Free The Windvale Sprites by Mackenzie Crook Page B

candle and followed the sprite.
    It seemed to be searching for something amongst all the junk. It was momentarily fascinated by the wire tricycle and studied it closely, looking back at Asa as if to say, ‘This is like yours.’
    ‘I know,’ said Asa. ‘It was made for you.’
    The sprite pointed through the door into the next room where Asa had not previously ventured and so together they pushed on into the unknown.
    The door opened out into what would have been the hallway of the house with the remnants of a large staircase leading to the upper storey. The whole of one side of the staircase had collapsed and the remaining timbers were so rotten it would have been impossible to climb. The sprite made a circuit of the hallway and then disappeared under the stairs through one of the gaping holes. Asa picked his way carefully over the broken banister railings and peered into the dark space. He couldn’t see a thing but could hear the buzz of wings coming from down below and he realised there must be a cellar underneath the house.
    The sprite soon reappeared and seemed to be keen for Asa to follow him down. He made his way over more rotten planks towards the back of the hallway where, in the gloom, he could just make out a small doorway.
     

19
     

An Ancient Find
     
     
    The door creaked open on rusty hinges and Asa pushed the candle ahead of him to reveal a stone staircase leading down into the gloom. As he gingerly made his way down, the sprite hovered close by. At the bottom of the steps was a large cellar that was filled with bookcases arranged in rows like a library. Boxes and chests took up almost every inch of floor space and everything was draped in thick cobwebs. Whatever the sprite was searching for it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
    The only clear space was a path down the centre of the room between the cases and, with his heart pounding, Asa inched his way slowly forward.
    As he passed each bookcase he peered into the spaces between them. Some of the shelves had collapsed and the leather-bound tomes were strewn over the floor and on top of yet more boxes. The candle spat and spluttered and sent shadows racing up to the ceiling as his footsteps tapped on the flagstone floor. But then his footsteps fell silent. He looked down and saw that the ground appeared to be covered in a dusty grey rug of some sort. He crouched down to take a closer look. No, it wasn’t a carpet but more like wool or hair spread out across the floor, and up ahead it appeared to get thicker and deeper as if a pile of the stuff had been dumped at the end of the room behind the last bookcase.
    He took another few steps. Something was not right. The sprite gripped his shoulder. Not wishing to go any further but resisting the urge to turn on his heels and run, Asa leaned forward and peered around the last set of shelves. What he saw was a truly bizarre thing. It did indeed appear to be a large mound of whitish wool piled up in the corner but perched on top of it was a small triangular hat.
    Asa looked at the sprite who was staring at the strange sight with an expression of terror.
    ‘What is it?’ Asa’s voice, though barely a whisper, echoed in the silence of the cellar as though he had shouted. Something beneath the pile began to move. Expecting a nest of rats to come scurrying out, Asa took three steps back and watched. The pile of hair settled again but Asa’s hasty retreat had stirred up a cloud of dust and he could feel a sneeze brewing. He tried his best to suppress it but the more he did the more powerful it became until it burst from him, the loudest sneeze he had ever produced.
    ‘HATISHOOO!’ he exploded. The mound of hair heaved and shifted and the sprite, in a flurry of wings, disappeared back from where they had come. All Asa wanted to do was follow it out of there but his legs had turned to stone and he couldn’t move an inch.
    ‘Who’s there?’ demanded a raspy voice from somewhere inside the heap of