From 70ac4c1244c5e5d5ba13ae0c7e1338c90ad6c48c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: martind2000 <martind2000@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 01:34:32 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] lots and lots of stuff

---
 .idea/workspace.xml                        | 1063 ++++++++++++--------
 build/Full Proof/OEBPS/title.xhtml         |   23 +-
 build/bane/OEBPS/other.xhtml               |   18 +-
 build/bane/OEBPS/title.xhtml               |   21 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/002.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/003.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/004.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/006.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/007.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/009.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/010.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/013.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/014.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/015.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/016.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/017.xhtml           |   20 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/018.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/019.xhtml           |    8 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/021.xhtml           |   12 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/022.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/023.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/024.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/026.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/027.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/028.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/029.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/030.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/031.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/032.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/033.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/034.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css       |   16 +-
 build/darkvalley/OEBPS/title.xhtml         |   34 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-title.xhtml    |   40 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus11.xhtml        |    4 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus13.xhtml        |    2 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus18.xhtml        |    2 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus22.xhtml        |    2 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus25.xhtml        |    4 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus26.xhtml        |    4 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus27.xhtml        |    2 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus28.xhtml        |    2 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus30.xhtml        |    2 +-
 build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus31.xhtml        |    2 +-
 build/index.html                           |   83 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml          |    4 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml           |    2 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml           |    8 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml           |    8 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml           |   10 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml           |    8 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml           |    4 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml           |   14 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml           |   16 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml           |    8 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml           |   16 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml           |   12 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml           |    6 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf          |    2 +-
 build/mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml          |   20 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-title.xhtml      |   34 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike01.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike03.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike04.xhtml          |    4 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike10.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike11.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike13.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike15.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike16.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike17.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike18.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike19.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike21.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike23.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike24.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike27.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike34.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike37.xhtml          |    2 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike38.xhtml          |    4 +-
 build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike39.xhtml          |    4 +-
 build/spellbinder/META-INF/container.xml   |    6 +
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ak.jpg             |  Bin 0 -> 10612 bytes
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/bio.xhtml          |   60 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml        |   42 +
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch01.xhtml         |   73 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml         |  130 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch03.xhtml         |  100 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch04.xhtml         |   84 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml         |   66 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch06.xhtml         |  166 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml         |   91 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch08.xhtml         |  107 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch09.xhtml         |  134 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch10.xhtml         |   84 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml         |  125 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml         |  111 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml         |  120 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml         |  137 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml         |  101 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml         |   92 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch17.xhtml         |   89 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml         |  185 ++++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml         |  144 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch20.xhtml         |  138 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml         |  147 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml         |  150 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml         |  218 ++++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml         |  146 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml         |  125 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml         |  136 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml         |  149 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml         |  150 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml         |  188 ++++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml         |   55 +
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml         |   99 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch32.xhtml         |   92 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch33.xhtml         |  111 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch34.xhtml         |  169 ++++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch35.xhtml         |  114 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch36.xhtml         |   65 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch37.xhtml         |   87 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch38.xhtml         |   38 +
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/content.opf        |  129 +++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/contents.xhtml     |   60 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css      |   97 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/logo.jpg           |  Bin 0 -> 5085 bytes
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/other.xhtml        |   34 +
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/page-template.xpgt |   47 +
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/preview.xhtml      |   78 ++
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/title.xhtml        |   45 +
 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/toc.ncx            |  287 ++++++
 build/spellbinder/mimetype                 |    1 +
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C010.doc             |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C011.doc             |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C012.doc             |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C02.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C03.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C04.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C05.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C06.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C07.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C08.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 source/Spellbinder2/~$C09.doc              |  Bin 0 -> 162 bytes
 153 files changed, 6374 insertions(+), 736 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/META-INF/container.xml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ak.jpg
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/bio.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch01.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch03.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch04.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch06.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch08.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch09.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch10.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch17.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch20.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch32.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch33.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch34.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch35.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch36.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch37.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch38.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/content.opf
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/contents.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/logo.jpg
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/other.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/page-template.xpgt
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/preview.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/title.xhtml
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/OEBPS/toc.ncx
 create mode 100644 build/spellbinder/mimetype
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C010.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C011.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C012.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C02.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C03.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C04.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C05.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C06.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C07.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C08.doc
 create mode 100644 source/Spellbinder2/~$C09.doc

diff --git a/.idea/workspace.xml b/.idea/workspace.xml
index d8724e0..516e9d9 100644
--- a/.idea/workspace.xml
+++ b/.idea/workspace.xml
@@ -4,41 +4,159 @@
     <option name="SCOPE_TYPE" value="3" />
   </component>
   <component name="ChangeListManager">
-    <list default="true" id="12c4e27b-c61f-42e7-8cb4-b2db565a855d" name="Default" comment="the rest of mythlands">
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/test/C028.doc" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/test/C028.docx" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Untitled-2" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C01.doc" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Mythlands/~$C02.doc" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Mythlands/~$C035.doc" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/test/c028.html" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch17.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch20.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch32.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch33.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch34.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch35.xhtml" />
-      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/preview.xhtml" />
+    <list default="true" id="12c4e27b-c61f-42e7-8cb4-b2db565a855d" name="Default" comment="">
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ak.jpg" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/logo.jpg" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C010.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C011.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C012.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C02.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C03.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C04.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C05.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C06.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C07.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C08.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/source/Spellbinder2/~$C09.doc" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/bio.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch01.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch03.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch04.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch06.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch08.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch09.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch10.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch17.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch20.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch32.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch33.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch34.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch35.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch36.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch37.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ch38.xhtml" />
+      <change type="NEW" beforePath="" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/META-INF/container.xml" />
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+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike23.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike03.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike01.xhtml" />
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-        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/preview.xhtml" />
-        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/title.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus28.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus27.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus31.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus26.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus22.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus30.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus13.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus18.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus11.xhtml" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus25.xhtml" />
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@@ -213,10 +356,9 @@
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-    <option name="y" value="-8" />
-    <option name="width" value="1936" />
-    <option name="height" value="1056" />
+    <option name="x" value="-7" />
+    <option name="width" value="1249" />
+    <option name="height" value="1047" />
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@@ -321,7 +463,7 @@
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             </PATH_ELEMENT>
             <PATH_ELEMENT>
-              <option name="myItemId" value="mythlands" />
+              <option name="myItemId" value="incubus" />
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@@ -339,7 +481,7 @@
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             <PATH_ELEMENT>
-              <option name="myItemId" value="mythlands" />
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@@ -352,7 +494,7 @@
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-    <property name="last_opened_file_path" value="$PROJECT_DIR$" />
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@@ -439,32 +581,38 @@
       <option name="project" value="LOCAL" />
       <updated>1436970953050</updated>
     </task>
-    <option name="localTasksCounter" value="3" />
+    <task id="LOCAL-00003" summary="the rest of mythlands">
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+      <option name="project" value="LOCAL" />
+      <updated>1441826956928</updated>
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+    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/build/bane/OEBPS/title.xhtml">
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           <folding />
         </state>
       </provider>
diff --git a/build/Full Proof/OEBPS/title.xhtml b/build/Full Proof/OEBPS/title.xhtml
index f0ce66e..743c42c 100644
--- a/build/Full Proof/OEBPS/title.xhtml	
+++ b/build/Full Proof/OEBPS/title.xhtml	
@@ -4,26 +4,31 @@
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
 <head>
 
-    <title>Full Proof</title>
-    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css" />
+    <title>FULL PROOF</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type=
             "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
-            "page-template.xpgt" />
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
 </head>
 <body>
-<div id="header" style="padding-bottom: 56px;"><img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="400" height="48"/></div>
-<div id="heading">
+
+<div id="heading" class="centered">
     <div id="title">
-        <h1>Full Proof</h1>
+        <h1>FULL PROOF</h1>
     </div>
     <div id="author">
         <h4>Joe Donnelly</h4>
     </div>
-    <div id="uri"><a href=
-                             "http://www.impera-media.com">http://www.impera-media.com</a></div>
-    <div id="e">books@impera-media.com</div>
+
+    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.co.uk">http://www.impera-media.co.uk</a></div>
+    <div id="e">books@impera-media.co.uk</div>
+    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;">
+        <img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/>
+    </div>
     <p id="timestamp">2012-08-15</p>
 
+    <p id="version">1.01 - 2015-09-10</p>
+
     <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 2011, Joe Donnelly.
         <p>All rights reserved</p>
 
diff --git a/build/bane/OEBPS/other.xhtml b/build/bane/OEBPS/other.xhtml
index 7a7b55d..cf7fe9b 100644
--- a/build/bane/OEBPS/other.xhtml
+++ b/build/bane/OEBPS/other.xhtml
@@ -39,43 +39,43 @@
             " Joe Donnelly just gets better and better...
 
             <em>Nightshade...</em>generates a spiralling sense of unease as the potent force of the forest is awakened."; -
-            <b>The List.</b></p>
+            <strong>The List.</strong></p>
 
         <p>
             " Joe Donnelly scaled the heights of sheer horror...Not for the fainthearted"; -
 
-            <b>Today.</b>
+            <strong>Today.</strong>
         </p>
 
         <p>
-            " Exciting and highly readable."; - <b>The Guardian</b> .</p>
+            " Exciting and highly readable."; - <strong>The Guardian</strong> .</p>
 
         <p>
             " Donnelly's description of the natural world is as interesting and clearly drawn as that of the supernatural."; -
 
-            <b>Observer</b>"
+            <strong>Observer</strong>"
 
             .</p>
 
         <p>
-            " Pulse-racing horror...very satisfying."; - <b>Glasgow Herald</b> .</p>
+            " Pulse-racing horror...very satisfying."; - <strong>Glasgow Herald</strong> .</p>
 
         <p>
             " Donnelly scores with unusually believable characters, well realised settings and thoroughly researched mythological backgrounds."; - Daily
 
-            <b>Telegraph</b>"
+            <strong>Telegraph</strong>"
 
             .</p>
 
         <p>
             ... . raises Joe Donnelly to being one opf the two best horror writers in the UK...probably the best horror novel of the year.";
-            <b>Fantasy Bookshelf</b> .</p>
+            <strong>Fantasy Bookshelf</strong> .</p>
 
         <p>
             Describing the book as 'fast-paced' doesn't feel enough, since the book has the feel of a movie treatment. The story really reads like a film- Editor,
-            <b>Ovi Magazine</b>.</p>
+            <strong>Ovi Magazine</strong>.</p>
 
-        <p style="text-align: center;">Other <b>Joe Donnelly</b> books available on Kindle</p>
+        <p style="text-align: center;">Other <strong>Joe Donnelly</strong> books available on Kindle</p>
 
         <p style="text-align: center;font-weight: 900;font-size: 115%;">Dark Valley</p>
 
diff --git a/build/bane/OEBPS/title.xhtml b/build/bane/OEBPS/title.xhtml
index aa6f906..4e7e995 100644
--- a/build/bane/OEBPS/title.xhtml
+++ b/build/bane/OEBPS/title.xhtml
@@ -5,27 +5,28 @@
 <head>
 
     <title>BANE</title>
-    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css" />
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type=
             "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
-            "page-template.xpgt" />
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
 </head>
 <body>
-<div id="header"><img src="logo.jpg" alt=
-        "Impera Media Limited logo" /></div>
-<div id="heading">
+
+<div id="heading" class="centered">
     <div id="title">
         <h1>BANE</h1>
     </div>
     <div id="author">
         <h4>Joe Donnelly</h4>
     </div>
-    <div id="uri"><a href=
-                             "http://www.impera-media.com">http://www.impera-media.com</a></div>
-    <div id="e">books@impera-media.com</div>
+
+    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.co.uk">http://www.impera-media.co.uk</a></div>
+    <div id="e">books@impera-media.co.uk</div>
+    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;"><img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/>
+    </div>
     <p id="timestamp">2014-02-05</p>
 
-    <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 1991, Joe Donnelly.
+    <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 2011, Joe Donnelly.
         <p>All rights reserved</p>
 
         <p>The moral right of the author has been asserted</p>
@@ -40,4 +41,4 @@
     <div id="licensenotice">This work is copyright.</div>
 </div>
 </body>
-</html>
+</html>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/002.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/002.xhtml
index 91c5dcf..7b35631 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/002.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/002.xhtml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 
         <p>Instantly Neil recognised the bull-tones of Donal Crawford, the old man's nephew who worked Saturdays. He was six foot four and built like a brick shithouse and as tough as steel bolts too.</p>
 
-        <p>Big Donal reached for the catch and shoved the window up with a ratchetting clatter. Fortunately the frame hit the safety lock when the window was only six inches open. Neil backed against the wall at the far side of the alley and hit his head a smart crack on the crumbly stonework, hard enough to hurt but not enough to damage. Big Donal was yelling non stop, all the phrases jammed up against each other and ever one of them promising lasting pain to whoever had tried to break into his uncle's premises.</p>
+        <p>Big Donal reached for the catch and shoved the window up with a ratcheting clatter. Fortunately the frame hit the safety lock when the window was only six inches open. Neil backed against the wall at the far side of the alley and hit his head a smart crack on the crumbly stonework, hard enough to hurt but not enough to damage. Big Donal was yelling non stop, all the phrases jammed up against each other and ever one of them promising lasting pain to whoever had tried to break into his uncle's premises.</p>
 
         <p>In the two seconds before Neil turned and scooted down the alley, he saw he had been mistaken in assuming the window led on to the storeroom where the shiny shotguns were stacked. Through the six-inch gap, quite clearly, he saw the hairy, spotty thighs of old man Crawford's nephew and he realised that he'd tried to break into the outhouse where big Donal was having a crap.</p>
 
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/003.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/003.xhtml
index ec6192f..2c8e819 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/003.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/003.xhtml
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
         <p>"Come on," Corky said. "This place still gives me the creeps."</p>
 
         <p>Billy ground his cigarette out under his heel. Danny picked up a pine-cone and flicked it against Corky's head. Doug loaded his little slingshot with a smooth acorn and aimed it at Tom's backside. In a minute they were out of the trees that bordered Keelyard Road by the river and were heading up towards the bridge, the memory of Paul Degman's death fading just a little in the light of the sun and in the heat of the agreement which might have been yet unspoken, but was somehow fixed between them all.</p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p><em>March:</em></p>
 
         <p>Sister Julia Gillies had come sweeping into the classroom in a rustle of beads and a jangle of keys. She was small and round and had a deep, almost masculine voice and an eye that could fix you like a spear when she meant business which was pretty much all of the time. She had a raised mole on her cheek with three stiff black hairs sticking out, as if her skin had trapped a fly under the surface and it was trying to work its way back out.</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/004.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/004.xhtml
index 14e88e1..3eede88 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/004.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/004.xhtml
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
         <p>"Too much to hope for," Corky said. "He'll turn up sooner or later. Anyway, who cares about him? He's as thick as shit in the neck of a bottle."</p>
 
         <p>The bell rang out, muffled only slightly by the drizzly rain. They hitched up their collars and filed across the yard from the old toilet block. The rain was still spring-cold and blustered in up the firth on the west wind. Summer hadn't yet arrived, but it was coming.</p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>In the back room of Cairn House, in the old abandoned surgery, Neil Hopkirk was dying.</p>
 
         <p>It was dark in the shadows, but a slanted beam of light piercing between some boards over the window, white and solid in the dust-laden air at the far end of the hallway told him it was daytime. The occasional rumbling vibration of a truck passing on River Street confirmed it.</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/006.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/006.xhtml
index 7c8ca17..17b2ce0 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/006.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/006.xhtml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
         <p>"Hey, the idiot's gone ga-ga," Neil said, laughing. "Come on McGuire, stop fooling around and get back in goal."</p>
 
         <p>It was two days before Jeff McGuire spoke a full word and by that time Sergeant Angus McNicol from CID had been up to the empty house that backed on to Boat Pend and he'd found the body of Mole Hopkirk. He later formed the opinion that Hopkirk was the lucky one of the two boys. The shock of it all had such an effect on young Jeff McGuire that he was never quite the same again.</p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of Neil James Hopkirk. (Verbatim extract)</p>
 
         <p>John J. Mack, Crown Office: "So you believe the boy took several days to die."</p>
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@
         <p>Mack: "So in your opinion, what happened?"</p>
 
         <p>Bell.: "The attack on this young man was designed and deliberate and savage. It took place over a considerable period of time, I hasten to add. If I may venture an opinion, it is almost certain that death was a merciful release."</p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p><em>Interlude:</em></p>
 
         <p>"First real bad one I had to deal with," Angus McNicol said. "And that was the start of it, though nobody knew that at the time."</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/007.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/007.xhtml
index 1723b03..4622e59 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/007.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/007.xhtml
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
 <p>"There's no hope now," Bernadette said. "Poor wee thing's been taken away and they'll find her in a ditch somewhere, raped and strangled and cut to pieces."</p>
 
 <p>Bernadette's prophesy was fairly accurate, so it transpired.</p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 1. 10 am:</em></p>
 
 <p>"How did you manage to get away?" Corky asked. The other three had fallen behind, two of them struggling with the weight of the tent.</p>
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@
 
 <p>"What's that for?" Tom asked. Corky grinned.</p>
 
-<p>"We can get what we want," he said. "You wait here and guard the tent". Billy laughed and Doug showed his big teeth. They followed Danny, who was holding the fistful of coins, into the shop and sauntered up the aisle while he went up the counter and pointed to the string of big beef sausages. He checked the price, saw that he could afford two pounds, and asked or it. Mrs Fortucci behind the counter, the mother of Brenda Fortucci who was a class above them in school and gifted with the most substantial breasts of anybody in the whole school, counted the sausages onto the weigh-plate, wrapped them, and passed them over. She cocked an eye up the aisle, checking on the other two. Danny was just handing over the change when the back door opened. He saw a hand push in, quick as a wink and then the sudden grey flutter.</p>
+<p>"We can get what we want," he said. "You wait here and guard the tent". Billy laughed and Doug showed his big teeth. They followed Danny, who was holding the fistful of coins, into the shop and sauntered up the aisle while he went up the counter and pointed to the string of big beef sausages. He checked the price, saw that he could afford two pounds, and asked for it. Mrs Fortucci behind the counter, the mother of Brenda Fortucci who was a class above them in school and gifted with the most substantial breasts of anybody in the whole school, counted the sausages onto the weigh-plate, wrapped them, and passed them over. She cocked an eye up the aisle, checking on the other two. Danny was just handing over the change when the back door opened. He saw a hand push in, quick as a wink and then the sudden grey flutter.</p>
 
 <p>The pigeon exploded into the air in a panicked clap of wings. A small downy feather tumbled out and rocked slowly as it fell towards the floor.</p>
 
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/009.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/009.xhtml
index 732ba7d..37659bd 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/009.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/009.xhtml
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@
 <p>They were just boys out on adventure, glad to be away, glad to be out from under. The day stretched ahead of them, all the trouble and excitement behind them. They fooled around by the stream for a while, then climbed up the slope of the far side of the valley to the last fields where they hooked out a few pounds of early potatoes and some carrots, adding to their provisions. In half an hour they were beyond the line of the barwoods now and as they straggled up the natural track made by the cattle coming down to drink, a pair of dark eyes watched their progress from the shade of the tall spruce trees.</p>
 
 <p>The eyes blinked in the glare of the sun reflecting off the water in the pool of stagnant water. The rays heliographed dazzling white light that made the eyes blink furiously against the glare, but they did not turn away from it. The light flashed sharp spears, fading out the colour of the grass and the thick ferns that crowded down the shoulder of the valley. For a second, the scene was fuzzed in monochrome, in layers of misty grey.</p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>He was out of</em> this <em>time again. He was back....</em></p>
 
 <p>The light was in his eyes, reflecting from the black space in the floating weed. An iridescent blue damselfly helicoptered in on impossibly slow wings, great black eye-spots winging seductively at the ends where they stroked at the air. The light was in his eyes and the beat of blood sounded like a mill-weir behind his ears.</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/010.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/010.xhtml
index 6cd3522..fcfc449 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/010.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/010.xhtml
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
 
 <p><em>I am who am!</em></p>
 
-<p>He reached for the mtches and lit the little lamp by sense of
+<p>He reached for the matches and lit the little lamp by sense of
     touch. It flared, sent up a sputter of smoke and then began to
     glow. He turned to look at her, a small form, pale and shaking
     uncontrollably, a frightened bird caught in a trap. Her eyes were
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@
 <p>But there was no god here.</p>
 
 <p>After a while he crossed to her.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>Interlude:</em></p>
 
 <p><strong>"</strong>We knew, or at least we were fairly sure at
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@
 <p>"I would have done to him what he did to those people. I'd have
     done to him what he did to that poor wee soul under the bridge, and
     I'd have made it last. And then I'd have buried him."</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>Interruption:</em></p>
 
 <p>Angus McNicol's face had twisted with anger when he described in
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/013.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/013.xhtml
index 8e96cd2..dd76e50 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/013.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/013.xhtml
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@
     creep across his face, making it hot and red. It had been cruel,
     dreadfully cruel, but it had been funny and the frog <em>had</em>
     looked like Fat Sonia Kowalsky. The inflated frog was out in the
-    midle, vainly trying to cross a patch of weed. It would die in the
+    middle, vainly trying to cross a patch of weed. It would die in the
     heat for sure. The flush of hot disgust, at the frog's torture and
     at his own laughter stayed with him.</p>
 
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@
     sun. Underneath him the red mud which had dried on the leg of his
     jeans dissolved in the current and trailed downstream in banded
     clouds of ochre silt like streams of blood.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 1. 4pm.</em></p>
 
 <p>He watched their progress from the cover of the thick trees on
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/014.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/014.xhtml
index 27249c2..2b8b90e 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/014.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/014.xhtml
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@
     breathing continued for a while, ragged and effortful, dreadfully
     close in the dark. Then a footstep shivered the floor and the
     breathing got louder.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>Derek Milne had turned back from the fence, got half-way to the
     wall and then stopped and turned back again. He'd an essay to hand
     in to Matt Bryson the English teacher, one which should have gone
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@
 <p>"That I can't tell you, sonny," Mr Doyle replied. Derek backed
     away from the fence, hot tears beginning to swim and blur his
     vision.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>Robert Doyle, known to the pupils as Wee Bob, had reacted very
     quickly when he'd got to the top of the hill. The two combatants
     escaped and ran away and he forgot all about them when he saw the
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/015.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/015.xhtml
index 58d33fa..5c7faf1 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/015.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/015.xhtml
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
     twisted at an odd angle.</p>
 
 <p>"Didya see that shot?" Billy yelled again. Doug, following
-    behind, still stripped to his sting vest popped his head over the
+    behind, still stripped to his string vest popped his head over the
     fern tops.</p>
 
 <p>"What's happening?"</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/016.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/016.xhtml
index 55dcce8..02c1dea 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/016.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/016.xhtml
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@
 
 <p>"He waited until the maggots had hatched. He stayed until they
     were covered in flies."</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>June:</em></p>
 
 <p>A match flared in the dark, blinding bright, cut a flaming arc
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/017.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/017.xhtml
index 2fb7474..d534b05 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/017.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/017.xhtml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
     in the light. "But the night's still young. We could have lamb
     chops for dinner tomorrow if the snares don't work." Billy and
     Corky had used some of the thin fencing wire to set a couple of
-    rabbit snares out close to the bracken and so far nothng had
+    rabbit snares out close to the bracken and so far nothing had
     ventured into them despite the plentiful evidence of rabbits
     here.</p>
 
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
     creepy. It goes <em>doom-doom-DOOM.</em>"</p>
 
 <p>Corky paused for effect, his eyes theatrically wide and catching
-    the light of the fire. Billy sat forward, hooked by the imge.</p>
+    the light of the fire. Billy sat forward, hooked by the image.</p>
 
 <p>"And you know that the rats are there, bigger than anything in
     the Pied Piper. Big as cocker spaniels, waiting in the dark.
@@ -126,9 +126,9 @@
 
 <p>"Like Paulie Degman," Doug said in a hushed voice, now drawn
     into Corky's tale despite the wink he'd been thrown. Danny shivered
-    and drew in closer to the warmth of the fire. He didn';t want to
-    think abot Paulie, not so far up and away from the street lights.
-    The water brubled hollowly as it tumbled between the big white
+    and drew in closer to the warmth of the fire. He didn't want to
+    think about Paulie, not so far up and away from the street lights.
+    The water burbled hollowly as it tumbled between the big white
     quartz rocks into the dark of the pool which caught shards of
     silver reflections on the ripples. Under the surface, it looked
     black. It could have gone down a million miles. In the dark of
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@
     his face straight. The fire flickered in his eyes.</p>
 
 <p>"Would I lie to you Billy-O?"</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>"<em>Would I lie to you Billy-O?</em>" Corky had asked again in
     the light of the day, after giving Billy a hard knuckle right on
     the edge of his shoulderblade. "Saved your life, didn't I? That was
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@
     sticking up like markers, grey and edged with a dark smoky
     blue.</p>
 
-<p>They crosssed the water on the stones and up the far bank where
+<p>They crossed the water on the stones and up the far bank where
     a narrow sheep track angled up the slope. Far behind them, well off
     down the valley, a cock crowed, shrill and challenging, only
     slightly muffled by the summer's heat haze.</p>
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@
     when the boys approached and then settled back on the rotting head.
     The black insects were already clustered all over the sightless
     eyes of the heron.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 1. 6pm:</em></p>
 
 <p>He had spent most of the day on the Blackwood slope, in the full
@@ -611,7 +611,7 @@
     silently up the slope and back towards the farm. He would come back
     later, when it was dark, just to see what was what. There was no
     rush now. He had all the time in the world.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 1, 6.30pm</em></p>
 
 <p>"Just like Lord of the Flies," Corky said when he saw it.</p>
@@ -915,7 +915,7 @@
     Danny heard the harsh and lonely <em>kaark</em> call of a heron and
     the sense of foreboding swelled along with the dragging remorse. He
     knew it was the female, calling to its dead mate.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 1. Night:</em></p>
 
 <p>The man came out of the shadows and into the moonlight, using
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/018.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/018.xhtml
index 023e0b3..565e917 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/018.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/018.xhtml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
 <p>"Looking for work, " the man said. He was tall and angular,
     though broad shouldered and his dark hair hung down over his eyes.
-    In the warmth of the summer afternoon, he was wearing a log coat
+    In the warmth of the summer afternoon, he was wearing a long coat
     with a belt hanging loose, the kind they used to wear back in the
     fifties and it had seen better days. Over his shoulder, an old army
     tote bag showed the stains of many miles.</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/019.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/019.xhtml
index 8149a6f..f4613e0 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/019.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/019.xhtml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
     advice. I know where young Ian gets his stubborn streak. The new
     hand, Joyce, is working well enough though he hardly says a word
     and doesn't come in for his dinner, but takes it to the shed. They
-    moved nearly ten tons of early Pentlands from of south field,
+    moved nearly ten tons of early Pentlands from south field,
     though Ian thinks there's a chance of wireworm in the late crop
     since it's just been turned this year from old pasture.</p>
 
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
 <p>The Flanders poppy, each petal wide and veined like a
     butterfly's wings, was pressed flat between the leaves of the book.
     The red had turned to a deep brown. Beside it, just below the
-    script, done in pencil, was a small sketch of a barn own, wings
+    script, done in pencil, was a small sketch of a barn owl, wings
     raised, legs outstretched beyond the heart-shaped head, talons
     spread wide. The weasel was in the act of turning, a slender and
     sinuous shape on a stony farm track. Both had been drawn by a deft
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
     Blackwood Farm on a summer's day. All of the years since it was
     drawn had not diminished the action or the finality of the
     swoop.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>He had watched the woman. She had looked at him with her
     bird-quick eyes, and the pounding had started again in his
     head.</p>
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@
     He could hear the approach of the wings. There was a buzzing as
     flies circled the chicken's severed head. His eyes started to
     blink.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>It was as she expected. Ian had come in with a hand pressed to
     the small of his back but it hadn't dented his appetite. He'd left
     only one slice of the ham and two thick wads of bread, wolfing the
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/021.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/021.xhtml
index e68aa71..9bc1dd1 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/021.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/021.xhtml
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
     seen it happening, seen her man die right there in the middle of
     the yard."</p>
 
-<p>The policeman had almost totakl recall of how the CID boss had
+<p>The policeman had almost total recall of how the CID boss had
     worked it out, from Jean McColl seeing her husband cut down with
     the axe. He knew the killer had used the chicken head to mark the
     bothy doorposts and he could tell by the slant of the crossses how
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
 <p>"Dr Bryce, he said he was very close to the edge and it was
     likely he'd turned the gun around and blown his head off, but while
     we lived in hope, there was no evidence of that whatsoever. Kelso
-    dismised it as so much hog wash.</p>
+    dismissed it as so much hog wash.</p>
 
 <p>"He asked the psychologist about the chicken's blood smeared on
     the door. Bryce said the scent of blood had probably enraged him,
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@
     Eyes, and that's how the name stuck, but in the squad, over that
     summer when we were hunting for him, waiting for him to make his
     next move, we started calling him The Angel.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>July:</em></p>
 
 <p>She wrote fast, almost tearing the page in her hurry, crabbing
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@
     leaving a white rag flapping on the bracket. He dragged her across
     the tack-room and down the steps to the byre. She tried to pull
     away but he clamped his hand on her neck, fingers and thumb almost
-    toughting, and walked her past her dangling husband. Her feet
+    touching, and walked her past her dangling husband. Her feet
     splashed in Ian's blood. She tried to look to see if he was still
     breathing, but the hand held her tight, made her face straight in
     front. She felt as light as a feather as he propelled her across
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@
 
 <p>And she prayed that he would come with the gun and stop the
     pain.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>In the night he had taken the head and put it on the top of the
     manure heap, waiting for the sun to come up. Every now and again he
     would hear the voice whisper to him, faint for the moment, and he
@@ -493,7 +493,7 @@
     but then he blinked some more and went striding sunwards along by
     the wall and down towards the trees. A half a mile down he could
     still hear the crowing cock. The land sloped towards the stream, a
-    densely wooded valley here, downsteam from the high moorland
+    densely wooded valley here, downstream from the high moorland
     pasture, thick with oak and beech trees. He'd been here before, in
     the lush valley that reminded him of that other gorge, long
     before....</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/022.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/022.xhtml
index b681fc2..53f2d18 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/022.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/022.xhtml
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@
 
 <p>"What are we trying to do? Kill ourselves? Haven't we all got
     enough problems?"</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>The man watched them coming back to the camp. The boys stopped
     up on the narrow gully side where a rivulet had cut the ground into
     a deep and narrow chasm. They were out of sight round a dog-leg
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@
     to the manure heap and talked to the head. It buzzed back at him
     incomprehensibly. After a while, the moon rose and Conboy whispered
     to him from a velvet sky.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>It had been a magical day right up until the fight and then the
     magic had snuffed right out.</p>
 
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@
 
 <p>Tom breathed out slowly, relief written all over his thin,
     freckled face.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>"There's somebody here," Danny said later when they were heating
     the can of soup on the fire. "I'm sure of it. I thought I saw
     somebody in the bushes from up on the side when we were coming back
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/023.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/023.xhtml
index a92ef5b..de4459b 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/023.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/023.xhtml
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@
 
 <p>"No matter what, the killer disappeared and the killings
     stopped. Nobody ever knew why."</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>Interruption:</em></p>
 
 <p>I could tell that Angus McNicol had spent a lot of time thinking
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
 
 <p>There were five boys just on the wrong side of innocence up
     there in the valley that day when.....</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 3. Morning:</em></p>
 
 <p>The man stepped out from the bushes and cast a shadow across the
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/024.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/024.xhtml
index ffeb468..74d74f4 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/024.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/024.xhtml
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@
 
 <p><em>Come on you lot. At the double.</em></p>
 
-<p>That nowseemed like a long time ago. Now Billy was on his
+<p>That now seemed like a long time ago. Now Billy was on his
     tip-toes, face contorted in pain. The tableau on the slope froze
     for an instant of dreadful indecision, then began to move again.
     Corky said nothing more.</p>
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@
 <p>"I will fear no evil."</p>
 
 <p>Billy's foot slipped on a dried ball of sheep dung and he almost
-    fell forward. The stranger's had pulled him back with a strong
+    fell forward. The stranger's hand pulled him back with a strong
     twist and another yelp escaped the boy. Pain flared in his scalp
     and tears sparked again in his eyes. If the man had let him go just
     at that moment he would have fallen forward right on to his
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/026.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/026.xhtml
index 3fd2ae8..b35faba 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/026.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/026.xhtml
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@
     into a kind of exhausted torpor. His eyes closed and his head
     drooped just a little, finally coming to rest against the muzzle of
     the shotgun.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>"Slitty eyed vermin!".</em></p>
 
 <p>The man's sudden utterance woke Billy with such a start that he
@@ -673,7 +673,7 @@
     time, rising a little, falling some more and finally, after a long
     time, it slowed and stopped. The fire continued to glow.</p>
 
-<p>Down in the forest, an own screeched like a banshee moorland
+<p>Down in the forest, an owl screeched like a banshee moorland
     ghost and its cry tapered away to a hollow moan. Later on, with the
     moon now crossing to the far side of the valley, something small
     squealed and died. The glow of the fire lessened.</p>
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/027.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/027.xhtml
index 1c3db2f..b374403 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/027.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/027.xhtml
@@ -792,7 +792,7 @@
 
 <p>Ahead of him, in the morning sky, the heron was just a distant
     shadow.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>Doug and Corky had been watching for him from the dark inside
     the tent, knowing that he would not try a downstream run this time.
     Danny had slipped out through the slit and although he'd moved as
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@
     gun. The boy gagged, making a strange and somehow deadly rattling
     sound in the back of his throat, but the man ignored that. Without
     any hesitation he brought his foot down onto Billy's shoulder,
-    pressed hard, while he dried to drag the gun away.</p>
+    pressed hard, while he tried to drag the gun away.</p>
 
 <p>"Leave him alone," Corky bawled, trying to overcome the
     stiffness in his thigh and get to his feet. He tripped over a guy
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/028.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/028.xhtml
index 506162e..40cd5db 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/028.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/028.xhtml
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@
 <p><em>Danny!</em> Not dead Paulie, but John Corcoran. Corky was
     bawling his name at the top of his voice, dragging him up from
     where Paulie's face was wavering into the dark.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>The gun had roared. A sudden punch of sound that slammed into
     Corky's head. He was only feet away, reaching for the barrels that
     were raised up towards the far wall. Everything had suddenly gone
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
 
 <p>"Very good Dan," Corky said. He sat him down. Twin trickles of
     blood were running down from each nostril and dropping onto the
-    tee-short, making hardly a stain against the deep red of the
+    tee-shirt, making hardly a stain against the deep red of the
     fabric. Danny sat back but as soon as his shoulder touched the soft
     moss he yelled aloud and twisted violently to the side.</p>
 
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@
     He hunched there, seemingly oblivious to them all now, waiting.</p>
 
 <p>The stillness of him was somehow even more scary.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 4. 10am.</em></p>
 
 <p>Danny was crying. Tears were steaming down his face and he
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/029.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/029.xhtml
index 2d97bd0..3b1d710 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/029.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/029.xhtml
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@
     close, though we even did a trawl in the local parish year books to
     see if anyone of that name had been baptised, but still we got no
     closer."</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 4....7pm.</em></p>
 
 <p>"Unless a man be born again, and cleansed of sin." The man's
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@
 
 <p>"Thought I was going to <em>puke</em> my guts," Doug said, and
     he gave a strangely fearful grin. His big protruding teeth made him
-    look gawky. His sting vest was torn now under his armpit and hung
+    look gawky. His string vest was torn now under his armpit and hung
     on him like a tattered net.</p>
 
 <p>"But if you hadn't pitched it in the pool, Danny would have got
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@
 
 <p>Corky held his ground and the man came up the bank. His shorts
     had slipped, dragged by the weight of water. His penis,
-    unshrivelled by the cold water pushed out to the side, like a dark,
+    unshriveled by the cold water pushed out to the side, like a dark,
     thick, club. Coarse hairs ran up to his belly and down his thighs.
     He looked like a savage giant. He came out of the water, went
     straight towards Corky who stood his ground until the man was a
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/030.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/030.xhtml
index 73cb0b6..9c76acd 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/030.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/030.xhtml
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@
     dipping the now-stale bread into it and wolfing it down like an
     animal. He offered some to Billy, but got no response at all. The
     others sat down, closer to the tent, waiting for what would happen
-    next and the valley got darker as night begam to fall. After a
+    next and the valley got darker as night began to fall. After a
     while, half an hour, maybe a bit more, the stranger stood up and
     used one of the branches to scrape the potatoes from the fire. He
     rolled the largest one clear of the others and trundled it closer
@@ -444,7 +444,7 @@
     trap. They could gnaw their way through their own foot, biting
     through fur and skin and gristle and bone to get free, no matter
     what the cost. Danny could hear the thrumming of the wire every
-    time Corky's teeth slipped off the thin brain and the jarring clash
+    time Corky's teeth slipped off the thin braid and the jarring clash
     of his teeth as they ground together.</p>
 
 <p>If Corky was desperate enough to try to gnaw his way through the
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/031.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/031.xhtml
index 951f00a..0e7a7e7 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/031.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/031.xhtml
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@
     and they head off an that's the last anybody hears of them for
     three weeks. They sent search parties out, but it was needle in a
     haystack stuff over there. We heard the RAF, lost a flight of five
-    transports just forty miles from HQ, and one of them were ever seen
+    transports just forty miles from HQ, and none of them were ever seen
     again. That jungle was thick, man.</p>
 
 <p>"The Suffolks in the south, they got word. Some tribesmen came
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@
     heard, he was in Chessington, where they take all the army head
     injuries. After that, I dunno. Maybe it was Broadmoor or some other
     loony bin.</p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p><em>August 4. Midnight:</em></p>
 
 <p>"None of your damned business, Conboy. You just sit there
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/032.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/032.xhtml
index 5e9e446..2203757 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/032.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/032.xhtml
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@
     His outreaching fingers flexed in the air as he pulled as far as
     possible, reaching the very limit of give in the wire. He pulled
     further and his leg slipped on the wet grass, shooting right out in
-    front of him. His toe hit the canvas back which slid away with a
+    front of him. His toe hit the canvas bag which slid away with a
     tinny clank. Doug slipped back with a sudden, surprised gulp,
     pulling them all downwards with the drag on the wire. Tom gasped
     and tried to ease the stricture at his neck and Doug scrambled
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/033.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/033.xhtml
index d5165d5..81ae81f 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/033.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/033.xhtml
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@
 <p>He was right below the tree, gaining some height, close to the
     bottom of the slope. The other bomb was about twenty yards to the
     right, beyond the lip of the little corrie, lying on its side, two
-    fins dug into the shale. It looked like a small beched submarine.
+    fins dug into the shale. It looked like a small beached submarine.
     Corky sawed and again, three strands stuttered apart. The jerk as
     the branch jerked straighter by two inches shook the tree once
     more. This time, little stones bulleted out from underneath the
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/034.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/034.xhtml
index db89578..c568ef1 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/034.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/034.xhtml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 
         <p>The forked branch carried the bomb up, reached the end of its
             travel, slammed against the cross-trunk and once again the whole
-            tree shook from the roots upwards in a seizmic shudder. A
+            tree shook from the roots upwards in a seismic shudder. A
             scattering of leaves exploded outwards. The branch hit the trunk,
             rebounded, slammed in again and stopped dead, but the bomb simply
             kept on travelling, almost straight up into the air, thrown off its
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css
index a313488..513d9f4 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/imperaWeb.css
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Impera Media stylesheet v3 2012-08-15*/
+/* Impera Media stylesheet v4 2015-07-15*/
 
 body { color: #000; background-color: #FFF; font-family: serif; line-height: 1.4em; text-align: left; text-indent: 0; border: 0 none; margin: 0; padding: 0; }
 
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ body { color: #000; background-color: #FFF; font-family: serif; line-height: 1.4
 
 #cover img { text-align: center; font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin: 0 auto; padding: 0; }
 
-#header img { border: 0 none; margin: 0; }
+#header img {  }
 
 #header div a, #footer div a { color: #FFF; background-color: #000; text-decoration: none; }
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ dl { margin: .5em 2em; }
 
 table { font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 1em; }
 
-img { border: none; position: absolute; /* top: 0; */ /* left: 0; */ margin: 0; padding: 0; }
+img { border: none;  margin: 0; padding: 0; }
 
 #references ul li { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; }
 
@@ -80,8 +80,18 @@ hr { border: 0; border-bottom: dashed 1px #000; width: 50%; margin: 3em 25%; }
 
 #heading, #preface, #contents { margin-bottom: 6em; }
 
+.centered {text-align: center;}
+
 #e, #timestamp { margin-bottom: .5em; }
 
 #contents ul, #contents ol, #references ul { list-style-type: none; margin-left: 0; }
 
 #contents ul li, #contents ol li, p { margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em; }
+
+.break {
+    text-align: center;font-size:115%;
+}
+
+.extraspace {
+    padding-bottom: 1em;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/title.xhtml b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/title.xhtml
index 483abcc..2be3540 100644
--- a/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/title.xhtml
+++ b/build/darkvalley/OEBPS/title.xhtml
@@ -1,25 +1,34 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
         "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
 <head>
-    <title>Dark Valley</title>
+
+    <title>DARK VALLEY</title>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
-    <link rel="stylesheet" type="application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href="page-template.xpgt"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type=
+            "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
 </head>
 <body>
-<div id="header" style="padding-bottom: 56px;"><img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="400" height="48"/></div>
-<div id="heading">
+
+<div id="heading" class="centered">
     <div id="title">
-       <h1>Dark Valley</h1>
+        <h1>DARK VALLEY</h1>
     </div>
     <div id="author">
         <h4>Joe Donnelly</h4>
     </div>
-    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.com">http://www.impera-media.com</a></div>
-    <div id="e">books@impera-media.com</div>
+
+    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.co.uk">http://www.impera-media.co.uk</a></div>
+    <div id="e">books@impera-media.co.uk</div>
+    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;">
+        <img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/>
+    </div>
     <p id="timestamp">2011-05-17</p>
 
-    <p id="version">1.02 - 2015-07-15</p>
+    <p id="version">1.03 - 2015-09-10</p>
+    <!-- <p id="version">1.02 - 2015-07-15</p>-->
     <!--<p id="version">1.01 - 2012-10-29</p>-->
 
     <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 2011, Joe Donnelly.
@@ -27,7 +36,12 @@
 
         <p>The moral right of the author has been asserted</p>
 
-        <p>This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser</p>
+        <p>This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by
+            way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or
+            otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any
+            form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
+            and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent
+            purchaser</p>
     </div>
     <div id="licensenotice">This work is copyright.</div>
 </div>
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-title.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-title.xhtml
index 3863126..d63f61a 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-title.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-title.xhtml
@@ -1,36 +1,48 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
         "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
 <head>
-    <title>Shrike</title>
+
+    <title>INCUBUS</title>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
-    <link rel="stylesheet" type="application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href="page-template.xpgt"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type=
+            "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
 </head>
 <body>
-<div id="header" style="padding-bottom: 70px;"><img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="400" height="48"/></div>
-<div id="heading">
+
+<div id="heading" class="centered">
     <div id="title">
-        <h1>Incubus</h1>
+        <h1>INCUBUS</h1>
     </div>
     <div id="author">
         <h4>Joe Donnelly</h4>
     </div>
-    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.com">http://www.impera-media.com</a></div>
-    <div id="e">books@impera-media.com</div>
-    <p id="timestamp">2011-04-11</p>
 
-    <p id="version">1.02 - 2015-07-15</p>
-    <p id="version">1.01 - 2012-10-29</p>
-    
+    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.com">http://www.impera-media.co.uk</a></div>
+    <div id="e">books@impera-media.co.uk</div>
+    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;">
+        <img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/>
+    </div>
+    <p id="timestamp">2011-04-11</p>
+    <p id="version">1.03 - 2015-09-10</p>
+    <!--<p id="version">1.02 - 2015-07-15</p>-->
+    <!--<p id="version">1.01 - 2012-10-29</p>-->
 
     <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 2011, Joe Donnelly.
         <p>All rights reserved</p>
 
         <p>The moral right of the author has been asserted</p>
 
-        <p>This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser</p>
+        <p>This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by
+            way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or
+            otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any
+            form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
+            and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent
+            purchaser</p>
     </div>
     <div id="licensenotice">This work is copyright.</div>
 </div>
 </body>
-</html>
+</html>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus11.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus11.xhtml
index 8af8644..b7be465 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus11.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus11.xhtml
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ would have smoked and sizzled with the unexpected heat of it. A
 small sound blurted out from him and the mother went into a sudden
 spasm of shivering in response.</p>
 <p>Outside the new one shivered too, suddenly tensed, responding
-unconsciously to the subaudial sound.</p>
+unconsciously to the subaudible sound.</p>
 <p>The shadow moved away out of sight and the cold moonlight was
 back again, wavering in his stinging vision. Something thumped at
 the door and the mother twisted at the sound. He sensed her
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ from under each limb opened. There was no volition, no choosing of
 the mix he would need, the way he did with the mother or the others
 who came close to be manipulated. This time it all came out, every
 gland sphincter opening like a mouth, every muscle squeezing in an
-instant of relief. He could hear the pheremones spray from him in a
+instant of relief. He could hear the pheromones spray from him in a
 hiss of mist.</p>
 <p>The mother went rigid. It was instantaneous. She jerked as if
 she'd been hit with a hammer right on the forehead and he gripped
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus13.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus13.xhtml
index b7e1659..e89d14d 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus13.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus13.xhtml
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ caused that. He had no words and no real knowledge outside his own
 self and the mothers.</p>
 <p>But he was learning quickly.</p>
 <hr />
-<p>Down in the security ofice in Waterside Mall John Barclay
+<p>Down in the security office in Waterside Mall John Barclay
 offered them coffee but David and Helen were more interested in
 what he had to show them. All of the screens in his office were on,
 a bank of flickering grey and white squares showing all the views.
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus18.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus18.xhtml
index d6bc283..dd03f62 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus18.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus18.xhtml
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ trip.&#8221;</p>
 <p>Helen&#8217;s glow vanished. She bristled. &#8220;Don&#8217;t
 come the smartass David. You should have been here and you&#8217;d
 be telling a different story.&#8221;</p>
-<p>She stoppedherself, realising it was the very concern that had
+<p>She stopped herself, realising it was the very concern that had
 spurred that response. &#8220;Sorry. Anyway, she&#8217;s on foot,
 with a baby,&#8221; she waited for his eyes to register that,
 &#8220;and a pram. She won&#8217;t be far, and it doesn&#8217;t
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus22.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus22.xhtml
index 503925d..81b4619 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus22.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus22.xhtml
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ mind.</p>
 <p>Out of sight, she heard a sucking, wet sound and her heart
 slumped, giving a slow double beat that was shock and loss and
 dreadful despair. She tried to move once more, but her limbs were
-incapable of anything more than a slow-motion, directionlesss flop.
+incapable of anything more than a slow-motion, directionless flop.
 The baby cried out, thin and fearful and then the sound faded out.
 Kate&#8217;s mouth stretched wide in a silent scream and all that
 came out from between her quivering lips was a thick and ropy
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus25.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus25.xhtml
index 021b2b1..c9f6d40 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus25.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus25.xhtml
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ she could not identify.</p>
 <p>Go back! <em>Get out of here!</em></p>
 <p>It came loud, like a physical blow, just as she pushed forward.
 Her hand shoved the faded red door. It creaked open in a shudder.
-She was in before she knew it. The bat-squeak subaudial sound in
+She was in before she knew it. The bat-squeak subaudible sound in
 her ears swelled stronger. It felt like a resonance in the bones of
 her skull. The fillings in her teeth sang in sympathy, sending a
 ripple of galvanic shock down her jawbone. Behind her she heard the
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ pulled the pain out and covered it with a different pressure,
 making her love him again. She had nursed him in the dark, and he
 had fed, stronger now and needing more. He had fed ravenously,
 glutting himself even as she felt her own strength diminish.
-Another change was already boiing inside him, making his blood
+Another change was already boiling inside him, making his blood
 sizzle and his muscles tremble. It was coming so swiftly, hard on
 the heels of the last one, that its speed confused him and he only
 knew he had to feed fast now. Soon he would have to make her move
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus26.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus26.xhtml
index 3c08334..ede8abe 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus26.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus26.xhtml
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ this? Had she been carrying a dreadful, wasting disease that
 she&#8217;d passed on to the girl?</p>
 <p>Was the baby the vector?</p>
 <p>David shook his head, he&#8217;s seen Helen&#8217;s face in the
-barn. The blod had drained out of it and she had been shivering in
+barn. The blood had drained out of it and she had been shivering in
 shock. She had seen the baby, and that had almost driven her
 crazy.</p>
 <p>What were they now hunting? All he had were questions. He had to
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ the third day of her search for the missing girl, just in case they
 were needed. She hadn&#8217;t told the girl&#8217;s parents that,
 to spare their feelings. Now they would hear the worst. John
 Marsden would face the nightmare of identifying his ruined
-daughteris corpse.</p>
+daughters corpse.</p>
 <p>Had it not been for the x-ray&#8217;s of her upper molars, even
 this first identification would have been difficult, because
 Hartley discovered the girl had lost eight teeth in her last few
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus27.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus27.xhtml
index f517de6..5dcddf8 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus27.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus27.xhtml
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ rushed at her.</p>
 voice, jumping past the slavering, snarling animals. Helen
 screeched an incoherent warning. The woman disappeared from the
 other side of the fence.</p>
-<p>Kate was falling. But a long runner of bramblethorn snagged her
+<p>Kate was falling. But a long runner of bramble thorn snagged her
 foot as she tumbled, spinning her in mid air. The world whirled.
 The thing in her arms shrieked a glassy mental scream, more
 powerful now in its desperation, stronger now since its change and
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus28.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus28.xhtml
index 70e744f..a801b8d 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus28.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus28.xhtml
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ A powerful sensation twisted deep in her pelvis.</p>
 aware of the reach of the thing. He had felt the sear of energy
 radiate outwards and had not known what it was. But this close, he
 could feel the mind-burn like a singe on the edge of his
-consciousness and the power of it both amazed and aappaalled him, In
+consciousness and the power of it both amazed and appalled him, In
 that instant he realised how this thing snared the mothers. The
 policewoman either ignored him or did not hear his blurted warning.
 She reached again and without warning, the girl ran onto the ice on
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus30.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus30.xhtml
index a25c156..98fa5b3 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus30.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus30.xhtml
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ was out of his eyes. Hands were on him, ripping and squeezing. He
 had tried to push his mind into the man&#8217;s own thoughts, but
 he could not force his way through. Something inside him had broken
 but that did not matter now because the desperate chase and the
-danger had brought on the next matamorphosis. It had come on him so
+danger had brought on the next metamorphosis. It had come on him so
 suddenly that he had not even recognised it. All he knew was the
 enfolding cold and the collapsing darkness and he was down there in
 the clammy black. Sensation began to ebb away from him. After a
diff --git a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus31.xhtml b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus31.xhtml
index d8cc0e5..ba359d6 100644
--- a/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus31.xhtml
+++ b/build/incubus/OEBPS/incubus31.xhtml
@@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ breathing. She got down to the pathway between the trees, reaching
 the flat ground, forcing her legs to move, though they threatened
 to stop working and simply spill her to the ground. Helen knew she
 had to put some speed on to get away from it.</p>
-<p>All the while, throb the thicket and the bramblethorns the
+<p>All the while, throb the thicket and the bramble thorns the
 operator&#8217;s voice was scratching out from the receiver, but
 Helen had no breath to spare now no time to waste. Her breathing
 came in ragged, desperate gasps. The moon stuttered its light
diff --git a/build/index.html b/build/index.html
index f516bba..7d62f97 100644
--- a/build/index.html
+++ b/build/index.html
@@ -5,16 +5,16 @@
     <title>Books</title>
 </head>
 <body>
-    <h3>Books</h3>
+<h3>Books</h3>
 
 <h3>Dark Valley</h3>
-    <ul>
-        <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
-        <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
-        <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
-        <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other books</a></li>
-        <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/contents.xhtml'>Book Contents</a></li>
-    </ul>
+<ul>
+    <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
+    <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
+    <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
+    <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other books</a></li>
+    <li><a href='darkvalley/OEBPS/contents.xhtml'>Book Contents</a></li>
+</ul>
 
 <h3>Full Proof</h3>
 <ul>
@@ -27,41 +27,50 @@
 </ul>
 
 
-    <h3>Incubus</h3>
-    <ul>
-        <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
-        <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
-        <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
-        <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other books</a></li>
-        <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-contents.xhtml'>Incubus Contents</a></li>
-    </ul>
+<h3>Incubus</h3>
+<ul>
+    <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
+    <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
+    <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
+    <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other books</a></li>
+    <li><a href='incubus/OEBPS/Incubus-contents.xhtml'>Incubus Contents</a></li>
+</ul>
 
-    <h3>Mythlands</h3>
-    <ul>
-        <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
-        <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
-        <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
-        <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other books</a></li>
-        <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/contents.xhtml'>Mythlands contents</a></li>
-    </ul>
 
 <h3>Shrike</h3>
-    <ul>
-        <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
-        <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
-        <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
-        <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other</a></li>
+<ul>
+    <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
+    <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
+    <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
+    <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other</a></li>
     <li><a href='shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-contents.xhtml'>Shrike contents</a></li>
-    </ul>
+</ul>
 
-    <h3>Bane</h3>
-    <ul>
+<h3>Bane</h3>
+<ul>
     <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
-        <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
-        <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
-        <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other</a></li>
-        <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/contents.xhtml'>Bane contents</a></li>
-    </ul>
+    <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
+    <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
+    <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other</a></li>
+    <li><a href='bane/OEBPS/contents.xhtml'>Bane contents</a></li>
+</ul>
 
+<h3>Mythlands</h3>
+<ul>
+    <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
+    <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
+    <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
+    <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other books</a></li>
+    <li><a href='mythlands/OEBPS/contents.xhtml'>Mythlands contents</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<h3>Spellbinder</h3>
+<ul>
+    <li><a href='spellbinder/OEBPS/title.xhtml'>Title</a></li>
+    <li><a href='spellbinder/OEBPS/bio.xhtml'>Bio</a></li>
+    <li><a href='spellbinder/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml'>Blurb</a></li>
+    <li><a href='spellbinder/OEBPS/other.xhtml'>Other books</a></li>
+    <li><a href='spellbinder/OEBPS/contents.xhtml'>Spellbinder contents</a></li>
+</ul>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml
index b298e05..dfd0417 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/blurb.xhtml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 <head>
     <meta name="generator" content=
             "HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 14 February 2006), see www.w3.org"/>
-    <title>Full Proof</title>
+    <title>Mythlands</title>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type=
             "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 <body>
 <div id="text">
     <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
-        <h3>Full Proof</h3>
+        <h3>Mythlands</h3>
 
         <p>The town is on its knees. The jobs have gone. The companies have shut or sold out.</p>
 
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml
index da3fbcc..f70a446 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch02.xhtml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 <p>
     It had to be a memory. What kind of memory, he just didn't know.
 </p>
-        <hr />
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Morning came. He was half awake, sore when he moved.
 </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml
index b962ebe..c875203 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch05.xhtml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 <p>
     He backed away, terrified as the lead crow came winging in and landed on his shoulder, crater eyes festering and wet beak lunging for his own eyes.
 </p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     He was yelling in fright when Kerry woke him, shaking him by the shoulder. His eyes flicked open and pain sizzled across his skin.
 </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml
index d6765ea..47963c5 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch07.xhtml
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@
     Corriwen wolfed the small heap of beans, watched fascinated again as Kerry lit another cigarette and then she tried and failed to get the lighter to work.
     The moon went into hiding again and Kerry dozed off.
 </p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     "Let me see your hurt," Corriwen whispered after a while. She eased Jack's shirt back and gasped.
 </p>
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@
     Corriwen clasped his fingers tight, then let go. Jack laid back against the mossy bank and closed his eyes. Whatever she had pasted onto his hurt skin, it
     kept the pain far enough away to let him doze. He woke at dawn, and Kerry was grilling fish in the smoke from a fresh fire.
 </p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Jack started up, winced, groaned, lay down. It was already light but the pain was back with him again, and that sick feeling deep inside him. The sparkle
     of the rising sun on the tumbling water hurt his eyes and he blinked against it.
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml
index 56f6b3e..590e733 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch11.xhtml
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@
 <p>
     "She's the Hag. The Morrigan. She'll lay waste to everything she touches, all she sees. But there's more than that. She wants more than Temair."
 </p>
-<hr />
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     It was dark now and Jack sat with Kerry outside the small stone house, each on a smooth stone not far from the river, but far enough from the falls to be
     able to hear each other over the roar of tumbling water. Finbar the Bard had drawn Corriwen aside while he cooked fresh fish over the coals of an open
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml
index 50ccf67..731a0a7 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
 <p>
     There was always a price to pay.
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Mandrake had learned the forgotten legends of the Morrigan when Men fought the Fomorians and he knew <em>their</em> power had come from her darkness.
 </p>
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@
     Now the whole of Temair lay under his hand while the people who had looked to Lugan Redthorn for leadership worked under his command, slaving on the great
     project that would finally free her from the fireglass prison.
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Up in the high tower, the visions faded.
 </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml
index b5305ca..4fd11b5 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
     They were silent, each lost in thought while the water creatures moved them on, heading away from the faint glow of the rising sun that tried and failed to
     pierce the mist. Kerry fell asleep, reassured that the boat would not sink, both feet up on the rim, head on his rucksack.
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Jack and Kerry had sat together outside, each on a smooth stone not far from the river, but far enough from the falls to be able to hear each other. Finbar
     the Bard had drawn Corriwen aside while he cooked over the coals of an open fire. The two of them talked, heads close, the girl's face angled up
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@
 <p>
     He smiled, a real one this time. "But like I said. If you ignore all the crazy stuff, this place could be a whole lot worse."
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Now Kerry was asleep and Corriwen sat beside Jack at the prow.
 </p>
@@ -400,7 +400,7 @@ you. It's the puzzling out of riddle and rhyme that's the trick. Temair turns an
 <p>
     "You will, some day up ahead. Now you get a good nights sleep if you can, so you're fresh for the next step."
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Corriwen Redthorn had listened intently as Jack related the conversation.
 </p>
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ you. It's the puzzling out of riddle and rhyme that's the trick. Temair turns an
     "I'll help you if I can. There's always some hope," she said. "I had almost given up until I met you. And Mandrake's Scree had hunted me so long I was
     ready to give up. You helped give me hope again. And so has Finbar."
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     The mist cleared abruptly, as if they passed through a gauze curtain into sunlight. Neither Jack nor Corriwen could say how far they had travelled, but
     now, after hours in the white stillness, a forest loomed.
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml
index 27b937c..82fe69b 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
 <p>
     She recalled her last conversation with Jack, while Kerry was still asleep on the boat as it sped through the mist across the silent waters.
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     "He talked to you too?" Jack had asked, keeping his voice low.
 </p>
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@
 <p>
     That resolute expression chiselled her face. "But somebody has to do it. For Temair and Caledon both.
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     Now here she was, a prisoner, jolting eastwards on the back of a boar-hog, moving ever eastwards through a blasted country of burned farms and weedy fields
     and the occasional bloated body of a grazing animal. This place had been scoured And soured. Now it lay empty and desolate.
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@
     <em>She will devastate Temair&#8230;and the worlds</em>
     . The Bard had said. It had already started.
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     "Come on," Jack had urged. Without a pause they spun away, scuttled down the nearest alley, found the edge of the village and kept going in the darkness
     while behind them the hamlet was beginning to burn, sending flames leaping high to the low clouds.
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@
 <p>
     "I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die."
 </p>
-<hr/>
+<p class='break'>* * *</p>
 <p>
     They moved at first light. Which way. Jack closed his eyes. Since he had come here, come with the sickening, poisonous touch on his skin, the shee-bane, he
     had been lost without his sense of direction. But today, as the sun began to sparkle through the side boughs of the coppice, he could feel it again. He
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml
index 1037c38..777ac00 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
         <p>
             Somehow, a small ember of hope stayed alive. They had given her hope, and she would not lose it, not now.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The Scree were strong, and they <em>could</em> lift heavy things, so carting Jack and Kerry presented no problem to them.
         </p>
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@
         <p>
             "You both got the girl," she whispered. "Now can you get her out of here?"
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The tower was high above the outer battlements. They couldn't risk going down the stairwell. Jack uncoiled the rope they had planned to use to scale the
             Cromwath wall and fixed a good climber's knot round a stanchion.
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml
index 6459ffc..b81b376 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@
         <p>
             "Good thing we're just boys then," Jack said, more lightly than he felt. "And a girl."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Mandrake's black rage was incandescent.
         </p>
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@
         <p>
             Then he strode to the door, flung it open and started down the spiral stone stairway, ready and determined to kill something. Anything.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack woke, instantly alert. Corriwen was huddled close to the glowing embers. Kerry snored lightly beside her, both hands clenched on the handle of the
             fine sword.
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@
             Jack burst into laughter, a sudden release of tension after the battle, and then all three of them were doubled up, laughing uncontrollably, not knowing
             what they were laughing at, but unable to stop.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             They slept fitfully until morning when they shared the last of the meat off the chicken bones, both boys homesick for a cup of hot tea.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml
index 4b88c65..bb90aa2 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
         <p>
             She was the <em>Morrigan</em>.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The Bard had warned them that the forest was a dangerous place.
         </p>
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@
         <p>
             They wolfed the food.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             "Here is the quagmire," Connal said, when they had eaten their fill. The Bard had a big pipe that looked as if it had been carved out of a solid bulrush
             and he puffed it to a fiery glow. The smoke made Jack's eyes water.
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@
         <p>
             And three days later, all of it on foot, here they were.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The Morrigan rolled in her dark centre, reaching out to sense it again.
         </p>
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@
         <p>
             She reached into the night, and touched him.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack was dreaming. He had fallen into an exhausted sleep, every muscle aching, and when he slept he dreamt.
         </p>
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@
         <p>
             And he felt he would rather die than feel that loathsome touch again.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             They were three days out of the swamp now, and they had stopped beneath a spreading oak close to the winding road, a mile or so from a vast forest. They
             had camped here, rather than risk whatever might be in the shadows, for the bard had warned them that Sappeling Wood was a dangerous place.
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml
index 1992e6b..6848153 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@
         <p>
             And when he pictured the bones of the Scree, torn apart high in the branches, he was suddenly very much aware of what the forest might do to them.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             They travelled a long way, in eerie silence, until finally he felt himself being lowered, so fast his stomach lurched. He plummeted down, crashing through
             thorns to land with a thump on the ground. Corriwen lay a few feet away.
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@
             An orange flower uncurled like another hand and a sweet heady perfume wafted around her. The flower swayed forward and clamped on her face, drenching her
             in its perfume. The world began to waver and dance and her lungs began to burn.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Then a tiny shape leapt down from the height of the trees and landed right in front of Jack.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml
index 19ba1a7..64e0e09 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@
         <p>
             Kerry had no answer to that. He ran on and the big man came after him.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack was tiring fast and the horsemen were closing in.
         </p>
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@
         <p>
             "With what?" Kerry took his belt off, looped it round the big man's neck, pulled hard.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack flicked his eyes to the right and saw Kerry shoving the man through the undergrowth. He had a huge sword in his hand, jabbed against the man's armpit.
         </p>
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@
         <p>
             "Corrie Copperhead," he managed to gasp. "After all this time, we thought you dead, little cousin. I can't believe I see you here."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             They had a fort, protected by a palisade of spiked logs and the narrow gulley that led to it was guarded by armed men.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml
index 2ac54c4..94588c7 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@
             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 class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             He came to, lying athwart a heaving boat and was immediately sick over the side.
         </p>
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@
         <p>
             Jack and Kerry dismounted the great horse and led the trapped and bloodied fighters into the depths of the wood.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <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
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@
             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 class='break'>* * *</p>
         <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
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@
         <p>
             "It's a hell of a neat trick," Kerry told him.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <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.
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml
index 54a669e..f704a61 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@
             But none of them knew Mandrake was travelling westwards, at the head of a huge army, determined to find Corriwen Redthorn and her two companions and to
             finish Alevin and his fighters once and for all.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             He sat inside a black covered wagon, drawn by half a dozen great-horses. His retinue of renegade chiefs and their men were outnumbered by the horde of
             Scree who marched alongside, keeping clear of the horses. The hauling beasts whinnied and stamped and it needed riders on the outrunners to keep them
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@
         <p>
             The black wagon rolled on at a gallop, and the voices inside it continued to screech, while the Scree ran alongside, ready for battle.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The land was hot and parched; water was hard to find. Brodick had rested the horse in the shadow of a stunted tree while Corriwen slept fitfully.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml
index fbc9ab6..92f554a 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@
         <p>
             Kerry shrugged. "I want to stick with you."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Kerry was long asleep and clouds covered the moon, but Jack couldn't sleep. All sorts of thoughts were buzzing around his mind. Thoughts of Cullian.
             Thoughts of his father. Of Corriwen Redthorn somewhere ahead of them. But mostly he thought about the words in the Book of Ways, and the more he thought
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@
         <p>
             Declan said nothing at all.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Alevin and his men had raced towards the dam, covering the ground fast. Every mile took them ever closer to the storm that wheeled in the distance.
         </p>
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@
         <p>
             The great army wheeled about, sending up grit and dry rock dust, and began to march fast back towards the east.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Alevin's men reached the crevice in the ridge where thousands of the people of Mid Temair had been enslaved. Since the great battle, they had been forced
             to dig a narrow channel from west to east, and they were still toiling like ants, when the riders came thundering up the cleft, hooves splashing in water
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml
index efddcc1..0984dd6 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@
         <p>
             Very quietly she opened the saddle-pack and with stealthy fingers, she reached inside.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Far in the depths of the Black Barrow, the Morrigan, trapped since the days of Cullian the Traveller, sensed the coming together of all the pieces she had
             laid out.
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@
         <p>
             The time was almost here.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Brodick woke when he felt the cold point of her blade against his throat. His hand instinctively jerked towards his knife.
         </p>
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@
         <p>
             And someone was following them.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             They tied Declan up and left him lying, still asleep, beside the embers.
         </p>
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@
         <p>
             Then they were gone.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Corriwen was in front of Brodick on the horse, with the binding thongs looped around the saddle horn. He had placed her there, and she could reach neither
             her own knives in the saddle-roll, nor his in its sheath. But she could wait.
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@
         <p>
             "For better or worse," she told herself.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Five hours later, Jack and Kerry would have missed the fork entirely, but for Kerry's skill. He was leading the horse while Jack sat in the saddle and the
             little Leprechaun clutched the mane tight.
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@
             Soon they came to an arch that at first looked carved by water, but as they approached it became clear that it had been built from solid blocks of stone,
             weathered and patched with dry lichen. Some sort of script had been carved on it, but it was too worn to make out.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Beyond the narrow entrance, the old city was a labyrinth of ruins and crumbling walls. At the far end, an ancient castle on higher ground overlooked the
             ruins.
@@ -514,7 +514,7 @@
             as ever. She nodded to herself, biting on the grief that suddenly gripped her, clenched her fingers round the dagger's hilt and then silently set off into
             the labyrinth.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Deep in the bowels of the castle it was cold and dank. Darkness shrouded Brodick as soon as he stepped through the gate. Above him an ancient portcullis
             hung from rusting chains that seemed almost worn through.
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml
index f509b03..5021b1d 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@
         <p>
             Before he could say anything else, Brodick and Corriwen came out together. Brodick had his hand protectively around her shoulder.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Kerry whooped when he saw her.
         </p>
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@
         <p>
             With that he turned, yanked Corriwen's hair, and dragged her away.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             There was no sign of the horse Jack and Kerry had ridden into the ruined city. Brodick cursed under his breath. He looped Corriwen's hands into the leather
             thong and drew it tight, pulling her wrists together, and when she was secure, he fixed the sacks of loot onto the saddle-hooks.
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@
         <p>
             "So I'll have the Redthorn sword. I have you. And I'll have her blessing. All's well."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             "Now what do we do?"
         </p>
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@
         <p>
             "Now would you believe that?"
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Corriwen stayed silent, waiting for her chance. She eased the little penknife out and sawed at her bonds, keeping her hands on the other side of the horse
             as she worked. In seconds, one of the thongs was cut through and she worked her wrists back and forth to loosen the rest.
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@
         <p>
             Now it was done
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             "Trust us to end up with two stinkin' backstabbers."
         </p>
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@
         <p>
             She pulled back her cape to show them Brodick's knife. As she moved, the horses whinnied, pawed the ground. They all turned round.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Scree hunters came streaming down the hillside in a grey tide.
         </p>
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@
         <p>
             Something flickered in peripheral vision and was gone before it registered.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Corriwen was completely unaware of Kerry's plight. She had followed the horse, trying to corral it in one of the passageways, but its fright kept it
             clattering along old cobbled streets that twisted and turned as it ran southwards. She was running out of energy as it galloped along a sand-filled canal,
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@
         <p>
             She spun again and the blade chipped the wall a mere inch from her head.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The world spun in Kerry's vision. He thought he'd breathed his last when the great ram had knocked him into the air and he'd landed with such a thud that
             all the breath had left him. Then he was up in the air again, tumbled about like a leaf in the wind. His chin hit something hard and his vision wavered and
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml
index 8362061..e911740 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
         <p>
             He cursed himself again when he realised he should have gone for the dam first.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Mandrake marched the Scree and traitor chiefs back towards the ridge.
         </p>
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
         <p>
             He slouched in the wagon, while the Morrigan still hissed and spat in his mind.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Brodick was dead, stone dead.
         </p>
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@
         <p>
             "Let's ask the book," Jack said.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Alevin reached the great dam just as Mandrake arrived on the ridge. He pulled up in wonder at its construction.
         </p>
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@
         <p>
             "Destroy it now," Alevin finally said. "And heaven save Temair."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Mandrake reached the top of the ridge and looked down at the deep waters below. It was as if he stood between two black wells of hell.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml
index d72e2ce..37bd866 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@
         <p>
             Jack realised with awful certainty, that he was alone.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Kerry called his name, but his cry was swallowed up. One minute Jack was beside him, close enough to hear his ragged breath. The next, he was gone. He
             turned to Corriwen, reached for her elbow, and found empty space. He made a circle with his fingers, called her name, called for Declan.
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@
         <p>
             The sound of running water.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             There was no reply when Corriwen called out, no light of any kind. She felt her way forward, blade out, shuffling her feet in case there were any pitfalls
             or crevasses that might pitch her to who knows where.
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@
         <p>
             She felt a scream swell inside her, but her throat locked and nothing, not a sound, would come out.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Far away, Kerry heard the sound of running water, rushing water, but he couldn't tell which direction.
         </p>
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@
         <p>
             The dead men began to push themselves from the walls towards him.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Declan's torch had died. He stood still, trying to sense any bearings.
         </p>
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@
         <p>
             But by then it was too late.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The mouldering warrior lifted up a blood-scabbed sword. Kerry ducked under the swipe of the blade. It sang close enough to <em>snick</em> his hair. He
             stabbed up with his own blade and the point plunged between dry ribs and rattled uselessly against a dusty spine.
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@
         <p>
             And a wall of water hit him and tumbled him backwards and under.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack was lost. In his head - he was sure it was in his mind - he could hear whispering voices, but he could see no movement of any kind.
         </p>
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@
             His mind understood the words. On his chest the heart stone stuttered faster still and he tucked the book away. He gripped the heart stone, felt it pound
             in his palm, and as the pounding increased, he walked on, following its direction.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The rushing water slammed Kerry down, rolled him against the walls and swept him back up the passageway. He was upside down, scraping against masonry. His
             foot found the floor and he pushed hard, terror expanding in his chest as the lack of air made his mind spin.
@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@
         <p>
             The words were hardly out of his mouth when a hand clasped his ankle and began to drag him under.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack seemed to walk a long time.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml
index 4f03151..1202b8b 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
             Using all her power, she sent her black and poisonous thoughts out and east, to the great storm, until her presence reached the ridge under the swirling
             maelstrom.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Mandrake stood on the ridge, feet straddling the knife-edge.
         </p>
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
         <p>
             He turned from the ridge and began the descent to where the massed Scree troops and the turncoat chiefs waited for his arrival.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             On the dam across the narrow ravine, Alevin was frantically spurring his men.
         </p>
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@
         <p>
             But Alevin was wrong. He was playing right into Mandrake's hands.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack was moving in the dark. Only the strange, clean light from the heartstone allowed him to make out anything here, but he was running, fleeing the
             horror within the obsidian block, running from the awful voice that still seethed like venom in his head.
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
             The tunnels seemed to go on forever, and the sword was becoming heavy in his hands. His breath came in short, laboured gasps, but he could not stop, She
             would do anything to get the heart-stone, her key.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Corriwen was running too. She was blind in the dark, but she could hear the sounds of pursuit. The thing that had looked like her brother, but had warped
             and melted and changed into something so vile it almost made her heart stop dead, that thing was hunting her.
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@
         <p>
             "We've just got to find Kerry. We can't go without him."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The waters closed over his head and bony hands tightened on his ankles. They dragged him under. Kerry panicked. He kicked blindly, but the grip was too
             powerful. He gained the surface for just a second, gasped for breath, and oily water went up his nose.
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@
             then he was under, struggling to get to the surface again while a roaring noise in his ears rose to a crescendo and when he could hold his breath no
             longer, all his air came out in a rush and a freezing gush of water filled his lungs. He felt his body go numb.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack called his name.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml
index 5417f36..f7ce24d 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
         <p>
             "I think we should get ourselves out of here."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Mandrake had watched gleefully as the water roared through the cleft cut in the ridge.
         </p>
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
         <p>
             "Nothing can stand before me! <em>Nothing on this world</em>!"
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             The dam bulged further and the edges of the sluice-gate began to give.
         </p>
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@
         <p>
             The dam collapsed with a colossal crash into the space where the lake had been.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             From the comparative safety of the hillock, they had watched the waters rise ever upwards until the Black Barrow was completely submerged.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml
index 4c9e5ad..4f9de0b 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
         <p>
             "I heard that in an old movie."
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             By morning, the storm was directly overhead and Mandrake's hordes, thousands of Scree, traitorous chiefs and their horsemen faced Alevin and his fighters
             and a raggle-taggle band of weary men and boys armed only with hammers and pick-axes.
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@
         <p>
             And the rest of the front line were cut down by Alevin's fighters in a swathe of blades and clouds of arrows.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             But there were thousands more Scree behind the entangled front. Mandrake was on his wagon, waving his arms, giving orders to traitor chiefs. Horns blew and
             the Scree army swerved around their fallen comrades to attack Alevin's flank.
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@
         <p>
             He knew just where he had to go.
         </p>
-        <hr/>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
         <p>
             Jack and the others stood mesmerised, close enough to the carnage to smell the blood and sweat.
         </p>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf
index 7be6e96..3e6a83b 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
       xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xmlns:opf="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf">
-      <dc:title>Full Proof</dc:title>
+      <dc:title>Mythlands</dc:title>
       <dc:language xsi:type="dcterms:RFC3066">en</dc:language>
       <dc:identifier id="dcidid" opf:scheme="URI">http://www.impera-media.com/fullproof.epub</dc:identifier>
       <dc:subject>Thriller, Action</dc:subject>
diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml
index ac63ba9..ab6f7a7 100644
--- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml
+++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/title.xhtml
@@ -4,28 +4,26 @@
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
 <head>
 
-    <title>Full Proof</title>
-    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css" />
+    <title>MYTHLANDS</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type=
             "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
-            "page-template.xpgt" />
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
 </head>
 <body>
 
 <div id="heading" class="centered">
     <div id="title">
-        <h1>Mythlands</h1>
+        <h1>MYTHLANDS</h1>
     </div>
     <div id="author">
         <h4>Joe Donnelly</h4>
     </div>
-
-
-    <div id="uri"><a href=
-                             "http://www.impera-media.com">http://www.impera-media.com</a></div>
-    <div id="e">books@impera-media.com</div>
-    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;"><img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/></div>
-    <p id="timestamp">2015-07-15</p>
+    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.co.uk">http://www.impera-media.co.uk</a></div>
+    <div id="e">books@impera-media.co.uk</div>
+    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;"><img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/>
+    </div>
+    <p id="timestamp">2015-09-10</p>
 
     <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 2011, Joe Donnelly.
         <p>All rights reserved</p>
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-title.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-title.xhtml
index 4bfe359..5dbc3ac 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-title.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/Shrike-title.xhtml
@@ -1,32 +1,46 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
         "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
 <head>
-    <title>Shrike</title>
+
+    <title>SHRIKE</title>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
-    <link rel="stylesheet" type="application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href="page-template.xpgt"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type=
+            "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
 </head>
 <body>
-<div id="header" style="padding-bottom: 56px;"><img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="400" height="48"/></div>
-<div id="heading">
+
+<div id="heading" class="centered">
     <div id="title">
-        <h1>Shrike</h1>
+        <h1>SHRIKE</h1>
     </div>
     <div id="author">
         <h4>Joe Donnelly</h4>
     </div>
-    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.com">http://www.impera-media.com</a></div>
-    <div id="e">books@impera-media.com</div>
+
+    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.co.uk">http://www.impera-media.co.uk</a></div>
+    <div id="e">books@impera-media.co.uk</div>
+    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;">
+        <img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/>
+    </div>
     <p id="timestamp">2011-04-11</p>
 
-    <p id="version">1.01 - 2012-10-29</p>
+    <p id="version">1.02 - 2015-09-10</p>
+    <!--<p id="version">1.01 - 2012-10-29</p>-->
 
     <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 2011, Joe Donnelly.
         <p>All rights reserved</p>
 
