About the Book
‘A great battle awaits us, the odds against us overwhelming, and the price of defeat is terrible. All my life has led up to this point.’
Halloween is approaching. The supporters of the Fiend are gathering. And just when Thomas Ward and his allies need to stand together, they are fatally divided by the terrible choices they must make.
Tom is tasked with completing a ritual so barbaric it makes him question his own humanity. Alice plans to complete a spell so dangerous it could turn her to the dark for good. And the Spook is about to discover just how many secrets his best apprentice has been keeping from him for all these years . . .
Time has run out. The Fiend is rising. Can Tom complete the task for which he was born?
The final chilling volume of the Wardstone Chronicles
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Boggart’s Symbols
Character Profiles
Maps
Epigraph
Chapter 1: Another Way
Chapter 2: The Spook’s Legacy
Chapter 3: The First Lamia
Chapter 4: The Unexplained
Chapter 5: The Wardstone
Chapter 6: The Doomdryte
Chapter 7: A Terrible Scene
Chapter 8: Only You Can Do It
Chapter 9: The Ambush
Chapter 10: The Pursuit
Chapter 11: The Dark Tower
Chapter 12: The Coffin
Chapter 13: The Vast Dark Tide
Chapter 14: The Spook’s Boggart
Chapter 15: The Battle on the Steps
Chapter 16: A Tide of Blood
Chapter 17: The Dark Rider
Chapter 18: The Last Apprentice
Chapter 19: A Price to be Paid
Chapter 20: Tendrils of Green Mist
Chapter 21: A Scrawny Boy
Chapter 22: A Fierce, Warlike Race
Chapter 23: The Abhumans
Chapter 24: A Plague of Skelts
Chapter 25: Brewer’s Farm
Chapter 26: Nobody will be Safe
Chapter 27: The Clash of Witch Assassins
Chapter 28: The Battle of the Wardstone
Chapter 29: A Question of Time
Chapter 30: A Terrible Hunger
Chapter 31: The Tower of Time
Chapter 32: Draw Your Sword
Chapter 33: Lamia Blood
Chapter 34: The Last Lesson
Chapter 35: The Chipenden Spook
Sneak Preview
Q&A with Joseph Delaney
Comments from fans
About the Author
Also by Joseph Delaney
Copyright
for Marie
CHARACTER PROFILES
TOM
Thomas Ward is both the seventh son of a seventh son and the child of a powerful lamia witch. He has abilities beyond those of a regular spook: as well as being able see and hear the dead, he can also slow down time to aid him in battle. For more than three years he has trained as an apprentice to the local Spook, and now as the wielder of the Destiny Blade he may be the world’s only hope of defeating the Fiend.
THE SPOOK
The Spook is an unmistakable figure. He’s tall and rather fierce-looking. He wears a long black cloak and hood, and always carries a staff and chain. For over sixty years he has protected the County from things that go bump in the night, but his long battles have left him weary. Tom fears that the days when he can continue to rely on his mentor may be numbered.
ALICE
Tom can’t decide if Alice is good or evil. She is related to two of the most evil witch dans (the Malkins and the Deanes) and was trained as a witch against her will. While she counts herself as an ally of the light, she has increasingly been forced to rely on dark magic to save her friends. Tom fears that each time she does it will draw her closer and closer to the dark.
MAM
Tom’s mam always knew he would become the Spook’s apprentice. She called him her ‘gift to the County’. There always were quite a few mysterious things about Mam, but even Tom never suspected the truth: that she was a lamia witch, and that she had planned for Tom to battle the Fiend since before he was even born. Tom’s mam fell in the battle against the Ordeen, but he hopes that she might still be watching over him somehow . . .
GRIMALKIN
Grimalkin is the current assassin of the Malkin witch dan. Very fast and strong, she has a code of honour and rarely to trickery. Although honourable, Grimalkin also has a dark side and is reputed to use torture. Recently she has forged an unlikely alliance with Tom Ward against their common enemy, the Fiend. But can a true servant of the dark ever really be trusted?
