The Last Apprentice: Complete Collection

by Joseph Delaney

  “The king was a seventh son, too, so Naze was like you and had the gift. He was small, even by the standards of his own people, and the old blood ran strongly through his veins. He managed to bind the Bane somehow, but nobody knows how, not even your master. Afterward the creature slew Naze on the spot, pressing him flat against the stones. Then, years later, because they reminded the Bane of how it had been tricked, it broke his bones into tiny pieces and pushed them through the Silver Gate so that at last Naze’s people were able to give him a proper burial. His remains are with the others in the stone graves at Heysham, which is named after the ancient king.”

  We didn’t say anything for a few moments. It was a terrible tale.

  “Then how can we stop it now it’s loose again, Mam?” I asked, breaking the silence. “How can we kill it?”

  “Leave that to Mr. Gregory, Tom. Just help him get back to Chipenden and grow fit and well again. He’ll work out what to do next. The easiest way would be to bind it again, but even then it would still be able to work its evil as it has more and more in recent years. If it was able to clothe itself in flesh before, down there in the catacombs, then it would do it again, and before long, as its strength grew, it would revert to its natural form, corrupting Priestown and the County beyond. So although we’d be safer with it bound, it’s not a final solution. Your master needs to learn how to kill it, for all our sakes.”

  “But what if he doesn’t recover?”

  “Let’s just hope that he does, for there is more to be done than perhaps you are ready to cope with yet. You see, son, wherever Alice goes, it will use her to hurt others, so your master may have no choice but to put her into a pit.”

  Mam looked troubled, then suddenly paused and put her hand to her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut as if she had a sudden painful headache.

  “Are you all right, Mam?” I asked anxiously.

  She nodded and smiled weakly. “Look, son, you sit yourself down for a while. I need to write a letter for you to take.”

  “A letter? Who for?”

  “We’ll talk more when I’ve finished.”

  I sat in a chair by the fire, staring into the embers while Mam wrote at the table. I kept wondering what she was writing. When she’d finished, she sat down in her rocking chair and handed me the envelope. It was sealed, and on it was written:

  To my youngest son, Thomas J. Ward

  I was surprised. I’d imagined it must be a letter for the Spook to read when he got better.

  “Why are you writing to me, Mam? Why not just tell me what you have to say now?”

  “Because every little thing we do changes things, son,” Mam said, putting her hand gently on my left forearm. “To see the future is dangerous and to communicate what you see doubly so. Your master must follow his own path. He must find his own way. We each have free will. But there’s a darkening ahead, and I have to do everything in my powers to avert the worst that might happen. Only open the letter in a time of great need, when the future looks hopeless. Trust your instincts. You’ll know when this moment comes—though I pray for all your sakes that it never does. Till then, keep it safe.”

  Obediently, I slipped it inside my jacket.

  “Now follow me,” Mam said. “I’ve something else for you.”

  From the tone of her voice and strange manner I guessed where we were heading. And I was right. Carrying the brass candlestick, she led me upstairs to her private storeroom, the locked room just below the attic. Nowadays nobody ever went in that room but Mam. Not even Dad. I’d been in with her a couple of times as a small child, although I could hardly remember it now.

  Taking a key from her pocket, she unlocked the door and I followed her inside. The room was full of boxes and chests. I knew she came in here once a month. What she did I couldn’t guess.

  Mam walked into the room and halted before the large trunk closest to the window. Then she stared at me hard until I felt a bit uneasy. She was my mam and I loved her, but I certainly wouldn’t have liked to be her enemy.

  “You’ve been Mr. Gregory’s apprentice for nearly six months, so you’ve had long enough to see things for yourself,” she said. “And by now the dark has noticed you and will be trying to hunt you down. So you’re in danger, son, and for a while that danger will keep on growing. But remember this. You’re growing, too. You’re growing up fast. Each breath, each beat of your heart makes you stronger, braver, better. John Gregory’s been struggling against the dark for years, preparing the way for you. Because, son, when you’re a man, then it’ll be the dark’s turn to be afraid, because then you’ll be the hunter, not the hunted. That’s why I gave you life.”

  She smiled at me for the first time since I’d gone into the room, but it was a sad smile. Then, lifting the lid of the box, she held the candle up so I could see what lay inside.

  A long silver chain with fine links gleamed brightly in the candlelight. “Lift it out,” Mam said. “I can’t touch it.”

  I shivered at her words, because something told me that this was the same chain that had bound Mam to the rock. Dad hadn’t mentioned it being silver, a vital omission because a silver chain was used to bind a witch. It was an important tool of a spook’s trade. Could this mean that Mam was a witch? Perhaps a lamia witch like Meg? The silver chain, the way she’d kissed my dad—it all sounded very familiar.

  I lifted out the chain and balanced it in my hands. It was fine and light, of better quality than the Spook’s chain, with much more silver in the alloy.

  As if she guessed what I’d been thinking, Mam said, “I know your dad told you how we met. But always remember this, son. None of us is either all good or all bad—we’re all somewhere in between—but there comes a moment in each life when we take an important step, either toward the light or toward the dark. Sometimes it’s a decision we make inside our head. Or maybe it’s because of a special person we meet. Because of what your dad did for me, I stepped in the right direction and that’s why I’m here today. That chain now belongs to you. So put it away and keep it safe until you need it.”

