The Watcher

[ILLYRIAN]

THE WATCHER

PART 1

Driving up a hill in her car was Willow. She looks into the rear view mirror at the city and smiled as it faded from sight. She was so glad, she had grown fed up of city life. “My so called friends kept dragging me to the beach, I’m a countryside person,” she said to herself.

She wanted to read about the area where the house was but knew to keep her attention on the road. She did want to know of where she was going so at the next roadblock she looked at the brochure, it stated it was fifty miles from where Sunnydale used to be.

At last, she parked her car in front of the cottage, she was so excited to see all the flowers in the garden. She wandered into look at her new home. The cottage was situated on the edge of the forest, Willow looked from her cottage to the big house on the other side of the valley.

Willow had been so happy to see about the house she was almost disappointed when she stood by the front door. Their neighbor, Mortimer wandered around the side of the cottage from the path through the forest. Willow faced him and questioned him as to who he is?

“Good morning, my name is Mortimer, I live in the big house, on the other side of the valley.”
Willow looked to his house, she asked if he lived there by himself. He didn’t, he said he had a wife and daughter, about Willow’s age. Willow asked how long it took him to get to her home?

“It is only a ten minute ride on a horse from here,” said Mortimer. They stared at each other for a few minutes. “I just thought I’d pop over and introduce myself, I’ll see you later,” said Mortimer. Willow went into her new cottage the large painting on the opposite wall intrigued her, it was of two teenagers on a horse each.

Willow looked about, there is two doorways opposite her, kitchen laundry and bathroom were through the archway to the right. The doorway to the right could be a spare bedroom and if it was Willow would make it her craft room. The last room she would make her bedroom.

She crossed the floor towards her new bedroom. Entering the room she was quite pleased with her choice. From the window she could see the neighbours house across the valley, what perplexed her was the upright painting.

The painting itself was of the wall, at the bottom of the painting was the words MIND THE STEP those words were on the floor below the painting. Willow held the painting then moved it like a door, it opened like a door and the words on the floor were MIND THE STEP.

Willow went down a few steps before she realized that it would be very dark soon, she went back to her car to get her torch, a large torch that needed the 6 volt battery. She quickly went back to the steps.

She goes down a few steps before she turned on her torch and saw the floor of a passage looming in front of her. Once a few paces beyond the bottom step she stood in the middle of the passage and flicked the beam from her torch onto each wall continuously.

She had gone about forty paces before she saw there was an archway in the wall on her left hand side, not knowing if it was the right thing to do she went into the passage then around a curve. She stopped, there was a circular room but also there was stood another person.

“Who are you and where did you come from?” asked Willow. The young woman looked to her, “My name is Philippa, I live in the house over the valley. I discovered this passage way earlier and followed it to here, who are you?” asked Philippa.

Willow introduced herself she said she had just bought the cottage and had found the steps into the passage from a painting. “What are we looking at?” Philippa shone her torch around the wall just above the circular floor.

They slowly and cautiously step into the room. Philippa shone her torch light onto the side wall she saw several small openings with the square end of a box in each one. Willow went closer to the wall on shone her torch light into the ledges where the box was.

“This is not a box,” Willow ran a hand on the coffin she was looking at, “this coffin has been pushed onto the ledge.” Philippa gasped and asked if the coffin could be removed. Then she said about the floor, that it was covered in sand.

Philippa and Willow started to clear the floor of the sand, it revealed a five pointed star, a pentacle and in the middle of it was an outline for what could be a coffin. Philippa indicated the first coffin Willow had said about and together they put the coffin in the pentacle.

Willow shone her torch light about and revealed all about the room were the ends of coffins on ledges. Willow counted each of them but found the number was not as she expected, they were not the right number for a coven.

Philippa was unsure of what they were doing. “We find an underground passage, the passage leads to a circular room that houses all these coffins in the wall and a coffin shape on the floor we now have placed a coffin on the floor in the marking of the coffin.

Willow looked at what they had done and allowed a semblance of fear to adorn her face. “I know it is scary but it might not be, we don’t know about this, do we?” asked Philippa. They dragged another coffin from its ledge then slid it onto the floor to put it ready.

“Now what do we do?” asked Willow. Philippa faced her, her blank look revealing she had no idea either. “I do have no idea either but the coffins and the pentacle must be here for a reason.
Maybe we should just wait and hopefully something will happen soon,” said Philippa.

