In The Grip Of Old Winter (14 page)

***

Part Two

Oswald led his horse around
the clearing to where a fallen tree gave him the opportunity to mount.

Peter scrambled away from the
bush and back into the ravine. As he stood, he heard behind him the scrape of
something hard against the earth. He whirled round. A figure, the carrier, it
had to be him, scuttled back towards the common way.

Peter’s heart thumped. He’d
never heard him approach. Caught off-guard, he’d be overwhelmed in a moment. No
time to think of what might have been, for the
thud-thud, thud-thud
of
Oswald’s horse came closer.

He darted away. As he
approached the ravine’s entrance, he ran even faster, for he feared the carrier
might be up ahead ready to grab him in an ambush.

Peter burst onto the common
way through a flurry of broken stems and fluttering leaves. Away to his left,
the carrier disappeared into the gloom.

Peter hid behind a tree
opposite the ravine. He wheezed in ragged gasps and took deep breaths to stay
quiet.

Oswald’s head emerged above
the leaves and he glanced to the left and the right before he urged his horse
out of the ravine and on to the common way. He guided it to the right as they
headed for home.

Peter leaned against the
trunk to catch his breath. If the carrier managed to creep up on him, then so
might Almina. The two of them, he thought, worked together, though granddad
said the carrier
attacked
Almina close to the charred branch. Did one of
them touch it by mistake, or on purpose? If they both came to this time, did
they lose each other in the fight?

Oswald, already a distant
figure, rode close to the side of the common way to quicken his horse’s pace.
Peter came out of hiding and followed. There didn’t seem any point in sneaking
into the manor now that Oswald and Leonor meant to return to the outlaw’s
hideout, but he didn’t want to wait out here alone. He’d stay by the charred
branch and then follow them back.

He slipped his hand into his
anorak pocket and the seal-amulet’s chain brushed across his fingers. He
reached deeper to hold the cold iron disc and started. The seal-amulet warmed
at his touch. He stopped and pulled it out.

At that moment, Oswald’s
horse whinnied, loud and desperate. It reared and struck the air with its
hooves. Spittle flew from its lips as its head thrashed from side to side. Oswald
shouted as he attempted to bring the horse under control and to stop from being
thrown.

Before him, teeth bared,
ready to pounce, crouched the barghest. The dog’s deep snarl rumbled through
the trees.

Peter leapt off the common way
and into the trees. He scrambled up the bank and hid behind a bush full of
thorns.

Oswald’s voice roared in fury
and the barghest’s growl rumbled with menace. The horse backed away, its legs
splayed as its hooves slipped on the frozen mud. The Eorl drew his sword and
whirled the blade round and round above his head.

In Peter’s hand, the
seal-amulet pulsed with warmth. No longer dull and black, a red glow spread
from its edges towards the centre and as the glow deepened, silver marks
glittered on its surface. Shapes, like triangles and squares, cylinders and
circles, blocks with holes cut from their centres, spirals that twisted and
parallel lines, sometimes double, sometimes triple that ran in the horizontal
and the vertical, appeared.

They shifted as if in water,
moved by the gentlest current. One shape sparkled brighter than the others,
like a strange crescent moon, for one end tapered to a curved point while the
other flattened into a thick wedge.

With the tip of his finger,
Peter touched the shape. A tingle, like electricity, bore through his skin and
up his finger. He didn’t like it, for it seemed as if the sensation might
spread through his whole body and he snatched his finger away. It throbbed,
though it didn’t look any different and as he wondered, as if by instinct, he
pointed at the barghest.

The black dog yelped, writhed
and backed away from Oswald. It drew its lips wide to reveal sharp canines,
each as long as a small dagger.

Peter pointed again and the
barghest turned tail and bounded into the trees and out of sight.

The horse stamped and
snorted. Oswald twisted round, the sword still raised above his head, and
peered back up the common way. Peter ducked. His finger no longer throbbed and
the seal-amulet lost its warmth and with it the red glow and the silver shapes.
What had he done? Had he done anything?