  I coiled the chain around my wrist, then slipped it into my inside pocket, next to the letter. That done, Mam closed the lid and I followed her out of the room, waiting while she locked the door.

  Downstairs, I picked up the packet of sandwiches and prepared to leave.

  “Let’s have a look at that hand before you go!”

  I held it out and Mam carefully untied the threads and pulled away the leaves. The burn seemed to be healing already.

  “That girl knows her stuff,” she said. “I’ll give her that. Let the air get to it now, and it’ll be right as rain in a few days.”

  Mam hugged me and, after thanking her once more, I opened the back door and stepped out into the night. I was halfway across the field, heading for the boundary fence, when I heard a dog bark and saw a figure heading toward me through the darkness.

  It was Jack, and when he got close, I saw by the starlight that his face was twisted with anger.

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” he shouted. “Do you? It didn’t take five minutes for the dogs to find them!”

  I looked at the dogs, which were both cowering behind Jack’s legs. They were working dogs and weren’t soft, but they knew me and I’d have expected some sort of greeting. Something had scared them badly.

  “You might well look,” said Jack. “That girl hissed and spat at them and they ran off as if the Devil himself were twisting their tails. When I told her to clear off, she had the cheek to tell me that she was on somebody else’s land and it was nothing at all to do with me.”

  “Mr. Gregory’s ill, Jack. I had no choice but to call in and get Mam’s help. I kept him and Alice outside the farm boundary. I know how you feel, so I did the best I could.”

  “I’ll bet you did. I’m a grown man, but Mam ordered me to bed like a child. How do you think that makes me feel? And in front of my own wife, too. Sometimes I wonder if the farm will ever really belong to me.”

&
nbsp; I was angry myself by then, and I felt like telling him that it probably would and a lot sooner than he thought. It would all be his once Dad was dead and Mam had gone back home to her own land. But I bit my lip and said nothing about it.

  “I’m sorry, Jack, but I’ve got to be off,” I told him, setting off toward the hut where I’d left Alice and the Spook. After a dozen or so steps I turned, but Jack already had his back to me and was on his way home.

  We set off without saying a word. I had a lot to think about, and I think Alice knew that. The Spook just stared into space, but he did seem to be walking better and no longer needed to lean on us.

  About an hour before the sun came up, I was the first to break the silence.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked. “Mam’s made us some breakfast.”

  Alice nodded and we sat down on a grassy bank and started on the food. I offered some to the Spook, but he pushed my arm away roughly. After a few moments he walked a little way off and sat down on a stile as if he didn’t want to be anywhere near us. Or Alice, at least.

  “He seems stronger. What did Mam do?” I asked.

  “She bathed his forehead and kept looking at his eyes. Then she gave him a potion to drink. I kept my distance, and she didn’t even glance in my direction.”

  “That’s because she knows what you’ve done. I had to tell her. I can’t lie to Mam.”

  “I did what I did for the best. Paid him back, I did, and saved all those people. I did it for you, too, Tom. So you could get Old Gregory back and carry on with your studies. That’s what you want, ain’t it? Ain’t I done the right thing?”

  I didn’t reply. Alice had stopped the Quisitor burning innocent people. She’d saved a lot of lives, including the Spook’s. She’d done all those things and they were all good things. No, it wasn’t what she’d done, it was how she’d gone about it. I wanted to help her, but I didn’t know how.

  Alice belonged to the dark now, and once the Spook was strong enough, he’d want to put her in a pit. She knew that, and so did I.

  CHAPTER XVI

  A Pit for Alice

  AT last, with the sun once more sinking into the west, the fells were directly ahead. Soon we were climbing up through the trees toward the Spook’s house, taking the path that avoided Chipenden village.

  I halted just short of the front gate. The Spook was about twenty paces farther back, staring up at the house as if he were seeing it for the first time.

  I turned to face Alice. “You’d better go,” I said.

  Alice nodded. There was the Spook’s pet boggart to worry about. It guarded the house and grounds. One step inside the gate and she’d be in great danger.

  “Where will you stay?” I asked.

  “Don’t you worry about me none. And don’t go thinking I belong to the Bane either. I ain’t stupid. Have to summon him twice more before that happens, don’t I? The weather’s not that cold yet, so I’ll stay close by for a few days. Maybe in what’s left of Lizzie’s house. Then I’ll most likely go east to Pendle. What else can I do?”

  Alice still had family in Pendle, but they were witches. Despite what she said, Alice belonged to the dark now. That’s where she’d feel most comfortable.

  Without another word she turned and walked away into the gloom. Sadly, I watched her until she’d disappeared from sight, then I turned and opened the gate.

  I unlocked the front door, and the Spook followed me inside. I led the way to the kitchen, where a fire was blazing in the grate and the table was set for two. The boggart had been expecting us. It was a light supper, just two bowls of pea soup and thick slices of bread. I was hungry after our long walk, so I tucked in straightaway.

