EIGHT SKULLS OF TEVERSHAM

EIGHT SKULLS OF TEVERSHAM Part 3

PART THREE -FEAR OF THE WITCHES

The sun rose the next morning and it was almost as if the witches never existed, Eric and John had the only evidence in three sacks, eight skulls ready to show the Mayor. One thing puzzled them was the Mayors obsession with the number eight, he had a fixation on it, everything he did included the number eight. No one could deter him from that number, not in any sense of the word, in the bible it would signifies resurrection and regeneration, that which is beyond. This may be the reason that the Mayor sought power, he also expected respect and gratitude from the people, and perhaps he expected to be resurrected or regenerated in some way. When Eric and John returned to the Mayor, he was delighted to see them, he greeted them with open arms as if they were his long lost son's, he patted them on the back and congratulated them for their efforts. He opened his desk drawer and produced bags full of coins, Eric and John put three sacks on the table and the Mayor examined each one in turn, he called John over to his side of the desk and asked for his opinion of the one skull with the crack on the head.

"This one is damaged" the Mayor said expecting an explanation

"Eric knows about that one" John said trying to avoid answering the Mayor

"The skull is damaged" He repeated directing his attention to Eric

"Basil hit her on the head with a rock, she is the leader of the witches, she is called Albelenda" Eric informed the Mayor.

"Albelenda" The Mayor repeated "I can almost feel her power" he said looking into the eye sockets "To think she sent fear into the hearts of so many, I almost envy her".

Eric looked at John expecting a reaction, but John just gazed at the skull, the Mayor didn't seem surprised that only the two of them survived, he was glad that they returned safely with his skulls. The Mayor ordered a feast for the return of the two men and in fact he struggled to remember their names, just the deed. He gave a speech without mentioning the two gallant men, for some reason he forgot they even existed, instead he announced that he had taken care of the witches and made the town of Teversham safe again for to walk the streets. He even told the town folk that he had arranged for the eight witches skulls to hang on poles around the border of the town in order to warn any witches not to try to attack anyone again. For a time this worked and everyone felt safe until strange events took place such as food poisoning, crops dying and people suffering from all manner of illness, in fact everything that went wrong was blamed on the witches skulls, they were said to be cursed. Even things such as the miscarriage of babies and sudden deaths were all due to these skulls. Everybody who lived from miles around had heard of the eight skulls of Teversham, people were afraid to visit the town and village for fear of dying from a disease or being cursed themselves. The skulls remained for about two years until the Mayor was advised quite strongly to get rid of the skulls for good.

Eric was still a little annoyed by the Mayor taking the credit for taking care of the witches, John didn't seem to mind as much, although to some degree he felt as if his father should have got some notoriety, like being honoured or a statue erected in his name, or perhaps a statue of him dressed in his uniform. We never even had the chance to mourn properly, each soldier was remembered but no one but Eric or John witnessed their bravery in battle against those wicked witches. The last night that the skulls were around the town they actually glowed red and then green from some light within, by this time even the Mayor agreed that it was a good idea to get rid of them.

The following day the Mayor sent for Eric, he never asked for John for some unknown reason, Eric was pleased to go and see the Mayor hoping for some recognition for assisting to kill the witches. The Mayor stood proudly in front of his desk, soon he began pacing up and down in front of the window, when Eric arrived at the Mayors office, and Mayor appeared to be nervous and sharp.