Looking about me, I was surprised by what I found. I had not seen the creature up close in good light, but Jenny had called it a beastie, and from a distance it had resembled a squirrel. I had expected its lair to be that of a wild beast, a predator, the floor perhaps strewn with bones and straw or grass.
So it was a shock to see rows of shelves, a table, chairs, and lambskin rugs dyed a brilliant red. This was an unexpectedly sophisticated dwelling that made me even more confused about what I was dealing with. Many shelves were filled with books, others with glass jars containing what looked like herbs or strange objects floating in a clear liquid or suspended in yellow gel. Each jar was labeled in some foreign language.
Then I spotted something else of interest. There were two bottles of red wine on the table. I knew that they were of human origin because I recognized the labels.
I plucked one of the books from the lowest shelf and opened it. The text was strange and resembled no language I had ever encountered. This creature could read but was clearly from somewhere far from the County.
What was I dealing with here?
As I returned the book to its place on the shelf, something spoke behind me. I say “something,” because although it spoke our language, its voice was guttural, harsh, and rasping; too alien to belong to a human being.
“It is nice of you to come to visit me, human. I am hungry, and your presence saves me the need to hunt!”
For a moment I froze and my heart began to pound with fear, my mouth becoming dry as I realized that I had been tricked. I had assumed that I would be in control, would take the creature by surprise, but it must have known all along that we were watching its tree. It had pretended to leave and then doubled back once I’d entered its lair. I had heard no warning cry from Jenny—she must have failed to see it returning.
I quickly turned to face it. At first I found it difficult to make sense of what I saw. It was dressed in a long black coat fastened with white buttons that could have been made from bone. Its hands were covered in dark fur and its face resembled that of a wolf, but it had been shaved so that, apart from the elongated jaw and sharp teeth, it had a human quality, and the eyes were intelligent. The expression was human too: it showed a mixture of amusement, scorn and arrogance.
But the most significant thing about the strange entity was its size. This was nothing like a squirrel. It was at least as tall as me. Then I remembered what Jenny had said about her “beastie”—something that I’d dismissed at the time.
It could alter its size.
And I was trapped in here with it.
I stared at the creature, my confidence ebbing. It opened its mouth a little, and saliva began to drip from its jaws as if it was anticipating the first taste of a tempting meal. I was now on the menu. It would drain my blood if I didn’t stop it.
“I’m here to put an end to your murdering ways,” I told the creature, trying to take the initiative. But my voice wobbled with fear as I spoke.
“Murder, little human? What do you mean? I have killed nobody here yet. You will be the first.”
“You’ve killed three girls. Don’t try to deny it.”
“Ah, girls—you mean purrai! That is not murder. Such females exist simply to obey, and their lives may be taken at whim. I am surprised you do not agree. I had a great thirst, so I drank their blood. It is my right and the way of things. Purrai have no rights.”
I was appalled by his words, so casually spoken. “What you do in your own land is abhorrent to me,” I told him. “But you are in the County now, and what you have done is a crime here.”
The creature gave a grotesque smile, opening its elongated jaws to show its teeth. “Your land will soon belong to my people! Then your women will abide by our laws. As for the men and boys, they will all be dead.”
The words spun around inside my head. I’d been given a warning, but I could think about that later. Now it was time to act!
Swiftly I reached into my breeches pockets and grasped what I had stored there. In my left hand I clutched salt; in my right, iron. Salt burns entities from the dark; iron drains away their power.
I hurled both handfuls at the creature, and the two clouds, one light, the other dark in color, came together perfectly on its head. This was often enough to destroy a boggart; it could also temporarily disable a witch, making it easier to bind her with a silver chain. But my target reacted in a way I’d never seen before.
The creature sneezed once, then shook its head. Next it gave me a bestial smile as the cloud of salt and iron settled at its feet.
“That was interesting, human,” it rasped. “I have never before been attacked in such a strangely ineffectual fashion. It was a total waste of our valuable time, for we soon shall be very busy together. I will take and you will give. I will have pleasure and you will have pain, until not one drop of your blood remains.”
At first I’d felt alarmed, but I was now getting my fear under control. I took a deep breath, steadied myself, and prepared to deal with this beast in a different way.
My silver chain was in the left pocket of my gown. I brought it out already coiled about my left wrist. Then, in one fluent gesture, I flicked it toward the creature.
My cast was perfectly executed. The chain formed a helix above its head, then dropped to bind it from head to knee, one part lying directly across its teeth. This would have been the perfect cast were I dealing with a witch. If this beast was capable of uttering dark magic spells, it would prevent it from doing so.
I thought it was over.
I truly thought that I had won; that the creature was tightly bound.
I smiled. Now I would carry it back to the Chipenden garden and bind it in a pit there.
But I had completely underestimated my adversary.
I had just made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
It escaped from the silver chain in a similar way to a skelt. Skelts are large predatory water creatures that can fold their long bony limbs into small crevices to hide while waiting for prey to come within range. A skelt would contract its body and easily shrug off any chain that bound it.
But I wasn’t expecting that now. I was terrified when my opponent suddenly grew smaller, so that the chain dropped off its body and lay in a useless coil upon the floor. Then, within seconds, the creature had inflated itself so that it was far bigger than me—at least nine feet tall. Its eyes glowed red, blazing with fury, and its jaws opened wide.
Jenny’s “beastie” had transformed into a monstrous beast.