‘It’s gone, lad. Not one bit of it remains,’ said the Spook, bending over, exhausted. ‘And as for you, girl – will you never do as you’re told?’
‘If Alice hadn’t disobeyed we’d probably both be dead now,’ I pointed out indignantly.
My master gave a grudging nod but didn’t comment further. He knew what I said was true.
‘Now it’s time to deal with the witch,’ he muttered.
Once we’d rejoined Adriana and Simon, the Spook wasted no time looking for signs of Bony Lizzie.
I knew he was an expert tracker, but with only moonlight to rely on, would he find Lizzie’s trail when even Alice couldn’t sniff her out? We watched him pace around the wood, checking it systematically, bit by bit. Every so often he paused and knelt down, studying the ground. Maybe there wasn’t anything to find? Maybe Lizzie was still hiding in the tunnels?
It was almost an hour before my master found something and waved us over. There were three footprints in the mud. They were fresh and made by pointy shoes …
‘They ain’t mine, that’s for sure,’ said Alice. ‘Got big feet, Lizzie has. Much bigger than mine.’
‘So she’s heading south-west,’ said the Spook. ‘That’s the way we should go—’
‘I’d like to know something …’ Alice interrupted.
‘What is it, girl?’ demanded the Spook impatiently. ‘We’ve not got all day, so speak up!’
‘You ain’t going to bind Lizzie – you’re going to kill her, aren’t you?’ she asked. It wasn’t really a question. I could tell from her face that she knew the truth of it and she didn’t look happy.
The Spook nodded in confirmation, his expression grave. ‘I’ve no choice, girl. She’s murdered too many innocents. I can’t leave a witch like her at large – especially one with such ambition. If she’d had her way, this whole island would have been plunged into her rule of darkness. Who knows what else she might attempt in the future? Best thing would be for you to stay here until we return. She is still your mother, after all. No need for you to be there. You’ve done enough, girl. Get yourself back to the mill with Adriana until it’s over.’
But I knew Alice would refuse. I’m sure she didn’t want to be a witness to her own mother‘s death, but if she waited here, she’d be beyond the protection of the blood jar. She had to accompany me.
She shook her head. ‘I need to be there,’ she said quietly.
‘I’m going after Lizzie too,’ Adriana told the Spook. ‘You might need my help – are you with us, Simon?’
Simon Sulby nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said, looking determined. ‘We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together so we’ll do this together too.’
We went as fast as we could, but after half an hour we’d seen no sign of the witch; my master was getting worried.
‘We’ve got to catch Bony Lizzie, lad,’ said the Spook, ‘and put an end to her once and for all.’
‘Perhaps we should go back to the mill for the dogs now,’ I suggested. ‘They’d soon hunt her down.’
‘No time. She’s already got too much of a head-start.’ My master knelt down and searched the ground nearby before shaking his head. ‘Wait here. I’ll see if I can find her tracks again …’
He wandered off into the trees. As before, he kept pausing and looking down to scrutinize the ground, but there was more cloud now and the moonlight was intermittent.
‘Can he find her again?’ Adriana asked me.
‘He’s an excellent tracker but it’s really hard,’ I said. ‘The Pendle witches can cloak themselves, using dark magic to conceal their trail. A seventh son of a seventh son can still follow them but it’s not easy. If he doesn’t pick up her tracks soon, she’ll get clean away.’
The Spook was now out of sight, but within five minutes he reappeared on the edge of a copse of trees and beckoned us over. When we reached him, he gave one of his rare smiles and pointed down at a patch of mud close to a tree trunk. There were two clear prints. Pointy shoes again …
‘At least we’ve got confirmation of her direction. She’s still heading south-west,’ he said. ‘No doubt she hopes to make her escape by sea – compel some poor fisherman to carry her west towards Ireland.’
We set off even faster. Twice more the Spook found Lizzie’s tracks, but then he lost the trail.
Adriana thought she’d probably be making for either Port Erin or Port St Mary, where there were vessels capable of making the trip westwards even in a rough sea.
We were pressing on through the dark as fast as we could when a sudden vivid flash of lightning in the distance turned night into day. This was followed by a low rumble of thunder, and then the wind began to freshen. A storm was heading our way. And what a storm! Within minutes torrential rain had driven us to take shelter in a grove of trees, while a fury of thunder and lightning erupted from the clouds above.
‘If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Lizzie had sent this storm to hold us at bay!’ said the Spook as we waited for it to subside.
Cut off from the cache of animas, she was unlikely to have had the power to unleash such a storm, but she was still strong – as we soon discovered to our cost.
The storm now abated just as quickly as it had arisen. The clouds were scurrying away to the east, and we were suddenly bathed in moonlight.
We were just about to leave the shelter of the trees when, in the silence after the storm, we heard a cacophony of squeals and shrieks approaching from the west.
‘Rats!’ Simon shouted.
Moments later he was proved correct. A horde of huge, fierce rats with long whiskers and sinuous tails surged into view. I knew a witch could summon rats and drink their blood, but I’d never heard of them being used to attack her enemies. We were soon fighting for our lives. We laid about us with our staffs, beating at the ground to squash the rodents and desperately plucking them off as they raced up our legs, biting and scratching as they made for our throats and faces.
I heard Alice scream and turned to find her covered in rats. She was trying to protect her head, but she was losing the battle. I tore a big rat off her head, hurled it to the ground and stamped it underfoot.
Wave upon wave of grey rodents continued to attack us; then, suddenly, they were fleeing, leaving behind a mass of dead and dying bodies.