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+ \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml index e69de29..50ccf67 100644 --- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch12.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,232 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 12 + + + + +
+
+

12

+

+ High in the turret of the keep, with the shutters tight closed and no tallow torch or even a candle to light the room, Mandrake was awake, and trembling. +

+

+ He heard the sound of ponderous footfalls on flagstones, slow and deliberate, getting nearer with every heavy tread. It louder and louder until the walls + began to shake. +

+

+ He knew what was coming next. +

+

+ Doom …Doom + … the thick oak door shivered. Dust puffed out and dry splinters of rust and old wood tumbled at the hinges. +

+

+ Stay away. Stay away…he tried to speak. +

+

+ The door creaked. It had been locked with a massive iron hasp, but still, it opened, shuddering. A grey mist oozed through the portal. +

+

+ Then came the smell. Foetid, cloy and clogging in the air, dank on his sweating skin. +

+

+ Out of the mist his older brother came, the reek of death on him. Lugan Redthorn's feet scraped the stone flags. His skin sloughed off a skeletal face and + in the pits of his eye sockets, red pinpoints glared. +

+

+ "A curse on you brother." Lugan's voice was the crackle of dead-winter leaves underfoot. +

+

+ "Forever cursed." +

+

+ Mandrake cringed, trying to back away from the apparition, but there was no escape. Lugan's face was black with the poison of the mandrake root and the + wolfbane that had slowly killed him. +

+

+ Now Lugan stood before him, rotting and rotted, a ghastly spectre. Mandrake cringed. +

+

+ Another shape came behind, taller than the first, broader, hair in thick red braids, every inch a man, but for the dreadful gash that cut from forehead + across his eye and nose, down to his chin. +

+

+ Young Ceruin Redthorn stood beside his father, dead men both, but alive with an anger that they carried with them from the other side. +

+

+ Ceruin leant forward. Around his head, a crown of five stars sparkled. Like his father, he raised a hand and pointed it at Mandrake's heart. +

+

+ "The sword. You stole the sword." +

+

+ Mandrake tried to breathe, tried to cry out, but no sound would come, no breath. +

+

+ Ceruin had blood in his eyes. His hand dripped red down into darkness. +

+

+ The Red Hand + . An omen. The red hand and the circlet of stars. +

+

+ Drenched in a cold sweat mandrake wondered if the Bards had turned the tables and put a curse on him. +

+

+ But inside him, somewhere deep down where his most bitter thoughts lurked, he knew it was not this. He could feel the corrosion eating him, worse than + acid. +

+

+ There was always a price to pay. +

+
+

+ Mandrake had learned the forgotten legends of the Morrigan when Men fought the Fomorians and he knew their power had come from her darkness. +

+

+ He knew all of it, the great geas laid on the Morrigan's stone prison whose location had been forgotten down the generations. +

+

+ And it was in the study of the dark arts that he had, after years of searching, finally come to understand how they had trapped the ancient Morrigan. +

+

+ But equally important to him was the final knowledge of where it had been done, and even more so, how to bring her back to this world. +

+

+ When the time was ripe, he used his knowledge to gather what he needed and he had watched Lugan Redthorn slowly die. +

+

+ Then he had stolen the Redthorn Sword, the sword of Cullian, the fire-blade that had trapped the destroyer in a prison of stone, and as Lugan lay dying, he + had taken it with him when he fled the Redthorn Keep and set out on his journey. +

+

+ Even in her long, long sleep, she called to him. She whispered promises of wealth and power beyond his dreams. +

+

+ Lordship of Temair and all lands would be his. And more. She promised him the Lordship of worlds. +

+

+ He had gone on the hard journey, alone, at first on horseback until the horse had died under him, then on foot, with nothing but his hunger and anger and + need to keep him going. +

+

+ He walked through swamp and marsh, climbed treeless slopes where nothing moved under a sun that scorched by day, and a frozen moon by night, until he came + to the high Salt Barrens. +

+

+ Delirious with thirst and blinded by mile after mile of dry salt dunes, his lips were blackened and cracked, but he stumbled and staggered on, weighed down + by the sword, eating lizards and scorpions and things that lived under the rime of salt. +

+

+ The closer he came to the Black Barrow, the more devastated the land became, the more he felt the awesome gravity of her presence. Rambling and half mad, + he listened as he stumbled on. Her voice had told him where to dig and after that, when he had almost killed himself in prying a massive stone loose from + where it had sat these thousands of years, he was inside, out of the burning light, into the darkness where foul water puddled at his feet. +

+

+ It seemed he wandered in dark tunnels for days, under the weight of the stones, images in his head, images of her pale face and long braided hair and lips + the colour of new blood. He sensed her presence, felt it in every pore of his body, his nerves tingling with anticipation. +

+

+ When he saw the great stone slab, he knew he had found her. +

+

+ And when he rested the sword upon the stone, he felt her power surge through him as she woke. He prostrated himself on the slab, saw her swim up towards + him, her beauty impossible, eyes as black as caves, her arms reaching for him. +

+

+ Mandrake lay there a long time, bathing in her terrible power, filled with the urgency to break the last geas and bring her back into the world. +

+

+ Together we will rule, + she sang in his mind. +

+

+ Together we will rule + worlds. +

+

+ She promised herself to him, to have forever, her terrible beauty and her might. +

+

+ He raised the Redthorn Sword and plunged it deep into the stone. +

+

+ In a shattering instant she came awake and her power, as it surged through him was vast. It threw him, shivering to the ground where he lay in a stupor, + overwhelmed by the force of her will. +

+

+ He was never sure how long he had been in the darkness, but when he came out again into the Salt Barrens, into the sunlight that hurt his eyes, great + flocks of roaks and ravens wheeled about him. +

+

+ He could see what they saw and he could use their eyes to go where she had shown him the cave half way to the Scree mountains. Long ago treasures had been + hidden there, and with the Roaks as companions, he found wealth beyond his wildest dreams, wealth that would enable him to return to the Redthorn Keep with + an army. +

+

+ Now he had wealth and power, the sight of the Roaks and knowledge beyond even his own twisted ambition. +

+

+ The melding with her mind had changed him. Sunlight hurt his eyes and blistered his skin, so he kept to the shadows and wakened in the night when she would + come to him, invade his mind to whisper her plans. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ Up in the high tower, the visions faded. +

+

+ He would let neither the ghosts of Redthorns, nor the Bards stop him now. +

+

+ In the room where he had raised dark magic, he mixed his own vision, and flying with the roaks in the early morning mist, he saw through their eyes. +

+

+ He saw a boat emerging from the mist, oarless and rudderless, moving with an uncanny power. +

+

+ As the Roaks spiralled to the water, he saw the three of them , saw her red hair clearly against the grey of the cold water. +

+

+ Mandrake laughed. +

+

+ She stepped off as soon as the boat touched the bank, Corriwen Redthorn and the two boys and the mist closed in over the water as they began to walk down a + forest trail. The Roak-eyes followed them into open country where fires had blackened the fields and smoke rose in grey shrouds. +

+

+ He summoned his guard. They came warily, for a night summons to Mandrake's tower was always fraught with danger. +

+

+ "Bring the Scree hunters," Mandrake croaked. "We will not miss them this time." +

+

+ "Go and find her and bring her alive," he snarled. "I'll roast her and feed for a week." +

+

+ Mandrake turned: "And those boys. They have something I want." +

+

+ He reached the window, threw open the shutters, and stared into dismal dawn. As his retainer watched, his expression changed yet again until he was no + longer recognisable as Mandrake at all. +

+

+ Whatever Mandrake had become, raised bony arms to the sky, as if it could pull down the moon and tear it apart. +

+

+ Then it began to laugh. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5305ca --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch13.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,725 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 13 + + + + +
+
+

13

+

+ As soon as they emerged from the mist, eyes high in the sky saw them, and from that moment, they were hunted again. +

+

+ Finbar the Bard had stood with them, one hand on Corriwen's shoulder as the boat came gliding from below the mighty waterfall. It was long and narrow and + slid across the water towards them until it slowed and nudged the bank. +

+

+ "Has he got a remote control?" Kerry asked. Jack shrugged. Kerry was putting on a brave face, but Jack knew he was very apprehensive about getting back + onto the water again. The boat bobbed and Jack saw its ribs were long bones glued together, or maybe just articulated from some great fish. The hull was + thin and scaled, and patterned just the way a salmon would be, if a salmon could grow ten feet long. He didn't even ask the Bard. +

+

+ This world, this Temair, now felt completely alive. +

+

+ "Where will the river take us?" +

+

+ "Where you have to go," Finbar said. "The Undine will guide you part way there. From then on, it's not clear. But go west. Safe journey to you three." +

+

+ Jack was torn between the need be gone and the desire to stay and talk more to Finbar. Kerry had packed his rucksack and stuffed in it the big smoked + haunch of meat the bard had cured over his hearth. Corriwen said nothing for the moment and Jack couldn't tell if she was reluctant to leave the protection + of Finbar's haven. +

+

+ She caught his eye and while he couldn't read her expression, something passed between them, something important. As if there was a whole big plan and they + were right at its centre. He had promised to help her, though what he could do, he wasn't sure at all. What he really was sure of was that he and Kerry + Malone would try their best. And he knew, just as surely, that she would try to help Kerry and him find their way home. +

+

+ "Don't worry," Finbar said. "Well, try to worry as little as possible. We'll be with you. The bards will watch your progress. Whatever She throws + at you, we'll try to catch it. But that doesn't mean you don't look out for yourselves. It's a hard road to the Homeward Gate, and a lot of troubles + between here and there." +

+

+ Jack was sure Finbar knew more than he was saying; he could read it in his eyes, but the Bard wouldn't be pushed further. +

+

+ "You're mended and whole again," he'd said, and that was true enough. Jack's senses seemed exhilaratingly acute. +

+

+ Before they got into the boat, the Bard took each of them by the hand. He patted Kerry on the back. "You're a good friend," he said. "And resourceful too. + Watch out for both of them. Without you, all fails. They will need your help." +

+

+ He took Jack's hand. "Set yourself to the road, Jack. You've come a distance and you have ways to go. Use your book. It speaks riddles, but it tells truth. + That much I know." +

+

+ Jack had watched the bard embrace Corriwen Redthorn and tuck her cloak around her, as a parent would a child. He couldn't hear what was said. +

+

+ It had been a strange night. It might be an even stranger day. He was filled with a mix of excitement and foreboding. Underneath it was the new + determination to help Corriwen Redthorn find safety, and then get himself and Kerry to the Homeward Gate, even if Jack himself was unsure now where his + true home really was. +

+

+ The boat barely settled under their weight when, Kerry low in the back, both hands gripping the sides. Jack looked for the oars he assumed would be stacked + on the ribs but without a sound the craft slipped away from the bank and they were moving. Under the surface, pale green shapes, just glimmers of motion, + were making the boat move. In minutes the bank was far behind them, and Finbar just a silhouette on the shore. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ 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 + attentively while the old man spoke. +

+

+ "So what do you think of her?" +

+

+ Jack started out of the memory of the man with the sword and the red gauntlet on the stone. +

+

+ "Who?" +

+

+ "Corriwen. I saw you looking at her." +

+

+ "Well, she's pretty special." +

+

+ "I never met anybody like her. She's…" Kerry paused. "She's cool." +

+

+ Jack knew that was not the word Kerry had been searching for. Kerry looked suddenly glum. +

+

+ "I saw the way she looks at you." +

+

+ "I never noticed." +

+

+ "She thought you were the boss. Right away, that's what she thought." +

+

+ "I'm not the boss. You know that." +

+

+ "But she thought it," Kerry insisted. +

+

+ "Well, she was wrong," Jack replied. "Just because I was wearing leather and you were in rabbit skin. Blame the Halloween party for that. Anyway, we've got + other things to think about. And we're not going to fall out over a girl. Not you and me, okay?" +

+

+ Jack didn't want to talk about Corriwen. There was something in the smoke-dream that was important to remember. He didn't know why. He closed his eyes and + breathed in the cold, clean air, feeling his strength return with every breath, and the first pangs of hunger begin to stir. +

+

+ "I think we're in trouble," he finally said. He rubbed a hand on the skin of his chest underneath the jerkin. It tingled a little, not painfully, but with + inner heat. That was so much better than the draining cold. +

+

+ He took a moment getting his thoughts together. "We're stuck here. I need to get us back home again." +

+

+ "Easy said. I thought it was all a dream, but listen Jack, this place is for real." +

+

+ "And that's why we have to find the way home. Finbar seems to think I'm supposed to be here for some reason. But I don't want to be here. It's + weird and it's dangerous, but that's not it. I have to get back to see if the Major's all right. He said something to me just before we…before we + fell into this place, wherever it is. Whenever it is." +

+

+ "So what did he say?" +

+

+ Jack fumbled with his jacket and drew out stone heart on its chain. +

+

+ "He told me to keep this safe, because it used to belong to my father. It's my inheritance. He knew my dad. I need to find out what it's all about." +

+

+ Kerry's eyes followed damsel-flies dancing over the silvered water. +

+

+ "Dads aren't all they're cracked up to be. Look at mine!" He turned to his friend. "And anyway, I thought you were an orphan." +

+

+ "Me too," Jack agreed. "But now I don't know. My father disappeared. The Major said he was on some kind of mission. Like a soldier." +

+

+ He paused, collecting his thoughts. The smooth obsidian stone gleamed in the firelight. +

+

+ "Finbar says this is some sort of key. Like for getting through the gateway to get home." +

+

+ "So?" +

+

+ "It belonged to my father. And so did the book. I've been thinking hard and it all fits. Maybe he came through the gateway, just the way we did. Or one of + them." +

+

+ Kerry shrugged. "Maybe he did." +

+

+ "But there's more. When we came out of the trees into the circle. I recognised the stones, even though I never saw them before. At least so I thought. But + when I was a kid I used to have these nightmares. Big shapes all around me. I never knew what they were. But I think they were the standing stones." +

+

+ He lowered his voice. "I think somebody brought me through, when I was a baby." +

+

+ "What, like from some different place?" Kerry gave him an odd look. "Like here?" +

+

+ "I think so," Jack said. "I'm not sure where. But it fits. I never knew it before, but thinking on it, I never felt as if I belonged." +

+

+ "You never looked any different to me." Kerry's eyes dropped. He looked like someone who realised he was losing something special. "We've always been + friends." +

+

+ Jack gripped him by the shoulder. "Always will be. You know that. That won't ever change." +

+

+ "So what are you saying?" +

+

+ "I just feel different, that's all. As if I was…sort of waiting for something to happen. Now I've got this stone, that's supposed to be some + kind of key. Only I don't know how to use it." +

+

+ "So, what's the next move?" +

+

+ "If somebody brought me through, then maybe I can go the opposite direction. All my life I've never known who I really am, and the Major can't say. I've + never had the chance to find out." +

+

+ "You're Jack Flint," Kerry said. He seemed heartened by what Jack had said. "What else is there to know? Me? I'm Kerry Malone." He punched Jack on the + shoulder. "And we're both stuck here in fancy dress. Can it get any better?" +

+

+ Jack managed a smile. "I wish it was so simple. But we have to do what the book says. We keep going west until we find the way back. The Major said + curiosity would get me in trouble some day, and he was right. But now I know I wasn't curious about the right things, and I'm going to do my best to find + out." +

+

+ "Okay," Kerry said. "I suppose I should come along and keep you out of trouble." +

+

+ He grinned. "And make sure you don't get the girl." +

+

+ "Look, if you feel that way, why don't you just tell her." +

+

+ "I don't know how I feel," Kerry admitted. "It's kind of confusing. Never thought much about girls before." +

+

+ 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." +

+
+

+ Now Kerry was asleep and Corriwen sat beside Jack at the prow. +

+

+ "Finbar spoke with me for a long time," she said. "It gives me some hope." +

+

+ "Me too," Jack replied. "But I don't understand half of it. I don't know what I'm supposed to do." +

+

+ Finbar had taken Jack outside when the velvety blue had faded to purple and the stars had come out. Jack did not recognise any of the patterns in the + constellations. +

+

+ He had tapped Jack on his breastbone, where the black heartstone swung on its silver chain. +

+

+ "That's a powerful talisman," he said. The moonlight gleamed on its polished surface, though it seemed that half its light was absorbed into its depths. +

+

+ "Probably what kept you alive. A long time ago, this talisman was here." +

+

+ "It was my father's," Jack told him. "But I never knew him." +

+

+ "Then he was here before. I think you realise that." +

+

+ Jack nodded. "I'm beginning to." +

+

+ "You've stepped between worlds, a long way from Old Caledon." +

+

+ "But we have to get back." Jack almost said home. Now that word didn't feel right. +

+

+ "That's easily said," Finbar said patiently. "Mandrake's hordes have taken over Mid-Temair while the folk have been set to work on the dam and digging a + tunnel though the mountains. He means to bring water to flood the salt plain." +

+

+ "To break the geas ?" +

+

+ Finbar nodded. "Nothing surer. But there's more to all this now. It's no coincidence that you are here with that heartstone. You've been led here, and that + can only mean one thing. She means to have the key which will break open the gateways." +

+

+ "A key?" +

+

+ "Every gate has a key. And this is the master of them all. Nothing passes a gate without the key. That's what she wants, and that's why the road ahead is + full of danger for you." +

+

+ "Why would this Morrigan want it?" +

+

+ "To smash the locks between the worlds and let the evil of the underworld loose. The end of Temair will also be the end of Caledon. She is plague and + famine and death in one. It's a big burden laid on you Jack, but you are the Keeper of the Key now. The Journeyman. Our future and your world's future is + on your shoulders." +

+

+ Finbar took a suck on the pipe, "Look up," he said, raising a hand to the jewelled sky. That's the direction you have to travel, and it's no coincidence." +

+

+ "I'm not with you." +

+

+ The bard opened the leather jerkin. Jack's skin was blue in the light. The air was cool, not cold. He felt more alive than he had ever felt before. +

+

+ The shape of the hand showed clearly against his skin, almost black in this light. Above it, the five dots that looked like claw marks stood in a semi + circle. +

+

+ "Now look there," the bard said. Jack peered up at the sky. Finbar guided his eyes. +

+

+ He saw it then. Five bright stars in a perfect semi-circle. Brighter than any others in the night sky, sparkling like diamonds. +

+

+ "The Corona," Finbar said. "The crown of Temair." +

+

+ In a moment of clarity, Jack recognised the similarity. "It's a match." +

+

+ "Yes. And the red hand. Now here's a thing you'll think strange. When the bards put a geas on the Morrigan, they foresaw a day when the shadow + would come back, even though the binding they put on the black tor was powerful enough to last these numberless generations. But they knew that nothing is + forever. As I can look back, so the five bards together can see what may come, and this is what they passed down to us. +

+

+ Comes Coronal, from west to east +

+

+ The Red Hand set to slay the beast +

+

+ Blood to blood, heart to heart +

+

+ Cullian's sword replays its part +

+

+ "That's just like the rhymes in the book." +

+

+ "Your Book of Ways? That's vital. If your father had the book and the heartstone, then he was a traveller. A journeyman. And the Major, the + MacBeth, he is the Guardian of the Ways. Where is your father now?" +

+

+ Jack shook his head. "I really don't know. He disappeared when I was small." +

+

+ "Who knows, perhaps he went through a farward gate? But then how did the heartstone get back to Caledon? That's a mystery. But it's here now, and so are +you. It's the puzzling out of riddle and rhyme that's the trick. Temair turns and the circle comes back to the start and things that are meant to be, well, we don't have much say in the matter." +

+

+ "So what's meant to be?" +

+

+ "Well, you can work it out for yourself. The red hand wielded the Cullian sword that became the Redthorn sword. And you have the mark of the corona on you. + No matter what black things brought you here, you were meant to be here." +

+

+ "What do I have to do?" +

+

+ "You and Kerry, well, I think you didn't just chance upon Corriwen Redthorn. She's got a big task too, and you must help her." +

+

+ "She saved my life," Jack said. "I'll help her if I can." +

+

+ "Nobody said it was going to be easy," the Bard said. "But there's good news in with the bad." +

+

+ "I hope there is. It doesn't sound good so far." +

+

+ "Well, here's part of it. We Bards, we're handy for weddings and birthings and the like. A light touch of magic, you could say. But we stay out of the rest + of man's troubles mostly, until we get a sign. Waiting for the sign can be a long task, but here's the sign." +

+

+ He touched Jack on the chest again, between the hand and the marks that matched the stars. "So now I have to call my brothers together and see what we can + do to help." +

+

+ "Is that the good news?" +

+

+ "That fireglass heart, She means to have it, and she'll send everything she's got at you. But there's more to it than just talisman. This heart is + the key to worlds. And the key to time itself." +

+

+ "I don't understand." +

+

+ "You will, some day up ahead. Now you get a good nights sleep if you can, so you're fresh for the next step." +

+
+

+ Corriwen Redthorn had listened intently as Jack related the conversation. +

+

+ "So here we are," Jack said. +

+

+ "He said I'll figure it all out." Jack shook his head. "I'll give it my best." +

+

+ "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." +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ The boat arrowed across clear water to a space where trees overhung the shore, and finally bumped against a steep earth bank. Kerry woke with a start and + looked around him, rubbing sleep from his eyes. +

+

+ "We there yet?" +

+

+ "Wherever it is, we're here." Jack turned to Corriwen. "Recognise this place?" +

+

+ She shook her head. +

+

+ They unloaded the things they had brought and stood for a moment on the bank, looking across the water. Without warning, the boat pulled away and as + silently as it had come, and glided back into the mist. +

+

+ Kerry lifted the backpack. Jack slung the bow across his shoulders. +

+

+ "This is where we begin, I suppose," Corriwen said in a small voice. She was thinking of what the Bard had said. A hard road ahead. She checked + the matching knives in their sheaths, straightened her shoulders and regained that resolute expression. "Where now?" +

+

+ Jack pointed to the track that angled away from the water, perhaps tramped by animals coming to drink. +

+

+ "That way looks the best bet. It goes west." +

+

+ They followed the trail for hours unaware that eyes high in the sky had caught the movement in the narrow belt between fog and tree-line. +

+

+ Sometime in the afternoon, Kerry made a fire and skewered some of the haunch which dripped fat tantalisingly into the embers and they ate with their + fingers and drank water from a clear stream. When they had eaten, they walked on, through fern-packed glades and under spreading trees with trunks as wide + as houses. +

+

+ Finally they came to the edge of the forest and found themselves on a wider path that became a hard-pack cobbled road between fields that had been tilled + and planted once, but now were overgrown with weeds and nettles. +

+

+ "The place looks deserted," Jack said, conscious that despite the solitude, he was whispering. Ahead, the sun slid towards the horizon, red in their eyes, + casting shadows behind them. They walked together, with Corriwen between Jack and Kerry, watching for signs of movement or attack, but saw nothing, not + even animals in the fields. They did not see the flock of roaks circling high above them, mere pin-points in the sky. +

+

+ They came to a village, a handful of wooden houses, or what was left of them. The ground was trampled, as if a herd of beasts had rampaged through. Walls + leant at crazy angles and most of the woodwork was smashed or charred. +

+

+ "This is Mandrake's work," Corriwen said. "I'm ashamed to have the same blood." +

+

+ "You can't pick your family," Kerry said. "More's the pity." +

+

+ As soon as he spoke thunder rumbled in the north and lightning stabbed down on a coppice of distant trees. Jack licked a finger and held it up to the + breeze. +

+

+ "Looks like a storm. And it's coming our way." +

+

+ "We need shelter," Corriwen said. "But there's none here. There's not a roof left to hide under." +

+

+ They pushed on, past the ruined hamlet, following the road westwards as the gathering clouds darkened to purple. Thunder cracked, much closer now, and for + the first time they saw the roaks wheeling and tumbling in the high wind as if they were dragging the storm down on them. The three travellers quickened + their pace, over a slope and into a valley where they saw ruins no more than a mile ahead. There were no lights, but they could see the shape of houses and + barns in the gloom. The last rays of the sun peered from under the clouds and tinged the slate roofs the colour of blood. +

+

+ They were half-way down the slope when the storm hit. +

+

+ The wind whipped around them, shrieking through the gaps in the wall, and over the wind and thunder, Jack thought he heard the howling of wolves. He + couldn't tell from which direction. +

+

+ The hail started as they ran down the road. At first it was hailstones, driven almost horizontal by the ferocious wind, but in minutes, they were as big as + marbles, and bigger still, lashing down as if aimed by a malign hand. +

+

+ Each time the lightning stabbed and forked, the old houses stood stark against the sky. Kerry put the backpack over his head for protection, grabbed + Corriwen and Jack and huddled close under its meagre shelter. Together they raced for the nearest building and threw themselves inside. +

+

+ A massive roak swooped behind them. Kerry batted it with the bag, so hard it flattened against the stone wall. Corriwen spun and slashed it with her blade. + Hailstones battered the roof and shattered slates while lighting struck, so close they could smell the burn in the air. Jack kicked a wicker door closed + and jammed a heavy trough against it. +

+

+ "This is crazy stuff," Kerry said. "It's like somebody's aiming the lightning at us. And them hailstones." +

+

+ "Mandrake," she said. "And the thing that is pulling his strings. " +

+

+ Feral howling cut through the drumming hail. Too close. +

+

+ "Wolves or Scree," Corriwen said. "We're hunted again." +

+

+ "They might not find us," Kerry said hopefully. "We should sit tight." +

+

+ They huddled in a straw-littered corner, beside bales of mouldy hay, listening to the hailstorm rage, and the howling get closer still. Abruptly the hail + stopped and for a moment an eerie silence stretched out in the darkened barn. +

+

+ Somewhere in the night they heard muffled voices. +

+

+ "Scree," Corriwen whispered. Her hand went to her belt and drew out a knife. +

+

+ Just as she spoke, something moved in the shadows and she twisted towards it, blade ready. +

+

+ "It's only a rat," Jack whispered. +

+

+ The black rat scurried from the corner, rustling through the straw. Little red eyes glittered. Another came out from the bales with yet another on its + tail. These two stopped and stared at the three fugitives. Another movement caught Jack's eye and he turned to see a rippling wave of dark shadows flowing + away from the wall and in an instant the whole floor was alive with rats. +

+

+ "This is really creepy," Kerry whispered. +

+

+ Instantly the rats, as if guided by some invisible conductor, began to squeak, hundreds of them, a barnful, all in unison, in a sudden ear-splitting + cacophony. +

+

+ Kerry raised his hands to his ears. "Can't we shut them up?" +

+

+ "They're calling to the Scree," Corriwen said. The rats moved, surging forward in a black mass, and in seconds they were all over them, squealing and + nipping and clawing at their clothes. +

+

+ Corriwen's blades flashed and rats fell off her. +

+

+ The door thudded and Jack saw the leather hinges begin to stretch. +

+

+ "Move," + he said. +

+

+ "Move where?" +

+

+ A pulley rope dangled from a high rafter. Jack grabbed Corriwen's shoulder, ignoring the rats that were hanging on to his leggings, and boosted her up. + Without a sound, she started to climb. He followed as the wicker door bulged and cracked down the centre. A great grey arm shoved through and fumbled at + the latch. Kerry grabbed his pack, dug into a pocket and fished out his matches. Without pausing, he struck one and held the flame against the frayed end + of the rope. It caught instantly and then he was clambering up, bracing his feet against the stone wall, while below the flames licked up. +

+

+ The door crashed open and Scree came charging in. The burning rope dripped fire on the dry straw. In moments, the first bale caught and in mere moments, + the Scree were blundering and howling, some of them ablaze, in frenzied circles. +

+

+ Jack urged Corriwen on, towards the gap in the gable wall onto the long barn roof. It was slippery with moss and ice where the hail had gathered and they + scrambled on all fours across the ridge, down the other side, using the cover of the farmhouse roofs to get as much distance as possible. Out on the narrow + cobbles, the wolf-hounds snarled and strained against their leashes and Jack heard the unmistakeable grunt of a great hog. Kerry led the way, unerringly + finding a route across the roofs, sliding down the gutters between them, until they came to a rickety outhouse and managed to drop to the ground. +

+

+ They ran blindly down narrow alleys. Kerry drew his sword from the back-pack and Jack unslung the bow. +

+

+ They raced between two dilapidated shacks and suddenly they were in an open square. +

+

+ At the same time, a horde of Scree, their huge hounds baying, came thundering round the corner. Kerry skidded to a halt and Jack almost bowled him over. + Corriwen stood, catching her breath, knives raised for battle. +

+

+ "Oh-oh," Kerry gulped. They spun, scooted back down the alley, almost reached the end, when a hand shot out and caught Corriwen by the neck. +

+

+ She yelped as her feet left the ground. She slashed out, razoring a grey forearm from elbow to wrist, fell to the ground and rolled away just as another + Scree grabbed her. The knives clattered to the cobbles. +

+

+ Kerry dived in, swinging his sword like an axe, but it caught the Scree on a metal shoulder plate and the force of that almost sent the sword spinning out + of his hands. Jack turned, nocked an arrow, aware now, despite the surge of fear, that his strength was back. He loosed one barb and caught the lead Scree + in the chest. He tumbled and the hound held by his companion, turned like lightning, snapping at his master's face. The second handler tripped and Jack + managed to set a black arrow into the ridged back of a great hog. +

+

+ For a moment mayhem reigned, and it looked as if the scrum at the end of the alley was such a tangle that they might get away, when the second wave of + Scree came charging in. Corriwen was slung across broad shoulders. She screeched and flailed to no avail. Kerry tried to slice with the sword, but the + second Scree warded him off with a stone-headed club. +

+

+ "Get her," Kerry cried. +

+

+ Jack saw the Scree approach and in a flash he realised they would be squashed in the middle. +

+

+ He grabbed Kerry, whipped him around and through the window-space of the nearest shack, then dived through after him. +

+

+ "No!" Kerry shouted, "They've got her!" +

+

+ "Too many," Jack gasped. "We can't help her." +

+

+ "You can't give up on her." +

+

+ "They'll kill us." +

+

+ "We can fight for her," Kerry shot back. "If you care about her!" +

+

+ Jack dragged Kerry with him. They tumbled outside, rolled together on the ground and then, without any warning, dropped into a deep runnel that was + ankle-deep in fast-running water. +

+

+ Jack held on to Kerry, forced him to run and they splashed down the runnel. Behind them, two Scree leapt into the ditch, chain-mail jangling. +

+

+ The runnel curved to the left and instantly Jack saw the grating that barred the way. +

+

+ His heart leapt into his throat. +

+

+ Trapped! He might have said it aloud. Kerry was yelling in fury, trying to shake free of Jack's grip. +

+

+ The wooden grating was like a gate over the tunnel ahead where the water disappeared into darkness. +

+

+ Jack couldn't stop. Momentum carried them down the slope. The big grate loomed and they slammed into it. +

+

+ The Scree were only fifty yards behind, slow and ponderous, but determined. +

+

+ Jack gripped the grate. Each cross-hatch was more than a foot wide. +

+

+ "Can you get through?" +

+

+ "They've got her," Kerry cried, anger blazing in his eyes. +

+

+ "Get through!" Jack ordered. He grabbed Kerry's arm and used all his strength to force his friend through the grid, It was just wide enough. The backpack + snagged. One strap broke, and then Kerry was inside the tunnel. Jack didn't hesitate. He wriggled through and into the dark. +

+

+ They came out perhaps a furlong downstream, slipping and sliding down a steep weir into a lade where the water deepened. Jack made out a wooden millwheel + and they hauled up onto the lade-edge. +

+

+ Above them a roak called out, alerting a troop of Scree who turned at the culvert and came splashing upstream towards them. +

+

+ "Do they never give up?" +

+

+ "You do," Kerry spat. Jack ignored him. +

+

+ "Wait here," Jack said. He clambered to the edge of the rill behind the wheel. Here a gate held the water back, balanced by a heavy stone attached to a + wheel locked by a spar. Jack put his shoulder to it and strained until the spar began to creak outwards. Kerry saw what he was doing and stepped in to help + and both of them wrestled the spar free. They jumped back just as the wheel began to spin as the weight fell. The gate rose and all the lade water gushed + out in a torrent and slammed into the Scree. +

+

+ One second they were there, clambering upstream, and the next, they were gone, Scree, beasts and all. +

+

+ Jack gritted his teeth, raised his fist in gesture of victory. +

+

+ "Come on," he said. After a while they came to a coppice of trees and ran for the shadows. +

+

+ When they stopped, heaving for breath Kerry turned to Jack. +

+

+ "You rat," he snarled. "You left her." +

+

+ And without warning Kerry swung a fist and punched Jack as hard as he could. His best friend went sprawling into the bushes and Kerry held back sudden hot + tears. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27b937c --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch14.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,663 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 14 + + + + +
+
+

14

+

+ Every lurch down the rutted road was not quite agony for Corriwen Redthorn, but it came close. It was painful and uncomfortable and every step the great + hog took heaved her back and forth on the smelly flank between its hams. +

+

+ They had tied her up with hide thongs and slung her across one of the beasts. It stank and grunted and farted and its belly rumbled and the spiky ridge + across its back cut into her with every thud of its horny hooves. They had hitched her to a leather girth so she wouldn't slip off. She just hoped + the hog was steady on its feet. If it fell she'd be crushed under it for sure. +

+

+ Every now and again, it would swing its snout around and fix her with a beady, hungry little eye and drool sticky skeins from between its curved tusks. The + hog stank, more so than the Scree who lumbered alongside, hobnails grinding on the cobbles, big, thick shapes that smelt of goat and something flat and dry + and somehow oily as if it leaked through the pores in their thick hides. +

+

+ They spoke amongst themselves in their rockslide grunts and she could understand the words, even if they did sound crude and grating in her ears. +

+

+ She closed her eyes and tried to make the best of it. It was hard going to make anything of it at all. She was caught. +

+

+ Down in the alleyway the big Scree had lifted her up by the neck, a massive hand clamped under her jaw, and he had shaken her like a rag doll, more + irritated than angry. If he'd been really angry, that great first might have closed with a crunch and that would have been that, no doubt about it.. +

+

+ The Captain slapped him on the side of the head and the Scree had dropped her to the cobbles where she hit with a thud that knocked the breath out of her. +

+

+ In the dark, despite the pain in her ribs she had rolled as if trying to escape, even though she knew there was no escape from this, but quick as a flash, + quicker than they could see in the gloom, she had snatched her blades and put them up the sleeve of her cloak before the lumbering Scree could reach for + her. This time a horny hand caught her round the ankle and hoisted her high like a suckling pig at the sticking tree. The Captain reached and gripped her + hair, held her up so she dangled by one foot and her hair. She screwed her eyes against the pain, refusing to let him see tears and let her body go limp. +

+

+ "None of that, rag-a-bones" he growled. "You know what's good for you." +

+

+ He turned to the Scree. "Don't you drop this again, or you be so sorry, you. Not a good thing, drop her, you. Mandrake take your eyes." +

+

+ "No Surr. I got it now. Fast wee beastie, her, give her that much." +

+

+ She swung in the air between them, fixed the Captain with her green eyes. +

+

+ "Mandrake is my uncle," she said. "He'll have your ears for this." +

+

+ "Mandrake up north," the Scree said. "No luck, you." +

+

+ The big Captain slugged him again. His knuckles connected like a hammer on a door. The other Scree merely staggered a bit, his face expressionless. +

+

+ "Tie this up. She runs, you lose legs." +

+

+ The Scree nodded, taking the threat. He tied her hands tight, then the rest of them gathered round, curious about all the fuss and urgency over this little + scrawny scrap. The wolfhounds, more wolf than hound, each almost as tall as the great boars, panted and eyed her hungrily. Their ribs showed under shaggy + pelts and they looked mean and starving, mouths full of teeth and tongues lolling to the ground. She lay still, rocking with every step, staying alert. +

+

+ She had found one thing. Mandrake was up north. He would have to come to her, or they would take her to him. One way or another, she had time to think, and + there would always be opportunity. Maybe. She had heard that Mandrake never moved out of Northern Keep, not now that the damn was almost built. + And he never moved by day. She could be in for a long trip, and anything could happen between here and there. +

+

+ Corriwen closed her eyes, tried to ignore the discomfort and the anger at being caught on the first day out from the bard's haven. Anger would do her no + good at all. It was a luxury she couldn't afford. +

+

+ She bit down on the futile anger. She had survived these months alone, months on the run with the Scree troops hunting her under every root and in every + covert, a lone girl living off the forest with no company but fond memories of her father and brother and awful memories of their passing. +

+

+ When she had stumbled across the slaughterfield and found Cerwin, battle-helm split and his red hair plastered to his broken face, one hand still clutching + the sword in a death-grip, she had wept bitter, heartrending tears, but she had also vowed then, even at her lowest ebb, to somehow survive and repay + Mandrake for what he had done. +

+

+ It had seemed a forlorn hope, when she was all alone, but she held on to it, nursing the anguish and loss and the bright spark of righteous fury through + the darkest nights and the most dismal grey dawns, reminding herself that she was not lying rotting in some dank battlefield, but alive and breathing. She + was the last of the Redthorns and she had to stay alive for the sake of her dead father and brother and for the people of Temair. +

+

+ Now she was + not alone. +

+

+ Even lashed across the back of the stinking boar, captured and helpless, she knew she was not alone. She had felt it the first night she had met them in + the forest, after the fright of being snagged in the snares, believing herself caught by the Scree. When she had looked into Jack Flint's blue eyes and + held his hands, she had sensed deep inside herself that somehow this strange meeting was meant to be. +

+

+ He had survived the fight with the Scree. Had to have survived. They had been trapped and there had been two many of the lumbering brutes and + their beasts. Jack wasn't stupid and he was braver than he himself knew, so he would have run, he'd have escaped. It was the only reasonable thing to do - + to live and try again another day. +

+

+ If the Scree hadn't caught Jack and Kerry, they would be hiding somewhere. They'd be on the trail of this little bandwagon, thinking of some way of getting + her out of this. +

+

+ As the big hog jolted its way along the rough road, she ignored the pressure of its spine-ridge on her belly and the awesome stench of the beast and + imagined the pair of them coming after them, strangers from a strange land who had become her friends. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ "He talked to you too?" Jack had asked, keeping his voice low. +

+

+ "When you were asleep. Finbar says Mandrake took the Redthorn sword to break the geas in the Black Barrow. He says she might still be held, but + she is awake and aware. She can send out her essence to the night creatures, and to those Scree." +

+

+ Her eyes were bright in the morning mist. "But if he breaks all the geas, then she will be free, and Finbar says that will be a terrible thing for + Temair. And your world too." +

+

+ "That's the impression he gave me," Jack agreed. +

+

+ "Did he tell you about the sword?" +

+

+ "Beyond what I saw in the flames, no." Jack closed his eyes against the reflection on the surface, recalling the image of the tall man and the sword of + light. Kerry had said he looked like a Jedi knight. +

+

+ "It was the Cullian sword," Corriwen said, "that caught the Morrigan and let the bards trap her in the Fireglass stone. It was given to my family and it + became the Redthorn sword. My father and his people could summon all the chiefs under it." +

+

+ "So who was this Cullian guy?" +

+

+ "He was the hero that brought down the Morrigan and saved Temair. He was like you, Finbar said. He came from the east and then he went west and was never + seen again. But he rallied the people of Temair against the ravener and he brought her down. Finbar said we must make the wheel turn full circle." +

+

+ "Easy said," Jack shrugged. He still had a hard time taking any of this in. It sounded too much like the stories he'd read in the Major's library. But + unless it really was a dream - and it was the longest, scariest dream he'd ever had in his life - he and Kerry were here, Kerry snoring in the boat + thwarts, and Corriwen Redthorn holding his eyes with hers. "What can three teenagers do?" +

+

+ "We were three children," Corriwen said. Her jaw was set, her expression determined, and that made Jack a little bit ashamed of how scared he + felt. +

+

+ "Now we have to be something else," she said, peering ahead into the mist. "We have killed Scree and killed their beasts and we are still walking free." +

+

+ "And for how long?" he wondered aloud. +

+

+ She turned and looked at him, the waxing sun in her green eyes +

+

+ "I'm the last of the Redthorns. And I'm tired of running and hiding. It's time to turn the tide. +

+

+ "I have to find the Redthorn Sword. Finn says it's a road beset with peril, and worse at the end, for the Black Barrow has been soaked in her evil for so + long, it's a place of madness." +

+

+ That resolute expression chiselled her face. "But somebody has to do it. For Temair and Caledon both. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ She will devastate Temair…and the worlds + . The Bard had said. It had already started. +

+
+

+ "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. +

+

+ After a while they came to a thick coppice of trees and ran for the shadows. +

+

+ When they stopped, heaving for breath in a clearing Kerry turned to Jack. +

+

+ "You rat," he said. "You left her." +

+

+ And without any warning Kerry swung a cocked fist and punched Jack as hard as he could. His best friend went sprawling and Kerry blinked back sudden hot + tears of anger and shame and frustration. +

+

+ Jack had rolled, jaw numb from the big roundhouse blow, crashing through the dry leaves and fetching up under a juniper bush, startled, surprised and hurt, + though the hurt was all inside him. Kerry hadn't hesitated. He'd wiped his eyes on a sleeve and dived forward just as Jack was hauling to his feet. +

+

+ A second blow took Jack on the cheek, the same cheek that Billy Robbins had thumped and for a second little stars spun in crazy orbits. He staggered back, + arms flailing for balance, trying to ward Kerry off. He snatched at Kerry's wrists, holding them away, and despite Kerry's strength, the two of them stood + locked together. Jack saw tears tracing paths down the grime on his friend's face and he felt a sharp twist of grief inside him. +

+

+ Kerry Malone never cried. +

+

+ "You left her," Kerry sobbed. "We could have fought." +

+

+ "No," Jack said, swallowing hard. "We couldn't. +

+

+ Kerry was struggling to get his hands free, but Jack forced him back, snatched his arms around him and dragged him down to the ground and used his own + weight to pin him down. Kerry kicked and wriggled, but Jack knew he had to hold him, keep him still. He got his thighs around him and held on in a + scissor-lock. Hating this, hating the sudden anger and despair, the desperation of losing a friend in this strange and frightening place. +

+

+ "She would have fought for you!" +

+

+ "I know she would." Jack said, keeping his voice low. "I know. I know." He held tight, felt Kerry strain against him and then all the strength + went out of his arms and Jack could feel him convulse as sobs racked him. Jack couldn't help it. He began to cry too. +

+

+ "All those heroes you told me about," Kerry stopped crying and now his breath hitched between the words. "they're just in books. You'll never be + one. She would have fought for you. Now she's gone." +

+

+ "And so would we be if we had stayed. There was nothing we could do. There were too many of them." +

+

+ "What's that got to do with it?" +

+

+ "We can't help her if we are dead," Jack said slowly. He meant what he said, but the import of his words surprised and shocked him. Dead. He + hadn't considered that possibility before, not really, not while he was still trying to comprehend all of this strangeness. +

+

+ But they could have been killed. In the forest, in the ring of standing stones. In the river, or in the plummet from the vast waterfall. +

+

+ "All you want to do is get home, " Kerry said, voice beginning to falter as he too considered what Jack had just said. "After she saved your life." +

+

+ This was the first fight they had had since they were six years old, their first fight ever, and Jack was stunned with guilt over Kerry's accusation. Right + then he felt the emotions twist him this way and that. Kerry was right. He did want to get home, more than anything; needed to find the way to the + Homeward Gate described in the strange old book. +

+

+ But Kerry was right about something else. Corriwen had surely saved his life when the Scree had come at him with their clubs. She had pushed herself in + front of him, knives flashing fast and deadly. He owed Corriwen his life. That was a fact. +

+

+ "You're right," he finally said. "She did save my life. And I do want to get home again, more than anything. But, honest, Kerry, we couldn't have + saved her, not then. We did the right thing, and that gives us another chance." +

+

+ "What do you mean?" +

+

+ "I mean, they won't hurt her. Mandrake wants her, so they'll take her to him. We can find her, and this time we'll be more prepared. I promise you." +

+

+ "What do you promise?" Kerry's eyes were fixed and demanding. Jack remembered what the Major had said about the old heroes and their blood oaths. Now was + time to be a hero. +

+

+ "I promise you, I won't try to get home until we find her and help her do what she has to do." +

+

+ "You mean that?" +

+

+ "I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die." +

+
+

+ 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 + kept his eyes closed, back to the rising sun, then stuck out his right hand. "That's north. So that's south. He pointed ahead. The village is that way. You + can pick up their trail there. But first, let's try something." +

+

+ Jack Flint had his bearings now, the feel of this world. +

+

+ He opened his pack and drew out the book, handed it to Kerry and they watched, fascinated and expectant as the words evolved on the blank old page. +

+

+ Ever westward, never tarry +

+

+ Perils wait and hunters harry +

+

+ Ware the skies and soaring eyes +

+

+ Find the keep where danger lies. +

+

+ The instructions were unmistakeable. +

+

+ Kerry found the trail beyond the village, and at first it wasn't so hard to follow on the road beyond the ruined hamlet where the hob-nails of the Scree + boots had scuffed and scarred the cobbles, but a mile or so beyond the last of the scattered houses, the road petered out to a track and then vanished + altogether where the captors turned across a churned field, marched through a thin stand of trees and into open country. +

+

+ The pair travelled fast, travelled light, keeping to the lee of old stone walls and ragged thorn-hedges, huddling in sheep pens at night. Jack sensed the + rough direction, as the book had said - ever eastwards - but it was Kerry who kept to the trail, skilfully reading the signs the way he had + followed rabbit tracks back home. +

+

+ Sometimes they would spot groups of marching Scree troops and they would have to fight down the instinct to run and hide, and instead use whatever cover + they could find to get close enough to find out if this was the band that had taken Corriwen. Just what they would do, they hadn't quite worked out, but in + any case, all they came across were random patrols out scouring this wasted land. +

+

+ All the time, they were aware of the roaks flying high, specks against a dismal sky, aware, from what Finn the Bard had told them and from the script in + the old book, that they would be spotted every time they broke cover. For as much as they could, they kept to the trees. Kerry's skill in tracking was + amazing, even to Jack who had always admired the way he could find the game trails and the hidden, camouflaged nests of shelduck and eider. +

