Before she could reply, the guards came for her. She gave us a nervous smile, then went over to the barrel and crawled inside without a word.
Rap! Tap!
Now the barrel was on its way down. It was a smooth descent with no bumps. Had she survived? Again there was a sound of splintering wood as they prised off the lid.
‘Another live one here! This one’s a witch for sure!’ shouted Stanton.
As soon as Adriana crawled out of the barrel, she was hauled to her feet and marched away by a further two guards. I noticed that she was limping, but she too had survived the descent. I suddenly felt more optimistic. We could worry about the buggane later.
Alice gave me a little smile as they dragged her away. It seemed that I would be the last to be tested. Alice crawled into the barrel quickly, like Adriana. As soon as they tapped on the lid, she’d wedge herself into position.
This time the descent was rough, the barrel bouncing twice – though at least it didn’t hit a tree. When it reached the bottom, my heart was in my mouth. Had Alice managed to position herself properly? The remaining guard took off the lid and I waited expectantly for her to emerge. Instead there was a pause before he dragged her out of the barrel.
‘Another dead one!’ shouted the commander. ‘Send down the little warlock. Let’s get it over with! I’m ready for my breakfast!’
My throat constricted and a huge sob built up in my chest. Down below, they were laying Alice’s body out alongside the other two corpses.
Icouldn’t believe she was dead. We’d gone through so much together, survived so many dangers … As my eyes filled with tears, I was seized and pushed to my knees in front of an open barrel.
‘In you get, lad. Stop blubbing and make it easier on yourself!’
Blinded by tears, I started to crawl into the barrel, the spikes jabbing painfully into my hands and knees as I did so. No sooner was I in than the lid was clamped on top, plunging me into darkness.
Rap! Tap!
The barrel began to move and, just in time, I used my elbows and knees to brace my body against the inner curve of the wood, somehow managing to find gaps amongst the murderous spikes. The barrel began to spin faster and faster, the force pressing me harder against the points. There was a jolt, and I was almost shaken onto the barbs. Then I slowed and finally came to a halt. I didn’t move until the lid was forced off, filling the inside of the barrel with light.
A face peered in at me. It was Commander Stanton. ‘Got another live one here!’ he shouted. Then he spoke to me, his voice lower but filled with sneering contempt. ‘Out you come, you little warlock! It’s the buggane for you …’
I crawled out, the spikes jabbing painfully into my hands and knees. Suddenly I heard a dull thud and a cry of pain. As I got shakily to my feet, Stanton spun away from me, reaching for his sword. He started to draw it, but then there was another thud and he fell to his knees, blood flowing down over his forehead.
‘Alice!’
She was standing facing me, holding a rock in her left hand. She’d used it to fell both Stanton and the remaining guard. A mixture of emotions came over me in waves: shock, relief, happiness and then fear again …
I heard shouts from the top of the hill and glanced up to see some of the guards heading towards us.
‘Run, Tom!’ Alice cried, throwing down the rock and sprinting into the trees.
I followed at her heels. The trees were old and mature to begin with, well-spaced with big branches. I glanced back and saw figures less than a hundred yards behind us now. We splashed across a stream and headed towards a denser part of the wood where the saplings hadn’t been coppiced. Before we entered the thicket, I looked behind again and saw to my satisfaction that our pursuers were no nearer. Now it would be a question of who had the greater endurance – or perhaps we could somehow lose them in the dense wood.
We ran on for five minutes, thin branches snapping as we passed, dead twigs crunching underfoot. We were making a lot of noise, but so were those following us, and they seemed to be falling further and further behind.
Suddenly Alice halted and pointed to our left. She dropped to her knees and began to crawl into an even denser thicket. For some time we moved forward on all fours, doing our best to make as little noise as possible. Then we waited, listening out for our yeomen. We heard sounds in the distance, but they grew fainter and fainter and finally faded away altogether.
Alice reached across and took my hand. ‘Sorry, Tom. Did I give you a scare?’
‘I thought you were dead, Alice,’ I said, filling up with emotion again. ‘Don’t know how that guard made such a mistake …’
‘Didn’t make a mistake – not really. I stopped my own heart and breath. Easy when you know how. Lizzie used to make me practise it – it’s very useful when talking to spirits. Dangerous though. Some witches forget to start breathing again and never wake up!’
‘I wish I’d known what you intended to do,’ I said, squeezing her hand.
‘I didn’t know myself until I got into the barrel. No sooner wedged myself in than I thought of that and did it as soon as the barrel came to rest at the foot of the hill. Better than being taken to the buggane, ain’t it? Mind you, we didn’t get off scot-free!’
I smiled. She was right: we were both covered in gashes from the spikes and there were ragged tears in my shirt and breeches and Alice’s dress.
‘We both look like Mouldheels now!’ I joked, looking down at Alice’s muddy feet. The Mouldheel witch clan were well-known for their bare feet and ragged clothes.
‘Well, Tom, you certainly know how to make a girl feel good about herself,’ she said sarcastically. My face dropped, but then she gave me a warm smile and squeezed my hand again.
‘Poor Adriana,’ she went on after a while. ‘Told us how to survive but it ain’t done her much good. They’ll feed her to the buggane now for sure.’
We waited for about an hour before leaving our hiding place, then headed south-east, towards the hill where the Spook had waited while we went down into Douglas. We just had to hope that he’d still be there.
We hadn’t been walking long when we heard dogs barking in the distance. ‘Sounds like tracker dogs!’ I said.
The animals seemed to be approaching us from the east. Just when we thought we were safe, the pursuit had begun again. If we were caught, we’d no doubt receive a good beating because of what Alice had done – before being taken to the buggane. We could expect little mercy.