by Glen L. Hall
Eagan looked back at Sam.
‘As soon as he caught sight of me, he exploded with anger. He rushed me and that’s when the wolf appeared, snarling, all teeth and feathers.’
‘Feathers?’
‘Well, that’s what it looked like. It barged me out of the way, knocked the knife from Morcant’s hand and rushed past him, knocking him unconscious.’
‘There are no wolves in England, Eagan.’
‘All I can tell you is what happened. I carried him back through the wood and rowed him all the way to Amble. I was thanked by being arrested and put in jail for a couple of nights. Very unpleasant, I can tell you.’
With Emily out of the way, Eagan was opening up. His extravagant manner had disappeared and Sam could see a stern young Jarl looking back at him.
‘Morcant spent a couple of days in hospital,’ Eagan continued, ‘and says he doesn’t remember anything other than me attacking him. But they dropped the charges. Emily’s father thinks my father called in some favours and had me released. Of course he’s on his nephew’s side. But I was released because the bite marks on Morcant’s arms and legs didn’t match my rather small mouth.’
Eagan smiled grimly.
‘There’s a strange mood in the village. I’ve never known so much mistrust between the families. Father’s attempt at reconciliation seems to have failed completely. Before he left for the bookshop the other day, he told me to be careful. He wants me to get a message to Braden Bow, the current leader of the Forest Reivers.’
Eagan leaned across the table, keeping his voice low.
‘He thinks the Reivers will be needed in the days ahead. Braden will be on his way here after meeting the other clan leaders at the King’s Seat. I’m meeting him at the orchard this evening.’
He took a quick look around as if he was speaking out of turn.
‘There are rumours that the Reivers have lost control – that they are no longer in charge of swathes of land. You don’t have to spend long with them before they start talking about the darkness that is seeping out of the borders. I know Brennus and Drust are trying to re-establish the old alliance between the borderland and Northumberland. What I can’t understand is why Brennus would spend time in Oxford when the borders are in chaos. Sam, you’re going to have to trust me and tell me what’s been going on there.’
Standing by the river’s edge, Sam told Eagan about the night in Oxford and the appearance of the Shadow. Whilst he was speaking, Eagan kept his gaze on the river, though every now and then he would turn to ask a question. In particular he wanted to know how Sam had escaped from the Shadow and who had rescued him.
Sam found himself strangely reticent about the woman and his conversation with Jack and Ronald. Some things were just too fantastic. Also, he wasn’t entirely sure he could trust Eagan. When he eventually described the events in the Seven Stories, he didn’t tell him about the vision of Oscar in the tapestry either.
When he came to the feathered men who had attacked the bookshop, Eagan went pale. Without warning, he grabbed him, pulling him closer so they were facing each other.
‘Tell me you’re not hiding anything about Father from me!’
Although Sam was physically bigger, Eagan’s strength was like iron.
‘Let go of me! I don’t know what happened to him. That’s all I can say.’
Eagan released him and turned back to the river. ‘You’ll have to meet the Forest Reivers,’ he said quietly, ‘for they have a story of the crow-men who used to live under the Cheviot Hills.’
Sam found himself thinking about what he had seen in his own back garden. ‘Crow-men’ sounded a very satisfying name for them.
They had been standing beside the river for nearly an hour when a crow appeared, flying low along the river. Instantly, Sam threw himself to the ground and scrambled behind the table.
‘Sam – that’s just a crow.’
Eagan was still by the water’s edge. Sam waited until he was certain the crow had gone before regaining his feet and warily making his way back down to him.
‘Before the attacks in Oxford and Gosforth, crows were behaving in an unnatural way.’
‘Unnatural way?’
‘Almost as if they were intelligent, as if they were drawing an invisible map.’
‘Crows are very intelligent, I’ll give you that. Come to think about it, a couple of weeks ago there was a murder of crows roosting on the fringes of Birling Wood.’
‘That sounds too close for comfort, Eagan. You know, I’m no longer sure I should have come to Warkworth. But it doesn’t seem that anywhere’s safe.’
‘I’m just surprised that Brennus didn’t keep you with him, that he let you come here when he knows there is so much unrest. A lot of this doesn’t make sense. Unless…’
Eagan stared unmoving into the depths of the river. Sam waited. Across the shimmering waters it seemed as though the grey heron was waiting too.
Then Eagan raised his head. ‘That’s it, Sam – Brennus is playing decoy! He’s giving you time to escape.’
‘But I don’t really know how to escape,’ Sam whispered. ‘The Shadow follows me everywhere.’
‘I understand,’ Eagan said gently. ‘And I’d still like to know what it is and why it’s following you.’
‘Oscar said it was moving through the Otherland.’
‘The Otherland?’
‘Professor Stuckley spoke about it. It stands outside time and between places. He spoke of it as being entangled. I’m guessing it’s a place that can link two places simultaneously. The Shadow must have used it to find me in Oxford.’
He felt himself toying with a question. Once or twice it almost fell from his lips but each time he sucked it back in. Then, almost without his volition, it rolled from his tongue.
‘What do you know about the Druidae?’
‘The Druids?’