+

+ He would find a scuff-mark on stone, a boot-print on hard turf and he even got down on his hands and knees a couple of times, sniffing at the ground like a + bloodhound. He told Jack the smell of the hogs was hard to miss. +

+

+ There was one place where the Scree had waded through thick mud where the trail dipped. The imprints of their hob-nail boots showed clearly along with the + pug marks of the big hounds and the tethered hogs. At one point, on the drying clay, there was a clear hand print. A small human hand print and + they knew for sure they were on the right track. Ten miles further on they came to a toll-post where two tracks crossed and they found a couple of strands + of red-hair caught in a knot-hole. +

+

+ It was three days and three nights, travelling as fast as they could, without any sign of the Scree and their captive, that they reached the keep, and Jack + knew they had found the right place. +

+

+ It was tall and dark and built of old stone that towered high above them into the glowering sky that shaded to black in the west as darkness began to fall. + Moss grew on dank walls on its north side, and on the east, scraggly ivy clung on to the crumbling face. A raised ditch had encircled it once, but now it + was worn down in places and neglected, overgrown with gorse and bracken. Beyond the ditch, there was a moat that didn't look too deep, as if it had + gradually filled in over the years, but its surface was slick with algae and water-weeds, so it could have been deep, but beneath it, the mud would + probably be even deeper and their recent experience told them you couldn't judge what was underwater. Now and again, big fat bubbles would push their way + to the surface and slowly burst with a smell like rot. +

+

+ Jack and Kerry made their way round the keep, keeping close to the scrubby cover, counting the guards. There were two on the battlements, resting against + tall pikestaves, as if half asleep, and two on what looked like a drawbridge, though it could have been a gang-plank. It was hard to tell in the gathering + gloom. They were sitting together, playing a game. It looked like dice. +

+

+ The boys retreated to a dell out of sight and away from the cold wind that came with the start of nightfall. +

+

+ "What now?" Kerry wanted to know. +

+

+ Jack shrugged. "I'm thinking." +

+

+ "Yeah. We need a cunning plan." +

+

+ "She's in there," Jack said. +

+

+ "I know. But how do we get in?" +

+

+ "We wait for dark. See if we can sneak past the guards. The place isn't that big, so we've a chance." +

+

+ "Could we climb the ivy?" +

+

+ "It doesn't look strong enough. If one of us fell, we'd be well scuppered. And I don't fancy landing in that water. There's things in there, I bet. Eels or + something worse. You can never tell in this place." +

+

+ "What about the guards," Kerry asked. He gnawed on the last of the ham bone. "You reckon you could take them with the bow? I could maybe knock one off with + the sling." +

+

+ "Maybe we could, but if we miss, they'll come after us." +

+

+ "Come on Jack man. You're the brains here. I'm just the back-up." +

+

+ "Finish your food first and let me think." +

+

+ Just as he spoke, he heard a noise from over the lip of the hollow. A deep and harsh voice spoke. It sounded so close that Kerry froze, teeth still clamped + on the bone. Another voice replied, guttural and rough. They couldn't hear any words. +

+

+ Jack put a finger to his lips, even though it was unnecessary. Kerry couldn't have spoken, with the big ham-bone between his teeth. Together, very warily, + they crawled up the slope of the hollow and belly-walked like poachers through the bushes. +

+

+ On the drawbridge, one of the big guards had crossed the moat and was peering into the gloom. +

+

+ "I smelled meat," he growled. "S'makin' me slaver." +

+

+ The other guard strolled across, heavy on the solid wood planks. The drawbridge groaned under his weight. +

+

+ "You'se always slavverin' " The second guard sniffed at the air, turned his broad face left and right. +

+

+ "Maybe you'se right, Dob. Smell summthin', me." He sniffed again, sounding like a pig at a trough. "But no meat round here. No nothing, eatwise. I'd kill + me gran for a pickled goat." +

+

+ Jack looked at Kerry, beside him in the bush. Kerry was trying not to laugh at the exchange. +

+

+ "I don't think they're very bright," Jack said. +

+

+ "But they can lift heavy things." Kerry whispered. "I better get rid of the bone before they come sniffin' this way." +

+

+ The two guards went back over the drawbridge and hunkered down, leaning big pikestaves against the wall. They were squat and solid, almost the same colour + as the old stone, and looking every bit as hard. One of them reached for a cup and rattled it. Small white things rolled out onto the planks. +

+

+ "Knucklebones," Jack said. "They're playing a game." +

+

+ He peered through the gloom. There was just enough light to see what they were using for a cup. It was a skull, white in the dark, sawn off at the top. + From where Jack crouched, it looked very much like a human skull. +

+

+ "Let me try something," He said. He wriggled backwards and Kerry followed him. The sun was far beyond the horizon now and the last light was disappearing + from the sky. Under the thick cloud, the world slipped into shades of grey and black. Jack found his pack and rummaged about inside. He drew out the little + laser key-ring he and Kerry had fooled around with on the way home from the Halloween party, on the night when this had all started. That seemed so long + ago now that it could have happened to two other people. Certainly, in that short space of time, he and Kerry had become two different people to + the boys who had run from Billy Robbins. +

+

+ They crept back to their vantage point. +

+

+ "Let's see how bright they are," Jack said. He was grinning now, more from nerves than from anything else, but even he couldn't suppress the sense of + mischief. Kerry sprawled beside him, using the backpack for cover. Jack flicked the little light on, and a small red spot appeared right in the centre of + the skull's eye socket. Kerry aimed, and a second dot winked into being in the other socket. From the distance it seemed red eyes glared from the skull. +

+

+ The first guard reached for the gruesome dice-cup, and instantly jerked his hand back. +

+

+ Jack and Kerry switched off. +

+

+ "Whassamatter, you?" +

+

+ Kerry stifled another giggle. He handed Jack the little keyring and searched about until he found a broad blade of grass. Jack understood immediately. +

+

+ "Nothin'" The second guard was staring at the skull, hand still outstretched. He shook his big broad head. +

+

+ "Well throw. Want to win back, me." +

+

+ Jack aimed with both hands, pressing the tiny buttons at the same time just as the guard reached again. The two red eyes glared from the sockets and right + at that moment Kerry blew through the grass blade between his thumbs. A high shriek split the air. +

+

+ Both guards saw the eyes in the skull and heard the shriek at the dame time. They jumped like startled rhinos, scrambling backwards on their backsides. + Jack flicked the lights off. +

+

+ "You see that?" +

+

+ "I saw it, me." The guards stared at the skull, their postures showing bafflement and alarm. +

+

+ Kerry dropped the glass blade, cupped his hands together and blew between his thumbs, making a low, very convincing owl-hoot. The guards swivelled their + heads. At the same time, Jack flashed both beams onto the wall, just beside their heads. +

+

+ "What be these Dob?" The goard grunted. "They eyes? +

+

+ "Dunno. Old place be h'anted maybe." +

+

+ Then Jack flicked the light off and Kerry followed. One Scree scratched his head with a horny hand. Dabbed at the wall, pictures of dumb bewilderment. +

+

+ Jack aimed and pressed the little button. A single red dot appeared on the backside of the Scree who was bent over the little rail, looking down to the + water. +

+

+ The other one crouched down, puzzled. He reached a hand and touched the other guard's buttocks. The big one whirled. +

+

+ What you doin, you, Gubber? You touch my bum you? +

+

+ "Red eye was on you, Dob. On you'se arse. +

+

+ "On my arse my arse. You goin' funny, you?" +

+

+ "Saw it, Dob. Was on you. Lookin' right at me, it was." +

+

+ "Sure, like. Where's it now?" +

+

+ Gubber shrugged. "S'gone now. Was there too, I swear, me." +

+

+ The big Scree glared, scratched his backside. "So's you gone, next time. You bet." +

+

+ Kerry stiffled another laugh. "They're thick as mince." +

+

+ Jack flicked on the little light again and pinned it to Gubber's shoulder. The other one caught the motion from the corner of his eye and whirled. He + reached a big hand and pushed at his mate. +

+

+ "Whassat for?" +

+

+ "Eye was on you now." +

+

+ The Scree tried to crane his thick neck over his shoulder. His jaw was slack. +

+

+ "Gerrit offa me, you. Don't like this a bit." +

+

+ Jack aimed at the wall and Kerry followed suit, making the red eyes stare out at Scree head height. Both guards hefted their spears as the boys whirled the + lights on the wall, making little dazzling circles. +

+

+ "Me neither," Dob said. "Don't like ghosts, me." +

+

+ Jack aimed again and planted the light on the back of Dob's head. This time Gubber saw it and he went into a crouch, unhitching the big club on his belt. +

+

+ "Don't move Dob. I sees it now." +

+

+ "Is it on me? Gerrit off, Gubs. Gerrit now." +

+

+ Gubber swung the club. From forty yards away the blow sounded like a hammer on an old door. Dob straightened up, like a bull that's been pole-axed and + isn't quite sure if it's dead yet. His mouth opened silently, as if asking the obvious question, and then, without a sound he toppled backwards into the + moat and disappeared in an oily splash. +

+

+ Gubber ran to the edge and peered down into the greasy water. Ripples hit either bank and rebounded to meet in the middle. Down below, under the surface + scum, there wasn't any sign of movement. +

+

+ "Dob? Dob? Never meant that, me." +

+

+ Kerry had to cram a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. +

+

+ Gubber scratched his thick head again, swinging the club in his big hand. He looked at the water, then at the shadows of the front gate, undecided on + whether to poke the water and try to hook Dob out with his pike, or run for help. +

+

+ Jack flicked the light onto the wall and the big Scree spun. +

+

+ "Stay away, you," he growled, lifting his club defensively. "Don't want no red-eye." +

+

+ Jack trailed the light down the wall and the Scree backed off. The little point came tracing across the planks and the guard shuffled backwards, growling + wordlessly. He backed against the low banister and stopped. Jack swung the key-ring fast now and the red light zipped forward, like an angry glow-worm, + fast enough to take the slow Scree by surprise. He jerked, raised a foot as if to kick it away, while backing further. +

+

+ The motion was just enough to make him lose balance and his weight fell against the flimsy banister which cracked like matchwood. The thick club went + flying to the side as the Scree pinwheeled for balance, grabbing the pike as if it could stop him, and then, with a muted roar, he flopped backwards into + the water. There was a flurry of slime and foam and then, in moments, nothing at all. +

+

+ "The Scree sink," Jack said. "She told us that." +

+

+ They scrambled out of the bushes and without a pause, they darted across the bridge into the shadows of the doorway. A small hatch in the great wooden door + had a simple latch. Jack lifted it and Kerry followed him into gloom that was hardly relieved by smelly tallow torches at the end of a wide entrance. +

+

+ They tiptoed to the far end, found another door which opened creakily and then were in a narrow corridor that branched left and right. +

+

+ "Which way?" Kerry asked. Jack shrugged. He chose the left side and they scurried down it, keeping close to the walls. On either side, there were rooms or + cells, with small barred hatches above head-height. The place stank of tallow and pig and goat and old soot. +

+

+ "We'll have to check them all out," Jack said. "She's in here somewhere." +

+

+ They sneaked to the far end, nervous as mice and the passageway took a sharp turn to the right, when Jack stopped so suddenly Kerry barged into him. +

+

+ A big Scree trooper was lumbering down the passageway, so broad and squat that his shoulders brushed either wall. +

+

+ "Back," Jack hissed. They turned and ran together, back the way they had come, all too aware of the heavy steps of the big Scree. They reached the fork, + took the right side this time, turned a corner. +

+

+ And they barged right into the belly of another guard. +

+

+ It was like hitting a solid stone wall. +

+

+ Something swung down from the dark and swatted Kerry to the ground. Something else came down and clamped on Jack's head. He felt himself swung up his feet, + the pressure of thick horny fingers so powerful that for a second he thought his eyes would pop out. +

+

+ He gasped in paid, kicked his legs in a futile attempt to free himself. +

+

+ The big Scree lifted him with one hand, right up to eye level and glared into his eyes. Jack smelt bad meet and worse breath. +

+

+ "Been lookin' for you, us," the Scree captain growled. "Save us plenty time, you." +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1037c38 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch15.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,513 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 15 + + + + +
+
+

15

+

+ Corriwen's heart sank like a stone. +

+

+ The room was dark but not dank, with an old bench against the wall and a straw mattress on the floor. She had slept in worse places since the awful battle + that had taken her brother, keeping to the dells and bracken, making a nest for herself under leaves and covering herself with moss while in the night the + owls had screeched and the sounds of the searchers waxed and waned. +

+

+ She had been alone then and she was alone now. But back then, she had been free. +

+

+ Through the bars in the window she had seen the flash of black hair and in the torchlight a glimpse of blue eyes that had met hers for a brief moment , but + had been enough to know that Jack and Kerry had been caught. +

+

+ She knew the Scree had sent word north, to the High Keep where Mandrake sat and plotted in his tower, but he probably knew already that she had been seized + and was captive here. It was only a matter of time before they came face to face. +

+

+ Yet still, while she blinked back bitter tears for her two new friends, somewhere deep inside her she knew that nothing was lost until it was lost. +

+

+ Somehow, a small ember of hope stayed alive. They had given her hope, and she would not lose it, not now. +

+
+

+ The Scree were strong, and they could lift heavy things, so carting Jack and Kerry presented no problem to them. +

+

+ Jack flopped, making his body a dead weight. The Scree Captain had snatched him up in one hand, squeezing his skull in such a powerful grip he thought his + eyes would pop out, and then he had smacked him with an open hand that felt like a club. The blow had been such a stunner he had gone tumbling over a table + and fetched up against the wall, winded, but unbroken. +

+

+ Kerry put up a great fight. He had been knocked flat to the ground, dazed and winded, but in a second, he was up again, fast as a stoat. He kicked one of + the Scree on the knee. It sounded like a mallet on a log, but his toe caught the thick kneecap and the Scree let out such a roar that the walls shivered. + Kerry dropped, jinked between the trooper's legs swung an upward punch that hit something much more tender than the Scree's rough hide and the roar was cut + off as if a door had been closed. The trooper sank to his knees, grabbing at the source of pain, and when the kicked kneecap crunched on the ground the + rockslide roar switched itself back on again with a vengeance. +

+

+ The other Scree reached past its fallen comrade, wide hands grabbing for Kerry. Jack crawled from the corner and got two arms around the Scree's ankles. It + was like holding treetrunks in a gale, and when it tried to move it felt as if Jack's arms were being ripped out at the sockets, but his grip was just + enough to make the trooper lose balance and he fell over the other guard, almost crushing Kerry to the floor. Kerry jerked back and then jabbed two fingers + into its eyes, hard and fast, feeling a satisfactory squelch. +

+

+ The kneeling one threw off his mate and whirled, made a swing for Kerry, missed and smashed a bench to matchwood. Jack heaved himself up, grabbed the + thing's thick ears while the two other troopers stood against the wall, grinning at the antics of their comrades as they tried to catch their small and + very agile targets. +

+

+ Jack pulled and twisted and the Scree shook its head like a tethered bull and he went flying again. A thick hand shot out and grabbed at Kerry's face. His + teeth clamped down on a leathery finger, clenched to the bone and the Scree grunted in pain. It drew back and Kerry was drawn with it, still hanging on to + its skin by his teeth. He tasted blood and goat and greasy castor oil and then he was flicked off like a fly and landed in a heap beside Jack. +

+

+ He spat the taste out of his mouth. +

+

+ "I nearly had him," he groaned. +

+

+ They were picked up with no ceremony at all. Jack flopped and the Scree slung him over his shoulder, which allowed him to see what was happening. The + passage was long and curved, with heavy doors on either side. When they passed one door, the flickering torchlight was just bright enough for him to glance + through the high barred hatch on the door and see the figure sitting alone on a low bench. +

+

+ The face turned as they passed and he saw Corriwen Redthorn's green eyes find his own and hold him for the brief second before he was carried past. +

+

+ At least he knew he had found her. What to do about it would have to wait. +

+

+ They were thrown bodily into a narrow cell at the bottom of a flight of stairs. It was dank and dark and the dirty straw mat seemed to be crawling with + lice. Two black rats squeaked in a corner and then darted into cracks in the stone. Fungus grew wetly down the walls like rotting ears. +

+

+ "What about this stuff?" The trooper held up their backpacks in one hand. And the bow and Kerry's sword in the other. +

+

+ The Captain looked at them. "Bow and blade no. The rest, no harm. Touch nothing. They go to the Black Keep with all they have. No booty and no thievin'. + What they got is his. You take it an' Lord Mandrake, he'll have your eyes." +

+

+ The door slammed and locked and they were left alone after the heavy footfalls receded down the passage. +

+

+ "Another fine mess you've got me into," Kerry said, breathing hard. +

+

+ "I saw her," Jack said. "She's a prisoner here." +

+

+ "Yeah, and so are we. So what's the next cunning plan?" +

+

+ "This place doesn't look too secure." +

+

+ "Okay, we dig our way out, like your Mounty Cristo fella? We'd have beards by then." +

+

+ "They'll come for her, or they'll take her away. You heard him. We're getting sent to Mandrake. We have to think of something." +

+

+ "Let's see what we got." +

+

+ Their captors had picked at the backpacks, but couldn't comprehend the zip fasteners. They had taken Jack's bow and Kerry's sword, but thrown the bags in + with them. Sometime later, the slot in the door had opened and the guard had slid in a stone bowl with something in it that looked half-cooked and smelt + awful. They didn't risk it. +

+

+ There was a three leg stool in the corner and Jack put it against the door, got on it and peered out. In the corridor, dim torches glowed, giving off thick + smoke and a scent of burnt fat. The Scree guard was big and corpulent, a massive belly held in by a broad leather belt. He limped heavily along the + passageway, and maybe that was why he was a guard here. He sat on a bench at a heavy table and began playing some kind of card game, counting them out + slowly. Beside him, on a hook on the wall, a big bunch of iron keys dangled. +

+

+ "I got an idea," Jack said. He unzipped the pack and drew out the little poachers rod they would have used at the tarn once they'd explored Cromwath + Blackwood. +

+

+ "You think you can snag the keys with this?" +

+

+ Kerry nodded and slowly telescoped the fly-rod out to its full length, unwinding the line slowly and quietly. He rummaged in the pack and found a + decent-sized lure and hitched it with a blood-knot. +

+

+ He stood on tiptoe on the bench, with Jack beside him holding him up so he could use both hands. Very slowly, he pushed the rod out of the barred hatch, + with the hook dangling two feet from its tip. He had to stretch both arms right outside, breathing slowly. The fly danced in the air that wafted from some + unseen vent. Gently he eased it closer to the wall where the keys hung. The Scree guard was bent over the table, hunched over a meaty bone in a bowl. + Occasionally he would take a bite, teeth crunching on the bone as if it was sugar candy, then he would wipe his fingers on his tunic and lay out the cards. +

+

+ The fly snagged on a crack in the wall and Kerry pulled back a little, as if he was teasing a brown trout. It pinged away, swung back and almost caught on + the big key ring at first attempt. They jingled just a little. The Scree turned his head and in that split second, his eyes caught the fly. He jerked back + and swung his hand at it, as if it was a wasp. The eddy of the passing hand made the lure dance away around his head and Kerry tried to retrieve it before + the Scree realised what it was. He pulled back on the line just as the fly swung round the guard's head and the rod stopped dead. +

+

+ "What's happened?" +

+

+ "It's stuck," Kerry whispered. "I think I hooked a Scree." +

+

+ "Oh, brilliant." Jack craned up to see. Down the corridor the guard lifted a piece of food from the bowl and started crunching again. Kerry pulled + on the line and the Scree stopped chewing. Jack could see it now. The thin nylon line had wrapped itself around the guard's throat and the fly had hooked + into a scaly ear. Kerry tugged the line again and the guard coughed as it tightened on his gullet. +

+

+ "Oh-oh," they both said as exactly the same time. The Scree bent over, almost dragging the fishing rod out of Kerry's hands and then he started to choke on + a piece of food that he'd been about to swallow when the line went tight. He coughed, then gagged, coughed again and then grabbed at his own neck, gasping + for breath,. He staggered to his feet, unable to breathe, and the line broke with a snap. Kerry pulled the rod back through the hatch before the Scree + turned and saw him, but the guard, when he did turn, had his eyes tight closed and the grey face was an ominous thundery shade of purple. He reared back, + slammed against the wall, and whatever had lodged in his throat came bulleting out, right along the passageway and smacked against the heavy cell door. +

+

+ The guard whooped in a huge breath and grabbed for a small flagon on the bench and gulped down several swallows, grunting and gasping like a pig, then went + into another paroxysm of coughing before he eased himself down on the bench to get his breath, mighty chest heaving. +

+

+ "I got an idea," Kerry said. He reached for the pack again and brought out the flask that he'd filled with his father's hooch. He poured a half a cupful, + then went back to the hatch. +

+

+ "Hey, big fella!" He called down the passage. The Scree was still clearing his throat in raspy growls. He turned at the sound. Kerry reached out with the + cup. +

+

+ "I got some medicine here. It'll take the frog out of your throat." +

+

+ The guard lumbered up towards him. +

+

+ "Med'cin?" His wide grey face looked unsure. His voice was like gravel underfoot. The smell of goat was quite overwhelming. +

+

+ "The best there is," Kerry said. He turned and winked at Jack. +

+

+ Kerry took a small sip for himself, and shuddered. His old man's whisky burned like lava. +

+

+ The Scree reached hesitantly, then took the cup. It looked like a thimble in his massive hand. +

+

+ "Whassit? The big grey face up close was as rough as toadskin. Big spade-like teeth and heavy brows on a narrowing forehead. +

+

+ "It's pure moonshine, sunshine." He turned to Jack. "Does he look like a Klingon to you?" +

+

+ "Klingon?" the Scree rumbled. "Who he?" +

+

+ "Never mind," Kerry said. "Take a drink big fella. It'll put some colour back into your cheeks." +

+

+ "Fat chance of that," he said, under his breath.. +

+

+ The Scree sniffed then sipped. He nodded appreciatively and the shot of whisky went down in one gulp. He gasped, shook his head and belched resoundingly. +

+

+ "That's the stuff," Kerry encouraged. "You get that down yourself." +

+

+ "Good," the Scree grunted. "Good 'n hot," +

+

+ He held the cup out and Kerry allowed him another drop. This one disappeared past the rubbery lips in a flash." +

+

+ "Good enough stuff. Burny, like, but good." +

+

+ "See," Kerry said. "Your voice is smooth as a baby's bum now. Malone's moonshine magic. Here, have another. He poured. Watched the Scree close his eyes and + drink, appreciating every drop. He smacked his lips, dragged a forearm across his lips. +

+

+ "Magic sure enough, this." +

+

+ He trundled back to the seat and started dealing out cards again. He shook his head, as if bewildered, then cast a glance at the hatch. Kerry winked. The + guard grinned sheepishly. It was more like a grimace, but it was the best he could do. +

+

+ "Any time you want some more, just let us know." Kerry rummaged in his bag and brought out his own set of cards. Jack had seen him skin Billy Robbins and + the rest. +

+

+ "What are you up to?" +

+

+ "Let's see if the firewater works on Troll-face. He's dumb enough for sure. If he's any dumber, you never know what can happen. That stuff's like rocket + fuel." +

+

+ They waited for ten minutes and sure enough the guard came back again. He slid the hatch and peered in." +

+

+ "Hi handsome," Kerry piped up. "Can't get your beauty sleep?" +

+

+ "Good stuff. Got more?" +

+

+ "Sure, come on in." +

+

+ The guard turned around, checking that no-one was about, slipped the keys from the hook, fumbled with the lock and pushed the door open. Kerry made a + production out of opening the screw-top of the flask. The big Scree watched him, puzzled, and Kerry poured another half-cup. +

+

+ "Try to sip it, Big-stuff," he said. "You can get too much of a good thing. Now, I see you playing solitaire all by yourself, and you don't have TV or + nothing in here. So how about we play a couple of hands. No harm in that is there?" Kerry sneaked a look at Jack, who couldn't stop grinning. +

+

+ The guard scratched his narrow head with a horny set of nails. They squeaked like chalk on a blackboard. +

+

+ "S'pose not, maybe." He took another drink and his eyes widened. +

+

+ "Oh, go on, get it down you. Cheers! Kerry mimicked drinking and the guard followed suit. The whisky disappeared down his maw. Kerry produced his own pack + of cards.. +

+

+ "Come on and I'll teach you three card brag. Deuces float." +

+

+ He winked at Jack and whispered. "His shirt isn't worth winning, but I'll have it." He fanned the cards, did that fast two-hand riffle that Jack had always + admired, smacked the deck on the bench and cracked his knuckles. +

+

+ Kerry let him win the first five hands, but Kerry was dealing, and the cards blurred out faster than the Scree could follow. He had another whisky and it + was clear the powerful moonshine was having an effect. He was slow at the best of times, but very soon the rumbling voice began to slur and the guard's + head began to droop. By this time, Kerry had won his belt, a short knife and a small bag of coins. He declined the shirt. +

+

+ In half an hour the guard was sprawled over the table, making it groan alarmingly. His head was face down on the rough wood and he was snoring like a + misfiring engine. Kerry grabbed him by a leathery ear which was still impaled by the fishing fly, lifted his head up and prised an eyelid open. The black + pupil stared back blindly. Kerry let the head fall back to the bench while Jack used the guard's belt to bind his feet together. The spare piece of nylon + line was just right to whip the Scree's thumbs tight behind his back. They left him snorting on the bench and sneaked out. +

+

+ They retrieved their weapons and then spent fifteen minutes searching for the room Jack had seen Corriwen in. He closed his eyes and tried to reverse the + route they'd taken after the scrum with the guards, but it had been dark. The Castle wasn't a complex maze, however and when he came to the door, he + recognised it immediately. +

+

+ Inside, Corriwen was huddled on a straw mattress. Jack eased up to the hatch, tapped gently and she looked up. +

+

+ As soon as their eyes met, her face came alive. Jack put his finger to his lips, but Corriwen was too sharp to do anything else but wait silently until + Kerry found the key that fitted, snicked the lock back and swung the door open. +

+

+ She came into Jack's arms in a rush and held him so tight he thought a rib might crack. +

+

+ "I knew you would come," she said. +

+

+ "Typical," Kerry muttered. "I skin the Scree and you get the girl." +

+

+ Corriwen let Jack go and turned to Kerry to embrace him just as tightly. +

+

+ "You both got the girl," she whispered. "Now can you get her out of here?" +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Something hunched on the high flagpole, a shadow against the sky. He couldn't see what it was, but it reminded him of the roaks that had followed them. +

+

+ In the distance, lightning strode on the barren countryside and thunder talked. In the flashes of light he saw guards on the high points of the + battlements. +

+

+ With the rope tied, he went back inside and peered through a hatch on a cell door. Inside, an elderly man lay slumped on the floor. Jack dropped the bunch + of keys through the hatch and left the man to make his own decisions. +

+

+ He threaded the rope through Corriwen's belt, but she needed no help to abseil down. Jack made Kerry go next and followed on afterwards, until they were + well down in the shadows. Jack tugged the short end of the rope and the knot high above them slipped easily. He wound the braid neatly and stuffed it in + the pack. +

+

+ "Where now?" +

+

+ "Follow me," she said. They stole round the walls of the courtyard, keeping to the shadows. Under an arch and through a wooden portcullis, they came to the + stables. This deep inside the Keep, there were no sentries in sight. +

+

+ Corriwen pushed her way inside, walking stealthily until she came to a stall. Behind the wicker gate, Jack and Kerry heard something move and smelt the + warm heat of a big animal. Corriwen opened the stall and they came face to face with the biggest horse either of them had ever seen. It was half as big + again as the Clydesdales that thundered about on the Major's estate. +

+

+ "Would you look at that," Kerry said. "Is that an elephant?" +

+

+ The animal shook its head and snorted, stamping hooves bigger than dinner plates and sending sparks off the cobbled floor. +

+

+ "It's a greathorse," she replied. "It looks fed and rested." +

+

+ "You can't ride that thing," Kerry said. +

+

+ "Sure I can," she retorted brightly. "We all can. The Scree can't ride a greathorse. It won't bear them." +

+

+ "So why is it here?" +

+

+ "The Keeplord must be Mandrake's man." +

+

+ She backed the huge animal out, looking tiny against its bulk, but it came willingly and when it was out, she climbed the gate-bars and got herself across + its neck, whispering to it all the time. +

+

+ "Come on!" +

+

+ Jack went first and clambered astride the horse, unable to get a grip on its flanks with his ankles. It was simply too wide. +

+

+ "Hold my belt," she said. Kerry sat behind him, his sword jammed in his backpack. Jack felt his hand clench around his belt. Corriwen did something very + fast with the tethering rope and in seconds she had made a set of reins that snuggled around the horse's nose. Just as she did so, Jack heard a shout from + high in the tower. +

+

+ "Sounds like trouble," he hissed. "We'd better split, and fast." +

+

+ Corriwen slapped the horse. It reared, hoofing the air and Jack and Kerry almost tumbled straight over its tail. By sheer luck they held on and then the + horse was off at a gallop. +

+

+ They came clattering into the open as a troop of sentries sprinted round the corner right into the path of the massive hooves. +

+

+ "Roaks" Jack cried. Corriwen hugged the great neck, yelling into the horse's ear. Jack tugged at the bow but couldn't free it. Corriwen swung one hand + behind her back. The long knife magically appeared in her grip. He took it. Behind him Kerry had freed the sword and whirled it over their heads in tight + circles. +

+

+ The roaks swooped, wings whistling in the night air. +

+

+ "Stop them," the Scree leader roared. "Stop them now!" +

+

+ They reached the inner courtyard, hooves clattering on stone and the chestnut mane whipping back to almost cover Corriwen. Crates and barrels went flying. + A hutch full of chickens splintered and the birds fluttered out in a blitz. The fugitives came round the courtyard until they reached the archway to the + outer yard, made it through and scattered the guards. +

+

+ "Close them in," the Scree screeched, his voice almost lost in the melee. There was one Scree at the gate and he started to unwind a capstan which bore a + thick chain. Immediately a grinding sound split through the tumult and Jack saw the bridge slowly climb upwards. +

+

+ "Now, Corriwen," he bawled in her ear. "Go for it!" +

+

+ If she heard him, she gave no sign, but the great horse leapt forward. It saw the opening and went for it. Jack held Corriwen's belt and leant over the + massive flank as they passed. The Scree tried to grab him and Jack whipped the blade across its throat and it dropped like a sack. +

+

+ Jack risked turning to glance over Kerry's shoulder and saw the Scree unhitch their hounds which immediately came bounding in pursuit. +

+

+ "Hold me," Jack shouted to Kerry, as he worked his bow free and twisted to face back. +

+

+ The dogs were grey streaks in the dim light, faster than Jack would have believed possible. +

+

+ "Down Kerry. Down!" +

+

+ Kerry ducked. The lead dog's eyes glittered. It bunched in mid-stride, uncoiled like a spring, jaws agape. +

+

+ Jack's arrow took it clean in the throat in mid-air and it did an oddly elegant somersault, sending a gout of blood into the air. +

+

+ In that split second the horse dug its hooves and came to a sudden halt. Corriwen was thrown straight over its head. For an instant Jack thought they were + done for. The roaks were whipping the air all around them and another wolfhound was in mid leap, fangs white in the dim light. +

+

+ Kerry shouted something, tried to reach past Jack to grab for Corriwen, knowing he was too late to save her as she tumbled over and off. +

+

+ But she had the reins in one hand. She flew over the horse's head, and her feet hardly touched the ground at all before she swung back up, onto the horse's + arched neck. +

+

+ The great horse snorted. They felt its muscles bunch just as the wolfhound leapt. Hooves lashed out, faster than the eye could follow, and took the hound + in mid-leap. They heard the crunch of bones as its broken body flew aside. +

+

+ Just as the horse began to gallop, Jack heard a whooping sound in the distance. +

+

+ "What's that?" He looked left and right, alert for anything else coming after them. +

+

+ It grew louder as they breasted a small rise, heading south. Jack looked east and saw a white cloud rolling across the moors. +

+

+ "What is it?" Kerry asked. Jack had no idea, and nor did he know what weapons could stop it. +

+

+ The whooping filled the air. Around them the roaks fluttered in confusion. +

+

+ Then the cloud was on them, and they saw it was no cloud. +

+

+ It was a flock of pure white swans. Hundreds of them, thousands of them. A wall of swans flying over the moor, snow wings sweeping the air in great steady + heartbeats. +

+

+ The white wall passed them by like a gale, almost deafening, and continued west, scattering the roaks and sweeping the sky clean as they went. +

+

+ Corriwen turned, green eyes filled with wonder and hope. +

+

+ "Finbar the Bard said he would help us," she said. +

+

+ "This is one really weird place," Jack observed. "But good old Finn." +

+

+ Corriwen spoke into the great horse's ear and they were off again with the wind in their faces and the dawn at their backs. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6459ffc --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch16.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,524 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 16 + + + + +
+
+

16

+

+ "He knows we escaped," Corriwen said. "I can feel it." +

+

+ The horse had carried them tirelessly for miles and miles, past desolate farmlands where no hands tilled the fields. +

+

+ After the flight from the keep they travelled by day and kept watch at night. On the first night, they had decided to stick to the shadows as they moved + and hide during the day, to escape those eyes in the sky, even though they had seen no roaks since the miraculous flight of white swans. +

+

+ But the night was not safe either. The night belonged to whatever darkness Mandrake, or the Morrigan, had summoned under the barrow in the blasted lands of + the salt plains. +

+

+ They discovered that when they rounded a rocky crag where scrub junipers clung for life to the unyielding stone. Jack made them follow the stream among + tumbled stones, where they found a cave, overhung by a brow of black stone. The sun was well down now, and the shadows gathering from the east while in the + north the storm raged. +

+

+ He made a fire while Corriwen fed and watered the horse and Kerry quickly plucked and cleaned chickens he'd found at a deserted farm. He wrapped them tight + in leaves and rolled them into the hot fire stones and let them steam for a while. The birds may have been scrawny, but the smell of roasting fowl had them + drooling and they ate like starvelings. +

+

+ "What's the plan?" Kerry wanted to know. +

+

+ "Finbar says the only thing we can do is to find the Redthorn sword," Corriwen said. "the Cullian sword. That's what Mandrake used to wake the + Morrigan, and he plans to break the great holding curse completely. He has men and women digging a channel through the mountains and when his dam is filled + up, he will flood the Salt barrens. The waters are backing up even now, the Bard says, and if he floods the Black Barrow, she will really be free." +

+

+ "And what does she want?" +

+

+ "In the old days," Corriwen explained, "she had great power. She ravaged the land and almost defeated men in Temair. Finbar said she would use gates to + other worlds. I don't know what he meant." +

+

+ "I do," Jack said. They both turned to look at his face in the light of the flickering fire. He opened his jerkin and unbuttoned his shirt. They saw the + red hand against his skin, the five dots in an arc above them. Between the arc and the hand, the black heartstone on its silver chain threw the firelight + back at them. +

+

+ "The Major gave me this," he said. "He told me to keep it safe. It was my father's." +

+

+ "I know," Kerry nodded. "You told me." +

+

+ "It has something to do with the gates. He says it's a kind of key. You both have to know, because if anything happens to me, then, no matter what, you + have to get it through the Homeward Gate." +

+

+ Jack surprised himself by even considering the thought. If anything should happen to me. +

+

+ Everything had changed, so fast. +

+

+ "Finbar said it's the key to all worlds," he said. "This place. Ours. Maybe more. So it's important. And if my father used it, maybe he came somewhere like + this. A journeyman, the Major said. Maybe he even came here. Finbar thought so." +

+

+ "That's what Mandrake wants," Kerry said. "I heard the Scree talking when they carted us down. Said everything we have is to go to him…or else." +

+

+ "That means she wants it," Corriwen broke in. +

+

+ "You really think there are other places?" Kerry asked. "Like this?" +

+

+ Jack shrugged. +

+

+ "The Major knows, I'm sure. That's for later. First, we've got a job to do. Find this sword." +

+

+ Corriwen shook her head. "You've done enough. But this is not your quest." +

+

+ "It is now," Kerry said. Jack nodded. +

+

+ "The Bard said if the Morrigan gets out, it's Temair first and us next. So it's our business too." +

+

+ Kerry threw a gnawed bone onto the fire. "I always wanted to go on a quest. Never been on one before." +

+

+ "Let's have a look at the travelogue," Jack said. "It hasn't been wrong yet." +

+

+ He pulled out the Book of Ways and they huddled round the fire-glow, watching until the script appeared.. +

+

+ Rede of Reed, bale morass +

+

+ Quaking path, whisper grass +

+

+ Find the ways and hark the water +

+

+ Ware the eel and trust the otter +

+

+ Chase behind, snare before +

+

+ Ever westward, find a shore + . +

+

+ "Marshland," Corriwen said in a small voice. "The South-edge Marshes. I have heard stories of Kelpie and the Rushen folk. I don't know what they are, but + the marshes are cursed. Men don't go there." +

+

+ "Good thing we're just boys then," Jack said, more lightly than he felt. "And a girl." +

+
+

+ Mandrake's black rage was incandescent. +

+

+ He knew before the messengers arrived that they had escaped. Her eyes in the sky had seen it all. +

+

+ "Gone!" He felt his face contort as her influence spread through him like a cold, dark disease. +

+

+ "Escaped!" +

+

+ His vision blurred then cleared again as the images resolved in front of him. +

+

+ He saw them in the dark, sliding down the rope and then fleeing on the great horse, beating off the pursuit, galloping for freedom. He saw the bank of + white swans come whooping in from the east. +

+

+ "The Bards! The Bards! Her anger shrieked in his mind. "They have dared defy me again." +

+

+ The girl was gone, the last of the Redthorns. +

+

+ "The Bards," Mandrake's face squeezed in on itself, cheeks hollowing, skin wrinkling, until he was a hunched and withered thing in the centre of the + chamber. His arms reached out, fingers clawed, as if to choke the life out of something. +

+

+ "He is gone with it!" He hissed in her voice, eyes like holes to the bottom of the world. Suddenly he shuddered under the violence of her wrath + and felt himself flung bodily across the floor. +

+

+ "No!" he squawked, terrified. He hit the wall with a thud and fell hard, hurting from chin to knee, tumbled back and was snatched from the floor and hurled + in a tangle across the wide bed. +

+

+ "No!" + Inside, he could feel the Morrigan's anger explode. He hauled himself to his feet, blood trickling from his nose. Something inside him had burst, but all + he felt was her wrath. +

+

+ "We will raise all dark things," her voice was now completely dominant. "We summon the beasts and the shadows. We call from the depths. We will + have them. We will destroy them all." +

+

+ Her voice shrieked through his ragged throat. +

+

+ "We will bring the nightmare!" +

+

+ Suddenly she was gone from his mind. Mandrake flopped to the floor, unable to move for a long time. +

+

+ But he had no regrets. Even while her rage was unbelievable, he welcomed her foul presence. He suckled on it as it devoured him. +

+

+ Some time later, Mandrake opened his eyes, and managed to get to his feet. He stood there breathing deeply, letting his thoughts fester for a little while. +

+

+ Then he strode to the door, flung it open and started down the spiral stone stairway, ready and determined to kill something. Anything. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ The hairs on the back of Jack's neck were crawling. Far to the north, the storm was a flickering glow that was visible beyond the cave-mouth. +

+

+ The heartstone gave a slow beat against the skin of his chest and a sense of impending danger riddled through him. +

+

+ He got to his haunches, eyes wide, ears straining. The stone beat steadily. At the cave-mouth, the great horse whickered and fidgeted. +

+

+ Jack moved silently to the cave entrance. The horse blocked most of it and he had to squeeze past its tail. In the night, yellow eyes blinked. The horse + stamped. Kerry grunted, rolled over. +

+

+ "What's up?" he asked groggily. +

+

+ A shape came loping in and the horse reared. It kicked out and a shaggy, snarling creature dropped to the ground, ribs caved in. +

+

+ "Wolves," Jack said. "Out there." He unhitched the horse and drew it back inside the cave. Its head scraped the roof, but it backed in far enough. The grey + shapes ran across their vision, snarling and yapping, but none dared face its stamping hooves. Jack and Kerry hunkered by the fire. +

+

+ "Something else," Jack said. He cocked his head, straining to hear. +

+

+ "Yeah," Kerry agreed. "And not those mutts out there, either." +

+

+ Just at that point, they both looked at the embers. They glowed deep red, but every now and again, they would swell to orange then back to red again, as if + bellows were softly pumping them. +

+

+ Jack looked into the darkness at the back of the cave. +

+

+ "You hear something?" +

+

+ Kerry held his breath, listened a while, then nodded. "Like breathing?" +

+

+ Jack couldn't hear it, but he could feel an odd whuffling in the air, like a small guttering flame, just below his hearing threshold. He too held his + breath and concentrated. The odd sensation was stronger, and there was something else, a tiny squeak, too high to be really heard. +

+

+ They sat in wary silence, all senses alert as the feeling of threat expanded in the darkness. +

+

+ "I hear whispers," Kerry said. "There's something in here." +

+

+ Jack reached for his bow. Kerry raised his sword. +

+

+ "Should we wake Corriwen…? He began to ask, and just as he words were out of his mouth, the darkness at the back of the cave began to move + and the high pitched whispering was suddenly a metallic shriek that they could feel between their ears, like fingernails on glass. +

+

+ "Bats!" + Jack jumped back. +

+

+ They came pouring from the recess at the back of the cave, exploding into the firelight. A swarm of them, so many that the beat of their wings fanned the + embers into flame. Corriwen startled awake. +

+

+ There were hundreds of them, filling the air with frantic flutter, the sound of so many wings a roar in the confines of the cave. Kerry waved his sword as + they circled round his head. He felt something sharp and barbed scrape across the back of his hand followed by a trickle of blood. +

+

+ The great horse whinnied and flicked its tail and then, in seconds, it was festooned in tiny bats hooked onto its hide and mane, and grabbing at its ears. +

+

+ Then the horde was on them. One flapped into Jack's face and he felt a scratch on his cheek, teeth or claws, he couldn't tell. Instinctively he snatched it + away with his free hand, beating the air with the bow, knowing an arrow would be useless against so many tiny targets. +

+

+ He crushed the bat in his hand and was about to throw it off when he saw its face and realised it was like no bat he had ever seen before. The face, in + contrast to the grey, leathery body, was white as a skull, and worse, it looked just like a skull. It had a tiny, wizened human face and jet eyes and a + wide mouth with a row of tiny, glassy teeth. The sight of a human-like face on such a creature was such a shock that Jack dropped it as if it burned. +

+

+ Beside him Kerry spun the sword in fast loops, scattering them from the air, papery wings torn and flapping, but still they came, from the black hole in + the cave wall. Corriwen was up and her knives a-blur. The creatures clawed at her red hair, trying for her eyes. The horse was blanketed in them, dark + wings scuttling over its flanks, little pale faces trying to bite through the hide. Corriwen squealed when one of them bit her ear. She whirled, blades + flickering this way and that. Jack snatched two bats from the air and crushed their tiny chests with his thumbs, sickened at the thought of killing + something that, however obscenely, resembled a human. +

+

+ "Too many," he shouted, dragging another from his collar, too close to his neck. They were all over his jerkin, hooking and clawing. +

+

+ "Outside," Kerry said, whirling his sword. +

+

+ But there were wolves outside, howling for blood. The horse panicked, reared, and was gone, thundering down the hill and into the night. +

+

+ "To hell with this!" Jack snarled. There were too many bats, far too many to fight. He crouched, flicking them away, while he groped for the rucksack. Eyes + closed against the thorn-sharp claws, he found the midge repellent spray. Too late in the year to use at home, but just right now…if it worked. +

+

+ He flicked off the cap and jumped towards the fire. Flames wavered upwards in the rushing air. Without a pause, Jack depressed the aerosol trigger, aiming + the nozzle straight at the heat. +

+

+ The spray hissed out. +

+

+ A white flare erupted. The dark of the cave turned abruptly bright. +

+

+ Jack kept his finger tight on the nozzle. The bats shrieked, so high and loud it felt like needles in their ears. A horde of them flickering past the fire + were incinerated instantly, wings bursting into puffs of flame. He followed them, burning them out of the air. +

+

+ The bats wheeled away, fluttering madly, wingbeats stirring the embers to a roar of heat, and almost as one creature, one shuddering grey monstrosity, they + swarmed away from the fiery torch and out into the night. +

+

+ Jack stamped two of them, yelling with a sudden savage joy when the dark flock blasted out of the cave and left them breathless, scratched and bitten, but + not seriously hurt. +

+

+ "Where did they come from?" Kerry was sweating from the exercise and the sudden heat. His face was smeared with soot. +

+

+ Jack drew a burning twig from the fire and searched along the narrowing walls at the back of the cave until he found a small hole, right on the ground, + like a rabbit burrow. He held the flame over it and peered down into a black emptiness. He kicked a stone and heard it smack against the narrow sides, + echoing as it went down and down and down until the sound simply faded to silence. He dropped the burning stick and watched it flare through the air, + falling straight down until it was just a tiny dot in the distance. +

+

+ "Goes down for miles," he said. +

+

+ Kerry dabbed some water on the cuts across Corriwen's hand and cheek. Jack drew a large flat boulder across the floor and jammed it over the hole, and then + both of them spread out the sheet of polythene they had planned to use as a groundsheet and hung it over the mouth of the cave, pinning it with stones into + cracks and crevices. +

+

+ Corriwen touched the clear surface, eyebrows raised in curiosity. She'd never seen a simple polythene sheet before. As soon as the barrier was up, the heat + began to build in the little cave, but at least now, there was no way back in for the bat horde. +

+

+ "We can find the horse in the morning," Corriwen said. "If it's still alive." +

+

+ "Maybe we should travel in daylight," Jack suggested, "even if those crows can see us." +

+

+ Corriwen shrugged. "Night or day, she'll send things after us. I don't know what these things were, but they come from the deep dark. We are on the edge of + Mid-Temair, I think. Few travel here. Who knows what lives here, and what bends to her will? Everything is strange." +

