The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland Read Free Book Online

Sometimes, when I’m sitting in the window seat, I can hear whirring and humming and soft scratching and throbbing and buzzing and ticking all around me.
    So the walls are alive and, up above me, the huge beams and thethatch are alive too. The nests of martins and swallows. Hanging bats…The thatch is old and grey, so it doesn’t smell fresh, but it does smell comfortable. I think thatch-scent is a kind of medicine: It helps to soothe anger and cure fear. It makes me think summer thoughts, and sometimes it makes me sleepy.
    For most of the time, this room’s quite warm because of the heat rising from the hall. But in winter that wind sometimes blows from the north, and then it whistles in the thatch and pours through the wind-eye.
    When our old apple tree fell down, I sawed off a big slice of the trunk, and Gatty helped me to haul it up here. I perch my inkwell on it.
    So I sit in this little window seat with my knees up. And if I press my back against one side of the alcove and my feet against the other, there’s just enough space.
    Here is my quill. My cream page. This is my writing-room.

15
NINE
    M ERLIN AND OLIVER OFTEN ARGUE, AND OLIVER sometimes gets angry.
    I walked several times round the moat with them today, and they began by agreeing that the complete and flawless number is nine. But then they disagreed why.
    â€œThe reason, Merlin,” said Oliver, “is perfectly obvious. Lord God is our Father. He is the Son and he is the Holy Ghost. Three-in-one and one-in-three.”
    â€œAnd three equals nine,” said Merlin.
    â€œNo, Merlin! Three does not equal nine.”
    Merlin waved his hands impatiently. “Constipatus!” he muttered.
    Oliver took no notice. “Three is the divine number, and threefold three is nine,” he went on. “So nine is the flawless number. Quod erat demonstrandum. ”
    â€œI get the idea,” said Merlin.
    â€œYou get…” snapped Oliver, and he blocked one nostril with his right forefinger and blew snot from the other onto the ground.
    â€œI’ll tell you nine,” said Merlin quietly. “The nine spirits, each with a bottomless chalice…”
    â€œThat is blasphemy!” said Oliver loudly.
    â€œNothing of the kind,” replied Merlin.
    â€œDo you deny Christ?”
    â€œNot for one moment,” said Merlin.
    â€œIt’s as well for you,” said Oliver.
    â€œAre you threatening me?” asked Merlin.
    Oliver glared at Merlin. “Your own tongue is your enemy,” he said.
    â€œMy tongue is my servant.”
    â€œAnd it often leads you into mortal danger. There is no room in the house of Christ for nine spirits.”
    â€œOne person sips from the chalice of poetry,” continued Merlin, “and shapes poems for us. Another person sips from the chalice of song, and delights us.”
    â€œCow dung!” shouted Oliver. “A load of cow dung! And you know it!” And he turned his back on us, and flounced off.
    â€œWho are the other spirits?” I asked.
    â€œI will tell you,” said Merlin, “in a little while and soon. In the meantime, you must find your number.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œEach of us is born under one star, and it guides us. In each of us, one element is most powerful. Each of us is true to one number, and it is time for you to find it.”

16
THREE SORROWS, THREE FEARS, THREE JOYS
    I HAVE WORKED OUT THAT I HAVE THREE SORROWS, THREE fears and three joys, so my number may be nine.
    My first sorrow is Serle, who is unfair and mean to me.
    My second sorrow is my tailbone. I am almost sure it is growing. My third is the secret Lady Alice told me, and the pain she feels. These are the sorrows of my heart and body and head.
    My first fear is that my father will never agree to let me go into service away from home. And my second is even worse. I’m not all that good at my Yard-skills, my tilting especially, so what if my