“Where is she?” I cried, running toward the Spook, who just shook his head sadly.
“Don’t move!” he commanded. “It’s not finished yet!”
He was staring up at where the chains disappeared into the dark hole in the ceiling. There was a loop and, beside it, a second single length of chain. Affixed to the end of it, and almost touching the floor, was a large hook. It was a sort of block and tackle similar to the ones used by riggers to lower boggart stones into position.
The Spook seemed to be listening for something. “It’s somewhere up there,” he whispered.
“Is that a chimney?” I asked.
“Aye, lad. Something like that. At least, that was the purpose it sometimes served. Even long after it had been bound and the Little People were dead and gone, weak and foolish men made sacrifices to the Bane on this very spot. The chimney carried the smoke up into its lair above, and they used the chain to send up the burnt offering. Some of them got pressed for their trouble!”
Something was beginning to happen. I felt a draft from the chimney, and there was a sudden chill in the air. I looked up as what looked like smoke began to waft slowly down to fill the upper reaches of the chamber. It was as if all the burnt offerings that had ever been made on this spot were being returned!
But it was far denser than smoke; it looked like water, like a black whirlpool swirling above our heads. Within seconds it became calm and still, resembling the polished surface of a dark mirror. I could even see our reflections in it: me standing next to the Spook, his staff at the ready, blade pointing vertically, ready to jab.
What happened next was too swift to see properly. The surface of the smoke mirror bulged out toward us and something broke through, fast and hard enough to send the Spook sprawling backward. He fell heavily, the staff flying out of his hand and breaking into two unequal pieces with a sharp snapping sound.
At first I stood there stunned, hardly able to think, unable to move a muscle, but at last, my whole body trembling, I went across to see if the Spook was all right.
He was on his back, his eyes closed, a trickle of blood running from his nose down into his open mouth. He was breathing deeply and evenly, so I shook him gently, trying to wake him up. He didn’t respond. I walked across to the broken staff and picked up the smaller of the two pieces, the one with the blade attached. It was about the length of my forearm, so I tucked it into my belt. I stood at the side of the chain looking upward.
Somebody had to try to help Alice and destroy this creature once and for all, and I was the only one who could. I couldn’t leave her to the Bane. So first I tried to clear my mind. If it was empty, the Bane couldn’t read my thoughts. The Spook had probably been practicing that for days, but I would just have to do my best.
I put the end of the candle in my mouth, biting into it with my teeth, then gripped the single chain carefully with both hands, trying to keep it as still as possible. Next I placed my feet above the hook and gripped the chain between my knees. I was good at climbing ropes, and a chain couldn’t be that different.
I began to move upward quite fast, the chain cold and biting in my hand. At the bottom of the thick smoke, I took a deep breath, held it, and pushed my head up into the darkness. I couldn’t see a thing, and despite not breathing the smoke was getting up my nose and into my open mouth and there was a sharp acrid taste at the back of my throat that reminded me of burned sausages.
Suddenly my head was out of the smoke, and I pulled myself farther up the chain until my shoulders and chest were clear of it. I was in a circular chamber almost identical to the one below except that, rather than a chimney above, there was a shaft below, and the smoke filled the lower half of the chamber.
A tunnel led from the opposite wall into the darkness, and there was another stone bench where Alice was sitting, the smoke almost up to her knees. She was holding out her left hand toward the Bane. That heinous creature was kneeling in the smoke, bending over her, the naked arch of its back reminding me of a large green toad. Even as I watched, it drew her hand into its large mouth, and I heard Alice cry out in pain as it began to suck the blood from beneath her nails. This was the third time the Bane had fed on Alice’s blood since she released it. When it had finished, Alice would belong to it!
I was cold, as cold as ice, and my mind was blank. I was thinking about nothing at all. I pulled myself up farther and stepped from the chain onto the stone floor of the upper chamber. The Bane was too preoccupied with what it was doing to be aware of my presence. No doubt in that respect it was like the Horshaw ripper: When it was feeding, hardly anything else mattered.
