Lief squinted over the plain. The clay, darkened by the setting sun, was now the same colour as the beetles. The insects would have been perfectly camouflaged except that they were so many. The ground seethed with them, rippling like water driven by the tide.
The ripples seemed particularly large at one spot, beside the nearest crater. It was as though waves were breaking over a large rock lying there.
My mind is still half in the secret sea, Lief thought. Then, suddenly, he leaned forward, peering intently through the gloom. Why would the beetles crowd so closely together just at that place? It was almost as if…
Hideous understanding shot through him like a thunderbolt. He shouted and sprang forward.
He could hear Jasmine and Barda chasing him, hissing to him to stop, as he ran out onto the plain, crushing dozens of beetles with every thud of his flying feet. But there was no time, no time to stop, to explain. No time to tell them why his stomach was heaving, his heart was racing…
In moments he had reached the heaving mass of beetles by the crater and was plunging his arms into its midst. Then, panting and shuddering, he was hauling the limp, bleeding body of Emlis from the ground.
Exclaiming with horror, Barda and Jasmine began beating the clinging insects from Emlis’s shredded garments, and tearing them from the raw, bloody flesh beneath. Around their feet, thousands of beetles scuttled in panic, fighting one another for space as they squeezed back into the cracks in the clay.
Emlis was groaning feebly, trying to speak.
‘How did this happen?’ shouted Barda. ‘Was he so mad as to walk out—’
The words dried in his throat. His eyes bulged. As he raised his sword, Lief and Jasmine swung around to look at what he had seen.
Shapes were rising out of the crater—ragged, shambling shapes with bared teeth and glowing eyes. Clawed hands reached for them. Low growls and piercing howls rose in a terrifying chorus of baffled anger.
Half carrying, half dragging Emlis, Lief turned and stumbled back towards the hills, beetles scattering before him. Barda and Jasmine backed after him, their weapons held in front of them to fend off the ghastly creatures crawling in ever greater numbers from the crater.
The creatures were like humans—yet hideously changed. Some were covered in hair, with fangs and tusks protruding from their gaping mouths. Some had shrunken limbs, long tails and scaly skin. Others had humped backs covered in gleaming shell, twisted, insect-like legs and spiny fins for arms. Roaring and howling, they began to spread out, encircling the fleeing companions like a pack of animals closing in on prey.
Lief, Barda and Jasmine reached the rock marked with the sign of the Resistance and, speechless with horror, turned to fight. The creatures were coming at them from all sides. There would be no escape.
Then, suddenly, a shiver seemed to run through the savage horde and it stopped dead. There was a long, low rumbling like distant thunder and at the same moment the dim light brightened.
Instinctively, Lief looked up, and a cold shiver ran down his spine. Instead of the rising moon, which he had expected to see, another shape was forming in the sky. Huge and menacing it shone like cold white fire against the greyness of the clouds.
Moaning and whimpering, the creatures were falling to the ground, covering their eyes.
‘Now! Run!’ hissed Barda, heaving Emlis over his shoulder.
Together they left the cover of the rock, broke through the ring of creatures cringing on the ground and began to run along the line of the hills, towards the west.
After only a few moments, they heard the sounds of pounding feet behind them and a terrible chorus of baying, grunting and howling. The creatures had recovered from their fear at the rising of the mark of the Shadow Lord, and were in hot pursuit.
Not daring to look back, the companions raced on, swerving around boulders, stumbling over the rough ground, buffeted by the relentless wind that gusted across the plain. Then they saw, not far ahead, something barring their way. A long, rocky outcrop jutted out into the plain, gleaming in the terrible light from the sky.
‘Over the top!’ Barda panted. ‘We—cannot risk—going around it. Must not let them—get in front of us!’
They reached the barrier and leaped upward, scrambling to the top and sliding down the other side.
Lief tumbled to the hard ground, jarring his shoulder painfully. As Jasmine landed beside him, he jumped to his feet and reached up to Barda, to take Emlis’s weight. Then he heard Jasmine shriek his name. He swung around, clutching Emlis in his arms, and saw something that made his blood run cold.
Not far ahead of them was another outcrop, higher than the one they had just climbed. And from its shadow, something was emerging—something huge and dome-shaped that gleamed with the same dull sheen as the rocks. Its vast body rippled and bulged horribly as it moved, as though the thick, smooth skin clothed flesh that was nothing more than quivering jelly.
As it crawled further into the light, Lief gave a strangled gasp. He heard Filli squealing in terror, and Kree screeching, heard Barda’s muttered curse. Ringing the beast’s body like the swollen beads of a hideous necklace were dozens of heads, each one with glassy, staring eyes and a lipless mouth from which hung a long, thin, dripping tongue.
The companions flattened themselves against the rock. The sounds of howling and pounding feet were growing louder. Their pursuers were closing in. To turn and climb back the way they had come would be to deliver themselves straight into the pack’s hands.
But the beast was moving towards them. It was gliding effortlessly over the rough ground on hundreds of tiny legs that were almost hidden beneath a fringe of skin hanging from its body like a ragged skirt. Its many eyes had swivelled to fix on the intruders. Its tongues were lengthening, curling and quivering ominously.
‘We must split up, and try to get around it,’ muttered Barda to Lief and Jasmine. ‘You two go right. I will go left, with Emlis.’
But the moment they took a step, there was a hiss and tongues shot forward like striking snakes in both directions, missing Barda and Jasmine by a hair. They shrank back against the rock. Clearly, they were not to be allowed to move.
The beast’s body rippled and seemed to swell as it glided closer, its blank eyes gleaming.
7 – The Beast
Shoulder to shoulder with Barda and Jasmine, Lief faced the beast. It undulated before them, its tongues flickering and curling, its body flattening and spreading, rising slightly on the side that faced the rock.
It is preparing to engulf us, Lief thought.
His legs felt weak. His heart was pounding. His sword hand was slippery with sweat. Sweat was running down into his eyebrows, too, and as he cautiously raised his free hand to wipe it away, his arm brushed the Pirran Pipe hidden beneath his shirt. Into his mind flew the promise he had made to Tirral.
The Pipe will not be lost. It will be returned to the caverns, I swear it!
Lief licked his dry lips. That vow, it seemed, had been worthless. As worthless as all his promises—to the Plumes, to the Aurons, to Marilen…
Do not fear, Marilen. You need do nothing but wait.
The wind moaned around the rocks, like the ghostly voice of his own despair.
‘The Pipe, Lief,’ Barda gasped beside him. ‘The Pipe! Use it!’
Lief hesitated. The Pipe might indeed stop the beast. It might give them a chance to escape. But the moment it was played, the Shadow Lord would become aware of it, and of them.
They would lose the advantage of surprise. They would be hunted down mercilessly, without ever finding the prisoners, let alone setting them free.
He forced himself to slide his hand under his shirt and loosen the drawstring at the top of the red cloth bag. The tips of his fingers touched the Pipe, grasped it…