The Raggedy Man's Revenge
Extracts from the Personal
Diary of St John Cartwright-Fiennes
Wednesday 1 February:
Today I had a
visitation from a "civil servant". He was dressed the way you would dress
if going to a fancy dress party as a civil servant, short lapel pin-strip suit,
white shirt, Uppingham old-boy tie, bowler hat and
rolled umbrella. He claimed he was from "the Ministry", when I asked
which Ministry he had to think about it and then claimed it was Ministry of
Defence. Either it was intended that I should be aware that he was fake, he
thought I am extremely stupid, or he is extremely stupid. I am not sure which.
I decided to humour him.
He asked what was my assessment of January's incident. I didn't see any
reason not to be candid. He mentioned the Ossebaard
and Janssen incident and asked if I would be prepared to shop anyone planning
anything similar. Well, to be honest, that really depends a great deal on the
circumstances. As he wasn't being candid with me, so I felt no obligation to be
candid with him. It is always best to tell the authorities what they want to
hear so I said I would. He told me it wasn't appropriate for me to inform
"the ministry" and he gave me Barbara Smythe's
number! My most plausible reason for stopping someone trespassing on EH
property would be to avoid giving her a pretext for more "security
precautions". If I couldn't stop it, I would be trying to prevent her
finding out. I really cannot imagine any circumstances when I would shop anyone
to her. Nevertheless I took the number. The opportunity for prank calls briefly
crossed my mind, but I rejected it as not vaguely worth the risk.
*******
Thursday July 20th:
The police are
moving us on. We were visited by a policeman and a policewoman. The former did
all the talking. The usual threats were made. Actually moving proved a serious
problem. All my best efforts failed to start the engine. In the end, we had to
resort to the local garage and were charged a small fortune to get it going. We
really are totally broke now. We managed to park on the edge of some woods,
north-west of the circle, directly on the ley-line. Jules much prefers being on
a ley-line.
It seems that
the "Children of Light" are planning to hold a ceremony in Avebury in
a couple of days, just before the dark of the moon. My first thought was
"but the Quaker's haven't used that name for nearly three centuries",
but it turns out it is an American cult that has nothing to do with the Quakers.
The timing is
odd. They are doing it a month and a day after the solstice, and a day before
the proper dark of the moon. I was sufficiently intrigued that I decided to go
and watch. Jules was curious enough to want a full report, but not interested
enough to get out of bed for it.
Friday July 21st:
When Jules came
home from the Henge shop where she had been helping
out, she brought a message from
In the evening I
phoned Belinda, hoping it would be something to do with dowsing. It seems that
she had had a bizarre phone call from Mavis Enderby
with strange 'echos' of the events last January.
Mavis is the lady who looks like a bag-lady who attends the
Saturday July 22nd:
We met with
Imelda Harris and she bought us lunch. There are far more fakes than genuine
healers, but Jules and Imelda seemed to have immediately recognised each
other's talent. I am really on the fringe of the conversation except for
helping out with obscure occult technicalities. Still I think she is pleased
Jules has the theoretical back-up if she needs it. Imelda expects to sell lots
of Jules' jewellery and wants a lot straight away. Jules is likely to be very
busy for at least a week or two.
That evening I
went out to watch the 'Children of Light'. They were assembling by about 11.
There were a few dozen of them, about three quarters female. At about
The acolytes
were all humming and they were managing to make one hell of a din, which isn't
easy humming. Then there was a clap of thunder to the North and the leader
cried out and collapsed. Imelda and the copper were the ones to help him up so
clearly they are both favoured acolytes. The leader wasn't hurt, merely
exhausted. Indeed, everyone seemed very pleased with the ceremony. They helped
the leader across the road to the hotel (they cannot be doing badly if they can
afford to stay there; but then the cult business always has been lucrative if
you can attract people with more money than sense). I had to hurry home as it
was starting to rain; the heavens were clearly about to open.
