The Puzzle Ring (35 page)

‘So Ira—I mean, the black witch . . . she wants to stop me joining the puzzle ring to stop the prophecy being fulfilled? To make sure the child of true blood is not found?'

Linnet nodded. ‘I fear so. It's the only reason why she would've called upon the Blue Men. They're fairies of this world, not the Otherworld. They are not constrained by its boundaries. The black witch lives in the Otherworld, and can only enter this world on the thin days, or sometimes, if her
will is strong, at dawn or dusk or midnight, when the moon is dark or full, or when her name is called . . .'

‘And that is why she killed my father,' Hannah said passionately. ‘Or did whatever it was she did to him. Do you think he could still be alive, Linnet? A captive in the Otherworld, perhaps?'

‘It's possible. It is not unknown for humans to be taken captive, as punishment or even just for amusement. Although I think she took him, or killed him, to stop him rescuing my lady. We thought she was safe. It was a bitter day when we heard your father had failed.' Grief thickened Linnet's voice.

They sat in silence for a while, watching the faint flicker of the northern lights dance across the clear sky.

‘So how will we cross through the gateway without her seeing us?' Hannah asked.

‘I will find some fern seed and make you a spell of invisibility,' Linnet answered. She sounded sad. ‘I know the secret recipe.'

‘I really, really want to go home, Linnet.'

‘Aye. I long for home too. Well, the sooner we find that last loop and join the puzzle ring together, the sooner we can all go home.'

But the last loop of the puzzle ring could not be found.

‘We'll have to ask someone,' Donovan said. ‘There must be someone who knows where the praying hands are.'

‘Fortingall is not so very far from here, if I remember rightly,' Angus said. ‘A matter of five miles or so.'

‘Maybe we could see the praying hands if we climbed Schiehallion,' Scarlett suggested. ‘You can see half of Scotland from up there.'

‘Great,' groaned Max. ‘How about you climb the mountain and I'll see if I can catch us a fish for dinner. I am so sick of porridge!'

‘I'll ride to Fortingall,' Angus said. ‘The less folk see of your strange ways, the better.'

‘I'll climb the mountain,' Linnet said. She was carefully making a thick, brown, unpleasant-smelling paste from fern spores and spring water, adding the golden pollen of some newly opened poppies and some other herbs that Hannah
did not recognise. ‘Hannah should rest some more. She's still very weak after her fever.'

‘I'll stay and keep her company,' Max offered.

‘Well, one of you lads should stay with Linnet and keep her safe,' Angus said.

‘I guess that means me,' Donovan said and got up, tossing Hannah a rueful smile. ‘At least this means I can add Schiehallion to my list of Munros.'

‘To your list of what?' Hannah asked.

‘Munros are mountains in Scotland over nine hundred and fourteen metres,' Donovan explained. ‘There are two hundred and eighty-four of them. I aim to be the first teenager to bag them all.'

‘I'll go too,' Scarlett said. ‘Not that I care about bagging Munros, but I hate fishing even more than climbing mountains.'

Linnet scraped the gritty brown paste into a pot, pushed the cork back in, and gave it to Hannah. ‘This should do the trick,' she said. ‘You rub it between your eyes and say, “Things seen and things not seen, let me walk between.” Keep it safe because I harvested the seeds of all the ferns I could find, and so I cannot make any more.'

Angus stumped towards the water-horse, which rolled a panicked eye towards him and began again to try to slip his tether. Angus seized the belt and drew it tight about the horse's neck. ‘I'll see if I can't buy us a bridle while I'm in Fortingall.'

‘Oh, don't buy a bridle!' Linnet protested. ‘It'd be so cruel to put iron in his mouth when iron hurts him so much. He's a fairy creature, remember.'

‘If he behaves on the ride in, I'll see about buying just a halter, but if he gives me any trouble, it's a bridle with the
heaviest iron bit I can find!' Angus gave the water-horse a stern glance, and he at once looked meek and biddable. With a grunt, Angus mounted, waved his hand in farewell, and rode off.

