‘Before I became an earth witch, you mean?’ Alice interrupted.
I nodded.
‘I’ve always liked sunsets and dawns, ain’t no doubt about that, but now the feeling is even stronger. I feel closer to the Earth: I love its rhythms – light giving way to dark, and small changes in the weather. The Earth seems alive to me. Maybe it is.’
‘Don’t you know?’
‘There’s lots that I don’t know, Tom. Some of my knowing is just instinct, but there are gaps.’
‘Are there other earth witches?’
‘In the future there might be more. Pan tells me that I’m the first. But no more questions for now, Tom, please. I just want to sit and watch. Do you mind?’
‘No, Alice, I don’t mind. If it makes you happy – that’s all that counts.’
She sat on the window seat next to me and then reached across and held my hand.
For a moment we sat in silence and then she gave my hand a squeeze. ‘Do you remember how we held hands that night on the way to Staumin?’
I smiled again. ‘I dreamed about it the other night. In fact, I keep having dreams about you!’
‘Are they nice dreams?’
I nodded and squeezed her hand back.
The moment I did that Alice came to her feet.
My heart sank. I thought I’d offended her in some way and she was about to leave, but instead she sat on my knee and put her arms around my neck. Then she kissed me very slowly . . . it went on for a long time.
JENNY CALDER
I’D EXPECTED THE journey home to be hard, and from the beginning I was proved right. We left the castle a couple of hours after dawn, much earlier than Tom had planned, because heavy snow was already drifting in from the north.
Tom and Alice rode ahead side by side while I brought up the rear. I’d noticed a change in Tom’s behaviour since Alice arrived. He smiled a lot more. It was clear that her presence made him happy. He certainly seemed to prefer her company to mine.
I still wanted to become a spook but I wondered if I’d be better off being trained by somebody else. The trouble was it would be difficult to find someone suitable. I disliked Judd who worked the area north of Caster and I knew he was against training a girl. And as for the other spook I’d met – the one called Johnson – we’d disliked each other at first sight. He hated witches and was obsessed by hunting them down. I suspected that he probably disliked most women.
We were travelling south, so at least the snow wasn’t gusting into our faces. But it was very cold, and even with my hood up my ears were slowly freezing.
I had been glad to get away, but now began to wonder if we had left it too late. Once we left the forest, the landscape was flat, bleak and featureless. Already a film of snow covered the ground, obscuring the road. The sky was a dark grey and full of snow. Soon it would form drifts and I feared that the route would become impassable.
Somehow we stayed on the road – no doubt helped by the witch’s dark skills. But the daylight hours were short and soon we were forced to make camp. The snow had eased, and after Alice made and lit a fire, using one of the small bundles of wood we’d brought with us, we had a hot herbal drink and small pieces of cold venison, which were chewy but tasty.
The three of us shared the tent, and although I remembered the witch assassin’s growls, mutters and teeth-grinding, I wished Grimalkin was with us rather than Alice. Here there were other more disturbing noises. Alice laid her blanket down very close to Tom’s, and I could hear them whispering to each other in the dark. Once Alice gave a low giggle, which surprised me: she usually scowled more than she laughed. At one point I thought I heard them kissing, and I was forced to cover my ears with my hands. It took me a long time to get to sleep.
The following morning the snow was coming down much harder and we set off without breakfast. I began to wonder how much further south we’d have to travel to get clear of it. Tom had said it might be something to do with the Old God, Golgoth, the Lord of Winter. He might be driving the snow and cold south to aid a Kobalos attack. In that case we might never be clear of it. But before noon it had eased to a light sleet and we stopped and rested for an hour.
This time we had soup made by Alice to go with the strips of cold venison. It was spicy and delicious, and so hot that I could barely sip it. It warmed me up and I was in a better mood as we moved on.
But my good spirits didn’t last long. In the morning we had ridden in silence, but now Tom and Alice began to chat. She became very animated and kept laughing at everything he said. I suppose I was just jealous: nobody was talking to me and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
I began to drop back: I didn’t want to hear what they were saying. At one point Tom turned round and shouted to me to keep up. I kicked my horse on, but after five minutes I began to fall behind again. After all, despite the sleet they were still clearly in view.
