mirror of
https://gitlab.silvrtree.co.uk/martind2000/booksnew.git
synced 2025-01-11 23:35:10 +00:00
514 lines
29 KiB
HTML
514 lines
29 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Mythlands - Chapter 15</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type=
|
|
"application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
|
|
"page-template.xpgt"/>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div id="text">
|
|
<div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
|
|
<h1>15</h1>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Corriwen's heart sank like a stone.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
She had been alone then and she was alone now. But back then, she had been free.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Somehow, a small ember of hope stayed alive. They had given her hope, and she would not lose it, not now.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class='break'>* * *</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The Scree were strong, and they <em>could</em> lift heavy things, so carting Jack and Kerry presented no problem to them.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He spat the taste out of his mouth.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I nearly had him," he groaned.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
At least he knew he had found her. What to do about it would have to wait.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What about this stuff?" The trooper held up their backpacks in one hand. And the bow and Kerry's sword in the other.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The door slammed and locked and they were left alone after the heavy footfalls receded down the passage.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Another fine mess you've got me into," Kerry said, breathing hard.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I saw her," Jack said. "She's a prisoner here."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Yeah, and so are we. So what's the next cunning plan?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"This place doesn't look too secure."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Okay, we dig our way out, like your Mounty Cristo fella? We'd have beards by then."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Let's see what we got."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"You think you can snag the keys with this?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What's happened?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's stuck," Kerry whispered. "I think I hooked a Scree."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Oh, <em>brilliant</em>." 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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I got some medicine here. It'll take the frog out of your throat."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The guard lumbered up towards him.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Med'cin?" His wide grey face looked unsure. His voice was like gravel underfoot. The smell of goat was quite overwhelming.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"The best there is," Kerry said. He turned and winked at Jack.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry took a small sip for himself, and shuddered. His old man's whisky burned like lava.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The Scree reached hesitantly, then took the cup. It looked like a thimble in his massive hand.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Whassit? The big grey face up close was as rough as toadskin. Big spade-like teeth and heavy brows on a narrowing forehead.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's pure moonshine, sunshine." He turned to Jack. "Does he look like a Klingon to you?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Klingon?" the Scree rumbled. "Who he?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Never mind," Kerry said. "Take a drink big fella. It'll put some colour back into your cheeks."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"<em>Fat chance of that</em>," he said, under his breath..
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"That's the stuff," Kerry encouraged. "You get that down yourself."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Good," the Scree grunted. "Good 'n hot,"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He held the cup out and Kerry allowed him another drop. This one disappeared past the rubbery lips in a flash."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Good enough stuff. Burny, like, but good."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Magic sure enough, this."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What are you up to?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They waited for ten minutes and sure enough the guard came back again. He slid the hatch and peered in."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Hi handsome," Kerry piped up. "Can't get your beauty sleep?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Good stuff. Got more?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Sure, come on in."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The guard scratched his narrow head with a horny set of nails. They squeaked like chalk on a blackboard.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"S'pose not, maybe." He took another drink and his eyes widened.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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..
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Come on and I'll teach you three card brag. Deuces float."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Inside, Corriwen was huddled on a straw mattress. Jack eased up to the hatch, tapped gently and she looked up.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
She came into Jack's arms in a rush and held him so tight he thought a rib might crack.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I knew you would come," she said.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Typical," Kerry muttered. "I skin the Scree and you get the girl."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Corriwen let Jack go and turned to Kerry to embrace him just as tightly.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"You both got the girl," she whispered. "Now can you get her out of here?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class='break'>* * *</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Where now?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Would you look at that," Kerry said. "Is that an elephant?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The animal shook its head and snorted, stamping hooves bigger than dinner plates and sending sparks off the cobbled floor.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's a greathorse," she replied. "It looks fed and rested."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"You can't ride that thing," Kerry said.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Sure I can," she retorted brightly. "We all can. The Scree can't ride a greathorse. It won't bear them."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"So why is it here?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"The Keeplord must be Mandrake's man."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Come on!"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack went first and clambered astride the horse, unable to get a grip on its flanks with his ankles. It was simply too wide.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Sounds like trouble," he hissed. "We'd better split, and fast."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They came clattering into the open as a troop of sentries sprinted round the corner right into the path of the massive hooves.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The roaks swooped, wings whistling in the night air.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Stop them," the Scree leader roared. "Stop them<em> </em>now!"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Now, Corriwen," he bawled in her ear. "<em>Go for it</em>!"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack risked turning to glance over Kerry's shoulder and saw the Scree unhitch their hounds which immediately came bounding in pursuit.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Hold me," Jack shouted to Kerry, as he worked his bow free and twisted to face back.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The dogs were grey streaks in the dim light, faster than Jack would have believed possible.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Down Kerry. Down!"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry ducked. The lead dog's eyes glittered. It bunched in mid-stride, uncoiled like a spring, jaws agape.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Just as the horse began to gallop, Jack heard a whooping sound in the distance.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What's that?" He looked left and right, alert for anything else coming after them.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It grew louder as they breasted a small rise, heading south. Jack looked east and saw a white cloud rolling across the moors.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What is it?" Kerry asked. Jack had no idea, and nor did he know what weapons could stop it.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The whooping filled the air. Around them the roaks fluttered in confusion.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Then the cloud was on them, and they saw it was no cloud.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Corriwen turned, green eyes filled with wonder and hope.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Finbar the Bard said he would help us," she said.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"This is one really weird place," Jack observed. "But good old Finn."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
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.
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|