THE FIEND
The Fiend is the dark made flesh, the most powerful of all its denizens and the very oldest of the old Gods. He has many other names, including the Devil, Satan, Lucifer and the Father of Lies. Together, Tom Ward and his allies managed to sever the Fiend’s head in battle, but their fight to destroy him once and for all has only just begun . . .
THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE COUNTY IS MARKED BY MYSTERY.
IT IS SAID THAT A MAN DIED THERE IN A GREAT STORM, WHILE BINDING AN EVIL THAT THREATENED THE WHOLE WORLD.
THEN THE ICE CAME AGAIN, AND WHEN IT RETREATED, EVEN THE SHAPES OF THE HILLS AND THE NAMES OF THE TOWNS IN THE VALLEYS CHANGED.
NOW, AT THAT HIGHEST POINT ON THE FELLS, NO TRACE REMAINS OF WHAT WAS DONE SO LONG AGO, BUT ITS NAME HAS ENDURED.
THEY CALL IT –
THE WARDSTONE.
I AWOKE FROM a nightmare, my heart pounding, and sat up in bed feeling sick. For a few moments I thought I was going to vomit, but gradually my stomach settled down.
In my dream I had been killing Alice – cutting away her thumb-bones.
At Halloween, now barely a month away, I would have to carry out this terrible ritual in the real world. It was what was expected of me. My mam wished it, for it was the only way to end the threat of the Fiend for ever.
But how could I do it? How could I kill Alice?
I lay awake, fearful of going back to sleep lest the nightmare resume. Painful thoughts continued to swirl through my head. Alice was a willing victim. She was prepared to be sacrificed. Not only that, but she had bravely ventured into the dark to retrieve the Blade of Sorrow. This was one of the hero swords – three sacred weapons to be used to destroy the Fiend; weapons that would kill her in the process.
The hero swords had been forged by the Old God Hephaestus; the first of these was the Destiny Blade, given to me by Cuchulain in Ireland. The second was called Bone Cutter, and now, if Alice had succeeded in her quest into the dark, I would possess all three.
At the moment the Fiend was bound to his dead flesh – his body impaled with silver spears in the Irish countryside; his head in a leather sack in the possession of Grimalkin, the witch assassin. She was on the run, fighting desperately to keep it from the Fiend’s servants. If they got hold of it, they would reunite head and body, and the Fiend would walk the earth once more; and the ritual could not take place.
But Alice had still not returned from the dark. Perhaps something had happened, I thought. Maybe she would never come back . . .
I was also worried about my brother James, who had gone missing. The Fiend had said that his servants had cut his throat and thrown him into a ditch. I desperately hoped he was lying but I couldn’t keep the terrible thought of it out of my head for long.
I tried to sleep again, but without success, and the night dragged on. Then, just before dawn, the mirror on my bedside table suddenly began to glow. Alice was the only one who ever contacted me using a mirror. I sat up and grabbed it, looking into the glass, h
ardly daring to hope. For weeks and weeks I had been waiting for word from her. I had thought that perhaps I would see her just stroll happily into the garden, the Dolorous Blade – the Blade of Sorrow – in hand. But now Alice would be able to tell me that all was well immediately.
My heart soared with happiness as she stared out of the glass at me, a faint smile on her lips. She mouthed a sentence:
‘I’m on the edge of the western garden.’
In the past I used to communicate with Alice by breathing on the glass and writing, but I had grown skilled at reading her lips. She had no difficulty at all in reading mine.
‘Wait there!’ I told her. ‘I’ll be down right away.’
I dressed quickly, then went downstairs as quietly as possible, trying not to wake the Spook. As I headed out through the back door, a thought struck me: Why hadn’t Alice come into the garden?
The sky was growing lighter in the east, and as I passed the bench where my master sometimes gave me lessons, I saw Alice waiting at the edge of the trees.
