“I sincerely hope he’ll journey with us, son. But that must be for him to decide. I simply can’t predict how he’ll react.”
“What are you planning?” I asked. “What do you need the money for?”
“All will be revealed in good time,” Mam told me, and I knew now was not the time to press her further.
“Mam, there’s one other thing I have to ask you,” I said. “It’s about Alice. . . .”
I saw the expression on Mam’s face change. One moment it had been stern and businesslike. Now it suddenly softened, and sadness filled her eyes. Even before I asked the question, I feared the worst.
“The Fiend told me that Alice is his daughter. He’s lying, isn’t he, Mam? Surely it can’t be true, can it?”
Mam looked at me, and I saw her eyes brim with tears. “This time he isn’t lying, son. It hurts me to say it because I know how much you care about Alice. But it’s true. She is one of the Devil’s daughters.”
My heart sank.
“That doesn’t mean she’s doomed to belong to the dark, son. There’s a chance of redemption for us all. A chance to be saved. Alice has that opportunity, too.”
“How long have you known?” I asked quietly. Her confirmation hadn’t shocked me. I think that, deep down, I’d known it was true.
“Since the moment I first saw her, son, when you brought her here to the farm.”
“You knew then, Mam? And yet you kept it from me?”
She nodded.
“But there were things you said. Things that don’t make any sense now—that Alice and I were the future and hope of the County and that my master would need us both at his side. Why did you say that?”
Mam got to her feet again, put her hands on my shoulders, and looked straight into my eyes, her expression firm but kind. “What I said then, I still stand by. Alice cares a lot for you, and it’s that affection that’s kept her safe from the clutches of the dark this far.”
“Alice contacted me just a few days ago. Warned me that a maenad assassin was in the Spook’s garden. But for her, I’d be dead now.”
I saw the alarm in Mam’s face, the fear in her eyes. “A maenad? I knew they were aware of the new threat I pose. . . .” she muttered, straightening. “But I hadn’t expected them to know about you and send one of their number across the sea to the County. Darkness clouds my foresight. Things I would once have known are obscured, and it’s happening at the worst time possible.” She looked really worried.
“Although the maenad came from Greece, Mam, I could hardly understand a single word she said.”
“There are many dialects in that land. But her killing frenzy wouldn’t have helped. Talking to a maenad is difficult because they’re creatures of emotion rather than intellect. They listen only to their own inner voice. But never underestimate them. They’re a powerful group because they exist in great numbers.
“Anyway, we must be grateful to Alice for saving your life. Once she accepts that her birth doesn’t necessarily mean she is destined to become a malevolent witch, Alice may prove a formidable adversary for her own father. Together the two of you might just manage to finally defeat him.”
“Together? Mr. Gregory will never agree to that.”
“I fear you may be right, son. And neither will he find it easy to accept what I plan to do. . . .” Once again she stopped short of telling me about her intentions. Why was she holding back?
“There are campfires in the southern meadow,” I said, staring hard into Mam’s face. “Jack says they’re witches from Pendle. That can’t be true, can it, Mam?”
“Aye, Tom. It’s true. We need them, son. We need their help.”
“Witches, Mam? We’ve made an alliance with witches?” The enormity of what Mam had done began to sink in. I dreaded to think what the Spook’s reaction would be.
“I know you’ll find it hard because of what your master’s taught you,” Mam said, laying a hand on my shoulder, “but we can’t win without them. It’s as simple as that. And we have to win, we really do. We have to defeat the Ordeen. We cannot afford to lose. If we do, not only the County, but the whole world will be at risk. You go and bring your master down to see me. Then keep out of the way while I try to talk him round.”
I did as Mam asked—went up to Hangman’s Hill and told the Spook that she wanted to speak to him. I revealed no more than that, but perhaps my master read something in my face, for as he walked down toward the farm he looked far from happy.
