Ducking the provocation, and slightly miffed at having their usual cultural roles reversed, Pascoe said, And Low Beulah? They lit a beacon to warn the ducks, perhaps?
Dont be daft. A lows one of them burial mounds. Yon little hillock next to where the farm was is likely one of them.
Pascoe knew when he was beaten.
Im impressed, he said. You really did your homework fifteen years back.
Aye. Whatever there were to know about Dendale, I learnt by heart, said Dalziel heavily. And you know what? Like all them dates and such I learnt at school, it did me no fucking good whatsoever.
He pushed himself to his feet and stood there, glowering into Dendale, looking to Pascoes imagination like some Roman general sent to tame a rebellious province, whod discovered that in terrain like this against foes like these, classical infantry tactics were no sodding good.
But hed find a way. They Roman generals and Andy Dalziels always did.
Except of course in this case he was looking into the wrong valley.
As if in response to this critical thought, Dalziel said, I know whats down there is old stuff, lad. And whats down in Danby is a new case. But theres one thing I learnt fifteen year back that chimes useful to me now.
Whats that, sir? asked Pascoe dutifully.
I learnt that in this place in this kind of weather, the bastard who took that first lass didnt stop, mebbe couldnt stop, till hed taken two more and had a go at taking another. Thats why I brought you up here, to try to get it into your noddle. Some things you cant learn out of books. But take the Dendale file home with you for homework anyway. Ill test you on it tomorrow.
Will I be kept in if I fail? asked Pascoe.
With this one, I think well all be kept in long after the bell goes, said Dalziel. Now lets be getting back down while its still light enough to see how far weve got to fall.
He strode ahead down the Corpse Road.
Pascoe took a last look across the dale. The setting sun filled the fold bowl between the two tops of Beulah Height with a pool of gold. Last stop afore heaven. On a night like this you could believe it.
Oy!
Coming, he called.
And he followed his great leader into the darkness.
DAY TWO
ONE
EDITORS FOREWORD
We came from water and if the Greenhouse theorists are right, to water we shall probably return.
It accounts for 72 % of the earths surface and 60 % of a mans body.
In places under permanent threat of drought, like Arabia Deserta and Mid-Yorkshire, it brings riches to some and death to others.
And over the centuries man has peopled it with a whole range of elemental creatures, mermaids, undines, naiads, neriads, krakens, kelpies, and many more, all suited to the particular age and culture which spawned them.
Here in Mid-Yorkshire the most common hydromythic entity is the nix.
The nix stands midway between the English pixie and the Scandinavian nicor.
In some tales it figures as a sort of brownie, generally benevolent in its relation with humanity. In others it is much closer to its Norse cousin which emerges from its watery lair by night to devour human prey. The Grendel monsters in the Beowulf saga are a form of nicor.
The present tale I heard many years ago from the lips of old Tory Simkin of Dendale, now sadly taken from us, both man and valley. It troubles me to think how much of the past we have lost while modern technology preserves in electronic perpetuity the idiocies of our own age (of all that have ever been perhaps the most deserving of oblivion). I thank God there are a few superannuated fools like myself who think it worthwhile to record the old stories before they are lost forever.
If this be vanity or blasphemy, then behold a vain blasphemer from whom you may obtain further copies of this book and information about other publications of The Eendale Press at Enscombe, Eendale, Mid-Yorkshire.
EDWIN DIGWEED
NINA AND THE NIX
Once there were a nix lived by a pool in a cave under a hill.
For food he et whatever swam in his pool or crawled in the mud around it.
Only friend he had were a bat that hung upside down high in the roof of his cave, though often when it spoke to him its little squeaky voice seemed to come from somewhere high in the roof of his own head.
If nix wanted to go out, he usually waited till night. But sometimes hed hear voices of kiddies playing in village far below and hed sneak out in the daytime and find a shady place in the hillside where he could watch them.
Best of all were when they played in the pond on the village green and splashed each other, and ran around shouting, their shining faces and white limbs all dripping with water.
The one he liked watching most were called Nina. Her hair was as blonde as his was black and her skin as smooth as his was scaly.
The one he liked watching most were called Nina. Her hair was as blonde as his was black and her skin as smooth as his was scaly.
Came a summer when sun shone so warm and sky stayed so cloudless that not even thought of seeing Nina could tice nix out into that heat and that brightness. He sat tight in his dark dank cave waiting for weather to change. But it didnt change and after a week or so he noticed when he knelt to take a drink that the water in his pool were further away than it used to be.