+

+ "You're telling me," Kerry said. +

+

+ Corriwen looked at him. "Yes," she said seriously. "I am telling you." +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ As soon as dawn lightened the sky, Jack felt the hairs on his nape prickle again and he stiffened. A high pitched screaming came from beyond the polythene + barrier, while through the transparent screen they could see shapes banging against the flimsy sheet like grey hailstones. It went on for an ear-splitting + half an hour as the day brightened and the first rays of the sun peered over the distant moorland and then it suddenly stopped. +

+

+ After a while they risked peering out. +

+

+ All around the cave-mouth, thousands of the grotesque bat-sprites lay in crumbling mounds. A few that remained in the air fluttered down to the ground, + trailing thin smoke. The three of them watched in amazement as the little white faces gaped in agony and tiny eyes melted into black liquid that dripped + and sizzled into the earth. In the space of a few moments, the flying things were like little heaps of rotted leaves, subsiding under their own weight, + until a morning breeze scattered them like dust. +

+

+ The sun rose and spread a welcome light over the rough country, though the far northern sky still glowered under a vast storm, and they set out again, + heading westwards with the dawn at their backs. Three miles from the cave, they found the horse in a thicket of thorns where it had obviously sheltered + from the flying nightmares. Its ears and nose were bloody, but it was not badly hurt. Corriwen tempted it out with a piece of hard bread and she gentled it + against a tree-stump that they used to clamber up on its back. Kerry had filled his water-bottle by the stream and they drank briefly before Corriwen + heeled the great mount and they were off and flying. +

+

+ But in less than half an hour, they were fugitives again. +

+

+ Kerry spotted them first after they entered hilly country and rode slowly down a twisting ravine and stopped for a break. Kerry had just gathered a load of + firewood when he saw the movement on the brow of a hill. At first he thought they were grey stones left by some old glacier. +

+

+ He carried the firewood to where Jack and Corriwen sat in shadow, deliberately not looking up at the hill. +

+

+ "Behind me," he said casually. "Look slowly." +

+

+ Jack peered through the armful of sticks and saw them, a wave of Scree, making their way fast down the slope. They must have muzzled the hounds, because + they came silently. +

+

+ Corriwen unhitched the horse and they clambered on, keeping the rock between themselves and pursuit for as long as possible, before she dug in and they all + held tight as the horse found its stride, thundering down the ravine, hoofbeats echoing all round. +

+

+ The Scree let loose their hounds as the fugitives raced on, rounding a tight bend to face three narrow culverts where the stone had been worn by ancient + waters. +

+

+ "Which way?" Corriwen twisted round to Jack who clutched at her belt. +

+

+ He closed his eyes. This deep in the ravine, he couldn't see the sun, but he didn't need the sun. +

+

+ "Right." He pointed over her shoulder. "That way." +

+

+ With just a slight pressure on the reins, and without letting the horse lose its pace, she turned its head and they clattered into the narrow entrance. + Here the land was broken like sun-baked clay, a labyrinth of passages between sheer cliffs of hard sandstone. The ravines twisted and turned on each other, + some of them so narrow and deep they hid the sky. +

+

+ Huge buzzards soared overhead on broad wings and Jack could sense things on the rock walls, watching them as they galloped past. He didn't care to wonder + what they were. He just wanted to keep going. +

+

+ Behind them, the hounds howled, high and hungry. They sped on, wondering if they could outpace the dogs. +

+

+ The Scree had split up, and in this confused tangle of fissures, they could run headlong into more at any time. Jack had an arrow nocked to the bow-string + and he flicked Corriwen's cape aside to give him easy access to her knives. +

+

+ They galloped, desperate to put some distance between them and get into flat land, when a loud growling sound rolled behind them, Jack and Kerry swivelled, + expecting some monstrous hound to be snapping at their heels, but for once there was no sign of pursuit. +

+

+ The growl got louder, became a rumble. Kerry swivelled again. +

+

+ "Jeez!" +

+

+ Jack jerked round and saw the monster rushing towards them, all grey and brown and roaring so loud now the canyon walls reverberated and the ground + vibrated under the horse's hooves. +

+

+ "Flash flood," he cried. And it was right behind them. +

+

+ "We have to get higher." +

+

+ "Which way?" +

+

+ He guessed. They had been, even with the pursuit, heading pretty much in a westerly direction. They came to another fork and he told Corriwen to go left. + The horse didn't pause. Behind them all they could hear was the roaring of the flood-rolled debris, no sound of Scree or hounds. With luck, Jack thought, + they'd have been caught in it. +

+

+ "We better get a move on!" Kerry's voice was high and urgent. +

+

+ Miraculously, the horse seemed to find fresh impetus under Corriwen's hand. The rock walls blurred past them. +

+

+ Already they could feel spray on the backs of their necks. Jack closed his eyes slid his hand inside his shirt to grasp the black heartstone. +

+

+ It pulsed under his fingers. +

+

+ When he opened his eyes again, they were on a slope and the track winding upwards was easily wide enough to take the horse. +

+

+ Jack pointed, but Corriwen had seen it. She pulled on the reins and the horse swerved, found solid footing and they were rising. +

+

+ A split second later, the flood swept past them in a tumbling mass of rock and tree-trunks. They kept going until they were high enough to be safe and then + they paused to watch. Inside that maelstrom they could see the tumbling grey bodies of Scree troopers. A great hound pawed at the water until a knotty pine + rolled over and spiked it under. +

+

+ But for the horse and its speed, Jack knew that could have been any of them. All of them. They had escaped by inches. +

+

+ Corriwen turned the horse, continued uphill until they crested the ridge and followed a long slope down. They were still shaking from the excitement. They + kept going for miles and miles, letting the mount canter at ease. +

+

+ After a while the land bottomed out with not a hill in sight as far as the eye could see. +

+

+ A veil of fog stretched from horizon to horizon, north and south. In the distance it looked solid, but when they got close it was thin and gauzy. +

+

+ "I think this is it," Jack said when Corriwen stopped to let the horse drink thirstily from a dark pool. Jack plucked some lily leaves from the water and + fed it. He sniffed at the air. It was damp and heavy and stagnant. +

+

+ "Smells like we've found the marsh." +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch17.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch17.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a26bdc --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch17.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,753 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 17 + + + + +
+
+

17

+

+ Rede of Reed, bale morass, +

+

+ Quaking path, whisper grass +

+

+ Find the ways and hark the water +

+

+ Ware the eel and trust the otter +

+

+ Chase behind, snare before +

+

+ Ever westward, find a shore + . +

+

+ The words were imprinted in Jack's mind. +

+

+ This was indeed a bale morass. He looked behind them and realised they were already far from the solid ground. The great horse had instinctively found a + pathway into the reeds and sedge, but even now they could hear the sound of mud sucking on its hooves and the animal began to struggle. +

+

+ Corriwen suggested they dismount. As soon as their feet hit the ground, they realised that it was solid no more. It sank under them in slow undulations and + bubbles burst through the matted old reeds in little smelly belches. +

+

+ "This is not a very nice place," Kerry said flatly. "And it stinks." +

+

+ Now that they were down from the horse, the reeds seemed to crowd around them, swaying and rattling, like a million grasshoppers. +

+

+ They moved deeper, with Kerry in the lead and Corriwen holding the reins. Jack kept looking back over his shoulder for signs of pursuit, but the reeds + behind them seemed to close like curtains and very soon there was nothing but tall thin grass and water in stinking pools. +

+

+ "It's floating," Kerry said, "Like Bemersyde marsh back home." +

+

+ "This is deeper," Jack said. "And a whole lot bigger." He turned to Corriwen. +

+

+ "How far does it stretch?" +

+

+ She shrugged. "Nobody comes here. I heard stories long ago that nobody goes into the morass, and if they do, they disappear." +

+

+ "There's a cheerful note," Jack said, trying to make light of it, but even he could feel the oppressive crowding of the reeds. It was as if all the bad and + foul things in this world had drained down here to fester in a quagmire. He walked carefully, the way he did snaring duck on the marshes back home, knowing + that a miss-step would have him up to his knees in sucking mud. Every now and again, he would catch a glimpse of a bloated toad, grey and warted, balefully + following their passage. Great iridescent dragonflies, the colour of yellow poison, snatched the teeming flies from the air. Big greasy bubbles wobbled + upwards from the stagnant water and burst slowly, like tar. +

+

+ Kerry led, because he knew marshes, though maybe none as baleful as this one, and because Finbar had told him he would be pathfinder. Jack knew + the direction they had to travel, but that sense of direction was useless in this flat place. Kerry instinctively knew the ways. +

+

+ "It's easy," he told Corriwen, showing off just a little bit, although he tried not to look her direct in those green eyes, because when he did that, his + voice would stutter and slow and he would feel his cheeks redden. +

+

+ "How can you see the path?" +

+

+ He shrugged. "I dunno. I just know." +

+

+ "Just as well," Jack said. "Must be in the blood." +

+

+ They were veering south now, as hordes of swifts screamed in the air and snatched the insects that had escaped the dragonflies, and the horse was making + heavy going, shaking its head and snorting as it pulled its hooves from the glutinous mud. A couple of times Jack missed the narrow track in the tussocks + and went up to his thighs in black slime that felt as if it was sucking him down. It was hard going. +

+

+ It got harder still after they turned west again, on a ridge of tussocks that were almost completely submerged, when a huge wading bird, grey as stone, + croaked and whooped, startled into the air just beside them. The horse reared, whickering in alarm. Corriwen had the reins looped in her fingers and she + was hauled into the air. The great horse turned and Corriwen slipped her grip and crashed headlong into a wall of reeds. Jack tried to grab the rope, but + the horse reared again and its hind hooves slipped from the narrow track and in a split second it was thrashing in the water. +

+

+ Jack jerked back, dodging its flailing hooves. Kerry reached and helped Corriwen to her feet and as soon as they turned they saw the horse, wide eyed and + panicking, try to lunge back to the track. She grabbed for the rope, hoping to calm it, help it out and Jack put his weight to it, hands covering hers. +

+

+ The horse plunged and reared and already it was up to its flanks in black mud. +

+

+ They hauled, straining every muscle, but the mud was thick and stronger even than the great horse. The more it struggled, the more the quagmire dragged on + it. In mere minutes the mud was over its withers, edging up on its back. The animal whinnied, lunging desperately, but now unable to gets its hooves clear. +

+

+ "The tide's coming in," Kerry said. Jack glanced down and saw the little ridge was now an inch under water. The horse thrashed and its hindquarters went + down below the surface. Its face was coated in mud, its eyes now rolling in fear and exhaustion. It stopped moving altogether and hauled for breath. +

+

+ "How deep is this," Jack asked. +

+

+ "To damn deep," Kerry replied. "We'll never get it out of there." +

+

+ Corriwen still had the rope and was pulling with her slight weight and it made not a bit of difference. The horse was sinking. Big gassy bubbles broke all + around it, giving off a smell of rot and sickness. +

+

+ "We can't leave it here," she cried. +

+

+ "We have to," Jack said. "We can't help it." +

+

+ "We have to do something," she pleaded, her voice high and tight. +

+

+ Kerry clapped a hand on Jack's shoulder. "It's never getting out of there." +

+

+ As he spoke, the horse lunged again, making one huge, final effort and the thrashing drove it even deeper. Only its neck and head were visible above the + mud, its eyes so wide they showed white all around. Foam dripped from its mouth. +

+

+ "It's an awful way to go," Kerry whispered. Jack nodded, understanding now. His hands were shaking as he unshipped the bow. Corriwen looked at him, her + dismay clear on her face. Jack fitted one of the Major's strange black arrows. +

+

+ She shook her head, mouth open. +

+

+ "I have to," he said, sadly, trying to still his shaking hand. The horse had carried them far, away from the Scree, racing from the wolfhounds, shaking off + pursuit. +

+

+ But Kerry said it was a terrible way to go and he was right. Jack hoped his aim was just as true. +

+

+ Corriwen lunged for him, but Kerry got an arm round her and held her tight, pressing her face against his shoulder, turning her away from the inevitable. +

+

+ Jack pulled with all of his strength, blinking back an unbidden tear. He had to see clearly. He let go and the black arrow took the great horse at the base + of the neck and disappeared into its flesh. +

+

+ For a second, nothing at all happened. Then the horse thrashed once, raising its head right out of the mud, and then it flopped and all motion stopped. +

+

+ Kerry held Corriwen tight with one arm. With the other, he clapped Jack on the shoulder. +

+

+ "Sure, it was the right thing." +

+

+ Jack turned away, knowing Kerry was right, but feeling no better for that. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and turned back to the pool. +

+

+ But the great horse was already gone. The mud had claimed it completely. +

+

+ Kerry tugged his sleeve and drew him away. A few bubbles broke wetly, but except for that, the mud was still and flat and somehow very threatening. It + looked as if it was waiting to eat again. After a minute, Jack turned and followed, feet sloshing on the narrow line of tussocks that was now under inches + of brackish water. The tide was coming fast. +

+

+ Kerry led for hours, taking them in loops and angles, and generally westwards, always finding a place where they could at least put their weight on the + bobbling mat under their feet. All around them the reeds swayed in synchronous waves, stalks rubbing against each other in a strange and deathly rattle. + They could smell salt on the air now and it was clear they were well into the tidal flats. It was also clear that whatever pathways Kerry had found to get + them this far would be well under water by now. Jack damped down the sensation of being trapped in this dismal place while the waters rose, bringing the + poisonous mud up from the depths to claim them the way it had claimed the great horse. Its rolling, terrified eyes had stayed in his mind. He did not ever + want to look like that. +

+

+ It was well past noon when they stopped, exhausted, in the lee of an old willow tree that had lost its footing in the quagmire and rolled over on its side. + It was still green and its branches were growing upwards from the fallen trunk, thick and grey-barked. They sat on the trunk, grateful to have something + solid between them and the rafts of rotting reeds and the mud underneath that quivered with every step. Kerry climbed a thick limb, shinning up with ease + until he was ten feet or more beyond the tops of the swaying reed-heads. Golden swifts wheeled around his head, snatching at the clouds of flies that + lifted from the leaves in a fog. He shaded his eyes against the high sun and looked back in the rough direction they had come. Great pools formed lagoons + over the pathways they had walked. Beyond the marsh, miles away to the east, the land rose slowly. +

+

+ "Scree," he called down. "Dozens of them." +

+

+ "How far?" +

+

+ "On the edge. We've got hours on them." +

+

+ "If they follow us." +

+

+ "Oh, they will follow us," Corriwen said, with certainty. She pointed at the sky. Black dots circled slowly. "The roaks will show them the way." +

+

+ Beyond the willow, wide polders of brackwater threw back oily sunlight and the surrounding reeds rustled as the incoming water rippled at their roots. Now + and then, a big frog would leap out of their way to splash under the surface, and here and there, bright red crabs crawled out of holes and held their + claws agape as if ready to clamp at their feet. +

+

+ Here is was flat and if not quite barren, poisonously lush. Dragonflies rattled their wings against swaying stalks, and every once in a while, Jack would + catch a motion out of the corner of his eye and whip round, straining to catch what he thought he might have seen. He saw Kerry do the same. +

+

+ "You see anything?" His voice came in a whisper. +

+

+ "I keep thinking I do," Kerry whispered back. "But there's no track out there. Maybe it's birds." +

+

+ They paused, waiting for Corriwen to catch up. She had been right behind Jack when they took a dog-leg southwards to avoid yet another pool. They both + turned simultaneously. +

+

+ She was not behind them. +

+

+ Jack turned, feet slipping on the edges of the line of tussocks, almost spilling him into the mud, and retraced his steps, which was easy enough to do + because they were deep and already filling with water. He turned the corner, bending the reeds back with a hand. +

+

+ There was no sign of her. He felt his heart do a quick lurch. +

+

+ "Where is she?" +

+

+ Kerry hurried back. "Shit," he spat, meaningfully. "She was there. I saw her." +

+

+ There had been no sound except for the unceasing papery rustling of the grass. +

+

+ "She can't have fallen in," Kerry said. Jack nodded. They would have heard her, but even as he nodded, he imagined her slipping from the narrow track and + being sucked right under without a sound. The mud would leave no trace. +

+

+ A movement flicked in peripheral vision. They both swiveled, but again there was nothing to be seen, just the chirruping of dry stems. +

+

+ Kerry brushed past him, eyes on the shifting ground, head low, until he came to the corner where her footprints just seemed to stop dead. He knelt, soaking + his knees, peering left and right. +

+

+ "That way," he said. +

+

+ Kerry went off the track and in seconds he was up to his thighs in dragging mud and vegetation, but under his feet he could feel there was enough to take + his weight. He pushed through the water and used his sword to slash at the reeds, forcing his own path. Every few yards he stopped, scanned the grass and + rushes and saw something, when Jack could see nothing at all. +

+

+ They pushed through, weary and exhausted, but unable to stop to rest, while all around them, things seemed to move, like shadows, just beyond their vision. + Jack unsheathed the bow and kept an arrow loose, just in case. He said nothing at all, concentrating only on keeping his balance and forcing himself + through the sucking quagmire. Kerry was too busy to speak. From behind, he looked like a hunting animal, tense as a bowstring, eyes fixed on whatever + evidence he could find, a broken reed here, a slowly filling depression, a crushed crab shell. He led them away from the track they had been following, now + heading northwards, although Jack couldn't tell quite where they were, and the tide kept rising. +

+

+ Underfoot, things squirmed and wriggled, fish or beetles, Jack didn't want to imagine. He forced himself to ignore that and the horror of suddenly + blundering into a soft spot and sinking into it before he could grab anything to brace his fall. +

+

+ Kerry led him on, fighting through the morass, until he paused, motioned Jack forward, parted the reeds and they both held their breath, peering out across + a wide black tarn. +

+

+ Across the water, a small, bare island rose up above the reeds. It towered high above the marshes, like a dome of solid earth and for a moment Jack thought + they might have reached for far side of this swamp. +

+

+ But when he looked more closely, he realised it was not an island at all. It was a huge mound of grass and reed-stalks and willow-branches, piled high. It + reminded him of the swans nest on Bemersyde Marsh where the birds had piled dead vegetation into a high pile over the years. +

+

+ This island dwarfed the swan's nest. It was a hill of broken reeds. From its top, it gave a clear vantage right across the expanse of the marsh. +

+

+ And on its top they could see movement. At first they thought it was a wall of rushes waving in the wind, and that's exactly what it looked like, until + Jack rubbed his eyes. Kerry nudged him. +

+

+ "You see her?" +

+

+ Jack shaded his eyes. There was a dark shape in the middle of the rushes, which clicked and rattled in the breeze. +

+

+ "You see them? +

+

+ Then he saw them, stick-thin shapes, the exact colour of the marsh grasses, moving all in unison as if blown by a slow wind. They had legs like the heron + that had startled the horse into the swamp and knotty arms like slats of bamboo, and elongated faces, so narrow that their eyes were almost vertical brown + slits. They hissed and crackled and their spindly legs gave them a strange, insect-like gait. +

+

+ They crowded round Corriwen and they could see her arms were bound by grassy ropes. The thin people, walking broom-handles, clicked and rustled. Jack could + see no clear way over the deep water to the island. +

+

+ "That'll be the Rushen folk," he whispered. Beside him, a black snail, big as a fist crawled in front of a wide red crab and was instantly snared with a + snap of hard claws. Jack crouched and looked back at the mound. The marsh people, if they were people at all, had three wide-splayed toes on each foot, and + he understood now how they could get through the marshes so quickly. They were so light that they could skitter across the vegetation with hardly a + thought. +

+

+ They might look strange, but Jack knew that he and Kerry and Corriwen were the strangers in this infested place. And they had to get Corriwen out of there. +

+

+ "How do we get there?" he asked. +

+

+ Over on the island, the Rushen-folk had driven thick willow branches into the surface and were binding Corriwen's wrists to each of them. When they had + done that, they pulled back and began a strange, clicking chant that sounded like a hundred crickets all chirruping at once. +

+

+ "What are they doing?" Kerry wanted to know. Jack shook his head. +

+

+ "I don't know, but I don't like it." +

+

+ The hairs on the back of his head had begun to crawl again, and underneath his jerkin, he felt that odd double beat of his heart. The obsidian stone was + pulsing in tune with his own, and he knew now what that meant. Suddenly the stick-thin beings who swayed and chanted across that stagnant water did not + seem as fragile as they looked. +

+

+ Something was going to happen. And when Jack looked again at Corriwen's delicate form, stretched and vulnerable between the two posts, one word sprung to + mind. +

+

+ Sacrifice. +

+

+ All of a sudden, the reed-creatures turned on the summit of the island and looked down into the pool of water. +

+

+ Something moved deep under the oily surface. Something big. +

+

+ Kerry pointed. A bow wave rippled on the tarn, a hump of black water as something underneath displaced it. Something really big and moving very + fast. +

+

+ The chittering chant rose to a crescendo. +

+

+ The waters roiled very close to the island and a shiny black shape slithered out of the mud and onto the shallows at the island's edge. +

+

+ It was an eel. +

+

+ It was an eel like Jack and Kerry had never seen in the pools up in the marshes back home. It was bigger yet than the huge congers the trawlers brought in + to Ardmore harbour from deep down in the depths off the peninsula. It was as big around as the Scree jailer, black as night down its back, and as it + slithered and writhed through the marsh marigolds and algae, they got a flash of sickly yellow of its belly. Its skin shone with a slimy luster and its + eyes were as big and flat as saucers. +

+

+ And when it opened its mouth in a gaping yawn, they could clearly see the rows of glassy backward-pointing teeth. +

+

+ Behind its flat and ugly head, a froth of bubbles broke the surface and another huge eel slithered out. +

+

+ And the tide was rising. +

+

+ Sacrifice. + The word came again, like big black letters blaring at the front of his mind. +

+

+ They had tied Corriwen to the stakes and they were waiting for the tide to rise. The two monster eels coiled and slithered, trying to gain height on the + huge mound. +

+

+ But it was only a matter of time, with the speed of this incoming tide, that they would not have to gain ground. The water was rising so fast it would + carry them up to where she was bound. +

+

+ A third massive eel, glistening slick, looped into the shallows and slithered upwards, trying to climb. A fourth appeared, black eyes flat and deadly. The + reed people were clicking and rustling, chanting encouragement. +

+

+ "We've got to get her out of there," Jack said, unable to draw his eyes away from the gaping maws of the slimy coils that looped around each other. As soon + as the words were out of his mouth, the thin people turned, jabbering away like twigs breaking and vanished beyond the hump of the mound, leaving Corriwen + spread-eagled on the framework. Her eyes were wide and almost as glassy as those of the eels which yawned wide and hungry. +

+

+ "What are they waiting for?" Kerry asked. +

+

+ "The tide's coming in." +

+

+ Already they could see the water inching up the mound which undulated slowly in the rising flow. +

+

+ Corriwen's face was pale. She was struggling with the grassy ropes that pinned her wrists top the spikes, hauling this way and that, trying to get free. + Another huge eel poked its head out, this one truly monstrous, as thick as a man's shoulders.. It lazily rolled over the first ones and oozed its way up + the bank in slow coils. Behind it, the water was seething with more of them, looping out of the mud and water like sea-serpents. Jack could feel their + hunger. +

+

+ And the tide was rising now, faster than he would have believed. He pulled Kerry. +

+

+ "Which way?" +

+

+ "I dunno. It looks like an island.." +

+

+ "Well, they got across." His voice was rising. +

+

+ "They're like moorhens," Kerry said flatly. "You see those feet. They can skim across." +

+

+ "You're the bogtrotter," Jack said. "Come on, man. Find a way. And fast." +

+

+ "I'm thinking." +

+

+ "Do it faster." They could hear Corriwen grunt and gasp as she hauled uselessly at the bonds. The water was no more than three yards from her feet. She + squirmed, horrified eyes fixed on the devil eels. +

+

+ Kerry pushed right to the edge of the tarn. They were maybe fifty feet from the mound. A big eel popped its head out, inches from his face, yawned like a + crocodile and snapped at him. Its teeth closed together with the sound of a steel trap. +

+

+ He jerked back and pushed towards his left. +

+

+ "This way," he finally said. Jack followed. There was nothing else to do but trust Kerry. His eyes were drawn back in horrid fascination to where Corriwen + strained and struggled, and he had to force himself to look away and follow Kerry who cut off a long length of thick dry reed and probed ahead of him, + moving round the ragged edges of the pool. They could hear the gurgle of the inflow and the looping roll of the eels as they fought for position. +

+

+ "Faster," Jack thought, then realised he had spoken aloud. +

+

+ "Doin' my best," Kerry muttered, concentrating. He was doing his best. Somehow these stick-thin creatures had crossed to the island, so there had + to be a way. He tried not to look over at the floating island, knowing if he did so, he wouldn't be able to look away, and looking wouldn't help her in the + slightest.. +

+

+ It seemed to take forever, up to their thighs in mud, until Kerry noticed a thin line of tussock grass, barely six inches in width. +

+

+ "Root-bank," he said. +

+

+ And there it was. A line of posts driven deep into the vegetation. Like a fence, each post only a foot or so apart, a narrow causeway that only the + sharpest eyes could have seen. Kerry hauled himself up, and his weight caused the first post to bob up and down and he almost pitched headlong. He swung + his arms for balance and then stepped gingerly to the next. +

+

+ "Take it easy," he said, more to himself than to Jack, and began to make his way slowly across the tops of the posts. Jack followed, heart hammering, + urging Kerry faster yet knowing they couldn't risk it. +

+

+ And the tide was in full flow, swirling through the rushes. Hordes of small fish fluttered on the surface and red crabs clambered up the stalks. Getting + across this thin causeway seemed to take forever. It twisted and swerved away from the island and then veered back towards it. There was only a metre or so + of the mound above the water now, and the tide seemed to be dragging it downwards under its own waterlogged weight The eels rolled and squirmed, trying to + haul their way upwards, mouths gaping like traps. +

+

+ "Too late," Jack thought, tense as a wire. "Too damn late." +

+

+ Kerry was moving faster now. He could see the direction to go. One foot, then another, swinging for balance. He was ten feet or so from the far edge of the + tarn when the post wobbled under his weight and then it cracked with a snap and he was in the water. Instantly the surface thrashed and the looping backs + of the eels came undulating across the surface. Kerry grabbed for the causeway, got to hands to it. Something big and black opened a gaping maw and clamped + on his thigh. He gasped at the sudden pain and all the blood drained out of his face. +

+

+ Jack was paralysed with shock for a split second, then he risked it all. He scuttered across the posts, bent in one fluid motion and grabbed for the pommel + of the sword that stuck up from the sheath on the backpack. Without any pause now, he plunged it into the water, only inches from Kerry's shoulder. +

+

+ He felt the blade bite hard and something bucked, so strongly it almost wrenched the blade away. He jerked upwards and cut the thing clear in half as it + twisted to bite at him. +

+

+ He hauled Kerry up. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a motion on the far side of the pond and his breath stopped in his throat. +

+

+ The silver back of a huge eel was snaking across to the island, bigger than any of the others that were lunging up to get the first snap at the bound girl. + It was moving so fast it left a huge wake in its trail and as he watched aghast, knowing it would get to the island before they did and that its speed + would probably carry it up the slope. All he saw were five or six silvery humps coming out of the water, all in a line and he knew they would be too late. +

+

+ "Kerry… " he started. Kerry turned, black from head to foot. +

+

+ The bow-wave hit the floating island and the first silver back broke the surface and was on land in the blink of an eye. Jack saw jaws open and white teeth + grab the head of the biggest eel, and close with a snap that crunched skull and jaw. The eel quivered violently as if a powerful electric shock suddenly + surged through it and Jack saw for the first time that the silver thing was no eel at all, but a huge pale otter. Behind it, a family of them had swarmed + out of the pool and onto the island and were crunching and snarling and snapping and tearing the hungry eels to shreds, shaking them in their jaws, + grunting and ripping. +

+

+ The words of the rhyme in the Book of Ways came back to him, even as he hustled ahead on the narrow causeway and made it to the island. The huge otter + closest to Corriwen turned to look at him with pale blue eyes before it plunged into the rippling mass of eels and started to savage them again. +

+

+ Jack reached her and used the sword like a saw, cutting the braided grass that pinioned her wrists and then sliced through the bonds at her ankles. All + around them was motion and snarling and the gasping of dying eels, and blood and mud and carnage. They watched, breathing hard. +

+

+ Whoever had sent the otters had waited until the last moment, but, Jack was very, very grateful. He and Kerry held Corriwen tight, feeling her trembling + subside. +

+

+ The otters moved like lightning, faster than the eye could follow, like one sinuous beast, rending and chewing, too fast for the sluggish eels, but + ferocious in their attack. In mere minutes, the mound was crawling with crabs and littered with torn pieces of flesh and then, as one, the otters, all in a + line, loped down the slope and back into the water, crossed the tarn in a fast looping line, five silver backs breaking the surface in unison and were + gone. +

+

+ They held on to each other, gasping for breath. Kerry wiped some of the clinging mud from his eyes and they stood there together on the high hummock. All + around them, the sea of grass and reeds and willow-stumps rolled flat to the horizon. Of the stick-thin marsh creatures there was no sign, but that meant + nothing at all. Their gait and shape and colouring meant they could be anywhere at all amongst the swaying reeds. Jack stopped scanning the tussocks and + reed-banks, dismissing them from his mind at the moment. If they stayed close they could probably prevail against whatever ambush they tried next. He was + more concerned about the real pursuit that they had seen from the willow tree. He stood on tip-toe on the highest point of the island-mound and when he + looked out to the east, he could see signs of movement where the pursuing Scree were beating their way towards them. +

+

+ They were much closer than he would have thought. +

+

+ He spurred them on, ever westwards, and the marsh became denser, and somehow bleaker. The swell of the tide made the going very difficult, an exhausting + trek through mud and mats that sank underfoot. Jack wished, if only for a trudging, grudging moment, that he had the kind of feet the Rushen-folk had, to + let them skim the surface and make better headway. +

+

+ Behind them they could hear the crashing and thrashing of the Scree hunters, who seemed to be making much better progress, despite their weight. Jack + wondered if their wolf-hounds were better than Kerry at finding a way through, or whether some eye in the sky was able to give directions. +

+

+ The distance between hunter and hunted was narrowing. None of them wanted to be caught in this place. +

+

+ After several exhausting hours, Jack called a halt by the fallen root of a willow and Corriwen insisted they all had a drink. They were tired and hungry + and weak from the hundreds of mosquito bites and the leeches that would cling on until their were bloated with their blood. +

+

+ Beside the track, a steady stream of big bubbles burst like mud in a geyser. +

+

+ "Methane," Jack said. +

+

+ "Smells worse than farts." +

+

+ Corriwen giggled, but Jack began to open the backpack and drew out the big polythene groundsheet they had used to bar the door of the cave. +

+

+ "But we can use it," he said. "This might buy us time." +

+

+ He got the others to spread the sheet over the small erupting pool and Kerry fixed the ends with lengths of nylon fishing line. In mere seconds, the gas + bubbling from the rot below the water began to raise the sheet skywards. They waited until it began to fill, like a cumbersome balloon, then Kerry led them + out onto the path. +

+

+ A hundred yards away, another dead willow angled to the sky and Jack chose this for his stand. He nocked an arrow to the bow, and wrapped some grass stems + to the end. He had used perhaps half a dozen of the black arrows from the Major's collection. There were only a few left, including this one, but there was + nothing for it. They waited in silence, Jack leaning against the dead trunk, watching as the polythene filled and bloated and began to wobble upwards on + its guy ropes as the wind tried to drag it eastwards towards the pursuing troop. +

+

+ A half a mile beyond it, the Scree were advancing, clumsy and noisy, but fast. The reeds shivered and crackled as they beat them down. They could hear + their stone-grind grunts and hoarse muttering across the flat. Kerry tensed. Corriwen had her hands on the hafts of her knives. +

+

+ Kerry unscrewed the flask. It was half empty, but it was still half full. He poured a drop of the illicit whisky onto the bound grass on the arrowhead, + flicked his Bic lighter and the grass caught instantly. +

+

+ Jack stood, braced his legs and drew back. By now the Scree were only a quarter of a mile from at the billowing polythene that rose up on its tethers high + above the waving reeds. They stopped in a group, thirty of them, maybe more, staring curiously at the big plastic bubble that danced like a ghost in the + light breeze. The howling of the wolfhounds boomed across the swamp. +

+

+ The arrow soared in an arc high above the tussocks, trailing a bow of white smoke across the lowering sky. +

+

+ From where he stood Jack saw the Scree troop turn almost as one herd, heads craned up to the arcing arrow. +

+

+ There was no noise, not at first. The arrow disappeared into the ballooning gas-trap and then the gas trap itself disappeared instantly in a ball of pink + flame that first blasted downwards then rolled up into the air, shedding burning drops of plastic. +

+

+ The noise came a second later, a low whoosh, not quite the explosion that Jack expected, but by then, the marsh was already afire as the down-blast + scorched the dry reeds and rushes. A bright orange flame licked up from dense smoke and the wind caught it, sending a cascade of sparks out in a line and + in a matter of seconds the flames began to roar like a pack of beasts and began to eat into the thick mats of dry foliage. +

+

+ Kerry whooped in excitement. +

+

+ "You did it man. Burn them all." +

+

+ He jumped up onto the willow trunk and watched as the fire leapt from tussock to tussock, from bank to bank, sending cascades of embers high into the air + and twisting the tall rushes with such intense heat that they sang high notes as they shriveled and died. +

+

+ The Scree had stopped dead in their tracks, watching as the arrow sped towards the wavering balloon, but now they had turned about and were crashing back, + away from the flames. +

+

+ Corriwen grabbed Jack's arm. +

+

+ "No time to gawp," she insisted, hauling him down to the flat. "We must move…NOW!" +

+

+ She pointed way to the east, to the hazy far side of the swamp, maybe ten, perhaps twenty miles away. +

+

+ A black cloud was rolling down from the high rills where they had lost pursuit in the flash flood. +

+

+ "Jeez…" Kerry breathed. "What is that?" +

+

+ The cloud moved fast, swirling as it tumbled down the boulder-strewn hill. +

+

+ "She sent a storm," Kerry said. "She won't give up." +

+

+ "Neither will we," Kerry bawled. "There's only one female who ever scare the bejasus out of me. Or two if you count old Iron Britches." +

+

+ "Who scares you?" Corriwen asked. +

+

+ "Me poor dead mother. Sure, she could stop a clock with a dirty look." +

+

+ Jack grabbed her by the hand before she could ask what a clock was and they skittered along the track just as the cloud rolled fast across the marshy plain + and turned the flames back on them. They made about a mile before the smoke began to catch up with them, blanketing the marsh in a grey smog that rasped in + their lungs. The fire had veered north and then west and was now eating up the distance between them. Behind the fire-break, they knew the Scree hunters + would be making even better progress than before. +

+

+ They ran, fast as the marsh would let them with Kerry in the lead, picking out the safest routes and the strange, circular storm carried the fire towards + them ever faster until they could feel its heat and hear the singing crackle of tortured reeds. They ploughed on, stumbling their way, tiring with every + step, through the sucking quagmire. The air was filled with burning and rot as flocks of marsh-birds blurted upwards in panic. +

+

+ Jack's instincts squeezed at him. +

+

+ Something wrong. Something wrong. +

+

+ On one side the Rushen folk were streaming across the causeway. Behind them he could hear the clamour of the approaching Scree. And something was hurtling + through the reeds, sweeping them aside like a runaway train. +

+

+ The final otter arrowed into the lagoon and veered away and it was clear something colossal was right behind it. +

+

+ "I think we'd better get a move…" Kerry started to say. +

+

+ And behind the otter a whole bank of reeds was flattened in the blink of an eye and a scaly thing, festooned with barnacles and seaweed, great webbed arms + clawing at mud and roots came lurching over the bank. +

+

+ It had a face like a gargoyle, slimy as a fish, thick lips parted to show grinding teeth, bloated eyes glaring ahead as it tried to gain on the otter + family which looped and swirled all around it, too fast to catch, mere blurs in the water. +

+

+ The creature looked half man, half fish and perhaps with a fraction of something else thrown in. +

+

+ "Kelpie!" Corriwen cried. +

+

+ The ugly thing thrashed through the water, intent on grabbing the otters that were harassing it. It skimmed past them, smelling like old fish and things + dead on the seashore, dripping slime. It missed them by inches while the otters looped away, drawing it towards the throng of Rushen folk who scattered + like chaff into the reeds. The motion caught the creature's baleful eye and it swerved towards them, just as the Scree troops came barging through the + charred reeds, right into its path. +

+

+ It roared like a fog horn, making the whole march quiver and quake. +

+

+ Jack and Kerry and Corriwen stood paralysed for a moment. +

+

+ Behind them a voice called out. +

+

+ "Come on, you three. Hurry." +

+

+ They spun as one. A tall old man, thin and tall, stood by the edge of the path. " It's hungry and it's pretty damn angry." +

+

+ They ran. Behind them, the kelpie was roaring, scattering the reeds and the Rushen folk and the Scree indiscriminately. They ran, following the tall man's + long strides, panting hard to keep pace with them. +

+

+ After a while, their feet were on solid ground for the first time in what seemed like ages. +

+

+ The three of them flopped down in a heap, gasping for breath, so weary they could hardly move. +

+

+ The tall man let them lie for a while, then told them they should follow him. +

+

+ "You lot look like you could use a bath, and maybe a hot meal," he said. +

+

+ They could do nothing except agree to that as they turned and put the awesome swamp behind them. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b88c65 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch18.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,350 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 18 + + + + +
+
+

18

+

+ Far, far to the north, beyond the forest and the salt-marsh the craggy ridges to the north of Mid Temair, she stirred in the well of darkness. +

+

+ But now she was awake. +

+

+ She felt her strength return as the old geas, the old binding-curses, wore down and broke one by one. And as her vigour came back, so did her + everlasting hate and anger, the very essence of her being. And with it, a burning thirst for vengeance. +

+

+ Thin places + . Thin places, those cracks through which the tendrils of her slumbering mind had oozed like fog, searching for the one to free her. After all these eons + of slumber, the finding seemed a mere heartbeat away. +

+

+ He had been formless; clay to be worked slowly into a shape that she could use. +

+

+ She had found the weakness in an angry, vengeful mind, and she had nurtured it with dark promises. +

+

+ She had schooled that young mind, leading it to places where old knowledge waited to be found, arcane knowledge of magic once stronger in this world; dark + secrets, waiting only for the right mind with a thirst, and a reason to seek it. +

+

+ This child of hers, this Mandrake-to-be, had found the knowledge and used it, binding himself to her, hungry for the power that she would have, the power + she would bestow. +

+

+ She had tested him until she was sure that he shunned all good, all light, embracing the night and shadows that lurked unseen by human eye. Then she had + drawn him out, with all that was needed to break the ancient curse. +

+

+ Oh then…Oh then! There would be a reckoning. The sons of the sons of the sons of men who had dared face her and bind her with songs of magic + and blazing light, they would wither in her wrath. +

+

+ She sensed the day approach, awake and aware, impatient to feed and destroy. +

+

+ And yet. The key eluded her. +

+

+ She had sensed its presence, not here, but across the chasm of time that was bridged by the ancient stones. She had reached and summoned. +

+

+ Now the key and its bearer was here, in her Temair. +

+

+ She would have it. +

+

+ She was the Morrigan. +

+
+

+ The Bard had warned them that the forest was a dangerous place. +

+

+ He had stepped from the reeds and led them to solid ground, while cries the Scree howled over the reeds and the Kelpie fed. +

+

+ "I'm Connal," he'd said, a tall reed-thin man in a long cloak that looked as if it had been sewn together from the skins of rainbow trout. It glistened and + changed colour when he moved. "I am the Bard of Kelpie Holt. You've met my brother, I believe." +

+

+ "Finbar's your brother?" Corriwen asked. +

+

+ "In a manner of speaking. Brothership of the Bardic, we say. Near as you can get to the real thing, I imagine, without having to fight over shoes in the + morning." +

+

+ His weathered face made him look hard and stern, but his smile was warm. +

+

+ "I heard from the swans that you'd had trouble. And then I watched you blunder through the flats. Not a place for young travellers to be, I can tell you. + There are more bones resting down there in the quagmire than I'd want to count. The flats suck the unwary down, and the Rushen folk and the Kelpie take the + rest." +

+

+ He put a hand round Corriwen's shoulder. "Now, Lady Corriwen. You and your journeymen here, you've put up a fair fight so far. I hope the rest is as easy." +

+

+ He led them on, with the otters whistling and frolicking around his feet, like huge quicksilver puppies. Eventually the came to a reed hut, thatched with + bulrushes where a flock of golden swifts rested from the heat of the day, so many crowded on the roof that the thatch was almost invisible. +

+

+ "Now, do you like roast crab?" the tall man said. +

+

+ They wolfed the food. +

+
+

+ "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. +

+

+ Connal unrolled a sheet of what appeared to be papyrus and he used a stick of charcoal to illustrate it. +

+

+ "Quagmire here," he repeated, drawing a vaguely triangular shape. "And the Holt here. It's a point that runs straight south to the sea shore and cuts the + marsh in two, and it's a good thing you don't have to travel the other side. It goes on forever, and worse things wait. +

+

+ "On the far side, the Labyrinth Rills, which you've come through, and the flats. You've met the thin folk, and there's not much to them, I know, but + there's plenty of them. They eat raw fish and crabs and the odd traveller. Can't use fire, of course. +

+

+ "Creepy little beggars," Kerry said. "Marsh-hoppers." +

+

+ "From here, north. It's the only way. You follow the spine of the Holt, beyond the high-shore flats. And from there up to Sappeling Wood." +

+

+ "I've heard of that place," Corriwen said. "They say Leprechauns rule there." +

+

+ "What?" Kerry asked. "The Little People?" +

+

+ Connal frowned. "Whatever lives there, it's their forest. Don't stray from the road. Not an inch." +

+

+ And three days later, all of it on foot, here they were. +

+
+

+ The Morrigan rolled in her dark centre, reaching out to sense it again. +

+

+ It had eluded her time and again, as had that girl-child who had disrupted Mandrake's work, because the strength of old kings ran in her blood. Girl child + she might be, but the Morrigan sensed the light in her, as she sensed it in the other, the carrier. +

+

+ She reached into the night, and touched him. +

+
+

+ Jack was dreaming. He had fallen into an exhausted sleep, every muscle aching, and when he slept he dreamt. +

+

+ They had all been together, in the trees, in some kind of deep forest, all shadowed with no hint of moon and something had been behind them, something + unseen and monstrous. +

+

+ They had run, run as they had these past days, harried while the thing behind crashed through the undergrowth, grunting and snarling, hot breath on the + backs of their necks. +

+

+ They had fled like deer, twisting and turning over gnarled roots and under fallen trees and somewhere in the dark glades he had lost them while the thing + panted behind him, getting closer and closer and closer. +

+

+ And then he had turned and fallen down into a deeper dark, rolling and tumbling, trying to claw for a handhold to break his fall, but he had fallen from a + dizzy height and the next thing he knew he was alone somewhere in the dark where all sound disappeared into an immense void and no echoes returned. The + heart was beating on his chest, in time to his own, but now its pulse was fierce, something he could feel against him, a rhythmic squeeze that told him + danger was here. +

+

+ He did not know where here was, only that he had lost his friends and was stumbling along in the blackness, probing with hands and fingers, while + the sensation of being trapped somewhere deep and awful riddled through him. +

+

+ He tried to call to them, but no words came out. There was something he should remember, but he couldn't recall. The darkness pressed on him like a weight, + like being buried alive. +

+

+ Things crept and crawled here. He sensed them all around, reaching for him with thin legs and palps and claws. Nothing touched him, but he sensed them and + every nerve cringed. +

+

+ He had brought them here, somehow and they were gone and he felt the loss like a pain deep within him, as if something had been ripped from him and torn + him apart. +

+

+ He wandered, stumbling, it seemed for a long time and he had no sense of direction. +

+

+ Jack was afraid, and the stone heart pulsed steadily, telling him to be very afraid. +

+

+ Something moved, something less dark. He heard it and felt the breath of motion and spun. The darkness was less now, or perhaps his eyes were acclimatizing + to this, but now he could see movement, slow, dark on black, but movement all the same. +

+

+ "Corriwen?" His voice blurted her name and disappeared into the vastness, swallowed by thick and velvet black. +

+

+ "Kerry!" +

+

+ There was no reply, but there was something with him. Not some thing, he realized, but some one. +

+

+ He held what breath he had and listened. Something took hold of his hand. His heart leapt to his throat, but whatever held him gripped, soft and firm. +

+

+ "You are safe with me," a voice whispered. A woman's voice. +

+

+ "Where am I?" He sounded scared, which was just what he was. "Who are you?" +

+

+ "Safe," she whispered again. "I am here." +

+

+ "Who are you?" +

+

+ "Your heart's desire," she whispered, in a voice like a song, and he felt the bands holding his ribs tight loosen just a little. He breathed in, cold, + clear air which bore the scent of lavender and lilac and summer days. +

+

+ "Rest friend," she said, and her voice was a balm. "I have waited so long." +

+

+ "I've lost my friends," he told her. "I must find them." +

+

+ "And you will," she said. Her face was now a pale oval in the dark close to him. She bent towards him and he saw dark eyes in that pallid, heart-shaped + face, and black tresses that curled around slim shoulders and fell to her waist. +

+

+ "You have been searching for me," she whispered. +

+

+ She stroked his face, her touch like silk and he lay back, feeling the ache and tiredness drain away. +

+

+ "Where are my friends?" he said. +

+

+ "I am your friend. Come to me and forget everything." The hand trailed down his chest. +

+

+ Jack felt a pounding in his ears and that double pulse on his chest. +

+

+ "Give me your heart and be free forever." +

+

+ The hand stroked his bare skin and he realised his shirt was open, but there was no hurt now, just the sensation of smooth skin on his own. He closed his + eyes, feeling the need to be at peace. The need to find Kerry and Corriwen ebbed away and he bent towards the warmth. +

+

+ "Give me your heart," she said, and in that instant, the voice changed from summer to winter and when she breathed on him, it was cold and foul, like the + smell of rot in that faraway battlefield. +

+

+ His eyes jerked open and he saw the face and his heart froze. +

+

+ Her face was a ruin of wrinkled, peeling skin. A cavernous mouth with cracked lips pulled back from pointed teeth. Her hair writhed like snakes and the + touch on his chest felt like the blackest sin. +

