Spook's: The Dark Army (The Starblade Chronicles) (29 page)

I was sitting between Alice and Jenny, resting my back against the far wall of the chamber. Meg was crouched by the entrance alongside Grimalkin. They were guarding the tunnel, which was our only way out. We had left the stone clear of the entrance in case we needed to make a rapid escape: we knew that someone might see it from the outside, so Meg was using her acute hearing to check for any danger from that direction.

By now the moon would be rising and the conditions for summoning Golgoth were right. If the Kobalos mages planned to strike at a target in the County tonight, they’d have to make an appearance soon.

No sooner had I thought this than there was a shimmer in the air, and four of our Kobalos enemies appeared in the middle of the pentacle. They wore body armour, with sabres at their belts, but their shaved faces marked them out as the mages we expected.

The sight of them made me nervous. They had magical abilities, so I wondered if Alice’s cloaking spell would be strong enough to protect us. I held my breath, prepared for the worst, but I needn’t have feared.

Oblivious to our presence, they faced each other and extended their arms until their fingertips were touching; then they began to chant in Losta. I watched Alice carefully, waiting for her signal. As soon as we moved, they would see us, but we had to act the moment the portal opened.

Alice raised her hand, and I leaped to my feet and drew the Starblade from its shoulder scabbard. But before I could take even one step towards the mages, the lamia witch had killed the first, scuttling up onto his chest and ripping out his throat with her fangs so that his blood gushed down onto Morgan’s bones.

I swung at the second, the Starblade slicing deep into the armour that shielded his neck. He screamed and fell back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Grimalkin swiftly despatch the third mage with one of her blades.

However, a fraction of a second before I lunged at him, the fourth mage vanished. That had always been a danger – that one mage would escape.

My heart sank into my boots. Now he would attempt to counter Alice’s magic from some unseen location; he’d make it difficult for her to seal the invisible gate through which Golgoth would soon emerge.

I turned to her. ‘Can you still close the portal?’ I asked.

Alice frowned and closed her eyes, concentrating hard.

Then her eyes opened very wide and she stared at me, shaking her head. ‘It’s too late!’ she cried. ‘Golgoth is already approaching.’

I heard Jenny give a cry of fear, and then the ground began to shake. Soon the disturbance began to intensify. Dust and small rocks fell from above, and the mosaic floor cracked in several places.

It was as if some large creature far below us was digging up through the rock to reach us – something like a vartek. I wished it
was
only one of the varteki. This was something far worse.

‘The Round Loaf is on a ley line, isn’t it?’ Jenny asked, her voice trembling with fear.

‘It’s on several of those lines,’ I replied, already guessing what she was thinking.

‘So you can summon the boggart!’

I shook my head. ‘The boggart would have no chance against an Old God. It would be destroyed in an instant, which would gain us nothing.’

The air grew very cold and the breath began to steam in front of our faces; my heart seemed to freeze within my chest.

My mind went back to my previous encounter with Golgoth. As he’d approached, I’d witnessed similar underground disturbances, as if something huge was clawing its way to the surface, followed by the intense cold. Fortunately, as I’d told Jenny, Golgoth had been trapped within that pentacle; despite all his threats I had managed to resist his order to free him and he had returned to the dark.

But there were no lit candles marking each point of the pentacle now; no magic circle to confine him. It was not primed to contain the Old God. And he could appear anywhere within the chamber.

The Lord of Winter had the power to bring a new Age of Ice to the world; he was the perfect ally of the Kobalos and their god, Talkus. He could freeze us stone dead in a second. We had no defences against him. Even the Starblade couldn’t protect me against such power. Our only hope was Alice but she hadn’t had time to seal the portal and deny Golgoth access. Now even her magic could not hope to prevail against such a mighty being.

Suddenly all the lanterns went out and we were plunged into a terrifying darkness. Then the ground was still and Golgoth spoke to us.

‘
Five fools cower before me, five fools about to die.
’

Grimalkin spoke up, her voice full of angry defiance. ‘You are the fool for choosing the wrong allies. Your time is almost over. When Talkus falls and the Kobalos city lies in ruins, you too will cease to be. You will exist only in the nightmares of children.’

‘
Those are arrogant words, witch. In moments you will be dead. I will destroy you all!
’

Suddenly the chamber was partly illuminated again. Jenny had managed to relight her lantern, and I saw that frost was creeping across the stone floor towards us. The cold was intensifying. I began to shiver, but more from fear than from cold.

‘
It is good to have so many of my enemies gathered together in one place. I will slay you now, one by one. You will be the last to die, Ward. Your apprentice will be the first!
’

As Golgoth uttered that final word, ‘first’, Jenny’s mousy hair suddenly became faintly dusted with frost. She screamed and dropped the lantern, but it still illuminated that terrible scene.

I knew that any attempt to intervene would result in my own death, but Golgoth was going to kill me anyway. I had to do something.

But then, reacting much faster than me, Meg scuttled out of the darkness towards the voice. Her legs were a blur, but she had barely covered half the distance before the Butcher God turned his attention away from Jenny and struck her down.

Meg was instantly covered in white ice; frozen solid. Then, with a snapping sound, her body shattered into pieces. I’d barely time to take in what had happened before Alice stepped between Jenny and the voice from the darkness, protecting her from the malevolence of Golgoth.

My heart leaped in fear for her. She would be the next to die. Dressed in green and brown, with an emerald clasp holding her white hair back from her forehead, she glowed with beauty. In seconds that lovely skin would be shrivelled with cold and her bones made so brittle that they would snap like twigs. Despite her powerful magic, she was mortal; she could not resist the wrath of one of the Old Gods.

