Garth Nix - The Ragwitch

Giggling a little nervously, Julia reached down to throw off her blankets–and somersaulted. Just by reaching forward–but it was a slow somersault, like being underwater. Forgetting to be scared, Julia somersaulted again, and then did a few corkscrews ending with a flip. She seemed to be suspended in something like water, but it was stiffer, less fluid–like glue. And she could still breathe.

Then Julia remembered the Ragwitch.

“Oh, Paul,” whispered Julia. “How could I be so stupid?”

A dull rumble, like distant laughter, punctuated her whisper and, at the same time, Julia caught sight of a small spark of light, like a candle in a distant window. As it was the only thing visible in the blackness, Julia headed for it, breaststroking through the strange atmosphere.

Slowly, the light became brighter and Julia saw that it was some sort of globe. It seemed to produce the light itself, in irregular flashes–occasionally shifting through the spectrum, but always coming back to a clear white light.

Julia circled it, delighting in the light that made her new environment so clear and beautiful. She flipped end over end with ease, breaking into a swan dive to float slowly down past the globe. An eddy in the fluid pushed her close to the globe and, without thinking, she touched it.

Instantly, all was black again and the fluid suddenly went cold. A voice came to her mind, chill and biting–the voice of the Ragwitch.

“Ah–you have found your way to the globe. But where do you think you are, little Julia?”

“I don’t know,” shouted Julia, half-angry, but afraid to show this to the awful creature who spoke into her mind.

“You are inside Me,” whispered the Ragwitch maliciously. “Your essence has been consumed. But I will let you live a little longer, for My amusement…and other things. Perhaps they will amuse you too, My little Julia, who loves her dolls. Look into the globe…”

Julia promptly somersaulted away, deciding not to do anything the Ragwitch wanted–though she felt more scared than ever. But even as she straightened out to swim away, a force gripped her, holding fiercely to the muscles in her arms and legs, twisting them back and forth, rippling them spastically under the skin. Then with a sudden wrench, her head twisted back towards the globe, and the rest of her body followed painfully.

Julia closed her eyes, but the thing inside pushed them open, making her look at the globe. Again, Julia forced them closed, only to have her own hands rise up to keep them prized open. Open–and looking directly into the swirling colours of the globe, colours that seemed to swarm out, enveloping her in a mist, suddenly going from rainbow-coloured to a dull, choking grey.

It swept her up and dashed her down into the globe. Falling, she felt her body become weightless–and then nonexistent. Without any physical sensations at all, Julia fell into darkness.

What might have been days or years later, Julia felt her senses returning. She could feel pain and sense a glimmer of light emanating from somewhere. But her body felt strange and cumbersome, and her lips felt cold and leathery to her clumsy tongue.

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light. They hurt at first, but slowly came into focus. She seemed to be in a rocky cave which was bathed in a dim reddish light. Eagerly, Julia looked around, hope welling up inside her. Escape from the Ragwitch?

Then she took a step forward and, looking down, saw her feet–long, leathery feet, that somehow seemed to be stitched and were leaking a yellow, wet, straw stuffing…

Julia’s scream was the first and last time she had control of the Ragwitch’s mouth. Even as it echoed, it was overlaid with a grim cackle and Julia was paralysed. She could still see, and hear, and feel, but could no longer move even the most insignificant muscle.

“For your amusement,” said the Ragwitch out into the cave, though it was solely for Julia to hear. “For your amusement I will let you see through My eyes, hear through My ears, feel what I touch. But you will never inhabit your body again.” Then the Ragwitch laughed, an obscene cackle, echoing out in the dark underground chamber. Still laughing, She began to run through the black tunnels, heading upwards towards the light.

AFTER THE MAY Dancer dumped him on the edge of the forest, Paul spent an uncomfortable few hours trying to sleep in a leaf-filled hollow, but he kept waking at the slightest noise, so he spent the remainder of the night awake and listening. Fortunately, dawn came before too long, promising something better than a cold hollow frequented by ants.

In the bright new sunlight, Paul saw that the lands ahead were clear and obviously populated. Green fields stretched as far as he could see, gently climbing over small hills, or around the occasional small wood or copse–each full of trees quite different from those in the dark, crowded forest.

The forest lay quite high on the hill behind him, so Paul went straight down, delighting in the ability to run free of vines and clinging roots. Every now and then, a rough stone wall barred his progress–proof that these pleasant green hills were inhabited.

Then, as if further proof were needed, Paul spotted a flock of sheep and, more importantly, a shepherd. Eagerly, he ran towards them–before suddenly faltering. What if the shepherd were another creature, like the May Dancers, or possibly something worse? Paul quickly turned back to the nearest stone wall and hid near where the shepherd and his flock should pass.

As they drew closer, his fear lessened. The shepherd wore a rough wool cloak, but the hood was pushed well back, revealing the cheerful, straggly-bearded face of an old man, who was whistling between his two front teeth–a pleasant tune, that sounded a little like Greensleeves .

Paul needed no more, so he stood up and said, “Hello!”

The shepherd looked up and stopped whistling. He looked dumbfounded by Paul’s sudden appearance and made no move to speak–or indeed, to do anything.

“Hello,” said Paul, giving him a small wave. This seemed to puzzle the shepherd even more. He looked over his shoulder once, then looked past Paul, up to the forest, before answering, and his hand fell to the cudgel thrust through his belt.

“Hello,” said the shepherd warily. “What are you doing up here?”

“Nothing,” replied Paul. “I just came down–out of the forest…”

“The forest!” interrupted the shepherd, quickly making a strange sign with thumb and forefinger against his head. “What were you doing in the forest? You didn’t upset the May Dancers?”

“No…” said Paul hesitantly, somewhat taken aback by the old man’s vehemence. “I don’t think so. They let me go. One of them even carried me out of the forest–he dropped me just up there, at the top of the hill.”

The shepherd appeared quite relieved at this and Paul noticed that he was no longer fingering the thick wooden cudgel at his side.

“That is well. The May Dancers are strange folk, best left undisturbed by the likes of us. Which village are you from, lad–and where did you get your strange garments?”

“I’m not from any village,” Paul said, wishing that he was from somewhere nearby. He fingered the dirty hem of his Tshirt and added, “And these are my normal clothes.”

“Not from any village?” the shepherd asked, backing off and making the sign with his thumb and forefinger again. “Carried here by the May Dancers…”

He began to back off still further, so Paul tried to put him at ease. “I’m only a boy–I was just looking for my sister. It’s hard to explain…but I’d never even heard of the May Dancers before last night. Honest!”