The Legend of the Black Monk

by Nigel Cubbage

  ‘’Fraid so,’ said Laura. She took out a scrap of paper. ‘Just a series of numbers, SX119979.’

  ‘Let me see that.’ Drew took the paper from Laura, his eyes lighting up. ‘A moment.’

  He jumped back on board the boat and disappeared inside the cabin. He came back out a few moments later clutching a chart. He looked up and noted the intrigued expressions on his companions’ faces. ‘If my guess is right,’ he said, laying out the chart on the ground to pore over it, ‘Our friend Kraus has told us the exact location.’

  ‘Eh?’ Rebecca jumped up and joined Drew by the chart.

  ‘There!’ Drew jabbed the chart triumphantly. ‘SX119979 is a map reference not far from here.’

  * * *

  Shivering uncontrollably, Rupert pulled himself out onto a rock at the foot of the cliffs and looked back. Laura was no longer to be seen, unless she was concealed somewhere and sneaking a peek at his naked misfortune, mused Rupert. ‘Enjoyed that, didn’t she?’ he muttered. He retrieved the bag containing his clothes and did his best to dry himself on his top, before pulling on his clothes as quickly as he could to try and get warm again.

  He made his way back up the steep hillside to the small copse and the entrance to the passage. The door was pushed shut as he had left it, with the precautionary stick he had balanced on top still in place, suggesting nobody had been here since he left.

  Rupert slipped back inside, allowing his eyes a few seconds to accustom themselves to the sudden gloom. Before heading back up the passageway to the room, he decided to check on the cavern. He had not gone more than a few paces when he became aware that something was happening. The cavern was a hive of activity, with monks coming and going carrying large boxes. Alongside a small landing stage, a fishing boat was being loaded. Rupert could just about make out the name on its hull, Mary Jane.

  ‘Aha! The notorious local fishermen! So what is this ‘shipment’?’ Rupert muttered.

  ‘And where is it going? … What is going on here?’ He was about to head back to the secret door when he saw one of the monks pull back his hood. He just managed to stop himself from crying out.

  The doctor!

  Chapter 27

  When did you last see your Grandfather?

  In the warmth of the converted barn, Rebecca fished her mobile phone out of her pocket as the message alert sounded. ‘It’s Rupe,’ she said. ‘He’s back in the monastery. The number is a grid reference. Yes, we know that but hold on, he’s just seen the doctor!’

  ‘Doctor?’ said Laura.

  ‘Don’t ask me if he’s ill, Gilmour.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to!’ protested Laura.

  ‘The doctor who ‘looked after’ his Grandfather?’ asked Drew.

  ‘The very same. He’s a monk at the monastery. Well there’s a surprise! This is all starting to make sense.’

  ‘I’m glad you understand,’ said Laura. ‘Fancy filling the rest of us in?’

  ‘When we meet up with Rupert and Von Krankl later, I promise.’

  * * *

  The door to the small room in the monastery on Druid’s Rock opened to reveal Daedalus.

  ‘Rupert Dewhurst-Hobb! Get up! Come with me now.’

  ‘Where are you taking him,’ asked Von Krankl.

  ‘What business is it of yours, traitor?’ Daedalus’ face had a contemptuous sneer. ‘My patience has run out. You will tell me everything I want to know, now, this evening.’

  Daedalus looked at Rupert with an icy stare, an unnatural tone in his voice. Rupert felt prickles on the back of his neck and darted a frightened look at Von Krankl. The old man tried to reassure him with a smile.

  ‘Only a brave man would make war on children, Daedalus – or should I call you by your real name … Herr Himmel? When will you get it through your dense skull that he knows nothing?’

  Daedalus’ eyes narrowed to slits, his lip curling. ‘Boy!’ he barked. ‘Outside now! We will visit your Grandfather’s house.’

