11.1 The Shetland Witch
In which Atropos begins to hear voices.
‘This is BBC Radio Shetland. The strong winds we’ve experienced in the past three days have broken a new national speed record recorded at Saxa Vord, with a top speed of 199 miles per hour during Friday afternoon. This beats the UK national record, also recorded at Saxa Vord by the RAF back in 1992, of 198 miles per hour. However on that occasion higher wind speeds could well have been recorded, had it not been for the destruction of the recording equipment during the storm. The Met Office reports that it has no problems with their measuring equipment, and has said that the powerful weather system Shetland is experiencing this week could be categorised as a hurricane, the first one of this size in the area since the 1990s.’
‘All flights have been cancelled since Friday, and Shetland Ferries report that sailing schedules have been severely disrupted. A wall has collapsed in Scalloway, with no injuries. Fourteen people have been rescued from flooded buildings throughout the islands. Walkers are advised to stay off high ground and exposed locations. Drivers are advised to stay off exposed roads. Cruise ships have notified the Lerwick harbour authorities that Shetland has been dropped from their itineraries for the time being. The ships will be sailing straight to Orkney or Norway through rough seas. None of the Shetland fishing fleet has been able to put to sea for several days. Yachts and small boats have been advised to stay in harbour.’
The excavation site was drenched. Hazel visited Scaw on Sunday to empty the puddles off the tarpaulins, walking as lightly as she could on the slippery paths between the excavated areas, and then stumped back to Ishabel’s croft in the rain, feeling despondent.
‘Do you want to have another try at moving the storm out to sea?’
‘I don’t think we’re enough, just the two of us.’ Hazel said. ‘Could we ask Avril?’
Ishabel shook her head. ‘She’s too busy. So many animals have been found injured by the storm, she’s helping out at the rescue unit. And she couldn’t get here safely anyway; she’s not really experienced enough to fly in these winds. This is extreme weather, even for Shetland.’
‘What about getting Maggie up here?’
‘She’s down at the south of Unst. There’s been a lot of erosion damage, and she’s shoring up cliffs before rockfalls happen. She said it was as if someone had been punching holes in the cliffs.’
‘Well, let’s give it another try.’
They stood in the garden behind the shed, out of sight, and focused on the concentrated cone of energy that was bearing down on Unst. It was a circling weather system of malevolence that threw water and wind across the islands in a violent spiral. It was cold, angry and wet. They worked for over an hour in the rain, concentrating and trying to draw out the energy, but the storm’s venom seemed inexhaustible. Hazel felt drained.
‘I don’t think we could do it even with the others,’ Ishabel said, looking like a bedraggled brown bird. ‘It’s just too big. Too embedded, and too much under the control of our angry friend.’
Hazel had been listening to the waves, their ceaseless crashing audible even from the house. ‘He’s really got the ocean going as well. I don’t think the swell has reduced since the storm began.’
Hazel drove back to Norwick to get into dry clothes, and then she drove south into Haroldswick to meet Fintan.
He was sitting in the Saxa Vord bar, staring out of the window. Gloom was written all over his face.
‘It’s fine. The site is fine, the mound is well covered, there’s been no water ingress, and there’s nothing to worry about,’ she said, trying to be cheerful. ‘Coffee?’
‘I was thinking – actually no, no thanks, I’ve just had a pint – I met someone who wanted to talk about the excavation, and we thought, if we put up a really big tent over the site, we could –’
‘No, Fintan. We’ve gone over this. We’d never get it erected. And even if we did, it would blow away,’ Hazel said, knowing that it would.
‘I’m worried about the cliff collapsing.’
‘I’m worried too. But all we can do is sit it out. Did you see that the bar has board games? Do you want to play Lost Cities, or Carcassone?’
On Monday morning Hazel waited for the Belmont ferry for two hours in pelting rain and high winds to bring Atropos a new supply of food. Atropos had been reading her way through the books from the cupboard, slowly. She had learned to hold a pencil, and she was practising writing by copying the words she didn’t understand. Whoever came to visit had to explain all the words to her. Hazel wondered whether Ishabel had a dictionary they could leave for Atropos to explore.
But today Atropos was unsettled. Something had thrown her off balance. She tried to explain.
‘I can hear ghosts.’
‘In the Haa? Here?’
Atropos shook her head. ‘Perhaps two. I hear their voices.’
Hazel was cautious. ‘OK. Are they angry?’ She’d heard about one haunted house on Yell. Did this Haa also have ghosts? It was old enough.
‘Not angry. Sometimes they are angry with each other. Then they are not.’ Now her eyes looked black and tragic. ‘They are a torment.’
‘Why, what are they doing?’ Hazel was surprised. Atropos had never yet shown any fear, or upset. This was new.
‘I do not understand it. But I know what they say. They make me remember.’
‘Oh Atropos. What do you remember?’
Atropos looked miserable, sitting hunched and angular in front of the cold hearth.
‘My sisters.’
‘Oh. But Atropos, they must be –’
Atropos interrupted. ‘Can you hear them?’
‘But they can’t be here?’
‘Something is here that sounds like them. Listen back. In my memories.’
Hazel remembered now. Scraps from Atropos’s memory were still escaping into her dreams, and now she recalled a scene of late sunshine coming through the poplars and a broad wooden table covered with the remains of a meal. There was a very large woman in white seated comfortably in a huge chair with wooden arms, and a second, equally large woman, standing like a tree in a greenish robe beside her. They were both laughing at something Atropos had said.
Episode 11.2 will follow.
The Shetland Witch © Kate Macdonald 2024.
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