Her lips free of the chain, the witch was able to cast dark magic spells, and she started immediately. Speaking in the Old Tongue, she uttered three rapid phrases, each ending in a rhyme. Then she opened her mouth very wide, and a thick black cloud of smoke erupted from it.
I sprang to my feet and staggered backwards as the threatening cloud continued to grow. The witch’s face was slowly being eclipsed, the cloud becoming denser and taking on an evil dark shape.
I could now see black-feathered wings, outstretched claws and a sharp beak. The cloud had turned into a black crow. The witch’s open mouth was a portal to the dark! She had summoned her goddess, the Morrigan!
But this was not a bird of normal size and proportions; it was immense, distorted and twisted into something grotesque and evil. The beak, legs and claws were elongated, stretched out, reaching towards me, while the head and body remained at a distance, looking relatively small.
But then the wings grew too, until they reached out on either side of that monstrous bird to fill all the space available. They fluttered, battering wildly against the walls of the chamber, smashing the table so that it broke in half. The claws struck out at me. I ducked, and they raked against the wall above my head, gouging into the solid rock.
I was going to die here! But suddenly I was filled with inner strength. Confidence replaced fear; there was anger too.
I acted without conscious decision, and with a speed that astonished even me. I stepped forward, closer to the Morrigan, released my staff’s retractable blade and swept it across from left to right. The blade cut deep into the bird’s breast, slicing a bloody red line through the black feathers.
There was a blood-curdling scream. The goddess convulsed and contracted, shrinking rapidly until she was no larger than my fist. Then she vanished – though black feathers smeared with blood fluttered slowly to the ground.
Now I could once more see the witch: she shook her head, her expression one of acute astonishment. ‘That’s not possible!’ she cried. ‘Who are you that you can do such a thing?’
‘My name’s Tom Ward,’ I told her. ‘I’m a spook’s apprentice and my job is to fight the dark.’
She smiled grimly. ‘Well, you’ve fought your last battle, boy. There is no way you can escape this place, and soon the goddess will return. You will not find it so easy the second time.’
I smiled and glanced down at the blood-splattered feathers that littered the floor. Then I looked her straight in the eye, doing my best not to blink. ‘We’ll see. Next time I might cut off her head …’
I was bluffing, of course. I was just trying to appear more confident than I felt. I had to persuade this witch to open the door of the mound.
‘Don’t ever visit my land, boy!’ she warned me. ‘The Morrigan is much more powerful there. And she is vengeful. She would torment you beyond anything you can imagine. Whatever you do, stay away from Ireland!’
I awoke in a cold sweat, my heart pounding, relieved to see that it was almost dawn.
I remembered the dark days we’d spent on the Isle of Mona, struggling to survive. Then it was the Spook who had been plagued by nightmares. Mercifully, his had gone, but I seemed to have inherited them. Now I rarely enjoyed a restful dreamless sleep.
I went over in my mind what had actually happened next, back in the County. I’d made a bargain with the witch. In return for her opening the magical door, I’d promised she could go free as long as she left the County and returned to Ireland. But once outside, I’d no sooner released her from my silver chain than Bill Arkwright had thrown his knife into her back, killing her on the spot. Later he’d cut out her heart and it had been eaten by his dogs – thus ensuring that she could not return from the dead.
So there was no way the same witch could be here in Ireland seeking revenge. I tried to convince myself of that, but I still felt uneasy and had a strong sense of foreboding – as if something had followed me back from the nightmare and was in the room with me.
Suddenly, from the far corner of the room, just by the door, I heard a faint noise. Could it be a mouse or a rat?
I listened carefully, but there was nothing. Maybe I’d been mistaken … Then it came again. This time it was like a footstep, and it was accompanied by another sound – one that filled me with new terror.
It was the sizzle and hiss of burning wood.
That sound brought back the memory of one of my worst experiences since becoming the Spook’s apprentice. It usually heralded the approach of the Fiend, his cloven hooves burning into the floorboards.
My heart lurched up into my mouth as I heard the terrifying sounds twice more in quick succession. I could now actually smell the burning wood!
But just when I thought the Fiend would appear by my side at any second, the sizzling ceased and the burning smell faded away. Then there was silence. I waited a long time before I dared to get out of bed. At last, summoning my courage, I got up, carrying my candle across to examine the floorboards. The last time I’d seen the Fiend manifest himself in this way, deep grooves had been burned into the floor. Here the prints had left only faint marks on the wood. But they were unmistakable: four cloven hoof prints leading from the door towards the bed.
Trying not to wake the household, I went to fetch my master and Alice and brought them to my room. My master shook his head; Alice looked really scared.
‘There’s little doubt, lad,’ the Spook said. ‘It’s the Fiend for sure. I thought that jar was supposed to keep him at bay …’
‘Let me see it again, Tom,’ Alice demanded, holding out her hand.
‘I fell on the jar when we faced that first jibber,’ I told my master, handing it over. ‘But I showed Alice and she thought it was all right.’
‘Ain’t sure that it’s all right now,’ she said, shaking her head and looking worried.
She carefully traced her finger along the line of the crack. When she held it up, there was a very faint red smear on it. ‘It’s hardly leaking at all – but there were only six drops of blood in the jar to start with. Its power to keep the Fiend at bay is slowly lessening. Time is running out for us …’
She didn’t need to finish her sentence. As the jar’s power weakened, the Fiend would be able to get closer and closer. Eventually he’d snatch me away into the dark – and destroy Alice too in revenge for the help she’d given me.