She was clothed as I had last seen her – in a dark dress that just came down below her knees, and her pointy shoes. But what cheered me most of all was the smile on her pretty face. I ran towards her and she opened her arms, her smile broadening. We hugged each other tight and rocked back and forth.
‘You’re safe! You’re safe!’ I cried. ‘I never thought I’d see you again.’
At last we broke apart and stared at each other silently for a moment or two.
‘There were times when I thought I’d never escape from the dark,’ Alice said. ‘But I did it, Tom. I got in and out safely and I have the blade. Glad to see you, I am.’
She pulled it from her pocket and held it out to me. I turned it over and over in my hands, examining it closely. It looked just like its twin, Bone Cutter: the same skelt with ruby eyes adorned the hilt, staring up at me; the skelt was a killer that hid in crevices near water before scuttling out on its eight legs to pierce its victims with its bone-tube and drain their blood.
I forced my eyes away from the blade and looked again at Alice, feeling a surge of happiness. I’d missed her so much. How could I ever have considered sacrificing her? Even the destruction of the Fiend surely couldn’t justify it. It was clear to me now that I couldn’t go through with it. Tears came to my eyes and a lump to my throat.
‘You’re brave, Alice. Nobody else could have succeeded. But I’m sorry – you did it all for nothing. I can’t go through with the ritual. I won’t sacrifice you. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. We’ll have to find another way to put an end to the Fiend.’
‘It’s funny, Tom, but you’re the second person to tell me that my going into the dark was unnecessary. Grimalkin thinks so too.’
‘You’ve talked to Grimalkin? I haven’t seen her in over a month.’
‘Grimalkin’s been helping me. She’s found another way to destroy the Fiend – we’re working on it together. I’m hopeful, Tom. I really believe we can do it without the need for such a sacrifice. Had to come and see you and tell you, I did, but I’ve got to get back now – there’s work to do.’
I couldn’t believe that Alice was already going off again. We’d been apart for so long, and now all we’d had was a couple of minutes together. It was so disappointing. I wanted to know more about Grimalkin’s plan. How had she discovered a method that Mam had not been aware of?
‘Come back to the house for a while, please,’ I begged her. ‘Tell me what’s going on. And I’d like to know how you coped in the dark – I’m sure the Spook will have all sorts of questions to ask you too.’
But Alice shook her head firmly. ‘That ain’t possible, Tom. You see, Grimalkin’s plan makes use of seriously dark magic. It’s the only thing that’ll work. Old Gregory wouldn’t approve – you know that. He’s bound to ask me questions about what I’m up to, and I’d have to lie to him. He’s good at telling when people are lying. It’s best that I go.’
‘Then when will I see you again, Alice?’
‘Ain’t sure, but Grimalkin and I will return for sure . . . See you when we’ve succeeded.’
Alice looked just as I remembered her, but as she spoke now, she sounded different – completely confident of success. Was she being overconfident?
‘Is it dangerous?’ I asked nervously.
‘I won’t lie to you, Tom. Of course it’s dangerous. But we’ve been in danger from the dark from the moment we met, and we’ve always come through safely. Don’t see why this shouldn’t be the same.’
Suddenly she rushed into my arms and kissed me fiercely on the lips. Before I could respond, it was over; she broke away from me and began to walk off.
I stared after her in shock. I was stunned. Why had she kissed me? Could it really be that she cared for me as much as I cared for her? I had never known. I desperately wanted to hold her in my arms again.
Alice turned, looked back and called out over her shoulder: ‘Take care, Tom! Don’t tell Old Gregory you’ve seen me. It’s best that way.’
And then she was gone. There was so much I hadn’t had time to ask her. What had it been like in the dark? How had she managed to survive and retrieve the blade I now held in my hand?
I walked back towards the house sadly. I was very relieved that Alice had returned safely, but now I had something else to worry about. What were Alice and Grimalkin about to attempt? No doubt there were great risks involved.
