Under the spreading boughs the air shimmered like summer heat on a long road and Jack felt the sizzle and crackle of power like an electrical charge. Kerry's tousled hair stood briefly on end. Corriwen sucked in her breath. Jack felt a strange sensation, like the inside-out feeling he got when they came through the Farward Gate.
Megrin had walked on and vanished from sight. Jack thought he caught glimpses of shapes gliding in the dappled light between the vast trunks, but he couldn't be sure. Kerry had his head cocked to the side, as if listening.
Then a voice spoke softly in Jack's head.
"Welcome, traveller." He stopped. Kerry and Corriwen did too.
"Who said that?" Kerry asked, looking around.
The shimmering air seemed spangled with glittering pollen, as if a million tiny fireflies swarmed. The golden particles swirled in magical eddies and coalesced into shapes that were gauzy and indistinct, but in moments, Jack could see hazy figures standing in a wide circle.
He took a step forward and they followed close behind, walking through the sparkling light and into another circle where Megrin now stood .
"Megrin Wildwillow," the voice spoke again. "It has been a long wait, but we are one again."
"Long enough," Megrin said. Like the other voice, hers spoke inside Jack's head. "But worth the wait."
"You have brought the Journeyman." It was a statement, not a question.
"The Journeyman, son of Jonathan Cullian Flint. Bearer of the faery-stone heart. And his heart-friends stand with him."
"Welcome all." The voice was neither male nor female, but it was gentle and warm. "Welcome Jack Flint. Your father was ever a friend to Uaine. We owe you our gratitude and our aid."
"We have kept the dark at bay as much as we are able," Megrin said. "Yet it spreads. What may follow may be the end for Uaine and all worlds. Now is the time to face it. To heal the breach."
"We are as one on this," the disembodied voice replied. " The Copperplates have been usurped, their purpose corrupted. We sense that Bodron has unlocked the gate to the lost lands. Sooner or later, it will swing open, and then all will be lost."
"I will guide them into Bodron's Domain," Megrin said, "and do what I can to stem my brother's will. Speed is of the essence now. I need to share the power of the Geasan I need light to overcome the dark. And I need the Geasan Eril to build a nether-way, to let us pass through the shadow-fields."
She let her request sink in before she spoke again. "This is a matter of destiny. The Journeyman and his friends are part of this quest. I will lead them to where they need to go, to Bodron's holdfast. And there I will face Bodron myself."
"We cannot see beyond the dark. The future is clouded. Would you take these young travellers to their doom?"
"I must go," Jack said aloud. He hadn't meant to speak, but some compulsion took over.
"My father went there and he never came back. I have to find him."
"That we know, Journeyman. Your sorrows are ours. Yet there is a power in Bodron's holdfast that is greater than our own. Would you face it?"
"I must," Jack repeated.
"And your companions?"
"Where Jack goes," Corriwen spoke up. "I go."
"Me too," Kerry said stoutly.
"So be it. You bear the Journeyman's heartstone. Pray it protects you."
The voice faded to silence. Megrin still stood in the circle where the spangling lights wove around figures that seemed not quite solid, yet emanated power. She beckoned to Jack. Kerry and Corriwen followed him as he walked towards the circle. The magical light seemed to sizzle on his skin as he passed through the perimeter. They joined him at its centre, wide eyed with wonder.
All around them, wise old faces looked on them kindly, yet with sadness. The heartstone thrummed as it picked up the energy within the ring of spellbinders.
Megrin came to join them. She raised her staff. Its carved head suddenly glowed with unearthly light.
"Open the way through the darkness," she said aloud.
For a moment there was silence, followed by the soft hum of many voices in harmony, a harmony that swelled louder as it gained strength. Jack felt jolts of energy tingle on the nerves of his fingers and down his spine.
The air before them wavered, as if heated from below, and a harsh ripping sound almost drowned out the voices. A space opened in the air, yawning dark, like the mouth of a tunnel.
The dust at their feet was sucked into what seemed like black emptiness with no light, no shade. It was an emptiness so profound it hurt the eyes to stare into it.
It looked like a rip in the fabric of the world. Like an opening between this place and somewhere else: somewhere shadowed and bleak.
Jack knew that's exactly what it was.
Thin places. The words formed in his mind. Between here and…where?
The mouth swelled and contracted like a living thing.
Megrin put her hand on Jack's shoulder and ushered them forward towards the mouth. Corriwen gripped Jack's arm. Kerry looked transfixed and when Jack pulled him forward, his feet seemed glued to the ground. Jack tugged a little harder and Kerry followed dumbly. Together they edged towards the void, unable to look away.
They stepped inside and the sound of voices was abruptly cut off. The magical light vanished and they stood in a silent gloom.