The Morrow Secrets (24 page)

‘But I don’t want to rule anywhere. You can have it!’ snapped Tallitha.
Asphodel shot Tallitha a deadly glance.
‘Now listen to me Tallitha and do exactly as I say. I haven’t decided whether to keep you here or return you to Wycham Elva for a good ransom. But I’ll keep Esmerelda with me, so you do as you are told. If you decide to disobey me, you know what will befall her.’
Tallitha’s eyes stung with tears and she shook her head in disbelief.
‘I hate you too! I’ll get you for this,’ screamed Tyaas trying to lash out at Benedict.
Benedict fidgeted uncomfortably at his mother’s side.
‘I had no choice. You wouldn’t listen to me when I said it was too dangerous, so I had to come with you. I knew that Mother and Aunt Snowdroppe would never let you spoil their plans.’
‘But what about Great Aunt Agatha, does she know who you are and that mother is a spy too?’ asked Tallitha incredulously.
‘Aunt Snowdroppe organised it all. She’s very, very clever. I doubt that old woman cares who I am.’
Benedict looked nervously at his mother for approval and the pair of them smiled at their artful deception. Tallitha knew that their mother was capable of such a scheme and that Great Aunt Agatha was too preoccupied to notice.
‘Anyway, you never bothered to ask where I came from and Essie had her mind on other things. It was much simpler than I thought,’ explained Benedict. ‘You called me that name too, and I hated it and you kept doing it. I had to get my own back. You were mean to me, weren’t they, mother?’
‘Shhhh there, my pet. Yes of course they were, vile and hateful!’
She spat out the words and turned her cold eyes on Tallitha and Tyaas.
‘Now run along Benedict, I have business to attend to.’
Without a backward glance, Benedict kissed his mother’s bony hand and left. Tallitha watched him leave and a sick feeling gnawed away in the pit of her stomach. She had let this happen. If only she had listened to her brother.
Asphodel summoned one of the Groats. ‘Take them to the blue tent and make sure they are firmly bound. Let them have water and food, then tomorrow I’ll decide on their fate.’
Asphodel came over to Tallitha and pinched her hard on the arm, staring coldly into her eyes. Tallitha yelped in pain and tried to pull away.
‘Remember all that I have said, Tallitha. Disobey me and you will suffer the full force of my anger.’
With that, Asphodel clicked her fingers and left the tent with the ocelots spitting and snarling about her feet.

In the quiet of the tent, securely tethered to each other, they whispered about Benedict’s betrayal.
‘I’ll get him. Someday he’ll pay for this,’ mumbled Tyaas bitterly. ‘I hate to say this, but we didn’t know him after all, did we Tallitha?’
Her cheeks flushed a deep pink. She had foolishly ignored her instincts and disregarded her brother’s wise words. Tallitha peered out from under her tangled hair.
‘I’m sorry, I should have listened to you,’ she replied sheepishly.
‘Next time, maybe you will, but for now we’re in a mess.’
The Skinks were struggling unsuccessfully to untie the ropes.
‘How about hypnotising the guard?’ suggested Ruker.
‘He wouldn’t succumb and would alert the others. Perhaps I can make a Death Cap potion,’ replied Esmerelda.
‘But how will you get him to drink it?’ whispered Neeps despondently.
Each one in turn came up with a plan but their ideas were either too risky or just plain fanciful. This time they were trapped. As night fell, their spirits flagged and they huddled together for warmth, listening to the hooting owls and the noises of the camp settling down. The smell of wood smoke filled the air as the fires were doused and at some point, uncomfortable and exhausted, the prisoners fell asleep.
The night slowly drifted by and the sky was filled with bright stars as two small creatures crept through the wood, sniffing all the interesting smells and plotting their trail. Stealthily, they moved towards the encampment through sodden bracken and over tricking brooks until at last they stood, knives in hand, behind the blue tent. Pester cut a neat hole in the material, tearing it carefully to the floor and the two Cave-Shroves stepped inside.
It was Tyaas who woke first when a warm dry hand was clasped over his mouth. Ernelle signalled to him to be quiet as Pester busily freed the others. Ruker crept to the entrance of the tent and listened. All she could hear was the fat Groat snoring soundly.
‘Come, follow us,’ mouthed Pester quietly.
One by one they stepped through the torn fabric, out into the dappled glade and onward through the moon-soaked wood.

