Chapter Eight
It was night like she had never experienced before in her young life. Night was night everybody knew that. But out here in the countryside nothing had prepared her for the inky black darkness that surrounded her. There was not the comfort of a street lamp, or any car headlights to show the way. It was completely black. The darkness seemed thick, if that were possible, like a thick cloak that blackened everything it touched.
Jen had never been scared of the dark, but she had never encountered this sort of total blackness before. It was eerie; it most certainly was spooky and very unnerving.
"What was that?" whispered Jen.
"Don't know. Could be anything out here."
"Can you actually see where you are going? It's like a black fog."
"You get used to it out here. All that light in towns drives me mad. You can hardly see the stars and it interferes with everything. Don't you find it annoying?"
"No, Duh! It's pretty reassuring that you can see where you are going."
Another thing that was bothering Jen was the sound. There wasn't any. It was like someone had put a blanket on the world and shut all the usual noises out.
Jen looked up at the sky. It was a wondrous sight. She had never seen the sky with such clarity. All the stars in the heavens were twinkling from millions of miles away just to light earth's heavens. The black cloud that was covering the moon was very slowly moving eastwards and soon she would enjoy an unparalleled view of it in all its glory.
The battery in her torch had run out after they had gone about one hundred yards from the beach. Sunny had told her not to worry he could find his way around here blindfolded. Small comfort to her when the thick black cloud covered the moon and shut off any remaining light. The air was still now that they were off the beach. The sea had been calm, but you always got that slight breeze coming in off it. Now that they were in the fields there was no wind at all and it was incredibly still.
The torch spluttered into life for a micro second before dying again.
It was just long enough for Jen to see a bat and a dark furry creature scuttle away into the hedgerow. It unsettled her even more, and she let out the breath that she had been holding in. Creatures of the night were not her speciality and she was not that fussed on them. She was determined not to show any fear to Sunny. That would be unbearable. It would condemn her to being the pink girly thing that she so despised.
Sunny pushed on blissfully unaware of the torrent of unnerving thoughts that plagued Jen. There was nothing new for him traipsing around the countryside at night. It was all in a normal day's work for him as it were and he paid it no attention. In fact if he had known of Jen's dilemmas, he would not have understood her irrational fears. There were no lions or tigers out here to eat them up in the night, there were no crocodiles as far as he was aware, and there most certainly were no Hippos lurking in the streams!
If he had known Jen's thoughts were more on vampires, ghosts and demons, then he would not have been quite so sure of himself, having endured the odd bit of weirdness since he discovered that black manuscript and deciphered some of it's spells.
They pushed on up the field and into the next one. This field was edged with woods as Jen could see the outline of the tallest trees highlighted in a deep black silhouette against the starry sky. The ground was definitely getting steeper, and with the heavy dew that had formed after the warm day it was easy to slip a little on the uphill climb. Finally they breasted the hill, just as the moon escaped the clutches of the black cloud. It was like a god had shone a flash light onto the earth. When Jen turned around to face the sea it was a magical illumination of the water, with the bright glow of the orb reflecting back from the ocean, and a long deep reflection back towards the coastline.
"Now that's a sight worth seeing, Sunny." she said turning to face him.
She held her breath when she saw him and he saw the fear in her eyes.
"What's up, Jen?"
“You!... You've got two shadows. One looks like your outline, and the other looks like an old man with a pointy hat."
"Don't be dull, Jen that's imposs…" He never finished the sentence as he noticed for the first time that she was not joking.
He kept his eye on it. The odd shaped one. He waved his arm. It did not wave back, unlike his own shadow mirroring his movements. Must be a freak reflection from a bush or something else logical. Jen was still very nervous.
"I don't like the look of that; Sunny it 'ain't natural. Move over there so I can see if it moves with you."
Sunny happily did as he was told, and was confident the odd shadow would disappear without trace.
"Sunny, it's still there!" she shouted and pointed at the same time.
"That's very odd. What's it doing now?"
"Seems to be waiting. It's hard to tell. It doesn't walk like you do or mirror in any way your movements. It has its own way as if it is independent of you, yet not. It's very Spooky and I DON'T like it! "she said with as much mustered bravery as she could summon.
Sunshine was flummoxed. He had experienced many oddities in his life but not one as odd as this one. He decided to experiment. "I'm going to run a bit over there and back. Tell me what it does. Hopefully it will just disappear and we can get on with our quest.
Sunny ran as quick as he could about twenty yards to his left and then back again.
Jen could clearly see both his shadows outlined in full moonlight. His 'real shadow' mirrored perfectly every movement. His other shadow seemed to watch what he did and although it never lost contact with Sunny, it didn't appear to move as such or mirror any of his activities. Most odd. Very odd. Definitely spooky.