‘Does iron hurt you too?' Hannah asked.

Linnet nodded. ‘I don't understand why you humans love it so much. It puts me on edge just being near you all, with all that iron about you. And it hurts like a brand to be touched by it. Poor kelpie!'

Hannah put her hand in her pocket and fingered the iron key she still carried there. She had not realised iron would affect Linnet that way. She thought about Linnet in modern-day times, and realised suddenly that she had always seen her use copper saucepans and ladles, and old-fashioned wooden spoons.

It was quiet once they had all gone. Hannah lay back under the tree, turning the hag-stone over in her palm. Max went down to the stream and sat by its rushing waters, a line in his hand, but when she looked around a while later it was to find him asleep in the grass, his tam o'shanter tipped over his eyes.

The shadows grew longer. Hannah felt restless and anxious. She looked constantly for her friends, but there was no sign of them. When the sun was poised just above the mountains to the west, she caught up her walking-stick and went in search of them.

At first the ascent was easy enough, and Hannah enjoyed the sight of the purple hills and mountains rolling away in every direction. Soon, though, the way grew steeper and night pressed in. Early stars prickled the sky. Hannah paused, her heart galloping, a stitch slicing her side. She did not know whether to go on or turn back.

Suddenly she heard desperate sobbing coming from higher up the mountain, and a little girl came hurtling towards her, barefoot and wild-haired. She practically fell into Hannah's arms. ‘Help me! Help me! After me!'

‘Who? Who's after you?'

‘Quick! Please! Help me!'

Hannah cast a quick glance up the mountain and heard a deep, throbbing growl that made the hairs on her arms stand upright. She grasped the little girl's hand and began to scramble down the steep slope as fast as she could. A howl rang down the mountain, sounding like something out of a wicked fairytale. Pulse racing, Hannah lifted the little girl down the rock, then, hand in hand, they raced on again.

‘What is it? A wolf?' There had been something so wild and cruel about that howling that Hannah knew it was no ordinary dog.

‘A phantom hound,' the little girl panted. ‘It hunted me out of the cave. It'll kill me if it catches me!'

‘A phantom hound?' Hannah was puzzled. ‘What's that?'

Behind them the howl came again. Glancing back, Hannah saw a huge black shaggy dog leaping down the rocks. Its eyes were red as coals, and its sharp claws clattered on the rock. It moved astonishingly fast.

‘Come on!' She broke into a run again, but found the little girl could not keep up with her. She was sobbing with exhaustion. Desperately Hannah looked around her. Ahead was a tree, its branches curving down low to the ground. She shoved the little girl up into the tree, then hurriedly clambered up herself, keeping her rowan stick clasped firmly under one arm. As the huge black dog leapt towards her, she whacked it as hard as she could. It howled in pain, but leapt again, so close
Hannah recoiled from the stench of its hot breath. Hannah wished she had thought to bring her dagger, but it lay with her guitar back at the camp. Suddenly she remembered what Linnet had told her about her walking-stick.
If you're ever in any trouble, twist the handle three times
. . .

Hannah twisted the handle. A long, slim sword sprang free of the stick. As the phantom hound leapt for her once more, its fangs dripping foam, its red eyes glaring, Hannah thrust the sword as deep as she could into its breast. The giant beast tumbled down and lay still.

Hannah struggled to catch her breath. ‘Who are you? Why is this . . . thing . . . hunting you?'

‘My name's Morgana.' The little girl was clinging as high up the tree as she could climb. ‘I come from under the hill.' She pointed at Schiehallion.

Morgana
. . . Where had Hannah heard that name before? Then she remembered what Linnet had told her of Eglantyne's two younger sisters.

‘You're a fairy child!' she exclaimed. ‘Have you come through the gateway?'

