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<title>Spellbinder - Chapter 14</title>
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<h1>14</h1><p>Corriwen and Connor made it to the town and lost themselves in a maze of narrow alleys.</p>
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<p>They had run down the hill from the blazing coppice, with Corriwen urging him on. Behind them came angry shouts and people came running from the sparse fields with spades and hoes to try to beat out the flames.</p>
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<p>They raced to the road pursued by angry field-hands field-hands.</p>
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<p>"Fire-raisers! Stop them!"</p>
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<p>They didn't look back. The road curved down to the town and they got there, breathless, ahead of the hue and cry and dodged out of sight. </p>
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<p>The town was old and run-down. The people on the cobbled streets were thin and drawn, as if weighed by worry and short of food. She thought about the horses they had turned loose. If they had sold one, it would have been horse-steak in minutes.</p>
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<p>She pulled her hood up and Connor did the same, keeping to the shadows of the narrow streets, avoiding the eyes that followed their progress from darkened doorways until they found the town square where a few stalls were set out with meagre supplies. Connor found the coin that had been in the soldier's saddlebag and he bought some gritty bread which they gnawed on gratefully in a corner of the square, watching for signs of pursuit.</p>
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<p>On every corner, armed guards patrolled in pairs, arrogant and haughty and the townsfolk seemed cowed and afraid. They finished the bread and wandered off until they came to some stables with empty stalls. There were no horses here, but the straw was dry and the ostler was grateful to rent them shelter for the night.</p>
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<p>In the dark, she told Connor the town didn't feel safe.</p>
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<p>"Where is safe?" he asked. "Nowhere at all, is what I think. Poaching was bad enough. Stealing the horses, that was worse. And those things in the woods, the twig-things, they were conjured up from some dark place. I think something very bad is happening around here."</p>
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<p>"I can't keep wandering about," she said. "My friends are either here now, or they will soon be coming to find me."</p>
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<p>"There's too many of Dermott's men here. They'll scour the town for us. If they catch us again, they'll hamstring us for sure to make sure we don't run."</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>The darkness around them was absolute. Jack groped blindly until he found Kerry's shoulder. The darkness was warm, but uncomfortable. He didn't want to move in case it went further than he imagined. And he imagined a great deal of darkness around them.</p>
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<p>"This is really weird," he said. "Did you see him? The four-armed thing?"</p>
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<p>"See him? I couldn't take my eyes off him! Four arms. What kind of freaks do they grow in this place? And how did he get us in this bag? I saw it. It's the size of a ruck-sack. This crazy world is creeping me out."</p>
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<p>"They came from nowhere," Jack said. "I could have sworn there was nobody else on the road."</p>
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<p>"I don't know what's worse. Getting caught by the troopers or by that four-armed freak. What do you think he'll do?"</p>
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<p>Before Jack could reply, they were suddenly thrown into the air and then landed in a fankle of arms and legs. Kerry's knee caught Jack on the nose and little lights spangled around him.</p>
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<p>"Get off," Kerry groaned from under him.</p>
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<p>Outside the strange bag, there was still no sound. But they were tumbled over again and then everything stopped moving.</p>
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<p>"You okay?"</p>
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<p>"Apart from a sore dose," Jack mumbled.</p>
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<p>"We have to get out of this."</p>
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<p>Before Jack could reply, sudden dazzling daylight stabbed into the dark and they had to shut their eyes against the glare. Two hands reached in and hauled them up and out. The big blue man's silver eyes looked them up and down.. </p>
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<p>"It's all right now," he said, in a surprisingly soft voice. "They're gone. And good riddance to them all."</p>
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<p>He set them down on their feet and Jack looked about him. The little caravan was in disarray. Bags and trunks were littered on the road, all emptied, clothes and pots scattered around. The strange, bottomless bag they'd been stuffed into was lying at their feet. That explained the tumble and crash.</p>
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<p>"Not very nice people at all," a voice said and they both turned. Beside them stood a little man, no taller than Rune the Cluricaun, but wider, fatter and bald as an egg on top, but with the same curled whiskers on either side of his face.</p>
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<p>"I knew we'd come across you," he said. "Old Rune, he said to keep a weather eye out for the both of yez. And there ye were, just about to be nipped by the wolf-pack."</p>
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<p>Jack looked from one to the other. The blue man was solid and bulging with muscle. The little one almost round. He stuck out a podgy hand.</p>
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<p>"Brand's the name. I lead this hapless band hither and yon."</p>
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<p>"What band?" Kerry asked.</p>
