Читать книгу The Gargoyle Overhead - Philippa Dowding - Страница 4

The year is 1664.

It is a beautiful, sunny day in a small churchyard in England. There are rolling green hills as far as the eye can see, beautiful old chestnut trees everywhere, and a very pretty little river running beside the church courtyard. It makes a sweet, soft sound as the water runs past the grassy banks. There is an ancient stone statue of a lion nearby, regally facing west on its pedestal of stone.

A boy is busy beside the little river, washing a basket of apples. He has just picked these apples from the abandoned orchard behind the church. No one else collects them but he and his father.

He is flicking flies away from his head. It is a hot day, and he would like to be back under a shady tree. He is dressed in breeches and a loose-fitting linen shirt. His golden hair is cropped very short, and he is barefoot.

As he is washing the apples, something hard hits the back of his head, and he turns quickly. In the grass beside him is an apple core, which he picks up and stares at, amazed. He looks around, but there is no one there.

This has happened before. In fact, it happens all the time, but just to him. His father never talks about being hit with flying apple cores, or about the strange sound the boy often hears when he is walking through the orchard. It is like the wind rustling in the winter leaves, or like a language he is just beginning to forget.

But he is wrong. It is neither of these things, which he is soon to find out.