The walls were so sheer they vanished from sight high above their heads, and worn so smooth by tide and wind they were like glass. Big waves carried the coracle straight for where they broke themselves on rocks at its foot.
"Looks a bit rough," Kerry said. "In fact, it looks awfully rough."
"See if you can find somewhere to beach this thing," Connor said.
"Beach? It's a freakin' great cliff, man."
Jack counted the waves. "It's forcing us in and there's no way to steer this. We have to get ready to jump."
"I can't jump," Connor said, "Not with my leg in this splint. If you take it off, I'll do my best."
Corriwen whipped a knife out and sliced through the bindings holding the splint in place. Connor groaned as his leg straightened. He flexed his knee a couple of times.
"It feels better. Looser than before," he said. "If I can't jump," he said. "I'll hop."
Jack flipped open his pack and drew out their two coils of rope. He handed one to Kerry and fixed the end round Corriwen's waist. The second he fixed to Connor and cinched it around his own chest.
"When we get close," he told Kerry, "We go first. We can make it."
"Oh, you're such an optimist," Kerry said, ashen faced, eyes unable to look away from the pounding water. Jack secured their packs so they wouldn't slip.
The seventh wave was as high as a horse. It picked them up and surfed them right in towards the rocks. The coracle smashed against one boulder and its side dented in. It whirled round and a knife edge tore a gash in the thin hull. Water flooded in.
Jack steadied himself. He clapped Kerry on the shoulder.
"It's up to you," he cried. "Don't you let her fall."
Kerry turned away from the water and looked Jack in the eye. The challenge was enough to make himself forget his own fear. Jack saw it.
"I won't," he said. His jaw set hard and he gritted his teeth.
The backwash dragged them out as the coracle wallowed and the next wave drove them forward again, between the two boulders and right up to the cliff face.
"Now!"
They leapt up. Jack hit the rock with hands and feet. His fingers found a minute crevice and Brand's boots gripped the rock. Kerry thudded beside him. He slipped back a foot then got a hold.
"Onwards and upwards," Jack urged, and together they began to climb until the ropes tightened behind them. Jack risked a look up. Despite the mist, he could see about ten yards ahead and he saw a thin ledge.
"If we get there, we'll be okay," he said, with more optimism than he felt.
It took them five minutes, but finally they hauled up and got their feet on flat rock. A few yards along, the ledge widened, enough to give them space to brace themselves and then they started dragging the ropes, hand over hand, and finally they had Connor and Corriwen up beside them. They sagged on to the ledge, breathing hard.
"How high does this go?" Connor asked, craning up. The sheer face vanished in mist. It could go up for miles, Jack thought. Below them, now out of sight, the waves hammered against the rocks and over that, the strange, hollow sound boomed like a great heart.
"There's a cave below us somewhere."
"You think we should try for it?" Kerry asked.
"Too risky. We'd have to clamber down and it could turn out to be a dead end, then we'd have to risk the waves again."
"I'd rather not," Kerry said. "We'll have to climb." He got to his feet and faced the cliff wall. To his right, the ledge widened out even further and he eased himself along it. Then he simply vanished from view round a jutting point. Two seconds later, he came back.
"There's some sort of crack here. Like a gully. It looks as if it goes upwards."
Still roped together, they shuffled along the ledge and round the corner and found the crevice sloping up, steep but not as sheer as the cliff itself. After a hundred feet or more, the going got easier. Another fifty feet and they found a set of steps cut into the bare rock where the fissure narrowed abruptly, steps so worn by time and weather that they were almost eroded flat, but Connor was grateful for an easier progress.
The gully narrowed even further, hardly more than a shoulder's width wide. Jack was in the lead, with Connor roped behind when he stopped abruptly and Connor bumped into him.
A hollow boom shuddered the rock under their feet, low and loud, like a distant drum. A blast of cold-damp air thickened the mist and then seemed to suck it away from them.
The boom echoed up the walls.
Jack took two steps forward and the third found nothing but fresh air. He twisted frantically and got a grip of the rock edge, dangling over a hole in the ground, and managed to haul himself up again.
The mist sucked away again and they saw a gaping hole in the stone, as polished as the cliff walls.
"It goes down to the sea," Jack said when he got his breath back. "That's what's making the sound. The waves go in the cave and push the air up, then draw it back down again."
"That's an awful clever thing to work out," Connor said.
"It's how a wave generator works," Jack said. "We got it in physics class."
"What, you're a doctor as well?"
"Physics," Kerry said. "Like maths. Only harder."
Connor looked totally blank. So did Corriwen.
Kerry grinned. "It's like magic where we come from."
But it was clear the hole went straight down to the sea somewhere far below, a sinkhole filled with roiling fog. Jack counted himself lucky that he had managed to twist and get a handhold, for it sounded like a long way down. They edged round and found a wider slope here where long lines scored in the stone gave them a better grip. Connor was now limping. Jack took the strain on the rope as much as he could, but it was hard going.
