The Dreamsnatcher (19 page)

‘What – what happened to me?’ he asked. ‘And why do I have mashed potato on my ankle?’

Moll sat cross-legged, planning her words as carefully as possible.

Sensing the disaster Moll was capable of being in situations like this, Siddy intervened. ‘See those raw marks on your fingers? Oak thinks you used your rings to cut through the rope Skull
tied you up with.’

Alfie held up his hands and then his mouth fell open. ‘I – I remember,’ he stammered. ‘It was Raven who helped me. He broke free from his tether and knelt down so as I
could mount him. Then—’ Alfie struggled on, ‘—then I don’t remember. Last thing I knew I was riding through the Deepwood.’

‘Oak found you,’ Moll said.

‘Oak?’ Alfie mumbled. ‘But – but I stole you from his camp. Oak must
hate
me.’

Moll waved her hand in the air. ‘Course he doesn’t. Not after I told him you didn’t have a rotten brain like Skull’s – that you were against all of his gang’s
dark magic. Isn’t that right, Gryff?’

Gryff leapt up on to the bed and settled himself between Moll’s legs. Siddy’s eyes widened as he glimpsed Gryff’s claws, but the wildcat just stared across at Alfie for several
seconds, unblinking. Then he dipped his head.

Alfie looked from Gryff to Moll. ‘You’ve got the same eyes as Gryff, Moll.’

Gryff curled his tail round Moll’s toes. Alfie had used her real name for the very first time. He’d kept it safe until they’d reached the Ancientwood, just like he promised he
would. She squinted at him. Even if he was lying about who he really was, he’d kept her name safe. And somehow that counted for more than losing it to Skull.

Alfie shook himself. ‘I’ve got to fly from here – your camp aren’t going to want me.’

Siddy raised his eyebrows. ‘Where to?’

Alfie was silent.

‘Raven brought you to the river,’ Moll said, ‘and Oak carried you to our camp. You’re here for a reason, Alfie. Oak and the others aren’t going to give you up.
They’re not like that.’

Siddy nodded. ‘Moll does terrible stuff the whole time and they’ve never chucked her out.’

Alfie looked down. ‘But Oak doesn’t know who I am . . . Not properly.’

‘Who are you then?’ Moll asked.

Alfie sighed.

Moll shrugged. ‘Well, you’re against Skull and his dark magic; that’s enough for Oak. Didn’t Mellantha say something about help coming from unsuspecting people? Or maybe
it was about us all being birds and not really human at all. Can’t remember. Point is: Oak will look out for you while you’re here.’ She leant in closer; there was something she
wanted to ask. ‘It was
your
scent the hounds had, only I could’ve sworn it was
my
dress you ripped a bit off.’

A rumble of thunder filled the wagon and the ground beneath them seemed to shake. Moll ran a hand over Gryff’s back.

Alfie considered. ‘May’ve looked like I was giving away a scrap of your dress, but when I was up close to you I ripped a corner off my shirt and gave that to Brunt instead –
same colour as your dress, see.’

Gryff lifted his head from beneath Moll’s arm.

‘I figured we had one chance to get out of the Deepwood alive and if the hounds had my scent we’d get further since I can outrun you. Only it didn’t work out that way as I
never expected Oak to show up like he did.’

Moll held his eyes for a moment, then looked away. ‘You’re strange.’

Alfie shrugged. ‘It’d be a dull old world if everyone was the same.’

The corners of Moll’s mouth rose as she recognised the echo of her own words.

Gryff prowled over the bed sheets until he was centimetres away from Alfie. The boy held his breath, but Gryff just looked at him for several seconds and then he dipped his head down low.

And, although no one said anything, Alfie understood.

Thank you
.

The wildcat slunk off the bed and stalked to the other end of the wagon, where he tucked himself beneath a chair and closed his eyes.