  The door closed. Von Krankl went over and listened for the sound of their footsteps receding along the corridor. Once he was certain they had gone, he took out the mobile phone and began to write a message. Rupert gone with Daed to manor. VK

  * * *

  Under the cloak of night, the waves turned over gently on the sand at the water’s edge, a comforting and timeless sound. A solitary bird flew low across the water, its plaintive call magnified in the dark. Rebecca and Laura followed Drew along the sandy cove back towards the boathouse, the moon now bright overhead. ‘Hard to believe all this stuff is going on in such a beautiful place,’ sighed Laura. Her reverie was interrupted by a shout from Drew as he reached the door. Rebecca and Laura began to run.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘It’s gone.’

  ‘What’s gone?’

  ‘The boat.’

  ‘Gone, how can it have gone?’ Rebecca marched into the boathouse and stood, hands on hips, fuming. ‘Stolen? We’ve only left it a short while.’

  ‘Who would steal the boat?’ Laura gestured indignantly at the space where the craft should have been. ‘We have to tell somebody? Gaston? The police!’

  ‘Not sure about bringing the cops into this just now,’ Drew grimaced.

  ‘So what do you suggest we do?’ Laura sat down with a bump on the landing stage.

  ‘Two choices,’ said Drew. ‘Either we wait here till whoever has taken the boat returns, or we go up to the manor and see what Daedalus is up to. Might be an idea to keep an eye on Rupe anyway.’

  ‘So we just let whoever has stolen the boat get away with it?’ Laura looked disbelievingly at Drew. ‘It is a crime, you know, theft!’

  ‘McOwan?’ Realising he was in danger of losing this battle, Drew turned to Rebecca for her opinion.

  Rebecca had a set look on her face. ‘I’ve a pretty shrewd idea who took the boat and I don’t think we need to worry. We could waste time hanging around here to find out. You should go to the manor but you must stay out of sight. Remember, Sky doesn’t yet know that we have been in contact with Rupe, or that we know any more.’

  ‘What are you going to do then?’ Drew sensed Rebecca had an alternative plan in mind.

  ‘If we can’t go to Druid’s, I’ll need to check out that parcel Grendel sent, see if anything helps us. You and Laura go but meet me back here in an hour.’

  ‘Well … okay,’ grumbled Laura. ‘But I’m not happy about Rupert’s stolen boat being treated so lightly.’ She started to walk off, slightly quicker than normal. Drew and Rebecca exchanged sheepish looks.

  * * *

  Daedalus sat down at his desk and regarded Rupert in silence.

  ‘I thought we were going to the manor?’ said Rupert, looking around the room and relieved to see they had not been joined by the Dobermans. Daedalus smiled thinly, reading his thoughts. ‘Wondering where our canine friends are? Out patrolling the grounds… but never far away.’

  He stood up and went to the window, his hands behind his back. The door opened behind Rupert, who was aware of somebody coming into the room and standing behind him. He held his breath but did not turn. A bundle landed in his lap.

  ‘What can you tell me about these?’

  John Sky. Rupert turned, a look of anger quickly spreading across his face.

  ‘You!’ he hissed. ‘When I tell Mum –’

  ‘Oh, the little English boy’s going to tell Mummy,’ sneered Sky. He picked up the cloth bundle and waved it roughly in Rupert’s face.

  ‘Your mother means nothing. Look at these. What can you tell me about them?’

  Seething at Sky’s contempt for his mother, Rupert picked up the cloth, seeing at once it was clothing. He unravelled a black monk’s habit. He did not have any time to examine it further because Sky’s face was suddenly close and shouting at him.

  ‘And with this there was a sleeping bag, food! Somebody was living there, somebody who didn’t want to be discovered.’

  ‘Who?’ said Rupert, determined not to be in
timidated. ‘Where? I don’t know anything about them.’

  ‘No of course you don’t,’ said Daedalus. ‘Just like you know nothing about the Admiral’s message and the location of the property your Grandfather stole from Germany. These were in your grandfather’s boathouse. Whose clothes are they?’

  ‘Why would I know?’ said Rupert, incredulous. ‘Some tramp or something?’

  ‘If you know so little, perhaps you would like to tell me why you have been out to the Horns of Lucifer and why your friends went to the wreck?’

  Rupert gave an involuntary gasp. How had Daedalus found this out?

  ‘Suddenly not so cocky?’ It was Sky who now spoke.