"He's a gutsy kid," he said to Kerry. "Can't be easy with that bad leg."
"I feel really sorry for him. He was only trying to catch something to eat and now he's been hunted over half the country. And half drowned. And then a horse fell on him."
"He's not had a lot of luck," Jack said just as Kerry jumped back and crashed into him.
A mouthful of big teeth appeared right in front of them. Kerry's sword was suddenly in his hand as he shoved Jack further back.
The thing glared at them. But it didn't move.
Kerry backed away, sword ready. Then he stopped, took a couple of wary steps forward.
"I don't believe it," he said. "It's a freakin' Viking boat. It's got a dragon on the front."
"How on earth did it get up here," Jack asked, when his heart slowed a little.
"High tide?"
"If it gets this high, we're really in trouble."
They gathered around the carved prow. The head was as big as Kerry was tall, and the mouth a full yard wide, silently snarling. It looked like some kind of guardian.
They edged past and clambered over ropes which held it fast against the rock. Round shields hung along the gunwales, and a long mast lay prone along its deck, wrapped in a heavy canvas sail.
"It didn't float up here," Jack said. "People must have pulled it up
"Would have taken hundreds of them."
"So we should be very quiet. They could be anywhere."
In total silence they edged up the narrow path until they abruptly emerged from the mist. It lay below them, like a flat white sea. Above them, jagged peaks of bare stone soared into the sky. The track flattened out and they found themselves approaching two tall stone pillars, one on either side. Lines and characters, so worn they were hard to make out, covered their facing sides.
"Wonder what that says," Connor said.
"Trespass no further, stranger," Kerry said. "On the left, that's what it says."
Kerry's ability to read the Book of Ways had astonished Jack in Temair, because all through school he'd had dyslexia and found words hard going.
"And on the right it says: "Proceed and Prepare for Battle."
"I'm too tired to fight," Connor said. I could sleep for a fortnight and then have forty winks."
"These stones are old," Jack said. "It probably doesn't mean anything."
They passed the pillars, walking slowly until they came to a jagged fissure across the path. It looked as if a whole section of rock had just slipped and dropped away. The gap was twenty feet across or more. They looked down into darkness. Sounds of distant water echoed up.
"We can't go back," Jack said. "We'll have to cross."
"Sure, Connor said. "I'll just hop over."
"We could climb round the edge."
"No handholds," Kerry replied. He turned to Jack. "You think you could make it?"
Jack estimated the distance, then nodded.
"I wouldn't have had a hope before, but with these boots, it'll be a dawdle."
Jack unhitched the rope from Connor. Kerry did the same with Corriwen and explained the plan to them. Jack went first, taking a short run, timing his steps and then leapt. For a second his heart kicked like a mule as he looked down into the chasm below, and then his feet were on solid ground again. Kerry landed beside him, light as a cat.
They found a stone big enough to loop the rope around, then he searched in his pack until he found the heavy gold torc that had mysteriously been given him in the Drumlin, and used it as a weight to throw the rope back across. Connor picked it up, fascinated, and slipped it round his neck, grinning.
"I'm rich at last," he said.
Corriwen cinched the rope on the far side then tied herself on and then, hand over hand, she came swinging across, while Kerry held tight to the safety rope, just in case. When she got to their side, Jack found that he'd been holding his breath the whole time.
Connor came next, slower Corriwen, and when he neared the edge, Kerry waited to haul him up.
Relieved, Jack turned to pick up his pack.
The heart-stone kicked hard.
And a gargoyle of a creature leapt at them, so fast all they saw was a flicker of motion and a flash of red. Something whickered in the air. Jack caught a gleam of metal, inches from his neck and the next thing he knew he was twenty feet away on a high slab of rock.
Corriwen's knives seemed to leap into her hands as she ducked under a blade as big as a scythe.
Kerry somersaulted over the blade as it swung round to cut him off at the knees.
There was a blur of motion again and the creature disappeared as fast as it had attacked.
Jack leapt down and the three of them stood together, scanning the clefts and walls above them.
All he had seen was a twisted, snarling face with jagged teeth and horns curving up from its cheeks like boar tusks.
"What was it?" Kerry asked, "It looked like a monster."
Jack shook his head, searching all round.
Then it was back on them again, appearing as if from nowhere. Jack saw a spidery motion as the thing swooped head-first down the sheer wall of rock to their right. It landed on two feet, whirled faster than a stoat.
Connor was just getting to his feet. He loosened the noose at his waist and let it drop. He took one step forward. Kerry had already untied the other end from its anchor.
The demonic creature blurred in and slammed him backwards. Jack saw his arms windmill as he fought for balance and then he toppled off the edge. The noose caught around one ankle and the rope hissed as it was dragged over the rim.
