The White Witch Read online

  “That’ll be scrumptious,” Johnny smiled.

  “I tell you what we will do,” said the Marquis who had been listening. “Tomorrow when we take the boat off the lake you shall see it on the ground and then you can climb into it if you want to.”

  “I’ll really enjoy that,” Johnny said, “It’ll be very exciting.”

  He ran off to tell the other children what he was going to do and the Marquis said,

  “That too was what I wanted to do, although I was much older than Johnny when the boat first appeared.”

  “And did you get into it?” Flora asked.

  “I was too big,” the Marquis replied. “But I always felt I had missed out by not going in the Fairy boat which could sail without anyone propelling it, a blaze of lights on the lake.”

  “It is certainly very effective, but I am quite certain I would not have thought of it as an attraction if you had not remembered it.”

  “You have thought of a great many other ideas and I know the children will love them all.”

  There were swings and slides and even a coconut shy in another part of the garden. Flora could hear the shrieks of excitement from the children as they played around them.

  More and more people appeared.

  A little later the Chief Constable and Lady Carson arrived with their son.

  “I was beginning to think,” the Marquis said as he shook Lady Carson’s hand, “that you had forgotten about us.”

  “It is my husband’s fault,” she responded. “Some people came to see him just as we were leaving. I can assure you it is very difficult being married to a policeman.”

  The Marquis laughed.

  As Lady Carson moved away to talk to Flora, the Chief Constable whispered into the Marquis’s ear,

  “I have brought several of my men with me. I have heard that there are some strange people from London in the village and if there is to be any trouble, we will deal with it.”

  “Trouble?” the Marquis queried. “I was not anticipating anything like that.”

  “You never know on occasions like this,” the Chief Constable replied. “As everyone has been talking about your party, there are sure to be a number of crooks who will try to get in on the act, so to speak.”

  “I know what you mean, but I am hoping that nothing will happen.”

  “Just tell your staff in the house to see that the windows are all locked and also the doors to the main rooms. I do not want you to lose any of your famous pictures.”

  “Certainly not,” the Marquis agreed, “and of course you are quite right that it is better to be prepared for anything on these sort of occasions.”

  “That is what I have always thought,” the Chief Constable answered. “Do not worry, my men will deal with any problems.”

  The Marquis thanked him and took him into the tent where there was a special table reserved for his guests.

  His grandmother was already present and a little later the Carsons sat down to talk to her.

  The band outside was playing the tunes that everyone enjoyed.

  The food was excellent and Flora joined them for a short while before slipping away to see if the children, who were still playing on the slides and the swings, wanted something to eat.

  “She thinks of everyone,” the Dowager told the Carsons. “In fact she is the sweetest girl I have ever met, and I am eternally grateful to her for the way she has treated me with her magic herbs.”

  “She is certainly a great asset to the County,” Lady Carson commented.

  They had finished eating and it was almost time for the fireworks to begin.

  The Marquis excused himself to see if he could find Flora.

  By now there was an enormous crowd of people milling around the lake watching the boat and waiting for the fireworks to start.

  Everyone was in very good spirits, laughing and talking.

  The Marquis thought that the beer and the cider had certainly contributed to the gaiety of the evening.

  There was no sign of Flora.

  He walked down as far as the swings but the smaller children were not there. He thought that she must have taken them into one of the tents.

  Slowly he began to retrace his steps.

  Then there was a whizz and a bang and the first firework shed a hundred shining stars over the lake.

  It was followed by another and yet another.

  Now the children were shouting with delight and even some of the older people were joining in. This was what they had been waiting for.

  The Marquis thought that with the moon shining above and the sky full of stars nothing could look more glamorous.

  However he still could not find Flora. He looked into both the tents which were now emptying rapidly. The band was playing softly as a background to the noise of the fireworks.

  There was also, the Marquis was suddenly aware, no sign of Locadi.

  He had not missed her while they were eating in the tent. He felt that she had been bored with the party from the very beginning, but would doubtless come and watch the fireworks if nothing else.

  He would not have been at all surprised if she was sulking in the castle as she had not been able to be in touch with him all day.

  He was convinced that the mandrake leaves in both his pockets were protecting him. He had not been so uncomfortably conscious of her today as he had been yesterday.

  He was still however thinking of Flora.

  Now as he walked amongst the crowd with everyone’s heads turned towards the sky, he was overcome by a strange feeling that she needed him.

  It was almost as if she was calling to him.

  This struck him as being very odd.

  Where before he had been aware of Locadi, now it was Flora who was in his mind.

  It was almost as if he could hear her calling to him,

  “Save me – save me!”

  ‘I must be demented,’ he told himself. ‘First I imagine that Locadi is beside me and now I can almost hear Flora’s voice pleading with me.’

  He wondered if he was going mad.

  He walked towards the castle, for a moment turning his back on the fireworks.

