Also by Joseph Delaney
THE SPOOK’S SERIES
The Spook’s Apprentice
The Spook’s Curse
The Spook’s Secret
The Spook’s Battle
The Spook’s Mistake
The Spook’s Sacrifice
The Spook’s Nightmare
The Spook’s Destiny
I Am Grimalkin
The Spook’s Blood
Slither’s Tale
Alice
The Spook’s Revenge
The Spook’s Stories: Witches
The Spook’s Bestiary
The Seventh Apprentice
A New Darkness
The Dark Army
Dark Assassin
THE ARENA 13 SERIES
Arena 13
The Prey
The Warrior
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Read on for a sneak peek of the latest instalment in Joseph Delaney’s bestselling Spook’s series, Dark Assassin
THOMAS WARD
I accompanied Alice to the edge of the garden, where we halted and kissed goodbye.
‘Take care,’ I begged her. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’
Alice was just about the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, but now there was sadness in her beautiful eyes. She felt the same way as I did: we didn’t want to be apart.
She was off to Pendle once more to try to form an alliance with the witches there. She’d already made two failed attempts. The three main clans – the Malkins, the Deanes and the Mouldheels – didn’t get on. Well, that was to seriously understate the situation. There was rivalry and hatred between them; sometimes they even fought and killed each other. But an alliance between these clans and us was vital if we were to defend the County against the magic of the Kobalos mages.
The witch clans had formed alliances before, so I knew it was possible, and Alice was optimistic. I had to hope.
The dark army of the bestial Kobalos was approaching the far shore of the Northern Sea, their malicious gaze fixed upon our own country. But there was an even more immediate danger. Using powerful magic, their High Mages were able to project themselves directly into the County. They could bring a few warriors with them and attack at any time.
By now the military were aware of the army and the County was on a war footing against the threat of invasion. Forces from the two main barracks, at Burnley and Colne, had marched east to fortify the border. Those that remained were stretched thin, fighting off Kobalos raids. People were scared, and travel was dangerous.
The Kobalos mages had also tried to summon Golgoth, the Lord of Winter, into the County. Had they succeeded, we would have been plunged into a permanent winter, the countryside left frozen and weakened by famine. Only with the help of the Old God, Pan, and Alice’s powerful magic had we managed to prevent that. Despite this, I’d never felt so vulnerable; never felt less able to do my duty and protect the County from the dark.
‘You take care too, Tom. Ain’t going to be away for more than a week, I promise you,’ Alice told me now.
We hugged, kissed again, and then she set off for Pendle. She was wearing a green dress and a short brown jacket as protection against the chill air. It was early spring, but as yet there was little warmth in the sun. As she walked away, I glanced down at her pointy shoes, the mark of a witch. Alice had finally gone to the dark, but she wasn’t a witch who practised bone, blood or familiar magic – she was an earth witch, perhaps the first one ever. She served Pan and drew her magic from the Earth itself.
Just before she reached the edge of the slope, she turned and waved to me. I waved back, and then she was out of sight. Already missing her, I turned back to the garden and headed for the practice post.
As I did so, I saw a silver chain falling towards it, spinning widdershins – against the clock. It formed a spiral, tightening upon the post in the classic manner, achieving a perfect spread from top to bottom. Had that post been a witch, she would have been bound from head to knee, the chain tightening hard against her teeth to prevent her from chanting spells.
‘Well done, Jenny!’ I called out.
Jenny was my apprentice. I knew that my own master, John Gregory, would never have taken her on. To become a spook’s apprentice you had to be a seventh son of a seventh son.
Jenny was a girl; as far as I knew, she was the first girl ever to have been trained by a spook. She claimed to be a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, but I’d never been able to verify that because she’d been brought up by foster parents. Still, I could not deny that she had gifts that were useful when fighting the dark – different ones from mine. She could make herself almost invisible and possessed such great empathy that she could almost read people’s minds.
I looked at her as she stood there smiling. Her face was freckled and she had different-coloured eyes – the left was blue, the right one green.
‘Well, what’s your score?’ I demanded.
‘I’ve managed fifteen successes in twenty attempts! A couple more weeks of this and I’ll be better than you!’ she said cheekily.
That success rate was good, but I would have preferred a little more respect from my apprentice. The trouble was, I was only two years older than her; in August I’d be eighteen and she’d be sixteen. We even shared the same birthday – the third. My own apprenticeship had come to a premature end when my master had been killed fighting enemy witches.
Suddenly a sound drew our attention. It was the pealing of the bell at the withy trees crossroads. Our garden was guarded by the boggart, Kratch, which meant that it was dangerous for outsiders to venture in, so those in need of help stayed clear; they usually went to the crossroads and summoned me by ringing the bell.
‘It’s spook’s business,’ I said softly.
The last couple of days had been quiet, but I’d known that it couldn’t last. There were always local threats from the dark in the County. This time the danger might come from the Kobalos.
‘Can I come with you?’ Jenny asked.
‘No, Jenny, it’s best that I go alone. You carry on practising here. You’ll need to work a lot harder if you want to be as good as me!’
Here in the garden the boggart would keep her safe against most things, I knew. Beyond its boundaries it was a different matter.
I was carrying my staff, but I also had the powerful Starblade in a scabbard on my back. As long as I held it or had it on my person, dark magic couldn’t harm me.
‘But if it means a journey, can I go with you to sort out the problem?’ Jenny persisted.
My apprentice had to be trained, and that meant sharing the danger of our craft. So I nodded and, with a grin, she went to retrieve my silver chain and prepared to cast it at the post again. I supposed that I had to let her learn, just as I had …
As I strode out of the garden and headed towards the sound of that pealing bell, a wave of sadness washed over me. Things had changed so much since I’d begun my own apprenticeship. Not only was my master, John Gregory, dead; Grimalkin, the assassin of the Malkin clan, had been slain by Golgoth. Although she was a witch, she’d been a strong and powerful ally who had taken the lead in fighting the Kobalos. I would almost go so far as to say that she had become a friend. She’d certainly saved my life on several occasions. It was Grimalkin who had forged the Starblade for me, and then trained me in its use. She would be greatly missed.
As I walked, I glanced up at the fells that rose far above the village – Parlick Pike and Wolf Fell. Their summits were still white with snow which sparkled in the sunlight.
As I reached the withy trees, the pealing of the bell ceased. Whoever was ringing it must have heard my approach. People were often nervous when waiting to speak to a spook, not sure what to expect from the man who wore a cloak and carried a staff and a silver chain. Sometimes those nerves got the better of them and they left before I arrived.
I headed into the shade of the trees
and saw a stocky figure standing by the bellrope, which was dancing and swaying at his side. He wore a black gown and hood and even carried a staff – he was dressed like a spook! Who could it be? This man was surely too broad to be Judd Brinscall, who worked the territory north of Caster.
I halted close to him, and he suddenly pulled back his hood to reveal his face.
The shock of what I saw took my breath away.
It was impossible.
I was gazing at a dead man …
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First published by Red Fox 2017
This ebook published 2017
Text copyright © Joseph Delaney, 2017
Arena 13 branding by James Fraser, 2017
Map illustration in Chapter 4 by Matt Jones, 2017
The moral right of the author has been asserted
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978–1–448–19536–7
All correspondence to:
RHCP Digital
Penguin Random House Children’s
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
Joseph Delaney, The Warrior
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