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<p>Brand laughed. "The <em>Vaga</em>band! Rogues and scoundrels all. Peddlers of mystery, magic and mayhem. This here's Score Four-arm. You'll see he's well-named."</p>
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<p>The blue man held up four hands and waggled twenty fingers.</p>
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<p>"Score," Jack said. "I get it."</p>
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<p>"The boy can count," Brand agreed. "We came here just in the nick of time. You'll be heading south, is what Rune tells me, so you're better travelling with us. We're good company and ye'll get a chuckle or two on the way, even if it is a dismal road we're heading."</p>
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<p>"That bag you put us in," Kerry said. "How did you do that?"</p>
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<p>"Och, just a trick. The quickness of the hand deceives the eye." Brand snapped it shut, like an medic's case, and slung it onto the wagon.</p>
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<p>"It's a good place to hide what you don't want found. And it worked just fine when the Wolf-pack came a-searching."</p>
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<p>He reached high and clapped Jack on the shoulder.</p>
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<p>"Come and meet the rest of the reivers. Changelings, foundlings and fairy-touched all of them. Rune says you'll fit in so you can't see the join. Tells me you're a pair of acrobats and tumblers."</p>
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<p>Jack looked at Kerry and shrugged. </p>
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<p>A small crowd had gathered around them by now.</p>
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<p>"Tigally and Tagelyn," Brand said. Two slender girls stepped forward together, so close they could have been glued to each other. They were identical in every way, from short spiky hair to eyes of lavender blue. They wore tight leggings, like gymnasts. "Tig and Tag to the rest of us. Best tumblers in the business."</p>
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<p>The girls smiled brightly. Tag fell backwards. Tig tumbled over her and the pair spun together, on hands and feet, blurringly fast, like one spinning creature cartwheeling along the road.</p>
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<p>"And Thin Doolan," Brand said.</p>
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<p>Kerry shrank back as Thin Doolan stuck a scrawny hand out. For a moment he thought it was one of the Rushen folk that had almost killed Corriwen in the Temair marshes. Jack took the proffered hand. He felt as if he was shaking hands with a skeleton.</p>
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<p>"This here's Natterjack," Brand said, "But we call him Toad for short."</p>
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<p>A squat fellow with a broad face and a mouth that seemed to span from ear to ear, blinked yellow eyes at them, then smiled a toothless grin. His skin was as warted as a Scree trooper, and greenish brown, just like a toad's.</p>
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<p>Brand made more introductions with as strange a troupe as either of them had ever seen.</p>
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<p>"All right then," he said. "We should be on our way."</p>
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<p>"Where are you going?" Jack asked.</p>
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<p>"South. Same as yourselves. Hop aboard and take the weight off. We've a distance to travel between here and there and maybe there's a chance you'll find what you're searching for."</p>
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<p>"Did Rune tell you?"</p>
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<p>"Sure he did. But you're not the only ones looking for a red haired girl."</p>
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<p>Brand smoothed out his moustaches. "I heard she got taken some way north of here, and then she gave them the slip. If it's the same one you're looking for, she's a plucky one for sure. But now she's got a price on her pretty head."</p>
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<p>Neither of them knew how to respond to that. But it did sound as if Corriwen was making her own mark in Eirinn, even if it wasn't for the better.</p>
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<p>They climbed onto the buckboard beside Score Four-arm. He grinned pleasantly, then snapped the reins and the little fat pony took the strain.</p>
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<p>In the distance they could see a pillar of dark smoke rising into the air and when they rounded the bend the source became clear.</p>
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<p>A wide coppice of trees up the hill from the road was well ablaze. Men were trying to beat out the flames with farming tools, but they were fighting a losing battle.</p>
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<p>"Nothing but strife and trouble every which way," Score muttered. "The whole of Eirinn is going to ruin and rack."</p>
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<p>He hitched the reins around the buckboard brake and let the fat pony amble along with the rest. From a wide pocket, he took a bag of coloured wooden balls and threw them into the air, ten, fifteen or more. The four hands wove in the air, smooth as oiled machinery until he had at least twenty balls whirling about his head in complicated patterns.</p>
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<p>"You're a juggler then." Kerry stated the obvious.</p>
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<p>"Juggler, fiddler, fuggler and more besides."</p>
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<p>"A fuggler?"</p>
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<p>"Sure. That's when I juggle and fiddle at the same time. There's not many can do that."</p>
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<p>"I can play the mouthorgan," Kerry said.</p>
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<p>"Don't believe him," Jack snorted. "It sounds like a scalded cat."</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>The stableman sold them out.</p>