  It was then that he saw running round the side of the Norman Tower a small boy whom he recognized as Johnny.

  He was crying loudly and holding his hands up to his eyes.

  The Marquis hurried towards him.

  “What is the matter, Johnny?” he asked.

  “He – hit me. The – bad man – hit me,” Johnny cried pitifully.

  The Marquis picked him up into his arms.

  “Now tell me what has happened and stop crying because I want you to watch the fireworks.”

  “The – bad men took – away Miss – Flora,” Johnny sobbed. “They put a – big black bag over – her head and – when I tried to go with her they – hit me – they hit me – very, very hard and it – hurts.”

  The words came out almost incoherently.

  The Marquis was listening in astonishment and then he asked,

  “Where have the bad men taken Miss Flora?”

  Johnny threw out his arm to indicate the way he had come.

  “To – the woods,” he said.

  “Miss Flora was showing me – the fountain and they – carried her – away.”

  The Marquis could hardly believe it.

  Then as if he could hear Flora telling him that it was true, he looked round.

  He saw a village woman whom he knew standing watching the fireworks.

  He carried Johnny up to her and said, “Johnny has been hurt. Please look after him.”

  “Hurt, my Lord? I’ll see to him at once,” the woman answered.

  She put her arms round Johnny and the Marquis started to run in the direction of the first tent.

  He remembered that when they came out from dinner there had been a seat outside it.

  The Chief Constable had sat to watch the fireworks in comfort and when the Marquis reached the tent he saw to his relief that he wa
s still there.

  The noise of the fireworks was now almost deafening and he bent over the back of the seat shouting,

  “Please come at once, I think Miss Flora has been kidnapped.”

  The Chief Constable looked up to see if he was joking and then he repeated.

  “Kidnapped?”

  “Some men have taken her away and I think I know where they have gone.”

  The Chief Constable jumped up and without speaking to his wife who had not been listening to what they had been saying, joined the Marquis.

  They moved swiftly across the grass and on to the gravel courtyard.

  “You believe,” the Chief Constable asked, “that she has been taken away from here?”

  “Yes, I am almost certain,” the Marquis replied, “that they have taken her to the Chapel in the woods.”

  The Chief Constable put his hand into his pocket and drew out a police whistle. He placed it to his lips and it made a shrill sound.

  The Marquis thought that no one would notice it above the noise of the fireworks, the music of the band and the cries of the crowd.

  But almost instantly three policemen followed by a fourth came running up to the Chief Constable.

  As they reached him the Marquis turned and started to walk very quickly towards the Tower. They skirted round it and on to the green lawn where the fountain was playing.

  As they did so he was certain he could hear Flora calling him again, this time more frantically. He did not stop to wonder why or how this was possible.

  He just knew that she needed him urgently and it was imperative that he should reach her as quickly as possible.

  The Chief Constable was following him and the four policemen were close behind.

  The green lawn came to an end and there were the first rhododendron bushes. Beyond them were the silver birch trees of which the shrubbery mostly consisted.

  There were twisting paths winding between the trees.

  Then as the Marquis ran through the trees he became aware he could hear faintly but distinctly, the sound of voices.

  They came, he guessed, from the Chapel which had been built by his ancestor.

  He had no idea why Flora should be there. But his instinct told him that she was there and at this moment she wanted him desperately.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Flora could not believe what was happening to her.

  She knew that she was being carried by a man across the lawn.

  Something thick and dark had been pulled over her head so that it was impossible for her to scream.

  She was hardly able to breathe.

  She had gone to find the children to find out if they had enjoyed playing and had enough to eat before the fireworks started.

  She found that most of them had left the swings with the exception of Johnny.

  “Come along, Johnny,” she had urged, “I want you to have some food.”

  “Not hungry,” Johnny had said firmly.

  “I think you will be when you see the delicious dishes which are on the table,” Flora replied.

  Then as they were walking away from the swings she said, “I know what I will show you. We were talking about it the other day – the big fountain here at the castle.”

  “I like fountains,” Johnny agreed excitedly.

  “I know you do,” Flora answered. “And this is a very big one, much bigger than the one in my herb garden.”

  She took him around the side of the Norman Tower to the lawn in the centre of which stood the fountain.

  It looked particularly beautiful as Flora had already seen for herself. The moonlight and the stars were reflected in the rise and fall of the water.

  Johnny clapped his hands with delight.

  Flora explained to him how the water came out of the centre of the fountain.

  Then he was looking for the goldfish swimming amongst the water lilies in the bowl.

  Quite suddenly something heavy was thrown over Flora’s head and someone picked her up in his arms.

  She tried to cry out but for the moment she was too stunned to make a sound.

  She heard Johnny scream and was afraid of what had happened to him.

  By then the man who was carrying her was hurrying over the grass. She could feel when he left it and started to climb the twisting path which led through the shrubbery.

