“No!” I said. “I can’t do it.”
With that the Bane’s face filled with anger. It still resembled the Spook, but the features I knew so well were distorted and twisted with evil. It took another step toward me, raising a fist. It might only have been a trick of the candlelight, but the creature seemed to be growing. And I could feel an invisible weight starting to press down on my head and shoulders. As I was forced to my knees, I thought of the cat smeared into the cobbles and realized that the same fate was awaiting me. I tried to suck in a breath, but I couldn’t and began to panic. I couldn’t breathe! This was it!
The light of the candle was lost in the sudden darkness that covered my eyes. I tried desperately to speak, to beg for mercy, but I knew there would be no mercy unless I unlocked the Silver Gate. What had I been thinking? What a fool I’d been to believe that with a few months’ training I could fend off a creature as evil and powerful as the Bane! I was dying—I felt sure of it. Alone in the catacombs. And the worst of it was that I’d failed miserably. I hadn’t managed to rescue my master or Alice.
Then I heard something in the distance: the sound of a shoe scuffing against the cobbles. They say that, as you die, the last sense to go is your hearing. And for a moment I thought that the scuffing of that shoe was the last experience I’d have of this life. But then the invisible weight crushing my body slowly eased. My vision cleared and suddenly I could breathe again. I watched the Bane turn its head and look back toward the bend in the tunnel. The Bane had heard it, too!
The sound came again. This time there was no doubt. Footsteps! Someone was coming!
I looked back toward the Bane and saw that it was changing. I hadn’t imagined it before. It was growing. By now its head had almost reached the top of the tunnel, the body curving forward, the face shifting until it was no longer that of the Spook. The chin was elongating, jutting outward and upward to form the beginning of a hook, and the nose was curving downward to meet it. Was it changing into its true form—that of the stone gargoyle above the main door of the cathedral? Had it gained its full strength?
I listened to the approaching footsteps. I would have blown the candle out, only that would have left me in the dark with the Bane. At least it sounded like there was only one person coming rather than a troop of the Quisitor’s men. I didn’t care who it was. He’d saved me for now.
I saw the feet first, as someone stepped round the corner and into the candlelight. Pointy shoes, then a slim girl in a black dress and the swing of her hips as she came around the corner.
It was Alice!
She halted, glanced toward me quickly, and her eyes widened. When she looked up at the Bane, her face was angry rather than afraid.
I looked back, and for a moment the Bane’s eyes met mine. As well as the anger blazing in them, I could see something else, but before I could work it out Alice ran toward the Bane, hissing like a cat. Then, to my astonishment, she spat up into its face.
What happened next was too quick to see. There was a sudden wind, and the Bane was gone.
We stood motionless for what seemed like a long time. Then Alice turned to face me.
“Didn’t like girl spit much, did it?” she said with a faint smile. “Good job I came along when I did.”
I didn’t reply. I couldn’t believe that the Bane had fled so easily, but I was already on my knees, struggling to fit the key into the lock of the Silver Gate. My hands were shaking, and it was just as difficult as it had looked when Andrew did it.
At last I managed to get the key into the right position and it turned. I pushed the gate open, seized the key and the staff, and crawled through.
“Bring the candle!” I shouted back to Alice, and as soon as she was safely through, I slid the key into the other side of the lock and struggled to turn it. This time it seemed to take an age; at any moment I expected the Bane to come back.
“Can’t you go any quicker?” Alice asked.
“It’s not as easy as it looks,” I told her.
Eventually I managed to lock it and let out a sigh of relief. Then I remembered the Spook.
“Was Mr. Gregory in the cell with you?” I asked.
Alice shook her head. “Not when you let us out. They took him away for questioning about an hour before you came.”
I’d been lucky in managing to avoid capture. Lucky in getting the prisoners out of the cell. But luck has a way of balancing itself out. I’d been just an hour too late. Alice was free, but the Spook was still a prisoner, and unless I could do something about it, he was going to burn.