They sat on the floor and leant against the wall to wait. They didn’t have to wait long before the coffin began to vibrate on the stone floor then the lid opened and a woman sat up, she looked to them. “Hello my name is Bethelsda, why have you woken me?”

Willow was surprised, yet she introduced herself to the woman, “Hi, my name is Willow, I didn’t know we would wake you, we did nothing to wake you.” Willow and Philippa go to her and assist her to get out of her coffin.

“Hello my name is Philippa, who could we ask to find why you are here.” The woman smiled to them and thanked them. “Am I the first?” asked Bethelsda. Willow looked to Philippa and shrugged. “As far as we know, yes you are, I do have a question, how was the last coffin put on its ledge?”

“I could tell you but I am not sure how to describe the people who were here,” said Bethelsda.
The three of them put her empty coffin back into the hole in the wall, they move the other coffin into the middle of the pentacle.

“Can you tell me what year you were put in the wall?” asked Willow. “I am unsure, my friends and I lived near a mission that many people died at, as did many of the indigenous peoples by something called smallpox.”

Bethelsda faced Philippa, “I think it was descendants of your family, they have always helped this coven. That is why I am talking to you, as you are a friend. Willow is one of us, she is a witch

Bethelsda helps the girls pull another coffin from the wall, they place on the floor outside the circle created by the points of the five stars of the pentacle. They continue to move the other coffin and place them in a line out from the pentacle.

Willow questioned Bethelsda, she didn’t understand what the reason was as to why there was only eleven and where did they stay. Philippa suddenly announced that she had just had a thought, “There was a rumour of another house in the valley.”

“What do you mean, only a rumour?” asked Willow. Philippa explained that sometimes the house was there while sometimes it wasn’t. That the home itself was said to be a ghost. Bethelsda grinned, “Said by an uninformed witch no doubt as the house was a chapel.

At last the second coffin began to rock a bit on the stone floor. “I hope we can help that one, it’ll prove to her that we can be friends. “I remember this woman, her name is Victoria it was Victoria long before the name became popular, good morning,” said Bethelsda.

“Why are we here?” asked Victoria. “I’ve yet to find out, these two who you see with me one is a daughter to those who care for us and the other with the red hair is as we are though not of our coven,” stated Philippa.



To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

THE WATCHER

PART 2

“I know some of what you must want to ask, I was once the last one to be here. There are two who help us Philippa your parents as all their ancestors always have. Though one of the coven remains until the next witch replaces her,” said Victoria.

“Do you know anything of who lives in the house in the valley?” asked Willow. Victoria laughed then explained she wasn’t laughing at her. Bethelsda stated that it had never been a house, “It was and had always has been a chapel.”

Victoria continued, “The chapel is only visible when one of the coven is inside, now though that would include either of you two as the entity has been told of your existence.” Bethelsda smiled and asked them, “If either of them had wondered about the painting of two girls on horses.

Did you know that a decade ago when you were younger your parents had brought you here, that the both of you had made friends and were making a wreath for Philippa’s pet horse that had died the day before.

Or of a woman who was collecting a specific flower, that both of you directed her to find some more of them, the woman who we refer to as a carer, otherwise as The Entity. To have her see you as a friend was a wonderful friend to have.”

“The Entity is the one in the chapel and she is sometimes referred to as one of the coven, the second is who watches us in the passage, though after a year as she is replaced by another of us
while it is often said a coven need not be thirteen people, thirteen witches of power are best.”

“We are known as the chapel coven it is said of the one who lives in the chapel that she governs all life about here. Those who have yet to rise from their coffin to be members of the coven are witches of great power.”

“I am sorry for my part in waking you prematurely, I am sure Willow is as well,” said Philippa, “How can we help you to go back to sleep?” Bethelsda couldn’t keep her laughter to herself. “Oh
really, how do you know that we were not planned to wake up now?”

“If that is so could you tell us when you were first accepted into the coven?” asked Willow. Victoria had to think when that was. “People first began to settle here about a hundred and
sixty years ago.”

Willow looks to her new friend Philippa. “Can you believe that, now add to that they were probably twenty five years old when they joined the coven, they are about a hundred and eighty five years old yet they still appear to be of an age that is twenty five.

Bethelsda smiled she knew the answer to their thoughts, she said how mortal women would cover their skin with chemical and essences of flowers when the real reason lay in the ground, it was and is soil of the earth that breeds new life.