In spite of
running I was pretty wet when I got in. Jules was in a state. She had felt a
large surge in the ley-line energy. As this subsided, there had been a
back-wash which she was sure was tainted. Jules was sure that the ceremony had
been evil. She was not at all happy about Imelda being there. I pointed out
that if the leader was up to no good, it was not at all certain that Imelda was
in on the bad stuff. As likely as not they were conning her out of money. She
jumped at this and was immediately sure it was true.
Sunday July 23rd:
Jules is setting
about producing jewellery as fast as possible for Imelda. She doesn't want me
around, and so I went off to help out in the Henge
shop in her place. I returned from a lunch break to find Belinda asking for me.
She introduced a friend Adam Walters, a healer; I had heard that name before
but couldn't think where. They wanted to look at Beckhampton
Longbarrow. First we went to the van to collect my
dowsing rods and introduce Jules and Adam. Jules was really too busy and didn't
want to be disturbed.
At the Longbarrow, Adam wanted to look at the barrow through
binoculars before we got close. They were his enormous home-made pair. Belinda
seemed to think this was a good idea, as though the barrow was too dangerous to
approach. This seemed daft; children play here. Then Adam announced (as though
it was nothing out of the ordinary) that the binoculars can see into the past.
Adam said he was trying to look back 6 months in time. He claimed that he saw
the Treadle-creature, and had broken contact when it saw him. He was genuinely
shaken; or an incredibly good actor. I didn't register the significance of the
"saw him" bit properly, and unfortunately neither did Belinda. Adam
told me later that anything that you can see through the binoculars can see
you, and can harm you. Belinda found this out the hard way.
She started
looking through the binoculars. At first she couldn't see anything. Then she
suddenly got very excited, she was raving about how wonderful it was. She had
turned to face me and was looking in my direction, although not apparently at
me, when she suddenly acquired a serious abdominal wound. It seems she was
looking at a neanderthal man, and it seems he was
rather neanderthal (in the
non-feminist sense) and stabbed Belinda in the guts with a flint headed spear.
She still seemed more pleased about what she had seen than being worried about
the potentially life-threatening wound it had given her. Academics! We did what
we could to stanch the flow of blood and called an ambulance. I walked off to
the road to lead the paramedics to the casualty.
Once we had
Belinda safely in the ambulance, we walked back to the van to clean up, as
there was a lot of blood on my clothes and on the binoculars. On the way back
to the barrow we ran into Barbara and family. She started asking after Belinda
so we told her what had happened. We agreed to meet up at
Meanwhile I
thoroughly dowsed the repaired part of the barrow (the only part that is
accessible due to overgrowth of the rest). I concluded that there is nothing of
the Treadle-creature still there. At
In the evening, I
finally worked out who Adam Walters is. Of course, I had worked out last
January that both Belinda and Eliza had been involved in the Ravensworth
incident. I re-read the report from the Observer article. It is a shame they
only talked to that scoffer James Elliott (I won't honour him with the title
'sceptic' as it implies an openness of mind that he clearly lacks, the pompous
prig). It seems Adam was there too (and a great deal closer to the action than
James), although the article says almost nothing about
him except that he was there. However I suspect that the "home-made
binoculars" mentioned in the article are the ones I saw in action today.
Late that night,
Jules had another presentiment about trouble on the ley-line, this time very
close to the north-west. I went out to investigate. I could hear something
going in the patch of woods behind the van. It isn't a very big, not much more
than a large copse. There was no moon at all. It was just about possible to see
by starlight outside of the woods, but it was pitch black inside. I decided to
cut across the wood to the due north and then work along the north edge towards
the ley-line. I managed to creep along the edge of the field to quite close to
the people in the woods. The first voice I heard was last night's leader. He
was talking to someone with a deep gutteral voice.
The conversation was something like as follows:-
Spanish voice:
"It is concluded then?"
Gutteral: "Yes, I will help, if you do."
S.V.: "I
will do the patron's business at the hill and you will make a visitation…"
It seems the
S.V. thought they had finished but Gutteral
continued: "Wait, I have information. One of the hunters is near."
Then I heard a
new voice, that of our bent copper: "We moved them on; they're over
there". I was sure that he was pointing to our van. There was no doubt in
my mind that they were referring to Jules and I. The
reference to "one of the hunters", implied that one (and only one) of
us had recently hunted something, an act which they were unhappy about. I
cannot think of anything except my helping to "hunt" the
Treadle-creature.
