Do Fish Wear Pyjamas? Page 4

  And then, there it was again.

  “There’s a gap,” he said, “between the ‘iffy key’ and the bottom.”

  “Effigy, pronounced EFFI—GEE,” corrected Gonzo, as he dropped to his knees and looked up under the tiny overlap of stone where the slab with the carving met the main part of the tomb below.

  They moved their hands slowly until they found a small figure carved into the furthest corner much like the unusual one underneath the Bishop’s effigy in St. Brigid’s Cathedral in the town. Gonzo and Bebob seemed to find it at almost the exact same moment and, without thinking about it, they turned it clockwise as if they had read a detailed set of instructions beforehand. It screeched into the lid of the tomb but, slowly and surely, it turned almost exactly 90 degrees.

  Again the ground seemed to shake and dust and dirt fell heavily from the roof of the chamber, covering the boys and making it almost impossible to see. They were forced to step back and cover their eyes from the fallout. All the girls could do was to check they were alright.

  At the same time a new deafening noise, of heavy stone grinding on heavy stone, exploded in their ears, and their hearts raced in their chests. They waited, for what seemed forever, for the dust to clear and they could see that the tomb had opened slightly in the far corner where they had turned the little carved figure. The two boys almost forgot to breathe as they crept back to the open tomb to see what treasures lay beneath, Gonzo’s thoughts at least, of jewels and gold, of wealth and riches and of course, when he remembered, ‘The Great Book of Kildare.’ They were sorely disappointed.

  Well at least at first. All they could see were the dusty, dried bones of a long-dead Knight and these seemed to begin to dissolve in the open air. There were two things of interest to be found in the dust — a long crafted, and what appeared to be silver, dagger, its sheath crumbled by time, and a tiny vial or bottle with a strange looking metal cork. This had obviously hung around the Knights neck when he was placed in the tomb but now rested in the dust amid his decaying ribcage. The Knight may have been dead for centuries but still Gonzo shivered as he reached his hand in to retrieve it, as if he was reaching into the live squirming, wet innards of the fallen Knight. He snapped his hand free of the tomb as soon as he had the vial and having looked for any other sign or treasure the boys again fumbled underneath and turned the little figure to close the tomb, just as the girls had closed the gate to the graveyard when they had entered. They were afraid not to.

  The tomb closed quite easily, with little or no resistance but it again shook the room and the girls screamed from above as the entrance to the chamber began to close. Bebob quickly walked himself up Gonzo’s legs and outstretched hands to his shoulders and the girls grabbed him as Gonzo boosted him up from below. As soon as Bebob was clear he returned to the edge, lay back down on the ground on his stomach and, while the girls held his legs, he stretched his arms into the opening. Gonzo threw the dagger, the vial and the mysterious light-stone (which faded once it left the darkened chamber) up to Gooey, just before she bent to grab Bebob’s legs, and now he jumped and caught hold of Bebob’s hands. With the force of the jump and a well-timed yank, Bebob was able to hoist him up until he was halfway clear of the opening. The entrance continued to close and it looked for a moment like Gonzo might be crushed or pinned. Just as he was about to get clear he lost his grip and fell back down into the darkness and was lost.

  “Gooey, Help!” screeched Bebob, “Help him quick, Gooey, please.”

  Gooey was already frantically unbuttoning her coat. She pulled at her shirt and it dropped clear at the sides. There was a strange rustling noise, a fluttering noise that struck Bridin as odd, as if everything else she had seen or heard this day was perfectly natural. Without a word, Gooey unfurled her wings and quickly dropped into the chamber and threw her arms around Gonzo and scooped him up.

  “Don’t move,” she said gently and she beat her wings with one strong flap and they flew through the opening as the door continued to close. It was dangerously close but they managed to fly free and, as the entrance closed with an almost metallic clunk, all four lay panting on the ground. Nobody even thought to comment on the state of the two boys who were wet and filthy from their little adventure. They were all too relieved and, to be honest, Bridin and Gonzo were dumbstruck. Gooey had wings!

