Witch from the Sea

I was silent. She’s right, I thought, I’m an i

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I said.

“Oh no. I wasn’t going to do that. I used it though … that’s what I’ve got to tell you. You see, when Jan Leward was whipped he hated our father. So did Merry. They were ready to do anything that would bring harm to him. I questioned them about what I suspected and they told me so much. They told me that the grave next to your mother’s was that of Fe

“Oh Senara!”

“Yes, he’ll despise you and your father, and he’ll do something about it. I know he will. He’ll be here when there’s a wreck and he’ll catch them at it. Then we’ll see what will happen. But that’s why he’s kept away from you. I’ve sent Jan over to tell him that the grave in the burial ground is that of his father. That’ll bring some action, you see.”

In spite of everything I felt a certain pleasure. There was a reason for Fe

I could explain to him and I remembered with a sudden stab of joy that I could prove I had not known of the terrible things that were happening. Had I not saved the ship by lighting the lanterns—one of the trading ships of his own company!

“You see,” Senara was going on, “I am a witch. I stir up trouble as the witches stirred up the sea when the Queen was coming from Norway. I am wicked. You could say that I have given my allegiance to Satan. I have renounced God. It’s true Tamsyn.”

“And you are talking of being a puritan?”

“You know I never would be. I talk a great deal of nonsense, Tamsyn. And then tonight … I woke up suddenly in the Red Room and I knew I had to come to you. I had to tell you. I want Fe

“Why this sudden change of front?”

“Because something is going to happen. Nothing is going to be the same again. I am a witch. I know it makes you angry when I say it. I don’t ride on broomsticks. I have no familiar, I haven’t kissed the horned goat, but I stir up the lives of those around me. That’s why I’m a witch. I’m going to give you Fe

“That’s good of you,” I said.

She laughed. “Now you’re talking to me as you used to. You’ve forgiven me. Of course you have. You always forgive. You think I’m reformed, but I’m not. I’ll be just as wicked tomorrow. It’s only tonight I’m good.”

“You must be cold too.”

“No,” she said, “I’m warm … warm in the glow of my own virtue. Soon I shall have to say goodbye to Dickon. Then I shall marry Lord Cartonel and live dangerously ever after.”

She went on talking of what her life would be like and then she was silent.

Fe

And as I sat there I thought I heard a noise in the corridor.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Senara listened.

She said: “It was the wind.”

“I thought I heard footsteps outside.”

Footsteps outside the door! Footsteps retreating!

I shivered a little and was thankful that Senara was with me.

She talked of her love for Dickon and how it amazed her and him; and how she wondered how she could go on living without him.

It was dawn when she went to her bed and the castle was stirring. Only then did I sleep and when I awoke it was late into the morning.

I don’t know how I lived through the next day. There was one thought which superseded all others. There was a reason for Fe

Yes, I was convinced that my mother had been murdered. I believed that the noise in the corridor I had heard the previous night had been the footsteps of the murderer who was coming to my room. Senara had saved me, Senara who had tried to ruin my life had saved it.

I would not have died as my mother had. She had been fast asleep—possibly poppy-juice had been given to her. Because she was unwell possets were continually taken to her. It would not have been so easy had she been awake.

I could not bear to stay in Castle Paling. The whole place had taken on a sinister aspect. I went out and walked away from it. Then I looked back at Ysella’s Tower where the goods had been stored and where my mother had once been locked in and the Seaward Tower where my father’s men lived—those who were party to his guilty secret and took a share, I doubted not, of the profits. Then Crow and No

I would leave the castle very soon. If Fe

I would not stay in that castle where so many evil deeds had been done.

I thought of my father. Strangely enough, I had a glimmer of affection for him. Why, I could not understand. He had never shown me any. There was about him a strength, a power. He towered above the men I saw around him. He was a leader among them. I knew that he was cruel, that he was capable of evil deeds and yet … I could not entirely hate him. I could not inform against him. I just wanted to get away but if I did I would always be haunted by what was happening at the castle. And oh, how desperately I wanted my father to be i

Then suddenly I knew that I was going to stay another night in the castle. I was going to discover the truth if I could. The night before I had waited in my bed for someone to come to me, someone with murder in the heart. And Senara had come with her revelations, and because Senara was with me the murderer had gone away.

But tonight I should be alone. I should be prepared.

I did not go down to supper. I said that I was not feeling well. Whoever was afraid of what I had discovered would be able to use that indisposition to good advantage.

In my room I pla

I took two pillows and laid them longways in the bed. I covered them up. In the darkness it would seem as though I were sleeping there.

How long the night seemed in coming. I was ready waiting behind my curtains of the ruelle. I heard the clock strike eleven.