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<p>The first Corriwen knew of it was when she heard the tramp of feet on cobbles and recognised the sound of men on the quick-march. She'd heard it many a time at the Redthorn Keephold.</p>
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<p>"Wake up!"</p>
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<p>Connor snorted, mumbled in his sleep. She knuckled the back of his head and he woke up ready to fight.</p>
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<p>Before he could say a word, she clamped a hand over his mouth.</p>
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<p>"Move! Move yourself <em>fast</em>." She jerked a thumb at the stable door that she'd wedged shut the night before, just in case. The tramping of men in step came closer. Metal clanked and she knew they were armed. She kicked the wedge tighter, clambered up the side of the stall with Connor close behind. There was a pulley rope on a gibbet at the narrow slit window she had seen the night before and together they shinned down to the ground.</p>
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<p>Behind them she could hear the thuds as the men kicked the stable door in and then the angry shouts of men who didn't find what they expected.</p>
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<p>They raced down the alley, hoping to lose themselves among other people, but they were only half-way along it when a man bellowed behind them and then they were hunted again. A horn blew and feet hammered on cobbles as the pursuers gave chase.</p>
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<p>Despite his bad leg, Connor could get up quite a speed, but he was no match for able-bodied men-at-arms. Corriwen held back a little to give him a chance and regretted it instantly when Connor slowed with her.</p>
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<p>"Move your feet," she cried. "Get on with you."</p>
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<p>He turned, just as a man backed out of a doorway, barged into him and went sprawling. She grabbed his shoulder, got him to his feet and they ran, but the pursuit was that much closer now.</p>
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<p>They turned a corner, squeezed past a laden cart and found themselves in the little square again.</p>
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<p>But the sound of the horn had grabbed everyone's attention, and the pairs of guards at each corner were already pushing their way across the market-place to find out what was happening.</p>
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<p>Behind them, the troop burst into the square. Corriwen skidded to a halt, scanning left and right, knowing there was little chance of getting out of this.</p>
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<p>"You there!" A guardsman pointed at them. "Stop where you are."</p>
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<p>They veered left, scampered between the stalls. Hands reached to grab her hood and she shook them off and then men were coming at them from all directions. </p>
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<p>Ahead of her a guard drew a short-sword and tried to bar her way. She ducked under it,. Shouldered him in the ribs, got a satisfying grunt of pain, and then another snagged her by the arm. She whirled, tried to draw a knife and a fist came from nowhere and hit her such a blow she fell flat to the ground. For a second the whole world spun dizzily and all the strength went out of her legs. With a desperate effort she forced herself back up, swerved from another fist.</p>
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<p>Connor screamed something wordless, in rage and frustration. She saw him pivot on his good leg, land a clean blow across a man's throat and saw the man drop like a sack. Somebody kicked the legs from her and she was down again. Connor was growling and snarling like an animal, trying to fight his way towards her, but it was a hopeless effort. He had his stolen sword in his hand and was whirling on one leg, slicing a circle around him when a club came flying in and took him on the side of the head and it was all over.</p>
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<p>On the ground Corriwen let out a cry of despair and a heavy boot came swinging in, caught her under the jaw, and it was all over for her too.</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>The band, the <em>Vagaband</em> as Brand liked to call his troupe, drew up their wagons close to the square.</p>
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<p>"We'll have some fun here," Score assured them. "And it seems to me they could do with it."</p>
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<p>The first thing Jack noticed was the pairs of armed men patrolling the streets, and they kept their hoods up to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible. Brand had been right though. It was better for them to travel with this band, strange as they may be, than to be two boys alone on the road with so many patrols about.</p>
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<p>Brand set up a tall stool and climbed on top to give himself extra stature.</p>
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<p>"Friends and townsfolk," he piped in a shrill voice. "It's a dull life and the sun still hides, but here we are to bring a smile in fun and frolic. We promise mystery, magic and mischief. We will tumble and juggle and stir you with music to bring a tear to a blind eye."</p>
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<p>Thin Doolan gave a quick drum-roll. Natterjack played a riffle on a set of pipes.</p>
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<p>"I give you Brand's Wandering Band. The <em>Vagaband!</em> Entertainment for your delight and delectation."</p>
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<p>With that, Tig and Tag came tumbling into view, joined back to back, cartwheeling along the street like a two-person wagon-wheel, totally silent and eerily elegant.</p>
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<p>"Beauty and grace in a double dose," Brand announced. People stopped to look as the twins spun and whirled around each other, sinuous as snakes, always in contact as if they were one single being.</p>
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<p>"Brilliant," Kerry said. "Never seen anything like that."</p>
