‘Look at it,’ she said without turning around. ‘It’s such a bleak, frozen place. I hate it here.’
Church rested a hand on her shoulder, but she remained rigid. ‘Tell me what’s on your mind.’
‘No point,’ she said. ‘There’s no space for you and me. We’ve got a job to do and that sucks every iota of energy out of everything.’
‘What is it? You weren’t like this when we first got back together.’ With an aching clarity, he recalled her kiss that had woken him from the Sleep Like Death, and the joy of their time together as they travelled to Cornwall for the confrontation with Veitch. And then, with a chill, it hit him: that was when it had all changed. So subtle at first that he hadn’t noticed it, but now he could trace the lines of dislocation directly back to that point.
When Ruth turned, he could see she’d reached the same conclusion. ‘He got his revenge in the end, didn’t he? One last attempt to ruin something good.’ She brushed away a stray tear. ‘When Veitch leaped on his sword to kill himself, that bolt of black lightning burned through the three of us. What did it do? I feel it inside me now … drawing me away from you.’
‘Fight it,’ he said.
‘For some reason, it’s growing stronger.’ She stared at her hands as if she would be able to see what had infected her. ‘I feel cold, distant, tired, negative. I feel tearful, irritable and depressed. I can’t see any good in anything any more, just at the point when I’ve finally found it.’ There was a moment of silence before she added, ‘If Veitch wasn’t dead, I’d kill him with my own hands.’
5
By the fire, Hunter and Laura had moved on from the beer and were working their way through a bottle of tequila.
‘You enjoy doing this?’ Hunter lounged in his chair, boots on the table. ‘Risking death. Fighting a war you can’t win. Going up against things that would give most people nightmares.’
‘Life’s about living, dude. What’s the point in inching forward just so you can arrive at death safely? Experience, that’s what we all want.’
‘If you want experience …’ He held out his arms.
‘What kind of women do you normally get, Hunter? Do they fall for that big-man act?’
‘What do you fall for?’
‘I’m class. I expect dedication, hard work, attention to detail and complete adoration. Because I deserve it.’
Hunter thought for a moment as he weighed his shot glass in one hand. ‘I might be able to do that.’
‘I’ll get back to you.’
Laura shivered. It felt as if the door had been thrown open, but it was firmly shut and there was no discernible draught. She looked around the bar. ‘Where is everyone?’
‘It’s just you and me-’
‘Stop being a dick.’ The hairs on her neck tingled. ‘Something’s up.’ Her attention fell on a clock in the shape of a sunburst over the fire. It showed two minutes to midnight.
‘And the clock’s stopped.’
6
From the ruins of the ancient watchtower stretched a pastoral landscape of fields and woods, winding lanes, sparkling streams and small hamlets where wisps of smoke drifted up from thatched homesteads.
‘I think I’ve been here before.’ Caitlin shielded her eyes from the glare of the morning sun. ‘Or was it a dream?’
After they had crossed over from the cathedral, Caitlin, Mallory and Sophie had taken a long time to come to terms with the delirious new world that had been presented to them. Every sight, sound and smell was heightened, rendering their own world a pale copy.
But Jerzy was insistent that they move on quickly, warning of the many dangers that lurked in the Far Lands. Stripping off his mask and coat, his true appearance shocked them all — a bone-white face with a permanent rictus grin — but he revelled in the freedom to be himself, performing tumbles and dances whenever the mood took him.
‘I feel strange here, too,’ Sophie said. ‘Almost like coming home.’
Mallory was distracted by the odd shadows that clustered around trees, the unnatural way the grass moved when there wasn’t a breeze. ‘This place creeps me out. I feel as if someone’s watching us all the time. Oi!’ he called to Jerzy. ‘Stop dancing like a loon. Are you sure we’re going the right way?’
‘Oh, yes. I could never forget the way to the Court of the Soaring Spirit.’ The Mocker grinned. ‘The home of my former mistress. For so long a prison. But now … sanctuary! We need a safe place in these troubled times.’
At the foot of the hill on which the ruined watchtower stood, they passed a small farmstead, the long, low building half-set into the hillside. A small man with berry-brown skin and dark, furtive eyes was tending the vegetable patch beside the house. When he saw them coming, he bolted inside, slamming the door and all the shutters.
‘Brigid says everyone round here is scared,’ Caitlin said in her little-girl voice. ‘Now I’m scared, too.’
7
From a distance, the Court of the Soaring Spirit looked like a block of obsidian beneath the night sky. Against the foothills of the rising mountains, its monolithic bulk gave it an unpleasant gravity that set their teeth on edge. Fires blazed along the black walls that soared hundreds of feet above their heads, and occasional bursts of flame through the slit windows that dotted the walls suggested that a mighty foundry thundered within.
‘Is this it?’ Mallory said. ‘Not what you’d call welcoming.’
Jerzy was filled with uncertainty, but gave a quick nod.
Fumes filled the air as they made their way to the gargantuan front gates. Everything was on a scale that made the individual feel insignificant.
The gates were opened by furtive guards in silver and ivory armour. None of them would engage Mallory and the others directly but a messenger was quickly despatched.
‘They look very afraid, too,’ Jerzy whispered to Mallory. ‘The Army of the Ten Billion Spiders must have brought the threat right to the gates of the court.’
Within minutes Evgen, the captain of the guard, arrived, his hawk-helmet giving his face a raptor quality. ‘The Mocker,’ he said with dark amusement. ‘We did not expect to see you here again.’ He cast his cold eyes over Mallory, Sophie and Caitlin, opened his mouth to speak and then thought better of it. ‘I am sure our queen will make you most welcome.’
‘I’ve been to a city just like this before,’ Sophie said to Mallory as they followed Evgen through the gates. ‘I’m starting to remember. Except … it didn’t look like this. That makes no sense, I know.’
The oppressive atmosphere grew more intense once they had left the outside world behind. Cobbled streets barely wide enough for two people to walk abreast wound steeply upwards between overhanging buildings that hid all but the slightest sliver of night sky. Constant twists and turns made it impossible to see far ahead or behind. Sewage ran in the gutters from emptied chamber-pots and the stench was only kept at bay by the greasy smoke of the flickering lanterns that barely illuminated their way.
The Palace of Glorious Light was in the centre of the sprawling city. It was a fortress, not a palace, and the name was rendered even more ironic by the roaring cauldrons of fire that lined the courtyard and were spaced out along the ramparts. They gave off thick, choking smoke and their scarlet flames added a hellish tint to the shining black walls.
Evgen led them into the palace and up numerous flights of claustrophobic stairs and along winding corridors. Eventually they came to a gloomy throne-room. It was unbearably hot, and filled with the constant hissing and crackling of the numerous braziers spaced around it.
From an antechamber emerged a beautiful, golden-skinned woman in a dress of such pure white that she glowed like a spectre.
Jerzy bowed. ‘My queen.’
‘You are always welcome here, faithful servant,’ she replied in a gentle voice before turning to Mallory, Sophie and Caitlin. ‘I am Niamh, queen of the Court of the Soaring Spirit. I bid you welcome.’ She grew puzzled as she looked them up and down. ‘You are Brother and Sisters of Dragons?’