The thing swung at Jack. He was up and over the swinging blade before he knew it and then he was on the ground again. The rope was snaking away from him as Connor fell and he frantically grabbed at it.
Over the edge, Connor's wail of fright echoed up.
The rope skidded through Jack's hands, burning like hot metal. He braced his feet hard against a rock.
Then his arms nearly popped out of their sockets when Connor reached the end of the rope and jerked to a sudden stop. A high screech tore the air as the rope tightened on Connor's injured ankle and his weight hit the end of the drop. The sudden strain almost threw Jack over the edge. He grunted in pain and effort, using every ounce of strength and will to stop that from happening.
The gargoyle spun at Kerry. He slashed out with his sword and its blade came swinging for him. The two swords crashed together and Kerry's weapon shattered into a dozen pieces. The thing slashed out its free hand and slammed him into the air. Jack was somehow aware of the sickening thud as Kerry hit the rock face and slid down in a slack heap.
Corriwen screamed in anger and darted in, both knives flashing. The thing's hands blurred and there was a clang of metal on metal. Corriwen's knives flicked out of her hands and clattered to the ground. The creature leapt at her and she rolled as the sword sliced and almost took her head off at the neck.
It skidded to a halt, whirled on one foot and came for Jack.
He was still heaving at the rope, gasping for breath. Every time Connor swung out, the strain and the pain in his arms was enormous. One of Corriwen's knives had landed at his feet and he eyed it, gauging the distance and the possibility of snatching it with one hand.
But with Connor's life depending on his two-handed grip on the rope, he couldn't risk it.
The creature flashed towards him, sword whirring like a propeller. Jack was helpless. If he defended himself, Connor would fall to his death.
It glared at him, eyes shadowed by scaly skin, teeth like needles jutting forward, and those scything horns ready to slice flesh.
Jack stared it in the eye.
"Fight me," a voice rasped.
Jack shook his head.
"Fight me or die where you stand."
It slashed with the sword. Jack swung back, slipped and felt Connor drop a couple of feet. The blade hit the rock an inch from his head and bright sparks burned the skin around his eyes. He held tight to the rope, managed to get to one knee then both feet. He hauled on the rope and managed to haul Connor a few feet back.
Jack stared at the thing without blinking.
"Kill me if you like," he gasped. "But he's my friend and I'm not letting him drop."
"Fight me," the thing roared. "You trespass! All must fight!"
"If you kill me, then you kill him as well. And he's just a crippled boy. Let me bring him up and then I'll fight you. But not before."
It stalked towards him, tall and lean, with that hideous face glaring at him, sword gleaming and deadly.
Jack kept staring back and slowly began to haul Connor up. The thing raised the blade high, one foot forward, ready to slice.
Jack didn't flinch, didn't blink.
It paused. "You would die for him?"
Jack nodded. His throat was suddenly so dry he couldn't have spoken a word.
"If I have to. But I won't let him fall."
Very slowly, the sword lowered until its point touched the ground.
Corriwen had regained her feet and was moving towards her knife. The creature held up a hand to her without turning round, even though Corriwen hadn't made a sound.
"Stay," it said.
Jack hauled again and raised Connor a bit more.
"Fool," the thing said.
"Maybe. But he's a friend of mine."
It stood stock still. Jack risked getting down on his haunches to get more leverage on the rope, still matching the thing with his eyes. As he bent, the heartstone slipped out of his tunic and dangled in the air.
The creature drew in a sharp breath.
"You wear his…the talisman." The rasp had gone from the voice.
It backed off two paces and stood straight, still as a statue, still glaring at him. Then, puzzlingly, it sheathed the sword, raised both hands to its ogre face and lifted it up. Jack saw now it was a mask that hinged at the top. It swung up and red hair spilled out in long snaking braids. A pair of startling blue eyes stared down at him as it dropped the demon-mask it had worn.
A tall, striking woman gazed down at him.
"So much time gone by," she said. "And now this."
Jack thought he saw her eyes glaze with tears.
"And you bear his courage in you."
This time Jack's heart kicked against his ribs.
She changed her stance, bent slowly towards him and the blue eyes speared him, catching the light and twinkling like stars. She was tall and fine-featured, with a cataract of flame-red hair tumbling over her back and shoulders. Her long arms and legs were scrolled with tattoos, from wrist to shoulder, across her thighs. Celtic whorls decorated her cheeks and brow.
To Jack she looked like some kind of fierce goddess.
He kept his eyes on her as braced Connor's weight.
"I'm Jack," he ventured. "Jack Flint."
"I know you, Jack Flint. It gladdens my heart to see you here. And it rends my heart in two."
She wiped her eyes with her thumb, then bent to take the trail of rope.
"But you and I, we shall never fight again."