Chapter 5
The Three Sisters
I found the sexton's scythe in a shed at the side of the house, and after taking off my cloak and rolling up my shirt sleeves, I started to cut the grass and weeds as instructed. I began in the areas where the tombstones were horizontal, because that was easier.It was hard work, but I'd often used a scythe back home on the farm and I'd kept my hand in by cutting the grass in the Spook's garden, so I soon got into the swing of it. I could cope with being warm, but as midafternoon approached, the sun grew fierce and the heat and exertion started the sweat trickling down into my eyes. It seemed sensible to take a break and start again later.There was a well behind the house, and I wound up the bucket to find it full of water as cold and delicious as that from the felltop streams near Chipenden. A
fter slaking my thirst I sat down, rested my back against the trunk of a yew tree, and closed my eyes. Listening to the drone of insects, I soon became drowsy, and at some point I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember was a dog barking somewhere in the distance. I opened my eyes to find that it was nearly evening and I still had more than half the graveyard to clear. Expecting the Spook or Father Stocks back at any moment, I immediately set to work again.By the time the sun started to go down, I'd just about finished the cutting. The grass needed collecting up, but I decided that would keep until morning.
My master and the priest still hadn't returned. I was on my way back to the house, just starting to worry, when I heard a faint noise beyond the low boundary wall to my left: a soft footfall in the grass."Well, you've certainly made a good job of that," said a girl's voice. "Not been as tidy as that for many a long month!""Alice!" I cried, spinning round to face her.But it wasn't Alice, even though her voice had sounded very similar. Standing on the other side of the low wall was a girl of about the same size, although perhaps a little older; and while Alice had brown eyes and black hair, this stranger had green eyes like my own, and pale hair that hung down over her shoulders. She was wearing a threadbare, pale blue summer frock with raggedy sleeves and holes in the elbows."I'm not Alice, but I know where she's to be found," said the girl. "She sent me to get you. Said you were to come right away. 'Bring Tom to me,' she said. 'I need help!Bring him right away' Mind you, she didn't let on how fetching you were. A lot better looking than your old master!"
I felt myself blush. My instincts told me not to trust the girl. She was pleasant enough to look at and her eyes were large and bright, but there was something a little shifty about the way her mouth moved when she spoke."Where is Alice? Why couldn't she come with you?""She's not too far over yonder," the girl said, gesturing roughly south. "Ten minutes at the most, that's all it is. Couldn't come because she's got a bind on her--""A bind? What's that?" I asked."You a spook's apprentice and never heard of a spell of binding? That's shameful. Your master's not educating you right. Alice is spellbound. They've got her on a short leash. Can't travel more than a hundred paces from where they cast it. Better than chains if it's done right. But I can get you close enough to see her--""Who did it?" I demanded. "Who cast the spell?"
"Who else but the Mouldheels?" the girl replied."Think she's a traitorous little witch. They'll make her suffer for sure!"'"I'll go and get my staff," I told her."There's no time for that. No time to waste. She's in serious trouble.""Wait here," I told her firmly. "I'll be back in a few minutes."That said, I ran across to the house, collected my staff, then sprinted back to where the girl was waiting and climbed over the wall to join her. I glanced at her feet just in case she was wearing pointy shoes, but to my surprise her feet were bare. She saw me staring down at them and smiled. When she smiled, she looked really pretty."Don't need shoes in summer," she said. "Like to feel the warm grass under my feet and the cool breeze against my ankles. Anyway, they call me Mab --that's my name if you need it."She turned and set off at a fast pace, heading toward Pendle Hill. There was still some light in the sky to the west, but very soon it would be completely dark. I didn't know the area, and it would probably have been a good idea to bring a lantern. But my eyes work better in the dark than most people's, and after about ten minutes or so the waning moon came up from behind a bank of trees and cast a pale light over everything."How much farther?" I asked."Ten minutes at the most," Mab answered."You said that when we set off!" I protested."Did I? Must have been wrong then.
Sometimes I get confused. When I'm walking, I go off into my own little world. Time just flies by."We were climbing onto the edge of the moor that skirted the north of Pendle Hill. It was at least another thirty minutes before we reached our destination--a small rounded knoll covered with trees and thick bushes on the edge of a wood. The great dark bulk of Pendle loomed up behind it."Up there in the trees," she said, "that's where we'll wait for Alice."I looked up into the darkness beneath the trees and felt91uneasy. What if I were walking into some sort of trap? The girl seemed to know about spells. She might have used Alice's name to lure me here."Where is Alice now?" I asked suspiciously."Got her in a forester's cottage just back there in the trees. Too dangerous for you to go closer at the moment. It's best if we wait up here until the time's right for you to see her."I wasn't happy with what Mab had suggested. Despite the danger, I wanted to see Alice straightaway, but I decided to bide my time."You lead the way," I told her, gripping my rowan staff tightly.Mab gave a little smile and moved up into the cover of the trees. I followed cautiously, climbing up a twisting path through bushes and tangled brambles, alert for danger, my staff at the ready.
I started to glimpse lights ahead and felt even more uneasy. Was there someone else waiting above?At the very top of the hill there was a clearing with a number of tree stumps forming a rough oval. It looked as if the trees had been felled for the purpose of providing seats, and to my surprise, two girls were already seated waiting for us, each with a lantern at her feet. Neither one was Alice. Both appeared to be slightly younger. They stared toward me with wide, unblinking eyes."These are my younger sisters," Mab said. "The one on the left is Jennet, the other's called Beth, but I wouldn't bother too much about their names if I were you. They're twins and impossible to tell apart!"