Bodron's Keep. It glowered down at them.
The walls loomed high, like sea-cliffs, reaching for the oppressive sky. Massive stone blocks, piled on another, solid and set. Contorted ivy dug roots into cracks and grizzled the face in straggly growth.
From somewhere unseen, a great bell tolled, an unearthly sound. It seemed to come from deep below their feet.
"Where's the door?" Kerry asked.
There seemed to be no door in the wall, even though the cobbled road from this side of the bridge led directly to it. Jack craned back to scan the battlements overhead. A narrow tower stretched even higher, and dark things flew around it. He couldn't tell if they were birds or bats, but they seemed too big to be either.
A motion high above caught his eye, but when he looked directly at where it had been, he could see nothing but shadows. He sensed a presence. Something was staring down, examining him with cold malevolence. Its gaze was a palpable slither and he shuddered. The heartstone shivered too. The invisible touch made him feel somehow contaminated.
Megrin approached the wall and held up her staff, before reaching to touch the cold stone with an expression of distaste. Corriwen turned towards the moat, both knives ready, in case anything hauled itself out of the water where flickers of flame exploded the bubbles that burst on the surface where the bridge had stood.
Megrin closed her eyes, one hand pressed on the wall. Jack heard her mutter again, though her words were incomprehensible.
The ground shuddered, sending ripples across the moat. Megrin spoke again, louder this time. Another shudder, and a grinding sound of stone on stone.
The tight-knit blocks began to twist and warp, some pushing out, others shrinking back, changing shape as they moved. Jack stood beside Kerry and Corrriwen and watched fascinated as the rumbling scrape amplified until the ground trembled so powerfully they had to hold on to each other for balance. The stonework ground apart, block by block, until a high arched entrance became clearly visible.
On either side, each curve arced up to a keystone carved into a skull. Beyond, a massive door studded with nails barred the way. A heavy knocker the size of a wreath was etched with grotesque faces whose bulging eyes flickered in the half-light.
"How do we get in," Kerry asked. "Just knock?"
Megrin didn't respond. She raised the staff and slammed its end against the heavy door.
A loud creak of old metal split the air. Small puffs of rust erupted from massive hinges and very slowly, the door opened.
At first, Jack could see only darkness inside. He wrinkled his nose against the stale odour of must and damp, the smell of an old house that's been empty for too long. Yet as the darkness receded, faint lights appeared and gradually grew brighter until they could make out the flicker of torches on high walls.
Megrin silently took it all in, one hand held up to let them know she wanted them to stay back.
"Don't believe what you see, or what you hear" she said. "This is no earthly place, that's for certain. We'd say it was weird-bound."
"You got that right," Kerry said. "Weird's the word for it
"Wait here," Megrin instructed, then walked slowly forward into a wide hall. Her footsteps, at first loud and echoing, faded to complete silence after only a few paces. She stopped, listening. They all strained to hear, tense and alert.
There was no sound, but Jack could sense a palpable threat. He could tell by their stance that Kerry and Corriwen felt something too. The air was still. Dust festooned cobwebs that hung like drapes. But for the torches on the walls, the hall looked as if it had lain empty for years.
But it was not empty, Jack knew. Something waited in there. Something old. Something hungry. Had his father really been here? Had he faced it?
Did he die here?
Jack pushed that thought away. This was no time for negative thinking.
But I wish he was here with us, he thought, I really do. Jack had no real memory of his father, but he imagined him to be strong and wise and capable. Somebody who would show him the right thing to do.
Kerry spoke, and brought Jack back to the present..
"I don't like this place at all." His voice was higher than normal.
"Me neither," Corriwen agreed. "I wish we still had the bridge…just in case."
The words were barely out of her mouth when they heard a low moan from behind them. They spun as one, but whatever had made the noise remained hidden.
"I don't like the sound of that either," Kerry said. "Maybe we should go inside."
"She wants us to wait," Corriwen cautioned, gesturing towards Megrin.
Jack forced himself forward until he was under the carved skull. The torchlight sent wavering shadows snaking across the floor, casting a dozen thin silhouettes of Megrin behind her.
"Maybe it's okay," Kerry said. His tone said he didn't believe it was.
Before Jack could reply, the air in front of them, began to waver like a mirage Megrin's shape blurred, as if seen through smoky glass and to Jack's sudden alarm, she seemed to grow fainter and fainter, until Jack could see the flickering lamps right through her. Her trail of shadows shrank and vanished.
"What the…?" He took a step forward.
Suddenly everything went dark and for an instant, Jack thought he must have gone blind.
"What happened?" Kerry's voice came from close to his shoulder. "Who turned the lights out?" Jack heard the scrape of metal on leather and knew that Kerry had drawn his blade.
Corriwen's hand groped and found his arm.