         <p>The moral right of the author has been asserted</p>
 
-        <p>This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser</p>
+        <p>This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by
+            way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or
+            otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any
+            form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
+            and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent
+            purchaser</p>
     </div>
     <div id="licensenotice">This work is copyright.</div>
 </div>
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike01.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike01.xhtml
index aeacba4..15e02b5 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike01.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike01.xhtml
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ hands from the black cloth which draped the table and she grabbed
 an end, slowly drawing it towards her across the surface. It made a
 soft hissing noise, like sand in an hourglass. The little fat woman
 folded it neatly and dropped the cloth to the floor beside her.
-Behind her, the fire sputtered and the blare of light from the
+Behind her, the fire sputtered and the flare of light from the
 hearth threw the shadow of the high backed chair onto the far wall
 where it joined the ceiling.</p>
 <p>Even in the dim light, the table shone and reflected the faces
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike03.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike03.xhtml
index f74dac9..2aab98d 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike03.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike03.xhtml
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ that was definitely a bonus.</p>
 <p>The old woman hadn't been covered up yet. An ambulance crew were
 waiting downstairs, and they'd have to wait a little longer. She
 wasn't going anywhere. Hadn't been going anywhere for a couple of
-days, maybe a week, Jack estimated, thou Robbie Cattenach's
+days, maybe a week, Jack estimated, though Robbie Cattenach's
 pathology lab would give him a better guess. no doubt. He looked
 down at her. The sleeve and half the bodice of her black dress were
 burned away, along with her arm, which was stretched out right into
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike04.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike04.xhtml
index e65628a..2683023 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike04.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike04.xhtml
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ easily documented. Marta Herkik's killing was different.</p>
 <p>Nobody knew a thing. Nobody had been seen leaving the building,
 nobody seen entering. All they had was a room that looked as if a
 tornado had blasted through it and a dead woman, half burned,
-beaten so badly she was unrecogniseable.</p>
+beaten so badly she was unrecognisable.</p>
 <p>Robbie Cattanach, the pathologist had brought his report in
 almost a full day after Marta Herkik's body had been discovered.
 He'd come sauntering into Jack's office, wearing a distressed
@@ -639,7 +639,7 @@ asleep.</p>
 It came creeping the way dreams do, the monster in child's
 clothing, in a simple scene from childhood. Young Jack Fallon down
 at the Garshake Stream, a wooden boat with a paper sail negotiating
-the rapids at the pot holes, bobbing on the turbulence, a while
+the rapids at the pot holes, bobbing on the turbulence, a white
 flash on the green water then down over the lip into the froth of
 the deep pot. Young Jack following quickly, leaping from boulder to
 boulder, chasing to keep up, skittering on the edge of the falls,
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike10.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike10.xhtml
index d0a6f81..30bed32 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike10.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike10.xhtml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ blown by after an hour of darkness and the wind died. Overhead the
 sky was black, frosted with the stars, clear enough to make out the
 twinkling jewels of the seven sisters high over the Langmuir crags.
 There was no moon.</p>
-<p>The hard frost crystalised out of the cold air to rime the
+<p>The hard frost crystallised out of the cold air to rime the
 windows and lay mirror-sheets of black ice on the roads out of
 Levenford.</p>
 <p>Jack Fallon was still in College Street station, going over the
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike11.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike11.xhtml
index e884831..cf97326 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike11.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike11.xhtml
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ eighteen-year-old apprentice who noticed the shape dangling from
 the gantry an hour after he'd started work. He got such a fright
 that all he could do was hang on to the safety rail on the top of
 the block and scream for help from the foreman who was down in the
-hut. The ganger called the police and the fir brigade who had to
+hut. The ganger called the police and the fire brigade who had to
 take one of the clattering lifts up to the roof and manually wind
 the gantry down to ground level where Jack Toner's body hit the
 ground like a log, frozen stiff.</p>
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike13.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike13.xhtml
index cb0f179..f3a4fe9 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike13.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike13.xhtml
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ shipyard. She knew nothing at all of the clothes he'd stolen from
 washing lines at night, the panties and stockings which he kept
 locked in the box behind the toolroom door, and which he wore in
 the hollow silence of the hull-shed.</p>
-<p>He never forgot their anniversary and they always wen out on
+<p>He never forgot their anniversary and they always went out on
 that day for an Italian meal in Glasgow. He belonged to no club and
 rarely went out drinking.</p>
 <p>In the past week or so, he'd been out without saying where he
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike15.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike15.xhtml
index 9ebc74e..6e96e15 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike15.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike15.xhtml
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ passing throng. An hour later, the bridge was busy again, this time
 with cars and a leavening of pedestrians hurrying home from work as
 the shops and offices closed. Up river, the engine works was still
 clanging and clanking and across the water, the high windows of the
-foundry glowed read and from time to time the spitting harsh cough
+foundry glowed red and from time to time the spitting harsh cough
 of hot metal would tear at the still air, though by the time it
 crossed the river, the cat-screech was muffled by the mist. The
 foundry's massive brick chimneys towered over the old building,
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike16.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike16.xhtml
index b0739ff..8d305c6 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike16.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike16.xhtml
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ of a routine job which should have taken minutes.</p>
 the old wooden clock. It was half past three in the afternoon and
 outside a heavy dusk was gathering under low clouds when Lorna
 suddenly came completely awake.</p>
-<p>Hear head came up with a jerk and her eyes flicked wide open.
+<p>Her head came up with a jerk and her eyes flicked wide open.
 She felt her breath catch in her throat. A pulse tapped just under
 the curve of her jaw.</p>
 <p>The voice came again. A faint gurgling rattle.</p>
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike17.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike17.xhtml
index 96208c2..a00f84f 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike17.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike17.xhtml
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ had leapt for her throat. She gave a strangled gasp and threw one
 hand out in front of her.</p>
 <p>"<em>Mummy. I need you</em>." Her daughter's echoing voice came
 clearly across the three yards of darkness. A small shape came
-walking soundlessly towards her. Annie's vision swam as hear heart
+walking soundlessly towards her. Annie's vision swam as her heart
 fought to cope with the sudden pressure of the surge of dread. In
 that watery vision she got a glimpse of a pale face and fair hair
 streaming out. Two small hands reached for her. Despite her fear,
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike18.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike18.xhtml
index ce4343b..10dd5f2 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike18.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike18.xhtml
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ jerked back. This time, the grip was on one thigh. She felt hard
 points drive into the thick muscle and a fresh pain detonated in
 her hip. The darkness swooped alarmingly. One second she was
 dangling feet down, and the next she was upside down in the shaft.
-The thing stated to climb again, jerking from side to side on the
+The thing started to climb again, jerking from side to side on the
 walls of the duct, moving with ferocious speed. Carol's piercing
 screams followed it up into the dark heights.</p>
 <p>Down by the lift door, they heard the ululating, echoing cries
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike19.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike19.xhtml
index 2b0c887..4bbcec5 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike19.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike19.xhtml
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ buildings which had been open, or had an obvious entry. And they
 had been looking for a boy, nothing else.</p>
 <p>Jack waited until the red light on the coffee-maker went out,
 sifting few connected facts he had, weaving the scant threads
-togethe ther. He poured a cup, spooned three heaps of demerara into
+together. He poured a cup, spooned three heaps of demerara into
 the brew and started to sip. It tasted wonderful, strong and thick,
 and in addition, the pain in his throat had subsided
 significantly.</p>
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike21.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike21.xhtml
index 10676dd..f6d6e14 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike21.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike21.xhtml
@@ -831,7 +831,7 @@ the cross-bar when the others found him.</p>
 <p>"Me too then."</p>
 <p>They all selected bikes, hauled them out of their stands and
 brought them to the wall. Jed clambered up, with end of the rope
-between his teeth. Carefully the threaded his way though the
+between his teeth. Carefully he threaded his way though the
 girders, making sure he looped the rope under them when he crossed,
 so that it dangled down to the group below. Chalky followed him
 through the wide skylight and then they braced themselves and began
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike23.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike23.xhtml
index f90466c..adc2af5 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike23.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike23.xhtml
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ surface and leaned across, towering over the man.</p>
 <p>"I've got no time for any lip, and I'm in no mood for backchat,"
 he said, staring down into the barman's eyes. "Get some coffees.
 Now. And make it snappy." The man nodded. Jack went back to the
-seated group. The small man man shrugged and hit the button on the
+seated group. The small man shrugged and hit the button on the
 coffee maker.</p>
 <p>The boy was quite lucid when he spoke, but his voice had the
 shaky hesitation which is quite normal in people who are in
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike24.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike24.xhtml
index 3835450..6d86d3c 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike24.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike24.xhtml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 <h2>24</h2>
 <p>The alarm woke him from a deep sleep while it was still dark.
 Jack crawled out of bed groping for his dressing gown, feeling
-drugged and dopy. The kitchen was cold and the glass on the window
+drugged and dopey. The kitchen was cold and the glass on the window
 to the back garden was glittering with a latticework of frost. A
 faint sliver of moon on the horizon sent a glimmer of silver light
 onto the snow which had stacked up against the fence. The garden
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike27.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike27.xhtml
index 8a8bd29..c286782 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike27.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike27.xhtml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ hollow arched entrance of the belltower.</p>
 which had been built at the turn of the century by a fiery
 monsignor from old Donegal for the greater glory of God. The
 Irish-Catholic families of the parish had been cajoled and
-co-erced, with threats of damnation, excommunication or years in
+coerced, with threats of damnation, excommunication or years in
 purgatory, into donating money they could ill-afford because of the
 lack of work and their burgeoning families to pay for the Italian
 marble altar, whinstone buttresses and beautifully masoned
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike34.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike34.xhtml
index 520f99e..208001e 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike34.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike34.xhtml
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ shipbuilding had all but obliterated the Clyde from the forefront
 of marinecraft and made it just a memory with only gaunt black
 cranes on the skyline as a reminder of the boom days. Now he was in
 a growth industry, and spent much of his time on roofs and up
-ladders installing satellite diches which were beginning to
+ladders installing satellite dishes which were beginning to
 proliferate like mushrooms on walls and houses throughout the
 town.</p>
 <p>Despite the wail of sirens in the frosty morning, and despite
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike37.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike37.xhtml
index a5028bf..cc2b3eb 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike37.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike37.xhtml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 <div id="text">
 <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
 <h2>37</h2>
-<p>She could sense it like the sub-audial chitter of bats, a
+<p>She could sense it like the sub-audible chitter of bats, a
 tingling whisper felt, rather than heard, at the base of her skull
 where the messages from her brain shunted down the length of her
 spine. It was like the stealthy scrape of chitinous nails on stone,
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike38.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike38.xhtml
index 34f51bd..8435861 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike38.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike38.xhtml
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ light had seared the gloom.</p>
 thudded shut and a shriek of agony brayed out in a high, ululating
 shudder.</p>
 <p>Lorna's own eyes flooded with tears. She wiped her sleeve across
-them, shaking hear head to clear her vision. Then she saw it in the
+them, shaking her head to clear her vision. Then she saw it in the
 light.</p>
 <p>It was a nightmare creature. Its squat body was humped and
 warted. Oddly bent bones, like deformed ribs poked out against a
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ Lorna.</p>
 with a jarring thump, hard enough to clash his teeth together. Davy
 tumbled out and rolled.</p>
 <p>The thing that O'Day had become lunged forward and clamped its
-hands around Lorna's neck. She made a loud gulpin sound.</p>
+hands around Lorna's neck. She made a loud gulping sound.</p>
 <p>Jack turned over, unable to take his eyes of the scene. He
 groped for anything on the floor and by a sheer miracle found the
 scaffolding bar that he'd used up close to the roof. He used it to
diff --git a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike39.xhtml b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike39.xhtml
index 8331cfd..a228ae1 100644
--- a/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike39.xhtml
+++ b/build/shrike/OEBPS/shrike39.xhtml
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ of all of the victims, starting with Marta Herkik. The fiscal
 recorded five verdicts of suicide and one case, that of Jock Toner,
 of death by misadventure. Timmy Doyle, Kelly Campbell and the
 others with the exception of old George Wilkie who was still posted
-missing, and including the the other McCann children and their
+missing, and including the other McCann children and their
 father who died in the fire in Murroch Road, were found to have
 been unlawfully killed by person or persons yet unknown.</p>
 <p>The storm blew itself out on the morning after Jack and Lorna
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ comatose for another two weeks and finally began to stir under the
 sheet, still emaciated and pallid, but not as corpselike as he had
 been. A shallow concave depression reached from his ear to the back
 of the skull, showing where Jack had smashed him with the bar.</p>
-<p>Several doctors, including two consultant neorologists put him
+<p>Several doctors, including two consultant neurologists put him
 under a battery of examinations. O'Day was awake, but as they say,
 though the lights were on, there was nobody home. He was unable to
 speak properly, only managing a few grunted vowels. He had to be
diff --git a/build/spellbinder/META-INF/container.xml b/build/spellbinder/META-INF/container.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82697bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/spellbinder/META-INF/container.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<container version="1.0" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:opendocument:xmlns:container">
+    <rootfiles>
+        <rootfile full-path="OEBPS/content.opf" media-type="application/oebps-package+xml"/>
+    </rootfiles>
+</container>
diff --git a/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ak.jpg b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/ak.jpg
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diff --git a/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/bio.xhtml b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/bio.xhtml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d418c5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/bio.xhtml
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <meta name="generator" content=
+            "HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 14 February 2006), see www.w3.org" />
+    <title>Dedication</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css" />
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type=
+            "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
+            "page-template.xpgt" />
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h3>About the author</h3>
+
+        <p>Joe Donnelly was born in Glasgow, in Scotland, close to the
+            River Clyde, but at a very young age he came to live in Dumbarton,
+            which is some miles from the city and close to Loch Lomond, Ben
+            Lomond and the Scottish Highlands.</p>
+
+        <p>At the age of 18, he decided to become a journalist and found a
+            job in the Helensburgh Advertiser, a local paper in a neighbouring
+            town where he learned the first essential of writing: how to type.
+            Quickly.</p>
+
+        <p>A few years later, at the age of 22, he became editor of his
+            local newspaper, the Lennox Herald in Dumbarton, before moving to
+            the Evening Times and then the Sunday mail in Glasgow where he
+            became an investigative journalist.</p>
+
+        <p>During his career he won several awards for newspaper work
+            including Reporter of the Year, Campaigning Journalist and Consumer
+            Journalist.</p>
+
+        <p>It was while working in newspapers that he wrote his first
+            novel, <em>Bane</em>, an adult chiller, which was followed by eight
+            other novels, mostly set in and around the West of Scotland and
+            loosely based on Celtic Mythology.</p>
+
+        <p>This was followed by <em>Stone</em>, <em>The Shee</em>,
+            <em>Shrike</em>, <em>Still Life</em>, <em>Havock Junction</em>,
+            <em>Incubus</em> and <em>Dark Valley</em>.</p>
+
+        <p>Recently he decided to write for children, although he says his
+            books are aimed at "young people of all ages, those with some
+            adventure in their soul."</p>
+
+        <p>The <em>Jack Flint Trilogy</em> is his first venture at telling
+            stories for the young at heart.</p>
+
+        <p>Joe is now working on two novels: A chiller for adults, and
+            another rollicking adventure for young people, based on Nordic
+            mythology.</p>
+    </div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <meta name="generator" content=
+            "HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 14 February 2006), see www.w3.org"/>
+    <title>Spellbinder</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type=
+            "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h3>Spellbinder</h3>
+
+        <p>The town is on its knees. The jobs have gone. The companies have shut or sold out.</p>
+
+        <p>The only distillery is about to close just after the last batch of high-octane vintage scotch is bottled and
+            shipped.</p>
+
+        <p>But that batch is 250,000 gallons of full-proof whisky. It’s worth MILLIONS.</p>
+
+        <p>And it’s there for the taking.</p>
+
+        <p>All it takes is somebody with an idea, and some friends willing to take a big risk.</p>
+
+        <p>It’s the only thing that can turn a ghost town into a boom-town.</p>
+
+        <p>As long as you can outwit the cops. And the customs men. And the hoods who want it all.</p>
+
+        <p>It’s a tall order, but somebody has to do it. A man with a masterplan, and some crazy friends.</p>
+
+        <p>And nobody said you can’t have fun when you set out to save a town from the scrap-heap!</p>
+
+        <p>Joe Donnelly’s Full Proof is a roistering thriller, as high-octane as the scotch.</p>
+    </div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 1</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>1</h1><p>Corriwen Redthorn had vanished into another world.</p>
+        <p>She had tumbled, <em>was thrown</em>, through the space between the standing stones and she was gone. Disappeared.</p>
+        <p>Jack Flint lurched from the far side of the ring of stones. Kerry Malone had his arm around him, bracing him up. But for that, both of them would have sunk to the ground.</p>
+        <p>They were hurt. They were bruised and bloodied and Jack felt as if every inch of his body had been beaten. Blood was matted on Kerry's shoulder where the thing had hit him, slammed him into the air.</p>
+        <p>The thing. The <em>Morrigan</em>. </p>
+        <p>As old as time, as foul as sin, she had harried them across the dead lands, rending the very rocks with her fury. They had made it to the ring of stones where they had started and she had come sweeping after them, a shade within a shadow; screeching for vengeance.</p>
+        <p>They had fought her and she had almost killed them both. But they had survived and she was gone, still screeching, all the way down into the infinity of dark under the capstone.</p>
+        <p>But before it had sucked her down she had reached out and caught him by the leg, claws digging into his bones, her rage as cold as death, dragging him down with her into the eternal black.</p>
+        <p>Then Corriwen Redthorn was in front on him again and both knives were out, flashing red in the hideous moonlight. She dived headlong and slashed at the claw gripping Jack's leg. The second knife flickered past him and pierced a monstrous red eye. Something burst wetly and the demon-thing's sudden agony blasted out of her and the standing stones shuddered in their foundations.</p>
+        <p>And then the Morrigan was gone, screaming as she fell. Screaming so long that it seemed to take forever before the hideous cry faded to nothing.</p>
+        <p>But in the instant before the grip broke on Jack's leg, her last desperate act had been to reach out, fast as a snake, and hit Corriwen a tremendous blow which slammed her into the air.</p>
+        <p>And now, in the aftermath, Corriwen had vanished.</p>
+        <p>Kerry groaned aloud. Jack could see the bruise swelling across his cheek. He had taken a hard blow, but his eyes were still bright and somehow fierce.</p>
+        <p>"We beat the bitch," he said. </p>
+        <p>"We did. And I think I got us back to <em>before.</em> I mean, before it all went crazy."</p>
+        <p>He paused in mid sentence.</p>
+        <p>"Where is she?"</p>
+        <p>"I told you. She's gone."</p>
+        <p>"No," Jack said. "Where's Corriwen?"</p>
+        <p>They both turned round quickly.</p>
+        <p>"She was&#8230;" Kerry started, then stopped. "I think she was here. I was running with that thing coming on like a train. Then I threw the heartstone to you and she hit me such a wallop I went ass for elbow."</p>
+        <p>"Corriwen was hit too," Jack said. His heart lurched. "She was hit. I saw it." He started to walk, ignoring the pain and they helped each other to their feet.</p>
+        <p>"She was hit really hard and she went flying." He took a slow step and then another in the direction Corriwen had tumbled when the Morrigan had flipped her away, all the time expecting to find her broken body against one of the standing stones. The final blow from the Morrigan must have been devastating.</p>
+        <p>He searched around, moving from one stone to the other before he saw it. There on the soft earth, was a small depression where she had landed and rolled, scuff marks in the thin grass.</p>
+        <p>They continued onwards, towards the space between two standing stones.</p>
+        <p>Then they vanished.</p>
+        <p>Jack looked at Kerry.</p>
+        <p>"She must have been thrown through," Kerry said. Regret and relief were struggling in his expression. "Back home to Temair."</p>
+        <p>Jack reached for his friend's arm. It was all coming back to him through a haze of hurt and numbness.</p>
+        <p>He shook his head. "No," he said. "That's not the gate to Temair. The <em>Farward Gate. </em>She was thrown through the <em>wrong</em> one. They were all open at the same time. I saw different places out there."</p>
+        <p>They locked eyes. "Kerry. I don't know <em>where</em> she's gone."</p>
+        <p>"Oh Jack," Kerry whispered.</p>
+        <p>Jack picked up the amberhorn bow and hefted his backpack. His jacket was in rags. One shoe was torn from sole to heel. He was hurting from head to toe. The standing stones towered above them.</p>
+        <p>Beyond them, Cromwath Blackwood's trees crowded close, now back to its thick, twisting glades. Beyond them, some distance away was the tall wall that was built to keep people out. Now he and Kerry knew the astonishing secret of the wall and the stones. The <em>gates.</em></p>
+        <p>Beyond the wall was a world back to normal, he knew for sure. No creeping darkness, no whispering shade. No madness in the night.</p>
+        <p>Beyond the wall the Major's telescope would still be focused on the woods. The major would be up in the turret with his charts<em>.</em></p>
+        <p>Jack had so much to tell him, so much to ask him. All the answers he needed to know about who he was and where he came from, all the things he needed to know, lay beyond the wall.</p>
+        <p>He paused, heart aching with the need for that knowledge. He walked across the ring, to the space between the stones through which they had run, panicked, on that first night.</p>
+        <p>Jack leaned against the stone, utterly worn. </p>
+        <p>He <em>had</em> to get home. Had to speak with the Major and find out all he knew.</p>
+        <p>He took one step beyond the ring, aching with the need to find the truth about his father.</p>
+        <p>But Corriwen Redthorn had saved his life. She had helped both of them survive all the odds in a strange world and she had helped them get home again after all they had been through.</p>
+        <p>The memory of their travels, their battles; her bravery. They all came back in a rush, and with them came the knowledge that he would have to act like the old heroes he had always admired.</p>
+        <p>They made sacrifices. Their word was more than their bond. It was their <em>life.</em></p>
+        <p>And Jack Flint owed a debt of life to Corriwen Redthorn. A debt he would repay come what may, no matter the cost; no matter the sacrifice.</p>
+        <p>He turned back and faced across the capstone to the gateway through which Corriwen had disappeared.</p>
+        <p>Kerry's eyes followed him, sensing the battle going on inside Jack's mind.</p>
+        <p>"What do you want to do?"</p>
+        <p>Jack slammed both fists against the great stone, venting his frustration and despair.</p>
+        <p>Unsteadily, but very deliberately he limped across the ring of stones to the far side. He hurt all over and he felt he could sleep for a week.</p>
+        <p>"She's lost somewhere. Lost and alone. I don't know where, but I've got the key to open the gate."</p>
+        <p>He turned to face Kerry, looked him straight in the eye. He held up the black heart stone on its silver chain.</p>
+        <p>"I'm going to find her," he said.</p>
+        <p>Kerry nodded. Understanding was clear on his face. He clapped Jack on the back. They both winced.</p>
+        <p>"Not on your own, you're not."</p>
+        <p>"I can't ask you&#8230;" Jack began.</p>
+        <p>Kerry held up a hand. "You're not asking. And you don't have to. We're not going to let a girl come between us, are we?"</p>
+        <p>"Cross my heart," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"And hope to die."</p>
+        <p>And together they walked forward into the unknown.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
\ No newline at end of file
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 2</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>2</h1><p>They passed between the standing stones, turning their backs on the world they knew and everything that was familiar.</p>
+        <p>The black obsidian stone heart suddenly began to vibrate against Jack's chest, so fast it sang a clear high note that sounded like glass on the verge of shattering. He gripped Kerry by the arm as the light of the moon vanished behind them and they waded into a darkness so complete it seemed solid.</p>
+        <p>Kerry said something, but his voice was drawn out and stretched until it sounded far away. Jack's eyes opened and brilliant colours spangled and sparkled all around him in wavering shapes. His skin puckered, every hair standing on end and stings of a thousand nettles prickled all over him. He again felt that nauseous sensation of feeling turned inside out. Time lost all meaning.</p>
+        <p>He tried to call Kerry's name but the words were snatched away in deep-pulsing echoes. His ears popped and huge pressure hissed behind his eyes.</p>
+        <p>And then they were stumbling in blinding daylight, pitched forward on short cropped grass. Kerry tripped and his arm pulled from Jack's grip. He went down with a faint cry and Jack sank to his knees, holding his eyes tight shut against the glare of the low sun.</p>
+        <p>Kerry groaned.</p>
+        <p>"I'm never going to get used to that." He shook his head. "My ears are still ringing."</p>
+        <p>Jack breathed air, cold air. A thin frost rimed the ground and a bitter wind blew.</p>
+        <p>Somewhere in the distance a lone curlew piped.</p>
+        <p>"Winter," Jack finally said. "Or autumn. Wherever we are."</p>
+        <p>"Brilliant," Kerry muttered. "Couldn't she have picked somewhere warm? Like the Bahamas."</p>
+        <p>"She didn't have a choice," Jack replied.</p>
+        <p>"Only kidding, man. Let's find her and get out of here."</p>
+        <p>Jack got to his feet, still hurting all over, and helped Kerry up. Both of them looked around, expecting Corriwen to be sitting on the grass, but there was no sign of her, no footprints, no trodden leaves. No marks in the rime of frost.</p>
+        <p>Behind them two great pillars of stone towered. The ring of stones had vanished. They were eroded with age, but they could still make out the worn carvings on each of their four faces.</p>
+        <p>"Look," Kerry said. "It's the Guinness Harp. Maybe we're in our own time."</p>
+        <p>A harp was etched into the south face. On the others, what looked like a great sword, a witch's cauldron and a club of some sort, its head shaped like a skull.</p>
+        <p>"I don't think so," Jack said. "This is really old."</p>
+        <p>Down the slope, a steam wound its way through rushes and over shingle shallows. They started down the hill, joints aching, bruises protesting, leaning against each other for support.</p>
+        <p>They reached a mossy bank. Jack dropped his pack and the amberhorn bow. Kerry dug his sword into the turf and together they waded in, side by side until the water came up to their thighs, then, without a word, they let themselves slump into the water and let its icy cold ease their hurt.</p>
+        <p>The flow cleansed the cuts and scratches and sucked the heat from their bruises until they began to get numb from the cold. They clambered up the bank and lay gasping, under a leaden sky that threatened rain or snow.</p>
+        <p>Kerry got up on one elbow.</p>
+        <p>"You look like you've been hit by a bus."</p>
+        <p>"Thanks. You don't look so good yourself."</p>
+        <p>"I've felt a whole lot better," Kerry admitted. "And I've lost half a shoe." He held it up. The sole flapped like a fish-mouth.</p>
+        <p>Jack raised a dripping foot. "Mine are torn to ribbons."</p>
+        <p>"I could use some fresh undies. Maybe there's an Oxfam shop. Or George at Asda."</p>
+        <p>"Somehow I doubt it." Jack levered himself to his feet and helped Kerry up. Their clothes were torn and shredded. They looked as if they'd been in the wars. They truly had been in the wars.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said. "She's here somewhere."</p>
+        <p>"You sure you got the right gate?"</p>
+        <p>"Pretty sure." Jack <em>hoped.</em> "You saw where she hit the ground."</p>
+        <p>"Was she hurt?"</p>
+        <p>"I don't know. Maybe. It hit her pretty hard. Swiped her off her feet."</p>
+        <p>"I know what that feels like," Kerry said. The water had washed most of the blood from his rabbit-skin tunic. Jack hoped the cold had closed the wound. He would have to look at it, check the damage.</p>
+        <p>They made it back up the hill and stood next to the pair of stones set deep in the ground, scanned the land around them. The slope gentled down on all sides, short grass and clover for a hundred yards. A hedge of some sort beyond the stream; a thick pine coppice further on. Some hills in the distance. </p>
+        <p>Jack rummaged in the backpack and drew out the Major's binoculars, heavy and black, fingered the focus ring and the coppice, at first blurred, snapped into close-up clarity. A flock of snow buntings broke cover and whirred out of sight. Jack scanned the trees and saw nothing, then panned around, searching beyond the hedgerow and the stream. There was still nothing to be seen. He had hoped to catch a flash of Corriwen's red hair.</p>
+        <p>Kerry moved out, limping just a little, keeping his eyes fixed to the ground, and if there was any trace, anything to see, he'd have found it. He might have had trouble with books at school, but he could read the ground the way Jack could read stories. The Major had mentioned before that when Kerry left school he'd hire him as the estate gamekeeper, which would give him the added bonus of not losing quite so many pheasants from the fields and salmon from the river.</p>
+        <p>After a while he came back, shaking his head.</p>
+        <p>"Not a thing," he said. "Nobody's been here in a while."</p>
+        <p>"That doesn't mean she wasn't here. Or that she won't be."</p>
+        <p>"I don't get you."</p>
+        <p>"I mean, I know she went through the gate. But I don't know <em>when</em>. There was a carved shape on the capstone. The heart fit exactly. The Bard was right. When I turned it, the days went back. Back to the night we saw Billy Robbins."</p>
+        <p>He paused, concentrating. "I'm trying to remember, but I think time was still changing when she went through. I don't know if it was going forward or back."</p>
+        <p>"So you're saying we did all that stuff in Temair and then we came back to <em>before</em> we did it?"</p>
+        <p>Jack nodded.</p>
+        <p>"That's really cool. Hey, we could use that. We could go fishing for weeks on end and then come back the same day in time for tea. Old Iron Britches would never know."</p>
+        <p>Jack laughed. The Major's housekeeper had a heart of gold well hidden behind a formidable exterior. Just as well she didn't know Kerry's nickname for her.</p>
+        <p>The smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.</p>
+        <p>"First we have to solve this. Did she come through before? Or is she coming later?"</p>
+        <p>He was holding the heartstone in one hand. It was warm from the contact with his skin, but now it was quiet. No pulsing beat warned him of any danger. Finbar the Bard had told him it was a key, and Jack knew now how true that was. He sensed it was much more than just a key. It had burned the Banshee touch from his body and it had saved him from the hellish heat when the ground in Temair had split into bubbling fissures. What else this stone could do, he didn't know. But it had been his father's, and it was the only link an orphan had to a parent he never knew. He held it warm in his hand and tried to think of what to do next.</p>
+        <p>"This links all the worlds," he finally said. "And it opens the gates. That's why the Major gave it to me. My father must have been the keeper. I don't know why."</p>
+        <p>"So how did the Major have it?"</p>
+        <p>"That I don't know. He didn't have time to tell me, remember?" </p>
+        <p>No time at all, when he was battling the foul darkness that oozed through the big house.</p>
+        <p>"I've tried to remember," Jack continued. "but I was only a baby. Somebody brought me through the gate, but I don't know from where."</p>
+        <p>He raised the stone, catching the sunlight and sending a prism of purplish light across Kerry's cheek.</p>
+        <p>"So where are we now? Kerry asked. </p>
+        <p>"Only one way to find out."</p>
+        <p>Jack took the satchel and drew out the Book of Ways that had guided them through the perils of old Temair.</p>
+        <p>He opened it quickly and they watched the words appear on the page. This script was different, more rounded and ornate than the writing that had scrolled on the old vellum pages in that other world. On either side of the lines, in fainter ink, was an etching of the massive stones that stood alone on the small hill.</p>
+        <p>They read the words together.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The Farward Gate of Fair Eirinn</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>For friend now lost a quest begin</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Be mindful of a hero's Plight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>A captive held must fast take Flight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The green sward turns to winter Waste</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And famine spreads in evil Haste.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Traveller be southway bound</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Ere the Homeward gate is found.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Yet journeyman be well aware</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>This Eirinn now is serpent lair.</em></p>
+        <p>"Clear as mud, as usual" Kerry remarked.</p>
+        <p>"Some of it yes. But it tells us where we are and where we have to go."</p>
+        <p>"So where are we," Kerry repeated.</p>
+        <p>"Eirinn. It's another name for the Celtic world."</p>
+        <p>"So it's Temair again?"</p>
+        <p>"That I don't know. I don't think so. The words are different. But we have to go south. And this isn't like where we arrived before."</p>
+        <p>"Too right. That was totally creepy. Remember that hand that grabbed me?"</p>
+        <p>"That wasn't the worst of it. <em>She</em> was. The Morrigan. Whatever's going on here can't be as bad as that."</p>
+        <p>Nothing could be as bad as that demon woman, Jack thought.</p>
+        <p>He examined the script again. It had taken them a while, back in Temair, to realise the Book of Ways gave warnings as well as directions.</p>
+        <p>"It says we go south. And it says we have to start a quest for a lost friend."</p>
+        <p>"Does that mean she's here already?"</p>
+        <p>"I think so. Probably. The Homeward Gate is south of here." Jack closed his eyes, got his bearings, and pointed beyond the coppice. "It's that way."</p>
+        <p>"Okay," Kerry said, rising slowly to his feet. "We'd better get moving."</p>
+        <p>Jack grabbed his wrist and tugged him back down to the grass.</p>
+        <p>"No," he said. "It's going to be dark soon. We don't know this place. We're tired and sore. I say we stay here until morning."</p>
+        <p>He could tell Kerry was itching to be up and off, despite the exhaustion of the past days, despite the hurt where the Morrigan had slammed him away in Cromwath Forest. Jack squeezed on his wrist.</p>
+        <p>"If we don't get some rest, we won't be any use to anybody," he said.</p>
+        <p>Kerry finally nodded and leaned back against the big stone.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe you're right. I'm done in." He closed his eyes, just for a moment, but a moment was all it took for sleep to take him and soon after that, night crept its way over the hill, casting long shadows that thickened to dusk and then to a starless night. Just before the last of the light faded, a huge wedge of geese, flying high, arrowed westwards towards the set sun.</p>
+        <p>Sometime in the night, their honking awoke Jack from a troubled slumber in which the Morrigan screamed after him in black dreams. He couldn't see the flock, but now they were flying east. He couldn't figure that out. Maybe the geese were just as confused as he was.</p>
+        <p>It was colder now, much colder, and he huddled inside the old leather jacket in the shelter of the great stone, leaning against Kerry to share their warmth, two boys in the dark of a strange world. Above, the clear sky black and he scanned it from north to south, searching for the corona that had shone down from the sky in Temair, but there were no stars and no moon. </p>
+        <p>Eirinn, the book had said. <em>Eirinn.</em> A name from the books in the Major's library, the tales of mythic heroes that he'd read cover to cover, losing himself in sagas of quests and glory. There's a kernel of truth in every legend, the major had told him. He'd said the universe is stranger than we <em>can </em>imagine.</p>
+        <p>How right he had been on both counts. But what else did Major MacBeth know. Finbar the Bard said he was the last in a long line of <em>guardians.</em> Guardians of the Ways.</p>
+        <p>Now Jack Flint and Kerry Malone were travellers of the Ways. <em>Journeymen,</em> like the book said. That first time, they had stumbled through the gate to escape the black pursuit.</p>
+        <p>This time they had leapt into the unknown to find Corriwen Redthorn.</p>
+        <p>Who knew what they would find here?</p>
+        <p>Jack pulled the jacket closer as the wind moaned sad and deep between the stones. He dozed fitfully wondering if they would ever find Corriwen Redthorn and the next thing he knew Kerry had clamped a hand over his mouth and pressed him against the stone.</p>
+        <p>Jack tried to speak, but couldn't make a sound.</p>
+        <p>"Shhhh!"</p>
+        <p>Kerry's eyes were shadows, his face turned to look beyond the stones and down the hill. Jack nodded.</p>
+        <p>"You were snoring," Kerry whispered. "I heard something." He took his hand away.</p>
+        <p>"Out there."</p>
+        <p>Jack twisted and peered out into the cold dark.</p>
+        <p>Something moved. He wasn't sure whether it was a shadow or a cloud passing. He turned his eyes to the left, trying to catch motion in peripheral vision which was much sharper at night.</p>
+        <p>A low rumble came from beyond the hedge, like thunder far off. The shadow moved again and this time Jack knew he had seen something. Something really big. Kerry tensed beside him.</p>
+        <p>"What is it?"</p>
+        <p>The ground vibrated under them, dull shivers that rattled their teeth.</p>
+        <p>"Can't see, but it's <em>huge.</em>"</p>
+        <p>The rumbling sound came again and the shape came closer. Heavy footsteps thudded on the hard earth and they heard the hoarse rasp of slow breath. They huddled tighter against the stone, each holding breath so as to make no sound. Kerry's hand was on his sword-hilt. Jack reached for the amberhorn bow.</p>
+        <p>The heavy breathing misted the night air in a cloud and they stayed still as mice, expecting a mouthful of teeth or a hairy claw to come looming out of the night.</p>
+        <p>The thing rumbled again, low as a lion in the night, but then it turned away, great feet making the ground shudder. In the distance, branches snapped like crackshots and the thing was gone.</p>
+        <p>"I never saw it," Kerry finally whispered.</p>
+        <p>"I don't <em>want</em> to see it," Jack earnestly replied. "Maybe this place isn't as quiet as it looks."</p>
+        <p>It certainly wasn't as nice in the morning when they awoke, still huddled together, hungry and stiff and frozen.</p>
+        <p>When Jack opened his eyes, the ground was white with snow, and a fell wind blew sharp spindrift crystals of ice against his cheek.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 3</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>3</h1><p>They were both so numb they could hardly move. Jack roused Kerry who had curled tight against him like a sleeping husky in the shelter of the stone. His shoulders were rimed with ice and his skin was blue.</p>
+        <p>The snow glistened, icy in the morning sunlight.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said. He quickly scanned the land all around for any sign of the monstrous creature that had lumbered too close in the night. "We better move before we freeze to death."</p>
+        <p>"I think I already did."</p>
+        <p>"I saw geese last night. Hundreds of them, flying one way, then another. It's weird."</p>
+        <p>Their joints creaked as they got up, teeth chattering. Beyond the standing stones they cast around for footprints of whatever had rumbled close, but there was no sign underneath the thin spindrift blanket.</p>
+        <p>The stream was iced over, and a clump of marsh marigolds that had tumbled golden heads towards the water were wilted and grey with the frost.</p>
+        <p>"We have to get warm," Jack said. "And into some cover, just in case."</p>
+        <p>Kerry moved slowly, holding his hand against his ribs.</p>
+        <p>"And I want a look at that. Maybe you broke a rib."</p>
+        <p>"Feels more like half a dozen," Kerry said. "Lucky she hardly touched me or I'd be dead meat."</p>
+        <p>The started moving upstream until they came to the thorn hedge, spiked with icicles. Along its length, something had smashed straight through it. The frozen branches had snapped like twigs and were crushed into the ground.</p>
+        <p>"Just as well it never saw us," Kerry said. "It would have flattened us for sure."</p>
+        <p>The coppice tinkled like fairy bells, frosted pine needles sparkling in the dawn light, tiny crystals twinkling as they fell, disturbed by their passing between the trees. The couldn't see a break through the cloud, but a warmer wind blew from the south, shaking the ice from the branches like sharp hail that quickly turned to a cold misty rain as it melted. In half an hour, the ground was wet under their feet as they skirted the edge of the trees and the snow out beyond the cover was gone, converted now to a low, creeping mist.</p>
+        <p>"Weirdest weather I ever saw," Jack said, and just then he recalled the line from the rhyme in their Book of Ways.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The green sward turns to winter Waste</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And famine spreads in evil Haste.</em></p>
+        <p>Before he could ponder that any further, Kerry broke in.</p>
+        <p>"We have to find something to eat," he said. "My stomach thinks my throat's been cut. I could eat a scabby horse."</p>
+        <p>"Me too. I'd give anything for bacon and eggs."</p>
+        <p>"Sausage and mash. Steak pie."</p>
+        <p>"Burgers and beans."</p>
+        <p>Kerry grinned weakly. "Enough. My belly's rumbling loud enough to hear a mile away."</p>
+        <p>"We'll find something," Jack said. "I'm sure we will."</p>
+        <p>But Jack wondered what there could be that was edible. He finally stopped beside the upturned root of a fallen beech tree, big enough to give them some shelter. He began to make a fire while Kerry got his fishing line and scouted around for good places to lay snares. When he came back, Jack had a billycan boiling over a small, hot fire and a tin mug steaming with thick tea.</p>
+        <p>"No milk, no sugar, but it tastes fine."</p>
+        <p>Kerry picked up the mug and drank with relish. "Best I ever tasted," he said. "I found some rabbit runs. There's some mushrooms, but I don't know if they're safe. And I nearly hit a pigeon."</p>
+        <p>He took another manful swig of the dark tea and let out an appreciative gasp. "Surely hits the spot, does this. But I'd shoot my granny for a couple of dunkin' biscuits."</p>
+        <p>In the shelter of the big root, the heat of the fire warmed them through and their damp, ripped clothes began to dry off. Jack got Kerry to take off the rabbit skin tunic he'd made himself for the Halloween party that now seemed a lifetime away. A thin, ragged cut ran from Kerry's armpit right across his ribs and all around it a purple bruise blared against his pale skin. The wound seeped a little blood.</p>
+        <p>"I don't like the look of that," Jack told him.</p>
+        <p>"I don't like the feel of it," Kerry said, as brightly as he could. "But at least we're still walking and talking."</p>
+        <p>Jack ripped the sleeve of his own shirt and soaked it in the hot water, dabbed it against the cut to clean it and winced as Kerry took a sharp intake of breath between clenched teeth. His eyes filmed with tears but he bravely blinked them back.</p>
+        <p>"I think it needs stitches," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"Phone for an ambulance," Kerry shot back. He tried a grin which was more of a grimace than anything else. "I don't trust you with needles."</p>
+        <p>He gritted his teeth as Jack made a pad and clamped it against the wound, then tightened his tunic to keep it in place. It was the best they could do.</p>
+        <p>"We have to head south," Jack said. "That's what the book says."</p>
+        <p>"You think she's here already?"</p>
+        <p>"I think so. That line in the book – <em>For friend now lost, a quest begin</em>. – that makes me think she's here. How long I don't know. But we'll find her, I promise."</p>
+        <p>Kerry was about to reply when a thin cry pierced the air from somewhere out in the undergrowth. It startled both of them, but Kerry recovered quickly and got to his feet.</p>
+        <p>"That sounds like dinner," he said, leading the way from the campfire and through a tangle of thick holly until they came to a narrow track where animals had passed. He had laid snares here in a line, little loops of fishing line close to the ground. The first three, carefully planted in the centre of a rabbit-run, were still intact, but when they came to the final one, close to the edge of the coppice, it was clear something had been caught.</p>
+        <p>What was clearer still was that the snare had been cut by a sharp blade, and whatever Kerry's poaching skills had earned them for dinner, was gone.</p>
+        <p>"I don't believe it," he hissed. "Somebody's stolen my catch." His hand went to the hilt of his sword and he drew it out silently, turning slowly to scan the trees around them. Jack did the same, amberhorn bow at the ready. The only sound they heard was the growl of their empty stomachs.</p>
+        <p>"You see anything?" Jack spoke under his breath.</p>
+        <p>Kerry shook his head. He got down on one knee, examined the cut snare, then searched around. A few leaves had been scattered by something. A few yards away there was a small depression in the now-warming soil. Kerry said nothing, but pointed ahead, in hunting mode.</p>
+        <p>Slow and stealthy, they followed the near-invisible trail, pausing every now and again to listen, but so far the forest was silent, except for the distant tap-tap-tap of a lazy woodpecker. Ferns grew tall here in patches of sunlight. Somewhere ahead a small stream burbled softly. As them moved on the wood-pecking got louder. Jack wondered if woodpeckers were edible. The way his belly complained he felt he would even try hedgehog.</p>
+        <p>Kerry paused, one hand raised up. He hunkered down and peered through the fern fronds.</p>
+        <p>Jack pushed beside him and they peered into a small clearing, and as soon as they did, they smelt wood smoke and then the mouth-watering smell of cooking meat.</p>
+        <p>A good fire was going in a circle of stones and an old black pot was bubbling away on the coals. The woodpecker rat-a-tat-tat was louder still, but there was no sign of the bird.</p>
+        <p>Then Kerry pointed into the centre of the clearing and a small figure sprang into focus. It was wearing a brown, hooded garment and was hunched over, close to the fire, working at something they couldn't see.</p>
+        <p>"Freakin' thief," Kerry grated. "He's cooking our rabbit."</p>
+        <p>Jack's stomach rumbled like thunder. It sounded very loud indeed.</p>
+        <p>"Let's get it back," he whispered.</p>
+        <p>Kerry nodded, and wriggled forward, silent as a cat, eyes fixed on the hooded figure. He got to within four paces of the hunched shape then lunged forward, sword out, and grabbed it by the neck.</p>
+        <p>The small thing shrieked like a piglet as Kerry's hand clamped round its throat and it wriggled like an eel. Jack ran forward and snatched an arm and the hood fell back as the thing twisted towards them.</p>
+        <p>Kerry let out a yell of fright as a hairy face loomed at him, mouth lined with long, black teeth as sharp as needles. He got such a start he lost his grip and the thing squirmed away from him. But Jack still had it by the arm and with his free hand he grabbed a thin leg. The creature howled and wriggled but Jack held it tight and then, amazingly, all the black teeth tumbled out of its mouth onto the grass.</p>
+        <p>"Take your hands off me, you big oaf."</p>
+        <p>Jack froze, as startled as Kerry, still unable to comprehend the explosion of teeth.</p>
+        <p>A small whiskery face grimaced up at him, mouth agape in a silvery beard that swept out in two big curls. It wore an odd little cap of red leather.</p>
+        <p>"If it's gold you're after, that girl's got it," yelled the little man. "Her over there."</p>
+        <p>Kerry turned to look and the little fellow tried to pull out of Jack's grip, but Jack hadn't been fooled. He held tight until eventually the tiny man stopped struggling.</p>
+        <p>"Who are you?" he demanded to know. "Sneaking up on a fellow at work."</p>
+        <p>"You stole our food," Jack shot back.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, yours was it?" The elaborate whiskers shivered like antennae as the little fellow spoke. "And here was me thinking all game's fair game."</p>
+        <p>"It was ours. I trapped it myself."</p>
+        <p>"Well you should keep an eye on your snares. You never know who's about."</p>
+        <p>"We know that now," Jack retorted. "Just who are you?"</p>
+        <p>"Sure, I'm the leprechaun. Jack of all trades, and master of most of them. So it's gold you're after, is it?"</p>
+        <p>"We just want our dinner," Kerry said. "And anyway, you're no leprechaun. We've seen them. They live in trees."</p>
+        <p>"In trees, eh? That must be the Sappelings you're thinking of. Distant relations, so I believe. Third cousins thrice removed, something like that. A different branch of the family."</p>
+        <p>He chuckled, nudged Kerry in the ribs. "Different <em>branch. </em>I must remember that one."</p>
+        <p>Kerry rolled his eyes. "Sure. We twigged the first time."</p>
+        <p>"Twigged. <em>Twigged? </em>That's even better. You're a sharp one for a thieving poacher."</p>
+        <p>"Who are you?" Jack demanded again.</p>
+        <p>"Sure, I'm a Cluricaun. Different family of the leprechauns, so to speak. Who wants to live in an old tree when you've got all the open road ahead of you?"</p>
+        <p>He patted himself down. "And you've caught me unawares, square and fair, so I suppose it'll have to be the gold I give you."</p>
+        <p>"We don't want gold," Jack said. "We just want our dinner."</p>
+        <p>The little fellow snatched his arm away. He lifted his red cap and showed a bald dome of head, tufted at the ears with white hair. He had sparkling blue eyes.</p>
+        <p>"Well then, if you had just told me that in the first place, we could have saved all this fuss and bother. Here. I've a fine rabbit stewing. Too much for a wee man like myself, so you're welcome to share."</p>
+        <p>"Thanks a million for sharing <em>our</em> food," Kerry snorted.</p>
+        <p>"Don't you mention it young feller. And no need to thank me. Sure, I always enjoy a spot of company over a rabbit stew."</p>
+        <p>He took a bow and doffed the cap. "Sit ye down and we'll share and share alike and you can tell me what you're doing in this neck of these woods. And maybe we'll share a traveller's tale or two."</p>
+        <p>"What happened to your teeth?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>The leprechaun smiled, pulled his lip down and showed a fine lower set. "Still got every one, so I have."</p>
+        <p>"They were black and spiky," Kerry said. "Gave me a heck of a fright."</p>
+        <p>The leprechaun burst into laughter, a jolly musical chuckle that rang through the trees.</p>
+        <p>"Teeth? That weren't no teeth. Sure, that was my hob-nails, for making shoes. Shoes. That's what we're best at, us Cluricauns. As my old daddy always said, <em>cobblers to kings and princes.</em></p>
+        <p>He winked. "And cobblers to them all, say I."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 4</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>4</h1><p>The rabbit stew was simply miraculous. It was thick and spicy, mixed with wild mushrooms and other things that neither of them could identify even if they cared to. They were so hungry they spooned every delicious mouthful from their billy-cans as fast as they could then ladled more from the bubbling pot.</p>
+        <p>"You can call me Rune," the little man said. "Dilligan Rune, lately of old Skiboreen. You know the place?"</p>
+        <p>"I've heard the name somewhere," Jack said, reluctantly pausing in his feeding.</p>
+        <p>"Sure you have. Beautiful place it is. And they say: <em>The grass it grows green down in old Skiboreen; the porter is flowing and free. The song and the laughter rise up to the rafters, and herrings leap out on the quay.</em>"</p>
+        <p>He leant back, rummaged in a leather pouch and produced a long clay pipe. Jack did a double take as it emerged, surely too long to have been encompassed by the small bag, but Rune didn't seem to notice. He stacked the bowl, puffed a couple of decent smoke rings and leant back while the boys ate like starved wolves.</p>
+        <p>"But a long time since I saw the fair place."</p>
+        <p>Jack introduced themselves, surprised only by the fact that they were not surprised at all to meet a leprechaun who said he was a Cluricaun, in traditional leprechaun garb, cooking stolen rabbit in a coppice in another strange old world.</p>
+        <p>Rune looked them up and down.</p>
+        <p>"I can tell from the looks of you that you don't hail from these parts," he said. </p>
+        <p>"We're not," Kerry said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Jack shot him a look, warning him to give nothing away, at least until the knew more about this place.</p>
+        <p>"Well, if I was a guessing man, I'd guess the pair of you have been in the wars. And by the dress of you, I'd guess that you're from someplace I've never been, and I've been many a place."</p>
+        <p>He sat back, blue eyes twinkling. "So, if I'm not mistaken, I'd say you travellers just came through yonder Fairy Gate on the hill."</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry's jaws dropped simultaneously, rabbit stew half-way between billy-can and mouth. They looked at each other, taken completely by surprise.</p>
+        <p>"But what I can't guess is whether you just stumbled through by mistake, or was it a deliberate step?"</p>
+        <p>He puffed some more, send a couple more rings rolling up towards the leaves above.</p>
+        <p>"But then, you know about the Sappelings. And you," he nodded to Kerry, "wield a big man's sword. So I'm guessing you're here on a mission, am I right?"</p>
+        <p>Before Jack could stop him, Kerry blurted it out.</p>
+        <p>"We're looking for a girl."</p>
+        <p>Rune laughed, high and infectious.</p>
+        <p>"Sure, aren't we all? You should try Skiboreen. Fairest girls in all of Eirinn, I swear."</p>
+        <p>"How do you know about the gate?" Jack demanded. They had trusted people in Temair and had been sadly disappointed, not to mention almost killed.</p>
+        <p>"The gate?" Rune repeated. He chuckled again. "Sure, I'm a Cluricaun, and I travel all the roads. Tinker, tailor, cobbler, nailer, and much else besides. A travelling fellow's got to keep an ear to the ground he walks, and that way you learn the ways."</p>
+        <p>He beamed at them, a tiny man with ruddy cheeks and huge whiskers curling on either side.</p>
+        <p>"And from what you've just said, you <em>did</em> come through the gate, so I imagine then that you're looking not just for any girl, though any girl from Skiboreen is finer than ten from CorNamara, I can tell you. I would guess you're looking for a girl in particular. One that you've maybe lost, hmm? Am I guessing right?"</p>
+        <p>Jack nodded before he was even aware of it.</p>
+        <p>"And tell me some more, Jack. This girl, she wouldn't happen to have red hair would she? And can she fight like a cornered badger?"</p>
+        <p>"You've seen her?" Kerry blurted. "She's been here?"</p>
+        <p>Rune shook his head.</p>
+        <p>"Sadly, no, I haven't, for she sounds like a fine looking girl to me, even though she might be a shade too tall for the likes of myself."</p>
+        <p>"So how do you know about her?" Jack wanted to know.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, half of Eirinn knows about her, the fighting girl with fiery hair."</p>
+        <p>"How long has she been here?"</p>
+        <p>"I never said she <em>was</em> here, did I now?" The Cluricaun gave a mischievous smile. "Though I did hear a whisper about a girl on foot in these parts a day or so past. No, what I'm telling you is that Dermott the Wolf, he's got hunters out scouring for her all over. Has been for weeks now, so I heard tell. Looking for a fighting woman with red hair."</p>
+        <p>"That's our Corriwen," Jack said. "But who's this Dermott, and what does he want with her?"</p>
+        <p>Rune took another long puff and crossed his little legs. He closed his eyes and for a moment Jack and Kerry thought he'd fallen asleep, but after a while, he began to speak.</p>
+        <p>"You might have noticed that things are not at all well in Eirinn, these days. Last night there was a hard chill in the air, and this close to the midsummer. And crops are failing all over, since spring never turned its face this past while. Other places got blighted by ice before the corn was knee-high to a Cluricaun."</p>
+        <p>"It snowed last night," Jack said. "We almost froze to death on the hill."</p>
+        <p>"Ice in summer. Now that's never a good sign."</p>
+        <p>"So what's gone wrong?"</p>
+        <p>"That's the question on everyone's lips, no matter where I wander. The answer? Nobody's sure. But there's some say Dermott's stolen the Harp of Tara Hill. The dagda's Harp."</p>
+        <p>"The Harp of the Seasons!"</p>
+        <p>"What's that?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>Rune looked at Jack, motioned him to explain.</p>
+        <p>"I read it in a book. The Dagda was like a god, and he had three magic things: a big club that could wipe out lots of people at one swipe; a silver cauldron that was never empty, and a golden harp that made the seasons come in the right order. It's a legend."</p>
+        <p>"Legend?" Rune interrupted. "So says <em>you</em>. But everybody knows the great harp has kept harmony in Eirinn since the Dagda and the Sky Queen sailed to the stars long, long ago. And now there's only trouble and discord and famine."</p>
+        <p>"That's what the book said," Kerry blurted.</p>
+        <p>Jack shot Kerry a warning look again. Kerry realised his mistake, but it was too late to bite the words back.</p>
+        <p>"And other things too," Rune said, ignoring Kerry's outburst. "I hear there's been Fell Runners seen on the Mourning Mountains, and Bogrim in the mists of CorNamara and more besides."</p>
+        <p>"What are they?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>"Things you don't want to meet on a lonely road," Rune said. "And they say old, bad things have woken hungry in the dark places too. So, you've come here at a time of trouble, and here you are, looking as if trouble has already found you."</p>
+        <p>"We've had a couple of&#8230;. er&#8230; accidents."</p>
+        <p>"Not all roads are smooth, I'll grant you. And the road ahead might be rocky and rough."</p>
+        <p>"Can't be as bad as the last place," Kerry said. He lifted a foot, showing the tattered trainer with the flapping sole. Jack's own shoes were cracked and torn.</p>
+        <p>"Well, seeing you kindly let me cook your coney, and you were good enough to catch a Cluricaun without claiming the gold, maybe I can help you there." He stood up, grabbed his bag and motioned them to follow round the base of a tree, past a couple of big rocks that looked as if they'd been rolled there long ago, until they came to a green mound, covered in trees. An arched passageway, made from cut stone, led inside the mound.</p>
+        <p>"I stay here when I'm passing. It's a Drumlin."</p>
+        <p>Kerry asked the obvious question.</p>
+        <p>"Where they buried one of the old kings, an awful long time ago. In the battles with the Fir Bolg. Empty now, all mouldered to dust, whoever he was, so don't worry. You might see a thing or two in the dark, but there's nothing to worry about. Wraiths never harmed a soul that didn't deserve it."</p>
+        <p>Kerry and Jack exchanged a glance, but Rune sat down on a stone by the entrance and reached for a three-legged wooden object that Jack saw had been elaborately and cleverly carved from a single piece. Its legs were all at right angles to each other, and each ended in a small, perfectly carved foot.</p>
+        <p>"Slip a foot on there," Rune told Kerry, who shucked off the useless trainer and placed his own foot on the wooden one.</p>
+        <p>Jack did a double-take, at first unsure that he had seen anything at all, but then he saw it. As soon as Kerry's foot came down on the wooden last, the carved foot immediately swelled and buckled as if alive, and in a smooth, flowing motion, stretched itself out until it matched Kerry's own foot exactly.</p>
+        <p>Rune chuckled again. "One size fits all." He turned to Jack, flipping the cobbler's last over, and instructed him to do the same. Under his sole, Jack felt the polished wood writhe and stretch until it matched his.</p>
+        <p>The Cluricaun picked up Kerry's trainer and examined it.</p>
+        <p>"Flimsy thing," he stated, shaking his head. "And made with neither love nor skill. I see children slaving over this. Not a good shoe, at all, at all."</p>
+        <p>He picked at the band that crossed over the tongue, peeled it back with a small rip.</p>
+        <p>"But this is clever. Never saw a shoe fasten like this."</p>
+        <p>"It's Velcro," Kerry said.</p>
+        <p>"Quicker than bootlace when you're in a hurry." Rune dropped the mangled trainer, leaving Kerry with one bare foot.</p>
+        <p>"But first, let me look at that cut," he said, tugging Kerry down to his height. Kerry sat and let the little man pull his rabbit-skin aside. The long gash seeped just a little, but the skin was cracked around it, as if infection was setting in, and the skin was a florid red.</p>
+        <p>"Nasty," Rune opined. He delved into the little bag again and drew out a smooth stone jar and without pause, applied a sticky black ointment to the cut. Kerry closed his eyes and let out a slow breath as the ache instantly subsided, and then, in front of Jack's incredulous eyes, the red faded away and the long gash closed itself over from bottom to top, like a zip fastener.</p>
+        <p>"Closewort, we call it." He patted Kerry on the shoulder. "That'll be fine in the morning. Go on and get some sleep, and you'll be on your way to find your girl, and may the road always rise up to meet your feet."</p>
+        <p>He led them inside the Drumlin and lit an oil lamp made from a single sea-shell, and as soon as the boys sat down on the dry earth, tiredness overtook them and in minutes, both of them were asleep.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 5</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>5</h1><p>A sharp crack of sound startled her from a deep, dream-troubled sleep.</p>
+        <p>She came instantly awake, but it took her a few seconds to remember where she was, as the awful images fragmented and drained away; images of Jack Flint tumbling into the searing brimstone; images of that hideous creature swooping towards them, twisted and contorted with rage.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen Redthorn shook her head, trying to shake them all away. Out beyond the trees, the crack split the air, like a snapping branch, followed by a high yelp, the sound of an animal in pain.</p>
+        <p>She rolled on the dry leaves, got to her knees, feeling in the gloom for her knives and the ash stave she'd cut from a sapling. In a hole under the spreading roots of a wide beech tree, a hole dug and abandoned by some animal, she had found a shelter of sorts, out of the rain that had drenched the forest last night.</p>
+        <p>Hooves thudded in the distance and she scrambled out into a sparkling morning, fearful of the sound of horses and the cries of men. She had been alone and hunted before, and she knew how to hide.</p>
+        <p>The high cry came again and she got to her feet, scratched and sore and already hungry. Beyond the beech, a wall of juniper hid her from view from the open field at the edge of the forest and she approached it cautiously, paring back the dense leaves to peer out.</p>
+        <p>The field ran down from left to right, curled right in against the trees at the north end. Clumps of gorse and broom dotted the grass where animals had grazed once upon a time, but there were no cattle or sheep here now.</p>
+        <p>Two men on horseback rode through the brushwood, flattening it under heavy hooves. One of them shouted, deep and hoarse. His arm raised, flashed down, and the sharp crack jarred her ears. On his flank, another man in helmet and greaves wielded a lance. He brought it down in a slow arc and its tip flashed in the sun. </p>
+        <p>Something darted from one gorse bush to another, avoiding the spike by a hair. All Corriwen saw was a blur of grey, and it was gone.</p>
+        <p>The man shouted again, spun his horse and crashed through the bush in pursuit.</p>
+        <p>"Hunters," she thought. They had not trailed her here. Just two men out for sport. They had probably flushed a boar from a thicket. They would eat well tonight, while she scrabbled for berries and set spike-traps for small coneys at the edge of the trees.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen was about to turn back to her hide when the whiplash cracked again and the thin cry came again. She peered out and for a confusing moment she saw the animal lurch under the horse's belly and scamper between two thorny bushes. The lance swung and almost impaled it as it twisted and came dashing towards her.</p>
+        <p>Her first thought was to wish the man had spiked the thing, because it was coming straight for her, racing for the shelter of the trees, and they would no doubt follow. She didn't want to be seen again, not since the first time when horsemen had veered from the road and hunted her like a fox before she lost them in thick trees. That had been a week ago and miles away, but it was enough to make her want to stay hidden.</p>
+        <p>The creature came on fast in a lurching run and she pulled behind the stubbly trunk, just in case it snicked her in the passing with its tusks.</p>
+        <p>The whip-man turned his horse fast and came powering after it, trying to reach it before it made the trees.</p>
+        <p>And that was when Corriwen saw it was no boar, no animal at all.</p>
+        <p>It was a boy, running fast as he could, face pale with fear. It was clear he was running for his life. Running, but limping badly as if he'd already been hurt.</p>
+        <p>The black whip lashed out, fast as a snake, and curled tight round the boy's ankle. The horseman hauled the reins and the horse came to a skidding halt and the sudden drag on the whip jerked the boy backwards, only a yard or so from the forest edge. His feet went up in the air and his body came down with such a thud she heard all the air whoosh out of his lungs.</p>
+        <p>"Got him," the man growled.</p>
+        <p>"My turn now," the other replied. He came in fast, leaning over the roan's neck with the lance tucked under his right arm. It glinted once again, sharp and deadly, and drove downwards, set to spear the boy where he lay.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen felt a shout leap unbidden from her throat, but before she could make a sound, the boy twisted, shoved out with one foot and rolled out of danger. The man cursed, swung the lance high, and stabbed it down.</p>
+        <p>The boy yelped again while the other man dragged him back with the whip.</p>
+        <p>"Lie still and take it like a man," the lancer grated. </p>
+        <p>He stabbed again at the twisting shape on the ground, intent on running it through.</p>
+        <p>"No!"</p>
+        <p>Corriwen's cry blurted out before she realised.</p>
+        <p>The nearest horse, startled by the sound, reared and pawed the air. The rider stayed fixed in the saddle, but the motion dragged the boy along the ground by the leg, smearing his face through the jagged thorns. </p>
+        <p>She was out of the tree-line, running fast, despite all her senses urging her to stay away, out of trouble, back in the shadows and safety.</p>
+        <p>But she was running now, hackles up, a knife in her left hand, stave in her right. The horseman wheeled again, turned to face her and in a moment of confusion she darted in between him and the fallen boy and with one swift swipe, sliced through the fine end of the whip. The boy scrambled on all fours, desperate to get away.</p>
+        <p>The lancer turned towards her.</p>
+        <p>"What do you think you're doing?"</p>
+        <p>She jinked to the side, grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him to his feet just as the lance came swinging round, whooping in the air, point bright in the sunlight. She ducked away from it, still hauling the boy through the gorse towards the trees.</p>
+        <p>The lance snagged in the briar and that gave her a vital second or two, a vital few paces, and they were moving fast, the boy hobbling his ungainly lurch, but still able to make headway.</p>
+        <p>"Run," he gasped. "They'll take you too."</p>
+        <p>She kept tugging at him, urging him to go even faster, while the hooves thudded behind her, louder with every second.</p>
+        <p>The whip sang through the air and lashed across her back, a white sear of hurt that dug deep to the bone and a cry blurted from her heaving lungs.</p>
+        <p>"Get them," the man roared. The trees were twenty yards away, fifteen running paces, but even this close she realised it was not close enough. Instinct made her push the boy to the left, a hard shove which sent him out of the path of the horses she knew were right on her heels, and just as instinctively she threw herself to the right, using the stave as a vaulting pole, and just in time as the lance stabbed in and raked a line across her shoulder, just enough to tear her hood, but not enough to wound. </p>
+        <p>Corriwen swivelled, darted between two bushes and saw the whip-arm rise fast, snap down and the lash curled through the air, aimed straight at her face. She thrust the stout stave up to save her eyes, spun away as the whip curled itself around it and the horse went bulleting past in a flurry of hooves and mud. </p>
+        <p>Old Seumas Mayo, the Redthorn arms master had taught her well, taught her since childhood and she had forgotten nothing of his lessons. They had saved her many times when she was on the run from Mandrake and his Scree hunters.</p>
+        <p>The whip snarled round the stave and the horse was past her, wheeling about on a tight rein. Corriwen jammed the pole right into the hard earth and fell backwards, putting all her weight into it, both hands clasped around the stout wood.</p>
+        <p>The whip-man snatched his arm back, tugging on the lash, using the horse's weight to drag her down. Corriwen grunted, straining hard. The roan's momentum carried it forward and she felt the whip tense like a harp-string. Something had to give.</p>
+        <p>The sudden jolt on his whip arm dragged the horseman right out of the saddle, tumbled him backwards, feet in the air. He hit the ground with a heavy thump and all of <em>his </em>breath came out in one hard punch.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen slashed the whip again and the leather parted with a snap, and just as quickly she spun again as the second horseman came charging in, the boy now forgotten. The lance was tight under his arm and he brought it down like a jouster, viciously heeling the horse.</p>
+        <p>"Now you pay, outlaw," he roared, and she could see by his expression that he meant it. </p>
+        <p>The horse leapt over the gorse, but the lance-tip never wavered. It was aimed right at her heart, but Corriwen stood her ground, feet planted apart as Seumas Mayo had taught her, forcing her breath to be slow and easy, eyes fixed only on the lance-point.</p>
+        <p>It was only an arm-length from her when she twisted on her feet and slammed the stave down just behind the spear-head, putting all her strength into the swing, turning then on one foot to jam the point right into the ground.</p>
+        <p>The horseman bawled again as the weapon jarred into his armpit and threw him backwards in the saddle, but Corriwen was still moving, still turning on one foot, with the stave gripped in both hands, one end thrust on the grass and when she completed the motion, her feet were in the air as she used the stave as a fulcrum. Her heels caught the man straight on the ribs as he was moving backwards. The blow merely added to his imbalance and slammed him back off the saddle.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen landed square on her feet again, raised her blade and in one diagonal slash she cut the lance in two pieces, leaving the point buried in the ground before she turned back to the man who was on his back in the middle of a thorn-bush.</p>
+        <p>He was struggling, trying to get to his feet. Beyond him, the first man was groaning on his knees, holding one arm which was twisted at an odd angle, enough to tell her the jerk on the whip, or the fall from the horse had dislocated his shoulder, perhaps even broken it.</p>
+        <p>"I'll kill you," the fallen lancer bawled, trying to free himself from thorns which clung like hooks. He threw the broken lance to the side, drew a short sword and started hacking at the branches.</p>
+        <p>"Obstructing a Wolf's Man in pursuit of a felon. You'll hang for this. Hang and bleed!"</p>
+        <p>He took a step forward, snagged his foot on a root, and fell headlong into the briar, cursing as the thorns took their toll. Without a word, Corriwen turned away and ran for the trees, just as the stumbling boy pushed through the juniper cover and disappeared from view.</p>
+        <p>In seconds she was on his heels and both of them ran deep into the trees where they grew thick and close and where a horse could never follow.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 6</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>6</h1><p>"We look like a pair of garden gnomes," Kerry said. "I'm like something out of the seven dwarfs."</p>
+        <p>"Which one are you? Dopey?"</p>
+        <p>"Yeah, well you must be Grumpy," Kerry shot back. "As usual."</p>
+        <p>Jack chuckled, for the first time since they had stepped from their world into this one.</p>
+        <p>"Hi-ho, hi-<em>ho</em>!" Jack pulled the hood over his head, and got another laugh from Kerry. </p>
+        <p>They walked on in fine morning sunlight, food in their bellies and more rested now after the strange night in Rune's drumlin.</p>
+        <p>Rune had placed Jack's bare foot on the wooden last and both boys had watched again as the carved foot had buckled and rippled, stretching out magically until it mirrored Jack's own, just a little bit larger than Kerry's.</p>
+        <p>"Measure twice, cut once," the little man had said, holding Jack's instep tight to the last. "My, the pair of you must leave big tracks in the mud."</p>
+        <p>He bent to his bottomless bag and began to remove strips of what looked like leather of different textures and colours.</p>
+        <p>"The trick is, you use thirteen hides. Coney, wolf, all the fast ones. And shoe horn from the four-horn goat. Best climber ever there was."</p>
+        <p>"If you make it fit, we won't need a shoe horn," Kerry said. Rune winked up at him.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, they'll fit," he said. "Don't you worry about that. And the four-horn won't let you fall, unless you're really daft and careless."</p>
+        <p>With that he bent to the task, tip-tapping, hunched over the last, and after a while the soft and steady beat of the little hammer on leather lulled them into sleep in the warmth of the cavern.</p>
+        <p>Until Jack awoke suddenly in the darkness, all his senses alert.</p>
+        <p>The tapping sound had changed tone. Beside him, in the wan light of the fire at the cave's mouth, Kerry was curled up on a bed of dry leaves, snoring softly, both hands around the hilt of his sword. The little lamp had snuffed out.</p>
+        <p>At his throat, the stone heart was vibrating, fast as a tuning fork. The sound its crystal made was like a single note, so high it was almost inaudible. Jack clamped his hand over it and the vibration surged through his hand, through his bones, and then it stopped.</p>
+        <p>Jack heard the other sound again, a steady pulse, not a tapping sound, but a far-off beat that seemed to shiver the stones under him. He sat up, straining to see, straining to hear. There was no sign of the Cluricaun.</p>
+        <p>The beat grew louder. It sounded like distant footsteps, heavy and solid. He stood up in the gloom, swinging his head left and right, trying to work out the direction, and as he did, he felt his feet move him past Kerry towards the deeper darkness at the back of the cave.</p>
+        <p>Doom-<em>doom. </em>It <em>did</em> sound like footsteps, getting louder as they approached. He remembered what Rune had said about the drumlin.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Where they buried one of the old kings, an awful long time ago</em>," he'd said. "<em>You might see a thing or two in the dark, but there's nothing to worry about. Wraiths never harmed a soul that didn't deserve it</em>."</p>
+        <p>Jack felt no fear, only curiosity, and that was fine with him, because it meant he was dreaming. He moved forward, one hand touching the dry stone walls, breathing in the fine dust of centuries past, while the footsteps grew louder, echoing now from wall to wall.</p>
+        <p>In the distance something moved. He saw a shimmer of pale blue light, hardly visible at all, but as he approached it, the glimmer grew stronger, expanded. It seemed to be coming from a far distance although in the confines of the cave, he knew that could not be true, but still he walked on as the approaching steps swelled ever louder.</p>
+        <p>He stood in a round cavern. He sensed the walls around him, but kept his eyes firmly on the blue glimmer that grew larger, as if it was approaching him <em>through</em> the stone.</p>
+        <p>"What do you want?" he asked. "Who are you?"</p>
+        <p>A low, shuddery sigh was the only response, like an autumn wind through brown leaves.</p>
+        <p>The heavy footfalls came on and now Jack stood still, waiting.</p>
+        <p>The blue glimmer began to take shape as it came on, walking slowly as if exhausted in travel from somewhere far away. It was a man-shape. Head bent low. Jack heard the clink of armour and the cold rasp of breathing, but still, in this dream he was not afraid. He took a step forward and the light coalesced, became a figure that stood tall and broad, head still bowed.</p>
+        <p>He could see through it, as if it was smoke, see the cracks in the stones beyond it.</p>
+        <p>"Who disturbs my rest?" The dry voice was a whisper, barely heard. "Who calls me awake?"</p>
+        <p>The shape wavered in the air, somehow solid, yet insubstantial. The shield it carried was round and scarred from many a battle. It bore a sign that Jack Flint had seen before; five bright stars in a perfect semi-circle. They glistened like precious stones.</p>
+        <p>"The Corona," he whispered.</p>
+        <p>The free arm raised up silently and Jack saw the great sword, blue as a gas flame, wavering in the dark as if disturbed by an eddy of air, the blade pitted and chipped from hard and desperate use. The hand that held it up was just dry bone.</p>
+        <p>Jack took a step back. On his chest the stone heart pulsed slowly, but he still felt no fear . This was a dream, of course, and even if not, nothing so insubstantial could be any danger.</p>
+        <p>The spectre's helmet began to rise and Jack tensed, not knowing what to expect.</p>
+        <p>The skull underneath leered at him. Dark sockets empty of everything except that faint blue glow, but he sensed those empty eye-holes regard him, measure him.</p>
+        <p>"No peace," the spectre sighed. "No harmony."</p>
+        <p>Jack said nothing at all.</p>
+        <p>The skeleton held him with its empty gaze.</p>
+        <p>"There is no music now," it said in a shuddery voice, so deep it made Jack's own bones quiver.</p>
+        <p>"The fight was good and long and hard, and we saved the world for peace. Was it all for nought?"</p>
+        <p>"I don't know what you mean?"</p>
+        <p>"Heroes, long gone to rest. We fight no more."</p>
+        <p>The bony hand swung the sword down and there was a scraping sound as it slid into a scabbard as long as Jack was tall.</p>
+        <p>Then, very slowly, the skeleton fingers reached towards him and Jack could not move. He watched the bones open wide, long and thin and dry. They touched him on the neck, and still he could not move.</p>
+        <p>Then it had the heart-stone grasped in its dry fingers. Jack tried to protest, to pull away, but in the dream his feet were welded to the ground, all his muscles frozen.</p>
+        <p>The spectre raised it up in front of Jack's eyes. The dark stone gleamed in the blue light.</p>
+        <p>Suddenly he <em>saw.</em></p>
+        <p>Through the stone, the spectre's skeletal face was no longer bone, no longer skeleton at all.</p>
+        <p>Blue eyes held his in a steady gaze. Fair hair hung in braids beneath the gleaming helmet. Scars ran in deep clefts across a cheek.</p>
+        <p>"You come to reclaim harmony. Our fight is long over. Your battle just begun."</p>
+        <p>The voice was no longer dry as dead leaves. It echoed from distant walls with strength and eerie power.</p>
+        <p>The hand that had been long white bone raised towards him. Something gleamed in the corner of Jack's vision, a flash of gold.</p>
+        <p>The warrior hand held a torc, almost a complete ring of gold.</p>
+        <p>"Talisman for a king," the dream-spectre said. "For peace and harmony and an end to wicked ways."</p>
+        <p>The torc touched Jack's forehead. He felt it cold and smooth.</p>
+        <p>Then it was gone, and the heart swung down and settled against his chest.</p>
+        <p>Seen in the dark, the spectre was bone again, gaunt and laboured. It turned slowly and walked away with heavy treads. Doom-<em>doom-doom.</em></p>
+        <p>In his dream, Jack stood as the glimmering blue shape walked through the dry stone walls, and kept walking, still visible, though fading, until at last he was gone and Jack was left alone in the dark.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The dream had come back to him as they walked in sunlight, long after they had left the drumlin, and that was after Rune had disappeared into the foliage in the blink of an eye, silent as a cat, as if he had never been there at all.</p>
+        <p>But he <em>had</em> been, for where the shoe-last had stood, with the little man hunched over it tap-tapping in the night, two pairs of leather boots sat side by side on the flattened grass beside the ring of stones where the embers still softly smouldered.</p>
+        <p>"Now you won't get better for the journey you're on," the little fellow had said. "The best shoes a Cluricaun can make, and remember what I said about the four-horn. There's nothing so steady on its toes."</p>
+        <p>Lying near the boots, Kerry's tattered trainers looked sad and tired, as if they had walked too far and then some more, and there was more than a hint of truth in that, Jack knew.</p>
+        <p>Beside the shoes, two pairs of leggings in greenish leather, and tunics with hoods attached. And with each, a belt in braided hide that gleamed as if burnished with spit and polish. Kerry's sword was now held in a sturdy sheath.</p>
+        <p>The boys needed no spurring to cast off their own dirty clothes, the ones they had stitched together, quite inexpertly, for the Halloween party. Hard choices and harder trails through mountain and forest had ripped and torn them beyond recognition. They were no longer fancy dress.</p>
+        <p>"Look," Kerry said when he had pulled the tunic on. He looked like an extra from a Robin Hood film. "He's used the Velcro from my trainers."</p>
+        <p>"Waste not, want nought," Rune said brightly. "I'll figure the making of that, mark my words. I'll earn my fortune with it."</p>
+        <p>Jack laughed. The tunic fitted like a skin, but the boots, they seemed to mould around his feet like welcome winter stockings, as if he'd already worn them for miles and broken them in for comfort.</p>
+        <p>"They fit," he finally said.</p>
+        <p>"What did you expect?" Rune shot back. "From a Cluricaun craftsman?"</p>
+        <p>Kerry bounced up and down. "I never had a pair of shoes that fit first time. Never had a new pair in my life."</p>
+        <p>He grinned to Jack. "All my life I've been kitted out by Oxfam, and I have to come here to get in style."</p>
+        <p>Kerry did a spin, as if he was on a catwalk. "Look at me, Dad. Who's the raggedy arsed bogtrotter now?"</p>
+        <p>"Well, ye look just the part for sure," Rune said, "And you won't stick out like a boil on the backside neither."</p>
+        <p>"That's really kind," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"Well, you wouldn't take the gold, as you've a right to ask."</p>
+        <p>"We never believed you anyway," Kerry chuckled.</p>
+        <p>"Well believe this. You've some travellin' to do, to find this red-headed slip of a girl. So you can't get distracted."</p>
+        <p>At that he flicked his hand up and they heard a thin metallic jangle. Something gold whirled up above their heads, caught the light. It was a coin. It made a small whirring sound as it reached the apex of its travel, then started to fall towards them.</p>
+        <p>Jack raised his hand to catch it, but when his fingers closed around it, there was nothing there. The coin, whatever it was, winked out of existence, leaving his hand empty.</p>
+        <p>"Neat trick," he said. But when he turned to Rune, the little Cluricaun had vanished without a sound. His bag, his shoe-last and his whiskery beard were gone, as if they had never been.</p>
+        <p>Somewhere, far distant, an impossible mile or more, Jack thought he heard the little fellow's musical laugh. But it could have been the tinkle of a stream over stones. Someone that size couldn't move that fast, he told himself.</p>
+        <p>Or could he?</p>
+        <p>"He was right," Jack said. "We got distracted."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>"Hi-ho, <em>hi-ho</em>." Jack quickened his steps to match the beat. He had cut a sapling for a walking stick and swiped a thistle-head, sending it tumbling in the fresh air.</p>
+        <p>"You're Dopey now," Kerry giggled. "Definitely loony."</p>
+        <p>He stopped and fumbled in his bag.</p>
+        <p>"Found this last night," he said, holding up a little harmonica. "I forgot I packed it."</p>
+        <p>"I didn't know you played the mouthorgan."</p>
+        <p>"I don't, but I thought I'd give it a bash. Maybe become a busker. Or a rock star."</p>
+        <p>"Yeah, right," Jack retorted. Kerry ran the harmonica from side to side and managed to get a riffle of notes. It sounded quite tuneful in this lonely place and as they walked along, he continued blowing and sucking quite merrily.</p>
+        <p>And that's why they didn't hear the horsemen bearing down on them.</p>
+        <p>Jack just felt an odd vibration through the soles of his new boots. He grabbed Kerry's wrist and pulled the harmonica away. It gave a faint squeal. </p>
+        <p>As soon as the noise stopped Jack saw Kerry's head cock to the side, the way he always did when they stalked rabbits down in the glen at home.</p>
+        <p>"I hear something."</p>
+        <p>Jack held his breath, listening.</p>
+        <p>Somewhere in the distance, what direction he couldn't say, came a sound like the shudder of heavy footsteps they had felt in the cold night beside the standing stones.</p>
+        <p>Something big and heavy was moving, but some way off and still out of sight.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said. "Whatever it is, we don't want to meet it out in the open."</p>
+        <p>He took a step forward on the southern road when a shout cut the air from behind them. Both Jack and Kerry turned simultaneously at the sound.</p>
+        <p>Over the rise, where the road disappeared between two hillocks in the distance, a troop of horsemen came galloping towards them, all bunched together as though they meant business.</p>
+        <p>"Oh-oh." Kerry's hand instinctively went for the hilt of the sword. Jack stopped him.</p>
+        <p>"There's too many of them," he said. "We can't get caught until we find Corriwen." He turned quickly. Broken ground swooped away to the west, all tussock grass and rough heather, towards a narrow ravine where a stream had cut through the land. Beyond that, maybe a mile or so away, the edge of a forest cast a dark shadow.</p>
+        <p>Jack pulled Kerry to the side, behind a straggly thorn bush.</p>
+        <p>"You think they saw us yet?"</p>
+        <p>Kerry shrugged. "Hard to tell."</p>
+        <p>"Come on then!" He swung Kerry with him as they left the hardpack track and down the lee towards the ravine. Here they were hidden from the road and as soon as they hit the flat ground, they were off and running, dodging between the tussocks and brambles, keeping low. Behind them the pounding of hooves waxed louder but they made the shelter of ravine faster than Jack would have though possible and, like young foxes hunted by hounds, they skittered downstream along the banks, crossing on boulders, In minutes the forest swallowed them and the stream into its depths.</p>
+        <p>"That was <em>fast." </em>Kerry said. "We must have done a three minute mile."</p>
+        <p>"Good running boots," Jack said, and he was hardly out of breath. Way behind them the sounds of pursuit was faint in the distance. Jack risked a pause and peered between shaggy trunks out in the direction they had come. The riders had paused by the roadway. One of them pointed across the flats, almost as if he could see them both, though they were hidden by drooping branches. Three of them peeled off and urged their horses down the slope. The rest of them kicked flanks and the men, maybe twenty in all, went southwards in a tight bunch, while the three outriders spurred their horses towards the ravine, towards the forest.</p>
+        <p>"We'll lose them here," Jack said confidently. Kerry pulled up his hood then drew out his sword, and he didn't look like Dopey at all. He looked like a young warrior from a medieval tale.</p>
+        <p>"Cool duds, dude," Jack knuckled him on the shoulder.</p>
+        <p>"Made to measure. Sure beats hand-me-downs."</p>
+        <p>With that, they turned and sprinted between the hoary trunks and the forest darkened around them as they made their way into its depths, crushing the dead leaves under their feet. Very soon they were well away from the edge of the forest and the sounds of pursuit faded.</p>
+        <p>"Will they come in after us?"</p>
+        <p>"Not with the horses," Jack said. "They'd never get through here."</p>
+        <p>That was true enough. Little tracks and runnels criss-crossed between the trees which crowded closer together the further they walked. Underfoot the ground was carpeted in moss which covered the tree-trunks like green fur. Pale foxglove struggled up to catch what little light came down through the spreading branches overhead. With almost every step the forest grew denser and darker. And it grew quieter, as if the thick moss sucked in the sound of their footfalls and held them tight.</p>
+        <p>"It's a bit like Sappeling Wood," Kerry said, brushing a gauzy spiderweb from his face. He pulled his hood up.</p>
+        <p>"But there's no sign of the little people," Jack replied. "And the trees don't move."</p>
+        <p>"Good. I don't like surprises."</p>
+        <p>Somewhere in the distance behind them, faint sounds told them the horsemen had paused, but there was no crackling of branches that would show they were being followed. The pair of them slowed down, but kept walking in the direction Jack's internal compass told them was south.</p>
+        <p>It took them deeper and deeper and Jack had to use the stout stick to clear thin bramble runners that snagged their angles and spindly climbing roses that looked starved and wan, but had sharp, piercing thorns.</p>
+        <p>Over a rise beside a sluggish runnel clogged with rotted leaves and down the far side they found themselves descending into a dell where so little light managed to break through that it was like damp twilight. Here it smelt of decay and wet and no birds sang. They paused for a moment before moving down the slope into the shadowed basin when Kerry stopped.</p>
+        <p>"Did you hear something?" He spoke in a whisper.</p>
+        <p>Jack shook his head. Kerry stood stock still, listening. Finally he shrugged.</p>
+        <p>"Just my imagination," he said. </p>
+        <p>"I hope so. It's kind of creepy here." It was shadowed and damp, but there was a sense of hidden life here. The dripping dew from the thick moss made forest itself seem to take slow, dank breaths. The dark was becoming oppressive, somehow threatening.</p>
+        <p>"How far do we have to go?"</p>
+        <p>"I don't know." Jack looked around him. This forest could go on for miles, but he thought it best to keep going in the same direction – away from pursuit and bearing south.</p>
+        <p>They moved on down into the basin and the air of strangeness, of heavy oppression deepened. Things fluttered on silent wings in the branches above, only seen in peripheral vision. Beside a sluggish runnel, a big warted toad eyed them balefully, expanding its wattled gullet in slow gulps.</p>
+        <p>"It <em>is</em> kind of creepy here," Kerry finally agreed. He still had his hood up, but now he had drawn his sword out. They had seen nothing, but as the trees crowded closer, shadows seemed to loom at them, causing both of them to edge together until their shoulders touched. It made Jack and Kerry feel a little more comfortable, but not much. Somewhere ahead, a low wind moaned, and Jack took that as a hopeful sign that they would soon be out in the open, in sunlight.</p>
+        <p>The dell continued downslope. Underfoot, years of fallen leaves had left a thick carpet of dark brown. Spiderwebs stretched from trunk to bough like silvery nets, festooned with packets of silk-bound insects. In one web, a bat fluttered helplessly until a black spider, big around and as shiny as a snooker-ball pinioned across its web and snatched the creature in a flicker of motion.</p>
+        <p>"Spiders," Jack grimaced. "I hate them."</p>
+        <p>"Don't be a wimp," Kerry said. "They're only bugs."</p>
+        <p>"Never seen bugs that size."</p>
+        <p>The spider scuttled across its rigging, carrying the cocooned bat like a prize. Jack walked carefully around it, making sure he didn't disturb the web. Behind him Kerry bent and picked up a thin frond of fern and as he followed, he lightly flicked Jack's ear with it.</p>
+        <p>Jack visibly jumped and Kerry let out a whoop.</p>
+        <p>"Gotcha," Kerry chuckled. "You're like a cat on hot bricks."</p>
+        <p>Jack whirled and Kerry's chuckle stopped dead.</p>
+        <p>"Yeah, very funny. You should be on Stars in their Eyes. Laugh a minute."</p>
+        <p>Kerry's mouth shut like a trap. Then it opened again.</p>
+        <p>"Stuck for words for a change?"</p>
+        <p>"<em>Suh&#8230;</em>"</p>
+        <p>"What?"</p>
+        <p>Kerry's eyes were wide. At first, in the gloom, Jack thought he was looking straight at him. But then he realised Kerry's gaze was fixed just beyond Jack's head.</p>
+        <p>"Okay, very good," he said. "I'm not falling for that again."</p>
+        <p>"Suh-<em>suh&#8230;.SUH!"</em></p>
+        <p>"Suh <em>what?"</em></p>
+        <p>"Suh&#8230;..<strong><em>SNAKE</em></strong><em>!</em>"</p>
+        <p>"Oh really?" Jack was losing patience. "You can think of something better than that."</p>
+        <p>He began to turn to walk on. "You don't get snakes in&#8230;</p>
+        <p>A black streak launched itself at him, fast as a lightning strike.</p>
+        <p>Jack was half turned, ash stave in his hand, and all he got was a glimpse of a mouth gaping open, a wide pink mouth. He got an impression of two insanely long teeth lunging for his face.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 7</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>7</h1><p>Corriwen pushed the boy ahead of her, following a trail she already knew through the trees, dodging and swerving as they went, putting as much distance as they could between themselves and the felled men.</p>
+        <p>They ran along the narrow track, the boy in rags and hobbling badly, an awkward hop-skip.</p>
+        <p>Even as she ran, Corriwen wondered what trouble she had got herself into.</p>
+        <p>"Probably a runaway servant," she thought. And now she had brought herself to the wrong kind of attention.</p>
+        <p>Yet it had been impossible to sit and hide as that whip went lashing into the boy's back. And the spearman, he had definitely been set to kill, she thought, and people don't kill a runaway. They might beat him and stock him, but not <em>kill</em>.</p>
+        <p>They had been out to murder a crippled boy. What kind of man would do that?</p>
+        <p>She railed at herself for getting mixed up in anything at all, but even then she knew there was nothing else a Redthorn could have done.</p>
+        <p>Good old Mayo would be proud of her. Jack and Kerry however, might think she was crazy for taking on two armed men with nothing but an ash staff. But she thought even they might have approved in the end.</p>
+        <p>The boy hobbled on, a lurching shambles of a run, that for all its ungainliness, made pretty good speed. She could tell he had run before, away from people maybe. Through trees certainly. He had fair hair that had been cut with a knife, rough and patchy, and two braids that hung down at the back.</p>
+        <p>She pulled beside him and tugged at his arm. </p>
+        <p>"This way."</p>
+        <p>He looked at her, hazel eyes bright, chest hitching.</p>
+        <p>"No," he said. "This way. I know a place."</p>
+        <p>He stopped and favoured his twisted leg, leaning hip-shot on the straight one. The raggedy cape was slit twice across the back where the whip had caught him sore. Blood seeped through the gashes.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen paused. The way she knew would take them along by the narrow river to where they could cross on the big boulders at the falls.</p>
+        <p>He tugged back at her arm.</p>
+        <p>"I do know a place. They won't follow."</p>
+        <p>She shrugged agreement. This was not her forest, not her world. Whoever the boy was, he should know his own. And after what she had seen in the gorse field, he surely wouldn't want to get caught again.</p>
+        <p>"All right," she agreed. "But make it fast.".</p>
+        <p>"I'm doing my best, on these legs." He grinned, despite the exertion and the obvious pain across his back, and his face lit up. "But I'm no deerhound, for sure."</p>
+        <p>As he led the way Corriwen could see that one leg was bent and twisted so that his foot curved in towards the other. It looked to be much shorter than his left leg, giving him a <em>tip-thud</em>, <em>tip-thud</em> sound effect as he ran, clutching a tattered deerhide bag under his arm.</p>
+        <p>He followed the banks downstream until the river forked round an island and then pulled to the right, up a little gully carved by a small by a rivulet through the rock. Further up was a narrow cleft where water poured out in a gurgle. He climbed up through the water, and into a space that was hidden by the overgrowth of clinging ivy and tall reeds beside the water's edge. Further in, where it turned, the gully levelled out into a flat spot where deer had nibbled the grass short. In the centre was a ring of river-stones, worn smooth, which corralled the black ash of an open fire. Beside it, two large flat boulders had been rolled up. The boy slung his bag down on the grass and lowered himself to sit on a stone.</p>
