Horatio and the Story of the Manor

Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle

Artwork by Steve English

The script:

Episode 6 - Everything Changes.

So started the change of the Manor and the isolation of everyone inside the Manor and the three little villages around. So also started the expansion and influence of the darkness, but much more subtly than before – the explosion of the lady of light had seen to that!

Very soon, the people realised they were trapped, and no one knew why or how it happened. No one in the Manor or any of the villages could leave. They could go beyond the villages to their fields and work, but no further. If they tried, they found themselves coming back into the locked-off area at some set point which was different for each of them.

However, everyone who lived and worked in the Manor itself always found themselves coming back into the Manor, usually through the back-door, heading into the boot-room.

This was especially disconcerting for the dogs. One moment they would be merrily chasing a rabbit or a squirrel. Then, having inadvertently crossed the invisible barrier, they found themselves heading full-pelt into the Manor with no sign of their prey.

Strangely, there was one anomaly to the whole locked-off thing which surprised everyone when it first happened. This was the ability for outsiders to come and go as they pleased. Of course, once they arrived, they never stayed. And, once they left, they never remembered what had happened and where they’d been – but it did mean that at times visitors came and added a little more interest to the locked off lives of the people.

At the start, when they realised they were trapped, everyone was angry and blamed the Baron. What they didn't realise was that because the area was locked off, not only couldn't the people leave - but the dangerous darkness that was the real source of everything that was happening – was also trapped inside, trapped and furious.

The problem with this was that the darkness was still expanding and growing and slowly but surely filling the area it was trapped inside. Before, it had grown and leaked out of the Manor and dissipated beyond the villages, but not now. Now, it was trapped, filling the Manor and the villages and everywhere inside.

The problems started quite soon after that. In no time at all, in fact, rather too quickly, people began to forget. They didn't forget their names, or where they lived, but they did forget things like the name of their villages or what life had been like before whatever it was that had locked them away. They remembered something had happened, but just not what it was.

It was the same in the Manor, the servants sometimes came to work and sometimes forgot they worked at the Manor at all. Although the main problem was that most of them forgot where they came from, and so where to go when they finished work. They ended up staying in the Manor. Thankfully, there were lots of rooms, so they were able to stay, and before long didn't know anything else. In fact, very soon it felt as if that was where they had always lived and belonged.

The Baron and his wife and their son Archibald were also severely affected along with the Baron's sister, Lady Pinchinthorpe, who lived with them in the Manor. To put it simply, they started to forget, forget where they came from, who their ancestors were, why they lived in the Manor. But the darkness was especially hard on the family, as well as taking their memories, it continued to take a massive toll on their looks and their happiness.

Of the families, both dog and humans, Archibald and Horatio were especially close although the darkness still took its toll. Already extremely ugly and evil-looking because of the effects of the darkness on their family before they were locked away, Archibald's body started to change. As the years rolled on, his features became more pointed and ugly. His eyebrows met in the middle, and his teeth grew sharp and pointed. After a while, his...

Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle

Artwork by Steve English

The script:

Episode 5 - The Escape.

There had been many battles inside the Manor and around its grounds since Winefry had awoken. It seemed that even though the darkness had awoken the brave bottle, they had become enemies, with the bottle fighting against anything and everything that seemed to get worse with the darkness.

Of course, the battles had been even more intense on the nights of a full moon, and especially during the midnight hour. Yet it seemed that even though the evil grew more influential during that time, so did the power and skill of Winefry, to the point that no matter what foe he faced he was always victorious. Until all the known enemies were vanquished.

This was that night when the last enemy fell. And, as they looked upon the bodies of their enemies, the wounded Winefry and Scragg made a decision that would turn the lives of everyone upside-down. They decided that they were going to leave the Manor and its’ grounds to find adventure elsewhere. For some reason, they thought their work in the Manor was done – for now - , and they felt strangely compelled to go and strangely compelled to seek out new adventures. Where this compulsion came from, they didn’t know, but they could not ignore it. It was as if a voice was calling them and they had to answer.

