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<title>Mythlands - Chapter 22</title>
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<h1>22</h1>
<p>
The shouts of panicked men woke Jack and Kerry in the low bunk they'd been given in a hut near the outer wall. They stumbled out into sheer mayhem.
</p>
<p>
On the palisade walk, soldiers were firing clusters of arrows into the dark and torches flickered while something huge and heavy battered at the big timber
gate.
</p>
<p>
"To the wall. All arms to the wall." Alevin's wide form went striding past. His twin knives dangled from his belt and he gripped a long two-handed sword.
</p>
<p>
Scree were clambering up ladders and over the spikes, armed with clubs and curved blades like scimitars, but these Scree were different from the hunters
who had chased them half-way across Temair. They were massive, squat and ugly and all fired up with heat and violence. Jack saw one of them roll over the
spikes, with three arrows dug deep into its warty hide and it still kept coming. One of the palisade garrison hit it with an axe and almost took an arm off
at the shoulder, but the Scree only grunted, swung its club and the axe-man flopped.
</p>
<p>
Both Jack and Kerry ducked back inside the hut. Kerry drew out the sword and Jack had his bow. Over by the boardwalk, the dead man's quiver was full of
arrows. Jack snatched it up and slung it over his shoulder.
</p>
<p>
"Look at the size of that thing," Kerry had to shout over the clamour. Jack was looking down the length of a war arrow a yard long. He let fly and the
point took the monster under the chin. It whirled, clubbing the timbers and tumbled back over the spikes.
</p>
<p>
"Great shot!" Arrows were singing in the air, stuttering against the barracks hut. Men and Scree were roaring battle-cries. Up on the walk, Alevin paced
beside the defenders, his fair hair pale in the torchlight.
</p>
<p>
"Throw them back!" He bent over the palisade and his sword came down with a meaty thud and something fell away. A platoon of men were up at the gate,
firing through slits even while the great timbers buckled inwards. They stabbed long spears through, but it was clear they couldn't hold it for long.
</p>
<p>
"We better make ourselves scarce," Kerry said. "I think we're on the losing team."
</p>
<p>
"Where's Corriwen?"
</p>
<p>
"Dunno. She was with her cousin and the big guy."
</p>
<p>
"We should find her."
</p>
<p>
"We should run like hell."
</p>
<p>
"That too," Jack said, pulling back on the bowstring as another huge Scree popped its head over the parapet. It took an arrow in the eye and fell back
without a sound.
</p>
<p>
"You're really getting the hang of that," Kerry clapped him on the back..
</p>
<p>
Just then a troop of men came surging out from behind them and almost bowled them over. Kerry was knocked to the side and carried along by the press of
bodies. Up ahead the door began to splinter and buckle. Flames were reaching up the timbers and big spears were now driving in through the arrow-slits.
Jack could see this wasn't going to end well. He ducked back into the hut and grabbed their back-pack. When he came out again, Kerry was nowhere to be
seen.
</p>
<p>
A hand grabbed his shoulder and he spun.
</p>
<p>
"Can you make use of that toy?"
</p>
<p>
Jack didn't understand.
</p>
<p>
"Can you draw the bow?" The big stranger looked enough like Alevin to be a relative. "And hit anything?"
</p>
<p>
"I already did," Jack said.
</p>
<p>
"They're High Crag Scree," the man said. He carried a bow six foot long and a quiver of huge arrows. "Thick skinned beasts. Neck and eyes. Let them get
close."
</p>
<p>
"Okay," Jack said.
</p>
<p>
"Right. Let's go to it. See what you're made of."
</p>
<p>
"Corriwen&#8230;."
</p>
<p>
"She's protected. The gate is not." The big fellow hustled him towards the gate which was now on the point of collapse. Something rammed through and
splinters fountained out.
</p>
<p>
One of the defenders turned. "It won't hold, Declan."
</p>
<p>
"So we give them a hot welcome," he said. He braced his feet and fired two arrows through the splintered wood, quick as a blink. Jack heard grunts from out
there. This close in, the flames were scorching. He rammed some arrows into the soft earth and stood beside the big man, letting loose at anything that
moved.
