Joseph Delaney - The Spook's Curse

It didn’t seem bracing to me. The breeze had died away and now tendrils of mist were snaking in from the sea and it was starting to grow colder. Within an hour it would be dark. I knew what Alice meant. It was a place to be avoided after sunset. I could sense something and I didn’t think it was too friendly.

‘There’s something lurking nearby,’ I told the Spook.

‘Let’s sit over there and give it time to get used to us,’ said the Spook. We wouldn’t want to frighten it off…’

‘Is it Naze’s ghost?’ I asked.

‘I hope so, lad! I certainly hope so. But we’ll find out soon enough. Just be patient.’

We sat on a grassy bank some distance away, while the light slowly failed. I was getting more and more worried.

‘What about when it gets dark?’ I asked the Spook. ‘Won’t the Bane appear? Now you’ve taken Alice’s blindfold off it’ll know where we are!’

‘I think we’re safe enough here, lad,’ said the Spook. ‘This is possibly the one place in the whole County where it has to keep its distance. Something was done here, and if I’m not mistaken, the Bane won’t come within a mile of the place. It might know where we are but there’s not much it can do about it. Am I right, girl?’

Alice shivered and nodded. ‘Trying to speak to me, he is. But his voice is very faint and distant. He can’t even get inside my head.’

‘That’s just what I hoped,’ said the Spook. ‘It means our journey here hasn’t been wasted.’

‘He wants me to get right away from here. Wants me to go to him…’

‘And is that what you want?’

Alice shook her head and shivered.

‘Glad to hear it, girl, because after the next time, as I told you, nobody will be able to help you. Where is it now?’

‘He’s deep under the earth. In a dark, damp cavern. He’s found himself some bones but he’s hungry and they aren’t enough.’

‘Right! Now it’s time to get down to business,’ said the Spook. ‘You two settle yourselves down in the shelter of those walls.’ He pointed towards the ruin of the chapel. ‘Try to get some sleep while I keep watch here by the graves.’

We didn’t argue and settled ourselves down on the grass within the ruins of the chapel. Because of the missing wall we could still see the Spook and the graves. I thought he might have sat down but he remained standing, his left hand resting on his staff.

I was tired out and it wasn’t long before I fell asleep. But I awoke suddenly. Alice was shaking me by the shoulder.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

‘Wasting his time there, he is,’ Alice said, pointing to where the Spook was now crouched down by the graves. ‘There’s something nearby but it’s back there, close to the hedge.’

‘Are you sure?’

Alice nodded. ‘But you go and tell him. Won’t take it too kindly coming from me.’

I walked over to the Spook and called out, ‘Mr Gregory!’ He didn’t move and I wondered if he’d gone to sleep crouching down. But slowly he stood up and turned his upper body towards me, keeping his feet in exactly the same position.

There were a few gaps in the cloud but those patches of starlight weren’t enough to let me see the Spook’s face. It was just a dark shadow under his hood.

‘Alice says there’s something back there close to the hedge,’ I told him.

‘Did she now,’ muttered the Spook. Then we’d better go and have a look.’

We walked back towards the hedge. As we got nearer it seemed to get even colder so I knew Alice was right. There was some sort of spirit lurking nearby.

The Spook pointed downwards, then suddenly he was on his knees, pulling at the long grass. I knelt too and began to help him. We uncovered two more stone graves. One was about five foot long but the other was only half that size. It was the smallest grave of all.

‘Someone with the old blood running pure in his veins was buried here,’ said the Spook. ‘With that would come strength. This is the one we’re looking for. This’ll be the ghost of Naze all right! Walk back a little way, lad. Keep your distance.’

‘Can’t I stay and listen?’ I asked.

The Spook shook his head.

‘Don’t you trust me?’ I asked.

‘Do you trust yourself?’ was his reply. ‘Ask yourself that! For a start he’s more likely to put in an appearance with only one of us here. Anyway, it’s better that you don’t hear this. The Bane can read minds, remember? Are you strong enough to stop it reading yours? We can’t let it know that we’re onto it; that we have a plan; that we know its weaknesses. When it’s in your dreams, rummaging through your brain for clues and plans, do you trust yourself not to give anything away?’

I wasn’t sure.

‘You’re a brave lad, the bravest that was ever apprenticed to me. But that’s what you are, an apprentice, and we mustn’t let ourselves lose sight of that. So get back there with you!’ he said, waving me away.

I did as I was told and trudged my way back to the ruined chapel. Alice was asleep so I sat down next to her for a few moments but I couldn’t settle. I was restless because I really wanted to know what the ghost of Naze would have to say for itself. As for the Spook’s warning about the Bane rummaging through my mind while I was sleeping, it didn’t worry me that much. We were safe from the Bane here, and if the Spook found out what he needed to know, it would all be over for the Bane by tomorrow night.

So I left the ruins again and crept along the wall nearer to the Spook. It wasn’t the first time I’d disobeyed my master, but it was the first time so much had been at stake. I sat down with my back against the wall and waited. But not for long. Even at that distance I began to feel very cold and kept shivering. One of the dead was approaching, but was it the ghost of Naze?

A faint glimmer of light began to form above the smaller of the two graves. It wasn’t particularly human in shape, just a luminous column hardly up to the Spook’s knees. Immediately I heard him begin to question it. The air was very still, and even though the Spook was keeping his voice low, I could hear every word he said.

‘Speak!’ said the Spook. ‘Speak, I command you!’

‘Leave me be! Let me rest!’ came the reply.

Although Naze had died when he was young and in the prime of life, the voice of the ghost sounded like that of a very old man. It croaked and rasped and was filled with utter weariness. But that didn’t necessarily mean this wasn’t his ghost. The Spook had told me that ghosts didn’t speak as they had in life. They communicated directly to your mind and that was why you could understand one that had lived many ages ago; one that might have spoken a very different language.

‘John Gregory’s my name and I’m the seventh son of a seventh son,’ said the Spook, raising his voice. ‘I’m here to do what should have been done long ago; here to put an end to the evil of the Bane and give you peace at last. But there are things that I need to know. First, you must tell me your name!’

There was a long pause and I thought the ghost wasn’t going to answer but at last it replied.

‘I am Naze, the seventh son of Heys. What do you wish to know?’

‘It is time to finish this once and for all,’ said the Spook. ‘The Bane is free and soon will grow to its full power and threaten the whole land. It must be destroyed. So I’ve come to you for knowledge. How did you bind it within the catacombs? How can it be slain? Can you tell me that?’

‘Are you strong?’ the voice of Naze rasped. ‘Can you close your mind and prevent the Bane from reading your thoughts?’

‘Aye, I can do that,’ said the Spook.

‘Then maybe there is hope. I will tell you what I did. How I bound the Bane. Firstly, I made a pact giving it my blood to drink. Three more times after could it drink, and in return three times it must obey my commands. At the deepest point of the catacombs of Priestown is a burial chamber which contains the urns holding the dust of our ancient dead, the founding fathers of our people. It was to that chamber that I summoned the Bane and gave it my blood to drink. In return I proved myself to be a hard taskmaster.