– Extract From The Last Will andTestament of Lord Percy Valentine, Brimstone Manor, 1872.
Acouple of minutes later the lane came out of the cover of trees and Bill foundhimself standing on a wide gravel driveway full of black and chrome motorbikes.Directly in front of him was Brimstone Manor’s ivy clad frontage, much tooclose for comfort. Bill felt very conspicuous, so he went back down the laneand set off into the undergrowth in a direction he hoped would allow him to getto the Manor without being seen. There were lots of potholes and knobbly tuftsof grass underfoot so he found it hard going – and almost tripped over a fewtimes – but eventually he managed to skirt around to the part of the wood thatadjoined the west wing of the house. He scrambled through thorny bushes andcame out near a courtyard surrounded by a crumbling brick building lined witharched wooden gates. This was the old stable block that was now used as agarage.
He remembered exploring this part ofthe house between studying with Miss Spital, and knew it had a small side doorthat was in a fairly rotten state. He ran over to the side of building andfollowed the wall until he found this side door. He grabbed the rusty blackknob and turned it. It was very loose and rattly but the door wouldn’t open, sohe pushed against it with his shoulder, trying to be as quiet as possible; andto his surprise it swung open, with a fall of dust on his head. Bill wentinside to darkness and a strong musty smell.
He froze when he heard a long lowrasping moan coming out of the darkness. This terrifying sound was repeatedagain. It was coming every few seconds. Bill peered through the dim light butcouldn’t see a thing. He waited for a while, not knowing what it could be or ifhe was in danger. Eventually Bill’s eyes began to adjust to the low light andhe found himself surrounded by gardening equipment and rusting old tools, butcouldn’t see any further. There was a small metal torch covered in cobwebs on ashelf beside him, so he picked it up but dared not switch it on. The raspingsound was still coming at regular intervals from out of the darkness. Was itgetting closer? He tried to move forward and almost tripped over an oldlawnmower. He decided that there was nothing he could do without turning on thetorch, so he took a deep breath and pressed the switch. The beam was fairly dimas he shone it across the open expanse of garage bays. He could see the Rollswasn’t there – so Beryl and Mordred had somehow escaped the Pagan invasion –but there was something huge, black and alive on the floor! It was breathingslowly, and as it’s chest heaved up and down it made the rasping sound. Hemoved forward, picking his way over the tools and garden equipment to get alittle closer. It was only then that he realised that it was a large blackhorse, lying on its side – and snoring! He felt such relief that he almostlaughed.
He tiptoed past the sleeping animaland over to a door at the far side of the garage, which he knew led into themain house via a passageway. He opened it slightly, put his ear to the gap andlistened. All was very quiet – except for the long low snores of the horse – sohe opened it a little more and had a furtive peep. He saw a gloomily-litpassageway lined with leaded windows. When he was sure there was no one abouthe moved forward and tripped over a length of garden hose, falling flat on hisface and making the door swing open and bang loudly against the wall. Bill laymotionless, cursing himself for being so clumsy, then got up and hid behind thedoor until he was sure no one was coming. He dusted himself down, switched offthe torch and put it in his pocket.
“I’d make a terrible burglar,” hemumbled to himself.
He crept down the passageway but itsbare wooden floorboards creaked loudly. Bill tried to ignore this and keptgoing, all the time listening for approaching footsteps. At its end was acorridor running left to right. A stuffed fox in a dusty glass cabinet staredat him with glassy eyes. He turned left and crept along slowly – passingornately carved furniture and a number of panelled doors to his right. It wasvery gloomy and dim because someone had closed all the shutters on the windowsto his left.
Bill froze when he heard the sound ofchatting and laughing drifting through the air. He took a tentative stepforward and cursed when a floorboard let out a loud creak. The voices werecoming from a room up ahead that had its door partly open. Bill hardly dared tobreathe as he continued to creep forward until stopping just outside the room.He steeled himself and had a tentative peek inside. It was a large games room,with a billiard table, snooker table, a card table and a collection of gunsmounted over an imposing stone fireplace. Two young but burly lads, dressed inbiker’s leathers and flared jeans, were playing snooker. Their t-shirts werestained with blood and he could see halos of light around their faintly hornedheads. Spidery veins on waxy cheeks and intense yellow eyes burned in theiryoung faces. He didn’t recognise them – it wasn’t Davy or Jimmy. They wereshuffling and looked tired but seemed intent on staying awake.
Bill was terrified of walking past,convinced the boys would see him, but he couldn’t think of what else to do. Hetook a deep breath and skipped forward as fast as he dared. Luckily, thefloorboards didn’t creak and the boys had their backs turned, arguing over ashot.
He stayed motionless