Leaving him in the kitchen with Mam, I headed toward a small rise where I could look down upon the campfires of the witches in the southern pasture. The smell of cooking wafted to me on the breeze—rabbit stew. Folk in the County were short of food, and rabbits had been hunted so much that their populations were depleted and they were now hard to find. But no doubt our visitors from Pendle had their own dark methods.
I thought back over my own dealings with witches and shuddered with horror. I remembered being trapped in a pit while Bony Lizzie sharpened her knives as she prepared to cut the bones from my living body. Then there was that awful moment when Mab Mouldheel had held a knife to little Mary’s throat, clearly prepared to kill her had I not surrendered the keys to Mam’s trunks.
Malevolent witches were ruthless creatures of the dark who killed innocents to use their blood or bones in their magical rituals. So the Ordeen must be terrible indeed if Mam was prepared to forge an alliance with such evil beings. But could I blame her? I too had been forced to compromise by fighting alongside Grimalkin to defeat Morwena and a host of water witches.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the back door slamming, and then I saw the Spook striding across the yard, his face like thunder. I ran to him, but he scowled and turned north before I reached his side.
“Follow me, lad—we need to talk!” he snapped over his shoulder as he set off toward Hangman’s Hill. After crossing the north pasture, he paused at the border of Jack’s farm and turned to face me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, by now thoroughly alarmed. I was sure that the discussion with Mam had gone badly.
“What’s wrong? Everything, lad. Just about everything! You know my feelings about using the dark. It just can’t be done. You can’t make alliances with witches and suchlike and hope to avoid being contaminated and drawn toward the dark yourself. Above all, lad, you can’t risk it. That’s exactly what the Fiend wants, as I’ve told you often enough. So you’ve got an important decision to make. Think it over very carefully—”
“Think what over?”
“What your mam’s proposing. Going to Greece, joining forces with witches and . . . well . . . I’ll let her tell you herself. I can’t do it—the words would choke in my throat. I’m going straight back to Chipenden now. If you’re not back within three days, I’ll know that you’re following your mam’s wishes. In that case your apprenticeship with me is over!”
“Please!” I called, following him across the boundary. “Don’t go. Can’t we talk about it?”
“Talk? What is there to talk about? Your mam’s made an alliance with the Pendle witches. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. So think on, lad, and make your choice. I’ve already made mine!”
So saying, he turned, climbed over the fence, and set off up the hill without a backward glance. I watched him disappear among the trees, hardly able to believe what he’d just said. He was ending my apprenticeship? How could he do that after all we’d been through together? I felt shocked, hurt, and angry. I didn’t deserve that.
I went down the hill and crossed the yard, heading straight for the kitchen again. I needed to talk to Mam and try to sort things out.
CHAPTER IV
Decisions
“Your master took it very badly,” Mam said when I went in. “Even worse than I’d expected.”
“He’s gone back to Chipenden, Mam. He said that if I wasn’t back there in three days, then it would be the end of my apprenticeship.”
Mam sighed. “I was afra
id of that. But you got on quite well with Bill Arkwright, I believe.”
“Who told you that, Mam?”
“People tell me things all the time, son. Either that or I find them out for myself. Let’s just say I know what happened. You got off to a bad start, but things sorted themselves out and he trained you well. If John Gregory won’t continue as your master,” Mam went on, “then you’ll have to make do with Bill Arkwright. I need him, too. I’ve already sent for him. I hope he’ll agree to join us and come to Greece. He should arrive sometime tomorrow to talk it through.”
“What do you want him to do in Greece, Mam?”
“He’s a good spook, but above all he used to be in the army. We’re facing a tremendous battle, and I’ll need Arkwright’s strength, fearlessness, and military tactics. I’ve told him it’s vital that he come with us. He’ll be able to strike a bigger blow against the dark there than he could in sixty years of service to the County.”
