"The Spooks battle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Delaney Joseph)

Chapter XV

Like Lithe Cats

OH! Tom! Is that you? Is that really you?" Ellie cried, tears starting to pour down her face."Don'tyou worry, Elbe," I told her. "I'll soon have you out of there and you'll be on your way home."Tom, I wish it were so easy," she said, sobs making her shoulders shake as tears ran down into her open mouth. But I'd already turned away and was beckoning Alice to come up the steps.She climbed fast, pushing Mab ahead of her, and wasted no time in opening the cell door. As I entered, illuminating the cell with the candle, Mary ran to her mother, who scooped her up in her arms. Ellie looked at me with wide, hopeful eyes but then stepped back uncertainly as Alice and Mab came into the cell after me.

Then I noticed Jack. There was no bed in the cell, just a heap of dirty straw in the far corner, and my brother lay on it. His eyes were wide open and he seemed to be staring at the ceiling. He wasn't blinking."Jack! Jack!" I called, walking over to where he lay. "Are you all right?"But of course he wasn't all right, and I knew that the moment I saw him. He made no response to my voice at all. His body was in the cell, but his mind was surely elsewhere."Jack doesn't speak. He doesn't recognize me or Mary at all," Ellie said. "He even struggles to swallow, and all I can do is wet his lips. He's been like this ever since we left the farm…"Ellie's voice failed as she was overcome with emotion again, and I could only stare at her helplessly. I felt like I should comfort her in some way, but she was my brother's wife and I'd only ever hugged her a couple of times: the first was at the celebration just after they'd gotten married; the second was when I'd left home just after Ellie had been terrified by the visit of the witch, Mother Malkin. Something had changed between us from that moment. I remembered her parting words as she warned me never to visit the farm during the hours of darkness.You might bring back something bad with you, and we can'trisk anything happening to our family.And it had all come true. Ellie's worst fears had been realized. The Pendle witches had raided the farm because of the trunks that Mam had left me.

It was Alice who did what I should have attempted.Still gripping Mab by the arm, she moved closer to Ellie and stroked her shoulder lightly. "Be all right, now," she said softly. "It's just as Tom says. We can get out of here. Soon have you home again, don't you fear."But Ellie suddenly flinched away. "Keep away from me and my child!" she shouted, her face twisted in fury. "You're the one that started it all! Keep away, you evil little witch! Do you think that I can ever go back home now? We'll never be safe there. How can I take my child back? They know where we are now! They can find us anytime they want!"Alice looked sad, but she didn't reply, simply stepped back to my side. "Ain't going to be easy getting Jack down those steps, Tom, but the sooner we try the better."I glanced around the cell. It was a dismal sight, damp and cold, with slimy water trickling down the far wall.

It wasn't quite as bad as the picture painted by Wurmalde, but to have been plucked from the safety of their farm and brought to this was terrible. But something even worse than that had damaged Jack.Was it because he'd gone into Mam's room? She'd warned me how dangerous it was. Even the Spook couldn't enter there unharmed. Not only that: Jack had copied my key-otherwise he wouldn't have been able to open the door when the witches demanded it. Was he in some way paying the price for that, too? But surely Mam wouldn't want Jack to suffer like this?"Can you do anything to help Jack?" I asked Alice. She was good with potions and usually carried a small pouch with a selection of plants and herbs.Alice looked at me doubtfully. "Got some stuff with me-won't be able to boil it up though, so it -won't be half as effective. Ain't sure it'll work anyway. Not if it's your mam's room that's hurt him."I don't want her touching Jack anyway," Ellie said, looking at Alice in disgust. "Just you keep her away from him, Tom. That's the least you can do!"

"Alice can help. She really can," I told Ellie. "Mam trusted her."Mab tutted as though she had doubts about Alice's skills, but I ignored her, and Alice simply glared at her. Then Alice pulled the small leather pouch of herbs from her pocket. "Any water?" she asked Ellie.At first I thought that Ellie wouldn't reply, but then she seemed to see sense. "There's a small bowl on the floor over there, but it's got precious little in it."Watch her!" Alice told me, nodding toward Mab, who merely shrugged. Where could she go anyway? Up toward the Malkins? Or down toward the tunnels? Mab had no chance at all alone in the dark, and she knew it.Alice went over to the bowl of water, unfastened the pouch, and removed a small section of leaf, which she doused in the water, holding it there to soak. I heard the sound of cannonballs hitting the tower once more before she finally went over to Jack, opened his mouth, and pushed the fragment of leaf inside."He could choke!" Ellie exclaimed.Alice shook her head. "Too small and soft now for that. Fall apart in his mouth, it will. Don't think it'll help much, but I've done my best. Candle will go out soon, and then we'll be in real trouble."

