle of cottages and the glowing fires of a kiln.
‘Boy, did they need to learn about aromas and the effect they have on the body!’ I wafted my hand over my nose. ‘What’s it for?’
‘T’farmers spread it on their land to improve t’yield,’ he replied distractedly. Then he shook his head sadly. ‘We never intended to come to Upgang tonight,’ he said, gazing back along the road towards the mill. ‘In t’morning, Isaac and me had had word that Jenny was coming - that was t’code for a delivery of cargo from t’continent. A sloop was coming into dock. They pretended it was for repair.’ He gave an ironic smile. ‘But what they meant was we had to go on board and take t’contraband out of t’false keel. It wasn’t a big run; just a few half-ankers of brandy, a couple of bags of tea, a roll of French velvet and some tobacco. There was a lugger due into Upgang that night from Flushing in t’Low Countries. It had a huge cargo of gin, Aarrach and drugges...’
‘Drugs!’ I was shocked. ‘Are you trying to tell me you were a drug smuggler? Well, I’m sorry but...’
‘Nay!’ Quill shook his head. ‘Drugges, as in camphor, cardamom and julep.’
‘Oh, well, if you mean spices, you should say spices. I mean, you say drugs and you think...never mind what you think.’
Quill was shaking his head, but this time in despair. ‘Most of t’men were going to be landing t’lugger’s cargo, so me and Isaac reckoned we could manage. Of course Robert overheard us and wanted a part so Isaac set him to fetch three ponies from Tom Sutcliffe’s farm. We’d done it afore; we’d borrow them for a run then, when we took them back, we’d leave a keg of brandy in t’stable for Tom’s trouble and a yard of finest French lace for t’mistress.’
‘Only Robert didn’t get the ponies, he got a couple of donkeys,’ I said, just to show him that I had been paying attention.
‘Aye, that was an ill omen to start with. Not exactly t’fleetest of beasts. Just when you need a bit of speed, they’re as likely to put their heads down and dig their heels in.’ He sighed, heavily. ‘Then t’fog lifted, which no one had accounted for. But what we didn’t know...’ He looked down the road towards the mill and saw the shapes of himself, Isaac and Robert heading towards the inn. ‘Hey up. Watch careful now.’
The three men arrived at the inn and walked their donkeys round to the front of the building. Isaac handed the reins of both animals to Quill while he began unfastening the small barrels from the backs of the first donkey.
At that moment, Robert went round the back of the second donkey and began unfastening the barrels as his brother-in-law was doing.
‘Nay, leave it lad,’ Isaac warned.
But he was too late. The small, squat tubs that had been suspended over the donkey’s back suddenly crashed to the floor and rolled away towards the edge of the cliff. But worse, they startled the donkeys. The two animals began bucking and kicking, and the one nearest the inn caught Robert in a very sensitive place with its hoof. He collapsed on to the ground groaning and wailing. It was a scene of absolute chaos; donkeys braying, Robert crying, Isaac shouting at Robert to stop his howling before every preventive officer on the east coast was alerted, and Quill running and tumbling in the dark to try and catch the brandy before it rolled over the edge of the cliff and was smashed on the sands at the bottom.
‘Oh my
days! What a nightmare! Did you lose the brandy?’ I asked my Quill.
He gave an ironic smile. ‘Would that were all I lost that night.’
Suddenly, from the direction of the lime kiln, I heard a noise. I looked up and saw the silhouettes of perhaps twenty men riding towards us on horseback. The moonlight flashed as they advanced and I couldn’t quite make out what was happening. Were they the other smugglers who’d been waiting for the lugger from Holland to land on the beach below? Then, with a terrible realisation I saw that the men were dressed in scarlet coats, white breeches and three-cornered hats. They were soldiers! And the flashes had been the moonlight reflected on their swords. Oh no!
One of the soldiers dismounted, grabbed Robert by the shoulder, hauled him to his feet and held a pistol to his head.
‘Oh no!’ I gasped. ‘They’re not going to kill Robert are they? I can’t stand death - well, not other people’s anyway.’
I could hardly bear to watch, so I put my hands over my eyes and just peeped out between my fingers. This was awful! Another man, this one in a blue uniform, rode up to the soldier at the front.
‘Josiah Proudfoot!’ my Quill almost spat. ‘T’Riding Officer - traitor!’
Well, that figures!
Josiah Proudfoot pointed to where Isaac had joined Quill and both of them were running to catch the barrels. ‘Shoot! Shoot! They be getting away.’
The soldiers at the front raised a long musket to his shoulder and pointed it straight at the other Quill. ‘Yield at the King’s command or die!’
Uh oh!
7
‘Come with me,’ Spirit Quill said and suddenly we were standing by the edge of the cliff where the other Quill and Isaac were crouched down on the grassy slope.
Isaac rolled to one side and pulled something from the waistband of his breeches. I screwed up my eyes to try and see what it was and was shocked to realise that it was a long, wooden-handled pistol.
‘Oh no!’ I turned away from the scene. ‘I’m sorry but there’s no way I can condone the use of firearms,’ I said to my Quill. ‘I’m afraid the two of you have lost my sympathy vote now. Take me back to my own time, please.’