Sam felt the reply slam against him and for a moment he was dizzy. He stepped back from the water’s edge.
Eagan was watching him with renewed interest. ‘What is it?’
‘Nothing – I’m just a bit warm and the crow…’
‘Come off it – when I said the word “Druids”, you went drip white.’
Eagan’s words rattled around Sam’s head like burning marbles, making his thoughts wheel like the angry crows from last night. For just an instant, dark clouds were approaching, moving over the horizon like an angry herd of buffalo. Sam again found himself stepping back, whilst Eagan watched him with a look of puzzlement turning to concern.
‘What now, Sam?’
Sam was breathing deeply, but it was like watching jigsaw pieces being swept up by the wind, only to fall, piece by piece, into their rightful places. In that moment the old school house, the garden and the river seemed to fade to grey whilst his thoughts were like threads of vibrant colour.
‘The Shadow is trying to destroy the Otherland. If it does, then all communication with the Keepers will be lost. If you think about it, without the Keepers, there would have been no message to Oscar, who came to warn Professor Stuckley that the Shadow was coming.’
‘But who are the Keepers?’
‘Listen, the Shadow could be seeking Oscar, not me!’
Eagan was mystified. ‘But Oscar’s no longer around to be pursued by anything.’
Overwhelmed with relief, Sam wasn’t listening. ‘I could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time! I could just be caught up in this because I happened to be the person who carried Oscar’s message to the professors!’
It was an intriguing thought. If he hadn’t met Oscar that day, he wouldn’t have found himself in this predicament. It was, after all, his own words to the Keepers that had found their way to Oscar and the sequence had started again.
Eagan was trying to keep up. ‘And the old man in the Blindburn?’ he asked.
But Sam couldn’t answer. A crow was flying upstream and turning west. Sam bobbed down behind the table just in time, or so he hoped. He remained there whilst Eagan followed the bird’s path, watching it until it had disappeared over the bridge.
They waited in silence, but no further crows came. Eventually Sam had the confidence to rejoin Eagan at the edge of the river.
‘You need to take me to the orchard,’ he said. ‘I think that’s where I’ll find Oscar. We need to stop this happening.’
Eagan shot Sam a hurried glance. ‘You won’t find Oscar there, and I’m not sure what is happening.’
Sam’s mind was back with Professor Stuckley’s lectures on quantum mechanics.
‘What if it was my choice to visit the orchard and therefore my responsibility?’
‘I would stop you.’ A flicker of anger crossed Eagan’s face as he turned back to look at the slow-moving water. ‘There’s no point to it. Oscar isn’t there. He has gone, just like the Druids.’
He walked towards the small wooden jetty, signalling that the conversation was over.
Climbing into his boat, he called, ‘I’ll take you to meet the Forest Reivers tomorrow – they may be able to shed some light on your story. If I were you, I wouldn’t wander much beyond the village in the meantime.’
Thoughtfully, Sam walked back towards the house.
* * * * * *
Sam found Emily in the library. It was now mid-afternoon and they decided to go up to the village.
On the way, Sam decided to leave the conversation about Emily’s mother and father for another day. Instead he told her about his belief that the Shadow could be hunting Oscar and not him.
‘That would be such a relief,’ he said.
‘That’s something of an understatement,’ Emily remarked.
Sam actually laughed.
But then Emily added, ‘Only how would it help us now?’
‘I’m not really sure,’ Sam admitted. ‘That’s why I have to talk to Oscar. I have to get into Birling Wood and find the Garden of Druids. I’m sure, from what Eagan has said, that it’s something to do with the orchard. I don’t understand why he doesn’t want to take me there now.’
‘I don’t trust him at all,’ Emily muttered.
* * * * * *
She cheered up as they entered Warkworth. The village was busy with the last days of the summer holidays. The small tearooms were overflowing with people travelling south towards Amble and north to the Northumberland coastal route, and for a while Emily and Sam enjoyed being lost in the hustle and bustle.
They stopped for tea at a little tearoom at the bottom of the steep hill, then walked the full length of the small high street and started to climb up to the castle. Every now and then Emily would pop into one of the picturesque galleries that lined the way. Sam couldn’t believe the amount of time she spent studying the paintings and sculptures, but he was pleased to see her enjoying herself after the horrors of the night before.
It was early evening when they reached the top of the hill and stood looking up at the castle, which was catching the last of the sunshine. It was said the foundations of Warkworth Castle had been laid before the Norman Conquest. It had stood there for a thousand years, watching people come and go, their fortunes rising and falling.
Sam and Emily were drawn to the views from its walls. From their vantage point high above the slate rooftops, Warkworth was spread out like a fine watercolour with streaks of red vibrant on the skyline. They could almost see back to the arched bridge and down to the old school house. In the east the faintest flicker of the sea sent the light scattering, whilst the Coquet now appeared like a giant serpent snaking through the deep green of Birling Wood.
They stood next to each other and Sam felt his fears melt away in the sun. Emily gently slipped her hand into his.
‘I hope you find your answers.’ She squeezed his hand.
Sam felt the sting of tears. To hide them, he looked over at the dark line of trees.
‘They’re somewhere in that wood.’
