‘It was a bad time, that!’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Don’t like to be reminded of what I did there.’
My brother, Jack, his wife, Ellie, and their young child, Mary, had also been prisoners in that cell. As they’d opened the cell door, a witch had uttered words that chilled me to the bone:
Leave the child to me, she’d said. She’s mine . . .
At that moment Alice and Mab had attacked them.
‘You did what you had to do, Alice,’ I reassured her now. ‘It was them or us. And don’t forget that they came to kill a child!’
At the top of the steps we emerged into the storehouse, with its stink of rotting vegetables. Beyond this lay the living quarters, once home to the Malkin coven and their servants. Mam’s trunk was there – the one that contained her notebooks and artefacts. It was open, and beside it stood the lamia, Slake.
The trunks had been stolen from our farm and brought here by the Malkin witches. Mam’s two lamia sisters had been hidden in the other two trunks. I had released them and they’d driven the witches from the tower. Since then, it had been safer to just leave the trunks here, guarded by the lamias.
Slake’s face was now bestial in appearance, and her body was covered in green and yellow scales. Her wings were almost fully formed and folded across her shoulders. Was she still able to speak? I wondered.
Almost as if she had read my mind, she spoke, her voice harsh and guttural. ‘Welcome, Thomas Ward. It is good to see you once more. Last time we met I was unable to speak; soon I will lose that ability once more. I have much to say to you and we have little time.’
I bowed before replying. ‘My thanks for guarding the trunk and its contents and keeping them safe for me. I was sorry to learn of the death of Wynde, your sister. You must feel very lonely now.’
‘Wynde died bravely,’ the lamia rasped. ‘It is true that I am lonely after spending so many long happy years in the company of my sister. I am ready to leave the tower and find others of my kind, but your mother has commanded me to stay until you have learned all there is to know here. Only when you have destroyed the Fiend will I be free to fly away.’
‘I was told that there is an artefact in the trunk – a sacred object that might help my cause. May I see it?’ I asked.
‘It is for your eyes only. The girl must leave while I show it to you.’
I was about to protest when Alice spoke up.
‘It’s all right, Tom. I’ll go back and meet Agnes,’ she said with a smile.
‘There is another with you?’ asked Slake, extending her talons.
‘Remember the witch who was slain below the tower? Her name is Agnes Sowerbutts and her body was carried to Witch Dell by your sister,’ Alice explained. ‘She is still an enemy of the Fiend. As a powerful dead witch, she will be a strong and useful ally.’
‘Then go and guide her to us,’ the lamia commanded.
Alice left the room and I heard her pointy shoes descending the stone steps. Alone with the lamia, I suddenly felt nervous, my senses on full alert. She was dangerous and formidable, and it was difficult to be at ease in the presence of such a creature.
‘In all, there are three sacred objects which must be used to destroy the Fiend,’ hissed the lamia. ‘The first is already in your possession – the Destiny Blade given to you by Cuchulain. It is fortuitous that it came into your possession – otherwise you would have needed to journey to Ireland again in order to retrieve it.’
Slake had used the word ‘fortuitous’, suggesting that the blade had come into my hands by chance. But the name alone told the truth of the matter. It was destiny that had united me with it. We were meant to be together; intended to bring about the final destruction of the Fiend. Either that, or I would die in the attempt.
‘This is the second object,’ she went on, reaching down into the trunk. Her clawed hand emerged clutching a dagger. One glance told me that its slim blade was crafted from a silver alloy, a material particularly effective against denizens of the dark.
The lamia held it out to me handle first, and the moment my fingers touched it I knew instinctively that I had also been born to bear this weapon. Although far smaller, visually it was the twin of the Destiny Blade, its handle shaped in the form of a skelt’s head, the blade taking the place of the bone-tube used to take its victims’ blood. The skelt was a deadly creature that lurked in narrow crevices close to water. When somebody passed by, it would dart out and thrust that long bone-tube into their neck. When I went to work with the spook Bill Arkwright, I had been attacked by such a creature and he saved me by smashing its head in with a stone.
No sooner had I gripped the handle of the dagger than the two ruby eyes began to drip blood.
‘Was this also forged by Hephaestus?’ I asked. He was the Old God who had crafted special weapons for his peers – the greatest blacksmith who had ever existed.
Slake nodded her fearsome head. ‘Yes, he forged all three of the sacred objects. They are known as “hero swords”, although in truth two of them are just daggers. Some say that they were once used as swords by the Segantii, the little people who once dwelt in the north of the County.’
I remembered seeing the small stone graves chiselled out of rock to hold the bodies of the Segantii. In their hands the daggers would have indeed seemed as large as swords.
‘Do I need all three?’ I asked.
‘All three must be used together. I know where the other is to be found – though it lies in a place that is inaccessible to mortals. It is hidden within the dark, but it could be brought forth by one who is brave, powerful and resourceful.’
‘I’m not that brave,’ I said, ‘and I doubt I have the power, but if someone has to venture into the dark it must be me.’
The Old God Pan had told me that. Each powerful dark entity had its own private dwelling within the dark – a huge place with many domains, the most powerful and dangerous belonging to the Fiend.
‘Your mother, Zenobia, knows precisely where it is to be found. She will tell you herself and explain what must be done.’
‘What? Mam will speak to me. When?’ I asked excitedly. ‘When will that happen?’
‘She will appear tonight within this chamber – but to you alone. Her words are for your ears only.’
That night I waited in the chamber, sitting beside Mam’s trunk. A single candle flame danced on the table nearby, sending grotesque shadows flickering up onto the far wall.