Then I heard
extremely heavy footsteps walking away in the roughly the direction of our van.
If there had been anyway I could have got there before whoever
it was, I would have. However, even if I had thrown caution to the wind and got
there as quickly as I could, I would have been unlikely to, given that he had a
decent start on me.
I heard the
policeman say something that suggested disgust with the person that they had been
dealing with. The Spanish voice replied, "Come, come, Tim. He is an angel
doing the work of the Lord." The policeman made a scoffing noise. Then
Spanish voice said "Let us help Imelda" and I heard them dragging
something through the woods. I didn't like the sound of them
"helping" a silent Imelda, especially if it was her they were
dragging. I certainly wouldn't drag a wounded or unconscious person through the
woods to help them. I might drag a corpse. Then I heard something I liked even
less, Jules screaming!
I ran all the
way back, taking the long route around the wood rather than through them. At
least, I could run in the open without making to much noise. On return I found
that Jules was okay but hysterical. "Something" had looked in at the
window. When she had calmed down a bit, after some discussion, she came to the
conclusion that it was a local tramp called 'Hagrid'.
Even then I had my doubts but I agreed to go and talk to him in the morning.
Monday July 24th:
In the morning,
I went to look in the woods but couldn't find anything. However I did find some
boot-prints in the earth outside the van where whoever had looked in the
window. Given how dry the ground was they were abnormally deep, as though he
had been enormously heavy. As we were finishing breakfast, Adam turned up. I
gave him a brief description of what I had observed in the night and he agreed
to accompany me to Hagrid's caravan. On the way, I
gave a more detailed account (some of the details aren't compatible with Jules'
peace of mind).
We got to Hagrid's caravan, had a quick look all around it and then
knocked on the door. As we were waiting for a reply, I smelt a bad smell, the
smell of the Treadle-creature. I told Adam. We were still considering what to
do when I noticed something else. The smell seemed to be coming from underneath
the caravan. I had a look. What I saw was a hand with no skin on it and slime
that seemed to be eating it away. I nearly lost my breakfast. My immediate
reaction was to run away. However I talked to Adam and he insisted on calling
the police. I don't think he had a look himself, sensible man.
The police were
there in ten minutes with sirens blaring. (Oh that we had had
the same prompt response from the ambulance service yesterday.) There
were four of them, including a sergeant who was clearly in charge, and a WPC.
The sergeant looked under the caravan and promptly passed out. The other two
men rushed up thinking we might have attacked him. Then another one looked and
he did lose his breakfast. Then the sergeant came round. He left the two who
hadn't looked to secure the site and took Adam and I
to
I told them why
we had gone there which sounded bad, like I was going to "sort him
out". However it was far better to tell them straight than lie and have
Jules blow the gaff. Then I really would be in trouble. Besides I don't think
it is a fresh corpse, and last night's incident will prove to be some days
after Hagrid died. After a couple hours, we were
released in
We managed to
get back in time for lunch. We met Barbara and Eliza in the pub, and Barbara
bought us all lunch. I was tempted to see if I could get Jules in on the free
lunch, but I rightly feared that things would be discussed that it would be
better Jules didn't hear. However, as we moved to the van because they were
things we shouldn't be discussing in public, this didn't really work out. I
managed to get the worst bits out of the way on the way back. Barbara turned up
with a hamper of groceries, and Jules was too busy repacking the fridge to pay
much attention to what we were talking about.
We think our
Spanish friend's reference to "the hill" probably meant Silbury Hill.
Barbara made some phone calls to enable us to get access. Eliza headed off to
attend Hagrid's post mortem. I already knew from
January that she had some official role, so I am not entirely surprised. The
news from the hospital is that Belinda will be in until tomorrow at least, but
is expected to make a complete recovery.