</p>
<p>
Another huge crash smashed the gate off its hinges and the massive timbers tumbled inwards. Something truly huge with rugged horns curved in a tight spiral
shook a hoary head and ploughed forward, knocking defenders right and left. The Scree were already running up and over the fallen timbers in the time it
took for the gate to fall. Great clubs were swinging wildly and the sound as they hit bone and flesh was awesome. One giant of a Scree separated two beams
with bare hands, shattering them like matches, and used one beam to sweep two men out of his path.
</p>
<p>
Declan fired non-stop. Every arrow skewered a grey throat and stopped a howling cry dead. Behind the first wave, Jack saw a tidal wave of Scree, all of
them roaring and snarling and he knew this bottleneck wouldn't hold for long. In the corner of his eye, he saw Kerry up on the palisade walk, slashing and
slicing at hands and fingers as they gripped the spikes, while big men around him used their swords against clubs and spears. Kerry kept low and out of
sight, just popping up whenever a Scree hand needed attention.
</p>
<p>
Another front came blasting through the gateway, braving the flames that now blazed up the timbers.
</p>
<p>
"Fall back," Declan roared. "All men to me. Fall back."
</p>
<p>
Jack stayed close, screwing eyes up against the blast of sparks kicked up by stampeding feet. One of his arrows was stuck in the snout of the horned
monster which spun in a circle and smashed Scree and men alike, but helped block the gaping gateway for a moment.
</p>
<p>
Two squat Scree came barging from behind the barracks huts. Declan took one and another soldier skewered the second with a pike. More shadows came shoving
up between the buildings and Jack was cut off in a desperate skirmish. He picked up a fallen dagger and hit at anything that moved before another wave of
Scree came pouring into the redoubt. He tried to call out a warning to the fighting men but as he turned he got a glimpse of a shape coming behind him.
Something glistened in the corner of his vision and then a blow felled him flat and everything went black.
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
He came to, lying athwart a heaving boat and was immediately sick over the side.
</p>
<p>
"You okay Jack?"
</p>
<p>
Kerry's voice seemed to come from far off and the boat would not stop heaving. He groaned, managed to open a watery eye, and saw the ground blur past him.
It wasn't a boat. He was lying across the back of a great horse and it was running at full tilt over the heath-land.
</p>
<p>
"Thought you were a gonner," Kerry said, grinning like a lemon wedge. "I'll never need All-Bran again, I came so close to filling my pants."
</p>
<p>
"Gonna be s&#8230;." Jack was sick over the horse's flanks. It didn't notice. Behind them, in the distance, the redoubt was aflame and the Scree were
roaring in triumph. Jack wiped his mouth and managed to sit up behind Kerry.
</p>
<p>
"You were down and out," Kerry said. "The guy who had this horse got spiked. It was awful."
</p>
<p>
"What happened? Where's Corriwen?"
</p>
<p>
"I dunno. I just got you up on this thing and took off. I can't steer it, but it's following the rest of 'em. Just hang on."
</p>
<p>
Jack hung on and the great horse thundered behind the mass of retreating men all the way back down the road they had followed, not stopping until they came
to within a mile of the brooding Sappeling Forest and the beaten army wheeled in a confused circle. The big horse slowed and cantered up to where Alevin
was already arranging a line of defence.
</p>
<p>
He turned and saw them and wheeled his own mount.
</p>
<p>
"You!" He rasped. "Traitors and spies, you dare face me?"
</p>
<p>
He drew his sword and came racing towards them.
</p>
<p>
"Hold," another voice called out and a rider broke away from the milling horsemen.
</p>
<p>
Alevin had his sword up, ready to slash it down at them. It could have cut both in half with one easy sweep.
</p>
<p>
"Don't be hasty, big brother." Declan was almost as tall as Alevin, but broader in the shoulder. "They fought with us, not against us."
</p>
<p>
"They brought the Scree." Alevin's face was a mask of fury. "I <em>knew</em> they were trouble."
</p>
<p>
"We did not," Jack called out. "Mandrake uses the birds for spies. The Bard told us."
</p>
<p>
Declan rode close, putting himself between Alevin and them. "They risked their lives with me at the gate. Mere boys, but they took many a Scree."
</p>
<p>
Kerry stood up in the saddle. "Jack made a promise to Corriwen. All he's ever done is try to help her. So put that in your pipe and smoke it."
</p>
<p>
One brother looked at another. Behind them, the Scree were still chanting in victory, but already hordes of them were spilling out of the redoubt
</p>
<p>
"I have heard oaths before, all broken," Alevin says, raising his sword. Kerry twisted round in the saddle, under the sword blade even though it put him in
real danger. He ripped Jack's shirt wide open.
