I shook my head. I’d eaten a little before the fight with Lizzie, but now I needed to fast to ready myself for any dark magic she might use against me.
‘Well, I certainly am. I could eat a bullock, hooves and all!’ She pointed upwards into the darkness. ‘Climb up there!’ she commanded: I could feel the compulsion in her voice and had to resist. ‘It’ll bring you out onto a branch. It’s just a short drop to the ground. Bring me back a couple of rabbits – and make sure they’re still alive—’
‘No, Tom!’ Alice cried in alarm. ‘Don’t listen to her. She’s created a bone-yard here and this tree’s right at its centre. You’ll be crushed as soon as you touch the ground!’
Although I’d never encountered one, I knew what a bone-yard was from my reading of the Spook’s Bestiary. Crafted by dark magic, it made the bones of any creature that entered it very heavy. They were unable to move and were trapped until the witch came, either to collect them for food or harvest their bones for dark magical purposes. Near the centre, the pressure was so great that the victim was crushed to death – though only something very fast, like a hare, would get that far before the magic forces took effect. But here we were right at its centre, in its eye – safe from its forces. If I left the hollow tree, however …
‘You’ve got a big gob on you, girl!’ Lizzie said angrily. ‘Wants stitching up again …’
Alice ignored her and pulled a small leather pouch from the pocket of her skirt. It contained the herbs she used for healing. She crawled towards me and peered closely at my forehead.
‘Nasty cut, that, Tom,’ she said. The inside of the tree trunk was wet in places and Alice collected some moisture with her fingers and used it to dampen a leaf before pressing it firmly against my skin. ‘That should do it, keep infection away – but you’ll have a scar. Nothing I can do about that.’
So I’d have another scar to add to the one on my ear where Morwena, the water witch, had once hooked me with her finger, driving the nail right through the flesh. It was all part of the job; to be expected when training for the dangerous job of spook.
Next Alice licked her lips and pressed small pieces of leaf against the holes around her mouth left by the twine. When she’d finished, she held a leaf out towards her mother, but Bony Lizzie shook her head.
‘I’ll heal myself, girl. Don’t need your help,’ she sneered, getting to her feet. ‘I’ll go and get my own rabbits. You two stay here if you know what’s good for you!’
With that she began to climb up the inside of the tree, pushing her head through the curtain of spider webs. She was soon lost to view in the darkness, but we could hear her pointy shoes scrabbling on bark, and then a soft thud as she dropped to the ground outside. Lizzie would be safe enough in her own bone-yard: a witch usually left a secret twisty path so she could move through it unharmed. She could also guide others through – but how could we force her to do that? Our only real option was to go back into the tunnels, but I didn’t fancy our chances against the buggane one bit.
‘Oh, Tom, is the blood jar safe? Do you still have it?’ Alice asked, her eyes full of anxiety.
‘Yes, it’s safe. I wasn’t searched. Barrule even let me keep my silver chain – but how were you caught, Alice?’ I wondered. ‘I saw you roll over and avoid the buggane, but then you just disappeared.’
‘I hid behind a tree so it couldn’t charge me again, but then Lizzie stole up on me – clamped her hand over my mouth, she did. I never sensed her coming – must have used some really powerful magic. She dragged me away and brought me here. Before that she’d been hidden here for days. They’d never have found her, but she took a risk because she wants Old Gregory really badly. Wants him dead, she does, in revenge for binding her in that pit in his garden. Wants to give him a slow, painful death.
‘So later that night we set off hunting for him. She had me bound fast under a spell and only half my head was working. Couldn’t object to anything she did or said. But she was too confident – didn’t even bother long-sniffing for danger. Thought she could deal with anything. When we were out in the open, the shaman’s men attacked us. She used dread and killed several of the yeomen, she did – some with her knives, a couple with curses – but there were too many of them. Eventually they beat her unconscious with the ends of their spears and dragged us to Greeba Keep.’
‘Did you see any of the other prisoners?’ I asked, thinking about Adriana.
Alice shook her head. ‘Saw nobody – put us in separate cells. They brought me up to the cage just before you came in. Didn’t see her again until they dragged her in to fight you. It’s been bad, Tom, really bad – especially when they stitched my lips together. But the worst part of all was when the buggane crawled out of the tunnel and sniffed at me. All hairy, it was, with big sharp teeth. I thought I was going to die and would never see you again …’
She began to sob, so I put my arms round her and hugged her tight. After a while she calmed down, and we sat there, holding hands for comfort.
‘Do you know anything about the spell that controls a bone-yard, Alice?’ I asked at last. ‘Could you find Lizzie’s secret path through it?’
‘Wouldn’t want me to use dark magic, Tom, would you? Can’t be asking me to do that … ?’ There was an edge of sarcasm in Alice’s voice.
For a long time I had avoided using the dark in any way, even when I was fighting for my life. Alice had struggled to persuade me to use the blood jar. But my worries about my recent separation from her had largely been unfounded. She’d been close to Lizzie, and the Fiend couldn’t approach a witch who’d had a child by him.
‘It was just a thought, Alice. I can’t think of any other way of getting out of here. Not unless we risk the tunnels …’
‘We’d be better off doing that than tampering with Lizzie’s yard. It’s true that there’s a path through it, but it’s hard to find. Dangerous things to meddle with, they are. Make one mistake and you’re dead—’
Suddenly we heard a noise outside. Someone had started climbing down the tree. Moments later, Lizzie’s pointy shoes came into view and she dropped down the last few feet to stand before us, clutching something in her left hand.