“She is right when a seed can fall from a tree, to lie dormant on the ground, to slowly sink beneath the outer cover of soil then even after a year or three has passed the earth gives it new life and in doing so creates it in a smoothness that only the young have had,” said Victoria.

“The earth knows who supports its wellbeing,” said Bethelsda, “as to why we are here, an old friend who introduced the coven to the wider community has had the daughter of her latest descendant go missing, our carer has decided that we are going to help to find her.”

Willow asked if the daughter has only gone missing or could it be that she is dead? “That has not been considered as The Entity has a friend who lives in death and she would have said, even if that wasn’t so we do know how to speak to the dead ourselves.

She hates it when people first say to use the Ouija board she prefers to talk of séance for those who are stranger to link their bodies, for those who know each other as good friends they can place their hands face down and rely on the friends close proximity. But that isn’t true with us

as we witches will gather outside near the base of an old tree, sat in a circle they would place their hands on the ground, they must let the earth know that they are friends or the earth might think a stranger has tried to take its secrets from it. That will provoke a harsh response as the

earth can take what is your favourite pastime and have the wind whisper in your ear that any thought of that pastime shall cause it to become your most hated and feared nightmare, even if you fall asleep during the day.”

Philippa questioned Willow how that was so, when all the coffins had been laid in holes in a stone wall. Willow smiled and told Philippa she needed to understand that link between all that is natural. The cobble stones of the passage the circular room and each ledge was all once the earth.

So the passage and room was held underground it was within the earth and the protection of the earth was evident for them. The four of them stayed in the circular room until all the residents of the coffins had been awakened. Bethelsda said to take them to the chapel.

As the troupe walked closer to the chapel Philippa started to hear the peel of the bells running through the seven notes of the scale. Neither she nor Willow understood why all the witches smiled and some laughed.

As they went into the chapel Victoria told Willow to look at the names of the bells in the belfry, not understanding her properly Willow thought she meant those pulling the ropes yet when they passed the belfry Willow saw no one there nor were there any bells in the belfry.

Sat in the lounge Victoria and Bethelsda made then took cups of tea for each of the witches before they pondered what Willow or Philippa were thinking. “Think of it as ghosts, that the chapel itself is a ghost, that it loves to hear itself make a peel from the bells.”

We are all witches of great power, most of us have separate abilities that when combined allow us to work great wonders, then have the powers increased because we follow the original beliefs of sex magic. Philippa was stunned she thought they were all so pure.

Victoria smiled, “We are, all those in the coven are virgins. Unlike you we see that being a virgin gives us purity and with that purity we keep within ourselves the power that is us never having been touched by a man in that manner we hold within ourselves great power.”

Victoria asked Willow and Philippa that if they knew of a friend who was ill would they take an offering of a flower. Waiting for a reply Victoria heard they would. “So, that flower would it be several cut flowers to be put into a vase what is normally a dead flower?”

Philippa stated she would to brighten up the surrounding for her friend. Willow stated she would always give the gift of a living flower in a plant pot in a watering bowl “That way when the friend is well again she can plant the flower in her garden; that both of them can be well.”

Willow asked what abilities the coven possessed that would enable them to find a girl who had gone missing when no one else could. Bethelsda told her that many of those who are witches were not when they died but were given the gifts of power by the ground.

That of those some could track a person through water, some could follow a person path through the ground. Bethelsda said that might be through a passage a cave or in the movement through a hole in the ground as is pot-holing. Flying was easier because using a plane could be traced.

Victoria asked Willow if she had ever been told that everything is connected, Willow smirked as happy memories flooded into her mind. “So take it that should a tree grow so tall its leaves are the highest in the forest, and they move in the atmosphere where messages can be sent from.”

Victoria said the members of the coven could feel the path where the daughter went soon though it was known she had been taken be force and a history of her began to take form. The daughters mother was told how the disappearance had begun.

The mother told the police what the witches had found though the police were sarcastic as to how much would be known. The witches discovered the daughter had bought some drugs for her boyfriend though he had soon become her ex.

Two weeks later the drug dealer told the daughter to but more drugs from him but the daughter refused to as she was no longer dating him. The drug dealer said he didn’t care about her personal life but when she refused to buy more drugs from him he kidnapped her.