It would be good to work with Arkwright again, I thought. He’d toughened me up a lot during the months I’d spent with him north of Caster; maybe I could continue the physical side of my training. If it hadn’t been for what he’d taught me, that maenad assassin would probably have killed me. On the other hand, I was really going to miss working with John Gregory. He was my real master and also my friend. It was sad to think that I’d never be his apprentice again. The house at Chipenden had become my home. Bill Arkwright, for all his qualities, couldn’t replace that.
“Can’t you tell me more about your enemy, the Ordeen, Mam? What makes her so dangerous that you need to defeat her in battle?” I asked. “What’s the threat we face that we need help from so many people?”
Mam bowed her head for a moment as though reluctant to speak, but then she looked me in the eye and seemed to find her resolve. “The Ordeen has a terrible thirst for blood, son. And when she visits our world, those who accompany her through the portal in her great citadel, the Ord—demons, fire elementals, and vaengir—are similarly thirsty. Thousands of innocent people are slaughtered—men, women, and even children. She’s growing in power, and each visit she makes to our world is more devastating.”
“She sounds even worse than the Fiend.”
“No, son, the Fiend is far more powerful, but he doesn’t flaunt his strength. His aim is a slow accumulation of power, gradually increasing the evil that makes the world a darker and more dangerous place as he tightens his grip upon it. His plans are long-term—eventual total dominion.
“By contrast, the Ordeen has no long-term plans other than to drink her fill of blood and instill terror into everyone she comes in contact with. Many victims simply die of fear and are easy pickings for the maenads that swarm in her wake. She’s a powerful servant of the dark—nothing compared to the Fiend, but we can’t hope to confront him yet. For now we must concentrate on the immediate threat before us and destroy the Ordeen before she widens the range of her portal.”
“What do you mean, Mam?”
“The Ordeen has been visiting Greece for thousands of years; she materializes only on the plain before Meteora, where thousands of monks have their homes. Her visits take place every seven years, and each of these is more devastating than the previous one. The monks use prayers to defend their monasteries and try to bind the Ordeen within the confines of the plain. But gradually she’s grown in power, while their effectiveness has declined. And now that the Fiend is in the world, she can count him as her ally, and the dark is much more powerful. Under the direction of the Fiend, more and more flying lamias have joined her. This time, it seems certain the Ordeen will use them to slaughter the unprotected monks in their monasteries high in the rocks. That done, the prayers that have helped to keep her in check will be no more. She’ll be able to go forth and devastate other lands.”
“They’ve been able to contain her just with prayers? Prayers really do work then, Mam?”
“Aye, whoever offers them up, if they are uttered selflessly and with a pure heart, the light is strengthened. So, although in decline because of the dark’s growing power, the monks at Meteora are a great force for good. That’s why we must strike now, before they’re overwhelmed. Prayers alone are no longer any match for the Ordeen and the Fiend combined.”
“So that is where we’ll be traveling to—her citadel near Meteora?”
“Yes. The Ord, her citadel, always materializes through a fiery portal south of Meteora, near a small walled town called Kalambaka. Every seven years, give or take a week. We must stop her this time, once and for all. If we fail, next time she’ll be so powerful that nowhere will be safe. But it’s the County that will be most at risk. I am the Ordeen’s old enemy. If I fail to destroy her, then she’ll obliterate the County in revenge. The Fiend will tell her that my seven sons—all that I hold dear—are in the County, and she will eradicate it. Her murderous followers will hunt down and kill every living person. That is why we must defeat her at all costs.”
At supper, Mam sat at the head of the table. We tucked into her delicious lamb stew, and she seemed happier, less troubled, despite all that we would soon face in Greece. I remember it well, because it was the last time all of us—Mam, Jack, James, Ellie, little Mary, and I—ever sat around the same table together.
I’d spoken to Ellie and James earlier. My brother had seemed content enough, but Ellie was a little reserved, no doubt because of the witches camped out in the south meadow. Now, at supper, I could feel a tension in the air—much of it seeming to radiate from Jack.
Jack said grace before the meal, and we all, except for Mam, answered “Amen.” She simply waited patiently, staring down at the tablecloth.