I stepped closer and pulled the piece of the Spook’s staff from my belt. I raised it and held it above my head, the blade pointing at the Bane’s scaly green back. All I had to do was bring it down hard and pierce the Bane’s heart. It was clothed in flesh, and that would be the end of it. It would be dead. But just as I was tensing my arm, I suddenly became afraid.
I knew what would happen to me. So much energy would be released that I would die, too. I would be a ghost just like poor Billy Bradley, who’d died after having his fingers bitten off by a boggart. He’d been happy once as the Spook’s apprentice but now was buried outside the churchyard at Layton. The thought of it was too much to bear.
I was terrified—terrified of death—and I began to tremble again. It started at my knees and traveled right up my body until the hand holding the blade began to shake.
The Bane must have sensed my fear, because it suddenly turned its head, Alice’s fingers still in its mouth, blood trickling down its big curved chin. But then, when it was almost too late, my fear simply evaporated away. All at once I realized why I was there facing the Bane. I remembered what Mam had said in her letter.
“Sometimes in this life it is necessary to sacrifice oneself for the good of others.”
She’d warned me that of the three who faced the Bane, only two would leave the catacombs alive. I’d somehow thought it was going to be the Spook or Alice who would die, but now I realized that it would be me! I was never going to complete my apprenticeship, never going to become a spook. But by sacrificing my life now, I could save both of them. I was very calm. I simply accepted what had to be done.
I feel sure that at the very last moment the Bane realized what I was going to do, but instead of pressing me dead on the spot, it turned its head back toward Alice, who gave it a strange, mysterious smile.
I struck quickly with all my strength, driving the blade toward its heart. I didn’t feel the blade make contact, but a shuddering darkness rose before my eyes; my body quivered from head to foot, so that I had no control over my muscles. The candle dropped out of my mouth and I felt myself falling. I’d missed its heart!
For a moment I thought that I’d died. Everything was dark, but for now the Bane seemed to have vanished. I fumbled around on the floor for my candle and lit it again. Listening carefully, I gestured to Alice to be silent, and heard a sound from the tunnel. The padding of a large dog.
I tucked the piece of staff with the blade back into my belt. Next I eased Mam’s silver chain from my jacket pocket and coiled it around my left hand and wrist, ready for throwing. With my other hand I picked up the candle, and without further delay I set off after the Bane.
“No, Tom, no! Leave it be!” Alice called out from behind. “It’s over. You can go back to Chipenden!”
She ran toward me, but I pushed her back hard. She staggered and almost fell. When she moved toward me again, I lifted my left hand so that she could see the silver chain.
“Keep back! You belong to the Bane now. Keep your distance or I’ll bind you, too!”
The Bane had fed for the final time, and now nothing she said could be trusted. It would have to be dead before she’d be free.
I turned my back on her and moved away quickly. Ahead of me I could hear the Bane; behind me the click-click of Alice’s pointy shoes as she followed me into the tunnel. Suddenly the padding ahead stopped.
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Had the Bane simply vanished and gone to another part of the catacombs? I stopped and listened before moving forward more cautiously. It was then that I saw something ahead. Something on the floor of the tunnel. I halted close to it and my stomach heaved. I was almost sick on the spot.
Brother Peter lay on his back. He’d been pressed. His head was still intact; the wide-open, staring eyes showed the terror he had obviously felt at the time of his death. But from the neck downward his body had been flattened against the stones.
The sight horrified me. During my first few months as an apprentice I’d seen many terrible things and been close to death and the dead more times than I cared to remember. But this was the first time I’d seen the death of someone I cared about—and such a horrible death.
I stood, distracted by the sight of Brother Peter, and the Bane chose that moment to come loping out of the darkness toward me. For a moment it halted and stared at me, the green slits of its eyes glowing in the gloom. Its heavy, muscular body was covered in coarse black hair, and its jaws were wide, revealing the rows of sharp yellow teeth. Something was dripping from that long tongue that lolled forward, beyond the gaping jaws. Instead of saliva, it was blood!