Wasting no more time, I led Alice along the tunnel until we came to the fast-flowing river.
I crossed quickly, but when I turned back, Alice was still on the far bank, staring down at the water.
“It’s deep, Tom,” she cried. “It’s too deep and the stones are slippery!”
I crossed back to where she was standing. Then, gripping her hand, I led her back across the nine flat stones. We soon reached the open hatch that led up into the empty house and, once inside the cellar, I closed the hatch behind us. To my disappointment, Andrew had already gone. I needed to talk to him, to tell him that the Spook hadn’t been in the cell, warn him that Brother Peter was in danger and that the rumors really were true—the Bane’s strength was back!
“We’d better stay down here for a while. The Quisitor will start searching the town once he realizes so many of you have escaped. This house is haunted— the last place anybody will want to look is down here in the cellar.”
Alice nodded, and for the first time since the spring I looked at her properly. She was as tall as me, which meant that she’d grown at least an inch, too, but she was still dressed as I’d last seen her when I’d taken her to her aunt in Staumin. If it wasn’t the same black dress, it was its twin.
Her face was as pretty as ever but thinner, and older, as though it had seen things that had forced it to grow up quickly; things that nobody should have to see. Her black hair was matted and filthy and there were smears of dirt on her face. Alice looked like she hadn’t had a wash for at least a month.
“It’s good to see you again,” I said. “When I saw you in the Quisitor’s cart, I thought that would be it.”
She didn’t reply. Just grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “I’m half starved, Tom. Ain’t got anything to eat, have you?”
I shook my head.
“Not even a piece of that moldy old cheese?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ve none left.”
Alice turned away and seized one edge of the old carpet that was at the top of the heap.
“Help me, Tom,” she said. “Need to sit down and I don’t fancy the cold stones much.”
I put the candle and staff down, and together we pulled the carpet onto the flags. The musty smell was stronger than ever, and I watched the beetles and wood lice that we’d uncovered scurrying away across the cellar floor.
Unconcerned, Alice sat down on the carpet and drew her knees up so that she could rest her chin. “One day I’m going to get even,” she said. “Nobody deserves to be treated like that.”
I sat down next to her and put my hand on hers. “What happened?” I asked.
She was silent for a while, and just as I’d decided she wasn’t going to answer me, she suddenly spoke. “Once she got to know me, my old aunt was good to me. Worked me hard, she did, but always fed me well. I was just getting used to living there at Staumin when the Quisitor came. Took us by surprise and broke down the door. But my aunt weren’t no Bony Lizzie. She weren’t no witch.
“They swam her down at the pond at midnight while a big crowd watched, all laughing and jeering. Real scared I was, expecting it was my turn next. Tied her feet to her hands and threw her in. Sank like a stone, she did. But it was dark and windy and a big gust came the moment she hit the water; blew a lot of the torches out. Took a long time to find her and drag her out.”
Alice buried her face into her hands and gave a sob. I waited quietly until she wa
s able to go on. When she uncovered her face, her eyes were dry but her lips were trembling.
“When they pulled her out, she was dead. It ain’t fair, Tom. She didn’t float, she sank, so she must have been innocent, but they’d killed her anyway! After that they left me alone and just put me up in the cart with the rest.”
“My mam told me that swimming witches doesn’t work anyway,” I said. “Only fools use it.”
“No, Tom, the Quisitor’s no fool. There’s a reason for everything he does, you can be sure of that. He’s greedy. Greedy for money. He sold my old aunt’s cottage and kept the money. We watched him counting it. That’s what he does. Calls people witches, gets them out of the way, and takes their houses, land, and money. What’s more, he enjoys his work. There’s darkness in him. He says he’s doing it to rid the County of witches, but he’s more cruel than any witch I’ve ever known—and that’s saying something.
