They were in a tunnel. Its translucent walls squeezed rhythmically as if they were in the belly of some monstrous beast. Ahead darkness stretched into the distance.
Megrin strode an ahead and they Jack hurried to follow. The walls squeezed in on them, contracting in powerful rhythms, propelling them further and faster.
Corriwen caught a movement in peripheral vision and when she turned she saw something move, a shape beyond the outer surface of the tunnel. Kerry noticed it too and cringed away.
The creature loomed in fast and pressed itself against the pulsing wall and Jack saw a flat snout and a wide mouth, and then he almost lost his footing when it pushed against the yielding wall, stretching it outwards like a rubber membrane.
Corriwen reared away, instinctively drawing her knife.
Jack pulled her forward. The creature, whatever it was, drew back and the tunnel wall smoothed out again. Ahead of them, Megrin slowed her pace and waited for them to catch up. She drew them close.
"Whatever you see is…beyond." She said. In the strange atmosphere of this place, her words seemed distant, struggling through the thin air. "These things are not of our world. We have the protection of the Geasan. You can't come to harm here."
"Not yet," Corriwen said softy, though she did not seem afraid. She had faced danger before with courage and determination. Jack knew they would all need courage, because wherever this strange between-way led, they were sure to find danger at the far side.
"Always looking on the bright side, Corrie." Kerry joked, managing to raise a smile. "You could try to be optimistic for once."
"A good sentiment," Megrin said. "Let's just try to do that."
They slogged on, down what seemed to be an endless, pulsating wormhole until finally Jack became aware of a change in the air and an alteration in the deep beat that resonated all through this between way. The burning smell was faint at first, but it strengthened with every step they took until it began to make his eyes water and Kerry sneezed explosively.
Megrin halted abruptly and spread her arms to ensure they stayed behind her.
The far mouth of the tunnel yawned ahead of her. "The end of the road," she said.
"Good," Kerry let out a long breath. "This is as bad as the misty way in Eirinn. Remember? All those creepy things in the fog."
They stepped out into a strange twilight filled with shadows and half-seen things that fluttered on bat wings. Behind them the mouth of the tunnel rolled around on itself like a living thing. Megrin led them away from it and they watched as the opening abruptly contracted like the pupil of an eye. A sound of inrushing air soared to a scream and then the between-way vanished completely.
There was no way back. Jack stood for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. Somewhere ahead of them they would find Bodron's keep and whatever had brought the nightshades to infest Uaine. There, Jack hoped, he would find the answers to his questions.
There would be danger, but he had his friends beside him, and that was a comfort. But he also knew that they had come into this only because of their friendship for him.
Kerry's father was clicking his heels in jail for poaching salmon. Corriwen's father was dead at the hands of the mad Mandrake.
Yet they had followed him to stand at his side, to help him seek the truth about how own father and they were now his responsibility. This was his quest, not theirs. If they had put themselves on the line, then he would do everything in his power to protect them from harm.
And danger did lie in wait for them. The heartstone told him that. It was vibrating so fast, Jack was afraid it might shatter.
***
They were on a stony, winding road. Barren land, strewn with dry rocks stretched out on either side of them before it vanished in gloom. Overhead, a purple sky loomed heavy and oppressive. No stars twinkled, but a harsh red moon glared down, tinting the empty land in bloody hues.
Kerry shivered. "Maybe that wormhole wasn't so bad after all."
"Where are we?" Jack asked.
"Within Bodron's reach," Megrin stated.
"It's a bad place," Corriwen said. "It makes my skin crawl."
"And bound to get worse an' all," Kerry added. "Another fine mess you've got us into!"
Jack shot him a concerned look, but Kerry was smiling his mischievous grin the one he used to disguise his fear and relieve the tension. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Just whistling past the graveyard," he said. "We've seen worse."
"I don't know about that." Corriwen shuddered now, and not from cold. "I feel evil all around."
"All for one and each for everybody else," Kerry said. "They haven't beaten us yet."