The witches took the time to follow her movements through the air and on the ground then in the quickness of time they followed her to where the drug dealer had held her prisoner. A couple of police officers took the report seriously and were ridiculed by the majority of them. Arresting the drug dealer and rescuing two other girls made their belief accepted.

To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

THE WATCHER

PART 3

As they were sat at the long table in the Chapels kitchen the plates were put in front of each of them by an unseen hand, the owner of the hand sat then revealed herself next to Willow, “If you ever need to speak to me, just speak my name,” said The Entity.

Willow recognised a couple of the witches by their names then she asked Victoria when the others were coming. “The others,” smiled Victoria, “have a look up the stairs you should be able to see the witch Mordena she was the one who traced the daughter through the air,

Martina was able to follow the vehicle that she was being held in through the water, as long as less than a week has passed, if a time greater than a week had gone it would take a while longer to track the persons movement.” Saranvina introduced herself to Willow,

“Though I doubt you will want to call on me, I am Mordena’s sister. Saravina said she is a mind reader and gives great fun with Zamilia as she likes to control people’s minds.”
More witches wandered into the kitchen and sat beside the table.

Willow heard herself ask them all if they wanted tea and biscuits, one or the other or both. A voice in her head told her the witches were Zamilia, Koronea, Shoronsi, Mailar, Sharonar,Cooticuls and Maralda. They sat and talked to each other though none of what was said to each other seemed familiar to Willow, even so she was glad to be included in what they said.

When Victoria took her out of the room towards the front door Willow was thankful. Outside the chapel was Philippa and Bethelsda, the four of them wandered to a circular lake of clear water the depth of it could only be judged by placing a balloon with a stone in its air inflated pouch that was lightly gripped by a clothes peg so the air could slowly escape.

They watched as the bubbles escaped from the balloon, “Does that mean it is deep or did the balloon find a ledge a short way down?” Bethelsda had them look at the darkening colour where the bubbles seemed to come from.” Willow and Philippa watched the line of bubbles until they were visible no more. Victoria told her, “Now go inside and ask Martina.”

Victoria knew that Martina was the member of the coven who knew the element of water. “She will be able to say where the bubbles are from.” Willow then knew they were being shown what the chosen witch was capable of, then Willow and Philippa began to understand d what the coven of witches would be capable of.

Victoria asked if they had any doubt if the daughter could be found? As she was the most normal looking of them Sharonar was asked to go to see the mother to find out what the police had told her but they had told her nothing. So she had been said so Sharonar had the Entity get Saravina and Zamilia to join them.

In the police station the drug dealer was getting some shut eye when Bethelsda appeared in his cell. “Your presence is required elsewhere and at that place you will tell us where the girl is. The drug dealer laughed at her then realised the door hadn’t opened and she wasn’t in the police?”

“You’ll need your shoes and your belt,” before he could say that the police had taken them from him he became aware he was wearing the shoes and his belt. “And now this,” said Bethelsda. He was scared at being in another place, he looked about, “Where am I?”

“A place where you will tell us where the girl is and you have two options, either you volunteer the information or we will take it from you by force,” said Bethelsda. “I hope it is the second option, with the likes of you I could do a bit of damage,” said Zamilia.

He was so unsure about them that he volunteered where she was, he had sold her to another dealer who was far enough away that no one who knew her would see her. All her job entailed was delivering drugs. But as the agreement stated he would sell her on to another dealer and he would get another girl to replace her.

The daughter would be used as a mule to transport quantities of drugs overseas by plane ship or boat. She was based in a city by the sea when the drug dealer was having a slow week he would force her to walk the streets by the docks and see the drugs he gave her, she had to give him the correct money or what she was paid would be reduced.

To her it seemed as though her torment would never end, she feared having to sell drugs to people, she feared going through customs when delivering drugs overseas. Then when she returned to her latest owner he might be in a bad mood
the times she had been beaten through no fault of her own had worn her patience.

Knowing of no way to break herself free she continued to do what she was told until she saw her opportunity. One night a woman followed her through the dockland streets, the next night it was two women who trailed her. Victoria and Willow began to follow the woman’s daughter.

Victoria told to Willow to keep an eye out for anyone following them to make sure the daughter wasn’t being followed by anyone else either. Wandering through the streets Willow asked Victoria why they weren’t rescuing the girl. Victoria said to keep her safe she had to make sure that everyone was caught, that anyone else who ought to be set free was freed.