Alfie looked down at his leg and flinched. And, in a moment of rare forward thinking, Moll got up and poured a glass of water from the jug Mooshie had left. She handed it to Alfie and he drank
it down.

‘We still need to find the amulets,’ he said. ‘The well Mellantha talked about, we have to find it before Skull gets a hold of you and Gryff.’

‘Mellantha said the well was
in the heart of the forest
,’ Moll said. ‘Oak and the Council of Elders have been meeting to try and work out what that means. The Rings of
Sacred Oaks around our camp is the heart of the forest as far as we know it, and there isn’t a well here, that’s for sure.’

Siddy nodded. ‘Cinderella Bull – that’s Oak’s mother – she thinks the heart of the forest might mean trees so deep into the forest that no one’s been under
them. Once we figure it out, we’re going to find the well.’ He paused. ‘You should come.’

Alfie fiddled with the quilt, then he looked Moll square in the eye. ‘I was going to cut and run with the amulets when we found them.’

Moll held his gaze. ‘Well, I was planning to steal them off
you
. And I had a pretty nasty plan too. Was going to involve a very big spade.’

They all grinned, but Moll knew she’d been right about Alfie. He wanted those amulets for a reason of his own – and it had nothing to do with money.

‘Why do you want the amulets so badly?’

Alfie ran a hand over the pine wall, then looked at Moll for several seconds, saying nothing. Eventually he shook his head. ‘It was an idea I had – to – to fix something that
happened a long time ago.’ He looked down. ‘But it was a stupid idea. It would never have worked. And, besides, I’ve discovered a better reason for finding the amulets
now.’

Moll smiled. ‘You’ve started believing in the old magic in the Bone Murmur, haven’t you?’

Alfie blew out through his lips, then he smiled. ‘Why else d’you think I gave Brunt the scrap from my shirt?’

Moll looked from Alfie to Gryff to Siddy and at last she remembered Mellantha’s exact words:
Sometimes it’s the people we don’t expect who wind up looking out for
us
.

T
he wagon door swung open. Gryff’s head shot up but, seeing Oak stride in, he turned away and settled back to sleep. Oak hung a dripping hat
on the door hook and smiled at Alfie. ‘How’re you feeling?’

Out of the corner of her eye, Moll could see that Alfie’s body was tensed. ‘Bit better,’ he said stiffly. He looked down at his chafed hands, then mumbled,
‘Thank you.’

Oak smiled. ‘It’s that cob of yours you’ve got to thank.’

‘You’ll want me gone from here. I understand—’

‘We’d like you to stay with us, Alfie – until you’re better. After that, you can go as you choose.’ Oak nodded towards the window. ‘You’ll be safe in
the camp and there’s food and water for you here which you’ll be hard pushed to get any place else without money.’

Alfie reddened. ‘But you’re never going to trust me. None of your camp are.’

Oak shook his head. ‘Your past with Skull isn’t important. It’s the present that counts and what you decide to do with it. And, from what Moll tells me, you can run, you can
ride, you can pick locks – and you can be trusted.’

Alfie shifted under the covers. ‘But I’m not even a real gypsy . . .’ He fiddled with his jay feather earring and Moll and Siddy listened with bated breath. ‘Skull told
me no one knew who my father was, but my mother worked up at Tipplebury Farm, looking after the cobs: feeding and watering them, grooming them, breaking them in . . .’ He looked towards the
window. ‘Apparently she died giving birth to me and Skull said that, when he was passing the farm to buy supplies not long afterwards, he offered to take me in and raise me if I looked after
his cobs when I was older.’ Alfie sighed. ‘I suppose the farm didn’t want to waste time raising an orphan like me so they just agreed.’

Oak shook his head. ‘I don’t believe the farm would have handed over a baby to someone like Skull.’

Alfie shrugged. ‘That’s what he said happened.’

