The long room was almost in darkness – just a couple of torches were flickering in their rusty wall brackets. Lord Barrule still lay there on the stone floor, and the place reeked more strongly of death than ever.
Alice appeared, walking out of the shadows to face Lizzie. She was carrying the grimoire in her left hand and my staff in her right.
‘Let Tom go and then I’ll tell you what I know and give you the book,’ she said calmly, the corners of her mouth twitching up into a grin.
Lizzie pushed me roughly towards Alice. ‘Give me the book and start talking! Make it fast. My patience is stretched to breaking point!’ she snapped.
‘You’re welcome to the book,’ Alice said, and she tossed it towards her.
Lizzie reached out to catch it, but before her fingers closed on it, with a loud whoosh, it burst into flames. The witch flinched away and it fell at her feet, the pages curling and blackening.
Her expression was now black as thunder but Alice was smiling, a look of triumph on her face. The witch arched her back, pointed her finger straight at her daughter and muttered some words in the Old Tongue. For a moment I was horribly afraid for Alice, but nothing happened and her smile grew even wider.
‘Used the cache to protect myself,’ she said to Lizzie. ‘You can’t hurt me, and now Tom’s at my side you can’t hurt him either! But I can hurt you. Push me and I can hurt you really badly. If you weren’t my mother, I’d kill you now! But you’re going to do as you’re told and do it right away. Give me the shaman’s thumb-bones! Hand’em over now!’
Lizzie began to shake, and beads of sweat broke out on her forehead. Her face was twisted with the effort of trying to resist Alice’s command but she wasn’t strong enough. I remembered how she had controlled us, but now things were reversed. Now she was forced to do Alice’s bidding, reaching into the pocket of her dress and pulling out the bones that she’d cut from the dead body of Lord Barrule. They were white now, clean bones, the flesh boiled off as part of the ritual to tap into their full power.
Alice held out her hand to receive them, and once more Lizzie tried to resist, her whole body shaking with the effort, but then, with a gasp, she finally let them fall into Alice’s palm.
That done, with a shriek, the witch ran towards the underground tunnel and scrambled inside.
‘We must go after her, Alice,’ I said, heading for the mouth of the tunnel. ‘We can’t let her escape. It’s my duty to bind her.’
Alice shook her head. ‘Sorry I let her go, Tom. Could have killed her then but despite what I said, I wasn’t hard enough to do it. She’s my mother after all. What kind of girl would kill her own mother … ?
‘It ain’t safe to follow her through the tunnels now. Even though I was stronger just then, Lizzie still controls the buggane. She’ll be able to find a way to the surface but she can’t return to the keep. Locked all the cell doors, I have, just to make sure she don’t try to double back. I’ll lock the door to this room too,’ she said, holding up a key.
‘Then we should head to where we left Adriana and Simon and try to cut her off!’
Alice nodded but her eyes were fearful.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked her.
‘The further we get from Greeba Keep, the less I’ll be able to draw on the power of the cache. After a few miles it’d just be me against Lizzie, and she’s bound to be stronger.’
‘All the more reason to deal with her before she gets too far away,’ I said.
We hurried out of the keep; it was deserted and we headed directly for Adriana and Simon. They were still waiting at the edge of the trees, so we quickly explained what had happened and made our way towards the chapel, watching closely to see if Lizzie emerged.
But we watched and waited in vain. Two hours later there was no sign of the witch and we began to grow dispirited. Had she already escaped?
‘Can’t you sniff her out, Alice?’ I asked.
She shook her head. ‘Been here before, she has, and her stench is everywhere. Can’t tell what’s fresh ’cause there’s so much of it.’
It was then, as the light began to fail, that I saw a figure approaching in the distance and my heart sank right down into my boots. There’d be a reckoning now all right.
It was the Spook, and as he drew nearer, I saw that he was scowling.
It was Adriana who spoke first. She stepped forward, placing herself between him and us. ‘It was my idea,’ she said. ‘We had to try and deal with Lizzie. I knew you’d never agree. It’s all my fault.’
The Spook nodded. ‘Aye,’ he said angrily, ‘you’ve put a bad taste in my mouth in more ways than one. But we’ll deal with all that later.’ He turned to me, his expression grim. ‘We need to get down to practicalities: tell me what happened and make it quick …’
After I’d finished, my master shook his head. ‘It’s a bad business. We need to follow the witch and deal a with her once and for all. But now that she’s gone and no longer has access to the power here, our first priority is the buggane. I’ve been thinking – and if we can destroy it, eventually the tunnels will collapse and the cavern with that cache of power will be buried. That’ll stop servants of the dark from visiting it in spirit form. They’ll no longer be able to tap into it directly. And that includes you, girl!’ he said, turning on Alice. ‘Deals with everything nicely.’
‘That’s not fair! I’d be dead by now but for what Alice did,’ I shouted.
‘She still used dark power – and not for the first time, as you well know. But we won’t speak of that now. We’ll go directly to the chapel – that’s at the centre of the buggane’s domain. It’ll sense us there and attack.’
‘What about the dogs – won’t they help us?’ I asked my master.
‘There’s no time for that now, lad. I left them at the mill, and we’ve got to deal with this creature.’
The Spook turned and began to walk away. Alice and I were at his heels, with Adriana and Simon close behind. Suddenly my master spun round to face them.
‘This is spook’s business,’ he said, holding up his hand. ‘Dangerous work for just me and the lad. It’s best if you wait here until we’ve dealt with the daemon. And that means you too!’ he said, glaring at Alice. She opened her mouth to protest, but then shook her head. There would be no arguing with my master after what had just happened.