"She just vanished," Jack said. "And I can't see a thing."
For a moment there was silence.
"Well," Kerry said. His voice sounded oddly muffled. "We can't hang around here. We either go in and put the lights on, or we get back out to whatever's waiting for us."
"Go in," Corriwen said. "Whatever's happened to her, she might need our help."
She pushed Jack forward and followed on.
The air felt thick in his chest. It seemed to congeal around him and his lungs protested as he tried to draw breath. A sensation of drowning flooded him with panic. Kerry gasped, reached for him and clasped his arm.
"Can't breathe…"
Jack forced himself to take another step, but the thick air wrapped itself around him like a membrane
He struggled on, wading against the pressure that first felt like muddy water then dragged like glue. With a huge effort, he managed to drag his right hand up to the heartstone. Its familiar pulse beat in his palm. Kerry's voice had faded to a drone that seemed far away, but Corriwen's hand was still on his shoulder. Maybe it was the heartstone or her touch that let him summon up the strength he needed.
Inch by inch, acting on pure instinct, he drew the great sword from its sheath and managed to raise the blade until it was upright in front of his eyes. Again, without conscious thought, as if moved by some benevolent guidance, he raised the heartstone and touched it to the gem at the base of the hilt.
There was a blinding flash and an electric sizzle that juddered through him. A ripping sound rent the air. Suddenly they were all tumbling forward as the invisible barrier gave way.
Light stabbed Jack's eyes and he clenched them tight as he clattered, still gripping the sword, to the stone floor. Corriwen landed on top of him, slamming out what little breath he had in a painful whoosh. Kerry cursed eloquently, dropped his sword with a loud clang, and groped for Jack's arm.
"Can't see a thing!"
Jack slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the glare.
Now he saw the hall was different to what they had seen from outside. Thick candles flickered on the walls where tallow torches had hung before. A long table stretched from one end of the hall to the other. It was laden with plates and goblets, trenchers piled high with all sorts of food. A high-backed chair sat empty at the far end.
But of Megrin Willow, there was no sign.
"Maybe it's not such a bad place after all," Kerry said, eyeing the food hungrily. He sounded relieved, or even just hopeful. "Just look at that spread!"
He started forward, licking his lips, but Jack pulled him back.
"No," he said. Kerry stopped, eyes fixed longingly on the abundance of food. "We're not welcome here. It's a trick."
"Where is Megrin?" Corriwen asked.
"We saw her disappear," Jack replied. "I don't know what happened. But she warned us not to believe what we see."
He pointed at the long table. "That's a trick. It wants us to eat."
It. Not Bodron. IT. Something else, the presence on the battlements. The hunger. Something inside him told him it had not been human.
"You think it's poisoned?"
"I don't know. But we can't take the risk."
"It?"
"Whatever lurks here," Corriwen said softly.
"Something is watching us," Jack said, and Corriwen nodded agreement. All around them the high walls were festooned with old tapestries, depicting battlegrounds and hunting scenes. Carved stone gargoyles stared down at them from contorted, ugly faces. The odour of cooked food was tantalising, but underneath it, Jack could smell something else, something mouldy and stale, that he couldn't quite identify. It send a little shudder up his spine.
Kerry jerked his head left and right. "Don't say that. You're giving me even worse heeby-jeebies than I've already got."
"Just let's be careful. I'd like to know where Megrin went."
"Maybe she's found her brother," Kerry said hopefully. "Having tea and dunkin' biscuits and a nice old chinwag."
"Maybe," Jack said. "But somehow I don't think she'd just up and leave us."
At the far end of the hall, another arched doorway led out. Jack moved towards it, with Kerry and Corriwen very close behind, past the laden banqueting table, ignoring the goblets and the steaming trenchers. The meal was laid for a large gathering, but there was nobody here but them. It felt disturbingly wrong.
"Are we supposed to guess who's coming for dinner?"
Corriwen shushed Kerry to silence. She knew he talked more when he was nervous. They were just past the host's high seat when the sensation of being watched came on so powerfully she turned mid stride. Jack heard a small gasp.
He followed her gaze and started back with a sharp intake of breath. Kerry did exactly the same.
The gargoyles on the walls had moved. That was unmistakeable. When they had come in, the contorted creatures had all been facing them in the doorway, still as death, but grotesque all the same. Now they had swivelled to keep stony eyes glaring at them.
"Just a trick," Kerry said. "Has to be a trick, hasn't it? Some sort of clockwork? There's probably a switch behind the wall."
He was talking too fast, and his voice had raised an octave. In Kerry, that was scary enough.
The gargoyles stared hungrily, but they didn't move.
"They're just stone." Jack muttered, more in hope than certainty. "They can't hurt us."
But he kept his eyes fixed on them just the same as the three of them backed out of the door and swung it shut against those eyes.