I suppose I must have been daydreaming, because suddenly I looked up and could see no sign of them. For a moment I panicked. I urged my horse forward, but they were nowhere to be seen. At last, to my relief, I saw them waiting for me ahead. Tom looked angry.
‘You have to keep up, Jenny!’ he snapped as I approached. ‘You could easily get lost in these conditions. It might get worse at any time.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I muttered, trying to avoid Alice’s gaze. She looked far from happy with me.
We rode on. I kept up, but soon they began to talk and laugh again. They were totally absorbed in each other, and by small increments I began to drop back a little.
What happened next took me completely by surprise. I heard a rushing noise to my left, and I was suddenly hit by a wind so strong that it almost knocked me out of my saddle. With it came the snow. Within seconds, what had been sleet was transformed into a blizzard of thick whirling snowflakes. I could no longer see Tom and Alice ahead, so I urged my horse forward to catch up, expecting them to wait for me.
But somehow I must have wandered off the road – I could see no sign of them and I began to panic. I tried shouting, but the wind snatched my voice away.
Within minutes I realized that I was truly lost. I tried to keep calm, although my heart was thudding in my chest. They would find me, I told myself. Alice would use her magic. It would be easy for her.
Then I began to wonder whether she really would. She didn’t like me and probably wanted me out of the way. She wouldn’t want an apprentice hanging around once we got back to Chipenden. I thought she might pretend to Tom that she was searching while making no effort at all.
I kept calling out, but there was no response. There seemed no sign of the blizzard easing. I was getting colder and colder and the light was going. Was it getting dark already?
Then I started to imagine things. I thought I heard a rider coming up behind me, but when I turned round, I could see nothing. I was really cold and drowsy. I could hardly keep my eyes open.
Back in Chipenden I’d felt a bond slowly growing between me and Tom and I’d enjoyed being trained by him. But things had changed for the worse once we’d journeyed here. Recently I’d been feeling increasingly alone. But I’d never felt so bad as I did now. I was lost and isolated.
And I was scared.
Things were already really bad, but then they got worse: my horse stumbled into a snowdrift and I was sent flying over its head.
I landed in the soft deep snow – unhurt; not even winded. I just lay there, too weary to climb to my feet. It was so nice to simply lie back; I didn’t even feel cold any more. Something inside my head was telling me to get up, but I didn’t have the energy. It was much easier to stay where I was, so I drifted off to sleep.
I realize now that falling asleep was the worst thing I could have done. The cold was drawing the heat and life out of my body and making me sleepy. I could so easily never have woken up and died there.
But I did wake up. Suddenly I was sitting up, leaning against a mound of snow. In front of me was a fire and I was bathed in its bright,
flickering warmth. There was a pot bubbling over it and a delicious smell of stew. I could hear horses breathing and snorting nearby.
I assumed that Tom and Alice had found me; I felt guilty for thinking badly of the witch. Then I noticed something beyond the fire. It was a while before I realized what it was: a wolf’s head sitting in a pool of blood that was soaking into the snow and ice. Strips of raw red meat lay beside it.
Then someone crouched down, put a hand on the back of my head to steady it, and brought a cup to my lips. A voice said, ‘Drink and you’ll feel better.’
It wasn’t Tom’s voice. It had an odd rasping quality. I looked up, cried out in fear, and tried to crawl away – for it was one of the Kobalos.
The creature was dressed in a long black overcoat, a sabre at its hip, and his face was bestial, but shaven in a way I’d seen once before. I realized it was a haizda mage.
Back in the County I had once been captured by one of these mages. It had hung me by my feet from a ceiling and drained my blood very slowly. I’d felt the life draining from me and I’d been close to death when Tom had rescued me. The experience still came back to me in my nightmares. It was hard to tell the difference between that one and this beast bending over me now.