+

+ "Away," he tried to say, tried to take a step back, but she had him. +

+

+ One hand snatched the heart-stone. +

+

+ The other clawed at his skin. He felt her nails stab through flesh and twist between ribs until she had his beating heart in her hands. She ripped it out, + smashing his ribs to splinters and cast him aside, screaming and betrayed, down, down, down while her laugh shook the ground. +

+

+ He lurched up gasping for air, both hands pressed to his empty chest. +

+

+ Kerry slapped an arm round his shoulders. "Jack man, you scared the bejasus out of me." +

+

+ "Thought I'd lost you," Jack managed to croak. "You and Corrie." +

+

+ "No chance of that," Kerry assured him. +

+

+ "You scared me too," Corriwen said. " +

+

+ Jack looked at them, bewildered, but the image hung there in his memory, that astonishing beauty which had turned into unspeakable ugliness. Kerry passed + him drink of water and he sipped at it, feeling the heat spread through him, letting it warm him. +

+

+ He had been awake, but somehow caught in a weird sort of spell in which that awful presence had come in the dark and had touched him. +

+

+ And he felt he would rather die than feel that loathsome touch again. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ "I think we should get a move on," Kerry said. Jack was still numb from the waking nightmare. +

+

+ "Connal says it's the only way," Corriwen said. Her hand automatically moved to the hilts of the knives at her belt. "But we must be careful." +

+

+ "I think we should check the book first," Jack said. "It might give us a clue." +

+

+ He unbound the tooled leather and opened his Book of Ways, and they waited expectantly. +

+

+ Verdant deep the neverglade +

+

+ Shadow dell and leafy shade +

+

+ Softly past the binding shoot +

+

+ Wary round the gnarling root +

+

+ Safe perhaps upon the way +

+

+ Peril those who walk astray +

+

+ The forest closed around them in a dark green embrace. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1992e6b --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch19.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,565 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 19 + + + + +
+
+

19

+

+ The forest was silent. Totally silent. +

+

+ Kerry had paused on the road, listening. +

+

+ "No birds," he said, voice low, as if it might be sacrilege to speak loudly here. +

+

+ He was right. No birds sang, where one might expect greenfinch and chaffinch and a scolding wren to flit in a blur between the trunks. No woodpigeons + murmured in the depths, no blackbirds stirred up the leaves. Nothing. +

+

+ "It's too quiet," Jack said, voice even lower. "Like there's something in there." +

+

+ "There is," Corriwen said. "And they don't welcome strangers." +

+

+ The mist was thicker now, turning the luxuriant foliage to fuzzy shapes. The crowded trunks deeper in the wood were like grey pillars reaching up to a + thick canopy. From the damp ground scents of fern and bramble wafted, growth on growth, lush and loamy. +

+

+ Despite the silence, they sensed life around them. They walked, one mile, two, and as they trudged, they could feel eyes upon them, but nothing moved save + drops of water on the occasional bespattered leaf. +

+

+ Every few yards they had to step over a stretching thorn-creeper or a bramble runner that looked as if it was lying in wait. +

+

+ Jack watched a spiral of fern uncoil, faster than any fern had a right to, like a hairy butterfly tongue. +

+

+ They rounded a bend that took them due north and stopped dead, as a wide clearing appeared before them. It was littered with broken branches, knee deep in + wood splinters and spiked by a hundred huge tree-stumps. Some of the trees had been ten feet across and more. +

+

+ "That's a whole lot of lumber," Kerry said. "Wonder what it's for?" +

+

+ "It's for Mandrake's dam," Corriwen said. "Look, all the tracks go north, and that's where he is. I saw their wagons near the battlefield and wondered. Now + I know." +

+

+ "Must be some big dam," Kerry observed. "Some of those trees must have been a couple of hundred years old." +

+

+ "Try a couple of thousand," Jack said. Over by one stump, a big peavey axe leant against the chipped bark, its head red with rust. A crude two handed saw + was broken under a heavy branch. A cracked cart wheel lay aslant another stump. +

+

+ Whoever had been felling here, they were gone now. +

+

+ They began to pick their way carefully across the sawdust and shavings, skirting round the wide trunks, when Kerry stopped and held up a hand for silence. + They froze. Jack strained and then heard a faint scrabbling sound. It was coming from beyond the nearest row of massive stumps. Corriwen peered round, her + slight body pressed against the bark. She beckoned to Jack and Kerry. +

+

+ They edged round the stump and all three stood silently for a moment. +

+

+ At first it looked like a moving shrub, just a small green shape. But as they watched the movement, it became clear it was a child, a tiny thing in green, + bent at the waist and working with a spike of deer antler at the soil between two of the felled forest giants. +

+

+ Jack saw another motion further away and drew their attention. It was another infant, tending a sapling that had been staked with a hazel wand. This child + was carefully placing a protective ring of stream-smooth stones around its base. +

+

+ Suddenly they could see dozens of them, all tiny, hardly more than knee high, working in silence, planting whip-thin saplings and clearing the soil around + their roots. Every few minutes, one of them would look up and scan the sky. Jack looked all round the devastated area, searching for any sign of adults who + would be watching after children in this place, but saw nothing. +

+

+ As he turned to Corriwen, a wide shadow swooped across the clearing. He looked up and saw a bird, coming in low over the stumps. In two powerful wingbeats + it shot past, twenty feet above their heads. He saw the legs swing down and vicious yellow talons snap open. +

+

+ The children scattered like rabbits. +

+

+ The hawk swerved, banked, then dropped fast. Its talons swung down again and there was an audible snap as they snatched at a small shape sprinting for + cover. A piercing cry rent the air. +

+

+ "It's got one of the kids," Kerry shouted. +

+

+ As quickly as it had fallen, the great bird soared up. The child in its talons wriggled and squealed. Jack tried to free his bow, but he wasn't fast + enough. +

+

+ Kerry dashed forward, faster than Jack had ever seen him move, straight towards the big raptor. +

+

+ Without stopping, he scooped a heavy round stone in one hand, while the other slipped the leather sling from his belt. Still running he swung it twice + round his head, like an underarm bowler. +

+

+ The stone flew from the sling like cannon-shot. +

+

+ It hit the bird where its wing joined its breast and they heard the crack of bone from where they stood. +

+

+ The predator squawked, stalled and went into a tight circle. Its one good wing beat hard, but it began to lose height. Kerry drew his sword, waiting for it + to fall, but the bird jerked its talons free, losing the weight of its prey. +

+

+ The child dropped straight down towards the spiked stumps, spinning uncontrollably. +

+

+ Jack was running now, sending up cascades of sawdust and wood chips as his feet fought for purchase. +

+

+ The child came tumbling down head over heels. Jack gauged the distance, leapt on to a broad stump, launched himself up and caught the child in his arms + before it smashed on to the hard wood. His momentum carried him well past the far side of the stump. Twisting in the air, he landed briefly on his feet and + fell on to his back, protecting the child from his own weight. +

+

+ "Got you," he gasped. +

+

+ Kerry and Corriwen sprinted up to them. Jack had the squealing child tight in his arms. He loosened his grip, got to his knees and looked down. +

+

+ A small, wizened face stared back up at him, and Jack almost dropped the struggling bundle in sheer fright. +

+

+ The thing he held was no child. It opened its mouth in a gape that was impossibly wide and its face crinkled into a bark-like mass of creases. Small sharp + teeth were visible behind stretched lips underneath a long, hooked nose. Its hair was stiff and bristled, the texture of birch twigs. What Jack had taken + for a green romper suit was a covering that felt like young leaves and smelt like moss. He couldn't tell if it was clothes or skin. +

+

+ Its wide eyes were as flat and as brown as polished oak. +

+

+ "Leprechaun," Corriwen said. "The Little People. It's true then." +

+

+ Kerry bent down. +

+

+ "No, it can't be one of them. I've seen pictures. They wear green jackets and red hats and they tell you riddles." +

+

+ He looked around. "And I don't see any rainbow either." +

+

+ He bent towards the little person. "All right, we saved you. So you can tell us your name." +

+

+ Its eyes blinked with an audible, woody click, then regarded Kerry impassively. It had stopped struggling. It looked up at them, from one to the other. +

+

+ "Come on now, wee man," Kerry persisted. "We don't mean you any harm." +

+

+ The creature opened its mouth and whispered something. +

+

+ "What's that?" Jack bent to listen. +

+

+ "Cut our hearts." The voice was a whisper of dry leaves. +

+

+ He wasn't sure if he'd heard right and turned. +

+

+ And just then, a runner of bramble uncoiled and snaked around Jack's leg. +

+

+ "What the…?" +

+

+ Kerry twisted off balance as the ground moved under his feet. A thin root wormed out of the bare earth and snagged his ankle. The bramble runner flexed and + squeezed around Jack's leg and he gasped in sudden pain, reaching to pull it free. +

+

+ He dropped the little creature, and it hit the ground running, shot across the clearing in a blur of green, and vanished in the depths of the forest. +

+

+ As soon as he was gone, the bramble runner loosened its grip and unwound from Jack's leg. Kerry was hopping on one foot, trying to free the other. Jack saw + Corriwen slash at a thin, tendril of ivy that had looped itself around both legs up to her waist. +

+

+ The whole forest seemed to take a breath. +

+

+ "Let's get out of here," Kerry said. "I don't like those wee folk. Never even thanked us." +

+

+ They pressed on, staying close together and nervously searching the shadows, aware of the watching eyes, but unable to see anything. Now and then a bird + circled overhead, checking them out for size, then wheeled away. +

+

+ "This is a really creepy place," Kerry whispered, and his voice sounded small and scared. Jack tried to fight his own apprehension, but he knew if Kerry + was scared, there must be good reason. He would spent nights in the forest back home, poaching rabbits and pheasants. Trees and darkness held no fears for + him, hid no demons. +

+

+ But this place was different. +

+

+ "We have to keep going," he said. "We really don't want to be here by nightfall." +

+

+ They were five miles along the narrowing track when Kerry paused and they all stopped with him. He pointed to the overhanging branches. Jack shaded his + eyes against sunlight stabbing through the leaves and suddenly a shape snapped into focus. +

+

+ A white skull grinned down at them. +

+

+ "How did that get up there?" +

+

+ He stood staring. They all did. Even from here, they could see from the shape of the narrowing head and wide cheeks it must be one of the Scree. +

+

+ Kerry pointed to the other side. "There's the rest of him." +

+

+ Another tree loomed on the westward side of the road. In its branches, just visible from where they stood, a white pelvis and two dangling legs hung like a + skinned carcass in a butcher's shop. +

+

+ "What do you think happened to him?" +

+

+ Kerry shrugged. "I don't think I want to know. This place gives me the total heeby-jeebies." +

+

+ "People don't come here," Corriwen said. "But Mandrake sent his Scree to fell the trees, I think. Maybe the Little People can fight." +

+

+ They walked on, craning back until the Scree skeleton was out of sight, now aware of the real threat in the forest, or wheeling high above it. If something + could catch a Scree and rip it in half, then it could easily do the same to any of them. +

+

+ A half-mile on, they found another body, this one jammed in the fork of a tree that had been cut half through by an axe. +

+

+ Not a hundred yards from it they came across a heavy wagon, axle deep in the rutted track, bearing a huge tree-trunk which weighed it down. Skeletons of + dead Scree were scattered all around it. They looked as if they had lain, unburied for a long time. +

+

+ But still there was nothing to show what had killed them or their oxen. No-one had come back for the wagon, or the newly-felled tree. +

+

+ Jack wondered why. +

+

+ Beyond the bogged down wagon, the road simply petered out and they stopped, all together. +

+

+ "I thought this went all the way north," Kerry said. +

+

+ "So did I," Corriwen agreed. "Didn't the Bard say so?" +

+

+ "Those Scree thought so too," Jack said. "That's the way the wagon was headed. But they were wrong." +

+

+ "Jack," Kerry whispered. "I get a really creepy feeling about this. It looks like the forest didn't like them cutting down the trees. It tried to stop + them." +

+

+ "You really do have the heeby-jebies." Jack shook his head. " No. It's just overgrown. They probably got caught in an ambush." +

+

+ He didn't want to think about what Kerry was saying. Corriwen was white faced. +

+

+ "Men don't come here," she finally said. "The Little People protect their home." +

+

+ "So what now?" +

+

+ "We can't stay here at night," Jack said. "We'll never get out if we do. I'm sure of that." +

+

+ "Ok," Kerry said. "We'll find a way round." +

+

+ They pushed on, throughthe thick stand of saplings and in mere minutes they were deep in the trees. +

+

+ Jack turned back towards the road, but it was invisible. He closed his eyes and the compass in his head seemed to swing wildly for a moment before he found + north. He opened them again, and stopped dead in his tracks. +

+

+ A wide face screamed silently only inches from his own. +

+

+ He jerked back in fright. +

+

+ "What is it?" +

+

+ Jack pointed, unable to say anything. Corriwen followed his direction. +

+

+ The Scree's mouth yawned like a cave. A big beetle maggot writhed behind its spade-like teeth. Sightless sockets seemed to glare. +

+

+ But it wasn't just the skull that froze them in mid-stride. +

+

+ It was the fact that it was glaring at them from the trunk of a tree. +

+

+ For a second Jack thought it had been nailed, right there into the rough bark. But then he saw the tattered, bony arms and clawed hands sticking out at + shoulder height on either side of the trunk. +

+

+ It was as if the very tree itself had swallowed him and let him die screaming. +

+

+ Kerry backed away. +

+

+ The stone heart on its chain beat in a slow pulse. Jack's own heart responded by trying to leap right into his throat. +

+

+ "I really really don't like this…." Kerry said. +

+

+ "I'm with you," Jack whispered back. +

+

+ In the trees something rustled as if a wind had stirred the thick canopy. +

+

+ "You see anything?" +

+

+ "Sounds like a storm," Corriwen said. +

+

+ "Kerry…?" +

+

+ Jack turned, and this time his heart felt as if it had leapt into his throat. +

+

+ Kerry was gone. Jack grasped Corriwen's arm and whirled around, eyes flicking left and right. +

+

+ "Kerry!" +

+

+ Above them the branches were thrashing, and it did sound like a sudden squall. +

+

+ "Help!" +

+

+ Kerry's voice sounded very frightened, and very far away. +

+

+ "Where are you?" Jack was whirling still, searching, while the rustling sound above them got even louder. A green blizzard of leaves twirled in the air as + they fell. +

+

+ "I can't see him." Corriwen was scanning from side to side, her face so white her freckles stood out like inkblots. +

+

+ "Let me go!" A high and panicked shout from somewhere above, almost a shriek. "Run Jack. Run!" +

+

+ "He's up there…" Jack started to say, when close by, something came smashing through the undergrowth. The shrubs and ferns whipped from side to side. + Jack saw a sinuous shape writhe towards them. His mind shrieked snake, and then he was running. He had Corriwen's sleeve in a tight grip and he + dragged her with him. +

+

+ Kerry screeched again. Jack's thudding heart almost stopped, but his feet didn't stop at all. He ran on, with Corriwen behind him, unable to stop despite + the dreadful sensation of having abandoned Kerry. +

+

+ Now it was simply survival. He got a glimpse of the knife in Corriwen's hand, knew she was preparing to turn, but he hauled on her arm, forced her onwards. +

+

+ "This is it," he told himself. "I'm going to die here." +

+

+ Something reared in front of him. Something else lashed in from the side and Corriwen was gone. He felt a brief, fierce tug on his arm and then she + vanished. He was skidding forward and a shape snatched him right off his feet, threw him into the air. Another caught him such a blow that his breath was + punched right out and the whole world began to fade away in shades of grey and green. +

+

+ When his vision began to clear and his ears stopped ringing, he was gagging for breath against a crushing tightness round his chest. He was moving, up in + the canopy, carried along like a trussed turkey. Twigs and branches poked at his eyes and he was forced to blink hard every second to protect them. Nearby + he heard a soft moan which sounded like Corriwen, but he couldn't tell from which direction. Bound and helpless, he felt like an insect in a spider's web, + unable to turn, unable to move. +

+

+ The trees themselves were moving, the branches reaching like gnarled hands, creaking as they flexed to take him, like a bucket in a relay line. +

+

+ It was impossible. It was preposterous. But it was happening. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Jack took two steps forward and then felt himself tugged back so violently his feet went up in the air and he cracked his head on a hard trunk, his arms + and legs pinioned in a grip that felt like stone. Ivy or honeysuckle tightened around his neck like a garrotte. +

+

+ They were in some sort of dell, deep in the heart of this forest, a forest that breathed as one creature. The hollow was ringed with trees, bearded with + moss. Kerry was there struggling against living bonds that pinned him to a trunk on the other side of the hollow. He caught Jack's eye, his own rolling as + he fought for breath. +

+

+ The forest suddenly went completely quiet, a silence so profound, that at first Jack thought his ears had closed over. Then he saw the leprechaun, half way + up the trunk, but not clinging to the side. He was peering out of the trunk itself, like an owl, polished eyes fathomless. +

+

+ But he wasn't even in a hole in the bark. He was oozing from the tree and as Jack's eyes watched, the little creature emerged, inch by inch, as if + it was a moving part of the great tree itself. Further up, another pair of eyes opened, and a little wrinkled leprechaun emerged from the bark. + Then another, and another, until every tree around was alive with small, horny bodies, their eyes all fixed intently on the three captives. +

+

+ The only sound now was the strange click of eyelids as the creatures blinked. +

+

+ Down in the dell, one of the ancient rooted growths began to twist and creak. Its crumbling surface shuddered. Pieces of bark dropped to the ground. +

+

+ The creature that hauled itself out from this one was another leprechaun, but it looked as old as the tree itself. It was small and wizened, skin like + hoary oak, sprouting burrs and clusters of thick twigs. It peeled itself away from the tree and stepped on the ground. +

+

+ He came slowly towards them, as if he had not walked in a very long time, limbs creaking like tortured wood. +

+

+ "I am the Leprechaun." The words came out like the crackle of twigs underfoot. +

+

+ "Too many come here, axemen, sawmen. Kill our heartswood. Steal our soul." +

+

+ Jack tried to speak, tried to protest, but the creeper round his neck tightened and his throat shut with a dry gulp. +

+

+ "No more trespass the wildwood. The wildwood takes revenge." +

+

+ The blind-sight eyes stared right into Jack's own. They blinked slowly, as if this ancient little thing had difficulty keeping them open. As if he had + slept a long time. +

+

+ "The Leprechaun has spoken. The wildwood feeds." +

+

+ On the trunks all around, the tiny, creatures began to drum their twiggy hands on the resinous bark. Above them, branches swayed in unison. On the ground, + roots flexed and curved. Something grew at amazing speed directly in front of Kerry. It sprouted thin, purple leaves between which bloomed tiny flowers in + a violent colour that made Jack think of venom. It swayed, back and forth and then it lashed forward. +

+

+ Underneath the leaves, spiky thorns snicked up and stuck Kerry right under the chin. +

+

+ He grunted and his head snapped back against the tree. Blood bubbled from his mouth and his face went deathly pale. +

+

+ Jack felt the pinioning bonds loosen. He coughed, fell to his knees but before he could move, a thick ivy runner grabbed him around the ankles. At the same + time, something coiled around his wrists and simultaneously, both tightened and pulled. +

+

+ Jack felt himself being torn apart. +

+

+ "No," Corriwen cried. +

+

+ She saw Kerry's eyes roll upwards and a mottled toxic purple shade creep up from his neck, then Jack was down as two creepers slithered forward, fast as + striking adders and had him racked between them, She heard him grunt in pain as they tightened and began pulling him from opposite directions. +

+

+ The Leprechaun king watched impassively, as the rest of the little creatures drummed their rhythm on the tree-bark. +

+

+ Just as the image came to her, the bonds on her arms and legs suddenly withdrew and she dropped forward, but she had been waiting for just such a motion. + She rolled, quick as a stoat, shot to her feet with her knives in each hand, leapt towards Jack and slashed at the nearest ivy runner. It parted with a + snap. +

+

+ Jack screamed in pain. Above her the leprechauns gasped. Liquid like blood poured from the writhing end of the ivy stump. She whirled again, ready to + defend herself, seeking a way to cut the other tendril that was hauling Jack away into the bushes. +

+

+ Then something moved under her feet. +

+

+ A plant, broad as a plantain, with rubbery leaves stretching way out on either side, like a green star. Before she could move, the leaves closed over her + legs, curling up until she was caught at the waist, then at the chest. Then they folded round her like a giant, pliant hand. She struggled but her arms + were trapped. It was swallowing her, growing around her, faster than anything could grow. Faster than anything should ever grow. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ Then a tiny shape leapt down from the height of the trees and landed right in front of Jack. +

+

+ The little leprechaun was jabbering at the old king, so fast Jack could make out no words, no language. +

+

+ It turned and pointed at him then faced the king again. He held up a twiggy hand, but the leprechaun stepped towards Jack. +

+

+ Hands forced him down to his knees and he closed his eyes, expecting the end right here and now. +

+

+ The little creature peeled Jack's tunic and shirt wide open and the king bent forward. +

+

+ The red hand and the coronet of dots stood out clearly on his skin. +

+

+ There was a collective gasp all around them and the hands freed him, so suddenly he almost fell forward on his face. +

+

+ "Coronal," the king creaked. "The Red Hand returns." +

+

+ He looked up at the wooden eyes that gazed down from the high branches. +

+

+ "Free them," he said. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch20.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch20.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8f4b75 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch20.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,235 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 20 + + + + +
+
+

20

+

+ At first, the words were difficult to understand, but the Leprechaun reached his hand and touched each one of them, and after that, the words became clear. + Jack knew he was hearing them in his head, or in his heart. He couldn't tell which. +

+

+ The others crowded round, appearing from the crevices and hollows, listening to the king as he sat with Jack and Corriwen and Kerry. +

+

+ "In the beginning, in the very beginning, the night lady dropped a star from her crown that became a seed. And the whole world became Tree." +

+

+ He paused. "The Leprechaun have been in this place since forever. Before the Scree-ogres; before men. Even before the Morrigan. +

+

+ "And we were content even to share with man those lands She had touched and no heartwood could root." +

+

+ Jack heard heartwood, but his mind showed him other words. The old Leprechaun's creaky voice conveyed family. It conveyed kin. Jack knew what he meant. The + trees themselves. +

+

+ "We tended our sisters and nurtured them always, as we still do, content with our glades and peace with the men of Temair under the Redthorn chiefs. No + sister ever fell by man's hand. They understood our need and we understood theirs and no harm befell us or the sisters until now. +

+

+ "To the south was ever the marshland, with its Rushen folk and the Kelpie, to the north were men and their farms and beyond that, the barren crags of the + exiles, the Fomorian Scree." +

+

+ He bent forward and offered them another drink from something that might have been an acorn cup, if acorns ever grew to the size of coconuts. The nectar it + contained was sweet and every sip seeped hot in their blood and made them feel stronger. +

+

+ The polished eyes clicked shut, and for a moment they thought he had fallen asleep, but they opened again and he continued. +

+

+ "In olden times, when this Leprechaun was a whip-sapling, there was sorcery and there was evil. Long-gone warlocks fought, and kingdoms fell and settled to + dust. In these evil times, they summoned the she-demon from the dark place beyond Tir-Nan-Og, the land of the dead. +

+

+ "She is hunger and hate. She may have been summoned by them, but the warlocks also fell, for she knows no friendship or treaty; she ravaged the land. Evil + times. Sisters shrivelled and died. There was fire and blight, and the Leprechaun were obliged to fight." +

+

+ Jack got the impression of vast eons, a history that dwarfed all the histories he had ever learned in school. +

+

+ "Came a man on the road, bearing a sword, which is anathema to the Leprechaun, as is the axe and the saw and wildfire. But this man braved the glades to + sit with us and made a promise to he would free Temair of this bane, or die in the quest. +

+

+ "He put his hand in the flame and held it there, to show he would rather burn than see fire and harm come to the glades. Thus we knew his truth. When we + eased his hurt, his right hand stayed red as blood, a mark for all to see." +

+

+ The king reached again and touched Jack on his forehead. +

+

+ "I recognise this Cullian's sap-line. You are ever welcome in our glades." +

+

+ Jack felt hot emotions rush through him. His mind sparked in all directions. +

+

+ Cullian's sap line. +

+

+ 'Your father has been here before,' Finbar the Bard had told him. Jack had stepped between worlds, and his father had already been in this one. The heart + stone was his inheritance, and already Jack had felt some of its power. Somehow he knew there was even more power in it, and his father had used it. +

+

+ He recalled Finbar's exact words: If your father had the book and the heart stone, then he was a traveller. A journeyman. +

+

+ Whatever a journeyman was, Jack was somehow following in the footsteps of a man he had never known. +

+

+ And the heart stone that forged the link between them, that was the key to everything. His past; his future. His life. +

+

+ The leprechaun king pinned him with those eyes and something mysterious passed between them, an understanding; a connection that spanned ages. +

+

+ "We helped Cullian, the travelling man," the King continued, "because he was the only hope, and the bards who travel freely with our blessing within our + glades, came to tell us this was foreseen in their runes. +

+

+ "We fed Cullain's armies against the Scree when the land was devastated, we gave them shelter and hid them from sight." +

+

+ "And now you. You and you and you," he said, nodding once to each of them. +

+

+ "You, willow seedling, a Redthorn, whom we trust, and a long time has passed since our paths have crossed. No need. Word was given and taken. You are + welcome in our glade Corriwen Redthorn. +

+

+ He looked at Kerry. "Just a sapling yourself, but a stout one. Oak-heart. You will bend when you need when the wind is strongest, but you will not break. + You have your roots solid in the earth, Kerrigan Malone, and holding strong, but your heart, your heart is rootless, hither and yon, light as the breeze. + Ever welcome in our glades boy-with-a-sling." +

+

+ He turned to Jack. +

+

+ "And you, Crown-bearer. I know you of old. You bear the Red Hand, the mark of Cullian, and his sap rises in you. It is to you the whole of Temair looks + now, the Kelpie, the Undine, the Leprechaun and Man. +

+

+ "Me?" +

+

+ "You bear the same fireglass stone that he carried when the forest was young. I hear it beat within you, like the heartwood, our sisters. But it is a sore + burden on young shoulders. Too young to face this, say I. Yet face it you must." +

+

+ "I don't understand," Jack said. He turned to Kerry who shrugged, equally baffled. "I'm still at school. What am I supposed to do?" +

+

+ "You must do what your heart tells you. No-one can do more. Who can foretell in these troubled times? Let your heart lead you." +

+

+ Jack wasn't quite sure which heart the old King was referring to. +

+

+ "We're supposed to go north," was all he said. +

+

+ "The road is no road now." +

+

+ "That creature of hers, the Mandrake-with-no-root, he sent the Scree to our glades. They killed heartwood with axe and saw, and that we would not suffer. + Such pain they cause, but now no more. We grew the road away. There is no way through." +

+

+ "Then how will we get there?" Corriwen asked. "Time is pressing." +

+

+ The King's features quivered. It was almost a smile. +

+

+ "The heartwood have ways." +

+

+ "Speaking of Ways," Kerry broke in. "Show him the book, Jack." +

+

+ Jack fetched it from the backpack and passed it across to the Leprechaun. He passed a hand over it, trailing twiggy fingers over the cover and for an + instant Jack thought he saw it covered, not in old leather, but rough bark. The pages flicked open and immediately they saw script appearing on each page. +

+

+ "Come a hard way," the Leprechaun said. "But how to travel is still unclear. And who knows what lies at that journey's end?" +

+

+ "Do you know how we can get there?" +

+

+ "The Scree guard the road mouth, what there is of it. So you must go a different way, but we will ease your stepping. Now rest, for there shall be little + time for rest on the road ahead." +

+

+ He held up an acorn cup and passed it to Corriwen. "Drink now and sleep well for the journey." +

+

+ To Jack, he handed a small bark box which rattled as he took it. He opened it and they found a cache of smooth, hard seeds. +

+

+ "Should we eat these too?" Kerry asked. +

+

+ Jack shook his head. "I don't think that's what they're for." +

+

+ "Maybe it's beanstalks," Kerry chipped in. "Nothing would surprise me here." +

+

+ The King merely smiled. He hauled, creaking to his feet. "I will consult my dear heart. I see the past, but she may sense some future." +

+

+ All the leprechaun watched him move towards the matriarch tree at the edge of the glade, the one whose roots now encased Kerry like the arms of a chair. +

+

+ The Leprechaun approached the tree and held his hands out towards it. His fingers touched the bark and the tree's mighty branches eased gently towards the + little creature. Without a word, he pressed himself up against the bark and then, amazingly, sank into it. +

+

+ "The mother says sleep now, and feel no fear. You will scatter her seeds." +

+

+ With that, he was gone. +

+

+ Jack looked at Kerry and Corriwen, unable to comprehend what he had seen, then he whirled with a start. +

+

+ The glade was empty. Totally empty. All the leprechaun had melted into the night, into the forest, into the bosoms of their own trees. +

+

+ All that was left was the three of them in the soft, dying light as a cloak of night drew itself across the wonderful forest and left them to sleep. +

+

+ At night he thought of Cullian of the Red Hand. He clutched the heart stone, the black obsidian around his neck that he now knew was the key, not only to + this world, but to himself. +

+

+ Today he had thought he was going to die, he and his two only friends in this world. +

+

+ Now they would live to fight another day, and he had the strange certainty that the battles would become even more desperate in the days to come. +

+

+ He had faced death today, faced it like a man. And for a while, he was not afraid. +

+

+ But by the morning he was a prisoner again. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19ba1a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch21.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,417 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter + + + + +
+
+

21

+

+ In the dark of night they were rocked to sleep. +

+

+ Jack thought he woke sometime, turning over, feeling gentle hands lift and carry him, like the mother he never knew, and the whispering breeze hushed him + and told him to sleep. He thought he was passed from hand to hand, gentle as one might pass a baby. +

+

+ When he awoke, he and Corriwen and Kerry were lying close together on a bed of dry leaves at the edge of the forest and ahead of them, the land rose + towards bare hills. +

+

+ Thank you, Jack whispered. As the old Leprechaun had promised, they'd had no need of roads. They had slept and the heartwood had started them on their way. +

+

+ There was magic in this world, and not all of it was cruel and hungry. It was good to have allies in this strange and fearful place. They would need as + many as they could find. +

+

+ Kerry yawned and stretched. Corriwen woke with a start. +

+

+ "It's a good day to get going again," she said. "And when we prevail, I will ensure their forest is guarded forever. A tree will never be cut there." +

+

+ The set off into open country. Behind them, the forest was dark but they missed its security and shade. Out here they were exposed again, and high in the + morning sky, small black dots wheeling above told them the roaks were abroad and hunting. They followed a line of low scrub bushes, always alert. They had + been surprised too often not to have learned a lesson. +

+

+ They trudged on, heading north, as the Marsh Bard had advised, moving out from the scrub to broken country of tussock grass and mossy rocks that stood out + of the moor like broken teeth. Here and there, clumps of hazels and stunted birches provided little cover, but there was nothing for it but to keep + walking. +

+

+ A few miles along, Kerry raised a warning hand and as soon as they stopped, they heard it too. The drumming of hard hooves on dry ground. They peered + between two stones where the track breasted a hill. +

+

+ The horsemen were coming fast, at a gallop, haring down the track. He counted twenty or more, big men on big horses, sunlight catching shields and polished + leather and the edges of swords. Forty yards away was a small coppice of hawthorn and elder, but thick enough. +

+

+ "Run!" + Corriwen and Kerry turned tail and ran, with Jack behind them urging them on. It was only forty yards, and they could have made it before the horsemen + mounted the rise, but the heather snagged at their feet and Jack was only ten yards from cover when he slipped and fell headlong. Kerry and Corriwen pulled + him upright and they were seconds from the shelter of the trees when the cavalcade came over the ridge and without pausing, came hammering over the heather + towards them. +

+

+ Kerry swore with such sincerity that Clarice would have washed his mouth with bleach. +

+

+ Jack shoved him between the first scraggy hawthorns and they ran into the coppice, thorns ripping at them. +

+

+ A great horse, easily as big as the one that had carried them all the way from the keep to the marshes, snapped saplings down with its bulk and drove + between them. A broad sword came slashing down and missed Kerry's ear by a whistling whisker. He dodged, rolled across a fallen log while Jack and Corriwen + jinked to the right and into dense cover. +

+

+ Kerry tumbled, got to his feet, barged between the trunks while behind him the great horse pounded the ground with its hooves. +

+

+ "Hold still and take it like a man," a voice bawled. +

+

+ "That'll be the day," Kerry shouted back. He was on his own now, only managing to keep a couple of steps ahead, ducking and weaving and seeking the + thickest growth to keep between him and the crazy horseman with the big sword. +

+

+ Jack and Corriwen had swerved, and she was moving like the wind. He stayed on her heels, while hooves drummed behind them and branches snapped like + kindling. It was clear the horsemen would force their way through and round them up. They would have to stop some time. +

+

+ Kerry was running, but he had drawn his own sword. He dashed between two elder trees, spun himself around one and sliced upward with his blade. The point + caught the rider just under the knee, and he cursed even more vehemently than Kerry had done only moments before. The horse reared, surprised by Kerry's + sudden attack and the rider went backside over neck and landed with a thud. +

+

+ "I'll have you," he roared. +

+

+ "You have to catch me first," Kerry shot back. +

+

+ The man got to his feet and lunged with the blade. It was twice the size of the short sword Kerry had. One sweep cut three saplings. Kerry gulped. +

+

+ "Your sword, ye devil," the big man cried. He was head and shoulders taller than Kerry, with long black hair that spilled from a leather helm, and shells + of armour over each shoulder. +

+

+ "You stole yon sword," the man roared. "Thief. Scavenger." +

+

+ He lunged again. Kerry tried to parry, the way he'd seen in films, but the man flicked his wrist and Kerry almost lost the sword altogether. +

+

+ "It's mine," Kerry shouted back. "Finders keepers." +

+

+ "I know the forge of that blade," the big fellow bawled. "Stolen from a hero. You'll pay for it. Give it up." +

+

+ "No chance," Kerry said, quaking inside, but his Irish bravado couldn't put a brake on his tongue: "You'll have to take it out of my cold dead hand." +

+

+ The man came on again, three or four quick blurring stabs and each time Kerry jumped backwards. The big fellow was an expert and his blade was huge. Kerry + had no chance of winning this. He jerked back as the sword came sweeping in again, missing him by an inch, and stuck fast in a tree-trunk. The swordsman + cursed and Kerry turned on his heel and ran before his opponent could lever the blade free. +

+

+ "Turn and fight, scavenger. I'll have your eyes." +

+

+ Kerry had no answer to that. He ran on and the big man came after him. +

+
+

+ Jack was tiring fast and the horsemen were closing in. +

+

+ Without warning a great horse loomed in from the left, caught him with its slab of flank and knocked him forward against Corriwen. She went down. Jack + tumbled, got to his knees. A long lance came spearing in and he threw himself to the side before it skewered him to the ground. The razor point ripped his + tunic across his chest and the point skipped off the black heart stone. He grabbed the lance, threw his weight against it and forced its point into the + bole of a tree. The rider grunted, wheeled the horse and slashed down at him. He rolled back, dragging Corriwen by the hood. The horse pawed the air and a + hoof the size of a dinner plate caught Corriwen a heavy blow between the shoulderblades. +

+

+ "Run to earth, little foxes," a deep voice boomed. "At bay and backs to the wall." +

+

+ The big man dismounted. He looked to be six foot tall and more, with yellow hair tied in braids that hung below his shoulders. He had a thick shaggy beard + and blazing blue eyes. +

+

+ "Skulking spies." +

+

+ The rest of the cavalry forced their way through, tall in leather armour and shoulder-plates, emblazoned shields and long spears. +

+

+ The bearded man turned to one of them. "Finish them here. We've no time to waste." +

+

+ Jack had the bow up, an arrow firm on the string. He swung the arrow left and right, covering as many of them as he could. Corriwen was winded and groaning + on the ground, raising herself up on all fours. Her hood had fallen over her hair. Jack nudged backwards, protecting her with his body. +

+

+ "Make a move and I'll get one of you," he said, trying to keep the shake out of his voice. "Maybe two." +

+

+ The leader threw his head back and laughed. "A spy whelp with a big bark." +

+

+ Jack gritted his teeth, but pulled harder on the string. The amberhorn bow sang under the tension. +

+

+ "You'll be the first one," he said very quietly. "I'll put this right through you. +

+

+ While Jack was standing with the arrow ready to fly, Kerry was bobbing and weaving as the swordsman hacked and slashed after him. He had no chance in a + straight fight with this man, but Kerry was faster and nimbler. +

+

+ He leapt over a fallen trunk, ran round its roots and in one easy motion he scooped up a big rock. He braced himself and swung the stone with all of his + strength. +

+

+ It hit his pursuer right in the belly with a thud and knocked the wind out of him in one great wheeze. Kerry didn't pause for a second. He ran straight in, + swung his head hard and butted the man square on the nose. Blood spurted and the big sword went clattering away. Kerry snatched up the blade and jammed it + in the ground beside him. Now he had two. +

+

+ "You little cretin," the man burbled through blood and snot, both hands up against his nose. "I'll kill you stone dead." +

+

+ "With what?" Kerry took his belt off, looped it round the big man's neck, pulled hard. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Jack kept the bow taut, the deadly barb aimed at the bearded man's neck and he knew he would kill him if he took a step closer to Corriwen. +

+

+ "How you doing?" Kerry saw the rip across Jack's shirt, and the black heart stone exposed on its chain. +

+

+ "Getting by," Jack called back. He didn't want to show any fear at all, no matter how tight his throat felt. Corriwen was down and nothing would get near + her as long as he was standing. Just how long that would remain the case, he had no idea. +

+

+ "Drop the bow," the fair haired man demanded. "We'll make it quick…and honourable." +

+

+ "Thanks, but no thanks," Kerry said. "Make a move and I'll take his head off." +

+

+ They wheeled round. There was a very tense moment as nobody moved a muscle. +

+

+ Then Corriwen managed to get to her feet and pulled the hood away from her head. She turned her face. The big man's expression changed from fury to wonder. +

+

+ Her face lit up and she gasped a name that Jack didn't quite catch and before he could move she was between him and the arrow and then she was in the fair + man's arms. +

+

+ "Alevin," she squealed again, unable to contain her joy. Kerry looked at Jack and he looked back, completely bewildered. +

+

+ "You know these loonies?" +

+

+ She turned from the fair man's grasp, looked at Kerry, then beyond him, and despite the bruise that was blossoming between her shoulderblades, she came + flitting across the distance, right past Kerry and threw herself into another set of arms and started kissing the bloodied man. +

+

+ "Corrie Copperhead," he managed to gasp. "After all this time, we thought you dead, little cousin. I can't believe I see you here." +

+
+

+ They had a fort, protected by a palisade of spiked logs and the narrow gulley that led to it was guarded by armed men. +

+

+ Alevin, the man with the yellow beard and Viking braids, had been Ceruin Redthorn's right-hand man. The one with the bloodied nose was Corriwen's cousin + Brodick and together they led the remnants of the regrouped armies defeated on the slaughterfields that Jack and Kerry had stumbled onto when they had come + through the Farward Gate. +

+

+ It was getting late now and the sky was deep red in the west. Corriwen could not contain her joy at finding Alevin and Brodick and their depleted army. + They could see the renewed hope in her eyes. +

+

+ They ate rough cuts of venison and thick crusty bread, sharing stories about past adventures. Alevin was a huge man, all muscle and anger, and he glared + suspiciously at Jack and Kerry, still not convinced that they were not spies in the camp. +

+

+ Kerry kept a distance from Brodick, who now had his sword back, convinced he couldn't take kindly to being beaten by a boy, but Brodick, despite the purple + bruise on his nose, ruffled his hair and grinned. +

+

+ "A real champion, this one," he said. "No swordsman, mind, but he fair took me by surprise. We could use his like to turn the tide." +

+

+ He grinned at the rest of the big fighting men. "It's the stuff of song. If you'd rather not be bled…use a rock, and then the head." +

+

+ They all laughed and Kerry went along with it, surprised at Brodick's generosity. +

+

+ Alevin was much more serious, and he had a lot to be serious about. He questioned the two of them for hours, demanding to know how they met Corriwen and + where they had come from and how they had managed to get this far. +

+

+ "So it's just a coincidence that you met Lady Corriwen in the forest, and another coincidence that you just stumbled on our redoubt here?" +

+

+ "We never knew you were here," Jack explained. +

+

+ "So you say. But Mandrake has spies everywhere. It would be easy to befriend a lost girl and win her confidence." +

+

+ "It's not been easy," Jack said. "You can believe that." +

+

+ "They have my trust," Corriwen butted in. "They have fought for me and saved me, and braved dangers to bring me this far. It is not their quest or their + battle, but they have promised to help me if they can." +

+

+ "Forgive me, Lady Corriwen," the big fellow said, quite softly, though his tone was serious. "I've come a hard road myself and there's more travail ahead. + I promised your brother I would fight on, and to do that, I have to watch everything. There's danger all around." +

+

+ "Not from Jack and Kerry." +

+

+ "You know them. I don't. We have found spies before and…" he glanced across at the boys. "We skinned them alive." +

+

+ "Out of the frying pan," Jack whispered. "I don't think he likes us." +

+

+ "We were betrayed," Alevin said. "By our own people. We did not know that Mandrake had bought other chiefs with promises of wealth. He stirred them up, + saying the Redthorn Sword was lost, and set one chief against the other in search of power. +

+

+ "We met in fair fight, but Mandrake's cunning ruined us on the day. We thought he fought for us, but he was against us, and while we won the battle, he + sent the Scree down on us when we were sick and battle-weary. It was slaughter." +

+

+ "I know," Corriwen said. "I found my brother. Killed by treachery." +

+

+ "I never saw him fall." +

+

+ "I took the knife from his back," she said, face set. "Killed by his own." +

+

+ "So we trust no-one. Forgive me, but you are still young. What do you know of war and betrayal?" +

+

+ "Because I have seen it. I have suffered it. But I also know of loyalty and friendship," she said. "And these are my loyal friends." +

+

+ Brodick nodded. "They have come a long way, three young people, barely armed, and have fought hard. +

+

+ "This stone-thrower bested me, when no Scree could. And Jackflint has saved the Lady Corriwen not just the once, but time over. Spies creep in the darkness + and hide from sight. They don't face danger if they can avoid it." +

+

+ Brodick managed to divert Alevin's suspicion, at least for now. +

+

+ "So, how did you come on us?" +

+

+ "We didn't," Jack piped up. "You came on us. We were heading north." +

+

+ "That's Mandrake's territory," Alevin said. "And the Scree. Why would you want to go there?" +

+

+ Corriwen stood up, dwarfed by these big fighting men. "I don't want to go," she said, in a small voice. "But I must. I can find the Redthorn sword." +

+

+ "What good would that do?" Alevin said. "The clans are divided now." +

+

+ "But it could make them see sense," Brodick cut in. "It has always united the chiefs in the past." +

+

+ "It's more than that," Corriwen told them. "The Bard of Undine Haven says it's the only way to put an end to all this madness." +

+

+ Alevin raised his eyebrows in question and Corriwen told him everything the Bard had shown them of Mandrake's pact with the Morrigan under the Black Barrow + in the high desert. +

+

+ "So how will you find this place, far off in the blighted lands?" +

+

+ "Oh, that's easy," Kerry broke in. "We've got a guide-book." +

+

+ Jack kicked him under the table. He didn't want to reveal any more than he had to. Any of these strangers could take the book from them and they would + never find their way home. +

+

+ But now that cat was out. Brodick and Alevin wanted to see it, so reluctantly Jack brought out the Book of Ways. As before, it opened of its own accord and + the pages riffled as if in a breeze and then stopped. The two men bent over it and everybody held their breath as the script began to write itself line by + line down the page. +

+

+ "Sorcery," Alevin muttered. "Mandrake sorcery." +

+

+ They read: +

+

+ Friend and foe together find +

+

+ Foe and friend in treason bind +

+

+ Ware the sheath that lacks a blade +

+

+ Traitor's hand a prince has slayed +

+

+ Gird for battle, gird for fight +

+

+ Flee the havoc of the night +

+

+ Flee to friends who gladly aid +

+

+ Seek the shelter of the glade. +

+

+ "Not much of a guidance, this," Alevin said. "All I see is riddles and rhymes." +

+

+ "That's the clever bit," Kerry said. "You have to work it out, but it's been right so far." +

+

+ And to prove just how right it was, the Scree attacked before dawn. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ac54c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch22.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,685 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 22 + + + + +
+
+

22

+

+ The shouts of panicked men woke Jack and Kerry in the low bunk they'd been given in a hut near the outer wall. They stumbled out into sheer mayhem. +

+

+ On the palisade walk, soldiers were firing clusters of arrows into the dark and torches flickered while something huge and heavy battered at the big timber + gate. +

+

+ "To the wall. All arms to the wall." Alevin's wide form went striding past. His twin knives dangled from his belt and he gripped a long two-handed sword. +

+

+ Scree were clambering up ladders and over the spikes, armed with clubs and curved blades like scimitars, but these Scree were different from the hunters + who had chased them half-way across Temair. They were massive, squat and ugly and all fired up with heat and violence. Jack saw one of them roll over the + spikes, with three arrows dug deep into its warty hide and it still kept coming. One of the palisade garrison hit it with an axe and almost took an arm off + at the shoulder, but the Scree only grunted, swung its club and the axe-man flopped. +

+

+ Both Jack and Kerry ducked back inside the hut. Kerry drew out the sword and Jack had his bow. Over by the boardwalk, the dead man's quiver was full of + arrows. Jack snatched it up and slung it over his shoulder. +

+

+ "Look at the size of that thing," Kerry had to shout over the clamour. Jack was looking down the length of a war arrow a yard long. He let fly and the + point took the monster under the chin. It whirled, clubbing the timbers and tumbled back over the spikes. +

+

+ "Great shot!" Arrows were singing in the air, stuttering against the barracks hut. Men and Scree were roaring battle-cries. Up on the walk, Alevin paced + beside the defenders, his fair hair pale in the torchlight. +