  ‘The day after you received the Admiral’s package and message you and your friends went off in a boat, didn’t you? Why were you at the Horns of Lucifer?’

  ‘We just wanted to explore. I wanted to show them around. On the new boat Grandpa had just left me. Wouldn’t you have wanted to?’

  Daedalus leaned right into Rupert’s face and whispered chillingly. ‘Do not insult my intelligence, little boy. We have been very patient but that time is now over. What did you find at the Horns of Lucifer?’

  ‘Nothing … we found nothing.’

  ‘What were you looking for?’ Daedalus’ face had not moved, nor his tone changed.

  ‘Nothing. I don’t know what you mean.’ Rupert’s voice was becoming increasingly desperate. He was completely alone and at the mercy of these evil men.

  ‘What did your friends find at the wreck?’ The whisper again.

  ‘Nothing. They were just exploring. Look, all I know is the will is supposed to tell us everything.’

  Rupert’s heart was hammering in his chest. He was as scared as he had ever been in his life. At any moment, he expected the dogs.

  But to his intense relief, Daedalus instead paused and sat back. He shook his head at Sky.

  ‘Perhaps he really is telling the truth.’

  ‘I doubt it,’ said Sky, his eyes brimming with anger at Rupert.

  ‘Take him back to his room while I decide what to do with him.’ Daedalus turned his back as Rupert was grabbed by powerful arms and dragged out of the room.

  A further surprise awaited. When they rounded the corner outside the door to his prison room, the door was wide open, the room empty. Rupert was immediately aware that this was a surprise to Sky as well, when he was shoved roughly across the room while his erstwhile Stepfather-to-be spun around in apoplectic rage. Sky grabbed the door and examined the lock. ‘He has picked the lock! Gottdam! Stay here boy, and don’t move!’

  With that, he slammed the door and locked it. In a trice, Rupert was up on his feet and over by the fireplace, his hands on the stones that opened the secret doorway. ‘If you think I am staying here another second, Johann Himmel, you are even more stupid than you look.’

  The stone doorway slid open. Rupert was through in a flash and the stones closed behind him. In the passageway, he slumped to the floor for a second and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

  Chapter 28

  An Encounter

  Rebecca had a spectacular view over the moonlit bay thanks to Guinevere having given the girls the best room in the barn. She retrieved the package sent by Grendel Baverstock and sat in a big armchair by the window. She had lost all track of time but knew it was very late. The house and everywhere else were in darkness, suggesting Gaston had turned in for the night. Baverstock had scrawled a note to her. Salvaged from Druid’s a few years back.

  The parcel contained ancient parchments, tied together with a ribbon. They were hand-written in elegant, faded ink and dated from many years ago. The first few sheets were the records of Nathan Trevellyan’s trial and sentence of death. There was his death certificate, October 14th 1647. Shuddering, Rebecca realised that it was 14th of October tomorrow, the anniversary of his hanging.

  The next page was smaller and written in a different hand. ‘Nathan my love I never abandoned hope. I fear that the end of my time here on earth is nigh. Please God may you never forsake us and give us vengeance upon your father.’

  This must surely have been written by Emily! How tragic and poignant it now seemed, yet dark in its demand for vengeance. The next document was an arrest warrant for Emily, signed by Ebeneezer Trevellyan in his capacity as Lord Sheriff.

  Rebecca was startled by a scratching at the window. She looked up quickly, shocked to see a peregrine falcon staring at her from the ledge outside. In the darkness he looked huge.

  For a second she panicked that the window was open but was relieved to see that the catch was securely fastened. The bird did not move but perched there, gimlet eyes staring unblinkingly at her. She stood up and was about to draw the curtains when something else caught her eye. Down at the edge of the cliff, about a hundred metres away, stood a figure, cloak billowing in the breeze. He was staring towards the house.

  Rebecca shrank back. She knew instantly who this was.

  Heart thumping in her chest, she summoned every ounce of her courage, grabbed a warm top and rushed outside. Overhead came the distinctive mew of the falcon circling. She looked down the path to the cliff where she had seen the figure but he had now disappeared. Rebecca started to run down the path. She ran for several minutes, leaving the house some distance behind. Then she sensed something and stopped.

