Blood and Clay Read Free

the first one, the one near to Malkin Tower.
Folk are superstitious around here and people say the clearing is haunted with
evil spirits. The villagers around Pendle avoid it like it ’ ll drain their very soul away. I try
not to go too near either, rumour is there was a murder happened in that
clearing, though I ’ ve never seen or heard anything like a ghost there.

 
    I
never went in that first clearing so I'd skirted the edges of it and walked a
bit farther when I found myself in a new clearing, one I didn ’ t know about and from the look of
things no-one else had been there in a long time. There was a circle of trees
with a space in the middle but the space was clustered with a twisting, spider ’ s web cluster of weeds and brambles.
As soon as I saw it my heart gave an extra flutter and time seemed to stop for
a moment. It was beautiful in its chaos. When I closed my eyes I could see the
beauty the clearing could hold with a bit of time and love. I went back every
day after that to weed and clear all of the fallen twigs and overgrown flowers.
My hands were spotted with blood every day as I carefully pulled up the
blackberry brambles, leaving just a few around the edge of the clearing, but
the blood didn ’ t bother me. It didn ’ t spoil my happiness for a minute. By
the end of the summer I was left with a small garden of my own; a perfect
circle with trees around the border. One of the trees was large and old with a
hole in the trunk large enough for me to crawl into and sit upright. I had to
keep my legs crossed inside but it was quite roomy and the floor was lined with
moss with a rich, green smell tinged by the smell of soil. It was a smell that
makes me feel safe. Not even Gabe knew about it. The clearing was my only safe
place; the only place where I could hide the purse.

 
    Happy
that I ’ d decided where to hide the purse I spent my last few
minutes before standing up enjoying the stream. I dangled my feet in the
shallow, fast flowing water which was icy cold and soothed the parts of my feet
that had been nicked or bruised by the little stones on the road. I tipped the
coins onto the grass to count them. They tumbled out and clinked into a little
shiny pile. Just pocket money for the man but for me it was so much more. Food
and shoes were going to be the first things I bought but I would still have
enough left over for ribbons for Nettie ’ s hair maybe even some cloth for a
dress. My little Nettie is beautiful. She has a round face with rosy cheeks and
blue eyes. She ’ s like an angel is our Nettie. Not as though our Mam or
Gran would ever notice. They don ’ t pay her much mind. She ’ s no good for begging so she ’ s no use to our Gran.I wish I had
half the looks Nettie does. At least when she is older she might be able to get
herself a husband and escape. What hope do I have, all skinny and bony with
pond scum eyes and grey white skin? Not even Gabe would see me as a girl fit to
marry.

 
    When
I got to the clearing I spent some time clearing the weeds and eating some of
the last blackberries of the year that still clung to the brambles, not as
juicy and plump as they had been but still nice and sweet in their shrivelled
up hardness. The slight sour tang to the harder ones made my mouth water and
the over-ripe, jammy smell from the last few plump ones I managed to find
lingered on my hands. I ate until my juice soaked fingers were as shrivelled
and purple as the berries but pleasantly warm from having been in my mouth as I
sucked the last of the taste that had soaked into my skin. When I had eaten my
fill I took one of the five coins out then hid the purse and the other four
coins in the tree trunk and covered it with moss and leaves. It ’ d be safe here. Again my stomach
flipped and my head prickled at the thought of such a big lie but I knew that
if I took the purse home the money would be spent within a day and there would
be no shoes for me, no ribbons for Nettie and probably no