</p>
<p>
"Time to play the ace"
</p>
<p>
Alevin's sword halted in mid-strike when he saw the Red Hand on Jack's skin, and the replica of the Corona stars.
</p>
<p>
"He wears the Red Hand," Kerry cried. "And it cost him plenty. So don't you <em>dare</em> call him a traitor."
</p>
<p>
"The Red Hand. The Cullian hand." Alevin froze. His men let out a collective gasp.
</p>
<p>
"The Coronal," Declan said. "The Bards foretelling."
</p>
<p>
"How did you come by this?" Alevin demanded.
</p>
<p>
"No time," Jack said. He realised how close it had been. But now he had to act. The Scree were haring over the heath in pursuit, knowing the men were
trapped against the forest wall.
</p>
<p>
Alevin wheeled the horse to face the beleaguered men. "We stand here, brave men. It may be our last, but we will take many with us."
</p>
<p>
"Run for the trees," Jack cried. "Into the forest."
</p>
<p>
Another gasp went through the ranks.
</p>
<p>
"No," Alevin said. Beside him his brother nodded agreement and made a hand sign that Kerry thought looked like the evil eye. "Sappeling Wood is forbidden.
It has evil magic. No one returns."
</p>
<p>
"We did," Jack said. "You will be safe." He looked over his shoulder at the approaching Scree outrunners. "But <em>they </em>won't. Trust me this once."
</p>
<p>
His eyes held Alevin's. "I <em>swear</em> you will be safe."
</p>
<p>
"Aye, don't worry," Kerry says. "We've got some good wee friends."
</p>
<p>
Alevin sat stock still for a moment. He glanced at his brother, then at the men who waited his command. Jack knew he was considering which death he
preferred. Out here it was certain.
</p>
<p>
Finally he shrugged.
</p>
<p>
"Even to <em>Tir-Nan-Og</em> if we must," he said. "Lead then, Coronal."
</p>
<p>
Jack and Kerry dismounted the great horse and led the trapped and bloodied fighters into the depths of the wood.
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
Corriwen held tight to her cousin Brodick as his horse pounded northwards, smelling his sweat and the blood from the cuts where splinters had peppered his
face. Her cloak was ripped in several places and a clawed Scree hand had ripped skin from her back
</p>
<p>
When the attack erupted in the darkness, she had woken with a start, but her knives were already in her hands. Flames were crackling at the gate and the
heavy thuds told her it would not last long. The clash of arms was ringing out and men were running along the parapet, hacking and slicing, but it was
clear this was a desperate situation.
</p>
<p>
She had eased out of the doorway. Out towards the gate, men were fighting and big Scree were pouring in a wave over the burning gate which had been knocked
off its hinges. Declan's bull-roar came across the yard and somewhere on the wall, Alevin responded. All was mayhem.
</p>
<p>
Two Scree came thudding down the passage between two long houses and passed her in the shadows. Without a thought she flicked both blades out, fast as a
wasp, and stung them both in the belly, two quick jabs and then she whirled away from them, leaving them bawling in the dark.
</p>
<p>
Beyond the longhouses, men had set a defensive line, with archers behind spearmen, taking on a wall of Scree who tried to smash them down with big clubs
and their curved hack-swords. The beast that had battered down the gates was milling about in the yard, hooking and stamping and adding to the confusion.
The smell of blood and smoke and fear was thick in the air.
</p>
<p>
A massive Scree, one of the High Crag fighters, half a head bigger than the ones who had captured her before, came in swinging a hammer to smash at the
spears. Corriwen used her slight stature to best advantage. The Scree were looking for warriors. She sneaked between the legs of the spearmen and hamstrung
the Scree with a swift slash and when he toppled sideways a spear took him in the throat, but she was already gone.
</p>
<p>
She rounded the barracks hut, scanning the jumble of whirling bodies for Jack and Kerry and thought she saw Kerry up on the palisade hacking at fingers,
but she couldn't be sure, She wheeled round the corner and found two Scree fighting double-handed against a handful of men, using their weight and
hide-thick skins to barrel their way through. She sneaked in and managed to chop at a heel and the big creature roared, spun and almost took her head off
with the first swipe. She stumbled back and it shot out a great grey hand and snatched at her. The grip was so strong she was lifted straight off her feet
and she felt sharp nails dig into her flesh. The Scree opened its mouth, raised its blade in a low arc and swung at her while she dangled.