When the decision was made, the two of them collected what little they had, packed it in bags that they roped to their backs and started to head out of the Manor.

But the Manor knew.

As they turned into a hallway to go one way, the corridor went another. They entered one room and came out further away from the exit than when they started. I don’t think they would ever have left if it wasn’t for Horatio and the border terriers Flannel and Spanner. For tonight, for some inexplicable reason, they seemed to have grown a very high distain for Scragg!

Typically, when dogs and cats grow up together, they tend to get on quite well – and – usually, that was the case here. It certainly was for Flannel, Spanner and Scragg. However, the night Winefry and Scragg decided to leave was the night of a cold and wintery full moon. Not just any full moon, this was once again a wolf moon. Of all the full moons, the one the border terriers felt more than any other was the wolf moon. And Horatio, who was born exactly one year before, felt it most of all.

As Winefry and Scragg went from room to room, so the time ticked away, getting closer and closer to midnight. As midnight approached, so the dogs started to change. No longer were they the lovable, adorable, fluffy terriers everyone knew, these animals were larger and wilder. Their eyes began to glow slightly green, and they could smell Scragg!

Approaching one door, a whine-come-howl erupted from just behind, forcing the bottle and Scragg to change direction at the last moment and exit through a doorway that hadn’t been their moments before. Again and again, the hapless pair were forced to change course by the approach of the border terrors. And, at each last moments change, somehow Winefry and Scragg found themselves closer to the exit of the Manor. Until as they approached the last door, the border terrors appeared as if from nowhere forcing them to make a dash for it and race for the kitchen.

The border terrors tore after the bottle and the cat. And, if they had had time to observe it, they would have seen the shadows of the border terrors being left behind, just momentarily, as the monsters they had become chased down their prey.

At the last moment, Winefry and Scragg charged into the kitchen only to find that somehow one of the terrors had made it there before them. It was standing between them, the boot room and the open back door. The border terror raised its head to howl at the wolf moon, and as it did, so Winefry and Scragg charged as fast as they could towards the terror. As they arrived and the terror (who was Horatio, but far...

Winefry and Scragg start to face down the dark rats. But at what cost?

Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle

Artwork by Steve English

Episode 3 - Horatio Arrives

One of the dogs Winefry had noticed, a female border terrier called Flannel had got fatter over recent weeks. As he waited and watched that evening in the kitchen, he saw her lie down in her basket - as her partner, the male border, Spanner, watched and waited with her.

But tonight was not to be a typical night. The dark rats seemed to know something was happening, something Winefry knew nothing about. There was an excitement about them as they waited in their holes and behind the walls and cupboards. The cat, Scragg, came and went. There was no animosity between the borders and Scragg as they’d grown up together and considered themselves family. Winefry noted that Scragg seemed on edge, coming and going, waiting and watching, sniffing and chasing - anything she thought might be a rat - or rat-related.

Then, as Scragg left the room, a noise from the hall caught the bottles attention and the attention of Spanner who lifted his head and walked to the door to look. Spanner seemed unwilling to leave Flannel for some reason. Scragg was nowhere to be seen.

What happened next left Winefry shocked - he had never seen anything like it before. Suddenly, the room filled with rats which split into two distinct groups. One group moved around Spanner by the door, while the other group headed for Flannel who, for some reason, seemed to be unable to do anything except pant and look uncomfortable.

In a flash, Spanner attacked the rats around him as the other rats moved towards Flannel intent on taking from her something Winefry could never have imagined. For from Flannel, the most amazing thing Winefry had ever seen was coming, a tiny version of herself and Spanner, a miniature and apparently completely helpless dog.

The rats wanted the miniature dog, to rip it to pieces and eat it. Winefry didn’t think, he reacted. He was a creature of the darkness, the darkness had given him life. But, he was also a creature of light. He was a creature of the moon. The same cold wolf moon that beamed through the windows this very night, revealing a scene before him of Spanner fighting for his life, and the other rats bounding towards Flannel and her helpful miniature dog.