  “They can only be used in an extreme emergency,” she said rather matter-of-factly, before they had a chance to say anything, “but I guess you could call that an emergency.”

  She took time to fold her shirt back behind her, retrieved her favourite floppy hat which had fallen to the ground and rebuttoned her coat.

  “I’ll say,” blurted Gonzo moments later, and that was all any of them said on the subject as if a flying alien in The Black Abbey in Kildare was indeed a rather run-of-the-mill or everyday occurrence.

  When, eventually, they recovered a little they looked around for the doorway to the chamber. It was if there had never been an opening and no edge or crack could be found. Bebob looked above the doorway but could see nothing of the little stone he had turned. It was as if the Abbey had once more reclaimed all its secrets.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE CHAPEL OF MARY GREY

  As they lay on the damp earth Bridin picked at the little vial they had rescued from the tomb. She could not see into it but could hear a slight rustle as she shook it gently.

  “There’s something inside,” she said excitedly, and they crowded round her.

  Kneeling, they listened in silence as she gently shook it again. Yes, there was definitely something inside but it was not a liquid, nor a metallic sound, it seemed to whisper, like dried paper. The trick now was to be able to open it without damaging whatever that something was. Bridin again picked at the vial but this time at the metal cork. It moved ever so slightly and she was terrified that the whole thing would burst or break in her hands.

  She picked again. And again, and again, until she had wormed it to a point where the next touch would open it. They huddled closer, as if they could protect the contents by their very presence, like a shield. The friends watched as Bridin opened the vial and emptied the contents gently into Gooeys floppy green hat, which, Gooey had folded in on itself and placed on the earth for that purpose.

  A small cylindrical piece of parchment floated down like a long-dried feather. They stared at it carefully. It didn’t seem dangerous. Slowly they reached out to touch it, as if the parchment itself would hold the key to some magical journey. They noticed that it was wrapped upon itself like a miniature scroll. Gonzo slipped a pen he had in his back pocket, which somehow had survived their journey so far, into the centre of the scroll and very, very carefully they unwound it, keeping the pen secure in the centre.

  They held it, very, very gently by all four corners. It felt nothing like paper at all. Gonzo suggested it might be vellum though he certainly could not compare it to anything he had touched before. Gooey gently, so very gently, blew a light film of dust and time away to make the letters that were on the document even clearer. They could recognise it as English, but the letters were old and strange. Some were missing, they had worn away.

  As _ay is to Nig_ and Night to Da_The crosskey in the _pel of Mary Grey Fin_s the Oakchur_ on the _idg_ of Clay.

  ‘Here we go again with the silly rhymes,’ thought Bridin, ‘why couldn’t people just say what they meant?’

  “Who’s Mary Grey?” she asked aloud.

  But there was no mystery here for Gonzo — it was as obvious as the wings on Gooey’s back. He really loved mysteries and codes and things. This was little more than a very old crossword puzzle.

  “Not who, but what, and where! This solves the mystery of the location of the secret tunnel,” he told them excitedly.

  “Let me explain. The first clue should read ‘As Day is to Night and Night to Day,’ and it is probably a reference to the tunnel itself — to enter the tunnel, well, its like going from Day to Night, and to leave, like going from Night to Da
y.

  The second part tells us that it begins at The Grey Abbey, not, The Black Abbey — Mary Grey is not a name but refers to the Chapel dedicated to Mary — Our Lady Mary, the Mother of Christ, — the LadyChapel; even with the missing letters … _pel … must be Chapel. This Chapel was built at Grey Abbey — the Chapel of Mary [at] Grey [Abbey].