Oswald rode the horse back
and stopped opposite Peter’s hiding place. The old man talked, though Peter
didn’t catch the words. He heard surprise and confusion in Oswald’s voice and
then fear, because something terrible must have frightened away such a big dog.
The horse’s flanks glistened with sweat. Oswald brought the horse round and
headed away at a brisk trot.

Peter cupped the seal-amulet
in both hands. Now cold and black and with no clue as to how or why it had
changed, he thrust it back into his pocket. Did the barghest make it change?
Why didn’t he notice it before on his way to Farmer Brunt’s? Perhaps it didn’t
change in his time, only in this time. Did the barghest run because he touched the
silver shape and then pointed his finger? Coincidence perhaps, for it might
have been frightened by Oswald’s sword, though he found that hard to believe.

He slithered down the bank.
No sign of anyone or anything in either direction and Oswald’s quickened pace
had taken him out of sight. Peter scurried back towards the manor. His fingers
gripped the seal-amulet. He didn’t want to be taken by surprise if it warmed
again. What did that odd tingle that ran up his finger and into his arm mean?

He reached the track up to
the manor and stepped off into the trees where the ground levelled out above
the banks. He darted from trunk to trunk, to avoid being spotted by Tobias,
until he reached the charred branch.

Bear might understand the
strange symbols that appeared on the seal-amulet, perhaps understand why the
barghest ran?

Time didn’t stand still in
one place any longer. He’d noticed in his time, after he left Bear, that dad
fell off the ladder and had been helped into The Hall before he returned. What
if he missed Oswald and Leonor when they fled to the outlaws’ glade? He needed
to talk to Bear.

I have to know more about
the seal-amulet.

He reached the charred branch
and crouched. No sound came from the manor and Tobias didn’t appear on the
tower. They must all be inside, preparing to flee.

I’ll risk the possibility
of time slipping by faster.

He reached towards the
charred branch and shut his eyes. “Bear.”

Far away, the distant wind
keened and the heat of day and the cold of night blew past his cheeks. Silence,
and he opened his eyes. Pitch black and he let go of the branch and turned to
where he guessed the bonfire blazed.

With a
whoosh
, the
huge fire ignited and its light flickered through the trees. The skin-walkers,
still and silent, faced the flames. To their right, upon the fallen tree where
he had talked with Bear, sat Almina.

***

Bear spoke. “Welcome, Peter.”
He stepped back from the fire.

Peter glanced from Bear to
Almina. “What’s she doing here?”

Almina rose and Bear said,
“She has been waiting for you.”

Peter clasped his fingers
around the seal-amulet. No warmth and when he pulled it out, no silver marks.
“She tried to take it off me and you said she mustn’t have it.”

“That is so,” Bear said.
“Yet, there is confusion with both our needs.”

Bear’s calm tone didn’t
convince Peter. Almina must be up to some trick. “She knows about the carrier
because granddad saw them together. And - and if she knows about the charred
branch, then - then suppose they have a secret plan?”

Bear raised his arm and
gestured Peter nearer. “Why don’t you come closer to sit and talk, so that we
may all understand the other’s meaning?”

Peter didn’t move. “I don’t
trust her.”

Almina smiled. “Peter, we got
off on the wrong foot. I understand why you don’t trust me. I wouldn’t trust me
after what I did. Can’t we talk about it?”

A terrible thought that Bear,
all the skin-walkers and Almina meant to set a trap with pretend words that
enemies used to trick their listeners. He dismissed the possibility as stupid,
because the skin-walkers had let him go last time. The charred branch offered
him one chance of escape and if he moved away, that chance no longer existed.

He wanted Bear’s and the
skin-walkers’ protection and he had to believe that if they didn’t attack
Almina, then she didn’t pose a threat.

He walked towards the fire
and that murmuring note that sounded like bells, rose from the skin-walkers.