+

+ "Throw them back!" He bent over the palisade and his sword came down with a meaty thud and something fell away. A platoon of men were up at the gate, + firing through slits even while the great timbers buckled inwards. They stabbed long spears through, but it was clear they couldn't hold it for long. +

+

+ "We better make ourselves scarce," Kerry said. "I think we're on the losing team." +

+

+ "Where's Corriwen?" +

+

+ "Dunno. She was with her cousin and the big guy." +

+

+ "We should find her." +

+

+ "We should run like hell." +

+

+ "That too," Jack said, pulling back on the bowstring as another huge Scree popped its head over the parapet. It took an arrow in the eye and fell back + without a sound. +

+

+ "You're really getting the hang of that," Kerry clapped him on the back.. +

+

+ Just then a troop of men came surging out from behind them and almost bowled them over. Kerry was knocked to the side and carried along by the press of + bodies. Up ahead the door began to splinter and buckle. Flames were reaching up the timbers and big spears were now driving in through the arrow-slits. + Jack could see this wasn't going to end well. He ducked back into the hut and grabbed their back-pack. When he came out again, Kerry was nowhere to be + seen. +

+

+ A hand grabbed his shoulder and he spun. +

+

+ "Can you make use of that toy?" +

+

+ Jack didn't understand. +

+

+ "Can you draw the bow?" The big stranger looked enough like Alevin to be a relative. "And hit anything?" +

+

+ "I already did," Jack said. +

+

+ "They're High Crag Scree," the man said. He carried a bow six foot long and a quiver of huge arrows. "Thick skinned beasts. Neck and eyes. Let them get + close." +

+

+ "Okay," Jack said. +

+

+ "Right. Let's go to it. See what you're made of." +

+

+ "Corriwen…." +

+

+ "She's protected. The gate is not." The big fellow hustled him towards the gate which was now on the point of collapse. Something rammed through and + splinters fountained out. +

+

+ One of the defenders turned. "It won't hold, Declan." +

+

+ "So we give them a hot welcome," he said. He braced his feet and fired two arrows through the splintered wood, quick as a blink. Jack heard grunts from out + there. This close in, the flames were scorching. He rammed some arrows into the soft earth and stood beside the big man, letting loose at anything that + moved. +

+

+ Another huge crash smashed the gate off its hinges and the massive timbers tumbled inwards. Something truly huge with rugged horns curved in a tight spiral + shook a hoary head and ploughed forward, knocking defenders right and left. The Scree were already running up and over the fallen timbers in the time it + took for the gate to fall. Great clubs were swinging wildly and the sound as they hit bone and flesh was awesome. One giant of a Scree separated two beams + with bare hands, shattering them like matches, and used one beam to sweep two men out of his path. +

+

+ Declan fired non-stop. Every arrow skewered a grey throat and stopped a howling cry dead. Behind the first wave, Jack saw a tidal wave of Scree, all of + them roaring and snarling and he knew this bottleneck wouldn't hold for long. In the corner of his eye, he saw Kerry up on the palisade walk, slashing and + slicing at hands and fingers as they gripped the spikes, while big men around him used their swords against clubs and spears. Kerry kept low and out of + sight, just popping up whenever a Scree hand needed attention. +

+

+ Another front came blasting through the gateway, braving the flames that now blazed up the timbers. +

+

+ "Fall back," Declan roared. "All men to me. Fall back." +

+

+ Jack stayed close, screwing eyes up against the blast of sparks kicked up by stampeding feet. One of his arrows was stuck in the snout of the horned + monster which spun in a circle and smashed Scree and men alike, but helped block the gaping gateway for a moment. +

+

+ Two squat Scree came barging from behind the barracks huts. Declan took one and another soldier skewered the second with a pike. More shadows came shoving + up between the buildings and Jack was cut off in a desperate skirmish. He picked up a fallen dagger and hit at anything that moved before another wave of + Scree came pouring into the redoubt. He tried to call out a warning to the fighting men but as he turned he got a glimpse of a shape coming behind him. + Something glistened in the corner of his vision and then a blow felled him flat and everything went black. +

+
+

+ He came to, lying athwart a heaving boat and was immediately sick over the side. +

+

+ "You okay Jack?" +

+

+ Kerry's voice seemed to come from far off and the boat would not stop heaving. He groaned, managed to open a watery eye, and saw the ground blur past him. + It wasn't a boat. He was lying across the back of a great horse and it was running at full tilt over the heath-land. +

+

+ "Thought you were a gonner," Kerry said, grinning like a lemon wedge. "I'll never need All-Bran again, I came so close to filling my pants." +

+

+ "Gonna be s…." Jack was sick over the horse's flanks. It didn't notice. Behind them, in the distance, the redoubt was aflame and the Scree were + roaring in triumph. Jack wiped his mouth and managed to sit up behind Kerry. +

+

+ "You were down and out," Kerry said. "The guy who had this horse got spiked. It was awful." +

+

+ "What happened? Where's Corriwen?" +

+

+ "I dunno. I just got you up on this thing and took off. I can't steer it, but it's following the rest of 'em. Just hang on." +

+

+ Jack hung on and the great horse thundered behind the mass of retreating men all the way back down the road they had followed, not stopping until they came + to within a mile of the brooding Sappeling Forest and the beaten army wheeled in a confused circle. The big horse slowed and cantered up to where Alevin + was already arranging a line of defence. +

+

+ He turned and saw them and wheeled his own mount. +

+

+ "You!" He rasped. "Traitors and spies, you dare face me?" +

+

+ He drew his sword and came racing towards them. +

+

+ "Hold," another voice called out and a rider broke away from the milling horsemen. +

+

+ Alevin had his sword up, ready to slash it down at them. It could have cut both in half with one easy sweep. +

+

+ "Don't be hasty, big brother." Declan was almost as tall as Alevin, but broader in the shoulder. "They fought with us, not against us." +

+

+ "They brought the Scree." Alevin's face was a mask of fury. "I knew they were trouble." +

+

+ "We did not," Jack called out. "Mandrake uses the birds for spies. The Bard told us." +

+

+ Declan rode close, putting himself between Alevin and them. "They risked their lives with me at the gate. Mere boys, but they took many a Scree." +

+

+ Kerry stood up in the saddle. "Jack made a promise to Corriwen. All he's ever done is try to help her. So put that in your pipe and smoke it." +

+

+ One brother looked at another. Behind them, the Scree were still chanting in victory, but already hordes of them were spilling out of the redoubt +

+

+ "I have heard oaths before, all broken," Alevin says, raising his sword. Kerry twisted round in the saddle, under the sword blade even though it put him in + real danger. He ripped Jack's shirt wide open. +

+

+ "Time to play the ace" +

+

+ Alevin's sword halted in mid-strike when he saw the Red Hand on Jack's skin, and the replica of the Corona stars. +

+

+ "He wears the Red Hand," Kerry cried. "And it cost him plenty. So don't you dare call him a traitor." +

+

+ "The Red Hand. The Cullian hand." Alevin froze. His men let out a collective gasp. +

+

+ "The Coronal," Declan said. "The Bards foretelling." +

+

+ "How did you come by this?" Alevin demanded. +

+

+ "No time," Jack said. He realised how close it had been. But now he had to act. The Scree were haring over the heath in pursuit, knowing the men were + trapped against the forest wall. +

+

+ Alevin wheeled the horse to face the beleaguered men. "We stand here, brave men. It may be our last, but we will take many with us." +

+

+ "Run for the trees," Jack cried. "Into the forest." +

+

+ Another gasp went through the ranks. +

+

+ "No," Alevin said. Beside him his brother nodded agreement and made a hand sign that Kerry thought looked like the evil eye. "Sappeling Wood is forbidden. + It has evil magic. No one returns." +

+

+ "We did," Jack said. "You will be safe." He looked over his shoulder at the approaching Scree outrunners. "But they won't. Trust me this once." +

+

+ His eyes held Alevin's. "I swear you will be safe." +

+

+ "Aye, don't worry," Kerry says. "We've got some good wee friends." +

+

+ Alevin sat stock still for a moment. He glanced at his brother, then at the men who waited his command. Jack knew he was considering which death he + preferred. Out here it was certain. +

+

+ Finally he shrugged. +

+

+ "Even to Tir-Nan-Og if we must," he said. "Lead then, Coronal." +

+

+ Jack and Kerry dismounted the great horse and led the trapped and bloodied fighters into the depths of the wood. +

+
+

+ 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 +

+

+ When the attack erupted in the darkness, she had woken with a start, but her knives were already in her hands. Flames were crackling at the gate and the + heavy thuds told her it would not last long. The clash of arms was ringing out and men were running along the parapet, hacking and slicing, but it was + clear this was a desperate situation. +

+

+ She had eased out of the doorway. Out towards the gate, men were fighting and big Scree were pouring in a wave over the burning gate which had been knocked + off its hinges. Declan's bull-roar came across the yard and somewhere on the wall, Alevin responded. All was mayhem. +

+

+ Two Scree came thudding down the passage between two long houses and passed her in the shadows. Without a thought she flicked both blades out, fast as a + wasp, and stung them both in the belly, two quick jabs and then she whirled away from them, leaving them bawling in the dark. +

+

+ Beyond the longhouses, men had set a defensive line, with archers behind spearmen, taking on a wall of Scree who tried to smash them down with big clubs + and their curved hack-swords. The beast that had battered down the gates was milling about in the yard, hooking and stamping and adding to the confusion. + The smell of blood and smoke and fear was thick in the air. +

+

+ A massive Scree, one of the High Crag fighters, half a head bigger than the ones who had captured her before, came in swinging a hammer to smash at the + spears. Corriwen used her slight stature to best advantage. The Scree were looking for warriors. She sneaked between the legs of the spearmen and hamstrung + the Scree with a swift slash and when he toppled sideways a spear took him in the throat, but she was already gone. +

+

+ She rounded the barracks hut, scanning the jumble of whirling bodies for Jack and Kerry and thought she saw Kerry up on the palisade hacking at fingers, + but she couldn't be sure, She wheeled round the corner and found two Scree fighting double-handed against a handful of men, using their weight and + hide-thick skins to barrel their way through. She sneaked in and managed to chop at a heel and the big creature roared, spun and almost took her head off + with the first swipe. She stumbled back and it shot out a great grey hand and snatched at her. The grip was so strong she was lifted straight off her feet + and she felt sharp nails dig into her flesh. The Scree opened its mouth, raised its blade in a low arc and swung at her while she dangled. +

+

+ Another sword flashed in from the side, like a bolt of lightning, and the Scree's arm went whirling away, still grasping the sword. The second blow cleaved + the ugly thing from its narrow skull to chin and the hand that held her opened and dropped her. She landed, rolled fast, and Brodick leant down from the + great horse, caught her by the hood and swung her up behind him. +

+

+ "They've over-run us." +

+

+ She could see that, but she was grateful. Brodick wheeled the steed around, used its weight and its massive hooves to trample a way through the wall of + Scree, slashing and smiting as he went, caving them up. Corriwen held to his belt and stabbed at faces and eyes as they fought their way through. +

+

+ The gate was well alight and all the men had pulled back. Brodick turned the horse, but by then the barracks was over-run ands the defenders had left the + palisade. +

+

+ "Hold tight," Brodick shouted, spun the horse back. The horned thing that had battered the gate was stampeding round the open square, slamming its great + head into walls and posts, maddened by the smoke and the smell of blood. The great horse leapt over its broad back and they crushed half a dozen Scree as + they came pounding through the gateway. He slashed down, urging the horse on and then they were into the dark, wheeling to the side away from the onrushing + attackers and in a few seconds they were out of sight of the redoubt, running at a gallop, leaving the mayhem behind. +

+

+ They rode all night, only slowing to a halt when the smoke and fire was just a glimmer in the distance, but Brodick kept up. Corriwen knew that he'd had no + option but to smash a way through, and told him so. +

+

+ "I should have stayed," he said. "They will think I fled." +

+

+ "I saw you fight. And you saved me too. There was nothing else to do." +

+

+ "We've lost the redoubt. And many have died." +

+

+ "And many Scree too," she shot back. "Did you see my friends?" +

+

+ "One was on the wall. The stone-thrower. The other…." He turned his head away. +

+

+ "What?" Corriwen demanded. +

+

+ "I saw him fall," Brodick said, almost a whisper. "He was struck down." +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ The woods enfolded them in inky shadow and the men were afraid, men who had fought a savage battle against thousands of Scree were so afraid they could not + speak. Dawn was just breaking, but here in the woods, only a few paces in from the forest edge, it was all gloom. Jack led the way, with Kerry leading the + great horse by its reins. Alevin and Declan walked close, scanning around, expecting devils or ghosts or whatever they had been brought up to believe. Jack + knew the truth was just as strange as anything they could imagine. +

+

+ He had promised they would be safe, and that had been a gamble. The Leprechaun had told him he was welcome. But he had said nothing about other people. +

+

+ The upside was that the Leprechaun people had nothing against men. But they hated the Scree. That had to stand in their favour. +

+

+ They walked on, stirring up leaves and loam underfoot. Twigs crackled. Behind them on the heath, the approaching Scree were roaring and snarling, moving + fast, beating war clubs against shields in steady drum-beats. Jack could tell some of the men wanted to turn back and face them and die like heroes. Jack + did not want to die, like a hero or anything else. He wanted to stay alive and find what had happened to Corriwen Redthorn. +

+

+ They topped a rise and down into a leafy dell and Jack stopped all of a sudden as the hairs went walking on the back of his neck. They were not alone. +

+

+ The forest had been empty and now they were surrounded. He could feel the eyes on him. +

+

+ He held a hand up, trying to think of something to say. +

+

+ A pair of eyes blinked at him from a vast tree-trunk. Something else shoved its way out. Shapes were scrambling slowly down a trunk. +

+

+ "Hello," Jack called out. "If you can hear me, we need shelter again." +

+

+ "I hear you, Journeyman," the crackly voice whispered out. Jack strained his eyes. +

+

+ A shape emerged right in front of him and the old leprechaun held up its twiggy fingers. +

+

+ "Welcome again to our glades." +

+

+ "Thank you," Jack replied. Alevin walked forward, with his brother by his side. +

+

+ "What is this…?" Alevin began. He was staring at the old creature as if he had seen a devil. +

+

+ "And how did he come from that tree?" +

+

+ "It's a long story," Jack said. "Let the old guy talk. It's his forest." +

+

+ "Battle weary and bloodied," the old thing said. "But not beaten." +

+

+ "Well beaten," Alevin said. "Too many of them." +

+

+ "We see them come. They are not welcome in our glades. They have not learned that lesson." He held up his hand to the brothers. "Friends of Redthorn, + shelter here in the heartwood. The Scree beasts come at their peril." +

+

+ "But they'll come anyway," Declan said. +

+

+ "The heartwood knows," the old thing said. "The heartwood remembers." +

+

+ "What's he talking about?" +

+

+ The Scree entered the forest, still clattering shields and swords, blood boiling and hackles high. They had smashed their way into the redoubt and sent the + men to flight. Now was the time to finish the job and take what reward Mandrake would give them. +

+

+ The old Leprechaun led the bloodied warriors along the pathways and into the deep wood where he finally stopped them at the dell where Jack, Kerry and + Corriwen had listened to his stories. +

+

+ "Rest and root," he said. The glade's trees were filled with the little creatures, great polished eyes unblinking in the lightening gloom. "Be at ease." +

+

+ He merged into the shadows between two tall buttressed roots. +

+

+ "Where did he go?" Declan demanded. He whirled round, scanning the trees. All the leprechaun were gone. +

+

+ "It's a hell of a neat trick," Kerry told him. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ "Finish them, us will," one of the others said. "Stamp them down." +

+

+ The forest was silent now as they waited for him to speak. No birds sang. No leaf moved. They had come deep into the woods, following the trail of broken + twigs and the smell of blood and sweat, but it was silent here. +

+

+ "Find them," the big Scree growled. "Kill them all." The others repeated his orders in deep hoarse mutters. +

+

+ The captain raised his great curved blade. "Crush their bones and eat their brains." +

+

+ He slashed at a low branch close to his head and it fell to the ground. And the ground shivered under his feet. +

+

+ A shadow blurred from the leaf litter, so quickly that none of them saw it clearly. The captain disappeared in a puff of dead leaves. +

+

+ "Where he go, him?" The Scree scratched their heads swinging round, baffled. A couple went forward. The captain was on the ground. His eyes were rolling + and his mouth opened and shut with a click of big flat teeth. The first trooper stepped back. The leader was not on the ground. He was in it. Only + his head showed above the leaf litter. +

+

+ "How you get there?" one of them asked as he bent to help him up. +

+

+ Just as he moved forward, something flashed out from above and caught him by the ankles and whipped him right off his feet. He yelled in fright, grabbed at + the ground to save himself. His hands found the captain's head and he grasped it. Whatever pulled at his feet yanked hard and whipped him upwards. The + captain's head came with him, dripping blood, glaring at him with ferocious dying eyes. The second Scree looked in amazement as the captain's head + scattered droplets in a spray and in a flick of green, the other soldier simply disappeared into the canopy. There was no sign of the Captain's body, but + the head came tumbling down from above, followed by a huge and hollow scream. +

+

+ "What's happenin'? Eh?" +

+

+ The trooper looked around him, blinking slowly. "Gone, him." +

+

+ The group of Scree whirled around. They were all crowded together shoulder to shoulder. Something came fluttering down from on high and one of them + snatched at it. It was just a seed, whirling down on a brown papery vane. Another one fell. It disappeared down the Scree's tunic. Another helicoptered + from up there and hit the ground, and more followed it until the air was thick with a snowstorm of seedfall, all whirling silently from the leaves up + above. +

+

+ "Just seeds," the second-in-command growled. "Come on. Lets us kill men." He scratched at his neck. A seed landed on his head and stuck to his warty skin. + He scratched again and the papery vane broke off. But the seed stuck like glue to his warty skin. Beside him, another trooper tried to brush something from + his eye and then let out a curse. +

+

+ "Burns, this," he gasped. He tried to pluck the seed from his eyelid and when he did, the skin puckered outwards. He pulled harder and the skin ripped + away. The big Scree grunted in pain. +

+

+ Little bloody roots dangled from the seed. Blood filled his eye. Beside him, another Scree soldier was scrabbling at his cheek where three seeds had stuck + fast. The skin there was already squirming and bulging as rootlets dug in. +

+

+ "Gerrit offa me," he bawled, trying to dig horny nails in to prise the thing off. He spun, wheeling and kicking up dead leaves and barged in between the + great root buttresses of a tall tree. His face hit the rough bark, and quicker than the eye could follow, the buttresses closed around him with a meaty + snap. +

+

+ By now, the Scree troop were twisting and writhing, all plans for pursuit gone as they scratched and clawed at their skin where hundreds of little seeds + were driving roots deep into flesh and bone and growing fast. A big club-wielder fell over a log, face first into the loam, while on his warty back, little + seedlings wavered upwards and roots snaked deep inside, paralyzing muscle and flesh. +

+

+ He screamed then, surprisingly high for such a big creature, but the screams were ignored by the rest of the troop who were grunting and moaning all + around, unable to comprehend just what was happening top them,. +

+

+ Way in the depths of the forest Jack and Kerry heard the commotion. Alevin and Declan had arranged the men on the ridge of the dell, all armed and ready, + and when they heard the mayhem out in the shadows, Alevin led the men forward slowly through the undergrowth. Up in the trees, the little forest creatures + watched them impassively. +

+

+ Over the ridge Jack and Kerry stood frozen, ready with sword and bow, as the Scree milled about, barging into trunks and crashing through bushes, all of + them now panicked and bawling in terror. +

+

+ A big mountain trooper swung his club wildly against his own skin, trying to beat off the growths that now covered him from head to chest and writhed along + his thick arms. +

+

+ Another lurched against a smooth-barked trunk and as soon as he fell against it, the bark oozed a golden resin that simply gushed out from the wood and + covered the Scree like toffee. In mere seconds, the trooper was stuck like a fly in amber, its struggles growing more feeble as the resin hardened, pinning + him against the trunk like a statue. The club slowly dripped to the ground, trailing a sticky mass. +

+

+ On the far side of the clearing, more Scree were forcing into the forest, following the roars of their fellows. It sounded like a battle. +

+

+ As soon as they flooded the clearing, the trees behind them suddenly came alive. Gnarled branches reached wooden fingers down and snatched them up from the + ground. Roots as wide as man's thighs snaked out of the ground with explosive force and coiled around them, dragging them, bawling and screaming, back into + the earth. +

+

+ Ivy grew at lightning speed up legs and smothered some of the grey fighters. Thorns spiked eyes and faces and Scree screeched in terror and pain as the + forest fed. +

+

+ It seemed to go on for hours, but it could only have been minutes, as Jack and Kerry and Alevin's fighters watched in horrified fascination as the trees + took their revenge on the High Crag Scree who had come into the forest before and cut down the heartwood for Mandrake's timber. +

+

+ One by one, in sudden vanishings or in slow stranglings, the Scree were overwhelmed and clubs and spears fell to the ground from horny hands until they + were all gone, every one, drawn back down into the earth to feed the living roots. The forest smelt of blood and fear and the goat-smell of frightened + Scree, but that was all that remained. +

+

+ After a while, the forest became very quiet and the motion stopped. +

+

+ Finally Alevin turned to Jack. +

+

+ "What devilry is this?" +

+

+ "It's good magic," Jack replied. "The leprechaun just saved your lives." +

+

+ "I never saw such a thing," Declan agreed. "Nor would wish to, either, even if it was for our best." +

+

+ "So what now?" Kerry asked. +

+

+ "We find Corriwen," Jack said. "She's not with us. And there's another thing." +

+

+ "What's that?" +

+

+ Jack pulled his shirt open. The red hand and the crown of stars stood out clearly on his bare skin. +

+

+ "The stone's gone. And so has the book." His face was grim. "Somebody stole them." +

+

+ "What happened?" +

+

+ "I don't know. But whoever hit me must have taken them, and we have to find them. We need them both to get home, and we need the book to help Corriwen if + we can find her." +

+

+ "Some treachery, I fear," came a voice behind them. The old leprechaun slowly made his way towards them. "A new twist, it seems to me." +

+

+ "What's he saying?" Declan wanted to know, but the words were hardly out of his mouth when a sound like a gunshot cracked in the distance, way out beyond + the glade. For a second there was silence and then, from nowhere, a fiery streak soared above them, like a shooting star. +

+

+ All of the men looked up just as the fireball crashed into the canopy of a huge tree and showered sparks all around. The leprechauns who peered down at + them scrambled for shelter, twittering like monkeys in their twiggy little voices. +

+

+ Another fireball came whooping in, sizzling as it arced through the branches, and smacked into the undergrowth. Dead leaves and dry twigs erupted into + flames. +

+

+ "Fire arrows," Alevin said. "They used them before." +

+

+ The old leprechaun's face went completely still. He closed his eyes, raised his knobbly fingers and from high above them came a steady rain of sticky sap. + It came in a sudden downpour, as clear as water, and the flaming bushes began to hiss and gutter. +

+

+ "You helped us, wood-sprite," Alevin said. "Now we help you." +

+

+ He called all the men to him and they came round in a circle, leading their great horses. +

+

+ "We take some revenge now," he said. "No quarter for Scree." +

+

+ The men all nodded silently and began to mount. The old leprechaun made another motion with his hands and somewhere above them, Jack saw little bodies + moving fast through the branches, carried along in that fluid motion as the trees whisked them away and they were gone. +

+

+ "He's up to something," Kerry whispered. +

+

+ Alevin wheeled the men and the boys clambered back up onto their horse and followed the cavalcade back the way they had fled. All the fighters had drawn + swords and had bows at the ready. They moved silently in file for a mile or more until they reached the edge of the forest. Out there, the Scree had pulled + up wagons with huge bows. They were drawing the strings back on pulleys and massive arrows, ten feet or more in length, wrapped in burning tar, were sent + flying high into the air over the trees. Alevin gathered the men in a charge formation. Jack and Kerry were on the left flank. +

+

+ "Looks like its fun time again," Kerry said. +

+

+ "Let's stay out of this," Jack replied. "It's their fight. We have to find Corriwen." +

+

+ Just as he spoke, tiny shapes beyond the fringe of trees caught his eye as they loped out from the shelter, using grassy tussocks as cover, swift as + rabbits towards the Scree bowmen. +

+

+ "The little people," he said. "What are they up to?" +

+

+ Alevin raised his sword, brought it down, and the cavalcade of great horses came charging out from the forest, straight towards the Scree who were so + intent on setting fire to the forest that the charge took them by surprise. But even before the horsemen reached them, something quite amazing happened. +

+

+ The little forest people raced right up to the bows, silent as mice and blurringly fast, and then, in a matter of seconds, the huge bows began to twist and + tilt. One of the Scree archers bawled in alarm as the massive curve eased upwards as thick roots simply swelled out of the ground and wrapped themselves + around the shafts. The pulley-rope gave way and the flaming arrow, instead of arcing over the forest, went flying backwards into the mass of Scree troops. + It cut a sizzling line through them, scattering them like chaff. Another bow tilted as roots grasped and twisted, then broke with a snap, sending sharp + shards scattering like grapeshot into the Scree. +

+

+ Before Alevin and his men had crossed half the distance, the roots had thickened to huge, rippling snake-shapes and had crushed and smashed all of the bows + and surrounded the panicked Scree in a writhing barrier.. +

+

+ Alevin rode right in to the middle of the enemy, his sword flashing like lightning, and his men roared in fury as they fell upon the terrified Scree and + cut them down like wheat while the mysterious living roots snared the Scree attackers who were now trapped in a seething, twisting corral of living wood. +

+

+ It was slaughter, pure and simple. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54a669e --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch23.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,378 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 23 + + + + +
+
+

23

+

+ They had travelled a difficult road since the battle of the forest. They were hungry and saddlesore, but Jack knew he had to keep going, even when he was + half asleep behind Kerry on the great horse as it trudged up into the dry mountains beyond the plain. +

+

+ Declan followed close behind, guarding the rear, while Kerry found the trail and Jack used the compass in his head to keep them heading northwards when + mist covered the high land at night and blocked out the stars. The little Leprechaun they had saved from the bird clung precariously to the horse's neck, + eyes tight shut. He didn't like wide open spaces. +

+

+ The nights were cold and the days scorched and none of them knew how far they would have to travel. +

+

+ Without the Book of Ways, they were lost, and without the obsidian heart stone, they might never find a way back, but Jack was determined to keep + them moving. +

+

+ The old Leprechaun had taken Jack and Kerry aside. "My brothers, and the heartwood, thank you for saving this sapling from the catcher-bird. You have a + long and hard road to travel, and how it will go is hidden in shade. But there are ways and there are ways. And if the forest can help, our sapling will do + what he can." +

+

+ At that, the little creature, hardly more than knee-high, clambered up the stirrups and clung to the mane. When they left the shelter of the trees, it + clamped its eyes shut tight and rode on the horse's neck, while Kerry sought the route ahead. +

+

+ Jack was convinced that Corriwen had either escaped from the burning redoubt, or that she had been captured. They had searched the smouldering ruins, + ignoring the smell and the clouds of flies that covered the bodies of the dead Scree, but found no sign at all, and no sign was a good sign, Jack thought. + It confirmed she was still alive. +

+

+ He had already sensed that. There was no empty hollow in his heart that would have told him otherwise. +

+

+ Jack had no idea who had felled him; didn't know who had stolen the stone and the book, but he knew that first they had to find Corriwen. +

+

+ He had made a promise. +

+

+ It was Kerry who found the first signs. He had scouted along the trail north on foot, after someone said he remembered Corriwen had been with her cousin + Brodick when the main gate had been smashed open. +

+

+ "He was horsed, is what I recall," the scarred fellow had said as he sharpened his sword on a whetstone. +

+

+ Five miles up the track, Kerry found a piece of cloth snagged on a hawthorn bush and thought it might be from Corriwen's hood-cloak. Further on, he found a + strand of red hair caught in an overhead branch, about the same height as a rider might have been. It was the colour of spun copper. +

+

+ Alevin called a meeting of the troop leaders. +

+

+ "This young Coronal deserves our thanks, and my apologies," Alevin started. Declan stood beside him, silent and broad, solid as rock. +

+

+ "I called him traitor, but he repaid us by saving us." Alevin put his hand on Jack's shoulder. Kerry beamed with pride. "He bears the Red Hand of Cullian, + and the sign of the Corona. Just as the Bards told us it would be. His coming here is surely a sign." +

+

+ Jack didn't know what to say to that. He felt a blush creep from under his collar and kept his eyes firmly on the ground. +

+

+ "The Lady Corriwen is gone, but we believe Brodick may have saved her from the Scree. It may be that Mandrake's forces have taken her, but I think she is + alive. +

+

+ "We have hard battles ahead, but we are not dead until they put pebbles on our eyes, so hope lives on." +

+

+ The men nodded agreement. +

+

+ "So, will you fight with me to break this curse of Mandrake?" +

+

+ Every man raised a right hand and made a fist. They swore to fight on. +

+

+ "And now," Alevin said, "we must listen to what this young Coronal has to say. Because it seems Mandrake is not our true enemy. Behind him is something + much worse." +

+

+ He motioned Jack forward. "Jackflint and Stone-thrower. We owe you a debt. It will be some time before we can repay you, so we will borrow more. Tell the + captains what they need to know." +

+

+ Jack shuffled again, aware of all those eyes on him, and even more aware of how big and strong and old they seemed. It made him feel his lack of experience + and lack of years. +

+

+ "All I can say is what the Bard told me," Jack began. "The Bard of Undine Water. Finbar." +

+

+ He raised his head, focussed on Declan. "Mandrake, he's trying to raise something up. Something called the Morrigan." +

+

+ A murmur rippled round the men. Some made signs in the air with their hands. +

+

+ "Long ago, your people buried her somewhere in the desert," Jack continued, still nervous. "Or the High Barrens, whatever you call them, but Mandrake found + where they put her. He's learned how to get her out. By breaking a spell. You call it a geas?" +

+

+ "Old stories tell of the Bane-Shee curse," Declan said. +

+

+ "That's why he's building the dam, and cutting a channel through the hills. He thinks if he floods the desert, then she'll get loose." +

+

+ "And if she does," Alevin said quietly, "then the battle and all else is lost." +

+

+ "That's what the Bard says," Jack agreed. "We said we'd help Corriwen find the place, so whether she's been captured or gone on ahead, we still have to get + there. That's where your sword is. The Redthorn sword." +

+

+ One of the Captains stepped forward. +

+

+ "No-one knows where the Black Barrow lies. The salt desert is blasted lands. Nothing grows there and if you travel there, you're walking dead." +

+

+ "I promised to help Corriwen find her father's sword," Jack said. "We know we have to go north, and Kerry here's a good tracker. If anybody can find her, + he can." +

+

+ He raised his eyes again. "But you have to destroy the dam before the water gets too high. And you have to stop them cutting through the mountains. If you + can do that, then everything might be all right. At least we might have a chance." +

+

+ "A chance is more than we've had for a while," Declan said. +

+

+ "So it seems," Alevin said, "we have three ways to go. To find the Redthorn sword. To find the Lady Corriwen. And to prevent Mandrake breaking the geas." +

+

+ Jack held a hand up. "I want to find Corriwen." +

+

+ "As do we all," Alevin said. "This is what we will do." +

+

+ Very quickly he laid out a plan for Jack and Kerry to follow her trail, while he would ride hard to the dam and do their best to destroy it. +

+

+ Declan agreed with most of it, but he stood for a while and scratched at his yellow beard. +

+

+ "I'm thinking," he said, "that two boys alone won't get far." +

+

+ "We've done okay up until now," Kerry said. +

+

+ "Aye, maybe, but you never walked those blasted lands before. Me neither. But if you've no objections, you'll need a strong arm at your back. I say I take + the road with you." +

+

+ Jack looked at Kerry. He had seen Declan slaughter those big Scree when the gate fell. Strong arm was one way to describe him. Jack smiled. +

+

+ "I think that would be a really good idea," he said. +

+

+ A week later, they were getting close to the mountain plain and Jack knew they were on the right track. Corriwen had left a trail for them to follow. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ 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 + moving. They could sense Mandrake's evil and would have bolted if they hadn't been strapped in harness. +

+

+ Mandrake was alone in the wagon, covered with hides to keep the daylight out. He was talking again, talking to himself, so the renegade chiefs tried to + make themselves believe, but they had heard the strange two-way conversation coming from his mouth in harsh scrapy voices. Despite their betrayal of the + Redthorn chief, they would have killed Mandrake for his madness if his power hadn't been so great. +

+

+ But his power was indeed great. The heads of the Scree who had limped home, wounded and bleeding after the battle outside Sappeling Wood, were spiked on + banner-poles, eyeless, noseless and earless. Mandrake might have been incandescent with rage at the time, but cutting up Scree cowards had calmed him a + little. +

+

+ Now as he travelled westwards, gibbering in the darkness, he planned to destroy the renegades, and there would be no more to worry about. +

+

+ Behind him, the great storm the Morrigan had conjured, swirled in a black maelstrom. Under the ferocious clouds rain poured incessantly, filling the lake + that was building behind his dam. +

+

+ The news had come in the night when Mandrake had been walking on the rim of the dam spanning the river gorge. Behind the massive wooden barrier, the waters + were high, and tossed by violent winds, swamping the valley behind it as the river backed up. Already the pressure was making the dam creak alarmingly, but + Mandrake knew it would hold for long enough. +

+

+ Two miles up from the dam, the people who had farmed the Redthorn lands now slaved, men, women and children, young and old, chipping and cutting at the + stone of the thin ridge, driving a chasm towards the flooded valley. Already water was seeping through cracks in rainbow sprays, making the work even more + treacherous, but Mandrake had no concerns for the diggers. +

+

+ There were more of them now, and work was faster, after the rest of the Scree failures from Sappeling Wood had been sent there as their punishment. +

+

+ "They'll all come out in the wash," he had cackled, and his retainers had laughed along with him, afraid not to join in. +

+

+ The time was almost at hand. The waters would soon be through. +

+

+ Visions came to him, along with the hunger that was always with him. Her hunger. +

+

+ The visions were of death, blood and bones; of savagery and destruction and he gave himself to the hunger. He saw cracks razor across stony ground and + brimstone erupt from fissures and hellish things crawl from the deep dark. He saw flying beasts with skeletal faces filling the air, drawn from a foul + underworld where her word was law. +

+

+ He saw Temair ravaged but raised again under his rule. Under their rule. He saw infinite power in his hands. +

+

+ But…and there was always a but. +

+

+ The girl had slipped through his fingers again; the boy had escaped, with the key-stone that would open worlds to their oppression. +

+

+ "Break the geas," his voice cackled. They heard it from outside the wagon, high and shrill; the voice of a hag. "Dismantle the curse that + has bound us." +

+

+ "So nearly there," his other voice responded. "The water is high and the dam holds. The cleft is almost cut through. The flood is imminent." +

+

+ "We find him or else all is lost. World upon world." +

+

+ "Nowhere else to hide. The fools destroyed the fort. They are all on the run." +

+

+ "He escapes us again and again. Everything conspires against us." +

+

+ "Luck, only luck. He is a pup. A piglet. He cannot escape us now." +

+

+ "We must have it. We must have it. The Journeyman's Key. Find him. Find the heart stone." + The cackling voice grew to a screech. "Find him. Kill him. Break his bones; eat his brains." +

+

+ "But give me my KEY! + " +

+

+ The black wagon rolled on at a gallop, and the voices inside it continued to screech, while the Scree ran alongside, ready for battle. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ They had come so far together, Corriwen and Jack and Kerry Malone. +

+

+ Now it was just her and her cousin Brodick, and despite the anguish she felt, the empty space in her heart where she had held her two friends close, she + knew she had to live with the ache of loss and keep travelling. +

+

+ She had questioned Brodick about the night of the battle, but all he could tell her was that he had seen Jack fall in the melee, felled by a Scree club. +

+

+ "Could he have lived?" +

+

+ Brodick shrugged and put an arm around her shoulder. +

+

+ "It was a heavy blow," he said gently. "and he wore no armour." +

+

+ They had ridden for seven days now, ever northwards through stony country and then up to this dry place where the rocks were ground by wind into dry sand. + She kept looking back the way they had come, in case Kerry might have found their trail. Corriwen had cut pieces of her cloak and tied them to scrubby + branches. Twice she had used her knife to cut locks of her own hair and leave them as markers, just in case. The Salt Barrens were to the north. How far, + neither of them knew. No-one in living memory had ever travelled there. No one, except mad Mandrake. +

+

+ She had sat behind Brodick, holding to his belt, glad of the closeness and fellowship of her cousin who had stood over her and fought Scree before they + could catch her. She owed him a debt she could never repay. Now he was her protector for the final part of this awful journey. He would keep her safe if he + could. +

+

+ "We must go North," she had insisted, when he had veered the great horse east. +

+

+ "There's nothing there but mountains and blasted lands," he said. "It's been cursed since the old days." +

+

+ "That's why we have to go there," she said. "That's where the Redthorn sword is. Without it, Temair will never be whole again." +

+

+ "It's only a sword," he said. +

+

+ "It's Cullian's sword," she answered quickly. "It has been handed down the generations and kept Temair united against all evil. Mandrake has used it to + wake her, so the Bard says. The burden is on my shoulders, and I have to carry it for the sake of my brother and father and for Temair." +

+

+ He shrugged. "It's not where I would choose to travel, but if your mind is made up." +

+

+ "I haven't the pleasure of choice. I wish there was another way, but there isn't." +

+

+ "Well," he smiled and ruffled her hair, the way cousins can, even with a Redthorn. "If that's the way it is, there's no point arguing, once the dice are + thrown." +

+

+ "They rolled out long ago." +

+

+ "So it's up to the blasted lands then," he said. +

+

+ When she woke, Brodick was just a dark shape. The sky was inky in the east and in the west, it was still aglow with the dying day. She rubbed her eyes, + tried to ignore the fierce ache in her heart, and when she opened them again, she saw the cloud in the western sky. +

+

+ It glowed a fiery red, lit by the embers of the sun. +

+

+ And it hung in the sky, in the shape of a handprint against the cobalt blue. +

+

+ The red hand of Cullian + . +

+

+ Corriwen's heart did a slow, lazy flip. She blinked against the glare of the fiery cloud, leant back against the saddle. Directly overhead, she saw the + Corona blaze, five points of light like jewels on dark velvet. The stars held her eyes and as she watched, with the red hand glowing in peripheral vision, + out of the evening sky flew five swans, flying high enough to catch the dying rays of the sun. +

+

+ They flew, not in the chevron formation she had watched every spring when the water-birds came back home, but in a semi circle. +

+

+ They soared overhead and the last light caught their beating wings until, miraculously, each bird covered each star in a fantastic shimmer of light just as + they flew into the sun's shadow, causing the corona to flare like torches before the birds vanished into darkness +

+

+ At that moment Corriwen Redthorn knew, deep inside herself, heart and soul, that Jack Flint was still alive. +

+

+ The bards had sent her a sign. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbc9ab6 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch24.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,402 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 24 + + + + +
+
+

24

+

+ Kerry picked up the trail just as Jack was losing hope. Seven days north, they were thirsty and tired and swaying from lack of sleep. Big Declan didn't + look any different. He rode his horse as if glued to the saddle and kept a weather eye for signs of pursuit. +

+

+ The little Leprechaun, clinging to the horse's neck made very little conversation. When he did, his voice sounded like twigs in a winter wind. +

+

+ "He's scared witless," Kerry said. +

+

+ "He's not the only one," Jack replied. "This is a scary place." +

+

+ All around them the land was rising and the scrub bushes had given way to boulder-strewn tracks that seemed to lead nowhere. It was sere and windswept and + it was days since they had passed the last, empty hamlet where the people had left in a hurry. +

+

+ "Taken from their homes," Declan said, eyebrows drawn together in anger. "Taken to dig for Mandrake. Free men now slaves." +

+

+ Seven days out and Kerry had found the half circle of white stones, close to the ashes of a cold campfire, and Jack instantly knew she had left them + another message besides the fiery locks of hair. He fingered the marks on his chest. +

+

+ "The Corona," he said. "It has to be her." +

+

+ Declan hunkered down, stabbing his sword into the dry ashes. They could see the muscles stand out under his shirt. His twin sheathes hung almost to the + ground. +

+

+ As he bent to finger the ashes to determine how fresh they were, Kerry nudged Jack in the ribs. +

+

+ "He's lost a knife." +

+

+ Jack looked down and saw the hilt at Declan's waist. Its twin was missing. The boys exchanged a glance, but said nothing. They were both thinking the same + thing. +

+

+ Ware the sheath that lacks a blade +

+

+ Traitor's hand a prince has slayed +

+

+ The Book of Ways might be cryptic and hard to puzzle out, but not this time. And it hadn't been wrong yet. Its warning was clear. +

+

+ Jack looked at Kerry and Kerry looked back. +

+

+ "What do you think?" +

+

+ Jack shook his head. "I don't know." +

+

+ Declan stood and his plaid cloak swung round to hide the sheaths. +

+

+ "Only a day ahead," he said. "The ashes are dry. We'll find her soon." +

+

+ "Great," Jack forced himself to say." +

+

+ Kerry lit a fire and they ate a thin broth before Declan rolled himself up in his plaid and went instantly to sleep close to the fire, one hand on his + sword. From where they sat, Jack and Kerry could see the twin sheaths, one now empty where a knife should be. +

+

+ "I think we're in a bit of trouble," Kerry whispered, when Declan's slow breathing told him the big man was asleep. +

+

+ "We should go by the book," Jack agreed. "Alevin says there was a traitor. And the book hasn't been wrong so far. And something's been bothering me. I + don't think it was a Scree who stole it." +

+

+ "Why not?" +

+

+ "They're not bright. And how would they know what I had? But others knew I had the book and the stone." +

+

+ "You think it was him." Kerry asked, nodding towards Declan. +

+

+ "We'll soon find out." +

+

+ "So what do we do?" +

+

+ "A man's gotta do…." +

+

+ "Like what?" +

+

+ "We've got to get away from him. I trust what the Book tells us. And I don't believe in co-incidences. Not any more." +

+

+ "Me neither. But he'll come after us." +

+

+ "Not if we do it right." +

+

+ "You going to kill him?" +

+

+ They stared at each other for a long moment. +

+

+ "Maybe it won't come to that. But if he tries to stop us, then…." He left the rest unsaid. +

+

+ "Don't worry. We'll find her, whatever it takes." +

+

+ "I know. We find her and help her get this sword and then we get out of here if we can." +

+

+ "Can we find the gate?" +

+

+ "We have to find it," Jack said earnestly. "Or we'll be stuck here for good. But I've been thinking about what the Bard said, and what the old + Leprechaun told me. They've seen the stone before. And the Leprechaun told me I had Cullain's sap in me. I think he came through the Farward Gate a long + time ago. Maybe he was an ancestor of mine or something." +

+

+ "Yeah, right. I knew you read too many fairy stories." +

+

+ "Like I said, none of this is coincidence," Jack replied. "Maybe it's a test. And I think my father did use these gates. That's what a journeyman does. + That's why we have to get back, because the Major knows it all. I never knew what happened to my father when I was a baby. But maybe, just maybe + he went through one of those other gates and never came back." +

+

+ "What difference would that make?" +

+

+ "Maybe if he did, he's still out there somewhere. Some other world. Maybe he needs the heart-stone to get back. I could have a chance of finding him." +

+

+ "I'll say this for you, Jack," Kerry said said, turning over to get comfortable. "You've got a hell of an imagination. But what I don't get, is what am I + supposed to do?" +

+

+ "You're part of it as much as me. Over here, you can read. You can use the sling. That's got to be for something. And we need each other. You're the best + friend I ever had." +

+

+ "More like the only one." Kerry managed a grin. "Okay, we find Corrie, then we look for the gate. Then what?" +

+

+ "We get you home. And then I have to work out the next move." +

+

+ "Home? That's okay for you to say. I don't care if I never see the place again. What have I got? My old man doesn't care. Everybody calls me a thick + bogtrotter. I even get my shoes in Oxfam. I'm nobody. Over here, I might be scared to death half the time. But I am somebody." +

+

+ "You want to stay here?" +

+

+ Kerry shrugged. "I want to stick with you." +

+
+

+ 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 + about them, the more concerned he became. Finally, unable to leave it alone, he had to move. +

+

+ He eased himself up and crept silently towards where Declan's horse grazed the sparse vegetation. The big beast backed up and Jack tried to calm it as he + reached high to the saddle-bags. As quietly as he could he opened the nearest and rummaged inside. There was no book, no stone. +

+

+ In the dim glow of the embers, he crawled under the horse and loosened the thong on the other bag. He reached inside and felt something small and + rectangular, wrapped in rough cloth. And there was a small leather pouch which jangled at his touch. Jack stood on tiptoe, trying to get them out of the + saddlebag when a hand snapped around his wrist. A cold point touched his neck. +

+

+ "All you have to do is ask," Declan said from the shadows. For such a big man he had moved so silently that Jack had heard nothing. +

+

+ "I have nothing worth stealing," Declan said. "But if you tell me what you want, you're welcome." +

+

+ Jack tried to think of something to say, but before he could open his mouth, the little Leprechaun spoke urgently from the shadow of the rock. He was + kneeling on the ground, his fingers dug deep into the earth. His eyes were closed. +

+

+ "Bad comes," he whispered. "Grey axe-cutters. Many in the dark." +

+

+ In an instant Declan kicked earth over the coals until there was no sign. He braced himself, knife in one hand, sword in the other, standing between two + stones. +

+

+ "Let's have them then," he growled. Kerry grunted, opened his eyes and yawned. +

+

+ "What's up?" +

+

+ Behind him, the little leprechaun spoke. +

+

+ "Too many. Biters and tusk-diggers too." +

+

+ He bent down to the ground again and this time Jack saw him open a little basket that the king had given them. He drew something out and dug his fingers + into the soil again, whispering quietly as he did so, then covered up the hole he had dug. He took an acorn cup, loosened the top, and poured liquid onto + the spot. +