Day followed dry day. Sun burnt so hot, nix could feel its stuffy heat even down here in his cave. And without a drop of rain to slip through the cracks in the hillside and fill up his pool, the level got lower and lower. Soon the creatures that lived in it, and them as lived in the muddy edge which was getting bigger and bigger and drier and drier, began to die. And soon the nix began to feel very hungry.
You going to sit there moping till you fade away? said bat.
Dont see what else I can do, said nix.
You can find some food, said bat.
Ive looked and Ive looked and theres nowt left to feed me, said nix.
I werent thinking of feeding thee, said bat. I were thinking of feeding the pool.
Eh? said nix.
Have you not noticed? Yon pond in the village hasnt got much smaller. And you know why that is?
No, said nix.
Its because of them juicy young lasses always splashing about in it, said bat. Get yourself one of them, and youd soon see pool filling up again.
So nix went up to the surface to take a look for himself. It were so bright and hot he could only stay up there for half a minute, but it were long enough to see that bat was right. The village pond were still full of water, and the little kids were still splashing around in it.
Back down he came to his cave and he said, So youre right, but its not much help. How am I going to get one of them to come down here? Theyre all shut up in their homes at night, and if I go out during the day, Ill shrivel up and die.
Then shell have to come to you, said bat. Go out tonight and gather all the prettiest flowers you can find, and plant them all around the entrance to the cave. Then just sit and wait.
So that night the nix stole out and went far and wide over hill and dale, uprooting all the flowers he could find, moon daisies and stepmothers, Aarons rod and bedstraw, but no flopdocken, for thats a flower nixes and their kind cannot abide. And he planted them all around the mouth of his cave.
Next morning, Nina went for a walk up the hill afore the sun got too hot. She wanted to pick some flowers for her mam, but there werent very many because the heat had dried up all the ground and baked it so hard that even the grass was brown. Then suddenly she spotted this hollow in the hillside so full of flowers it looked like a garden. She made haste to get there and started picking the brightest blooms when a voice said, What do you think youre up to, little girl? Do you always steal flowers from other folkss gardens?
Oh, Im so sorry, cried Nina. I didnt realize this was anybodys garden.
Well, you realize now, said the voice.
She couldnt see who was speaking but the voice seemed to be coming out of this hole in the hillside. So she went to it and said timidly, I really am sorry. Ill put them down here, shall I?
Nay, now theyre picked, you might as well keep them, said the voice.
Thats right kind of you, said Nina. But wont you come out into your garden where I can see you?
Nay, lass. I cant bear this heat, said the voice. In fact, I were just making myself a jug of iced lemonade. Would you like to try a glass?
Now Nina was very hot and thirsty indeed and she said eagerly, Yes please.
Right, Ill pour you one. Just step inside and help yourself.
So she pushed past the flowers which fringed the entrance to the tunnel leading down to the cave and stepped inside.
Next moment she felt herself seized by her long blonde hair which she was wearing in two pigtails and before she could scream she was dragged right down into the bowels of the earth.
There she lay in the foul-smelling dark, sobbing her heart out.
Finally she ran out of tears and rubbed her eyes and sat up to take a look around.
Outside, sun were so bright, a little bit of light filtered down the entrance tunnel. By its dim glow she saw she were in a cave. The ground were strewn with rocks and stuff. In the middle of the cave was a small, foul-smelling pool, and on its edge sat this thing.
Its body was long and scaly, its fingers and toes were webbed with long curved nails, its face was gaunt and hollow, its nose hooked, its chin pointed and fringed with sharp spikes of beard, its eyes deep-set and staring, and its mouth twisted in a mockery of a smile showing sharp white teeth as it spoke.
How do, Nina, it said.
How do, Nix, she answered in a very low voice.
You know who I am then? said nix.
Aye. My mams told me about you, said Nina.
What her mam had told her was never go up the fell on her lone else the wicked nix that lived beneath it might steal her.
Now she wished with all her might that shed taken heed!
Then its nice of you to come visiting, Nina, said nix.
Its nice of you to have me, said Nina politely like shed been taught. But please, Id like to go home now, its nearly time for my dinner.
Its long past time for mine, snapped nix. Then, smiling his terrible smile again, he went on, Tell you what, Nina. Its so hot, why dont you have a little swim afore you go?
Nina looked at the dreadful pool and shook her head.
No, thank you, she said. My dad says Im never to go swimming by myself, only when theres someone bigger around to take care of me.