Or Horse.
I checked for a pulse anyway, because you have to. He was still warm, but he was very definitely dead. Whatever had attacked him had done a real job on him. It felt like every bone in his body was broken. Stephanie Troy turned up while I was still checking out Adams. She’d got separated from the others. She couldn’t even look at the body. She turned away, saw Morrison coming down the corridor, and ran to him to press her face into his shoulder. He held her to him, patting her back automatically, and then he looked past her at the dead body, and his face went white . . . with what looked a lot more like anger than shock. He held Troy tightly, murmuring comforting words, unable to take his eyes off the body. Coll turned up last, saw what had happened to Adams, and swore briefly. I straightened up, stepped away from the body, and glared at Coll.
“What the hell were you thinking, letting those two go off on their own? You know this house! You know better.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” said Troy, finally letting go of Morrison. She looked at Coll and Molly and me, but she still couldn’t bear to look at the body. “There were just so many doors and exits and corridors that doubled back on themselves, we got separated. What . . . happened to Phil?”
“Looks to me like he’s been trampled to death,” said Coll. I was glad he said that, so I wouldn’t have to. Morrison glared at Coll.
“Are you insane? Trampled? How could anything have trampled Phil to death, without any of us hearing it?”
“Are we talking about a horse?” said Troy, just a bit shrilly. “You think a horse got in here and did that?”
“Shaman and I heard a horse, earlier,” said Molly. “We heard it running along the beach, but we couldn’t see it anywhere.”
Coll looked at her sharply. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t. Of us all, he seemed the most shaken. I looked at him steadily.
“You know what’s going on here, don’t you?”
“It’s the White Horse,” said Coll. He looked older, his face grey and slack and sick. “The Horse from under the mound. It’s here.”
“It shouldn’t have been him,” said Troy. “Not Phil. He was always the gentlest of us all.”
She turned abruptly and ran down the corridor, heading in the direction of the front door. Morrison hurried after her. I didn’t want to leave the body, but I didn’t want Troy off on her own, either. So we all went after her. She managed a remarkable turn of speed, and we were all seriously out of breath when we finally caught up with her. She was standing in the entrance hallway, staring at the closed front door with wide, spooked eyes. Morrison got to her first, and grabbed her by the shoulder. She didn’t look round. He spoke sharply to her, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the closed door. Molly and I stood together, leaning on each other as we got our breath back. Coll brought up the rear, hacking and coughing noisily. Troy paid no attention to any of us.
And then we heard it. From somewhere outside, beyond the closed door, came the clear and distinct sound of approaching hooves. Slow and steady and deliberate, and much heavier than they should have been. Troy whimpered out loud, one hand pressed against her mouth. Morrison put both hands on her shoulders, and pulled her backwards, away from the door. Coll looked at the closed door like a man looking at his death.
“I could go and open the door,” I said quietly to Molly. “See what’s really out there.”
“Really not a good idea,” said Molly, just as quietly. “First, you can’t use your usual . . . protection, in present company. And second, we didn’t see anything on the beach. What makes you think you’ll see anything here?”
“No one is to open that door!” said Coll. “Monkton Manse has its own protections! I don’t think it can get through the door.”
“Are you crazy?” said Morrison. “It’s already got in here once, to kill Phil! We need to get out of here! Out of this house, and off this cursed island!”
“Best idea I’ve heard so far,” I said.
I turned away and got out my Merlin Glass. But when I tried to activate it, nothing happened. The hand mirror remained just a mirror.
“Okay,” I said quietly to Molly. “That’s . . . unusual. I didn’t think there was anything here powerful enough to block the Glass.”
“If there really is a living god out there . . .” said Molly.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not convinced. This doesn’t feel right. I think we’re missing something. . . .”
“It’s the Horse,” said Coll. “It’s found me.”
“Shut up!” screamed Troy. “If you brought it here, then this is all your fault!”
“Easy, Steph,” said Morrison. “The enemy’s out there, not in here.”
“Maybe we should head for the back door,” I said. “The Fae Gate could get us all off the island.”
“You really think we can get to the Gate before the White Horse catches us?” said Coll.
“Come on,” I said. “It’s just a horse! How dangerous can it be?”
“You saw what it did to Phil,” said Morrison. “I served two tours in Afghanistan, and I never saw anything that brutal.” He glared at Coll. “You should have told us. We’d never have brought you here if we’d known. . . . Why don’t you go open that door? Go outside! You’re the one it wants!”
“Take it easy,” I said quickly. “If that really is a living god out there, the last thing we want to do is present it with a human sacrifice. So, let’s take a little time and think this through. Figure out exactly what we’re dealing with. No more stories, Hadrian; give us the facts. What exactly are we facing here?”
“It’s a living god,” said Coll, spreading his hands in a helpless gesture. “An idea given shape and form and power, by those who worshipped it for so long.”
“Listen!” said Troy. “It’s stopped . . .”
We all listened. There were no more noises from beyond the closed front door.
“Is it gone, do you think?” said Troy.
“Either that, or it’s standing really still,” I said. “Want to go open the door and take a look?”
“What is the matter with you?” said Coll. “Why are you so eager to let the bloody thing in?”
“Sorry,” I said. “Danger makes me flippant.”
“If it’s there, I can hit it,” said Molly. “I ain’t afraid of no Horse.”
“You would be,” said Coll, “if you’d seen it.”
Morrison turned suddenly, and ran back down the hallway. Troy called out after him, miserably, but he just kept going. Didn’t even look back. I started to go after him.
“No!” Molly said immediately. “In situations like this, it’s always a bad idea to go rushing off on your own. It’s so much easier to pick off someone when they’re on their own.”
“But we have to find him!” said Troy.
“He could be anywhere, by now,” said Coll. “But you’re right, we can’t leave him to the mercy of the White Horse. Or the house . . . so, we split into two groups again, and this time we stick together. Troy, stay close to me. Molly, don’t let Shaman out of your sight. Whoever catches up with Morrison first shouts out and stays put. Molly, follow the house perimeter, see if you can get a glimpse of whatever’s outside.”
He led Troy off down the hallway. She stuck so close to him she was practically hiding in his coat pocket. Molly and I looked at each other, shrugged pretty much simultaneously, and set off.
Monkton Manse was a really big house. It took a long time for us to work our way round the perimeter, staring cautiously out of each window in turn. Darkness had fallen, and the light from the house didn’t penetrate far into the shadows outside. It seemed to me that a really big White Horse ought to show up clearly, but I couldn’t see anything. We checked every room we passed, just in case the Horse had sneaked in, somehow, but there was no sign of it anywhere. I’d never felt comfortable in Monkton Manse, and now I was starting to jump at every moving shadow or sudden noise. If we really were under siege from a living god, I wanted my armour. But I couldn’t call on it without betraying my true identity. I wasn’t sure that really mattered any more, but I was reluctant to throw aside my mission until I was sure there really was a living Horse god on the prowl around Monkton Manse.