</p>
<p>
Another sword flashed in from the side, like a bolt of lightning, and the Scree's arm went whirling away, still grasping the sword. The second blow cleaved
the ugly thing from its narrow skull to chin and the hand that held her opened and dropped her. She landed, rolled fast, and Brodick leant down from the
great horse, caught her by the hood and swung her up behind him.
</p>
<p>
"They've over-run us."
</p>
<p>
She could see that, but she was grateful. Brodick wheeled the steed around, used its weight and its massive hooves to trample a way through the wall of
Scree, slashing and smiting as he went, caving them up. Corriwen held to his belt and stabbed at faces and eyes as they fought their way through.
</p>
<p>
The gate was well alight and all the men had pulled back. Brodick turned the horse, but by then the barracks was over-run ands the defenders had left the
palisade.
</p>
<p>
"Hold tight," Brodick shouted, spun the horse back. The horned thing that had battered the gate was stampeding round the open square, slamming its great
head into walls and posts, maddened by the smoke and the smell of blood. The great horse leapt over its broad back and they crushed half a dozen Scree as
they came pounding through the gateway. He slashed down, urging the horse on and then they were into the dark, wheeling to the side away from the onrushing
attackers and in a few seconds they were out of sight of the redoubt, running at a gallop, leaving the mayhem behind.
</p>
<p>
They rode all night, only slowing to a halt when the smoke and fire was just a glimmer in the distance, but Brodick kept up. Corriwen knew that he'd had no
option but to smash a way through, and told him so.
</p>
<p>
"I should have stayed," he said. "They will think I fled."
</p>
<p>
"I saw you fight. And you saved me too. There was nothing else to do."
</p>
<p>
"We've lost the redoubt. And many have died."
</p>
<p>
"And many Scree too," she shot back. "Did you see my friends?"
</p>
<p>
"One was on the wall. The stone-thrower. The other&#8230;." He turned his head away.
</p>
<p>
"What?" Corriwen demanded.
</p>
<p>
"I saw him fall," Brodick said, almost a whisper. "He was struck down."
</p>
<p>
Corriwen's mouth opened, but no sound came out. It was as if a hand had clenched her throat and squeezed. The shock was so great that she felt the blood
drain from her head and the world started to waver into foggy grey. Brodick twisted in the saddle and held her tight before she fell to the ground.
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
The woods enfolded them in inky shadow and the men were afraid, men who had fought a savage battle against thousands of Scree were so afraid they could not
speak. Dawn was just breaking, but here in the woods, only a few paces in from the forest edge, it was all gloom. Jack led the way, with Kerry leading the
great horse by its reins. Alevin and Declan walked close, scanning around, expecting devils or ghosts or whatever they had been brought up to believe. Jack
knew the truth was just as strange as anything they could imagine.
</p>
<p>
He had promised they would be safe, and that had been a gamble. The Leprechaun had told him he was welcome. But he had said nothing about other people.
</p>
<p>
The upside was that the Leprechaun people had nothing against men. But they hated the Scree. That had to stand in their favour.
</p>
<p>
They walked on, stirring up leaves and loam underfoot. Twigs crackled. Behind them on the heath, the approaching Scree were roaring and snarling, moving
fast, beating war clubs against shields in steady drum-beats. Jack could tell some of the men wanted to turn back and face them and die like heroes. Jack
did not want to die, like a hero or anything else. He wanted to stay alive and find what had happened to Corriwen Redthorn.
</p>
<p>
They topped a rise and down into a leafy dell and Jack stopped all of a sudden as the hairs went walking on the back of his neck. They were not alone.
</p>
<p>
The forest had been empty and now they were surrounded. He could feel the eyes on him.
</p>
<p>
He held a hand up, trying to think of something to say.
</p>
<p>
A pair of eyes blinked at him from a vast tree-trunk. Something else shoved its way out. Shapes were scrambling slowly down a trunk.
</p>
<p>
"Hello," Jack called out. "If you can hear me, we need shelter again."
</p>
<p>
"I hear you, Journeyman," the crackly voice whispered out. Jack strained his eyes.