They followed her along the streets to the drug dealers house then with Zamilia, Saravina and Mordeena, Victoria told Willow made their presence known. At first the girl was scared by them but was made to feel at ease when Victoria promised her that she would be at home with her

mother before the night was at an end. As it was the girl thought she had been told that she would be going home, she was awe struck as had him say who his accomplices were, who he had made deliveries to and how. Before the daughter was taken to her mother she got to say every person who had done her wrong though she never knew how they were punished.

The police were told who the perpetrators were though they were not told of the punishment handed out to them.
The police were only told that they who had furnished the punishment could not be punished by their laws. The next morning Willow happened to mention to Victoria that there were several instances where groups could be helped by them.

Victoria said they kept to their own kind accepting doing whatever they could to finding the stolen or the abducted. Philippa suggested they consider doing what Willow said between the times when they were called by their own kind. Willow added that it may help them to do what she said as they would keep up to date about how society worked.

It wasn’t as if the witches would get older, Victoria glanced at Bethelsda then Victoria said they would go to see what The Entity thought. For several days Willow and Philippa had to be content with making the gardens look good, planting pretty flowers raking unbroken soil. They were having a rest about to continue with one of the garden beds.

A streak of lightning flashed across the sky immediately followed by a large clap of thunder. “That was close,” said Philippa. It was asked Willow. Philippa looked to the sky, “The jagged edge of the sound is proof it was within two hundred and eighty yards,”

Philippa looked up and hesitantly declared that there were no clouds nearby. She heard the sound of falling rain coupled with a single chapel bell being rung even though she knew none existed within earshot. Willow turned to the steps and saw Koronea, “Why are you here?” asked Willow.

“I was asked to be the one to tell you the good news because of what you are doing,” she said. Willow looked to Philippa, she shrugged. “What has that to do with you, you are a healer,” said Philippa. Koronea agreed that she was, that she was of the same element as Bethelsda.

“And that being so Bethelsda and Koronea both having the gift of green fingers, that life was theirs to give and take. “Your notion was put in the mind of The Entity." She thought long and hard then came to the conclusion that they could be of use to the magical community.

To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

WATCHING THE DANGLERS

PART 4

Being left to fend for himself he found he was at a loss as to what he could do, with little knowledge of anything other than caring for sheep he soon found himself hiding behind the bushes that lined the road verge like a hedge.

Edward found he could hide there without being seen by anyone on the road. It wasn’t that he watched those who had been hung, more that he watched the friends and or relative of those who had been hung.

He would follow them from the hanging tree then when he was a safe distance away he would attack the people and steal their belonging that they had on them. He would kill them and hide their bodies. The police were often baffled as they had no idea when the robbery had happened.

The police often had no idea of who had perpetrated the crime or why. The police didn’t know why they were where they were. A couple of detectives soon worked it out that all those who had been robbed and left for dead had visited those who had been hung.

The police asked for details of who was being hung yet still the police couldn’t catch the robber, though the judge was secretly glad of that. He wanted the notoriety as that caused him to be known as the hanging judge.

Hoping to avoid the time between being judged and being hung he did the next sentencing very quickly then specified that the accused be hung until he was dead the next day. It was the men who carried out the actual hanging.

The hangmen asked the accused if anyone would be there to witness the hanging. The accused said he thought they’d come just afterwards. They did arrive but came a few hours after the accused had died; they were observed to be in quality clothes.

The robber stole the quality clothes and left them in rags, which initially confused the police. Also they had their jewels and money stolen so they looked like the poorer people. Bethelsda and Korona accompanied Willow and Philippa to see the bodies once they had been found.

Finding an extra set of footmarks on the nearby ground they followed them to a tavern which was known as a hangout for thieves. Saravina was called to be there, to arrive with all haste. Half a tankard after she had arrived the group set about tracking the robber.

As he lived a mile away along that road it didn’t take long. Once he had been found Saravina read his mind to discover where he had pawned the wares he had stolen. Information the police were glad to learn of but tried to blame the witches.

The police soon found that blaming witches as accomplices was one thing, catching the witches was another and keeping the in the room in front of them was another. Yet still the police were given information about who the robber was, and how to find him, the police thought they were

being clever by setting a trap for the witches, until they vanished. With the information gathered the robber was caught, charged and sentenced. He was to be hung at where he had seen his victims seeing their friends and relatives.

