Read Online Lavondyss (Mythago Cycle) by Robert Holdstock - Free Book Online Page B

at her. She glanced up and frowned. His stare was intense, searching, and she thought he was about to quiz her further about the woodsmoke. But he said, ‘You ever seen a ghost?’
    Tallis tried to hide the sudden alarm she felt; she watched the old man carefully, her mind racing; what should she say? Finally she shook her head.
    Gaunt didn’t seem satisfied. ‘Not down by Stretley Stones?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Not down by Shadox Wood?’
    ‘No …’ she lied.
    ‘I seen you playing by the meadow …’ he leaned closeand whispered, ‘I heard how you went to find the old house in the Shadox …’ Straightening up: ‘And you’re telling me you an’t ever seen a ghost? Don’t believe ’n.’
    ‘An’t no such ’n things as ghosts,’ Tallis mimicked in the strong Gloucestershire dialect. ‘What’n seen bin rayle.’
    ‘Don’t you make fun of me, young Tallis.’
    Tallis couldn’t help smiling. ‘What I saw was
real
,’ she repeated. ‘No ghosts, just shadows.’
    Gaunt chuckled, then nodded. ‘What else to see in Shadox Wood than shadows?’
    ‘Why do your call it “Shadox Wood”? It’s Ryhope Wood …’
    ‘It’s called a thousand names,’ Gaunt said bluntly. He waved his hand around, then banged the bench. ‘This was
all
Shadox Wood once. Even this, where we’re sitting. It was once the wood. This seat, this garden, this shed, that damned house … all made from Shadox Tree.’ He looked down at Tallis, thoughtful. ‘It’s the old name for the whole area, you should know that. Not just the village but the whole land. Shadow Wood. Been called that for centuries. But not shadows like sun shadows, more like …’
    When he had hesitated for a few seconds, Tallis ventured, ‘Moonshadows?’
    ‘Aye,’ said the man softly. ‘More like that. Shadows in the corner of the eye. Shadows that creep out of the dreams of sleeping folk, folk like you and me; people who live on the land.’
    ‘Moondreams,’ Tallis whispered, and at once, without her bidding, a mask formed in her mind’s eye, an odd mask, an eerie picture that she thought should be carved from … should be carved from …
    Before the species of wood which would be appropriatefor the mask could come to mind, Gaunt had interrupted the moment of creation.
    ‘So you seen real things, eh? Down by the Shadox.’
    ‘I’ve seen hooded figures –’
    She was instantly aware of Gaunt’s startled reaction, but she chose to ignore it. She went on, ‘There are three of them. Women. They keep to the hedgerows, the undergrowth. And I’ve seen other things; men with twigs in their hair, and animals that look like pigs, but are too tall and have black hides. I’ve heard singing, I’ve felt wind on windless days, and I’ve seen tall trees carved into horrible faces.’ She looked up at Gaunt, who was staring fixedly ahead, into the garden. ‘And I’ve felt snow in the middle of summer, and heard bees in the middle of winter –’
    This last was a lie; just this. She waited for a response, but Gaunt was quite still.
    ‘Sometimes I’ve heard horses,’ she said; well, she had
imagined
horses, just once, about a week ago. ‘Knights on horseback, riding on the other side of the hedges. That’s about all. I keep hoping to find out something about Harry.’
    Gaunt did rise to the last, pointed little statement. He said, ‘You ever heard the growlers?’
    ‘Growlers? No.’
    ‘Roaring? Like bulls?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘A man screaming?’
    ‘No screaming. Not man, not woman, not child. Not laughing. Just singing.’
    ‘People see all kinds of things out beside the Shadox,’ Gaunt said after a while. ‘And by Stretley Stones. By the stream. All the trees there link up with the Shadox …’
    ‘If they’re ghosts,’ Tallis ventured, ‘whose ghosts are they?’
    Gaunt said nothing. His arms were folded, the empty tankard held in his right hand. He was staring vaguely across the garden to the distant meadows.
    Tallis said, ‘Have you ever been