</p>
<p>
A shape emerged right in front of him and the old leprechaun held up its twiggy fingers.
</p>
<p>
"Welcome again to our glades."
</p>
<p>
"Thank you," Jack replied. Alevin walked forward, with his brother by his side.
</p>
<p>
"What is this&#8230;?" Alevin began. He was staring at the old creature as if he had seen a devil.
</p>
<p>
"And how did he come from that tree?"
</p>
<p>
"It's a long story," Jack said. "Let the old guy talk. It's his forest."
</p>
<p>
"Battle weary and bloodied," the old thing said. "But not beaten."
</p>
<p>
"Well beaten," Alevin said. "Too many of them."
</p>
<p>
"We see them come. They are not welcome in our glades. They have not learned that lesson." He held up his hand to the brothers. "Friends of Redthorn,
shelter here in the heartwood. The Scree beasts come at their peril."
</p>
<p>
"But they'll come anyway," Declan said.
</p>
<p>
"The heartwood knows," the old thing said. "The heartwood remembers."
</p>
<p>
"What's he talking about?"
</p>
<p>
The Scree entered the forest, still clattering shields and swords, blood boiling and hackles high. They had smashed their way into the redoubt and sent the
men to flight. Now was the time to finish the job and take what reward Mandrake would give them.
</p>
<p>
The old Leprechaun led the bloodied warriors along the pathways and into the deep wood where he finally stopped them at the dell where Jack, Kerry and
Corriwen had listened to his stories.
</p>
<p>
"Rest and root," he said. The glade's trees were filled with the little creatures, great polished eyes unblinking in the lightening gloom. "Be at ease."
</p>
<p>
He merged into the shadows between two tall buttressed roots.
</p>
<p>
"Where did he go?" Declan demanded. He whirled round, scanning the trees. All the leprechaun were gone.
</p>
<p>
"It's a hell of a neat trick," Kerry told him.
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
The Scree captain held a hand up. He was head and shoulders taller than the rest and built like a wall. His grey, scaly skin was scarred and puckered from
many a fight.
</p>
<p>
"Finish them, us will," one of the others said. "Stamp them down."
</p>
<p>
The forest was silent now as they waited for him to speak. No birds sang. No leaf moved. They had come deep into the woods, following the trail of broken
twigs and the smell of blood and sweat, but it was silent here.
</p>
<p>
"Find them," the big Scree growled. "Kill them all." The others repeated his orders in deep hoarse mutters.
</p>
<p>
The captain raised his great curved blade. "Crush their bones and eat their brains."
</p>
<p>
He slashed at a low branch close to his head and it fell to the ground. And the ground shivered under his feet.
</p>
<p>
A shadow blurred from the leaf litter, so quickly that none of them saw it clearly. The captain disappeared in a puff of dead leaves.
</p>
<p>
"Where he go, him?" The Scree scratched their heads swinging round, baffled. A couple went forward. The captain was on the ground. His eyes were rolling
and his mouth opened and shut with a click of big flat teeth. The first trooper stepped back. The leader was not on the ground. He was <em>in</em> it. Only
his head showed above the leaf litter.
</p>
<p>
"How you get there?" one of them asked as he bent to help him up.
</p>
<p>
Just as he moved forward, something flashed out from above and caught him by the ankles and whipped him right off his feet. He yelled in fright, grabbed at
the ground to save himself. His hands found the captain's head and he grasped it. Whatever pulled at his feet yanked hard and whipped him upwards. The
captain's head came with him, dripping blood, glaring at him with ferocious dying eyes. The second Scree looked in amazement as the captain's head
scattered droplets in a spray and in a flick of green, the other soldier simply disappeared into the canopy. There was no sign of the Captain's body, but
the head came tumbling down from above, followed by a huge and hollow scream.
</p>
<p>
"What's happenin'? Eh?"
</p>
<p>
The trooper looked around him, blinking slowly. "Gone, him."
</p>
<p>
The group of Scree whirled around. They were all crowded together shoulder to shoulder. Something came fluttering down from on high and one of them
snatched at it. It was just a seed, whirling down on a brown papery vane. Another one fell. It disappeared down the Scree's tunic. Another helicoptered
from up there and hit the ground, and more followed it until the air was thick with a snowstorm of seedfall, all whirling silently from the leaves up
above.