After being left to hang for long enough the hangmen dropped his body near a cheap plain coffin that was readied for him, the hangman witnessed the ghost rise and walk to the bushes on the opposite verge.

The hangmen were unsure who they should tell though unknown to them they had told the witches. As soon as the ghost was spoken of The Entity entered into the fray Willow drove her car to the side of the road opposite the hanging tree the ghost said that he had lost the belief he

should watch those who hung or the friends of the accused. Saravina spoke to Willow about the ghost, she was of the belief the watcher had stopped his need to seek the friends of the recently hung it was thought he had taken to taking sheep.

He said that he would not kill sheep, he asked how many sheep had been killed, where they had been taken. Saravina stated that the Watcher saw the taking of sheep as a wicked behavior. The Watcher was of the opinion that the person who had killed the sheep was one of the worst

imaginable, that he should be hung. He said that many years before he had been a farmer. I had been thrown off my farm by some corrupt owners who claimed my practices had damaged he took the land I used and then all of my sheep were taken by him. He liked being behind that

hedge to watch people by the tree. One reason why he had liked to be there was because of the orchard, in particular was one of the fruit trees even though it only produced a pear of apples. It was almost as good as the tree that produced Lime and Lemons, the Lemonade tree.

But it was those cyclists who often went passed they appeared so wonderful the bright colours of the lycra. It was after they passed him that caused his depression despite their fitness the wobbly mounds of flesh atop of their legs was an awful sight.

The Watcher quickly realised that as he was now a ghost he might be there constantly he wanted something to do with the rest of his eternity so he took to finding the history of those on the hanging tree, maybe some had been forced to that way of life.

One such case was about the young daughters of a new magistrate to the area, his daughters were given a smart carriage to get to the new house. On the carriage was an escort of four policemen, they stopped at a suitably safe looking place to have a picnic.

As the policemen sought time alone each was killed and the body hidden, soon the daughters were attacked and all the treasure was stolen the bodies of the policemen and of the daughters were buried, the carriage was burnt and the robbers made off on the horses.

The local police knew nothing of the robbery nor the murders. The magistrate was left to think his daughters had gone with two of the police to start a new life. Bethelsda had no trouble finding where the bodies were buried.

She pointed to the direction the robbers had gone Molhiar was brought in to follow the movements of the horses they were on, she thought it fun to seek for the nick on one of the horseshoes, then they went over rocks

All they had to keep track off was the mark left by the nick. What caused a confusion was that the robbers had been mistaken by other highwayman and their bounty was stolen though Molhiar was able to pinpoint where their bodies were.

The other highwaymen were no match for the witches as now the whole coven was on their tail there was little doubt they would not be caught soon not that the magistrate or the police knew of the witches or the ghost.

Though their question took the form of more question when the answers they had been looking for just seemed to appear in front of them



To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

SWEET HITCH HIKER

PART 5

Willow had been told to keep watch on a stretch of road near to where they had positioned her, a ghost was seen by people in the cars that drove passed her. While Willow sheltered from the rain under a bridge the ghost emerged from one of the bridge support columns.

The ghost surprised Willow mainly as no warning was given for her to appear in front of her. Willow was close enough to the ghost to see she was very upset. But from the way the ghost looked behind her Willow could tell she wasn’t being chased, upset she couldn’t walk in a straight line.

Willow ran back the few hundred yards to get to her car then she followed the woman, Victoria appeared in the car, she asked Willow if there was any success at which point Willow pointed to the woman in the Edwardian dress that was a couple of hundred yards in front of them.

Victoria said that Bethelsda had been told about the ghost who appeared on the highway through a bridge support and always vanished at near a T junction a few miles further on. It wasn’t known why she appeared there or why she left the road.

Victoria said there was a reason why the ghost only appeared on that stretch of the highway as considering her dress the highway wasn’t built when she was alive that now the two roads coincided in the physical location of the two roads.

Having had a look at a map of when the ghost was thought to be alive the road passed by three farm entrance. The Entity had traced back through time to find out that a son had made a woman pregnant and refused to marry her; the woman had ceased to exist.

Willow stated that she would like to have a look at the map from that day, she wanted to see where the road went near where the ghost was last seen on the highway. When The Entity appeared in the car the car stopped.