  Looking at the third part we can see that the tunnel is definitely connected to the site of St. Brigid’s Church. The word Kildare in Irish or in the Gaelic language is Cill Dara, meaning Church of the Oak — obviously Oakchurch in the line — and it refers to the Church set up by St. Brigid where the Cathedral stands today. The ancient name for that place was Druim or Droim, Criaig or, the Ridge of Clay, so … _idg_ must be Ridge and the reference tells us that the tunnel runs from The Grey Abbey to the church on the Ridge of Clay, St. Brigid’s Cathedral. I’m not sure what crosskey means but there is an area in town called Crosskeys. Most likely though, it is a symbol, code or key to the tunnel just like the ‘Dead-man’s stone’ in The Black Abbey.”

  As Day is to Night and Night to Day

  The crosskey in the Chapel of Mary Grey

  Finds the Oakchurch on the Ridge of Clay.

  There is something else to remember. It is written in English or a kind of Old English – so it is not from the time of the Normans or the Crusades as such. The first words written down in English in the whole of Ireland may actually have been written at The Grey Abbey sometime around 1320 A.D. and are known as ‘The Kildare Poems.’ Before this the clues would have been written in Latin and because we can pretty much understand it then it means it was probably written even much later. All of which means the tunnel was used at different stages in the history of the town and that it protected something valuable enough to leave behind clues to its existence. The clues are not for us but for the protectors of that treasure or secret.

  Gonzo never thought for a second that this all might mean anything else and he said it in such a way that it just made perfect sense and not in a way which meant he was cocky or that he knew everything, though right there and then it certainly seemed like he did. The others stared at him in amazement. He was like one of those clockwork toys when he got going — just wind him up and let him go. Bridin, especially, was well impressed and thought Gonzo was a little impressive himself despite the fact that both he and Bebob were as black as the ace of spades.

  Up they jumped and made their way out of The Black Abbey, again closing the gate behind them. The boys dusted themselves off as they moved, Gonzo’s wet feet squelching in his shoes. They ran across the road and into the fields of the National Stud and away across the fields towards the wooded walkway that led to Grey Abbey Road. It was much shorter than retracing the girl’s route by Newtown Cross and less hazardous than going back towards town. Their journey brought them again through ‘The Hundred Acres,’ originally lands that were part of The Black Abbey which nowadays were thankfully surrounded by high hedges offering cover from passing motorists. And then, out into the walkway, running in the open, across the motorway bridge, past the veterinary hospital and the Village boardwalk to The Grey Abbey itself.

  Their delicate document had been quickly replaced inside the vial. It had begun to crumble around the edges from contact with sweaty fingers and hands and, after so long, contact with the air. The vial, dagger and light-stone were all safely in Gooey’s most beautiful baggy handbag-like-bag.

  As they crossed the motorway bridge, Gonzo secretly thanked their lucky stars that the tunnel, if it existed at all, and he now felt very sure it did, had not run from The Black Abbey to the town. If it had then all would have been lost, for it would surely have been destroyed during the building of the motorway about ten or twelve years ago.

  They pushed open the painted wrought iron gates and skipped through the ankle deep grass to the ruins in the southwest corner. Just like The Black Abbey, all that remained were the partial ruins of the old Abbey Church. Nowadays Kildare Retail Village, built as it was on the site of the old ‘Friar’s Well, provided a modern but tasteful backdrop to the ancient site. Without fear or caution they ran to the interior of the ruins to search for an entrance to the secret tunnel which would lead them to The Great Book of Kildare and the fulfilment of Gooey and Bebob’s quest.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE CROSSKEY!

  Most of the interior of the chapel ruin was overgrown with bushes and briars and it was obvious that it would be next to impossible to search it. Here and there a few gravestones seemed to sprout from the bushes but it looked like an impenetrable forest. Their hearts sank until Gonzo remembered that the LadyChapel had been built onto the original church at the Abbey and he was sure it was at the entrance to the ruin on the graveyard side though there was no sign of it today. They concentrated their search at the entrance but apart from a few small crosses and some deep looking rabbit burrows they saw nothing that could help them.

  “How come that gravestone is growing in that tree?” asked Gooey and they turned to see that she had wandered back a little in the direction they had come though still close to the ruin.

