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"Na then, t&039;get ta the faery circle, gwain ye doon the road past Arvright&039;s far very, very hard, I ed to pick out words in the sentence that I understood "Yes"

"Aye Gwain ye doon the hill past Arvright&039;s, then when ye see the sheep, ye turn north" The old man pointed to the south

"Is that north?" Sarah asked in an undertone, looking doubtfully in the direction theto get through his West Country accent" I turned a cheerful smile on the man "So, I turn left at the sheep?"

"Aye, &039;tis what I am sayin&039; Na then, once ye&039;ve skurved past they sheep, ye&039;ll come to a zat combe"

"Zat combe?" Sarah&039;s face was fierce with concentration "I&039;m not sure Ia zat co ouldn&039;t end up wandering into soht zat Full o&039; vared and said to the man, "Lots of them, eh?"

Behind ood thraipin&039;, but none here&039;ll be doin&039; it"

"Thraipin&039;," Sarah said, nodding just as if she understood

"Well, thraipin&039; chikky varments is an acquired skill, I&039;ve always found," I said, continuing to take notes that h the zat combe with the varments? Then?"

"Ye be up nap o&039; thikky hill"

"Ah"

Sarah leaned close "I recognized a word in that sentence I think I&039;ood to know that all those years of watching BBC A off"

"And that&039;s where the faery circle is?" I asked the le "Up nap o&039; thikky hill?"

"Aye" The old man narrowed his eyes and spat neatly to the side Sarah looked appalled "Dawn&039;t ye go kickin&039; up t&039;pellum on thikky hill"

"We wouldn&039;t dream of it," I prowain ye ta the faery circle &039;Tis naught good ye find up nap o&039; thikky hill"

"Well, now, that&039;s just lostto me for translation

I winked at the old man "Really? Bad, is it?"

"Aye &039;Tis evil" He winked back at ain

"That&039;s a co away the notebook Beside s have been considered places of enchantment for many centuries, they aren&039;t really rowth pattern Mushrooed on my shirt and tried to pull me to the car she&039;d rented for the duration of our trip

"I know this area is rich in folklore, and faery rings certainly have their share of believers, but I&039;m afraid the truth is much more mundane It turns out that there are three distinct types of rings, and that the effects on the grass depend on the type of fungus growing there, although not all rings are visible"

"Ignore her, she&039;s a heathen," Sarah said, yanking ood day!"

The old ain, and hobbled past us toward the pub

"You are so incorrigible! Honestly, spouting off all that stuff about fungus to that very colorful olda lish-style cars "Hey, you started this bet, nothts Ready?"

"Just a secoh,Thought I&039;d forgotten this" Sarah folded a wad of photocopied pages and stuck them in her coat pocket "I can&039;t wait to see what effect these spells have on the faery ring!"

"I aed by reason to point out that soic are not very likely to have any result other thanlook of martyrdom"

Sarah lifted her chin and looked placidly out the e crept through town "You can scoff all you want - these spells ritten by a very fah one family over the centuries The book I found it in was very rare: only fifty copies printed, and most of them destroyed And I have it on the best authority that the spells are authentic, so I have every confidence that you&039;ll be eating that long-suffering martyred look before the sun sets"

"Uh-huh"

By dint of Sarah consulting the hikingthe lazy river that wound around the town, headed over the stone bridge, and turned the car in the direction of farmland and the famed Harpford Woods

"Left side," Sarah pointed out as I strayed to the right

"Yup, yup, got it Just afarm, then take the road south to a bunch of trees Beware of the varments What do you think a zat colish Here, do you think?"

We pulled off the road and got out of the car to eye the field stretched out before us It was the perfect day for a walk in the country, ith pale blue, sunny skies, the bright green of the newly dressed trees, hundreds of daisies scattered across the field bobbing their heads in the breeze, birds chattering like crazy as they swooped and swirled around overhead, no doubt busily gathering nesting materials Even the sheep that dotted the hillsides were picturesque and charave the e open pasture and up a hill to where a sparse crowning of trees waved gently in the June breeze

"This is so awesood, they&039;re everywhere We have to be close, Portia," Sarah said e around us with happiness "I feel a very strong sense of place here"

"Yeah,by a fallen tree to scrape sheep poop off my shoe

"I knew you&039;d feel it, too I can&039;t wait to try thearrangement of the trees, don&039;t you think? They appear to ate?"

"Lead on, MacDuff" I followed obediently as Sarah, gloith excite of trees In the center, a space of about eighteen feet was open to the sky, covered in lush, erabbed my arm and pointed Her voice dropped to an awe-filled whisper "The fa! It&039;s perfect! Just what I iined it would be! It&039;s like a holy place, don&039;t you think?"

I left her hugging herself with delight,over to squat next to the bare earth thatwas about four feet wide, a perfect circle of bare earth surrounded by lush grass growing on the inside and outside of it There was nothing to indicate the cause, no mushrooms visible, but I knew they weren&039;t always seen I touched the sun-warmed dirt, and mused, "I wonder if there&039;s a lab around here where I could send a soil sa?"

"Infidel," she said without heat, slapping her coat pockets, pulling out the spell pages, and turning around in the ootten their purses have "Do you have the camera?"

I cocked an eyebrow at her "You took it away froht - you insisted on taking pictures of the far "

"You have to ad than that htened up to her full five-foot nothing "That bog mummy is said to have been used in a druid sacrifice, and thus could well contain the spiritoh, never mind I can see by theyourself up to any and all things unexplainable Let et the camera"

"I&039;ll do it - "

A little sparkle lit her eyes "No, you stay andMaybe if you open yourself up to the ic contained within, you&039;ll see how blind you&039;ve been all these years Here, you can read the spells over while I&039;et back I want to see everything the ring has to offer!"

I took the pages she handed s in the ht, if you&039;re sure you&039;re OK with driving on the wrong side of everything" I plucked a piece of grass and chewed the end of it as I shucked off ht jacket "I&039;ll soak up a bit of sun while you&039;re gone"

"Portia!" Sarah&039;s eyes grew huge "You can&039;t do that!"

"Do what, sunbathe? I&039; to take offaction to word

"You can&039;t eat anything that grows in the faery ring It&039;sit&039;s sacrilegious! In fact, I don&039;t think you should be in the ring at all I&039;er the faeries"

I rolled rass "I&039;ll take us Reme herself of a few s as tothe sun for a few minutes, but that quickly lost its char, but there was nothing there but trees, grass, daisies and buttercups, and the hispering through the leaves

"Right A little scientific investigation is in order," I said aloud to break the silence I seated rass to chehile I consulted the photocopies Sarah had thrust uponthe purpose of the spells was couched in draullible reader into believing its authenticity "It&039;s going to take a lot more than some lame atteer down the spells "Magicus circulus contra malus, evoco aureolus pulvis, commutatus idem doet? I bet this isn&039;t even real Latin - "

A gliht the corner ofsoround that had caught the sunlight, but there was nothing

The hairs on the back ofthat posed a threat was approaching

"Honestly, Portia, how pathetic is it that you&039;re letting Sarah&039;s chat aboutof goose bu someone&039;s enthusiasht inaround to look at it