No doubt the horse was used to pulling a heavy load, and with just us three in the back was trotting ahead at a fair old lick. In the distance we could see the city of Caster with its castle. Many a witch had died there after a long trial, but they didn’t burn witches in Caster, they hanged them. So, to use one of my dad’s sea-going expressions, we gave it ‘a wide berth’, and soon we were beyond it and crossing a bridge over the river Lune, before changing our direction to head south-west towards Heysham.
The farmer’s lad was told to wait at the end of the lane on the outskirts of the village.
‘We’ll be back at dawn,’ said the Spook. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll make it well worth your while.’
We climbed a narrow track up a hill, with an old church and graveyard on our right. There, on that lee side of the hill, everything was still and quiet and tall ancient trees shrouded the gravestones. But on clambering over a gate onto the cliff top we were met by a stiff breeze and the tang of the sea. Before us was the ruin of a small stone chapel with just three of its walls standing. We were quite high up and I could see a bay below, with a sandy beach almost covered by the tide and the sea crashing against the rocks of a small headland in the distance.
‘Mostly, shores to the west are flat,’ said the Spook, ‘and this is as high as County cliffs ever get. They say this is where the first men landed in the County. They came from a land far to the west and their boat ran aground on the rocks below. Their descendants built that chapel.’
He pointed and there, just beyond the ruin, I saw the stone graves. ‘There’s nothing like them anywhere else in the County,’ said the Spook.
Carved into a huge slab of stone, right on the edge of a steep hill, there was a row of six coffins, each in the shape of a human body and with a stone lid fitting into a groove. They were different sizes and shapes but generally small, as if hewn for children, but these were the graves of six of the Little People. Six of King Heys’s sons.
The Spook knelt down beside the nearest of the graves. Above the head of each was a square socket and he traced the shape of it with his finger. Then he extended the fingers of his left hand. The span of his hand just covered the socket.
‘Now what could those have been used for?’ he muttered to himself.
‘How big were the Little People?’ I asked. The graves were all different sizes and, now that I looked closely I saw that they weren’t quite as small as I’d first thought.
By way of answer the Spook opened his bag and pulled out a folded measuring rod. He opened it out and measured the grave.
‘This is about five foot five long,’ he announced, ‘and about thirteen and a half inches wide in the middle. But some belongings would have been buried with the Little People for use in the next world. Few were above five feet tall and a lot were much smaller. As the years went by, each generation got bigger because there were marriages between them and the invaders from the sea. So they didn’t really die out. Their blood still runs through our veins.’
The Spook turned to Alice and, to my surprise, untied her blindfold. Next he removed her earplugs, putting everything safely back in his bag. Alice blinked and looked about her. She didn’t look happy.
‘Don’t like it here,’ she complained. ‘Something ain’t right. It feels bad.’
‘Does it, girl?’ the Spook said. ‘Well, that’s the most interesting thing you’ve said all day. It’s odd because I find this spot quite pleasant. There’s nothing like a bit of bracing sea air!’
It didn’t seem bracing to me. The breeze had died away and now tendrils of mist were snaking in from the sea and it was starting to grow colder. Within an hour it would be dark. I knew what Alice meant. It was a place to be avoided after sunset. I could sense something and I didn’t think it was too friendly.
‘There’s something lurking nearby,’ I told the Spook.
‘Let’s sit over there and give it time to get used to us,’ said the Spook. We wouldn’t want to frighten it off…’
‘Is it Naze’s ghost?’ I asked.
‘I hope so, lad! I certainly hope so. But we’ll find out soon enough. Just be patient.’
We sat on a grassy bank some distance away, while the light slowly failed. I was getting more and more worried.
‘What about when it gets dark?’ I asked the Spook. ‘Won’t the Bane appear? Now you’ve taken Alice’s blindfold off it’ll know where we are!’
‘I think we’re safe enough here, lad,’ said the Spook. ‘This is possibly the one place in the whole County where it has to keep its distance. Something was done here, and if I’m not mistaken, the Bane won’t come within a mile of the place. It might know where we are but there’s not much it can do about it. Am I right, girl?’
Alice shivered and nodded. ‘Trying to speak to me, he is. But his voice is very faint and distant. He can’t even get inside my head.’
‘That’s just what I hoped,’ said the Spook. ‘It means our journey here hasn’t been wasted.’
‘He wants me to get right away from here. Wants me to go to him…’
‘And is that what you want?’
Alice shook her head and shivered.
‘Glad to hear it, girl, because after the next time, as I told you, nobody will be able to help you. Where is it now?’
‘He’s deep under the earth. In a dark, damp cavern. He’s found himself some bones but he’s hungry and they aren’t enough.’
‘Right! Now it’s time to get down to business,’ said the Spook. ‘You two settle yourselves down in the shelter of those walls.’ He pointed towards the ruin of the chapel. ‘Try to get some sleep while I keep watch here by the graves.’
We didn’t argue and settled ourselves down on the grass within the ruins of the chapel. Because of the missing wall we could still see the Spook and the graves. I thought he might have sat down but he remained standing, his left hand resting on his staff.
I was tired out and it wasn’t long before I fell asleep. But I awoke suddenly. Alice was shaking me by the shoulder.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘Wasting his time there, he is,’ Alice said, pointing to where the Spook was now crouched down by the graves. ‘There’s something nearby but it’s back there, close to the hedge.’
‘Are you sure?’
Alice nodded. ‘But you go and tell him. Won’t take it too kindly coming from me.’
I walked over to the Spook and called out, ‘Mr Gregory!’ He didn’t move and I wondered if he’d gone to sleep crouching down. But slowly he stood up and turned his upper body towards me, keeping his feet in exactly the same position.
There were a few gaps in the cloud but those patches of starlight weren’t enough to let me see the Spook’s face. It was just a dark shadow under his hood.
‘Alice says there’s something back there close to the hedge,’ I told him.
‘Did she now,’ muttered the Spook. Then we’d better go and have a look.’
We walked back towards the hedge. As we got nearer it seemed to get even colder so I knew Alice was right. There was some sort of spirit lurking nearby.
The Spook pointed downwards, then suddenly he was on his knees, pulling at the long grass. I knelt too and began to help him. We uncovered two more stone graves. One was about five foot long but the other was only half that size. It was the smallest grave of all.
‘Someone with the old blood running pure in his veins was buried here,’ said the Spook. ‘With that would come strength. This is the one we’re looking for. This’ll be the ghost of Naze all right! Walk back a little way, lad. Keep your distance.’
‘Can’t I stay and listen?’ I asked.
The Spook shook his head.
‘Don’t you trust me?’ I asked.
‘Do you trust yourself?’ was his reply. ‘Ask yourself that! For a start he’s more likely to put in an appearance with only one of us here. Anyway, it’s better that you don’t hear this. The Bane can read minds, remember? Are you strong enough to stop it reading yours? We can’t let it know that we’re onto it; that we have a plan; that we know its weaknesses. When it’s in your dreams, rummaging through your brain for clues and plans, do you trust yourself not to give anything away?’