Suddenly the Bane attacked, bounding toward me. I readied my chain and heard Alice scream behind me. Just in time I realized that it had changed its angle of attack. I wasn’t the target! Alice was!
I was stunned. I was the threat to the Bane, not Alice. So why her rather than me?
Instinctively I adjusted my aim. Nine times out of ten I could hit the post in the Spook’s garden, but this was different. The Bane was moving fast, already beginning to leap. So I cracked the chain and cast it toward the creature, watching it open like a net and drop in the shape of a spiral. All my practice paid off, and it fell over the Bane cleanly and tightened against its body. The Bane rolled over and over, howling, struggling to escape.
In theory it couldn’t get itself free, and neither could it vanish or change shape. But I wasn’t taking any chances. I had to pierce its heart quickly. I had to finish it now. So I ran forward, pulled the blade from my belt, and prepared to stab into its chest. Its eyes looked up at me as I readied the blade. They were filled with hatred. But there was fear there, too: the absolute terror of death; terror of the nothingness it faced, and it spoke inside my head, begging frantically for its life.
“Mercy! Mercy!” it cried. “Nothing for us, there is! Just darkness. Is that what you want, boy? You’ll die, too!”
“No, Tom, no! Don’t do it!” Alice shouted out behind me, adding her voice to the Bane’s. But I didn’t listen to either of them. No matter what the cost to myself, it had to die. It was writhing within the coils of the chain, and I stabbed it twice before I found its heart.
The third time I lunged downward the Bane simply vanished, but I heard a loud scream. Whether it was the Bane, Alice, or me who made that sound, I’ll never know. Maybe it was all three of us.
I felt a tremendous blow to my chest, followed by a strange sinking feeling. Everything went very quiet, and I felt myself falling into darkness.
The next thing I knew I was standing by a large expanse of water.
Despite its size, it was more like a lake than a sea, for although a pleasant breeze was blowing toward the shore, the water remained calm, like a mirror, reflecting the perfect blue of the sky.
Small boats were being launched from a beach of golden sand, and beyond them I could see an island quite close to the shore. It was green with trees and rolling meadows and seemed to me more wonderful than anything I’d ever seen before in my whole life. Among the trees on a hilltop was a building like the castle we’d glimpsed from the low fells as we skirted Caster. But instead of being constructed of cold gray stone, it shimmered with light as if built from the beams of a rainbow, and its rays warmed my forehead like a glorious sun.
I wasn’t breathing, but I was calm and happy, and I remember thinking that if I was dead then it was nice to be dead and I just had to get to that castle, so I ran toward the nearest of the boats, desperate to get on board. As I drew closer, the people stopped trying to launch the boat and turned their faces toward me. At that moment I knew who they were. They were small, very small, and had dark hair and brown eyes. It was the Little People! The Segantii!
They smiled in welcome, rushed toward me and began to pull me toward the boat. I’d never felt so happy in my life, so welcomed, so wanted, so accepted. All my loneliness was over. But just as I was about to climb aboard, I felt a cold hand grip my left forearm.
When I turned, there was nobody there, but the pressure on my arm increased until it began to hurt. I could feel fingernails cutting into my skin. I tried to pull away and get into the boat and the Little People tried to help me, but the pressure on my arm was now a burning pain. I cried out and sucked in a huge, painful breath that sobbed in my throat and made my whole body tingle, then grow hotter and hotter as if I were burning inside.
I was lying on my back in the dark. It was raining very hard, and I could feel the raindrops drumming on my eyelids and forehead and even falling into my mouth, which was wide open. I was too weary to open my eyes, but I heard the Spook’s voice from some distance away.
“Leave him be!” he said. “Give him peace, girl. That’s all we can do for him now!”
I opened my eyes and looked up to see Alice bending over me. Behind her I could see the dark wall of the cathedral. She was gripping my left forearm, her nails very sharp against my skin. She leaned forward and whispered into my ear.
