Joseph Delaney - The Spook's Mistake

Your master,

John Gregory

The Spook seemed to know nothing of Bill's death, so either Alice hadn't told him or for some reason he was pretending not to know. And as he hadn't come straight to the mill to deal with Morwena, I knew that the find in Caster must be something very special.

'Get yourself aboard,' said Mr Gilbert, 'but first there's somebody I'd like you to meet. My son had long overdue chores at home, but my daughter's with me. Come here, Daughter, and meet young Tom!' he called out.

The girl looked up from her grooming and, without bothering to turn round, lifted her arm to wave but made no effort to obey her father.

'A very shy girl,' Mr Gilbert observed. 'But let's be on our way. No doubt she'll pluck up the courage to talk to you later.'

I hesitated. Leaving Claw at the mill would probably be all right — she could fend for herself for now. And I felt happy enough about leaving my bag but not the most valuable thing it contained — my silver chain. Who knew what we might face in Caster? It was a potent weapon against the dark — particularly witches — and I didn't want to be without it.

'I need to go back to the mill for something,' I told Mr Gilbert.

He frowned and shook his head. 'We haven't really got time. Your master's waiting and we need to get to Caster before dark.'

'Why don't you start the journey,' I told him, 'and I'll run and catch you up.'

I could tell that he didn't like it, but what I'd suggested was perfectly reasonable. Pulling a heavy barge, horses usually plodded along at a relatively slow pace, so I would be able to catch them up and then ride and rest for the remainder of the journey.

I smiled at him politely, then set off at a run. Soon I'd crossed the bridge and was sprinting along the banks of the river towards the house.

When I walked into the kitchen, I had the shock of my life. Alice was sitting in the chair by the stove and Claw was close to her, muzzle resting comfortably upon her pointy shoes.

She smiled up at me and patted Claw on the head. 'Expecting puppies, this one,' she said. 'Two, I reckon.'

I smiled back, relieved and glad to see her. 'If that's so, their father's dead,' I told her, the smile slipping away. 'Morwena killed him as well as his master. It's been bad, Alice. Really bad. You can't know how glad I am to see you. But why aren't you in Caster with the Spook?'

'Caster? Don't know nothing about that. Old Gregory went off to Pendle more than a week ago. On his way to Malkin Tower, he said. He was going to look in your mam's trunks and see if they held any information about the Fiend. When I talked to you in the mirror, he still wasn't back so I left him a note and came by myself. Knew you needed help urgently.'

Puzzled, I handed Alice the Spook's letter. She read it quickly and looked up, nodding. 'Makes sense,' she said. 'Most likely Old Gregory found something important and travelled straight from Pendle to Caster. Don't know what's happened to Arkwright yet, does he? Just sent a message to the mill and asked for you.'

'You nearly missed me, Alice. Mr Gilbert's waiting for me now. I only came back to get my silver chain.'

'Oh, Tom!' Alice said, coming to her feet and moving towards me, alarm on her face. 'What's happened to your ear? It looks really sore! I've got something that should help. ' She reached for her pouch of herbs.

'No, Alice, there isn't time now and the doctor said it'll be all right. It's where Morwena hooked me with a talon and dragged me into the bog. Claw saved me. I'd be dead but for her.'

I unfastened my bag and pulled out my chain, which I then tied about my waist, hiding it under my cloak. 'Why didn't you follow the canal from Caster to the mill, Alice? It's the shortest route.'

'No it ain't,' she said. 'Not if you know what's what. Told you before, I know this place well, don't I? Year before I met you, Bony Lizzie brought me up here and we stayed on the edge of the marsh until Arkwright came back from one of his trips north and we had to move on. Anyway, I know that marsh like the back of my hand.'

'I don't expect Mr Gilbert'll mind if you travel with me. But he'll probably have set off already and we'll have to catch him up.'

When Claw followed us out into the garden, Alice shook her head. 'Ain't a good idea for her to go with us to Caster,' she said. 'City ain't no place for a dog. Better off here, where she can live off the land.'

I agreed but Claw completely ignored Alice's commands that she 'stay' and trotted at our heels until we were on the path beside the stream.

'You tell her, Tom. Maybe she'll listen to you. After all, she's your dog now!'

My dog? I hadn't thought of that. I couldn't imagine the Spook wanting a dog with us in Chipenden. Nonetheless I knelt down beside Claw and patted her head.

'Stay, girl! Stay!' I commanded. 'We'll be back soon.'

She whimpered and rolled her eyes. It wasn't that long since I'd been terrified of her but now I felt sad at leaving her. But I wasn't lying. We'd call back here on our way to deal with Morwena.

To my surprise, Claw obeyed me and stayed behind on the path. We jogged along until we reached the canal. The barge was still waiting.

'Who's the girl?' Alice demanded as we walked towards the bridge.

'That's just Mr Gilbert's daughter. She's really shy.'

'Never seen a shy girl with hair that colour,' Alice said, an edge of venom in her voice.

The truth was I'd never seen a girl with quite that colour hair at all. It was far brighter and more vivid than that of Jack's wife, Ellie, whose hair I'd always considered especially beautiful. But whereas Ellie's was the colour of best-quality straw three days after a good harvest, this really was a most spectacular gold, now lit to brilliance by the sun.

The girl was still grooming the horses and probably felt more comfortable doing that than talking to strangers. Some people were like that. My dad told me that he'd once worked with a farm labourer who wouldn't give you the time of day yet talked to the animals all the time.

'And who's this young lady?' Mr Gilbert asked as we came up to the barge.

'This is Alice,' I said, introducing her. 'She stays with us at Chipenden and makes copies of Mr Gregory's books. Is it all right if she travels with us on the barge?'

'Only too happy to oblige.' Mr Gilbert smiled, glancing down at her pointy shoes.

Moments later we were both aboard but the bargeman's daughter didn't join us. Her job was to lead the horses down the towpath while her dad relaxed on the barge.

It was now late afternoon, but it was pleasant to be gliding towards Caster in the sunshine. However, the thought of entering that city filled me with foreboding. We'd always avoided it previously because of the danger of being arrested and imprisoned in the castle. I wondered what it was that my master had found that was so important.

The journey south was uneventful. The strange thing was that, for most of the time, nobody spoke a word. I'd lots of things to say to Alice but I didn't utter them in the bargeman's presence. I just didn't like talking spooks' business in front of him and I knew my master would have agreed. Such things were best kept to ourselves.

I already knew that Mr Gilbert was a taciturn man and didn't expect much in the way of conversation, but then, as the castle and church spires of the city came into view, he suddenly became very talkative.

'Do you have brothers, Tom?' he asked.

'I have six,' I answered. 'The eldest, Jack, still lives on the family farm. He runs it with James, the next eldest, who's a blacksmith by trade.'

'What about the others?'

'They're scattered about the County doing jobs of their own.'