Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

W ith Miriam’s eagle eye watching us, we made it back with almost two whole minutes to spare carrying a vast tray filled with rolls, crispy bacon and enough coffee and tea to satisfy the caffeine needs of a small army.

Rizwan had finished pinning up an enlarged version of the map that Hugo had found in Culcreuch Castle. I gulped down a mug of steaming coffee and gazed at it. There were indeed thirty-two places marked in total and I examined each one: twelve points in Scotland, seven in Wales and the remainder in England.

Each one was neatly numbered, although three of the spots had been scribbled over and different numbers inscribed. It looked to my untrained eye as if they’d been written in old-fashioned ink.

I could easily imagine Athair using a quill to write; the numbers had an antiquated appearance, with little curls and flourishes that wouldn’t have looked out of place on an ancient manuscript. What I couldn’t imagine was what they represented because there didn’t appear to be any order to the numbered areas.

Number one was in the Midlands, not far from Birmingham; its closest marker, which was in the countryside less than seventy miles away, was number twenty-nine, while number two was located on the northern fringes of the Scottish coastline. There didn’t appear to be any logic to the system and there was no suggestion as to what each marker represented.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I considered the map, then I drained the dregs of my mug, massaged my neck and wandered to the Bone Zone door.

‘Where are you going?’ Hugo asked.

‘Call of nature,’ I said. The nearest bathroom was only a few metres away; although we’d not yet managed to scour the whole castle a second time to find the intruder, I was doubtful that anyone was still out there. ‘I’d like some privacy for my morning ablutions,’ I added primly. ‘I will shout if anyone is hiding behind the cistern.’

Hugo smiled but his eyes remained serious. ‘Make sure you do.’

I skirted around three of the Primes, who were still in their sleeping bags and munching on their rolls, and headed out.

I checked for any signs of life but unsurprisingly the small bathroom was empty: there were no fiends, bogles, trolls or even spiders lurking inside. I locked the door, emptied my bladder then bent over the sink to wash my hands. I brushed my teeth, splashed my face with water and removed the crusty gunk from my eyes. Given my lack of sleep, I needed all the help I could get to stay alert and sensible.

I dried my skin with a towel and stared at my pale face in the mirror. Before I could start to agonise over the dark shadows under my eyes, I caught sight of a tiny flapping wing in my peripheral vision. For goodness’ sake. Otis wouldn’t have dared to sneak in, so doubtless it was Hester who had slipped underneath the crack in the door.

I groaned slightly. ‘Is it too much to ask for a few minutes’ peace?’ She didn’t answer. ‘Hes?’ Again, she didn’t say anything but I heard the familiar buzz of wings from behind the cabinet that stood against the far wall. ‘Yeah,’ I grumbled. ‘You should hide.’

I expected a sarcastic rejoinder but none was forthcoming. I unlocked the bathroom door and nudged it open with my foot – and then I blinked.

‘See?’ Otis nudged his sister as they hovered in mid-air in the hallway. ‘I told you she wouldn’t be long.’

I stared at them then, without a word, I slowly turned back towards the bathroom and fixed my gaze on the cabinet.

‘Daisy?’ Otis flitted to my shoulder. ‘What’s wrong?’

I licked my lips. ‘Get Hugo,’ I whispered.

Hester was by my other shoulder in an instant. ‘Something’s there? The intruder? I can’t see anyone.’ Her voice started to rise. ‘It’s a ghost, isn’t it? It’s definitely a ghost! Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!’

I raised a hand to hush her; she subsided but I could feel her quivering. ‘Otis, get Hugo, please,’ I repeated.

He took off instantly, rising into the air and darting towards the Bone Zone. I took a step into the bathroom. ‘I know you’re in here,’ I said aloud. ‘You might as well show yourself.’ There was a faint thud from behind the cabinet and Hester squeaked. I hardened my voice. ‘I can use magic and force you out. It’ll be easier if you do this voluntarily.’

I heard hurried footsteps as Hugo appeared beside me looking ready to do battle with any number of evil forces. I put my hand on his forearm and quickly squeezed it, shaking my head to tell him to stay back.

A heartbeat later there was another flicker of movement. When the miniscule figure appeared, all three of us gasped. I’d been right on one account: it was definitely a brownie who had sneaked into the bathroom. It just wasn’t Hester or Otis.

She was the same size as my trusty companions – barely a few inches high – and her wings matched Hester’s translucent iridescence, but any resemblance stopped there. While Otis looked like a thumbnail version of a jaunty factory worker from the nineteenth century, and Hester dressed exclusively in funereal black as if she fashioned herself on Queen Victoria with some elements of more up-to-date Goth-Girl chic thrown in, this brownie looked like an honest-to-goodness princess. In fact, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d told us that she’d stepped out of the pages of a fairy tale.