It was hours before they stopped running, fear coursing through their bodies, urging them forward, breathless and scared. The strong smell of wet bracken filled their nostrils as they fled past row upon row of fir trees, their heavy branches dripping in the dawn-light. They slipped on mossy rocks and fell over twisted roots, too frightened to cry out in case the Groats were following close behind them. Ernelle and Pester were expert trekkers, leaving false trails and leading them swiftly through the wood until they were certain they had put enough distance between themselves and the Groat encampment.

At last, when the sun was rising and the birds had started their early songs, the travellers stepped from the dark forest into the shredded morning light and onto the brow of a hill overlooking the myriad of tiny lakes that made up the glittering expanse of Tear Pot Tarns. A beguiling landscape of sparkling water and undulating hills stretched out before them, wrapped in the rising vapours that hung in misty layers over the twinkling tarns. There in the distance, looming high and proud, stood the unmistakable craggy outcrop with Hellstone Tors erupting from out of its heart like a dark brooding monster, blotting out the sky.

‘There’s the castle,’ cried Esmerelda running to the edge of the hillside. She turned abruptly and her face shone with feverish anticipation. ‘Somewhere inside that dark place we’ll find Asenathe!’

‘At times I doubted we’d make it,’ Tallitha replied, staring fearfully at the unwelcoming sight soaring threateningly before her.
Against all the odds they had survived and were in sight of their mysterious destination. They had escaped from the terrifying hounds, made it through the desolate caves and outwitted the underworld creatures and Queen Asphodel. Tallitha felt hot tears running down her cheeks as Esmerelda came up behind her and Tyaas and put her arms lovingly around them.
‘I couldn’t have done this without you,’ Esmerelda added softly, her face glowing at the thought of finding her beloved cousin.
Tallitha, for once, was more circumspect. The castle was an uninviting spectre with a dark past and more uncertain present. She felt the tingling sensation clutch at her stomach.
‘What if we’ve come all this way and we can’t find her, or worse?’ Tallitha mumbled.
‘We’ll find her, I’m sure of that. Come, Ernelle wants to get to Melted Water before nightfall,’ said Esmerelda pointing to a lake in the north-west, ‘but first, let’s eat.’
The Skinks were busily tucking into doughy black bread with a reddish filling hanging out the sides. The others were too famished to question the nature of the filling and they fell upon the food.
‘I thought we were done for that time,’ said Tyaas hungrily pushing the red stringy meat into his mouth.
‘That Groat will be mincemeat once they realise we’ve escaped,’ Neeps chuckled, wiping his mouth on his sleeve and grinning at the thought.
‘But how did you get out of the caves without being seen by the Mowl?’ asked Ruker.
Pester tapped the side of his nose. ‘There’s a secret way, only known to Cave-Shroves.’
‘We had no choice and had to let you leave without us, in case there were spies about,’ explained Ernelle, ‘but the Mowl would have soon picked up your trail.’
‘We followed the Murk Mowl, who were following you, and bided our time,’ replied Pester.
‘We knew if they captured you, the Mowl would sell you to the Groats. You’re a valuable asset in this wild kingdom,’ explained Ernelle.
‘We drugged the greedy Groat sitting watch over you. We left food by his bench when he was inside the tent checking on you and when he came out he gobbled it all up. Know your enemy’s weaknesses,’ Ernelle sniggered, nodding at Pester.
‘If the Groat Captain kept his minions well-fed then this wouldn’t have happened. They’re mean and rotten, are Groats, even to their own kind.’
As they made their way across the country, their eyes were irresistibly drawn to the sinister landmark of the blackened Tors, beckoning to the strangers and drawing them closer. Tallitha took Tyaas’s hand in hers. What would they find inside? Would she ever see Winderling Spires and her old nurse again?
‘It’s such a dark place,’ she whispered to Tyaas. ‘What’ll we find in there I wonder?’
But Tyaas had nothing to say.
They made their way down a gully to where a torrid stream flowed into one of the sparkling tarns. The day was warm and as they walked along, Tallitha sidled up to Ernelle.
‘W-what’s Hellstone Tors really like?’ she asked cautiously.
‘Oh my, it’s a dreadful place,’ whispered Ernelle.
‘Shush, you’ll scare the girl,’ snapped Pester.
‘How will they survive if they don’t know the truth?’ replied Ernelle. ‘It’s a wicked place and...’
Pester nudged Ernelle and she clammed up.
‘We’ll talk later,’ whispered Ernelle into Tallitha’s ear.
‘We’re headed for Raw-Ripple Island’, said Pester. ‘It’s a hideout our traders use when we have to do business with the Tors. We must cover as much ground as we can before nightfall.’