Kerry sagged against the wall. "I hate creepy stuff like that. Even if it is a trick."
Now they were in some sort of dimly-lit antechamber, in which three smaller doors were set in the bare walls.
"Which way now?" Corriwen was pale.
"Good question." In this place, Jack's keen sense of direction was no use. They had a choice of three. For no particular reason, he was drawn towards the middle door.
It opened into a long, unlit tunnel with a curved roof. Warily, Jack crept on, Corriwen and Kerry close behind, trying to make no sound as they groped their way down the narrow confines.
Without warning, a powerful noise boomed out, like the beat of a monstrous heart.
Doom…doom…
Not a heartbeat. Footsteps. Huge footsteps. The ground trembled again and the walls shook.
A low snarl echoed from the distance, deep as a fog-horn.
"Jeez….!" Kerry was backing off, tugging Corriwen with him.
Now Jack turned and they all ran back the way they had come.
Kerry barged into the door first, tumbled out, and rolled fast to his feet again. Jack pushed Corriwen past him then turned and slammed the door shut behind them just as a mighty weight crashed against it. Little splinters shot out, but the timber held.
"Whatever that was…" Kerry said. "I never want to see it."
Behind the door, whatever it was snarled again and thudded angrily against it. They backed away, weapons out.
Corriwen cocked her head. "I heard something else. What's that?"
The crashing on the door had been so loud that Jack had heard nothing, but when he turned to listen, another sound came clearly.
"It's back in the big room," Kerry said, moving towards the door they had first some through.
And it was. The sound of men talking loudly and laughing. Kerry grinned, relief apparent on his face.
Before Jack could stop him, he was at the door, turning the latch, pushing it wide.
A banquet was in full swing. They stood together in the doorway just watching.
The previously empty benches were now crowded with men in leather jerkins and tall hats, quaffing from the goblets they had seen when they passed, laughing and shouting to one another across the table while they gorged themselves on food and drink.
Kerry actually drooled. Jack felt his own stomach rumble. But his mind was racing. The hall had been empty before. Now the table was crowded with men. What men? Bodron's men? Bodron's minions?
"You think we're invited?" Kerry asked.
As soon as he spoke, the roistering died. Every man at the table turned towards them. An uncomfortable silence stretched out. Then one of the men at the end of the table stood up, raised a goblet.
"We have guests," he said. "Young guests."
His fellows nodded and smiled, raising their own drinks in a sort of welcome.
Jack felt a familiar tingle ripple up and down his spine, as the heartstone pulsed hard. He held his arm out, to block Kerry, but there was no need. Kerry stopped dead in his tracks and Jack actually saw the hairs rise up on the back of his neck. His mouth opened and shut several times and no sound came out.
Something moved. Then the deep rumble of something colossal taking a slow breath. A gust of wind came from nowhere and instantly snuffed out all the candles along one wall and in that moment the scene flickered and fragmented in front of their eyes. Then everything snapped into sudden clarity.
Gargoyles clustered around the table; not men in tall hats. Gargoyles
The man who had stood and raised his glass was no longer a man, but a warted creature with a flat face and bulging yellow eyes. In its hand - its claw - it held a dripping piece of raw meat. Beside it, a green nightmare with scales all over its face giggled madly.
But worse than this vision, something moved in the high-backed chair at the head of the table. Its back was to them, but they could hear its shuddering breath.
Jack saw two leathery wings began to unfold, very slowly, membranes stretched across long thin bones. Bats wings…Jack thought… dragon wings.
A coil like a thick snake wrapped the carved chair legs, ridged and shiny and ending in a barbed point. Jack felt his breath back up in his lungs and lock tight. He heard Corriwen whimper, a faint sound of pure terror. Kerry's throat clicked drily as if he choking.
The beast in the carved chair began to turn its unseen head towards them.
"No….." Kerry managed to get the word out. Jack was aware of Corriwen tugging at his belt. His knees felt weak and watery and he began to sag under the weight of the awful terror that ratcheted through him.
The face of a nightmare was turning to face him and somehow he knew with dread certainty that if he looked in that great dark eye the shock of it might stop his heart.
Look at me!
A scrapy voice commanded inside his head. Look in my eyes.
A paralysis of dread froze his muscles.
Then Corriwen jerked him backwards. Kerry was already, running for the door. Corriwen spun and followed but Jack felt a terrible compulsion to turn back and look into that dead eye and be lost forever. He forced himself to keep moving despite the gravity of the beast's will dragging on him.
The foul connection between him and it seemed to stretch like rubber as he fought against it. When Jack reached the doorway, its hold on him snapped and he was catapulted through the door.
Then he was falling. Tumbling and rolling down a long flight of wooden steps, crashing, elbows and knees, shoulder and hip, down and down until he hit something solid and everything went black.