Moll looked at Alfie for several seconds but, when he caught her eye, she looked away. She didn’t know Alfie well, but she knew him enough to know that what he’d just said was a pack
of lies. Even if Skull had told Alfie that’s what had happened all those years ago, it was obvious Alfie didn’t believe a word of it. And, what was more, Moll was almost certain now
that the reason Alfie wanted the amulets so much in the first place had something to do with him finding out the truth behind his beginning.

Oak shook his head. ‘Whatever happened back then, you’re in our camp now, Alfie, and we’ll look after you.’ He leant forward, rubbing his hands together. ‘But,
until we work out where this well is, we need to keep you safe. Skull’s planning a raid – my boys’ve seen his gang lurking by the river, working out the layout of our
camp.’

Alfie took a deep breath. ‘They’ll bring the hounds.’

Siddy nodded. ‘But Cinderella Bull’s been working on something for those beasts.’

It was true. Moll and Siddy had seen her late the night before, kneeling by the fire before a pot of bubbling liquid. And, although they had only watched from their wagon steps, they’d
seen Cinderella Bull turn her head up to the trees and whisper to their spirits.

‘They’re planning more than a raid,’ Alfie said quietly. ‘I heard them before I escaped. They’ll perform the Dream Snatch again only it’ll be stronger now
they know Moll’s name.’

‘We’re ready for that,’ Oak said. ‘We’ll never give Moll up.’

‘But it won’t be like before. It’s not just the chants and the drums and all that stuff she shouts about in her nightmares.’ Moll looked at Alfie questioningly. ‘I
heard you back in the pit,’ he explained. Moll blushed. ‘All that isn’t anything compared to what’s coming. Skull’s summoning something – something I think
he’s used before . . . on Moll’s parents.’

Gryff opened one eye and his fur prickled. Oak, Moll and Siddy stiffened.

‘I heard them talking about something called a Soul Splinter.’

‘Why d’you think they used that on my parents?’ Moll asked.

Alfie swallowed. ‘Because they’ve been saying it’s a weapon that kills without a trace. Skull’s calling it from somewhere – from its master, he said.’

Siddy shifted. ‘You think the Master of the Soul Splinter is one of those Shadowmasks Mellantha talked to you about?’

Oak nodded. ‘The Soul Splinter . . . Things are making more sense now. You said that Mellantha told you that the witch doctors performed a hex that tore away all their shadows?’

Alfie and Moll nodded.

Oak rubbed his jaw, deep in thought. ‘Gypsies, travellers, wandering people, we believe our souls are part of our natural surroundings – wild and free. That when we walk through the
forest, the heath, the fields or the moors our souls walk beside us, as a shadow.’

‘So souls and shadows are sort of the same thing if you think like that,’ Alfie said.

Siddy gasped. ‘So the Shadowmasks – when they tore away their shadows – they—’

‘—tore away their souls,’ Oak finished for him. ‘And this Soul Splinter, perhaps that’s what tears away the souls of living people?’

Gryff growled.

There was another peal of thunder and into its roar Moll whispered, ‘If the Soul Splinter killed my parents, I’m going to rip it apart.’ She clenched her fists. ‘Then
I’m going to do the same to Skull.’

As if the rain was waiting for a reply, the pattering on the wagon roof stopped for a second.

Oak looked at Alfie, Moll and Siddy. ‘We’re stronger than the Soul Splinter and we’ll find the amulets before Skull and his Shadowmasks get anywhere near us.’

And, as quickly as it had stopped, the rain burst into life again, swallowing their voices and hammering on to the roof in thundering thrusts.

M
oll sat inside a tent in the clearing, beside Mooshie and Patti as they sang a ballad about lovers lost at sea and prepared the hawking goods with
a handful of girls. Moll loathed songs that favoured lovers over highwaymen and looting, so she tried to listen to the rain pattering on to the canvas roof instead. Gryff crouched in the far corner
of the tent, away from the clatter, and, although Florence and Ivy tried to get on with shaping wire into flowers, their eyes kept glancing nervously towards him.