</p>
<p>
"Just seeds," the second-in-command growled. "Come on. Lets us kill men." He scratched at his neck. A seed landed on his head and stuck to his warty skin.
He scratched again and the papery vane broke off. But the seed stuck like glue to his warty skin. Beside him, another trooper tried to brush something from
his eye and then let out a curse.
</p>
<p>
"Burns, this," he gasped. He tried to pluck the seed from his eyelid and when he did, the skin puckered outwards. He pulled harder and the skin ripped
away. The big Scree grunted in pain.
</p>
<p>
Little bloody roots dangled from the seed. Blood filled his eye. Beside him, another Scree soldier was scrabbling at his cheek where three seeds had stuck
fast. The skin there was already squirming and bulging as rootlets dug in.
</p>
<p>
"Gerrit offa me," he bawled, trying to dig horny nails in to prise the thing off. He spun, wheeling and kicking up dead leaves and barged in between the
great root buttresses of a tall tree. His face hit the rough bark, and quicker than the eye could follow, the buttresses closed around him with a meaty
snap.
</p>
<p>
By now, the Scree troop were twisting and writhing, all plans for pursuit gone as they scratched and clawed at their skin where hundreds of little seeds
were driving roots deep into flesh and bone and growing fast. A big club-wielder fell over a log, face first into the loam, while on his warty back, little
seedlings wavered upwards and roots snaked deep inside, paralyzing muscle and flesh.
</p>
<p>
He screamed then, surprisingly high for such a big creature, but the screams were ignored by the rest of the troop who were grunting and moaning all
around, unable to comprehend just what was happening top them,.
</p>
<p>
Way in the depths of the forest Jack and Kerry heard the commotion. Alevin and Declan had arranged the men on the ridge of the dell, all armed and ready,
and when they heard the mayhem out in the shadows, Alevin led the men forward slowly through the undergrowth. Up in the trees, the little forest creatures
watched them impassively.
</p>
<p>
Over the ridge Jack and Kerry stood frozen, ready with sword and bow, as the Scree milled about, barging into trunks and crashing through bushes, all of
them now panicked and bawling in terror.
</p>
<p>
A big mountain trooper swung his club wildly against his own skin, trying to beat off the growths that now covered him from head to chest and writhed along
his thick arms.
</p>
<p>
Another lurched against a smooth-barked trunk and as soon as he fell against it, the bark oozed a golden resin that simply gushed out from the wood and
covered the Scree like toffee. In mere seconds, the trooper was stuck like a fly in amber, its struggles growing more feeble as the resin hardened, pinning
him against the trunk like a statue. The club slowly dripped to the ground, trailing a sticky mass.
</p>
<p>
On the far side of the clearing, more Scree were forcing into the forest, following the roars of their fellows. It sounded like a battle.
</p>
<p>
As soon as they flooded the clearing, the trees behind them suddenly came alive. Gnarled branches reached wooden fingers down and snatched them up from the
ground. Roots as wide as man's thighs snaked out of the ground with explosive force and coiled around them, dragging them, bawling and screaming, back into
the earth.
</p>
<p>
Ivy grew at lightning speed up legs and smothered some of the grey fighters. Thorns spiked eyes and faces and Scree screeched in terror and pain as the
forest fed.
</p>
<p>
It seemed to go on for hours, but it could only have been minutes, as Jack and Kerry and Alevin's fighters watched in horrified fascination as the trees
took their revenge on the High Crag Scree who had come into the forest before and cut down the heartwood for Mandrake's timber.
</p>
<p>
One by one, in sudden vanishings or in slow stranglings, the Scree were overwhelmed and clubs and spears fell to the ground from horny hands until they
were all gone, every one, drawn back down into the earth to feed the living roots. The forest smelt of blood and fear and the goat-smell of frightened
Scree, but that was all that remained.
</p>
<p>
After a while, the forest became very quiet and the motion stopped.
</p>
<p>
Finally Alevin turned to Jack.
</p>
<p>
"What devilry is this?"
</p>
<p>
"It's good magic," Jack replied. "The leprechaun just saved your lives."
</p>
<p>
"I never saw such a thing," Declan agreed. "Nor would wish to, either, even if it was for our best."
</p>
<p>
"So what now?" Kerry asked.
</p>
<p>
"We find Corriwen," Jack said. "She's not with us. And there's another thing."
</p>
<p>
"What's that?"
