Jack of Ravens

6

‘You trawled around every burger bar in Northampton looking for me?’ Laura said incredulously as they sat at the back of the cafe in the main shopping area. ‘And you did it because a stone told you to. Okay. Sanity-challenged or drugs?’

The cafe was crowded and noisy, but it still felt like a refuge from the Sunday afternoon browsers in the street outside. Shavi smiled and Laura felt a brief tingle; he had sex appeal to spare beneath his aura of calmness.

‘I cannot explain it,’ Shavi said, ‘but there are many mysterious things happening at the moment.’

‘Tell me about it.’ She tried not to think about the incident with the rapidly growing vegetation.

‘Are you sure about her? She doesn’t look like much to me.’ The Bone Inspector had barely taken his piercing eyes off Laura.

‘You want to be careful you don’t break a hip or something,’ she said.

He smiled darkly. ‘You want to be careful I don’t break something.’

Laura bristled. What is it with you, you old fucker-’

Shavi interrupted. ‘We have travelled far to find you because we fear you may be in danger.’ Seeing he had Laura’s interest, he continued, I was pursued by a man by the name of Rourke, who was not all he appeared-’

‘I know someone called Rourke.’ Laura watched as Shavi and the Bone Inspector shared an uneasy glance. Creepy tosser,’ she continued. Black hair …’ She tried to describe Rourke but found she couldn’t really put her finger on what he looked like. She settled for, ‘He’s got one of those faces you always forget. Bland. Just merges into the background.’

That sounds like my Rourke,’ Shavi said.

‘I don’t get how he could be with you, because the wanker never seems to leave me alone.’

‘Because,’ Shavi said cautiously, ‘he is not human.’ He proceeded to tell Laura exactly what Rourke was, or as close as he could surmise. Laura watched his face carefully. He didn’t appear to be lying, or a nut, but she’d heard numerous similar stories from those who couldn’t tell their bad trips from reality.

‘The Army of the Ten Billion Spiders,’ she said, recalling the graffiti she’d seen everywhere. ‘Of course. Close allies of the Thirteen Hundred Daddy Longlegs. Nice one. Well, some of us have a life to lead. You know, in this world.’

As she stood up to go, the Bone Inspector grabbed her wrist. She fought to free herself, but his grip belied his appearance. Ignoring her vehement cursing, he pulled her slowly across the table to examine the tattoo he had spied on the back of her right hand.

He traced his finger around the circle of interlocking leaves. ‘You know what that is?’

‘Yeah, it’s a sign that any irritating old bastard gets a kick in the bollocks for touching it.’ She wrenched her hand free and rubbed the circulation back into her wrist.

‘It’s the Mark of Cernunnos. At least, that’s one of his names. You might know him as the Green Man.’

Laura tapped her head. ‘It’s a tattoo.’

The Bone Inspector smiled tightly. ‘He’s marked you. Given you his patronage.’ He jerked his thumb at Shavi. ‘This one here’s a seer … a shaman. You can tap into nature in all its power-’

Laura blanched.

‘You know, don’t you? You’re trying to pretend you don’t. Well, it doesn’t wash. The two of you have got a job to do, or everything goes to hell in a handcart.’

‘It already has,’ Laura snapped.

‘You know what? You’re right.’

His knowing smile was too much for Laura. She stormed out, knocking over a shopping bag that sent potatoes spilling across the cafe floor.

In the street she tried to laugh off the incident, but everything that had been said troubled her on some fundamental level. She weaved her way amongst the shoppers just in case the two of them followed her. She hadn’t gone far when someone grabbed her arm. She threw it off, expecting to see the old guy. It was Rourke.

‘Hello, darlin’,’ he said with a cheery grin. ‘Going somewhere in a hurry?’

Despite laughing off Shavi’s story, Laura’s blood ran cold. ‘You’re like a limpet, you are.’ She made to go, but Rourke caught her arm again.

‘You can’t be allowed to communicate with them.’ His tone had become almost mechanical. ‘You might wake further. The risk is too great.’ Nobody was paying any attention to them and Laura was strangely sure Rourke had made it that way. ‘There is no longer any choice.’

He clamped his hand over Laura’s mouth. She fought him, but he was too strong. The moment he touched her, her lips sensed the flesh on his palm moving as though something was squirming just beneath the skin. Then whatever was in there broke through. Small, hard objects forced against her lips, her teeth, prising them apart.

She couldn’t resist. As she opened her mouth, a mass of scurrying filled it to the brim, and Laura knew exactly what they were.

The scurrying continued down her throat and into her belly, hundreds of them, thousands. Although she wanted to vomit, she couldn’t. Finally the terror and the sickening sensation were too much and she blacked out.