+        <p>He gestured with an open hand and Corriwen sat down, grateful for the rest.</p>
+        <p>"You shouldn't have helped me," the boy said. His face was grubby and burrs were caught in his hair. A bruise discoloured one cheek. His tattered cape was held together by a small brass pin-brooch. "Now they'll come hunting you."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen cocked her head to the side. "Well, I appreciate your gratitude."</p>
+        <p>He grinned again, quite a mischievous grin and his eyes crinkled up.</p>
+        <p>"I'd have got into the trees."</p>
+        <p>"You'd never have made it," she said flatly. "He had you caught with the whip. They'd have stuck you like a boar in a thicket."</p>
+        <p>"Fine, if you say so. Allow me to picture a happier result for myself. But now <em>you're</em> in trouble. You can't fight Dermott's men and get away with it. He'll want his revenge."</p>
+        <p>"I've heard that kind of talk before." Corriwen snorted. "And I'm still walking. Anyway, why were they trying to kill you?"</p>
+        <p>He looked at her as if she was stupid.</p>
+        <p>"Because we were hungry," he said. "Because the crops failed again. Because I went into the forest and got something to eat."</p>
+        <p>"And they kill you for that?"</p>
+        <p>"You can't steal Dermott's deer, or his salmon, or his rabbits. He's a jealous lord, as you must know."</p>
+        <p>"I don't know," she said. "I don't know who this Dermott is. I don't even know who <em>you </em>are, poacher boy."</p>
+        <p>He laughed again, as if none of the chase and the whiplashing had happened.</p>
+        <p>"Sure, I'm Connor. They call me Connor Twist. Sometimes Connor Hobble."</p>
+        <p>"Because of your leg?"</p>
+        <p>"What else would it be?" He chuckled. "I can see I'm going to have to watch out for that sharp mind of yours."</p>
+        <p>She took no offence. His gibe was given in good humour.</p>
+        <p>"You'd do very well to do just that. Anyway, what happened to your leg?"</p>
+        <p>"Don't know." He slapped his crooked calf. "Faerie touched, some of the old wives say. Spell-bound at birth. Sure, I was only little at the time, so I can't remember."</p>
+        <p>He opened the ragged bag and pulled out a small wild pig with some kind of cord wrapped round its back legs. Three round stones clacked together.</p>
+        <p>"What's that?" She asked.</p>
+        <p>"A throw snare," he said, untying the cords. He held it up and showed the smooth stones joined together by short lengths of string. "An old Cluricaun showed me how to use it. It tangles round their feet."</p>
+        <p>"What's a Cluricaun?"</p>
+        <p>"Don't you know anything? He's one of the little people. They can be kindly to the unfortunate."</p>
+        <p>She watched as he lit a small fire then skinned the animal and expertly jointed the hams.</p>
+        <p>"Didn't your mother tell you what happened?"</p>
+        <p>"Probably would have, if I ever met her. I was found half drowned in the sea and taken in by Lugan the Woodman and Mereg his wife. They never had babies of their own, but it was a big hearted thing to take in a cripple. But I pay my way. You don't need fast legs to herd the cows. All you need is a good dog and a big stick."</p>
+        <p>He spoke very matter-of-factly, as if his affliction was a minor inconvenience, and he gave no sign of self pity.</p>
+        <p>"And when the harvest fails and the cows fall, then you don't even need a dog." The piglet dripped crackling fat into the hot coals and the delicious aroma made Corriwen ravenous.</p>
+        <p>Rowan turned over the roasting meat. "So then we ate the dog. Pig's much better, I can tell you."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen agreed. "I've eaten some ugly things."</p>
+        <p>"Aye, when you're hungry, they look a whole lot better."</p>
+        <p>The pig hams smelt only half as good as they tasted.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Grey dawn found Corriwen awakening from the best sleep since she'd fallen into this unfamiliar world and found herself alone. </p>
+        <p>At least she now knew the name of the place. Connor could talk, most of it round a bone he gnawed until it was shiny white, licking his fingers loudly in between sentences.</p>
+        <p>"And Dermott, ever since he became king in the west and the seasons went awry, he's been overlording everybody else. Some say his warlock, Fainn, put a curse on the sky so now it doesn't know summer from winter. They say the sun still shines along the norther shore, but here we haven't seen the Corona for a long time. People are hungry, and they're afeart the Sky Queen has turned away."</p>
+        <p>"I haven't seen stars since I came here," Corriwen agreed. "Nor the moon."</p>
+        <p>"There's a shadow over Eirinn, for sure, but it's been to Dermott's good. Somehow there's food in CorNamara, and he's been buying fealty from Munster to Leinster and even down to MacGillicuddy's Reeks in the far south. He'll have the whole of Eirinn under his mace."</p>
+        <p>The names were unfamiliar to Corriwen, but she understood the pattern. Mandrake had used his wealth to buy treachery in Temair, and he had used his own sorcery for much worse.</p>
+        <p>The pig had been delicious and Connor had been the only company she'd had in what seemed like a long time. After he ate, he yawned, curled himself up on the grass by the fire and went to sleep. The night was quiet in the shelter and Corriwen had time to think.</p>
+        <p>It had been fifteen days since she tumbled between the stones, flicked like a fly by the enormous power of the Morrigan and her rage while Jack and Kerry fought her. The blow had sent her flying to land with a jolt that jarred her from hip to teeth, skidding between the pillars. The world she had been in ripped away and she had found herself in a cold puddle with hailstones beating down like pebbles.</p>
+        <p>She had drawn her knives and rushed back to help them but when she ran between the stones, there was nothing there but more hailstones.</p>
+        <p>The ring had vanished and she knew instantly she had come through another gate to another world.</p>
+        <p>The wind lashed the hail in horizontal fusillades and she huddled behind the big stone, cowled in her cloak until the storm began to abate, not sure of what had happened.</p>
+        <p>All she knew was that the Morrigan had been screeching like a hurricane, lunging for Jack when her changing shape had reached out and hit her such a blow she had gone flying.</p>
+        <p>How they could have survived that onslaught, she couldn't imagine, but she hoped and prayed that they had managed to get away. She also fervently hoped and prayed that they would realise what had happened, and come looking for her.</p>
+        <p>She waited there for two days until hunger and cold drove out beyond the hill to find something to eat and light a fire before she froze to her marrow, her hope whittled down to virtually nothing. </p>
+        <p>The sense of dread, that the Morrigan had caught them and destroyed them stayed with her until, on a cold morning she woke to the realisation that if the demon woman had won, the gate would surely have opened, and she would have come looking for Corriwen Redthorn herself. </p>
+        <p>The fact that the gate stayed resolutely shut told her one thing for sure. That she had been thrown through alone, and nobody was coming for her.</p>
+        <p>She had forced herself off the hill and into the shelter of the trees. The pickings had been sparse, but her months on the run in Temair had taught her to appreciate what she could find.</p>
+        <p>Every day for almost two weeks she returned to the twin carved pillars on the hill, hoping all the time that her friends would come to rescue her. Eventually that flicker of hope guttered and died and she finally walked away.</p>
+        <p>Somewhere, on this world, there was a homeward gate. And somebody must know of it.</p>
+        <p>In the morning, she roused the sleeping boy Connor and they made their way out of the forest.</p>
+        <p>And only a few miles down the road, a troop of horsemen came galloping from behind a thicket and ran them down.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 8</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>8</h1><p>On the very edge of a sheer cliff pounded by heavy seas, Wolfen Castle stands alone, a grey pile of stone with turrets and battlements on the landward side; no need for them on the seaward because the rock drops straight down five hundred feet and more to jagged rocks frothing the surf.</p>
+        <p>Wolfen Castle, the westernmost stronghold in CorNamara has a huge drawbridge that bridges a crevasse in the bare rock, eaten in on either side by the ocean's hunger so that even from the landward side, it is all but impregnable. It has not been breached in a thousand years.</p>
+        <p>On this morning, dank cloud scraped around the turrets and wind whipped the pennants that bore Dermott's wolfs-head sign. A lone horn wavered from the wood-covered crags a mile away. High in the castle a bell clanged and the drawbridge slowly began to lower across the crevasse.</p>
+        <p>Some time later, a close-ridden band of horsemen came at a gallop on the hard-stone road, shod hooves sending up sparks as they clattered on the cobbles. They reached the drawbridge just as its edge thudded home into the stone socket and without pause the horsemen, led by an immense man in black furs crossed the timbers with a sound of thunder.</p>
+        <p>Dermott the Wolf was back.</p>
+        <p>He reined the dark stallion by the stone steps and leapt from the saddle while servants unhitched the livery and tended to the panting steed. Dermott swaggered down the steps, chest out, chin high, a big man in all ways. Thick, black, shaggy beard; wide bull shoulders; arms knotted with muscle; fists like mallets.</p>
+        <p>He wore a broadsword in a shoulder-scabbard so that its hilt stuck up behind him, ready for a fast and deadly draw, should the need arise. He wore a dagger on each hip, and a studded mace in a loop on his belt. In one hand he carried a thick braided leather whip.</p>
+        <p>The shaggy tunic he wore belted at the waist was spattered with red. When he drew the sword, it was streaked crimson. He handed it to a boy who stood within arm's reach, shrugged himself out of the tunic and let it fall to the ground.</p>
+        <p>"Both clean by supper," he said. "And strop the edge. I might have blunted it."</p>
+        <p>The rest of the men had dismounted now, hard looking men with scarred faces and calloused knuckles, fighting men with steely-grey eyes of the westerners, braided beards, all of them in tanned leather.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Fainn the warlock was deep in the bowels of Wolfen Castle.</p>
+        <p>He had not heard the horns, or the thundering hooves, or even the thud of the lowered drawbridge, but he knew the Lord Dermott had arrived. He always knew.</p>
+        <p>The room had a high arched ceiling supported by stone pillars. The walls were festooned with jars and bottles and all manner of strange things whose importance would only be relevant to a sorcerer. Fainn knew. He had been steeped in such black arts since before anyone living could recall.</p>
+        <p>He stood silently, Fainn the Hood, they called him. Sometimes Black Fainn. Sometimes Fainn the Pict. None of that mattered to him.</p>
+        <p>He was tall, as tall as Dermott himself, but slender, almost gaunt. His hooded cloak at first seemed ragged and torn, but on closer inspection – and few took the chance to get so close to Fainn – it could be seen that it was fashioned from bats wings; black bat wings all sewn together with such craft that no seam was apparent. It fluttered when he moved.</p>
+        <p>On his head he wore a leather cap that moulded to his skull like a second skin, and no-one knew what kind of hide it might be, though a few guessed and guessed correctly, and shuddered at the thought.</p>
+        <p>His skin was pallid, almost ghostly, the skin of one who shuns the sun and clean air, and on it, standing stark against the pale, designs were imprinted in a blue so deep it was the colour of night sky. His nose was thin as a blade.</p>
+        <p>Fainn pushed the wings of his cloak back to reveal long, thin arms, almost skeletal, but which strangely looked as strong as live oak. The tattoos continued down both, crowding each other for space, as stark as the designs on his cheeks and chin and forehead.</p>
+        <p>A black snake tattoo coiled around a wrist. Weasels chased each other towards his elbows. Spiders hunched in the centre of webs. Bats fluttered with every flex of knotty muscles. Flies crawled on his knuckles between tufts of black hair.</p>
+        <p>Barely an inch of his skin was unadorned by some creature, some of them living, some never seen by man, and none of them a thing of beauty. Night creatures, savage creatures. Things of the shadows. They were all there, so artfully created that they looked as if they could crawl off his skin and slink into the dark corners to hunt.</p>
+        <p>Fainn lowered himself to the chair beside the vast table that was like none other in the whole of Eirinn, for it virtually encapsulated the whole of Middle Eirinn where men dwelt.</p>
+        <p>It was carved from a single great tree, dark with age, burnished to a rich glow, and across its surface, in strong relief, was carved the face of Middle Eirinn, the hills, the rivers, the moors and boglands; east to west, north to south, sea to sea. The nine kingdoms of Eirinn dwelt in miniature across this spread.</p>
+        <p>Close to the Eirinn Table, a fire glowed deep red, every now and again flaring hotter as if it slowly breathed in and out. It was set not in the wall, but in a circular pit on the stone floor that had been cut from the bedrock on which Wolfen Castle stood.</p>
+        <p>Fainn stretched a thin hand in which a small jar had appeared as if by magic, and he sprinkled some of its fine-ground contents across the pit. Small sparks of orange and green flared briefly and sent up clouds of dense smoke that joined the thick pall hovering over the Eirinn Table, roiling slowly in the hot updraughts, but never clearing to allow sight of the ceiling.</p>
+        <p>The shadow pall over the carved Eirinn had been there for a long time. Fainn made sure it remained there. It was part of the plan.</p>
+        <p>He spoke to himself, in a low, rasping voice.</p>
+        <p>Fainn the Spellbinder was at work.</p>
+        <p>Muttering constantly, in rhythm and rhyme, he set out the tools of his dark trade, eyes moving constantly over the fine map of this land. From his cloak he drew out a small pouch made from the same leather as his skull-cap, and from it produced what at first appeared to be a crystal ball.</p>
+        <p>From inside the clear crystal, an eye, a human eye stared out blinklessly, its pupil contracted to a tiny dot even in this dim light after so long in the dark. Other things came out of the pouch. One was made of bone, another looked like a shrivelled piece of leather. Fainn set them all in a circle, and waited.</p>
+        <p>Footsteps approached, heavy and echoing on the stone stairway; confident steps of a man not used to delay.</p>
+        <p>Fainn kept his eyes closed, knowing the exact moment when Dermott would turn the handle and push the door wide.</p>
+        <p>It slammed back against the wall, sending a draught of air through the long room to stir the flames yet again and roil the smoke that hung in a pall at the ceiling, but never managed to clear it away.</p>
+        <p>"Good hunting, my Lord?" Fainn had not turned. Dermott was used to that. Fainn could see without looking.</p>
+        <p>"Could have been better," Dermott boomed, standing in the doorway, shoulders wide enough to block out the torchlight beyond. "Kellen of Dennegoll needs taught a lesson. I killed his son anyway. He'll see sense soon enough."</p>
+        <p>Kellen of Dennegoll lorded the lands north of CorNamara, on the very borders of Middle Eirinn beyond which the mountains grew high enough to form a barrier from the wild lands beyond. So far, despite the fact that in Dennegoll, spring and summer had not arrived for so long that the people were close to starving, Kellen had refused to cede power to Dermott.</p>
+        <p>"They will all see sense," Fainn agreed. Compared to Dermott his voice was thin and ragged, but there was power in every word he spoke.</p>
+        <p>"Kellen thinks that with his longliners, he can feed his people with fish and live out a long winter. Stubborn as stone, so he is."</p>
+        <p>"Stone wears. Stone cracks."</p>
+        <p>"Let's crack him, say I." Dermott strode across to the Eirinn Table and bent over it, pointing a calloused finger in the direction of Dennegoll, where the long fjords gave protection to Kellen's fleet.</p>
+        <p>"Give him a chill. Make him shiver. Lock the stubborn fool in."</p>
+        <p>"As you wish, my Lord," Fainn said. "I'll turn his autumn to winter, shall I?"</p>
+        <p>Fainn stretched over the table, thin hands curled into fists. Dermott's hands were hooked on his sword-belt, black fur on his shoulders bristling in hackles.</p>
+        <p>Fain opened his fingers, muttering secret words in a low voice, and a fine dust shimmered down, slow as feathers, sparkling as it descended on to the carven surface where Dennegoll's harbours huddled on the very edge of Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>The dust fell and blanketed the whole little kingdom and as they watched it settled, solidified, became as clear as ice. Instantly, the sudden cold could be felt from where Dermott stood.</p>
+        <p>"That should cool a hot head," he rumbled. "A few weeks of that and he'll give me everything he has."</p>
+        <p>Fainn's eyes glittered. He loved his work.</p>
+        <p>"Now," Dermott said. "I got the message on the return ride. What did you want to show me?"</p>
+        <p>"Tell you, my lord, not show you," Fainn said. "Though I would if I could see for myself."</p>
+        <p>"You and riddles," Dermott said. "Never get your sword-arm straight, do you?"</p>
+        <p>Fainn allowed a small cold smile. Dermott was a man of action. But action needed vision, and as a Seer, a Spellbinder, none had better than Fainn.</p>
+        <p>"Something has &#8230;something has transpired."</p>
+        <p>"Transpired? What do you mean?"</p>
+        <p>"I sense a change. Something new."</p>
+        <p>"So what is it, Warlock? Something to concern me?"</p>
+        <p>"That I cannot see. Though I am prepared to look. All is ready."</p>
+        <p>"Is it to do with this damned woman? The one who's supposed to be coming to kill me?"</p>
+        <p>Fainn shook his head. "The runes cannot lie, my Lord. Nor can I change what they say. I have cast them many times and they tell the same doom. A fighting woman with fire-hair will be your bane."</p>
+        <p>"Unless we find her first. I have hunters scouring every kingdom. When we find her, she'll raise no army against me, that I can promise."</p>
+        <p>Fainn gave a small bow. "And good hunting in that endeavour. However, what I sense is different. A <em>difference.</em> A change in the way of things."</p>
+        <p>"Change is good. Haven't we changed most of Eirinn? Bent it to our way?"</p>
+        <p>"This change I cannot yet perceive. But I will try again."</p>
+        <p>"Do that," Dermott commanded. "Do it now."</p>
+        <p>He pulled a chair and sat heavily. Fainn sank slowly onto the chair at the end of the long map-table. All of his accoutrements were arrayed in their circle. He gathered them in his hands, placing the bare eye in the crystal against his forehead, from where it stared unclosing. He began to speak in a hissing whisper.</p>
+        <p>Blind man's eye from socket torn</p>
+        <p>Cry of boy-child never born</p>
+        <p>Lip of maiden, kiss of mother</p>
+        <p>Skin of sister, heart of brother</p>
+        <p>Blood and bone, tooth and nail</p>
+        <p>Sense and search where living fail.</p>
+        <p>Fainn moaned. A shiver ran through him, making the bat-wings flutter. Dermott watched as the eye in the crystal swivelled in those long fingers, strangely alive, somehow <em>scanning</em> across the long table carvings. He saw the other things writhe in Fainn's hands, like living creatures trying to escape. Above the table the smoke rolled thick and greasy against the ceiling, while the air across the wood surface, stirred by the updraught of the fire, shimmered as if seen on a hot road. As the eye swung, left and right, the air stilled and small segments of the carved map stood out clearly. Then it moved on, taking its focus somewhere else until finally it stopped, glared steadily.</p>
+        <p>Dermott saw the wide forest, skilfully etched, near the far end of the table, beyond Lennister, far from CorNamara, close to the north border where man's knowledge ended.</p>
+        <p>Yet, even as he looked, his eyes could not quite focus on that section of the Eirinn Map. It seemed to waver and blur. He knuckled his eyes and looked again, but still the wide forest eluded his eyes. As if it refused him admission.</p>
+        <p>Fainn muttered and mumbled, those dark-versed curses that marked him for warlock. </p>
+        <p>Of a sudden, the eye glazed over. It had no way of closing, encased in the rock-crystal ball. But Dermott sensed that its sight had failed. The dried and leathery things in Fainn's hands stopped wriggling and squirming.</p>
+        <p>Finally the spellbinder raised his head.</p>
+        <p>"Well?"</p>
+        <p>"Something new," Fainn said. His face was gaunt with the strain of searching all across Eirinn. "Something I cannot see, or touch or hear. Not with any of the shade-senses. Not yet."</p>
+        <p>He gathered his materials and secured them in the skin pouch.</p>
+        <p>"But there has been a <em>change</em> in the world."</p>
+        <p>"It's the woman, am I right? The red haired warrior?"</p>
+        <p>Fainn shook his head.</p>
+        <p>"I think not. I would know. But something else. I sense <em>threat</em>."</p>
+        <p>"Who can threaten me? I control the seasons. I possess the Dagda Harp."</p>
+        <p>"Indeed you do, my Lord. And with the seasons in your grasp, so will all Eirinn. But I would fail my oath if I sought to ignore what my art tells me."</p>
+        <p>Dermott breathed out, drummed his fingers on the table.</p>
+        <p>"You're right. And you haven't been wrong yet, though I wish you'd been mistaken with those damned runes. Fighting woman indeed. I'll roast her hams and pickle her hide."</p>
+        <p>He looked up. "So what now? Should I send a column? An army?"</p>
+        <p>Fainn shrugged. "Not until I see what there is to see. There might be another way."</p>
+        <p>He rose silently, like the shadow he so much resembled, stalked to the far side of the table and leant over the surface. He drew his sleeve back from a thin arm and like a conjurer produced a knife, its blade so sharp it whispered as it parted the air. Fainn stretched his arm out and pared the blade down his forearm. Wiry black hairs shaved off the skin to show a coiled black snake coiled in intricate loops. The hairs drifted down to the carving. Without a pause, Fainn turned the knife and dug the tip into his flesh, right in the centre of the snake's flat head. A drop of blood, dark and thick as liquor, dropped to the surface. Immediately the wiry hairs coiled and curled and then wriggled out of sight into the clefts of the etching. Where the blood had dripped, Dermott though he heard a thin sizzle as it seeped into the wood and was gone.</p>
+        <p>Fainn pulled his sleeve back down and raised upright.</p>
+        <p>"Now we shall see what hides in the trees," he said.</p>
+        <p>"Aye," Dermott boomed, not doubting the Spellbinder's power for a moment. "And I'll send hunters to bring it to me, whatever it is. Then we'll have some sport, eh?"</p>
+        <p>"Indeed, my Lord," Fainn scraped. "Indeed we shall."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 9</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>9</h1><p>The snake lunged, a blur of black. Pure reflex made Jack lift his hands to defend himself.</p>
+        <p>Then he disappeared.</p>
+        <p>Kerry saw it in a flicker of motion. The snake struck. Its fangs stabbed deep into the ash stave. And Jack simply <em>vanished</em>.</p>
+        <p>Venom spurted out, sizzling into the wood like acid and the snake, glistening black, rolled in a tangle of shiny coils, madly shaking its head while its eyes glared, trying to free its fangs from the wood.</p>
+        <p>Kerry leapt back as its tail slapped his shin. It was long and thin and thrashing violently.</p>
+        <p>"Jack?" He looked about him, darting his eyes back to the writhing serpent that was still trying to dislodge its fangs from the wood.</p>
+        <p>"Over here."</p>
+        <p>"Where?"</p>
+        <p>He saw a movement. Jack was somehow about forty feet away, lowering himself from the branch of a tree, though Kerry had no idea how he had got there. Kerry moved cautiously towards him, eyes alert for any other snakes which might be lying in ambush.</p>
+        <p>"Did you see that?"</p>
+        <p>"Couldn't keep my eyes off it. What happened to you?</p>
+        <p>The snake hissed and twisted.</p>
+        <p>"Kill it," Jack said. "There's something badly wrong about this."</p>
+        <p>"You're telling me. See the size of it? I thought you didn't get snakes in Ireland."</p>
+        <p>Just as he spoke, the thin tail coiled around Kerry's ankle and suddenly the thing was on him, winding itself in loops up his leg. It still shook its head like a terrier with a rat and finally the ash stave broke off and went flying. Kerry's hand clamped just under the head as it drew back to strike again and Jack saw long hinged fangs swing forward.</p>
+        <p>Kerry tripped, entangled in the coils, desperately trying to hold those teeth away from his face. The snake lunged again, forcing his arm back and the fangs missed his cheek by a whisker. Kerry's free hand was trying for his sword, but he had fallen on top of it and couldn't reach to grab the hilt.</p>
+        <p>Without a pause, Jack pulled a black arrow from his quiver, the last of them from the major's study. He held it like a dagger as he stepped in while Kerry rolled and struggled with the snake and slashed down with all his strength.</p>
+        <p>The barb went right between its eyes and pinned its head to a root. Immediately its coils opened and it went into a shuddering spasm, poison drooling from its fangs until after a few moments it went suddenly rigid and stopped moving.</p>
+        <p>Kerry got to his feet, drew the sword and with one swipe took the head clean off. The headless body writhed a little more and the venom pattered to the ground, sending up little puffs of vapour.</p>
+        <p>Kerry was breathing hard, his face ghostly pale.</p>
+        <p>"Nearly had me, Jack," he said. "That was too close. I hate snakes. <em>Really</em> hate them. They give me the heebie-jeebies."</p>
+        <p>He checked his blade, wiped it clean on a fern.</p>
+        <p>"And anyway, what happened to you? One second you were there, and then you disappeared."</p>
+        <p>Jack shook his head. "I don't know. I just jumped back and then I found myself up in that tree. It was all just a blur."</p>
+        <p>"Never saw anything move that fast."</p>
+        <p>"It sure was. I never even saw it coming."</p>
+        <p>"Not the snake, Jack. You. Like greased freaking lightning you were."</p>
+        <p>Just as he spoke, dry leaves rustled in a crackly whisper. Kerry's eyes swung groundwards and for a second he saw nothing at all. Then, without warning, he shoved Jack with his free hand, pushing him back two steps.</p>
+        <p>A short snake raised its blunt head from the leaf scatter. A black forked tongue flicked out. A yard away, another one uncoiled, perfectly camouflaged. A third oozed out silently from a hollow log.</p>
+        <p>In mere seconds, the whole forest floor seemed to come alive with snakes as thick as an arm, dozens of beady eyes fixed on the two boys. They all hissed, a strange sound like venting steam. Kerry shuddered.</p>
+        <p>"Jack I think we better&#8230;"</p>
+        <p>Jack grabbed him by the sleeve and they were running.</p>
+        <p>Underfoot, snakes struck at their legs, almost too fast to see.</p>
+        <p>But Jack and Kerry were faster still. They moved in a blur, jinking this way and that, sending up a wake of dry leaves. A snake reared up in front of Jack and without thinking he stamped it flat with a satisfying crunch.</p>
+        <p>And still they were running, so fast that everything else seemed to go in slow motion, until they were beyond the clearing and into the dense centre of this forest. Finally Jack slowed and came to a halt.</p>
+        <p>Kerry swept a hand across his brow. All his nerves seemed to be jittering.</p>
+        <p>"Did you get bitten?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>Kerry shook his head. "I was going a mile a minute. I squashed a couple I think, but none of them got their teeth in."</p>
+        <p>He scratched his head. "But I have to tell you, I've never run as fast as that in my life. Being scared makes you go faster."</p>
+        <p>"It wasn't being scared," Jack said. He sat on a log, scanning all round first to make sure there were no unpleasant surprises, then raised his foot.</p>
+        <p>"It's these boots. I think the little fellow was trying to tell us something. When that big thing came for me, I didn't even think. Next thing I knew, I was up in a tree. I think I must have jumped."</p>
+        <p>"That was some jump. Ten feet at least. More, even."</p>
+        <p>"And then," Jack continued, "when we made a run for it, I could see all these snakes coming for us, but they looked like they were going slow. And we were going <em>fast.</em>"</p>
+        <p>Kerry looked down at his own new boots. "Much better than Oxfam then. I wish I'd had them every time Billy Robbins chased me at school. And when those Scree were after us."</p>
+        <p>"Just as well we never took the gold," Jack said, beginning to relax. "It wouldn't have done us any good." He looked around them, trying to work out which direction to go. They'd been heading south, but he wasn't quite sure which way they'd gone when they ran from the snake-glade. Here in the forest, the trunks crowded together like hoary old men, with barely room for the two of them to walk side by side. Above them, the canopy was dense enough to block out the day, making this a real twilight zone.</p>
+        <p>"That way," I think, he pointed. Kerry didn't question his sense of direction.</p>
+        <p>The forest was even darker here, with only a thin winding trail between the trees, worn by some animals that passed this way. The only sound was the murmur of insects and the slither of things under brown leaves. It was difficult to make out shapes more that twenty feet ahead and the confines gave them both a sense of claustrophobia, as if the trees were closing in on them.</p>
+        <p>They moved warily, apprehensive, eyes wide. Kerry had his sword out, just in case.</p>
+        <p>After half a mile, Jack knew they were heading in the wrong direction, but the narrow trail wound around trunks and mossy banks, but for the moment, it was the only way to go.</p>
+        <p>He stopped and touched Kerry's arm.</p>
+        <p>"I heard something."</p>
+        <p>Kerry nodded silently.</p>
+        <p>The sound was almost below the hearing threshold, more of a sensation than actual sound. Like a deep vibration, somehow as oppressive as the darkwood itself.</p>
+        <p>"What is it?"</p>
+        <p>"Dunno, but we have to keep moving."</p>
+        <p>Jack felt the heartstone squeeze against his chest and immediately his hackles crawled. It was always a warning, as if the heart was a living thing and could sense danger. He had learned, with good reason, to trust it.</p>
+        <p>"Something's wrong again."</p>
+        <p>"I know that already. We need to get out of here."</p>
+        <p>"But we're going in the wrong direction. It's the trees, and the track itself. And those sounds we hear. It's as if we were being led the wrong way." He brushed a cobweb away and the spider at its centre scuttled up its drag-line in a creepy rustle of joints. The web parted with an audible snap.</p>
+        <p>And still that low pervasive sound shivered through them.</p>
+        <p>"Jack I really think&#8230;.."</p>
+        <p>But Jack had halted, Behind them, the leaves were stirring, moving in little waves as though unseen lurkers came nearer.</p>
+        <p>Ahead of them, beyond two grey trunks, a shaft of thin light managed to pierce the thick canopy. Jack saw a stone wall.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe it's the edge," he said. "Like Cromwath Blackwood."</p>
+        <p>They'd planned to sneak into the Blackwood and then found themselves lost when they were running for their lives on that first night. The night they fell through the gateway and crossed over to a land of legend.</p>
+        <p>They passed between the trunks. Jack felt a shudder run through him, though whether is was a tremor in the earth or something inside him, he couldn't quite tell.</p>
+        <p>Then they saw it was no boundary wall.</p>
+        <p>It was a house. Old and sagging, built from crumbling stones festooned with ivy. A swaybacked roof could have been mildewed thatch, or it could have simply been covered by years of falling leaves and twigs.</p>
+        <p>A doorway gaped, pure black in this light. Two slit windows on either side were like blind eyes.</p>
+        <p>"Looks like a forester's house," Jack said. "Must be mad to live out here."</p>
+        <p>"We could hide in there until morning," Kerry said. "I think it's getting late, and I sure don't want to be wandering around when it gets really dark."</p>
+        <p>They walked forward, shoulder to shoulder, snatching glances around them in case a blunt head should strike out and bite.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe we could light a fire," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"Hello?" Kerry's voice was swallowed by the forest. "Anybody home?"</p>
+        <p>They cautiously made their way across the clearing.</p>
+        <p>They were only ten yards from the little stone house when a sudden inexplicable smell of crisp hot bacon made Jack's mouth instantly begin to water. His stomach rumbled involuntarily.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, man," Kerry said. "That smells like pure heaven."</p>
+        <p>He pulled away from Jack and almost ran towards the doorway. Inside, Jack thought he could make out the flicker of an open fire reflecting on a wall.</p>
+        <p>Then, as Kerry approached Jack saw a movement that made his heart lurch.</p>
+        <p>The stone doorway gaped wider.</p>
+        <p>It was just a small motion, barely perceptible to anyone who wasn't completely alert for any danger. But the heartstone on his chest was pulsing a steady beat, and Jack was totally alert.</p>
+        <p>At first he thought he'd imagined it. Kerry was another step closer and Jack saw, this time saw for sure, the door opened wider. Not only that, but the square shape of the uprights and stone lintel were bent out of true. And beside it, on either side, the black window spaces seemed to get narrower.</p>
+        <p>From somewhere in his memory, from a nature programme he'd seen, Jack got a picture of a lion in the Serengeti, stretching and yawning wide just before a hunt.</p>
+        <p>In that instant, the mouth-watering smell of bacon turned into the foul reek of rotting flesh.</p>
+        <p>Without even thinking, Jack snatched at Kerry's hood and dragged him back with such force Kerry landed with a thump on his backside.</p>
+        <p>"What in the name&#8230;" he started to say, scrambling to his feet, before he too caught the stench emanating from the doorway and he clapped a hand over his mouth, gagging.</p>
+        <p>Jack grabbed his arm and pulled him back, eyes fixed on the doorway where the lintel was now no longer flat, but rough and jagged, like a row of mouldering teeth ready to crunch down.</p>
+        <p>And something spoke inside his head, deep as the rumble of a far-off waterfall.</p>
+        <p>"Come in. <em>Come in!</em>"</p>
+        <p>Jack shook his head, still hauling on Kerry who was still bent over and retching in dry heaves.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Boyssss. Tasssty boysss</em>."</p>
+        <p>The sound in his head felt old and dirty and very, very hungry.</p>
+        <p>Jack suddenly remembered what Rune the Cluricaun had told them: old, bad things have woken hungry in the dark places.</p>
+        <p>He sensed the awesome hunger in that strange house and he knew the shape was an image put into their minds by whatever bad and old and hungry had awoken here in the depths of the forest.</p>
+        <p>Without a pause he pulled Kerry as far from the yawning doorway as he could.</p>
+        <p>"Move," he cried. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the windows close to black slits and the gaping maw expand outwards towards them, just as the air about them was sucked back, dragging them both and sending leaves and twigs whipping past them into the depths of the house.</p>
+        <p>Jack bent down to minimise the suction of the wind, which felt like a hellish intake of breath and kept moving until he was far enough from it to lessen its force and then they were both moving in step, bolting for the big trees on the edge of the dark glade.</p>
+        <p>They barged through, snapping the spiders webs, fending off trailing branches.</p>
+        <p>Jack risked a look over his shoulder and saw that the house had changed.</p>
+        <p>It no longer looked anything like a house. It was more like a rocky mound in the centre of the clearing, covered with twigs and fallen leaves, slowly subsiding back into the forest floor.</p>
+        <p>Whatever it was had disguised itself to lure them inside, and the dreadful hunger Jack had sensed told him that they would never have made it back out again had they stepped beyond that threshold.</p>
+        <p>They ran like the wind, scampering like rabbits, zig-zagging between the trunks, Jack's hand still clamped on Kerry's arm to make sure they didn't get separated in their flight.</p>
+        <p>Behind them something rumbled like a rock-fall and under their feet the ground flexed and buckled, almost throwing them headlong. A powerful ripple undulated across the forest floor.</p>
+        <p>Jack snatched another backward glance and his heart leapt into his throat as if trying to escape.</p>
+        <p>The house was completely gone. But at the edge of the clearing, the ground heaved like a bow-wave bearing down on them; a tidal bore of earth and moss thrown up by something big and fast that churned under surface towards them. Roots cracked and rocks exploded into the air.</p>
+        <p>The boys ran like greyhounds. Trees blurred past them in their flight whilst behind them, the crashing sound got louder as the un-seen horror gained on them.</p>
+        <p>Over a fallen tree, through a watery runnel and up a bank. Still the underground thing bored towards them. They sped between trunks, managing to keep just ahead when they breasted a rise ran down the slope beyond.</p>
+        <p>Ahead of them a narrow gully split the forest floor. There was no way to turn, nowhere else to go. They kept running, step for step, hauling for breath, expecting the ground to open any second and for something old and hungry to swallow them whole.</p>
+        <p>The gap was only yards away, steep and damp. Dank water moved past jagged rocks twenty feet down.</p>
+        <p>Then they were on the edge, with the thunderous approach behind them. </p>
+        <p>Without pausing to think, they leapt.</p>
+        <p>Jack landed right at the lip of the gully, fingers scrabbling at wet rock and knobbly roots. Kerry slapped into his legs, almost throwing him backwards, but he managed to get his fingers round a root.</p>
+        <p>Kerry cried out. Jack saw his arms reach for purchase and then he began to topple back. Instinctively Jack snatched at the sword with one hand while he grabbed Kerry's hood with the other. As he turned, he stabbed the sword deep into the big root and used it as an anchor.</p>
+        <p>Kerry cursed, clambered up, using Jack as a ladder, rolled over the lip and then pulled Jack up.</p>
+        <p>Both of them turned, expecting the monstrous subterranean thing to come blasting out of the gully wall. Small stones and loose earth shook free and avalanched down to the dark water, but whatever was there, whatever had chased them, went no further.</p>
+        <p>"Won't cross water," Jack guessed. "We were dead lucky."</p>
+        <p>"I'll never eat bacon again as long as I live," Kerry vowed when he got his breath back "Cross my heart."</p>
+        <p>"Rule number one," Jack said. "Get out of these woods and stay out."</p>
+        <p>Kerry agreed wholeheartedly with that. They picked themselves up and kept running through the trees until eventually they saw some daylight ahead of them and barged through the thin brush at the edge of the forest and out into the clear.</p>
+        <p>Just downslope, a hardpack road wended south, between thick hedgerows. A few moments later they were on their way, thorn-scratched and breathless, but each in one piece.</p>
+        <p>And they had walked only half a mile when a snarling beast as big as a pony came crashing out from the hedge, opened its jaws and snatched Kerry into the air.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 10</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>10</h1><p>As Jack Flint and Kerry Malone were racing through the forest, Corriwen and the crippled boy were captured. Not without a fight, though that made very little difference except for the fact that their captors had to use considerable force to subdue them. Corriwen swam up out of unconsciousness, bloodied and sore and seriously motion-sick.</p>
+        <p>She felt as if she'd been thrown from a horse and trampled in a stampede. It took quite a while to check that no bones were broken.</p>
+        <p>They had been put in some sort of cage on wheels, which was now trundling fairly quickly along a rutted road. It was night and no stars shone through heavy cloud. A cold wind moaned through the cage bars, almost perfectly matching the sound that Connor was making, slumped in a huddle in the corner, arms bound behind him.</p>
+        <p>She used her sleeve to wipe the blood from his face and get him on his side to clear his throat until he began to breathe a little easier.</p>
+        <p>The men had come out of nowhere, so it seemed. Corriwen and Connor had skirted a small town, keeping tight to the hedgerows. In the distance they could see armed horsemen scouring the fields in a line and it would have been easy to sneak past them, but then a pair of mistle-thrushes set up a squawking ruckus as they crept under the thorns and gave them away.</p>
+        <p>Two riders peeled away to investigate and Connor was just not fast enough in wriggling through the hedge. In an instant the whole troop had surrounded them, including one man with a lance and a tightly bandaged and splinted arm and it was fair to say he was mightily pleased to have found them.</p>
+        <p>They dragged Connor out by the ankles and began to lay into him with fists and a horsewhip. His yells of pain made Corriwen turn back, knives at the ready, and she scored a couple of cuts in the thrust and parry until a fist came out from the side and knocked her flat. </p>
+        <p>When she came round, both of them were bound and bloodied, but, she assured herself, there was nothing broken, and while they were on the move, there was a chance of escape.</p>
+        <p>After a few miles, the horsemen called a halt and drew the wagon close to a tree where they lit a fire and set reed torches around, which gave Corriwen and Connor some light but little heat. The smell of cooking food was mouth-watering at first, and later it became simply maddening.</p>
+        <p>"We're in for it now," Connor whispered. "Dermott will hunt us."</p>
+        <p>"I'd say he's caught us," Corriwen said.</p>
+        <p>"No. What he does with poachers and the like, he sets them loose and puts the hounds up after them. He likes the hunt. And the kill."</p>
+        <p>"Sounds like a sweet man."</p>
+        <p>"None worse," he agreed. "The whole of Eirinn's turned inside out all because of him. Everybody knows."</p>
+        <p>"Everybody knows what?"</p>
+        <p>"He and his warlock, Black Fainn, they've worked evil spells to turn the seasons upside down, and that's why there's little food. We have to poach to live."</p>
+        <p>"How can he change the seasons? They're fixed for sure."</p>
+        <p>"Ah, but they say he stole the Dagda Harp from Tara Hill. That's the cause of it all."</p>
+        <p>"I don't know anything about that."</p>
+        <p>"Where have you been? The whole land is abuzz with it."</p>
+        <p>"I'm from&#8230;" Corriwen paused. She didn't want to get into any long explanation. "I'm from up north. I'm waiting for my friends."</p>
+        <p>"Up north is just bogs and badlands. Fell runners and the like. Bogrim from the tarns."</p>
+        <p>"I never met any of them."</p>
+        <p>"And not likely to neither," Connor said. "Not unless we can get out of here."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen slowly crawled across to him.</p>
+        <p>"I'm working on that," she said. The little Swiss army knife Jack had given her had easily cut through her bonds, and in moments she had freed Connor. He stretched his stiff arms and groaned softly.</p>
+        <p>"That's a good trick," he told her. She crossed to the bars of the door, solid wood staves bound together with rawhide and tied shut with a knot of thick rope. Their captors had taken her knives, but they hadn't noticed the tiny red penknife. Very carefully Corriwen sawed through the rope, pushed the gate open and they both crept out into the shadows beyond the tree.</p>
+        <p>The hobbled horses snickered as they approached. Corriwen made Connor pause. They were only a few yards from the circle of men, talking amongst themselves around the sheaths.</p>
+        <p>"We'll get a big reward for her," one man said.</p>
+        <p>"You think she's the one?"</p>
+        <p>"Red hair and a pair of knives. Fights like a wildcat. Who else?"</p>
+        <p>"We were looking for a woman, not a slip of a girl."</p>
+        <p>A man laughed. "Unhorsed you, she did. And broke your arm. Can't get a better fighter than that. She's the one Dermott wants, for sure."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen listened intently, hardly daring to breathe, and what she heard shocked her. They had been hunting for her, even though she had met no-one in this place until yesterday. Did they know who she was, or where she was from? Did they have Jack and Kerry as well?</p>
+        <p>Out by the fire, another man spoke up.</p>
+        <p>"What does he want with her?"</p>
+        <p>"I just follow orders, so how should I know? Maybe he wants to challenge her."</p>
+        <p>"He'll take her for a wife and fight side by side, I think," another said. "They say Black Fainn has something to do with it, but it's none of our business."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen was completely mystified by it all. How she could have been sought in this strange place was beyond her, unless perhaps Jack and Kerry had arrived here and sent out word. But that didn't seem likely.</p>
+        <p>She and Connor crawled quiet as mice, behind the tree and very cautiously she reached round the bole and managed to find her knife-belt. She felt much better with her own weapons. Then they moved like wraiths beyond the shadow of the tree to where the horses were hobbled.</p>
+        <p>"We'll take two and scatter the rest," she said.</p>
+        <p>"I can't do that," Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"Why not? Stay and they'll hunt you down again. You don't owe them anything."</p>
+        <p>"It's not that. It's just&#8230;well, I never sat a horse before in my life. We only had pigs and a cow."</p>
+        <p>He said it with such sincerity that Corriwen almost burst out laughing, but she held it in as she led the way to the horses. They were all loose-saddled, but still had their reins. She quickly cinched the girths, then using both hands, she punted Connor on to the furthest horse, then quickly untied the rest, climbed on a big black stallion and slapped its rump hard, yelling like a banshee.</p>
+        <p>The horse bucked, reared high and then all of them stampeded through the brush in a tight bunch.</p>
+        <p>Behind them total consternation and confusion erupted.</p>
+        <p>At first the band of men thought they were being attacked. They jumped to their feet, drawing swords and spinning around to face the enemy in the dark. Then they heard the horses crashing through bush and bracken.</p>
+        <p>Men bawled and cursed. An arrow whined past Corriwen's ear, but she held tight to the reins and the tether on Connor's mount. He gripped its mane like a drowning man, eyes wide with either excitement or terror, but he managed to keep astride it and they were gone in a thunder of hooves.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>In Wolfen Castle, Black Fainn shuddered.</p>
+        <p>Something had happened out in the beyond, something out of his control. He felt it like a twist in his cold heart and pains shot up and down his arm.</p>
+        <p>"What's the matter?" Dermott the Wolf leant over the table. Fainn's expression was a twisted grimace, showing long, yellowing teeth. They ground together like gravel underfoot.</p>
+        <p>Fainn held his arm out and pulled back the sleeve.</p>
+        <p>"Something&#8230;.something <em>touched</em> me." The words came in a gritty rasp. Even Dermott could hear the surprise and absolute fury.</p>
+        <p>On Fainn's long arm, the snake tattoo writhed like something alive and then went suddenly still.</p>
+        <p>"I saw something," he said. "Deep in the forest. Just a glimpse."</p>
+        <p>"What did you see?"</p>
+        <p>Fainn shook his head. </p>
+        <p>"Men. Boys perhaps. But strange. Like ghosts."</p>
+        <p>"You've been drinking your potions again," Dermott said, losing interest. "I want to know about this woman whose supposed to be coming to get me."</p>
+        <p>"Not of this world," Fainn insisted. "From elsewhere. Beyond. I have to consider this."</p>
+        <p>On his arm, where the snake's ferocious head lay on its own coils, a drop of blood appeared, swelled quickly, then trickled down Fainn's arm in a thick, dark stream, more purple than red.</p>
+        <p>"You cut yourself," Dermott said.</p>
+        <p>Fainn shook his head.</p>
+        <p>"Something else did this."</p>
+        <p>He sucked at the cut, a slice right across the serpent tattoo, drawing his own blood back, until the flow had stopped.</p>
+        <p>Without a pause, he bared his other arm, where a spiral of sleek weasels traced a helter-skelter from elbow to wrist.</p>
+        <p>With the tip of his knife, as he had done with the snake, he pierced the skin just where the first weasel touched his wrist. A ripple ran through his stringy muscles and then the little animal pictures began to move, of their own volition, waking to squirming motion. Fainn set the knife down, drew out a handful of dry, brittle leaves from a pouch, held them tight in the bloodied hand until they were crushed to dust and then let them fall in a russet puff to the surface of the carved table, chanting under his breath the whole time.</p>
+        <p>"We shall see what is to be seen," he finally said. "We shall flush out who comes. Who dares touch Fainn."</p>
+        <p>And the trail of weasels scuttled from his skin and disappeared into the cloud of crushed leaves as they landed on the surface, wriggled into the carved forest and were gone.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 11</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>11</h1><p>The beast roared, deep and loud as a lion. It came from nowhere and pounced. Huge teeth sank into Kerry's backpack and he was swept off his feet in the blink of an eye, so fast he didn't even have time to cry out.</p>
+        <p>Jack saw the blur of motion in the corner of his vision and then Kerry disappeared. All he saw was a row of teeth that seemed a yard wide and a big, hoary head. Paws the size of dinner plates were planted on the path. The beast snarled, shook its head back and forth, jerking Kerry left and right. He looked like a rat in a terrier's mouth. </p>
+        <p>Jack's first instinct was to run. He bit back on instinct. Kerry yelled now as the dog, bigger than anything the Scree had unleashed on them, swung Kerry about. Jack jumped back, landed in the hedge. His fingers found a solid branch and he grabbed it, not pausing for a second as the thorns snagged at him. He forced himself forward.</p>
+        <p>The dog seemed to catch sight of him for the first time. It crouched low and dropped Kerry to the track, huge paws scraping ruts in the ground, head swinging from side to side. Its tongue lolled, as long as an arm. It bayed again, so deep it felt like a shudder, lunged at Kerry who was scrambling to get to his feet. The jaws opened to grab him again.</p>
+        <p>Jack took three fast paces forward, pivoted on one foot, and smacked the thing hard as he could, right on the end of its nose.</p>
+        <p>He hit just as those jaws were about to clamp on Kerry, putting all his strength into it.</p>
+        <p>The beast howled in pain, almost made a complete backwards somersault.</p>
+        <p>Jack snatched at Kerry. He caught the back-pack strap, heaved his friend to his feet before the howling dog could find its own. Then, just like they had done in the creepy forest, they were off and running for their lives.</p>
+        <p>The huge dog bayed again. Trees shivered. Leaves were shaken right off their branches.</p>
+        <p>The boys went down that trail like roe deer in full flight. The hedge blurred past them and Jack felt as if his feet hardly touched the ground. They were running faster than either of them had ever run before, faster than they believed possible.</p>
+        <p>Behind them, the dog was racing. They could hear its panting breath, loud as bellows, and its nails scrabble on the trail.</p>
+        <p>It snarled and Jack felt the hairs on the back of his neck all rise in unison, expecting those huge teeth to snap like a bear-trap and end everything right here and now. Kerry was yelling something incomprehensible. He pointed ahead and Jack saw a tall oak tree, wide branches stretching over the trail. </p>
+        <p>"Climb," Kerry panted. They were moving like the wind, keeping just a couple of steps ahead of the impossible hound. Jack risked a backwards glance and saw blood spattering from the dog's nose and he knew that if it had been ferocious before, it was surely mad as all hell now.</p>
+        <p>He gauged the distance.</p>
+        <p>The tree was tall enough to put them out of reach. But then he saw the first branch was high up on the trunk, too high to reach.</p>
+        <p>"Too high," he gasped.</p>
+        <p>"Have to try."</p>
+        <p>The dog bayed again, giving them an added burst of speed. They raced for the oak, each hoping there was some way up its rutted trunk. They made it under the shelter of its spreading boughs.</p>
+        <p>Kerry tripped on a rope strung across the trail. Jack saw him go down, bounce, roll and then the whole world tilted crazily.</p>
+        <p>One second he was running, reaching a hand to drag Kerry up, and then next he was flying through the air as if he had been kicked by a giant horse. All his breath was punched out of his lungs. Kerry yelled in surprise, slammed into Jack with such force Jack saw little stars orbit in his vision. His chin struck his knee and his elbow caught Kerry a hard one on the cheek, and still the world spun in a complete blur.</p>
+        <p>For a moment Jack's stomach seemed to fall like a stone and a sickening dizziness followed instantly. He felt himself gag, then both of them were jerked downwards. This time Kerry yelped even louder. Something rough held Jack in a tight embrace, like a giant spider's web, and then they were falling, even faster than they had risen. Jack's stomach seemed to stay up there in the heights while he plummeted and without warning last night's meal was trying to escape.</p>
+        <p>They fell like dead weights. Whatever held them tightened like fingers and they jerked to a sudden stop. Jack was upside down, with Kerry's backside pressed against his face. Kerry was in a contorted tangle of legs and arms.</p>
+        <p>Below them, the huge dog growled. Jack twisted away, praying that the fright hadn't caused Kerry to lose it altogether, considering their relative positions. He managed to look down, and then wished he hadn't.</p>
+        <p>Below them, twenty feet below them, the big hound leapt up towards them. Its jaws opened and all Jack saw was that gaping maw growing larger as it soared up towards them. Blood and slaver sprayed out. Teeth like knives gnashed together with an almighty snap, inches away from Jack's face. He would have pulled back if Kerry's backside had not been pressed tight against his cheek and if he wasn't caught so tightly that he could hardly move a muscle.</p>
+        <p>The dog barked again, leapt up once more. This time it had timed the jump better as Jack and Kerry dangled high above.</p>
+        <p>Aghast, Jack saw a repeat of the previous leap, but this time he knew they were in real trouble. He couldn't even reach Kerry's sword. They were both completely helpless.</p>
+        <p>The jaws opened again, wider and wider until they filled the whole world.</p>
+        <p>Then the pair of them were dragged skywards with such violence that Jack as if his whole head was being torn from his shoulders.</p>
+        <p>Kerry squealed as they were crushed even tighter. The dog howled madly below them, deep, ferocious howls of anger and frustration.</p>
+        <p>They were swung up, past the spreading leaves, out into the cloudy day.</p>
+        <p>And a huge face loomed right in at them.</p>
+        <p>"Shouldn't have hit my puppy," the monster said. Ferocious eyes glared at them, a yard apart at least. Bush brows, thick as porcupine quills were drawn down in an angry frown. A gale of breath that smelt of fish blew their hair backwards.</p>
+        <p>"He only wanted to play."</p>
+        <p>A hand as big as a man, and an arm as long and hard as the oak tree trunk, swung them round in a looping circle, held them up close and the vast face peered in at them. Broad nostrils quivered. Deep blue eyes examined them like mice in a cage.</p>
+        <p>"Poachers, are ye? Here to steal my lunch and dinner? Well, this time I've caught you."</p>
+        <p>Jack tried to say something, but he was mashed against Kerry in some sort of net that made it impossible to move and his throat didn't seem to want to open in any case.</p>
+        <p>"So," the giant said. "Boiled or fried? Sliced or diced? Smoked or choked? Something tasty for me and the puppy."</p>
+        <p>With a slow and powerful movement, he swung them again, both of them yelling in sheer fright, over his shoulder where they thudded against a massive back. It felt as if they had hit a rock cliff.</p>
+        <p>"Come on Tinker," the giant rumbled, clicking his fingers with a sound of wood snapping. "Home for dinner."</p>
+        <p>Jack twisted to look down and saw the dog paw the cut on its nose, then frisk around the giant's keels, exactly the way a puppy would do, if the puppy was almost the size of a pony and could swallow a boy whole.</p>
+        <p>They were squashed together, bouncing along like potatoes in a sack, while the countryside whizzed past them at a tremendous rate as the giant strode over hill and dale and the dog scampered about. </p>
+        <p>Kerry wriggled until he was at least right-ways up and the two of them were cheek to cheek. With every huge stride they were thrown this way and that until they managed to grab the thick netting that confined them.</p>
+        <p>"For a minute I thought we were in trouble," Kerry managed. "Then Shrek came along and it got even worse."</p>
+        <p>"He's five time's Shrek's size. And he stinks of fish."</p>
+        <p>"I don't think he's the BFG," Kerry said. "You shouldn't have hit his dog. I had him right where I wanted him."</p>
+        <p>"If I hadn't you'd be <em>in</em> him by now. And I'd have been next."</p>
+        <p>The giant marched on and on, past grey crags shrouded in mist and then down the far side. To the north, a range of hills were swathed in thick cloud and covered in snow except for one high mountain, right on the edge of the sea, that belched dense clouds of what could have been smoke or steam.</p>
+        <p>"We have to get out of here," Jack said. As the net swung, he caught a glimpse of a squat stone house built against a cliff beside the shore. A trail of smoke spiralled up from a chimney. "Before he gets where he's going."</p>
+        <p>Kerry wriggled until he could reach the hilt of his sword and with some effort he managed to draw it free. With all the jostling, he almost dropped it through the netting.</p>
+        <p>"You want me to stab him?"</p>
+        <p>"No. Just cut us out. We can run as soon as he puts us down."</p>
+        <p>Kerry started working the blade across the braid. Despite the edge he had honed on the sword, it was tough going, but finally he sawed through one thick strand, then another, widening the gap with each cut. In a few moments he had opened a space wide enough to get a head through. Some frantic sawing parted two more braids, while Jack watched in an agony of urgency. </p>
+        <p>"Try it now," Kerry said. Jack squirmed past him and managed to get head and shoulders through the gap, gripping the netting tight as the ground swung past way below him. Kerry started to clamber through. All the time Jack was thinking about what their captor had said. <em>Sliced or diced.</em> He didn't want to imagine either.</p>
+        <p>Kerry was half-way free when then the giant pulled up beside his house. Jack saw great slabs of meat drying on racks. And piles of bones picked clean and white.</p>
+        <p>"Hurry," he urged.</p>
+        <p>The giant swung the bag off his shoulder, so fast Jack felt a sudden squeeze of nausea. Kerry was caught completely by surprise. The sudden motion sent the sword flying from his grip. It went spinning up over their heads, whirring like a helicopter, then came plummeting back down. The twisting blade missed Jack's head by an inch as he clung to the swinging net.</p>
+        <p>It flashed past him in a whicker of sound and plunged right into the giant's left foot.</p>
+        <p>The roar of pain was like a landslide. For a second, both of them went completely deaf.</p>
+        <p>The giant let the net drop and they ended up in a tangled heap, desperately trying to scramble free. The dog bounded around howling and the giant roared again, hopping around on one leg while the other was pinned to the ground by the sword.</p>
+        <p>It had gone right through the skin between his toes. Blood as thick as engine oil welled up with a smell of hot copper.</p>
+        <p>The giant let out an enormous bellow for the third time, this even louder than before, so loud that it flattened out the waves driving inshore. A moment later the thunderous roar came back in an echo that sent the waves crashing back, almost up to the wide front door of the stone house.</p>
+        <p>The giant sat down so heavily that the ground shook and they were sent sprawling. He tried to lift the foot again and Jack saw the blade had gone right through and impaled itself on a log. The motion sent the sword swinging and more blood blurted up.</p>
+        <p>From across the grey sea, another echo, even louder than before, rolled across the waves like thunder. The giant jerked his head round, as if taken by surprise.</p>
+        <p>Kerry managed to disentangle himself and pulled Jack free. The dog was too busy to notice them.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"What about my sword?"</p>
+        <p>"Go and get it if you want."</p>
+        <p>Kerry looked at the giant, who was holding his wounded foot, face screwed up in pain. </p>
+        <p>"That must have hurt," he whispered. "You think we should help him?"</p>
+        <p>What Jack thought was that they should run and not stop until they had put plenty of miles between themselves and the giant who now had two very good reasons to slice or dice them if he chose.</p>
+        <p>Then he looked at the giant's face and saw a huge tear squeeze out between tightly closed eyelids and what he saw was not so much a giant as just another person who might need some help.</p>
+        <p>"Don't wiggle it," he finally said. The giant's eyes opened and the tear carved a trail in the dust down one slab-like cheek. "You'll just make it worse."</p>
+        <p>The giant grunted as the sword rocked. Jack risked a couple of steps forward. The dog opened its mouth and looked as if about to pounce when the giant reached out and pulled it close.</p>
+        <p>"It was an accident. We didn't mean it." Beside him, Kerry nodded vigorous agreement. "But we can fix it for you if you let us."</p>
+        <p>The giant pondered this for a moment, then scratched his head. Finally he nodded.</p>
+        <p>"I can't get it out," he boomed.</p>
+        <p>"Promise not to slice and dice us?"</p>
+        <p>"Wasn't going to anyway," he said.</p>
+        <p>"Okay. Take it easy. Just put your foot down nice and slow."</p>
+        <p>He opened his pack and drew out the bag of stuff that Rune the Cluricaun had used on Kerry's cuts and bruises. He got Kerry to wedge the log between two stones so that it wouldn't move and then sat astride the giant's foot. The skin felt as thick as a rhino's.</p>
+        <p>"This will hurt a bit," he said, then, without further ado, he grasped the hilt, bent his legs then heaved with all his weight.</p>
+        <p>The sword drew up and out with an odd sucking sound, and thick blood welled from the cut.</p>
+        <p>The giant groaned, but managed to keep still.</p>
+        <p>"Now the line," Jack said. Kerry handed him the bobbin of nylon fishing line, the strong stuff he'd used for hauling cod and halibut up from the estuary, on which a big cod hook was attached.</p>
+        <p>Jack knew he'd have to do this quickly. He crouched over the foot and had to use all his strength to jab the hook into skin as tough and thick as a tractor tyre. The giant winced, emitted what would have been a squeak from a human, but sounded like a buzz-saw. Jack drew the line through, repeated the action again and again until with a final effort, he drew the sides of the wound together, then padded Rune's medication around it. In a couple of minutes, the potion seemed to take effect and the giant's features began to relax. He let out a huge sigh that almost blew Jack off his feet.</p>
+        <p>"How's that?"</p>
+        <p>"Oh, that's much better," he said. He tore a strip from what seemed like thick sailcloth and wrapped it around his foot.</p>
+        <p>"We're really sorry," Jack said, still wary. "The sword just fell out. And I only hit your dog because he attacked Kerry."</p>
+        <p>He stuck a hand out. "I'm Jack Flint, and this is my best friend, Kerry Malone."</p>
+        <p>The giant looked at the small hand in front of him, then slowly engulfed it in his own. His skin felt like solid rock.</p>
+        <p>"Finn McCuill. This headland is my piece of the shore."</p>
+        <p>"Pleased to meet you, I think."</p>
+        <p>"Tinker wasn't going to eat you," he rumbled. "Just scare you. Then you hit him. I've got a bit of a temper, see? When somebody hurts my dog. Runs away with me so it does."</p>
+        <p>"You set a trap for us," Kerry piped up, indignant.</p>
+        <p>Finn shook his head. "The net was for reivers. Don't see many of you little folk one year on another, but since the seasons went out of step and the clouds hid the stars, they've been coming here to steal my dinners. They'd starve me out if I didn't watch out."</p>
+        <p>"Your dinners?"</p>
+        <p>"Aye, the cattle and sheep. I prefer fish myself, but the fishing's gone off with all this funny business. I seen islands of ice go sailing past the front door. Anyway, thanks for fixing up my toes, I'd have never thought of stitching it myself. It's a fine trick for a little 'un."</p>
+        <p>He gingerly hauled to his feet, towering over them both. He was about to say something else, when a deep roar came rolling over the sea, like distant pounding surf.</p>
+        <p>Finn McCuill turned to face the water, brows drawn down.</p>
+        <p>"Sounds like a big storm over there," Kerry said. </p>
+        <p>Finn shook his head. "That's no storm. That's yon Fergus MacRoth. He holds Kintyre, on the far side of the reach, and wants the world to know about it. He must have heard me bawling when you spiked me. Now he'll think I want to fight."</p>
+        <p>"Why would he think that?"</p>
+        <p>"Och, he's a fiery one is Fergus. Never happy unless he's at odds with everybody. And he loves a scrap, so he does."</p>
+        <p>The words were barely out of his mouth when a whistling sound, like a sudden wind, came shrieking over the reach.</p>
+        <p>"What on earth is that?" Kerry asked. Jack looked up to the sky, just in time to see something big and black come bulleting under the low clouds. It cut through the air with the scream of a jet fighter.</p>
+        <p>"Watch out," Finn McCuill yelled. He spun on his good foot and crouched to put himself between the boys and the seashore. A big arm snaked out and drew the dog in too, just in the nick of time.</p>
+        <p>The jet-fighter sound grew even louder until it was deafening. Kerry stuck two fingers in his ears. The dog howled right in Jack's ear and dribbled a mouthful of sticky saliva down his neck.</p>
+        <p>Not a hundred yards beyond the foreshore a huge rock hit the water with an almighty crash and sent up a bow wave as tall as a house, which swept over the tidal pools, up the shingle shore and slammed into the giant who took the brunt of it with barely a flinch, protecting them all from the power of the wave.</p>
+        <p>He waited until it subsided, dragging seaweed and driftwood back into the sea.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, that Fergus is a real pain in the bahooky, so he is."</p>
+        <p>From across the reach, the sonorous boom came rolling again. This time, Jack thought he could hear words in their thunder.</p>
+        <p>"Now he'll be coming across for sure," Finn said.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 12</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>12</h1><p>Corriwen Redthorn had no idea where she was going, no sense of direction in the dark. All she knew was that she had to keep moving from the clamour behind and put as much distance between themselves and the angry men who could still be heard far behind them as the horses galloped in the moonless night.</p>
+        <p>Connor held tight to the mane and she kept his horse close. By luck more than anything else his feet had found the stirrups and he was managing to stay astride it. The rest of them stampeded alongside.</p>
+        <p>They breasted a hill and the open fields beyond gave them a clearway and they went down it in a cavalcade, leading the riderless horses.</p>
+        <p>Connor found his voice.</p>
+        <p>"I like this," he cried. "Never went so fast in the whole of my life. When I'm rich, I'm going to get one of these."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen laughed, more out of relief than anything else.</p>
+        <p>"Just try to stay on. And try to stay alive."</p>
+        <p>"I'll give both a fair shot," he shouted, breathless.</p>
+        <p>When the sun came up, unseen behind the clouds, they slowed to a canter and then dismounted by a stream to let the horses drink. Connor threw himself on the grass and dipped his head in the water.</p>
+        <p>"That's definitely the way to travel," he said when he came up, dripping. "These rich folk have all the fun, so they do."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen scanned the area. The fields here were damp with rain and she could see crops that had been flattened by hail or wind, and burned by frost. The land looked bleak and impoverished.</p>
+        <p>"Where now?" Connor asked, as if expecting Corriwen to take the lead.</p>
+        <p>"You tell me. It's your country."</p>
+        <p>"I was never more than twenty miles away from the farm in all my life. I could be in a foreign land for all I know."</p>
+        <p>"That makes two of us." Corriwen rummaged in a saddlebag and found a bag of dried meat and some apples. She and the boy shared them for breakfast while the horses cropped the grass, then together, they led their mounts to a hillock that gave a view down a broad valley to a town crowded beside a river.</p>
+        <p>"I think that's the way," she said, uncertainly. "You think we could sneak in?"</p>
+        <p>"Why not? Nobody ever noticed me before."</p>
+        <p>"What about the horses?"</p>
+        <p>"We could sell them. Or eat them."</p>
+        <p>"I don't eat horse, not if I can help it. And we'll just draw attention if we go in with this troop."</p>
+        <p>Without a pause, she cut the beast's bit, then dismounted and unhitched the saddle. Connor did the same, and when the leathers slid to the ground, he bent quickly and came up with a short sword that had been hidden in a saddle-scabbard.</p>
+        <p>"Finders keepers," he said. He drew a rag out of his little bag and wrapped the blade in it.</p>
+        <p>"Can't be seen with a sword. They're not allowed for the likes of me. But I'll take it anyhow, because they'll hunt us for sure, high and low."</p>
+        <p>"Well, I've got used to that."</p>
+        <p>"But this time, if they catch us, they'll hang us."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen remembered what the men had said round the fire in the night. She wasn't quite sure just what would happen if they were caught, but she didn't want to find out. She shook her head.</p>
+        <p>"There's something strange going on. I listened to them last night. This Dermott wants me. They've been looking for me all along and I don't know why, unless my friends have been caught."</p>
+        <p>"They'd give you away?" He asked. "Some friends!"</p>
+        <p>"They'd never give me away, not ever," she retorted sharply. "But they might not have realised they were giving me away. I don't know what this is all about, and I'd like to keep it that way for now. This Dermott doesn't seem like somebody we want to meet."</p>
+        <p>"That's for sure. He's the worst. And that Black Fainn, his spellbinder, he's purely evil, so they say."</p>
+        <p>They skirted the edge of the town and found a coppice where they could shelter from the rising wind and the cold rain that was beginning to fall. Connor used a flint to start a fire and they huddled beside the heat, gnawing on the dried meat, deciding on their next move. The wind picked up, sending little flurries of brown leaves circling about them, and making the fire flare.</p>
+        <p>"The whole land feels wrong," Dermott said. "I haven't seen the moon and stars in I don't know how long, and the birds don't know when to nest."</p>
+        <p>"I could have picked a better gate," Corriwen muttered, but when he asked her what she meant by that, she just shook her head. The less anybody knew, the better.</p>
+        <p>The wind moaned through the trees, a low, desolate sound, and Corriwen wished her friends were with her here and now. Connor, despite his bad leg, seemed a sturdy enough boy, but he wasn't the same as Jack and Kerry. Her heart ached for their company.</p>
+        <p>A hand on her shoulder startled her out of her memories.</p>
+        <p>"Did you hear something?" He was scanning the thick trees around them.</p>
+        <p>"Naught but the wind."</p>
+        <p>One of the horses whinnied and stamped its hooves.</p>
+        <p>Connor cocked his head, closed his eyes. After a moment he held a hand up. "There. I heard it again. He fumbled beside the fire, found a good-sized stone.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe a rabbit, if we've still got luck."</p>
+        <p>After the dried meat, Corriwen sincerely hoped they still had luck.</p>
+        <p>Something small scampered through the leaves. Connor got to his haunches, ready to throw. Then something squeaked. It was more a high-pitched whistle than a squeak. From the far side of the fire, something else rustled and another whistle answered.</p>
+        <p>"Don't sound like a rabbit," Connor whispered.</p>
+        <p>A small brown shape undulated up through the leaves. Two brilliant black eyes regarded her.</p>
+        <p>It whistled. Small and serpentine it squirmed out. It had a fierce, triangular head and at first she thought it was an adder.</p>
+        <p>"Weasel." Connor sounded disappointed. Another whistle sang out and another lithe little animal burrowed up on the other side of the fire, then another and another. A ring of fierce little eyes glared at them.</p>
+        <p>"Never seen them hunt in a troop," he said. "Nasty little beasts. They kill for the love of it. I saw one kill a whole fowl-coop and take only the one bird to eat."</p>
+        <p>He raised the stone, threw it hard and accurate, straight at the first weasel. It whirled in the blink of an eye and was gone into the undergrowth before the stone even hit the ground. The rest of them seemed to wink out of existence as they too spun for cover.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen shivered. The way the little beasts had glared at her was strange, somehow threatening, as if they knew who she was.</p>
+        <p>The freed horses, scattered around the coppice, skittered and stamped again. One of them neighed loudly and kicked at the ground, then they were all bucking and prancing before the whole string ran in a circle and stampeded through the trees in panic.</p>
+        <p>"Can't sell them now," Connor said. The words were barely out of his mouth when they heard the rustling sound again, this time louder than before, and her knives were suddenly in her hands.</p>
+        <p>"What is it?"</p>
+        <p>She shook her head, silently. Out in the crowded trees, something was moving, and fast. She got to her feet and Connor did the same, and they stood, almost back-to-back as around them the crunch and crumple of dead leaves waxed even louder, as if something big was approaching.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen saw it first, a motion that was as puzzling as it was unnerving. Not twenty yards away, the very leaves and twigs themselves were moving. A hump of them seemed to be rippling in zig-zag lines as if something as big as a badger were racing underneath the fallen litter. As soon as she saw it, another line began, arrowing straight towards them across the little clearing. A third snaked its way round the bole of a tree, keeping to the dense patches of leaves. It was like watching moles scutter through dry brown earth, but these things were moving faster than any moles, and they were bigger too. Connor bent and snatched up a heavier stone.</p>
+        <p>All around them, the hiss and crackle of dry twigs and leaves became a muted roar. Corriwen tensed as the motion suddenly stopped. Around them, several heaps of leaves, each a yard high had piled up. They trembled slightly as if whatever was underneath was breathing fast.</p>
+        <p>"I don't like this," Connor said. Mentally she agreed wholeheartedly. She held her breath, wondering what was about to happen and then, without warning, the mounds of leaves exploded upwards in little whirling tornadoes, scattering twigs and acorns and beech mast into the air. They spun with strange ferocity and she could feel a new turbulence in the air as the piles whirled in inverted pyramids, faster and faster until they were just a blur, narrowing as they grew until she could almost make out solid shapes.</p>
+        <p>"Evil magic," Connor said. "There must be a curse on this place."</p>
+        <p>The spinning shapes, moaning in their own wind, drew leaves and branches, burrs and bark towards them, solidifying all the time until, abruptly, they all stopped.</p>
+        <p>Before them stood a semi-circle of man-shaped figures, thin as spindles, each made entirely of the detritus of the forest floor, shaggy with pine-needles and fir-cones. Twiggy fingers sprouted from dead-bark arms. Shiny chestnuts gleamed in pits where eyes might have been. Jagged rose-thorns lined wide gapes that could have been mouths.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen felt a cold shudder ripple up and down her spine.</p>
+        <p>The first creature, taller than either of them, raised a knotted hand and pointed a stick finger. The others took a step forward. She could hear them breathing, dead and dry as worm-eaten wood. They crackled and creaked as they moved, man-shapes made of leaves and twigs and dry moss, and somehow as virulent in strange dead motion as if they had been ferocious beasts.</p>
+        <p>Chestnut and acorn eyes glinted. Connor eased the sword from its rag, the first sword he had ever hefted in his life. It felt good in his hand. The figures rattled and rustled towards them, one slow step at a time.</p>
+        <p>"Do we run, or fight?"</p>
+        <p>"How do you fight dead wood?"</p>
+        <p>"I don't know," Connor whispered back. "But we'll find out. Whatever's made these things, it's bad magic."</p>
+        <p>He steadied himself on his good leg. The nearest leaf creature was only feet away. It smelt of mould and toadstools. A big beetle crawled from one socket to another. The thing paused, a hellish scarecrow bound together by some unnatural force.</p>
+        <p>It shot out an arm and gripped Corriwen's left wrist. Fingers of dead wood squeezed with shocking force, twisting her hand open. The long knife fell to the ground. Without a pause she pivoted and slashed at the arm with the other knife. It cut cleanly through. For a second she expected blood to spout, but the twiggy hand simply spun away and disintegrated in a brown explosion before whirling back to become a hand again.</p>
+        <p>The others closed in. Connor leapt forward and stabbed his blade through what should have been the chest of the second apparition. It went straight through and out the back with just a dry hiss of sound. He pulled back and the thing still kept coming. Corriwen picked up her knife and slashed again, severing the tumbleweed head. The leaves spun in a lazy circle and reformed where they had been before. Exactly as they had been before.</p>
+        <p>"We can't beat them," Connor said. She heard the tone of bewildered horror.</p>
+        <p>The things closed in.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen stepped back, stooped to the fire and came up again with a burning branch in her hand. She took three paces forward and thrust the flames right inside the leaf-creature. It caught alight in an instant, the dry twigs and damp chestnuts making a strange singing noise as they burned fast. In seconds, the thing was a pillar of fire. It staggered, left and right, barged into its neighbour which immediately burst into flame.</p>
+        <p>She thought she could hear a sere hiss of pain, but she didn't stop, Turning in a half circle, she lashed the branch through the rest of them, setting all of them alight. They scattered, shedding leaves and burning twigs, spinning like fiery tops as they stumbled through the bracken and thorns, trailing flame with them, and setting fire to the undergrowth.</p>
+        <p>"We'd better move," Connor said. A dog-rose went up in a crackle of heat and shared its fire with a dead ivy coiled up a pine tree. Flames raced up the trunk to turn the waxy needles into an incandescent sheet and then, in the space of a dozen breaths, the whole coppice was an inferno.</p>
+        <p>"Come on!" he tugged her arm as flames licked about her feet. The leaf-creatures were nothing but spinning flickers of light now, their hissing drowned out by the mounting roar of the brush fire that was quickly turning into a forest blaze.</p>
+        <p>She let him pull her away and they ran from the scorching heat that seemed to chase them every step of the way until they came to the edge of the trees and clear air.</p>
+        <p>Far down the field, where a road wound its way towards the town, a crowd of people had stopped and were pointing up to the roaring fire which was sweeping through the coppice.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen and Connor ran down the hill and away.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>In Wolfen Castle Fainn the Pict gasped as rivers of fire seared through him. He pulled back his sleeve, stretching a long thin arm out. The hairs were singed and an acrid smell rose up from skin that was already beginning to blister.</p>
+        <p>Something had touched him. Again.</p>
+        <p>He crossed the room to a big stone jug and plunged his arm inside. The water hissed and bubbled as it drew the fire out of him and then he grabbed his staff and in five long strides he threw open the door and made his way up the winding stone stairway, trailing that faint smell of burning with him.</p>
+        <p>Dermott the Wolf was in the banqueting hall, gnawing on a wide platter of pig ribs, washing them down with fine ale.</p>
+        <p>"What news, Spellbinder?"</p>
+        <p>Fainn said nothing. He showed Dermott the skin on his arm where the weasels had scampered. Now they were puckered and twisted.</p>
+        <p>"You should put a poultice on that," Dermott advised.</p>
+        <p>Fainn gave him a cold smile. He held his arm still. Already the blisters were subsiding, as if whatever was inside him could not even be scarred by fire.</p>
+        <p>"I have seen&#8230;<em>her."</em></p>
+        <p>"What?"</p>
+        <p>"I have seen her! The warrior woman. I have looked in her eyes."</p>
+        <p>Dermott stopped, a rib half-way to his open mouth.</p>
+        <p>"You saw her? Where?"</p>
+        <p>"In the east. Half way to the Mourning Mountains."</p>
+        <p>Dermot got to his feet. He drew a greasy forearm across his mouth.</p>
+        <p>"Have her brought to me. Find her. Take her!"</p>
+        <p>His face was thunderous. His wolf-cloak bristled as if charged with his anger.</p>
+        <p>"Captain!" He roared. "Captain of the guard. Fifty men. A hundred. Fast horses. Spare mounts. Hurry. Hurry, damn you all."</p>
+        <p>People scurried. Horses clattered. Armour clanked. The drawbridge went swinging down and the line of horsemen sped across it in a rumbling cavalcade. Hungry people along the road watched them gallop past.</p>
+        <p>And they silently prayed for whoever Dermott was hunting.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 13</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>13</h1><p>Jack and Kerry made their way down to the crossroads. They had travelled for miles and miles, over hill and dale and across wide rivers and now they were further south than they had ever expected to be so soon.</p>
+        <p>Finn MacCuill had carried them on a wicker creel strapped to his back. It was like riding a balloon through turbulence as the giant's strides tossed them about in the basket, but the countryside sped past in a blur while the huge dog scampered around, for all the world like an overgrown pup.</p>
+        <p>Eventually Finn set them down at the base of a craggy ridge. Before them, low country spread out under dank clouds.</p>
+        <p>"This is as far as I go," Finn said, hardly out of breath after his long walk. Rune's potion and Jack's stitching had healed his wound overnight. "Too many little people around here."</p>
+        <p>"Like Cluricauns and Leprechauns?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>"No. Little people like you. They squeak and scuttle. Too jittery for me."</p>
+        <p>He crouched down and regarded them both.</p>
+        <p>"You did me a true favour. You find trouble on your way, you just ask Finn. The MacCuill always pays back."</p>
+        <p>Jack smiled, sheepish. "It was nothing."</p>
+        <p>"Not to me it wasn't." He drew a thin wooden tube from his pocket, about the size of a flute. "You blow on this, and Tinker will hear it. I'll come apace."</p>
+        <p>"Nice big feller," Kerry said after the giant had strode back the way they had come.</p>
+        <p>"Turned out to be a big friendly giant after all."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They had dined like kings, even though Finn was surprised at how little they could actually eat, compared to him. He had tied the canvas bandage tight round his foot and limped up towards the smoking peak of the mountain and when he came back down he carried a side of beef spiked on a sharpened log, cooked so well that the fat still sizzled on the seared surface and the smell of it made them groan in anticipation. </p>
+        <p>"My fire-mountain, Old Grumbles," he said, carving off great chunks which they ate until they were stuffed. "Best roasting oven in all of Eirinn." Finn slapped half the side between two monstrous crusts of bread and went through it like a buzz-saw, bones and all.</p>
+        <p>As the chair and table were beyond their reach, Jack and Kerry made themselves comfortable on the kerb beside a blistering hearth in which two sections of tree-trunk burned fiercely. Tinker, the dog, edged in beside them, inching his way between them and the glow of the fire until it felt as if they were leaning against a shaggy warm cushion.</p>
+        <p>"So what brings you to these parts?" Finn wanted to know.</p>
+        <p>"We came looking for a girl," Kerry piped up.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe I should do the same. I been on my own too long. And there's not many of my kind around hereabouts."</p>
+        <p>He gnawed some more. "But its along way to travel for romance, if you ask me."</p>
+        <p>"No. She's a friend of ours," Jack said. "We've sort of lost her."</p>
+        <p>He explained how they'd met Rune the Cluricaun, then got lost in the darkwood and told him about the snakes and the oppressive presence they had sensed in the strange forest house.</p>
+        <p>"Aye, there's bad things woken right enough. From the old days before these hills were even raised. There's evil in the land. I keep my own company and my own counsel, as the McCuill always do, but I fear there's trouble brewing. Bad trouble."</p>
+        <p>He was about to say more when the dog suddenly raised its head, ears cocked. It emitted a strange, low whine.</p>
+        <p>"What's the matter Tinker?"</p>
+        <p>The dog growled, deep as a lion and its hackles stood up like quills.</p>
+        <p>Jack heard the whistle first, like a distant train on a night line. Finn slammed his half-eaten meal down on the table and stalked to the door. They followed him out and the whistle became a shriek, then a roar.</p>
+        <p>Suddenly a big rock came plummeting through the clouds, trailing veils of mist. It slammed the crag along the shoreline with such force it exploded into shards which burst like shrapnel. Jack and Kerry dodged back inside while Finn boomed strange curses so loudly their ears rang.</p>
+        <p>Immediately after that, they heard a crashing of waves, as if the tide and wind had turned, and Finn cursed again. They peered round the lintel, with the dog shivering between them. A bulky shape was powering through the sea, sending up a huge bow-wave as it came.</p>
+        <p>"What's happening?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>"Yon Fergus MacRoth. He's been threatening for months, and now he's come to square up."</p>
+        <p>"You're going to fight him?"</p>
+        <p>"Looks like it," Finn said gloomily. "Though I never was a one for the scrapping. But giants is giants."</p>
+        <p>"Can you beat him?"</p>
+        <p>"I've never seen him. Just heard him across the water. But with this foot of mine in a poultice, I can't see me having much of a chance."</p>
+        <p>Out in the water, a head and shoulders appeared, still a mile out, but close enough to be on the foreshore shelf where the water turned more shallow.</p>
+        <p>Finn let out a gasp.</p>
+        <p>"Would you look at the size of him. He'll maulicate me for sure."</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry glanced at each other, beside Finn they felt like midgets.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said. "I've got an idea." He reached up and took a hold of Finn's slab of a hand, tugged him inside, while Fergus MacRoth was still wading way out on the flats, roaring like a train and sending up a frothy spume as he splashed onwards.</p>
+        <p>At first Finn was puzzled when Jack told him to get into his cot, as long as a flat-bed truck and propped up on oak trunks. On request he swaddled himself from head to toe in a vast sheet and finally, even more perplexed, stuck his thumb in his mouth.</p>
+        <p>"I'll do the talking," Jack said, dragging pillows from the giant bed as Fergus MacRoth came stamping through the surf and onto the shore. Back in the living room he stacked the pillows on a stool by the fire and draped them with a grey blanket. His efforts looked surprisingly like a big woman sitting by the fire.</p>
+        <p>"Come out, ye coward," the giant roared, so close and loud the shingles on the roof rattled. Tinker barked and pawed at the floor. Kerry tried to hold him still while Jack rolled a rush mat into a sort of funnel and stayed in the shadows beside the window.</p>
+        <p>"Come out and fight, ye sniveller. There's only room on this reach for one of us, and that one's MacRoth."</p>
+        <p>Jack put the funnel to his mouth.</p>
+        <p>"What a racket you're making," he cried, letting the makeshift megaphone amplify his voice. "You'll wake the baby, and Finn McCuill won't take kindly to that."</p>
+        <p>Tinker howled like a banshee. On the other side of the window, Kerry was doubled up with laughter, trying desperately to hold it in.</p>
+        <p>"Baby, eh? And where's McCuill himself?" Fergus MacRoth loomed at the window space, face as red as sunburn and covered in thick orange bristles. It reminded Jack of Billy Robbins, but much, much bigger.</p>
+        <p>"Gone hunting with the big dog," Jack bawled back. Tinker snarled, showing canines inches long. "He's left the runt to guard the baby. You watch he doesn't take your leg."</p>
+        <p>The giant paused. He eyed the dog which was growling and slavering.</p>
+        <p>"The runt?" he growled. He bent down and peered in the bedroom window and Jack saw his eyebrows raise so quickly they disappeared into a thatch of orange.</p>
+        <p>"That's a <em>baby</em>?"</p>
+        <p>"And he's asleep. You wake him and McCuill will not be best pleased."</p>
+        <p>"If yon's a baby, what size is his daddy."</p>
+        <p>Kerry was almost on the floor by now, helpless with laughter.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, he's twice your height and girth. You best get over that water before he comes back and finds out you've been here. He might decide to pay you a visit, himself."</p>
+        <p>MacRoth clapped a hand to his forehead. Beads of sweat had popped out on his skin.</p>
+        <p>"I'll just be away then. And you give Finn my best regards now. I was just across to be neighbourly. Friendly like. Sorry I missed him."</p>
+        <p>"Well, thanks for dropping by. And next time, don't come empty handed, or McCuill might take offence."</p>
+        <p>The giant was backing away now, feet in the shallows, scanning up and down the shore for any sign of the giant returning with the big dog. Very quickly he turned and waded out into the drizzly mist and in minutes all they could hear was the splashing as he powered his way across the reach.</p>
+        <p>By now, Kerry was in agony. He was on the floor, both arms crossed over his belly, hardly able to breathe.</p>
+        <p>Finally the giggles subsided. Tears were streaming down his face.</p>
+        <p>"How the hell did you think of that?" he finally managed to ask.</p>
+        <p>Jack just looked at him. "I never thought of it. I read it in one of the myth books. Now I've starred in my own legend."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Now they were on the down-slope at the base of the craggy hills, in a fine cold rain that was more mist than rain, but the outfits Rune has made them, though light, were waterproof and warm.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry had asked Finn to take them south, after they had opened the old Book of Ways for any advice it could give them. As before, that advice, when it slowly scrolled down the page, was encrypted in verse.</p>
+        <p>Beside Finn's fire they had read it together.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>From rocky reach wends far the path</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To peril, danger, hate and wrath</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>A friend in need, a friend now lost</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>New friends meet where roads have crossed</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Comes here a ragged reiver band</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>A journey make through troubled land</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The hunter rides; the die is cast</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The sands of time are running fast</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Journeyman, make haste, make speed</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Or ever lose the friend in need.</em></p>
+        <p>"Even I get the picture," Kerry had said gloomily.</p>
+        <p>And now they were on their own, each thinking his own thoughts about the warning in the Book of Ways.</p>
+        <p>Before them, the land levelled, boggy from long rains, dismal and overcast, but they had made it this far, faster than they would have done alone. Jack and Kerry followed a hedgerow that followed the meandering bank of a stream, clambered over a wooden gate and found themselves on a straight road.</p>
+        <p>"South," Jack pointed. "That's where she is."</p>
+        <p>They walked for five miles or more, ready to duck for cover at any approach until they rounded a slow bend and saw the crossroads ahead of them. The two roads intersected on a bare, flat straight with no real cover nearby. A single signpost pointed in four directions down empty roads.</p>
+        <p>Jack eyed the scene warily. To keep heading south, they would have to walk out into the open. They listened, but heard no sound but the thin drizzle.</p>
+        <p>"We'll have to risk it," he said. Kerry shrugged. They had to take risks some time. </p>
+        <p>"New friends meet where roads have crossed," Jack said. "Maybe this isn't the place. I don't see a soul."</p>
+        <p>Side by side they strode out until they reached the crossing of the ways then paused at the old wooden sign on which strange lettering had been burnt with a poker. Kerry squinted his eyes, trying to make out the words when, in the distance, movement caught his attention.</p>
+        <p>"Horses," he said. Jack turned in alarm. Far to the south of hooves came faintly on the breeze, and there was no mistaking the column of horsemen making speed towards them. he spun round, looking for somewhere to hide and when he did Kerry heard him mutter in dismay.</p>
+        <p>Another troop of riders appeared round the bend to the east, galloping just as fast. Kerry could make out bright pennants above the cavalcade. The pair of them spun in circles, desperately trying to find a place to hide before they were caught in the middle of the two cavalcades.</p>
+        <p>"We're caught like rats," Kerry snarled.</p>
+        <p>They stood, paralysed and uncertain for a long moment. In the distance, the southern horsemen came on at full tilt, sending up mud and spray, and there was nothing the boys could do to escape over empty ground.</p>
+        <p>Something snorted just behind Jack's shoulder. He half-turned and then something big nudged him on the back and he almost leapt a yard into the air. The cry of sheer fright that escaped him could have been heard a mile away.</p>
+        <p>A short, fat pony snorted again, shook its head and then barged past him, hauling on a low covered wagon. Jack's heart, which had leapt into his throat, slid back down again, but still hammered like a drum.</p>
+        <p>The pony and wagon trundled past, followed by another, and another, all heading south past the cross-roads.</p>
+        <p>"Where the heck did they come from?"</p>
+        <p>It was as if the line of gaudy wagons had simply winked into existence. Jack scratched his head, unable to comprehend how either of them could fail to have noticed the caravan of carts and chubby ponies.</p>
+        <p>The fourth wagon was rolling past where they stood when the tanned leather covering was suddenly pulled aside. Four brawny arms shot out from inside and grabbed both of them by the shoulders and without a pause hoisted them up and inside. It all happened so fast the boys didn't even have time to yell.</p>
+        <p>But they did as soon as they saw what had hauled them aboard.</p>
+        <p>A big muscular man with his hair in tight bunches stared at them silently. His skin had a strange bluish shade, and his eyes were the colour of polished silver, but that wasn't what caused their jaws to gape.</p>
+        <p>The big blue man held both of them in a tight four-handed grip. Two thick pairs of arms reached out from each shoulder.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry squawked in surprise and fright.</p>
+        <p>The big fellow held them in an iron grip with two hands. The other two he now brought to his lips in an unmistakeable request for silence, then clamped both free hands over the boys mouths to emphasise the request. He turned, carrying them as easily as a man carries children, into the shadows within the wagon.</p>
+        <p>He snapped open the hinge on a thick hide bag that sat on a stool and drew the sides apart until they were more than a foot apart, and then, without any ceremony, dumped Kerry head-first inside the bag. He disappeared completely.</p>
+        <p>Jack wriggled, tried to get himself free, but the four-armed monstrosity simply flipped him up and stuffed him inside the bag. It was impossible. Jack saw the bag, and he knew it was only two feet deep at the most, but in a second he was inside it and the hinged lid was closing. He tried to jump up and out, but his feet felt as if they were sinking into warm wool and he could get no leverage. Complete and utter darkness enfolded him.</p>
+        <p>Jack groped with one hand until he found Kerry tumbled beside him.</p>
+        <p>"Are you okay?"</p>
+        <p>"You have to be kidding," Kerry shot back.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 14</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>14</h1><p>Corriwen and Connor made it to the town and lost themselves in a maze of narrow alleys.</p>
+        <p>They had run down the hill from the blazing coppice, with Corriwen urging him on. Behind them came angry shouts and people came running from the sparse fields with spades and hoes to try to beat out the flames.</p>
+        <p>They raced to the road pursued by angry field-hands field-hands.</p>
+        <p>"Fire-raisers! Stop them!"</p>
+        <p>They didn't look back. The road curved down to the town and they got there, breathless, ahead of the hue and cry and dodged out of sight. </p>
+        <p>The town was old and run-down. The people on the cobbled streets were thin and drawn, as if weighed by worry and short of food. She thought about the horses they had turned loose. If they had sold one, it would have been horse-steak in minutes.</p>
+        <p>She pulled her hood up and Connor did the same, keeping to the shadows of the narrow streets, avoiding the eyes that followed their progress from darkened doorways until they found the town square where a few stalls were set out with meagre supplies. Connor found the coin that had been in the soldier's saddlebag and he bought some gritty bread which they gnawed on gratefully in a corner of the square, watching for signs of pursuit.</p>
+        <p>On every corner, armed guards patrolled in pairs, arrogant and haughty and the townsfolk seemed cowed and afraid. They finished the bread and wandered off until they came to some stables with empty stalls. There were no horses here, but the straw was dry and the ostler was grateful to rent them shelter for the night.</p>
+        <p>In the dark, she told Connor the town didn't feel safe.</p>
+        <p>"Where is safe?" he asked. "Nowhere at all, is what I think. Poaching was bad enough. Stealing the horses, that was worse. And those things in the woods, the twig-things, they were conjured up from some dark place. I think something very bad is happening around here."</p>
+        <p>"I can't keep wandering about," she said. "My friends are either here now, or they will soon be coming to find me."</p>
+        <p>"There's too many of Dermott's men here. They'll scour the town for us. If they catch us again, they'll hamstring us for sure to make sure we don't run."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The darkness around them was absolute. Jack groped blindly until he found Kerry's shoulder. The darkness was warm, but uncomfortable. He didn't want to move in case it went further than he imagined. And he imagined a great deal of darkness around them.</p>
+        <p>"This is really weird," he said. "Did you see him? The four-armed thing?"</p>
+        <p>"See him? I couldn't take my eyes off him! Four arms. What kind of freaks do they grow in this place? And how did he get us in this bag? I saw it. It's the size of a ruck-sack. This crazy world is creeping me out."</p>
+        <p>"They came from nowhere," Jack said. "I could have sworn there was nobody else on the road."</p>
+        <p>"I don't know what's worse. Getting caught by the troopers or by that four-armed freak. What do you think he'll do?"</p>
+        <p>Before Jack could reply, they were suddenly thrown into the air and then landed in a fankle of arms and legs. Kerry's knee caught Jack on the nose and little lights spangled around him.</p>
+        <p>"Get off," Kerry groaned from under him.</p>
+        <p>Outside the strange bag, there was still no sound. But they were tumbled over again and then everything stopped moving.</p>
+        <p>"You okay?"</p>
+        <p>"Apart from a sore dose," Jack mumbled.</p>
+        <p>"We have to get out of this."</p>
+        <p>Before Jack could reply, sudden dazzling daylight stabbed into the dark and they had to shut their eyes against the glare. Two hands reached in and hauled them up and out. The big blue man's silver eyes looked them up and down.. </p>
+        <p>"It's all right now," he said, in a surprisingly soft voice. "They're gone. And good riddance to them all."</p>
+        <p>He set them down on their feet and Jack looked about him. The little caravan was in disarray. Bags and trunks were littered on the road, all emptied, clothes and pots scattered around. The strange, bottomless bag they'd been stuffed into was lying at their feet. That explained the tumble and crash.</p>
+        <p>"Not very nice people at all," a voice said and they both turned. Beside them stood a little man, no taller than Rune the Cluricaun, but wider, fatter and bald as an egg on top, but with the same curled whiskers on either side of his face.</p>
+        <p>"I knew we'd come across you," he said. "Old Rune, he said to keep a weather eye out for the both of yez. And there ye were, just about to be nipped by the wolf-pack."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked from one to the other. The blue man was solid and bulging with muscle. The little one almost round. He stuck out a podgy hand.</p>
+        <p>"Brand's the name. I lead this hapless band hither and yon."</p>
