Meanwhile Gardens (40 page)

Jake opened the much-used road map he had brought from the van. “Let’s see,” he quickly turned to page seventeen. “We’re here right?”

“Yes,” Nicky scrutinised the map once more. “Wait a second,” she said excitedly, flipping to the symbols page at the front.

“Looking for something?” the barman placed three ham sandwiches, neatly quartered, on the table in front of them.

Ollie looked at the handsome young man who grinned down at him. Feeling Nicky’s kick under the table Ollie pulled himself together, “We’re here to see some friends but we can’t find them.”

“Maybe I can help,” the barman folded his arms to reveal biceps of a pleasing proportion.

Wary of Nicky’s kick Ollie refused to let his mind stray. “Do you know the Dwights?” he asked.

“Gorby?” Jake added helpfully.

Nicky smiled sweetly. “We’re friends of Ted and Mary.”

The barman looked surprised. “Are you here for the Honouring then?” he said in a low voice.

“That’s enough Jason,” a voice warned.

They looked over to see a man in his late forties glowering
behind the bar. He had a shock of red hair and strikingly similar features to the young man.

Jason bobbed his head in deference to his father. Without a word he headed back to the kitchen. Before he got halfway across the bar Ollie called him back, “Wait.”

Jason turned.

“We’re really here to see Mrs Dwight. We understand she’s not well.”

A peculiar expression flashed across Jason’s face. He looked at his father who, with a quick nod, made it clear he was to leave the room.

“Not well?” the older man asked. “Of course she’s not well she’s been dead these three years.”

“Oh – I – ” Ollie flustered before giving up. They finished the sandwiches in silence and left.

“All the man said was they were moored outside Gorby’s mother’s place,” Ollie muttered as they walked across the car park, “not that she was no longer with us.”

“So who was the woman if it wasn’t Gorby’s mum?” Jake wondered.

“Haven’t a clue,” Ollie looked around him. “God, I hate the country,” he said with feeling. “There’s veiled threats and hints of
Deliverance
everywhere.”

Once they were in the van Nicky couldn’t hide her excitement any longer, “I’ve got it!” She quickly opened the road map again. “Do you know what this is?” Nicky pointed to a curious symbol, an elliptical shape with short lines around the outside, that appeared on the map to be a mile or so from Longfelloe.

Ollie shrugged his shoulders as he started the engine.

“It’s the sign for a Celtic monument!”

Jake still looked blank.

“It was something Mary McGrath said to me. Her office is full of these weird figurines of Morris Men.”

“Yes?” Jake said slowly still not seeing the connection.

“Well, I’m sure she said something about their dances going back to Celtic times!”

“And you think – ?”

“It’s the only lead we have.”

As they drove out of the car park Jake pointed through the windscreen, “Maybe you’re onto something.”

Nicky looked to see the pub’s shield atop a flagpole: the coloured board showed a figure of a dancing masked man. Feeling they were on the right way Ollie sped up the hill and away from Longfelloe.

They were going down the other side when Nicky shouted, “Look!”

In the picnic area below them stood a lone parked car. Coming closer it was apparent the vehicle was a maroon Volvo saloon.

They parked the van out of sight of the picnic area and walked back.

Jake examined the Volvo saloon. “It’s their car alright.”

“You’re sure?” Nicky asked.

Jake nodded. “I recognise it from the cottage.”

“Besides, look,” Ollie pointed to something at the front of the car. “Who else could it be?” Whatever doubts they might have had were erased by the little masked men dangling from the rear-view mirror.

“Longfelloe Iron Age fort,” Nicky read out loud from the sign at the edge of the picnic area. “Let’s go.”

There was no one around as they followed the path across a grassy field and up through a small wood. It was only when they got to the brow of the hill that they came upon ditches
and spiralling ramparts, evidence of the ancient fortress.

They clambered over the last of the simple fortifications to find themselves overlooking a flattened area on top of the hill. The large space was overrun with gorse bushes, their yellow flowers the only sign of colour in the wintry landscape.

Nicky looked at the dense thickets in front of her, “Where now?”

“Where else?” Ollie pointed to a series of paths winding their way through the prickly bushes.