In the evening,
Adam, Barbara and I headed off to Silbury Hill. At first we stooged
around on the top, trying to keep a look-out in all directions and stay within
sight of each other. (This effectively required continuously walking around the
summit.) Eventually we bored of this. Adam went off to check out the ley-line,
and I decided to dowse the hill for its energies. It is clear that the hill
draws energy from the ley-line. There is also another power source under the
hill that is not so benign. Leaves me to speculate on what the hill was built
for. Could it be to contain a malign energy source?
I was just about
completing the survey when a fog suddenly came down. I did not like the idea of
crashing around in the fog with my delicate and valuable dowsing rods, so I
immediately set off for their carrying case which was back at the top of the
hill. As I approached the summit, I saw a figure in the mist apparently
thrusting something under the dome that covers the hole in the summit. I didn't
dare give chase with the dowsing rods. By the time I had them in the case, the
man had gone.
Adam returned
from the ley-line, and Eliza arrived back on her motor-bike. It seems that
there is no way Barbara can get the key to the cover's pad-lock, so we will
have to wait until tomorrow to find out what he was up to.
Tuesday 25th July:
In the morning,
Barbara went off to get the keys to the Silbury Hill dome. Adam, Elisa, Barbara
and I then all went to the hill. Barbara unlocked the dome and we looked inside.
Inside we could see the top of the shaft, which Ossebaard
and Janssen had abseiled down. It has now been filled with expanded polystyrene
blocks except for a narrow inner-shaft containing a ladder, anchored to a metal
grid over the polystyrene.
I tried dowsing
for the creature, and got very strange results, sort of ambiguous. I am not
used to uncertain results. Perhaps it is there but a very long way down. I am
not sure. After some discussion, Adam decided to go down the ladder. We all
stood on the grid and watched. It was a long ladder. It took some time for him
to go down and even longer for him to come up again. He was pretty knackered by
the time he had returned. He told us that there was a bottle shaped chamber at
the bottom, and there were two bronze plates there. One flat and one on its
edge stuck in the ground. The ladder stopped a few feet off the ground and Adam
hadn't got off the ladder.
We really need
to retrieve whatever our Spanish friend (or his minion) threw under the dome.
It more or less has to be one of the plates, or perhaps both, but as I remember
he only threw one item. As no-one else seemed keen, I decided to go down
myself. It was a long way down, about fifty feet (the equivalent of about five
storeys) so right into the middle of the hill. As I went down there was a
rustling noise, like soil was falling down the outside of the polystyrene shaft
lining. I got to the bottom. The one on its edge was pretty well directly under
the ladder. There was some damage to the polystyrene above it that seems to
correspond to it falling down past the ladder. It seems very likely that that
was thrown down the shaft. I wasn't sure about the other one.
I had a look at
the upright one. It was old with hieroglyphics on it. They could be Egyptian
but I really don't know enough about ancient scripts to be sure that it wasn't
some other hieroglyphic language. I decided to take it back with me. I had
Barbara's little rucksack with me and I used the lid as a glove to pick up the
plate and put it in the rucksack. Then I turned to the other one. This looked
far newer, and it was blank on the up-turned faced. I used a pen to carefully
turn it over. I saw a design a bit like a star-fish on the under side, but only
for a moment. As I lifted the plate, it revealed a hole that it was covering
and out of it came the stench of the Treadle-creature. I immediately slammed
the plate down again, and got out as fast as I could.
I had a terrible
time on the way up. I was exhausted by the time I was half way. I got to about
five foot from the top and I couldn't go any further. I realised I was going to
pass out. I tried to lock my arms into the ladder to prevent myself from
falling. Fortunately Adam climbed down the ladder and applied some of his
healing. Jules can do something similar but I have to admit (though I would
never say so to Jules) Adam is a lot better at it. Adam's treatment revived me
enough for me to get to the top. At which point Dr Jamieson gave me an
injection of something. I am not at all sure that the injection helped; in the
short term it made me feel a lot worse.
I was completely
soaked in sweat. It was damned hot. Inside the dome it was like a green house
and outside it was only casting a sliver of a shadow.