+

+ "No time for gardening," Declan said grimly. "Time for killing." +

+

+ But as soon as the leprechaun stood up, two leaves appeared from the ground, opening like wings. A thin sprout wavered upwards. +

+

+ "Jack and the freakin' beanstalk," Kerry said. +

+

+ More leaves appeared. The shoot branched. More leaves budded and unfurled as the vine began to fill hollow. In mere minutes it was head-height and + spreading out to cover the rock. +

+

+ "Horses in here," the little creature said. "We hide tight." +

+

+ Jack got the picture and took the reins. The horse snickered, but came along. +

+

+ "More devilry," Declan said. +

+

+ "It worked for us before," Jack said. "We can't fight them all." +

+

+ "We can take some with us." +

+

+ "But that won't help Corriwen. We have to stay alive for her." +

+

+ Declan glared at him. "Never turned from a battle yet." +

+

+ "First time for everything," Kerry retorted. +

+

+ "Fine. We'll cower like rabbits." +

+

+ He took the reins of his horse and led it under the leaves that now covered the entire rock face and overhung the hollow. Already they could hear the + howling of the hounds and the deep, bass grunts of the boars. As soon as they were inside, the vines wove themselves together into a thick mat and then, + miraculously, buds began to form and crimson flowers unfolded into wide cups that oozed nectar and gave off a sweet scent. +

+

+ "Hides smell," the Leprechaun said. Jack understood right away. +

+

+ Declan stood with a hand over each of the horse's noses, whispering calmly to them. His sword was dug into the ground, ready for action. +

+

+ The Scree hunters poured in to the campsite. The hounds bayed, excited. Jack held his breath, parted the foliage and peered out. +

+

+ "Been here," one of them grated. +

+

+ "Which way?" +

+

+ "Dogs'll sniff 'em." +

+

+ One of the hounds strained at the leash and dragged its handler across to the hollow. It whined and pawed and as it did, more scarlet flowers opened and + the thick scent wafted out in a cloud. +

+

+ "Stinks, this does," the Scree said, screwing up its ugly face. He jabbed a spear into the vines. The tip stabbed between Jack and Kerry and almost nicked + the horse on its flank. Nobody moved a muscle. +

+

+ "Not here," another Scree bawled. "But not far. We'll hunt 'em down." +

+

+ And with that, they turned quickly and left. +

+

+ Jack let out a sight of relief. +

+

+ Declan said nothing at all. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ They were completely unaware that Mandrake and his hordes had headed towards the high country, and that the two opposing armies had passed within twenty + miles of each other. +

+

+ Mandrake had ordered his captains to hurry the Scree on while he rode in the black wagon. Their boots clattered on the stony ground and the big iron-bound + wheels crunched rock under their weight. +

+

+ Outrunner scouts came back, breathless and exhausted. +

+

+ "No-one at the redoubt," one of them wheezed. "All burned down." +

+

+ Mandrake's eyes blazed from under the shadows of the cowl that hid his peeling, sickly skin. +

+

+ "The renegade Alevin," he grated, voice hoarse and crackly. "What sign of him?" +

+

+ "All the tracks go east, Lord," the Scree runner said. "Lot of horses. Lot of men. And fast." +

+

+ "The Dam!" Mandrake spat. "They plan to undo our work." +

+

+ One of the turncoat chiefs approached. +

+

+ "They are too late, surely." +

+

+ Mandrake turned on him, and his eyes burned red in the shadows. +

+

+ "Who is thissss?" + His voice had changed. The Chief flinched back. +

+

+ "We took the guards away." Mandrake cackled to himself. +

+

+ "There will be enough. It will take days to break that water-wall." +

+

+ "Not enough. Not enough. I planned too long." The voice, rose high. The chief turned away, frightened of the sudden change in his Lord, frightened + of the consequences of this awful fury. +

+

+ Mandrake's face bulged as if something else was swelling under his skin. His eyes blazed and his mouth pulled back to show rotten teeth in weeping gums. +

+

+ "Turn!" + he screeched. "Stop them. Kill them. Break them. Smash them." +

+

+ "But the girl...the girl…" +

+

+ "We will have her. We will consume her. But I need the water. Water is freedom." +

+

+ The great army wheeled about, sending up grit and dry rock dust, and began to march fast back towards the east. +

+
+

+ 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 + that was already seeping through the solid rock from the vast dammed lake on the other side of the ridge. +

+

+ Only a handful of Scree guards were on duty, and the sudden attack took them by surprise. Alevin was in the lead, with his men close-bunched behind him. +

+

+ The carnage was as swift as it was awful. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..efddcc1 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch25.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,548 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 25 + + + + +
+
+

25

+

+ The ache had faded from Corriwen's heart when she woke before dawn after seeing the red hand in the sky and the flight of swans over the corona. She rose + with the uncanny certainty that Jack Flint and Kerry would come looking for her. +

+

+ But her heart was not at peace, for when she awoke, Brodick was gone from the spot beside the fire where he had slept. +

+

+ She shook sleep away and moved to the edge of the hollow where they had sheltered and found hoofprints. +

+

+ Now she was curious as she followed the trail away from the campsite, for perhaps a mile from where they had slept, and heard the sound of voices. +

+

+ Her heart leapt. Brodick had found them. A smile dimpled her cheeks and she ran forward to greet Jack and Kerry. +

+

+ And then she stopped dead when she saw the Scree, and the joy in her heart turned instantly to fear. +

+

+ The Scree was leaning against the rock, a club over his shoulder. There were others there around a small fire, their hounds muzzled and the hogs pegged + beyond the fire. As she drew back out of sight, aware that she had almost run into their arms, she saw Brodick. +

+

+ His back was towards her. The horse was hobbled some distance away, uneasy at being so near the Scree and their hounds. Her hand went to her knives, + wishing she had a sword, or Jack's amberhorn bow, steeling herself for a fight and knowing she would have to rescue her cousin. +

+

+ Then Brodick stood up. He was not bound and shackled as she thought. +

+

+ Over the distance she heard his voice, though not the words, and then he laughed. He clapped one of the hunched Scree on the shoulder and Corriwen's heart + sank. The troop were just like the ones who had hunted them all over Temair. +

+

+ And Brodick was laughing with them + . +

+

+ Slowly, quietly, she pulled back, kept low until she was well out of sight, then ran back to the camp, making sure she stayed on rocky ground to leave no + prints of her own. Her mind was in turmoil as she wrapped herself in her cloak, lay down again and closed her eyes, trying to think. +

+

+ She was lying still when Brodick came back, leading the horse by the reins. +

+

+ "Time to rise, cousin. We have a way to go. +

+

+ But where have you gone, in your heart, she asked herself, unable to look him in the eye, lest it betray her thoughts. +

+

+ Far in the east, the maelstrom was an inkblot low in the sky. Brodick shaded his eyes. +

+

+ "We should start before that overtakes us," he said. "It doesn't look natural to me." +

+

+ The forces of evil were gathering to destroy Temair. That much she knew. +

+

+ "It's Mandrake," she said, keeping her voice steady, testing his response "And that monster he is trying to raise. They have this power now. What will it + be like when she is free?" +

+

+ "What can the Redthorn sword do to stop it?" Brodick asked. +

+

+ "It will unite the people again," she said, "and break Mandrake's power." +

+

+ "They are scattered or slaves," Brodick said flatly. +

+

+ "For now. But there is hope. If the beast gets free, there will be no life. Mandrake knows the sword is important, that's why has been hunting me. + But he has hunted Jack and Kerry too. The Bard says he wants the Key." +

+

+ "The Key?" He lifted his eyes quickly. She saw his interest quicken. +

+

+ "The stone he wore on his neck," Corriwen said. "It's the Key to everything, so Finbar said. He made me promise not to tell Jack. The stone belonged to his + father. He was a great man." +

+

+ She was watching his eyes. He had said nothing about his encounter with the Scree hunters and that meant he had much to hide. Corriwen wished she could + look into his heart and discover why. +

+

+ That night, on the same night that Jack Flint groped in the dark with the saddlebags on Declan's horse, Corriwen Redthorn did exactly the same with + Brodick's. +

+

+ They were beyond the boulder ground now, and close to the edge of the High Salt Plain. Few plants grew and they stopped for the night beside an outcrop + which sheltered them from the wind. +

+

+ She couldn't sleep and even the Corona high above offered her no comfort as she waited in the cold until Brodick was asleep. +

+

+ The horse whinnied when she approached and she wondered whether she should just climb on the saddle and leave him. +

+

+ But she had to know. +

+

+ Very quietly she opened the saddle-pack and with stealthy fingers, she reached inside. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Her mind reached out, across the flat of the plain. She touched the small, black mind of a coiled adder and it writhed and sank its fangs into its own + flesh and died in an instant. +

+

+ Her strength was increasing. +

+

+ She reached further and higher and from the crater-eyes of the great roak that circled above the ridge, she saw Mandrake's army turn back towards the dam. +

+

+ She saw Alevin's men ride through the cleft in the ridge and slaughter every Scree, but she knew now their fight was in vain. They would become her + unwitting tools. +

+

+ Too late. Too + late. +

+

+ She saw the small group on two horses, trudging north, heading directly towards where she waited for them, her hunger like a cold fire. +

+

+ She saw a girl and a man, on the edge of the salt plain, even closer, almost close enough to taste. +

+

+ And the heart stone. The heart stone was almost in her grasp. +

+

+ She laughed, in foul glee. +

+

+ The time was almost here. +

+
+

+ Brodick woke when he felt the cold point of her blade against his throat. His hand instinctively jerked towards his knife. +

+

+ "Don't move," she said. "Traitor." +

+

+ "I don't understand…." He began to say. +

+

+ Her other hand held the Book of Ways. She raised it and his eyes flicked towards it. +

+

+ "You stole this." +

+

+ Brodick shook his head. "No. I found it. When the boy fell." +

+

+ "Boy?" Her voice was harsh and tight. "Jack Flint is more a man than you will ever be. He would never betray me." +

+

+ "And nor did I, cousin. Nor did I. The book was on the ground. I knew it was important to you." +

+

+ "And you never mentioned it? Just kept it hidden." +

+

+ "I…I…" for a second he was lost for words. "I saved your life. I fought for you." +

+

+ "Just who were you fighting for, Brodick?" +

+

+ "How can you not trust me?" he asked. The knife was still at his throat. "I am your cousin." +

+

+ "I saw you with the Scree," she said coldly. "I thought you were a prisoner. I was prepared to fight for you. But you were no prisoner. You were with the + Scree." +

+

+ Brodick's eyes flicked to the side, over her shoulder. +

+

+ "What. Those Scree?" +

+

+ Her head turned before she could stop herself and his hand lashed out, clamped on her wrist and twisted. The knife fell to the ground. She tried to grab it + back, but Brodick whipped his own knife from its sheath before she could reach it and held the edge against her neck. She dropped the book and clawed for + his eyes, but he jerked back laughing and her fingers only caught the fine linen of his tunic. It ripped when he pulled away and there, just under his + chin, she saw the heart-stone on its silver chain. +

+

+ "Corriwen," Brodick said, his voice now light. "Cousin Corriwen. I did save your life. And now this!" He shook his head in mock weariness. +

+

+ "Traitor," she hissed. She looked at the knife, saw the golden hilt, and in an instant, she was back on the battlefield, cradling her dead brother's head + as his eyes blindly sought the far distance and the same golden knife-hilt stuck in his side, glinting with morning dew. +

+

+ She had known then that Cerwin had been killed by a traitor's hand. No Scree owned a knife like this one. +

+

+ She had taken it, wet with her brother's blood and wrapped it in cloth. It had been in her knapsack ever since. +

+

+ Now that knife's twin was against her neck, its blade pressing tight. +

+

+ "Not a traitor," Brodick said. "Just a realist." +

+

+ He smiled patronisingly at her. "I was on the winning side." +

+

+ "You betrayed your people," she gasped. +

+

+ "My people? I have no people. The third son of a chief on the far borders? By accident of birth, Mandrake was denied the Redthorn seat. By + accident of birth, I had nothing. But Mandrake promised me more power than I dreamt of. +

+

+ She dropped her eyes, letting him think she was beaten. +

+

+ "And now I will have even more," he gloated. "Face it, Cousin. The war was lost long ago. A new order begins. You could be at my side. Mandrake is sick. I + have seen him. Ravaged by his alchemy; riddled with poison. I could have it all. And the Redthorn sword would rule again." +

+

+ She raised her face to him, green eyes glittering with anger and betrayal. +

+

+ "I would rather die," she said, very softly. But now she knew he would not kill her. Not yet. +

+

+ "Oh, I don't think so," he said. "When the war is lost, peace follows. And it will be a different Temair. So, up with you. We have things to do and places + to go. I know something Mandrake doesn't." +

+

+ Brodick bound her hands with a leather thong and put her knives in the saddle-bag. He picked up the Book of Ways, and sat beside her. He opened the book + and waited patiently until the old script began to form on the next empty page. +

+

+ Read on, should heart be strong and true +

+

+ False heart finds the road to rue +

+

+ A treasure trail bold feet to follow +

+

+ A hoard of gold, though wealth be hollow +

+

+ Left hand finds a heart's desire +

+

+ Right hand, pain and fear and fire. +

+

+ He turned to her, eyes bright. +

+

+ "I knew it," he said. "Mandrake found his wealth in the barren lands. There were cities here of old, filled with gold. Before the war with the Fomorian + Scree." +

+

+ He grinned. "I read the books. It was before the Salt Barrens were wasteland. People lived here, and they were very rich. +

+

+ She turned away. +

+

+ "You don't realise. I could have turned you over to Mandrake. That's what he wanted. But that's not going to happen. We don't need him when we can find our + own wealth. Buy our own armies." +

+

+ He laughed aloud. "We could take Temair from under him." +

+

+ Corriwen said nothing. Brodick had betrayed her brother, and he had betrayed her. Now he was to betray his real master. She felt sick at the thought that + he was her cousin. +

+

+ Brodick ignored her silence as he unrolled his bedding blanket and hitched her thongs to a stake driven into the ground. As the night wore on, he fell + asleep, still smiling. She knew he would dream of wealth and power. She waited, still as a mouse, until he was sound asleep and then carefully drew out the + little red knife that Jack had given to her. It had fascinated her how it could unfold into many blades. Very quickly she cut through the knot on the + thongs and wriggled her hands free. Brodick had put her twin knives in the saddle-roll and she thought she should just get them and cut his throat while he + slept. +

+

+ But something made her pause. The Book of Ways was lying on a flat stone where Brodick had left it. She looked up at the Corona and wondered what Jack and + Kerry would do under the circumstances. +

+

+ The book flicked open, all by itself. +

+

+ Corriwen started back in surprise. +

+

+ Immediately the pages riffled in a whisper that sounded like a far-off voice and then it lay open. Her hand reached and lifted the book, drew it on to her + knee. Under the starlight, the words appeared on the page and she focused on them. The first time Jack had shown her the old script, she could not + understand the words, but as she concentrated on the page, something clicked in her mind and the meaning became suddenly clear. +

+

+ She read them slowly: +

+

+ Lead on, brave heart, be true and strong +

+

+ Keep a promise, right a wrong +

+

+ Left hand path for greed and gain +

+

+ To lose the way, to search in vain. +

+

+ Pause for breath, ere journey's end. +

+

+ Rest a-while, re-find a friend + . +

+

+ Hope flared in her heart again. +

+

+ The verse was similar to the one Brodick had read gloatingly. But it was different. That message had been for him. This was for her alone. She would be mad + to ignore what it said. +

+

+ It was giving her directions that were different from Brodick's. +

+

+ The Book of Ways was on her side. She knew it as surely as she knew that Jack was still alive. +

+

+ Very quickly she turned the thongs around her wrists again and lay down on her side. Sleep came slowly, but it came. +

+

+ In her dreams she saw Jack Flint and Kerry on the back of a great horse. They were galloping north. +

+

+ And someone was following them. +

+
+

+ They tied Declan up and left him lying, still asleep, beside the embers. +

+

+ It was almost completely dark and they had some broth boiling on the flames when suddenly Jack started. +

+

+ "What's up," Kerry asked. Jack glanced beyond the fire to where Declan was hobbling the horses. +

+

+ "I remembered what it was," Jack whispered. "What I saw before I was clonked on the head." +

+

+ Kerry raised his eyebrows in question and Jack went on: "It was him. I remember seeing the empty sheath and then something hit me. It must have been him." +

+

+ "That's why he was so keen to come with us." +

+

+ "And he has the book. I felt it in his saddlebag." +

+

+ "So what do we do?" Kerry demanded. "We can't fight him." +

+

+ Declan came back and sat by the fire. He had said nothing yet about catching Jack fumbling in his bag. He took a whetstone and began to stroke it along his + sword. The metal gleamed in the firelight. +

+

+ And an hour later, he was fast asleep. They waited another hour before Kerry made two loops of strong nylon line and then, moving silently Jack slipped one + round Declan's throat and pulled tight. He woke instantly, but Kerry was ready and caught his wrist with the other line before he could reach his sword. +

+

+ Choking, Declan tried to pull the nylon away from his throat and as he did so, Kerry looped more line round his feet. In minutes they had him bound like a + hog, struggling helplessly. +

+

+ Jack snatched the saddlebag and slung it over their mount. +

+

+ Then they were gone. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ The horse plodded on, following rocky gullies where water might once have flowed, long ago. Corriwen listened for signs of pursuit, hoping and praying that + Jack and Kerry would find her soon, wishing she hadn't confronted Brodick until the odds were more even. +

+

+ Many miles down the trail, they were in a ravine where powdery sand trickled from bare rock walls. She kept her eyes ahead, alert for movement, but when it + came, it surprised her. +

+

+ Behind her, Brodick was half asleep. +

+

+ A hundred yards ahead, the left side of the canyon wall began to shimmer, as if sunlight were catching tiny crystals on the stone. Corriwen bent to shade + her eyes, not sure of what she had seen, and as she did, the strange shimmering stopped. +

+

+ But where she was sure there had been bare rock, another ravine opened on the left side, a fork in the path where there had been one trail seconds before. +

+

+ The message in the Book of Ways suddenly became clear, and using her knees, she edged the horse to the left and into the narrow gully. +

+

+ "For better or worse," she told herself. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Kerry paused, crouching over close to the ground, following the tracks that were already silting up as the fine sand drizzled down the valley sides. +

+

+ "What's up?" Jack asked. He eased himself from the saddle and kneaded his stiff backside. +

+

+ "They stop here," Kerry said, looking left and right. "And that's wrong surely. Unless that big horse can fly." +

+

+ "I wish ours could," Jack replied. "I'm sore all over." +

+

+ "So are my feet," Kerry countered. "My trainers are just about done in. And I bet you can't get Nikes here for love nor money." +

+

+ He was about to say more when the cleft on the left path appeared, just a few feet ahead of them. The pattern of stones on either side had made it look + like solid rock, but as soon as Jack stepped forward, the gap was clear to see. +

+

+ "Mystery solved," Kerry said. +

+

+ "Maybe," Jack agreed. "But why would they take a side road? That doesn't look as if it goes anywhere." +

+

+ They followed the fork anyway, leading the horse through a space that was hardly wide enough to let it scrape past, until the gully began to widen. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ "This is the place," Brodick said. "I knew it. The book was right." +

+

+ "Yes," Corriwen thought, "But which verse?" +

+

+ Brodick bundled her down from the saddle and hitched her bonds to a bronze spike that might have had some function long ago. +

+

+ "You stay here," Brodick said. "I'm going to make us rich." +

+

+ "There will be no us," she replied, but Brodick had the same strange light in his eye that he'd had when he snatched the knife from her. He wasn't + even listening. +

+

+ She watched him work his way through the labyrinth towards the old castle, while above her, black birds wheeled on thermals. They might have been roaks, + but they were too far away for her to be sure. +

+

+ As soon as Brodick was out of sight, Corriwen loosened the cut thong and then crossed to where the horse was hobbled. In the saddle-roll, she found her own + knives in their sheaths and buckled them to her belt. She turned, staying low, about to follow Brodick when she stopped, went back to the horse and unslung + her own satchel. +

+

+ She drew out the gold-hilted knife that she had pulled from her brother's dead body. The blood on the blade was brown and dry, but the point was as sharp + 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. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ He ignored the mouldering skeletons that lay crumpled on the castle steps, and the ones that lay inside the great hall, sprawled on a worm-eaten table that + was now almost dust. +

+

+ A battle had been fought and lost here. The bones were old and white but he had no interest in the dead, only what they had left behind. He stepped over + bony hands that still held ancient swords, ribs pierced with rusted knives, not giving these old warriors any reverence at all. His mind was fixed on what + lay ahead. +

+

+ The footprints in the dust, old though they were, could still be seen. Somebody had been here before him, and he knew that it was Mandrake. He had been led + to this wealth and now Brodick was following in his footsteps. +

+

+ As he moved carefully in the gloom, he was thinking that he might not be following in Mandrake's footprints for long. +

+

+ Behind him, silent as a cat, Corriwen Redthorn followed the maze of tunnels beneath the great hall, eyes wide as they accustomed themselves to the dark, + listening intently for the slow footfall ahead of her and the slight sound of Brodick's breathing in this silent place. +

+

+ And behind Corriwen Redthorn, moving just as silently, Jack Flint and Kerry followed. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f509b03 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch26.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,757 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 26 + + + + +
+
+

26

+

+ Brodick finally found the strongroom, deep beneath castle. He had wrapped an oilskin strip round a long legbone and it served as a flickering torch that + sent shadows dancing on cobwebbed walls. +

+

+ Inside, the scattered treasure glinted; gold plates and brooches, stone-studded daggers and chain-weights of dusty gold. +

+

+ This was how Mandrake got his wealth. When he came back for the rest of it, Mandrake would get a surprise. If he ever came back. +

+

+ Brodick filled his saddle-sacks until they could take no more. He gathered enough wealth to make him rich far beyond any wild dreams he'd harboured. +

+

+ And he had Corriwen Redthorn. Together they could start a dynasty that would rule Temair forever. She would have no choice. +

+

+ He started back, following his own footprints, bent over with the weight of his treasures. +

+

+ Corriwen could smell the fatty oil from Brodick's torch and she followed the fumes when it got too dark to see. After a short while, she was feeling her + way. Listening intently, she heard the clank of metal, drew out her knife, and edged on along the narrow passageway. +

+

+ Jack and Kerry came across the ruined city and hobbled their own horse beside the one Brodick had ridden. There was no sign of either Brodick or Corriwen. +

+

+ Inside the castle they moved tentatively, stepping carefully over the bones. Kerry used the guttering flame of his Bic lighter to lead them down the narrow + corridor, following the footsteps as Corriwen had done until he came to a branch where two passages intersected. +

+

+ One set of prints went in one direction. But the others went the opposite way. +

+

+ "Which way now?" Jack asked. +

+

+ "I can't tell. The prints are all smudged." +

+

+ "I can smell burning." +

+

+ "Me too," Kerry said. "Left or right. You choose." +

+

+ Jack chose left. In five minutes the lighter ran out of fuel and they were groping in the oppressive dark. Finally Jack told Kerry they should turn back. +

+

+ "They could be anywhere," he said. +

+

+ Somewhere distant he heard the clank of metal, but there was no way to gauge how far or in which direction. +

+

+ "We could get lost down here," he said. "We'll have to wait outside." +

+

+ "Good idea," Kerry agreed. "Dead bodies give me the heeby-jeebies". Jack fumbled for his shoulder and they turned, feeling their way along the narrow + tunnel towards the light. +

+

+ Jack stopped, causing Kerry to pull up sharply. The metallic sound came again, but closer. +

+

+ They moved forward, past one of the branching passageways and a big shape loomed in from the side and a hand gripped Jack by the throat. +

+

+ "Got you now," a man's voice snarled. +

+

+ Jack gasped, backed into Kerry, who slipped on the dust and went down. All he saw was a pale face in the wan light. +

+

+ "Brodick," he cried out. "It's us. Jack and Kerry!" +

+

+ The hand gripped tighter, for just a second, then loosened. Brodick's face bent towards them. +

+

+ "Startled me, you did," he finally said. Jack spluttered, hauling for breath. +

+

+ "Startled you?" Kerry demanded. +

+

+ "I thought it might be Scree," Brodick man said. "I've seen patrols and we had to avoid them." +

+

+ "So what's this place?" Jack asked. "And where's Corriwen. We saw your horse." +

+

+ Brodick picked up the heavy saddle-sacks. They heard the tinny sound again, but it didn't really register. +

+

+ "Is she not with the horse?" Brodick sounded surprised. They couldn't see his expression. "I told her to stay with it." +

+

+ "We didn't see her," Kerry said. "We thought she'd be in here." +

+

+ Brodick grunted, angry in the dark. +

+

+ "Then she could easily get lost." +

+

+ He turned and strode along the passageway towards the light, with Jack and Kerry on his heels. +

+

+ They blinked in the daylight as Brodick led them out to the portcullis that hung from the worn arch. Its chain wound round a windlass with a big handle + that was almost rusted through. +

+

+ "This place isn't safe," Brodick said. He dumped his heavy sacks just outside the gate and came back to them. "You'd best wait here and I'll find + Corriwen." +

+

+ "We could help," Jack said. Brodick shook his head. +

+

+ "No. The tunnels are confusing, and ready to fall at any time. That's why I asked her to stay away." He grinned. "But you try telling a Redthorn what to + do!" +

+

+ "Sure, she's a feisty one," Kerry agreed. +

+

+ Brodick turned back, stepping quickly over the dry bones into the great hall. +

+

+ "A really creepy place," Jack said. +

+

+ "They like killing each other." +

+

+ "Like the old Celts. All their fights were happy, and all their songs were sad." +

+

+ "At least we caught up with her," Kerry said. +

+

+ "But why did they stop here?" Jack asked. Kerry shrugged. +

+

+ "Maybe just to explore. People like old places. I saw Blarney Castle once." +

+

+ "She's in a hurry. I don't think she'd stop to explore." +

+

+ Before he could say anything else, Brodick and Corriwen came out together. Brodick had his hand protectively around her shoulder. +

+
+

+ Kerry whooped when he saw her. +

+

+ "Told you we'd find her." +

+

+ "You sure did," Jack agreed. His face was split by a huge smile. "If it wasn't for you being a tracker, we never would have." +

+

+ Corriwen came out and down the steps with Brodick's arm around her. Her hair caught a stray shaft of sunlight through an arrow-slit and made it gleam + copper. She walked slowly and didn't wave back. +

+

+ "Something's wrong," Jack said. +

+

+ "What could be wrong?" +

+

+ Corriwen looked straight ahead. She had seen both of them, but her expression hadn't changed, and Jack knew that was wrong. What was in Corriwen's + heart was always clear on her face. Something was not right. Brodick and Corriwen approached, and while he was smiling easily, Corriwen's expression was + blank. +

+

+ "Yeah," Kerry said. He slid his pack off his shoulder and turned away to surreptitiously ease his sword out. Jack felt for the knife that Alevin had given + him. +

+

+ "I wouldn't do that, Stonethrower," Brodick said. He was only ten yards away. Corriwen made a small gesture with her head and Jack saw Brodick's other + hand, and the knife that was in it, close against her neck. +

+

+ "What's going on?" +

+

+ "Betrayal," Corriwen said. Her voice was like ice. "He has been against us all along." +

+

+ "But, he's your cousin," Kerry blurted. "He can't…." +

+

+ "Can. Did. Will." Brodick showed the knife so they both could see it. "Now put the sword back, unless you want to see more bones here." +

+

+ Kerry slid the blade into the pack. He was grinding his teeth in frustration. They had come a long way. They were tired and sore and any joy at seeing + Corriwen again had turned to ashes. +

+

+ "Good men died guarding this city," Brodick said. "Such a shame you will too." +

+

+ "What do you mean?" +

+

+ Brodick dragged Corriwen past them, keeping his face to them all the time. He crossed under the portcullis that hung in the archway. +

+

+ "It means well met, and fare well," he said. "For a while." +

+

+ With a quick motion, he shoved Corriwen through the arch, swung his sword and slashed at the handle of the windlass. It took two hard blows and the + lock-handle splintered. Brodick was already moving when the portcullis gave an almighty groan and the windlass turned under the weight. +

+

+ Jack started forward, but Brodick leapt nimbly through the archway, just as the gate-spikes came crashing down. Brodick grabbed Corriwen by her hair. +

+

+ "Let's not say farewell," he said, grinning. "Because you won't fare well." He stood by his two sacks of loot and waved at Jack and Kerry. +

+

+ "You'll be here when I get back," he said lightly. "But a little thinner, I warrant." +

+

+ With that he turned, yanked Corriwen's hair, and dragged her away. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ "We could have used another horse," he said, to no-one in particular, "but this one will have to do." +

+

+ "The book was right," Corriwen hissed. "It knew you were a traitor." +

+

+ She turned her head, unwilling to look him in the face. +

+

+ "Do you intend to take me to Mandrake?" +

+

+ "Oh no!" Brodick laughed at the thought. "That would be lunacy. It had crossed my mind, because he set up a fine reward for you, and those two boys. But we + don't need them now." +

+

+ "You'd leave them to die?" +

+

+ "We can't take them with us," Brodick said with a shrug. "Would you rather I killed them now? Break your heart, would it? Your precious outlander." +

+

+ "Both of them have honour, and you have sold yours." +

+

+ Brodick laughed. "Don't lose your heart over two boys, and strangers at that. You're a Redthorn. You know what counts. Money and power." +

+

+ "Because I am a Redthorn, I know they mean nothing without honour." +

+

+ "Everybody has a price. What could those children offer you?" +

+

+ He tugged the chain over his head and dangled the heart stone close to her eyes. +

+

+ "Here, if you want to remember your beloved Jack, you can carry it. It's supposed to be the key to all things. But it locks you to me, I promise you." +

+

+ She saw gloating laughter in his eyes. But she took the heart and looped it around her neck. +

+

+ "So where are you going?" +

+

+ "We, cousin, are continuing your quest." He touched the heartstone at her breast. "Mandrake was going demented over this bauble. Well, more + demented than ever. What he doesn't know is that I'm something of a scholar myself." +

+

+ "It hasn't done you any good." +

+

+ "Think what you like. He's not the only one who can read the old scripts. Mandrake doesn't know that I know his real purpose up on the salt + barrens. He intends to break the curse and free the demon." +

+

+ "So you know he has to be stopped." Corriwen said. +

+

+ "Really? She gave Mandrake wealth and power and control over the Scree. She wants Mandrake to bring this trinket to her. He has failed, but I will + succeed. And I'll take whatever reward she promised him." +

+

+ "So I'll have the Redthorn sword. I have you. And I'll have her blessing. All's well." +

+
+

+ "Now what do we do?" +

+

+ "We get out of here," Jack said. "If we can. These places were built to keep people out. That gate is probably the only way." +

+

+ "We'll never lift it," Kerry said. "Not in a million years." +

+

+ "So we'll climb." +

+

+ "The rope's on the horse." +

+

+ Jack grimaced. "That's a great help. Let's think. We have to come up with an idea." +

+

+ He had barely spoken when something moved beyond the gate. They shrank back out of sight. +

+

+ "It's a horse," Kerry said. "Definitely." +

+

+ "You think he's come back?" +

+

+ Kerry nodded. He unhitched his sling and found a good stone to fill the cup. He eased back, keeping his arm ready. +

+

+ Beyond the closed portcullis, a horse snickered. A heavy hoof clipped a stone with a metallic ring. +

+

+ "I swear I'll drop him," Kerry said. He turned to Jack and saw he had his bow at the ready, a black arrow on the string. +

+

+ "Not if I get him first." +

+

+ They held their collective breath until the horse approached beyond the portcullis. Jack let his breath out. +

+

+ "It's our horse," he said. +

+

+ Kerry looked over Jack's shoulder, sling still ready to swing, and laughed. +

+

+ "Now would you believe that?" +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ They were moving through the ruined city. Brodick led the big beast along winding ways that were littered with fallen masonry. +

+

+ Further along, part of the hillside had fallen away, taking walls and foundations with it. Brodick pushed against the flank, feet skirting the edge of the + drop to the rocks below. He had his eyes fixed to the left, manoeuvring carefully when Corriwen moved. +

+

+ She felt in her roll for the knife, drew it out and cut the strap holding the saddle-sacks. +

+

+ Brodick looked up just then and she lashed a heel at his face, taking him on the chin. His foot slid over the edge of the drop and his arms pinwheeled. + With another swipe, she slashed the reins as he tried to drag himself back to solid ground and then she cut the strap again. It parted with a twang and the + whole sack, filled with the gold Brodick had collected in the castle rolled off and caught him square on the chest. Corriwen dug her heels in and the horse + stepped forward. +

+

+ Brodick made a grab for the stirrups, missed. The crumbling edge under his foot began to shale off.. +

+

+ "Damn you! Damn you!" +

+

+ She saw the blood drain from his face, and his mouth open wide, though no sound came out. +

+

+ "Bitch!" +

+

+ She bent over the flank, swinging the knife down, the one she had found in her brother's back. +

+

+ It caught Brodick in the eye and he screamed. The edge gave under his weight and he toppled over the drop. +

+

+ She heard the thud as he hit the rocks far below. She freed her bonds completely and edged the horse on, past the drop, then stopped, dismounted and ran to + the edge. +

+

+ She saw Brodick's body splayed half covered with rocks and gold coins and jewellery that had burst from the sack. A pool of blood formed a dark halo under + his head. +

+

+ She looked at the knife she had pulled from her dead brother's body and clamped her mouth shut. She had sworn to use this knife on his killer. +

+

+ Now it was done +

+
+

+ "Trust us to end up with two stinkin' backstabbers." +

+

+ Kerry was seething. They had tried the windlass at the gate, but it needed much more than their strength to turn it. +

+

+ Outside, the little leprechaun jittered with anxiety. +

+

+ "I brought horse," it said in its woody voice. "Must go fast. Quick.. Bad things come." +

+

+ It squeezed quickly through the bars of the portcullis and looked up at them. +

+

+ "Come quick + ." +

+

+ "We can't get out," Jack said. "We'll have to find a way." +

+

+ "Climb," it suggested. +

+

+ "The stone's too dangerous. It's all crumbling." +

+

+ "Must hurry." It was bobbing up and down, snatching at Jack's jacket. "Grey plague comes. Axecutters. I smell them." +

+

+ Jack looked at Kerry. They knew what axecutters meant. "I think we should try the climb." +

+

+ It was easier said than done. Old ivy clung to the flaking walls but when they tried it, the creeper was dry as dust and broke free as soon as they put + weight on it. A stunted oak tree had rooted through cracks in the paving stones, but it hadn't grown tall enough for them to climb. +

+

+ "We're stuck unless we can open the gate." +

+

+ "Maybe we can get the leprechaun to hitch the horse to the winder," Kerry said. He turned around. "Where did he go?" +

+

+ A small noise came from close by. The little Leprechaun was up against the rough bark of the oak, face pressed tight against it, both spindly arms + embracing it like a friend. +

+

+ It whispered reedily. "Wake up old brother." +

+

+ Jack looked at Kerry, then back to the little creature. Up above, the sparse branches shivered, though there was no wind here. +

+

+ Then, very slowly, the little creature's mossy skin changed colour from green to grey and the texture seemed to roughen and harden. In a second, they could + hardly make out where tree ended and leprechaun began. +

+

+ "Forest magic again," Jack said. He watched fascinated as the creature disappeared completely from view. +

+

+ As soon as it did, the ground shivered under their feet. Kerry took a step back. +

+

+ "Did you feel that?" +

+

+ The earth trembled again, +

+

+ Then, under the portcullis, the ground heaved upwards, sending stones and mortar rolling away as earth and flagstones pushed into a hump. There was a + scrape of stone on metal as it ground against the teeth of the gate. +

+

+ The tree shuddered, as if gathering strength. A crack zigzagged between their feet and the portcullis began to lift, an inch at a time. A big grey root + flexed and the gate lifted two feet into the air. +

+

+ "Now!" Jack hissed. He grabbed Kerry, shoved him forward and down, and the pair crawled under the metal teeth before they fell again and spiked them dead. + As soon as they were through, the big root buckled. Jack got to his feet. Kerry dusted himself down and the gate sank back into its housing with a jolt. +

+

+ The Leprechaun oozed from the bark and its colour gradually came green again as it peeled itself away from the tree. As they watched, the few leaves on the + twisted branches began to wither. They crumpled and faded, turning from green to red, then yellow. One fell off and fluttered to the ground, and then the + rest floated down in a dead cascade. +

+

+ "It's dying," Jack said. +

+

+ "My brother was old and tired and alone," the little fellow said. "He wanted to go." +

+

+ He held up a small, thin hand. On the palm nested a single dry acorn. +

+

+ "But the mothers will succour his sap again, in the heart of the heartwood." +

+

+ Kerry blinked and wiped an eye with his knuckle. Jack bent to thank the leprechaun when a scream behind him caused him to wheel round in alarm. +

+

+ "Jack!" Corriwen Redthorn came bounding round the corner of the castle gate and straight into his arms. Jack almost fell on his backside. +

+

+ "What…? Where..?" +

+

+ She was hugging him so tightly he couldn't get a sentence out. +

+

+ "Hey!" Kerry cried. "What about me?" +

+

+ She turned, grabbed him by the neck and kissed him all over his face until his ears went red. +

+

+ The little leprechaun looked at all this in woody bewilderment. The horse Corriwen had led nuzzled the other roan. +

+

+ "Brodick," Jack said. "What happened to him." +

+

+ "He's gone. His greed took its revenge." She smiled grimly. +

+

+ "And so did I. For my brother…" +

+

+ She pulled back her cape to show them Brodick's knife. As she moved, the horses whinnied, pawed the ground. They all turned round. +

+
+

+ Scree hunters came streaming down the hillside in a grey tide. +

+

+ "Oh that's just bloody brilliant!" Kerry spat. On the far side of the ruined city, the hounds were howling and before they could move, the big horses + simply bolted in fear, leaving them all standing there. +

+

+ "Jeez Jack, what now? +

+

+ He whirled, pointed at the labyrinth of old streets. +

+

+ "Run," he bawled. He snatched up the little Leprechaun and they ran after the horses into the maze of ruins. +

+

+ Behind them the Scree came fast, hob-nails clattering on the flagstones. Jack and the others ran like rabbits, jinking down one alley and swerving into + another. Ahead of them the bolting horses sent up clouds of dust as they fled the tumult. The leprechaun held on to Jack's neck with tight little fingers. + Kerry was just behind him. Corriwen was ahead, knives out, hair catching the sun, running fast. +

+

+ The rubble-strewn road dipped and they pelted downhill, between to collapsed buildings and along a dry canal. One of the horses slipped on dry sand and + almost went down. The other bolted to the right, along a passageway and the other staggered to its feet. Corriwen almost got a hand to its reins and + missed. She followed the horse as it swerved left. Jack and Kerry went after the second mount. Panting for breath as they followed the clatter of its + hooves in the narrow alley. Behind them the Scree bawled and the hounds snarled, getting closer all the time. +

+

+ Jack and Kerry pulled out of the alley into a lower road near the edge of the city, skidded to a halt and froze. +

+

+ Something came thundering behind them, sending stones scattering in its path. +

+

+ "What the…?" +

+

+ All Kerry saw was a huge grey shape, moving like a freight train. On either side of its head spiralled the biggest set of horns he had ever seen. Blinkers + flapped at its eyes, so it could only see ahead and on its nose, saliva dripped from a big brass ring. +

+

+ The massive ram, bigger than a man, much bigger than any man, came charging down on them. +

+

+ And there was nowhere to hide. Walls blocked them in on either side. The beast lowered its head and cloven hooves hammering the ground. +

+

+ The boys turned and ran for their lives, while the little leprechaun dug its fingers into Jack's skin and babbled in fright. +

+

+ They sprinted down the road, eyes swinging left and right for any way to escape the great ram and its huge set of horns. Jack had seen what one of these + things did to the sturdy gate at the redoubt, and he had no doubt what it could do to them. +

+

+ Kerry was behind him. Urging him on. +

+

+ "Faster Jack," he gasped. "It's right on my backside." +

+

+ Jack didn't have the breath to reply. He ran on, feeling his legs tire and his thighs begin to grow heavy and he knew the thing would be on them in + seconds. They'd be flattened like road kill. +

+

+ Kerry made a slight noise, like a grunt of surprise and then he was flying past Jack, tumbling in the air. He landed with a thump and Jack was past him + again before he had time to register what had happened. He glanced back, still running, and saw the ram twist its head as it powered forward. Its horn + caught Kerry and lifted him straight into the air. +

+

+ Jack bawled in anguish and panic, but the ram came thundering on, shaking its great head. Kerry screeched and it sounded like pure agony. He reached a + corner and zipped round it. Behind him the ram skidded to a halt and then came hammering after him. In the corner of his eye, Jack saw Kerry dangling from + the tip of the great curved horn that spiralled over the ram's left eye. His arms were flailing and he was bawling incoherently. +

+

+ But there was no blood. +

+

+ Jack risked another look back and saw the tip of the horn has snagged the backpack and missed Kerry altogether. Now Kerry was bouncing along, arms flailing + with every move of the ram's massive head, cursing at the top of his voice. +

+

+ Jack ran down the alley and the ram came after him, out on the edge of the town, rushing past a low, broken wall. +

+

+ Something flickered in peripheral vision and was gone before it registered. +

+
+

+ 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, + sending up a spray of grit when a low, broken bridge loomed ahead of it and brought it up short. She dashed forward with the last of her breath, reaching + for the reins. +

+

+ Something lumbered from the shadow of the broken bridge and grabbed her. +

+

+ Brodick's face was a mess of blood and sand. His mouth was twisted into a ferocious snarl. +

+

+ "Gotcha!" He yelled in savage glee. His pierced eye rolled in a pool of clotted blood. +

+

+ Corriwen yelled in surprise. Brodick had her by the front of her cape, knuckles white as they gripped. Without thinking she sunk her teeth into the + fingers, hard enough to draw more blood. +

+

+ Brodick roared and she pulled away, stumbled, got her balance and her knifes were out as she spun back. He swung at her with his sword, close enough to + shave the ends of her copper hair and she ducked under the blade, stabbing at his things, two fast jabs and she knew she'd got him both times. +

+

+ He screamed, went down on one knee. +

+

+ "Damn bitch. I'll kill you." +

+

+ He lurched upwards and came at her, swinging wildly with his sword, his face a contorted mask of rage. She used her knifes to parry the strokes, but he had + the reach and unless she could tire him out with more blood loss, he had the advantage. +

+

+ She spun again and the blade chipped the wall a mere inch from her head. +

+
+

+ 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 + the walls scraped by only inches from his face. He was stuck on something, bounding up and down like a puppet. For a second he didn't know where he was and + then he saw the huge curved shape right beside him, thick as a man's thigh. +

+

+ It dawned on him that he was stuck on the ram's horn. +

+

+ But apart from the bump on his head and an ache where it had rammed his shoulders, there was no great pain. He sensed there was no blood. He grabbed at the + horn, managed to twist himself around and saw that he was not impaled. The horn had snagged the heavy canvas of his backpack. +

+

+ And he was still stuck to the backpack. +

+

+ The ram snorted, shook its head hard enough to rattle his teeth and thundered on in hot pursuit of Jack, who was only twenty feet in front of it. +

+

+ "Run Jack. Run!" He tried to shout, but the jolting wouldn't let him call out. The ram shook its head again and slammed him against a wall. It + wheeled at a corner and Kerry saw another wall looming. The ram was heading so close to it that Kerry knew he'd be scraped along it like a smear. He closed + his eyes tight. +

+

+ And something landed on the ram's back. A massive hand grabbed him by the collar. Kerry's eyes opened just as the wall whizzed past, close enough to scrape + skin from his nose. He flipped into the air. The canvas strap ripped with a shriek and he dangled for a second, staring straight into the face of Declan. + Blue eyes glared at him. +

+

+ Declan had him by one huge hand, his arm strong enough to lift him like a doll. +

+

+ Without a word, he swung Kerry back, held him tight under his armpit, clambered up on the ram's back. Kerry got a glimpse of flashing metal. Declan grunted + like an angry beast and his great sword came swinging down. +

+

+ It made hardly a sound as it sliced clean through the ram's neck. +

+

+ Instantly the beast flopped, its short legs spread out on either side, like a puppet with cut strings. The great head bounced, then rolled like a bogey on + the huge spiral horns, sending blood up in scarlet arcs. +

+

+ Jack was still running; flagging fast but running. +

+

+ The ram's head rolled towards him like a juggernaut as the headless body skidded along in the dust and Declan held tight with his thighs and clamped Kerry + against him. +

+

+ Jack saw the thing come bouncing towards him and he ducked to the left. It rolled past him, huge and heavy, eyes spinning in their sockets. Jack flung + himself against a wall as the headless body came skidding along towards him, slowing down with every yard. +

+

+ He wiped the sweat from his brow, amazed that he was still alive, then turned to watch the rolling head. His mouth opened in amazement when he saw Corriwen + Redthorn wheel close to a wall not twenty yards away. She turned, raised her knives to parry a heavy sword-blow, then ducked in again, quick as a stoat, + flicked the blades forward and back again. +

+

+ She saw a movement in the corner of her eye and turned her head just a little. +

+

+ The ram's head careered towards her, sending up a spume of stones and dust, still arcing blood from the severed neck. +

+

+ She dived to the side, rolled in the dust and the great horns spun past her in a blur, slammed Brodick into the wall with a pulpy thud and left him smeared + against the masonry. +

+

+ Brodick was dead. Stone dead. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8362061 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch27.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,238 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 27 + + + + +
+
+

27

+

+ Alevin thought that this place of pain and misery was just how it would be in the dead lands beyond Tir Nan Og. And he would revenge the people who had + suffered here if it took a lifetime, or his life. +

+

+ While Jack, Kerry and Corriwen were reunited and making plans, Alevin had led the slaughter of the Scree who worked the Temair people as slaves. +

+

+ He sat on a stone, bloodied and tired, at the chasm dug into the ridge, now close enough to the lake behind for its water to force through in fine sprays. +

+

+ "We must get all of them out of here, men women and children. Every one of these souls who've been stolen. Get them from this foul place to higher ground." +