  A distant panting sound and footsteps running fast. The noise grew louder.

  She looked desperately in either direction but she had arrived at a bend in the path covered by a canopy of trees. There was a rush of air on her face and suddenly a black shroud appeared from the darkness right in front of her, rushing straight at her. Screaming, Rebecca put up her hands to protect herself. She heard the falcon again and was aware of something swooping at her head. She fell to the ground, curling herself into a ball.

  For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened until, for a split second, she thought she felt the gentle touch of a hand on her face.

  Chapter 29

  Babbling

  After his frightening experience with Daedalus and Sky, Rupert was grateful to feel the cool night air on his face on the hillside below Druid’s Rock. The tide was now on its way out again and he would have no difficulty in getting across. Not that he would have been put off by having to swim back. He had no intention of spending another moment in the sinister monastery. ‘Not even Rebecca will get me to go back,’ he growled through clenched teeth. ‘Pepper or no flippin’ pepper!’

  In a few short minutes, he clambered down the hillside, made his way across the rocks to the small stony beach just below the cliff path and was soon heading back along the top in the direction of the farm. He turned and looked back at the forbidding walls of the monastery. Between the crenulated stones of a tower, silhouetted against the darkened sky, he was certain he caught a fleeting glimpse of the sharp profile of a Doberman. He rounded a turn and looked out at the calm, still sea. It was tranquil, just a cool night breeze ruffling the trees. Rupert thought he could just make out a light in the bay and thought it must be a small boat or a warning buoy. As he looked, the surface of the water near to it began to churn up and froth. To his surprise, the churning became more intense until finally something huge and dark emerged about two hundred metres off shore.

  * * *

  Rebecca sat on the cliff path, her knees hunched up to her chin as she considered the events of the last few minutes. Her heart-rate had almost returned to normal. Her attention was diverted by the sound of chugging. A light was coming towards the shore. At that moment, the moon came out from behind a cloud and she recognised Rupert’s boat returning. She was on her feet immediately, running back along the path to a suitable vantage point from where to observe. The boat disappeared into the shed. Seconds later, two figures emerged.

  At this distance and in this light, she could not make them out, as they moved slowly towards the path to the farm. The two figures stopped, apparently consulting something.

  Her mobile bleeped. Mess
age. Meet at the chapel at dawn – urgent – VK

  ‘Rebecca? I thought it was you. Thank God!’

  Rebecca turned at a voice from the path. ‘Rupe! Are you … hey, what’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?’

  Rupert sat down in a heap next to her. ‘You would not believe what has … I am NOT going back there, Rebecca, whatever you say, I am NOT!’

  ‘Hey, steady! Okay, okay! Calm down, tell me what happened.’ Rebecca took Rupert’s hand and sat down beside him, her concern apparent. ‘You look awful, mate.’ Rupert’s face was drawn and pale, his eyes red-rimmed with tiredness.

  ‘I’m knackered. I’ve had … the interrogation from hell from Daedalus and Sky and I’ve … seen something in the water.’

  ‘Rupe, you’re babbling and not making sense.’

  ‘Babbling? Babbling? You’d babble if you’d been through what I have tonight!’

  ‘You and me both, mate … so … babble,’ said Rebecca gently, smiling.

  They looked at each other for a split second then burst out laughing. Rupert giggled uncontrollably, flopping onto his back.

  ‘Oh God, Rebecca! Oh bloody hell!’

  ‘There, there, dear. You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.’

  * * *

  A fox’s bark, somewhere in the grounds of Morbed Manor broke the stillness as Drew and Laura completed a circuit around the house. There were no lights or signs of life.

  ‘Have we missed them, then?’ asked Laura.

  ‘Must have,’ replied Drew. He paused, wrestling a wish to attempt an apology to Laura over the boat. ‘Look … and you were right about the boat too. Let’s get back and see if whoever nicked it has brought it back. If we go this way,’ – Drew pointed to a path away along the top of the cliff, – ‘we stay higher up and can look out for the boat.’