Morgana nodded her head. Her hair was black and wild and very long, hanging to the backs of her knees. Her eyes were a bright and vivid green, the colour of a sunlit forest pool. ‘My cousin . . . Irata . . . she poisoned my father and my sister! She tried to poison me too . . . only I don't like spiced pomegranate wine, I fed it to my father's hound . . . and he dropped dead as well! My father, my sister, and half the court . . . all dead . . .' Her words were lost in gulping sobs.

‘When? Just now?'

The little girl nodded, her face white with horror. ‘It was the feast to celebrate the spring equinox. It's the first time I
was ever allowed to join the feast, and I was so pleased with my cousin for persuading my father . . .' Morgana wiped her eyes on her sleeve. ‘If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes . . . but she passed the goblet to my father, then laughed as he choked and writhed. All round the room . . . everyone falling, choking . . . I ran and hid, and she called upon her servants to find me . . .'

More howling echoed down the mountainside. Hannah stared out into the darkness with horrified eyes. She saw another huge black shape leaping down into the clearing, its eyes as red as hot coals.

‘What are we to do?' Morgana sobbed.

Audacia
, Hannah told herself, and gripped her bloody sword with trembling hands. As if scenting her fear, the dog flung back its head and howled.

Suddenly there was a twanging noise. An arrow sprang out of the darkness, taking the phantom hound through its throat. It keeled over and lay still, a shaggy heap in the darkness.

‘Lassie?' Angus strode out of the darkness, another arrow cocked to the string. ‘How are you? What has happened?'

‘Those dogs . . . they came out from the hill.' Hannah's voice trembled.

Angus kicked one with his boot. ‘What a brute. A fairy dog, is it? I've heard of them. Lucky I heard it howling. Come on down, lass.'

Hannah slipped down, first wiping the sword on her skirt and sliding it back into the stick.

‘Is all well? No damage done?'

‘No, I'm fine.' Hannah hated hearing her voice shake. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. ‘But
there's a little fairy girl from under the hill. She's Eglantyne's sister.'

‘What?' Angus peered up into the dark branches, then held up his arms to the child in white, cowering at the very top of the tree. ‘Come down, sweetling.' His voice was the most gentle Hannah had ever heard it.

With a little sob, Morgana slipped and slithered down until she could drop into his arms. He held her close. ‘Come on, little one, you're safe now. We'll go back to the camp and see if we can find Linnet to make you a hot posset.'

‘Linnet?' Morgana's voice brightened. ‘Not my sister's handmaiden? Is she here?'

‘Indeed she is. You're safe now.'

‘No I'm not. Irata is after me. She'll come with her host and hunt me down.'

‘Don't say her name!' Hannah cried. Far away, they heard more howling and a strange, high, gibbering sound.

‘We must get away from here!' Morgana cried.

‘We'll get you away from here. Don't fret, little one.'

Carrying the fairy child, Angus hurried away from the corpses of the dogs, Hannah close on his heels. At the camp Max was on his knees, hastily gathering together all their belongings. Hannah caught up her guitar and slung the strap over her head so it lay on her back. She still had her stick in her hand. The water-horse was wearing a new halter heavy with iron rings. He shook his head and stamped and strained away from his tether, his hide shivering with fear as the howling came closer and closer. Then Hannah heard the pound of running feet. Scarlett came racing down the slope, skirts clutched in her hands, her fair hair flying. Behind her were Donovan and Linnet, running full pelt.

‘The black witch is hunting!' Angus shouted. ‘Linnet, here is a wee maid from under the hill. I think you know her.'

‘Lady Morgana,' Linnet gasped.

‘Linnet!' the child squealed and flung herself into Linnet's arms.

‘We need to get away from here! Take the water-horse and ride him as far and as fast as you can. Here!' Angus seized the halter, and threw Linnet up onto the horse's back with one brawny arm, passing her the rope reins. Morgana was tossed up behind her, clinging to Linnet's waist. Angus looked around at the other children's anxious faces. ‘We can't all ride the horse. Lassies, there'll be room for you.' He lifted Scarlett up and turned to Hannah.