‘I mean you no harm,’ the creature said. ‘Look – I will leave the cup here. You need not be afraid.’
He placed the cup on the ground, then retreated to the far side of the fire and sat down cross-legged, facing me.
I didn’t move, but I soon realized that the mage could catch me any time he wanted. Keeping my distance would make no difference. So I crawled forward, picked up the cup and began to sip.
I stared at the mage across the flames. Although his hands were covered in dark fur, his shaven face, with its elongated jaw and sharp teeth, was wolf-like. His eyes glared at me with a mixture of amusement and arrogance.
I glanced again at his sharp sabre, which was stained with dried blood. Had the beast used that to kill the wolf? The terrible memory of what had happened to Prince Kaylar suddenly flashed into my mind. Again I felt the warm blood flowing over me and saw the stump of his neck as I clung to his torso. I shuddered at the thought that the creature might use his sabre to cut off my own head.
‘I think I have good cause to fear you,’ I said, my voice trembling. ‘I don’t want to end up as one of your slaves. I fell into the hands of one of your kind, and he drained my blood until I was near death.’
‘In truth, I would like to drink a little of your blood, child – I can smell its exquisite odour. But I am a haizda mage, and despite the temptation I am capable of disciplining myself. As for slaves, I have had a few – the minimum needed to comply with our laws. But I wish for no more slaves. The law will change and I will help to bring it about. I repeat – there is no need to be afraid,’ the creature rasped. ‘I only wish to speak to your master, the Spook called Ward – that is all. I have something to tell him that will be to his advantage. I have been following you for some time. I know that you are his apprentice. What is your name?’
‘Jenny,’ I replied, taking another sip from the cup.
‘My name is Slither,’ he told me. ‘Well, little Jenny, are you hungry? There is meat simmering in the pot. It is juicy and tender.’
The name Slither seemed familiar to me. Where had I heard it before?
‘Is it wolf meat?’ I asked, staring at the head.
‘Yes – a tender, delicious female. There is nothing wrong with eating wolf. They eat humans and Kobalos if they get the chance. Sometimes we are meat for the wolf. Now it is our turn. Why don’t you try some?’
He approached the bubbling pot and began to spoon stew into a bowl. Then he came round the fire and set it down on the snow-covered ground. Once he’d returned to his previous position, I came forward, picked up the bowl and tasted the stew. Wolf meat was delicious.
I began to spoon it into my mouth but paused nervously as Slither came to his feet – though he simply walked across to the wolf’s head, picked up one of the raw strips of meat and began to gnaw at it. More beast than human, he clearly liked his meat red and raw. But while he was eating, he was occupied, so I carried on eating too.
As I watched him, I remembered that Grimalkin had mentioned Slither. She had once encountered a haizda mage by that name. He had been her ally. Could this be the same one?
Once my belly was full, the warmth of the fire began to make me feel drowsy. I fought to keep my eyes open. I didn’t like the idea of being asleep and vulnerable in the presence of the haizda mage. I kept nodding off and jerking awake, but before long I drifted off to sleep.
The next thing I remember I was standing up. Someone was breathing gently into my face. The breath was warm and spicy and pleasant, and my knees suddenly became very weak. I would have fallen, but an arm went around my waist, supporting me.
I struggled to open my eyes, but the lashes seemed to be stuck together. When at last I prised them apart, I realized to my horror that I was staring up into the eyes of the mage.
‘There will be no pain,’ he rasped. ‘I will just sip a little of your blood and then you may sleep. And you will remember nothing of this in the morning. Then I will reunite you with your companions.’
I felt weak and helpless, unable to resist. He gently tilted my head back and I saw his teeth bearing down on my throat. It was then that I remembered something that Tom had once told me about haizda mages.
They took only a little blood and let their victims live. A haizda mage was a farmer; the humans who lived close by were his cattle and he took care of them. They were a valuable resource – he wanted to take blood from them again in the future. But sometimes a haizda mage’s desperate need for blood overcame his restraint.
Sometimes he drained the victim until the heart faltered and stopped. Remembering that, I was suddenly terribly afraid.