Jake wasn’t so sure. “Have you any string?”

“It can’t be that much of a maze,” Ollie jumped down from the earthworks, landing with ease on the soft, springy grass. “Come on,” he led the way into the undergrowth.

Jake and Nicky watched him go then quickly followed. After several minutes of squeezing over and under gnarly roots, the path opened into a clearing in the middle of which was a small fenced off area.

Jake leapt over the flimsy railings and peered into the centre. “It’s a well.”

“Be careful,” Nicky warned, “maybe the ground is unsafe.”

“Have you any change?”

Nicky reached in her pocket and offered up its contents. “This is all I have.”

Jake took three pound coins. He gave one each to Nicky and Ollie whilst keeping the other for himself.

“Couldn’t you have taken the ten pence pieces?” Nicky grumbled.

“The Gods don’t respond to thrift.”

Ollie squinted down the well-shaft. “I can’t see any water.”

“It’s probably really, really deep.” Jake rolled the pound
coin along the backs of his fingers as any magician might. “Let’s do this together, it’ll increase the power.”

They linked hands.

“Make a wish,” Jake said as he closed his eyes.

Ollie did as he was told. “Mine involves Rion.”

“Shhh!” Jake scolded, “you’re not supposed to say.” After a second he confided, “But so does mine.”

“Mine too,” Nicky whispered

“On the count of three,” Jake said slowly. “One – two – three.”

The two young men flipped their coins into the darkness while Nicky simply tossed hers in. Instead of a long silence and then a splash they were met by three dull thuds in quick succession.

“It’s been boarded up!” Jake said in disgust.

Nicky felt stupid. “We couldn’t fish them out could we?” she asked, realising superstition had got the best of her once more.

Mary looked up upon hearing the muted bumps in the wellshaft above them. Several tiny bits of earth and loose stone splashed into the bubbling pool of water in the middle of the large cavern. Mary looked questioningly at the seven dancers, amongst them Senior and Beck, and then at Gorby who stood to one side, an earthenware tom-tom under his arm.

“It’s probably a squirrel,” her husband said from the shadows.

“Or someone throwing money,” Gorby scoffed. “There’s one born every minute.”

Mary resumed the practice. She hopped from leg to leg with surprising lightness, drilling the dancers – all young men carrying swords – in the intricate steps they had been
rehearsing for months. The Raggedy-Ann doll in the centre silently played her part.

After the dancers had executed a number of these sequences to perfection Mary clapped her hands.

“Well done,” her voice echoed around the vast underground chamber beneath the hilltop. “Be here at the appointed hour. Check and double-check everything. You know what to do.” She cast her gaze on each of the dancers in turn, “Success depends on your actions tonight. Do not let us down.”

The dancers clashed their swords then broke the circle, moving away they talked in soft voices amongst themselves.

Seeing his wife’s anxious face Ted put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Everything’s perfect,” he kissed the top of her head. “It’s going to work.”

“It must do. It’s our last chance, ” she looked at the seven young dancers. “It all depends on them, it all depends on the accuracy of the ritual.”

Nicky, Jake and Ollie made their way out of the gorse bushes. They walked round the low ramparts of the ancient fort, Longfelloe, and the thin line of the Grand Union Canal, visible in the valley below them.

“Where are they?” Ollie scanned the woods for any sign of life.

Jake shrugged his shoulders. “They can’t have just disappeared.”

“Why not? Others have,” Nicky reminded him.

The friends continued along the brow of the hill, soon coming to the point looking away from Longfelloe but towards the picnic area.

Three figures emerged from the woods below: one tall, one shorter, the other stout.

“It’s the McGraths!” Nicky said excitedly.

“And Gorby!”

They watched as the odd trio walked across the field to their car.

“They weren’t alone either,” Jake pointed to a group of five young men coming out from the trees at the same place. Their voices and laughter drifted up the hill as they headed on the path away from the picnic area down towards Longfelloe.

Jake, Ollie and Nicky waited for several minutes before heading along the trail. They turned right where the field met the trees and followed the line of the woods round.

“What do you think?” Nicky asked as they came to a second, smaller path.

Jake took his alignment from the hillfort above them. He nodded his head, “This is it.”