+        <p>"What band?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>Brand laughed. "The <em>Vaga</em>band! Rogues and scoundrels all. Peddlers of mystery, magic and mayhem. This here's Score Four-arm. You'll see he's well-named."</p>
+        <p>The blue man held up four hands and waggled twenty fingers.</p>
+        <p>"Score," Jack said. "I get it."</p>
+        <p>"The boy can count," Brand agreed. "We came here just in the nick of time. You'll be heading south, is what Rune tells me, so you're better travelling with us. We're good company and ye'll get a chuckle or two on the way, even if it is a dismal road we're heading."</p>
+        <p>"That bag you put us in," Kerry said. "How did you do that?"</p>
+        <p>"Och, just a trick. The quickness of the hand deceives the eye." Brand snapped it shut, like an medic's case, and slung it onto the wagon.</p>
+        <p>"It's a good place to hide what you don't want found. And it worked just fine when the Wolf-pack came a-searching."</p>
+        <p>He reached high and clapped Jack on the shoulder.</p>
+        <p>"Come and meet the rest of the reivers. Changelings, foundlings and fairy-touched all of them. Rune says you'll fit in so you can't see the join. Tells me you're a pair of acrobats and tumblers."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked at Kerry and shrugged. </p>
+        <p>A small crowd had gathered around them by now.</p>
+        <p>"Tigally and Tagelyn," Brand said. Two slender girls stepped forward together, so close they could have been glued to each other. They were identical in every way, from short spiky hair to eyes of lavender blue. They wore tight leggings, like gymnasts. "Tig and Tag to the rest of us. Best tumblers in the business."</p>
+        <p>The girls smiled brightly. Tag fell backwards. Tig tumbled over her and the pair spun together, on hands and feet, blurringly fast, like one spinning creature cartwheeling along the road.</p>
+        <p>"And Thin Doolan," Brand said.</p>
+        <p>Kerry shrank back as Thin Doolan stuck a scrawny hand out. For a moment he thought it was one of the Rushen folk that had almost killed Corriwen in the Temair marshes. Jack took the proffered hand. He felt as if he was shaking hands with a skeleton.</p>
+        <p>"This here's Natterjack," Brand said, "But we call him Toad for short."</p>
+        <p>A squat fellow with a broad face and a mouth that seemed to span from ear to ear, blinked yellow eyes at them, then smiled a toothless grin. His skin was as warted as a Scree trooper, and greenish brown, just like a toad's.</p>
+        <p>Brand made more introductions with as strange a troupe as either of them had ever seen.</p>
+        <p>"All right then," he said. "We should be on our way."</p>
+        <p>"Where are you going?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>"South. Same as yourselves. Hop aboard and take the weight off. We've a distance to travel between here and there and maybe there's a chance you'll find what you're searching for."</p>
+        <p>"Did Rune tell you?"</p>
+        <p>"Sure he did. But you're not the only ones looking for a red haired girl."</p>
+        <p>Brand smoothed out his moustaches. "I heard she got taken some way north of here, and then she gave them the slip. If it's the same one you're looking for, she's a plucky one for sure. But now she's got a price on her pretty head."</p>
+        <p>Neither of them knew how to respond to that. But it did sound as if Corriwen was making her own mark in Eirinn, even if it wasn't for the better.</p>
+        <p>They climbed onto the buckboard beside Score Four-arm. He grinned pleasantly, then snapped the reins and the little fat pony took the strain.</p>
+        <p>In the distance they could see a pillar of dark smoke rising into the air and when they rounded the bend the source became clear.</p>
+        <p>A wide coppice of trees up the hill from the road was well ablaze. Men were trying to beat out the flames with farming tools, but they were fighting a losing battle.</p>
+        <p>"Nothing but strife and trouble every which way," Score muttered. "The whole of Eirinn is going to ruin and rack."</p>
+        <p>He hitched the reins around the buckboard brake and let the fat pony amble along with the rest. From a wide pocket, he took a bag of coloured wooden balls and threw them into the air, ten, fifteen or more. The four hands wove in the air, smooth as oiled machinery until he had at least twenty balls whirling about his head in complicated patterns.</p>
+        <p>"You're a juggler then." Kerry stated the obvious.</p>
+        <p>"Juggler, fiddler, fuggler and more besides."</p>
+        <p>"A fuggler?"</p>
+        <p>"Sure. That's when I juggle and fiddle at the same time. There's not many can do that."</p>
+        <p>"I can play the mouthorgan," Kerry said.</p>
+        <p>"Don't believe him," Jack snorted. "It sounds like a scalded cat."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The stableman sold them out.</p>
+        <p>The first Corriwen knew of it was when she heard the tramp of feet on cobbles and recognised the sound of men on the quick-march. She'd heard it many a time at the Redthorn Keephold.</p>
+        <p>"Wake up!"</p>
+        <p>Connor snorted, mumbled in his sleep. She knuckled the back of his head and he woke up ready to fight.</p>
+        <p>Before he could say a word, she clamped a hand over his mouth.</p>
+        <p>"Move! Move yourself <em>fast</em>." She jerked a thumb at the stable door that she'd wedged shut the night before, just in case. The tramping of men in step came closer. Metal clanked and she knew they were armed. She kicked the wedge tighter, clambered up the side of the stall with Connor close behind. There was a pulley rope on a gibbet at the narrow slit window she had seen the night before and together they shinned down to the ground.</p>
+        <p>Behind them she could hear the thuds as the men kicked the stable door in and then the angry shouts of men who didn't find what they expected.</p>
+        <p>They raced down the alley, hoping to lose themselves among other people, but they were only half-way along it when a man bellowed behind them and then they were hunted again. A horn blew and feet hammered on cobbles as the pursuers gave chase.</p>
+        <p>Despite his bad leg, Connor could get up quite a speed, but he was no match for able-bodied men-at-arms. Corriwen held back a little to give him a chance and regretted it instantly when Connor slowed with her.</p>
+        <p>"Move your feet," she cried. "Get on with you."</p>
+        <p>He turned, just as a man backed out of a doorway, barged into him and went sprawling. She grabbed his shoulder, got him to his feet and they ran, but the pursuit was that much closer now.</p>
+        <p>They turned a corner, squeezed past a laden cart and found themselves in the little square again.</p>
+        <p>But the sound of the horn had grabbed everyone's attention, and the pairs of guards at each corner were already pushing their way across the market-place to find out what was happening.</p>
+        <p>Behind them, the troop burst into the square. Corriwen skidded to a halt, scanning left and right, knowing there was little chance of getting out of this.</p>
+        <p>"You there!" A guardsman pointed at them. "Stop where you are."</p>
+        <p>They veered left, scampered between the stalls. Hands reached to grab her hood and she shook them off and then men were coming at them from all directions. </p>
+        <p>Ahead of her a guard drew a short-sword and tried to bar her way. She ducked under it,. Shouldered him in the ribs, got a satisfying grunt of pain, and then another snagged her by the arm. She whirled, tried to draw a knife and a fist came from nowhere and hit her such a blow she fell flat to the ground. For a second the whole world spun dizzily and all the strength went out of her legs. With a desperate effort she forced herself back up, swerved from another fist.</p>
+        <p>Connor screamed something wordless, in rage and frustration. She saw him pivot on his good leg, land a clean blow across a man's throat and saw the man drop like a sack. Somebody kicked the legs from her and she was down again. Connor was growling and snarling like an animal, trying to fight his way towards her, but it was a hopeless effort. He had his stolen sword in his hand and was whirling on one leg, slicing a circle around him when a club came flying in and took him on the side of the head and it was all over.</p>
+        <p>On the ground Corriwen let out a cry of despair and a heavy boot came swinging in, caught her under the jaw, and it was all over for her too.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The band, the <em>Vagaband</em> as Brand liked to call his troupe, drew up their wagons close to the square.</p>
+        <p>"We'll have some fun here," Score assured them. "And it seems to me they could do with it."</p>
+        <p>The first thing Jack noticed was the pairs of armed men patrolling the streets, and they kept their hoods up to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible. Brand had been right though. It was better for them to travel with this band, strange as they may be, than to be two boys alone on the road with so many patrols about.</p>
+        <p>Brand set up a tall stool and climbed on top to give himself extra stature.</p>
+        <p>"Friends and townsfolk," he piped in a shrill voice. "It's a dull life and the sun still hides, but here we are to bring a smile in fun and frolic. We promise mystery, magic and mischief. We will tumble and juggle and stir you with music to bring a tear to a blind eye."</p>
+        <p>Thin Doolan gave a quick drum-roll. Natterjack played a riffle on a set of pipes.</p>
+        <p>"I give you Brand's Wandering Band. The <em>Vagaband!</em> Entertainment for your delight and delectation."</p>
+        <p>With that, Tig and Tag came tumbling into view, joined back to back, cartwheeling along the street like a two-person wagon-wheel, totally silent and eerily elegant.</p>
+        <p>"Beauty and grace in a double dose," Brand announced. People stopped to look as the twins spun and whirled around each other, sinuous as snakes, always in contact as if they were one single being.</p>
+        <p>"Brilliant," Kerry said. "Never seen anything like that."</p>
+        <p>Two of the guards had stopped to watch. Tig and Tag swirled round them, then up and over them without missing a step, somersaulting to the men's shoulders, flipping back to land together.</p>
+        <p>Without a pause, they spun away. Jack saw something blur through the air towards Natterjack who caught it in a wide hand and Jack saw him put whatever it was into the bag they'd found themselves in. It happened so fast that he wasn't quite sure what had taken place.</p>
+        <p>Score Four-arm walked into the crowd, his hands moving in circles and spirals, twenty coloured balls in the air making intricate patterns that changed from second to second. He approached another pair of guards and stood in front of them, dazzling them with his juggling, while around him, small children watched, fascinated.</p>
+        <p>Then Jack saw it happen. Three of Score's hands kept all the balls flying without missing one of them. His forth sneaked out. Everybody watched the cascade of balls. Nobody saw the fourth hand snick the pouch from the guard's belt. The pouch came flying backwards towards Natterjack and nobody saw that either. It disappeared into the bag, as did the second guard's pouch, along with a gold-handled dagger from his sheath.</p>
+        <p>Jack giggled. Kerry looked at him. "What's funny?"</p>
+        <p>"Didn't you see it? They're picking pockets. They're just a bunch of thieves!"</p>
+        <p>Thin Doolan wandered amongst the crowd with a wide, straw hat held upside down, encouraging people to make donations and it was clear this town had seen better days, for there were very few little coins, but Thin Doolan didn't seem to mind at all. He wove among the people and the guards in a slender, serpentine motion, and every time he got close to a soldier, something went missing from the man's belt. A knife, a purse, a money-bag. He did it with such speed and skill that no-one, except Jack and Kerry who were now watching closely, saw a thing.</p>
+        <p>"Now <em>that's</em> a talent," Kerry applauded. Natterjack brought the bottomless bag up to Brand. Score pulled back from the crowd, still juggling so fast it was impossible to see how he did it. Tig and Tag came cartwheeling back to the wagons.</p>
+        <p>Brand pulled himself up to his full height on the stool.</p>
+        <p>"Friends and countryfolk. It has been a pleasure entertaining you all, though the pickings are slim today. It seems your need is perhaps greater than ours. So it's our pleasure to share our good fortune on such a grey day."</p>
+        <p>With that, he opened the mysterious bag and began to flick big red apples to Score who spun them into the air, then tossed them unerringly to the children who snatched them fast. Brand brought out crusty pies by the dozen and Thin Doolan passed them around the eager crowd. Even the soldiers began to look hungry.</p>
+        <p>Jack saw one of them reach for his purse, then he saw the look of surprise on the man's face when he realised it was gone. He was about to warn Brand when a loud clamour started up on the far side of the square. The crowd around them turned as one, as the sound of men's voices and the thuds of soldier's tacketty boots grew louder.</p>
+        <p>Beyond the mass of people Jack saw someone running, then another, barely glimpsed across the distance, then a number of armed men, swords and clubs drawn. They burst out from an alley into the corner of the square. Somebody shouted. A woman screamed. There was a flurry of action and the clear sound of heavy blows and he saw someone being dragged to the ground.</p>
+        <p>On his chest, the heartstone gave a brief, but definite shudder.</p>
+        <p>In that instant a twist of dread rippled through him. He tugged Kerry's arm.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," he urged. "It's Corriwen!"</p>
+        <p>He hadn't seen her, but he knew with utter certainty that they had found her. And he knew with equal certainty that they were too late.</p>
+        <p>He pushed through the crowd as fast as he could with Kerry right behind him, until he got close to the front beside a couple of stalls which had tumbled over in the melee. Then he saw a brief flash of red hair. She was down on the ground. Beside her, somebody in a rough hood was kicking and cursing at the men who held him, then a club swung down and knocked him flat. </p>
+        <p>It was all over in seconds. A dozen men converged on two smaller forms. Fists came up and went down. He heard a grunt of pain and was on the point of crying out, just to attract their attention away from their violent work when two hands took him firmly by the shoulders and spun him round.</p>
+        <p>Score looked down at both of them, holding them fast.</p>
+        <p>"You'll be fools for sure if you take on those odds."</p>
+        <p>"We have to help her!"</p>
+        <p>"By getting knocked senseless? Not today, friends."</p>
+        <p>They tried to pull away from him. Kerry was seething, trembling with anger and the need to so something, but Score was big and strong and held them tight until the hubbub subsided and two captives were dragged out of the square and away.</p>
+        <p>The next time they saw Corriwen Redthorn she was trussed up in a caged cart, blood spattered on her bruised, swollen face, while a team of horses galloped her away on the road west.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 15</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>15</h1><p>It was night and they sat round a campfire a mile or so outside the town. Brand perched on a stool close to the flames. The rest of the troupe formed a circle and drank a hot brew from a big pot.</p>
+        <p>"Score did the right thing," Brand said. "That would have been you on that jail-cart. You can't help anyone when you can't help yourself, am I right?"</p>
+        <p>Jack had to agree. It had happened to them before, and Kerry had accused him of cowardice before he saw sense. It was hard to see sense, though, when the one person they had come to find was caught and felled.</p>
+        <p>"You have to pick your moment," Brand went on. "And the moment always comes."</p>
+        <p>"We have to find her," Kerry blurted. He hadn't eaten a thing. His stomach was still churning at the thought of Corriwen dashed to the ground.</p>
+        <p>"That's the easy part," Brand said. Score nodded. Natterjack stuffed half a smoked ham into his wide mouth, closed those bugging eyes and swallowed with a look of sheer pleasure. "They'll race her to Wolfen castle and spare no horse on the way. Bold Dermott and his spellbinder have been combing all Eirinn for your friend."</p>
+        <p>"So why have we stopped here?"</p>
+        <p>"More haste, less speed," Brand assured them. "Sure, we're commanded to entertain Dermott in his sea-hold. Loves a good show does the Lord of Wolfen. He's crowning himself king of the southlands and he wants to make a celebration of it on the midsummer. That's where we're travelling, to let him see our show, and you're welcome to travel along."</p>
+        <p>Kerry was itching to be up and away. The troopers and the prison-cart had sped along the road as if lives depended on speed. He looked at the fat ponies that hauled the <em>Vagaband</em> circus. The comparison was clear. These were no racehorses.</p>
+        <p>"How far away is it?"</p>
+        <p>"As the crow flies? Two days. As the road twists, maybe four."</p>
+        <p>"So we should get a move on!" Kerry insisted.</p>
+        <p>"Aye, we will. Once we're fed and watered and rested."</p>
+        <p>Kerry hauled to his feet, drew his sword, spun around in clear frustration.</p>
+        <p>"Come on Jack. We have to get going."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked at Brand who returned the look with an encouraging smile. There was something in that look which told him to take a breath, not be hasty. Brand and Score had saved them from capture, twice in two days. They might be thieves and pickpockets, but hadn't the Book of Ways predicted the meeting at the crossroads?</p>
+        <p>He took Kerry's wrist and sat him back down again.</p>
+        <p>"I think we should see what the book has to tell us first," he whispered.</p>
+        <p>"The book was right," Kerry hissed back. "It said time was running out."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Corriwen was not sure of she had dreamed it. Her eyes had opened briefly as the prison-cart rolled through the town gate and onto the road, past a line of little caravans. For an instant, before the darkness rolled in again, the thought she saw Jack Flint.</p>
+        <p>She tried to swim up out of the miasma, ignoring the pain in every joint and the blood that clogged her nose, but the effort was too great. She slumped down again and the darkness took her away.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They were under the caravan, sheltering in the dry, whole beyond the wheels, a thin cold rain soaked the ground. Kerry had his little flashlight out. Jack opened his pack and drew out the roll of leather that protected the Book of Ways.</p>
+        <p>As he opened it, something else rolled out of the bag, glinting in the torchlight, and immediately Jack saw himself back in the dark of the Drumlin when the spectre of the old warrior had come out of the shadows and reached for the heart-stone.</p>
+        <p>The hand that had been long white bone had raised towards him. Something had gleamed in the corner of Jack's vision. The warrior hand held a torc, almost a complete ring of gold.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Talisman for a king</em>," the dream-spectre had said. "<em>For peace and harmony and an end to wicked ways."</em></p>
+        <p>"It was a dream!" Jack breathed. He had been sure of it. </p>
+        <p>But the golden torc was real and heavy in his hands.</p>
+        <p>"Some dream," Kerry said when he explained the inexplicable. "You could dream Corriwen right back here and we could all go home."</p>
+        <p>But there was something about the torc that had to be important. If a long dead hero <em>had</em> visited him in the night and left this with him, it was for a reason. He put it carefully back into his pack and opened the book. Kerry shone the light onto the page and they waited until the words appeared for them.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>In Mists of Time a low road take</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Through skeins a stranger journey make</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Careful though upon this travel</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>See the winding road unravel</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Straight and swift as any ley</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Wander not from on this way</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Peril waits at journey's end</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>New friends aid to find a friend</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Journeyman, forewarned, beware!</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Onward lies the serpent lair.</em></p>
+        <p>"I wish it would just say ‘Go north' or ‘watch out for dragons'."</p>
+        <p>Jack agreed. "But beggars can't be choosers," he whispered. "Let's take Brand's advice. There's safety in numbers, and if he's going the same way, we should travel with them. I bet Score Four-arm can handle himself in a tight corner."</p>
+        <p>It was late and the campfire was sizzling in the rain and there was nothing to do but get some sleep until morning, when Brand had promised them they would be on their way.</p>
+        <p>And true enough, the line of caravans was on the road before dawn, taking the twisting road away from the town where Corriwen had been captured. Kerry was still in an agony of haste as the little fat ponies ambled along as if they were out for a stroll, but a few miles along the road, the track curved down into a thick stand of trees where wide branches curved over them in green arches.</p>
+        <p>Further down the road, Brand turned the procession to the left at a fork on the trail as the ground fell away. Jack smelt cool damp on the air as they descended further and the forest grew denser until they were travelling through a fine mist that thickened with every mile until it enclosed them completely like a veil.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry, up on the buckboard with Score, huddled under their hoods in the chill of the morning.</p>
+        <p>"Brand's taken the left hand road," he said. "It's the best way for where we're going, and there's nobody to follow us here. But it gets a bit tricky along this way, so even if we stop, don't stray from the path. You get into that mist and you'll never get out again. Not in this life."</p>
+        <p>"It's only a bit of fog," Kerry said. "I've seen worse blowing onshore back home."</p>
+        <p>Jack wasn't quite sure. There was something odd about the mist, so white and thick, rolling in from either side so that even the dank forest was completely hidden from view. As he stared at it, he could imagine he saw pale shapes writhing within its depths, and he remembered the words from their Book of Ways: <em>In Mists of Time a low road take.</em></p>
+        <p>For a while there was silence. Even the rattling of the wheels was muffled by the fog, as if wrapped in gossamer. Ahead of them, the next caravan was a dim shape. On either side, a pale void, as if all the world had shrunk down to themselves, the little horse, and the road they were on.</p>
+        <p>"Where is this place?" Jack asked. His voice sounded thin and smothered.</p>
+        <p>"A road few know of." Score said. "And fewer take. With good reason too. Brand knows all the low roads. We call 'em <em>By-Ways.</em> Takes us by and beyond."</p>
+        <p>He turned to the boys, all hands juggling on automatic. "The mist hides a whole shebang of things you don't want to look at. And don't you pay no heed to anything you might hear, either. Short-cuts are fine and handy, but to travel them, you got to go <em>between</em> places."</p>
+        <p>Jack thought he got the meaning. He and Kerry had gone <em>between</em> places and ended up here in Eirinn. There were some things you just had to accept, he decided, or you could go crazy.</p>
+        <p>Kerry muttered under his breath and Jack saw he had quietly drawn his sword.</p>
+        <p>"Creepy place," he said.</p>
+        <p>The words were barely out when a deep bass rumble shivered the struts of the wagon, like a fog-horn over still water. Jack jumped.</p>
+        <p>"What was that?"</p>
+        <p>"Who knows, or wants ever to know. There's things lost in yon mist."</p>
+        <p>The rumble came again, so powerful and slow it made the hairs on the back of Jack's neck rise like hackles. Then they heard a wet sucking sound, once, twice, as if something very big was moving in thick swamp. </p>
+        <p>"Can this horse go faster?" Kerry asked. "Like a whole lot faster?"</p>
+        <p>They moved on and the sound faded out behind them, bringing another silence for some time before Jack heard something else and he turned on the buckboard to peer to the left.</p>
+        <p>It came again, high and clear. It was the sound of a child crying beyond the side of the road.</p>
+        <p>The mist billowed in towards them and the crying came, plaintive and hungry at the same time. The cry of a child left alone too long.</p>
+        <p>Jack instinctively moved towards the sound. Score touched him gently.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe it fell off a wagon," Jack said. "We have to help it."</p>
+        <p>"No baby with us. And it's not what you hear."</p>
+        <p>Jack strained, trying to see through the blank gauze. A motion, barely perceptible, twisted in the mist, began to solidify. </p>
+        <p>"I see her," Kerry said.</p>
+        <p>It was a girl, small and thin and ragged. Great tearful eyes found them and silently pleaded with them.</p>
+        <p>She held up skinny arms to them.</p>
+        <p>"Help me." Jack heard the whisper, like a voice in his head. "Oh please help me. I'm lost and all alone."</p>
+        <p>"Just you look straight on," Score advised. </p>
+        <p>"She's just a kid," Kerry said. He bent to put his sword down, but the hairs on Jack's neck were still walking and he clamped a hand over Kerry's wrist.</p>
+        <p>"Oh sirs. Won't you help a waif?" The piteous voice tugged at Jack's very soul. "Take me with you. Please?"</p>
+        <p>"Look," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>The girl was closer now, almost close enough to reach and touch. Somehow solid, but filmy and translucent. Jack thought he could see other shapes beyond her, milling in the mist.</p>
+        <p>"She's floating," he said, aghast. "She's not on the ground."</p>
+        <p>The girl stretched towards them. Through her, Jack could definitely see other shapes roiling and twisting. Shapes that hurt the eyes just to look at.</p>
+        <p>And the pitiful, thin face writhed back into churning mist and became something that was not quite a face. Inside his head, Jack heard a cold giggle that sounded more than a little mad.</p>
+        <p>He closed his eyes against the thing that twisted just beyond reach and held tight to Kerry's wrist, wishing he had never heard a thing, never seen a thing.</p>
+        <p>And the little horse plodded on along the strange road while things unseen walked and stumbled through the cold pale fog.</p>
+        <p>The journey seemed to take a long, long time in that eerie place. Jack and Kerry clambered into the wagon and found a dry place to sleep, while Score juggled and watched the pony, never letting his eyes stray left or right. He had travelled the By-Way before.</p>
+        <p>When the boys awoke, some hours later, the mist was thinning and the odd feeling of oppression that had surrounded them was also beginning to lift.</p>
+        <p>Eventually they could see the trees on either side of the road as it rose out of the foggy hollow until the last wisps wrapped themselves around the roots and faded from view. They rounded the bend on a forest road and appeared on the brow of a hill.</p>
+        <p>The road meandered down the slope, a thin ribbon against the grey of bare stone and the purple of thick heather.</p>
+        <p>And far in the distance, a great dark castle hunched like a beast on the crags beside a storm-tossed sea.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 16</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>16</h1>
+        <p>Dermott the Wolf crouched beside the cage-wagon. He was as big a man as Corriwen had ever seen. As wide across the shoulders as she could span with both hands, and head and shoulders taller than the rest of the men except the strange thin creature who stood beside him.</p>
+        <p>The thin man was the dangerous one, Corriwen sensed. Dermott could crush her with his hands, but the thing in the hood, face painted with tattoos, cloak fluttering around him in the breeze, he looked as if he would pick at your soul like a buzzard on a carcass.</p>
+        <p>"So this is her then?" Dermott turned to Fainn, twirling his bullwhip in one hand. "She doesn't look like much to me. She's more a girl than a woman."</p>
+        <p>"She's a fighter, my Lord." The leader of the troops stepped forward. "It took ten to bring her down. And before that she unhorsed two lancers and then found a way to escape from a secure lock. She's got wierden-shee ways for sure."</p>
+        <p>"That's still to be found out," Dermott said, still measuring Corriwen with her eyes.</p>
+        <p>"What's your name girl?"</p>
+        <p>Her throat was still sore and dry. Her voice came out ragged.</p>
+        <p>"I am Corriwen of the Redthorn of Temair," she said, knowing he wouldn't know where Temair was.</p>
+        <p>"Never heard of you, nor your kin. So, you're a scrapper are you?"</p>
+        <p>"Only when I have to be. I'd rather walk in peace."</p>
+        <p>"That's not what the runes say, is it spellbinder?"</p>
+        <p>"That's true, My Lord. And the runes never lie. She may be young, but she's a red-haired fighting woman from a far place. Can there be two?"</p>
+        <p>"I'd prefer to see more fight," Dermott declared. "Bring her out."</p>
+        <p>Two of the guards opened the cage and dragged her through the gate, set her on her feet but left her hands bound. Dermott examined her knives, running a thumb along the edge.</p>
+        <p>"Beat two of my horsemen, and yourself on foot. I'll give ye credit for that, girl. But it would take ten of you to best me, maybe even more."</p>
+        <p>"Why should I want to fight you?" she asked.</p>
+        <p>"Ah, why indeed?" Fainn hissed in Dermott's ear. "So it is written".</p>
+        <p>Dermott shrugged. "Where did you learn to fight, girl?"</p>
+        <p>"At my father's knee."</p>
+        <p>"Aye, and ye'll wish ye were still sitting on it by the time we're done. We'll have fine sport with you, come the day."</p>
+        <p>He glanced at Connor who slumped in the corner.</p>
+        <p>"And who's this wretch?"</p>
+        <p>"A poacher, my Lord," a soldier said. "Taken with the woman."</p>
+        <p>"A cripple? Hardly worth the effort. We'll send lame dogs after him and watch him hobble." He loomed over Connor. "You poach my deer, boy, and you pay the price."</p>
+        <p>Connor said nothing. He simply looked Dermott straight in the eye. He had nothing to lose.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They had seen the castle from the breast of the hill, and Corriwen knew straight away that once inside, she would be in real danger.</p>
+        <p>It hunched there on its cliff, one steep cleft in front of its gate and a precipice behind that plummeted straight to the roiling sea below. Thin arrow-slits served as windows. Towers crowded behind high battlements. A black flag with a red wolfs head fluttered in the wind.</p>
+        <p>"Wolfen Castle," she said. "Not a joyous place, I think."</p>
+        <p>"At least this cart will be stopping. Looking on the bright side, they could have made me walk all the way, but now my teeth are rattling like nuts in a jar. And I'm hungry."</p>
+        <p>"Are you afraid?"</p>
+        <p>Connor grinned. "Sure I'm scared. But life is hard anyway. We'll soon find out what Dermott's made of, and I'll give him a fine run for his money, that's for sure. Maybe I'll get a chance to die like a hero and win a place in TirNanOg. You think they have good horses there?"</p>
+        <p>This time Corriwen had to smile. Trussed like a duck all those long rattling miles, three days and nights, and Connor still had his optimism. Or bravery. Whatever it was, it gave her some heart.</p>
+        <p>She had dropped like a sack in the town square and Connor had tried to help her. He had been growling and snarling like a cornered beast as he fought his way towards her.</p>
+        <p>She had yelled at him to run. These men wanted her more than they wanted a poacher, but he hadn't run when he had the chance to escape. After that, it was all a blur of pain from the heavy blows that rained on them, but in the midst of it all, she had seen something.</p>
+        <p>It had come back to her on the long journey south, and the memory of it have her some hope.</p>
+        <p>At first she was not sure if she had dreamt it, but the image of Jack Flint's face in the crowd came back to her time and again until she was convinced she <em>had</em> seen him, before she went down hard on the cobbles, and then again as they trundled her out of the village in the prison-cart.</p>
+        <p>It had to be Jack. <em>Had to be.</em> And that meant he and Kerry had come through the gate to find her. They had not abandoned her. In her heart, all this time, she had known that neither he nor Kerry ever would.</p>
+        <p>The thought of that kept her spirits up, despite the tight bonds and the ache of the bruising. She had come round in the cart, minus her knives, with Connor bloodied and bruised in a corner, unconscious for a full half-day of rough travel before their captors brought him round with a face-full of cold water.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Score Four-arm flexed his wide shoulders and threw a battle-axe straight at Jack's head.</p>
+        <p>Jack almost jumped out of his skin.</p>
+        <p>But something else happened.</p>
+        <p>The wagons had formed a tight circle just on the forest edge. They had emerged from that eerie mist into a grey day and far down the hill they had seen the brooding castle in the distance.</p>
+        <p>It was squat and massive, with turrets and stairs and battlements built haphazardly behind thick walls. The turrets bore black and red pennants that whipped on the sea-wind, black and red flags bearing the shape of a wolf-s head, but still too much like Mandrake's flag for Jack's liking.</p>
+        <p>The castle stood right on the edge of the sea cliff. The chasm before it was a narrow defile that dropped into a surge of waves. The precipice behind it went straight down to jagged rocks in a lashing sea under a leaden sky. It was a formidable and forbidding place and to Jack it looked nigh-on impregnable. No boat could surprise it from the sea and the fissure in front of the drawbridge would make it impossible to assail from the front.</p>
+        <p>If Dermott the Wolf had taken Corriwen there, it would be a devil of a job getting her out.</p>
+        <p>Brand ringed the wagons and they lit their campfires. After the unearthly mist, even the thin rain from low dark clouds was bearable. Natterjack got busy with a big pot that soon bubbled on the coals while Brand strode around on short legs urging the rest of the troupe to get practising.</p>
+        <p>"Big day tomorrow," he told them. "We have to put on a fine show, and they'll expect the best."</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry stood by a big oak tree while Tig and Tag went through their somersaults and cartwheels, intricate, serpentine movements that told Jack their minds were completely in tune. Score was practising his juggling, this time with long bladed knives and double-bladed battle-axes that twirled in the air, hissing as they went and it was a miracle he didn't slice himself with all that flying sharp metal.</p>
+        <p>Brand strolled over to him and Score bent down to listen, never pausing in his manoeuvre and then he turned smoothly and with no hesitation at all, he threw one axe at Jack and another at Kerry.</p>
+        <p>"Jeez!" Kerry blurted. </p>
+        <p>And in the blink of an eye, before either of them had time to react, they were twenty feet up in the tree.</p>
+        <p>Below them, just at head height, both axes were dug deep into the trunk, quivering like tuning forks.</p>
+        <p>"What happened?"</p>
+        <p>Before Jack could respond, Score turned and flicked two knives at them, one after the other. Kerry yelped again and then Jack found himself fifteen feet further up the tree. And the amazing thing was that Kerry was even higher, white-faced and gripping a thin branch with even whiter knuckles.</p>
+        <p>"What do you think you're playing at?" he demanded in a shaky voice. "You nearly killed us."</p>
+        <p>Way below them, Score grinned up at them, never missing a beat with the spinning weapons. Brand was rolling about on the grass, convulsed with laughter.</p>
+        <p>"How did we get up here?" Kerry asked. It had happened so blindingly fast that neither could understand how they could be on the ground one second and forty feet up an oak tree the next.</p>
+        <p>"All right fine fellows, you can come down now."</p>
+        <p>"Not with that loony chucking hatchets at us," Kerry bawled back.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, that was just a wee experiment. Get yourselves down here. You've passed the entrance test to Brand's Vagaband. And anyway, Natterjack's got the stew ready."</p>
+        <p>It took a lot longer to descend than it did to climb, if climbing was what had actually happened. They made it to solid ground and Score clapped them both on the shoulder with his big strong hands, chuckling all the while.</p>
+        <p>"I knew it," Brand told him. "Didn't I recognise Rune's cobblery?"</p>
+        <p>He pointed at Jack's new boots.</p>
+        <p>"None like him for the shoemaking," he said. "Thirteen different leathers, shoe horn from the four-horn goat and a bit of Cluricaun magic. Turned you both into a pair of acrobats, and that's just what we need."</p>
+        <p>"I don't understand," Jack said. He remembered the bewildering moment in the dark forest when the snake had lunged at him. It had all happened so fast he hadn't had time to think about it, and then they were running for their lives while the trees blurred past them.</p>
+        <p>"When Rune makes shoes, he puts all his skill into it. And he's made you both the best, as far as I can see. He told us you'd be at the crossroads and he said you'd make a fine addition to the troupe."</p>
+        <p>"But we've never done anything like this before," Kerry said.</p>
+        <p>"Well, you'll have to learn quick, if you want to save that girlfriend of yours."</p>
+        <p>Kerry's face went red. "She's not my girlfriend."</p>
+        <p>"No matter," Brand said. "Once we get in yon Wolf's den, you'd best be slick as spit an' polish. That's where they've taken her and the place will be bristling with armoury. Not to mention that snake of a spellbinder that does the Wolf's bidding."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked down at the castle.</p>
+        <p>"It won't be easy."</p>
+        <p>"Nothing worthwhile ever is," Brand agreed. "But that doesn't mean we can't have fun. Like I said, mystery, magic and a little mayhem is what it's all about."</p>
+        <p>It amazed them both how quickly they melded into the routine. And Rune's special shoes made all the difference. </p>
+        <p>By the end of the day they were tired and bruised and sore all over. </p>
+        <p>But Brand seemed quite happy with their progress.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 17</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>17</h1><p>She was still in a cage, but no longer on the cart.</p>
+        <p>She was high up, very close to the raftered ceiling on a great hall, and the cage was suspended from beams by a thick chain. It swung just a little when she moved. Connor was slumped in another suspended cage, bewildered and still stiff and sore from the beating he'd taken.</p>
+        <p>It was hot and the air thick with smoke from a fire that crackled in a vast fireplace way down below. The walls were grey stone, here and there relieved by tapestries of hunting scenes. Wide wooden pillars that looked to be cut from single trunks held up the arched ceiling.</p>
+        <p>There were other cages up here, and they had been used before. It was clear from the tattered, desiccated remains crumpled inside them that some prisoners had not been taken out to be hunted down. They had died here and dried to brown leather in the heat and smoke.</p>
+        <p>The open hearth sent up fumes that gathered around the rafters in choking clouds, making it hard to catch a full breath and Corriwen wondered if this was intended; if Dermott intended to let them slowly suffocate up here. </p>
+        <p>Below, a long table, wider than a man was tall, stretched almost the length of the hall, with stout benches on either side. At its head, a heavy chair, intricately carved for an important man, and that is where Dermott sat, massive in his wolfskin cloak. All around the table sat big, boisterous men. For the past hour or so, they had been drinking from horn goblets, arguing and singing.</p>
+        <p>Behind Dermott, and to his left, stood a huge silver cauldron. She had seen it when they had dragged her inside and forced her into the cage, two men on each arm to keep her powerless and then they had hauled it up, foot by foot until she was at a dizzy height far above. Dermott had laughed.</p>
+        <p>"Well, fighting woman!" he called up to her. "Not much fight in you now, I think."</p>
+        <p>In the passing, she had seen her own reflection on the burnished cauldron, pale and thin, as if she was hardly there at all. The silver had somehow drawn her into its finely carved surface, where a creature that looked to be half-man and half stag dominated a festive scene of dancing forest nymphs and strange creatures. The cauldron had seemed very old and mysterious and somehow ominous, though she couldn't say why.</p>
+        <p>From her vantage point, whenever the smoke cleared, she could see beyond its rim into its depths.</p>
+        <p>It hurt her eyes, hurt her brain, just to look in there.</p>
+        <p>A few inches below the silver rim, dark colours swirled, fast and oily, as if she was peering into the eye of a storm. Occasional spurts of dark vapour would coil up in tendrils and in the centre of that strange storm, was a darkness, utter darkness, as if the cauldron was an entryway to some vast underworld. It was like looking into the deepest night, so black it seemed solid, and the dark eye tugged on her with such power it gave her a dizzying sense of falling.</p>
+        <p>She pulled her eyes away. The tall, thin man in the strange cap and the fluttering cape, he sat off to Dermott's left, hunched like a hawk and seemingly oblivious to the raucous feasting down the long table. Cowed servants scurried back and forth to and from him and every now and again he would touch the cauldron with a long staff carved into intertwining snakes and weave signs with his fingers over the surface and for a moment that dark eye would lighten until 1t seemed a thick mist oozed its way up to the rim and the servant would reach in to the depths and produce a ham, or a plucked goose, or a long fat salmon to be taken to the hot coals and cooked there and then.</p>
+        <p>The supply seemed never-ending. And Fainn seemed to be able to get this cauldron to produce whatever he wanted every time Dermott demanded more.</p>
+        <p>She had been right about Fainn, Corriwen told herself, looking down at his hunched, narrow shoulders. Dermott was just a big hard man, loud and brash and arrogant, the king of all he surveyed, and from what she had learned, very keen to be king of everything else worth surveying.</p>
+        <p>But Fainn, he was different. She had felt his poisonous touch the first time those hooded eyes had fixed on her.</p>
+        <p>Before they had hoisted the cage up to the rafters, Fainn had approached, as quiet as a spider and every bit as alien. The spiral tattoos on his face had seemed to twist and dance as if they crawled beneath his skin. A thin, long-fingered had had clenched the stave and she had seen it was carved from a single piece into two intertwining snakes, so cleverly worked that she could make out the pattern of scales down their coiled bodies.</p>
+        <p>Fainn had pointed the stave at her, two snake heads joined like twins, and her heart almost stopped in her chest when a long forked tongue flicked out from one wooden mouth and licked at the air.</p>
+        <p>The blinkless snake eyes had fixed on her and she felt as if she was being invaded, as if they were draining the strength from her.</p>
+        <p>A voice whispered, like the hiss of steam from a spout, like the rustle of dead leaves.</p>
+        <p><em>Who </em>are<em> you, girl? You are not what you say. Tell me </em>everything<em>."</em></p>
+        <p>The words formed in her head, almost as if she had thought them herself.</p>
+        <p>His eyes held her. Her vision began to waver and a giddy sensation rolled in the pit of her belly.</p>
+        <p><em>I saw you in the forest. I had you and you escaped me, and none escape Fainn's search. But you, you are different. And there are others. I smell them. I </em>taste<em> them on the very air.</em></p>
+        <p>In that instant, Corriwen knew he was looking for her thoughts, as if he could pick them from her head. She felt the scrape of his mind against hers, the way she had felt the vile touch of the Morrigan in the dark of the Black barrow.</p>
+        <p>Almost unbidden, a picture of Jack and Kerry together, racing for the homeward gate, began to form in her mind and with an enormous effort of will she turned the thought away and instead pictured her brother as she had found him on the slaughterfield.</p>
+        <p>The memory hit her in a solid blow of anguish.</p>
+        <p>She saw herself cradle he brother's bloodied head in her arms as she had moaned and rocked back and forth, devastated by her loss. The power of the memory was so great that she felt the connection between her and Fainn snap like string. </p>
+        <p>His black eyes widened in surprise as he stumbled back. Corriwen staggered against the bars of the cage. Fainn's carved stave dropped to the flagstone floor and for a brief, blurry instant, it coiled and looped on itself before becoming rigid once more.</p>
+        <p>Fainn picked it up while Corriwen stood, breathless and gasping as if she had run a great distance.</p>
+        <p>He glared at her, thin face twisted with anger.</p>
+        <p><em>You defy me, girl. You will regret it as long as you live. And you will regret it as you die in pain.</em></p>
+        <p>Then the men hoisted her up towards the vaulted ceiling where the smoke gathered like the clouds over Eirinn.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The guards made them park the wagons well away from the castle drawbridge and Brand was quite happy with that. He had made Jack and Kerry leave their weapons hidden, which was another good idea because the gatemen searched them all very thoroughly before the drawbridge swung down over the crevasse.</p>
+        <p>As soon as the heavy door hit the blocks, the heartstone on Jack's chest gave a slow pulse.</p>
+        <p>Jack already knew he was walking into danger and he swallowed hard.</p>
+        <p>They entered the outer ring of the castle, with Kerry close to Jack who stayed beside Score Four-arm. The big juggler pretended to be at ease, but Jack saw his eyes flick right and left, taking in the sprocket wheel that raised the drawbridge, then scan the walls and turrets like a well-trained spy.</p>
+        <p>Brand walked ahead of them, his big whiskers sticking out on either side, in a green jacked and jaunty red hat and a swagger in his step. </p>
+        <p>"Brand's wandering troupe," he announced to the gatemen. "And the Lord of the Keep is expecting us prompt. So be about your business and let us get about ours."</p>
+        <p>Despite his small stature, his voice carried authority and confidence and in only a minute they were through the second ring and into the main part of the castle where the walls were so high that little light reached the ground and all around them were grey fortifications and thick, heavy stone.</p>
+        <p>The heart stone squeezed more strongly.</p>
+        <p>The guards up on the battlements were armed to the teeth with pikes and swords, and<em> </em>there were enough of them to man a good-sized army.</p>
+        <p>Jack looked about him, wondering where in this maze of stone and turrets they had put Corriwen. When the second door closed behind him with a booming thud, he quailed for a second at the thought of finding her and then trying to get her out again.</p>
+        <p>But nothing seemed to affect Brand's confidence or his self-important strut.</p>
+        <p>They were marched round a narrow way until they reached a double door studded with bronze dead-nails. Four fierce men eyed them steadily before they were allowed entry and then Jack and Kerry and the rest of them found themselves in the midst of mayhem.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>From up above Corriwen had heard Dermott's voice boom out, demanding silence.</p>
+        <p>"Time to eat and drink," he roared. He drew his sword and slammed the hilt down on the table. Plates and goblets jumped in unison.</p>
+        <p>"Half a moon to the midsummer and I will have all the kings gathered here. They will all bow their heads to me and be grateful for the privilege."</p>
+        <p>The men cheered. They raised goblets and horns and clashed them together.</p>
+        <p><em>To Dermott, the Wolf of CorNamara.</em></p>
+        <p>"And this wolf has been on the hunt," he boomed. "There's a hunger in Eirinn that none can feed; none but Dermott of Wolfen castle. And they know it. The kings don't remember what it is to fight. They grew fat and lazy on the easy times. Peace and harmony for generations and where has it got them? Wasted lands and empty fields, and now they all turn to Dermott for help."</p>
+        <p>He got up and strode to the great cauldron and hit it with his hand. It rang like a vast bell.</p>
+        <p>"None had the heart to win the Cerunnos Cauldron, so by default they lose their place. What's a king who cannot feed his people? No king at all, I say. So they come to me, the only one who could find and win the cauldron and reap its plenty. They come begging, trading their lands to fill their bellies."</p>
+        <p>He threw his wide shoulders back. "Let them come, I say. On the midsummer, they will see me crowned high king, and they will sell their lands and their souls. And those of you who marched with me, you will reap ten times over. Lands a-plenty.</p>
+        <p>"And then they can have peace and harmony," he said, chuckling. "<em>My</em> peace and harmony.</p>
+        <p>"So today we feast from my cauldron and we make merry. And we show them what real kings are made of. And tomorrow the hunt."</p>
+        <p>He looked up to where the high cages were almost hidden in the smoky haze. "Tomorrow the <em>kill</em>!"</p>
+        <p>They roared and clashed their tankards and fell upon the feast like beasts.</p>
+        <p>The smell of food drifted up.</p>
+        <p>Connor roused himself from the cage.</p>
+        <p>"I'm drooling like a starving dog," he muttered. "I don't mind so much them hunting me down. But do they have to torture me first. I'd sell my granny for a bite of that ham."</p>
+        <p>"I thought you were an orphan."</p>
+        <p>"But I must have had a granny somewhere," he said. "Hasn't everybody?"</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Brand played it like a true ringmaster. He stood on an upturned tub and doffed his hat.</p>
+        <p>"My Lord Dermott, good sirs," he began. "It is a fine honour to be in such exalted company. At your request, we bring music and mystery for your delight."</p>
+        <p>"Better be good," Dermott growled.</p>
+        <p>Thin Doolan had a drum strapped to his thigh and played a roll. Natterjack squatted on his haunches with a big lambeg skin drum that he beat steadily with a long bone. Score Four-arm opened his bag and began juggling his coloured balls in the air, using only two hands, but managing to get ten flying at the same time, then he reached for an old fiddle and bow and with his spare arms, he began to play, still keeping those balls flying.</p>
+        <p>"He said he was a <em>fuggler</em>," Kerry said. "Now, that's a neat trick."</p>
+        <p>Jack cast his eyes around. The table was groaning with more food than he had seen in their journey across Eirinn and he felt a wave of disgust at seeing such plenty when there was so much hunger across the land. His stomach tried to argue with him when he smelt the roasting goose and he forced himself to ignore it.</p>
+        <p>Dermott was every bit as fierce as he had been told to expect, big and bearded and broad as an ox. The rest of the roistering men looked almost as tough, swilling from their tankards and stuffing food into their mouths. From their arrogance he could tell they thought they owned the world and would squash anybody who said otherwise.</p>
+        <p>But it was the thin hooded man who sat close to the great cauldron who held his attention.</p>
+        <p>Fainn the Hood sat alone, aloof, eyes taking in everything. Jack felt those eyes light on him and he looked away, though he sensed a pause, and closer scrutiny. The heartstone felt it too, for it started beating again, slow squeezes against his skin and for an anxious moment, Jack believed it was beating loud enough to hear. His belly clenched tight for a second and then Fainn's probing gaze passed on.</p>
+        <p>His flat, feral stare reminded him of the snake that had lunged at him in the deep woods.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 18</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>18</h1><p>As shows went, it was probably the best Jack and Kerry had ever seen. The fact that they were part of it made it more exciting.</p>
+        <p>And the fact that they just couldn't tell where pure sleight-of-hand ended and magic kicked in, helped take their minds off matters at hand and the likely outcome.</p>
+        <p>Brand produced thin reed pipes which he put to his mouth and warbled a tune in time with Score's fiddling – <em>fuggling - </em> for he never dropped a ball the whole time – and Thin Doolan's drumming. </p>
+        <p>Score threw a red ball high into the air, and when Jack followed its progress, he saw the cages high above them. His heart skipped a beat.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen Redthorn stared down at him, her face pale in the smoke, both hands gripping the bars of the cage. He darted his eyes towards Fainn, then checked himself before he gave himself away and looked back at Score who played and juggled, but let his eyes wander all round, like a soldier working out his tactics.</p>
+        <p>"Don't look," Jack whispered to Kerry. "She's here."</p>
+        <p>He clasped Kerry's arm tight, making sure he didn't gawp. "They're watching us."</p>
+        <p>He turned away. The red ball reached the apex of its flight and fell slowly towards the flagstones. Just before it hit, Brand let out a piercing note on his pipes and the ball exploded in a fountain of glittering sparks, and Tig and Tag suddenly appeared before them, tumbling out of the smoking sparks, dressed one in red and the other in purple, joined back-to-back as if glued together. </p>
+        <p>They catapulted out from the sparking fountain in a blur of arms and legs, now up, now down, now on hand, now on foot, rippling around the great hall in rolling cartwheels and somersaults. They spun at the end of the hall and came whirling back, reached the far end of the table and then they were on its surface, tumbling past the astonished revellers, moving like a single nimble creature, never disturbing a plate or a goblet as they reached the centre and then spun around each other in faster and faster circles, sometimes joined, sometimes apart.</p>
+        <p>Jack thought that apart from the sight of Corrie Redthorn flying through the spume of the great waterfall on Temair, it was the most elegant thing he had ever seen.</p>
+        <p>Tig and Tag came rolling back down the table. Now they held each other's shoulders and formed one long single creature who arced to land feet first, feet first again until they flew from the end of the table, spinning together in the air.</p>
+        <p>Score threw another ball towards where they were about to land. Brand aimed his pipes and produced another shriek of sound.</p>
+        <p>Purple sparks cascaded and in the blink of an eye Tig and Tag vanished in a puff of pink smoke.</p>
+        <p>Even the big fierce men around the table were impressed. Dermott slammed his goblet on the table in applause. But Fainn hunched even lower, mouth turned down.</p>
+        <p>Natterjack approached the table, squat and ungainly. He lifted an apple from a bowl, held it up for all to see, turned his hand and the apple vanished. He did the same with a leg of mutton, inches away from the reveller who was just about to carve a slice from it, faster than most eyes could follow. But Jack, watching from behind Score Four-arm saw him perform a truly amazing feat. While distracting attention with his free hand, his wide mouth opened in an impossible gape and a long tongue flicked out, grabbed the ham and whipped it into the big mouth. Natterjack's bulging eyes blinked hard, seemed to disappear deep into their sockets, and the ham disappeared in a blur.</p>
+        <p>Score put his fiddle down and drew out a dozen sharp knives. Thin Doolan picked up a bowl of apples and threw them all into the air at once. Score's arms snaked out and the knives were all in the air, spinning among the falling apples and the astonished audience saw each piece of fruit sliced in half before they hit the ground.</p>
+        <p>Then Thin Doolan picked up a long knife one of the trencherman had used to carve his meat, and before anyone could stop him, he threw it straight for Score's head.</p>
+        <p>The juggler didn't miss a beat. The knife came whirling in at him and he plucked it from the air to join the others in the deadly dance around his head.</p>
+        <p>Brand clambered on his tub.</p>
+        <p>"My Lords," he crowed. "Many have tried and many have failed to deter Master Score from his performance. However, I am sure that one of you fine warriors is more skilful. Master Score welcomes you to do your best&#8230;or your worst."</p>
+        <p>Dermott laughed and slapped his hands on the table.</p>
+        <p>"Now there's a challenge, if I ever heard one." He pointed at a brawny man near the end. "You, Coglan. I've seen you beat the best. Let's show them!"</p>
+        <p>The man turned in his seat, drew out his blade and without seeming to move, shot it at the juggler.</p>
+        <p>Jack saw Score's eyes acknowledge the incoming blade. He changed his stance just a fraction and caught the knife by the handle, inches from his eye, and it joined the others in the air.</p>
+        <p>"Well caught, strangeling," Coglan bawled, nudged the man next to him in encouragement. He stood, hefted a short sword, swung his whole body into the throw.</p>
+        <p>Score turned aside, snatched the sword, spun on his heel and without pause threw it at the nearest wooden pillar where it hit point-first and dug itself deep into the timber.</p>
+        <p>Somebody roared approval and then the whole table of revellers were on their feet, each one determined to show his mettle. The blades came thick and fast and deadly, but each one Score caught effortlessly and with astonishing speed and accuracy, threw it to thud into the pillar.</p>
+        <p>In mere seconds, the timber was spiked with quivering blades thrumming like bass strings.</p>
+        <p>And in the meantime, Jack and Kerry, who were as impressed as anyone in the great hall, watched Thin Doolan and Natterjack weave their way around the guests while their attention was diverted. Thin Doolan seemed to suck in his breath and when he turned side on, he was barely visible, as if he'd been ironed flat. He divested the roisterers of purses, jewels and anything else and passed them to Natterjack who made them disappear in his own special way.</p>
+        <p>Tig and Tag came cartwheeling past Score and towards the pillar. For the first time they separated with an audible snap, tumbling around the post and then they spun upwards, using the spiked knives and swords as a ladder, weaving an intricate dance as they spiralled higher and higher together in perfect synchrony.</p>
+        <p>Brand nodded to Jack and Kerry. They had practised all day, with the help of Rune's boots, but still they were both nervous. There was too much at stake. Score winked encouragement.</p>
+        <p>"Come on Jack," Kerry said. "No business like showbusiness."</p>
+        <p>He skipped forward, crouched, then leapt up, higher than Score himself. The juggler caught him with two hands, spun him with the other two and Kerry landed lightly on the left pair of shoulders. Jack followed, letting the boots do the business, to land on the opposite side.</p>
+        <p>Jack risked a glance overhead. Corriwen's pale face was pressed against the bars of the cage, barely seen in the smoke up there, watching them in amazement.</p>
+        <p>"Now for real magic!" Brand leapt from his tub, dug into the bottomless bag and produced a long coil of rope. He tossed it into the air and when it was still rising, he produced his pipes again and began to play a fast tune.</p>
+        <p>The rope uncoiled as it rose, wavering in the air, snaking up and up until its top end disappeared into the pall of smoke up at the rafters.</p>
+        <p>Then it stopped. And it stayed. Brand's fingers danced on the pipes and the rope swayed like a snake, but remained upright.</p>
+        <p>"Sorcery!" a voice shouted from the table.</p>
+        <p>Brand kept playing and the rope kept swaying, its knotted end lost in the smoke.</p>
+        <p>"Now," Score said. He held his arms out on either side. Jack and Kerry stepped out, and Score took their weight on his hands. His muscles bunched, and then they were flying. Jack felt his stomach flip as if he had stepped into a fast elevator. Up and up he sailed, and the faces below seemed to shrink.</p>
+        <p>He caught the rope with both hands, feeling it twang as Kerry grabbed just below him, then began to climb, hand over hand, putting all his strength into it. He reached the top knot, maybe forty feet high where the light was dim.</p>
+        <p>"Wait for it," he told Kerry.</p>
+        <p>Down below, Score collected his multi-coloured juggling balls, tossed them around his head, then launched them up to where Jack and Kerry clung to the rope. Instantly Brand changed the tune on the pipes. The balls popped, loud as fireworks, scattering sparks all around and sending out a billow of blue smoke, completely concealing Jack and Kerry.</p>
+        <p>"Go for it!" Jack swung on the rope, letting his momentum carry him back first, then forward. When he got to within a yard of the top of the great pillar, he gritted his teeth and let go, trusting to the day's practice. It was a long, long way to fall. His fingers found the cross-beam and he clambered onto it. In a second, Kerry was behind him. Across the hall, they saw Tig and Tag reach the same height on the opposite pillar, clambering like squirrels up the ladder of blades. Both acrobats gave them a cheery wave and disappeared into the shadows.</p>
+        <p>Below them, Brand piped three shrill notes on the pipes. Jack saw the knotted end of the rope vanish as the line simply fell in a heap to the floor far below.</p>
+        <p>The men at the table applauded. Even Dermott was impressed.</p>
+        <p>"Clever. Clever indeed." He turned to Fainn who glowered thoughtfully beside the great cauldron.</p>
+        <p>"Almost as good as your Pictish magic, would you say?"</p>
+        <p>"Tricks and sleight of hand," Fainn growled. "Fairground games for farmers."</p>
+        <p>He rose to his feet and strode to the centre of the hall. He picked up the limp rope, testing it in his hand, then looked askance at Brand, who smiled innocently at him.</p>
+        <p>"Smoke and mirrors," he hissed. "Nothing more."</p>
+        <p>"As you say, my Lord," Brand replied, politely. "We are just a travelling band of entertainers and jugglers. Our japes are no magic."</p>
+        <p>Fainn seemed to shrink back into the shade of his hood. He raised his carved staff.</p>
+        <p>"But there is something here. I smell it."</p>
+        <p>"Enjoy the show, Spellbinder," Dermott bawled. "It's a day for feasting."</p>
+        <p>Fainn pretended not to hear. He sniffed at the air, eyes scanning left and right. Thin Doolan and Natterjack edged out from the crowd.</p>
+        <p>"I smell treachery," Fainn hissed. "It reeks like carrion."</p>
+        <p>He brought his staff down, pointed the carved snake-heads into Brand's face. "Mischief.</p>
+        <p>Mischief and ill-will."</p>
+        <p>He gestured with one thin hand and the staff came to sudden life. Brand took a step back as two snakes uncoiled from each other, tongues flickering, eyes gleaming with toxic ferocity.</p>
+        <p>From the crowded long-table, a collective gasp shuddered round the hall.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>High above, hidden by the coloured smoke, they could see Corriwen clearly. Jack put a finger to his lips, then he edged across the beam with Kerry close behind.</p>
+        <p>"Have you got it?"</p>
+        <p>"Sure I have."</p>
+        <p>"Then blow it up."</p>
+        <p>Jack continued, step by step until he was within two yards of the suspended cage. Behind him he could hear Kerry huffing and puffing. He closed his eyes, took a slow breath as he counted to three, and then made the leap across space and caught the bars.</p>
+        <p>"Hey Corriwen," he managed to say, more out of relief than anything else. "Fancy meeting you here!"</p>
+        <p>"I waited for you," she snapped back. "And you never came."</p>
+        <p>For a second Jack was completely taken aback. Then her face broke into the widest, happiest smile he had ever seen and she grabbed him through the bars and held him so tightly his eyes watered. It wasn't just the embrace that brought the tears.</p>
+        <p>"But I always knew you would, Jack Flint."</p>
+        <p>"Shhhh! We have to get you out of here." Still clinging to the bars with one hand, he drew out a metal hook Brand had given him, slipped it into the latch and opened the gate.</p>
+        <p>"Now we have to swing this a bit. Get us closer to the beam."</p>
+        <p>Kerry gestured urgently at them. "Come on!" In one hand he held a life-sized dummy, complete with a mop of red hair, that Natterjack had sewn together from sheep bladders. Kerry's face was still red from the effort of inflating it. He threw it across and Jack stashed it in the cage. From down below, no-one would tell the difference.</p>
+        <p>Together he and Corriwen used their weight to swing the cage until they were close enough for her to leap out. Kerry caught her with both hands and held her tight.</p>
+        <p>"Missed you like crazy, so we did," he said. "We've been hunting all over."</p>
+        <p>Jack landed beside them. "Break it up, you two. We have to get moving."</p>
+        <p>"What about Connor?"</p>
+        <p>"Who's Connor?"</p>
+        <p>Corriwen pointed at the next cage. A ragged boy was up at the bars watching everything. They could see his twisted leg.</p>
+        <p>"He's a friend of mine. We travelled together."</p>
+        <p>"He'll slow us down," Kerry said. "We came for <em>you</em>."</p>
+        <p>"I said he is a friend." </p>
+        <p>Kerry looked the boy up and down. "Doesn't look like much to me."</p>
+        <p>"We fought together," Corriwen retorted. "He tried to save me."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked at Kerry. This hadn't been part of the plan, and speed was of the essence.</p>
+        <p>"We don't need extra baggage," Kerry insisted. </p>
+        <p>"Don't be an ass," Jack hissed. "Let him come."</p>
+        <p>"Dermott will hunt him and kill him," Corriwen said very quietly. "He goes or I stay. It is my honour. He is a friend."</p>
+        <p>"Okay," Kerry said. "I never knew he was a friend. I take it all back. Let's get him out."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen smiled and kissed him hard on the cheek. Kerry's ears went bright red. </p>
+        <p>Jack turned on the beam, leapt the gap and landed on the side of the cage. He pressed against the bars.</p>
+        <p>"You'll be Connor."</p>
+        <p>"I'll be the late Connor by tomorrow." </p>
+        <p>"So let's make today count." He looked at the twisted leg. "Can you jump."</p>
+        <p>"Watch me," Connor said. "To get out of this, I'll fly like a bird."</p>
+        <p>"First, we need another decoy." Jack said. He tugged at the boy's tattered cape. "You don't need this."</p>
+        <p>"Whatever you say," he replied. "It's only a few holes joined together."</p>
+        <p>He unclipped a circular brooch-pin and let the cape fall in a heap. From down there it might just be convincing enough to give them time </p>
+        <p>Together they swung the cage close enough. Jack held him by the arm and made the leap effortlessly. Connor's one good foot reached the beam, but his crippled leg caught the edge and he began to fall backwards, arms pinwheeling for balance.</p>
+        <p>Kerry leapt forward and snatched him by the front of his tattered tunic and held him firm. He drew him back upright until they stood together on the high beam.</p>
+        <p>"Beholden to you," the boy said. He glanced down. "I'd have been Connor stew for sure."</p>
+        <p>"More like hamburger," Kerry said. "Raw."</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said. "Let's get out of here before the smoke clears."</p>
+        <p>It took them twenty seconds, hand in hand, across the narrow beam, to reach the port where it dug into the wall. There was enough space to crawl through under the eaves and onto the slate roof.</p>
+        <p>"Fresh air," Connor took a big breath. "I feel like a smoked ham."</p>
+        <p>"You smell like one too," Kerry said. </p>
+        <p>They scrambled down the roof and made their way to a small tower with a narrow window. Inside, Jack closed his eyes, trying to remember the layout Brand had described to him, then led them together up a narrow winding staircase.</p>
+        <p>Two doors faced them, left and right.</p>
+        <p>"Which one?" Kerry whispered. Jack still clung to Corriwen's hand, as if he was scared to let her go again. Inside he was so relieved at finding her again, yet he was also very apprehensive in case they were caught before they made it out of this place.</p>
+        <p><em>Think!</em> He told himself. But in the excitement of the past few minutes, he couldn't remember.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, just try one of them," Kerry insisted. He reached beyond Jack, snatched the handle and opened the door.</p>
+        <p>A table stretched in front of them, old and knotted, and intricately carved with mountains and roads and rivers in stark relief. Beyond it, a pit of fire belched oily smoke that completely obscured the ceiling the way Brand's diversion had hidden them in the great hall.</p>
+        <p>"That's Eirinn," Connor said. "It's the whole land, carved into wood."</p>
+        <p>"I don't like this place," Kerry said. He sniffed the air. "It's like that place we were in. the Black Barrow. It smells really bad."</p>
+        <p>The heartstone hammered against Jack's skin.</p>
+        <p>Jack pulled Corriwen's hand and they turned back. Kerry closed the door, glad to be out of there. The other door led upwards until they found themselves in a dark passageway. Jack closed his eyes, found his sense of direction, and urged them on.</p>
+        <p>They had just reached the end of the passageway when the ragged boy held up a hand.</p>
+        <p>"Someone's coming!"</p>
+        <p>Jack had heard nothing. But Connor's face was pale in the gloom, and Jack could tell by his tone that they were in trouble. He quickly turned back and they followed him at a run, until they came to an opening they had passed, ducked inside, and found themselves in complete darkness.</p>
+        <p>"It's Fainn," Connor whispered. "I know his step."</p>
+        <p>They held their breath, still as mice. The heartstone thudded hard and strong. Jack clamped a hand over it and felt it pulse in his grasp. Now he heard someone approaching.</p>
+        <p>Someone paused at the opening. They heard a snuffle, like a hound on the scent before then the footsteps resumed and slowly faded. Jack stepped out into the passage, drawing Corriwen after him.</p>
+        <p>Something lunged at him. He leapt so fast that Corriwen was dragged with him and they they landed in a sprawl.</p>
+        <p>"Snake!"</p>
+        <p>Connor darted forward, snatched it by the tail and spun it around his neck, then suddenly slashed his hand down. There was a faint crack and the snake's head snapped clean off. It slammed against the wall in a splatter of venom.</p>
+        <p>"Got to be fast for snakes," he muttered. Kerry was behind him, still in the dark. Something else slithered against his foot and he stumbled, barging against Connor. He felt a stab of faint pain in his ankle, and then his whole leg went numb. A sinuous shape slithered off into the shadows. Connor caught Kerry under the armpit as he lurched.</p>
+        <p>Together they hobbled after Jack and Corriwen, Connor on his good leg helping Kerry along.</p>
+        <p>"Did it get you?"</p>
+        <p>"Don't know. I might have just pulled a muscle," Kerry said through clenched teeth. </p>
+        <p>Along the passage a door slammed and a man's voice roared a curse.</p>
+        <p>"Big trouble," Connor gasped. "Time to hurry."</p>
+        <p>Jack and Corrie reached the far end of the passage and now he had his bearings. It opened onto a balcony that led round a battlemented wall, and there was no guard here. High above them the wolf-head flag whipped in the wind. Ahead was the outer wall. All they had to do was cat-walk across a narrow buttress that joined the inner and outer walls, keeping close to the stone, and staying low.</p>
+        <p>A fast movement close on their left made Jack's heart leap and he shrank back until he saw Tig and Tag somersault over the battlements. Brand's bottomless bag was strapped to Tag's back. They landed silently beside the four fugitives.</p>
+        <p>"Ready?"</p>
+        <p>"I think so," Jack said. He turned to Kerry. His face was ashen and screwed in a grimace of pain.</p>
+        <p>"Are you okay?"</p>
+        <p>"Hurts," Kerry groaned. "Burning&#8230;" His knee began to buckle. Sweat trickled down his forehead. Connor caught him before he fell.</p>
+        <p>"He's been bitten," he said. "I'm sure of it."</p>
+        <p>"Help him to the wall," Jack said, thinking quickly. "I'll be back soon. If we're running, get him out fast."</p>
+        <p>He beckoned to Corrie. "I need your help. Kerry can't do this."</p>
+        <p>Despite her puzzled look, she nodded and they followed the twins back through the window and up the spiral stairs to the top of the tower. The metal tool that Brand had made was just as efficient here and Jack opened the door in a minute.</p>
+        <p>The harp stood on a pedestal. Even though the shutters were bolted, its gold surface gleamed with a light of its own. It was beautiful, perfectly wrought in every way except one.</p>
+        <p>All its strings had been slashed.</p>
+        <p>Jack took its weight and for an instant the heartstone let out a clear, single note. Even with its strings cut, he could feel the latent power of the golden harp in his hands.</p>
+        <p>"Be swift, Jackflint," Tig urged. Tag opened Brand's bag wide and he lowered it inside. She snapped it shut and handed it to him. It weighed next to nothing, as if it was as empty as before. They moved to the doorway and stopped. Below them, another cry echoed up. Someone was coming.</p>
+        <p>"The window!" Corriwen eased the bolt back and daylight flooded in.</p>
+        <p>"It's a long way down," she began to say, but Tig was already over the sill, Tag close behind. </p>
+        <p>"Climb on us," Tag said as she dropped. Corriwen clambered out and saw the twins had formed a human ladder. Jack lowered himself until he swung below them and Corriwen climbed down all three until her feet reached a ledge. Above them, a head loomed through the vent and a man cursed. Corriwen edged on the ledge to the next vent, pushed it open and climbed inside.</p>
+        <p>A bulky figure came clattering down the stairs. Instinctively Corriwen crouched as the man rushed round the corner. Not expecting to find anything in his way, he tripped over her, tumbled ten feet and hit the wall with a crunch and lay still.</p>
+        <p>They raced past him and onto the roof, while angry cries echoed from the walls. Connor was huddled out of sight, holding Kerry tight. </p>
+        <p>Jack leaned over the battlements. The chasm below shadowed and sheer as it dropped to jagged rocks. </p>
+        <p>Tig produced a rope, tied one end to a pennant-post and hurled the other over the wall. Thin Doolan, on the far side of the chasm, caught the end and fixed it to a wagon-wheel.</p>
+        <p>Tig bowed. Tag did the same. Then in sinuous display of acrobatics, they went swinging down the rope.</p>
+        <p>"It's a long way down," Connor said. "And I'm not half so nimble."</p>
+        <p>Jack used the leather cuff Brand had given him, tied it firmly around Kerry's limp wrists and they sent him sliding down the rope. Corriwen followed, then Connor. Jack closed his eyes, banishing the image of fearsome rocks below as he zoomed earthwards over the chasm to land with a thump. Then they were running for the wagons.</p>
+        <p>On the battlements, men were shouting orders. Brand skipped across the drawbridge, hat in hand, but there was no sign of Score Four-arm. As soon as Brand's feet were on solid ground, the drawbridge creaked and the ropes strained as it lifted up and began to swing closed.</p>
+        <p>"Open the gate!" Dermott's voice ripped the air. "Open the gate, damn your eyes."</p>
+        <p>Then Score came scrambling over the battlement and clambered down the wall, head first, all arms and legs. </p>
+        <p>Close to the moat, Jack saw Natterjack draw deep breaths, and as he did, his squat body expanded so fast that in seconds he resembled a warty beach ball.</p>
+        <p>Score launched himself from half-way down the wall, right across the chasm, and hit Natterjack so hard the squat fellow bounced. All the air came out in a rush and he shrank back to his previous size.</p>
+        <p>Score helped him to his feet, as a volley of arrows came arcing over the top wall.</p>
+        <p>"Obliged for a soft landing, friend," Score said. He heaved Natterjack along behind him, leapt on to the buckboard, and they were off and out of range in moments.</p>
+        <p>"I jammed the gate," he told Jack. "It'll hold them for a while, but not for long. Just now they'll be trying to pull their swords from the pillar, and that won't be an easy task, for I dug them deep. But they'll be after us soon enough."</p>
+        <p>"These ponies don't have the speed," Corriwen said.</p>
+        <p>"Aye, maybe. But we liberated a couple of Dermott's mounts." </p>
+        <p>He jerked his thumb behind him and they all turned to see two huge black horses hitched to the back of the wagon.</p>
+        <p>"Just in case we need a bit of speed," Score said. "You can't get better than Dermott's stable."</p>
+        <p>Behind them Wolfen Castle was in uproar.</p>
+        <p>Ahead of them lay the open road.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen put her arms around Kerry and helped him to his feet.</p>
+        <p>"Together again at last," she said. "I've waited so long for this."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 19</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>19</h1><p>"Get that damned-forever drawbridge <em>down</em>!"</p>
+        <p>Dermott's roar could be heard from two miles up the winding road from Wolfen Castle.</p>
+        <p>His rage was cataclysmic. The fur on his collar bristled like hackles as he stormed back and forth before the heavy gate, lashing his long black whip so that it sang in the air and cracked like hammer-blows. Above him a gang of men were working on the winder-ropes.</p>
+        <p>"They've all been cut, my Lord," one called down. "And the wheel's been broken."</p>
+        <p>"Saddle the horses," Dermott ordered. "Muster every man."</p>
+        <p>Another man came running round from the stables and stopped ten feet from Dermott. He didn't want to get within striking distance, not while bringing more bad news.</p>
+        <p>"It's the horses, lord," he said, breathless. "There's two of them stolen."</p>
+        <p>"We'll get them back, don't worry on that score. Those reivers will pay me with interest. I'll tear them to pieces. I'll gouge their eyes. I'll crush their very bones."</p>
+        <p>The man backed away in alarm.</p>
+        <p>"It's the other horses," he said quickly. "They're all lying down in the stalls. Asleep. They must have been given a motion."</p>
+        <p>"A potion? My horses? They poisoned <em>my</em> horses?"</p>
+        <p>Dermott let out a great snarling bellow. His sword was suddenly in his hand, a huge double edged blade. He swung it about him, spinning on both feet, needing to hurt somebody, cut something."</p>
+        <p>The man dodged back. Dermott was blind with fury. The sword barely missed the man and he heard it sing as it lanced past his ear and clove a wooden mounting block in two. The man turned to run, but Dermott's whip lashed him round the legs and he sprawled flat. Dermott have an incoherent roar and sliced the unfortunate messenger's head from his neck with one vicious blow.</p>
+        <p>Fainn had discovered the theft. And he had found the headless snake in the passageway.</p>
+        <p>His rage was as searing as the heat from the smoking pit. </p>
+        <p>"Thrice," he cursed. "Three times defied!"</p>
+        <p>He stood in his dungeon room, quivering with such intensity he looked as if he had a fever. His face had gone pale and the tattoos stood out stark on his skin.</p>
+        <p>He picked up the headless snake and laid it on the long table where he had cast his dark spells over Eirinn. The second snake coiled up his arm, flicking a black tongue. The scent of its venom was sharp on the air.</p>
+        <p>"Gone," Fainn hissed. "Stolen! Thieves and vagabonds. Oh, such a curse I will weave on them. They will wish they had never drawn breath."</p>
+        <p>He picked up the torn head and pressed it hard against the end of the cold coils, muttering in his strange language all the time until the snake quivered. The bloody ends seemed to knit together as he chanted. Leaving only a thin seam that melded the two halves together became whole again. Glassy eyes stared brightly and its tongue wavered in the air. Its twin spiralled around it, head to head, and then both went suddenly rigid. Fainn had his staff back again.</p>
+        <p>He held it out over the map of Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>"Thunder and hail, ice and rain," he chanted. "Strip every blade and leaf. Storm and gale, curse and bane, find for me the thief." </p>
+        <p>His long thin hands spread out across the long carved map. Far out beyond the castle walls, the clouds suddenly darkened and lightning flickered in a roiling sky.</p>
+        <p>Fainn spun on a heel and swept from the room towards the great hall where Dermott was still roistering with his men, a dark bearer of darker news. There would be no more roistering tonight, nor in the morning. </p>
+        <p>His long legs carried him along the passage wondering just how to tell Dermott the Wolf that the thing he coveted the most in all this world had been stolen by a band of freaks and strangelings.</p>
+        <p>And he had to tell him the red-haired fighting woman was gone.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They were five miles from Wolfen Castle, on the edge of the dark forest that crowded the valley. Far behind them they could still make out the squat shape of the great keep, but still there was no sign of pursuit.</p>
+        <p>Brand drew up the wagons and stepped down from the buckboard.</p>
+        <p>"A fine show," he said blithely. "Maybe they will invite us back for the coronation."</p>
+        <p>Score laughed. "If we ever go back in there, then we'll never come out again."</p>
+        <p>"Perhaps not. Dermott and his spellbinder will sleep none tonight, for all their drinking."</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry stood shoulder to shoulder with Corriwen and the raggedy boy.</p>
+        <p>Jack looked ahead of them to where the road disappeared into the trees.</p>
+        <p>"Shouldn't we get a move on?"</p>
+        <p>Brand shrugged. "No hurry Jack. You and Kerry here put on a good act, and if things were different, maybe I'd apprentice you both and make real troupers of you."</p>
+        <p>"No hurry? Once they get that bridge down, they'll be after us like an avalanche."</p>
+        <p>"Well, whatever an avalanche is, that won't be happening tonight, to be sure. Didn't Thin Doolan feed the horses a bag of oats? Special oats they were. By now every one of them will be down and out, and they won't wake up until dawn."</p>
+        <p>"It was a big risk to take, just for a few pieces of jewellery," Jack said. "If you'd have been caught&#8230;"</p>
+        <p>"Ah, now isn't the fun in the risk? And anyhow, didn't you just save the young lady and this poor young feller from a death worse than fate?"</p>
+        <p>Corriwen smiled. Her face was smudged and she seemed thinner than Jack remembered, but the smile was the same. It lit up the day.</p>
+        <p>"I knew they would come for me. I just didn't expect them to put on such a show."</p>
+        <p>"I still think we should put some distance between us and that big guy," Jack said. "He's going to be awfully mad."</p>
+        <p>"Mad before and mad now. Makes no difference. Anyhow, you remember the way we came, on the <em>by-way.</em> That's the way we go back, but not at night. The low road hides many secrets in the dark, and not any that I'd like to meet."</p>
+        <p>He reached up and clapped Jack on the shoulder. "Settle down and take some rest. They'll still be trying to pull their swords from where Score stuck them. And none of them's going to come on foot. I'd say in all it was a job well done."</p>
+        <p>Brand climbed back inside the wagon and came back again with his mysterious bag.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, Thin Doolan and Natterjack found some of your property amongst the baubles they lifted. He reached in and drew out Corriwen's knife-belt where her two blades sat side by side in their matching sheaths, then hefted the sword that Connor had picked up.</p>
+        <p>"You'll be needing these, take my word for it. There's a long road to travel before any of us see the dawn."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen looked at Jack, wondering what the little man meant, but Jack shrugged. He didn't know either. She drew Jack and Kerry close to her again, still hardly able to comprehend that she was free and that they had managed to get her out of the cage and out of the castle.</p>
+        <p>"My heroes both," she said, hugging them tight again. "We both have tales to tell."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Thunder woke Jack well before dawn, woke him with such a start he was sitting up before he even knew it. The crash was so loud it crackled in his ears and the lightning sent purple after-images dancing behind his eyelids.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen was already awake, hunched down beside a tree, eyes reflecting the embers.</p>
+        <p>"Not a good sign," she said. "It reminds me of Mandrake's work."</p>
+        <p>"That Fainn, I think he's every bit as bad as Mandrake was." Jack shivered, remembering the cold, poisonous stare of the tall cloaked figure. "But more powerful, I think. I felt it when he looked at me."</p>
+        <p>They had spent the early night close together round the fire, catching up, swapping tales of the adventures they'd had since they'd stumbled through the stone gate and into this world. Kerry fell asleep in the heat of the campfire and Connor soon dozed off, leaving Jack and Corriwen together.</p>
+        <p>"I thought I'd lost you," he told her. "You could have been anywhere. Then Kerry found your tracks, where you'd fallen and we came after you. We knew where, but we didn't know <em>when.</em>"</p>
+        <p>"She hit me hard, that foul creature. Rattled my teeth and all my bones."</p>
+        <p>"And she got Kerry a couple of swipes, but he got the heartstone key to me. Slung it while she was chasing him. He was amazing."</p>
+        <p>"It all seems like a bad dream," she whispered.</p>
+        <p>"And this one's the same, but it's looking up now we're back together."</p>
+        <p>"I thought I'd lost you in the brimstone. I don't know how you lived."</p>
+        <p>Jack closed his eyes, but the memory of his plunge into the molten rock had been scoured away, just like the red-hand on the skin of his chest.</p>
+        <p>"All I know is I felt the power of the heartstone all through me. Like I'd grabbed a high tension wire."</p>
+        <p>She looked at him, puzzled, and he smiled.</p>
+        <p>"I'll try to explain that another time," he said.</p>
+        <p>Connor was snoring lightly, but Kerry was curled into a tight ball, not moving. Jack felt his own eyes begin to close.</p>
+        <p>"In the morning, we'll go with Brand and the gang and then try for the Homeward Gate. The book will tell us how."</p>
+        <p>Before he knew it he was asleep and he didn't wake up until the great peal of thunder that shook the earth.</p>
+        <p>"Time to move," he said. The thunderhead was moving up the valley from Wolfen Castle, spitting lightning as it came. Down there, a stand of trees bent under its power and over the roaring of the wind, they could hear trunks split and crack.</p>
+        <p>"That doesn't look natural to me."</p>
+        <p>"Fainn sends a storm," Corriwen said, gathering her meagre pack together. Jack slung his own pack over his shoulder and grabbed his amberhorn bow. The storm was coming fast.</p>
+        <p>Score and Brand were already busy with the troupe. Ahead of them, where the forest trees crowded together at the narrow valley neck, the dawn mist was like a wall, thick and white. It swallowed the narrow road in the space of a couple of paces.</p>
+        <p>"Somebody's woken angry," Brand said. Connor snapped awake in mid-snore and looked about him, still dopy from sleep. </p>
+        <p>"Rise and sparkle," Brand ordered, nudging him with a foot. "The By-way won't wait for sleepyheads."</p>
+        <p>Already the first of the wagons was rolling towards the mist.</p>
+        <p>"And where's your partner?" Brand wanted to know.</p>
+        <p>For a second Jack thought he meant Corriwen. But when he turned towards her, his eye saw the flattened grass where Kerry had curled next to the fire. He spun around. Kerry's sword was still dug into a dead log, close to where he'd slept. But of Kerry himself, there was no sign.</p>
+        <p>"Where's he gone?"</p>
+        <p>"A call of nature, maybe?" Brand suggested. "He'd better be quick."</p>
+        <p>Connor rolled over and put a hand on the slight hollow.</p>
+        <p>"Must have been really bursting a bladder," he said. "For this patch is cold. Hasn't been slept in for hours."</p>
+        <p>"You better find him, young friends. Once we're in the mist, there's no turning back, and the time to move is now."</p>
+        <p>Jack pushed out beyond the edge of the road where the trees overshadowed the path. Behind him, the storm was stoking up. Another crack of thunder shivered the valley. Lightning stabbed down and blasted a sapling to smoke and cinders. Corriwen touched Jack's sleeve.</p>
+        <p>"He can't have gone far."</p>
+        <p>"He'd better not have," Jack snorted, impatient to be as far away from Dermott's anger as they could get. He cupped his hands to his mouth and called out Kerry's name. The gathering wind snatched the words away.</p>
+        <p>"He was cold last night," Connor said. "He told me he couldn't get warm."</p>
+        <p>"Let's just spread out and find him. He'll probably still be asleep."</p>
+        <p>They split up and moved into the trees and in seconds they were hidden from the road. Jack called Kerry's name again. Somewhere to the left, Connor was beating down thick ferns. He heard Corriwen call for Kerry, but there was no response.</p>
+        <p>Jack pushed on, deeper, agitated now and getting more annoyed at Kerry for being so stupid as to leave the camp without a word, but then he remembered the sword, dug point-first into a log. Kerry had gripped it like a talisman since he found it on the slaughterfield on the day they'd fallen into Temair. Jack couldn't think of anything that would make him leave it. </p>
+        <p>He made his way down a slope towards a deep tarn when he heard Corriwen's voice somewhere on the right.</p>
+        <p>"Jack! I found him. Over here."</p>
+        <p>There was something in her voice that told Jack something was wrong. He and Connor barged through the ferns until they reached her. Jack stopped dead.</p>
+        <p>Kerry was curled up on the ground, his eyes wide open and staring blindly. His whole body shivered as if he was freezing.</p>
+        <p>"He's sick," Corriwen said. "A fever."</p>
+        <p>Jack touched Kerry's brow, but his skin was cold and dry, not even clammy. Kerry let out a long hiss of breath and seemed to rouse, very slowly.</p>
+        <p>"I think he got bit," Connor said. "In the castle, when I killed the snake."</p>
+        <p>"We'd have seen it before now," Jack said. "Snake bite works fast. I've seen it on television."</p>
+        <p>He took a hold of Kerry's cold hand and heaved him to his feet. Kerry moved, as if he was walking in cold water, every action slowed down.</p>
+        <p>"Come on man," Jack urged him. "Brand says we have to hurry."</p>
+        <p>Kerry looked at him blankly, as if it took a while for Jack's words to register, and rather than wait for a response, Jack put an arm round his shoulders, feeling the tremor run through his whole body, and led him back to the edge of the trees where the two horses Natterjack had stolen from the stables were hitched to a sapling.</p>
+        <p>The while mist still crowded the lip of the valley, maybe half a mile away uphill. Downslope, where the road meandered towards the dark castle, the big drawbridge slowly cranked down and as soon as it hit the blocks, a whole cavalcade came charging out in an explosion of horses and harsh cries.</p>
+        <p>Jack gauged the distance. They could be here in fifteen minutes, not much more. He glanced back to where the edge of the mist showed faint shapes of trees in its veils and his heart leapt into his throat.</p>
+        <p>The last of Brand's wagons was slowly trundling towards it. He could barely make out Score Four-arm on the buckboard.</p>
+        <p>Brand had told them he couldn't wait.</p>
+        <p>Score's wagon slowly entered the white mist and disappeared from view as if heavy curtains had closed behind it.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack cried. "We can make it if we hurry."</p>
+        <p>He hustled Kerry across to the horses and they all helped get him into the saddle.</p>
+        <p>Down the hill, the thunder of hooves got much louder. They could hear the clash of shields and armour. The way in to the strange <em>By-</em>way was still half a mile distant. Corriwen leapt astride one horse and Connor clambered behind her. Jack sat behind Kerry who swayed in the saddle, took the rains and dug in his heels. The horse took off and they all raced for the mist.</p>
+        <p>Behind them, Dermott roared. It echoed from hill to hill. Above them the storm wheeled and the lightning hissed and sparked. It was as if the whole of this world was snarling at them.</p>
+        <p>Jack urged the horse uphill, almost pleading with it to run faster. Corriwen kept pace. She glanced back then called to Jack.</p>
+        <p>"We'll make it and time to spare."</p>
+        <p>"I really hope so."</p>
+        <p>Side by side they galloped along the hard track. The wind wheeled and blew in their faces, slowing them just a fraction. Lightning stabbed down and shattered a small tree only yards away and Jack's horse reared in fright, but he managed to keep both of them on its back, while smoking splinters whizzed about their heads.</p>
+        <p>"Faster," Jack yelled. The horses were going full out, manes whipped back. A quarter of a mile, a furlong. A hundred yards. Dermott and his men were still a good way behind. Jack felt his heart leap in hope.</p>
+        <p>They raced straight for the lip of the valley and the concealing mist. He urged the horse onwards.</p>
+        <p>But even as the hope soared inside Jack, a clench of dismay smothered it flat.</p>
+        <p>For the fog-wall, where Score's wagon had vanished, seemed further away. He fixed his eye on the place where the mist crossed the road, clenching the reins in both hands.</p>
+        <p>The edge of the fog-bank drew back. A yard, two. Then ten.</p>
+        <p>It was as if the mist was rolling away from them as they approached, rolling away faster than they could ride.</p>
+        <p>"Do you see what I see?" Corriwen cried.</p>
+        <p>"It's going. Brand said there was only one chance."</p>
+        <p>The horses gasped for breath, but held steady. The mist did not. It seemed to be sucked into the valley, diminishing with distance every second. It receded from them, rolling away faster than the horses could gallop.</p>
+        <p>They could see the edge of the trees as the fog scraped back beneath the trunks leaving them dark and distinct.</p>
+        <p>Then in a sudden whoosh, the mist was sucked away into the depths of the forest, leaving them exposed on the open road. Brand and his troupe had gone through the <em>By-</em>way.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Corriwen had missed their chance.</p>
+        <p>The By-way was gone.</p>
+        <p>Dermott's cavalcade was closing fast behind them.</p>
+        <p>"We're too late," Jack almost sobbed with frustration. "They've gone."</p>
+        <p>The narrow road disappeared into the dark of the forest.</p>
+        <p>For the fugitives, there was nothing for it but to follow the road and flee for their very lives.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 20</title>
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+        <h1>20</h1><p>In Wolfen Castle, Fainn sat hunched beside the pit in the floor where deep fires glowed. His eyes were closed, but he could see them now, four of them on two stolen horses.</p>
+        <p>The vision was blurred, as if seen through a dark veil, but he smiled to himself, a grating little chuckle that held no warmth or any humour. It was the kind of laugh that would send shivers down a man's back, had they heard it, though there was no-one to hear, not here in Fainn's low domain.</p>
+        <p>Now he could see them, and they could never escape.</p>
+        <p>He crouched there like a long spider, feeling the baleful heat that swelled from the underground pit, breathed in the acrid smoke that formed layer on layer near the arch of the ceiling. He clenched tight the snake-stave that was now mended.</p>
+        <p>There was something else about the fugitives that he didn't quite know, something very important and very powerful. He had felt it, sensed it.</p>
+        <p>He didn't know what it was. But that would change.</p>
+        <p>He would find out as sure as day follows night.</p>
+        <p>He opened his eyes and spread the fingers of one hand over the heat of the pit and chanted words that no-one else in Eirinn could understand.</p>
+        <p>At the edge of the valley where the mist had drawn back, lightning cracked down from a black sky.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They stopped, exhausted. Kerry swayed in the saddle as if still half asleep. The horses stood, heads down, steaming with sweat and panting for breath.</p>
+        <p>They were in the trees now, and the sounds of pursuit had faded.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen had seen the trackway that led off the main road and had wheeled her mount, almost pitching Connor off the horse. Without a pause, he jumped down, sword in hand and in two swipes, felled two bushy saplings and as soon as Jack's horse passed, he shoved the cut ends deep into the ground, effectively hiding the path from the main road.</p>
+        <p>"Once a poacher&#8230;" He grinned brightly as he climbed back on. In seconds they were in deep cover. Corriwen stopped at a small dell and they waited in total silence as the pursuit approached, holding their breaths as the cavalcade clattered past on the main road without slowing, and faded into the distance.</p>
+        <p>"They'll soon work it out," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"But it'll take them more time to work out where we turned off," Connor said. "They might be big hard men, but I know woods. They won't catch me again, I can tell you."</p>
+        <p>When the sound of horses had disappeared completely, they followed the track deeper into the forest. Kerry still hadn't said a word, but he still shivered. Finally Corriwen led them off the trail and they kept going through the trackless trees for hours before risking a stop by a stream. Corriwen dug a hole in the bank and gathered enough wood for a fire, using the overhang to hide the smoke.</p>
+        <p>Jack led Kerry close to the heat. He walked as if he was half asleep, and allowed himself to be sat down on a log.</p>
+        <p>"He's cold," Jack said. </p>
+        <p>"I think that snake got him," Connor said again. "He faltered, but then he recovered. Said he was fine."</p>
+        <p>He dragged fingers through his tangle of tawny hair and removed some burrs that had caught.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen put both arms round Kerry, offering him her own body heat, feeling the faint tremor of his shivers, while Jack fretted. After ten minutes or so, Kerry blinked and seemed to come awake. He looked around him, bewildered.</p>
+        <p>"Where are we?" His voice was faint, barely a breath.</p>
+        <p>Jack was beside them in an instant. He touched Kerry's cheek, where the fire had warmed it. The cold had dissipated a little. </p>
+        <p>"We had to run," he said. "You were sick."</p>
+        <p>"I'm starving," Kerry said. He yawned widely. "Anything to eat?"</p>
+        <p>Jack almost laughed, and then he almost drew back a fist to knock Kerry's head from his shoulders. They'd have been safe and gone if he hadn't disappeared. His anger subsided as quickly as it flared. Hadn't Kerry looked after him when he was poisoned by that dark touch between the standing stones of Temair?</p>
+        <p>"We have to take a look at you," he said. "Connor here thinks you might have been bitten."</p>
+        <p>Kerry still seemed to be in a daze, like a sleeper who has not come fully awake. He allowed Jack to roll up the leggings Rune the Cluricaun had made them. Jack felt a shiver run through him when he saw the twin bite-marks on Kerry's pale skin. </p>
+        <p>"That don't look too good," Connor said, crowding in close. All around the puncture wounds, Kerry's skin was turning blotched black, and the bites themselves were weeping. Jack touched the spot. Kerry didn't even react. The whole area seemed nerveless.</p>
+        <p>"What cures snake-bite?"</p>
+        <p>Corriwen didn't know. Neither did Connor. Jack had read something about serums, back home in the real world, but he also knew you had to be sure which kind of snake had done the biting, and he knew there would be no serum for a snake that had been magicked from a wooden stave by somebody like Fainn.</p>
+        <p>"I could tie it off," he said, "But then he'll get gangrene or something."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen drew a knife. "I could heat the blade and burn it."</p>
+        <p>Jack stayed her hand. "If we have to. But I don't want him to lose a leg. First we'll try a poultice. See if we can draw the poison."</p>
+        <p>Kerry still seemed to be half-dreaming and made no objection while Jack pasted some of Rune's cure-all mixture and bound the wound with a wad of burdock leaves held with a scrap of leather. They eased him over to a nearby oak and sat him down to rest, hoping the poultice would have some effect.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Far away in the bowels of Wolfen Castle, Fainn the Pict had not moved from his seat beside the fire-pit. He stared down into the red heat and finally a picture began to form.</p>
+        <p>He saw them faintly, by the light of a fire. They were beside a river, three of them around the embers. Two horses were hobbled some way off. A waterfall sprayed a white line from a narrow cleft a short distance upstream.</p>
+        <p>Dermott had scoured the road, up and down for twenty miles, and it was clear they had cut off the track and into the forest.</p>
+        <p>Silently Fainn rose from the edge of the pit and crossed to the great table and the relief map of Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>He could still see them, again as if through a veil, but it was enough for him.</p>
+        <p>He bent over the map, following the road where it meandered into the valley and through the dark forest that stretched to the edge of Dermott's landhold to the mountains in the north.</p>
+        <p>A long finger traced the road, then moved off to the left, to the north until he found the river. He followed its course in its twists and turns until he reached the narrow waterfall.</p>
+        <p>A slow smile grew on his face.</p>
+        <p>He stalked out to find a fast messenger.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>"What's that?" Corriwen asked. She had led the horses under the tree where they could graze on its leaves. </p>
+        <p>The brown bag was hitched to a saddle-horn, and Jack recognised it immediately.</p>
+        <p>"It's Brand's bag," he said. "He must have forgotten it."</p>
+        <p>Yet even as he spoke, he knew that couldn't be true. It was the bag Score Fourarm had stuffed them into on the first day they'd met. And the bag Natterjack and Thin Doolan had used to hide their well-gotten gains in the castle. The last Jack had seen it was when Tig and Tag had come scrambling down from the tower.</p>
+        <p>There was no way Brand would accidentally forget it. He had left the horses for them when he knew he could wait no longer. Jack unhitched the bag and opened it. Immediately the scent of smoked bacon made his mouth water. He reached inside and drew out a whole ham. </p>
+        <p>Connor's eyes opened so wide they could have popped out.</p>
+        <p>"Witchery is what this is," he said. "But I don't care. I could eat a scabby horse, hoofs an' all."</p>
+        <p>Jack opened the bag further and peered inside. It was dark and looked as deep as outer space, but he reached inside again and his hand found something cold and smooth. It was heavy too, but he managed to get a grip on it and slowly drew it out.</p>
+        <p>This time Corriwen audibly gasped.</p>
+        <p>The harp in Jack's hand sparkled. Even in the firelight he could see the sheen of pure rich gold on its intricately carved arch. It was maybe a yard high and wrought with such wonderful craftsmanship that it simply glowed as if lit from within.</p>