JENNY CALDER
ALL AT ONCE I was sent flying backwards. It wasn’t so much a physical contact as a displacement of the air; a powerful gust of wind. Now there was someone standing between me and the mage.
‘Keep your filthy hands off her!’ It was an angry female voice.
I knew who that voice belonged to. It was Alice.
She struck out at the mage with her left hand, her nails raking down his cheek. He staggered away with a gasp, blood trickling from the five deep scratches. Alice came over and put her arm round my shoulder protectively.
‘Take a deep breath, Jenny. This ain’t nothing to worry about. Stand behind me if he attacks,’ she said softly into my left ear.
And then, out of the darkness, Tom came striding towards the mage, the Starblade ready in his right hand.
‘Kill him, Tom!’ Alice commanded.
Suddenly I realized that the mage hadn’t drawn his sabre. Did that mean he didn’t want to fight? That he wasn’t our enemy? And he’d said he had something important to tell Tom.
‘No!’ I cried. ‘He said he has something to tell you – something to your advantage. His name is Slither! He’s the one Grimalkin told us about!’
Tom came to a halt and lowered his blade slightly. ‘You were an ally of Grimalkin,’ he said, taking another step towards the mage. ‘That would make you our ally. If so, why did you attempt to take Jenny’s blood?’
‘It is in my nature to do so,’ Slither rasped. ‘I only wanted to sip a little. She would not have been harmed. I intended to return her safely to you. But for me she would be dead now. I found her unconscious in the snow.’
‘That’s true enough,’ I said. ‘I fell off my horse and didn’t have the energy to rise. I fell asleep there.’
‘Let’s talk to him,’ Alice said. ‘Let’s find out what he has to say . . .’
We sat on opposite sides of the campfire, with me between Tom and Alice.
‘You are welcome to eat from the pot,’ Slither said. ‘It is good meat, freshly killed and cooked.’
‘It’s wolf meat,’ I said. ‘It’s tasty but I felt really sleepy again after
eating it. Maybe he put something in it.’
‘You slept because you were weary, little Jenny. The meat is good. Eat or do not eat – it is up to you,’ Slither replied.
I noticed that the scratches on his face had dried to five thin crusts of blood. I wondered if Kobalos mages healed more easily than humans.
Tom stared at him across the flames before speaking. ‘Why are you here? What do you want to tell me?’ he asked.
‘You talked to Abuskai, the dead mage trapped in the tower. He told you there were groups amongst our people who are opposed to the present regime – is that not so? The Skapien are a secret group of Kobalos within Valkarky who are opposed to the slave trade in purrai. They are growing in number. My haizda magic allows me to talk to the dead mage and then liaise with such groups. You asked if he could contact those opposed to the Triumvirate, did you not?’
Tom nodded.
Slither licked his lips with his long tongue. ‘I am that contact. As they wish to kill all haizda mages, the Triumvirate are now my enemies. That makes us allies,’ he said, nodding towards each of us in turn. He was panting like a dog, though in truth he looked more like a wolf. When his gaze turned upon me, I flinched.
‘Lenklewth is dead. Will that make any difference?’ Tom asked. ‘Will the Triumvirate change when he’s replaced? Abuskai didn’t think it would.’
‘I agree with the dead mage, little human,’ Slither replied. ‘Each of its members is selected from the hierarchical pool of High Mages; most dream the same dreams of conquest and expansion. Abuskai is the only one I know who thinks differently. I have been communicating with him for some time. As I said, he is the link between me and other dissident groups.’
‘Would you fight against your own people?’ Tom asked.
‘I have already done so. Amongst those I have slain are Shaiksa assassins. They never forget. Even now they hunt me down. You too are marked for death because of the Shaiksa you killed. Grimalkin is also their target. They seek to kill the little witch too,’ he said, pointing at Alice. ‘But we haizdas do not behave in the same way. We put such things behind us. I know you killed one of our order back in your homeland, but I do not seek vengeance for that. What is done is done.’