She’d asked me not to tell my master that I’d met her. One part of me agreed with her; it was probably for the best to keep it from him – he’d only ask questions. But I’d kept too many things from him in the past. Now I’d have to hide the blade to make sure he didn’t see it.
I’d been feeling increasingly guilty about such deceptions. Each had seemed very necessary at the time, but they had accumulated, and the more there were, the worse I’d felt. This was one more to add to the list, and I didn’t like it.
THE FOLLOWING DAY, late in the morning, the Spook and I were sitting at a table in his new Chipenden library. Opposite us sat a small thin man dressed in a black three-piece suit and a white shirt with a dark grey tie. He was a lawyer, a Mr Timothy Potts, who had made the journey south from Caster. He was taking notes as my master spoke.
The Spook was making his will. Or, to be more accurate, he was updating it.
As he did so, I looked around, only half listening. The house had burned down and been rebuilt, and now almost everything within it was new. The library smelled of fresh wood. The shelves were still mostly empty and probably contained fewer than three dozen books. It would take a long time to restore it, and much of what had burned was irreplaceable – especially the legacy of books written by former spooks, with their personal accounts of how they’d practised their trade. We dealt with ghosts, ghasts, boggarts and witches – all manner of things from the dark. So we relied on books and notebooks a lot. Our careful records were vital: we looked to the past in order to prepare for the future.
‘So those are my wishes,’ ended the Spook very firmly.
Mr Potts adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose and coughed to clear his throat. ‘I’ll read it back to you, Mr Gregory. Please interrupt if you have anything to add or feel that I have not accurately recorded those wishes.’
The Spook nodded, and Mr Potts began to read very slowly, with hardly a trace of a County accent. He sounded really posh. He was obviously an ‘incomer’ who had been born and educated down south.
‘I leave my two main houses, at Chipenden and Anglezarke, to my apprentice, Thomas Ward, including all fixtures, fittings, books and tools of the trade. They remain his, as long as he lives, on condition that he practises the trade of spook for as long as he is able. In his own will, he may only leave them to another spook, and on these same conditions.’
I was sad to hear those words. It made me feel as if my time as the Spook’s apprentice was almost over. But I took a deep breath and tried to think positively. Our time together might be drawing to a
close, but surely we had another couple of years – time to complete my apprenticeship properly and then perhaps continue when I was a fully trained spook, so that I could take some of the burden off his shoulders.
‘I grant the use of my third house north of Caster, which I inherited from William Arkwright, to Judd Brinscall for as long as he practises as a spook in that location. In the event of his death or early retirement from the trade, that property with its library will revert to the ownership of Thomas Ward on the same terms stipulated for my other properties.’
Bill Arkwright had died fighting the dark in Greece. Now Judd Brinscall, a previous apprentice of the Spook, had taken up residence in Bill’s old water mill and was attempting to deal with the water witches there.
Mr Potts gave a little cough. ‘Is that correct, Mr Gregory?’
‘Aye, it’s correct,’ my master confirmed.
‘What about your other financial affairs? Have you any income to dispose of?’
The Spook shook his head. ‘There is nothing significant, Mr Potts. This is not a trade that makes a man rich. But if money is in my possession at my death, I leave that to my apprentice, Master Ward.’
‘Very well.’ Potts made a further short note before packing up his papers, pushing back his chair and rising to his feet. He took his pocket watch from his waistcoat and glanced at the time before tucking it away again. ‘I will write this up in the proper manner and return here next week so that you may sign the document.’
The two men shook hands, and then it was my duty to escort the lawyer through the garden and off the premises – otherwise he would have been in danger from the Spook’s pet boggart, which guarded against intruders, both human and otherwise.
After setting Mr Potts safely on his way, I returned to the library to find my master still sitting in the same position. He was slumped in his chair, staring down at the tabletop. He had aged a lot during the past two years; his beard was now totally white and his face gaunt. He probably felt that his life was drawing to a close. That, no doubt, was why he wanted to put his affairs in order. He certainly did not look happy.