When we left the room, Mathilde was waiting nervously in the corridor; she led us straight to the banqueting hall. The woman glanced at the leather bag, which I carried in my left hand and I saw her shudder. Maybe she sensed the evil within. Some people were sensitive to such things.
The hall was huge, with a high hammer-beam roof, and could probably have accommodated a hundred people. There were six long tables, with an oval one at the head, opposite the main door. This was the only one occupied. Two people were seated there: Sir Gilbert and his son. They were finely dressed in dark blue silk, as befitted gentlemen of a court. However, the father would have looked better in his chain mail – his round belly was now open to our gaze: he was clearly a man grown comfortable in middle age and accustomed to an easy life.
As we approached, they both rose to their feet and smiled, but I noticed their gaze flick towards the leather bag, which I placed beside my chair. I wondered where the kretch and the other supporters of the Fiend were now. They might arrive at the castle at any time.
‘You are welcome. Be seated,’ Sir Gilbert said; he and his son waited until Thorne and I had both taken our places before they sat down.
Servants moved in and placed dishes of meat and bread on the table.
‘We have much to discuss, but you must be hungry. So let’s eat first and talk later.’
I needed no second invitation. While we ate, large glasses of mead were poured, but both Thorne and I sipped sparingly. We needed clear heads to negotiate with this knight. He had given us refuge – but for how long? There was still much to be decided.
When we had finished, the servants collected the plates but left the glasses before us. Sir Gilbert steepled his fingers and looked at each of us in turn before speaking. ‘Once again I must thank you for rescuing my son and escorting him home. He tells me that you are being pursued by some strange creature which is unknown to me. I would know more.’
‘The creature is called a kretch, and is a hybrid of a man and a wolf: it has been created by dark magic specifically to hunt me down. It is intelligent and ferocious, and possesses great strength. It can use weapons such as blades, and its claws are coated with a deadly poison. Additionally its head and upper body are armoured with thick ridges of bone and if wounded, it can regenerate itself.’
‘How could it be killed?’ he asked.
‘It is possible that removing the heart and destroying it by fire or eating it might suffice. But in order to be sure, it needs to be dismembered and cut into small pieces.’
‘It is not alone?’
‘It is accompanied by a band of witches and a powerful dark mage named Bowker. Their combined strength makes them formidable.’
‘And what have you done to make them hunt you down in such a way?’
I reached down and lifted the sack onto the table. ‘Within this sack is the head of the Fiend,’ I said. ‘He has been bound temporarily while we search for a way to destroy him for ever. Our enemies wish to reunite the head with the body and set him at liberty.’
‘I find this hard to believe,’ said the knight, an expression of incredulity on his face. ‘You mean the head of the Devil himself is within that sack? Is that what you are telling me?’
‘He was summoned to earth by the Pendle covens. Now he is trapped in the flesh and in great pain. Do you not believe me? Do you require proof?’ I demanded.
A faint groan issued from the sack, and what sounded like a sharp intake of breath. Will and his father both started, but the latter quickly regained his composure.
‘I am a man of peace and happy attending to my own affairs. I take up arms only when the cause justifies it. I know little of witches and dark magic and believe that much that seems strange can be put down to superstition and ignorance. But I do have an open mind and would very much like to see the contents of this sack.’
‘Then I will grant your wish,’ I said, undoing the ties. I lifted the Fiend’s head out by its horns and held it up before the knight and his son.
Both came to their feet in shock. The boy looked as if he was about to flee from the chamber. The head groaned faintly once more, and the flesh around the ruined eye twitched. There was a thick crusting of blood running from that eye to the wide-open mouth. If anything, the head was even more hideous than before.
Your magic daunts me not, because I have magic of my own. And boggarts, ghosts and ghasts are no greater threat to me than they are to a spook.
‘IT STILL LIVES! How can this be?’ asked Sir Gilbert, whose face was suddenly very pale.
‘Flesh is just a covering,’ I replied. ‘For the Fiend, the form he takes is just like slipping into a garment. He can assume many such shapes, and his spirit can survive extreme mutilation; it now dwells within the two halves of his body. Thus he must remain trapped. If his servants return his head to his bound body, he will be free and his vengeance terrible, both in this life and beyond.
‘Recently he walked the earth and things became darker than at any time in living memory. One manifestation of this was the war that has visited the County, bringing with it death, starvation and cruelty. The fact that he is temporarily bound has already improved matters. Keeping him bound is in your interests too.’
Sir Gilbert stared at the Fiend’s head. ‘Return that fearful thing to the sack, I beg you. It’s not a sight that mortal eyes should gaze upon.’
I did as he requested and the four of us sat down again.
‘Did you fight in the war?’ I asked.
The knight shook his head. ‘I am no longer a young man and was not called upon to do so. I stayed behind and tried to protect my people. We were lucky, and being somewhat isolated were visited by only one patrol, and that somewhat late in the campaign. At first my people took refuge in the castle, but when the enemy soldiers started to burn their cottages, I sallied forth at the head of a small but determined force. We lost two of our number but killed every last one of the enemy – eleven are buried in unmarked graves. Thus none escaped to make report.’
‘Do you have a good stock of provisions?’ I asked.
‘Within these walls there are many mouths to feed, but we could endure a siege of several weeks before we began to starve. However, it would not be pleasant and would cause serious difficulties once life returned to normal. Fodder for the cattle is limited and we would have to start slaughtering them. The aftermath of war would make restocking difficult.’