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<p>Two of the guards had stopped to watch. Tig and Tag swirled round them, then up and over them without missing a step, somersaulting to the men's shoulders, flipping back to land together.</p>
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<p>Without a pause, they spun away. Jack saw something blur through the air towards Natterjack who caught it in a wide hand and Jack saw him put whatever it was into the bag they'd found themselves in. It happened so fast that he wasn't quite sure what had taken place.</p>
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<p>Score Four-arm walked into the crowd, his hands moving in circles and spirals, twenty coloured balls in the air making intricate patterns that changed from second to second. He approached another pair of guards and stood in front of them, dazzling them with his juggling, while around him, small children watched, fascinated.</p>
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<p>Then Jack saw it happen. Three of Score's hands kept all the balls flying without missing one of them. His forth sneaked out. Everybody watched the cascade of balls. Nobody saw the fourth hand snick the pouch from the guard's belt. The pouch came flying backwards towards Natterjack and nobody saw that either. It disappeared into the bag, as did the second guard's pouch, along with a gold-handled dagger from his sheath.</p>
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<p>Jack giggled. Kerry looked at him. "What's funny?"</p>
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<p>"Didn't you see it? They're picking pockets. They're just a bunch of thieves!"</p>
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<p>Thin Doolan wandered amongst the crowd with a wide, straw hat held upside down, encouraging people to make donations and it was clear this town had seen better days, for there were very few little coins, but Thin Doolan didn't seem to mind at all. He wove among the people and the guards in a slender, serpentine motion, and every time he got close to a soldier, something went missing from the man's belt. A knife, a purse, a money-bag. He did it with such speed and skill that no-one, except Jack and Kerry who were now watching closely, saw a thing.</p>
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<p>"Now <em>that's</em> a talent," Kerry applauded. Natterjack brought the bottomless bag up to Brand. Score pulled back from the crowd, still juggling so fast it was impossible to see how he did it. Tig and Tag came cartwheeling back to the wagons.</p>
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<p>Brand pulled himself up to his full height on the stool.</p>
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<p>"Friends and countryfolk. It has been a pleasure entertaining you all, though the pickings are slim today. It seems your need is perhaps greater than ours. So it's our pleasure to share our good fortune on such a grey day."</p>
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<p>With that, he opened the mysterious bag and began to flick big red apples to Score who spun them into the air, then tossed them unerringly to the children who snatched them fast. Brand brought out crusty pies by the dozen and Thin Doolan passed them around the eager crowd. Even the soldiers began to look hungry.</p>
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<p>Jack saw one of them reach for his purse, then he saw the look of surprise on the man's face when he realised it was gone. He was about to warn Brand when a loud clamour started up on the far side of the square. The crowd around them turned as one, as the sound of men's voices and the thuds of soldier's tacketty boots grew louder.</p>
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<p>Beyond the mass of people Jack saw someone running, then another, barely glimpsed across the distance, then a number of armed men, swords and clubs drawn. They burst out from an alley into the corner of the square. Somebody shouted. A woman screamed. There was a flurry of action and the clear sound of heavy blows and he saw someone being dragged to the ground.</p>
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<p>On his chest, the heartstone gave a brief, but definite shudder.</p>
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<p>In that instant a twist of dread rippled through him. He tugged Kerry's arm.</p>
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<p>"Come on," he urged. "It's Corriwen!"</p>
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<p>He hadn't seen her, but he knew with utter certainty that they had found her. And he knew with equal certainty that they were too late.</p>
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<p>He pushed through the crowd as fast as he could with Kerry right behind him, until he got close to the front beside a couple of stalls which had tumbled over in the melee. Then he saw a brief flash of red hair. She was down on the ground. Beside her, somebody in a rough hood was kicking and cursing at the men who held him, then a club swung down and knocked him flat. </p>
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<p>It was all over in seconds. A dozen men converged on two smaller forms. Fists came up and went down. He heard a grunt of pain and was on the point of crying out, just to attract their attention away from their violent work when two hands took him firmly by the shoulders and spun him round.</p>
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<p>Score looked down at both of them, holding them fast.</p>
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<p>"You'll be fools for sure if you take on those odds."</p>
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<p>"We have to help her!"</p>
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<p>"By getting knocked senseless? Not today, friends."</p>
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<p>They tried to pull away from him. Kerry was seething, trembling with anger and the need to so something, but Score was big and strong and held them tight until the hubbub subsided and two captives were dragged out of the square and away.</p>
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<p>The next time they saw Corriwen Redthorn she was trussed up in a caged cart, blood spattered on her bruised, swollen face, while a team of horses galloped her away on the road west.</p>
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<p> </p>
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