+        <p>"It's beautiful," Corriwen said.</p>
+        <p>"But it's broken," Jack said. "All the strings have been cut."</p>
+        <p>The strings flopped in tangles, woven from threads of pure gold.</p>
+        <p>"Tell me I'm seeing things," Connor said. He had stuffed his mouth with a bite of ham, but hungry as he was, he spat it out to let himself speak.</p>
+        <p>"If that's what I think it is, then we're in real trouble."</p>
+        <p>Jack held the harp close to his chest. Under his tunic, the heartstone did not beat, but he felt it vibrate, like a tight plucked string.</p>
+        <p>"And Dermott's going to hunt us to the ends of Eirinn. He'll never stop."</p>
+        <p>"How do you mean?"</p>
+        <p>"They stole the harp. Your tumbling girls. That's what they were there for."</p>
+        <p>"I'm still not with you."</p>
+        <p>"Haven't you heard the stories? Everybody says Fainn used dark magic to help Dermott find the golden harp. The <em>Dagda</em> harp. And the Cerunnos Cauldron. I never really believed it until I was up in that cage and saw thon spellbinder sit beside the cauldron. It's got the Horned God carved on it and they say you can get anything you want from it, and it never runs empty."</p>
+        <p>"I think Rune said something about a harp. Or maybe Finn McCuill."</p>
+        <p>"That's how Dermott was able to keep famine at bay. He had all he needed while the rest of Eirinn went hungry. He must have been behind it all."</p>
+        <p>Jack and Corriwen exchanged puzzled glances. They looked at Connor who took the hint and started to talk.</p>
+        <p>"My Da, that's my foster Da, he was a woodcutter. He was old when he and Mam found me, half drowned and just a baby. My real Mam, she was dying already, but she had bore me up to save me, so they thought. They were old, but they gave me a home and raised me as theirs and I done my best for them till the end."</p>
+        <p>They listened quietly. Connor closed his eyes for a moment then continued.</p>
+        <p>"Da loved the old tales. Just a woodcutter, but he remembered everyone of them, and that's how I know about the harp. The Harp of the Seasons."</p>
+        <p>"I read about that," Jack said. "When I was little."</p>
+        <p>"Hear him out," Corriwen said.</p>
+        <p>Connor smiled. "It were a long time ago in Eirinn, and the sea people, the <em>Fir Bolg</em> they were at war with real folk. And they were winning that war. They had took hundreds captive and slit their throats or strangled them and put them in the bog-tarns of CorNamara, which is what they did, for they worshipped dark gods and that was their sacrifice.</p>
+        <p>"Anyhow, the king of the West, the Dagda, he said enough of this and he gathered all the chiefs together and they raised a high stone on Tara Hill, the real Tara hill, not that one in the east that everybody says is Tara. This hill was the sacred place to the Sky Queen and the Dagda said if she came to Eirinn's aid he would give her his son, whose name was Conovar the Fair. Like sacrifice him. All the chiefs said this was a mighty thing to do, and they made him chief of chiefs over them.</p>
+        <p>"Then, when it came the midsummer and at sunrise, the time for the sacrifice, and Conovar lying on the rock, a sunbeam came through the stones and blinded the Dagda, so his knife, when it came down, hit the rock and shattered into a million pieces that swirled around his head, all sparkly like, and among the sparkles, the Sky Queen appeared in the ray of the sun.</p>
+        <p><em>Enough</em>, she tells him. <em>You have shown your heart and your courage for the good of Eirinn. I pledge my aid to you and your people down the ages.</em></p>
+        <p>And then she tells him she will send a champion who would lead them against the Fir Bolg and drive them back into the sea. This Champion, she said, would find three sacred things. The Cauldron of Cerunnos, which would never empty and would ensure the land was never hungry. The Harp of the Seasons, which would ensure the spring would always come and summer after that in came in proper order and make the land green. And also there was the Invincible Club, which would defeat any foe.</p>
+        <p>"Then, from the west, comes this travelling man, who says he has been called to pledge to the Dagda. Strange in his ways and his talk, they say, but he did all that she promised and then, he led the armies out to the badlands where they took the revenge on the Fir Bolg for all their atrocities and killed them by the thousand, and the rest were driven back to the sea where they still live in the kelp and the deep channels. Except for a few who escaped to the bare mountains far away and became Fell Runners.</p>
+        <p>"And then, when there was peace, the Dagda, he went back to Tara Hill alone to thank the Sky Queen, and that's when she showed her real self to him and they fell in love. That's part of the story they maybe made up, but it sounds good. Anyway they had a daughter, but nobody knows anything about her. </p>
+        <p>"The Sky Queen says that peace will last a long time, but people would covet the three great talismans, so they must be hidden in a secret place that only the Traveller and the Dagda's son would know. The harp would sing its harmony and the Cauldron would see Eirinn was never hungry. The Club was sent far away to keep it from ambitious men."</p>
+        <p>Connor looked up.</p>
+        <p>"And that's the story as my Da used to tell it. But these past years, the seasons have turned up all wrong. Snow in summer. Frost in spring. Ice and hail and storms. The crops fail and the cattle die while Dermott the Wolf gorges like a pig and holds the other chiefs to ransom."</p>
+        <p>"And you think this is <em>that</em> harp?"</p>
+        <p>"It's the way my Da told it, and he heard it all down the generations, word to ear. It's the harp all right. Can't you just feel it try to sing?"</p>
+        <p>He reached and touched the gleaming surface.</p>
+        <p>"This harp's been silenced." His eyebrows gathered down and his face took on a look as if a storm were gathering.</p>
+        <p>"Dermott, or that Fainn, he must have cuts its strings and stopped its song. And for that, folk have gone hungry and sick. My fosterers, my Da and Mam, they got hungry and then got sick and then they died, leaving me to scrape in the woods."</p>
+        <p>He took the heavy sword in his hands. A slow tear ran down his cheek.</p>
+        <p>"When I get the chance, I'll cut Dermott down for what he's done."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen patted Connor on his shoulder, then simply swamped him in her arms and hugged him tight. Jack made himself busy, carefully stashing the harp back in the bottomless bag.</p>
+        <p>"Brand must have left it with us for a reason," he said after a while. "I don't know why, but if you're right, then Dermott really will keep hunting us, so we have to get away, as far as we can. We should move at first light." Corriwen agreed. Connor shrugged. His smile came back, if a little tentatively.</p>
+        <p>"Whatever you think. I'm just happy to be out in fresh air again."</p>
+        <p>"You told us Dermott hunts with dogs?"</p>
+        <p>"And kills with them."</p>
+        <p>"So we have to put some distance between them and us. He'll find us quickly enough."</p>
+        <p>"Which way?" Corriwen asked.</p>
+        <p>Jack opened his satchel for the first time in days, and drew out the ancient Book of Ways.</p>
+        <p>"Let's hope its still working," he said, opening it as the first blank page. In the light of the fire, the words slowly appeared, line by line. Connor looked on, mouth agape.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Flee from chase, but find no hide</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Journeyman has far to ride</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Evil eye counts every stride</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>Peril lurks on every side</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Climb bare hill but ware the mire</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>North from sound of thunder fire</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Find the shore and walk the strand</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>Yet ware the tide and ware the sand.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>In the night the lost await</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Hunger stalks on runners gait.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Where the ocean finds lands end</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Seek a haven, seek a friend.</em></p>
+        <p>"Now that's really clever," Connor spoke up. "More witchery."</p>
+        <p>"It doesn't sound promising."</p>
+        <p>"What's it say? Never learned to read, myself."</p>
+        <p>Jack read the words out slowly, then repeated them.</p>
+        <p>"We have to go north," he said. "But there's warnings all over it."</p>
+        <p>"We have to find the Homeward Gate," Corriwen said.</p>
+        <p>"I'll come along, if you want," Connor said. "Sure, it's been a rare chuckle so far, and anyway, I know every trail, and if I don't, I can find one."</p>
+        <p>"Have you ever been north?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>"Never been anywhere but here, "Connor said. "Though I truly think I've outstayed my welcome. Up north, there's sour badlands. Bogrim and Fell Runners and the like, so they say, but maybe up there is better than down here, with Dermott in full cry. And if you could use another sword-arm, I'm your man till the end."</p>
+        <p>Connor stuck his hand out and Jack shook it firmly.</p>
+        <p>"The more, the merrier," he said, though he didn't feel merry at all. "We'd best get some sleep, because we have to be up and away before they know it."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 21</title>
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+        <h1>21</h1><p>Something slumped in the dark. It sounded like a body falling on soft ground.</p>
+        <p>Jack's eyes opened instantly, his hand on his amberhorn bow. There was cold rain on the air, and a breeze shook the branches overhead. Showering him with icy droplets. In the gloom he could just make out Corriwen and Connor, close to the dying embers.</p>
+        <p>The heartstone squeezed slowly with its own mysterious energy. Cold tingles ran up and down Jack's spine.</p>
+        <p>A motion to his left just caught his eye, but he didn't move, not yet.</p>
+        <p>Something moved slowly. He waited, breath held tight.</p>
+        <p>Then he saw it. Kerry was on the ground where he had slumped from his position against the tree. Jack let out a slow breath of relief. His eyes began to close again when Kerry moved and suddenly Jack's heart was high in his throat.</p>
+        <p>Kerry <em>slithered</em> away from the tree.</p>
+        <p>The sight froze Jack. Kerry simply unfolded where he was curled on the moss and oozed across the ground on his belly. Jack could hear damp leaves scrape under him as he slowly inched forward, black eyes staring.</p>
+        <p>The heartstone quivered on its own.</p>
+        <p>Kerry came slowly on, away from the tree, towards the faint glow from the embers. His head turned, left and right and still he never blinked. Jack saw a gleam of reflected red in his staring eye.</p>
+        <p>Wake up. <em>Wake up!</em> The voice in his head yammered at him to get out of this nightmare.</p>
+        <p>Kerry's tongue flickered out. Too long to be a human tongue, too fast and reptilian.</p>
+        <p>And Jack couldn't wake himself.</p>
+        <p>His friend slithered slowly towards him, eyes like black glass. Jack heard the sibilant hiss of his breathing and watched as his ribs moved in unison, dragging him across the damp earth towards where they lay.</p>
+        <p>Jack couldn't move a muscle. It was as if he was glued to the spot, paralysed by the creepy horror of this nightmare.</p>
+        <p>Kerry hissed again and came right up close, swivelling from side to side, as if taking bearings. Jack was motionless, lying on his side. His tunic was half open and the heartstone just visible against his skin.</p>
+        <p>Kerry's jet eyes fixed on it and he slithered even closer. Jack felt the tickle of his tongue against his skin, and goose pimples crawled where he had been touched.</p>
+        <p>Slowly and silently Kerry's hands came forward, strangely sinuous and fluid and reached for the stone, and still Jack was paralysed, unable to draw back.</p>
+        <p>Wake up <em>Now!</em></p>
+        <p>His brain shrieked the command to himself but his body still couldn't move an inch.</p>
+        <p>Kerry's hands drew the heartstone out, still attached to the silver chain and brought his face close. The black eyes scanned it avidly.</p>
+        <p>"Not black," Jack's mind whimpered. "They're blue!"</p>
+        <p>The stone was in front of him, between his eyes and Kerry's. And when Jack looked through the translucent talisman, his heart almost gave out completely.</p>
+        <p>Kerry's face was a mask of scaly plates. His pupils were no longer round, but vertical, like slits in glass. The tongue that flicked out was thin and black and forked at the end. The monstrous eyes peered into the heart of the stone, his whole face devoid of expression.</p>
+        <p>Then he suddenly dropped the stone and slowly swivelled away, down on his belly again.</p>
+        <p>A few drops of cold rain pattered the leaved overhead and Jack watched in abject horror as the nightmare that his friend had become in this dream slithered away under the shelter of a big fallen oak, curled into a coil in the shadows and went still.</p>
+        <p>Jack let out a long, silent breath that seemed to have been backed up in his lungs for hours. He turned slightly and a thorn stabbed him in the knee, cutting so deep it made his eyes water in the flare of pain.</p>
+        <p>And in that instant he knew he was not dreaming. He was awake with his hand on the amberhorn bow and a thorn dug into his knee, and his friend coiled like a snake under a dead oak.</p>
+        <p>A friend who slithered on his belly and hissed like a snake.</p>
+        <p>Jack Flint suddenly felt more afraid than he had ever been in his life.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>He lay in the dark as the damp overtook the fire and finally snuffed it out and he waited until the only sound was the steady drip on damp undercover. Then, very slowly, he crept away from the campsite, inching his way on the ground so as to make no sound and no obvious motion.</p>
+        <p>In the hollow, Kerry stayed dead still. Jack edged out of sight then quickly got round the fallen oak and eased himself quietly over the trunk. Below him, in the dry hollow, Kerry hissed softly in his sleep. The very sound made the hairs on Jack's neck crawl.</p>
+        <p>He waited until he was sure that he couldn't be seen. Water was gathered on the ridges on the dead bark. As quickly and quietly as he could, Jack prised away some of the loose wood until he formed a little runnel, and the rainwater slowly began to trickle down to splash on the ground just beside where Kerry lay. Jack watched the drips slowly build into a puddle of cold water, and while he hated to make Kerry suffer, he knew what had to be done.</p>
+        <p>In his lair below Wolfen Castle, Fainn saw none of this.</p>
+        <p>In the night he had cast his mind out and found where they lay and then the fuzzy vision of the river and the waterfall came to him.</p>
+        <p>He exerted his will, chanting under his breath, and he wove his complicated gesticulations.</p>
+        <p>He watched the sleeping boy, with the bow in his hand, slumped near the glow of the fire, and then he saw the gleam on his chest. He had been about to make his creature search for the harp which he sensed they had with them, but something diverted his attention, some sixth sense. He willed his servant to approach the sleeper.</p>
+        <p>And he saw the stone. He stopped, dead still. The vision was still indistinct, seen through its veil of shadows, but it was clear enough to make out the heart-shaped stone on the boy's neck.</p>
+        <p>Fainn let out a long, slow breath.</p>
+        <p>This was something. This was important. And it was <em>powerful</em>.</p>
+        <p>Every fibre of his being had been steeped in spellbinding for so many years he had lost count of them, and he could feel the power of this talisman across time and distance. A heartstone of fireglass.</p>
+        <p>And it was beating.</p>
+        <p>Somewhere in distant memory, he recalled hearing of such a talisman. Sometime in the far days of the Dagda, there had been a man&#8230;.</p>
+        <p>There had been a heartstone. A charm of great power.</p>
+        <p>Slowly he sat back, eyes closed, seeing with that other creature's eyes.</p>
+        <p><em>This,</em> he told himself, <em>was something he had to have.</em></p>
+        <p>This was something that could change <em>everything</em>.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They were up before dawn, though Jack had not slept at all. He had made himself stay awake, though with the image of Kerry's creepy slither across the damp ground in his mind all the time, sleep would have been impossible.</p>
+        <p>Kerry did not move. And in the morning, when Jack forced himself to his feet and went across to the hollow to check, he was completely motionless. When Jack nudged him, Kerry didn't blink. His breathing was so slow it was just the faintest reptilian hiss. His limbs were stiff and cold.</p>
+        <p>Jack wasted no time in binding Kerry's hands and feet with some line from the fishing reel, hating himself for treating his best friend this way, but knowing there was nothing else he could do for the moment. </p>
+        <p>The horror he had seen in the night had not been Kerry. Not the friend he'd known since childhood. Something had got inside him and changed him.</p>
+        <p>Jack slid Kerry's sword into a scabbard on the horse's saddle and then relit the fire to get some heat into his own stiff muscles.</p>
+        <p>When Corriwen awoke and saw Kerry tightly bound at the base of the tree, she was horrified. In an instant her knife appeared in her hand and she stalked from the fire, intent on cutting him free. Jack pulled her back and forced her away.</p>
+        <p>When he finally told her everything that had happened in the night, Connor was awake and listening, nodding all the while, casting superstitious glances across at Kerry who seemed to be in some kind of stupor.</p>
+        <p>"I made sure he got cold in the night," Jack said. "The rainwater. Cold slows snakes down and it worked. Something's got into him. That snake bite has done something horrible."</p>
+        <p>"You can't beat Fainn's magic," Connor said sombrely. "He turned weasels on us in the woods and they changed into monsters made of leaves and twigs, but they were <em>alive.</em>"</p>
+        <p>"But we burned them," Corriwen said. "We beat them."</p>
+        <p>"We can't beat this," Jack said miserably. "I don't know what to do. But I think we must </p>
+        <p>find Brand and the rest of the troupe. They should know something. Whatever Fainn has done, surely it can be undone."</p>
+        <p>"There's no cure for snake poison," Connor said. "I don't think there's any for snake magic. He'll be suffering inside all the time, more than anybody should suffer. Maybe it's best you put him out of his misery."</p>
+        <p>"Don't even think that," Corriwen cried. "Kerry has been a good friend to us in the worst of times. Whatever Fainn has done, he will suffer for it when the time comes. But I will let no harm come to my friend."</p>
+        <p>Connor took a step back.</p>
+        <p>"I was only just saying&#8230;"</p>
+        <p>Jack held up a hand and shut him up. It was time to take charge.</p>
+        <p>"No discussion. We keep him tied up, so he doesn't harm himself. Or us. But we keep him safe until we can help him."</p>
+        <p>He was about to say more when a clamour of noise in the distance reached them through the trees.</p>
+        <p>"Dermott!" Connor hissed. "He's come for us."</p>
+        <p>Jack spun on his heel and scooped Kerry up from the ground, grunting with the weight. Kerry was rigid, as if all his muscles had seized. Jack ignored the shudder of revulsion that ran through him as he heaved his friend over the saddle, lashed his wrists to the pommel and hauled himself up. Connor sat behind Corriwen on the other horse and they were gone with a wild hue and cry behind them as horsemen crashed through the undergrowth in hot pursuit.</p>
+        <p>They only had a slight advantage, because Dermott's men were all big and strong and carried weapons and armour, and Thin Doolan had picked out two of the best in the castle stables. Even two to a horse they managed to keep ahead of the hunt and when they finally broke through the edge of the trees and onto rough moorland, they were a mile or so in front.</p>
+        <p>Nobody spoke. The drizzle was grey and soaked through their clothes and Kerry bounced about on the saddle like a dead weight. They reached a rocky pass and went down it, Jack leading the way, heading north-west. At least, he told himself, the compass in his head was still working. Ahead of them the land rose through trailing grey clouds through which they could sometimes see the jagged peaks of black mountains in the far distance. They looked barren and forbidding, but with Dermott's hunters behind them, they had no choice but to head in that direction.</p>
+        <p>It was mid-morning before they had to stop and let the sweating horses rest a while.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen examined Kerry closely, concern making her face grim.</p>
+        <p>"We only found each other," she said, distraught. "And now we could lose him."</p>
+        <p>"We'll find a way," Jack said, with more conviction than he felt. He could still not shake the memory of Kerry's slither across the ground, and the blank stare of those black eyes.</p>
+        <p>They were close to exhaustion after a hard ride, but Jack forced them on, through the rills and passes of the foothills, crossing fast streams amber with peat. Every once in a while, they found a ridge they could use as an observation post, and each time, they saw the dogged pursuit through the swirling clouds.</p>
+        <p>Connor shook his head.</p>
+        <p>"We're leaving no trail. We've come through water and kept to stony ground, but they follow us at every turn. I don't understand it."</p>
+        <p>"Maybe they're good trackers," Jack suggested.</p>
+        <p>"No. They're not that good. Not as good as me and I've been watching to see we don't leave tracks. Something's giving us away."</p>
+        <p>Jack drew him and Corriwen away from the horses for a moment. He glanced across at Kerry, silent and still where they had put him, his eyes wide and seemingly unfocussed.</p>
+        <p>"He reached for the heartstone last night," he said. "Kerry would never have done that. Something else was making him do it. And it must have seen the stone."</p>
+        <p>"Fainn!"</p>
+        <p>"What if&#8230;." Jack paused. "What if he's using Kerry's eyes?"</p>
+        <p>"Blind him!" Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"Don't you dare!" Corriwen shot back. </p>
+        <p>"No. I mean, blindfold him. Cover his eyes so he can't see. We'll soon know if they lose the trail."</p>
+        <p>"It's worth a try," Jack agreed. </p>
+        <p>Kerry fought them. As soon as Jack touched him, he swung his head round, fast as a snake and tried to bite. Jack snatched his hand back and heard the teeth close with a snap, and then Kerry squirmed on the ground, body flexing and heaving, trying to sing his teeth into Jack's legs. His eyes were staring and his face contorted with animal ferocity. Connor skipped round behind him and flung his whole weight down, using both hands to pin Kerry's shoulders and force his face into the ground. Kerry bucked and heaved but to no avail. Jack managed to tear a strip of leather and bind it round Kerry's eyes. As soon as the light was cut off, Kerry went completely limp.</p>
+        <p>Jack turned to Corriwen. Tears trickled down her cheeks and Jack felt her horror and despair.</p>
+        <p>But an hour later, it was clear they had shaken the pursuit. If Fainn had been using Kerry's eyes to direct the hunt, then he was blinded now. Connor the poacher made sure they left no trace as they travelled up towards old pine forests that clung to the steep hillsides and then down the far side into rugged country that stretched into the distance towards the dark hills beyond.</p>
+        <p>"I wish we could find a Bard," Jack said as they pushed through the pines. "He would know what to do."</p>
+        <p>"What do you need a Bard for?" a voice asked, very close to his ear, giving Jack such a fright that he almost fell off the horse.</p>
+        <p>He spun in the saddle, searching for the speaker.</p>
+        <p>"You've come a long way." The words came from above their heads. They all looked up.</p>
+        <p>Sprawled on a thick limb, Dilligan Rune smoked a pipe as long as his arm, and blew hazy rings down at them.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen's knife was in her hand. Connor was reaching for his sword. Jack clapped him on the shoulder.</p>
+        <p>"Its okay," he said. "Rune's a friend of ours. I think."</p>
+        <p>"You've got few enough friends here, my lad," Rune said brightly. "I see you're better dressed than the last time. My cousin Brand tells me you can hop and skip with the best of them."</p>
+        <p>"Brand's a thief," Jack said flatly. "And now Dermott's after us."</p>
+        <p>"Dermott's the thief. He stole the harp and the cauldron. Brand and his fellows, they were just taking it back."</p>
+        <p>"Then they left it with us, so Dermott would hunt us," Connor said. "While they got away."</p>
+        <p>Rune grinned. He sat upright on the branch and dangled his little feet just out of arm's reach.</p>
+        <p>"Some things don't travel well in the misty road. And some folk are better fit to hold the harp&#8230;for now."</p>
+        <p>He blew another fancy smoke-ring, tapped his pipe on the branch, then swung himself down to the ground with amazing agility for one so small and round.</p>
+        <p>"And you're just in time for a spot o' supper. Can't have you all running on empty bellies, can we?"</p>
+        <p>He led them through the pines to a mound very much like the Drumlin they'd slept in the first time they met Rune. The Cluricaun already had two fat ducks roasting on a spit and Jack's mouth began to water. They dismounted, stiff from the long ride and Jack lowered Kerry down beside the fire, making sure his blindfold was still in place.</p>
+        <p>"I see you found the girl," Rune said. "And more besides. I knew Brand and his raggle-taggle band would help you out."</p>
+        <p>"But something's wrong with Kerry."</p>
+        <p>"Aye, I can see he's been spell-bit. That mad Pict must have got his hooks in him. You did right to cover his eyes."</p>
+        <p>"How do you know this?"</p>
+        <p>"I know Fainn of old. If he's not the worst, then he's close to it."</p>
+        <p>"Do you know anything that will help? Like counter spells or something?"</p>
+        <p>"I know one thing you could try. But sure, you know that yourself."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked down at him, puzzled. </p>
+        <p>"Sure, didn't you have the evil touch on you once before?"</p>
+        <p>"But it was Finn the Bard who fixed me. With fireglass stone."</p>
+        <p>Rune stood on tiptoe and tapped Jack on the chest. "And that's what you need. You have to draw it out with fire. And love too."</p>
+        <p>"How did you know&#8230;?" Jack started to ask. Rune chuckled and tapped the side of his nose. </p>
+        <p>"Cluricauns have their ways."</p>
+        <p>Jack drew out the heartstone. It glowed almost black, but still translucent. It felt alive in his hand.</p>
+        <p>"What if it breaks? In the fire?"</p>
+        <p>"Maybe it will," Rune said with a shrug. "Who knows."</p>
+        <p>Something cold twisted inside Jack. "I can't lose it."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen turned on him, eyes blazing. "Can you lose a friend?"</p>
+        <p>"Fire," Jack told Connor. "We need heat."</p>
+        <p>He and Corriwen pulled Kerry down from the saddle. He hissed and struggled but to no avail. Jack remembered Finbar's words on Temair when he too had needed a drastic cure from the dark touch which had invaded him.</p>
+        <p><em>Be a friend to him now&#8230;</em></p>
+        <p>They had to be Kerry's friend, no matter what the cost.</p>
+        <p>Connor had a good blaze going in no time and rolled some logs for them to sit on. They dragged Kerry close to the flames and laid him down.</p>
+        <p>Connor looked expectantly from one to the other, waiting for an explanation. Jack said nothing. He reached inside his tunic and drew out the heartstone on its silver mount. It glowed almost black, but still translucent. It felt alive in his hand.</p>
+        <p>"What's that?" Connor asked.</p>
+        <p>"It was my father's," Jack said.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 22</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>22</h1><p>Fainn the Pict roared in pain and rage. Sparks flew up from the pit and a hot blast of wind swirled the pall of smoke around the pillars.</p>
+        <p>He clapped his bony fingers up against his face and shuddered violently for a long time. When he took his hands away his eyes streamed with blood. He lurched to his feet, using the hem of his cloak to wipe away the bloody smears and his vision gradually cleared.</p>
+        <p>Shaking with fury, he bent over the table-map of Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>"I'll find you," he snarled. "I will find you. I will root you out. And then there will be a reckoning."</p>
+        <p>He held the end of the cloak over where the bogs of CorNamara showed in clefts and tarns beyond the pine forest and squeezed hard. Droplets of thick, blackening blood dripped onto the carved surface, and where they landed, acrid fumes rose up.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Corriwen stabbed its eyes. Jack doubled over and was violently sick.</p>
+        <p>Kerry, or what had once been Kerry hissed and fought, trying to sink his teeth into them when they held him down. They kept the blindfold on, because Jack didn't want to look into those dead black eyes, and he didn't want whatever had control of his friend to look out and into his own.</p>
+        <p>"Be a friend to him," Corriwen said. "That's what the Bard told us when we held you down."</p>
+        <p>"I remember," Jack said with a shudder. "Though I don't like remembering that."</p>
+        <p>But they held Kerry down. Connor had his bound arms and Corriwen his lashed feet. He bucked and struggled, but they used their weight to keep him still, while Jack and Dilligan Rune hunched by the fire.</p>
+        <p>Jack took the heartstone from his neck while Rune blew the flames to a bright glow, then used a thick branch to slowly lower the stone on its chain down into the heat. Rune kept fanning the flames ever hotter and they watched as the stone went from black, to purple, to hot red, then searing white. And it still didn't shatter, Jack thought, with more than a little shame.</p>
+        <p>"Tight now," he told them. "Keep him still."</p>
+        <p>And he placed the stone on the centre of Kerry's bare chest.</p>
+        <p>The scream that erupted sent a flock of birds clattering into the air half a mile away and echoed all round the rocky hillsides.</p>
+        <p>Kerry twisted as if hit by lightning and the smell of sizzling skin make Jack's eyes water. He hissed and spat and then, without warning, his mouth gaped wide open.</p>
+        <p>A long, black tongue emerged from Kerry's wide open jaws and lashed about wildly. Kerry's mouth opened wider still. <em>Impossibly</em> wide, Jack thought. His jaw joints made a horrible creaking sound. The black tongue came out further, forked and whip-like.</p>
+        <p>Then, behind it, the bloated head of a pallid snake.</p>
+        <p>It was like no snake Jack had ever seen, either here or on any nature programme at home. Kerry's jaws creaked wide and he thrashed about madly as the thing swelled up from his throat, thick as an arm, eyes milky white. It pulsed like a worm and squeezed itself past Kerry's teeth.</p>
+        <p>Jack stepped back in pure horror. Corriwen let out an anguished wail. Connor just held tight to Kerry's shoulders as the snake oozed out, pulse by pulse and began to roll into a coil on his ribs. It opened its mouth then and Jack saw fangs swing forward as its eyes locked onto his.</p>
+        <p>"Kill it," he hissed.</p>
+        <p>Kerry bucked again and Corriwen was thrown to the side, but she rolled back, a knife in each hand and stabbed the thing in each eye. They popped with a sickening wet sound, even as it lunged in a blur. Its blind head hit the ground. Jack snatched Kerry's sword and sliced it in half. Rancid blood sprayed all around and both halves kept on twisting and coiling, but Jack skewered the head end on the point and shoved it straight into the fire. It sizzled like crackling.</p>
+        <p>Overhead, lightning blasted down in savage forks and the ground shook.</p>
+        <p>Connor kicked the other half into the fire while Kerry twitched and jerked, still blindfolded. He rolled, got to his knees and was suddenly violently sick. He groaned, retched again. Jack matched him only a few feet away, stomach heaving with the horror of what he had seen.</p>
+        <p>Then Kerry reached up and pulled the blindfold down.</p>
+        <p>"Jeez man," he said. "I must have eaten something awful."</p>
+        <p>He knuckled his eyes and looked up at Jack. </p>
+        <p>"Whatever it was, I'm not eating it again."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The Bogs of CorNamara were as bleak as Jack had ever seen. They spread out around them on every side, mile after mile of moorland pocked by black tarns of slimy water and studded with old weathered rocks that stood up like dead sentinels.</p>
+        <p>"I don't remember a thing," Kerry had said. "What happened in the Castle? And who's this new guy?"</p>
+        <p>He blinked as if seeing the world through fresh eyes, then saw Corriwen and his puzzled expression turned to one of pure delight. He grabbed her in a huge bear-hug and spun her around until she was dizzy.</p>
+        <p>"Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen introduced him again to Connor then they sat with Dilligan Rune round the fire while Kerry ate like a starveling and Jack filled him in on all that had happened since they'd come through the misty by-way and gone down to Wolfen Castle.</p>
+        <p>"Sounds like a real bundle of laughs," Kerry said, through a mouthful of dinner. "You sure you're not making all this up? I don't remember swallowing any snake."</p>
+        <p>Jack laughed. The sudden relief at having Kerry back to normal again had changed everything, even if Dermott and his men were scouring the land for them and they were still in awful danger. </p>
+        <p>"We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "And we've a long way to go. The book says we have to cross bogs and get over the mountains to the sea."</p>
+        <p>"And after that?"</p>
+        <p>Jack shrugged. "We check the book again. Dermott wants the harp. And I'm sure Fainn knows about the heartstone, so they won't stop hunting us."</p>
+        <p>"Well, let me finish my dinner and we'll get on the road. My stomach thinks my throat's been cut."</p>
+        <p>Dilligan Rune vanished as suddenly as he appeared, but before he went he sat Jack down on a stone and perched beside him.</p>
+        <p>"I knew we'd meet again Jack Flint. Like I said, after you came through the fairy gate, did you stumble through by mistake, or was it a deliberate step? An old friend of mine said there are no coincidences. Everything is fate."</p>
+        <p>"Which old friend would that be?"</p>
+        <p>"Ah, I think you know the Gatekeeper as well as me, eh Jack?"</p>
+        <p>"You know the Major. Major MacBeth?"</p>
+        <p>"Our paths have crossed a time or two. I've travelled many a road."</p>
+        <p>"Why didn't you tell me before?"</p>
+        <p>"Had to be sure, Jack. Had to be sure of you. And now I am. You don't bear the harp for no reason. Whatever reason you <em>think</em> you had for coming here, let me tell you, it <em>called </em>to you. The worlds call the Journeyman when they need help."</p>
+        <p>Jack's jaw dropped open.</p>
+        <p>"My father was the Journeyman."</p>
+        <p>"That I know. Indeed, I do."</p>
+        <p>Jack almost jumped to his feet in a jolt of excitement. Rune put his hand on his elbow.</p>
+        <p>"Don't take off like a frog. Just have a listen."</p>
+        <p>"But you must have known&#8230;."</p>
+        <p>"Cullian? Sure I knew him. Long ago and far away."</p>
+        <p>"Is he here?"</p>
+        <p>"Ah, who knows where Cullian is. Or was. Can't help you with that, so I can't. That's your quest, and one I wish you best with, though I reckon you've a sore road to travel before you find the answers."</p>
+        <p>He pulled Jack closer. "But you <em>will</em> find the answers. That's writ in the runes. Now, here to business. The Tara Harp, you can't let them have it back. Nor yon firestone heart you carry." He pointed to the glowering clouds. "Since Dermott cut the strings, there's been no spring and no summer and the whole of Eirinn's dying. This is your quest for now, to get the music back. And you have to get the harp to where it belongs."</p>
+        <p>"Where is that?"</p>
+        <p>"Tara Hill," Rune said. "The Sky Queen's haven on Eirinn."</p>
+        <p>But Rune couldn't, or wouldn't say just where the mysterious Tara Hill was. Nobody knew that, he said.</p>
+        <p>"It's a burden laid upon you, and you have to be stout enough to carry it through. All life is a game, even to us Cluricauns. But you have to win the first stage before going on to the next. And you know what you want to do next."</p>
+        <p>"I want to find my father."</p>
+        <p>"Only way to do that is to live up to his name and help Eirinn back to life."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked him in the eye, even if he had to bend down to do so.</p>
+        <p>"That's a tall order for somebody my age."</p>
+        <p>"Tall for anybody. But you can't choose the game. It chooses you."</p>
+        <p>"But I don't know where to start," Jack protested.</p>
+        <p>"Start?" Rune chuckled. "Man, you're half way through. The game started long ago. You just follow that stout heart. Trust the book. Bear the heartstone. If you've been called, then nobody else can make this quest. And sure, aren't you bound to have some fun along the way?"</p>
+        <p>Rune stuffed his long pipe into his bag and drew out a reedy pipe, very similar to the one Finn the Giant had given them.</p>
+        <p>"Take this on your travels. It's a long road and you've got the boots to carry you, but when you need to, blow on this and summon the wind."</p>
+        <p>With his other hand, he flicked a golden coin into the air. Jack automatically reached for it, and Rune was gone again. And so was the coin.</p>
+        <p><em>And the band of four were on their way once more.</em></p>
+        <p>It was cold and a biting wind blew, forcing them to huddle together for warmth, as they picked their way across the vast bog towards the distant mountains. The peat was soggy and sucked at the hooves and the black tarns all around seemed fathomless. Here and there a black snake would eye their progress before slipping under surface scum. Thick bubbles swelled and burst slowly like tar.</p>
+        <p>As it grew dark, they stopped, exhausted and made what shelter they could on the lee side of a big boulder, only yards from a deep pool.</p>
+        <p>Far behind them glittering lights began to appear on the slopes that led down to the bog, first a few, then dozens, all widely spaced on the far hills. It was clear that Dermott's men were spread out and combing the land. But the fires they had lit meant that they wouldn't venture here by night.</p>
+        <p>"Can't blame them," Kerry said miserably. "I don't like this place in the daytime."</p>
+        <p>"It's bad lands," Connor said. "Men don't come here. Nor in the mountains. I heard tales of strange things."</p>
+        <p>"There's always stories about lonely places," Jack said. The bog was indeed lonely and somehow threatening in its desolation, but he didn't want them all to get spooked. It would be a dreary night and they needed some sleep. He took the first watch, huddled in the tunic Rune had tailored, listening to the fading wind moan around the stones, and the odd, sucking noises out in the dark. Things lived in the slick waters. He hoped it was frogs and newts, or even moorhens. Occasionally the tarns would burp some rotting gas that smelt like the slaughterfield of Temair, but at least, Jack told himself, there were no roaks.</p>
+        <p>As it grew darker still, the whoop of the wind and the saughing of reed clumps sounded like distant voices. Jack's head nodded and every now and again jerked upright, imagining someone had called his name. He stared out beyond the rock, straining to hear. Somewhere, just under his hearing threshold he was sure he could hear something, a whisper on the wind, but nothing appeared.</p>
+        <p>Connor touched his shoulder and he jerked awake as fragments of a dream evaporated. Somebody had called to him through a foggy mist, the way the shuddery voices had called when they travelled the by-way with Brand.</p>
+        <p>"I hear things," Connor said. His short-sword was tight in his grip.</p>
+        <p>Jack reached for the bow. "What things?"</p>
+        <p>"Don't know. Like people calling me. Whispering in my head."</p>
+        <p>Jack gave an involuntary shudder. He'd dreamt the same thing.</p>
+        <p>"It's just the wind."</p>
+        <p>"No, it's not the wind. They tell me they're cold. And lonely and lost."</p>
+        <p>"There's nobody here."</p>
+        <p>"There's something out there," Connor insisted. He had barely spoken when something plopped in the tarn and the sound of thick bubbles bursting came clearly. The smell of marsh-gas spread around them. They held their breath, listening.</p>
+        <p>A sucking sound followed, as if something was being hauled from mud. They heard that clearly and instinctively moved closer to each other. Another sucking sound. Then another. </p>
+        <p>Something big was moving.</p>
+        <p>"Bogrim," Connor said. His face was pale in the shadow. He made a sign in the air with his fingers, as if warding off bad luck.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Cold.</em>" One croaky word and Jack froze. Connor grasped his arm. "<em>So cold.</em>"</p>
+        <p>Close by, something else moved. One wet footfall slowly followed another. Off to the right, something else heaved its way out of a boggy hole. It was pitch dark out there and they could see nothing, but the smell of rot was suddenly overpowering. Jack pulled Connor back. Vague shapes crowded closer, slow and damp, dripping as they approached. Jack fumbled in his pack and drew out the little maglite torch, flicked it on, and Connor let out a frightened moan.</p>
+        <p>The thing that stumbled towards them might have been a man. Once.</p>
+        <p>Its face was horribly puckered and sunken, as if the bones underneath had softened and stretched. Moss and water dripped from clotted tangles of patchy hair. Two pale hands reached out towards them, fingernails gone and skin peeling.</p>
+        <p>The hands were tightly bound together with a piece of rotting rope.</p>
+        <p>The thing lurched forward, clouded eyes streaming, head lolling on a strangely thin neck. Then Jack noticed the cord garrotte that had been squeezed around it so tightly it had cut to bone.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Cold.</em>" The word came in a watery gargle, but clear enough. The boys shrank back, aghast.</p>
+        <p>"Bogrim," Connor said again. "The drowned dead."</p>
+        <p>Behind the contorted lurcher, another squelched into the light, and another moved in from the right. </p>
+        <p>"<em>Come warm us.</em>" </p>
+        <p>Jack instinctively shook his head. </p>
+        <p>"<em>Come swim in the dark cold</em>."</p>
+        <p>Jack pulled Connor close, moving towards where Corriwen was coming awake. He tapped her on the shoulder then turned to where Kerry had been sleeping at the side of the rock, and as he did, he let out a gasp of fright.</p>
+        <p>Kerry was gone. Just beyond the rock Jack heard a slithering sound, like something being dragged. Corriwen was on her feet and armed in a split second. Connor jabbed his sword at the lurching monstrosity.</p>
+        <p>Then Kerry let out a huge screech.</p>
+        <p>"Let go. Get your dirty hands off&#8230;"</p>
+        <p>They heard a thud. Kerry screamed again, then came shuffling backwards into sight again, on his hands and heels, kicking out as he did so. A pallid, rotting hand reached from the shadows and tried to snatch his ankle and he kicked at it. A finger flew off and landed softly.</p>
+        <p>"Jack!" he bawled. "There's&#8230;there's <em>things!</em>"</p>
+        <p>The mutilated hand reached again. Jack swung the beam and saw a caved-in face with yellow teeth and gaping eye sockets. Corriwen dashed in front of him and stuck the thing in the chest. It faltered as he drew the sword back out and stagnant water gushed out from the wound.</p>
+        <p>But it did not fall. Jack swung the maglight around them. Lurching shadows were crawling out of the deep tarns, creatures that were dead; strangled and drowned and dead. But they were moving now, crowding in towards them. the beam picked out the thick layer of marsh-gas that trailed around them as they hauled out of the water.</p>
+        <p>"Can't kill the dead," Jack thought. They were trapped against the big rock, with lurching, pleading dead men stumbling towards them, hands out to grab and drag, drag them down into the cold watery dark.</p>
+        <p>One reached for Corriwen and she hacked a wrinkled hand clean off. It fell like a wet glove. The Bogrim thing kept on coming, and behind it, there were dozens more. How many came crawling out of stagnant pools on this bogland, Jack couldn't tell.</p>
+        <p>They crowded back to back while Jack jammed the torch between his teeth and managed to string an arrow. The nearest thing took a bolt in the centre of its head. It turned, with the arrow jutting like a horn, shook itself and kept walking.</p>
+        <p>"Oh screw this for a game of soldiers," Kerry said. "I've seen worse."</p>
+        <p>He let out a bellow and jumped at the nearest of the Bogrim, slashed once, twice, slicing through flesh and rubbery bone until the thing that stumbled towards them fell in a heap.</p>
+        <p>"There's too many," Jack said. Corriwen leapt up beside Kerry and stabbed out, catching an eye, a face, anything that moved. But behind the nearest, more shadows stumbled in their marsh-gas mist.</p>
+        <p>A hand found Connor's neck and clamped tight with astonishing strength to drag him off his feet and out into the darkness. It happened so quickly Jack almost missed it until Corriwen screamed in fear and fury. Kerry jumped out to drag him back and something caught his ankle, sending him sprawling.</p>
+        <p>Then they were in amongst them. Connor was jerking and thrashing as he was dragged across the ground towards the tarn. Something splashed heavily. Connor gabbled a strangled cry, hauling for breath. Jack aimed the torch just in time to see Connor's arms flailing as he tried to grab the bank while deeper in the water, the foul thing that held him was sinking into the depths, taking the boy with him.</p>
+        <p>Then Kerry was in the water too. Without a thought he jumped straight in, swinging the sword like a madman, stabbing and hacking for all he was worth while holding desperately to Connor's hand.</p>
+        <p>Finally the grip on his neck broke and Connor gasped for air.</p>
+        <p>"S'got me." He spluttered. "Taking' me down."</p>
+        <p>"Not if I can help it," Kerry bawled. He hacked again and again until the thing had nothing left to hold with. A great bubble of foul gas broke the surface, thick as fog and smelling of death. Kerry heaved back and got Connor out and onto solid ground. He hustled him back to the rock while hands groped and snatched at them. Kerry spun back and took a savage blind swing, missing everything, except the hard surface of the rock.</p>
+        <p>Sparks flurried up from where the steel hit stone.</p>
+        <p>And the night <em>exploded</em>.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Corrie were thrown backwards. Kerry vanished in a blinding blaze of light. Connor was blown flat onto the heather.</p>
+        <p>The floating mist caught in a series of stuttering flares that leapt from one tarn to another, turning the night into a weird pink day. </p>
+        <p>"Marsh gas," Jack said, helping Corrie to her feet.</p>
+        <p>The nearest tarns were now pools of flickering light, as the trails of fire spread out all around.</p>
+        <p>The wraithlike shapes writhed and twisted in the heat, and in an instant, the miasma of misery lifted from Jack's heart. It felt as if a physical weight had fallen away.</p>
+        <p>The apparitions in the marsh were drawn into the rising columns of flame, a silent, drifting multitude, spinning in a gauzy procession, faster and faster, gradually losing shape and form.</p>
+        <p>They watched, spellbound, as more and more of the wraiths were sucked into the heat, merging and melting into a pale cloud that rose ever higher into the night air.</p>
+        <p>In his head, Jack heard a whispering sigh that faded as the cloud began to dissipate high above them, and the flames guttered and died.</p>
+        <p>"They're gone," Corriwen said. "I think the fire set them free."</p>
+        <p>"They'll be warmer now, I bet," Kerry finally said. Jack suddenly convulsed with laughter that was very close to hysterics, until he doubled up, unable to get his breath.</p>
+        <p>"What?" Kerry asked. "Did I say something funny?"</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 23</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>23</h1><p>Tallabaun Strand stretched out as far as the eye could see. Mile after mile of flat sand. But they had to cross it.</p>
+        <p>"It's a desert," Kerry said.</p>
+        <p>"No." Jack replied. "It's a beach. The book said we'd find it."</p>
+        <p>They stood together staring out across it, and there was no sign of the two horses and no sign of Corriwen and Connor. Jack's heart sank.</p>
+        <p>They had escaped the nightmare Bogrim from the tarns, but the flickering flares of exploding marsh gas had surely pinpointed their presence to the hunters strung along the hills on the far side of the bog. In the morning, all of Dermott's men would zero in on them for sure.</p>
+        <p>"We should move before dawn," Corriwen ventured.</p>
+        <p>"I think we should move right now," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"But there's Bogrim in the dark." Connor didn't like that idea at all.</p>
+        <p>"We know how to beat them, off," Kerry said stoutly. He held up his sword. "I'm not scared of them. I've had a freakin' alien inside me, so dead men walking are a dawdle."</p>
+        <p>Despite Connor's misgivings, they led the horses away from the rock shelter and felt their way in the dark round the edges of tarns and pits, all the time ready for signs of attack. Things moved, out of sight, with glutinous sounds, and those despairing voices whispered in their minds, begging for warmth and the end to loneliness.</p>
+        <p>There was nothing to do but listen to the shuddery pleas and hope a dripping hand would not reach above the surface and snatch them down, until, after a long and tiring night they reached the far side of the CorNamara bogs as grey daylight began to spread over the wasted land.</p>
+        <p>They were hungry, wet and tired, but there was no rest for them here at the base of the black mountains that towered above them. They climbed up a series of rocky tracks that were just wide enough to let the horses past and when they got high enough they turned to look back.</p>
+        <p>Far in the distance, lines of men and horses had started down towards the bogland on a front maybe a mile wide. Dermott was taking no chances. He'd comb the entire barrens if he had to.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Down in Wolfen Castle, Fainn the Pict stared from bloodshot eyes. The thieves had found their way into the bogland, herded there by the frigid wind he'd sent to drive them onwards.</p>
+        <p>From there, with hordes of hunters ranging behind them, there was only one way to go: into the black mountains.</p>
+        <p>And if they made it across those dark peaks, he knew where they'd reach. If not, they'd die there and Dermott would have the harp again, and he, Fainn, would have that dark stone heart. And sooner or later he'd find out its secrets.</p>
+        <p>He turned from the smoking pit and stalked out of the chamber and into the great hall.</p>
+        <p>Dermott was brooding, brows drawn down in constant anger. He sat in a scatter of bloodied feathers that drifted around his feet. In amongst them were the torn bodies of the messenger pigeons that had brought news of the thieves' escape from the trees and into the bogs, then the further news that they had fled into the night. Dermott just could not control his anger, and could never be replied upon to refrain from killing the messenger, even if it was just a pigeon.</p>
+        <p>"You lost them!" he turned his accusing eyes on Fainn. </p>
+        <p>"A temporary misplacement, my Lord," Fainn whispered back.</p>
+        <p>"My harp! That damned harp. I want it back."</p>
+        <p>"As ebb follows flow Lord, you shall have it. It is time to end their game."</p>
+        <p>"You have them?"</p>
+        <p>"We will have them soon. They head west, towards the ocean. I have ordered the black ships to raise sail. And summoned a sea-wind to speed us."</p>
+        <p>Dermott's face visibly brightened.</p>
+        <p>"To oars then," he boomed. "Every hand to the rigging."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They had picked their way ever up, through gullies and ravines where fast water cascaded down from high melt snow until the air sharpened and squalls of hard hail stung their cheeks and blinded the horses. They climbed on and up, sheltering behind the beasts when they could, and taking the brunt of the hail when they couldn't. Every now and again, a motion would catch Kerry's eye and he would spin in alarm to see a dark boulder tumble down a scree slope. Jack thought he could feel eyes on him, but couldn't be sure. The stone here was dark, almost black, as if pushed up from hot depths. No tree grew. Behind them, the bogland was like a wet moonscape, pocked and cratered. The long sweep of trailing horsemen were just dots in its vastness.</p>
+        <p>The final ridge took them by surprise. It had taken them all day to reach the heights where razor-sharp edges and towering stacks made the going almost impossible for the horses until Corriwen blindfolded them when they refused some narrow tracks and they led them slowly up.</p>
+        <p>Wind whistled in cols and ridges, wails of lost souls. It was dismal, cold and barren. Jack was in two minds whether he preferred the bleak hills to the black bogs. It was a toss-up. Both were dangerous and miserable.</p>
+        <p>When they breasted the ridge, Jack sank to his haunches and called a halt. His legs were aching and shaky. Connor stood beside him, breathing quite easily and Jack felt a pang of shame at feeling so weak when this boy with one good leg had matched him step for step the whole climb and seemed none the worse for it.</p>
+        <p>"Glad you said it," Connor said. "I'm about dead on my toes."</p>
+        <p>"You've done pretty well so far," Kerry said.</p>
+        <p>"Only because of those things in the bogs. My backside's been puckering the whole way. I don't like dead people. Especially ones that move."</p>
+        <p>He grinned again. "Sure, it's pure cowardice that keeps me going."</p>
+        <p>They rested an hour, no more, and then Jack said they had to continue. The far side was a nightmare, on muscles accustomed to climbing that had to be now used for descent. The slopes were steep and slick from rain and avalanches of rock-chips trickled down from above, threatening to cover them, and from below their feet, threatening to spill them out and down.</p>
+        <p>Everywhere, the sound of shifting, sliding rock, grating rumbles that sounded like the Scree ogres of Temair, and all the time, they could feel unseen eyes follow their progress.</p>
+        <p>Then the fell runners swooped on them when they were barely half-way down the far side.</p>
+        <p>They moved with frightening speed.</p>
+        <p>The fugitives were working their way through a narrow pass that gave out onto a wider valley when Jack caught something out of the corner of his eye and turned round quickly, expecting to see Dermott's hunters coming for them.</p>
+        <p>"You see something?" Kerry stood beside him.</p>
+        <p>"I thought I did." Jack scanned the rocky valley sides.</p>
+        <p>"There's things watching us," Connor said. "It's sending shivers up and down my spine." Corriwen's hand edged towards her knives.</p>
+        <p>"Every time I look round," Connor said. "They disappear. Maybe it's mountain sprites. They hide in the rocks."</p>
+        <p>"As long as they stay hidden," Jack said. When the going got easier, they climbed into the saddles again and let the horses find the track down. </p>
+        <p>And at the end of the valley, the avalanche came swooping down the slope towards them. It came so silently that at first Jack thought he was seeing things. In the first instant it looked like rolling grey bounders, bouncing and tumbling over the splintered rock, then it suddenly leapt into focus.</p>
+        <p>They moved so fast they were almost a blur of ragged grey.</p>
+        <p>"Fell runners!" Connor barked a warning and their horse reared in alarm to paw the air.</p>
+        <p>They were tall and thin as skeletons, leaping from rock to rock like spiders. Eyes bulged in gaunt faces where every dark vein showed through and as they ran, their mouths gaped wide, showing long yellow teeth.</p>
+        <p>"What in the name&#8230;?" Kerry almost fell off the horse.</p>
+        <p>"Starvelings!" Connor cried. "Fell runners." He kicked the horse and it took off. Jack and Kerry were right on its heels as the grey horde, fifty or more, came charging down the hillside faster than any man could run, tattered clothes flapping in the wind. Jack risked a glance over his shoulder and saw them gaining, long spindly legs that ended in horny feet, every stride ten feet or more, and on every emaciated, staring face he could see a dreadful, implacable hunger.</p>
+        <p>They raced over the edge of the valley and thundered down slopes of loose rock and behind them the thud and scrape of those horny feet came ever louder. The horses whinnied in fear, but they kept going, sending up sprays of shale.</p>
+        <p>"Come on Jack," Kerry said in his ear, holding on to his belt. "They're catching us up."</p>
+        <p>Jack urged the horse on, up and over a lip and down a gradual slope, but the horse was tiring fast. Its breath came in steamy clouds and sounded hoarse and dry.</p>
+        <p>Beyond them the slope surged down towards a flat plain where the mountains ended.</p>
+        <p>"We'll never make it," Jack said, holding tight to the reins. "They're too fast."</p>
+        <p>Behind them the thin chasers snickered and howled, sounding too much like a pack of hungry hyenas to Jack.</p>
+        <p>Ahead of them, Corriwen's horse was faltering on the hard-going track and it kept wheeling its head to see whatever was chasing them.</p>
+        <p>"We have to do something," Jack bawled. He raised a foot from the stirrups and pointed first at his leather boots, then at Connor and Corriwen just ahead of them. "They'd be faster on a horse each."</p>
+        <p>Kerry looked at him, uncomprehending. Then it dawned.</p>
+        <p>"You think we can take them?"</p>
+        <p>"We have to give it a try." Jack spurred the mount to one last effort, got it alongside the lead horse. Reaching out, he grabbed Connor by the neck of his threadbare tunic and hauled him from behind Corriwen. The boy yelled in fright and surprise and for a second, the horse almost juddered to a halt under the triple weight, but as soon as Connor was on its neck, Jack swung one leg off. Kerry simply tumbled backwards and hit the ground on his feet, moving fast.</p>
+        <p>With only one rider, the horse seemed to gather itself. Corriwen turned in her saddle and saw Connor alone. Her mouth opened wide when she saw Jack and Kerry on the track with the horde of fell runners arrowing straight for them.</p>
+        <p>Then the boys <em>moved</em>. One second they were on the track and the next they were up and running over the hard rocks, leaping like mountain goats, almost faster than the eye could follow.</p>
+        <p>Kerry bent and snatched a handful of stones and his sling was already swinging when the nearest hungry runner got to within twenty feet from him. He wheeled, splitting from Jack. The runner seemed to falter for a second as its prey separated. Kerry leapt from one jagged rock to another, spun as he landed and let fly with a rock.</p>
+        <p>It took the lead runner between the eyes with a sound like a hammer blow. Blood spattered and the thin thing went down in a clatter of bones.</p>
+        <p>Jack had his bow ready for the next one that came bounding in a ragged grey streak straight towards him, laughing like something demented. He held his breath to steady his aim, drew the string and let fly. At the astonishing speed the thing was moving at, the arrow went clean through his neck and lodged in the eye of another monstrosity ten feet behind. They both tumbled head first into the bare rocks and then Jack and Kerry were off again, haring after the horses but sufficiently off the trail to lead the hunters to the side.</p>
+        <p>"These boots are pure magic," Kerry said. "I thought those things were fast, but we're&#8230;.we're just super-<em>freakin'</em>-sonic."</p>
+        <p>He sped away from Jack, seemed to run straight up the face of a massive boulder.</p>
+        <p>"Come on!" he yelled. "Come and get me, you bunch of bony freaks."</p>
+        <p>A runner darted straight for him, long arms stretched out and hands hooked into claws. He reached the top of the rock and just as his fingers went to close on Kerry's neck, Kerry vanished in a flick of green. The momentum carried the fell-runner straight off the top of the rock and down a sheer drop on the far side. It howled in panic, waving its scrawny arms to achieve some balance as it fell, but to no avail. It hit with a strangely wet sound. Kerry turned, sling in hand, as another one raced up the boulder towards him, mouth gaping wide. He pivoted and used the big stone in the sling as a mace. It took the runner on the side of the head and sent it somersaulting off the rock to disappear screaming into a crevasse.</p>
+        <p>Forty yards away, Jack had found a high vantage and was on one knee, sending a volley of arrows into the main pack, and finding a solid target for each one.</p>
+        <p>Kerry whooped as the avalanche of runners slowed in confusion and ragged screams of pain. They gibbered and slobbered, like a back of mindless animals. </p>
+        <p>Kerry skipped off the great boulder to another and another until he reached Jack.</p>
+        <p>"That stopped them," he crowed. "What a team!"</p>
+        <p>Upslope, the grey runners milled together, just out of range now. Two of them fell on one of their fallen and without a pause, began to feast noisily, while the thing writhed and hissed until it could writhe no more.</p>
+        <p>"Gross!" Kerry groaned. "That would turn your stomach."</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said. "While they're busy."</p>
+        <p>They scampered off the rock and found the trail again, running easily while the land zoomed past them until they reached the long downslope towards the plain below.</p>
+        <p>When they got there, they discovered it wasn't a plain, but a vast and featureless beach.</p>
+        <p>And there was no sign of Corriwen and Connor.</p>
+        <p>The Book of Ways had told them they must cross the strand. Jack and Kerry walked down through the tide-line where marooned tree-trunks jutted like tumbled bones, and real bones, great white curves angled up from deep sand, ribs and skulls filled with curving teeth, as if this was a place where all the monsters of the deep came to die. Far, far in the north, a faint smudge told them where the beach ended. It could have been twenty miles away, or fifty. They just couldn't tell.</p>
+        <p>Beyond the bones, the sand was flat and the wind was in their faces. Behind them, up on the slope, the runners hooted and jabbered, but made no further attempt at pursuit. After a mile or so, they couldn't be heard at all, and best of all, they couldn't be seen. Jack scanned the beach from horizon to horizon. He couldn't quite recall, in all the excitement, just how long they'd managed to divert the mad pursuit in the hills, but it couldn't have been long enough for the two horses to disappear entirely, he was sure of that.</p>
+        <p>Yet the sand was empty, devoid of life. It stretched out before them, with only wavelet marks on its surface to break the monotony, and soon enough even those marks became monotonous. Kerry searched like a hunting dog, looking for signs until he found what might have been horse-tracks that were slowly filling in with fine damp sand. They were barely visible, but he convinced himself and Jack that they were real.</p>
+        <p>He pointed north. "That way."</p>
+        <p>Jack paused and slowly scanned the extent of the long shore. Far away on the left, the faint sound of waves whispered across the sand and he thought he could make out the motion of waves blurring in the distance.</p>
+        <p>"The tide's far out," he said. "And we're a long way from the hills."</p>
+        <p>"Takes ages for the tide to come in," Kerry said, but there was something in this empty expanse that made Jack feel nervous and exposed. Here and there, as they walked, they stumbled into a patch of softer sand that gave under their feet and sucked them up to their knees.</p>
+        <p>"What if they hit quicksand?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>Jack didn't want to think about that. They plodded on, leaving two pairs of fading footprint trails behind them and the sand grew wetter and wetter until every step was a sheer slog.</p>
+        <p>They came on the inlet when they were still trudging, heads down against the rising wind, and it was only by sheer luck that they didn't tumble straight into the sea. Beyond the narrow neck of water, the beach continued in big undulations where some massive waves had thrown up dunes of cockle-shells. They stood for a moment, considering whether to go seawards or landwards to attempt a crossing when Jack spotted something out in the west.</p>
+        <p>A black sail was just visible above the far horizon.</p>
+        <p>A seabird cry carried to them on the wind, faint and high.</p>
+        <p>Kerry grabbed Jack, pulling his gaze away from the black shape in the distance.</p>
+        <p>"Did you hear something?"</p>
+        <p>"A bird," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"No, I don't think so." Kerry ran along the edge of the inlet, breasted a small rise formed by swirling tides then turned and yelled.</p>
+        <p>"I see them. Come on!"</p>
+        <p>Jack run up beside him. It was no seabird. Corriwen was jumping up and down, waving her arms, her voice just a shrill piping a mile away.</p>
+        <p>Jack looked back out to sea. Another black sail had appeared beside the first, and the first one looked as if it was closer than it had been. Before he could say anything, Kerry was hauling him by the arm along the rill, slipping in damp sand until they found a place shallow enough to cross. The inlet was only a hundred yards wide, but the sand underneath was like silt and sucked at their feet as they waded. They were half-way across when something made Jack turn, and when he did, his jaw dropped slack.</p>
+        <p>"Jeez Kerry!"</p>
+        <p>"What's the&#8230;.?"</p>
+        <p>Then Kerry went silent. On the seaward side, a black line that spanned the whole inlet swelled even darker.</p>
+        <p>"What <em>is </em> that?" </p>
+        <p>"A bore," Jack gulped.</p>
+        <p>"Like a pig?"</p>
+        <p>"No! Move Kerry. We have to get across right now."</p>
+        <p>Jack had seen something like this on television, on some river down south. On the Severn, he was sure.</p>
+        <p>It was a big wave. A huge wave. And it was getting bigger and bigger every second as the tide forced it up the narrowing inlet to where they stood. Jack could hear the swelling roar as it barrelled up the natural funnel.</p>
+        <p>"A tidal bore," he cried. He shoved Kerry hard, forcing him to move through the cold water. "It's going to catch us."</p>
+        <p>Kerry's eyes were wide as saucers. </p>
+        <p>"That's no boar," he said, stumbling in the shallows. "It's a freaking great wave! Don't you let me&#8230;"</p>
+        <p>But the roar of the approaching wave swamped his words.</p>
+        <p>"I won't let you drown," Jack shouted, though he hardly even heard his own words. The wave rolled on towards them, gaining height and speed and strength. Jack kept a hold of Kerry, shoving him on and on as the water shallowed ahead of them until they were thigh-deep, then knee deep, then splashing through mere inches.</p>
+        <p>Jack saw a big shadow loom behind him.</p>
+        <p>And something vast slammed into him and he was gone.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Fainn stood with Dermott on the foredeck of the black ship. The Lord of Wolfen Castle paced about in his shaggy fur robe, clenching and unclenching brawny fists.</p>
+        <p>"You're sure they're here?"</p>
+        <p>"They are here, my Lord. And we have a tide wind."</p>
+        <p>He gestured with one hand and the steersman made an adjustment so they tacked in close to shore at the wide mouth of an inlet.</p>
+        <p>Fainn held something up to his forehead and closed his eyes. Dermott saw something like an eye enclosed in a crystal and knew it was some devilry of Fainn's arcane knowledge, but, while he knew nothing of the spellbinding arts, he trusted Fainn to make them work.</p>
+        <p>Finally Fainn put down the strange object. The wind caught his cloak and made it flutter like a nest of bats. He pointed a long finger across the sands.</p>
+        <p>"I see them now. Hunted from the hills, and they have no escape. The Tallabaun Tide works for us, and I have turned the wind shoreward. You shall have them."</p>
+        <p>The boat entered the inlet. Behind it, a fleet of low, sleek craft, each bearing a wolf's head on its prow, turned in unison, and the rising aft wind sent them arrowing in.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The wave hit them so hard it threw them off their feet. Kerry bawled in fright and then went silent as the water catapulted them into the air then tumbled them in green depths and it was all Jack could do to keep a hold of Kerry's arm.</p>
+        <p>The wave lifted them up and smashed them down. Jack hit the sand face-first and Kerry's knees knocked the breath out of him and for a second he thought he was pinned into the silt.</p>
+        <p>Then the wave passed and the after-tug sucked him up and out of the sand to flounder, gasping in thick silted water.</p>
+        <p>Kerry spluttered beside him, coughing and retching as if he'd swallowed an ocean. His fingers were clenched to tightly on Jack's tunic that his knuckles were white.</p>
+        <p>"Where did <em>that</em> come from?" he finally managed.</p>
+        <p>Jack wiped salt water from his eyes. He had no time for explanations. </p>
+        <p>"Come on," he urged. "It's the tide."</p>
+        <p>He turned to the seaward side and saw the second wave boring up the inlet, every bit as big as the first, ten foot high or more and foaming at the crest. Behind it there would be seven or eight more, if he remembered the nature programme correctly. And the two of them were caught out on the open sands.</p>
+        <p>They turned and raced towards where Corriwen was still calling and waving.</p>
+        <p>When they reached her, Connor was stuck. Really stuck.</p>
+        <p>He was caught under the horse which was on its side and half buried in sand. Its eyes rolled as it struggled to free itself and Connor's face was waxy with pain.</p>
+        <p>"It got stuck and rolled," Corriwen said. "I can't get it free."</p>
+        <p>Kerry bent down beside Connor whose tawny hair was matted with damp sand.</p>
+        <p>"You okay?"</p>
+        <p>Sweat beaded the boy's brow. "I think he's broke my leg," he gasped. The horse flailed and he groaned under its weight. "But it's a useless leg anyhow."</p>
+        <p>"The horse bolted and he couldn't stop it," Corriwen explained.</p>
+        <p>"Never had a horse before. Didn't know the stop word."</p>
+        <p>Jack could see he was making a big effort, but there was no time to waste.</p>
+        <p>"We have to move him," he said. "The tide's coming in."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen let her eyes flick towards the outer edge of the shore. Another big bore was driving up the inlet, scouring the sides and flooding the sand on either side.</p>
+        <p>"The horse is stuck fast."</p>
+        <p>"Where's the other one?" Corriwen turned to face inland. "That way."</p>
+        <p>Jack peered towards where the shore met higher ground. The other horse had stopped, but it was just a dot in the distance. But they needed its strength if they were going to pull the other one from the sucking sand and get Connor free. And they needed it fast, because Jack could see the tide was racing in, driven by a hard onshore wind.</p>
+        <p>He turned to Kerry. </p>
+        <p>"Bring him in," he said quietly. "And make it quick."</p>
+        <p>Kerry nodded. He shucked off the backpack. Jack slapped his shoulder and then Kerry was haring across the flats, faster than Jack had ever see a boy run. Faster than any boy <em>could</em> run, without Rune's Cluricaun boots on his feet. Sand flew in a billowing line as Kerry's shape diminished. Corriwen watched in awe, but Jack was already on his knees, scooping sand away with his hands, trying to clear as much from Connor as he could.</p>
+        <p>And all the time the waters were rising.</p>
+        <p>It took Kerry half an hour to return at a gallop, because even with wide hooves the horse found it hard going on sand that was now getting moister and softer as it soaked up the rising tide. By the time he got there the sound of surf was now a roar on the wind and the white tops of waves rolled in relentlessly.</p>
+        <p>Jack fixed their rope to the pommel while Corriwen made a make-shift harness and looped it round the prone horse's forelegs and neck and then the three of them grabbed the cinches and girl, boys and horse hauled and strained.</p>
+        <p>The first wave rolled over Connor and took him completely by surprise. He gulped in a lungful of sea and then coughed it all up again.</p>
+        <p>Kerry was already almost knee deep and Jack could see the worry on his face.</p>
+        <p>"Jack. We'd really better hurry."</p>
+        <p>Jack took hold of the straps again. Corriwen slapped the horse and it heaved once more. The fallen animal whinnied in panic, flailed its hooves, but the sand held fast.</p>
+        <p>"Come on!" Jack cried, in sudden frustration. He kicked at the horse and it reared. Then he reached into his quiver, pulled out an arrow and jabbed it into the horse's side. Blood spurted and the horse screeched, lunged forward. Something snapped and a rope end caught Jack hard on the mouth. For an instant he thought the game was over.</p>
+        <p>Another wave crashed over Connor. Corriwen wailed. Jack hated himself for doing it, but he stabbed the horse again and held tight to the broken rope. The animal bucked forward and there was a sudden sucking sound as the trapped mount dragged free, rolling Connor over on his side and he screamed as high as the horse had done as it's weight rolled on his hurt leg. Another wave drowned the scream completely.</p>
+        <p>"Come on!" Jack ordered. "Get him up."</p>
+        <p>He and Kerry lifted Connor up from the sands while Corriwen kept the horse steady and they managed to get him across the saddle. They were up to their thighs in water.</p>
+        <p>"We're awfully far out Jack," Kerry said. And he was right. They were three miles out, maybe more than that from the high water mark, just a faint line of driftwood in the distance. Jack turned to assess the situation and his heart leapt to the back of his throat.</p>
+        <p>The fleet of black ships was haring up the inlet, almost surfing the big incoming rollers, with the wind billowing the sails out to full extent. Jack could even see two figures on the prow of the lead boat and he knew that Fainn and Dermott had caught up with them. Caught them floundering in the open.</p>
+        <p>"Move. Now!" He hustled Corriwen up on the horse beside Connor and was about to climb on the other when a deep bass note came rolling over the flat towards them. It sounded like a bow shot, followed by a loud whooping sound. Jack turned and saw a big rock tumbling through the air towards them.</p>
+        <p>"Catapult!" he blurted as the rock came straight at them. He shoved Kerry face down into the shallows and dived after him.</p>
+        <p>There was an almighty thump as the missile hit, only yards from where they sprawled. The sand rippled like waves under the impact. Jack pushed himself up, shook the water from his face and looked about. The rock was as big as himself, and cut into a rough sphere. It was almost completely buried in the sand. </p>
+        <p>And the horse was gone as if it had never been. The big rock must have smashed it deep underneath its weight.</p>
+        <p>Jack felt a sudden rage build up inside him. The mount had carried them for mile after mile and now it was gone. At that moment he could have murdered Dermott and Fainn both. Instead, he turned away and caught up with Corriwen who was leading the other horse through turbid water and sand that was draggingly slow.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry forced themselves to move until they reached her and each took hold of the reins as they forced the animal into shallower water, gasping and panting with the effort, while behind them, the ship was running them down.</p>
+        <p>By a miracle they came to a little slope where the water was only inches deep and gave them speed. They still held the reins as the horse managed a canter, then a gallop and for the first time, Jack thought they had a chance. Somebody on the ship cursed and bawled. They were over the other side of the slope, and splashing through water again. Jack gauged the distance and saw he had been wrong. It was nearer five miles than three and to his horror he saw that this part of the beach curved inwards, so that they were on a narrow neck of sand with deeper water on either side. And with the speed of the flood, they'd be marooned on an open spit in a matter of minutes.</p>
+        <p>The horse was flagging. Kerry had ridden it hard when he caught it, and it had used up a lot in hauling its companion from the sand. Jack felt a clench of despair inside him, while on his chest, the firestone heart had begun to beat ominously.</p>
+        <p>"We'll never make it," Kerry said. "Look. It's cutting us off. We're going to get stuck."</p>
+        <p>On the saddle, Connor groaned as the horse jolted on and the tide surged in to overtake them.</p>
+        <p>"Too fast!" Jack thought. The wind was too high, blowing in from an ocean, driven under thickening black clouds that looked as if they were bringing a storm, and driving the black ships towards them.</p>
+        <p>"Have to do something", he told himself. They'd be caught here and they'd die here, either drowned by the rising tide or killed by Dermott and his men. Or worse, they could end up in the hands of that strange Fainn creature and Jack somehow knew death might be preferable to that.</p>
+        <p>It was then that he remembered the words of the Book of Ways.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Climb bare hill but ware the mire</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>North from sound of thunder fire</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Find the shore and walk the strand</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>Yet ware the tide and ware the sand.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>In the night the lost await</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Hunger stalks on runners gait.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Where the ocean finds lands end</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Seek a haven, seek a friend.</em></p>
+        <p>They had climbed bare hill and braved the mire. And now they were in the tide and sand.</p>
+        <p>"Seek a haven. Find a friend." Jack repeated the words to himself and as he did, he thought of Dilligan Rune. </p>
+        <p>"The flute!" he cried. "It has something to&#8230;"</p>
+        <p>He jabbed a hand into his back and drew out the little flute. It could summon Dilligan Rune, or some of his people. <em>Maybe</em>. Jack kept moving as he put the thing to his lips and blew hard.</p>
+        <p>No sound came out. He tried again, and still got nothing at all. He looked at the flute in his fingers. It was made of bone, not the polished wood he recalled Rune handing to him, then remembered. <em>It was the wrong flute</em>. Finn the Giant had given them the bone one. And he was far, far away.</p>
+        <p>Jack snatched for the wooden flute and blew on it. This time he got a cacophonous shriek, like the whistle of an old train on a dark night. He blew again and felt as if his eardrums would burst.</p>
+        <p>In the distance, something stirred.</p>
+        <p>Jack ploughed on, Kerry beside him. Way on the far high tide mark, the loose sand seemed to shift and roll. Pieces of straw and dry seaweed tumbled up into the air. Beyond the tide line, low trees whipped about, then lashed about.</p>
+        <p>And down from the mountains came a blast of wind that swept out onto Tallabaun Strand like a storm.</p>
+        <p>It almost stopped them in their tracks. The blast, fierce as a hurricane, whipped wet sand and water into the air, blinding them in an instant. Kerry fell and was tumbled backwards and the horse almost went to its knees. Jack held tight to Kerry and hauled him up, shoving against the savage wind. He turned his back, to save his eyes and saw, to his amazement, that the heavy rollers forcing the tide-flood were now moving backwards.</p>
+        <p>And the sails on the black ships flopped and whipped about uselessly.</p>
+        <p>The wind was so strong it was pushing the tide back. Jack put a hand over his eyes and turned into it, peering through the slit between his fingers, and saw the water that had threatened to cut them off was being forced out and away, leaving the spine of sand free.</p>
+        <p>He grabbed the horse's strap.</p>
+        <p>"Come on. Just a bit more and we're there."</p>
+        <p>Behind them the black ships had stalled in the channel as warring currents whipped and frothed around them, and the hands tried to haul in sail too late as the ships veered in a group and ploughed into the inlet's bank. On the deck, Fainn the Pict and Dermott the Wolf cursed like demons.</p>
+        <p>The horse finally made it onto harder sand and despite the windblast, began to make steady headway towards solid ground. A mile, two miles, three and the boats were far behind. Another mile and the high tide line was within reach. Jack gasped for breath, legs aching from the effort of pushing against the headwind. He slapped the horse on the rump and it managed to trot on ahead of them, while he and Kerry held on to each other for balance.</p>
+        <p>Connor and Corriwen were up on dry sand now, picking through the strand-line towards the cover of the trees.</p>
+        <p>And a huge shaggy beast with a wide gaping mouth and huge teeth came charging out at them.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 24</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>24</h1>
+        <p>The horse reared and almost threw Connor off. Corriwen moved, quick as a cat. She pulled his sword out, rolled from the saddle and braced herself.</p>
+        <p>The ferocious beast came charging straight at her and she angled the sword to take it in the throat. The mouth of teeth gaped even wider.</p>
+        <p>"No!" Jack cried.</p>
+        <p>But then it was on her and she was down on the sand, kicking and struggling with the hairy animal on top. They heard a high-pitched cry.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry crossed the distance in five bare seconds and he got a hand to the animal's neck and tried to drag it off.</p>
+        <p>"Come on! Move!"</p>
+        <p>But it had its paws planted on either side of Corriwen's head and one massive paw pinned the sword to the ground.</p>
+        <p>And Finn the Giant's huge dog was licking at Corriwen Redthorn's face with its great wet tongue.</p>
+        <p>"Come on Tinker," Kerry insisted. "Let her up before she drowns."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>"I wondered why he took off so quickly," Finn boomed. "That whistle's so high, I can't hear it myself, but, Tinker always heeds the call."</p>
+        <p>They had managed to drag the dog off until Corriwen, dripping with saliva, managed to get to her feet and then it bounded excitedly around them as they climbed up the beach slope and into the trees, where they heard the boom of giant steps.</p>
+        <p>Behind them the black ships were stuck on the sandbank and Jack knew the sailors would have to wait for a full tide before they got moving again. They were safe for the moment. </p>
+        <p>Finn strode towards them through the forest, shuddering the trees with his footfalls. Corriwen looked up at him in awe.</p>
+        <p>"Well met, little people," he rumbled. "And twice as many as before."</p>
+        <p>He hunkered down low and looked Corriwen up and down. "Two old friends and two new. Welcome to Finn's headland."</p>
+        <p>They reached Finn's home before nightfall. The giant simply tucked the tired horse under one arm and carried the four of them in his creel mile after mile round the rocky north shore.</p>
+        <p>For the first in a long time Jack Flint felt out of danger.</p>
+        <p>They ate slices of a huge fish as wide as a horse while Jack put a splint on Connor's badly bruised thigh.</p>
+        <p>"I don't think it's broken, but you should keep it still for a while."</p>
+        <p>"How can I do that and keep running?" Connor gritted his teeth as Jack worked.</p>
+        <p>"We'll think of something."</p>
+        <p>"They'll come around the point on the high tide," Finn said. "And south of here, the little people are scouring the country for folk who sound just like the four of you. They say you stole something."</p>
+        <p>"Well," Kerry said. "We did&#8230;sort of."</p>
+        <p>Jack told Finn everything that had happened to them, then drew out the golden harp. The cut strings drooped like precious threads. Finn held it daintily in one hand.</p>
+        <p>"Isn't this beautiful," he said. "I never saw the like in my life. And it's a crime to see its voice cut."</p>
+        <p>"Rune says it's the Tara Harp."</p>
+        <p>"The Harp of Seasons," Finn nodded. "That figures with what's been happening, I suppose. I always imagined it was much bigger than this little thing."</p>
+        <p>"Rune says the whole of Eirinn needs it. We can't let Dermott get his hands on it again. And it seems we can't get home until we get it to Tara Hill, wherever it is."</p>
+        <p>Finn laughed. "Nobody knows where Tara Hill stands. It's a fairy hill, sure. It comes out of the mist when the Sky Lady decides and not before. You're as well searching for gold at the end of the rainbow."</p>
+        <p>"Doesn't sound like mission impossible in a place like this, with leprechauns and giants and creepy dead people that wander about the bogs."</p>
+        <p>"Well, all I know is that no mortal can find Tara Hill. It's got to call you, is what I believe."</p>
+        <p>"So we'll just sit here and eat your fish," Kerry said, "And wait for the call."</p>
+        <p>Finn laughed. "You can stay as long as you like, sure enough, and I'll protect you as I can, but yon Dermott, and that dark spellbinder of his, they won't give up easily and they won't give up any time soon. One of the fisher folk tells me they put a price on all of you, and with all the hunger, there's many would take that prize."</p>
+        <p>He stroked his big square jaw. "Those boats need a wind to get round the point. Wind and tide together, so they won't get here for a day or two, three at the most. That should give you some time to think, and your little brains are a lot quicker than mine I hope, for I can't think of a way. This is as far north as you can get, and the whole south land is a-hunting your runaway hides. Beyond here's only a few misty islands and cold ocean."</p>
+        <p>"We could check the book," Kerry volunteered.</p>
+        <p>Jack already had it in his hand and the pages were riffling back to front in their papery whisper. Finn rubbed his chin, fascinated. It sounded like a rasp-file on steel.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Harried close, o'er sea and hill</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Beset on every side by ill </em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Journeyman must ever flee</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>Bearing Eirinn's harmony</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Yet standing on the furthest reach</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Where ocean grinds on stone</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>No escape, east south or west</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>But surely travel on.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>No rest, no rest, till end of quest</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The time is now at hand</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To trust a friend, to steel the heart</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And stride from land to land.</em> </p>
+        <p>"It's like I told you," Finn said. "Hunters all over the south, and nowhere left to run."</p>
+        <p>"Maybe we could get a boat?" Kerry looked hopeful. Finn just shook his head.</p>
+        <p>"Nothing those sail-ships can't catch."</p>
+        <p>"Then we're stuck here at the end of the earth," Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"We must make a stand," said Corriwen. </p>
+        <p>"Yes," Jack said, with more sarcasm than he intended. "Four against the world."</p>
+        <p>"Five," Finn said. "Even if I'm no scrapper. And Tinker. He's good for a bite or two. Maybe he can lick them to death."</p>
+        <p>"It's not your fight," Jack said. "It's our quest. Rune told us we have to see it through or we'll never find the homeward gate. It's some kind of rule."</p>
+        <p>"I'd be no good anyway," Finn said. "I might be big, but I'd rather fish than fight."</p>
+        <p>"Me too," Kerry said wistfully. "It's been a long time&#8230;"</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Finn had estimated three days at most before the black ships rounded the point, but whatever wind Fainn managed to conjure up hauled them off the sandbank and into deep tide water and then carried them past Tallabaun Strand and round the cape. They made it in only two days.</p>
+        <p>And by then, a horde of hunters had hemmed the fugitives in on the rocky headland that was Finn's lonely home.</p>
+        <p>It seemed the whole of Eirinn had joined in the chase. From a vantage on the rumbling mountain that overlooked Finn's haven, they could see lines of men, on foot and horseback, spreading out through far valleys. The sound of horns and drums came faint on the wind. Here, on the furthest reach, they were trapped with nowhere left to run. Beyond, to the north, the grey sea roiled as far as the eye could see.</p>
+        <p>Jack scanned it, desperately thinking of how to get out of this when the heartstone gave a slow beat against his skin.</p>
+        <p><em>Danger. </em>But he already knew that.</p>
+        <p>Out to the west, still far enough to be mere dots on the horizon, the sails of black ships heeled against the wind.</p>
+        <p><em>Too soon! </em>They hadn't had enough time to think or plan. And Dermott and Fainn were coming fast. They'd be trapped between the ships and the hunters for sure.</p>
+        <p>They stood there together, a forlorn little group with one giant and his dog. Here the rock was bare and glassy. The side of the mountain was spiked with thin spires of stone from which smelly yellow fumes spewed and here and there, the rock was twisted like toffee where it had melted and run in some distant past. It reminded Jack of the searing fissures of Temair when the Morrigan's power had split the ground.</p>
+        <p>They were in as much danger now as they had been then, and they had no leprechauns or bards to help them.</p>
+        <p>Jack pointed north to where the sea disappeared in thick mist.</p>
+        <p>"What's in that direction?"</p>
+        <p>"I'm not sure. I've never been anywhere but here. Us big folk don't wander much."</p>
+        <p>Below them, waves crashed against the rocky headland. From this height Jack could see the great hexagonal columns of stone packed together like giant pencils. There was something familiar about the shapes. He was sure he must have seen a picture of them somewhere in one of the major's travel books. The pillars marched out for half a mile, gradually descending until they disappeared under the surf.</p>
+        <p>"What's that?" he asked Finn.</p>
+        <p>"Damdation, I forgot about the sea wall."</p>
+        <p>"The what?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>"Oh, it's an old story," Finn said. "My great-great-seventeen times great-grandfather. He's supposed to have raised the dyke to keep the kelpie out of the reach. It's a kind of stone fence."</p>
+        <p>"Where did it go to?" Corriwen wondered.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe it's just a story. I heard it when I was little."</p>
+        <p>Jack couldn't imagine Finn being little.</p>
+        <p>"It was supposed to stretch over to some island." Finn scratched his head and frowned in concentration. "See if I can remember. "</p>
+        <p>His face eventually brightened. "Blind Fingal's Island. That was the name. Never seen it. Never been."</p>
+        <p>"If it's a dyke, then it's been worn down by the tide," Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"Like I said, it's an old story. My Ma used to tell me about it. About Finnan Flannan and the Kelpies. And there's a dragon in it too."</p>
+        <p>"I don't think we've got time&#8230;" Jack began.</p>
+        <p>But Finn seemed not to have heard him.</p>
+        <p>"She told me it was true. I was only knee high, but I remember the rhyme. The Kelpies were hunting in the reach eating all Finnan's fish. And they swam too fast for him to catch, with spear or net. Anyway, Finnan had enough on his plate, for he was fighting a dragon called Gerumbel."</p>
+        <p>Finn squatted down beside them, closed his eyes, and began to recite from distant memory.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And climbing high, he looked and saw</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The furnace of Gerumbel's maw</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>A hillock High, the stone he smote</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Then stuck it down Gerumbel's throat</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>In fire and flame and steam and smoke</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Gerumbel then began to choke</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And quaking all from ridge to ridge</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>His struggles raised the stony bridge.</em></p>
+        <p>"Nice story," Kerry said. </p>
+        <p>"That's how he raised it high enough to keep the Kelpies out."</p>
+        <p>Jack didn't hear him. Something had clicked in his mind, some tenuous connection. It was the name Finn had told them. <em>Gerumbel.</em> As he tried to concentrate, the mountain gave a little shuddery tremor and belched a column of white steam high above them.</p>
+        <p>"Finn. I'm trying to remember. What do you call this hill?"</p>
+        <p>"Old Gumbles. That's what my Da always called it."</p>
+        <p>He scratched his head slowly, thinking again. </p>
+        <p>"No. Hold hard!" He cocked his head to the side. "Old Grumbles. Wait. No, I was wrong. It wasn't a dragon at all. It was just the way Ma used to tell it, and I was just small at the time."</p>
+        <p>He laughed in sudden comprehension. "I'm a slow old thing, but I get there in the end! Finnan breaks off the top of a hill and carried it up the side of the mountain. He jammed it in the hole and sat on it. Big man was Finnan Flannan. They were all big in them days. And the mountain bucked and heaved like a mad kelpie, but it couldn't throw him off. And all that force pushed up the rocks and formed the dyke. And it went right out to Staffa. I remember now. That's Blind Fingal's Island."</p>
+        <p>Finn looked up at the smoking peak.</p>
+        <p>"It was a long, long time ago. And old Grumbles was much younger. And here I was thinking it was a dragon."</p>
+        <p>"Gerumbel," Jack prompted. "Old Grumbles."</p>
+        <p>The words were hardly out of his mouth when Tinker leapt up and faced to the west of the point and began to howl. The black sails were no longer dots on the horizon. They were cutting fast through the waves. </p>
+        <p>"We should be getting out of here," Jack said. "There's logs down on the shore. Maybe we could lash them together. See where the tide takes us."</p>
+        <p>"You go," Kerry retorted. "I've had enough water to last a lifetime. And rafts. Remember what happened on the last one? And there's things in there, Finn. Kelpies you say?"</p>
+        <p>He turned, but Finn was gone, surprisingly silently for one so big, with Tinker at his heels. In great strides, he was climbing the jagged slope of the rumbling mountain.</p>
+        <p>"He's never going to try it," Kerry said. "You don't believe that old story, do you?"</p>
+        <p>"Finbar and the Major, they said there's some truth in every story. You have to believe in giants now, don't you?"</p>
+        <p>Finn was half-way up, on a rocky shoulder where big smoky steeples poked up from bare rock. He heaved at one, swaying it back and forth with all his weight until it cracked free with a sound like cannon shot. It was bigger than a house. Finn bent low. Even from here they heard his grunt as he straightened up with the huge rock cone across his shoulder. The mountain shivered, as if expecting something. Finn began to climb upwards, shoulders bent under the massive weight, until he was standing in plumes of white steam.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe I can't fight," Finn's voice boomed down at them. "But I can lift heavy things."</p>
+        <p>The mountain shuddered again.</p>
+        <p>"It doesn't like it," Corriwen said. "Can mountains think?"</p>
+        <p>"I surely hope not," Connor said. </p>
+        <p>Finn got both hands to the rock and heaved it high. He looked like a mighty colossus facing the fiery gates of some hell. Then he twisted and let the stone slip. There was an enormous crash, louder than thunder and another tremor, this one stronger than before, almost enough to knock them from their feet as it passed through the mountain. Below them, shock-waves sent vast ripples out across the sea.</p>
+        <p>The column of steam was suddenly cut off. Finn waved down to them, then leapt onto the stone plug and jumped up and down, jamming it deeper in the hole.</p>
+        <p>The mountain bucked like a gigantic horse and the four of them were bounced into the air to land in a tangled heap. Then the sides of the mountain slowly began to buckle and swell.</p>
+        <p>Below them the water frothed and lashed where it met the line of pillar-stones.</p>
+        <p>Then, as they watched, great hexagonal column stacks slowly began to rise, one pillar at a time, grinding up from below the water.</p>
+        <p>"The Giant's Causeway," Jack said. "It was true!"</p>
+        <p>As they stood agape, the mountain shuddered again. From its top Finn cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed down to them.</p>
+        <p>"Finnan's Dyke! There's your bridge."</p>
+        <p>And the pillars kept rising, one beside the other, fitting together like puzzle-blocks, row on row as the causeway began to rise, further and further out to sea in a thin curving line. Yard by yard, the stone bridge expanded while waves crashed on either side, sending whorls and whirlpools spinning along beside it.</p>
+        <p>"It's like the Book told us," Corriwen said in wonder. "Stride from land to land."</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said. The black ships were nearer now. They were less than five miles distant and closing fast. He got Connor's arm around his shoulder and he and Kerry hustled him down the slope until they reached the giant pillars which marched like a stairway down to the causeway.</p>
+        <p>Then they were on the new bridge, its rocks still wet from years of submersion, and covered in limpets and barnacles.</p>
+        <p>Ahead of them, now far out to sea, it was still rising, pushed up by whatever enormous pressure squeezed under the rumbling mountain. Jack risked a look back and saw Finn, standing on the stone plug, waving down at them.</p>
+        <p>And together they walked out over the sea, not knowing just what they would find at the end of this strange journey.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 25</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>25</h1><p>The land was far behind them now, but the ships were closer. They half-carried Connor across Finn's causeway. Already they could see hordes of hunters coming round the side of the rumbling mountain and down towards the first of the pillar-steps.</p>
+        <p>The black ships had veered out from the shallows, heading for somewhere ahead of them where the bridge disappeared into thick mist and Jack knew they would try to cut them off.</p>
+        <p>"We must be prepared to fight," Corriwen said. "They have the wind in their sails."</p>
+        <p>Jack knew he and Kerry, with Brand's special boots, could have raced on ahead, but that was no option, not with Corriwen and Connor unable to catch up and there had been no way they could have got the horse down the steps to where they now were.</p>
+        <p>"Leave me," Connor said. "I'm just slowing you down."</p>
+        <p>"No chance," Kerry said. "It's one for all and each for everybody else. That's our rule."</p>
+        <p>"But I can swim! Since I was a baby I've been a swimmer. They'll never find me in these seas."</p>
+        <p>"Yeah, but something else might," Kerry snorted. "You see that fish Finn caught? It could swallow you whole."</p>
+        <p>Kerry was remembering the way the wolf-hound had disappeared under the water on Temair. And the eels that had slithered out to feast on Corriwen. He didn't like water and the unknown things that lived in it.</p>
+        <p>Connor was flagging. His leg had been crippled enough before, but the weight of the horse had twisted it so hard Jack feared it had come out of the socket. They paused to rest for a moment and he turned shoreward. The black ships were bearing down on them inexorably, and hunters were almost at the edge of the causeway.</p>
+        <p>Behind the hunters, the Grumbling Mountain – <em>Gerumbel – </em>Jack corrected himself shivered again, quite visibly across the distance. Finn was still astride the plug-stone, standing hands on hips. But the mountain seemed bigger now, its sides less conical. A couple of the fuming spires broke off and crashed to splinters with the sound of thunder.</p>
+        <p>"It's swelling," Jack said. </p>
+        <p>And that was true. The mountain's sides were convex where they had been concave before, as if the pressure was inflating its entire bulk.</p>
+        <p>"Finn had better move," Kerry said. "If that thing blows&#8230;."</p>
+        <p>The mountain shuddered. A smoking spire blew off like a rocket, followed by a roar of yellow smoke. Rocks tumbled down the swelling seaward face.</p>
+        <p>"Come on Finn," Jack yelled into the wind, although he knew the giant would never hear him.</p>
+        <p>Gerumbel swelled so powerfully they could sea its sides heave like a beast.</p>
+        <p>Then the top simply blew in cataclysmic blast of sound and smoke. One second Finn was standing on the plug-stone, keeping in the heat and pressure. The next he was gone in an enormous explosion of smoke and steam and the whole mountain and the ground around it bucked like a beast.</p>
+        <p>A vast wave rushed out from the mountain base, higher than a house, churning up rocks and boulders.</p>
+        <p>The first hunters on the causeway were swept away in the blink of an eye.</p>
+        <p>"Oh Finn!" Jack wailed.</p>
+        <p>"Jack. I think we should get the hell out of here." Kerry's eyes were fixed on the seismic wave as it sped out towards them in a roaring grey wall.</p>
+        <p>On top of Gerumbel Mountain, a pillar of smoke and ash towered high into the sky. There was no sign of Finn.</p>
+        <p>"He sacrificed himself for us," Connor said. "He must have known."</p>
+        <p>A big tear rolled down Connor's cheek. "Nobody ever did anything like that for me before."</p>
+        <p>"Jack," Kerry said in a shaky voice. "That big wave. It's heading this way."</p>
+        <p>It was, and so were the black ships. They had veered with the wind and they were now so close that figures could be made out in the rigging.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack said, bleakly, turning seawards, but before he had turned completely, something else caught his attention.</p>
+        <p>Right by the shore, where the first of the hunters had been swept away by the wave, the great rearing stack of pillars was beginning to subside.</p>
+        <p>Jack stopped, still holding Connor's shoulder. His mouth fell open.</p>
+        <p>"What's wrong?" Corriwen asked. Jack could only point.</p>
+        <p>Very slowly, the pillars that had formed the causeway were sinking back down into the sea.</p>
+        <p>"The bridge," he finally found his voice. "It's going down."</p>
+        <p>Kerry swore without repeating himself for almost a minute. </p>
+        <p>The causeway was sinking. The first pillars disappeared beneath the foaming surf, then another section slowly vanished. It was clear that whatever pressure had held them up was gone and the weight of the standing stones was forcing them back down into the hidden depths.</p>
+        <p>Yard by yard, pillar by pillar, the land bridge was vanishing.</p>
+        <p>And the four of them were stuck in the middle of it, with the line of black ships veering in to cut them off.</p>
+        <p>"Pray for a miracle," Jack said, and something smashed against the stone he was standing on. Splinters of glassy rock bulleted out, stinging Jack's legs. Beside Corriwen, another rock fell from the sky and shattered explosively.</p>
