Extract from Christmas Ghosts and the Holly Queen

Here’s a short extract from my Yuletide cosy folk horror novel Christmas Ghosts and the Holly Queen, which I am serialised for free on Lucya’s Substack. In the novel this is a tale told by a character who is nicknamed Old Nick by the local villagers

“You want me to tell you what life was like 100 years ago. You’re probably thinking I’m not that old, and you might be right, but I can tell you before the war things hadn’t changed much for ever such a long time. I’d get up at 5am, sometimes earlier, even in winter – even on Christmas Eve. The animals still had to be fed and the pens and stables mucked out. We still used horses for some things. 

“Few of the cottages had fireplaces in the bedrooms. We did, in the posh house as you called it, but we couldn’t afford to burn coal frivolously. I’d wake up with ice riming the windows. Breakfast was cold tea and hunk of bread, and I was out before it was light. I’d walk by moonlight, maybe a mile or two. Some of our farmhands travelled further. But I tell you it was beautiful, and I wouldn’t have swapped it for anything. I would rather trudge 10 miles in snow or mud out here than move to the town to work in a factory or whatever. 

“I had the valley to myself as far as I could see as I walked along the lane, past the woods, and over the fields. It was peaceful. You could hear the wind in the trees and maybe an owl hooting or a fox calling to his vixen. Nothing much else. Sometimes I’d wish it would be like that forever, and the world would never change.

“But you want to hear something more interesting, don’t you? You don’t want to just hear an old man reminiscing about the world back when he was a boy. Let me tell you something that happened one Christmas Eve. I must have been, what, 17. I thought myself a man, but I was a lad still really. 

“I’d got up early and out as usual to feed the animals. There was a clear sky and a full moon, and it was piercing cold. I was walking down the lane, like I told you. Frost glittered on everything like it was covered in diamonds. Not that I’d ever seen a diamond, but that sparkle was what I’d imagined them to be like, because nothing could be quite so magical. I was looking forward to finishing work and getting back to the village, because we had fun on Christmas Eve. It was the best time of all the seasons, and I had a sweetheart I was keen to share it with that year.

“As I was strolling along the lane, past the woods, I heard someone call my name. That was unusual because, as I said, I didn’t usually meet another soul on my way to the barn. I looked around, and off in the woods I saw a woman. She obviously knew me, because she called my name, but I’d swear I didn’t know her. I stopped, and said ‘Hello’ and ‘Can I help you?’ and the like. And she said, yes, I could help her. Could I carry a Yule log to her cottage? I looked strong and would I mind?

I didn’t know exactly what a Yule log was, but I guessed it was firewood she needed. I said yes. No one would wish a fellow human to be without a fire over Christmas. She led me off into the woods. I don’t know how far. I thought I knew these woods like the back of my hand, but I swear she took me somewhere I’d never seen before. There was this grove of trees we went to. Huge holly bush at one end covered in red berries, and other trees all around: oak and ash and blackthorn and pine… 

“The log. Yes, it was there in the centre of the grove, and she said this was it, and would I carry it. It was heavy, but I was strong. You don’t work on a farm without building muscle. I hefted up this huge hunk of branch. It wasn’t recently cut – must have fallen in a storm. She told me to follow her to her cottage, so I did. That was a way too, but at last we got there, to this tiny little cottage, deep in the woods. And again I’d never seen it before. 

“She opens the door and leads me inside, and tells me to put the log in the fireplace. It near fills it, but she seems happy enough. I turn to leave and be on my way, but she says: ‘Stay, have a drink, something to warm you.’ And I do. She kindles a fire on that huge log, and brews a drink of herbs that we share. The cottage gets warm, and one thing leads to another… 

“I’m too old-fashioned to relate the saucy details. Let’s just say I wasn’t thinking about my sweetheart, back in the village. Afterwards, I guess I must have fallen asleep or something. I woke up later. Much later. Turns out it was days later. Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, and all the time until 12th Night had been and gone. I wasn’t in a cottage, and the woman was nowhere to be seen. I was in a grove of trees with a holy bush at one end. Amazing I hadn’t died of cold. 

“Everyone in the village had been searching for me all that time. Worried as hell, of course. But I didn’t tell them what had happened, or about the woman. I don’t reckon they’d have believed me anyway, but that wasn’t the real reason. I had my sweetheart to think of. I was pleased to say she was very happy to find I was alive and well, and I wasn’t going to say anything to spoil that, was I?”

“Did you ever try to find her again?” Debbie asked.

“I tried. Never did.”

Read my Yuletide folk horror tale for free

If you want to read all of Christmas Ghosts and the Holly Queen, you can find the first installment here and read later chapters on the substack as well. You can also subscribe to get posts sent to your inbox.

Get 50 per cent off my other books

My other Gothic novel is called Erosion, and is published by Moon Books which is part of Collective Ink. The company is offering 50 per cent off all e-books until December 31st, including mine. 

All you need to do is:

• Click here > https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com
• Choose your e-book(s)
• Click ‘Add to basket for direct download.’
• Click on your shopping basket
• Click on ‘Do you have a coupon?’
• Apply promo code WINTER50  and Validate.
• Proceed to Checkout.

If you want to search for my books, you can go straight to my Lucya Starza author page. I’ve written on candle magic, poppets, guided visualisations, scrying and the wheel of the year as well as my novel Erosion. You can read an excerpt from Erosion here: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/10/seance-with-skull-from-my-gothic-novel.html

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk

Source: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/12/extract-from-christmas-ghosts-and-holly.html