‘Another five minutes and you’d have been too late,’ he remarked. ‘And you’re certainly too late for supper.’
‘We’ve eaten already,’ my master told him. ‘Two rooms will do. And we’d like breakfast at the crack of dawn.’
Muttering to himself, the landlord locked and bolted the door behind us and then showed us to our rooms. As he was about to leave us, the Spook asked him a question.
‘We hope to conclude our business with Mistress Fresque tomorrow and need to transport quite a large quantity of books. Do you know of anyone who might have a horse and cart for hire?’
The man scowled and shook his head. ‘Nobody this side of the river will want to cross that bridge. We keep ourselves to ourselves.’
Before we could question him further, he left the room, still muttering under his breath.
‘Well, that’s a job for you tomorrow, lad. But first you can come up to the house and help me make a final choice.’
We retired to our own rooms, and it wasn’t long before I drifted off into a dreamless sleep. However, for some reason I kept waking up. It seemed a very long night.
We had to wait over an hour for our breakfast because the innkeeper didn’t rise until the sun was well up over the horizon.
The Spook wasn’t best pleased but he didn’t complain. We left our bags in our rooms and, clutching our staffs, were soon walking up Bent Lane once more.
‘The service at the tavern isn’t very good,’ I remarked.
‘That’s very true, lad,’ my master replied. ‘But we have to make allowances. The innkeeper is a frightened man. I’m beginning to think that there’s some threat from the dark on this side of the river. Or maybe there has been in the past. I’d like to get back to Chipenden with the books as soon as possible, but I think we should pay Todmorden another visit in the very near future.’
When Mistress Fresque showed us to the library, there was something a little colder or perhaps more hesitant in her manner. I looked about me and for a moment I grew dizzy. The feeling passed very quickly, but for a moment the shape of the room had appeared to change – along with the atrium. Yesterday I could have sworn it was a perfect circle. Today it looked more like an oval. Was I imagining it? I was probably just tired, I thought – I hadn’t slept well.
She gestured at the table. ‘You are going to make your final selection from these?’ she asked.
‘Mostly,’ said the Spook, ‘but we’ll examine the shelves once more just in case we’ve missed anything.’
‘I’m sorry, but there is a book here that I cannot allow to leave the library.’ She pointed to the Doomdryte, which she had set apart from the rest.
‘I’m sorry too,’ said my master with a frown. ‘But I must have the Doomdryte at all costs. It’s an extremely dangerous book and one that must not fall into the wrong hands. I would buy it in order to destroy it. If it is the price that bothers you, I am willing to pay a great deal of money to take it away from here. But once again I’d have to stagger my payments.’
Mistress Fresque smiled. ‘With reference to that book my hands are tied. In my uncle’s will there is a codicil that lists the books which must always remain in this collection. That book is on the list. Every year a lawyer comes to check that they are still present in this library. If they are not, I forfeit the house.’ There was a finality about her words that gave my master no room for manoeuvre.
‘Is Judd around?’ he asked. ‘I’d like to have a few words with him.’
‘He set off early on business,’ she replied, returning the forbidden book to the shelves before leaving us without another word.
We continued our work in silence. I knew that my master was thinking hard, but short of stealing the book there was nothing he could do. John Gregory was an honourable man and certainly no thief.
At last, after another search of the shelves, we narrowed our choice of books down to three hundred and five.
‘Right, lad, we’re just about finished, so get yourself across the river and find us someone willing to cart these books to Chipenden.’
I nodded and, carrying my staff, set off through the trees towards the bridge. It was late afternoon and the air was still warm and heavy with the drone of insects. I was glad when I emerged from under those leafy branches into the open air. The sky was cloudless and there was just the lightest of breezes from the west.
Crossing the bridge back to the County side of the town, I noticed that, in contrast to the bustle of the previous day, it was almost deserted. It suddenly struck me that the innkeeper was right – hiring a horse and cart would be no easy task. But it proved even harder than I expected. The first two men I approached hurried wordlessly past me, a look of disapproval in their eyes. Strangers just weren’t welcome here. Or was it the fact that I was wearing the hood and gown of a spook and carrying a staff? Because spooks dealt with the dark, people were always nervous around us and sometimes even crossed the road to avoid us. But accustomed as I was to such reactions, this seemed more extreme. I felt sure that something was wrong about this place.
In a carpenter’s workshop I had my first piece of luck. The man rested his saw long enough to listen to my question. Then he nodded.
‘There’s no townie here does that kind of work, but old Billy Benson has a horse and cart and he’s always short of money. Maybe he’d do it if the price was right.’
‘Thanks. Where will I find him?’ I asked.
‘At Benson’s Farm, of course,’ the man replied in a tone that suggested that everyone knew that. ‘Go north out of the town; it’s over the top of the moors. You’ll see the track. He runs a few scraggy sheep.’
‘How far is it?’ I asked.
‘You’re young and fit. Shake yourself and you could be there and back by nightfall.’
Mumbling thanks for the second time, I left the premises and set off at a jog. What choice did I have? No doubt the Spook would be unhappy that I was taking so long, but we really did need the transport.
It soon became apparent that I was not likely to return to Todmorden by nightfall. It took me well over two hours to reach the end of the meandering track across the moors. As I walked, my thoughts turned once more to Alice and the lies I had told her. My heart felt heavy, and I thought of the future with dread. It seemed we were growing apart. With her increasing use of dark magic, we were following diverging paths.