Blackbriar Read Online Free

hills, in one of those groves, was their new home.
    Two headlight beams swept across the darkened store fronts, and in a moment a clattering truck pulled up beside the station. A small but sturdily built man jumped out, leaving the lights on and the motor running, and stepped quickly up to them. “Hello,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m Albert Creech, from Creech’s garage. Sorry I’m late, but it’s hard to know when this train’s going to arrive. It’s never been on schedule yet.”
    “Oh, that’s all right, Mr. Creech,” said Philippa, beaming as she shook his hand. “This is—a pupil of mine, Danny Chilton.”
    “Pleased to meet you, Danny,” said Mr. Creech, and shook his hand. “Shall we load all this stuff into the van, then?”
    Mr. Creech supervised, and in a few minutes everything was packed tightly into the back of the little truck. Philippa sat in the front with Islington on her lap, and Danny reclined against soft canvas bags in back.
    “It’s a pity you got here in the dark,” said Mr. Creech, as they rolled off down the street. “You won’t be able to see what Dunchester looks like.” In the glow of the headlights they could catch only brief glimpses of wooden shop fronts, cobblestone pavements, and the stone buttresses of what must have been a large cathedral. In a moment the town was gone completely. Thick black shapes of trees rose up on either side of them, and the only thing they could see distinctly was the few feet of dirt road ahead.
    “Is the Land Rover you found ready for us, Mr. Creech?” asked Philippa. “I’m rather eager to get to the cottage as soon as possible.”
    “The car’s ready, but you certainly won’t get up there tonight.”
    “We won’t?” Philippa said. “Why not?”
    “You’d never get up to that place at night if you’ve never driven there before. Why, the road only goes part of the way up the hill. After that you have to drive through a large field, and a bit of forest. With no roads. If you tried it tonight, you’d never make it.” He turned for a second to Philippa, then back to the road. “I hope you know what you’re getting into, ma’am,” he said quietly.
    “I thought I did. But now things are beginning to look a little different. I knew it was isolated, but not inaccessible. And . . . Mr. Creech, is there something wrong with the place?”
    “Why do you ask?”
    “Well, the people in the shops seemed . . . surprised that I was going to live there. I might almost say afraid. Is there some superstition surrounding it?”
    “Oh, don’t take any notice of what they say. Those townsfolk never set foot outside the city walls. They couldn’t tell an owl from a pheasant. They’re just suspicious of the place because it’s so far away from everything else. They’re afraid of the outdoors, they’re afraid to be far away from other people.”
    “Is that all, Mr. Creech?”
    “Well,” he said, and then paused, concentrating on the road. “I suppose . . . there’s the tumuli, you know. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
    “The tumuli? What’s that?”
    “They’re these . . . mounds. But they’re all the way at the other end of the ridge.”
    “But what are they? Why are people afraid of them?”
    “I wouldn’t say people are afraid of them, exactly. They just don’t go near them very often. Supposedly they are the burial mounds of three Druid kings. They’re at the narrow end of the ridge and you can see the whole country from there. It’s a beautiful place. But, there is a strange feeling about it. As though—as though nature, the outdoors, something, was close around, was stronger there than anywhere else. I’m not good with words. But, to me, it’s a feeling I like. And I’d think you two would like it as well, if you want to live so deep in the country. But you can understand why town people would stay away.”
    “That doesn’t sound so bad, does it, Danny?” Philippa said, turning around to