+        <p>"Fall-out," Kerry yelped, dodging another stone that plummeted from the steaming skies.</p>
+        <p>In a matter of seconds, the sea around them was churning with falling ash and stones, sending up such great plumes of water that they could see virtually nothing beyond the edge of the causeway.</p>
+        <p>"Run," Jack bawled, turning Connor around.</p>
+        <p>"I can hop," he said. "best I can do."</p>
+        <p>"Then hop it man," Kerry told him. "Hop for your freakin' life."</p>
+        <p>Rocks and pebbles crashed around them in a rumble of hard rain, but over that rumble came another sound, like the whoop of a strong wind. It got louder and louder, soaring to a scream, then a deafening howl. Jack covered his head with his spare arm and risked a look.</p>
+        <p>A black shape tumbled out of the sky. It moved so fast it was just a blur, trailing smoke and steam as it plummeted. Jack saw it expand in his vision, bigger and bigger until it seemed to fill the entire sky.</p>
+        <p>"Oh no! It's the top of the mountain!"</p>
+        <p>The vast rock came straight down and for a second Jack was convinced it would smash them flat.</p>
+        <p>He instinctively cringed as the rock's shadow passed over them.</p>
+        <p>But it was further away than he thought. It came bulleting down with that screeching noise, like a hellish express train and smacked the outermost ship. One second the ship was heeling against the wind, and then it was gone. Completely gone.</p>
+        <p>A monstrous fountain of water reached for the sky and a wave, even bigger than the one racing out from the shore rose from the depths.</p>
+        <p>The black ships – less the one that vanished without trace – were caught between them. Jack saw their masts toss and dip and then the great wave from the fallen rock carried them before it as it raced in towards the far shore. The crest curled over in a frothy maelstrom and then all the ships that had been gaining on them were suddenly going in the opposite direction.</p>
+        <p>Sudden relief surged through them.</p>
+        <p>"Did you see that?" Kerry gasped. "The whole ship went down.</p>
+        <p>Jack got a flash of the horse on the strand when Dermott had catapulted the rock at them. Standing one second, gone the next. A savage joy expanded in his chest.</p>
+        <p>"Serves them right," he said. </p>
+        <p>But they were not out of danger. Far from it.</p>
+        <p>For the causeway was still collapsing as the risen pillars sank under their own weight. And that sinking was accelerating as they watched. Already, there was a half-mile gap between their side of the causeway and the shore. Yard upon yard, the land bridge was disappearing in a continuous wave, like colossal a line of dominoes.</p>
+        <p>Jack turned to look ahead.</p>
+        <p>They had a mile or so before the bridge vanished into the sea mist.</p>
+        <p>Beyond that, who knew what lay?</p>
+        <p>He took Connor's weight. Kerry took the other shoulder and they started moving as fast as they could on the slick and slimy causeway, while the first tidal wave came rushing out towards them as the causeway sank.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The ships surfed the enormous roller that carried them helpless towards the black shore. Dermott held to a rigging rope. Fainn the Pict stood with his arms folded and the wind whipping his batwing cloak around him, watching the shore rush towards them as they swept down the side of the wave.</p>
+        <p>All round them men cried out in terror as they raced landwards while the top of the breaker curled over and smashed into the decks, hurling sailors and soldiers to their deaths.</p>
+        <p>"Lost them again!" Dermott roared over the thunder of rolling water. "Every turn, they thwart me!"</p>
+        <p>But Fainn was also watching the land-bridge that had appeared so suddenly. It was now disappearing just as quickly, and their quarry was stuck out there.</p>
+        <p>All he cared about was finding the bodies afterwards, and that black stone the boy carried.</p>
+        <p>Dermott could have the stolen harp back, and he had the cauldron that could feed the whole of Eirinn as he chose until such time as they decided to re-string the harp and let the seasons turn once more.</p>
+        <p>But that stone, it was different from anything in this world.</p>
+        <p>It called to him over time and distance, an old and powerful thing that he would eventually hold in his hands and he would work out its secrets, find its power.</p>
+        <p>Another man was thrown over the side. Fainn watched him, curious, as he struggled desperately and then disappeared in a surge of white water.</p>
+        <p>The keel hit sand and then rock. Fainn braced himself for the impact, closing his eyes and using all his powers to turn his weight to nothing. Dermott hung on to the ropes and then the water crashed all around them and the ship broke itself on the rocks under the grumbling mountain.</p>
+        <p>Fainn smiled to himself as he watched the great stone pillars slide faster and faster beneath the water as the causeway sank.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They could hear the grinding of sinking pillars, louder and louder as they raced across the vanishing causeway, but Jack held tight to Connor and spurred him on.</p>
+        <p>The mist swallowed them and for a few mad moments, Jack imagined them falling off the end of the bridge into nothingness. He could barely see more than a couple of yards ahead of them. Corriwen, lighter without a burden, had pulled ahead. She turned, face pale with anxiety.</p>
+        <p>Jack saw her eyes widen and couldn't help but glance over his shoulder.</p>
+        <p>Behind them the sea was closing in as the pillars cascaded one by one, faster than a horse could gallop, faster than they could possibly run. And in the gap between them and the far shore, the backwash wave was surging towards them.</p>
+        <p>Jack estimated they had fifty seconds, no more before either the wave swept them to their deaths, or Finn's causeway disappeared under their feet.</p>
+        <p>"Jack," Kerry cried. "I don't think we're going to reach anywhere."</p>
+        <p>"Just try," Jack gasped. But for Rune's special boots, he'd have flagged and dropped a mile back.</p>
+        <p>"Just let me fall," Connor urged him. "I'm no use to anybody."</p>
+        <p>"Oh just try and run," Jack ordered. "We all go together."</p>
+        <p>The heart stone was pulsing now. He could feel it on his skin, and the hairs on the back of his head began to prickle in anticipation of the sudden blow from the wall of water powering towards them.</p>
+        <p>Only yards behind now, the thud, thud, <em>thud</em> of the pillar-rocks sliding back to the seabed was like a constant drumbeat, loud as thunder, and over that deafening noise, the roar of the rushing wave grew louder and louder.</p>
+        <p>The rocks beneath their feet began to sink. Jack felt himself stagger to one side, found his balance. On the next step the stone he was on dropped two feet and Jack's stomach lurched.</p>
+        <p>Then he was running through water. In seconds he was wading, up to his knees in the sea. A puzzling darkness closed around him. Kerry shouted and his voice echoed in half a dozen desperate repeats. Jack was now thigh deep. Under his feet, the stone piles suddenly vanished. </p>
+        <p>Then the wave hit them.</p>
+        <p>It came with such sudden force that they were catapulted forward. </p>
+        <p>Kerry screeched in panic. Corriwen held him tight. Connor slipped out of Jack's grasp and then his fingers suddenly found him again. Jack was under, tumbling over and over, the way he had done under Temair's great cataract.</p>
+        <p>Everything went completely dark.</p>
+        <p>A vast echoing sound sang in his ears. Bubbles frothed around him. Connor struggled, kicked, then seemed to go limp. They were driven through darkness, head over heels, unable to breathe. The weight of water on them felt huge. It crushed their lungs, tried to suck the air out of them as they tumbled in the pitch dark. </p>
+        <p>Jack heard the boom again. Like a great gong in the depths of the ocean.</p>
+        <p>It came again.</p>
+        <p>Boom. <em>Boom. BOOM.</em></p>
+        <p>Like the world's own heartbeat.</p>
+        <p>Then he felt shingle under him. The force of the water ground his face down onto it, scraped him along and then threw him up.</p>
+        <p>Stones scraped under his knees. Jack opened his eyes and saw nothing, nothing at all.</p>
+        <p>The great booming sound came again and the world seemed to shiver.</p>
+        <p>Connor gasped, crashed into him and knocked him flat on the smooth stones. Jack shook his head, groped for Connor and heaved him up onto what felt like a shore. Corriwen tumbled beside him and coughed out a lungful of water and then Kerry was gasping and floundering like a landed fish.</p>
+        <p>Jack rubbed his eyes. A dim light came from somewhere high, a mere pin-point in all this darkness. He rubbed again, and very slowly his eyes began to make out shapes in the dim light.</p>
+        <p>He saw black stone walls around them.</p>
+        <p>Fronds of seaweed draped all around them. A pallid crab scuttled away. They were in a cave.</p>
+        <p><em>Boom! <strong>Boom!</strong></em></p>
+        <p>Jack felt a huge vibration shiver through him, then a blast of wind tugged at him. The cave gurgled and snarled as the wave that had carried them here sucked backwards, drawing the air with it so fast they were almost dragged back into the water.</p>
+        <p>Instinctively they all held on to each other as the suction reached a screaming crescendo, then subsided as the wave drained its way back to the sea, leaving them bruised and exhausted on the cave floor.</p>
+        <p>Jack finally got to his knees, managed to clamber up the shingle, over a smooth rock and ahead of him, lit by that pinhole of light far above him, he saw a gigantic anchor, bigger than anything he had ever seen, from some unbelievable huge ship. It hung on a chain a foot wide or more, and every pulse of the tide slammed its great weight against the black rock cave wall, making it toll like a bell.</p>
+        <p>It sounded as if they had found themselves washed up in some underground cathedral. The bell was pealing to welcome them.</p>
+        <p>To life, or death, Jack Flint did not know.</p>
+        <p>He turned to his sprawled companions.</p>
+        <p>And a hand came out of the gloom and cold fingers clamped over his face.</p>
+        <p>Jack yelped in sudden fright and landed hard on his backside.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 26</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>26</h1>
+        <p>A pale face with staring white eyes bent over him while the cold fingers explored his own face: eyes, nose, ears and mouth. </p>
+        <p>"Have I mapped this face before?" an old, cracking voice asked. "Welcome traveller to Fingal's island. A fortunate swell swept you here."</p>
+        <p>He turned his face up, towards where a shard of light came from a pinhole high above them. Jack saw that his eyes were as smooth as marble. This old man was blind.</p>
+        <p>The great anchor boomed again, as if to punctuate his words.</p>
+        <p>He reached and took Jack's hand in his own, a surprisingly strong grip, and helped him to his feet.</p>
+        <p>"After a long forgotten time, it seems our paths have crossed."</p>
+        <p>"Not me," Jack stammered. The hairs on his neck were on walkabout again. "I've never been here before."</p>
+        <p>"And the voice is familiar. But younger. There's a mystery."</p>
+        <p>"I'm Jack Flint. You must be Fingal, the one Finn told us about."</p>
+        <p>"Fingal I am. I am the Bard of Staffa Cove. And I am the last Bard on Eirinn."</p>
+        <p>"A Bard!! Kerry sounded enormously encouraged by this. The only Bards he had met so far had been the good guys.</p>
+        <p>The old man turned to him and his hands searched Kerry's face. </p>
+        <p>"A good face this. But runs with the heart and not the head, eh?" The blind eyes crinkled and Fingal chuckled, much the way Finbar had done.</p>
+        <p>"And a young lady," he said. "On an adventure too."</p>
+        <p>Connor eased to his feet, trying not to slip on the wet sea wrack, his tousled tawny hair now hanging straight and wet down his back. Fingal embraced him, then, as his fingers found his contours, he seemed to step back, with a thoughtful look on his face.</p>
+        <p>"The water carries you again, foundling. The Selkie women smile on you."</p>
+        <p>With that, he turned and walked slowly deeper into the cave. There was nothing for it but to follow him in the darkness, while the great anchor boomed behind them, its ring echoing in the darkness until it finally faded away in the distance and the dark began to lessen gradually until they saw light ahead of them and walked together behind the old bard into a wide cathedral of a cave in the centre of which gleamed a pool of shining water.</p>
+        <p>"This is Fingal's Cove," he said. "It is hidden from the eyes of men. You are safe here, you and the burden you bear. The Selkie guard us well."</p>
+        <p>He told them to sit. Here, the stones were water-smooth and dry. Very suddenly Jack felt the strength drain out of his legs and he gratefully lowered himself beside a slow peat fire and let its heat soak into him.</p>
+        <p>The old man fed them well, and Kerry couldn't remember ever tasting better seafood. Connor looked very suspiciously at a big lobster and counted its legs, but after one taste he was converted and tore into it ravenously.</p>
+        <p>"Where does the light come from?" Kerry asked, pointing to the pool.</p>
+        <p>"No magic," Finbar said. "I see no light, but sense it all the same. At low tide, the water leads out to the sea shallows. At high tide, they close the door, but daylight shines through."</p>
+        <p>"Neat," Kerry said, with his mouth full.</p>
+        <p>"And you have tales to tell," Fingal said. "The sea-maids carry word of Dermott's anger and his fast ships. They say the ships were wrecked under Gerumbel Mountain."</p>
+        <p>"They were that, sir," Connor said. "Finn plugged it with a stone, and then it blew its top."</p>
+        <p>He paused, looked down. "He did it for us and it cost him."</p>
+        <p>"All good deeds come at a price," Fingal said. "Gentle Finn would know that."</p>
+        <p>He turned to Jack and his fingers unerringly found the heartstone. He weighed it, feeling its warmth. The stone pulsed almost imperceptibly.</p>
+        <p>"So far from home, and think you lost, Jack Flint. But these friends are family to you, and dearer than any kin. What you carry, Fainn wants, though he doesn't know its power. Two burdens you bear. One is the heart of Eirinn, the other the Heart of Worlds. Neither Dermott nor Fainn must get either."</p>
+        <p>"That's what we're trying to avoid," Jack said. "It's not been easy."</p>
+        <p>"Then there are things you must hear from me. All things come together, and there is more than one quest here. Some things you must find for yourself, when the time comes."</p>
+        <p>He closed his blind eye. "And that time, I fear, is coming fast."</p>
+        <p>He huddled in a plaid cloak, drawing its edges around his ancient frame, and then he began to tell them a story.</p>
+        <p>"You know about the Harp of Seasons, and the Great Cauldron. The Dagda gave them to Eirinn before he went to join the Sky Queen. But there was a third talisman, the Oaken Club, which made the bearer invincible. To be sure that no man would ever wield it wrongly, he sent it to a safe place, where it has been protected since.</p>
+        <p>"Now Fainn's witchery uncovered the secret places of the Harp and the Cauldron, and yon brute Dermott, he cut the strings. With no spring to seed crops, and no summer to ripen them, the hunger has been terrible. Those prudent kings that had stored against hard times, Fainn sent plagues of rats and mice to eat them empty. And the seaward fishers, he sent ice to lock their ships in harbour. With the Cauldron of Plenty in his possession, Dermott could set any price on what he would dole out. That price has always been utter submission."</p>
+        <p>He opened his eyes. "But Dermott is a false king. No king at all, but a usurper and a traitor."</p>
+        <p>They all leant in closer. "You have been to Wolfen Castle. It was once Seahold Castle where King Conovar and his wife Eleon ruled the west lands. Dermott was the Reeve of the Marches, but when he met with Fainn, his ambition was turned to dark ways. There had been no war for so long none could remember, but Dermott warned of predictions that the sea people would return to Eirinn. Children had been stolen from shore villages. Ships had vanished. Conovar allowed Dermott to train an army to defend the people.</p>
+        <p>"But then Conovar became ill and wasted away, though none could find a cause of it. Queen Eleon had just given birth to their first son, only a baby. Dermott now had great power, because he led the army, and he coveted the throne. Conovar was barely cold when Dermott decided the quickest way was to marry the queen. But when he made his proposal she refused him utterly. Dermott was so enraged that he snatched up the baby prince by the leg and hurled him from a tower into the sea far below, saying none of Conovar's blood would take the throne. And Queen Eleon was so stricken with mother-grief that she threw herself from the window and was also lost."</p>
+        <p>Fingal nodded. "So nothing stood in Dermott's way and he set his flag on the castle wall and called it Wolfen castle from then to this."</p>
+        <p>"What a rotten sod," Kerry said. "Somebody should give him his come-uppance."</p>
+        <p>"That too is written in the runes," Fingal said. "Dermott knows his fate is in the hands red-haired woman."</p>
+        <p>"He believes that I'm the woman," Corriwen said. </p>
+        <p>"Old prophesy says that the usurper of Seahold Castle will meet his fate at the hands of a red haired fighting woman in battle, and that when his fate is decided, the true heir of Eirinn's Seahold will return to claim his crown."</p>
+        <p>"No wonder he's worried," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"But he needs the harp. And of course, he wants the oaken club and would have it if he could find it." Fingal patted Jack on the shoulder. "So he's a very angry man."</p>
+        <p>"Tough," Kerry retorted. "He's chased us all over the place and we've still got the harp."</p>
+        <p>"But we've gone as far as we can," Jack said. "There's nowhere left to go."</p>
+        <p>"Why not consult your Book of Ways?"</p>
+        <p>Jack started back.</p>
+        <p>"How did you know?"</p>
+        <p>Fingal laughed, but gently.</p>
+        <p>"I have no eyes, but I hear the whisper of the waves and the chatter of the Selkie. And I read the runes better than Fainn himself. After all, I <em>am</em> the Bard."</p>
+        <p>Jack opened the book. After a few minutes he began to read aloud.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Brave the turning ocean race</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Trust in fortune's tight embrace</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Take to flight by cockleshell</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>Face the rip-tide's parlous swell.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The time is close to end of flight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Then journeyman, prepare to fight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>For Eirinn and for Eirinn's plight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>And turn to battle evil's might</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Heroes will return and bring</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The harmony that summons spring</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To Tara Hill, its song re-born</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And with them will a king return</em></p>
+        <p>"As usual," Kerry said. "Clear as mud."</p>
+        <p>Fingal chuckled.</p>
+        <p>"Heart, not head, Kerry Malone."</p>
+        <p>"No. I'm just kidding. It takes a while to work it out, but it's always right."</p>
+        <p>"So what does it mean?" Connor asked. "We're stuck here on this island and once Dermott gets those ships off the beach, he'll hunt us out. There's nowhere else to go."</p>
+        <p>"Don't give up so soon," Fingal said. "Not when you've come this far and through all sorts of travails."</p>
+        <p>"Where can we go from here?" Corriwen wanted to know.</p>
+        <p>"There is one place I know of. To get there, you must risk a dangerous crossing. And then, when you get there, you face a real trial."</p>
+        <p>"What is this place?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>"The Black Island. Few go there. Fewer return. But behind you is Dermott and Fainn and death for sure. And didn't your book say to trust in fortune's tight embrace? A quest wouldn't be a quest without the spice of danger, now, would it?"</p>
+        <p>"I'd really rather go fishing," Kerry piped up. "And with my feet on solid ground too."</p>
+        <p>"What's on this Black Island?" Jack asked, focussing on what lay ahead. </p>
+        <p>"That you will find when you get there. You must be the masters of your own quest. But I will ask the Selkie folk to help."</p>
+        <p>With that, Fingal turned to the back of the cave and came back with neatly woven mats which he laid down close to the fire.</p>
+        <p>"I think you should rest now," he said. "Connor is right. Dermott will sail with the tide on the morrow, and he will not give up until you are dead, or he is. I will beseech the Sky Queen that it is the latter, of course."</p>
+        <p>Kerry and Connor dropped to their mats and sleepily began to swap poaching tales until they dozed off. Jack and Corriwen sat together, watching the dwindling flames and Jack couldn't sleep. Too much was going through his head.</p>
+        <p>Fingal sat on his stone, still as a statue.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe you should stay here," Jack said. "It's stupid for us all to risk it."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen laughed softly.</p>
+        <p>"Jack Flint! You should be ashamed of yourself treating me like a helpless girl. Didn't your book speak of heroes? If you're going to be a hero, I want to be one too. And anyway, somebody has to watch your back."</p>
+        <p>Fingal nodded. "Heroes all, and so young. But it's not the perils of tomorrow that keeps Jack Flint awake, hm? So now you must ask the question that you have been wanting to ask since I touched your face."</p>
+        <p>For a second Jack was tongue tied, at being so easily read. But he was also scared to ask in case he was wrong.</p>
+        <p>"It's my father," he finally said. "That's my other quest. My real one. To find him. And you said you thought you recognised me. I just wondered if he might have come here."</p>
+        <p>"That's the question," Fingal said gently. "And I will answer."</p>
+        <p>He held out pale hands to catch the heat of the fire.</p>
+        <p>"A long time ago, so long I cannot count the years, a traveller came seeking help. He crossed Finnan Flannan's causeway and paused here to rest. It was the days when the sea people, the <em>Fir-Bolg</em> were massing in the fight for Temair, and they had already consigned the slaughtered to the bogland."</p>
+        <p>"We met some of them."</p>
+        <p>"Aye, their cursed souls still lie in cold, unable to leave the tarns. Well, the stranger rested here, then travelled on across the water. When he returned from the Black Isle, he bore with him a great sword with a fireglass hilt and a cairngorm stone set in it."</p>
+        <p>"The Redthorn Sword," Corriwen said. "Cullian's sword."</p>
+        <p>"Was that his name? Maybe. It was so long ago, the mists of time shroud my memory. But this travelling man came back stronger and ready for battle and he crossed back to Flannan's point to take his knowledge to the Dagda King and win the battle. And after that came peace in Eirinn from then until now."</p>
+        <p>"And you thought I was him?" Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"My hands remember what my old mind forgets. But he was older, and taller, though he spoke in the same voice."</p>
+        <p>"My father," Jack said. "It <em>must</em> be him. I'm trying to find him."</p>
+        <p>"A long dark journey that could be, for the traveller is gone nowhere knows."</p>
+        <p>"Can you help me find him?"</p>
+        <p>"All I can do is help you on your way. And it is the same way he took. The only one who can help you in that endeavour is the Sky Queen. Maybe, at the end of your quest, you might ask her a favour. She listens to those who would do her will."</p>
+        <p>"I'm not doing anybody's will," Jack said. "This whole thing has been dumped on us. We just have to get the harp to a safe place so we can get home."</p>
+        <p>"Ah, Jack, I think you know better than that," Fingal said softly. "Many do the Sky Queen's work, and she chooses well. This is not your choice, but hers. All is destiny, and destiny must be fulfilled."</p>
+        <p>"Easier said than done."</p>
+        <p>"A wise man would tell you that nobody said it has to be easy."</p>
+        <p>"A wise man already did. And he was a bard too."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Fingal woke them when it was still dark.</p>
+        <p>"Up and on with the tide," he said. While they slept, he had made up a pack of food and stuffed it in Kerry's backpack. "It's coming to the low ebb."</p>
+        <p>Jack looked at the pool in the centre of the spacious cave. The water had dropped ten feet or more and it gurgled and whirled as the tide sucked it down and then let it rise again. On the far side, a little round basket bobbed on its surface.</p>
+        <p>"What's that?" Kerry asked suspiciously.</p>
+        <p>"It's a coracle," Fingal said, laughing. "You might call it a cockleshell."</p>
+        <p>"Are you kidding me?" Kerry spluttered. "Look at it. I'm not getting into that thing. No way. Not in a million years."</p>
+        <p>"It's the only way," Fingal said. "Unless you want to try going back the way you came."</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack urged him. "It'll float."</p>
+        <p>"It'll bloody well sink," Kerry snorted. "I'll drown."</p>
+        <p>"I promised you I won't let you drown," Jack said, though even he looked askance at the little craft. It was barely big enough for the four of them.</p>
+        <p>When they finally persuaded Kerry to get aboard, they were crammed together like nestlings. Kerry was pale faced and getting paler by the minute as the water rose and fell in powerful undulations.</p>
+        <p>"The seventh wave at tide's low ebb," Fingal said. "There's a magic at the back door."</p>
+        <p>They were raised up and dropped and Jack started counting. The water frothed and swirled. Four waves, five. The sixth took them down very low and Jack's stomach did a nauseous little flip. It rose, higher and higher until they were almost at the pool's edge and then, very suddenly they were dropping.</p>
+        <p>There was a huge sucking sound as the water drained away beneath them and the coracle plunged down and down and down. The little craft spun crazily. All Jack saw was rock and seaweed and a couple of big green crabs that held tight to the walls. His stomach lurched again. Kerry yelled in alarm. Jack's ears popped.</p>
+        <p>Then they were out of darkness and rising up in open water beside a jagged rocky face. A current tugged hard and they spun away from the rock and out on a grey, rolling sea.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 27</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>27</h1><p>A strong wind and stronger current carried them away from Fingal's cove. The island seemed to drift past them like a great ship as they bobbed along, surprisingly quickly. The little coracle sat high in the water, just a basket of reeds and sealskin. Kerry's knuckles were tight on the rim.</p>
+        <p>"This is pure suicide," he muttered. "Why can't we pick a better world? Where people are nice."</p>
+        <p>"Like back home with mad Billy Robbins?"</p>
+        <p>"Like somewhere warm, with good fishing. And sausages and beans."</p>
+        <p>Jack managed a laugh.</p>
+        <p>"What's sausages?" Connor asked, and this time Kerry forgot his terror and burst into a fit of the giggles until he started to make the coracle spin and his knuckles went white again.</p>
+        <p>They reached the north point of the island where a swirling current turned them about and drove them onwards. Jack had one paddle, but it was ineffectual against the flow. Finally he shipped it and huddled down out of the wind and let the sea take them where it would.</p>
+        <p>His eyes closed and he thought of what Fingal had told him about the travelling man and the sword. It <em>must</em> have been his father, here on some quest long, long ago. But to the heartstone and the lock on the stone in Cromwath Blackwood, time mattered very little.</p>
+        <p>Journeyman, Jack thought. <em>He can travel between worlds</em>. Which one he had gone to, Jack was determined to find out, even if he had to die trying, once this was all over. If it was over.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen's cry jerked him out of his thoughts.</p>
+        <p>They were well out at sea now, and Fingal's island a smudge on the horizon. Corriwen knelt facing behind them, pointing astern.</p>
+        <p>Four black ships were tacking towards them, sails billowing tight.</p>
+        <p>"Fingal was right," Connor said. "Not all their ships were wrecked."</p>
+        <p>Jack turned to look ahead. There was no sign of anything at all except a distant sea-fog, and they had no sail to speed them along. His fingers found the heartstone and he felt its smooth contours as it beat softly with its own life. He opened Brand's bottomless bag and looked again at the golden harp. Such a small thing to be such a powerful talisman. The strings hung uselessly.</p>
+        <p>Jack glanced back to see the four ships had gained some distance, and he wondered whether to throw the bag overboard and let it sink. That way neither Dermott nor Fainn could get their hands on it.</p>
+        <p>But then again, he thought, he had no choice at all. They had to find a way out of this and follow the directions in the Book of Ways to end this quest and find their way home. Otherwise there would be no way home at all.</p>
+        <p>"We could use an Evinrude," Kerry said. "A big forty horsepower outboard. That would give them a surprise.</p>
+        <p>"It that some kind of spell?" Connor asked. "You'd be as well asking the Kelpies for a tow."</p>
+        <p>"I wish the undines were here to help," Corriwen said. </p>
+        <p>But there was no help. Behind them four black ships and ahead of them the line of mist that shrouded the sea.</p>
+        <p>And something else. Kerry saw it first and pointed ahead to where a patch of sea was frothing with choppy waves.</p>
+        <p>"What's that?"</p>
+        <p>Jack risked standing up to look. When he sat down again, the three of them could see the concern on his face.</p>
+        <p>"It's a tide rip," he said. "I've seen it back home. Two currents going different ways. It churns the water up."</p>
+        <p>"Is that bad?" Connor asked. "I've never been to sea before now."</p>
+        <p>"It depends on which current we get into. The wrong one's going to carry us backwards."</p>
+        <p>"That <em>would</em> be bad."</p>
+        <p>"We might get lucky," Kerry said hopefully.</p>
+        <p>The wind picked up and carried them nearer to the cross-current, and the waves started getting higher.</p>
+        <p>Kerry held tight. "I don't like this one little bit."</p>
+        <p>Neither did Jack. The coracle was bobbing like a cork, one minute deep in a trough and the next soaring up to a breaking crest that would drench them before dropping them into another trough.</p>
+        <p>Over the wind and the crash of waves, Jack thought he heard something. He cupped his hands to his ears, straining to hear.</p>
+        <p>A low rumble began to swell. It sounded very much like the thunder of the vast cataract they had barely survived on the river in Temair.</p>
+        <p>But it couldn't be a cataract, not at sea, Jack knew.</p>
+        <p>"What's that?" Corriwen asked.</p>
+        <p>"I don't know." Jack held her shoulders to risk standing up again, waiting until they had reached the crest of the next big wave to try to get a glimpse of what lay ahead. They were a hundred yards from the frothing water where the two currents forced past each other, and the rumbling sound was suddenly very loud indeed.</p>
+        <p>They went down into a trough and up the other side and this time Jack got a glimpse of what lay beyond the foaming water and he sat down, white faced.</p>
+        <p>"What is it?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>"Nothing at all," Jack said. "Just brace yourself. It's going to get a bit rough."</p>
+        <p>"Going to get rough?" Kerry snorted. "It's rougher than a badger's arse already."</p>
+        <p>This time Connor laughed at Kerry's rejoinder, but Jack didn't manage a smile. He had seen what lay ahead. His hand found the handles of Brand's bag and he looped one round the strap of the backpack, cinching it tight, then he gripped the coracle's frame so hard his fingers went as white as Kerry's.</p>
+        <p>And a few seconds later they were in the frothing water, spinning madly this way and that, helpless in the edge of the tide-rip. Waves broke over them and almost filled the coracle, then spun them so fast the water poured out again. And the rumbling sound became a growl that rose to a deafening roar.</p>
+        <p>"Jack," Kerry cried. "Don't you let me&#8230;.." His jaw dropped as the little cockleshell spun as it rose up a foaming wave and he saw what lay ahead. "Oh <em>freak!</em>"</p>
+        <p>That was all he managed before the foaming sea spat them out in a crazy spin.</p>
+        <p>And a great maw opened up to swallow them.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Dermott the Wolf was in a savage mood. He had lost two ships on the rocks and he himself had almost drowned when he was thrown into the surf and battered against jagged barnacles. And he had lost a good sword in the process.</p>
+        <p>Yet still those thieves. Those cursed <em>children </em>had thwarted him yet again.</p>
+        <p>They had made it through the haunted bogs and managed to survive the Fell Runners in the mountains.</p>
+        <p>Even the killer rip-tide of Tallabaun Strand had failed to stop them.</p>
+        <p>Now they had escaped again, across that preposterous causeway that rose up to carry them before it sank back. It was evil spellbinding, for sure. Some sorcerer had to be helping them.</p>
+        <p>He had raged at Fainn. That Pict warlock was supposed to be the most powerful in the whole of Eirinn. Yet for all his far-sight and his incantations, that red-haired girl was still on the run, fleeing for now, but sure to come back when he least expected it. The runes had foretold it all and he had tried to thwart the runes by capturing her.</p>
+        <p><em>Ah!</em> He growled at himself. He should have killed her out of hand. Stuck her like a pig when she was still bound behind bars on the wagon. But no. He had wanted his sport, thinking that Wolfen Castle was impregnable and that no-one would dare come against him.</p>
+        <p>Until that raggle-taggle band of gypsies and strangelings came with their tricks and sleight of hand. And they had stolen his harp - the harp that made him stronger by making everybody else weaker. The great cauldron was never empty. It gave out whatever one wished and it was his to use as he saw fit.</p>
+        <p>Those thieves with the precious harp. They could find a spellbinder or a bard to make the harp sing again and when the seasons returned, then the cauldron would become nothing more than a handy supply store. The other kings would regain their strength at the first harvest, and Dermott knew their resentment over the years of hunger would turn to hate and to action. They would band together and come for him and all his ambition and planning would be for nothing.</p>
+        <p>He turned on the shore beside the wreckage of the ship. Four other boats had beached themselves on shingle, though half the crews had been washed overboard by that huge wave. Dermott was still shaking with anger.</p>
+        <p>"Get those ships in the water," he roared. He cracked his black whip, slicing it at the half-drowned sailors. "Come on you dolts! Get my ships afloat. Drag them if you have to, but get me back to sea."</p>
+        <p>He rounded on Fainn who stool in the breeze, eyes hooded, cloak fluttering wildly.</p>
+        <p>"Find them, spellbinder. I want to know where they are! Dead or alive!</p>
+        <p>Fainn faced him, unafraid. He was afraid of nothing in this world.</p>
+        <p>"Alas, lord. That is hidden from me now. I sense another presence around them who shields them from my search."</p>
+        <p>"Another presence? Who? What?"</p>
+        <p>"A bard, my lord. Maybe the last in all of Eirinn. But he cannot shield them forever. And then again, where can they possible go?"</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>A whirlpool had sucked them in. A vast hole in the middle of the sea, whirling like a black summer storm on Temair.</p>
+        <p>"Jack&#8230;.!" Kerry's voice was suddenly cut off as the spinning surge of water dragged them in over its lip.</p>
+        <p>Beneath them was a corkscrew hole that seemed to drill right down into the bed of the sea.</p>
+        <p>It caught them and they were suddenly spiralling down the side while the coracle itself spun like a top at dizzying speed. Green water encased them, roiling with bubbles. They zoomed down ten feet until the sea was all around them, roaring like a gigantic beast, sucking them down and down.</p>
+        <p>Kerry was holding Jack's wrist to tightly he could feel the bones grind together. A surge caught them in the blink of an eye and tossed the little craft up on its end. Connor let out a wail of fright as he began to slip over the side. Corriwen grasped him by his shirt and hauled him back, but the motion turned the coracle round in a complete circle, throwing them against its lip with centripetal force. It slammed down against the vertical wall, bounced hard and Kerry was thrown right over.</p>
+        <p>There was a brief cry and then Kerry was gone. He went straight into the side of the maelstrom. Jack saw him alongside them for a second and then the boat was spun away. Kerry's pale face sank into the deep green.</p>
+        <p>"No&#8230;..!" Jack's yell of fright and anguish was smothered under the roar of raging water. </p>
+        <p>He grabbed the paddle to try to stop the motion, jabbing the blade into the surface. The craft righted itself and in the brief respite Jack knelt up to search the whirlpool wall for his friend.</p>
+        <p>There was no sign. The sea had swallowed Kerry and taken him away.</p>
+        <p>Jack's heart was hammering in his chest and he found it hard to draw a breath. Corriwen and Connor had been thrown to a sprawl in the bottom and were still trying to untangle themselves.</p>
+        <p>"Where is he?" she gasped, face ashen.</p>
+        <p>"Gone." Jack moaned. "He's&#8230;<em>gone</em>."</p>
+        <p><em>Don't you let me drown! </em> Oh, he had heard that before. Too often. It was as if Kerry had had somehow had a premonition of what was to come.</p>
+        <p>The waterfall's roar built up to a crescendo and they were skeltering down into its depths, helpless to do anything but hold to the sides. Connor's eyes were tight shut as if he'd seen enough. But for Jack the narrowing, spinning funnel below him held his eyes as if it was the last thing he'd ever see.</p>
+        <p>The boat bobbed, tilted again, throwing them violently from side to side.</p>
+        <p>Then a shape appeared in the deep green. Something moved so fast it was barely discernible. Something long and slender, like a silver fish. It came arrowing in from the side, angling upwards. Jack just caught the motion from the corner of his eye. His head whipped round and the thing came blasting right through the whirling water-wall above them.</p>
+        <p>For an instant Jack thought it was a big fish, something that hunted in the maelstrom. Instinctively he ducked his head.</p>
+        <p>But it sailed right over him. All he saw was a lithe body sparkling in its own spray of droplets, and silken tresses of green hair that trailed behind it like a veil. A fine-vaned tail thrashed powerfully, sending it soaring in an arc right across the whirlpool, from one side to the other. Its head turned and Jack saw big, lustrous eyes fix on his.</p>
+        <p>"Undine," he thought. </p>
+        <p>The creature had a half smile on its face as it arced over him. And as it did, a slender arm dragged something behind it, hauling it through the glassy wall. She continued on over the void and disappeared back into the water again.</p>
+        <p>And the bundle she had dragged with her, tumbled to land, coughing, spluttering and cursing very sincerely, in their midst.</p>
+        <p>Kerry belched a gout of salt water. He opened his eyes and saw Jack and Corriwen staring down at him in utter amazement.</p>
+        <p>"I told you not to let me drown!" he bawled. "Didn't I tell you?"</p>
+        <p>"It was a Selkie," Connor said, astonished "Fingal said they'd help us. I never saw anything as beautiful in all my life."</p>
+        <p>He knelt up, staring into the roiling water.</p>
+        <p>"Look," he cried. "There's more of them."</p>
+        <p>They all turned and saw the shapes in the water, tails lashing, a dozen, two dozen; fifty or more. They all swam together, graceful as dolphins, beautiful and lithe. They moved in unison, right up against the wall, only inches away from them. Luminous eyes gazed at the four in the boat, almost curiously, and Jack could see nothing but gentle kindness in there.</p>
+        <p>They pressed together, flowing in the same direction as the maelstrom, then moving even faster than the madly spinning vortex. Together they pressed against the sides, forcing the water outwards in a bulge under the coracle, faster and faster.</p>
+        <p>The Selkie were under them, easing them up and up with the power of their tails, keeping pace with them as they rose higher towards the sky.</p>
+        <p>Then they gave a last, blurringly fast burst of speed, a host of beautiful creatures with silken emerald hair streaming behind them, and the coracle bobbed up and over the lip.</p>
+        <p>Immediately the counter-current dragged them away and north, faster and faster as the sucking power of the whirlpool lost its force and in mere minutes they were a mile and more away.</p>
+        <p>"That was a miracle," Kerry said. "I really thought I'd had it."</p>
+        <p>"So did we," Corriwen said. She grabbed him in both arms and hugged him until his ribs squeaked, her face wreathed in smiles. She finally let him go, looked straight into his eyes, as tears sparkled in her own, hardly able to believe that he'd been given back to them.</p>
+        <p>Then she raised her hand and rapped her knuckles hard on Kerry's skull.</p>
+        <p>"Don't you ever do that to me again," she said. Tears were running freely down her cheeks. "I couldn't stand it."</p>
+        <p>"I'll do my best," Kerry said. "Honest. Cross my heart and hope to die."</p>
+        <p>He let out a huge breath. "Or not."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They were out of the whirlpool, but not out of danger. The current whipped them along on its rip-tide way, but behind them the four ships had tacked again in the cross current and angled towards them, wind puffing their sails out.</p>
+        <p>"They'll get us now," Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"Oh don't be such a pessimist," Kerry said, sheer bravado. But his eyes too were fixed on the dark sails as the boats sent up white bow-waves in their haste to intercept them. The lead boat was already in the frothing edge where the two currents met. It soared over the high water, prow up, with two other boats racing alongside it. The bow came down with a mighty splash of spray.</p>
+        <p>At that moment the tail-wind dropped. Immediately the taught sails luffed slackly and the ships went dead in the water right on the edge of the maelstrom. Without the wind they had no power to haul them through.</p>
+        <p>Jack saw one man up in the rigging, frantically waving his hands at the helmsman, The ship shuddered, veered to starboard, its sails now whipping this way and that. Its prow clipped the nearest craft, gouging a hole in timbers, and causing it to heel dangerously to port. The third ship managed to steer past them, drew ahead, and the whirlpool's power sucked it in. The first ship spun in a complete circle while water flooded through the gash in the third boat's hull. </p>
+        <p>"It's got them!" Connor cried. "Go on! Take them down!"</p>
+        <p>As if it heard him, the raging sea snared the boats into the hole in its depths. Beyond the rim of lashing froth, they watched as the boats began to spin, first slowly, then faster. They heard the sound of two hulls crashing together. Masts whipped back and forth as the craft disappeared from view.</p>
+        <p>And the whirlpool roared as it sucked them deeper and deeper until only the cross-yards were visible, and a few moments after that, all they could see were the red wolves heads of Dermott's pennants before they too vanished.</p>
+        <p>Three ships were gone without a trace.</p>
+        <p>The fourth veered away at the last moment, turning back as if giving up the pursuit. Jack hoped that Fainn and Dermott had been on one of the sunken craft, but somehow he knew they wouldn't be so lucky.</p>
+        <p>But the fast current and the fact that the ship had turned to avoid the same fate meant they gained some distance as they bobbed along until the ship was far behind them and ahead, the white bank of fog loomed like a wall on the sea.</p>
+        <p>It closed around them and they drifted in a silken silence, savouring their freedom and their narrow escape, and not a little satisfaction over the three lost ships. </p>
+        <p>The current carried them through the damp twilight in the fog bank and they huddled together not knowing what was in store. Finally darkness fell and they drifted on at the mercy of the sea, listening out for any sign of land ahead.</p>
+        <p>Some time later, Corriwen shook Jack from a troubled sleep and when he opened his eyes, she clamped a hand over his mouth.</p>
+        <p>"I hear a ship," she whispered. She was shivering from the cold and Jack pulled her close to share his warmth.</p>
+        <p>Out there in the hazy dark, he heard a loud creak, more like a groan than a creak, and recognised it as straining timber, then dim lights of tallow torches twinkled in the fog.</p>
+        <p>They crouched low as the lights came nearer. A man's voice called out and somebody replied. Connor awoke with a start and Jack whispered him to hush. Kerry snored, head back and Corriwen pinched his nose until he jerked awake, hand already reaching for his sword.</p>
+        <p>"Damn this fog," Dermott's voice bellowed. "Can't you do something about it?"</p>
+        <p>"I have tried, My lord," Fainn's voice cut the fog like a jagged knife. "But some power keeps it in place. But they are here. I can smell them."</p>
+        <p>"Well, keep on sniffing, spellbinder. We'll quarter the sea until we find them. Come on swabs, get grappling. We'll get them by hook and crook."</p>
+        <p>The ship approached and the lights brightened, haloed in mist, and a shape loomed up next to them. Something flew over their heads and splashed in the water some yards away. A rope tightened.</p>
+        <p>"Grappling iron," Corriwen whispered.</p>
+        <p>The rope tightened and cut through the water towards them. The coracle spun as the ship's bow wave pushed them aside and then the three-pronged hook came surging up out of the water and disappeared from view.</p>
+        <p>The looming hulk slid past them while they crouched with bated breath. Dermott bellowed again as the ship vanished into the mist. They heard the creaking of timbers as the ship criss-crossed the sea, getting fainter with every minute, until they were alone again, and the long night passed, slow and cold, until finally the dawn came, turning the sky from black to grey.</p>
+        <p>Somewhere in the distance, Jack heard a low murmur and as they drifted closer, it became a deep pulsing beat.</p>
+        <p>"Surf," he said. "We're getting close to something."</p>
+        <p>"Oh, I hope it's a nice sandy beach," Kerry said, clasping his hands together in supplication.</p>
+        <p>They heard rollers swell somewhere in the fog as they were swept towards it. Big waves were rising and breaking, just out of sight.</p>
+        <p>Jack knelt up on what had become the prow, just because it was facing the way they travelled, peering out into the fuzzy gloom. Seabirds mewled plaintively over the breaking waves, and over the noise of the rollers came a hollow booming sound.</p>
+        <p>"I don't think that sounds like a beach," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"Oh don't you start the pessimism stuff," Kerry yelled. "Try to look on the bright side."</p>
+        <p>"Okay," Jack said. Perhaps their luck had indeed changed.</p>
+        <p>He turned back to try to make out what they were heading for.</p>
+        <p>And a vast black cliff suddenly loomed out of the fog as the waves drove them straight for the jagged rocks where it met the sea.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 28</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>28</h1><p>The walls were so sheer they vanished from sight high above their heads, and worn so smooth by tide and wind they were like glass. Big waves carried the coracle straight for where they broke themselves on rocks at its foot.</p>
+        <p>"Looks a bit rough," Kerry said. "In fact, it looks <em>awfully</em> rough."</p>
+        <p>"See if you can find somewhere to beach this thing," Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"Beach? It's a freakin' great cliff, man."</p>
+        <p>Jack counted the waves. "It's forcing us in and there's no way to steer this. We have to get ready to jump."</p>
+        <p>"I can't jump," Connor said, "Not with my leg in this splint. If you take it off, I'll do my best."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen whipped a knife out and sliced through the bindings holding the splint in place. Connor groaned as his leg straightened. He flexed his knee a couple of times.</p>
+        <p>"It feels better. Looser than before," he said. "If I can't jump," he said. "I'll hop."</p>
+        <p>Jack flipped open his pack and drew out their two coils of rope. He handed one to Kerry and fixed the end round Corriwen's waist. The second he fixed to Connor and cinched it around his own chest.</p>
+        <p>"When we get close," he told Kerry, "We go first. We can make it."</p>
+        <p>"Oh, you're such an optimist," Kerry said, ashen faced, eyes unable to look away from the pounding water. Jack secured their packs so they wouldn't slip.</p>
+        <p>The seventh wave was as high as a horse. It picked them up and surfed them right in towards the rocks. The coracle smashed against one boulder and its side dented in. It whirled round and a knife edge tore a gash in the thin hull. Water flooded in.</p>
+        <p>Jack steadied himself. He clapped Kerry on the shoulder.</p>
+        <p>"It's up to you," he cried. "Don't you let her fall."</p>
+        <p>Kerry turned away from the water and looked Jack in the eye. The challenge was enough to make himself forget his own fear. Jack saw it. </p>
+        <p>"I won't," he said. His jaw set hard and he gritted his teeth.</p>
+        <p>The backwash dragged them out as the coracle wallowed and the next wave drove them forward again, between the two boulders and right up to the cliff face.</p>
+        <p>"Now!"</p>
+        <p>They leapt up. Jack hit the rock with hands and feet. His fingers found a minute crevice and Brand's boots gripped the rock. Kerry thudded beside him. He slipped back a foot then got a hold.</p>
+        <p>"Onwards and upwards," Jack urged, and together they began to climb until the ropes tightened behind them. Jack risked a look up. Despite the mist, he could see about ten yards ahead and he saw a thin ledge.</p>
+        <p>"If we get there, we'll be okay," he said, with more optimism than he felt. </p>
+        <p>It took them five minutes, but finally they hauled up and got their feet on flat rock. A few yards along, the ledge widened, enough to give them space to brace themselves and then they started dragging the ropes, hand over hand, and finally they had Connor and Corriwen up beside them. They sagged on to the ledge, breathing hard. </p>
+        <p>"How high does this go?" Connor asked, craning up. The sheer face vanished in mist. It could go up for miles, Jack thought. Below them, now out of sight, the waves hammered against the rocks and over that, the strange, hollow sound boomed like a great heart.</p>
+        <p>"There's a cave below us somewhere."</p>
+        <p>"You think we should try for it?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>"Too risky. We'd have to clamber down and it could turn out to be a dead end, then we'd have to risk the waves again."</p>
+        <p>"I'd rather not," Kerry said. "We'll have to climb." He got to his feet and faced the cliff wall. To his right, the ledge widened out even further and he eased himself along it. Then he simply vanished from view round a jutting point. Two seconds later, he came back.</p>
+        <p>"There's some sort of crack here. Like a gully. It looks as if it goes upwards."</p>
+        <p>Still roped together, they shuffled along the ledge and round the corner and found the crevice sloping up, steep but not as sheer as the cliff itself. After a hundred feet or more, the going got easier. Another fifty feet and they found a set of steps cut into the bare rock where the fissure narrowed abruptly, steps so worn by time and weather that they were almost eroded flat, but Connor was grateful for an easier progress. </p>
+        <p>The gully narrowed even further, hardly more than a shoulder's width wide. Jack was in the lead, with Connor roped behind when he stopped abruptly and Connor bumped into him.</p>
+        <p>A hollow boom shuddered the rock under their feet, low and loud, like a distant drum. A blast of cold-damp air thickened the mist and then seemed to suck it away from them.</p>
+        <p>The boom echoed up the walls.</p>
+        <p>Jack took two steps forward and the third found nothing but fresh air. He twisted frantically and got a grip of the rock edge, dangling over a hole in the ground, and managed to haul himself up again.</p>
+        <p>The mist sucked away again and they saw a gaping hole in the stone, as polished as the cliff walls.</p>
+        <p>"It goes down to the sea," Jack said when he got his breath back. "That's what's making the sound. The waves go in the cave and push the air up, then draw it back down again."</p>
+        <p>"That's an awful clever thing to work out," Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"It's how a wave generator works," Jack said. "We got it in physics class."</p>
+        <p>"What, you're a doctor as well?"</p>
+        <p>"Physics," Kerry said. "Like maths. Only harder."</p>
+        <p>Connor looked totally blank. So did Corriwen.</p>
+        <p>Kerry grinned. "It's like magic where we come from."</p>
+        <p>But it was clear the hole went straight down to the sea somewhere far below, a sinkhole filled with roiling fog. Jack counted himself lucky that he had managed to twist and get a handhold, for it sounded like a long way down. They edged round and found a wider slope here where long lines scored in the stone gave them a better grip. Connor was now limping. Jack took the strain on the rope as much as he could, but it was hard going.</p>
+        <p>"He's a gutsy kid," he said to Kerry. "Can't be easy with that bad leg."</p>
+        <p>"I feel really sorry for him. He was only trying to catch something to eat and now he's been hunted over half the country. And half drowned. And then a horse fell on him."</p>
+        <p>"He's not had a lot of luck," Jack said just as Kerry jumped back and crashed into him.</p>
+        <p>A mouthful of big teeth appeared right in front of them. Kerry's sword was suddenly in his hand as he shoved Jack further back.</p>
+        <p>The thing glared at them. But it didn't move.</p>
+        <p>Kerry backed away, sword ready. Then he stopped, took a couple of wary steps forward.</p>
+        <p>"I don't believe it," he said. "It's a freakin' Viking boat. It's got a dragon on the front."</p>
+        <p>"How on earth did it get up here," Jack asked, when his heart slowed a little.</p>
+        <p>"High tide?"</p>
+        <p>"If it gets this high, we're really in trouble."</p>
+        <p>They gathered around the carved prow. The head was as big as Kerry was tall, and the mouth a full yard wide, silently snarling. It looked like some kind of guardian.</p>
+        <p>They edged past and clambered over ropes which held it fast against the rock. Round shields hung along the gunwales, and a long mast lay prone along its deck, wrapped in a heavy canvas sail.</p>
+        <p>"It didn't float up here," Jack said. "People must have pulled it up</p>
+        <p>"Would have taken hundreds of them."</p>
+        <p>"So we should be very quiet. They could be anywhere."</p>
+        <p>In total silence they edged up the narrow path until they abruptly emerged from the mist. It lay below them, like a flat white sea. Above them, jagged peaks of bare stone soared into the sky. The track flattened out and they found themselves approaching two tall stone pillars, one on either side. Lines and characters, so worn they were hard to make out, covered their facing sides.</p>
+        <p>"Wonder what that says," Connor said.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Trespass no further, stranger</em>," Kerry said. "On the left, that's what it says."</p>
+        <p>Kerry's ability to read the Book of Ways had astonished Jack in Temair, because all through school he'd had dyslexia and found words hard going.</p>
+        <p>"And on the right it says: "<em>Proceed and Prepare for Battle</em>."</p>
+        <p>"I'm too tired to fight," Connor said. I could sleep for a fortnight and then have forty winks."</p>
+        <p>"These stones are old," Jack said. "It probably doesn't mean anything."</p>
+        <p>They passed the pillars, walking slowly until they came to a jagged fissure across the path. It looked as if a whole section of rock had just slipped and dropped away. The gap was twenty feet across or more. They looked down into darkness. Sounds of distant water echoed up.</p>
+        <p>"We can't go back," Jack said. "We'll have to cross."</p>
+        <p>"Sure, Connor said. "I'll just hop over."</p>
+        <p>"We could climb round the edge."</p>
+        <p>"No handholds," Kerry replied. He turned to Jack. "You think you could make it?"</p>
+        <p>Jack estimated the distance, then nodded.</p>
+        <p>"I wouldn't have had a hope before, but with these boots, it'll be a dawdle."</p>
+        <p>Jack unhitched the rope from Connor. Kerry did the same with Corriwen and explained the plan to them. Jack went first, taking a short run, timing his steps and then leapt. For a second his heart kicked like a mule as he looked down into the chasm below, and then his feet were on solid ground again. Kerry landed beside him, light as a cat.</p>
+        <p>They found a stone big enough to loop the rope around, then he searched in his pack until he found the heavy gold torc that had mysteriously been given him in the Drumlin, and used it as a weight to throw the rope back across. Connor picked it up, fascinated, and slipped it round his neck, grinning.</p>
+        <p>"I'm rich at last," he said.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen cinched the rope on the far side then tied herself on and then, hand over hand, she came swinging across, while Kerry held tight to the safety rope, just in case. When she got to their side, Jack found that he'd been holding his breath the whole time.</p>
+        <p>Connor came next, slower Corriwen, and when he neared the edge, Kerry waited to haul him up. </p>
+        <p>Relieved, Jack turned to pick up his pack.</p>
+        <p>The heart-stone kicked hard.</p>
+        <p>And a gargoyle of a creature leapt at them, so fast all they saw was a flicker of motion and a flash of red. Something whickered in the air. Jack caught a gleam of metal, inches from his neck and the next thing he knew he was twenty feet away on a high slab of rock.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen's knives seemed to leap into her hands as she ducked under a blade as big as a scythe.</p>
+        <p>Kerry somersaulted over the blade as it swung round to cut him off at the knees.</p>
+        <p>There was a blur of motion again and the creature disappeared as fast as it had attacked.</p>
+        <p>Jack leapt down and the three of them stood together, scanning the clefts and walls above them.</p>
+        <p>All he had seen was a twisted, snarling face with jagged teeth and horns curving up from its cheeks like boar tusks.</p>
+        <p>"What was it?" Kerry asked, "It looked like a monster."</p>
+        <p>Jack shook his head, searching all round.</p>
+        <p>Then it was back on them again, appearing as if from nowhere. Jack saw a spidery motion as the thing swooped head-first down the sheer wall of rock to their right. It landed on two feet, whirled faster than a stoat.</p>
+        <p>Connor was just getting to his feet. He loosened the noose at his waist and let it drop. He took one step forward. Kerry had already untied the other end from its anchor.</p>
+        <p>The demonic creature blurred in and slammed him backwards. Jack saw his arms windmill as he fought for balance and then he toppled off the edge. The noose caught around one ankle and the rope hissed as it was dragged over the rim.</p>
+        <p>The thing swung at Jack. He was up and over the swinging blade before he knew it and then he was on the ground again. The rope was snaking away from him as Connor fell and he frantically grabbed at it.</p>
+        <p>Over the edge, Connor's wail of fright echoed up.</p>
+        <p>The rope skidded through Jack's hands, burning like hot metal. He braced his feet hard against a rock.</p>
+        <p>Then his arms nearly popped out of their sockets when Connor reached the end of the rope and jerked to a sudden stop. A high screech tore the air as the rope tightened on Connor's injured ankle and his weight hit the end of the drop. The sudden strain almost threw Jack over the edge. He grunted in pain and effort, using every ounce of strength and will to stop that from happening.</p>
+        <p>The gargoyle spun at Kerry. He slashed out with his sword and its blade came swinging for him. The two swords crashed together and Kerry's weapon shattered into a dozen pieces. The thing slashed out its free hand and slammed him into the air. Jack was somehow aware of the sickening thud as Kerry hit the rock face and slid down in a slack heap.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen screamed in anger and darted in, both knives flashing. The thing's hands blurred and there was a clang of metal on metal. Corriwen's knives flicked out of her hands and clattered to the ground. The creature leapt at her and she rolled as the sword sliced and almost took her head off at the neck.</p>
+        <p>It skidded to a halt, whirled on one foot and came for Jack.</p>
+        <p>He was still heaving at the rope, gasping for breath. Every time Connor swung out, the strain and the pain in his arms was enormous. One of Corriwen's knives had landed at his feet and he eyed it, gauging the distance and the possibility of snatching it with one hand.</p>
+        <p>But with Connor's life depending on his two-handed grip on the rope, he couldn't risk it.</p>
+        <p>The creature flashed towards him, sword whirring like a propeller. Jack was helpless. If he defended himself, Connor would fall to his death.</p>
+        <p>It glared at him, eyes shadowed by scaly skin, teeth like needles jutting forward, and those scything horns ready to slice flesh. </p>
+        <p>Jack stared it in the eye.</p>
+        <p>"Fight me," a voice rasped.</p>
+        <p>Jack shook his head.</p>
+        <p>"Fight me or die where you stand."</p>
+        <p>It slashed with the sword. Jack swung back, slipped and felt Connor drop a couple of feet. The blade hit the rock an inch from his head and bright sparks burned the skin around his eyes. He held tight to the rope, managed to get to one knee then both feet. He hauled on the rope and managed to haul Connor a few feet back.</p>
+        <p>Jack stared at the thing without blinking.</p>
+        <p>"Kill me if you like," he gasped. "But he's my friend and I'm not letting him drop."</p>
+        <p>"Fight me," the thing roared. "You trespass! All must fight!"</p>
+        <p>"If you kill me, then you kill him as well. And he's just a crippled boy. Let me bring him up and then I'll fight you. But not before."</p>
+        <p>It stalked towards him, tall and lean, with that hideous face glaring at him, sword gleaming and deadly.</p>
+        <p>Jack kept staring back and slowly began to haul Connor up. The thing raised the blade high, one foot forward, ready to slice.</p>
+        <p>Jack didn't flinch, didn't blink.</p>
+        <p>It paused. "You would die for him?"</p>
+        <p>Jack nodded. His throat was suddenly so dry he couldn't have spoken a word.</p>
+        <p>"If I have to. But I won't let him fall."</p>
+        <p>Very slowly, the sword lowered until its point touched the ground.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen had regained her feet and was moving towards her knife. The creature held up a hand to her without turning round, even though Corriwen hadn't made a sound.</p>
+        <p>"Stay," it said.</p>
+        <p>Jack hauled again and raised Connor a bit more.</p>
+        <p>"Fool," the thing said. </p>
+        <p>"Maybe. But he's a friend of mine."</p>
+        <p>It stood stock still. Jack risked getting down on his haunches to get more leverage on the rope, still matching the thing with his eyes. As he bent, the heartstone slipped out of his tunic and dangled in the air.</p>
+        <p>The creature drew in a sharp breath.</p>
+        <p>"You wear his&#8230;the talisman." The rasp had gone from the voice. </p>
+        <p>It backed off two paces and stood straight, still as a statue, still glaring at him. Then, puzzlingly, it sheathed the sword, raised both hands to its ogre face and lifted it up. Jack saw now it was a mask that hinged at the top. It swung up and red hair spilled out in long snaking braids. A pair of startling blue eyes stared down at him as it dropped the demon-mask it had worn.</p>
+        <p>A tall, striking woman gazed down at him.</p>
+        <p>"So much time gone by," she said. "And now this."</p>
+        <p>Jack thought he saw her eyes glaze with tears. </p>
+        <p>"And you bear his courage in you." </p>
+        <p>This time Jack's heart kicked against his ribs. </p>
+        <p>She changed her stance, bent slowly towards him and the blue eyes speared him, catching the light and twinkling like stars. She was tall and fine-featured, with a cataract of flame-red hair tumbling over her back and shoulders. Her long arms and legs were scrolled with tattoos, from wrist to shoulder, across her thighs. Celtic whorls decorated her cheeks and brow.</p>
+        <p>To Jack she looked like some kind of fierce goddess.</p>
+        <p>He kept his eyes on her as braced Connor's weight. </p>
+        <p>"I'm Jack," he ventured. "Jack Flint."</p>
+        <p>"I know you, Jack Flint. It gladdens my heart to see you here. And it rends my heart in two."</p>
+        <p>She wiped her eyes with her thumb, then bent to take the trail of rope.</p>
+        <p>"But you and I, we shall never fight again."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter </title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>29</h1><p>The warrior woman raised one arm with such power that Connor came swinging right over the edge of the abyss and landed with a groan. He rolled over, untangled his leg from the rope, and gingerly got to his feet, face creased with pain.</p>
+        <p>When he struggled upright he saw the red-haired woman for the first time. </p>
+        <p>"Thanks," he mumbled.</p>
+        <p>"Thank your friend here," she said. "He saved your life, more than once."</p>
+        <p>"I got lucky," Jack said. "I was nearest to the rope."</p>
+        <p>"Well, but for you I'd still be falling," Connor said. "That hole goes down a long way. </p>
+        <p>He took a tentative step, more a limp than a step, and his joints creaked alarmingly. Then looked again at Jack.</p>
+        <p>"Have you shrunk?"</p>
+        <p>Jack stared back in amazement. "You've grown!"</p>
+        <p>They both looked down at Connor's bad leg. It was now completely straight, and it was the same length as the other one.</p>
+        <p>"It's a miracle," Connor said. He raised his leg a few times, checking to see if it was real.</p>
+        <p>He turned to Corriwen who was helping Kerry to his feet.</p>
+        <p>"I thought I was dead for sure, and when I reached the end of the rope, I thought it would pull my leg off. But it's gone and straightened me out. Look at me!"</p>
+        <p>He took another step, a painful one, but as he did, his smile lit his face. His tangled mat of hair had been smoothed out by the seawater and he looked completely different from the crippled ragamuffin she had rescued in the forest. The gold torc on his neck gave him an oddly noble look.</p>
+        <p>"Your friend's gallantry saved you all," the woman said. "Him you must thank for your welcome on my island."</p>
+        <p>She bent towards Jack and clasped him on the shoulders with both hands, leaned forward and fixed him with those startling eyes. For the first time he noticed she was bristling with weapons of all kinds, in sheaths and quivers all over a scaled tunic. </p>
+        <p>"Your heart is straight and true. I am Hedda. They call me The Scatha, which means warrior-woman. You and yours are welcome ever to my home."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>She led them along a winding path so narrow they had to walk in single file. </p>
+        <p>Wherever they were going, Jack thought, the place was impregnable. The only way to get here was by leaping over the crevasse, and only Rune's boots had enabled Jack and Kerry to risk it with any confidence. The twists and turns in the path cut in the rock would have made this place impossible to attack. One person could hold off an army, and he had no doubt that this fierce, handsome woman would have no difficulty in doing just that.</p>
+        <p>They followed behind her until the path stopped abruptly at a cliff wall that soared above them towards the clouds. Whorls and patterns, very similar to the tattoos that adorned Hedda, were carved in the face. She touched one of the carvings and a stone door opened inwards. She ushered them into a cavernous room lit by torches and heated by a roaring fire. Somewhere in the distance, a low, regular booming shivered up through the stone floor. </p>
+        <p>They stood, all four of them gawping at the array of weapons studding every inch of the walls; daggers, spears, bows, harpoons, swords of all shapes and some weapons Jack had never seen before, even in books. </p>
+        <p>All except one great sword which caught his complete attention. None of his friends saw him go still as stone.</p>
+        <p>Their eyes were fixed above the row of shields which formed a continuous frieze.</p>
+        <p>Hundreds of skulls were pinned to the walls, crowding right up to the ceiling, strange white skulls with dagger-like teeth and weird bony crests.</p>
+        <p>"The Fir Bolg," Hedda said. "The sea people of old who made war on men in Eirinn. They sacrificed a thousand good men to their demons and put their bodies in the bogs where their souls lie cold and restless. In one day, I took two heads for every one they slaughtered. And then we went to war on them and drove them back into the sea. A few escaped to the mountains and became the fell runners."</p>
+        <p>"We came across them in the hills," Connor said. "Ugly things. All ribs and teeth."</p>
+        <p>The woman looked at him then cocked her head as she scanned his face, inspecting him closely. He'd tied his hair into two braids to keep it out of his eyes. Jack thought he looked like a young Viking chief.</p>
+        <p>Without warning, her hand shot out and Connor flinched, but not quickly enough. Her fingers snatched the tattered tunic and pulled him towards her, hauling him up on tip-toe. Her free hand raised the brass pin-brooch that held the rag in place.</p>
+        <p>"Where did you find this?" she asked. </p>
+        <p>"Always had it," he replied. "Since I was little. It was my mam's. It's mine now since she's dead."</p>
+        <p>"Your mother." She held him close. "What was her name?"</p>
+        <p>"Don't know. Nobody knew. She died of cold and drowning. But my Ma and Da, my foster parents, say she pinned me on her shoulder with this so I wouldn't drown. All they got out of her was my name, before she breathed her last."</p>
+        <p>Hedda slowly unclasped her fingers and let Connor sag back.</p>
+        <p>"Omens," she said, almost a whisper. "We are at a crossing of the ways. Strange things indeed come to pass."</p>
+        <p>"You're not kidding," Kerry muttered. "And all I wanted was a quiet life."</p>
+        <p>Jack elbowed his ribs. The great sword on the wall had sent a tremor through him. He sensed something important was happening. He too felt as if he was at some sort of crossroads now, about to take a step that would change his life. It seemed she had plucked the thought right out of his mind.</p>
+        <p>"Runes don't lie," she said softly. She beckoned them across the room to a massive table beside the fire.</p>
+        <p>"Sit. We will eat tell each other tales of the past and consider what is to come."</p>
+        <p>She tugged a cord on the wall and sat down on a carved chair, then poured out five goblets of amber liquid and passed them round. The first sip was heady and sweet, and Jack felt its warmth creep inside him, heating him to the core.</p>
+        <p>He closed his eyes, letting the exhaustion of their climb drain away when a huge hand clapped him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw big face smiling down at him. For an instant he thought it was Finn MacCuill, until he realised it was another woman, and one almost as tall as the giant who had forced up the causeway and sacrificed himself so they could escape.</p>
+        <p>"Eat first," she boomed. She ruffled his hair with a meaty hand and Jack thought his head was going to spin off. "You can sleep later."</p>
+        <p>He glanced at the table and realised he must have dozed off for several minutes, for it was laden with platters of food in such quantity that it looked like a king's banquet. Kerry and Connor were stuffing themselves. As soon as the smell of hot food hit him, Jack realised he was absolutely famished.</p>
+        <p>The giantess sat herself down on a bench at the far end of the table and helped herself to a side of crisp bacon which she ate heartily with her huge fingers, and quaffed from a bucket as if it was a delicate tumbler.</p>
+        <p>"This is Fennel," Hedda said. "My armourer."</p>
+        <p>The giantess chuckled. The walls seemed to shiver. "Armourer, cook. Housekeeper. Sweeper-up-afterwards. A woman's work is never done."</p>
+        <p>"But the best armourer in all of Eirinn. I suspect we will need all of her skill."</p>
+        <p>"How do you mean?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>"Because if you are here, as the runes foretold, a battle looms."</p>
+        <p>"Not again," Kerry mumbled through a mouthful. "Can't a guy get a break?"</p>
+        <p>"Men rarely challenge me," Hedda said. "Most quail at the crevasse leap. Some brave it. Most die. That is the way of the Scatha. Who fights and lives for one hour, whose hearts are good, I welcome and teach, as I will teach you.</p>
+        <p>She clapped Kerry on the shoulder. "As they say in Eirinn, our songs may be sad, but all our fights are happy. There has been little song in Eirinn these past years, and now it is time to fight.</p>
+        <p>"Fingal's runes told me that four would come. Two travellers and a lord and a lady, come to me to aid Eirinn."</p>
+        <p>"Well," Kerry said. "They got it half right. This is Lady Corriwen Redthorn, of Temair."</p>
+        <p>Connor turned to Jack. "I never knew you were a lord."</p>
+        <p>"I'm not," Jack said. </p>
+        <p>Hedda rapped her knuckles softly on the table, enough to command silence.</p>
+        <p>"Listen to my story," she said. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts, then she spoke again.</p>
+        <p>"Men come here to challenge the Scatha, to gain honour or knowledge. Always the kings of the Westlands met me across the crevasse and were strong and brave enough to live the hour, and I taught them the ways of battle, for they were ever good and fair.</p>
+        <p>"So I taught Conovar, though he had known peace for a long time. Rarely I leave this island, but for his crowning I travelled and met his Queen Eleon. And I met Dermott and the false Fainn. Then Conovar took deathly ill, after his son was born and Dermott wrested the throne from Eleon, who threw herself into the sea when Dermott in his rage took the infant by the leg and cast him out."</p>
+        <p>Hedda bent to Connor and unclasped the brass pin-brooch. She held it up for them to see, small and round, with five little stars cut into its face.</p>
+        <p>"The Corona," Jack whispered.</p>
+        <p>"Aye," Hedda said. "The Sky Crown. And the last time I saw this, it held not rags together, but a cloak of the finest linen."</p>
+        <p>Connor listened, agog.</p>
+        <p>"For this belonged to Eleon, Queen of the Westlands, who leapt from the keep to save her baby son. And save him she did, I think, though she sacrificed her own life in doing so."</p>
+        <p>She pinned the brooch back on Connor's shabby tunic. "When you came up from the chasm, I saw Conovar's face in you. You are your father's son. And the blood of the Dagda, the high king, runs in your veins"</p>
+        <p>"Me? A king?" Connor's mouth opened and closed, like a landed haddock. "No. I can't be. Cripples can't be kings. It's the law."</p>
+        <p>Hedda laughed.</p>
+        <p>"Cripple no more. Whatever damage Dermott did to that infant boy, it has been righted again. An omen of things to come."</p>
+        <p>"Wait a minute," Jack said. "Remember what the book said? It's all come true."</p>
+        <p>He rummaged in his pack and drew the book out again. Once more it flicked itself open and whirred to the page they had read before.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Brave the turning ocean race</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Trust in fortune's tight embrace</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Take to flight by cockleshell</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Face the rip-tide's parlous swell.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The time is close to end of flight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Then journeyman, prepare to fight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>For Eirinn and for Eirinn's plight</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And turn to battle evil's might</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Heroes will return and bring</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The harmony that summons spring</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To Tara Hill, its song re-born</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>And with them will a king return</em></p>
+        <p>"It told us about the king. And we braved the turning ocean race. And we went by cockleshell, didn't we? So, it <em>has </em>to be true."</p>
+        <p>"No," Connor said. "I'm the least kingly king you ever met. I never had a sword or a crown. And I never rode a horse until Corriwen showed me how. And I've been in rags all my days and a poacher to boot."</p>
+        <p>"Those days are done," Hedda said. "And the rest of your Rune-book will come to pass. The flight is over and we will prepare to fight. And the harmony? Let me see what you carry."</p>
+        <p>Jack reached under the big table and raised Brand's bag. He sat it in front of them, reached inside, and drew out the beautiful golden harp.</p>
+        <p>"I think this might be what it means."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>It had been a long day and Kerry snored like a tractor on the straw mattress. The giant had draped big woollen blankets over them. Corriwen's red hair gleamed in the faint torchlight. Connor had curled himself into a ball, the way he did when sleeping in the open. He had fallen asleep still protesting that he couldn't possibly be a king, but agreeing that having a horse one day might be a good thing.</p>
+        <p>Jack couldn't sleep. His mind was in turmoil, and not only because of the sword on Hedda's wall. He had been too stunned then to speak. Now his friends were asleep, this was the time to find Hedda and speak to her about the sword and what she said on the brink of the abyss. </p>
+        <p>He could wait no longer.</p>
+        <p>He threw the blanket aside and got up, almost quivering with excitement, slipped out of the chamber and down the passage to the great room.</p>
+        <p>The fire cast a rosy glow on the weaponry, all of them polished and gleaming as if ready for instant use. Slowly he approached the wall and stood before the Redthorn Sword. He had last seen it riven through Mandrake as they ran for the Homeward Gate, pursued by the monstrous Morrigan.</p>
+        <p>His hand reached, of its own volition, and grasped the hilt. He drew it down from the wall, turned it point-up. It seemed to sing in his hand, as if it were part of him, pulsing with his own heartbeat.</p>
+        <p>"Made for a man such as you." Her voice came from behind him.</p>
+        <p>Jack had somehow known she would be there. He didn't even flinch.</p>
+        <p>"I knew you would come back," Hedda said softly. "The sword called to you."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They sat together by the warmth of the fire. The light made the whorls and spirals of her tattoos seem to spin and dance on her face and her long red braids coiled about her shoulders.</p>
+        <p>"I need to know about my father," Jack said. "You knew him."</p>
+        <p>She nodded. </p>
+        <p>"A long time ago. But the memory is fresh as a new rose. I met the traveller. Jonathan."</p>
+        <p>"Jonathan Flint." He held up the penknife the Major had given him. The letters JCF were carved into the bone handle.</p>
+        <p>She nodded. "I named him Cullian, as I choose a name for all who live the hour by the abyss. In my old tongue, it means Fair Champion. And he was the champion of all worlds. I forged two swords, one he carried, and one you now bear. Swords of great power, made in the heat below these mountains, hilted in faery-glass."</p>
+        <p>Hedda bent her head and when she raised it again, her eyes were glazed again. </p>
+        <p>"He was the only man I ever loved, and I know he loved me in his way. As a true friend. But his heart was snared by another and I knew I would not win him. Instead I taught him and together we fought the Fir Bolg and sent them back to the sea. A good and just fight it was and Jonathan Cullian, he saved Eirinn for men."</p>
+        <p>She smiled, sadly. "He came back to me at the end." She got to her feet and crossed to the wall where one blank space showed old stone. Again she touched a carving on the surface and a secret door opened. She reached into darkness and drew something out, then brought it to the fireside for Jack to see.</p>
+        <p>"The Oaken Club," she said. "The third of the Dagda's gifts when he left this world and went with the Sky Queen."</p>
+        <p>It was a massive thing, and hideous too, polished to a gleaming lustre. Solid oak, carved into a skull head, like an ornate mace, with gaping sockets and ferocious teeth. Big spikes studded the skull's head. </p>
+        <p>"Carved from the first oak," she said, "in the far days when the trees could talk. Whoever bears this fears no harm and loses no battle. Jonathan Cullian brought me this for safekeeping, away from the dreams of ambitious men, to hold until such times as Eirinn's need of it returned. As it has now, I now believe."</p>
+        <p>She placed it on the table where the sockets glared up at Jack.</p>
+        <p>Fainn has the Cauldron. You have brought the Harp, but its song is silenced. I must dwell on that."</p>
+        <p>Jack was worried that the conversation had taken the wrong direction.</p>
+        <p>"My father," he urged her. "I have been trying to find him."</p>
+        <p>"Then your road will be long and hard. You bear the firestone heart, which means he could not. When he left, it was to go back to the woman who had won his love. Where he went, I cannot say."</p>
+        <p>"Can't, or won't?"</p>
+        <p>"Cannot," she repeated. "The Journeyman goes where he is called and will not return until the quest is done. How did you come by the heartstone?"</p>
+        <p>Jack told her of what had happened on the night they had stumbled through the gate in the ring of stones and found themselves in Temair.</p>
+        <p>"But the Major told me it had been my father's. I think I was brought through the gates as a baby. I had nightmares that things were chasing me and I was being carried. I think they might be memories."</p>
+        <p>She nodded, considering this.</p>
+        <p>"Jonathan Cullian would never have given up the heartstone unless he had to. For your safety or its safeguarding. That can only mean he travelled without it. And now you are the journeyman."</p>
+        <p>"But if he is still alive, how can I find him?"</p>
+        <p>"That I don't know either. You must ask the Sky Queen for help. She will look kindly on one who has risked all for Eirinn."</p>
+        <p>Another thought struck Jack right at that moment.</p>
+        <p>"You said he was in love with someone. Did you know her?"</p>
+        <p>"I knew <em>of</em> her. And that he was the only one for her."</p>
+        <p>"Do you think that would have been my mother?"</p>
+        <p>"Ah, Jack Flint," she sighed. "I believe it could have been none other."</p>
+        <p>"So what now?"</p>
+        <p>"We finish the quest and end this sadness in Eirinn. We gird for war."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>They spent a week on the island with Hedda and very skilfully she taught taught them the secrets of warfare. For Jack it was both amazing and frustrating. He had learned more about his father than he had ever known, and the more he knew, the more he admired a man he had never met.</p>
+        <p>Yet while emotionally he felt closer to the man known as Jonathan Cullian Flint, his father was still remote. He had vanished as if he had never been, and all Hedda could tell Jack was that he had fallen in love with a woman who must be his mother.</p>
+        <p>How Jack had come to end up with the Major in the old peninsula house was still a mystery. Where Jonathan Flint had vanished to, nobody had a clue. And his mother? She too was a puzzle yet to be solved.</p>
+        <p>Were they alive? Were they dead? So far nobody had been able to tell him.</p>
+        <p>But he was determined to find out, one way and another, if he had to travel through every gate in the Cromwath Blackwood ring of stones, until he found an answer.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Hedda had taken him aside.</p>
+        <p>"Are you afraid, Journeyman?" she had asked.</p>
+        <p>"Of course I am," he said, seriously. "I'm not even sixteen yet."</p>
+        <p>"But you have a stout heart and a fine sword. The cause is good. Better to fight the good fight and win your way to TirNanOg."</p>
+        <p>"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not get there any time soon," Jack said, managing a smile. "I really want to find my father."</p>
+        <p>The broken harp stood between them, its golden surface glittering in the glow of the fire.</p>
+        <p>"I have been thinking on this," she said. "It has lost its harmony and spring fails in Eirinn. </p>
+        <p>"It must be re-strung."</p>
+        <p>"I've got good fishing line," Kerry said. He dug in his pack and brought out a spool of nylon. "Forty pounds breaking strain."</p>
+        <p>Hedda agreed that it might work and he used Corriwen's Swiss army knife to cut lengths a yard long. He seemed to know what he was doing and quickly tightened up a whole line of strings before he turned to Hedda.</p>
+        <p>"This is a bit thick for the high notes. Have you anything finer?"</p>
+        <p>She smiled at him and began to unwind one of her long braids, then cut out a hank of fiery hair. Kerry twisted two or three together to make a fine cord, just the way he made snares from horstail-hair and got to work again. When he had finished the harp looked as if it was playable at least.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen's nimble fingers turned the keys as she plucked the strings until she thought the harp was in tune. Then stroked all the strings from top to bottom.</p>
+        <p>As soon as she did, the heartstone vibrated keenly on its setting. Jack felt it flutter against his chest as if a little jolt of electricity had pulsed through it. In his head, he thought he heard a pure crystalline sound.</p>
+        <p>The others were intent on the harp, listening to the faint notes fading away.</p>
+        <p>Hedda said. "It's power is gone."</p>
+        <p>But right at the centre of his brain, Jack could hear whispering words. He cocked his head, eyes fixed on the middle distance. Corrie ran her fingers down the strings again, harder this time. The faint chord sang out.</p>
+        <p>Jack heard the sound matched by the heartstone, and underneath that sound, a clear voice.</p>
+        <p><em>Take me home to Tara hill</em></p>
+        <p><em>Let me sing to end the ill</em></p>
+        <p><em>End the winter, start the spring</em></p>
+        <p><em>Take me home and let me sing.</em></p>
+        <p>"It sang to me," Jack said in a whisper. The voice was fading away and he wanted to hold on to it, keep its pure note.</p>
+        <p>He lifted the heartstone and brought it close to the harp. The strings began to hum again and the stone vibrated like a tuning fork.</p>
+        <p>"It <em>talked.</em> It sang to me through the stone.</p>
+        <p>"What did it sing?" Hedda asked. She looked unsurprised.</p>
+        <p>"It wants to go home. To Tara Hill."</p>
+        <p>"Then to Tara Hill we go," she said. "The end begins."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Under Hedda's stronghold, Fennel laboured in a deep chamber where a hole in the black rock glowed with intense heat. She was forging new weapons for Connor and Kerry.</p>
+        <p>"Eirinn's furnace," she said. In one big hand she held Corriwen's knives and very nimbly for one so huge, she stripped them of the ornate hafts then pushed them into the heat until they went white.</p>
+        <p>Fennel finally re-hafted the knives which now gleamed with brilliant fire, but instead of the original decoration, she made a simple pair of handles from what looked like snake-skin. When she handed them back to Corriwen, they felt different, and much better balanced.</p>
+        <p>Hedda undid one of her long braids and plucked a single hair, holding it up like a copper thread. She let it drop.</p>
+        <p>"Cut," she told Corriwen.</p>
+        <p>The knives flashed. The air sang as they clove, and the fine red hair was first cut in two and then each half split down the middle.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen looked in amazement as four new strands fluttered to the floor.</p>
+        <p>"A weapon must have power of its own," Hedda said. "It draws it from the heart of Eirinn. <em>Now,</em> you are the warrior woman Dermott fears."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 30</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>30</h1><p>They crossed the chasm together, but this time they walked over a narrow wooden bridge that Fennel laid across its span, and followed the twisting path until they came to the boat with the ferocious dragon's head on its prow.</p>
+        <p>Fennel busied herself shipping oars made from single trunks of tall sapplings and helped them climb aboard. Hedda stood in the prow, wearing a tunic of some kind of fish scales that refracted the light into rainbow colour. She was bristling with arms of all kinds and wore an amberhorn bow across her shoulders. Her braided flaming hair hung to her waist.</p>
+        <p>To Jack, she was the most magnificent person he had ever seen. In the week they had stayed with her, he had come to admire her. And they had learned from her too.</p>
+        <p>Fennel sat in the stern, and when they were all settled, she heaved at a massive wooden hook that was fixed to a chain pinned to the side of the gulley. There was a grinding creak of protesting wood as the boat began to slip down the slope.</p>
+        <p>It moved an inch at a time, with Fennel rocking it from side to side to ease its passage, reached the lip of the gulley&#8230;and then they were <em>moving</em>.</p>
+        <p>Beneath them the white fog-bank was as flat as a table, studded with those spiny peaks that soared up from it like gothic spires. The boat gathered speed in the gulley and they plunged into the mist, faster and faster. </p>
+        <p>Ahead of them, a hollow booming sound, and Jack remembered the chasm he had almost tumbled into. The mist sucked away from them.</p>
+        <p>"Fennel!" he turned in the thwarts. As usual Kerry was holding tight with both hands. "Fennel, there's a great big&#8230;&#8230;"</p>
+        <p>He never got to finish the sentence. Fennel was smiling at him, unconcerned.</p>
+        <p>And the boat simply dropped into the hole.</p>
+        <p>Kerry squawked as the bench fell away from him and for a second he was suspended a foot above it. Fennel's hand clamped on his shoulder and sat him back.</p>
+        <p>Then they were no longer falling, but screeching down a curve, underneath the mist, heading for a wide clear light.</p>
+        <p>The boat hit water with an almighty splash and they were out in the open, skipping along on the surface of the sea at such speed that the keel only touched water every few seconds, until they were a clear mile away from the island and it began to slow down.</p>
+        <p>Kerry whooped in delight. Connor was grinning like an idiot and Corriwen's face was flushed with exhilaration.</p>
+        <p>"It's the only way to travel," Kerry said. "Can we go back up and do it again?"</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Now they were powering across the sea, and there was no sign of Dermottt's ships.</p>
+        <p>Connor, standing in the prow, looked entirely different from the ragamuffin they had saved from Dermott's cage. His fair hair streamed behind him and the rags were gone. Fennel had found him a new leather tunic and a plaid cloak. He now wore Jack's golden torc which Hedda said was a king's right. Both he and Kerry had new short-swords, Jack had the great sword in a leather scabbard, and his quiver was now filled with black arrows, just like the ones he had taken on the last night in the Major's house. He felt as if he was ready to fight.</p>
+        <p>Fennel steered them closer to the shore when Hedda took a step forward and covered her eyes against the reflections on the water. Jack followed her look and saw a spray of water jet up from the sea.</p>
+        <p>He moved up to join her. "Is that a whale?" </p>
+        <p>"A kelpie, perhaps."</p>
+        <p>The water spouted again and a mass of bubbles churned the surface.</p>
+        <p>"I see something in the water," Jack said, leaning over the gunwales. A pink shape poked above the waves, then disappeared before another fountain of water sprayed up. Fennel steered towards it.</p>
+        <p>Jack let out a cry of surprise. What he had thought was a whale, or maybe a walrus was the tip of a big nose, just under the surface. As a wave passed over it, the trough uncovered it and Jack heard a huge suck of air that was cut off by the next wave.</p>
+        <p>Then, all of a sudden, a huge hand reached up and waved.</p>
+        <p>"It's Finn!" he cried. "Finn in the water."</p>
+        <p>They all crowded to the side, causing the ship to wallow again. Jack leaned over the gunwales and peered into the depths.</p>
+        <p>Finn's moon face wavered down there. Both hands reached up and when a wave passed, he managed a mighty gasp before the water covered him again.</p>
+        <p>"I thought he was gone," Connor said. "When the mountain blew up."</p>
+        <p>"Must be tougher than we thought," Kerry said. "But it looks like he's stuck."</p>
+        <p>Fennel uncoiled a rope and made a fast loop. As the boat passed close, she cast it out when Finn's hands appeared again. The loop snared them together. They thrashed the water, but Fennel turned the boat to catch the wind. It sped away for fifty feet, then shuddered violently, almost coming to a complete halt. The wind filled the big sail and it began to move forward again, slowly at first, then a bit faster. All of a sudden there was a sudden jerk and Finn was up on the surface, thrashing about, making huge waves of his own.</p>
+        <p>Fennel turned the craft about and came alongside in. The Giant was spluttering and gasping, coughing gouts of water. He reached the gunwales and hauled himself aboard.</p>
+        <p>The first person he saw was Jack and he clamped a meaty hand on his shoulder, almost flattening him to the deck.</p>
+        <p>"I been stuck in that mud and kelp for a week," he gasped. "Couldn't get my feet out. It was pure murder every high tide, trying to get a breath."</p>
+        <p>"We thought you'd been blown to smithereens," Kerry said.</p>
+        <p>"So did I. But I flew like a bird and then dropped like a stone. And I been stuck there ever since, holding my breath at high tide. I haven't eaten for a week and I'm starving to death."</p>
+        <p>"I've got food here," Fennel said and Finn turned around.</p>
+        <p>His eyes widened in surprise. Fennel blushed.</p>
+        <p>He held out a hand. "I'm Finn McCuill. Pleased to meet you&#8230;er... m'lady."</p>
+        <p>Corriwen smiled up at him. All of a sudden he sounded so shy that if he hadn't been in a boat he'd be hopping from one foot to foot to the other like a bashful child.</p>
+        <p>Fennel took his hand. "Fennel MacNally," she said, still blushing to the roots.</p>
+        <p>After five minutes Kerry piped up. "That's all we need. Love at first sight."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 31</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>31</h1><p>The boat sped towards the shore under Gerumbel Mountain, where the wrecks of two of Dermott's ships lay broken on jagged rocks. As Fennel steered them towards a shingle beach, Jack recalled the pursuit at sea. Ahead of them, the land was heavily overcast with dark clouds. It gave Jack a sense of foreboding.</p>
+        <p>Now the boat ground on the shingle and they stepped onto the mainland under rumbling Gerumbel. Hedda stalked up the beach, using her lance as a stave. They followed her. Finn held his hand out and helped Fennel step over the gunwale and she blushed as redly as he did.</p>
+        <p>They gathered at the edge of the trees.</p>
+        <p>"Does anybody know where this Tara Hill is?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>"Hidden from the eyes of men," Hedda said. </p>
+        <p>"That's a great help now," Connor said. "How do you find something that's hid?"</p>
+        <p>"We ask the book," Jack said simply. He sat down and opened the old leather cover and let the pages flicker by themselves and they waited until the words formed.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Sea behind, the hills before</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Journeyman take foot once more</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>On the way, the wand'ring band</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>Travels on through shadowland.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Bearing Eirinn's harmony</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Harried now by enemy</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Friends beside and foe before</em></p>
+        <p class="centered extraspace"><em>Walk the misty way once more.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>The end of quest is now at hand</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Friends united make a stand</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>By Tara Hill to hear the song</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To end the winter, right the wrong.</em></p>
+        <p>"The usual gibberish," Kerry said. "You translate it Jack."</p>
+        <p>"Sea behind," Jack said. "So we head south."</p>
+        <p>"Straight for Dermott's lands," Connor said. "We'll be walking right into a trap."</p>
+        <p>"The misty way," Corriwen said. "Where is that?"</p>
+        <p>Jack considered a moment. "I think it's the way Brand took us with the troupe. It was pretty far from here, a long way south. But I think I could find it again."</p>
+        <p>"That creepy place?" Kerry interrupted. "It gave me the heeby-jeebies."</p>
+        <p>Jack shrugged. He turned to Hedda. "What do you think?"</p>
+        <p>She shrugged, her face completely relaxed, as if nothing mattered.</p>
+        <p>"There will always be enemies. Your book speaks in riddles, but you say it tells the truth. Why doubt it now?"</p>
+        <p>"Okay," Jack said. "We head south. But watch out for enemies."</p>
+        <p>Hedda smiled. There was more glee than humour in it. "I will watch, have no fear on that score."</p>
+        <p>They walked on for two days, through thick forests where weasels and snakes crawled and rustled in the undergrowth, but stayed hidden. They reached the mountains and Hedda remembered a trail from long ago that took them, through winding passes and over jagged ridges and Jack was glad they met no more of the gaunt fell runners. </p>
+        <p>Kerry and Connor kept their spirits up, teasing each other along the way. Connor walked tall on two straight legs, delighted not to be limping any more. In his new cloak and bearing a fine sword, Jack had to admit that he had changed radically. He <em>did</em> look like a young noble. Jack had let him keep the torc, which he wore on his neck, adding to the perception.</p>
+        <p>"You know," Kerry said, looking ahead at Finn and Fennel who walked close, trampling a decent path through the brush and brambles. "Beside those two, I feel like a hobbit."</p>
+        <p>"What's a hobbit?" Connor asked.</p>
+        <p>"Sort of little people. On a quest."</p>
+        <p>"Like Cluricauns?"</p>
+        <p>"But with hairy feet. And a magic ring that makes you invisible."</p>
+        <p>"Ah, now your really at the kidding. That's totally made up now, isn't it?"</p>
+        <p>"No. Really. I saw it in a movie once."</p>
+        <p>Connor gave him that blank look again that told them he had never before now been more than twenty miles from home.</p>
+        <p>They tramped on as the south sky grew darker with the threat of storms in the air, but Jack suspected it had more to do with Fainn the Spellbinder. The air felt cold, but heavy and threatening. Occasional pulses of lightning would illuminate the low clouds in the far distance. Something was brewing, and Jack knew it wasn't just a storm. The book had told them the end of the quest was near. And it was time to take a stand. His hand automatically found the hilt of the magnificent double-edged sword in its scabbard and for a moment he felt comforted.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>The horsemen came at breakneck speed along the road. </p>
+        <p>Hedda heard them long before anyone else heard a thing and she turned the group off the path and into the trees at the base of the mountains. The storm turned like a dark whirlpool in a lowering sky and thunder rolled across the land, bringing cold rain and fleets of hail that hit like pebbles. They pulled their hoods up against the onslaught and plodded on, heads down. Only Finn and Fennel and Hedda seemed unaffected by the hail. And Finn and Fennel seemed so absorbed in each other's company that they didn't appear to notice much else. The giant had told them back then that his kind tended to be solitary. Now that two of them had met, they seemed shy and tongue tied, yet still unwilling to travel unless it was together. Jack thought it was pretty cool.</p>
+        <p>They stayed back with the four of them in the shadow of the trees while Hedda stood out on the road, lance jammed in the ground, feet braced apart, her hood pulled right over so that her face was in shadow. The image of a Valkyrie came to Jack: one of the spirit warrior women of the Norse Legends.</p>
+        <p>The cavalry troop spurred the horses towards them and pulled up only yards in front of where Hedda stood.</p>
+        <p>"Halt," a man shouted. "Who goes there. Where do you think you are you going?"</p>
+        <p>"I am halted, as you can see." Hedda said calmly. Her voice had taken on the rasp Jack had heard when she first came to challenge them. "What business of yours is my business?"</p>
+        <p>"I ask the questions on this road," the man said. He was big and bearded and wore a shaggy cloak just like Dermott's. Jack thought he remembered his face from the carousers in the castle. "Answer fast, or suffer the consequences."</p>
+        <p>"Ah," Hedda said with a sigh. "The impetuousity of youth, and the arrogance of ignorance." Jack heard the smile in her voice, a smile of confident anticipation. A little shiver went up his spine.</p>
+        <p>The man stepped down from his horse. Behind him, a number of the riders dismounted and fanned out, bows drawn back. Off to the side, another group came bearing down on them. </p>
+        <p>"The Lord Dermott hunts thieves and renegades. All travellers face questions at Wolfen Castle."</p>
+        <p>"Not this traveller," she retorted. </p>
+        <p>"Enough of this," the man said. "Take him in."</p>
+        <p>Jack realised they thought she was a man.</p>
+        <p>Half a dozen men came forward, swords drawn, while the archers lined up at the ready.</p>
+        <p>"Not a wise move," Hedda said, standing her lance straight up on the road.</p>
+        <p>The man laughed.</p>
+        <p>Hedda flipped her hood back. The six men all gasped in unison and came to an abrupt halt when they saw her ogre's mask, all teeth and horns.</p>
+        <p>Then she moved. Like lightning. Like a red streak, before they had time to recover and then she was in amongst them, whirling like a fiery tornado. They saw the sword flicker and flash, in and out. The big man dropped where he stood without a sound and his head thudded to the ground a split second after him. Blood sprayed in a fountain and then she was back where she had stood before, and the lance, which had started to fall to the ground, was back in her hand.</p>
+        <p>She stood still as a statue, not breathing hard. The monstrous face glared at them.</p>
+        <p>One of the horsed men cried out.</p>
+        <p>"It's killed Captain Gaglan. Murdered him!"</p>
+        <p>He stood high in the saddle. "Kill the beast now!"</p>