Winefry found himself zipping through the air - as his long, powerful legs thrust him towards the helpless Flannel who could do little more than growl and snap at the approaching rats.

The sharpened poker was in Winefry’s hand. Then it was through the back and heart of the largest of all the dark rats attacking Flannel, the one that was about to snatch the miniature dog, intent on ripping it apart.

At Winefry’s unexpected intervention, the other rats paused, unsure what had happened or how to react. They had assumed the wine bottle would keep out of it like it had for the last year. They had also thought that it was like them, a creature of the darkness – but now they realised they were very wrong, that this thing was dangerous.

That moment's pause gave Winefry all the time he needed to pass between the rest of the rats as he pulled his weapon out of the dead rat and let its body slumped to the floor. Then, he stood in front of a rather shocked Flannel who had never even noticed the wine bottle before.

The bloody battle of the other rats and spanner continued. Spanner was holding his own for now, there were dead rats around him, but he was bleeding quite badly and could not help. That had always been the dark rats plan, to distract and detain Spanner, while they stole the miniature dog from a seemingly helpless Flannel.

No one could have predicted the intervention of Winefry. And, if it hadn’t been for him, the miniature dog would already be dead – ripped to pieces and food for the rats.

The moments' shock passed, and the rats around Flannel, fuelled by a new rage at the thwarting on their plans, attacked again, determined to get their prize. Winefry’s poker sword,...

Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle

Artwork by Steve English

The script:

Episode 2 - The Malevolent Darkness

The Manor was always a little strange. Beautiful as it was - a Tudor manor house set in the idyllic scenery of the North Yorks Moors, it was still considered by anyone who knew it as a place to be avoided.

At the start, it was little more than a feeling, a sense that something wasn’t quite right. But then, as time pasted, that sense of things not being right developed into a sure knowledge that something was wrong. Something in or maybe with the Manor just wasn’t right.

Quite how long this feeling lasted, I have no idea, that’s lost in the annals of time. Yet, I do know how it started to show itself - because you can’t hide darkness in your inner being. If there is darkness inside, as sure as eggs is eggs, it’s going to come out. And, that’s precisely what happened in the Manor.

Maybe it’s a little unfair to blame the Manor itself as in all probability, it wasn’t the Manor so much as something coming to live in the Manor that brought that feeling of unease. Yet, as time past, the sense of it being something other than the Manor faded, until it felt like it was the Manor – as if whatever it was that caused all these problems had become one with the Manor.

Where the darkness arrived from and how it came to live in the Manor are stories for another time. But, for this story, it’s enough to know that the darkness lived in the Manor and to all intense and purposes - it was the Manor.

As the darkness grew and began to be absorbed into the very fabric of the building, it started to show itself as small things changed. (P) Items that belonged in one place would turn up in another, and it wasn’t just little things. In time, whole rooms would relocate to different parts of the Manor. Then, the Manor itself started to change. Once, it had been beautiful to look at, and no doubt - generations of the wealthy and privileged had basked in the glory of the Manor, its rooms, its gardens and its opulence. Until that is, that beauty started to fade. For, as I said before, you can’t hide what’s inside. Because, it seemed, there was darkness in the very bones of the Manor - as over time it transformed from a beautiful country house into a particularly nasty and creepy little castle. A castle that was always changing, always transforming and never at rest. After all, isn’t it said that there’s no rest for the wicked?

Of course, the people who owned, lived and worked in the Manor didn’t miss out on the effects of the darkness. As soon as they realised what was happening, they tried to sell the place, and at one point they even wanted to abandon it. But, the family who lived there – the Briggswath’s – were unable to leave. Every attempt to sell fell through, financial problems ensured they stayed to try and work the land. But when they almost gave up and decided to abandon the place, somehow it knew. Every way they went ended up returning them to the same place because the Manor wouldn’t let them go.