"What'd it do, Jen?"
"Nothing much it just seemed to watch you. I think we ought to go back now."
"Nuh! That stupid shadow ain't gonna stop me! Shadows can't do bugger all. They are ephemeral, no substance and I'm still not convinced it isn't a trick of the light up here. Come on let's get to Wood henge it isn't far now and we've come all this way."
"You don't think it's something to do with that creepy book of yours do you?"
"I suppose so," he sighed. He knew deep in his heart that it would be something to do with that creepy book. It always was of late.
"Hang on a min, Jen. What if it's to do with that old clue in the clay flask? You know the one you or I can't work out." Against all evils here is my shade”. I hadn't thought about it in that way. In olden times people often referred to shadows as shades.
"If that's the case, I definitely think we should go back."
"Come on don't be a wuss, it can't harm us. Ignore it and maybe it'll go away."
This was a defining moment for Jen. She was more than nervous. She was terrified.
She had never been so scared in all her life, but her stubbornness would not let go and she would not give in and come over 'all girly' in front of Sunny. If he was not afraid there was no way she could show fear. She would do as she was told and ignore it.
Summoning all her courage she said "Come on then. Let's get this over with as soon as possible and get back home. How far is it now?"
" 'Bout ten minutes if we get a move on. Stick close to me and you won't fall down any pot holes."
Jen moved up real close and really wanted to hold his hand. She was busting to hold his hand. Her hand strayed and brushed the side of his and was quickly withdrawn as he shot a surprised glance at her. Maybe he would think that it was a bush that brushed his hand, she hoped.
Ten minutes later they were at Wood henge. Every time that Jen had looked at the spooky shadow it was still there. Wood henge was on the side of a hill, in a flat hollow. The land had been cleared of all scrub bushes and tall weeds by archaeologists who had discovered the site some years ago, whilst looking for an Iron Age hill fort, which they had also discovered
further along. The view of the surrounding area under starlight was breath taking and it was plain to them that this was an ideal place for a fort.
/> It was worth the trip on it's own to see it in all it's glory. No wonder it was Sunny's favourite place. Well, she could see it now, so maybe they could go home now that he had shown her his special place.
"Fab site, Sun. I can see why you think it's special."
"I don't know why but I always feel at home here. Maybe I was a Druid or something in a former life."
"You could have been the captain of the Hill Fort, with a big army guarding the headland against invaders."
"I hadn't really thought of that. I could have been a hero, riding a big white stallion, sweeping all before me with my sword and lance, rushing down the hillside."
Sunny started waving his arms around as if he held a huge double edged sword and was smiting his enemies. Jen laughed at him. It was the most childish thing he had ever done since she had met him and it really amused her. Then she noticed something odd, and it chilled her bones again. The spooky shadow was still there but not mirroring his movements. She stared hard trying to comprehend what it was doing. It was pointing.
She looked again to make sure. It was definitely pointing in the direction of Wood Henge. She shouted for Sunny to stop and look at his second shadow. He could see it now also. She was right it was pointing.
They both studied where the shade was pointing and unawares of their own feet, were edging closer to Wood Henge and where the shade was pointing. Slowly they got closer and closer to the outline of what had been a colossal wooden circle. No-one had put a date on it yet, it was said to be thousands and thousands of years old. The shade seemed to be pointing at one old stump in particular. Jen and Sunny edged closer and closer to the stump. It was just like any of the other old stumps that formed the old circle. There was nothing to make this one look very special. In fact it had no redeeming features about it at all. They both glanced at the shade and noticed that it was now pointing down into the ground.
Jen looked Sunny and shrugged her shoulders. "Guess it means there's something buried by this old post that it wants us to find."
"Suppose so. How are we meant to see and what the heck am I supposed to dig with? I didn't think to bring a spade on a social outing to my favourite spot." he said with no small amount of sarcasm in his voice.
"Well let's find a way as I don't really want to come up here in the dark again. I've got a small penknife for emergencies. Maybe I can cut the turf and you can burrow or something?"
The knife cut the damp turf easily and it was not long until they had created a circle of bare earth around the old stump. Sunny tried burrowing with his bare hands but the earth was like rock. He needed something to break it up and then he could prize chunks of it up, he thought. What did
the ancients dig with he wondered. Sticks and flints popped into his brain.