“There was a girl called Maggie. Not much older than me, she was. Didn’t bother with swimming her. Used a different test and we all had to watch. Quisitor used a long sharp pin. He kept sticking it into her body over and over again. You should have heard her shriek. Poor girl almost went mad with the pain. She kept fainting and they had a bucket of water by the side of the table to bring her round. But at last they found what they were looking for. The Devil’s mark! Know what that is, Tom?”
I nodded. The Spook had told me that it was one of the things witchfinders used. But it was another lie, he’d said. There was no such thing as the Devil’s mark. Anyone with true knowledge of the dark knew that.
“It’s cruel and it ain’t just,” Alice continued. “After a bit the pain gets too much and your body goes numb, so eventually when the needle goes in you don’t feel it. Then they say that’s the spot where the Devil touched you, so you’re guilty and have to burn. Worst thing was the look on the Quisitor’s face. So pleased with himself, he was. I’ll get even all right. I’ll pay him back for that. Maggie don’t deserve to burn.”
“The Spook doesn’t deserve to burn either!” I said bitterly. “All his life he’s worked hard fighting the dark.”
“He’s a man and he’ll get an easier death than some,” said Alice. “The Quisitor gives women a much harder time. Makes sure they take a long time to burn. Says it’s harder to save a woman’s soul than a man’s. That they need a lot of pain to make them feel sorry for their sins.”
That brought to mind what the Spook had said about the Bane not being able to abide women. The fact that they made it nervous.
“The creature you spat at was the Bane,” I told her. “Have you heard of it? How did you manage to scare it away so easily?”
Alice shrugged. “Ain’t too difficult to tell when something ain’t comfortable having you around. Some men are like that—I always know when I’m not welcome. I get that feeling near Old Gregory, and it was the same down there. And spit sends most things on their way. Spit three times at a toad and nothing with cold damp skin will bother you for a month or more. Lizzie used to swear by it. Don’t think it’ll work that way on the Bane, though. Yes, I’ve heard about that creature. And if it’s now able to shape-shift, then we’re all in for some serious bother. I took it by surprise, that’s all. It’ll be ready next time, so I ain’t going down there again.”
For a while neither of us spoke. I just stared down at the musty old carpet, until suddenly I heard Alice’s breathing deepen. When I looked back, her eyes were closed and she’d fallen asleep in the same position, her chin resting on her knees.
I didn’t really want to blow the candle out, but I didn’t know how long we’d have to stay down in the cellar and it was better to save some light until later.
Once it was out, I tried to get to sleep myself, but it was difficult. For one thing I was cold and kept shivering. For another, I couldn’t get the Spook out of my mind. We’d failed to rescue him, and the Quisitor would be really angry at what had happened. It wouldn’t be long before he started burning people.
Finally I must have drifted off because I was suddenly woken by the sound of Alice’s voice, very close to my left ear.
“Tom,” she said, her voice hardly more than a whisper, “there’s something over there in the corner of the cellar with us. It’s staring at me and I don’t like it much.”
Alice was right. I could sense something in the corner, and I felt cold. The hair on the back of my neck was beginning to rise. It was probably just Matty Barnes, the strangler, again.
“Don’t worry, Alice,” I told her. “It’s just a ghost. Try and forget about it. As long as you’re not afraid, it can’t harm you.”
“I ain’t afraid. At least not now.” She paused, then said, “But I was scared in that cell. Didn’t sleep a wink, what with all that shouting and screaming. I’ll soon be off to sleep again. It’s just that I want it to go away. It ain’t right, it staring like that.”
“I don’t know what to do next,” I said, thinking about the Spook again.
Alice didn’t reply, but her breathing deepened once more. She was asleep. And I must have gone back to sleep myself because a noise woke me up suddenly.
It was the sound of heavy boots. Someone was in the kitchen above us.
CHAPTER XI
The Spook’s Trial
THE door creaked open and candlelight filled the room. To my relief it was Andrew.
“Thought I’d find you down here,” he said. He was carrying a small parcel. As he put it down and placed the candle next to mine, he nodded toward Alice, who was still sleeping deeply but now lying on her side with her back to us, her face resting on her hands.