She had long blonde hair that curled down her back yet somehow avoided getting tangled up with her wings; her features were delicate and her nose was cute and upturned. She was wearing a sky-blue hoop dress with a lace trim. I reckoned Disney would licence her in a heartbeat if they knew she existed.

‘Good morrow,’ she said nervously in a musical voice then flew down to the sink and perched on the edge of the white porcelain.

Hugo and I gaped at her; Otis, however, had already sprung into action. ‘My lady!’ He darted forward, took her hand, bent over and kissed it. ‘You are a true vision.’ He smiled and I realised that his cheeks were flaming red. His blush wasn’t holding him back – far from it. He straightened up, took off his cap and smoothed down his hair. ‘I am Otis.’

The blonde brownie was also blushing, although the colour on her cheeks was more like a blooming rose than a fire engine. ‘It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Eloise.’

Hester snorted. ‘Of course she’s called Eloise,’ she muttered. ‘She wouldn’t be Bertha or Drusilla or Prudence, would she?’ I wasn’t sure anyone was called by those names nowadays, but I took her point: everything about this unexpected brownie was pretty, even her name.

‘I am so sorry for breaking into your home,’ she said. She lifted her chin and addressed Hugo, suggesting that she was aware of whose home she was in. ‘It is a truly stunning castle.’

‘How long have you been here?’ Hugo asked. His voice was low and gentle but I sensed the steel behind it. Eloise was tiny, beautiful and wholly unthreatening – and that made us very suspicious indeed.

A trace of guilt crossed her face. ‘Since last night.’

‘You smashed the window to get in?’

Her head drooped. ‘Yes.’

Otis looked horrified. ‘You did that? Are you alright? Did you cut yourself on the glass?’

Hester crossed her arms and glared at her brother. ‘Unbelievable. She’s the intruder, Otis! She’s probably a thief. She’s definitely evil.’

Eloise shrank visibly but she didn’t try to deny it, which was curious in itself. ‘I am a thief,’ she admitted. ‘I stole some of your food.’

‘I knew it!’ Hester said. She scowled at Eloise as if she deserved to be hung, drawn and quartered for her actions.

‘You were hungry?’ Otis asked.

‘Starving,’ Eloise mumbled.

I felt my heart go out to her, and I wasn’t the only one. Otis reached out and offered her a hug. She edged away, shaking her head; she didn’t want his touch.

‘I’m also afraid that it was me who knocked down the suit of armour,’ she said quietly. ‘The visor was open and I needed somewhere to hide, so I flew inside but my foot caught and the visor dropped. I was somewhat over-zealous when I tried to find a way out. I panicked and made the suit fall.’

Otis gasped sympathetically. Hugo took a step back and gestured to Miriam, who was standing just behind us. I knew that he was asking her to close the door to the Bone Zone before Eloise glimpsed what was inside.

‘So she’s not just evil,’ Hester said loudly. ‘She’s clumsy too.’

‘That’s enough, Hester,’ I said.

My little sidekick stuck out her tongue. Then, because pulling faces wasn’t enough, she aimed a kick at my jawline. ‘Hey!’ I protested. ‘That hurt!’

‘It was supposed to hurt,’ she sniped.

Otis wasn’t paying us any attention; he was focused entirely on Eloise. ‘What is it?’ he asked her. ‘What’s wrong?’

The blonde brownie was cowering as she stared at me with wide, terrified eyes. It appeared she was expecting something from me, but for the life of me I couldn’t work out what. ‘Are you alright?’ I asked.

‘She’s shaking like a leaf,’ Hugo murmured.

‘Don’t hurt her too much,’ Eloise pleaded. ‘I’m sure she didn’t mean it.’

I tilted my head, baffled. ‘Hurt who? Hester?’

Hester kicked me again. ‘I did mean it,’ she said. ‘And I meant that kick too.’ She eyed Eloise. ‘If you don’t believe me, I’ll kick you as well and you can feel for yourself how much I meant it.’

I ground my teeth. ‘Hester…’ Shaking my head, I addressed Eloise again. ‘I’m not going to hurt anyone,’ I said. ‘Although I might hide all the chocolate brownies as punishment.’

‘Don’t you bloody dare, Daisy.’

I ignored Hester’s hiss. ‘That’s not how we do things around here,’ I said. I watched Eloise carefully. She was still trembling; it was next to impossible to fake that sort of physical reaction.

‘Why are you here, Eloise?’ Hugo asked. ‘Why did you break in?’

‘He told me to,’ she said in a small voice.

Cumbubbling bollocks. I already knew the answer but I asked the question anyway. ‘Who?’

‘His name is Athair.’

‘I knew it!’ Hester crowed. ‘I knew she was evil the moment I saw her!’