  For a while the Spook just sat there staring at his bowl of steaming hot soup, but then he picked up a slice of bread and dunked it in.

  “It’s been hard, lad. And it’s good to be home,” he said.

  I was so astonished that he was speaking again that I almost fell off my chair.

  “Are you feeling better?” I asked. “Aye, lad, better than I did. A good night’s sleep and I’ll be right as rain. Your mam’s a good woman. Nobody in the County knows their potions better.”

  “I didn’t think you’d remember anything,” I said. “You seemed distant. Almost like you were sleepwalking.”

  “That’s what it was like, lad. I could see and hear everything, but it didn’t seem real. It was just like I was in a nightmare. And I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t seem to find the words. It was only when I was outside, standing there looking up at this house, that I found myself again. Have you still got the key to the Silver Gate?”

  Still surprised, I reached into my left breeches pocket and pulled out the key. I held it out to the Spook.

  “Caused a lot of trouble, this,” he said, turning it over in his hand. “But you did well, all things considered.”

  I smiled, feeling happier than I had in days, but when my master spoke again, his voice was harsh.

  “Where’s the girl?” he snapped.

  “Probably not too far away,” I admitted.

  “Well, we’ll deal with her later.”

  All through supper I thought of Alice. What would she find to eat? Well, she was good at catching rabbits so she wouldn’t starve—that was one thing sorted out. However, in the spring, after Bony Lizzie had kidnapped a child, the men from the village had set fire to her house, and the ruin wouldn’t provide much shelter on an autumn night. Still, as Alice had said, the weather still hadn’t turned cold. No, her biggest threat was from the Spook.

  As it turned out, it was the last mild night of the year: The following morning there was a distinct chill in the air. The Spook and I sat on the bench staring toward the fells, the wind getting stronger. The leaves were falling in earnest. The summer was well and truly over.

  I’d already got my notebook out, but the Spook seemed in no hurry to start the lesson. He wasn’t recovered from his ordeal with the Quisitor. During breakfast he’d said little and spent most of the time staring into space, as if deep in thought.

  I was the one who finally broke the silence. “What does the Bane want, now that it’s free? What will it do to the County?”

  “That’s easily answered,” said the Spook. “Above all, it wants to grow bigger and more powerful. Then there will be no limit to the terror it will cause. It will cast a shadow of evil over the County. And no living thing will be able to hide from it. It will take blood and read minds until its powers are complete. It will see through the eyes of people who can walk in daylight while it’s forced to hide in the dark somewhere underground. Whereas before it just controlled the priests in the cathedral and extended its influence into Priestown, now nowhere in the County will be safe.

  “Caster could well be the next to suffer. But first the Bane might just pick on some small hamlet and press everyone to death as a warning, just to show what it can do! That was the way it controlled Heys and the kings who ruled before him. Disobedience meant a whole community would be pressed.”

  “Mam told me that it’ll be looking for Alice,” I said miserably.

  “That’s right, lad! Your foolish friend Alice. It needs her to regain its strength. She’s twice given it her blood, so while she remains free she’s fast on her way to becoming totally under its control. If nothing happens to stop it, she’ll become part of the Bane and have hardly any will left of her own. It could move her, use her just as easily as I can bend my little finger. The Bane knows this—it’ll be doing all it can to feed from her again. It’ll be searching for her now.”

  “But she’s strong,” I protested. “And anyway, I thought the Bane was afraid of women. We both met it in the catacombs when I was trying to rescue you. It had shape-shifted into you in order to trick me.”

  “So the rumors were true—it had learned to take on a physical form down there.”

  “Yes, but when Alice spat at it, it ran off. Perhaps she could just keep doing that.”

  “Yes, the Bane does find i
t harder to control a woman than a man. Women make it nervous because they’re willful creatures and often unpredictable. But once it’s drunk the blood of a female, all that changes. It’ll be after Alice now and give her no peace. It’ll worm its way into her dreams and show her the things she can have—the things that can be hers just for the asking—until finally she’ll think there’s a need to summon it again. No doubt that cousin of mine was under the Bane’s control. Otherwise he’d never have betrayed me like that.”

  The Spook scratched at his beard. “Aye, the Bane will grow and grow and there’ll be little to stop it working its evil through others until everything becomes rotten in the County. That’s what happened to the Little People until, finally, desperate measures were called for. We need to find out exactly how the Bane was bound; even better, how it can be killed. That’s why we need to go to Heysham. There’s a big barrow there, a burial mound, and the bodies of Heys and his sons are in stone graves nearby.

  “As soon as I’m strong enough, that’s where we’re going. As you know, those who suffer violent deaths sometimes have trouble moving on from this world. So we’ll visit those graves. If we’re lucky, a ghost or two might still linger there. Maybe even the ghost of Naze, who did the binding. That might well be our only hope because, to be honest, lad, at the moment I haven’t a clue how we’re going to bring this to an end.”

  With those words the Spook hung his head and looked really sad and worried. I’d never seen him so low.

  “Have you been there before?” I asked, wondering why the ghosts hadn’t been given a talking-to and asked to move on.