  “Well it’s more like the tree has grown around the stone,” observed Gonzo, and he told them that a family had been buried there and some of the children might have died around the same time as if there had been a fire or sickness in the house.

  They returned to the entrance and looked around once more. Gonzo stood in the centre of the entrance and looked north into the graveyard but there was nothing, well nothing but gravestones and graves that is. He turned 180 degrees and looked south into the church ruins. There were two semicircular cavities in the southern wall though there were no tombs or gravestones to be seen. In the top of the most westerly cavity (the Kildare Retail Village side) there was an unusual carving of a cross — recessed into the wall. Unusual in that it was long and deep and narrow with a pointed end but with a fat curved top — almost as if it were a handle. Something was bothering him but he did not know what.

  ‘Mmm,’ he thought, ‘like a handle,’ and it came to him in a flash – the crosskey!

  “Like a handle of a dagger,” he shouted and the others turned to check and see if he had lost his mind.

  “The crosskey — quick,” he said, “give me the dagger we took from the Knight’s tomb.”

  Gooey reached into her most beautiful baggy handbag-like-bag and carefully took out the Knight’s dagger and gave it to Gonzo. He grabbed it, ran to the south wall and placed the dagger into the recessed cross. It fit perfectly, just as Gonzo knew it would. But now what — it couldn’t turn.

  There was really only one option once you thought about it and Gonzo pressed it into the wall with all his strength. With a long loud grinding motion a portion of the rock at the base of the recess moved back along the wall and a narrow series of steps descended into darkness. They looked at each other with delight and if the truth were known, a little bit of fear. Gooey reached once more into her bag and took out the light-stone. She moved ahead and down into the darkness and the rest followed without a word, Gonzo taking up the rear and pulling the dagger out as he went past. He wasn’t leaving that behind.

  They carefully stepped down the old stone stairway until they reached a small clear space at the foot of the 20 or so steps. Before them, plunging into darkness, the mouth of the tunnel opened in what only could be the direction of the town. They were terrified and exhilarated at the same time. The opening was around five feet high and four feet wide, dirty and dusty and full of cobwebs and roots and things but it was what they had been looking for. Before they could make any decision as to what they would do the doorway to the world above slammed quickly shut and they were left beneath the earth. There was no choice.

  “Lead on,” said Gonzo, “we still have a way to go,” and the four friends, wrapped in the warm glow of the light-stone headed into the darkness.

  CHAPTER TEN

  TRAPPED!

  Bebob had used a small sturdy fallen branch like a hiker’s stic
k to help push back the bushes while he searched within the ruins and he had brought it along almost without thinking. It proved extremely useful and he took up the lead position, pushing back the cobwebs and undergrowth as he went. The others followed quickly behind him. A squeak and scurry signalled the presence of rats or other rodents but they could not let that bother them. They were actually quite deep underground and that may have been the reason for the fairly good condition of the tunnel after centuries of non-use. There were a couple of places where some of the earth had come down to the tunnel floor but the walls were lined with stone and the roof well propped with massive timbers. This had been planned for long-term frequent use at some point and Gonzo at least felt it had been used over the centuries. The interior was in fact still impressive and usable. Because they were deep underground it had not been disturbed by the buildings or roads above ground, or for that matter the gravedigging in the graveyard.

  They almost ran the first couple of hundred yards and, if Gonzo was right and it was more or less in a straight direction to the Cathedral, then they would have been under Bridin’s school. She imagined she could hear the other girls, noisily leaving for home — it was around that time — and suddenly she remembered that her mother would be greatly worried if she did not get home before tea-time. She said this to Gonzo in a low whisper and he too realised that he would be in a world of trouble if they did not get everything wrapped up in the next couple of hours. They agreed not to say anything though as Gooey and Bebob needed their help. Gooey thought it better not to tell them that she knew what they were thinking, for, in the closeness of the dark tunnel, their thoughts were as clear as if they had been her own. She was so proud of their loyalty and was proud to be their friend.