I looked at the flickering candle stub. It wouldn't last more than a few minutes at the most. "We're going to have to try and carry Jack. You take his legs, Alice," I suggested, moving round to try and lift him by the arms.But I'd been optimistic about the candle. At that very moment it guttered out. It was very dark in the cell, and for a moment nobody moved or spoke. Then Mary began to cry, and I heard Ellie whispering to her."It's still not hopeless," I said. "I can see pretty well in the dark. So I'll take the lead and carry Jack down with Alice, as I said. It'll be hard, but we can do it."Makes sense, that," Alice agreed. "Let's do it now. No use wasting any more time."I'd tried to sound confident, but the steps were steep, with a sheer drop beyond into the stairwell. Even if we got down safely, the wight still guarded the tunnel, and it would be very difficult to carry Jack safely past it. It was better than just *waiting here for the Malkins to come down and cut our throats, but it didn't offer much hope. It was then that Mab spoke in the darkness. I'd forgotten all about her for a moment. "No," she said. "All we have to do is wait. The gunners will breach the walls soon, and the Malkins will come down the steps and make their escape along the tunnels. Once they've gone, we can go up and get out through the hole blasted in the tower wall."For a moment I didn't reply, but then the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Had Mab foreseen this? Was this the way she planned to get the trunks out of the tower? Through the breached walls? Whatever the truth of it, what she'd just said made sense. The first part of her idea might work, but I couldn't see how she hoped to evade the soldiers and get the trunks out. And if we went up the steps, I at least would end up in Caster Castle, where I'd be hanged for a crime I hadn't committed."It might be better to follow the Malkins down as they make their escape," I suggested.

"Trust me!" Mab said. "It's safer to go up than to be trapped in the tunnels with the Malkins. We'll get your family to safety and I'll get the trunks, so we'll both win." The more I thought about it, the better her plan seemed. Ellie, Jack, and Mary -were certainly better in the hands of soldiers than of witches. No-well had said that everyone caught inside the tower would be sent to Caster for trial. But surely they would realize immediately that Jack and his family were the victims. My story would be borne out. If necessary our neighbor, Mr. Wilkinson, could be summoned to give evidence. He'd seen what had happened.For Alice, it might not be so easy. She was from Pendle and had Malkin blood in her veins. There -was a danger that the only one of that family sent to trial would be Alice. And as for myself, I knew what to expect. I -would go to Caster, too, accused of the murder of poor Father Stocks. My heart sank at the prospect. I had no witness of my own, and No-well -would believe -whatever Wurmalde told him.But at least the trunks would be seized by the military, not the witches, and eventually my family -would be free to return home. For myself, I tried not to think of a future much beyond that.Mary was crying again and Ellie was trying to reassure her, difficult though it was in the darkness, with fear heavy in the damp air.

"I think Mab's right, Ellie," I said, trying to sound optimistic. "The tower's under attack by soldiers. They were brought in by the local magistrate to rescue you from the Malkins. Mab's idea could just work. All we have to do is be patient."Intermittently, cannonballs continued to pound the tower. Nobody spoke in the darkness, but occasionally Jack gave a faint groan. After a while the child stopped crying and just gave the odd whimper."We're wasting time," Alice said impatiently. "Let's go down now, back through the tunnel, before the Malkins come."That's stupid!" Mab retorted. "In the dark? Carrying Jack and with a small child to mind? All right you talking-the wight won't be after you. Look, I've told you already that I've scryed this. Don't you Deanes ever listen? Seen it all. We're all going up to safety, and I'm going to get my trunks."Alice gave a snort of derision but didn't bother continuing the argument. We both knew that, whatever happened, Mab wasn't going to get her trunks.It must have been half an hour before the gun finally stopped firing. Before I could mention the fact, Mab spoke."They'll be through the wall now," she said. "It's happening just as I said. Soon the Malkins will come running down the steps. If they come in here, we'll need to fight for our lives…"Out of consideration for Ellie's fear for her husband and child, I would have kept that quiet. But Mab was blunt. Some of the Malkins might be ordered to kill their prisoners. If so, I wondered how many they would send. At least we had surprise on our side. There were more of us in the cell than they expected.

