Tom's Inheritance by T J Green

Author:T J Green [Green, T J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780473386801
Publisher: Mountolive Publishing
Published: 2016-09-27T22:00:00+00:00

11 The Hidden Isle

The shadows around them lengthened and the air grew cool as the day drew to a close. A chill wind blew, carrying the smell of rain and wet earth across the tufts of springy grass and purple and yellow heathers that covered the moor. Huge rocks, blunt and misshapen, rose from the ground, some big enough to offer shelter. Ahead of them was the massive granite formation of Fell Tor.

They had been travelling for well over a week, climbing to the higher ground of the moor. Vanishing Wood, and the neighbouring Fret Woods, were far behind them and the summery weather had also gone. Tom was aching, cold and saddle-sore. No matter how many layers he wore, the wind seemed to find its way through them, and it wasn’t until they sheltered at night he could even begin to get warm.

Night brought its own problems. The wind carried howls, whispers and threats. The fire they huddled around gave off only a meagre amount of light, as if the surrounding darkness was sucking it up. After nightfall, the ground mist rose and ghostly figures appeared, standing just beyond the edge of the firelight, watching and listening. When they emerged, Tom felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle, and goosebumps rise along his skin. Woodsmoke, Brenna and Fahey took little notice of the watchers, but Tom, Beansprout and Jack were nervous and slept badly, even though they had a night watch.

Beansprout had asked if the watchers were real.

“Of course they are,” Fahey had said, “although they can’t touch you – they’re not real in the sense that we are. They are–” he’d leaned forward for emphasis, raising his feathered eyebrows, “your guilty thoughts, brought to life by the dark night.”

“They’re what?” Beansprout had asked, her face alarmed and confused.

“Every little lie, harsh word or unfair judgement,” Fahey had said, shaking his head. “They’re out there, watching.”

For a moment they had all looked beyond the light of the fire, wondering what they had done that caused a figure to be standing there, watching, before quickly dropping their eyes to the fire again.

However, today Tom was so tired he knew he’d sleep well tonight, regardless of who or what the figures were. The party aimed for the foot of the tor where there was a cave offering proper shelter. From there it was another half a day’s ride to the lake.

Tom adjusted his position behind Brenna. A horse had to be the most uncomfortable method of transport. There were four horses and six riders; he was sharing a ride, as was Beansprout behind Woodsmoke. His grandfather, however, looked very comfortable on his horse.

Tom tried to adjust his movements to the horse’s, but failed miserably. He gave up and bumped along painfully.

They dismounted at the base of Fell Tor and, lighting torches, inspected the interior of the cave. It was large and dry with plenty of room for them to spread out. After satisfying himself that there were no hidden exits, Woodsmoke unpacked the food and Tom built the fire.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.