Read Online Winter Wood by Steve Augarde - Free Book Online

the sliding door.
    â€˜Pegs?’ She cautiously put her head through the gap and peered into the gloom. The old grey tractor was still there, more cobwebby than ever, still lurching sideways onto its punctured wheel. Beyond that she couldn’t see much.
    â€˜Pegs . . .’ Her voice was a little shaky now. ‘You’re scaring me. Are you in there?’ She took a step forward and waited. A renewed gust of wind battered the eaves of the barn, and then –
whoosh
– the whole interior of the building was filled with sudden daylight as one of the tin roof panels flipped upwards. The rusty corrugated sheet rose as though it were on a hinge, teetered in the wind for a moment, then came crashing down again. Midge jumped at the sound of it. The barn was plunged back into darkness – but it was as though a flashlight had been turned on and off, a bright snapshot of her surroundings. The imageremained. Dust everywhere. Thick grey dust. The blue plastic sheet, still laid out on the floor, just as she had left it. The heavy hay-rake with its spidery wheels, still jacked up at a crazy angle. The bits of stone, the broom and the bucket – every reminder of that incredible summer day was still here, all as it had been.
    And Pegs was here too. She had seen him – over by the far wall. He was standing next to . . . what? Something that
hadn’t
been here before . . .
    The effect of sudden darkness began to wear off, and Midge was able to pick out the shapes once more. She could see the hay-rake, and yes, there was Pegs, but she couldn’t quite make out . . .
    Do you come alone, maid?
    The word-colours burst inside Midge’s head and she blinked – still unable to take such a peculiar sensation for granted.
    â€˜Yes,’ she said. ‘I’ve come alone. But have you?’ She felt wary, and certainly wasn’t about to move any closer for the moment.
    I have brought a companion. One who would speak with you. This is the maid, Tadgemole. A friend she has been to me, and is kin to the one who was friend to your kind. She is here alone, as I promised. Come, then, both. Neither need have fear of the other.
    Pegs stepped forward, towards the light that fell through the doorway, and Midge was shocked to see that there was someone with him – an extraordinary little figure, dressed in grey, different somehow from the others she had seen.
    But one of
them
, nevertheless. One of the Various.
    Midge began to back away. She had not been prepared for this. Visions of similar figures flashed before her – Scurl and his crew, with their bows and arrows, and their murderous little eyes . . .
    Maybe this one was different, though. He was certainly a lot older. White-haired, and gaunt about the face – and so pale, now that he stepped directly into the light. He carried no weapons that she could see.
    â€˜Wh-what is it?’ she said. ‘What do you want?’ She was speaking to Pegs, but her eye remained on the strange little newcomer. Old he might be, but he wasn’t feeble-looking. There was a toughness about him that reminded her a bit of someone else. Yes, the leader of the Ickri – Maglin – that was it. They both had that same upright stance, the same proud and fearless way of looking at you. They could almost be brothers, if it wasn’t for the colour of their skin. And the fact that this one had no wings . . .
    Then she remembered something.
    â€˜Tadgemole?’ she said. ‘Aren’t you . . . I mean, are you the one who gave me . . . are you Henty’s father?’
    The grey eyes looked up at her – a long careful study. At last he spoke.
    â€˜I am,’ he said. ‘Henty is my child. To you she came, maid, when she was in trouble, and was brought safely to her home. I was grateful, and a gift I sent. Now I am here to see you for myself, and to join with Pegs in