No-one else
fancied going down the hole (I don't blame them) and Dr Jamieson reckoned Adam
and I needed rehydrating and we had drunk all of our
water. We all went down the hill to the Red Lion for lunch (Barbara was
paying). While we were waiting for the order, I nipped home to get some dry clothes,
and found a note from Jules. Actually it was a note apparently from Imelda
inviting Jules to lunch at the Wagon & Horses, which Jules had annotated to
say that she was going and would be back later.
I was rather
worried about this. It was possible I had been mistaken about what I heard in
the woods, the night before last but I doubt it. It was also possible that
Imelda wasn't badly hurt and had recovered, but I also doubt that. So it seemed
very odd that she was sending luncheon invitations. I was worried if it might
be a trap, although to be honest someone trying to jump Jules or I would find
it easier where the van is parked than in the middle of Avebury. I also had to
avoid unnecessarily worrying Jules. She would go up the wall if she thought I was
trying to interfere with her budding business relationship.
Someone lent me
their mobile phone, and I called the Wagon and Horses. They confirmed that Mrs
Harris had a private room booked. "Her party", presumably Jules, was
there, but Imelda wasn't. Whereas I was not at all happy about it, it seemed
best not to barge in on Jules at the Wagon & Horses.
After lunch we
went off to
We returned to
Avebury. Jules was back at the van and rather worried. Imelda had not shown up
at the Wagon and Horses. Apparently she had been very agitated when she left
the note at the Henge shop. Her car is still at the
lodge although she has checked out.
Wednesday 26th July:
Elisa suddenly
turned up on her motorbike and asked me to go to
I had to start
in the car park with this really cynical police officer, who clearly didn't
believe a word of Elisa's story. This was scarcely surprising as he wasn't
being told the whole truth and wouldn't have believed it if he had been. Plus
of course there was the usual scepticism about dowsing. I just decided to get
on with it. However as I started I had a very nasty shock. The trail of the
creature was very strong; it clearly left a considerable amount of material
behind on impact with the tarmac. The real shock was a realisation that there
was a trace of the creature within myself. It definitely wasn't there when I
dowsed on Silbury Hill, so I must have got it going down the shaft. I probably
breathed it in when I moved the plate covering the hole.
The shock made me
stagger. It really was not what I wanted in front of this cynical policeman. I
could have done with a rest, but I decided it was better to get on with it. The
trail was very easy to follow. Perhaps the creature had been damaged by the
fall. It is too much to hope that the damage will be significant. The trail led
north towards the town. Between the hospital and the
We had a lot of
discussion about what to do. Barbara went off and bought a little rubber
dinghy, and I was able to dowse the lake. The creature was gone. Looking for
under ground water courses (there is nothing easier),
I soon found a drain in and another out. Assuming it has gone down stream, it
has followed a drain off to the west. I was able to follow this as far as the
A419 round-about that it goes under, and pick it up again on the far side,
where it runs a bit north of the Purley Road, until
it reaches a stream.
I surveyed up
and down the either side of the stream for a few hundred yards but there is no
sign of it. The water has washed away the creature's trail. It could emerge
from the water course anywhere. The stream flows north, so does not connect to
the Kennet which is good. It could have holed-up somewhere in the local water
courses, emerged a mile or so away, or travelled a great distance in it. Even
if I spend a great deal of time on it, I would only stand a slight chance of
finding it. I really have to get back to the others before they head off
leaving me with a lift.
Back at the
hospital the consensus is that it has got away, and we will have to accept
that. There really is nothing to be done unless and until it manifests itself
again. We all head off to our respective homes. I am not sure if Belinda is has
been allowed to go, or is discharging herself, but I am not at all surprised
she feels safer elsewhere.
I spent the
afternoon and as much of Thursday, as I felt I could spend away from Jules,
looking around for ground that the creature might have to cross to get back to
Avebury and dowsing over it. If it is coming back I would like to know.
Friday 28th July:
Still
no word of Imelda. Her
car still hasn't moved. If we were on better terms with the local police, we
would report her as missing.
In the evening,
there is a sudden invasion of police. There are rumours that a body has been
found in the Kennet. We are both worried that it is Imelda.
Saturday 29th July:
The police
report that Imelda Harris's body has been found in the Kennet. Jules is very
depressed.