“Please come and sit next to
me, Peter,” Almina said. “I do so want us to be friends.”

“I don’t want to sit next to
you,” and he sat at the other end of the fallen tree as far away from her as
possible.

Almina sighed. “Well, it’s a
start,” and she sat down.

Bear paced closer and stood
between them. “Peter, will you place the seal-amulet upon the bark.”

With a reluctant shrug, he
pulled the cold dark disc from his pocket and laid it down. Almina craned
forward, but stayed seated. Bear sank to his knees as if he meant to study it
closer, though his face stayed masked by his hood. The other skin-walkers
gathered near, though none came as close as Bear.

“It looks the same...” said
Almina.

Bear lowered his head. The
fire crackled and the shadows flickered amongst the trees and he leaned back.
“It is the same and the charms are no longer dormant, for they thrive from
use.”

The skin-walkers uttered a sharp
note of alarm and Almina placed her hand against her cheek as if from shock.
“It can still be used - but how? He’s just a boy.”

I’m eleven!
Peter peered at the seal-amulet, but saw no evidence
of the red glow or the silver marks.

Bear rose and paced. “The
spae-wife has arisen to inflict new torments upon this land.” The skin-walkers
backed away. “Our binds that kept her prisoner are broken. Whether she broke
free by cunning or by the design of others, I cannot tell. It is enough to know
that she walks once more.”

“But,” Peter said. “No one
else was near. The seal-amulet went red and it felt warm and I saw the marks
and touched one and the barghest ran off. That’s - like a huge dog, big and
black. There was only Oswald and his horse. I kept hidden and would have seen
if somebody else was there.”

Almina gave a little cry and
her fingers fluttered in front of her mouth. “I had an instinct that something
like this was going to happen.”

Bear stopped pacing and faced
him. “These words you speak are strange. Tell them to us again.”

Peter glared at the ground.
He didn’t like Almina listening. “The barghest attacked Oswald and his horse.
The seal-amulet felt warm and glowed red and then all these silver shapes
appeared and one was brighter than the others and I touched it and pointed my
finger at the barghest and it ran away.” He clasped his hands in his lap and
didn’t look up, determined not to tell the story again.

Bear stayed close to the
fire. “Did you speak the words of a charm?”

“I don’t know any charms.” He
twined his fingers together. “Something - I don’t know, like electricity made
my finger tingle when I touched the silver mark.”

Almina jumped up. “I knew it,
he’s a natural. He doesn’t need charms and spells to make it work. He can
channel the power without even thinking about it. Oh Peter, you clever boy, don’t
you know how special and powerful and - and valuable...?”

Peter scowled at her. “Is
that why you tried to grab me, to force me to make it work?”

Almina sat down again. “Oh,
Peter. I knew about the seal-amulet long before you, because when I was a
little girl, the carrier gave it to me.”

Peter glanced at Bear. “She’s
lying.”

“No,” replied Bear. “She
speaks the truth, for from that time came our first meeting.”

Anger made Peter’s cheeks
burn. “But when I told you about her, you said you’d never heard her name and
not to give it to her.”

“That is true,” Bear replied.
“For the name Almina was not known to me.”

Almina laughed with a high
shrill note that sounded mad. “My real name is Saskia Puttell, which you must
admit is a frightful name for an actress and so when I went onto the stage I
changed it to Almina Realto, which is much more memorable.”

Bear stepped closer. “Saskia
is a name that I do know and when still a child of around your years, the
carrier gave her the seal-amulet.”

“You can imagine my
surprise,” said Almina. “That horrid looking man with no legs giving me this
weird...” she pointed to the seal-amulet, “… thing. I didn’t know what to do
with it, so I just carried it around in my pocket, much like you, until one
cold winters day I touched that burnt branch and hey presto! I came here. I’d
touched that branch ever so many times before and nothing ever happened. Very
scary. I expect you felt the same.”