Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [35]
And then stupid sulky Newcastle, retiring to his carriage
‘They say they would rather face Cromwell than the to smoke a pipe!
Devil,’ Grey continued.
Cromwell’s men, sitting in their corn fields, had begun
‘Much the same thing,’ laughed Cooke, his portly frame singing psalms, their rousing, passionate voices drifting shaking. ‘Come, Ralph, we’re too old and wily to believe in through the summer haze.
such nonsense.’
‘Is Cromwell there?’ Rupert had asked anxiously. Aye, he Grey made a little signal with his hand. ‘There is a man, was there, as they had discovered all too soon, caught sir...’
unawares, their senses dulled by inertia.
A slight figure stepped out of the shadows, his uniform Cooke and six or seven of his men had eventually fled the caked with mud and gashed at the sleeve.
carnage, skulking to the old castle like disgraced dogs.
‘This is Will Todd, my lord,’ said Grey, ushering the There were men stationed on the far ramparts, looking youth forward. ‘A local man. Tell Sir Harry what you told down into the tiny settlement below. It was important they me, Will.’
were not seen. Cooke knew from experience that loyalties Todd shifted uneasily, like a guilty child.
were uncertain in this conflict and that the inhabitants of
‘I was born in Crook Marsham, my lord. But my family Crook Marsham might welcome them with open arms, only went to York some years ago, my father being a skilled to betray them to Cromwell’s militia. Better to hide out in mason and work there plentiful...’
the old ruin where no one was likely to pry and then slip
‘Yes, yes...’ said Cooke impatiently.
away at some more opportune moment.
‘This castle has stood since William of France came here Ralph Grey, his fine-boned face drawn and weary, and has been a ruin all that time.’
shambled along the battlements towards Cooke, who
‘What mean you by that?’
sensed he was troubled.
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DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
‘Only a few years after the castle was built there were within minutes, the cold stone walls were plunged into queer tales about the place. People spoke of the dead rising midnight blackness.
at night and all manner of things...’
The high, roofless castle beams loomed above them like
‘Phantasmagoria,’ said Cooke, waving his hand the ribs of a long-dead beast. Cooke glanced about him in dismissively.
the whispering night at the deeply shadowed niches and Will Todd clenched his fists uncomfortably. ‘Sir Brian, the empty fireplaces which might contain all manner of secrets.
Norman who built the castle, went mad. They say his wife He shivered and, drawing his cloak around his shoulders, came back from the grave to haunt him. After that no one made his way stiffly down the stairs to his men. He looked would live here. No one.’
at their troubled faces as they drifted into sleep. Despite his Cooke eyed him severely. ‘And this prattle of yours has bluster, he rather wished Will Todd had not told him those put the men into a ghastly humour, eh, Todd? I should have tales about the old castle. He screwed his eyes tightly shut.
you horsewhipped for spreading such discontent. You’re no better than a gossipy old woman.’
Jackson let his horse trot quietly along the well-trampled
‘I never meant...’ pleaded Todd weakly.
path that led to the castle. His men trailed in a silent, weary
‘No, but the damage is done. We would do better to go to procession behind him, their shoulders bowed with fatigue.
our beds and forget these tales of yours. Off with you, now.’
Jackson himself found that the gentle rocking motion was Todd made a little bow and clattered down the stone lulling him into sleep when a hissed whisper startled him staircase to the ruined hall. Grey turned to his superior.
awake.
‘Don’t you feel it too, sir?’
‘Captain!’
‘Nay!’ barked Cooke. ‘And, mayhap, if your mind were Jackson turned. A soldier behind him, obviously more turned more towards soldiery than witchcraft we should alert than his comrades, was pointing towards the castle.
not have been trounced on the moor today!’
‘What