"Another good sentiment," Megrin approved. "But this is just the beginning, and not even the Geasan-Eril know what we're walking into. It's as hidden from them as it is from me. But we are in Bodron's territory, for sure."
She looked ahead of them, towards where the darkness rolled like tar.
"And what bane has he wrought on this land?" Her voice sounded bleak and sad.
"Well, I'm sure we're going to find out fast," Kerry said. "Now can we get off this road? It's really creeping me out!"
The track was cracked underfoot as if large things had pounded it. No plants grew on its verges, not even nettles, though withered tendrils of what might have been deformed weeds crumpled to dust as they walked. Here and there, clumps of slimy mushrooms glistened in the moonlight and small things with many legs and glittering eyes scuttled between the bare rocks and sometimes stopped to watch them pass.
Beyond the roadside, on either side, where the land disappeared in the murk, Jack could see two pale shapes, indistinct but a visible contrast. They padded slowly, keeping pace with the travellers on the road. Jack hadn't seen them appear, but their presence was reassuring.
The further they walked, the darker it became, though the moon stayed above them, bloated and red, an angry face in an angry sky.
"Perhaps we should wait for morning," Corriwen suggested.
"That'll be a long wait," Megrin replied. "This place hasn't seen morning for a long time."
"Who'd be daft enough to want that?" Kerry sounded incredulous.
"Who indeed!" was all Megrin said. She paused on the road. "And why?"
Night crowded closer on either side, so thick it seemed to have texture. Every now and again, Jack would catch a hint of movement in the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look, his eyes couldn't fix on anything, although he was sure that things were moving out there. Corriwen and Kerry stayed close, nervously looking to either side. Jack shared their apprehension, but Megrin seemed fully focussed on the way forward. She reminded him of Hedda, the warrior woman of Eirinn, composed and ready. Jack wished he had some of that composure.
They stopped beyond a curve where the road cut between two rocky outcrops.
And there it was.
Bodron's Keep.
It stood out like a wart; black stone towers cast long shadows; rugged battlements were set like teeth along a rim of cracked and fissured walls; slitted windows stared blindly out. Around the outer edge, a moat reflected the moon in streaks of red.
A single stone bridge spanned the moat. Even at this distance, the keep emanated such a sense of threat that it seemed alive and waiting. A line from a school play sprung to Jack's mind…something wicked this way comes.
Except they were heading towards the something wicked.
Kerry blew out between pursed lips, half sigh, half whistle. "Well, it sure isn't Disneyworld."
Both Megrin and Corriwen looked at him curiously. Jack struggled to force a smile.
"You got that right."
"Bodron's Keep," Megrin said.
"What a dump," Kerry said.
"It looks wicked." Corriwen's voice sounded thin. Jack shot her a glance of surprise. She'd used the very word he'd been thinking.
"Do we really have to go in there?" Jack wasn't sure if he'd spoken the words aloud, but every instinct made him want to turn back, find a way to daylight and sunshine. None of the others reacted and he was glad he had only thought it. He felt the profound evil within this old keep reach out for him. It felt as if he was being smothered.
The road led straight towards it, across a lifeless plain. It was the most uninviting place on any world.
They were all glad of the blue light that glowed on Megrin's carved staff as they followed the road towards the ancient walls. Darkness on either side hemmed them in. Jack was sure he could see things moving inside the shadows and, in his head, he thought he could hear the same kind of chittering he and Kerry had fled from on that Halloween night when they had first stepped through the stone ring in Cromwath Blackwood. His hand stayed firmly on the hilt of his sword.
Shadows pressed them forward, until they were on the arch of the ancient bridge. Below them, the water was stagnant and slimy. It gave off a sickly smell.
"It's like the bogs in Eirinn," Corriwen said, peering over the parapet.
"Worse than that. It stinks like the bogs in school," Kerry said. He held thumb and fingers over his nose. "When they're blocked up."
Something moved under the surface, causing it to bulge in an oily ripple. Kerry shrank back but whatever it was stayed hidden. In its wake, thick black bubbles expanded. They grew to the size of beach-balls and then, with faint liquid sounds, they broke from the surface began to float up, first one, then three, then a dozen, wobbling as they rose.
