Chapter 5 #2
He took a diversion through Corbridge, a pretty little market town that was full of winding alleys, cobbled streets and mellow stone buildings.
It had the added bonus of having its own Roman fort as well, which he itched to have a look at.
Oh – and his aunt had traced the family tree back there, but he wasn’t that fussed over any of that.
However, he was using today as a bit of a reconnaissance mission for the bits he was interested in, and he fully intended to come back and explore properly.
For now, the Angel Inn looked pretty good for a coffee stop, which is exactly what he did.
He was tired and could do with a caffeine hit.
He parked up and went into the old building.
A plaque announced it had been an inn since at least 1569, and Jake got a shiver down his spine.
How many stories could this place tell? As a history teacher, he loved the past and what it could tell you and he stood in the lobby and looked around him at the cosy bar and the neatly laid tables.
It was a pretty good choice for coffee.
As he ordered and made himself comfortable while he waited, he sat back in the chair and zoned out a bit.
Wood-panelled walls made the place actually feel five hundred years old, and the fire crackling in the grate almost hypnotised him.
His mind wandered as he looked at it, seeing images and pictures that you could only see in the flames of a real fire.
Bloody marvellous stuff!
But as he sat there, he drifted a little more, and half-closed his eyes in the warm, soothing room.
He had the impression of peeling back the centuries, the place changing ever so slightly as he drifted, and he imagined figures moving around, serving customers, playing cards, drinking – and watching.
And waiting.
He imagined being huddled up in the corner, shrouded in black, watching a man who had come in and was throwing his weight around…
‘I have an important journey to make tomorrow, and I must awake early and refreshed.’
‘You can wait your turn, sir, like everyone else.’
‘Oh, mate,’ murmured Jake, shifting position to wake himself up a bit before his coffee was delivered to a snoring patron, ‘you’ll get nowhere bullying people.’
‘Coffee?’
He started and sat up straight as the waitress clattered the tray on the table.
‘You look like you need it!’
‘God, I do!’ He smiled at her as she laid it out in front of him: a cafetière, a mug, cream, sugar, a couple of little biscuits on the saucer… marvellous. ‘I’m way too comfortable. There’s a lot of history here; I’m just soaking in it. And it’s warm.’
‘It’s a great place. Stay as long as you want. We don’t charge extra for naps.’
‘Thanks. That’s good to know. I’ll maybe have a refill, just to make sure.’
‘No worries. Just give us a shout if you need anything.’
The girl walked away and Jake poured his coffee. It was very good coffee. Just as well – he really needed to wake up before the next bit of the journey.
* * *
Eventually, after coffee, and after leaving Corbridge, Jake drove slowly along the so-called Military Road (military as in the Jacobites, not the Romans, he had discovered – which was an intrigue all of its own), looking for the campsite he’d booked into.
‘We’re expecting snow,’ the owner had said when Jake had called them earlier. ‘Just so you know.’
‘It’s fine,’ Jake had said cheerfully. ‘I’ve got a van and it’s got heating and power, and I’m sure it’ll be okay.’ He had a week off work anyway – if he got stuck there for a couple of days, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. There were probably worse places to be stuck.
As he drove down the main road towards the campsite, he spotted a sign for the Mithraic Temple.
He had plenty of time, he had nothing else planned – so why not nip in and have a look?
Violet’s picture had looked so intriguing, and it would be fantastic to see it for himself.
The entrance to the car park appeared, and he turned the van in almost without thinking.
For a moment, he felt a touch of anxiety – what if Violet was actually at the Well, right now?
She still didn’t know he was coming and he wanted it to be a nice surprise for her: more like, Hey, I’m in this great pub.
Yeah, it’s called the Twice Brewed Inn. What?
You’re just along the road? What a coincidence!
Come and join me, I’ll buy you a drink. No – I’ll buy you dinner!
Not just rocking up out of the blue and startling her when she was busy working.
But the car park was empty, and he exhaled in relief. He parked up and shivered. This place would have been brutal for the soldiers in the forts. It looked cold and uninviting enough right now and he had a few home comforts at his disposal.
He climbed out of the van and the cold wind caught in his chest. Wow. He wasn’t expecting that – it was blasting right across the fields, bringing with it something sleety and wet that was probably the beginning of that snow he had been warned about.
Okay, the quicker he got to this temple, the better. He hurried along to the track down towards it, turning right at the bottom of the mound that had been the fort and strode along the muddy path.
‘Oh there you are, you beauty.’ Jake grinned as he saw the ruined walls and the three replica altars. But as he got closer to it, the more unsettled he felt. He slowed his pace and frowned. He’d visited many of these places over the years and none of them had quite felt as – weird – as here.
As far as he knew, the Mithraic religion hadn’t demanded human sacrifice – there were, he understood, mysterious, unknown rituals that had to be undertaken for someone to be allowed into the elite religion – but something was stopping him wanting to go any closer to the temple. Something dark and evil and—
‘Shit.’ Jake pulled himself up short. He realised it wasn’t the temple that was freaking him out, but the stream rushing past. He knew it sprung from the Sacred Well, and the whole place just had a weird vibe.
If the rumours were true, a witch’s ashes had floated past this place – was it any wonder that the entire area just didn’t feel…
right. He couldn’t imagine that Violet’s old witch had been transported very far before she was despatched and her remains scattered. So it must have happened around here.
‘God, what a place!’ Jake looked around in distaste. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. The temple was his bag; the witch was Violet’s. And she was welcome to her.
He transferred his attention to the ruined temple; yep, a few walls and three altars, exactly as the guidebooks said. But despite the fact that his prime objective was the temple, he found that, somehow, he didn’t really want to go in there today. He wanted to go past it, towards Coventina’s Well.
Needed to, in fact.
And he had to cross that appalling stream to do so, despite what he thought about it.
Jake looked across at the foggy cloudbank on the other side of the stream. There was a stile and a crossing made of stone slabs, and so he walked towards the cloudbank, wondering what it was actually hiding…