“It’s lovely to be back with you all,” she said when we’d finished our prayers. “It’s sad that your poor dad can’t be with us too, but we should remember the happy times.”
Dad had died during the winter of the first year of my apprenticeship. He’d suffered from congestion of the lungs, and even Mam’s skills as a healer had been unable to save him. She’d taken it hard.
“I wish that my other sons could have visited, too,” Mam continued sadly, “but they have lives of their own to lead now, with their own problems. They’re in our thoughts and I’m sure we’re in theirs. . . .”
Despite those sad absences, Mam chatted away cheerily, but the tension in the room was growing, and I could see that Jack and Ellie were uneasy. At one point, through the open window, we heard what sounded like chanting from the direction of the southern meadow. It was the Pendle witches. Mam ignored them and carried on talking, but poor Ellie shuddered and looked close to tears. Jack laid a hand on her shoulder and stood up to close the window.
James tried to lighten the atmosphere by telling me about his plans for the brewery he hoped to start the following year. But it remained a tense, uncomfortable meal. Eventually we got through it, and it was time for bed.
It was strange to spend the night in my old room again. I went and sat in the wicker chair and stared out through the window across the farmyard and hayfields, beyond the north pasture toward Hangman’s Hill. The moon was bright, lighting everything to silver, and I tried to pretend that I was back in the days before I’d ever become the Spook’s apprentice. I brought all my memory and imagination to bear, and for a few moments managed to convince myself that Dad was still alive and Mam had never left for Greece, that she was still helping with the farm chores and working as the local healer and midwife.
But I couldn’t block out the truth. What was done was done, and things could never be the same again. I climbed into bed with a strong sense of loss and grief that brought a lump to my throat. It was a long time before I managed to fall asleep.
Bill Arkwright arrived late the next morning. His huge black wolfhound, Claw, bounded across the yard toward me; her half-grown puppies, Blood and Bone, scampered along at her heels.
I patted her while the pups circled us excitedly. Arkwright was carrying his huge staff with its big, sharp blade. He walked with a swagger,
and his closely shaven head glowed in the sun. He looked a lot friendlier than the first time I’d met him, and his face lit up with a warm smile.
“Well, Master Ward, it’s good to see you again,” he said. But something in my expression made his smile fade. “I can tell from your face that something bad has happened,” he continued, shaking his head. “Am I right?”
“Yes, Mr. Arkwright. My mam’s made an alliance with some of the Pendle witches. She’s had to, because she needs their help to fight the dark in her homeland. She wants me, you, and Mr. Gregory to go with her back to Greece to fight the Ordeen. My master was furious when he found out about the alliance and stormed back to Chipenden. He said that if I didn’t follow him, I could no longer be his apprentice. I feel torn between them, Mr. Arkwright.”
“I’m not surprised, Master Ward. But I can understand Mr. Gregory’s reaction. What your mam’s asking goes against everything he believes in.”
“Well, I’ve had to choose between what Mam wants and what Mr. Gregory wants,” I told Arkwright. “It wasn’t easy, but my first loyalty must always be to her. She gave me life, and I was her seventh son. So she has to decide what’s best for me.”
“You’ve had a very difficult choice to make, but I think you’re right, Master Ward. As for myself, I’ve a decision to make, too, it seems. I’m going to listen to what your mam says with an open mind. I must confess that it’s a challenge—it would certainly be exciting to travel to such a faraway land. So, for now, I’ll not say yes and I’ll not say no. I’ll wait to hear more from your mam’s own lips. An alliance with servants of the dark, you say? Well, sometimes we have to compromise in order to survive. Neither of us would be here now if it wasn’t for the witch assassin, Grimalkin.”
That was true enough. She’d fought alongside me in the marsh, and together we’d defeated Morwena and a host of water witches. Without her I’d have been killed. Servant of the dark or not, the alliance with Grimalkin had been worthwhile. It seemed clear that Bill Arkwright didn’t have the same scruples as my master.
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