+

+ He looked at wall. "When that gives, it will flood like never before. Likely flood the whole of Temair." +

+

+ He cursed himself again when he realised he should have gone for the dam first. +

+
+

+ Mandrake marched the Scree and traitor chiefs back towards the ridge. +

+

+ The circling roaks had seen the carnage as Alevin's men swept into the cut. +

+

+ Kill them. Kill them all. Wipe them out + . The followers heard the mantra through the leather as the roaks relayed the events on the cleft. +

+

+ Don't fail me now + . His head was bursting with the pressure of her fury. His eyes rolled in their sockets and his face contorted in a dreadful grimace +

+

+ But he kept the army moving, as fast as the Scree could march. +

+

+ When he arrived at the far ridge, Alevin's men had gone, and so had all the slaves. +

+

+ He slouched in the wagon, while the Morrigan still hissed and spat in his mind. +

+
+

+ Brodick was dead, stone dead. +

+

+ But Declan was alive, which was just as well for them all. +

+

+ He dismounted and cleaned his sword with a hank of leather, then slowly began to whet the blade until it gleamed. +

+

+ "You thought I betrayed you," he said to Jack, without raising his eyes from his work. +

+

+ "I felt the book in your bag," Jack said. "Our Book of Ways. And it warned us that the traitor would have an empty sheath. Just like you." +

+

+ "So you tied me up?" Declan allowed a half smile. His face was still bloody. "A mistake. I would have cut your throat if I thought you were a traitor." +

+

+ "We don't do that," Kerry piped up. "Things are bad enough." +

+

+ "It wasn't Declan," Corriwen broke in. "Brodick had the book." +

+

+ "Then what was in his bag?" +

+

+ Declan got to his feet and lifted his saddlebag. He drew out a leather binding, unwrapped the drawstring and showed them. It was a book, but it wasn't the Book of Ways. +

+

+ "My wife. Eileanne. She liked to write verse. And between the pages she pressed flowers. To remember good days." +

+

+ Declan's voice was soft, and very sad. +

+

+ "I broke my knife in the head of a Scree when I returned and found her dead. And I will take a Scree head for every hair of hers that was harmed." +

+

+ He looked at Jack, then swept his gaze across all three. "And when I give my word, I don't break it." +

+

+ Jack felt a rush of shame. He had misjudged Declan. +

+

+ "But you did the right thing," Declan said. "I might really have been the traitor. And it is more important you finish the job you started. One + life is nothing compared with fair Temair." +

+

+ He wrapped his little book again. "Next time, just cut the traitor's throat and don't leave him tied with just threads." +

+

+ "That was twenty pound nylon line," Kerry said. "You must be stronger than you look." +

+

+ Kerry was joking. They had seen Declan fight when the Scree troop attacked. +

+

+ "The real traitor is dead," Corriwen said. "Killed by his own greed." +

+

+ She pulled close to Jack. "But before he died, he gave me this." +

+

+ She drew out the heart stone and looped it around his neck. +

+

+ "Where it belongs," she said. +

+

+ "So what now," Declan asked. The fire of the battle still blazed in his eyes. +

+

+ "Let's ask the book," Jack said. +

+
+

+ Alevin reached the great dam just as Mandrake arrived on the ridge. He pulled up in wonder at its construction. +

+

+ The massive trees that had been felled in Sappeling Wood had been used to block the narrow ravine through which the river flowed down the valley. Other + trunks, some of them five feet across, had been laid at a slant against the dam wall to bolster it against the enormous weight of the water behind it, the + water that now filled the ravine to the brim for miles upstream, enough to send it leaking through the solid rock of the cut channel. +

+

+ Even now the pressure was buckling those enormous timbers and the whole dam groaned and creaked like a vast creature in pain. Water had risen to the very + lip and surged over the edge in thundering arcs onto the rocks hundreds of feet below. +

+

+ He wondered if he had enough time to break this thing, to destroy it before the rocks gave way in the cut and flooded the salt desert beyond. +

+

+ And he wondered what immense damage the flood water would do to the land downstream if he succeeded. +

+

+ But it was no choice at all. As a child he had memorised the tales of the ancient wars with the creature they knew as the Morrigan. She had almost + destroyed Temair then. +

+

+ This time she would succeed. +

+

+ It needed a hard heart and courage. +

+

+ He dismounted from the great roan and stood at the edge of the ravine. Scree bodies littered the timbers where Alevin's army had caught them napping. Even + the people who had been enslaved had surged forward with hammers and pick-axes top take their revenge on the ogres who had so cruelly whipped and goaded + them to work until they dropped. +

+

+ Not a Scree was left unbroken. +

+

+ "Destroy it now," Alevin finally said. "And heaven save Temair." +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ The pictures she allowed into his mind showed him Alevin's men, far at the end of the lake where the great dam groaned under the force the lake. +

+

+ There were lights all along the dam as men worked through the night to carve and hack their way through the buttresses. They could work all night and all + day, he knew - she knew - but the time had arrived and the time was now. +

+

+ "Feed the storm," the voice croaked. "Fuel the whirlwind." +

+

+ He kept those pallid hands high above his head, while below the Scree and the renegade chiefs only heard the booming of his voice, strangely strong in the + night. Of Mandrake, they could see nothing in the darkness, but they felt a shiver of power tremble all along the ridge where they waited on high ground, + crouching against the buffeting wind and sleet. +

+

+ Mandrake spoke, and jagged forks sparked from his fingers, blue as glacier ice, stabbed at the centre of the storm and were swallowed in the maelstrom. +

+

+ The ground rumbled. The Scree felt it through their feet. +

+

+ Way down at the dam, Alevin saw a strange ripple bearing down like a tidal bore to smash into the bulwarks. +

+

+ Mandrake laughed. +

+

+ "Breach it, fools. Breach my dam now!" +

+

+ Thunder spoke so loud that rocks trembled and cracked. +

+

+ The whole swirling storm seemed to suck into itself and then explode in a vast burst of power. +

+

+ Stone fountained up. A deafening crack split the air. +

+

+ It sounded as if the world had split in two. +

+

+ The end face of the cleft shattered. Broken stones flew like slingshot, as big as great-horses. Boulders the size of houses tumbled in their wake. +

+

+ And then the water came such an immense flood that it scoured and gouged, cascading in a white roar down the cut and into the salt barrens. +

+

+ A hundred Scree stragglers were caught on the edge of it and were carried to their deaths like leaves in a spate-river. +

+

+ On the ridge Mandrake watched as the lake surged through the cleft with a monstrous roar that shivered the world, and inside his head, the very thing that + he had woken in the Black Barrow cackled in foul triumph. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d72e2ce --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch28.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,725 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 28 + + + + +
+
+

28

+

+ Inside the Black Barrow the darkness swallowed them; a darkness so deep and complete it felt like a physical substance. +

+

+ They had seen it in the distance across the dry white land. The mound stood out like a malevolent toad, hunched on the flat. +

+

+ They stared silently, each of them momentarily unwilling to take the first step. Pure evil radiated out from the dark bulk. +

+

+ But they knew they had to go there. +

+

+ Declan led the way into the wide basin, horse-hooves kicking up dust that clogged their throats. Nothing lived here; nothing they could see, nothing normal. +

+

+ The Black Barrow loomed ever larger. They felt the baleful pull of its power, and still they trudged on, hot, weary, thirsty and, as far as Jack and Kerry + and the little leprechaun were concerned, very scared. +

+

+ Declan pulled up his horse. It pawed the ground. The animals too sensed the absolute wrongness of this place +

+

+ "It's old," Declan said. He shivered. "And I don't like it, I can tell you that." +

+

+ The stone was smooth from the abrasion of centuries, each one fitted tight to its neighbour as if to form an impenetrable barrier. Jack thought that was + just what it was. The stone was a shell. A prison to keep something in. It cast a long shadow. +

+

+ On its east side they found the broken masonry that had been chipped away by manic hands, and beyond the pile of rubble, a thin, man-sized hole. +

+

+ The heart stone began to beat slowly against Jack's breastbone. +

+

+ "This was how he got in," Corriwen said. "The Redthorn sword is here. I can sense it." +

+

+ Her face was pale under her copper hair, but her eyes were steady. Jack thought she was probably the bravest person he had ever met. +

+

+ "Rest and take a drink," Declan said. +

+

+ They huddled together and drank from water-skins. The water was hot and tasted bitter, but it cleared the dust from their throats. Jack felt the pulse of + the stone on its chain, as if that heart was afraid too. He drew out the Book of Ways and they clustered round. +

+

+ "Maybe it'll give us a clue," he said. He laid it flat and they waited. The book shivered, as if it too felt danger. The pages riffled with a slight sigh + and they all held their breath in anticipation. +

+

+ At first nothing happened. Kerry looked at Jack. Corriwen kept her eyes fixed on the blank open page. +

+

+ Then the page began to darken. But instead of the old script that had resolved itself onto the leaf before, it darkened like a cloud, swirling in slow + spirals that deepened from a haze to grey. In mere moments, the page was completely and utterly black. +

+

+ "Definitely not a good sign," Kerry muttered. +

+

+ The page turned, all by itself and the next one was black; dead black. Then the next and the next. It whirred faster and faster, showing them page after + page, each one totally dark, devoid of any script. Just pure black. It reached the end and closed with a snap. +

+

+ "I think it's telling us it's going to be dark in there," Kerry finally said. "That's a fat lot of use." +

+

+ Beside them, the little leprechaun made a sound. They turned and saw it crouched on the ground, with its twiggy fingers stuck deep in the dry earth. +

+

+ "Have to hurry," it croaked. "Bad ground here. All dead. And the world shakes far away." +

+

+ "Someone will have to guard the horses," Declan said. "But not me." He looked at the narrow entrance. "I must enter with the Lady Corriwen." +

+

+ "I stay with the big hoofs," the leprechaun said. "Dead for me in this place." +

+

+ Jack stood, tucked the book into the satchel. He touched the heartstone with his hand. +

+

+ "He's right," he said. "The sooner we're out of here the better." Declan nodded agreement. +

+

+ "Or we could just turn back and forget all this," Kerry said. He caught Jack's eye. "Only kidding. I wouldn't miss all this fun for anything." +

+

+ Jack heard the slight quaver in his voice. Kerry winked. "Come on then. All for one and each for everybody else, right?" +

+

+ Declan sparked a brushwood torch and Jack led the way forward, scraped through the Mandrake-sized opening and the cold dark wrapped itself around him with + clammy hands. The hairs on the back of his neck hackled up as skeletal fingers seemed to trail up and down his spine. +

+

+ "At least the book got it right," Kerry whispered from just a step behind. His voice was oddly distorted. "It's black as a yard up a chimney." +

+

+ Declan's torch struggled against the unrelenting blackness. Its feeble flame guttered. +

+

+ Jack touched the stone wall beside him. It was damp, not wet, but cold as ice. He snatched his fingers back. There was a scent on the thick air, as if some + animal had crawled in and died, and apart from their muted footfalls, it was deathly silent. +

+

+ They moved down a passage, almost blind in this awful darkness. It reminded Jack of the liquid night that had invaded the Major's house. Kerry kept a hand + on Jack's shoulder and Corriwen held Kerry's belt. Behind them Declan said nothing at all. They moved forward slowly. Jack counted the steps, twenty, + thirty, sixty, a hundred. +

+

+ Three hundred steps on, they came out of the passage and into a wider space. The torch flame was barely visible now. Jack's eyes were wide open, but there + was no adjusting to this dark. +

+

+ "Where now?" Kerry asked. Shivers were running up and down Jack's spine and he was glad none of them could see his face. Something waited ahead of them. He + could feel its presence like an ache. And the heart felt it too. It was beating faster, stuttering against him. +

+

+ Kerry reached a hand to feel for the wall. He gave a cry of horrified surprise and drew his fingers back quickly. +

+

+ "Jack," he whispered. He gripped Jack's arm tight. "There's a dead body here. I felt it." +

+

+ Declan pushed forward and held the torch up against the wall. It gave off just enough to show the skull set in a niche on the damp wall, eye sockets like + holes to infinity. It wore ancient armour covered in mould, but still intact so that the skeleton stood upright. Its bony arm rocked from Kerry's touch. +

+

+ "The Guardians," Corriwen whispered. "The Bards set them here long ago. As part of their binding curse." +

+

+ Jack took a tentative step forward, sensing something ahead. He had to force his feet to move, for what he felt ahead of them was worse, infinitely worse, + than the dark touch he had felt when they fell into this world. +

+

+ Madness reigned here. +

+

+ He could picture the dead heroes, strapped upright against the walls, swords gripped in hands of bone, standing guard for generations. +

+

+ "Which way?" Kerry asked. His voice sounded small and distant. Jack cocked his head. +

+

+ "This way, I think." +

+

+ "Jack? Jack?" Kerry sounded anxious. Jack heard the urgency in his voice and turned. Declan's torch was just a pin-point in the profound black. It was + further away than it should have been. +

+

+ "You okay, Kerry?" The black swallowed his words. Kerry called out again, and it sounded as if he was far away. It was as if the very space had expanded + between them. +

+

+ "I can't hear you," Corriwen called faintly. "Are you there?" Her voice was barely a whisper, a cry in the distance. Jack turned, trying to get his + bearings. Kerry's call faded to silence. Jack called back and his own words were smothered and sucked into the dark. He closed his eyes, trying to project + his thoughts and senses. +

+

+ He called again, once, twice. There was no reply. He turned back, but the wall was not where he expected it to be. He felt as if he was in a vast chamber + where there was no sound at all, save the beat of his own heart and the slow intake of his breath. +

+

+ The heartstone beat in silence. +

+

+ Jack realised with awful certainty, that he was alone. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ There was no response. +

+

+ He drew his sword, feeling puny, straining to hear anything. +

+

+ He called again for Jack and his words faded as soon as they were spoken. He held his breath, listened. And then he heard it. +

+

+ The sound of running water. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Something stirred ahead of her and she paused. +

+

+ Corriwen + . +

+

+ A whisper, barely audible. She listened intently and after a few moments it came again. Her name whispered, no echoes, like a tickle in her mind. +

+

+ She opened her eyes and for an instant thought she could see something, and took three steps forward, blade in hand. +

+

+ "Jack?" +

+

+ The whisper came again and a faint glow brightened as she moved towards it. +

+

+ "You came back," the whisper told her and her heart gave a sudden jolt. +

+

+ "Dear Corriwen," her brother's voice spoke from the waxing glow. A shape moved within it, and despite herself, she stepped towards it. +

+

+ Cerwin's face resolved in the glow. +

+

+ "Sister," he said softly. "I knew you would come." +

+

+ "But how….?" Her voice faltered. His face came clear, shining in the surrounding dark, just as she remembered it. Not the face of a dead man + slaughtered on a battlefield. Her brother's red hair gleamed. His eyes were bright with life. There was no mark on his skin. +

+

+ "I knew you would find a way," he said. "To free me from this place." +

+

+ "I don't understand," she finally said, voice cracking. +

+

+ "He killed me, but I still live. She brought me here, but you can save me, make me whole again. I know where the sword is. Come with me." +

+

+ He reached a hand towards her. Corriwen felt his warmth on her skin and tears cascaded down her cheeks. Her brother was here. By whatever magic he was + speaking to her, as alive as when she had seen him last, heading east for the battle with Mandrake. +

+

+ Her heart jolted again. It wanted her to believe that Cerwin was alive. +

+

+ Her heart wanted this, wanted it so badly it felt it would break. But something in her mind told her: No. +

+

+ "Follow me," he said softly. "The sword will make me whole again." +

+

+ A wave of dizziness swept through her, and his face wavered in front of her. For a moment, it was as if the past had never happened, the great battle, the + bloodied body, the traitor's knife. They all drained out of her mind as she felt cocooned in the warmth of his love. +

+

+ An image of Jack Flint came to her, calling her name from a distance. +

+

+ "Corriwen. Corriwen Redthorn!" +

+

+ Jack Flint? Jack who? Did she know someone…? +

+

+ She could not remember. Her brother's love enveloped her and she leant into him as he bent to kiss her cheek, the way he had done when she had fallen as a + child and he would pick her up and dust her down. +

+

+ "Corriwen Firebird." He whispered. The name he had called her as a child. His voice was soft, gentle, the way it had always been. +

+

+ "Corriwen, come with me." He spoke urgently now. +

+

+ She shuddered. Something was badly wrong with this. +

+

+ "Don't wait," he whispered. "Come to me." +

+

+ Underneath the soft words, she heard the scrape of something dry and old. Her brother reached for her, opened his arms to welcome her. +

+

+ "Little Corrie, come now!" +

+

+ She took a step forward, and the smell of putrefaction came thick on the damp air. +

+

+ A voice called her from far away. +

+

+ "Corriwen!" +

+

+ Jack who? +

+

+ Cerwin reached for her then, and as he reached, his hands changed. They twisted and lengthened. His eyes shrank back into sockets deep as pits. +

+

+ He smiled a nightmare smile. +

+

+ "Corrie," he croaked, and as he reached, she knew this was not her brother, for Cerwin was long dead. +

+

+ She felt a scream swell inside her, but her throat locked and nothing, not a sound, would come out. +

+
+

+ Far away, Kerry heard the sound of running water, rushing water, but he couldn't tell which direction. +

+

+ Now he too heard voices whispering. They held no warmth; no life. +

+

+ He strained to see, hairs crawling on his neck, as little by little the voices became louder. An eerie glow began to spread around him and he turned, very + slowly, heart hammering. +

+

+ The dead Guardian turned its bony head towards him. Beside it another one scraped against the wall, making a dull clink of old armour. +

+

+ Dead men were all around him. He could hear the twist and grind as their bones moved, the squeal of rusting armour. +

+

+ "Outworlder," it grated. "No business here." +

+

+ Kerry raised his sword. It felt small and useless in his hands. The corpses were all staring, all starting to move. Skeletal hands gripped sword-hilts. +

+

+ "We have waited long for you, tasty boy. We hunger here in the dark. We hunger for flesh. We thirst for blood." +

+

+ "Aye, that'll be shining bright," Kerry heard himself say. +

+

+ The dead men began to push themselves from the walls towards him. +

+
+

+ Declan's torch had died. He stood still, trying to sense any bearings. +

+

+ Then, suddenly, he smelt flowers, sweet honeysuckle and wild lily. He closed his eyes and breathed, drawing in the perfume. It was warm and musky; the + scent of summer. He felt himself drift on it. He had travelled long and far in these terrible times and now he felt the ache and exhaustion overtake him. + He breathed in again and suffused with the heady scent, felt himself drift away… +

+

+ …and wake beside a clear stream. +

+

+ It was dusk here and she was beside him. He remembered how they had stolen down to the sparkling water. His wife's hair was long and wild and her face + turned towards him. +

+

+ "You slept long," she sighed. "I watched you sleep." +

+

+ She had always watched him sleep. The way he had watched her. His heart leapt with the sheer love of her. +

+

+ "You dreamed," she soothed. +

+

+ "I dreamed….?" He began. "Yes. Yes. I dreamed you were…you were gone." +

+

+ "Not gone," she said, voice like a song. "Yours forever more." +

+

+ "But you died." He began to say. "The Scree…" He paused, dizzy with confusion and longing. His heart ached real pain. +

+

+ Had he dreamt? Had it all been an awful vision?" +

+

+ She drew a cool smooth hand across his brow. +

+

+ "Gone? What nonsense you speak. I would never leave you, dear heart." +

+

+ She held a posy of blossom. "See. I gathered more flowers while you slept. Smell them." +

+

+ She smiled and her eyes glittered. Declan leant to take her in his arms and her arms went around him. He pressed her close and suddenly her body was bony + and brittle, and the scent of the summer flowers turned to something sick and vile. +

+

+ But by then it was too late. +

+
+

+ The mouldering warrior lifted up a blood-scabbed sword. Kerry ducked under the swipe of the blade. It sang close enough to snick his hair. He + stabbed up with his own blade and the point plunged between dry ribs and rattled uselessly against a dusty spine. +

+

+ "Tasty boy," it whispered. "Feed our starving bones." +

+

+ Another lurched forward, its jaw hanging loose. +

+

+ "Okay, come on then, bag-of-bones," Kerry snarled, heart pounding. He'd seen many things in his short time in this world, and this was the creepiest of + all, but they were still skeletons, he told himself. They were bones, and they were slow. +

+

+ He swung his sword and clipped the second warrior's arm. It came away at the shoulder. Behind him bony fingers scratched at his throat and squeezed. + Instinctively he twisted, and pieces of fingers clattered to the floor. +

+

+ Something else caught at his leg and he saw, with huge disgust, that it was the hand on the arm he had cut off. +

+

+ "Oh, screw this for fun and games," he spat. He spun, slashed and hacked his way through the ring of impossibly mobile dead men. Pieces flew. Armour + cracked. Some of the things fell to the ground, broken and shattered, but despite all that, they still came on, groping at him, the stuff of pure + nightmare. +

+

+ Over in the corner of the chamber he saw a space that looked like a passageway and shoved his way past the clawing hands into the space and started + running. +

+

+ He was going downhill all the way, gathering speed when he heard the echoing roar of water, but he kept on round the bend in the passageway. +

+

+ And a wall of water hit him and tumbled him backwards and under. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ There was no light here and the heart stone was pounding in tandem with his own. +

+

+ Sheer willpower kept him going, feeling forward, all senses so acute his nerves felt taut as bowstrings. +

+

+ Something moved at his side, just a soft bump. Jack's own heart kicked hard. +

+

+ It came again. He groped behind him, but there was nothing to feel. Another touch and he swung the satchel round, touched the thick canvas and felt the + thing move inside the bag. He was tempted to ignore it, but the twist came again, like a small beast in there, and he wondered how it had managed to + squeeze under the buckles. +

+

+ Warily he slipped them loose and with careful fingers, expecting all the time something slimy or scaly to strike and bite, but his fingers only encountered + the straight edge of the old book. He touched the cover and felt it move, like breathing, once, twice. He could still see nothing, but he drew out the + book, and as he did, it pulsed again, in and out, and as soon as it was flat in his hand, it opened and the pages whirred in sequence. +

+

+ The book whispered to him in the riffle of pages. +

+

+ Follow the heart, follow the beat +

+

+ Sense in the dark for She-Bane seat +

+

+ Speed to the heart, speed to the stone +

+

+ Speed to the sword to find the way home + . +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Kerry managed to claw his way to the surface, kicking his legs madly against the flow. He raised his hands and found the roof, only inches above his head +

+

+ The water tried to drag him away, but he held on with fingernails in the cracks. +

+

+ "Jack," he bawled. "Jack man! Don't you let me drown." +

+

+ The words were hardly out of his mouth when a hand clasped his ankle and began to drag him under. +

+
+

+ Jack seemed to walk a long time. +

+

+ "Hello?" he called out. "Kerry? Corriwen?" +

+

+ There was no reply, but the sensation of a heavy heartbeat was strong here. He fumbled on, realised he was in yet another passageway, narrow and sloping + downwards. He had no choice but to follow it. +

+

+ He walked on, and soon he began to believe he really could hear the steady beat, so deep it vibrated inside him, and the further down the passage he + groped, the more powerful it became. In his hand, the heaert stone pulsed of its own accord, but to a different beat. +

+

+ Something waited ahead of him. He knew that now. He felt it. Something profoundly malevolent, so evil its badness seeped from the stones. It took all his + courage to keep walking. He forced himself on until the tunnel veered and he came out into another chamber. +

+

+ Instantly the stone in his hand began to glow. +

+

+ From somewhere ahead came a shuddering sigh, a sound of pleasure, of relief, he couldn't tell. It didn't sound human, not in the least. +

+

+ "Spawn!" a voice spoke in his mind. It was like the scrape of bone on stone, colder than ice. "You come at last." +

+

+ The glow faltered, dimmed. Jack clutched the heart stone tight and held it to his chest, squashing down his fear. The glow brightened again, stronger than + before, as if he had recharged it with his own courage. This chamber was domed, circular, and in its centre squatted a massive black shape. He was drawn + towards it and as he came closer he knew he was in the core of the Black Barrow. +

+

+ The obsidian block faced him, as high as a man, polished smooth. +

+

+ "You bring the key," the voice whispered. "My key to worlds." +

+

+ "This was where they put her," he thought. Finbar the Bard had been right. Finally Jack was here, and he was here alone to face the Morrigan. +

+

+ But he now knew the power of the Key. His fingers tightened. +

+

+ "You will never leave this place," the voice said. It came from all around, and within him. He shuddered, trying to make his lungs work despite the pure + fear that jolted through him. +

+

+ "Bring it to me, Spawn." +

+

+ Jack shook his head. Words failed. +

+

+ Inside the stone block, deep beyond the polished surface, a shadow within a shadow moved. Jack couldn't draw his eyes away. +

+

+ A shape resolved, and as he watched, defined itself into a face which swam up from its depths towards the surface. +

+

+ He saw a woman. +

+

+ She was pale and perfect. Her hair was black as a roak's wing, her eyes even darker. Her lips were blood red. When she smiled her teeth were fine and even. +

+

+ "Come to me, journeyman's child." +

+

+ Jack could not draw his eyes away from the beauty that floated before him. His hand wanted to reach and touch the obsidian block, just to be close to her. + He took a step forward and the heartstone shivered and blue light pulsed. He drew his foot back again. +

+

+ "I know who you are," his throat finally unclogged and he managed to speak. +

+

+ "And I know you, " she said, fixing those black eyes on him. They drew him with a powerful gravity. +

+

+ "How do you know me?" Jack asked. +

+

+ "Child. Child. I travel worlds. I can give you everything." +

+

+ "Like you promised Mandrake?" +

+

+ "Like I promised your father." +

+

+ Jack's heart lurched, as though he'd been punched in his chest. +

+

+ She smiled. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. +

+

+ "I know what you do not," she said. A delicate hand, white as milk, drifted towards him. The nails were black as tar. "Come closer and see what I know." +

+

+ Unable to help himself, Jack stepped closer. Her face slowly dissolved into swirling smoke and he felt a sudden ache as the perfection fragmented, but as + he watched, the swirling focussed again, became shapes and he saw… +

+

+ + Five men on a hill, dressed in white and singing in close harmony, while beyond them, a tall man lifted a great sword to the storm-swirl in the dark + sky. + +

+

+ + On his chest a white heart beat slow and steady and the man raised his face upwards as a shape spiralled down, screeching in anger, great wings tearing + the air while on the ground bodies of Scree soldiers lay bleeding. + +

+

+ + It hurtled towards him, but the man stood his ground, sword raised and the fire from the stone ran up the great blade while the Bards sang. A skein of + silver and gold light wrapped around the screeching thing and snared it tight, dragged it into the great stone. + +

+

+ + The man did not flinch, he held his sword in both hands now and plunged the blade into the stone until the lightning subsided and the screaming died as + if it came from something that fell forever into the dark. The man's shoulders slumped. He sagged to his knees, then raised a face that was scarred and + haunted. + +

+

+ Jack recognised him immediately. The dark hair, the set of the jaw. It was what he might look like when he was a man. Older, stronger. Braver. But the + resemblance was clear. +

+

+ "My father," he whispered. +

+

+ The scene faded and her face resolved once more behind the polished surface. +

+

+ "I promised him everything," she said. "Together we could have ruled worlds. He denied me, but you will not." +

+

+ She stared into his eyes and he felt as if he was falling into the deepest well. +

+

+ But in his hand, the heartstone suddenly pulsed and a powerful pure light shone out, white as the sun, searing his palm. +

+

+ He held it high, the way the warrior had done. The way his father had done with the sword. +

+

+ And then he saw the sword itself, sunk to its hilt on the top of the obsidian block. +

+

+ Her face shrank from the light, and he knew what he had to do. +

+

+ He braced himself, grasped the top of the stone, hauled himself up, feet sliding and slipping on the smooth surface. +

+

+ It vibrated under him as if it might explode. +

+

+ "The Key, Cullian Spawn." She raged. "I will have my Key!" +

+

+ "Not today, lady," he heard himself say through the terror that gripped him. He managed to get a knee to the top, hauled himself over the edge, forced + himself to his feet. The stone shuddered and rippled under him. He looked down and saw her there, whirling around deep inside. She turned her true face up + and his heart almost stopped dead. +

+

+ It was the face of a monster. Her eyes were red, the teeth sharp in a mouth that gaped like a beast's. Hands like claws seemed to ­grow + towards him, nails dripping with blood. +

+

+ "Give me the Key!" she shrieked. +

+

+ Pieces of masonry exploded from the roof. Stones shifted and ground together. +

+

+ "Give me the Key and I will lead you to him." +

+

+ Jack didn't trust his own voice. He dragged his eyes away from the monstrosity, kept them fixed on the hilt of the sword. +

+

+ He reached for it, grasped it, and a pain hit him, a pain that shrieked through every nerve in his body. His back arched and his legs buckled, but he held + on to the sword. +

+

+ "Too late, Cullian Spawn," She roared. The whole barrow felt as if it shifted on its foundations. +

+

+ "He is damned forever beyond the lands of the dead," she screeched. The voice tore at his mind. "And so is she." +

+

+ "You die fatherless, and you die motherless." +

+

+ Jack jerked back in shock. But his hand still held the hilt of the sword. +

+

+ The terrible voice raged and roared, shattering stone all around, but he kept his mind fixed on the sword. He knelt, gripped tight, then pushed up with his + legs with every ounce of his strength. +

+

+ The blade drew out of the stone with no sound at all. +

+

+ Jack Flint held it in both hands while around his neck, the heart stone blazed pure white fire. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f03151 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch29.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,380 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 29 + + + + +
+
+

29

+

+ Inside the Black Barrow, the demon raged. +

+

+ The child had defied her. He had been so close, bearing the key to worlds, but she could not reach to take it. +

+

+ But she was not defeated. Her time was approaching fast. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ Mandrake stood on the ridge, feet straddling the knife-edge. +

+

+ The words of power, words he had learned in the scrolls and ancient tomes in the Redthorn Keep, had served their purpose. The skies had unleashed the fury + of the storm he had conjured. +

+

+ Below him the flood-water crashed against the weakened ridge and made the earth tremble. +

+

+ To the south, men were frantically working to break down the barrier. +

+

+ Mandrake turned his head to the storm where lightning stabbed across the sky and thunder roared like a beast and he laughed like the madman he was. +

+

+ $Fools. Fools!$ He screeched in his hag-voice. +

+

+ $Break it now and weep forever,$ Mandrake croaked. $All is lost for you now!$ +

+

+ He turned from the ridge and began the descent to where the massed Scree troops and the turncoat chiefs waited for his arrival. +

+
+

+ On the dam across the narrow ravine, Alevin was frantically spurring his men. +

+

+ He looked down from the top of the barrier to where his men toiled far below, hacking and sawing at the timbers that buttressed the dam and held the waters + back. Already the pressure was so great that even these great trunks were beginning to bend like greenwood twigs. It twisted and groaned and splinters + exploded, but the dam still held. +

+

+ $If the storm comes this way, we're all done,$ said a voice behind him. +

+

+ Alevin turned. One of the soldiers had brought him some bread and water. It was all they had. +

+

+ "If we don't break this barrier, we're all done. We'll do what men can do." +

+

+ "There's something wrong with the lake," the man said. +

+

+ "Aye. It's there." Alevin crouched on the rim, looking down to show the men working like ants. "There where it shouldn't be." +

+

+ "No," the soldier said. "I thought I saw something different since the last time I was here." He rubbed his eyes after the next bolt of lightning almost + blinded him, waited until the after-images faded. +

+

+ "Look there, Alevin. The water is lower. Two feet or more." +

+

+ Alevin spun from the drop and joined the man on the north edge. As he turned, he saw a wall of black water racing down the narrow lake in a curling wave. +

+

+ The water against the lip was definitely lower. A bank of weeds that had been covered before was now glistening on the wooden wall. +

+

+ And the wave-surge was bearing down on them faster than a galloping horse. +

+

+ "More sorcery," Alevin said. "Mandrake tries to stop us." +

+

+ But Alevin was wrong. He was playing right into Mandrake's hands. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ He made it across the chamber, bearing the great sword as he ran, and dashed into the narrow passageway. +

+

+ "Corriwen," he called. "Kerry!" +

+

+ He had no sense of direction here. +

+

+ But he had to keep moving. The she-demon pulled and tugged at him, trying to turn him, force him back, and it took all his effort, all his will to pull + away. +

+

+ 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. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ She had pulled away, slashed with her blade, heart shattered from the loss of her brother again. The knife bit into something more solid than air, and she + felt wetness spurt. +

+

+ But she had snapped out of the mesmerising hold the creature had on her. +

+

+ The passageway opened into another chamber and Corriwen stopped, heart hammering, lungs aching. +

+

+ Something called her name and she jerked around. +

+

+ "Corriwen!" +

+

+ She turned and ran, feet pattering on the dank slabs. Somewhere, ahead or behind, or in one of the side passages, she could not tell where, other footfalls + came louder. A soft glow appeared in front of her. +

+

+ She tried to stop, but her momentum carried her forwards and she slammed against the dark shape. +

+

+ Instinctively Corriwen slashed at it and heard a cry of pain. She raised her knife again and a hand caught her wrist before she could deliver a killing + blow. +

+

+ "Corriwen," Jack Flint panted. "Don't kill me now." +

+

+ He grabbed her tight. Blood was spurting from his arm, soaking right down to his sleeve, but he clamped his arm around her. In the light of the heartstone + her eyes were blind with terror. She looked half mad. +

+

+ "Corrie," he bawled. "It's me. Jack." +

+

+ She blinked, squirmed to get away, to get the knife free, and then her eyes suddenly fixed on him. +

+

+ "I've got you the sword," Jack said quickly. "Now let's get the hell out of here." +

+

+ For a second the strength went out of her legs and her whole body sagged. Jack held her up, tight against him. +

+

+ "We're nearly there," he said. He sincerely hoped they were nearly there. +

+

+ "We've just got to find Kerry. We can't go without him." +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ His sword was still in his hand, and he stabbed it down, but the water slowed him. It was like moving through treacle. The blade hit nothing at all and + 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. +

+
+

+ Jack called his name. +

+

+ "Kerry!" +

+

+ A noise like a growl came from somewhere ahead, and Corriwen clenched his arm. +

+

+ "Did you hear that?" +

+

+ "I heard something," he said, gripping the sword tight. +

+

+ The sound came again. More a rasp than a growl. It sounded like an animal. Jack powered on, keeping the blade ahead of him. If it was an animal, no matter + how big, how fierce, he would face it. +

+

+ A shape wavered in front of them and Jack raised the weapon, ready to strike first. The thing spun slowly, as if suspended from the ceiling, and a face + turned towards him, and he started to swing the sword in the split second before recognition dawned. +

+

+ "Kerry!" +

+

+ He was on his tiptoes, hands dangling, face blank. Bones were strewn all round his feet. +

+

+ A skeleton hand clenched on Kerry's ankle, arm-bone trailing on the stone floor. +

+

+ Jack reached for him. Kerry's body was slack and cold. For a second, when he had seen the shape in the gloom, he had thought it was floating in mid air. + Even now, Kerry seemed to be wavering, as if seen through liquid. His eyes were open and vacant. +

+

+ Jack reached for him, got an arm round his shoulders, pulled him in tight. +

+

+ For a second Kerry's form was slack and then he let out a huge gasp. A gout of black water blurted out and Kerry's arms flailed madly. His blade missed + Jack's eye by a whisker. Corriwen grabbed his arm. It was trembling with energy. Kerry gasped again, retched, and then doubled over in a paroxysm of + coughing. +

+

+ "Don't….Don't let me drown, Jack." +

+

+ "You're not drowning!" +

+

+ Jack hauled him up, while Corriwen started clapping him hard between his shoulderblades. +

+

+ For another instant, Kerry's eyes were wide and sightless and then he blinked, once, twice, and then focussed on the glow from the stone. +

+

+ "What?....Where?" +

+

+ "It's us. You're okay." +

+

+ "Jack man," Kerry gasped. He coughed again, spat and then shivered all over. "I was drowning, Jack. They pulled me down. The place was flooded." +

+

+ Corriwen looked at Jack. +

+

+ "Just a trick," Jack said. "It gets into your head." +

+

+ Kerry shook his head. "It was up to the ceiling. And the dead men pulled me under." +

+

+ He looked down at his feet, recoiled when he saw the bony hand clasped to his ankle, and kicked it away. +

+

+ "Tell me later," Jack said. "We have to get out." +

+

+ Kerry shook himself. "Thought I was a gonner for sure." +

+

+ "Don't think about it," Corriwen said. "This place is just madness. It puts lies in your head." +

+

+ She reached for Kerry and hugged him tight. +

+

+ "We are real," she said. "We have life." +

+

+ "And let's try to keep it that way," Jack said. "Come on." +

+

+ The hurried out of the chamber, back into another series of passageways, but now they were ascending, and Jack knew they were going the right way. They + walked, it seemed for hours, always with that baleful presence probing at his mind. Jack held the heartstone ahead of them and led the way until finally a + shard of daylight appeared and they stumbled into the harsh dry barrens and the glare of the blazing sun caught the polished blade of Cullian's sword. +

+

+ The three of them stood, holding on to each other for strength and comfort. +

+

+ "Where's Declan?" Kerry finally asked, coughing the last of the filth from his sore lungs. +

+

+ "Still in there," Jack said. +

+

+ "So, do we go get him? Or just wait." +

+

+ Way to the east, the storm was getting stronger. They could see the jagged edge of the ridge cutting south to where Mandrake's dam was. Lightning arced + along its sawtoothed peaks. +

+

+ "Something bad has happened there," Corriwen said. +

+

+ "Worse here," Kerry ventured. "You think Alevin got to the dam?" +

+

+ "I hope so," Jack said. He turned the sword, then passed it, hilt first, to Corriwen. She took it in both slender hands, and she seemed so slight she would + barely be able to lift it, but she swung it up with surprising ease. +

+

+ "I never wielded this before," she said. "But it feels to fit my hand." +

+

+ Jack nodded. He had felt exactly the same way when he had drawn the blade from the Morrigan's stone. +

+

+ "We should wait a while," he said. "But we don't go back in there. That thing gets in your head and if she did it again, I don't think we would ever get + out." +

+

+ He was about to say more when there was a movement at the black entrance. Corriwen brought the sword up in both hands, blade foremost. Kerry had his blade + up in a flash. +

+

+ Declan came out of the dark, staggered in the light and fell to his knees. For a horrified second, Jack thought he had lost his eyes, for instead of the + bright blue that had flashed as he fought the Scree, all he could see were two black holes. +

+

+ He was gasping for air, his face drained of blood. He clamped both hands over his eyes and knelt on the hard ground, rocking back and forth, moaning as if + in agony. +

+

+ "Declan," Corriwen said. She put the sword through her belt and touched him on the shoulder. He was trembling like a bird, all his muscles bunched tight. + "Declan! We are here." +

+

+ She drew his hands down from his eyes and Declan blinked hard, as though the light hurt his eyes. +

+

+ "What happened?" +

+

+ He shook his head, bewildered. "I….I…I thought…" his words trailed away. He drew in a deep breath, shuddered, and seemed to collect + himself. "I don't know," he finally said. +

+

+ "But you're out now, aren't you?" Kerry said. "We all made it." +

+

+ He pointed to a small hill some distance away. The three horses stood together. The little leprechaun sat at their feet. Kerry was about to say something + when the ground trembled under them and he turned to face Jack. +

+

+ Jack saw Kerry's eyes widen. He pointed over Jack's shoulder, unable to speak a word. Corriwen caught the motion and looked in that direction. Jack + shrugged, turned and froze. +

+

+ A wave of water, a wall of water, taller than a house, taller than the black Barrow itself, was thundering across the flat, coming straight at + them. +

+

+ As one, they turned and fled for the high ground, not pausing to look back, knowing the wave would surely overtake them before they reached the hill. +

+

+ Kerry bawled to Jack. "Don't you let me…." +

+

+ And the wave slammed into their backs and tumbled them over and over and over until everything went black. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5417f36 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch30.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,213 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 30 + + + + +
+
+

30

+

+ The backwash of that huge wave sucked them back, floundering and gasping. Jack felt his muscles weaken. Kerry thrashed and splashed, hampering all efforts + to save him. +

+

+ Then, miraculously, the horses were in the water, forcing their way though the surge, with the little leprechaun clamped around the lead mount's neck. + Without reins or stirrups, it somehow managed to get the great horses between them and the force of the flood. Jack reached a desperate hand, grabbed the + saddle and hauled himself up, forcing Kerry in front of him. Kerry sprawled across the saddle, coughing mud and looking very sorry for himself. +

+

+ Still, he managed to squeeze the little leprechaun's arm. +

+

+ "You're a good wee man to have around, so you are." +

+

+ Jack didn't even have the strength the climb on. He simply held the girth and let the horse plod through the tumbling water onto the brow of the hill + before he fell down, barely able to move a muscle. It took ten minutes, maybe more, before he could sit up and look to the east, where, far in the + distance, water was still spewing out of the cleft that had been cut in solid rock, and as they all watched, the waters rose quickly in the basin of the + high salt flats to form a new lake. +

+

+ The Black Barrow was just a bleak island in the middle of the floodwater, and then it too disappeared from view. +

+

+ "We've lost," Jack finally said, staring bleakly at the water where the Black Barrow had been. Tears of frustration and rage were coursing down his cheeks. +

+

+ "There's still Alevin," Kerry said. +

+

+ "That's the problem," Jack said. "I remember what the Bard told me. The dam had to go first." +

+

+ "Why's that?" +

+

+ "It was the curse. It couldn't be forever, 'cos nothing ever is. They had a rhyme for it: +

+

+ Jack thought carefully, then he repeated it just as Finbar had told them after they had been saved from the waterfall by the Undine women. +

+

+ A blade to wake from deadly sleep +

+

+ A flood to free in fathoms deep +

+

+ For in the ebb the foul takes form +

+

+ To ride the night, on wings of storm. +

+

+ He shook his head. "If only he'd smashed the dam on time. We came all this way and I …I thought we'd made it." +

+

+ "So now what?" Kerry asked. +

+

+ "I think we should get ourselves out of here." +

+
+

+ Mandrake had watched gleefully as the water roared through the cleft cut in the ridge. +

+

+ "I did this," he crowed. "Ha. Ha-ha. And they called me mad!" +

+

+ He raised his face to the storm. +

+

+ "Nothing can stand before me! Nothing on this world!" +

+
+

+ The dam bulged further and the edges of the sluice-gate began to give. +

+

+ "We have to move them," one of the captains said. +

+

+ Alevin was watching closely. "Just a minute more. We're almost there." +

+

+ The structure groaned again, pulled from below, pushed from above. Trunks as wide as ten men began to bend slowly, like saplings in the wind. Pieces of + stone, where the buttresses had been laid into the solid rock, began to crumble. +

+

+ "All right," Alevin said. "Get the beasts out and on to high ground." +

+

+ The captain shouted orders down the slope and immediately the exhausted men slung the long hawsers round the buttresses, then allowed the horses to power + their way up and out of immediate danger. Hundreds of men who had worked on the cleft were hauling now, all in unison, pulling as hard as they could. +

+

+ "Haul it!" Alevin roared. "Haul for Temair +

+

+ Then a voice shouted from high up on the lip of the dam. +

+

+ "Alevin! The lake!" The man waved frantic arms. "The water!" +

+

+ "What's happening now?" +

+

+ "Come up and see. The water…it's dropping." +

+

+ Alevin cursed through gritted teeth. +

+

+ He wheeled his horse and forced it up the narrow track and finally got to the rim. +

+

+ "What did you say." +

+

+ "The water, sir," the man said. "I don't know what to make of it." +

+

+ Alevin dismounted and strode to the lip, hardly able to believe his eyes. +

+

+ The water level had dropped by ten feet, and it was still dropping fast. +

+

+ "Too late," Alevin groaned aloud. "Too late." +

+

+ The future of Temair rested on his shoulders and he had failed. +

+

+ Suddenly, the dam shook with a powerful tremor and the water began to flow away from its upstream face. +

+

+ It began very slowly as the rim sagged backwards. Timbers cracked and spun outwards. Somebody down below roared orders. +

+

+ "Get out. Get the beasts away!" +

+

+ Then the dam fell. It happened in seconds, but to Alevin, it seemed to take a long time. A huge wave came barrelling down the lake, slammed against the + timbers and drew back with such force as the waters fell that the whole dam was sucked back. Alevin ran for his life along the rim. He leapt across the + widening gap, managed to get his fingers onto the rock, and then the man who had called the warning reached and grabbed him by the wrist. +

+

+ The dam collapsed with a colossal crash into the space where the lake had been. +

+
+

+ From the comparative safety of the hillock, they had watched the waters rise ever upwards until the Black Barrow was completely submerged. +

+

+ Then everything went silent and still for a long time. +

+

+ "The storm's coming this way," Corriwen finally said. Her voice was flat with despair. +

+

+ Jack nodded. "I know. But there's nowhere to go." All around them, the floodwaters stretched over the flats. +

+

+ The little leprechaun was down on the ground, hands dug into the thin soil, eyes closed. +

+

+ "They come again," He finally said. "Bad things come." +

+

+ Jack had no doubt in his mind that something awfully bad was coming. +

+

+ Far in the east they heard a low roaring sound. +

+

+ "I think that's the dam," Kerry said. +

+

+ "Too late," Corriwen muttered. "Too late for us all." +

+

+ An hour later, the water began to fall again, as the floodwater drained back through the crevasse and down through the gorge. Now there was nothing to + impede the flow and the new lake simply began to drain away. +

+

+ And as the storm's fury approached them, the tip of the Black Barrow slowly emerged from the subsiding water. +

+

+ Jack Flint felt a sense of dread shiver through him. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c9e5ad --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch31.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,402 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 31 + + + + +
+
+

31

+

+ They watched as the water level dropped. Declan stood on the top of the hillock, leaning against his horse. He had been silent since he had emerged from + the Black Barrow. Neither Jack nor Kerry wanted to ask him what terrifying visions he had seen in the darkness there. +

+

+ Blood soaked into Jack's sleeve from the cut of Corriwen's blade. He was not in real pain, but his arm felt weak and shaky. +