“So who’s this, then?” he asked.
“She used to live near Chipenden,” I told him. “Her name’s Alice. Mr. Gregory wasn’t there. They’d taken him upstairs for questioning.”
Andrew shook his head sadly. “Brother Peter said as much. You couldn’t have been more unlucky. Half an hour later and John would’ve been back in the cell with the others. As it was, eleven got away, but five were caught again soon afterward. But there’s more bad news. The Quisitor’s men arrested Brother Peter in the street just after he’d left my shop. I saw it from the upstairs window. So that’s me finished in this town. They’ll probably come for me next, but I’m not sticking around to answer any questions. I’ve locked the shop up already. My tools are on the cart and I’m heading south, back toward Adlington, where I used to work.”
“I’m sorry, Andrew.”
“Well, don’t be. Who wouldn’t try to help his own brother? Besides, it’s not that bad for me. The shop premises were only rented, and I’ve got a trade at my fingertips. I’ll always find work. Here,” he said, opening the parcel. “I’ve brought you some food.”
“What time is it?” I asked.
“A couple of hours or so before dawn. I took a risk coming here. After all the commotion, half the town’s awake. A lot of people have gone to the big hall down Fishergate. After what happened last night, the Quisitor’s holding a quick trial for all the prisoners he’s still got.”
“Why doesn’t he wait till daylight?” I asked.
“Even more people would attend then,” Andrew answered. “Wants to get it over and done with before there’s any real opposition. Some of the townsfolk are against what he’s doing. As for the burning, it’ll be tonight, after dark, on the beacon hill at Wortham, south of the river. The Quisitor will have a lot of armed men with him in case there’s trouble, so if you’ve any sense, you’ll stay here till nightfall, then be on the road and away.”
Even before he managed to unwrap the parcel, Alice rolled toward us and sat up. Maybe she’d smelled the food or had been listening all the time, just pretending to be asleep. There were slices of ham, fresh bread, and two big tomatoes. Without a word of thanks to Andrew, Alice set to work right away, and after just a moment’s hesitation I joined her. I was really hungry, and there didn’t seem much point in fasting now.
“So I’ll be off,” said Andrew. “P
oor John, but there’s nothing we can do now.”
“Isn’t it worth having one last try to save him?” I asked.
“No, you’ve done enough. It’s too dangerous to go anywhere near the trial. And soon poor John’ll be with the rest, under armed guard and on the way to Wortham to be burned alive with all those other poor wretches.”
“But what about the curse?” I said. “You said yourself he’s cursed to die alone underground, not up on a beacon.”
“Oh, the curse. I don’t believe in that any more than John does. I was just desperate to stop him going after the Bane with the Quisitor in town. No, I’m afraid my brother’s fate is sealed, so you just get yourself away. John once told me that there’s a spook operating somewhere near Caster. He covers the County borders to the north. Mention John’s name, and he might just take you on. He was once one of John’s apprentices.”
With a nod, Andrew turned to go. “I’ll leave you the candle,” he said. “Good luck on the road. And if you ever need a good locksmith, you’ll know where to come.”
With that he was gone. I listened to him climb the cellar steps and close the back door. A few moments later Alice was licking tomato juice from her fingers. We’d eaten everything—not a crumb was left.
“Alice,” I said, “I want to go to the trial. There might be a chance I can do something to help the Spook. Will you come with me?”
Alice’s eyes widened. “Do something? You heard what he said. Ain’t nothing to be done, Tom! What can you do against armed men? No, be sensible. Ain’t worth the risk, is it? Besides, why should I try to help? Old Gregory wouldn’t do the same for me. Leave me to burn, he would, and that’s a fact!”
I didn’t know what to say to that. In a way it was true. I’d asked the Spook about helping Alice and he’d refused. So, with a sigh, I came to my feet.
“I’m going anyway,” I told her.
“No, Tom, don’t leave me here. Not with the ghost . . .”
The Last Apprentice: Complete Collection Page 28