Eloise flinched while Otis gazed at her in horror. ‘You work for him ?’

‘I’m bound to him,’ she whispered. ‘He is my master.’

‘The vampires outside aren’t enough for him? He has to send you to spy on us too?’ I asked sourly.

It was Eloise’s turn to be surprised. ‘Oh,’ she said, her eyes widening. ‘I’m not a spy, I’m a messenger. I would have given you the message last night but I was afraid that you’d be angry when you realised I’d broken in, so I thought I’d wait until everyone calmed down. But then you disappeared into that room over there, and I couldn’t follow you. I didn’t want to call out in case the troll heard me. I only broke the window at the back so I could stay away from her.’ She shuddered. ‘Trolls are scary and my master told me to avoid her if I could.’

Probably because Duchess would squash the likes of Eloise in a heartbeat without thinking to ask any questions first. I curled my hands into fists and felt the bite of my fingernails in the fleshy part of my palms. ‘What message?’ I growled. ‘What message did Athair give you?’

Eloise drew in a breath. ‘He said that there’s a lot more he can show you besides magic.’ She closed her eyes. ‘ Surge Domine et dissipentur inimici tui et fugiant qui oderunt te a facie tua.’

Huh?

Hugo translated for us. ‘“Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee”.’

‘More violence,’ I said flatly. Surely Athair had realised by now that such threats of blood loss and war were of no use?

‘It’s a biblical quote,’ Hugo explained.

I shrugged; that didn’t make any difference to me.

‘Not all the gold was found,’ Eloise said softly. Her eyes remained closed. ‘“ They let the ground keep that ancestral treasure, gold under gravel, gone to earth, as useless to men now as it ever was”. ’ Then she repeated, ‘ Not all the gold was found because some of it had already been taken and moved elsewhere.’

Hugo’s body stiffened beside me and I suddenly knew that he understood what she was talking about even though it remained complete gobbledegook to me. But then I’d been a treasure hunter for less than a year and my knowledge of ancestral treasures was considerably less than his.

Hester’s knowledge was apparently even less than mine. ‘So, Eloise,’ she said, ticking off her fingers. ‘You’re evil, you’re clumsy, you’re a spy and you’re crazy.’ She sniffed. ‘Not bad going.’

Otis rounded on his sister. ‘That’s enough!’ he yelled. ‘Stop being so mean! She needs our help, Hes, and you can’t stop being a bitch! You need to leave poor Eloise alone. She can’t help who she has to serve – we might have ended up with Athair if Daisy hadn’t found us first. We might have been in her position. You can’t blame her for what’s happened.’

‘She’s bewitched you,’ Hester sneered. ‘That didn’t take long. One pretty face is all it takes to fool you, Otis. I thought you were better than that.’

‘Fuck off!’ I’d never seen Otis so furious with his sister before.

From his expression, he was ready to smack her down but Hester wasn’t prepared to back off. ‘She’s with Athair, you nincompoop! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’

‘But she’s not a fiend, Hester! She’s a brownie, she’s one of us!’

I suddenly knew that this scene was exactly what Athair had been hoping for. He’d known for thirty years that Hester and Otis were my loyal companions. I wondered how long it had taken him to find a brownie to bind to his side. I also wondered how he’d achieved it and how deep that binding went. Hester and Otis had been forced into a similar bond with me when I’d opened the locket into which they’d been ensorcelled decades before, and they had told me that brownies lived to serve. Of course I’d released them almost immediately – but they had stuck around regardless. I didn’t know if that was through choice or obligation, though they promised me it was the former. However, in my darker moments I suspected the latter.

I looked at Eloise again; she was still huddled on the side of the sink, pure misery etched onto her face and the tips of her little wings drooping as if with shame. Hugo nudged me and we exchanged glances. I nodded and he cleared his throat. ‘Stay with us,’ he said to her. ‘You’re safe here. We’ll keep Athair away from you.’

If anything, the little brownie looked even more miserable. ‘I can’t stay,’ she whispered. ‘I have to return to him.’

‘We’ve got magic,’ I told her.

‘And plenty of magical friends,’ Hugo added. ‘We can find a way to break whatever binding he has in place.’

‘I am not tied to him through magical means,’ Eloise said quietly. ‘I must return to him now. I have delivered his message and he will not be pleased that I have delayed this long. I was supposed to speak to you as soon as you returned from the restaurant.’ She lifted her head and for an instant, I glimpsed a flash of iron will. ‘Please,’ she said distinctly, ‘do not force me to stay here.’

My shoulders sagged. ‘We wouldn’t do that.’ We would never do that. I dreaded to think what means Athair was employing to keep Eloise tied to him.

Otis looked at her helplessly. ‘Stay with us,’ he pleaded.

She only shook her head. ‘I cannot.’

And that, it appeared, was the end of the argument.