+

+ Corriwen sat close, with the Redthorn Sword on her lap, slowly stropping its gleaming blade with her sleeve. It glowed with an light of its own. The hilt + was carved from the same black, translucent stone as the heartstone on its chain. The pommel was silver too, with a smoky cairngorm stone at the end, + etched with interlocking letters. +

+

+ Jack could read them from where he sat, and though he said nothing, his heart quickened. The lettering was exactly the same as the ones carved on the bone + handle of the penknife in his pocket, the one the Major had given him, without explanation, when he was ten years old. +

+

+ They read: J.C.F. +

+

+ He stared at it for a long time, thinking hard, recollecting the snippets of information he had gleaned all along the way since even before they had + tumbled through the stone gate into this strange world. +

+

+ And the words of the Morrigan inside the barrow came back to him too, though he wondered if she had planted dreams in his head, or whether she had spoken + the truth, or if he would die here without finding out any of what was important to him. +

+

+ Corriwen Redthorn looked up at him. +

+

+ "I didn't thank you," she said. +

+

+ "For what?" +

+

+ "For this. For saving this for Temair." +

+

+ "I don't know if it has made a difference. We were too late." +

+

+ "Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows the future?" She touched his hand, letting the sword rest on her lap. She clasped Kerry's hand too. +

+

+ "And I haven't thanked you for all of it. For coming on this journey with me." She gave them a small, almost shy smile. "And for being my true friends." +

+

+ "Aw shucks," Kerry said, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Buy me a beer and we'll call it quits." +

+

+ They both looked at him. +

+

+ "I heard that in an old movie." +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Kerry huddled against the other two, with the Leprechaun snuggled under his arm. He looked up at the maelstrom above. +

+

+ "Looks like heavy weather," he said, to no-one in particular. +

+

+ Corriwen was so pale she looked ill. +

+

+ "They cannot fight. There's too many of them." +

+

+ "Oh, they will fight," a voice came from behind them. They turned as one and saw Finbar standing on top of the hillock. Beside him were four others. Jack + recognised the Bard of Otter Holt and three more tall old men with long, braided beards, staves in their hands. They were dressed all in white. +

+

+ "Comes the day, comes the hour." Finbar said. +

+

+ "See the front of battle glower," Jack said. "Robert the Bruce said that." +

+

+ "Comes the hour comes the hero," the second Bard said, almost a chant. +

+

+ "Comes the hero," said the third, "comes the heart." +

+

+ "Comes the heart and good prevails." +

+

+ "Good prevails and evil fails." +

+

+ Corriwen listened, but she was not convinced. "Fine words. But they are outnumbered ten to one." +

+

+ Just as she spoke, the Scree began to roar their battle cries. They battered their clubs against broad shields and the hounds set up a howling that was as + eerie as it was frightening. On the opposite side of the basin, Alevin's small army stayed silent. +

+

+ The Scree marched forward. Corriwen could see the black form of Mandrake astride his wagon, urging them on. As the Scree began marching down from the high + ground, there was a strange sound, so deep Jack could feel it vibrate in his bones. +

+

+ "It begins again," Finbar said. "She stirs." +

+

+ Without warning, the Black Barrow heaved. Jack thought it looked exactly like a waking beast. Cracks split the ground with a sound like gunshot and + stuttered across the basin in hard, jagged lines. +

+

+ The wind fell. Corriwen gripped the Redthorn sword in both hands. Jack slipped a black arrow to his bowstring. They waited, breath held. +

+

+ Kerry heard it first, a sound like a low groan from deep in the earth. +

+

+ "Is that her?" +

+

+ Jack couldn't reply. His lungs had locked tight. One of the bards raised his staff up to the sky and began a low chant. +

+

+ Then there was movement. It came from the cracks where the water had flowed, and at first it seemed as if the sand was shifting. Jack managed to get his + breath. +

+

+ "Look there," Finbar said. He pointed to the slope behind Alevin's force. They all looked and saw the hill slowly change colour, as if splashed with sage + green paint. The desert slope was turning green in a slow wave. +

+

+ "More magic?" Corriwen asked. +

+

+ "Not yet," Finbar managed to chuckle. "The Leprechaun have come from their glades. For the good of all Temair." +

+

+ Jack strained to see. What looked like a carpet of moss growing across the hillside resolved itself into a horde of the little people, moving fast + as rabbits, silent as mice, flowing down the slope towards Alevin's band. +

+

+ "They're just little guys," Kerry said. "They'll get slaughtered for sure without those trees to help." +

+

+ The ground shuddered again. +

+

+ A shadow wavered up from the nearest crack in the earth. For a second Jack thought it was her, the thing in the Barrow, and then he saw a cloud of black + flies, hatching from the earth, hundreds of them, thousands, suddenly a huge swarm, buzzing in unison +

+

+ The Bard of Otter Holt had closed his eyes and was chanting into the wind. +

+

+ The flies spun in their own insectile whirlwind and the stench of rot from their number was awesome. Beyond the Barrow, they heard Mandrake's voice, not + his words, but just the high pitched clamour. And as one, the flies arrowed towards Alevin's line. +

+

+ "Blood suckers and carrion eaters," Finbar said. "Summoned from the depths." +

+

+ Beside him the tall Bard still chanted, hands high, holding his stave. +

+

+ And from the far south from where they had travelled, something glittered in the sky. He sang on as the cloud of biting insects spun round, humming their + own death song, towards the pitiful force. +

+

+ Then the flock of silver swifts, thousands strong, came on singing wings, sweeping over Alevin's head in such numbers they hid the entire force from view + and swooped straight for the cloud of flies. +

+

+ The second bard was beside the first, chanting his own song, facing the west and the far sea. He held his stave up in two hands and closed his eyes. His + deep baritone voice spoke to the western sky. Finbar spoke to the east. They chanted, different words, but in rhyme and counterpoint. +

+

+ The Scree began to charge across the plain. +

+

+ Corriwen grabbed Jack's hand and dragged him to the top of the hillock. Without a word she stripped off his jacket and tore his shirt open. The red hand + stood out clearly under the five points of the corona. +

+

+ "Take the sword," she ordered, her face grim. +

+

+ "No," Jack said. "It's yours. You need it." +

+

+ "Do it, for me. For Temair." She pushed it at him. "And for us all." +

+

+ Jack took it. It sang in his hands, suddenly riven with huge power. Instinctively he raised it above his head in one hand. He raised his left, caked with + his own blood. Corriwen held on to him as the wind buffeted them. She stood on her tiptoes, cupped a hand to her mouth and called across the distance to + Alevin. +

+

+ "A Redthorn!" she called, clear and high, loud enough to pierce the wind and the screams of the feeding birds. +

+

+ "A Redthorn! Rally to the Red Hand." +

+

+ Alevin's head turned. He raised his sword and a cheer went up from the men around him. +

+

+ "The Redthorn!" the soldiers roared. To a man, they raised their weapons high and clattered their shields. In front of their horses, something small moved + out. Jack recognised the ancient leprechaun from the forest. He reached the flat and slowly sank to his knees. +

+

+ "He sacrifices for the poisoned land," Finbar said. "In a war that is not of his making." +

+

+ As they watched, the old king dug his feet deep into the soil, even as the Scree came charging across the plain, and then his arms began to twist. His + fingers lengthened, split into twiggy branches, elongated further and became branches. Small leaves sprouted around his gnarled face and shoulders and the + elongated, knobbly arms. His body stretched, creaking and as quickly as they had formed, the leaves shrivelled and died. Bark-like skin simply peeled away. +

+

+ "He's drawing the poison," Finbar said. +

+

+ "What for?" Kerry asked. +

+

+ "To make it fertile." +

+

+ The old king was completely still now. His knobby shoulders looked like dead wood. One of the branches that had grown from his fingers cracked and fell to + the ground. The wind blew off another one. The horde of little leprechauns watched in complete and reverent silence. +

+

+ Then, as the old creature withered and died a tide of the leprechaun people came swarming from behind Alevin's horses and swept out onto the plain in a + green flood. +

+

+ Alevin's captain blew his horn and the great horses stepped forward to meet the Scree hordes. +

+

+ The Scree charged on, their hounds snarling and slavering in anticipation. The green host of leprechauns flowed out to meet them and Jack thought their + advance was nothing short of suicide. The ground shook as the grey tide charged to meet the green. Then, in the centre of the plain, the leprechauns + stopped all in a line, looking for all this world like a sward of moss. None of the watchers could make out what was happening. +

+

+ The Scree raised their clubs and spears and raced towards them, set for slaughter. +

+

+ Without a sound, the leprechauns pulled back, drawing the Scree towards Alevin's men in a ferocious rush. In the lead was a grey giant, wide as two men, a + war club in each hand. He charged ahead, took a swipe at a little leprechaun who ducked and scampered out of reach. +

+

+ The giant fell. No stumble, no pause. He just fell flat. Beside him another Scree tumbled and rolled, kicking his hobnailed feet against something green + that entangled his feet. +

+

+ "Small, but clever," Finbar said. +

+

+ A third Scree stopped dead and started to drag his foot which seemed to be nailed to the ground. Another clutched at something on his leg. +

+

+ One of them screamed like a hog and sank to his knees as a thick, thorny tendril reared like a snake and curled around his throat. It tightened like a + snare and blood spurted in a gush. In an instant the plain was writhing with spiked runners that swelled from the soil and snagged and snatched at the + onrushing army, tripping them, noosing them; spiking them with jagged thorns. +

+

+ The old king's sacrifice had not been in vain. +

+

+ The Scree's bellows of triumph turned to screams of fear and pain. +

+

+ Alevin's men spurred their horses onto the plain and charged at the entangled front line. The Scree were too busy with their own predicament, trying to + free themselves from the snares and garrotes that held them fast. Some of them were blinded by stabbing thorns, some choked where they stood. +

+

+ And the rest of the front line were cut down by Alevin's fighters in a swathe of blades and clouds of arrows. +

+
+

+ 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. +

+

+ Mandrake was in an agony of indecision. His Scree were dying in hundreds, but worse, the Redthorn Sword had been taken, and the heartstone was still not in + his grasp. +

+

+ He had planned and worked for this, and now, on the point of victory, he had failed her. +

+

+ Her wrath, he knew, would be devastating. And he would suffer the consequences. +

+

+ He could see the girl, out beyond the fighting - the slaughter - and the boy with the heart stone. And the Bards were there, calling their + familiars and the forest people against her. They would fail in that endeavour, he was sure. +

+

+ But he could not face her, not without the prize she had demanded. The price of his future. +

+

+ He knew just where he had to go. +

+
+

+ Jack and the others stood mesmerised, close enough to the carnage to smell the blood and sweat. +

+

+ Finbar laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. +

+

+ "They will come for you now, Journeyman," he said. "And what you carry. And for the Redthorn Sword. It's time for you to leave the field." +

+

+ Jack had been so riveted by the battle that he hadn't even thought to flee. But as Finbar spoke, a phalanx of Scree started to beat its way past the + thrashing and dying front line, moving to cut them off. +

+

+ "We will hold them," Finbar said. +

+

+ "How?" +

+

+ Finbar pointed to the sky in the west. "You go that way." +

+

+ Jack looked in that direction and saw a glitter in the sky. +

+

+ "My brother has called and been answered," Finbar said. +

+

+ And as Jack looked, he saw the shimmering cloud resolve itself into yet another flock of birds, so many they blocked the darkening sky. He heard a faint + high cry in the distance. +

+

+ "Run, boy," Finbar said. "You have braved enough. Time to find your way. Go with our blessing and our thanks." +

+

+ Corriwen had her hand on Jack's shoulder. +

+

+ "I must stay," she said. +

+

+ He touched her on the head, as if to give her a special blessing. +

+

+ "Corriwen Redthorn," Finbar said. "You have done your duty. Now pick up your feet, and run. Run like the wind. What Jack Flint carries is far too important + to be lost again. He needs you still. We feel her stir. The sands are running fast." +

+

+ "I'm with Finbar," Kerry said. "This place is getting too rough for my liking." +

+

+ Finbar turned to Declan who still leant against his horse, holding the pommel to stay upright. +

+

+ "Guard their backs," the Bard said. Declan nodded. He climbed into the saddle, pulled the other horses round and they all mounted quickly. Finbar slapped + the horse's rump. +

+

+ "Now get gone. We'll hold them." +

+

+ Jack turned the horse, with the leprechaun on its neck, and they left the five Bards together on the hillock. As they spurred the mounts down the slope, + the white cloud of birds flew over their heads. Jack saw the wide wings of seabirds and recognised them from his walks on the cliffs with the Major. That + seemed like a hundred years ago now, but he could tell gannets when he saw them. +

+

+ But he had never seen so many of them all together. +

+

+ The tall bard kept up his low chant, staff outstretched, and the gannets came slashing down from the black sky, spear beaks outthrust, wings pulled back + and launched themselves like living arrows into the heart of the Scree hordes. +

+

+ All Jack could hear as the horses galloped west, were the screams of the grey swarm as they died under that murderous attack. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch32.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch32.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f3eb1e --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch32.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,197 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 32 + + + + +
+
+

32

+

+ On Jack's chest, the heart-stone began to beat again. He could sense the presence, awake and now rousing. Kerry pointed to the sky and Jack raised his + eyes. +

+

+ "It's happening," Corriwen said, her knuckles white on the Redthorn hilt. +

+

+ As they watched the storm sank lower and lower, speeding up as it descended on the Black Barrow. +

+

+ Jack tried to turn, but the scene held his eyes in awful fascination. +

+

+ As soon as the storm's base touched the black stones, the earth jolted. Even from this distance they could see a shock wave judder across the plain. +

+

+ A deadly silence reigned. +

+

+ "Jack," Kerry said urgently, plucking at his sleeve. "I really think we should…" +

+

+ He didn't even get to finish the sentence. +

+

+ The Black mound exploded. +

+

+ The ground ruptured all around and molten rock sprewed up. +

+

+ And in the centre of it all, something began to emerge. +

+

+ Jack felt her searching mind before he saw the shape. It was like the touch of death. +

+

+ She rose slowly, like a smoke haze, coiling, weaving, thickening all the time. Bolts of power arced up to a sky that had turned from the black of the storm + to a sickly purple. No sun or stars shone. +

+

+ The Morrigan turned her ghastly head towards them and then she laughed. A flock of roaks circled over its head. Her arms stretched wide, as if to embrace + the whole world, became great black bat-wings that spread out on either side. +

+

+ "Look away, Jack!" Kerry shouted. He grabbed the reins and hauled at Jack's horse. "Come on!" +

+

+ Corriwen pulled him, forcing him to turn. As he did, Jack felt the awful connection between him and the monstrous thing part with a mental snap. +

+

+ Corriwen kicked her horse and they were off, the howl of mad laughter ringing in their ears. +

+

+ On the hillock, the bards joined their five staves together in an interlocking pattern, holding them up to the sky. +

+

+ From that pentagram, a spear of white light met the darkness head on. +

+

+ Jack risked a look over his shoulder. +

+

+ The Morrigan was powering across the distance towards them. +

+

+ "Faster," Jack yelled. The horses were at full tilt, leaping over the smoking crevasses that laced the plain. +

+

+ Some awesome power came twisting out from the demon like a tornado. Jack caught the motion and instinctively wheeled his mount. The others turned with him, + and an force shuddered past him, so close he felt the wave of black energy ripple through him. His vision wavered and a deathly cold ripped to his core, + and then it was gone. +

+

+ The bolt smashed into the rocks ahead of them and the earth cracked open. Brimstone gouted. +

+

+ Jack's horse lost its footing and tumbled, slammed into Corriwen's mount. The other two steeds collided with the first and all the riders went down. +

+

+ Jack rolled, grabbed Kerry's arm and dragged him to his feet. Corriwen was beside him, Declan had his sword drawn, but Jack knew no sword could have any + effect on the raging thing that plummeted towards them. +

+

+ "Run," he gasped. Boiling stone erupted from a churning crevasse. Jack leapt onto one of the heaving slabs, with Kerry and Corriwen beside him. +

+

+ The Morrigan soared above them. Jack leapt from one tilting rock to another. The little leprechaun scampered across the big rocks to the far side. +

+

+ The slab Jack reached spun under his weight. He felt his skin bake. +

+

+ The stone cracked like thin ice and one part pulled away. Jack slipped to one knee. Corriwen gave a cry as the slab they were spun off. Declan stood up. He + held the Redthorn Sword in his hands. +

+

+ Jack got to his feet again. On his neck, the heartstone was pulsing as fast as his own. Above him, above the smoke and heat, the Morrigan wheeled and + cackled. Jack turned to Declan and his heart almost stopped. +

+

+ Declan dropped his saddlebag. Its contents spilled out. He turned his eyes on Jack and they were as dead and as empty as a corpse. +

+

+ His fingers found Jack's neck and squeezed hard. +

+

+ "Freedom in all worlds." +

+

+ Jack heard the words, but the voice that spoke was not Declan's. It was the same voice that had invaded his mind in the depths of the Black Barrow. +

+

+ Corriwen screamed a warning and tried to leap from her stone across a gap six feet wide. Kerry held her back. +

+

+ "You lose, journeyman. Like your father." +

+

+ In desperation, Jack fumbled at Declan's belt and managed to grab the knife. Declan raised the Redthorn sword high, and began to swing it down. +

+

+ Jack thrust with the knife and took Declan under the swinging arm. The knife drove straight in. Declan faltered, just enough to let Jack dodge the blade + edge. Jack twisted, grabbed Declan's saddle bag as the sword came down again and hit with such force it jarred his arms up to the shoulder. The little book + fell out and in the heat the edges of its pages began to turn brown. +

+

+ "Give it up," + the Morrigan's voice spoke from Declan's mouth. "Fight me and you will suffer forever." +

+

+ Declan grabbed for the heartstone on its chain. Jack flinched. +

+

+ On the far side, the little leprechaun fixed its eyes on the book that had fallen open. +

+

+ Jack rolled and almost tumbled into the searing flow. Declan caught his ankle and drew him back. He twisted, knocked the little book to the side and the + pages fluttered open. Declan suddenly stopped hauling. +

+

+ A scarlet rose was pressed to the page, still bright. +

+

+ As Declan's empty eyes caught the image, the rose swelled up from the page. On the far side of the gash in the earth, the little leprechaun hunched, + polished eyes fixed on the flower, muttering. The rose petals opened. Declan's death grip loosened abruptly. He dropped the Redthorn sword and Jack + scrambled back to the edge of the slab. +

+

+ He grabbed the sword in both hands. +

+

+ Declan turned to him. +

+

+ "Do it now," he hissed. "Finish me now before…" +

+

+ Jack raised the sword. +

+

+ Above them, in the smoke and fumes, the Morrigan screamed. A withering bolt of pure evil came blasting down and smashed into Declan whose fingers spasmed + around the rose flower and crushed it to nothing. He looked up, lurched forwards. +

+

+ "Now, boy. End it lest she…." +

+

+ His mouth clammed shut and his face twisted in agony. The slab rocked alarmingly as Declan's hand found Jack's neck again. +

+

+ The stone lurched and spilled Declan backwards towards the cauldron of melted rock. +

+

+ His fingers found the chain around Jack's neck as he fell, dragging him to the edge and then without warning, the slab tilted. Declan's foot hit the molten + rock and sizzled in a burst of steam. He screamed once and then the rock simply flicked over and smashed them both into the incandescent heat. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch33.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch33.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..351ee54 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch33.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,156 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 33 + + + + +
+
+

33

+

+ Corriwen and Kerry watched, helpless to intervene as the slab flipped over and Jack and Declan vanished into the heat.. +

+

+ Corriwen's knees gave under her and she would have fallen if Kerry's arm had not been locked around her. +

+

+ Jack had made no sound at all. One moment he was there and the next he was gone, the Redthorn sword in his hand. +

+

+ Kerry made a sound, as if he had been hit hard in the belly. +

+

+ In the boiling air, the Morrigan screamed, beating those wings with enough force to buffet them where they stood. Energy shot off her in waves that sent + rocks flying into the air. Lightning stabbed up from the ground and the flock of roaks wheeling above her burst into flames and came spinning dead to + earth. +

+

+ Jack was gone. +

+

+ All they could see was the glow of rock flowing in a river of fire. Of Declan and Jack there was no sign. Way beyond the split and broken land, thousands + of Scree knelt in homage. +

+

+ Corriwen and Kerry turned away in horror and shame. +

+

+ At the far side of the hillock, they came to another crack in the earth where another river of molten stone rushed in a torrent. It was too wide for them + to cross, even by jumping from slab to slab. +

+

+ "We're stuck," Kerry said. He sounded drained and completely devoid of any hope. +

+

+ "We must….flee," Corriwen said, hating herself for even thinking it. She had not come here to flee, but defeat had been forced on them just when she + thought they had won. Now they were trapped between the Morrigan and the fires that bubbled up from hell. +

+

+ Behind them, over the roar of cascading brimstone, she felt the dead-touch in her mind and spun quickly. +

+

+ The Morrigan came swooping towards them, claws outstretched, her face worse than any nightmare vision. She radiated foulness as evil as mortal sin. Kerry + felt himself sway, unable to move. He closed his eyes against the vision. He had no energy left even for fear. +

+

+ Then, without warning, the rocks shook under their feet and the bank they stood on slipped down towards the river of lava. +

+

+ Kerry fell to his knees, dragging Corriwen with him. The rock tilted further and they slid towards the flow. +

+

+ Then Kerry saw the hand clutching the edge of the slab. He jerked back as the fingers clawed for purchase and something began climb out of the brimstone + towards them. +

+

+ He backed away, unable to imagine what could possibly defend them against something that could live in a river of fire. +

+

+ Inch by inch it breached the surface, burning like the sun and inch by inch, made its way onto the slab. Heat came off it in roasting waves. +

+

+ In its hand was a glowing wand. +

+

+ Slowly, very slowly, it began to rise to its feet, a glowing man-shape. +

+

+ "Jack?" +

+

+ Kerry only heard Corriwen's whisper. +

+

+ "Stay back," he said. "Jump if you can." +

+

+ "Jack!" Louder this time. Kerry shot her a glance and saw her eyes were fixed on the incandescent figure that stood before them. It was a human form + blazing in light, almost transparent. It turned towards them and raised the brilliant wand and for a second, Kerry thought he recognised the face in the + swirling heat. +

+

+ It raised the wand and he saw it was no wand. It was a sword of fire. +

+

+ It turned away. The Morrigan swooped. +

+

+ A bolt of blinding white light shot from the figure on the rock. It sizzled up the length of the blade and leapt out. +

+

+ The light pulsed from the stone around its neck, riving into the sword and it blasted up, Kerry recognised Jack's face inside a caul of heat. +

+

+ The light slammed into the Morrigan with such force she was thrown backwards. +

+

+ As Jack stood there - stood there, however impossibly - the light lanced out in blinding skeins. The Morrigan shrieked as she tumbled. +

+

+ As Kerry and Corriwen watched, open-mouthed, the heat drained from Jack's body, turning his shimmering form solid again. The glow faded, dwindling to the + centre of his chest, flowing back into the heart-stone. +

+

+ High in the air, the Morrigan began to writhe and change, began to fade back into the smoke from which she had come. +

+

+ Jack swung the sword down, and shards of its light seared the kneeling Scree, blinding them as they worshipped. They clapped warty hands over their melting + eyes. +

+

+ Behind them, a horn sounded in the distance and Alevin's men and his raggedy helpers came storming across the plain. +

+

+ The wind caught the fading smoke that had been the Morrigan and wafted it away to the east until there was nothing to see but a smudge in the sky. +

+

+ Then there was nothing at all. +

+

+ Jack paused and lowered the sword, shoulders slumped as if he was totally drained, then, slowly, like an old man, he turned towards them. For a moment his + eyes were glazed and empty, still hot, and then they focussed on them. +

+

+ Corriwen gasped. As he stood there, they could both see that the red hand mark on his chest, and the five points of the Corona were gone, shriven clear in + the heat of the brimstone flow. +

+

+ Finally the heartstone drained the last of the heat from him and faded to black. +

+

+ Jack walked towards them and held the sword up to Corriwen. She put her hand around his on the hilt and together they raised it aloft, the Sword of + Cullian. +

+

+ Kerry gawped at them, still unable to speak. But his heart was bursting with pure happiness. +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch34.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch34.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7be46c --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch34.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,464 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 34 + + + + +
+
+

34

+

+ The Bards reached them. Finbar put his arm around Jack. +

+

+ "Is it over?" +

+

+ Finbar shook his head. +

+

+ "Only until she recovers," he said. "She can be fought and she can be held, but she cannot be killed." +

+

+ "You mean, it's not over?" +

+

+ "Nothing ever is," Finbar said. "The battle between the dark and the light has gone on since the beginning. And it always will." +

+

+ He laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I know you have been through more than anybody has a right to ask, but you must protect the worlds. She must not get + the key or your Caledon will be next to suffer, and worlds beyond that. We will do our best to bind her again, while she is weak. We have you to thank for + that, Journeyman." +

+

+ He looked out over the battlefield where the Scree hordes had fallen. +

+

+ "Your part here is done," Finbar said. "And you have Temair's gratitude. Now, mount up and ride west. " +

+

+ He raised his staff and pointed towards a path that led to a cleft in the high ground. +

+

+ "Follow that pass and the trail that leads from it. Stay on the track and you'll find the way home." +

+

+ Corriwen held up the Redthorn sword. "I think you should have this." +

+

+ "What would I do with that meat cleaver?" The bard laughed. +

+

+ "I promised I would find the homeward gate for my friends. Who knows what will happen when we reach it. Temair needs the sword more than I." +

+

+ Finbar shrugged. He was jollier by far than the other Bards. +

+

+ "Who knows what will happen? I imagine you'll have a use for a fine blade, no matter its history. After that, if you want me to keep it safe, I've my + Undines who will guard it well. Nothing gets past them." +

+

+ He helped Corriwen into the saddle, slapped the great horse on its high rump. +

+

+ "Now take the Key Heart, and take heart. Ride like the wind and don't look back." +

+

+ Corriwen spurred her horse up the track. Jack and Kerry followed. They reached the pass in less than an hour and didn't look back as they descended on the + far side, down a rocky slope and by the time they hit the flat, the great horses were moving at a gallop. +

+

+ The horses kept the pace up all day, never tiring, only stopping to drink at clear streams in land that became greener and more fertile as they headed west + and away from the salt barrens. +

+

+ They passed through green valleys that were empty, waiting for the return of people to farm them and rode on as the land rose again, stopping only to eat + whatever Kerry could catch, before they were up and riding again. +

+

+ There was no sign of pursuit as they travelled rocky ravines festooned with trees, through tall timbered forests and then into hill country again. +

+

+ It took them three days of hard riding before, on a bright morning, they rode out of a steep cleft and saw the standing stones ahead of them. +

+

+ Kerry punched the air with a fist. "Yes!" +

+

+ He banged Jack on the shoulder. "Go for it, man. We're almost there." +

+

+ The two pillars stood in a wide, circular basin surrounded by dry rocks. The faces were intricately carved with the strange lettering they had seen before +

+

+ "The Homeward Gate," Jack said. The Book of Ways had not let them down. +

+

+ As they raced for the stones, Jack leant over in the saddle and grasped Corriwen's belt. +

+

+ "Will you come with us," he said as the stones loomed closer. +

+

+ Before she could reply, a black figure came darting out from between two huge boulders and slashed at Corriwen's horse. The black axe hit the beast such a + blow that it went down in a heap, shivered and died. Corriwen flew over its neck and landed hard, but she rolled with the momentum, managed to get to her + feet and both knives seemed to leap into her hands. +

+

+ Mandrake barred the way to the Homeward Gate. +

+

+ His face was wizened and horribly aged. But his axe whistled through the air and the horse reared in fright, throwing Jack and Kerry to the ground. He + swung again, and almost decapitated Kerry who rolled under the swipe. +

+

+ "I'll have it!" he hissed. "By all that's black I'll have it. You cannot deny me this." +

+

+ "Screw this for a game of soldiers," Kerry snarled. He fitted a sharp stone in his sling and swung hard. It caught Mandrake right between the eyes and he + tumbled back against a rock, the stone lodged deep in his forehead. Black cracks appeared to spread across his face. +

+

+ He raised both hands and chanted in a guttural tongue, ignoring the awful wound that split his face into a spiderweb of black lines. +

+

+ As he raised his hands, Jack felt himself caught. He couldn't say how, but his motion suddenly slowed, as if he was running through treacle. +

+

+ Mandrake reached again, screamed, and Jack felt the whoop of some invisible force rush past him, aimed high. It struck the high slope behind them and + immediately Jack heard the sound of stones churning and sliding. He tried to turn, but his muscles had frozen. Beside him, Corriwen jerked as if she'd been + electrocuted, Kerry was sinking to the ground, falling so slowly it seemed he would never get there. +

+

+ The Redthorn sword kicked out of Corriwen's hand and stuck in the ground. +

+

+ Mandrake's raddled face lit up in a grotesque expression of glee. +

+

+ Jack heard his voice, slowed down so much it sounded as deep as the roar of tumbling rocks. +

+

+ "Come now, mistress," he boomed. "I have not failed you." +

+

+ The heartstone on Jack's neck fluttered all of a sudden. +

+

+ He forced his hand towards his chest, fighting the paralysis all the way. It seemed to take an age as it floated before him, numb and senseless, but with a + supreme effort of will, he dragged it back, back and back, until it touched the heart-stone. +

+

+ As soon as his fingers found the polished surface, he felt a jolt of heat shimmer through him and the paralysis broke instantly. +

+

+ Without thinking, he grabbed for the sword just as Mandrake's skeletal fingers were closing on the hilt. Jack was a split second faster. He snatched the + hilt, pushed Corriwen aside just in time. +

+

+ A withering bolt of black force hissed through the air and hit the rock ahead of them. +

+

+ Jack was now moving faster than he could think. All his senses were now razor sharp, and everything else seemed to happen in slow motion. He had the sword, + whirled to the left under Mandrake's swing, twisted round as the axe came again in an arc towards Kerry's lowered neck. +

+

+ Jack didn't pause. Behind him he could sense the Morrigan's foul presence, drawing up from the hole in the slope where the rocks had slid away. He braced + his body, put all his strength into it. +

+

+ Mandrake's axe was only inches from Kerry's neck. Corriwen was tumbling away from the Morrigan's blast. +

+

+ Jack threw the Redthorn sword. It whipped through the air. +

+

+ The axe-edge missed Kerry's neck by a fraction and smashed against a rock. +

+

+ The sword caught Mandrake in the chest. It went right through him and pinned him to boulder. +

+

+ He groaned and his eyes bulged. Instantly Kerry and Corriwen were unbound from whatever spell he had cast on them. Kerry was on his feet in the blink of an + eye. Corriwen caught her balance as Jack half-turned. +

+

+ Behind them, up on the slope, a gash had appeared in the ground. The rocks on the slope avalanched towards them and a black shape clawed its way into the + light. +

+

+ Jack turned, reaching for Kerry. +

+

+ Then he saw Mandrake. His eyes were rolled up in his haggard, torn skull. No blood came out of the awful wound in his chest. His arms were spread-eagled + against the stone with the sword jammed into his dark heart. And as they watched, his face changed, turned grey. His jaw opened, but no sound came out + except the grind of dry stone, and Mandrake, who had wanted to rule Temair began to turn to stone as the rock claimed him for its own. +

+

+ On the slope Morrigan screamed and more rocks came tumbling. Jack had the obsidian heartstone in one hand, his bow in the other. The heart beat again, hard + and powerful. He snatched at Corriwen's belt. +

+

+ "Come on!" he cried. +

+

+ Ahead of them the tall stones stood waiting. The sun had swung down behind them and beamed through the space. The light caught the polished heartstone and + reflected into Jack's eyes. +

+

+ Between the stones, the air sparkled like frost. +

+

+ Corriwen reached for the sword that pinned mandrake's grey shape to the rock, but Jack dragged her away. They had seconds to spare, no more than that. He + pushed Kerry in front of him and they ran for the stones. +

+

+ "Please!" Jack said aloud. "Please be ­open!" +

+

+ They went through and something squeezed at them, something soft and yielding. Jack felt that same inside-out sensation he had experienced before. + Everything went black as all light vanished. A deep throbbing swelled in their ears. Colours exploded in concentric rings. Time stretched and shrank and + they fell and fell. +

+

+ They hit the ground running, feet pounding soft earth. A low mist pooled about their feet. Jack opened his eyes and saw the ring of standing stones around + them. Beyond them tall trees dripped dew. The backpack that had been snatched from him on the night they had fled was still lying on the ground. +

+

+ "We're back!" he cried. "We made it." +

+

+ There was a ringing in their ears and the heartstone pulsed slowly. Above them the moon was silver and bright. +

+

+ "Close it!" Kerry bawled. He had turned to face the gateway they had tumbled through. The air still shimmered like a silvery veil, but beyond that, they + could see the rocky basin and the stony shape of Mandrake spiked on the rock. +

+

+ And beyond that, the Morrigan swept down the slope towards them, faster than an express train, roaring like an avalanche. +

+

+ "Close the gate!" +

+

+ "How?" Jack asked. He looked left and right on the two stones. They were thick with intricate carvings, but there was nothing that looked like a lock. He + held the heartstone up to each, but still nothing happened. +

+

+ And that black demonic form was screeching towards them. +

+

+ "The hub of all ways," he remembered the Bard's words. "She'll break through." +

+

+ For a second he was frozen, scared to move. Behind them, at the three pillars that held the weight of the flat table-stone, came a sound of rock on rock. + Jack turned and saw the darkness there that he had seen on the night they had fled, a darkness that sucked the moonlight into itself and smothered it. +

+

+ Air rushed past him, picking up leaves and twigs as the black hole under the capstone yawned and sucked them towards its depths. Kerry slipped and rolled, + clawed at the ground as the gravity of the empty space pulled at him. Corriwen braced her feet and grasped his hand tight. +

+

+ "She's coming," she cried. "I can feel her." +

+

+ "Do something man," Kerry shouted, feet still sliding on the wet earth as the awful suction gained power. +

+

+ Jack snatched Corriwen's hand, reached and clasped Kerry's fingers. +

+

+ Instantly something riddled through him, as if he had made a powerful connection. +

+

+ "Which way?" Corriwen cried, just loud enough to be heard over the roar of wind that sucked everything down into a dark vortex. +

+

+ Jack tried to remember which way they had come into the ring on Halloween. It had been dark, almost too dark to see. It seemed so long ago. +

+

+ His sense of direction clicked inside his head and suddenly he knew. They were still holding hands, the three of them, when he pulled them away from the + homeward gate and ran across the ring. The black hole under the capstone snared them in its awesome gravity. Jack pushed Kerry and Corriwen with all his + strength, resisting the drag with all his determination. +

+

+ Behind him he felt the approach of the demon queen. +

+

+ They staggered on, gasping for breath while twigs and leaves and earth whirled around like a tornado. Jack took the heartstone in his hand, desperately + scanning the stones for a lock. +

+

+ "I can't find…" he began to say. +

+

+ Then the Morrigan erupted from between the pillars and smashed Kerry into the air. A clawed hand lashed out, impossibly fast, smacked Corriwen right off + her feet and flipped her away. +

+

+ Jack leapt back as the Morrigan struck. The talons found the heart stone and snatched it, jerking Jack back into the ring with such force he almost blacked + out. The chain round his neck snapped and the Morrigan howled in triumph. +

+

+ Her shape changed and warped, elongated until features became visible. +

+

+ Eyes as black as sin gleamed in the moonlight as she changed into the woman he had seen in the Barrow. Evil radiated in waves that froze his heart almost + to a standstill. +

+

+ The woman raised her hands high and the moon turned to dripping blood. +

+

+ Her mouth opened in a smile that would have been beautiful, had her features not begun to writhe and change again and the perfect teeth narrowed to glassy + shards and the nose became a snout that snorted and twisted on a raddled face and the eyes turned red. +

+

+ Jack lay against the stone, stunned. He was helpless. She had the heartstone key and he could do nothing at all but wait for the end. +

+

+ She laughed, sending shudders through the ground and then stooped to lay the heartstone on the very centre of the slab. Jack saw it settle into a + heart-shaped declivity carved on the rock. +

+

+ The Key to all worlds. + Jack recalled Finbar's words, though his mind was reeling and every muscle hurting. +

+

+ As soon as the heartstone touched the centre of the slab, the spaces between the thirteen stones suddenly spangled with magical light. Jack got to his + knees, gasping for air and saw the light of Temair blaze through on the far side. In another gap he saw a blue ocean, dotted with fabulous islands. In yet + another, a world where ice sparkled like diamonds. +

+

+ The gates were open. The gates to all the worlds. +

+

+ She stretched a claw towards him. +

+

+ Then something silver flashed in front of his eyes. It happened quick as a blink, a silver fish that arced from behind where he lay. +

+

+ The silver shape landed dead centre on the capstone and when he heard the metallic tinkle, Jack knew immediately what it was. +

+

+ A slender, almost invisible line stretched from the slab back towards the open gate and Jack saw it tighten. The treble fish-hook snagged itself on the + heartstone's silver chain and suddenly it flew backwards through the gate. +

+

+ The Morrigan's claw stopped inches from Jack's head. She turned her monstrous eyes and saw the heart stone fly past her into the darkness of Cromwath + Blackwood. +

+

+ "Told you I never miss," Kerry shouted from the dark out there. +

+

+ Jack found his voice. +

+

+ "Run Kerry….she's coming!" +

+

+ He turned and saw Kerry leap to catch the stone as it flew towards him, snatching it from the air in one easy move. He landed like a cat on his feet and + then he was off and running through the forest. +

+

+ "Get ready Jack," Kerry bawled. "Wait for it. You've got to be Goliath." +

+

+ Frozen, it took Jack a second to understand. +

+

+ Kerry jinked left then right, fast as a weasel between the festering trunks and the Morrigan shrieked after him in a blur. +

+

+ Kerry was fast, but she was faster. Much faster. +

+

+ He saw Kerry find a clear space and then the sling swung round his head, once, twice. The heart-stone's polished face caught the blood red of the moonlight + and Jack ran for it, hands outstretched. It came spinning towards him and he leapt, as Kerry had done, as high as he could. +

+

+ The Morrigan reached for Kerry and slammed him against a tree with a sickening, pulpy sound. +

+

+ Jack was in the air, stretched to his fullest and the heart-stone thudded into his palm. His fingers closed around it. +

+

+ The Morrigan swooped at him and he twisted away as she lunged. +

+

+ She missed him. All he saw was a blur as she fell past him straight towards the darkness under the capstone. +

+

+ There was a sudden twist in the fabric of the world and the Morrigan fell headlong into the sucking dark. Claws scrabbled at the upright stones. + Another claw snaked out and snagged Jack's leg. He a scream of pain tore through him and then he felt himself dragged down. He dug his nails into the + earth, trying to haul himself back into the world, but she was too strong. Jack felt the last of his strength ebb away and darkness begin to engulf him. +

+

+ Through the gateway to Cromwath Blackwood, he vaguely saw Kerry get to his knees and he shuddered as his nails began to draw scores along the ground. +

+

+ Then Corriwen Redthorn came dashing in and snatched Jack's hands in her own, bracing both heels in the soft earth. +

+

+ Jack felt every joint creak as Corriwen desperately hauled at him, while the Morrigan dragged at his leg. He groaned. Corriwen's feet slipped. Her grip + broke. Jack felt himself slide backwards into the intense black cold and his vision began to fade. +

+

+ Then Corriwen was in front of him again, both knives out. She dived headlong and slashed at the claw gripping Jack's leg. The second knife flickered past + him and pierced a monstrous red eye. The Morrigan's sudden agony blasted out and the standing stones shuddered in their foundations. +

+

+ Her grip broke and Jack catapulted forward. The claw lashed out again, caught Corriwen on the side and slammed her away. +

+

+ Jack scrambled to his feet as the Morrigan began to crawl out of the pit. Without hesitation, he vaulted onto the high capstone. The heartstone glowed in + his hand. glowing softly. He bent to the slab, placed the key exactly on the carved heart. +

+

+ There was a small snick. +

+

+ The key to where and when + . Finbar's words flashed in his mind, and he knew now what to do. +

+

+ The world spun and for an instant every gateway blazed light. Jack pressed the heartstone down then turned it, just like a key in a lock. The ground + shuddered and then everything went grey. +

+

+ The howling wind stopped and he heard the Morrigan's scream fading as she fell down, down, down into the dark. The black gateway abruptly shrank to a dot + and vanished. Jack's hand was still turning as he clambered onto the slab, and the obsidian heartstone turned with it. +

+

+ All thirteen gateways slammed shut. Above him, the moon sped backwards across the sky. Daylight flickered, then moonlight, faster and faster as sun and + moon wheeled one after the other in flashes of light and dark. He kept his hand on the stone, kept twisting and the flickering light became a blur until, + without warning, there was a sudden purple flash in the sky. +

+

+ His hand jerked form the heart stone, and he was back in the cold October night. +

+

+ Jack Flint fell back on the capstone, arms spread, chest heaving, utterly exhausted. +

+

+ He was back in his own time. +

+

+ In his own world. +

+

+ . +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch35.xhtml b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch35.xhtml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7fde46 --- /dev/null +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/ch35.xhtml @@ -0,0 +1,221 @@ + + + + + Mythlands - Chapter 35 + + + + +
+
+

35

+

+ "Jack!" +

+

+ Kerry's voice was faint and distant +

+

+ Something shook him. He was too tired and hurt to rouse himself. His ears were ringing and the freezing cold still had him in an icy grip. Every inch of + his body felt twisted and torn. +

+

+ He took a breath. It hurt his throat and his lungs, but the air was cool. +

+

+ "Come on, man. Wake yourself." +

+

+ Kerry's face was just a blur. He shook Jack again. +

+

+ "Rise and shine, man," Kerry said. +

+

+ Jack groaned in protest, rolled on the stone, got half-way up. The world tilted and the great standing stones seemed to shift with it. +

+

+ Kerry's face was a mass of bruises. +

+

+ Jack slowly sat up. He closed his eyes, took another breath. +

+

+ "Is she gone?" +

+

+ "You bet she is," Kerry said. "You did it. But I thought you were a goner this time for sure." +

+

+ "That's the way I feel. Did I close it? Did I close the gate?" +

+

+ "You did something. I don't know what, but there's nothing there any more. And that monster went screaming down there." +

+

+ "We're home then," Jack managed to say. "We're back. Back to Halloween." +

+

+ Kerry groaned this time. Jack could see the bruise across his cheek. He had taken a hard blow, but his eyes were still bright and somehow fierce. +

+

+ "We beat the bitch," he said. +

+

+ "We did. And I think I got us back to before. I mean, before it all went crazy. Now I can ask the Major…" +

+

+ He paused in mid sentence. +

+

+ "Where is she?" +

+

+ "I told you. She's gone." +

+

+ "No," Jack said. "Where's Corriwen?" +

+

+ They both turned round. +

+

+ "She was…" Kerry started, then stopped. "I think she was here. I was running with that thing coming on like a train. Then I threw it to you and she + hit me such a wallop I went ass for elbow." +

+

+ "She was hit too," Jack said. His heart lurched. "She was hit. I saw it." He started to get up, ignoring the pain and they helped each other to their feet. +

+

+ "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. +

+

+ 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. +

+

+ They continued on, towards the space between two standing stones. +

+

+ Then they vanished. +

+

+ Jack looked at Kerry. +

+

+ "She must have been thrown through," Kerry said. Regret and relief were struggling in his expression. "Back home to Temair." +

+

+ Jack reached for his friend's arm. It was all coming back to him through a haze of hurt and numbness. +

+

+ He shook his head. "No," he said. "That's not the gate to Temair. The Farward Gate. She was thrown through the wrong one. They were all + open at the same time. I saw different places out there." +

+

+ They locked eyes. "Kerry. I don't know where she's gone." +

+

+ "Oh Jack + ," Kerry whispered. +

+

+ Jack picked up the amberhorn bow and his backpack. His jacket was in rags. One shoe was torn from sole to heel. The standing stones towered above them. +

+

+ Beyond them, Cromwath Blackwood's trees crowded close. Beyond them, some distance away was the tall wall that was built to keep people out. Now he and + Kerry knew the astonishing secret. +

+

+ Beyond the wall was a world back to normal, he knew for sure. No creeping darkness, no whispering shade. No madness in the night. +

+

+ Beyond the wall the Major's telescope would still be focussed on the woods. +

+

+ Jack had so much to tell him, so much to ask him. All the answers about who he was, all the things he needed to know, lay beyond the wall. +

+

+ He paused, heart aching with the hunger for that knowledge, to discover the whole truth about his father. He walked across the ring, to the space between + the stones through which they had run, panicked, on that first night. +

+

+ Jack leaned against the stone, utterly worn. +

+

+ He had to get back. Had to speak with the Major and find out all he knew. +

+

+ He took one step beyond the ring, aching with the need to find the whole truth about his father. +

+

+ But Corriwen Redthorn had saved his life. She had helped both of them survive against all the odds and she had helped them get here after all they had been + through. +

+

+ 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. +

+

+ They made sacrifices. Their word was more than their bond. It was their life. +

+

+ 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. +

+

+ He turned back and faced across the capstone to the gateway through which Corriwen had disappeared. +

+

+ Kerry's eyes followed him. +

+

+ "What do you want to do?" +

+

+ "Oh Kerry," Jack breathed. +

+

+ 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. +

+

+ "She's lost somewhere. Lost and alone. I don't know where, but I've got the key to open the gate." +

+

+ He turned to face Kerry, looked him straight in the eye. +

+

+ "I'm going to find her," he said. +

+

+ Kerry nodded. Understanding was clear on his face. He clapped Jack on the back. They both winced. +

+

+ "Not on your own, you're not." +

+

+ "I can't ask you…" Jack began. +

+

+ Kerry held up a hand. +

+

+ "You're not. And you don't have to. We're not going to let a girl come between us, are we?" +

+

+ "Cross my heart," Jack said. +

+

+ And together they walked forward into the unknown. +

+

+ THE END +

+
+
+ + diff --git a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf index 4e46cfd..7be6e96 100644 --- a/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf +++ b/build/mythlands/OEBPS/content.opf @@ -54,6 +54,15 @@ + + + + + + + + +