"Creepy balloons," Kerry said, shuddering. He raised the short-sword and touched the tip against the nearest one. It exploded with a loud pop and a swirl of green gas billowed out, twisting in the air.
Corriwen gave a cry of alarm.
Something that looked like a hand made out of vapour, reached out like a striking snake. Fingers spread like talons, aiming straight at Corriwen's eyes.
"Jeez….!" Kerry gasped. He shouldered her aside, but not before the smoky claw drew itself across Corriwen's cheek. Three livid lines slanted down her skin to the corner of her mouth, as stark as new tattoos. She screwed eyes tight and hissed in pain.
More bubbles were bursting now in glutinous sequence, belching out clouds of vapour that swirled and metamorphosed in front of their eyes into wispy shapes that stretched out towards them.
Corriwen groaned, one hand clapped to her injured cheek.
"It burns," she gasped. "But it's as cold as ice."
Megrin was at Corriwen's side in an instant, her face filled with concern. She brought her staff closer and examined the lines in its glow.
"Bear with the hurt if you can until I can attend to that," she said.
Corriwen nodded and pushed on, saying nothing. Jack and Kerry backed away from the edge as the writhing shapes spun silently in the thick air, crowding up from the water.
"What are these things?" Kerry's voice was tight.
"Nothing living," Megrin said.
"They look alive to me."
"Illusion, that's all," Megrin said. "But their touch is cold enough to chill the soul…and freeze the heart."
Jack pulled Kerry in to the centre of the bridge. He glanced back and now he saw the darkness had crept slowly towards the edge of the moat.
"Move, now," Megrin commanded. She raised her staff and held it high. Sapphire light blazed out and immediately the dark shadow shrank back. The vaporous entities that hovered over the bridge burst apart in the light and faded like smoke in the wind.
"There's a geas on this place," she said. "A binding."
"A what?" Jack's eyes were fixed on the misty things dissipating over the water.
"A barrage-spell. This place wants no visitors."
"We guessed that," Kerry said. "No welcome mat, no flags."
"There are bound to be more tricks," Megrin added, but before she could continue, the bridge gave an almighty shudder. Heavy slabs on the parapet were thrown into the air and fell into the moat, sending up a foul-smelling spray.
"We should move," Megrin said quickly.
"No kidding!"
Jack rapped his knuckles on the back of Kerry's head.
"Don't get smart…just move."
"At least one of you has sense."
"Two of us," Corriwen snorted. She grabbed Kerry's arm and dragged him along beside her. He went quietly. And quickly.
The bridge lurched again. A zig-zag crack snaked its way between their feet and ripped up the centre of the bridge.
"Maybe we should move." Kerry squirmed out of Corriwen's grip and took her hand. "Come on," he said. "Race you to the other side."
Megrin hurried them on as pieces of masonry tumbled off the bridge. She braced herself against the balustrade and looked down into the water and saw the ridged back of something scaly and powerful broke the surface.
She muttered under her breath and reached into her cloak. Then with a quick motion, shook the contents of a small pouch onto the water.
As soon as they hit the surface, blue flames shot across the moat. A deep bellow echoed up from under the arch. Jack got a glimpse of toad-like eyes and a toothless mouth big enough to swallow a man. It bellowed again, then dived under the water and shot away along the moat, so fast that the water foamed and swamped over the banks. Megrin waited until it vanished in the gloom.
They moved quickly over the arch of the bridge which continued to lurch from side to side as it began to break apart. The fissures underfoot widened in a series of harsh cracks. Jack raced for the far side, in step with Kerry and Corriwen as the whole structure began to buckle.
Megrin seized Corriwen's hand and virtually dragged her the rest of the way to the other side of the moat. Behind them, the water was now a wall of flames. More stonework slid off and then the bridge's back broke. It slumped down in two halves, before it subsided slowly into the water and disappeared.
"Looks like we've just burnt our bridge," Kerry said.