The Cave-Shroves spurred them on, moving through the long grass by the edge of the lakes. For the moment, Tallitha had to curb her curiosity about Hellstone Tors but the gloomy edifice occupied her thoughts.
Sandpipers and curlews waded by the edge of the lakes and water-birds soared high above them, piercing the air with their plaintive, lonely cries. Tear Drop Tarns was idyllic after the iron-coldness of the caves. Tyaas peered into the shallows at the shoals of fish and threw stones over the water, making skimming ripples across the surface. In the quiet of the desolate tarns his thoughts turned to Benedict. He almost missed his annoying friend. He felt wounded by what had happened and wished he had seen it coming, but he hadn’t. Benedict was an odd one, always had been, but his betrayal had been a complete surprise to Tyaas. It cut him deeply. If truth be told, it made him nervous and unsettled about what was yet to come.

By the time the sun was sinking, they reached the shores of Melted Water, one of the larger lakes at the northern edge of Tear Drop Tarns. The Cave-Shroves disappeared into a nearby thicket and after a great deal of huffing and puffing they reappeared pulling a small canoe behind them.

‘There are too many of us so Ernelle will wait with Ruker and Neeps and I’ll take you three over first,’ said Pester.
Tallitha, Tyaas and Esmerelda waded out to the canoe and climbed in.
‘I’ll steer, you take it in turns with the oars, and we’ll be there in no time.’
The evening sun glowed warm and the sound of the lapping water on the sides of the boat made an idyllic setting. But Tallitha sat nervously in the stern of the boat. She felt vulnerable out in the middle of the lake in that wildest of wild places. The haunting words of her Great Aunt Agatha came back to her, ‘There are some who would take our lands if we let them.’
Soon they reached the rocky shore of Raw-Ripple Island. Pester steered the canoe into a cove, moored it by the jetty and clambered out.
‘These steps lead to the shelter so make haste and I’ll go back for the others. They mustn’t be out after dark.’
They followed Pester into an earth-floored cabin. At the back there was a storeroom with trunks full of old clothes and a larder with dried provisions.
‘Many’s the time we’ve had to struggle through a biting hard winter, hiding out in here. Make yourselves comfortable and I’ll be back in the blink of an eye.’
With that, Pester left and they explored the cabin.
‘Look! Bunk beds and pillows,’ said Esmerelda happily, flopping down and snuggling under a thick quilt. ‘Ahhhhhh, bliss! How long since I slept in a bed?’ she sighed.
‘There’s food and root beer,’ said Tyaas, already opening a bottle.
They thought about waiting for the others but their intense hunger outweighed their manners. As they ate, their thoughts turned to Hellstone Tors.
‘Now we’re here it’s becoming more real. Have you thought about how we’ll find Asenathe without being caught?’ asked Tyaas tucking into his food.
Esmerelda had been mulling over the problem. There was only one solution.
‘Tallitha must use her powers to locate Asenathe,’ said Esmerelda, ‘then once inside the castle we can follow Tallitha, she will know the way.’
‘I’ll try when the others are asleep,’ Tallitha replied reluctantly.
She was tired and it had been some time since she had used her gift.
As the evening wore on there was still no sign of the canoe and eventually Esmerelda went out to the jetty. All she could hear was the water lapping against the wooden moorings.
‘Any sign?’ asked Tallitha coming up behind her.
‘They should’ve been back by now. It’s so dark out there,’ she yawned.
Tallitha scanned the glistening black water, climbing on the rocks.
‘Get some sleep and I’ll keep watch. Then you can take over.’
Esmerelda was too tired to argue. She went back inside the shelter, snuck under the quilt and fell into a deep sleep.
Tallitha wrapped a blanket round her shoulders and settled down on the jetty in the cool night air. She relished the quiet time to herself. She was still stinging from Benedict’s betrayal and reeling from the revelation about her mother and Queen Asphodel. As the water ebbed and bobbed, something caught Tallitha’s eye. A small light twinkled in and out of the rocks, then it suddenly disappeared.
The rhythmical sound of the lapping water was soothing in the otherwise still darkness and Tallitha felt her eyelids grow heavy. She rested her head on her knees and it drooped to one side, closing her eyes for a few sleepy seconds. She was so exhausted she slipped imperceptibly into a dreamlike state. As her waking senses deserted her she found herself skimming across the surface of the tarn and taking flight, winding up into the night air, racing on the north wind towards Hellstone Tors.
