From Courting Danger

Chapter 1

A Cornish moorland, England.
April, 1943

“Over there, look.”

Stephen Sersanders adjusted his long limbs and stretched out on the damp earth. Resting on his elbows, he looked across the moorland landscape as instructed, using a pocket-sized telescope. In the distance there was conical hill or tor with what appeared to be two piles of disk-shaped boulders placed one upon the other. Apart from this, there was nothing but sheep-cropped turf and grey-green scrub. A bird lifted from a nearby boulder, chattering angrily at having to abandon a snail shell. “What am I looking for?” Stephen asked.

“That hill with those round-shaped rocks, look to the west, there’s a dead tree and –”

“Got it. That’s where the pool is on the map. The one we pass on the way to the hut.” Stephen rolled onto his side and pulled a silk handkerchief from a pocket. It was printed with a map of the area. He passed it to the young woman at his side. “

If we get nearer and go up the hill a bit, we can see if anyone’s following us,” she said.

“Bandits on the horizon,” Stephen chuckled.

“This isn’t a game.”

“No, I know that. It’s just that sometimes it reminds me of hare and hounds. We used to play it at school and . . . sorry, you’re right. Sorry.”

Libby Jeffrey gave her partner a sharp look. “Are you deliberately trying to get us failed, so you can go home?”

“No! Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it. You’re in charge today, not me.”

Libby gave him another searching look then pointed a grubby finger at the hill, “There’s a gap between the rocks.”

Stephen lifted his spyglass, “Got it. Could be a cave. Might even be able to squeeze in if we need to. Hey, we can escape the war and live with the spriggans until it’s over.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Libby snarled. “We need to get through this test unseen and complete the task if we’re to get into the final selection round. And I for one do not intend to fail.”

“Sorry, Libby.”

“Spriggans,” Libby scoffed, pushing badly cut dull brown hair out of her eyes to squint at the rock face. “The sidhe are a damned sight more dangerous than spriggans.”

Stephen blinked, surprised at her knowledge and attitude. Tucking the map into a pocket, he said, “I didn’t think you’d know about that sort of thing.”

“My mother was born in Brittany; I know all about menhirs and portals into the Otherworld. Someone was telling me about a local stone circle a few days ago, as it happens.”

Stephen rolled onto his back and gazed at the cloudy sky. “It would certainly make this current hell more bearable, knowing that it’s all temporary, just an unpleasant stop along life’s long journey.”

“Save your existential philosophy for later, Sersanders,” Libby ordered, panning the area through her own small telescope.

“Yes, boss. What’s next?”

“We get to those rocks, have a quick look around then cross the open area to the hut as instructed.”

Libby slammed shut her spyglass and stuffed it into her shoulder bag then pulled the bag across her dumpy body and scrambled to a crouching position.