A New Darkness
Contents ( 75)
- Dedication
- Contents
- 1
- A Mysterious Death
- 2
- The Girl with the Mousy Hair
- 3
- Bad Things Happen
- 4
- Where the Beastie Lives
- 5
- Purrai Have No Rights
- 6
- Help Me, Please
- 7
- The Starblade
- 8
- John Gregory’s Apprentices
- 9
- A Nettle Patch
- 10
- The Haunted House
- 11
- A Rare and Special Type
- 12
- Nicholas Browne’s Glossary
- 13
- Tom Ward’s Test
- 14
- Mother and Daughter
- 15
- A Girl Like You
- 16
- The Bones of Little Children
- 17
- Practical Lessons
- 18
- The Vartek
- 19
- The Pursuit
- 20
- The Fanatical Gleam
- 21
- Grimalkin’s Notes
- 22
- Times Are Changing
- 23
- The Scream of the Boggart
- 24
- The Journey Begins
- 25
- The Shaiksa Assassin
- 26
- The Sign
- 27
- Prince Stanislaw
- 28
- A Premonition of Death
- 29
- The Worst Day of My Life
- 30
- The Grief of Grimalkin
- 31
- Washing the Body
- 32
- A Terrible Mistake
- Grimalkin’s Notes
- The Contents of the Glass Containers
- Glossary of the Kobalos World
- Original written by Nicholas Browne
- Notes added by Tom Ward and Grimalkin
- About the Author
- Credits
- Copyright
- About the Publisher
Dedication
FOR MARIE
Contents
Dedication
Thomas Ward
1. A Mysterious Death
2. The Girl with the Mousy Hair
3. Bad Things Happen
4. Where the Beastie Lives
5. Purrai Have No Rights
6. Help Me, Please
7. The Starblade
8. John Gregory’s Apprentices
9. A Nettle Patch
10. The Haunted House
11. A Rare and Special Type
12. Nicholas Browne’s Glossary
13. Tom Ward’s Test
Jenny Calder
14. Mother and Daughter
15. A Girl Like You
16. The Bones of Little Children
Thomas Ward
17. Practical Lessons
18. The Vartek
19. The Pursuit
20. The Fanatical Gleam
21. Grimalkin’s Notes
22. Times Are Changing
23. The Scream of the Boggart
24. The Journey Begins
25. The Shaiksa Assassin
26. The Sign
27. Prince Stanislaw
28. A Premonition of Death
Jenny Calder
29. The Worst Day of My Life
30. The Grief of Grimalkin
31. Washing the Body
32. A Terrible Mistake
Grimalkin’s Notes
Glossary of the Kobalos World
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Thomas Ward
1
A Mysterious Death
THERE was a cold draft coming from somewhere; maybe that was making the candle flicker, casting strange shadows onto the wall at the foot of the bed. The creaky wooden floor was uneven; perhaps that was why the door kept opening by itself, as if something invisible was trying to get in.
But ordinary commonsense explanations didn’t work here. As soon as I’d walked into the bedroom, I’d known that there was something badly wrong. That’s what my instincts told me, and they’ve rarely let me down.
Without doubt this room was haunted by somebody or something. And that’s why I was here, summoned by the landlord of the inn to sort out his problem.
My name is Tom Ward, and I’m the Chipenden Spook. I deal with ghosts, ghasts, boggarts, witches, and all manner of things that go bump in the night.
It’s a dangerous job, but someone has to do it.
I walked over to the bedroom window and pulled on the sash cord to raise the lower half. It was about an hour after sunset and the moon was already visible above the distant hills. I looked down on a large graveyard shrouded by trees, mostly drooping willows and ancient elms. In the pale moonlight the tombstones seemed luminous, as if radiating a strange light of their own, and the elms, which cast sinister shadows, were like huge crouching beasts.
This was the village of Kirkby Lonsdale, just over the County border, and although it was less than twenty miles northeast of Caster, it was an isolated place, well off the beaten track.
I went downstairs, leaving the inn through the front room, where three locals drank ale by the fire. They stopped talking and turned to watch me, but not one called out a greeting. No doubt any stranger to the village would have received a similar response—silence, curiosity, and a drawing together against the outsider.