  It was at this moment that she wondered if he was taking her to the Chapel, and if so why?

  This was all so bewildering because it was so unexpected and so violent and Flora was becoming very frightened.

  Next the man who was carrying her stopped suddenly and she became aware for the first time that there was another man behind him.

  She heard his footsteps also come to a standstill and he must have opened the door of the little hut which adjoined the Chapel.

  Flora guessed that she was being carried into the room which the sixth Earl had built for his own use beside the Chapel.

  She had visited the room so often that she knew exactly what it contained. The narrow hard bed where he slept was in one corner, there were two large chests and at the end of the room a round table on which the Earl ate his meals.

  Now at last the man who was carrying Flora hauled her down from his shoulder.

  As her feet touched the floor she felt somehow relieved.

  Was this just a joke she wondered?

  Then she felt his hands pulling at the dark hood over her head.

  He drew it away and as Flora opened her eyes to her astonishment she found that she was facing Locadi.

  “What is – happening?” Flora managed to stammer. “Why have – I been brought – here?”

  “You will learn the answer soon enough,” Locadi answered in a sinister voice.

  She looked over Flora’s shoulder at the man behind her.

  “I will see to her now,” she ordered. “Get everyone ready.”

  “We will not be long,” he replied, “the others were preparing everything when I left.”

  “Yes, I know that,” Locadi snapped.

  Flora looked from one to the other. She thought the man, who was tall and dark, had a very unpleasant face. He was not young and there was something cruel in his expression.

  Also something else to which she could not put a name.

  As if to obey Locadi, he walked across the room and pulled open the door which Flora knew led into the Chapel.

  As he did so a strong and sickly scent of incense wafted towards her and it was quite different, Flora thought, from any incense she had ever smelt before. As he closed the door behind him, Locadi ordered in a sharp tone,

  “Undress!”

  “What do you mean –? Why have you had me – brought here? I do not – understand.”

  “You will learn everything in due course,” Locadi snarled. “Just do as I tell you at once.”

  “I do not know what you are talking about and I refuse to take off my clothes.”

  To her absolute amazement, Locadi brought forward a revolver she had been hiding behind her back.

  Flora looked at it in sheer disbelief.

  “Now you listen to what I have to say,” Locadi screamed. “If you do not do what I tell you, I shall shoot, not to kill you but at your feet. I will damage them so that you will never walk again.”

  “You must be – mad to be saying this – to me,” Flora cried.

  As she looked at Locadi, she saw the pupils of her eyes were dark and dilated and she thought that she must be drunk.

  Then she realised that the round table at the other end of the room was piled with the remains of food and a large number of empty wine bottles.

  However as Flora looked again at Locadi, her appearance was so strange that she was now sure she was drugged.

  “Why do – you want – me to take – off my – clothes?” she managed to blurt out.

  “Do as I tell you,” Locadi snapped, “or I will cripple you and you will find it very painful.”

  ‘She is mad, completely mad,’
Flora told herself.

  She was so extremely frightened, but felt that it would be best to obey what Locadi was ordering her to do.

  She took off the pretty blue gown she was wearing and placed it on the bed.

  Then slowly, hoping that Locadi would allow her to stop, she took off her petticoat.

  As she knew the older woman was watching her every movement, she removed her other clothes.

  “I – must have – something to cover – myself with,” she stuttered.

  With a disdainful gesture Locadi picked up a large piece of thin muslin which was lying on one of the chairs.

  It might have been a table cloth.

  She handed it to Flora who quickly wrapped it around her naked body.

  Then Locadi said in the same aggressively ominous tone,

  “If you scream, or try to run away, or do anything except what you are told to do, I will shoot at your feet.”

  “But why? Why are – you doing – this to me?”

  “You will find out soon enough that you do not cross Locadi. Ivor is mine and always will be and you are going to discover that my magic is stronger than yours. You are the key I need to capture Ivor’s heart forever”.

  She walked across the room to the door of the Chapel and pulled it open. As she did so Flora noticed for the first time the garment she was wearing.

  It was a strange robe of many colours which was marked with unusual signs.

  Flora felt that she ought to be able to recognise them.

  Locadi’s feet were bare and it suddenly struck Flora that beneath her robe she too was naked.

  “What is – happening?” she asked frantically. “What – can all – this mean?”

  As the strong smell of the incense coming from the Chapel filled the room, Flora had a terrifying thought.

  Before she could say anything, the man who had carried her from the garden came in through the door. He was looking even larger and more menacing than earlier and now he too was wearing a robe not unlike the one worn by Locadi.

  He walked towards Flora and instinctively she tried to shrink away from him. He merely picked her up in his arms again and carried her into the Chapel.

  It was so frightening that Flora wanted to scream.

  However she forced herself to be silent because Locadi still held the revolver in her hand.