As I watched, I saw anger flicker across Alice’s brow. Despite everything, she was determined to fight. She raised her arms and began to chant. Sparks danced at her fingertips. Then she hurled a bolt of light into the darkness, straight at our enemy, and I heard a cry of pain and anger.

I was astonished. Had Alice really hurt Golgoth? Was she that strong? Did she have a chance of winning?

But then, immediately, Golgoth retaliated. Alice fell to her knees, her whole body instantly dusted with frost. And now, out of the dark, a pair of huge red malevolent eyes glared at her – the eyes of the Old God.

Alice was finished. What chance did she have against such ancient power? I was trembling with emotion. But what could I do? Nobody could save her now.

However, I gripped the Starblade and stepped forward. Golgoth was not using magic now; he was exerting the force of his essential being; that extreme coldness was part of him, and the Starblade offered no protection against that. I could feel the cold eating into my own bones. I wanted to run at him, but all I could do was stagger forward, realizing that it was over. We were all about to die.

The cold intensified further. I drew a breath, and the freezing air seared my nostrils and burned my throat. Alice was now on her knees, covering her face with her hands.

‘No!’ cried a furious voice, and suddenly Grimalkin was running towards those baleful eyes, hurling her blades as she did so. She moved with the consummate grace of the skilful assassin that she had always been, but the courage that had helped her triumph against overwhelming odds was now surely sending her towards her death.

In an instant she was white from head to foot and halted in mid-stride. My heart sank into my boots as I saw her toppling like a tree; the moment her arms, head and the upper body struck the ground, she shattered into pieces. There was no blood; just white fragments of what appeared to be ice. Her flesh, blood and bone had been frozen with such intense cold that she’d become brittle.

When Golgoth finally left this place, these fragments would thaw, just as Morgan’s had. I had to acknowledge that Grimalkin was dead.

I GAZED DOWN
in anguish. Grimalkin was a witch, but she had also been my ally and my friend. We had shared much together, and I felt a stab of loss in my heart.

It was then that I heard the music; suddenly I was filled with hope, for it was a thin, high melody played on pipes: the music of Pan.

Suddenly Pan materialized to our right, bathed in a bright green light; he was sitting on the floor, his back against the wall, dressed in garments that were made out of leaves, grass and bark. He was very pale, but apart from his ears, which were elongated and pointed, he looked like a human boy. Then I noticed his bare feet, with their long toenails that curled up into spirals.

Alice had told me that an Old God would not risk confrontation with one of his peers – but Pan had come to protect her.

The pipes at his lips looked like simple reeds, but the music was extraordinary; it had bewitched the animals that had materialized with him: rabbits, hares, mice, stoats, ferrets and squirrels gambolled around him. Small birds circled his head, flapping their wings. A white dove perched on his shoulder.

Pan was smiling, and looked utterly serene, happy and confident. He was here to fight Golgoth.

But which Old God would prove to be the stronger? I wondered.

All at once I noticed the ice begin to form on Pan’s feet; the animals around him were quickly coated with frost. And was I imagining it, or was the music now fainter?

Alice was crawling back towards the near wall now. I saw the dove on Pan’s shoulder topple forward and shatter on the mosaic floor like a glass goblet. The music died, and Pan dropped the pipes as he reached forward and touched the frozen fragments of the dead bird, his face twisted with grief. The other small birds began to drop, one by one, crunching onto the ground and exploding into pieces of white ice.

Rather than facing the glaring red eyes, Pan turned back towards us, his face full of grief and terror. Tears began to trickle down his cheeks: he looked like a child frightened of the dark.

At first I thought that Pan was looking at me, but then I realized he was staring at Alice. She had risen to her feet and had turned to face him, her whole body shaking. She was trying to speak and I could see the terror on her face.

Slowly, as she struggled, I saw her expression change: the fear went. Now her face flamed with anger.

Suddenly she cried out to Pan. ‘Boy of tears – get up off your knees and fight!’ she screamed. ‘Get up and fight! Be a man, not a boy! Shift your shape!’

In that instant I understood what Alice was attempting to do. Pan, the god of nature, had two aspects: firstly was that of the benevolent boy playing his pipes and charming the creatures of the forest. The second aspect was huge and terrible: nobody could look upon that face and live. The name Pan had given us the word ‘panic’ – the state induced in those exposed to that dread apparition.

Alice’s words had the effect she intended. The boy vanished, and something huge reared up in his place.

Pan let out a great roar of anger: it was thunder; it was an avalanche racing down a mountain destroying everything in its path; it was a giant wave obliterating a coastal town; it was the magma at the Earth’s core spewing forth fire; it was a blade of green grass splitting a rock.

He was now huge, towering up towards the roof of the barrow, still vaguely human in shape but somehow more than that. And the green aura that surrounded him was changing – first to orange, then to red. I could feel warmth on my face.

‘Get down!’ Alice screamed. ‘Cover your faces!’

I dropped the Starblade and threw myself down onto the rocky floor, and shielding my head with my arms as best I could. But the light was so bright that I could see my bones through the flesh. It was as if the fierce fire of the sun itself was in the cavern with us. We were surely all going to burn.

Then the pain became unbearable and I lost consciousness.

I remember very clearly the moment I awoke.

I saw Alice sitting by my bed, and for a moment I forgot all that had happened between us. I was back to the first year of my apprenticeship, looking at the beautiful girl who had been my closest friend; who had shared my life at the Spook’s house in Chipenden.

Then everything came flooding back and I sat up suddenly, grief tearing at my insides. I realized that we were back in the winter house.

‘Take it easy, Tom,’ Alice said softly. ‘You’ve suffered no permanent damage but there are superficial burns to your arms, back and shoulders. The worst trauma was in your head. Some have been driven mad when Pan is close. Once I’d brought us all back here, you were put to bed and given a sleeping draught. You’ve been asleep for almost two days.’