The Ghastly Exchange – Episode 13
“This way,” said Grimmon, beckoning me to follow as he turned into a lane not far from the police station.
I limped after him, every inch of my poor abused body aching from the treatment I’d received at the hands of the sergeant. The lane was about half the width of the road we’d left, and as dark as hades apart from a ribbon of moonlight reflecting off the water trickling down a gutter in its centre.
When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I made out the shape of a beast hitched to a small two-wheeled cart.
My feet came to a stop.
“A donkey?” I glared at Grimmon. “You told me you’d get a horse.”
“They’re tricky to steal seeing as they all get locked away in stables at night. When I found this beauty roaming free in a rag-and-bone-man’s yard, I knew I’d struck gold. I couldn’t believe our luck when I saw this cart there too. It couldn’t have gotten any better!”
I grabbed his collar. “A horse would have been better!”
“I’m a goblin,” he said. “A donkey’s easier for me to handle. Anyway, she’s a fine filly. Better than a horse.”
“Rubbish! It will be faster for us to walk back to the castle!”
“No it won’t! If we walk, you’ll need to rest every five minutes.” He patted the donkey’s neck. “This beauty will keep a steady pace all the way.”
I ground my teeth. I wasn’t about to admit it, but he was right. The condition I was in after two weeks of concussion or whatever it had been, and the awful jail food, had left me weaker than a politician’s promises.
“I think we should ride in the cart,” I said as though he hadn’t spoken, “If we walk through the town at this time of night we’ll look like a couple of vagrants. If we’re in the cart, people will think we’re delivery men or something.”
Grimmon gave me an oily smile and clambered into the cart. “So, you’re agreeing with me.”
“I’m just saying we’ll use the cart until we’re out of this godsforsaken town.”
He sniggered and flipped the hood of his cloak over his head. Although he was dressed in the hangman’s outfit he’d worn when he’d come to visit me in my cell, I was glad to see he’d got rid of the mask and those ridiculous red gloves.
I climbed up and sat next to him on the board that passed for a seat. He flicked the reins and the donkey plodded along the lane and out into the main road.
It was a clear night, with a full moon, and only a few wispy clouds drifting across the sky. What with the moonlight and the streetlamps, Grimmon had no difficulty guiding the donkey along the route we’d taken when we’d come to the town all those days ago.
The last thing we wanted was to attract attention, so it seemed best not to talk as we travelled. People tucked up in their beds would likely sleep through the gentle clip clop of the donkey’s hooves and the low rumbling of the cart wheels as we passed them by, but voices have a way of waking even the heaviest of sleepers.
I didn’t have much to do except keep an eye out for vampires in case Virrellenta wasn’t the only one of their kind who had hunted in this town. What we’d have done if one appeared, I don’t know, but none did, and within half an hour we were ambling through the countryside, the town slowly receding behind us.
For the first time since meeting the countess, I relaxed.
It was good to sit there and let the donkey do all the work. Grimmon seemed to have forgotten what I’d said about abandoning the cart and walking once we were outside the town, and I decided not to mention it either.
At the rate we were going, we would get to the castle in an hour or so. Or, at least, the location of where it had been…
The muscles in my neck stiffened and my jaw clenched.
What if the castle had gone?
I’d always believed the castle would never leave without me. Every lord of the damned thing since the casting of the spell that moved it from one world to the next had been of the same opinion.
But was it true?
I’d never dared to test it. As far as I knew, no previous lord had dared to either.
I couldn’t stop myself fretting about that while we trundled along in the moonlight, Grimmon making encouraging noises to the donkey and me tapping my fingers in impatience.
An hour crept past.
I twitched in anticipation when the road took us into some woods. When we’d been going in the opposite direction, we’d passed through a few acres of woods shortly after we’d left the castle.
Would the next bend we rounded bring the castle into view?
As I fidgeted and shifted about on the seat a thought scurried like a cockroach into my mind. My blood ran cold.
“You forgot to bring the mind-swap device,” I said.
“What?”
“How am I going to get my own body back when we get to the castle? Igor’s cursed device is still in the sitting room at the countess’ house! You didn’t bring it with us!”
Grimmon turned his head to glare at me. “Why is that my fault? You could just as easily have brought it.”