</p>
<p>
Jack pulled his shirt open. The red hand and the crown of stars stood out clearly on his bare skin.
</p>
<p>
"The stone's gone. And so has the book." His face was grim. "Somebody stole them."
</p>
<p>
"What happened?"
</p>
<p>
"I don't know. But whoever hit me must have taken them, and we have to find them. We need them both to get home, and we need the book to help Corriwen if
we can find her."
</p>
<p>
"Some treachery, I fear," came a voice behind them. The old leprechaun slowly made his way towards them. "A new twist, it seems to me."
</p>
<p>
"What's he saying?" Declan wanted to know, but the words were hardly out of his mouth when a sound like a gunshot cracked in the distance, way out beyond
the glade. For a second there was silence and then, from nowhere, a fiery streak soared above them, like a shooting star.
</p>
<p>
All of the men looked up just as the fireball crashed into the canopy of a huge tree and showered sparks all around. The leprechauns who peered down at
them scrambled for shelter, twittering like monkeys in their twiggy little voices.
</p>
<p>
Another fireball came whooping in, sizzling as it arced through the branches, and smacked into the undergrowth. Dead leaves and dry twigs erupted into
flames.
</p>
<p>
"Fire arrows," Alevin said. "They used them before."
</p>
<p>
The old leprechaun's face went completely still. He closed his eyes, raised his knobbly fingers and from high above them came a steady rain of sticky sap.
It came in a sudden downpour, as clear as water, and the flaming bushes began to hiss and gutter.
</p>
<p>
"You helped us, wood-sprite," Alevin said. "Now we help you."
</p>
<p>
He called all the men to him and they came round in a circle, leading their great horses.
</p>
<p>
"We take some revenge now," he said. "No quarter for Scree."
</p>
<p>
The men all nodded silently and began to mount. The old leprechaun made another motion with his hands and somewhere above them, Jack saw little bodies
moving fast through the branches, carried along in that fluid motion as the trees whisked them away and they were gone.
</p>
<p>
"He's up to something," Kerry whispered.
</p>
<p>
Alevin wheeled the men and the boys clambered back up onto their horse and followed the cavalcade back the way they had fled. All the fighters had drawn
swords and had bows at the ready. They moved silently in file for a mile or more until they reached the edge of the forest. Out there, the Scree had pulled
up wagons with huge bows. They were drawing the strings back on pulleys and massive arrows, ten feet or more in length, wrapped in burning tar, were sent
flying high into the air over the trees. Alevin gathered the men in a charge formation. Jack and Kerry were on the left flank.
</p>
<p>
"Looks like its fun time again," Kerry said.
</p>
<p>
"Let's stay out of this," Jack replied. "It's their fight. We have to find Corriwen."
</p>
<p>
Just as he spoke, tiny shapes beyond the fringe of trees caught his eye as they loped out from the shelter, using grassy tussocks as cover, swift as
rabbits towards the Scree bowmen.
</p>
<p>
"The little people," he said. "What are they up to?"
</p>
<p>
Alevin raised his sword, brought it down, and the cavalcade of great horses came charging out from the forest, straight towards the Scree who were so
intent on setting fire to the forest that the charge took them by surprise. But even before the horsemen reached them, something quite amazing happened.
</p>
<p>
The little forest people raced right up to the bows, silent as mice and blurringly fast, and then, in a matter of seconds, the huge bows began to twist and
tilt. One of the Scree archers bawled in alarm as the massive curve eased upwards as thick roots simply swelled out of the ground and wrapped themselves
around the shafts. The pulley-rope gave way and the flaming arrow, instead of arcing over the forest, went flying backwards into the mass of Scree troops.
It cut a sizzling line through them, scattering them like chaff. Another bow tilted as roots grasped and twisted, then broke with a snap, sending sharp
shards scattering like grapeshot into the Scree.
</p>
<p>
Before Alevin and his men had crossed half the distance, the roots had thickened to huge, rippling snake-shapes and had crushed and smashed all of the bows
and surrounded the panicked Scree in a writhing barrier..
</p>
<p>
Alevin rode right in to the middle of the enemy, his sword flashing like lightning, and his men roared in fury as they fell upon the terrified Scree and
cut them down like wheat while the mysterious living roots snared the Scree attackers who were now trapped in a seething, twisting corral of living wood.
</p>
<p>
It was slaughter, pure and simple.
</p>
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