They followed this smaller path through the woods until it joined the main trail.

Eyes watched them unseen from the forest.

“What can we have missed?” Ollie asked as they retraced their steps for the third time.

“Shh!” Jake cupped his ear. “Do you hear that?”

Nicky and Ollie listened but all that could be heard was a soft, distant hum. “Traffic?” Nicky ventured.

Ollie wasn’t so sure. “We’re pretty far from the road though.”

“It’s water isn’t it?” Jake said listening again, this time trying to see where it might be coming from. He looked to the left where he could see a mosscovered cliff face surrounded by dense wood about thirty yards from the path. “It must be coming from there.”

Ollie’s heart sank as he looked at the branches and fallen trees blocking their way. They quickly began moving the
debris to one side. After a second Jake called out, “Look!”

Beneath the logs and brush was the unmistakable sign of a path. They moved another few light branches away to find a clear trail skirting the fallen trees. Before long all three were in front of the rockface from which a steady curtain of water streamed into a pool.

Behind the wall of water a cave was visible.

“Come on,” Ollie led the way. Ducking under the water he entered the small cave. Jake and Nicky were close behind.

“Anyone got a lighter?”

Jake took out his wallet, “Even better.” He removed what looked like a credit card from his pocket, pressed it and a strong beam of light lit up the wall in front. “If you live like I do you always come prepared.”

Nicky couldn’t stop herself marvelling as the torch lit up simple ochre drawings of dancing men, “Wow.”

“How old do you think these are?” Ollie asked.

Jake shone the flashlight around, lighting up other crudely drawn dancing figures. He moved in for a closer look, “And what do you think they used – blood?”

Ollie and Nicky looked at each other and shuddered.

Bouncing the beam off the walls Jake saw what they had had been looking for. “There we go,” he shone the torch to the end of the cave where the beam lit up an opening stoppered by a heavy studded door.

Nicky was the first one there. “There’s no lock, no handle.”

Ollie examined the door. “Not even a keyhole.”

Jake ran his hands over the surface. He pushed against it with all his might but there was no movement. “Come on,” he gestured to the others. As one they put their shoulders to the door but nothing, not a fraction did it budge.

Ollie banged it with the flat of his hand to be met with a
deadened thud. “It must be a foot thick.”

“At least,” Nicky reckoned.

Jake took a closer look. “We’re never going to get in there,” he shook his head. “There’s no way.”

“What are we going to do then?”

Jake flashed his torch around. “We should get out of here that’s for sure. There’s no place to hide if someone comes.”

“Back to the vantage point?” Nicky asked.

Jake nodded. “As good a place as any.”

Leaving the cave they were again unaware their every move was being followed. They replaced the brush and branches where the hidden track joined the main trail before heading up to the hilltop fort with its views over any and all arrivals.

“We should have got some more sandwiches,” Nicky said, feeling her stomach grumble.

“I think we were lucky to get out when we did.”

Ollie agreed with Jake, “The landlord was hardly the most welcoming was he?” There’s no telling what he might have done.” He watched the full moon rise over the end of the valley. “It’s so beautiful isn’t it?”

“And so cold,” Nicky hugged her fleece tightly to her. “I can’t wait until the days start getting lighter.”

Their attention was soon taken by headlights coming up from Longfelloe. Instead of driving past as others had done these pulled into the picnic area.

Jake sat up with interest. “We’re on.”

“What’s that?” Nicky pointed to flickering lights approaching from the valley. The sound of voices singing in unison drifted up to the hillfort.

Ollie grabbed her arm. “What’s
that?
” he said more urgently pointing to two silhouettes not twenty yards away.

“Do you think they’ve seen us?” Nicky whispered.

“If not they soon will. Let’s jump,” Jake said. “I’ll follow you.”

They landed more heavily than before. Jake tumbled but was on his feet in a flash.

“Stop there!” a man’s voice ordered above them.

“Not frigging likely,” Ollie hissed as he dashed into the gorse bushes, Nicky and Jake at his heels. They crashed along a narrow track, tripping and stumbling against the roots and undergrowth, their progress shadowed by the yells of their pursuers.