“You were sitting right next to it when I called you upstairs. You should have picked it up.”
“Ha! Funny how you didn’t say anything when you saw me without it.”
“Don’t make excuses! It’s all your–”
The cart lurched. There was a sickening crunch from the wheel on the left and that side of the cart dropped like a stone. Grimmon screeched as he and I slid off the seat and tumbled to the ground. I landed with a thump and a fierce pain shot through my ankle.
I groaned and sat up. We were lying on the grass next to a ditch at the side of the road. The cart was tilted at a steep angle, its righthand wheel on the road, the left wheel nothing but a mass of snapped spokes sticking out of the mud at the bottom of the ditch. The donkey was still hitched to the cart’s twisted shafts, and was standing on the road looking over her shoulder at us.
My ankle was throbbing like a drum and I cautiously touched it with my fingertips. It was beginning to swell and the slightest movements of my foot sent barbs of agony up my leg.
“You idiot!” I said, looking daggers at Grimmon as he got to his feet. “You’ve run us into a ditch!” The cart’s ruined and you’ve sprained my ankle!”
“It’s not my fault!” He waved his arms in the air. “You distracted me when you blamed me for not bringing your stupid mind-swap device!”
Holding on to the side of the tilted cart, I hauled myself up and stood on my good leg, holding my injured leg off the ground.
“Now what are we going to do? I can’t hop the rest of the way!” I held my head in my free hand. “Not that there’s any point seeing as we don’t have the device!”
“You can ride the donkey.” He shook his head. “As for the device… Once we’re back you’ll have to find a way to persuade Igor to make another one.”
Both good ideas, but he’d only get swollen headed if I told him so.
Fired with new determination, I said, “Unhitch the donkey. We need to get a move on.”
Muttering under his breath, Grimmon jumped over the ditch. He went up to the donkey and undid the straps while I painfully crossed the ditch on one leg using the cart for support.
I reached the other side as he lifted the yoke from the donkey’s neck. What with all my exertions, my ankle felt like it was on fire and I leaned heavily against the cart. It gave a loud creak and the already strained axle snapped with a sound like a pistol shot.
The donkey cried out and bucked, tearing Grimmon’s hand from her reins. Panic stricken brays filled the air as she galloped away and vanished amongst the trees.
“Why’d you let her go?” I yelled. “You’ve ruined everything!”
Grimmon’s eyes flashed and his face darkened. “I’ll find a stick you can use as a crutch. If you don’t like it, you’re on your own!”
It was one of those times when the goblin’s dark nature came to the fore. If you’ve ever had dealings with his kind, you’ll know what I mean. As small as they are, in that moment, it’s like they’re a heartbeat away from tearing you to shreds.
I swallowed and nodded, trying to look like he hadn’t scared me.
“I remember these woods,” I said. “They weren’t far from the castle so I’m sure I’ll manage the rest of the way with a stick. Make sure it’s a stout one.”
He snarled and looked like he might say something, but kept his mouth closed and stalked off into the woods. He returned a minute later and, without a word, handed me a thick stick as long as I was tall.
Wrapping my arm around the stick, the top part clamped between my body and upper arm, I hobbled a few steps.
“It will do,” I said. “Come on. We need to hurry.”
We set off, Grimmon scuttling alongside me.
Ten minutes later, the trees thinned. We crested a low rise and my heart lifted. Half a mile ahead at the bottom of a broad, shallow valley, basking in the pale light of the moon, was the castle.
“We’ve made it!” I said. “Come on!”
I hurried down the slope, every thump of my good foot and tap of the stick sending pain flashing through my injured ankle.
The pain didn’t matter. My home was ahead and every step brought me closer.
We were fifty yards from the viaduct that spans the moat when a faint sound, like the thunder of a distant waterfall, lifted the hairs on the back of my neck.
“The spell!” I cried. “It’s started!”
I sped up, half hopping, half skipping in my haste.
Almost immediately, my stick caught on a stone. I yelled as my leg twisted and I fell.
I found myself lying on my front, my face in the dirt. I lifted my head.
A faint aura was fading into view around the castle.
In about a minute, it was going to jump to another world.
*** Continued in episode 14 ***
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