+        <p>The bowmen let loose a flight, all six of them and Kerry let out a groan of dismay. Hedda stood there. Another sword appeared in her free hand as if by magic then blurred in front of her.</p>
+        <p>Pieces of arrow, flights and points and shards of shafts scattered all around in a flurry of shrapnel as the blades cut them to shavings.</p>
+        <p>"Enough," Hedda spoke up. "Don't anger me now. Go back and tell Dermott his days in Conovar's seat are at an end. Tell him the Scatha comes to meet him."</p>
+        <p>"Is it a Fir Bolg?" One man asked. "A monster?"</p>
+        <p>"What's it talking about?" one of the archers said. </p>
+        <p>"I said kill it," the horseman bawled. "Send it back to whatever pit it climbed out of." Beside him more than a dozen archers drew their bows.</p>
+        <p>Fennel stepped from the trees to stand beside Hedda. The archers got such a fright they all took several steps backwards.</p>
+        <p>"Would you look at the size&#8230;" one of them started.</p>
+        <p>"Shoot!" the horseman roared. "Kill them both."</p>
+        <p>The horsed archers loosed their arrows in a hissing volley. Fennel stepped in front of Hedda and turned her body at the last moment and the flight thudded into her thick leather cloak. She brushed them off with a big hand, as if they were burrs from a docken plant. </p>
+        <p>But one arrow had been badly aimed and it had bit into the side of her neck. She tugged it out with a hard jerk. Deep red blood poured out and down her tunic, though her face showed no pain, nor even irritation.</p>
+        <p>But when Finn saw the blood, he suddenly went completely berserk.</p>
+        <p>He gave such a bellow of fury that all four of them jerked back. He leapt out from the trees, grabbed at a pine in the passing and snapped it off at the bole. With one hand he stripped the branches and needles and emerged, still roaring, with a tree-sized stave.</p>
+        <p>Before the horsemen could turn, he was on them, wielding the tree like a club, smashing men off their horses while the archers at the back shot volley after volley at him until he was so spiked he looked like a mad giant hedgehog.</p>
+        <p>He waded into them, scattering them into their air, throwing them into the trees, batting them skywards in a flurry. They fell like ninepins. The horsemen at the rear turned their mounts and fled, leaving their battered, bruised and flattened colleagues lying in broken heaps.</p>
+        <p>Finally Finn stopped, wiped his brow, and the red anger faded from his face.</p>
+        <p>"I'm awfully sorry about that," he said, somewhat sheepishly, surveying the carnage. "I don't know what came over me."</p>
+        <p>"Oh, I wouldn't worry," Fennel said, grinning at him. Jack saw the delight in her face. Finn had fought because of her. "They had it coming, be sure of that."</p>
+        <p>Hedda turned back, sheathed her swords and flicked the grotesque mask off.</p>
+        <p>"Well now we have horses," she said. "That should speed us on our way, and save shoe leather besides."</p>
+        <p>And suddenly Jack didn't have so much foreboding.</p>
+        <p>"What a babe," Kerry whispered in blatant awe. "I'm surely awful glad she's on our side."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 32</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>32</h1><p>"It was a monster," the soldier said. He was on one knee, in front of Dermott whose brows were drawn down over cold eyes. "It came upon us on the road. And there were giants who tore up trees as if they were weeds and laid about us."</p>
+        <p>"A monster. And giants." Dermott bristled. "Have you been at the pot still, man?"</p>
+        <p>"No, my Lord." The soldier was visibly shaking. He kept an eye on Dermott's sword hand. It hovered dangerously close to the hilt. "It is all true. Even arrows were useless against them. One of the men thought it might be a fir-bolg from the sea."</p>
+        <p>"There's been no Fir Bolg in a hundred generations," Dermott roared.</p>
+        <p>"But there are giants yet," Fainn said, leaning in towards the high seat. "In the lonely places by the sea."</p>
+        <p>"Well, we'll soon put an end to them," Dermott said. "We can't have giants thwarting out will, can we."</p>
+        <p>"Indeed not, my lord. But giants are not the concern of the moment."</p>
+        <p>Dermott shot him a look, then turned to the soldier.</p>
+        <p>"Did you see anyone else."</p>
+        <p>"Not me, lord, but a trooper was sure he glimpsed some others. Two or three. And they were small. Like children."</p>
+        <p>"Children! Did one of them have red hair?"</p>
+        <p>"That I can't say."</p>
+        <p>"It's them," Fainn interjected. "We lost them in the mist and they must have drifted. There is no escape for them now."</p>
+        <p>"We will scour the whole of Eirinn for them," Dermott growled. "North to south. East to west. Leave not a stone or a leaf unturned."</p>
+        <p>He turned to Fainn. "And what of this monster creature?"</p>
+        <p>"A fell runner maybe," Fainn surmised. "I thought they had all died out."</p>
+        <p>"Well, it's a scrapper. We find it and if we can't make a soldier of it, then we'll burn the damn thing. And those children too. Use all your wiles, spellbinder, all your powers. Drive them to me. I will have my harp back."</p>
+        <p>"Indeed you will," Fainn said. </p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>It was good to be back in the saddle again, although after four days of riding, Kerry was beginning to complain.</p>
+        <p>"My bum is numb," he told Jack. "And getting number. It's a bummer."</p>
+        <p>Jack laughed. You could always count on Kerry to lower the tone and cajole a smile.</p>
+        <p>"Better than walking," Connor said. "I really like horses. You can go for miles and you can see for miles as well from up here. I think everybody should have a horse."</p>
+        <p>They had stopped for the night by the edge of a wood and Fennel got to work preparing food from her big knapsack. She carried enough to feed a small army, which, Jack thought, was exactly what they were.</p>
+        <p>"Dermott knows we are coming," Hedda said as they ate. "Fainn thinks his storms and hail are driving us to him."</p>
+        <p>"The other riders must have reported back," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"And I have seen the outriders," Hedda said. "They keep their distance, but they also keep watch."</p>
+        <p>"I haven't seen a thing," said Kerry. "You must have eyes like a hawk."</p>
+        <p>"I thought I saw movement in the distance, but I couldn't be sure," Corriwen said. "But if they are just watching, then Dermott knows the direction we are taking. He will plan an ambush."</p>
+        <p>Hedda smiled. "That he will. He will draw all his forces in and surround us. If he can."</p>
+        <p>"Shouldn't we go a different route?" Connor wanted to know. "I mean if he knows where we are."</p>
+        <p>"We go in the direction Jack Flint tells us. And the harp tells him."</p>
+        <p>That was true enough. Every night when they stopped, Jack would take the harp out and stroke the strings gently. The faint noise was nowhere near as loud as a well-strung harp could play, but the aftermath, as the sound faded, whispered words in his head, telling him to keep going south to Tara Hill. So they went south.</p>
+        <p>And Dermott's men kept their distance, but shadowed them all the way, as the weather closed in and fierce winds blew down from the north, urging the small band along.</p>
+        <p>It was close to dawn when Jack saw Hedda move, silent as a cat, as silent as she had been when she had sat beside a tree, motionless, hardly breathing and always on guard. She touched Fennel lightly and the giantess came awake instantly. By the light of the fire, Jack saw them steal out of the camp. He rolled out of his blanket and followed them.</p>
+        <p>They were only a few yards ahead. Fennel's great bulk was almost invisible and she walked as silently as she could, but Jack could still feel the earth vibrate with every footfall.</p>
+        <p>Then he heard a sound, not far off. It was a sort of growl, the noise a badger might make as it dug for worms. It snuffled, then whistled, like a weasel and for an instant Jack felt a shiver of anticipation as remembered the snakes writhing snakes that had appeared from nowhere as they set out to search for Corriwen.</p>
+        <p>Hedda stopped. Her shadow merged with the trunk of a tree and she vanished into it. Fennel parted the branches of an ash-tree and bent over it to look down. She reached out slowly. Jack saw the fingers grip something.</p>
+        <p>A loud high yell shredded the dark. Jack heard a thrashing sound, branches shaking, twigs snapping. The yell soared even higher, became an angry yammering.</p>
+        <p>Fennel turned and brought her big hand down. Something was squirming and squawking in her grasp. Hedda stepped out from the shadows, her jagged spear ready to impale whatever it was.</p>
+        <p>"Now would you take your hands off me you clumsy great freak!" The thing in Fennel's hand squirmed and kicked, to no avail.</p>
+        <p>"Can't a fellow enjoy a quiet nap without being waylaid and hoisted forty feet?"</p>
+        <p>Hedda jammed the lance up against it and the voice cut off.</p>
+        <p>"You were following us," she said.</p>
+        <p>"No I never was," it protested, still kicking and wriggling. "I was having forty winks and minding my own business. And anyway, I'm waiting for friends of mine."</p>
+        <p>Jack stepped up to where Hedda and Fennel stood. He looked up.</p>
+        <p>Gilligan Rune the Cluricaun floated above his head, suspended in mid-air. Fennel's fingers gripped the collar of his jacket. The little fellow was doing his best to get free, but having no success whatsoever.</p>
+        <p>"Rune!" Jack cried. "What are you doing here?"</p>
+        <p>"I told them, I was waiting for you." He kicked at Fennel's wrist.</p>
+        <p>"Now would you put me down or suffer the consequences," he squawked. "You're not too big to be taught a lesson."</p>
+        <p>"He is a friend of ours," Jack said. Fennel shrugged and opened her fingers. Rune dropped twelve feet, bounced like a rubber ball and was on his feet, fists up in front of his face, a featherweight ready for a scrap.</p>
+        <p>"Come on then. Take me in a fair fight."</p>
+        <p>Jack clapped him on the shoulder. "These are friends of mine too."</p>
+        <p>"Some friends. Spoiling a fellow's beauty sleep without so much as a how'd-ye-do!"</p>
+        <p>He turned as Hedda stepped out of the shadow and he saw her face for the first time.</p>
+        <p>"Och, it's yourself, Lady Scatha," Rune cried. "Now why didn't you just show yourself and save all this fuss and bother."</p>
+        <p>"Master Rune," Hedda said. "It's been many a year."</p>
+        <p>"Too many," Rune said. He stuck a diminutive hand out and shook hers vigorously, beaming from ear to ear. His shrewish rage evaporated instantly.</p>
+        <p>"You're far from your misty isle, but just the lady I've been looking for." He turned to Fennel. "Miss McNally too. I didn't recognise you in the dark. Still turning a keen blade I hope?"</p>
+        <p>"Hello Rune," Fennel said, laughing. "We heard you snoring like a horse. You'd make a truly bad guardsman."</p>
+        <p>"Well, you woke me up, for sure. Now do the decent thing and give me something hot to warm my bones. You wouldn't by chance have a jar of poteen, would you? Or maybe a keg of porter?"</p>
+        <p>Rune ate and drank a prodigious amount for such a small fellow. He wiped his mouth on a sleeve and then brushed his whiskers clean.</p>
+        <p>"Now that makes a Cluricaun feel ten feet tall, Fennel," he said. "You always could put heart back in a man." He nodded across at Finn. "I see you too have met. I had always planned to introduce you, but Lady Hedda's island is the devil of a place to find."</p>
+        <p>"And Jack here, armed to the teeth." He winked. "I hope you found the boots to your liking, you and Kerry."</p>
+        <p>"They got us out of a few scrapes," Kerry said. "I'm going in for the Olympics when I get back."</p>
+        <p>"Well, whatever they are, I wish you good speed."</p>
+        <p>"Speed? I'm like Billy Whizz, man. Fastest boy on two legs."</p>
+        <p>Rune quaffed another giant jug of ale, sighed gratefully, belched politely, and turned to Hedda.</p>
+        <p>"I was hoping you'd join this little shebang," he said. "I've been waiting here three days for you. There's platoons and brigades marching all over Eirinn. You can hardly get moving on the roads."</p>
+        <p>"We met one of them," Hedda said. "They lent us their horses."</p>
+        <p>"Kind of them," Rune said, with a twinkle on his eye. "I hope you let a few of them leave on foot."</p>
+        <p>"So it's well met by what should be moonlight, except I haven't seen moonlight or sunshine for so long I'm beginning to think I dreamt it up long ago. I take it you have a direction?"</p>
+        <p>"We're going to Tara Hill," Corriwen said. "Wherever that is."</p>
+        <p>"Sure, haven't you got that clever book of yours?"</p>
+        <p>"We've got the harp," Connor said. "Kerry re-strung it. It sings to Jack."</p>
+        <p>"Ah, that fair music's been gone so long. It's song will be weak for lack of practice. But here we are, on the road. So we might as well travel together and see what transpires."</p>
+        <p>"That might be a long hard road for a little fellow like yourself," Fennel said, kindly. "And at the end of it, Dermott waits."</p>
+        <p>"Dermott's a buffoon. He's never seen what a Cluricaun can do when he's roused."</p>
+
+        <p>"I can't wait," Kerry murmured and Connor and Jack fell about laughing again.</p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 33</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>33</h1><p>It was snowing when they woke, huddled between Finn and Fennel. The temperature had plummeted. Icy crystals tinkled like bells in the thin branches of trees and hard frost carpeted the couch-grass.</p>
+        <p>Out in the open, but for the constant wind, it was strangely silent. All the streams had frozen solid. Icicles spiked down where waterfalls had rushed. The ground was hard as rock under the horse's hooves.</p>
+        <p>They followed the road south, with Rune riding behind Corriwen on a big sturdy warhorse.</p>
+        <p>"Finest looking girl I've seen ever since I left Skiboreen," he'd said, making her blush.</p>
+        <p>"Best looking girl in three worlds," Kerry whispered to Jack. "But don't tell her I said that."</p>
+        <p>"I think she knows you think that," Jack said, nudging him in the ribs. "You can't hide it."</p>
+        <p>Kerry went bright red. "You're kidding me!"</p>
+        <p>"Of course I am," Jack grinned. "Got you good though, didn't I."</p>
+        <p>Rune peered from under Corriwen's cape, his white whiskers gathering hoar frost as they travelled. Finn and Fennel took up the rear-guard on foot, and Jack was confident nothing would get past them. He was less confident about what lay ahead.</p>
+        <p>The horses plodded on, chipping the ice with their great hooves, their breath freezing in the air.</p>
+        <p>They rode twenty miles or more, and every now and again, Jack would notice a movement on the far flanks. Men on horses were paralleling their journey, but approaching no closer than a mile.</p>
+        <p>Jack knew the clash would come. He began to scan the land ahead, working out where Dermott's massed men would hide for an ambush.</p>
+        <p>Finally they came down off the high land, saddle-sore and cold, and entered the rolling foothills of Mid-Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>The road drove straight for some distance then it forked right and left.</p>
+        <p>"Which way to Tara?" Kerry asked. "Shouldn't there be a signpost?"</p>
+        <p>Jack was grateful to get out of the saddle. His legs and hands were frozen and numb. Corriwen took them in hers and rubbed heat back into them. Connor looked like a frosted snowman, but his eyes were bright and clear.</p>
+        <p>Jack took the harp from Brand's bag. It gleamed in the frost-light as Corriwen plucked the strings.</p>
+        <p>It whispered its song to Jack.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Choices three, but take the low</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Travellers have far to go</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Find the way that goes between</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Travel on a road unseen.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Now's the time for wand'ring band.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To Voyage on in Shadowland.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Travel where the white road wends</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Travail too at journey's end.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Brave of heart and steel of will</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Ever on to Tara Hill.</em></p>
+        <p>"It's mentioned Shadowland twice."</p>
+        <p>"What's it mean?" Connor asked.</p>
+        <p>"It's the way we went with the troupe."</p>
+        <p> "It comes out at Wolfen Castle," Kerry said. "We'd be walking right into a trap."</p>
+        <p>"What about the white road?" Corriwen asked. She gestured the land all around them, snow-drifted and frosted. "It's all white."</p>
+        <p>"I could toss a coin," Rune said.</p>
+        <p>Jack laughed. "You disappeared the last time."</p>
+        <p>"I'll try it anyway," Rune said, taking no offence. He held up the gold coin. On one face, the five stars of the Corona twinkled in the frosty light. On the other, a golden harp, exactly like the one safe in Brand's bag.</p>
+        <p>"Stars we go left," Rune said. "Harp we go right."</p>
+        <p>Jack shrugged. Rune tossed the coin. It sang as it whirred up.</p>
+        <p>A voice boomed out from behind them, so unexpectedly that Jack almost fell off the horse.</p>
+        <p>"Rune, you whiskery old son of a toad!"</p>
+        <p>Brand stood on the wagon buckboard, beside big Score Four-arm who held the reins. Behind them, the small caravan of wagons creaked along the road. Fennel and Finn exchanged glances, as if trying to work out how the newcomers could have sneaked up on them. Jack remembered how Brand's wandering <em>Vaga</em>band could appear from nowhere.</p>
+        <p>"Cousin Brand," Rune cried. He slid off the saddle and lowered himself to the ground. Brand nimbly jumped from the wagon and they came together in a bear-hug in the middle of the road then linked arms and did a quirky little jig.</p>
+        <p>"You're a long way out of Skiboreen," Brand said.</p>
+        <p>"And an even longer way back, to be sure."</p>
+        <p>Brand looked about him, taking in the giants and the tall woman on the horse.</p>
+        <p>"A motley crew," he observed. "As motley as my bunch of foundlings. Now is that the Lady Hedda I see?"</p>
+        <p>"The very same. And here on a matter of serious business."</p>
+        <p>"Well then, if it's serious, then I suppose we might join you. We're a bit jaded with fun and frolic."</p>
+        <p>Score Four-arm sauntered up, Tig and Tag somersaulting together behind, and used all his digits to shake hands. "Good to see you hale and hearty," he told Jack. He turned to Connor. "And who's this fine upstanding young chief? Surely not the raggedy scoundrel we saved from Wolfen Castle? Man, you could dance a jig and an eightsome reel all night now."</p>
+        <p>"Yeah," Kerry said. "But can he jive?"</p>
+        <p>"We should get moving," Jack said. He turned to the crossroads and something glittered as it dropped past his eyes.</p>
+        <p>Rune's coin tinkled as it hit the ground, rolled towards the edge of the road&#8230;.and kept rolling between the two forks.</p>
+        <p>And as it rolled, the air around it rippled like water, then it turned almost opaque, and a new road appeared where before had only been frosted tussock grass. White mist swirled on either side.</p>
+        <p>"A choice of three," Jack said. "The way that goes <em>between.</em>"</p>
+        <p>Corriwen touched him on the shoulder, a gesture he found strangely warming.</p>
+        <p>"Well, come on, lagabouts," Brand piped up. "The way won't be open forever, you know."</p>
+        <p>Together, the giants walking behind and Hedda silent on her horse, they followed the wagons into the misty way.</p>
+        <p>They stayed close as the gauzy tendrils wove around them.</p>
+        <p>"Don't go off the road," Kerry told Corriwen and Connor. "There's weird things in here."</p>
+        <p>"It's been nothing but weird since I first met Corriwen," Connor said, grinning. "How much weirder can it get?"</p>
+        <p>He turned and a face swam out of the mist to fix him with wide golden eyes, and he almost fell off his horse.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Jack heard their voices that had the frail texture of the mist itself. Shapes swirled, white on white, and swam close, as ethereal and weightless as fog, but strangely powerful in the way their pleas tugged at them.</p>
+        <p>Once or twice he had to take Connor's reins to prevent him from veering off.</p>
+        <p>"If you go off the road, you'll never find your way back again," he said. Kerry had hitched his reins to Corriwen's pommel horn and trailed behind her. He had his eyes tightly shut and his fingers in his ears.</p>
+        <p>Jack looked behind him and saw Hedda sitting straight in the saddle. If she saw or heard anything, she gave no sign.</p>
+        <p>Behind her Finn and Fennel strode together, holding hands. They only had eyes for each other.</p>
+        <p>And behind them the mist closed, offering no way back. They kept moving, hour upon hour, with only those strange whispering voices and the horses' slow hooves breaking the silence.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Fainn was still as a spider, hunched over the long table, staring at its glazed surface.</p>
+        <p>Ice covered most of the map of Eirinn, a thin frosting he had conjured despite the heat in the smoky room. His hands wove intricate designs in the air and he muttered continuously in his strange tongue.</p>
+        <p>Some time later, he watched as a thin vapour began to pool in the hollow of the mountains close to where two roads forked. It thickened, crawling into depressions and dells, spreading out until it hid a wide margin from the road to mid-Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>He stared a long time, wondering what it was he had conjured here. His spells and incantations had cast a net that would hopefully sniff the fugitives out. But under the thick vapour all was hidden.</p>
+        <p><em>Yet</em>&#8230;.something tugged at his memory.</p>
+        <p>The old people, from a time before Fainn himself, had spoken of the <em>ley</em>-ways. The hidden roads between places. Old tales maybe, but, he remembered how people could vanish into the mist where time and distance held no sway, and emerge far away.</p>
+        <p>He held his hands over the vapour pools muttering again.</p>
+        <p>An image came to him. A golden harp, shrouded in gossamer. It sang faintly, so faint it was like a whisper of grass on a summer day.</p>
+        <p>And Fainn knew the harp was coming back.</p>
+        <p>With it, would be the boy with the strange stone, whose power pulled at Fainn like a hook in his dark heart.</p>
+        <p>He broke his spell and the ice vanished. The misty vapour evaporated and once again, the map of Eirinn was clearly carved on the expanse of old oak.</p>
+        <p>He turned and hurried up the spiral stairway to the chamber.</p>
+        <p>Dermott was brooding, fingers tapping the hilt of his sword.</p>
+        <p>"We have them, Lord Dermott," Fainn said.</p>
+        <p>"They are coming to us. And they bring the harp."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>It was almost dark when they emerged into clear air. Jack shivered, but Kerry seemed happier to be out of the misty way.</p>
+        <p>Jack looked about them. Ahead some tree-covered hills rose, rolling away into the distance.</p>
+        <p>"This isn't where we came out last time," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>Low hills formed the edges of a wide basin through which a frozen river cut like a winding road. None of them looked high enough, or impressive enough to be Tara Hill.</p>
+        <p>Brand pulled the wagons into a circle and soon they had a fire blazing in the centre. They gathered round and Brand introduced Hedda and the two giants to Thin Doolan and Natterjack.</p>
+        <p>"Do you know where we are?" Jack asked.</p>
+        <p>"Where the road takes us," Brand said, "is always the right place."</p>
+        <p>The heartstone pulsed very gently and Jack pressed it against his chest.</p>
+        <p>Hedda caught the motion and raised her eyebrows in question.</p>
+        <p>"Something," Jack said. "Something knows we're here."</p>
+        <p>"Fainn," she said. "Dermott will ride tonight."</p>
+        <p>She cupped a hand on Jack's cheek. Despite her ferocity, it was a gentle, motherly touch.</p>
+        <p>"Rest a while, Cullian's son. We have enough time to prepare. Tonight, eat well, sleep sound. Tomorrow will decide for Eirinn."</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 34</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
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+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>34</h1>
+        <p>The sound of horses hooves and clanking armour told them Dermott had arrived; it was still before dawn and the sky was murky and black.</p>
+        <p>Hedda came stalking into the camp and sat down beside the fire, scaled armour glinting in the firelight and braids coiled like scarlet snakes. </p>
+        <p>"Dermott has come in force," she said softly. "It seems he really wants the harp."</p>
+        <p>Using the sharp point, she drew on the ground. "This is the slope where we are," she said. "Dermott has brigades round to the north, the east and west, and more men are coming. They will block the south and encircle us."</p>
+        <p>"How many?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>"Enough for him to think he has us in his hand," she said, showing no emotion except a hint of exhilaration, or perhaps expectation. "Dermott himself never came to my island to challenge me. While he thinks he has might, he knows little of war."</p>
+        <p>"Neither do we," Connor said. "I've been a poacher all my life."</p>
+        <p>He swung three smooth stones that he'd tied together from lengths of cord. They clacked in the cold air.</p>
+        <p>"They will come at first light," Hedda said. "On the west side, horses and men. On the east, archers. On the north, foot-soldiers. They will expect us to run, try to escape between them, so they will be ready for that."</p>
+        <p>She smiled. In the firelight it made her seem even fiercer. "They will not expect us to take the fight to them."</p>
+        <p>The ground shuddered and Finn and Fennel came looming through the ring of wagons.</p>
+        <p>"After today," Hedda said, "I will no longer need an armourer. Finn, I think, needs one more than I do."</p>
+        <p>"And what will you do for everything else?" Fennel demanded. "And that old Gerumbel Mountain of Finn's, it's not hot enough to turn a blade pink. No, I believe I will return home with you to the misty isle and my forge. Finn says he's tired of the headland and wants to try a new fishing ground."</p>
+        <p>"He's ever welcome," Hedda said, smiling. </p>
+        <p>"And anyway, I need a strong pair of hands to help haul the boat up to the launch," Fennel said. Finn grinned like a big happy child. Jack hoped he would still be grinning when the day was done.</p>
+        <p>Fennel hauled her big pannier towards her and delved inside, bringing out a bundle tied in a leather hide. She unrolled it and passed something over to Jack.</p>
+        <p>"This a gift from the Lady Hedda and myself." He held it up and saw it was a scaled tunic like Hedda's. It gleamed iridescent.</p>
+        <p>"Kelpie hide," Fennel said. "An orc-whale can't bite through it."</p>
+        <p>There was one for each of them and they were grateful to have them, especially after hearing about the companies of archers who surrounded them. Corriwen slipped hers on and drew her cape over it. With her knives and red hair she looked like a miniature Hedda, and for an instant Jack felt his heart beating faster. He looked away quickly before she noticed.</p>
+        <p>Connor and Kerry donned their tunics and Fennel brought something else out, pulled Connor close and tied it in place. When Connor turned they saw she had set his old brass pin-broach in a braided leather head-band. With his hair flowing down his shoulders, and the five-starred brooch now polished and gleaming like gold, he now so different from the ragged boy in the forest.</p>
+        <p>"Good style," Kerry said, nudging him with an elbow. "You can come to our next Halloween party."</p>
+        <p>Brand and his troupe wandered in from his wagon, Rune at their side. Score Four-arm had a thick leather jacket studded with horn plates and in each big hand he carried a curved sword.</p>
+        <p>"Looks like a combine harvester," Kerry observed.</p>
+        <p>Tig and Tag wore no armour, but Natterjack came bumbling along, wearing what looked like a turtle-shell strapped to his broad flat head.</p>
+        <p>"And <em>he</em> looks like a toad-stool," Connor said and everybody laughed.</p>
+        <p>"Everything in place?" Hedda asked Finn and the giant nodded.</p>
+        <p>"We've worked through the night. There's a surprise waiting for them."</p>
+        <p>He pointed to the little knoll where the horses were scraping for grass beside a mound of boulders that hadn't been there before, piled twice as tall as a man. Close by, thick spruce trunks, spiked with dead branch stumps, were stacked together. Finn and Fennel had worked hard while Jack and his friends had slept. Neither looked the least bit tired.</p>
+        <p>"More than one surprise, I promise," Hedda said, as the day lightened and finally they got a glimpse of the mass of men approaching not half a mile distant. Far beyond them, where Wolfen castle hunched by the sea, lightning flickered and forked and thunder rumbled.</p>
+        <p>Jack got to his feet and surveyed the land. They were partially protected by a grove of trees. He looked behind, towards the way they had come, out of the mist and through a valley, and his first thought was that they should head back in that direction. Fast. There were just too many men out there, and too few of them here. One fighting woman and two giants, plus a collection of weird circus performers, a girl and three boys.</p>
+        <p>It didn't look good.</p>
+        <p>Then as he was turning back, Jack saw something out of the corner of his eye.</p>
+        <p>In the gulley where they had come through the mist, a low pale line was brighter than the surrounding area.</p>
+        <p>As he watched, it seemed to writhe towards them. At first he thought he had imagined it and looked away, but when he turned back again, the line had covered more ground. It meandered out of the gulley, rolling slowly like a carpet, then turned away from them.</p>
+        <p>"What <em>is</em> that?" Jack said to no one in particular.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen came beside him and followed his gaze.</p>
+        <p>"More mist? Or is it something Fainn has conjured?"</p>
+        <p>Hedda noticed and stood. She beckoned to Rune.</p>
+        <p>It looked like a river, slowly flowing from the gulley, following the contours like water finding its way.</p>
+        <p>Jack recalled the whispering voice of the harp.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To Voyage on in Shadowland.</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Travel where the white road wends</em></p>
+        <p>"It's the White Road," he whispered. "<em>Brave of heart and steel of will, ever on to Tara Hill.</em></p>
+        <p>"But where <em>is</em> Tara Hill?" There was no hill near here, except for the low rolling downs.</p>
+        <p>"Travel where the white road wends," Rune said. </p>
+        <p>"I don't understand this," Jack protested. "There <em>is</em> no hill."</p>
+        <p>Hedda nodded. "Time to follow the road, Jack Flint."</p>
+        <p>She beckoned to Fennel, who strode across with a leather wrapping and unfurled it. Hedda held up the great wooden mace.</p>
+        <p>"The Dagda's Oaken Club," she said. "One of the three treasures. You carry another Journeyman."</p>
+        <p>She raised it for them to see and Jack did a double take. The skull had leered at them the first time they had seen it, sockets hollow and dark, teeth clenched. But now eyes as red as fire blazed from the hollows and the mouth was wide open, showing rows of fearsome fangs.</p>
+        <p>"It hungers for battle," Hedda said. She gripped Jack's shoulder. You and Kerry, both have speed and you have the finest of swords. Connor is the one to bear the Dagda's club in this fight."</p>
+        <p>She touched Connor's forehead. "Bear this bravely, Eirinn's heir. Now take the Harp home."</p>
+        <p>She embraced Kerry and Corriwen.</p>
+        <p>"Now's the day and now's the hour. Be fast and fleet."</p>
+        <p>Hedda took Jack's face between powerful hands and bent to kiss him on the forehead. He felt her warmth and suddenly wanted to hug her tightly.</p>
+        <p>"Jack Flint, Cullian's son." There was a slight catch in her voice. "Your quest is almost done here. The Sky Queen grants a favour to those who would do her work. Do not forget that."</p>
+        <p>She kissed him again and once more he thought he saw a glint of a tear in her eye.</p>
+        <p>"Now take the white road, wherever it leads."</p>
+        <p>Jack shouldered Brand's bag with the harp safely inside, then strung his amberhorn bow before they headed out towards where the pale ribbon snaked down the hill. From the west, a trumpet sounded and a drum rolled, and a squadron of horsemen came galloping towards them. </p>
+        <p>Hedda reached for her mask, clamped it on and stood tall. Her weapons bristled on her armour and her hair swung every time she moved. On the ends of each long braid was bound a spiked ball like a mace-head.</p>
+        <p>"Let's take the fight to them," she said. </p>
+        <p>Score smiled a savage, hungry smile and whirled his blades so that they whistled in the air. "Now that sounds like a fine plan to me."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Dermott had gathered his men and marched almost as soon as Fainn told him the harp was on its way. </p>
+        <p>"But there is something more besides," Fainn had told him.</p>
+        <p>"Anything important?"</p>
+        <p>"They are not alone," Fainn said, "and I sense destiny at hand. And the return of one seeking vengeance and birthright. There is a force coming together that bodes ill."</p>
+        <p>"You've been boding ill as long as I recall," Dermott snapped. "I'm not giving up this chance. The whole of Eirinn will be in my hand."</p>
+        <p>He clenched a mighty fist, as if demonstrating how Eirinn would fare once it <em>was</em> in his hand.</p>
+        <p>"We ride out," Dermott growled.</p>
+        <p>"I will remain and ponder," Fainn said. "Perhaps I can fathom what moves against us."</p>
+        <p>"Nothing I can't crush," Dermott said. "Stay and chant for all you're worth, Spellbinder. I'll be busy letting blood and getting my harp back."</p>
+        <p>With that he turned and moments later he sallied out of Wolfen Castle at the head of an armed column.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Jack and the others were halfway to the winding pale road when the horsemen came charging towards them. </p>
+        <p>"We're going to have to run for it," Kerry said. "We might make it, but Corriwen and Connor, they're not fast enough."</p>
+        <p>Jack kept walking, expecting Hedda or the two giants to move to cut off the squad, but they just stood silently. He turned to the white road and saw that it was a continuation of the mist through which they had travelled, but now a low haze, no more than a foot high, and so even at its edges that it could have been a well-laid carpet. It continued down the slope towards the flat land. If it was heading for Tara Hill, they would have a long walk ahead of them, he thought.</p>
+        <p>And the horsemen were closer, spurring their mounts, and drawing swords.</p>
+        <p>"I don't like the look of this," Kerry said. "Why doesn't Hedda move."</p>
+        <p>"Hold! Thieves!" a man shouted, close enough to be heard. He raised his sword high, standing up in the stirrups.</p>
+        <p>Then, quick as a blink, man and horse vanished. </p>
+        <p>Behind them, the rest of the cavalry, hurtling at full gallop followed in tight formation.</p>
+        <p>The ground beneath the hooves just fell away as a deep pit opened under them.</p>
+        <p>Jack heard their shouts of surprise and sudden fright as the horses plunged headlong, and then they saw the thin branches that had been laid across the trench and disguised with leaves and dry grass.</p>
+        <p>Now Jack knew where the mound of stones had come from. Fennel and Finn had been even busier than he had thought.</p>
+        <p>The cavalry troop couldn't stop, so tightly bunched were they, that every one of them plunged over the lip of the pit and the screams of hurt and broken men and horses tore the air.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," Jack urged them. "They've bought us some time."</p>
+        <p>"She wasn't kidding about the surprise," Kerry whooped. "That had to hurt!"</p>
+        <p>The white road rolled downslope, gathering speed. They reached it and waded into the mist to follow wherever it led.</p>
+        <p>In the pit, one man clambered out, limping badly, and dragged himself back to the line. None of his fellow riders managed to get out.</p>
+        <p>The four walked on for another quarter-mile, when another blare of trumpets sounded, and a mass of archers wheeled towards them.</p>
+        <p>Then Hedda started down the hill, with Score Four-arm beside her. Jack saw Finn and Fennel tramp up to the great pile of boulders and he turned, walking backwards, to watch.</p>
+        <p>Hedda's ferocious mask made her look like a demon as she raced downhill at blinding speed, taking the company of archers by surprise. She crossed five hundred yards so fast that Score was only half-way there when she crashed into the archers, both swords whirling .</p>
+        <p>It was as if they had been hit by a tank. Jack saw the lead archer turn and see a monster bearing down on him. He didn't even have time to draw the arrow back before she was past him and he was falling to one side while his arm and longbow went spinning off to the other. </p>
+        <p>Then all hell broke out. </p>
+        <p>The screams came clear on the air as she darted in and out, a ferocious red streak. Her head swung and the spikes at the ends of her long braids clawed and battered the bewildered, terrified bowmen who had no chance of even sighting on a target who moved so fast.</p>
+        <p>"What a mover!" Kerry murmured in unashamed admiration.</p>
+        <p>Tig and Tag came somersaulting down the slope, back to back, one nimble creature. They held only a long stave each as they spun towards the milling foot soldiers who were taken completely by surprise. One of them dashed forward, swinging a broadsword in two hands.</p>
+        <p>The acrobats flicked apart in an instant. The sword clove fresh air, jammed point first into the cold ground. Tig's foot caught the man on the chin and they heard the crack of bone as his head snapped back and he dropped like a sack. Tag peeled away, jammed one end of the long stave in a tussock and next thing she was up at its top end, above head-height. A thin blade appeared in her hand as she spun round the upright pole and razored a swathe around herself, carving a neat circle of falling men.</p>
+        <p>Somebody roared from behind the gathered army and another company of horse came angling towards where Jack and the others had inadvertently slowed down, fascinated by the action.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Uh-oh!</em>" Kerry tapped Jack's shoulder. "I think this is where we start to run."</p>
+        <p>"No." Jack unshipped the bow and had an arrow strung before he even realised it. "This is where we <em>fight</em>."</p>
+        <p>He shrugged off the bag and handed it to Corriwen.</p>
+        <p>"We can hold them a while," he said. "Follow the road. Keep the harp safe."</p>
+        <p>"I stand with you," she said resolutely. He shook his head.</p>
+        <p>"We'll catch up. I promise. Now go!"</p>
+        <p>Connor needed no second bidding. He snatched at her cape and pulled her away.</p>
+        <p>"You up for this?" Jack asked Kerry.</p>
+        <p>"We beat the Fell Runners, didn't we?"</p>
+        <p>The cavalry came charging. Jack scanned the ground, hoping for another pit, but saw no evidence. One of the riders unleashed an arrow from the cavalry flank. Kerry blurted a warning, a second too late, and Jack took the full force of it in the centre of the chest. It hit hard enough to knock him down.</p>
+        <p>Kerry yelled in rage. Jack landed on his backside and bounced to his feet. The arrow fell to the ground in three shattered pieces. There wasn't even a mark on the scaly armour.</p>
+        <p>"Phew!" Kerry gasped. "Thought they had you."</p>
+        <p>"Me too," Jack gasped. "Good old kelpie skin."</p>
+        <p>Jack drew back and took the lead rider clean in the neck. He tumbled backwards and his sword flew up and came down blade first some way behind the riderless horse. A man screeched and fell, stabbed clean through the shoulder.</p>
+        <p>Two more black arrows found their mark and then the riders were on them. Somebody swung a long sword. Kerry moved like lightning. He flicked away, turned like a hare and jabbed, once, twice. The new blade went in and out like a hot knife through lard. </p>
+        <p>Jack was on the far side now, running in a circle round the group who bunched together in a melee, trying to find a target. He fired three more, running all the while, then drew the Redthorn sword's twin. The horses turned, hooves flashing, trying to stamp them flat, and began to circle them. Jack and Kerry leapt back before they were outflanked. A sword came down and Jack parried it with his own blade, the shock riving up his shoulder, but the soldier's sword broke itself on Hedda's fine-forged steel and scattered shards like shrapnel. </p>
+        <p>There were too many of them. Jack and Kerry were forced back, away from the white road, desperately hacking and parrying as twenty or more cavalrymen tried to ride them down.</p>
+        <p>Despite their speed, they were being driven towards Dermott's main force when an almighty snarl ripped the air and suddenly riders and horses were scattering in panic</p>
+        <p>Jack rolled out of the way of one panicked horse, hit to his knees beside Kerry and saw Connor in the middle of the horsemen. In his hands, the great club was swinging and as it swung, Jack saw the mouth open in a savage gape and a hoarse voice roared:</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Feed me flesh, feed me BONE!</em></p>
+        <p>Connor was swinging like a boy possessed, as the mighty club roared its battle-cry and men flew out of the saddle and bones crunched like sticks. In a matter of seconds, the tide turned and the ones left in the saddle fled for their lives.</p>
+        <p>The great club swung one last time and the savage mouth, dripping with blood, closed with a snap. Only now instead of a snarl, it had a vicious grin on its face, as if it was satisfied with its work.</p>
+        <p>"That was absolutely brilliant," Kerry cried. "I never saw anything like it."</p>
+        <p>Connor caught his breath. "I never even thought. The club&#8230;it <em>pulled</em> me back to help. It wanted to fight."</p>
+        <p>"I heard it," Kerry said. "It was going pure mental."</p>
+        <p>"Just as well for us." Jack wiped his blade on a fallen man's tunic, not looking at the dead face, and re-sheathed the sword, suddenly struck by the realisation that these were the first humans he had ever had to fight.</p>
+        <p>Kerry grabbed him by the arm and gave him a shake. He could read Jack like a book.</p>
+        <p>"Come on man," he cried. "It was them or us. You think <em>they</em> would worry?"</p>
+        <p>Even then, Jack felt as if he'd swallowed something heavy. It would haunt him a long time.</p>
+        <p>Kerry turned him round. "Look. Corriwen's in the clear. We'd better get going."</p>
+        <p>Jack turned silently and followed Kerry and Connor away from the pile of men.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Score came charging up to where Hedda was scything men down left and right. He had a curved blade in each hand and followed her into the melee. Kerry's description had been spot on. He was like a reaper at harvest-time, but now he was harvesting men. </p>
+        <p>Dermott the Wolf stood on a little knoll viewing the carnage. He was quivering with rage. He'd just seen half his cavalry destroy itself in a deadfall pit. And the other half had been beaten off by three boys. Three <em>thieves</em>! Now his archers and foot soldiers were falling like birds in a duck-hunt. The screams and cries of wounded men echoed over the slaughterfield.</p>
+        <p>"They're getting away, damn you!" he roared. "Get after them. Bring them to me, heads or no heads!"</p>
+        <p>Out in the middle of the armed foot, that monster and the four-armed freak were running amok.</p>
+        <p>A <em>juggler</em>! Dermott fumed. A wandering <em>juggler</em>. And he was wading through armed men as if he was an immortal.</p>
+        <p>Dermott jumped off the knoll and strode towards what was left of the cavalry who were milling in disarray,</p>
+        <p>"Get back there and bring them to me!" He turned to his bugler. "There's a company not yet here. Call them in."</p>
+        <p>Without pause, Dermott lashed his whip and snared one horseman. He dragged him from the saddle and threw him to the ground. If he'd had time, he'd have sliced the coward in two. But far out he could see the thieves hurrying along the pale road. He wheeled his mount and thundered off in hot pursuit.</p>
+        <p>On the hill, Finn and Fennel watched this new development.</p>
+        <p>This was expected. They'd held back while Hedda and Score and the rest of the troupe took the battle to the enemy. They'd watched in awe as Hedda savaged her way through them, moving like quicksilver, faster than the eye could follow.</p>
+        <p>But it was Natterjack and Thin Doolan and the acrobatic twins who put on a real show.</p>
+        <p>Tig and Tag used their long staves to vault over the heads of the infantry, catching each other in mid-flight and performing feats of such delicate balance that not a blade nor an arrow caught them. </p>
+        <p>Natterjack and Thin Doolan stood close together. The squat trouper still wore the curious turtle-shell helmet and it was clear why when he approached the line. A man ran out and slammed Natterjack with a broad axe, right on the crown.</p>
+        <p>The result was so hilarious that Fennel laughed aloud.</p>
+        <p>Natterjack collapsed like a deflated bladder, absorbing the heavy blow. Then he seemed to haul a massive breath and swell back to his former shape, swung a heavy mallet and crowned his opponent in return. The man went down like a felled ox.</p>
+        <p>Thin Doolan didn't move fast. He wasn't armoured and only carried a light sword. A big soldier ran forward, swinging widely. Doolan sucked in his breath, turned sideways, and vanished almost completely. The sword came down, found nothing to slice. Doolan raised his blade and jabbed the man in the eye, then moved on to the next.</p>
+        <p>Another soldier came dashing in. Natterjack opened his wide mouth and the sword speared inside. Natterjack closed it with a loud snap. His bulging eyes blinked and he made a gruesome, gulping sound. The man staggered off, clutching at the bleeding stump of his wrist.</p>
+        <p>On the hill, the giants saw Dermott rally a brigade of men and pull them away from the fighting. They swung from east to south, haring after the four small figures.</p>
+        <p>"Now," Finn said. He hefted a boulder up to shoulder height, braced his pillar-like legs and shot-putted the stone across the battlefield. It hit the frozen ground with an almighty thud, bounced and smashed into the brigade. Beside him, Fennel set down one of the spruce trunks, gave it a shove and sent it rolling like a juggernaut down the slope, letting its spikes mow down the archers who were trying to get out of the way of Finn's big bouncing stone.</p>
+        <p>The brigade ran for their lives, while Dermott ranted and raved in blind fury.</p>
+        <p>"They're getting away!" he roared. "Damn your eyes, you cowards. I will have your heads for this."</p>
+        <p>His men were too busy avoiding the lethal avalanche which Finn and Fennel sent their way to care much about their heads for the moment. They fled.</p>
+        <p>And along the white road, the four fugitives gained a clear distance.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter </title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>35</h1><p>The scene was total chaos when Fainn arrived in a coal-black wagon.</p>
+        <p>He stepped down, cloak fluttering, unhitched the ties and drew back a hide curtain.</p>
+        <p>The great silver cauldron carved with the horned god saw the light of the bleak day. Four men helped Fainn set it on the ground as he shrugged off his black cloak and let the wind kite it away. </p>
+        <p>Raising his hands to the tumbling sky he began to chant.</p>
+        <p>Inside the rim, the black surface began to swirl, refracting poisonous shades of orange and purple. Green fumes bubbled from its depths and drifted away on the breeze. Fainn's tattoos began to writhe on his skin before he plunged both hands deep into the ancient cauldron, still chanting, calling to strange gods whose names only he knew.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Jack paused and risked a look behind them. The misty road was wider now and the going more exhausting. Far below, on a big horse, Dermott the Wolf was galloping after them, followed by a small company of armed horse.</p>
+        <p>Jack began to turn to follow the others when he paused. Then it suddenly struck him</p>
+        <p>They had been running on the flat, along the low-mist road. But now Dermott was <em>below</em> them.</p>
+        <p>Ahead of him Connor and Corriwen were labouring, breathing hard. But they weren't just ahead of him and Kerry. They were <em>above</em> them. He stopped again, puzzled, and looked back again The battlefield was still a milling chaos. The clash of arms and the shouts of wounded men came clearly across the distance.</p>
+        <p>But now, Jack could see it was clearly far below them.</p>
+        <p><em>They were on a hill. </em>Impossibly, what had been flat land was now the side of a steep hill. </p>
+        <p>Jack grabbed Kerry. "We're climbing!"</p>
+        <p>"Don't be daft. Just keep running."</p>
+        <p>He spun him around. Dermott was still coming towards them, only a couple of furlongs behind. He was roaring unintelligibly and waving a huge axe around his head.</p>
+        <p>Kerry's mouth gaped. "How did we get up&#8230;.?"</p>
+        <p>"It's the hill, man," Jack cried. "We've found it! <em>Tara Hill</em>!"</p>
+        <p>Down on the flat, but close to them, Jack saw Fainn gesticulating over the cauldron. Hedda was moving like a streak, wreaking havoc and on the far knoll, Finn and Fennel hurled great boulders down into the massed enemy. Dermott was closer, urging his horse on and gaining on them.</p>
+        <p>The heartstone suddenly kicked on his breastbone. Jack realised he had to move. </p>
+        <p>Long arms closed tight around him.</p>
+        <p>A sickening sensation of cold, foetid cold, seeped through his skin. </p>
+        <p>Fainn's voice hissed inside his head.</p>
+        <p><em>Too late, strange boy. Too late. Come to meeeee!</em></p>
+        <p><em>No</em>! Jack tried to cry, but there was no air. He felt as if he was falling into darkness while the voice scratched in his brain.</p>
+        <p><em>Bring it to me&#8230;boy&#8230;bring me the talisman.</em></p>
+        <p>Jack tried to move, but his muscles felt like mud. The darkening world spun dizzily.</p>
+        <p>Something hit him so hard that for a second he blacked out completely and then in the next instant his eyes opened and he was tumbling backwards down the hill with Kerry on top of him, yelling at the top of his voice. They ground to a halt and Jack rolled, just in time to see a dark shape, a <em>Fainn </em>shape, waver in the air and then fragment into a cloud of tiny black buzzing particles as if a million flies had suddenly swarmed together. They hissed in the air and then exploded in a dry puff.</p>
+        <p>"What happened?" Jack finally found his voice.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Jeez</em> Jack, I didn't mean to hit you so hard."</p>
+        <p>"What was it?"</p>
+        <p>"I don't know. I turned back and there you were standing and there was this shadow wrapped all around you. You were starting to disappear."</p>
+        <p>Kerry helped him to his feet. Corriwen had run down the slope. She grabbed his hand.</p>
+        <p>"Something evil was there," she said. "It swarmed around you. Like a black cloud."</p>
+        <p>"It was Fainn. He was <em>there</em>. He tried to get the heartstone."</p>
+        <p>Kerry turned. "No. He's down there&#8230;<em>oh-oh</em>. Come on, that loony's catching up."</p>
+        <p>Dermott snarled. One hand swung the big axe around his head. The other lashed out with his whip as they turned to clamber away.</p>
+        <p>It whistled in the air and then Corriwen tripped. Jack bent to haul her up when she was suddenly dragged back a yard.</p>
+        <p>"Got you," Dermott bellowed. "Come and take what's coming to you."</p>
+        <p>He heaved at the whip-handle and Corriwen went skittering down the slope as Dermott backed his horse, adding to the traction. Before either of them could move, he had her under its feet and in one swift move, he leant down, grabbed her by the hair and swung her up.</p>
+        <p>"Give me my harp," he snarled. "Give it back or I'll twist her head off her neck."</p>
+        <p>They froze. Connor was higher up. Behind Dermott the rest of the horsemen were climbing fast.</p>
+        <p>Jack and Kerry stood paralysed as Dermott's hand closed around Corriwen's neck.</p>
+        <p>"No!" Connor cried. He was too far away to wield the club. Jack couldn't risk an arrow for fear of hitting Corriwen. Her face was turning dark as Dermott's hand squeezed mercilessly.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Down on the flat, Finn's voice boomed like rock-fall, so loud that for a moment the battle stopped abruptly. He pointed up the hill. Hedda spun and raised her eyes.</p>
+        <p>She crashed through a line of men, jinking and twisting like a predatory cat, striking anyone who faced her and ignoring those who didn't. She hit the slope so fast that divots threw up behind her.</p>
+        <p>"Give me my harp!" Dermott raged. "Or she'll die in agony."</p>
+        <p>Jack couldn't move. The harp was in Brand's bag on his shoulder. They had come so close that he couldn't give it up, not to a beast like Dermott.</p>
+        <p>Yet he could not stand and watch Corriwen die. His hand reached for the long sword.</p>
+        <p>Dermott laughed.</p>
+        <p>Something whirred past Jack's head, so close he felt the wind of its passing.</p>
+        <p>Three stones whirled around each other on cords and wrapped themselves around the horse's legs. It stumbled, tried to rear, lost its footing and crashed on its side. Dermott was thrown, but he still had his hand round Corriwen's throat. She made a desperate choking sound.</p>
+        <p>Dermott clambered upright. The horsemen were only twenty yards behind him now.</p>
+        <p>"You had your chance," he roared. "First her, and then you three. I'll skin you alive."</p>
+        <p>"<em>Dermott</em>."</p>
+        <p>The voice barked his name. He spun on one heel. Jack drew the great sword.</p>
+        <p>Hedda came racing up the slope. She was just behind the mounted men, then in amongst them. Jack saw the swords flicker and flash, heard them sing through the air as she cut through the riders, saw men fall to one side or another.</p>
+        <p>Then she was through them, running, the grotesque mask snarling.</p>
+        <p>Dermott's axe was over his head, ready to slice down. Corriwen squirmed, managed to get one hand to her knife.</p>
+        <p>"<em>Fight me!</em>"</p>
+        <p>Hedda stopped twenty feet away. She sheathed one sword and then flipped her mask up and off. Her hair tumbled free, unbraided, a cataract of flame-red flowing to her waist.</p>
+        <p>Dermott froze. </p>
+        <p>"Your fate is here and now," Hedda said. "Not theirs."</p>
+        <p>Dermott's mouth opened, closed, opened again.</p>
+        <p>"You!" He blurted. "You are the one foretold? The red haired warrior woman?"</p>
+        <p>Hedda stood stock still. Corriwen sensed the moment, kicked hard and spun free just as Jack leapt forward. The blade swung, almost of its own volition, came down on Dermott's right shoulder with a sickening <em>slice.</em> The axe tumbled away.</p>
+        <p>Corriwen's blades flashed. She twisted forward and thrust them deep into Dermott's chest, both of them to the hilt. Dermott gasped and went rigid. Blood bubbled through his breath.</p>
+        <p>"No!" Corriwen cried. "<em>I'm</em> the one. For what you did, it was always going to be me!"</p>
+        <p>Dermott toppled backwards and hit the ground with a crash. His eyes rolled up to stare at the thunderous sky and he did not move again.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Fainn saw Dermott fall. </p>
+        <p>He turned his face to the purple sky and howled like a beast, then plunged his hands into the cauldron once more.</p>
+        <p>Inside, it was darker than night, and he clenched his mad eyes tight, summoning all his power.</p>
+        <p>A black snake looped from the darkness and oozed over the rim. Another flat head appeared and a slick tongue flickered out. Then another and another, long, scaly snakes with glassy eyes and yellow zig-zags down their backs. First a few, then a dozen, then a hundred. </p>
+        <p>All around Tara, from burrows and clefts, roots and bushes, came the wild snakes of Eirinn, summoned by the Spellbinder. </p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Corriwen wiped her blades, sheathed them and looked at Hedda who still stood impassively. Then Hedda raised her sword, touched her forehead with the bloody blade in salute to a fellow warrior. Corriwen nodded.</p>
+        <p>She turned, grabbed Jack's arm, pulled his eyes away from the dead man.</p>
+        <p>She pointed down the slopes of Tara Hill. For an instant Jack thought ground itself was rippling and then his eyes focused.</p>
+        <p>A vast swarm of snakes was slithering up towards them, faster than he would have believed possible.</p>
+        <p>"Fainn!" He muttered.</p>
+        <p>"Come on," she said. She pointed behind him up the slope. "We're almost there."</p>
+        <p> Together, the four of them climbed to the top of Tara Hill.</p>
+        <p>Before them stood a tall stone, made of the same polished glass as the heartstone.</p>
+        <p>On the side facing them was carved an exact replica of the harp they had stolen from Dermott's castle and carried with them all across Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>Jack knew what would be carved on the other three sides. They had seen the same carvings when they first fell into this world.</p>
+        <p>He approached it, looking about him for any other evidence that this really was the place. Somehow he had expected more, something <em>magical.</em></p>
+        <p>"What do we do now?" Kerry asked.</p>
+        <p>"Whatever it is, you'd better be quick," Corriwen said. The slithering sound carried up to them, and the sibilant hiss of thousands and thousands of snakes.</p>
+        <p>Jack took the harp out of the bag and held it up. The wind caught the makeshift strings and strummed a faint harmonic.</p>
+        <p>Instantly the heartstone vibrated like glass, in resonant sympathy.</p>
+        <p><em>Home on Tara Hill.</em> A sweet voice whispered in Jack's head.</p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Home on Tara Hill</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Home and peace I bring</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>Harmony my song</em></p>
+        <p class="centered"><em>To summon now the spring.</em></p>
+        <p>"Did you hear it?" Jack asked. Kerry shook his head.</p>
+        <p>Jack walked forward, bearing the wonderful instrument, suddenly sure of what he should do. He approached the stone and raised the harp in both hands. Above him, lightning forked from one black cloud to another. A vast clap of thunder rolled away over the hills.</p>
+        <p>He placed the harp on the flat top of the stone.</p>
+        <p>Some instinct made him draw the great sword and he found that it too was vibrating in his hand, as if a powerful current was running through it and into him. It keened like a taut string in the wind.</p>
+        <p>He took one step forward, not knowing what to expect and raised the sword up to the harp. The heartstone swung forward and touched the hilt&#8230;..</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 36</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>36</h1>
+        <p>A shock-wave jolted through his whole body. Every nerve quivered and tingled with raw power.</p>
+        <p>The harp emitted a pure note of sound, as clear as crystal.</p>
+        <p>Arcs of energy leapt between the heartstone and the harp and the sword and all through him. It was as if, in a brief instant they had each become part of an enchanted whole.</p>
+        <p>The note strengthened and soared and he watched in amazement as– Kerry's fishing line and the fine braids of Hedda's hair – began to change colour and take on a gleaming hue. Each string was turning back to pure gold. </p>
+        <p>The power surged through him and he watched, oblivious to everything around him, as the harp healed itself. </p>
+        <p>The sound it made swelled: A single note in the clear, cold air, yet it soared like a heavenly choir; a magical symphony. It sounded like the world wakening. It grew louder and louder until Jack was caught within its vibrations. The world seemed to spin. </p>
+        <p>Then it emitted a surge of power like light and sound and energy and life combined. </p>
+        <p>The thick bank of cloud that had blanketed Eirinn for so long was blasted outward, a vast ebb-tide in the heavens. The clouds rolled away. They <em>raced</em>.</p>
+        <p>And for the first in a long time, they saw clear sky.</p>
+        <p>In the far west, it was deep cobalt blue of almost morning. In its depths the corona stars sparkled like diamonds on velvet, shimmering with their perfect light.</p>
+        <p>And in the east, the sun began to rise.</p>
+        <p>A ray of sunlight speared through a distant cleft between two tall mountains, a shaft of gold that lanced across the icy landscape in a burst of brilliance.</p>
+        <p>In that instant the harp was ablaze, bathed in the sunlight of this midsummer dawn. </p>
+        <p>And suddenly, within a pillar of light that soared to the sky, Jack saw <em>her</em>.</p>
+        <p>She stood, crowned in her own aurora, splashed with intense light, spangled with the sun and stars.</p>
+        <p><em>The Sky Queen.</em></p>
+        <p>She was the most beautiful vision he had ever seen. His heart seemed to stop dead in his chest and time stood still. It was as if everything wonderful and good had been condensed into light, made into female form. Golden hair, fine as silk, tumbled to her waist. A circlet of stars adorned her head. She turned her eyes on him and for a second he felt such vast power he thought he could die of it.</p>
+        <p>Then she reached towards him and touched his cheek with a hand as soft a summer breeze.</p>
+        <p>"My fair champion."</p>
+        <p>The music of the harp sounded in her voice. It was the voice of a mother. The voice of wisdom and beauty. The voice of life. Of all eternity.</p>
+        <p>She took the harp in both hands and lifted it above her head. Radiant beams pulsed from it as it sang.</p>
+        <p>Like a vast canvas, the land around Tara Hill began to change colour as the light of day washed over them.</p>
+        <p>The ice and snow melted away and the ground began to turn green again. The scent of flourish and new flowers wafted like honey on the air.</p>
+        <p>The green spread out, shading fields and hedgerows, meadows and marshes. Hosts of daffodils appeared in swathes of yellow. </p>
+        <p>And spring returned to Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>The lady of light turned and looked down from Tara Hill, still holding the harp high. Its light swept the slopes below like the beam of a searchlight and instantly the writhing mass of snakes began to lash and coil and then, in a black and yellow tide, they slithered fast down the far side of the hill.</p>
+        <p>In a matter of minutes, the hill was clear and a loathsome line of snakes was disappearing in the distance towards the western sea.</p>
+        <p>Fainn hovered over the cauldron from which shadowy shapes writhed up like fumes, taking grotesque form. They began to spill out, like the darkness that had oozed from the shadows on that Halloween night when they had stumbled through the first gate.</p>
+        <p>Inside the creeping darkness, they could see vile faces and yawning mouths, a mass of formless demons spreading out across the battlefield.</p>
+        <p>A ray of light shot from the golden harp into the blue sky. Jack heard a faint moan of wind as a sparkling cloud took form, like icy crystals in winter sun. It slowly spun, descending from the heavens, glittering in the magical light.</p>
+        <p>Over the harp's pure note he heard a soft whispering, as if many distant voices were trying to make themselves heard.</p>
+        <p>The gyrating sparkle came ever lower, still spinning, until it reached the horde of foul things still pouring out from the cauldron.</p>
+        <p>Then Jack saw the faces in the glistening haze. Faint and hazy, faces in gauze.</p>
+        <p>The circling apparitions spun faster, enveloping the foul entities that Fainn had summoned into being, pressing them back towards the cauldron. The dark things slobbered and howled, helpless against this force of light. And with them, Fainn was forced back, back, towards the cauldron's lip. </p>
+        <p>There was an unearthly sucking sound as the nightmare shapes were drawn back into its depths, to whichever hell had spawned them, and as they disappeared, a dozen thin, writhing arms, glistening like tar, reached from inside the cauldron and fastened around his neck. </p>
+        <p>He screamed one strangled cry and then the unearthly arms pulled him back and back and in and under. Fainn vanished into the darkness of his own creating. The great cauldron bubbled and heaved for a moment and then as if some tide in its depths began to swirl, it shuddered and rolled onto its side. It was empty.</p>
+        <p>Fainn was gone. The snakes were banished. And spring had come to Temair.</p>
+        <p>Jack felt a huge joy expand in his heart.</p>
+        <p><em>The end of the quest.</em> </p>
+        <p>In that moment, he knew that for all the danger, and all the anguish, it had been worth it. He and Kerry and Corriwen and Connor had done it. They had won through.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>"Fair champion," her voice came again.</p>
+        <p>"Heart of my heart," she whispered in his mind. "Soul of my soul. For me and for Eirinn you fought the good fight. As I knew you would."</p>
+        <p>Jack tried to open his mouth, but no words came. She placed a finger on his lips.</p>
+        <p>"You bear the key to all my worlds, and you bear it bravely and well. So young. So fine."</p>
+        <p>She smiled down at him and his heart did a low, lazy roll.</p>
+        <p>"My <em>Journeyman.</em> It is a heavy burden and unasked, but once taken up, it will not be put down again. But I will be with you in <em>all</em> worlds."</p>
+        <p>Suddenly Jack recalled what Hedda had said. <em>The Sky Queen grants a favour to those who would do her work. Do not forget that.</em></p>
+        <p>He opened his mouth again. But before he could speak she smiled again and he heard that wondrous voice.</p>
+        <p>"The gift you seek," she said, touching both soft hands to the top of his head. "is <em>here</em>."</p>
+        <p>And Jack Flint <em>remembered</em>&#8230;</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 37</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <h1>37</h1><p>His mind was in turmoil as they trundled along on Score's wagon. He had an answer, or part of an answer.</p>
+        <p>She had held his head in her hands and he was suddenly back again in the dark, carried in strong arms.</p>
+        <p>They were running, running fast, though trees. Big trunks flashed past. He was held tight. He could see black shapes flitting from tree to tree, keeping to the shadows and huge orange eyes that glared coldly.</p>
+        <p>They were being hunted.</p>
+        <p>Feral howls split the night, like wolves, but much worse than wolves. </p>
+        <p>He began to cry and a hand clamped his face to the shoulder, cutting off the sound.</p>
+        <p>"Hush now," a man's voice, breathless and ragged, tried to sooth him, but he was still afraid. </p>
+        <p><em>My father!</em> In the middle of the memory, Jack recalled the smell of leather and sweat and the damp forest night.</p>
+        <p>Then they came to the stones. The baby Jack just saw the great grey shapes as they passed and then the man turned. Something leapt at them between the stones and a sword swung and lopped its screeching head off its shoulders.</p>
+        <p>The space between the stones shimmered and then he saw daylight and trees crowding beyond.</p>
+        <p>The man hugged him tight and he felt his father's love..</p>
+        <p>He looked up into a strong face, dark hair falling over his brow. Dark eyes searching his own, face lined with concern.</p>
+        <p>His father wrapped him tight in a shawl then stood up, tall as a giant from where the infant lay on the soft ground. He raised a curved horn and blew it hard, three times. The sound moaned through the trees.</p>
+        <p>"No time," he cried, almost snarled it. "No time at all."</p>
+        <p>He knelt down and lifted the baby and hugged him close.</p>
+        <p>"You'll be safe here. And I'll be back."</p>
+        <p>Then he reached up and raised something on a chain and put it round Jack's tiny neck, tucking it into the blanket. He shrugged a satchel from his shoulder and placed it under the baby's head, like a pillow.</p>
+        <p>His father blew three more blasts on the horn, and this time, there was a reply from somewhere beyond the trees.</p>
+        <p>"He'll understand," his father said. "He'll take you home until I get back. I promise."</p>
+        <p>And then he turned, walked between the stones and vanished.</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>But Jonathan Flint had not come back.</p>
+        <p>Something had happened, and even the Sky Queen could not tell him.</p>
+        <p>"Some things are beyond my knowledge," she said sadly, "because they happen in places beyond my light, in the under-worlds. Where he has gone, I cannot tell you. Your destiny is for you to discover."</p>
+        <p>"Your quest here is over, and my heart is ever grateful. You are more special to me than you can imagine, Jack Flint. My <em>Cullian.</em>" Her smile was bitter-sweet. "Now your own quest begins. Harmony returns to Eirinn, but not to your heart, Journeyman. The road will be long and hard and fraught, but you have the heart of a hero, and bear the Heart of Worlds.</p>
+        <p>"I can tell you this only. Take the door into summer. Then find the door to night. Perhaps there, you will find what you seek."</p>
+        <p>The Sky Queen bent and kissed him lightly on the lips, holding him tight for an instant. Jack's eyes squeezed shut.</p>
+        <p>And then he was outside the light and back in Eirinn's springtime. Jack sank to his knees, totally drained.</p>
+        <p>Connor was standing as if completely paralysed.</p>
+        <p>"I heard Eirinn speak to me. The whole land! It sang in my head and welcomed me home."</p>
+        <p>"It is done," Hedda said. "No one will ever abuse the harp again."</p>
+        <p>Connor held up the club. Its features were placid now, bony but placid. In fact it seemed to have a self satisfied smile carved on its strange features.</p>
+        <p>"Wield it as you wish. And always honourably."</p>
+        <p>She turned from them and faced across the flat land where the soldiers who had been trying to murder them only moments before had stopped fighting and were looking about themselves at the fresh grass and blooming flowers around their feet.</p>
+        <p>"Harmony returns to Eirinn," Hedda called out. Her voice soared across the battlefield, loud and commanding. She beckoned Connor to stand by her.</p>
+        <p>"The rightful High King of all Eirinn has returned to reclaim his seat." </p>
+        <p>She raised Connor's hand, which still; bore the great Dagda's club. "Connor son of Conovar and Eleon will rule in peace and honour. The battle is done."</p>
+        <p>There was a stunned silence that lasted a long time.</p>
+        <p>Kerry whispered in Jack's ear. "You think they're going to wear it?"</p>
+        <p>"It's been a big waste of time if they don't."</p>
+        <p>"I'm glad we saved him."</p>
+        <p>"No co-incidences," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>A man, whom Corriwen recognised as the rider who had tried to skewer both herself and Connor with his lance, strode forward and went down on one knee. He held his sword out flat in both hands.</p>
+        <p>"For my company of men, I pledge to King Connor." Behind him, men started to come forward, heads bowed.</p>
+        <p>Kerry rolled his eyes and pretended to wipe his brow.</p>
+        <p>"Phew," he said. "Had me worried for a minute."</p>
+        <p class='break'>* * *</p>
+        <p>Connor had accompanied them, sitting tall on his horse. It had still not sunk in who and what he was. He had a lot to learn.</p>
+        <p>"So I'm really a knight?" Kerry asked, digging him in the ribs.</p>
+        <p>"I suppose so. It's all a bit weird."</p>
+        <p>"It's always weird when you hang about with Jack. I don't suppose anything's going to change."</p>
+        <p>Connor had begged them to stay and help him, but Kerry knew Jack had something else on his mind. He wouldn't rest until he'd found what he was looking for.</p>
+        <p>"Maybe we can come back and visit. Like at Christmas and New Year," Kerry suggested. "Or the summer holidays. You and me, we can go poaching. Take a few fish maybe?"</p>
+        <p>"That would be&#8230;" Connor, began. "How do you say it? Pure dead brilliant!"</p>
+        <p>"Fan-freakin'-tastic!"</p>
+        <p>It was after Hedda had bid them farewell and gone north with Finn and Fennel that Jack had approached Rune.</p>
+        <p>Hedda had taken both of Jack's hands and wished him a safe journey.</p>
+        <p>"Where it will end, who knows. But fight the good fight."</p>
+        <p>Fennel had embraced Corriwen until her ribs creaked. Finn patted Kerry on the back and sent him flying into a hedge. </p>
+        <p>He pulled himself out, picking burrs and thorns from his cape. "Big Finn doesn't know his own strength."</p>
+        <p>Jack was torn. He hated farewells. He'd had one friend all his life, apart from the Major, and now there were more. True friends. Yet he was itching to on his way, on the next step.</p>
+        <p>He found Rune, sitting with Brand by the fire, each smoking their long pipes and looking as relaxed as any two Cluricauns could be.</p>
+        <p>"I don't need to read the book," Jack said. "You know the way, don't you?"</p>
+        <p>"Ah, there ye have me Jack boy. I told you the day we met, I travel all the ways. Of course I know where you want to be going."</p>
+        <p>"I thought so. You didn't just turn up by accident, did you."</p>
+        <p>Rune chuckled. "We work in mysterious ways, us Cluricauns. Let's say we were just well met eh?"</p>
+        <p>And now they were approaching the end of the misty way. Ahead of them, through the rolling veils, Jack could see the wide moorland where gold and pink flowers bloomed among the purple, turning it into an exotic carpet of colour.</p>
+        <p>On a hill beside a coppice of birch saplings, stood the two standing stones of the Homeward Gate of Eirinn.</p>
+        <p>Connor sat on his horse, close to Brand and the raggle-taggle troupe as Rune walked with them towards the ancient stone pillars.</p>
+        <p>He turned to leave, paused, then came back to stand in front of Jack.</p>
+        <p>"I almost forgot," he said, with a twinkle in his eye. He drew his hand from his jacket and flipped a gold coin into the air. </p>
+        <p>It came twinkling down, with a faint metallic ring. This time Jack caught it. He opened his hand and saw the five stars of the corona winking up at him. </p>
+        <p>He turned to thank Rune, but the little fellow was gone, and the mist had closed at the edge of the moor.</p>
+        <p>He slipped the coin into his pocket, put his arms round his two best friends on this or any world, and together they walked through the gate.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+    <title>Spellbinder - Chapter 38</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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+        <h1>38</h1><p>"You don't have to go," Kerry protested.</p>
+        <p>"I do. And Corriwen has to get home again. To her own world."</p>
+        <p>Tears were running freely down their faces. It was time for goodbye, and the next step, Jack had to take alone.</p>
+        <p>They were in the ring of stones in Cromwath Blackwood. The heartstone was on the carved rock, nestled in the little niche that had been cut so long ago nobody could remember. Jack knew how to do it now.</p>
+        <p>He was about to open the gates again.</p>
+        <p>"It's that way," he said, pointing to the southernmost opening.</p>
+        <p>The words of the Lady in the light came back to him. <em>First find the door into summer.</em></p>
+        <p>That was the first step. And then after that, he had to find another gateway.</p>
+        <p>He turned the heartstone in the niche.</p>
+        <p>Moonlight shone behind him. Twilight before him. On his left he could see the rock in Temair where Mandrake had met his gruesome end. The man-shape could still be made out, covered now with lichen and moss.</p>
+        <p>And to his right, brilliant sunlight and the smell of roses and wild honey sweet on the air.</p>
+        <p><em>The door into summer</em>.</p>
+        <p>He only had minutes. He snatched up the heartstone and looped the chain around his neck. Faint lights sparkled and danced in each doorway. Time was running fast.</p>
+        <p>He drew them to him, hugged them tight, ignoring his own tears, then without a word he turned and vanished from sight.</p>
+        <p>Kerry held Corriwen.</p>
+        <p>"I don't want to go home," he wailed. "There's nothing there for me."</p>
+        <p>"And Temair doesn't need me. It's lasted a long time without."</p>
+        <p>"Oh <em>freak!</em> This isn't fair."</p>
+        <p>"But he wants to do it alone."</p>
+        <p>"No he doesn't. He just thinks it would be dangerous."</p>
+        <p>"We've faced danger before. The three of us together."</p>
+        <p>"That's right. So we have! We can't let that eejit do it by himself, can we?"</p>
+        <p>They clasped hands, looked in each other's eyes.</p>
+        <p>And then they were running fast towards the door into summer.</p>
+        <p class="centered">THE END.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
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+      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+      xmlns:opf="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf">
+      <dc:title>Spellbinder</dc:title>
+      <dc:language xsi:type="dcterms:RFC3066">en</dc:language>
+      <dc:identifier id="dcidid" opf:scheme="URI">http://www.impera-media.com/fullproof.epub</dc:identifier>
+      <dc:subject>Thriller, Action</dc:subject>
+      <dc:description></dc:description>
+      <dc:relation>http://www.impera-media.com/</dc:relation>
+      <dc:creator>Joe Donnelly</dc:creator>
+      <dc:publisher>Impera Media Limited</dc:publisher>
+      <dc:date xsi:type="dcterms:W3CDTF">2011-05-17</dc:date>
+      <dc:rights>Copyright (c) 2012, Joe Donnelly. All rights reserved</dc:rights>
+      <meta name="cover" content="cover" />
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+
+    <title>Spellbinder : Contents</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css" />
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type=
+            "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
+            "page-template.xpgt" />
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+<body>
+<div id="contents">
+    <h1>Contents</h1>
+    <ul>
+        <li><a href="ch01.xhtml">Chapter 1</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch02.xhtml">Chapter 2</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch03.xhtml">Chapter 3</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch04.xhtml">Chapter 4</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch05.xhtml">Chapter 5</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch06.xhtml">Chapter 6</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch07.xhtml">Chapter 7</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch08.xhtml">Chapter 8</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch09.xhtml">Chapter 9</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch10.xhtml">Chapter 10</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch11.xhtml">Chapter 11</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch12.xhtml">Chapter 12</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch13.xhtml">Chapter 13</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch14.xhtml">Chapter 14</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch15.xhtml">Chapter 15</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch16.xhtml">Chapter 16</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch17.xhtml">Chapter 17</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch18.xhtml">Chapter 18</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch19.xhtml">Chapter 19</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch20.xhtml">Chapter 20</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch21.xhtml">Chapter 21</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch22.xhtml">Chapter 22</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch23.xhtml">Chapter 23</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch24.xhtml">Chapter 24</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch25.xhtml">Chapter 25</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch26.xhtml">Chapter 26</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch27.xhtml">Chapter 27</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch28.xhtml">Chapter 28</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch29.xhtml">Chapter 29</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch30.xhtml">Chapter 30</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch31.xhtml">Chapter 31</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch32.xhtml">Chapter 32</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch33.xhtml">Chapter 33</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch34.xhtml">Chapter 34</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch35.xhtml">Chapter 35</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch36.xhtml">Chapter 33</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch37.xhtml">Chapter 34</a></li>
+        <li><a href="ch38.xhtml">Chapter 35</a></li>
+
+
+    </ul>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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diff --git a/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/other.xhtml b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/other.xhtml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d8d93f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/other.xhtml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Other books</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href="page-template.xpgt"/>
+    <style type="text/css">
+        p { text-align: center; }
+
+        .i {
+            display: block;
+            margin-left: auto;
+            margin-right: auto }
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+        <p>Other books by the author available on</p>
+        <img class='i' src='ak.jpg' alt='Amazon Kindle'/>
+
+        <p><a href="http://j.mp/RgVy9h">Full Proof</a></p>
+
+        <p><a href='http://j.mp/TjevrC'>Shrike</a></p>
+
+        <p><a href='http://j.mp/lTrdOF'>Incubus</a></p>
+
+        <p><a href='http://j.mp/darkvalley'>Dark Valley</a></p>
+
+        <p>All available now on the Amazon Kindle</p>
+    </div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/page-template.xpgt b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/page-template.xpgt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a0447b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/page-template.xpgt
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+<ade:template xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:ade="http://ns.adobe.com/2006/ade" xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
+
+   <fo:layout-master-set>
+      <fo:simple-page-master master-name="single_column" margin-bottom="2em" margin-top="2em" margin-left="2em" margin-right="2em">
+         <fo:region-body/>
+      </fo:simple-page-master>
+
+      <fo:simple-page-master master-name="single_column_head" margin-bottom="2em" margin-top="2em" margin-left="2em" margin-right="2em">
+         <fo:region-before extent="8em"/>
+         <fo:region-body margin-top="8em"/>
+      </fo:simple-page-master>
+
+      <fo:simple-page-master master-name="two_column" margin-bottom="2em" margin-top="2em" margin-left="2em" margin-right="2em">
+         <fo:region-body column-count="2" column-gap="3em"/>
+      </fo:simple-page-master>
+
+      <fo:simple-page-master master-name="two_column_head" margin-bottom="2em" margin-top="2em" margin-left="2em" margin-right="2em">
+         <fo:region-before extent="8em"/>
+         <fo:region-body column-count="2" margin-top="8em" column-gap="3em"/>
+      </fo:simple-page-master>
+
+      <fo:simple-page-master master-name="three_column" margin-bottom="2em" margin-top="2em" margin-left="2em" margin-right="2em">
+         <fo:region-body column-count="3" column-gap="3em"/>
+      </fo:simple-page-master>
+
+      <fo:simple-page-master master-name="three_column_head" margin-bottom="2em" margin-top="2em" margin-left="2em" margin-right="2em">
+         <fo:region-before extent="8em"/>
+         <fo:region-body column-count="3" margin-top="8em" column-gap="3em"/>
+      </fo:simple-page-master>
+
+      <fo:page-sequence-master>
+         <fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives>
+            <fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="three_column_head" page-position="first" ade:min-page-width="80em"/>
+            <fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="three_column" ade:min-page-width="80em"/>
+            <fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="two_column_head" page-position="first" ade:min-page-width="50em"/>
+            <fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="two_column" ade:min-page-width="50em"/>
+            <fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="single_column_head" page-position="first"/>
+            <fo:conditional-page-master-reference master-reference="single_column"/>
+         </fo:repeatable-page-master-alternatives>
+      </fo:page-sequence-master>
+   </fo:layout-master-set>
+
+   <ade:style>
+      <ade:styling-rule selector="#header" display="adobe-other-region" adobe-region="xsl-region-before"/>
+   </ade:style>
+
+</ade:template>
diff --git a/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/preview.xhtml b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/preview.xhtml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ae0043
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/preview.xhtml
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+    <title>Mythlands - Spellbinder Preview </title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div id="text">
+    <div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
+       <p class="centered"><strong>Preview of </strong></p>
+        <p class="centered"><strong>SPELLBINDER</strong></p>
+        <p class="centered"><strong>The next in the series</strong></p>
+
+        <h1>1.</h1><p>Corriwen Redthorn had vanished into another world.</p>
+        <p>She had tumbled, <em>was thrown</em>, through the space between the standing stones and she was gone. Disappeared.</p>
+        <p>Jack Flint lurched from the far side of the ring of stones. Kerry Malone had his arm around him, bracing him up. But for that, both of them would have sunk to the ground.</p>
+        <p>They were hurt. They were bruised and bloodied and Jack felt as if every inch of his body had been beaten. Blood was matted on Kerry's shoulder where the thing had hit him, slammed him into the air.</p>
+        <p>The thing. The <em>Morrigan</em>. </p>
+        <p>As old as time, as foul as sin, she had harried them across the dead lands, rending the very rocks with her fury. They had made it to the ring of stones where they had started and she had come sweeping after them, a shade within a shadow; screeching for vengeance.</p>
+        <p>They had fought her and she had almost killed them both. But they had survived and she was gone, still screeching, all the way down into the infinity of dark under the capstone.</p>
+        <p>But before it had sucked her down she had reached out and caught him by the leg, claws digging into his bones, her rage as cold as death, dragging him down with her into the eternal black.</p>
+        <p>Then Corriwen Redthorn was in front on him again and both knives were out, flashing red in the hideous moonlight. She dived headlong and slashed at the claw gripping Jack's leg. The second knife flickered past him and pierced a monstrous red eye. Something burst wetly and the demon-thing's sudden agony blasted out of her and the standing stones shuddered in their foundations.</p>
+        <p>And then the Morrigan was gone, screaming as she fell. Screaming so long that it seemed to take forever before the hideous cry faded to nothing.</p>
+        <p>But in the instant before the grip broke on Jack's leg, her last desperate act had been to reach out, fast as a snake, and hit Corriwen a tremendous blow which slammed her into the air.</p>
+        <p>And now, in the aftermath, Corriwen had vanished.</p>
+        <p>Kerry groaned aloud. Jack could see the bruise swelling across his cheek. He had taken a hard blow, but his eyes were still bright and somehow fierce.</p>
+        <p>"We beat the bitch," he said. </p>
+        <p>"We did. And I think I got us back to <em>before.</em> I mean, before it all went crazy."</p>
+        <p>He paused in mid sentence.</p>
+        <p>"Where is she?"</p>
+        <p>"I told you. She's gone."</p>
+        <p>"No," Jack said. "Where's Corriwen?"</p>
+        <p>They both turned round quickly.</p>
+        <p>"She was&#8230;" Kerry started, then stopped. "I think she was here. I was running with that thing coming on like a train. Then I threw the heartstone to you and she hit me such a wallop I went ass for elbow."</p>
+        <p>"Corriwen was hit too," Jack said. His heart lurched. "She was hit. I saw it." He started to walk, ignoring the pain and they helped each other to their feet.</p>
+        <p>"She was hit really hard and she went flying." He took a slow step and then another in the direction Corriwen had tumbled when the Morrigan had flipped her away, all the time expecting to find her broken body against one of the standing stones. The final blow from the Morrigan must have been devastating.</p>
+        <p>He searched around, moving from one stone to the other before he saw it. There on the soft earth, was a small depression where she had landed and rolled, scuff marks in the thin grass.</p>
+        <p>They continued onwards, towards the space between two standing stones.</p>
+        <p>Then they vanished.</p>
+        <p>Jack looked at Kerry.</p>
+        <p>"She must have been thrown through," Kerry said. Regret and relief were struggling in his expression. "Back home to Temair."</p>
+        <p>Jack reached for his friend's arm. It was all coming back to him through a haze of hurt and numbness.</p>
+        <p>He shook his head. "No," he said. "That's not the gate to Temair. The <em>Farward Gate. </em>She was thrown through the <em>wrong</em> one. They were all open at the same time. I saw different places out there."</p>
+        <p>They locked eyes. "Kerry. I don't know <em>where</em> she's gone."</p>
+        <p>"Oh Jack," Kerry whispered.</p>
+        <p>Jack picked up the amberhorn bow and hefted his backpack. His jacket was in rags. One shoe was torn from sole to heel. He was hurting from head to toe. The standing stones towered above them.</p>
+        <p>Beyond them, Cromwath Blackwood's trees crowded close, now back to its thick, twisting glades. Beyond them, some distance away was the tall wall that was built to keep people out. Now he and Kerry knew the astonishing secret of the wall and the stones. The <em>gates.</em></p>
+        <p>Beyond the wall was a world back to normal, he knew for sure. No creeping darkness, no whispering shade. No madness in the night.</p>
+        <p>Beyond the wall the Major's telescope would still be focused on the woods. The major would be up in the turret with his charts<em>.</em></p>
+        <p>Jack had so much to tell him, so much to ask him. All the answers he needed to know about who he was and where he came from, all the things he needed to know, lay beyond the wall.</p>
+        <p>He paused, heart aching with the need for that knowledge. He walked across the ring, to the space between the stones through which they had run, panicked, on that first night.</p>
+        <p>Jack leaned against the stone, utterly worn. </p>
+        <p>He <em>had</em> to get home. Had to speak with the Major and find out all he knew.</p>
+        <p>He took one step beyond the ring, aching with the need to find the truth about his father.</p>
+        <p>But Corriwen Redthorn had saved his life. She had helped both of them survive all the odds in a strange world and she had helped them get home again after all they had been through.</p>
+        <p>The memory of their travels, their battles; her bravery. They all came back in a rush, and with them came the knowledge that he would have to act like the old heroes he had always admired.</p>
+        <p>They made sacrifices. Their word was more than their bond. It was their <em>life.</em></p>
+        <p><em> </em></p>
+        <p>And Jack Flint owed a debt of life to Corriwen Redthorn. A debt he would repay come what may, no matter the cost; no matter the sacrifice.</p>
+        <p>He turned back and faced across the capstone to the gateway through which Corriwen had disappeared.</p>
+        <p>Kerry's eyes followed him, sensing the battle going on inside Jack's mind.</p>
+        <p>"What do you want to do?"</p>
+        <p>Jack slammed both fists against the great stone, venting his frustration and despair.</p>
+        <p>Unsteadily, but very deliberately he limped across the ring of stones to the far side. He hurt all over and he felt he could sleep for a week.</p>
+        <p>"She's lost somewhere. Lost and alone. I don't know where, but I've got the key to open the gate."</p>
+        <p>He turned to face Kerry, looked him straight in the eye. He held up the black heart stone on its silver chain.</p>
+        <p>"I'm going to find her," he said.</p>
+        <p>Kerry nodded. Understanding was clear on his face. He clapped Jack on the back. They both winced.</p>
+        <p>"Not on your own, you're not."</p>
+        <p>"I can't ask you&#8230;" Jack began.</p>
+        <p>Kerry held up a hand. "You're not asking. And you don't have to. We're not going to let a girl come between us, are we?"</p>
+        <p>"Cross my heart," Jack said.</p>
+        <p>"And hope to die."</p>
+        <p>And together they walked forward into the unknown.</p>
+        <p> </p>
+    </div> </div> </body> </html>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/title.xhtml b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/title.xhtml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..499fe5a
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
+        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
+<head>
+
+    <title>SPELLBINDER</title>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
+    <link rel="stylesheet" type=
+            "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
+                  "page-template.xpgt"/>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<div id="heading" class="centered">
+    <div id="title">
+        <h1>SPELLBINDER</h1>
+    </div>
+    <div id="author">
+        <h4>Joe Donnelly</h4>
+    </div>
+
+    <div id="uri"><a href="http://www.impera-media.co.uk">http://www.impera-media.co.uk</a></div>
+    <div id="e">books@impera-media.co.uk</div>
+    <div style="padding-bottom: 56px;">
+        <img src="logo.jpg" alt="Impera Media Limited logo" width="200" height="24"/>
+    </div>
+    <p id="timestamp">2015-09-10</p>
+
+    <div id="copyright">Copyright (c) 2011, Joe Donnelly.
+        <p>All rights reserved</p>
+
+        <p>The moral right of the author has been asserted</p>
+
+        <p>This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by
+            way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or
+            otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any
+            form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
+            and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent
+            purchaser</p>
+    </div>
+    <div id="licensenotice">This work is copyright.</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/toc.ncx b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/toc.ncx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ab46fe
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+++ b/build/spellbinder/OEBPS/toc.ncx
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+
+   <head>
+      <meta name="dtb:uid" content="http://www.imperamedia.com/fullproof.epub"/>
+      <meta name="dtb:depth" content="2"/>
+      <meta name="dtb:totalPageCount" content="0"/>
+      <meta name="dtb:maxPageNumber" content="0"/>
+   </head>
+
+   <docTitle>
+      <text>Full Proof</text>
+   </docTitle>
+
+   <navMap>
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-1" playOrder="1">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Title Page</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="title.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+	<navPoint id="navPoint-2" playOrder="2">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>About the Author</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="bio.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+	<navPoint id="navPoint-3" playOrder="3">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>About the Book</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="blurb.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+						      
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-4" playOrder="4">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 1</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch01.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-5" playOrder="5">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 2</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch02.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-6" playOrder="6">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 3</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch03.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-7" playOrder="7">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 4</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch04.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-8" playOrder="8">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 5</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch05.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-9" playOrder="9">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 6</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch06.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+      <navPoint id="navPoint-10" playOrder="10">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 7</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch07.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-11" playOrder="11">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 8</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch08.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>      
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-12" playOrder="12">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 9</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch09.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-13" playOrder="13">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 10</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch10.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-14" playOrder="14">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 11</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch11.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+ 			<navPoint id="navPoint-15" playOrder="15">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 12</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch12.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-16" playOrder="16">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 13</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch13.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-17" playOrder="17">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 14</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch14.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-18" playOrder="18">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 15</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch15.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-19" playOrder="19">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 16</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch16.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-20" playOrder="20">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 17</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch17.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-21" playOrder="21">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 18</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch18.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-22" playOrder="22">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 19</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch19.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-23" playOrder="23">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 20</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch20.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-24" playOrder="24">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 21</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch21.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>      
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-25" playOrder="25">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 22</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch22.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>      
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-26" playOrder="26">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 23</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch23.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>      
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-27" playOrder="27">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 24</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch24.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-28" playOrder="28">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 25</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch25.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-29" playOrder="29">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 26</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch26.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-30" playOrder="30">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 27</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch27.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>            
+
+<navPoint id="navPoint-31" playOrder="31">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 28</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch28.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-32" playOrder="32">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 29</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch29.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-33" playOrder="33">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 30</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch30.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-34" playOrder="34">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 31</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch31.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-35" playOrder="35">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 32</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch32.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-36" playOrder="36">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 33</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch33.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-37" playOrder="37">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 34</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch34.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-38" playOrder="38">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 35</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch35.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+
+	<navPoint id="navPoint-39" playOrder="39">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 36</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch36.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-40" playOrder="40">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 37</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch37.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-41" playOrder="41">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Chapter 38</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="ch38.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+
+			<navPoint id="navPoint-42" playOrder="42">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Preview</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="preview.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+
+<navPoint id="navPoint-43" playOrder="43">
+         <navLabel>
+            <text>Other Books</text>
+         </navLabel>
+         <content src="other.xhtml"/>
+      </navPoint>
+
+
+   </navMap>
+</ncx>
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GIT binary patch
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zcmd=0O)M(O%u{g5&&x~A$*E)@3h*=dG9)q-F_bW5GUPERFt{+}1L-`5RE8WNL>MA^
zU5JZ8jG-e(kb%Kqx(GKzxe+5rDG;wQU=%1bV*F5I#ApB%vuH78<k;RUD12Rni$R>B
L;lbzJB$z`0q8u8x

