Wardstone 7 - The Spook's Nightmare by Joseph Delaney Page A

off. You see, he wasn’t there in person last night. That’s why he seemed to vanish. A shaman can project his spirit from his body, and to those like us with the gift to see it, it looks just like him. The dogs are a different matter, though: as I said, he has a special power over animals. Bill Arkwright had them well-trained and it’s not like them to go off like that.’
    ‘I’d like to visit St John’s myself to buy a few provisions,’ Captain Baines interrupted, ‘and I might be able to find out what’s going on.’
    He left soon after that and then, despite all our attempts to persuade him otherwise, Simon set off for St John’s too, intending to find accommodation and work on his appeal. But before he left he drew us a map. He marked in Greeba Keep, the ruined chapel and Douglas. He also included the small town of Peel on the west coast of the island, indicating the mill where Adriana lived with her parents.
    I studied it carefully, committing it to memory.

    At dusk the captain still hadn’t returned, and we were starting to get worried. What could have delayed him?
    We hid our bags as best we could so that it would be easier to fight the buggane. Salt and iron were useless against this daemon, but we both took our silver chains, which might be able to bind it temporarily, giving us a chance to use the silver-alloy blades in our staffs to finish it off.
    As it grew dark, we started to walk towards the chapel ruins again. It had gone badly the previous night and I wasn’t confident that we could do any better now. The buggane was dangerous and had a powerful ally in the shaman.
    We hadn’t gone far when I heard dogs barking in the distance. For a moment I feared tracker hounds again, but then I relaxed. I wasn’t going to be fooled twice.
    ‘It’s Bill Arkwright’s dogs,’ I told the Spook. ‘They’re coming back!’
    Suddenly the distant dogs began to howl and bay as if they’d caught the scent of their prey.
    ‘Aye, lad, but they’re not alone!’ cried my master.
    The dogs were racing towards us, and at their heels was a large group of armed men, maybe twenty or more.
    ‘Run for it, lad!’
    We set off as fast as we could, our feet flying over the rough grass, but after several minutes we still hadn’t put any distance between ourselves and our pursuers.
    ‘Split up!’ the Spook shouted. ‘Divide them, and maybe they won’t catch us both!’
    I obeyed, peeling off to the left while he went right. For either of us to be captured was bad enough, but what he’d suggested certainly made good sense.
    For a few moments I sprinted off and the sound of the dogs actually started to fade. But just when I thought I was getting away, I heard a single bark close behind me. I looked back to see Claw closing on me fast. Beyond her were half a dozen men with clubs. They didn’t seem to be gaining on me, but the dog certainly was.
    I stumbled on a tussock of grass, went down on all fours, and immediately jumped to my feet again. Butbefore I could go anywhere Claw was on me, her teeth clamped on my breeches just above the ankle.
    ‘Let go, Claw! Let go!’ I shouted, but she growled and began to shake my leg as she would a rat.
    I couldn’t believe she was behaving like this. She’d always obeyed Bill Arkwright, and had once saved my life when I’d been seized by the water witch, Morwena. Since Bill’s death I’d thought of her as my own dog. How had the shaman managed to turn her against me like this? She seemed like a different animal.
    She was a big, powerful wolfhound and the only way to make her let go was to whack her hard with my staff – though even that might not be enough. I raised my arm, but then hesitated … I couldn’t bring myself to do it … And then it was too late. The first of the yeomen – a big, burly man – was upon me.
    He swung his club at my head. I used my staff against him rather than the dog, and he went down at my feet with a grunt. I felled a second assailant,