Then, as well as the Manor and the things inside it changing, the people and their pets also started to be affected. The Briggswath’s had been a beautiful family, the daughters quickly married and sons longed for by others from far and wide – until they weren’t. Beauty turned around, packed up its bags and left, leaving each successive generation more affected by the darkness. Even their pets were affected, and none more than their beloved border terriers. The Briggswath’s had kept border terriers since before they were kennel club registered, and although they were working dogs, it didn’t take long for them to work their way into the hearts of the Briggwath’s and so become family pets.

At first, the border terriers had become harder to groom. Their features became a little more extreme with each new generation, even when fresh blood was brought in from outside. Yet they were still dearly loved - with a bond between...

Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle

Artwork by Steve English

The script:

Episode 1 - Prologue

Yorkshire is a magical place. But that said, it’s not always good magic – although usually, it is. However, very occasionally, it’s downright nasty! More enchantment and entrapment than puppy dogs and ponies!

Take for example a little piece of North Yorkshire, probably somewhere in the North York Moors, but more hidden than elsewhere. And when I say hidden, what I really mean is locked away - isolated.

This area is so enchanted that the people inside, the ones who were there when it got locked away and isolated – aren’t able to leave. In fact, they can’t even remember why they were isolated - or anything from before that isolation.

When they do try and leave, when they go to the invisible boundary between this place and the rest of the world, instead of leaving - they find themselves coming back into some other part of their locked away land. (Laugh) Interestingly, when they try and go - and regardless of where they leave from, they always come back to the same fixed point – which can actually be quiet helpful depending on where that point is. I mean, for some people it can be a quick way home. All they need to do is walk to the nearest boundary, and no matter where that boundary is, they end up back in their village or even their own homes! But for others, it can be a little awkward. Pity the poor soul who accidentally leaves only to find themselves entering a busy pig-pen!

Cruelly, visitors from outside, people who weren’t inside when the isolation happened, come and go at will. But, because of the enchantment, or whatever it is - once those visitors leave, they don’t remember details. All they know is that they went somewhere and came back again – and have no desire to remember anything else.

Inside this locked away and enchanted part of Yorkshire there’s a Manor and three villages. No-one can remember the original names of the villages, as that seems to have been lost when the enchantment arrived. So, for now, they’re known by what happens to the villages and the villagers at the stroke of midnight on a full moon. (P) In all honesty, it starts getting really bad on the day that the full moon’s going to happen and tends to last until the morning after. It’s just hit’s it peak (or trough depending on how you look at it) at midnight on the night of full moon.

OK, so the first village is known as Rott. This is because the people (and the village itself) literally rot to pretty much nothing on the night of the full moon. That said, by sunrise, the next morning, the village and the villagers are kind of back to normal. So, it doesn’t last. Although it can make for some fascinating discussions and experiences around the night of full moon!

The next village is called Grott - because those villagers turn into a slimy, grotty mucus-like substance.

And the third village is called Snott. Not because they turn into a mucus-like substance – they don’t. Instead, they shrink, and with that shrinkage tends to come an attitude – so pretty quickly they got known as ‘Little Snotts’ - and the name ‘Snott’ stuck.

The Manor – or Manor Rott, Grott and Snott – to give it its present title. Is lived in by the Baron.

You may as well go on a hunt for snails teeth than look for someone who appears more evil, nasty and wicked than the Baron. Some think they can even see the evil coming off him in a vapour! But just one look at him and you KNOW he’s the personification of wickedness.

Somehow, there’re still servants working at the Manor, but nowadays there’re only 2 – which is suspicious! I mean, it’s quite a large Manor, so where did all the other servants go? How’s all the work done? And, why did these 2 stay?

Of those remaining servants, the oldest is the butler and known as Thornton. He is extraordinarily deaf (when it suits him) and not known for doing … well … anything really. In fact, as far as I can tell, he...