‘Are you sure? I’ve been there dozens of times and there’s nothing there but trees.’
‘That may be how they are protecting the way to the Otherland. I was in a circle of trees when I met Oscar in Oxford. I think that’s got something to do with how he travelled there.’
‘If I were you, I’d just keep your head down and hope Brennus and Drust are still alive and can find the answers for you.’
‘You know what the letter says.’
‘Yes, but we don’t know who’s writing the letter. We don’t even know if it really was Oscar you met. And let’s not forget the traitor. If we can believe that part.’
‘We can believe,’ said Sam, ‘that the Shadow has something to do with the Druids.’
Even in this place his throat felt suddenly dry. He would not forget the word it had said beneath the Fellows’ House and in the tapestry.
‘It said their name. Twice. I need to know why.’
‘And when you do find out why, what then? I mean, there aren’t exactly a lot of Druids running around here nowadays.’
Trust Emily to put her finger on the weakest part of any argument, Sam thought.
‘Well, we can at least tell Professor Stuckley, or your uncle, or someone else who can do something about it.’
‘Mmmm.’ Emily didn’t sound terribly impressed.
Moving on quickly, Sam said, ‘I just need a way to distract Eagan tomorrow, so I can sneak off to the wood and try to find the Garden of Druids. Any ideas how?’
‘No, Sam, and don’t look at me, I’m not distracting anyone.’
Sam couldn’t help but laugh. ‘You distract me often enough!’
There was a moment’s awkward silence, then Sam managed a smile.
‘Come on, Emily, I’m sure you’d love to put one over on him.’
Emily turned Sam to face her. Her dark eyes were lit by the sunlight and she had a slight flush to her cheeks.
‘Are you trying some reverse psychology on me, Samuel Wood?’ she asked, laughing. ‘Well, if you are, all right, it’s worked. I’ll do it, but just remember what I told you about Eagan. The rumour is that Morcant was in a bad way. I might not like him, but they say he spent a good few days in hospital and that he had deep wounds to his neck. So be careful.’
Sam leaned forward and placed his hands on the castle’s timeworn stone. Hadn’t that attack taken place when Eagan was on his way to the orchard? Perhaps Morcant knew about the Garden of Druids. He shivered suddenly. He didn’t like that thought.
The late summer sun was fading now and a chill seemed to be seeping into him. He looked around. The castle was almost empty. There were one or two people on the far wall, but they were making their way to the stairs.
Somewhere far off, music was being played. It was almost imperceptible, as if filtered through the stone Sam was standing on. The harder he tried to focus on it, the more obscure it became. He felt a little unsteady and found himself pressing his hands into the hard stone for support. A gentle fluttering vibration passed from it to his hands and then his whole body, and he began to understand the music, as if it were a language. A voice was calling to him.
‘The enemy is amongst you. Great danger is coming. Come to me.’
Was it Jack’s voice, or perhaps Oscar’s, or even that of the Garden of Druids itself? As Sam listened to the words trembling through his mind, he felt that whoever it was, somewhere in the wood, the Garden of Druids was calling to him. At that moment he knew that the answers to the riddles that had played out over the last few days would be found there. The clarity was like the flow of water from a mountain spring. He could see it swirling past him and through him. He could feel it, like warmth in his heart.
‘Emily.’ He felt himself reaching out to her.
‘What is it?’ Emily
had been gazing at the wood.
‘The Garden of Druids is the orchard.’
‘What?’
‘I think it just called out to me.’
‘What are you on about?’
‘I have to go there soon, Emily. Great danger is coming.’
As he repeated the words, he looked around him. All the sightseers had gone. Suddenly he felt they had made a mistake climbing to the top of the castle.
‘I don’t think we should be in the open. It isn’t just the Shadow looking for us, but the things from the bookshop. The Reivers call them crow-men.’
‘What? That’s a fairy story.’
‘You know it’s not, Emily.’
He took her hand and pulled her after him down the steps. They were soon off the wall.
‘This way.’
Instead of taking the main village road, Sam led Emily across the road to a long stairwell that led from the top of the village down to the river. All he could think as they descended the steps was how foolish they had been, acting as though they’d come to Warkworth for a break.
Reaching the bottom of the steps, they crossed a dirt road and came to a stone wall.
‘I don’t understand how one minute you’re enjoying the scenery and the next we’re running from our shadows,’ Emily muttered.
‘Don’t joke – it’s not funny.’
‘I wasn’t—’
She stopped in mid-sentence. Sam pushed himself up against her, trying to flatten them both against the wall. Three black shapes were flying low over the river, coming from the south, the direction of Amble harbour. They were spread across the river and when they grew closer Sam could tell they were scouring the banks. There was no doubt in his mind that they were looking for them.
They passed by not more than a hundred yards from where they were hiding, calling to one another every so often.
‘It’s building,’ he whispered. ‘Just like the evening in Oxford.’ He could feel the tension in the air. ‘Whoever attacked the bookshop and the house is looking for us. They won’t stop looking for us. I have to reach the orchard and talk to Oscar. I’ll ask Eagan the way. I’ll make him take me if I have to.’