The castle was shrouded by dark, threatening clouds as Tallitha tripped and bounced round the walls, peering into the lattice windows in the highest turrets. She soon found a lighted window where a large candle flickered in the draught. Inside, the girl was sitting, dressed in a long velvet dress, her hair tumbling about her shoulders, and twisting a talisman between her fingers. She immediately sensed Tallitha outside in the darkness and she came towards the casement and beckoned to her.
‘Come inside my sitting room. It’s so cold out there in the dark. Don’t be afraid,’ she said softly as she lifted the latch, whispering mournfully into the chilly night air.
The girl climbed up to the stone window and her thin hand reached out as Tallitha hovered uncertainly in the darkness. Maybe it was something in the girl’s glassy expression that made Tallitha tarry by the windowsill but she dared not enter the castle. The girl’s icy fingers touched Tallitha’s arm, drawing her closer, sucking her further in, as suddenly the face at the window darkened. The young face became much older; the eyes became cold and the once gentle fingers grabbed her, digging their sharp nails into her flesh.
‘You’re hurting me,’ she shouted as the face distorted into an unholy scream.
The room vanished in an instant. Tallitha tumbled back to the island and woke with a start. She rubbed her eyes and felt for the jetty.
‘Was that a nightmare?’ she mumbled, coming to, ‘or my shadow-flight?’
Tallitha shivered in the damp air and pulled the blanket tightly round her.
Then she heard a noise coming towards her through the darkness, the soft splish-splash of oars slicing repetitively through the water. That’s what had disturbed her! There was the flashing light again, but this time it was much closer, moving over the surface of the black tarn. Whoever was out there would be at the island within seconds. Tallitha raced back to the cabin and shook Esmerelda.
‘Someone’s coming. Wake up, Essie.’
‘Is it Ruker and the others?’ replied a bleary-eyed Esmerelda.
‘I don’t know, but they’ll soon be here.’
‘Tyaas, wake up,’ said Esmerelda. ‘Get in the storeroom. Douse the light.’
They crouched down in the pitch-black earth-room and waited. There was someone outside moving about.
‘Esmerelda, Tallitha, where are you?’
It was Ruker. She opened the door and shone her lantern inside. Tallitha leapt from behind the door and hugged the Skink.
‘What took you so long?’ she shouted with relief.
‘Groats,’ she replied, ‘lots of them. They turned up just after Ernelle got back to shore.’
‘I thought you’d been captured,’ said Tallitha.
‘Had Ernelle been any longer she would have been a sitting target out on the lake.’
‘Thankfully I wasn’t,’ said Ernelle, coming in with Pester to greet the others.
Tallitha and Tyaas leapt on the Cave-Shroves with joy.
‘Steady on there,’ said Pester a little embarrassed.
‘How did you escape?’ asked Tyaas excitedly.
‘There are safe holes all around here. You just have to know where to find them. We snuck into one and waited it out,’ said Pester.
‘The holes were made by our kinfolk who work around here. It’s a dangerous place out on the Tarns. There are often squabbles between the Groats and the Mowl. A cave-shrove has to know where to hide when they start to fall out. Now then, what’s to eat? I’m starving,’ said Ernelle, rummaging in the food bins.
After supper, Tallitha could wait no longer. ‘Tell me, what’s Hellstone Tors really like?’
‘Not now,’ said Pester sighing, ‘it’s too late.’
‘But you promised,’ she pleaded, squeezing Ernelle’s hand.
Pester nodded at Ernelle, remembering the bargain she had made.
‘OK you win,’ said Pester and signalled for Ernelle to continue.
‘You wouldn’t choose to go there, lest you had to. There are many stories,’ her voice trailed off mysteriously. ‘The castle is built deep into the heart of the Tors and into the sea no doubt.’
Pester tutted and raised her eyebrows at Ernelle.
‘Well! I’ve heard it goes down to a tunnel that only the Swarm know about,’ she whispered irritably to Pester.
‘Watch the words you use,’ stressed Pester nervously, motioning towards the door.
Ernelle nodded at her friend. ‘There are many floors, secret entrances and towers. The inhabitants from the surrounding villages serve the Thane and his court, mostly shroves and grovellers. But those shroves aren’t like us and the grovellers, they’re mean as sin,’
‘Tell them about the Bleak rooms. Given you’ve started you’d better tell them everything,’ urged Pester grouchily.
‘The Bleak rooms are nasty dungeons where prisoners stay for years on end,’ explained Ernelle twitching.
‘What have they done to deserve that?’ asked Tyaas wide-eyed. ‘Who are they?’