"Mab's right," I said. "Lock the cell from the inside, Alice. That'll keep the element of surprise."Alice hissed through her teeth in annoyance at my support of Mab, but a moment later I listened to her turn the key in the lock and I gripped my staff tightly. Immediately afterward, somewhere outside the cell, I heard a door opening, followed by a distant murmur of voices. Then I heard footsteps on stone. Somebody 'was coming down-and not just one person. Several. There were voices and also heavy boots and the click of pointy shoes echoing across the stairwell.Nobody spoke in the cell. We all knew the danger we were in. Were they coming for Jack, Ellie, and Mary, or simply making their escape? We'd no chance at all against so many, but even though it seemed hopeless, I wouldn't give in without a fight.The footsteps drew nearer, and moments later, through the hatch of bars, I glimpsed candlelight and shadowed heads bobbing from right to left past the cell door as the witches and clan supporters made their escape. I heard them reach the bottom of the steps and start to climb down through the hatch, perhaps two dozen or more of them. Suddenly it was silent, and I hardly dared to hope that they'd gone. Maybe in their haste to escape they'd forgotten their prisoners completely?

"In a moment two of em will come back up," Mab whispered. "We need to be ready!"It was then that I heard a female voice in the distance. I couldn't make out the words, but the tone was unmistakable, the cold voice filled with cruelty. My heart sank as someone began to climb toward us, retracing their steps.As they approached the door, close by, in the darkness of the cell, someone sniffed loudly. "Two of them, that's all," said Alice, who had just sniffed out a confirmation of what Mab had predicted.In reply, Mab's voice cut through the darkness. "Two it is," she said, "and one's only a man. I'll soon sort him."Two sets of footsteps drew nearer: the click of pointy shoes and the thud of heavy boots. A key was inserted into the lock, and beyond the bars a woman spoke."Leave the child to me," she said. "She's mine."As the door opened, I lifted my staff, ready to defend Ellie and her family. The man was holding a lantern in his right hand and a dagger in his left -one with a long, cruel blade. At his shoulder stood a witch with a thin, hard mouth and eyes like black buttons stitched unevenly into her forehead.They had no time to register surprise. No time to take a breath.

Before they could react, before I could even take a step forward, Mab and Alice attacked. They pounced like lithe cats, claws outstretched, leaping toward startled birds pecking for worms. But these weren't birds, and they couldn't fly. They retreated and suddenly disappeared off the steps, screaming as they fell. The sound of them hitting the ground below made me shudder.The lantern had fallen in the doorway, and the candle within was still alight. Mab picked it up and held it over the steps, looking down into the stairwell. "Got a bit o' light to see by now," she said. "That should make things easier."When she turned back toward us, she was smiling and her eyes were cruel. "They won't be a bother now. Nothing so good as a dead Malkin," she said with a glance at Alice. "Time to go up the steps."By contrast, I could see that Alice was shaking, and she crossed her arms over her stomach tightly, as if she were about to be sick.From above there came a new sound, grinding and metallic."The soldier boys are inside now," Mab said. "That'll be the sound o' the drawbridge being lowered. Time to go up, Tom-"

"I still say we should go down and follow the Malkins," Alice said firmly."No, Alice. We'll go up. I feel that's the right thing to do," I told her."Why take her side, Tom? Why let her twist you round her little finger?" Alice protested. "Come on, Alice! I'm not taking sides. I'm trusting my instincts like my master always says. Help me, please," I pleaded. "Help me carry Jack up the steps…"For a moment I thought she wasn't going to respond, but then she came back into the cell to help. As she bent to lift Jack, I could see that her hands were shaking."Carry my staff, Ellie," I said, holding it out toward her. "I might need it later."Ellie looked afraid and -was probably in shock, her mind reeling from what had just happened. But, still carrying her child, she accepted my staff, gripping it firmly in her left hand. I heaved Jack up by the shoulders and Alice took his legs. He was a dead weight and it was bad enough having to lift him, never mind carry him up the steps. We struggled along, with Ellie following behind. It was backbreaking work and we had to rest every twenty steps or so. Mab was getting farther and farther ahead, the light from the lantern growing dimmer.

"Mab!" I called up after her. "Slow down. We can't keep up!" She ignored me, not even bothering to look back. I was afraid that she would go up to the floor above, leaving us alone in the dark on those dangerous narrow steps. But my fears proved unfounded. The witches had locked the upper hatch behind them, no doubt hoping to delay their pursuers. Mab was sitting there below it, grim-faced, waiting for Alice to use my key to unlock it. However, she was still first through, and we followed as best we could. Only after we'd pulled Jack up and lowered him carefully to the floor did I have time to look about me.We were in a long room with a low roof; in one corner there were sacks of potatoes piled right up to the ceiling, with a mound of turnips close by. Above another heap, this time of carrots, salted hams hung from the ceiling on great hooks. The room wasn't dark and we no longer needed the lantern. A shaft of daylight lit the far end, where Mab was standing with her back to us. I walked toward her, with Alice at my shoulder.Mab was standing in front of an open door. She was gazing with fascination at something on the floor. Something that had been left behind in this storeroom.There were the three large trunks that the witches had stolen from me. Mab had reached them at last-but she still didn't have the keys.