He told Jen to 'hang on a mo' and went in search of a suitable stick he could sharpen with her penknife and see where that got them. He found a perfect stick by the old hedge. It was stout and sturdy and well seasoned, it would do the trick he was certain. Jen gave him her knife and he set about sharpening it. The shade looked on in anticipation. Sunny was quite good at 'bushcrafty' things and it hardly took any time at all to get a good point on the stick. He scoured the earth with deep strokes and sure enough earth broke away. He scrambled all that away and continued all around the stump. Jen thought it was taking a lifetime to achieve so she helped in the scooping activities to speed things up a bit so they could get away from here. Digging the horse's grave had been a lot less spooky He had gone down about a foot in depth when he hit something hard and the point of the stick blunted.
"Found something, Jen."
"Let's have a look then."
Sunny had to move right out of the moonlight for her to see.
Whatever it was it was rusty and very corroded. They could only see the very top of it and it would need much more excavation to prise it from its grave. At least he now knew what he was looking for and he also knew where to dig. It would be less strenuous than digging all around the base. He could now concentrate all his efforts just in this one spot.
"Anything I can do to help, Sun?"
"Not really, only pray that a big cloud doesn't cover the moon as that will end this excavation abruptly."
Sunny worked away at the hole and it gradually got bigger. The stick was hurting his hands now and although he was well used to chopping wood, a few small blisters had started to appear. Jen was getting even more impatient. She hopped from one foot to the other half in boredom
and half in anticipation. Finally Sunny managed to create a hole around the object and was now confident he could pluck it from the earth.
He nimbly felt his way around the object and gently probed his fingertips under it. He pulled ever so gently trying to ease it up without damaging it in any way. After a few unsuccessful attempts it came up in his hands. It was an old iron casket. The rust had nearly destroyed it but it still had enough integrity in the metal to hold its original outline shape and structure. Breathless he hauled it out gently and placed it on the ground for Jen to have a look.
"What do you reckon then?" he asked as pleased as could be at his success.
"A real treasure chest, Sun. I wonder what's in it?"
"We'll find out in a minute sure enough."
An Owl hooted loudly into the silence and Jen nearly wet herself.
Sunny saw her expression and burst into fits of laughter. She did not think it was very funny at all.
"Stop pratting about, Sun and get on with it." she said with as much disdain as she could muster.
"Yes, mistress," he said as he mimicked her tone.
Jen came and sat beside Sun and they both looked at the treasure box together.
You could not make out all of the detail in this light but it was as good a mini chest as you could fashion, and had clearly been made to a high standard long ago.
The severe rusting had taken its toll though, and what may have been fine embellishing on the outside were now rusty furrows. It had obviously had a locking mechanism long ago, but this was mostly corroded away. The shade looked on intently. Sunny tried to open the lid but it was completely corroded together. He looked underneath and saw that the base was now only paper thin and you could see through into the inside of the casket.
"What do you think, Jen?" he asked as he showed her the underneath.
"It could be a priceless artefact, but what the hell? I want to go home. If it's the only way in, and it will stop this mystery and get rid of 'oddball' over there, pull the bottom off."
Sunny knew what she meant, but he was loath to personally destroy something that was so ancient. He examined it carefully again. The bottom was so rotten that if it had been left for another year or so, the whole thing would probably have disintegrated. He borrowed Jen's knife again and cut through both base sides and one end. This compromise he had decided was the best of both worlds. He wouldn't have completely destroyed it and it could be bent back again later for whatever reason as long as it didn't break. Both the shade and Jen looked on as he peeled the base open.
"Just a minute Sun, I've got a white handkerchief. If you put it on there we will be able to see the contents more clearly. Jen produced the hanky and spread it on the ground.
Sunny judged the angle and tipped the contents onto it.
There were three small animal skulls almost as white as the hanky, what had obviously been a parchment scroll at some time but the bugs in the earth had now eaten it, and a small very rusty pendant. The chain was completely corroded you would never be able to unravel it.
"What a pile of junk. After all that hard work and it's all "merde'!”said an anguished Jen.
"I think the scroll was the most valuable, and now it's all in bits, eaten away and useless."
Both Jen and Sunny glanced at the shade. It was holding its head and kneeling on the ground. It couldn't have been so, but it looked like it was weeping.
"Looks like you are not the only one miffed at the contents, Jen."
&
nbsp; "Let's gather up all this rubbish and go home."
"I need to replace the soil and the turf first then we'll go."
"If you've got to," she said sighing.
"Seems only right. I'll only be a tick."
Sunny quickly replaced all his digging spoil and replaced the cut turf. He stamped it down all around the stump, gathered the 'treasure' and they both headed off back down the hill. Another cloud covered the moon. Jen looked into the gloom for the shade but it was gone. It was pitch black all the way home and they never caught another glimpse of the shade that night.