literal 0
HcmV?d00001

diff --git a/source/Spellbinder2/~$C06.doc b/source/Spellbinder2/~$C06.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cf01dd0405912f8cb55571fa2006a8d99e1db9a0
GIT binary patch
literal 162
zcmd=0O)M(O%u{g5&&x~A$*E)@3h*=dG9)q-F_bW5GUPERFt{+}1L-`5RE8WNL>MA^
zU5JZ8jG-e(kb%Kqx(GKzxe+5rDG;wQU=%1bV*F5I#ApB%vuH78<k;RUD12Rni$R>B
L;lbzJB$z`0q8u8x

literal 0
HcmV?d00001

diff --git a/source/Spellbinder2/~$C07.doc b/source/Spellbinder2/~$C07.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cf01dd0405912f8cb55571fa2006a8d99e1db9a0
GIT binary patch
literal 162
zcmd=0O)M(O%u{g5&&x~A$*E)@3h*=dG9)q-F_bW5GUPERFt{+}1L-`5RE8WNL>MA^
zU5JZ8jG-e(kb%Kqx(GKzxe+5rDG;wQU=%1bV*F5I#ApB%vuH78<k;RUD12Rni$R>B
L;lbzJB$z`0q8u8x

literal 0
HcmV?d00001

diff --git a/source/Spellbinder2/~$C08.doc b/source/Spellbinder2/~$C08.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cf01dd0405912f8cb55571fa2006a8d99e1db9a0
GIT binary patch
literal 162
zcmd=0O)M(O%u{g5&&x~A$*E)@3h*=dG9)q-F_bW5GUPERFt{+}1L-`5RE8WNL>MA^
zU5JZ8jG-e(kb%Kqx(GKzxe+5rDG;wQU=%1bV*F5I#ApB%vuH78<k;RUD12Rni$R>B
L;lbzJB$z`0q8u8x

literal 0
HcmV?d00001

diff --git a/source/Spellbinder2/~$C09.doc b/source/Spellbinder2/~$C09.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cf01dd0405912f8cb55571fa2006a8d99e1db9a0
GIT binary patch
literal 162
zcmd=0O)M(O%u{g5&&x~A$*E)@3h*=dG9)q-F_bW5GUPERFt{+}1L-`5RE8WNL>MA^
zU5JZ8jG-e(kb%Kqx(GKzxe+5rDG;wQU=%1bV*F5I#ApB%vuH78<k;RUD12Rni$R>B
L;lbzJB$z`0q8u8x

literal 0
HcmV?d00001