‘Those who ’aven’t paid their tithes or ‘ave been caught talking about the Morrow Swarm,’ mumbled Pester lowering her voice. ‘It’s a hellhole and that’s for sure.’
‘There’s Cremola Burn, who comes from a village in Wycham Elva,’ said Ernelle.
‘Don’t forget Leticia Trume, who used to serve Queen Asphodel,’ said Pester.
‘Well she don’t serve her no more, does she?’ said Ernelle tartly.
‘What about the layout of the castle?’ asked Esmerelda.
‘There’s a large courtyard with a marketplace, where the hawkers sell their wares,’ said Ernelle. ‘The castle is surrounded on three sides by heavy seas that will dash any boat onto its heartless rocks. The peninsula is home to the Morrow Swarm, who control all the lands round here including Out-Of-The-Way-Mountains.’
‘How do we get into the castle?’ asked Tallitha.
‘As far as I know the only way is through the market square but I’ve never been inside. This safe hole is the furthest I’ve been,’ said Pester thoughtfully.
‘We Cave-Shroves do business with the Tors at a distance. We keep well away,’ explained Ernelle. ‘Some say there are secret entrances into the castle but only the Swarm know about these.’
‘But who are the Morrow Swarm?’ asked Tyaas.
‘Close the door, Pester,’ said Ernelle, ‘just to be on the safe side.’ She lowered her voice and continued. ‘There are thirteen in the Swarm, including the Thane. They serve him and control the borders, exacting tithes from the inhabitants. Far away to the northern reaches they have lands at Stankles Brow and beyond up to Hegglefoot, I’ve heard tell.’ ‘What makes them so powerful?’ asked Tyaas.
‘No one knows. But the Swarm are bound together by a secret pact taken when Edwyn fled Wycham Elva and remade whenever a new member joins their evil brood.’
‘You must have your suspicions about who they are,’ said Tyaas inquisitively.
The Cave-Shroves looked furtively at one another.
‘It’s dangerous to speak about the Swarm. You could end up in the Bleak Rooms. Their spies are everywhere,’ whispered Ernelle.
‘But you must know. You have to tell us,’ pleaded Tallitha.
The Cave-Shroves tried the door to make sure it was firmly bolted. Ernelle and Pester huddled together and beckoned to the others to gather round. Ernelle lowered her voice in the darkened room.
‘There can only be thirteen in the Swarm and they must be descended from Edwyn Morrow. How they are chosen, no one can say. As long as the Swarm keep the oath and their pact of secrecy, they can rule. If the oath and the pact are broken, or if there are fewer than thirteen, then their powers will wane, so the legend goes,’ explained Pester.
‘What do you mean, fewer than thirteen?’
‘It’s the way of the pact, are you listening?’ she tutted. ‘There must be thirteen men and women in the Swarm. If one of them dies, or should leave of their own free will, then he or she must be replaced within a year and a month.’
‘But how do we fit in to all this?’ asked Tallitha, warily looking at Esmerelda.
‘I’m not sure, apart from being from the Morrow family,’ she said hesitantly.
‘Come on, it’s late. We can work out a plan in the morning before we leave,’ said Pester.
‘You’re leaving us?’ exclaimed Tyaas, glancing quickly at Tallitha.
‘We must. This is as far as we can travel without endangering our community,’ said Ernelle sadly.
‘But what shall we do? Ruker, you’ll help us, won’t you?’ pleaded Tallitha.
‘I’m sorry, we can’t. There are no Skinks in Hellstone Tors and we would stand out too much.’
Ruker looked crestfallen at letting down her friends.
‘We’re on our own then,’ said Tallitha forlornly.
‘We’ll be waiting in Ragging Brows Forest, on your return,’ said Neeps.
‘If we ever return, that is,’ said Tallitha and her face crumpled.
Everyone began to share the bunks, sleeping top to tail. In the darkness Esmerelda whispered to Tallitha, ‘I can’t summon the energy to contact Asenathe tonight.’
‘Me neither, I feel too sad. Good night, Essie. Maybe things will look better in the morning.’
The thought of their friends leaving was too much to bear.
Once everyone had settled, Ruker crept over to Tallitha and took her hand.
‘I hate to leave you to enter the Tors alone, not knowing what you will find,’ she faltered, gripping the girl’s hand, ‘but I promise, if I haven’t heard from you by Middlemass, when the sloe berries fall from the trees, I’ll know something is wrong and I’ll come and find you, wherever you are.’
Tallitha pressed Ruker’s hand next to her damp cheek. The Skink’s promise was a shred of hope, something to hold on to if all else failed