A map of the area appeared on the inside of the windscreen that was from twenty years after the woman had gone missing. At a T junction along that road was the grave of a woman, the grave marked the spot where the woman’s body was found.

It was agreed that the woman had killed herself and as such the church refused to allow her body to be buried on consecrated ground as was the law of the church in those days. The grave was marked on the opposite verge of the intersection.

When Willow got to the site of where the grave was she was surprised to see many individual flowers on the grave. As she drew closer Willow also the shadowy figures at the grave, figures that ignored her, that seemed to be honoring the dead woman.

Victoria plucked a flower from near Willows car and took it to the grave then came back to join Willow. “They were ghosts at the grave though something is wrong,” Victoria looked to The Entity, “Try and find where her skeleton is?”

The Entity went to the grave and sat by the grave, Willow and Victoria could see she was talking with the ghosts, when she came back. “Word is that she had done no wrong, and that because the church had condemned her the Devil gave her a proper burial somewhere safe from human’s.”

The Entity said that a dogs skeleton had been put in the grave as a clue to the home where the ghost had felt most at home, a home in Newton Abbott. The Entity smiled as the lad who had made her pregnant was said to wonder the stretch of road to where an aunt of hers once lived.

Once was when a lad searched the road looking for the woman he had wronged, he wandered along the road not caring for himself even the hairs on his hands had become overgrown. Sickened by the sight of him some men, worse for wear due to drink hacked his body to bits.

All that was left of him above the surface of the ground were his hands, and as is so today his hands are said to rule the road where the woman he once loved is said to wander. He does not mind where he appears.

For countless decades those roads have been controlled by the two ghosts who even to this day search for each other. Many ghosts through time have tried to help, passing massages to each of them that the other is searching for him or her.

Many times even horses have been seen along that road at where the ghosts of him and her are said to have been seen. Dogs of great size have been heard calling of sightings of the ghosts along the way but by the time the ghost was there he had gone.

It was often said that in the town of princes where the prison was two beings were said to meet and be beholden to each other though nothing is known of the actual meeting. What can be seen is very limited as thick fog is said to cover the land.

One thing is heard though, the drumming sound that haunts the flats lands, the vales and Tors. A drumming that has often tried to be traced though never has the drummer ever been found getting far from the known roads the witches with Willow and Philippa the sound was never near.

Each of them could often be seen walking over the lands, they each headed for a bridge not knowing what the other was doing, or why. Victoria looked about for a bridge, she wasn’t sure what size of bridge she looked for.

It hadn’t occurred to her that the bridge might just be where water ran under the road; a culvert.
As Victoria looked about and welcomed Willow to be by her side she grew glad that a storm had set in around them.

Willow stated the drumming was what she’d described as for the infantry that couldn’t see where it was, to follow the beat to follow into the heart of the storm to where their peace could be found, Philippa thought the beat was to lead the dead.

Not known by any others the Devil had released a young boy from the boundaries of hell, the place marked for those who didn’t deserve his attentions, the boy and his drum led each of them down the Rough Tor to a home that wasn’t and isn’t often seen.

Willow and Philippa knew they had traveled to a place not near where they were of or from, but a place where the ghosts could feel at home. Willow smiled she was glad the dead saw that the dead were more important to each other than she was.

Willow, Philippa and Victoria swung to the road going down the hillside. They crossed over where the water trickled under the road, over a large slab of stone that bore the skeleton of a boy, near the boy hidden amongst the rocks Philippa pointed to a single drum.

Victoria pointed to where they were, “It has often been said of Devils bridge being along this road The Entity has just told me of the reason why where we are was called Devil’s bridge. The man who built the bridge by himself had earned the nickname for himself.

He was said to be a hard and fast worker, he was said to work like the Devil, it has nothing to do with those being here or pointing to the house on the hill. Victoria smiled, she was glad they had found the home of the ghosts.

Bethelsda jumped from the rock down to where the back door took form at the back of the cottage, grinning sheepishly to Victoria as two shadowy figures stood among the rocks of the cottage. “There are some we trust to know where we live,” said the woman.

A snow storm began to blow in, had blown in. Though the snow was white there was so much of it that it began to appear as though it was becoming night. The soldiers who had followed the drum wandered to the top of the hill and never returned.

And how would they know where to return to if the whole area was covered in snow and the cottage that was there had now gone. All that was heard was the sound of the little drummer boy leading them to a happy home.

THE END