“Just one question,” asked Mab. “Where will I be?”
“You will be looking after my horse,” replied Lady Christina, briskly. “Now, Silas, are you ready?”
She turned to the door.
“Wait,” Mab said, momentarily confused. “The horse is staying here. Are you telling me I must stay here too?”
“That is exactly what she’s saying,” Silas pointed out, happy that Mab would not be in danger.
“No, I am coming too,” Mab insisted.
Lady Christina smiled in a humouring sort of way.
“Wouldn’t it defeat the object if the aim is that I am mistaken for you?” she said.
“I’ll stay back. I’ll be hidden. I promise to be as quiet as Meacher’s dog.[1] Besides, you need me. If anything goes wrong, I can be your witness. And, more importantly, I can go for help.”
Lady Christina thought for a moment, ignoring Silas who was shaking his head as if he had some kind of affliction, and Mab who was hopping from one foot to the other as if the ground was suddenly on fire.
“Alright,” she reluctantly agreed. “But I don’t want to see or hear any sign of you in that wood.”
“I sincerely promise,” Mab said, crossing her heart to show how much she meant it.
[1] An old saying hailing from Blackwood concerning a dog called Bruce belonging to a Mrs Meacher. This dog, she claimed, held long conversations with her about philosophy and politics. But nobody else could get a word, or even a bark or growl, from Bruce. Consequently, everyone thought Mrs Meacher was mad, and this sparked another common Blackwood saying: ‘As mad as a Meacher’, which later becomes ‘As mad as a March-Hare’ throughout the British Isles.
From ‘The Blackwood Crusade’ – A Fairytale to End Them All – OUT NOW and chock-full of Alternative Facts
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Cover Image: Medieval Hound
Jo Danilo | Writer 