“You don’t get away that easily, Tom. You’re back now. Back where you belong!”
I sucked in a deep breath and the Spook came forward, his eyes filled with amazement. As he knelt at my side, Alice stood up and drew back.
“How do you feel, lad?” he asked gently, helping me up into a sitting position. “I thought you were dead. When I carried you out of the catacombs, I swear there was no breath left in your body!”
“The Bane?” I asked. “Is it dead?”
“Aye, it is that, lad. You finished it off and nearly did for yourself in the process. But can you walk? We need to get away from here.”
Beyond the Spook I could see the guard with the empty bottles of wine by his side. He was still in a drunken sleep, but he could wake up at any moment.
With the Spook’s help I managed to get to my feet, and the three of us left the cathedral grounds and made our way through the deserted streets.
At first I was weak and shaky, but as we climbed away from the rows of terraced houses and back up into the countryside, I started to feel stronger. After a while I turned and looked back toward Priestown, which was spread out below us. The clouds had lifted and the moon was out. The cathedral spire seemed to be gleaming.
“It looks better already,” I said, stopping to take in the view.
The Spook halted beside me and followed the direction of my gaze. “Most things look better from a distance,” he said. “And as a matter of fact, so do most people.”
He seemed to be joking, so I smiled.
“Well.” He sighed. “It should be a far better place from now on. But, that said, we won’t be coming back in a hurry.”
After an hour or so on the road we found an old abandoned barn to shelter in. It was drafty, but at least it was dry and there was a bit of the yellow cheese to nibble on. Alice dropped off to sleep right away, but I sat up a long time, thinking about what had happened. The Spook didn’t seem tired, either, but just sat in silence, hugging his knees. Eventually he spoke.
“How did you know how to kill the Bane?” he asked.
“I watched you,” I answered. “I saw you strike for its heart . . .”
But suddenly I was overcome with shame at my lie and I hung my head low. “No, I’m sorry,” I said. “That’s not true. I sneaked forward when you talked to the ghost of Naze. I heard everything you said.”
“And so you should be sorry, lad. You took a big risk. If the Bane had manag
ed to read your mind—”
“I’m really sorry.”
“And you didn’t tell me you had a silver chain,” he said.
“Mam gave it to me,” I answered.
“Well, it’s a good job that she did. Anyway, it’s in my bag and safe enough for now. Until you need it again . . .” he added ominously.
There was another long silence, as if the Spook were deep in thought.
“When I carried you up from the catacombs, you seemed cold and dead,” he said at last. “I’ve seen death so many times that I know I wasn’t mistaken. Then that girl grabbed your arm and you came back. I don’t know what to make of it.”
“I was with the Little People,” I said.
The Spook nodded. “Aye,” he said, “they’ll all be at peace now that the Bane’s dead. Naze included. But what about you, lad? What was it like? Were you afraid?”
I shook my head. “I was more afraid just after I’d read Mam’s letter,” I told him. “She knew what was going to happen. I felt that I had no choice. That everything was already decided. But if everything’s already decided, then what’s the point of living?”
The Spook frowned and held out his hand. “Give me the letter,” he demanded.
I took it out of my pocket and passed it to him. He took a long time reading it, but at last he handed it back. He didn’t speak for quite a while.
“Your mother is a shrewd and intelligent woman,” the Spook said at last. “That accounts for much of what’s written there. She’d worked out exactly what I was going to do. She’d more than enough knowledge to do that. It’s not prophecy. Life’s bad enough as it is without believing in that. You chose to go down the steps. But you had another choice. You could have walked away, and then everything would have been different.”
“But once I’d chosen, she was right. Three of us faced the Bane and only two survived. I was dead. You carried me back to the surface. How can we explain that?”
The Spook didn’t reply, and the silence between us grew longer and longer. After a while I lay down and fell into a dreamless sleep. I didn’t mention the curse. I knew it was something he wouldn’t want to talk about.
The Last Apprentice: Complete Collection Page 39