The Spook's Sacrifice (14 page)

'And I don't want anything to happen to you. That's
why I'll be by your side. You're safer where I am, Tom.
Trust me. And we do want to be together on your
birthday, don't we?'

I smiled and nodded. I'd forgotten all about my
birthday. Today was the third of August. I'd just
turned fifteen.

But Alice hadn't finished yet. I could sense that she
was about to say something else. Something I wouldn't
like. She kept glancing at me sideways and biting
her bottom lip.

'You're going into the Ord with Grimalkin, who's a
witch assassin, a servant of the dark. And you used
the dark wish she gave you to save me. So what's the
difference between doing that and using the blood jar
to keep the Fiend at bay?' Alice demanded. 'Take the
jar. A birthday present from me to you.'

'Leave it, Alice!' I shouted in annoyance. 'It's hard
enough without you saying things like that. Don't
make things worse, please.'

Alice fell silent.

I felt as if I was sinking ever downwards. Even Mam
was forcing me to compromise with the dark. I knew
she had little choice and I had to be part of it – nonetheless
all the Spook's fears seemed to be well founded.

We made our way south, fighting against the
human tide of those fleeing the Ord. Refugees
were everywhere. Some were on foot, clutching
possessions or carrying children; others had loaded
what they could onto small carts, which they pulled or
pushed by hand. Many kept glancing back and called
out warnings, telling us to flee with them; they were
desperate and fearful for themselves and their
families.

We walked all morning across that arid landscape
under the sickly yellow sky. Dark whirlwinds had
been visible on the horizon, moving north and destroying
everything in their path, but luckily they hadn't
passed close to us. And now the wind had dropped,
the air growing warmer and more oppressive by the
minute. I was carrying my staff as well as my bag,
which I had retrieved from Mam's wagon. Mam's
escort rode just behind her, and behind them were the
Pendle witches, led by Grimalkin. Bill Arkwright and
the Spook walked to the right of Alice and me, the
three dogs following in their wake. And far to our rear,
at least a couple of hundred yards distant, were the
mounted mercenaries.

Alice and I were both weary and afraid of what was
to come so we hardly exchanged a word. At one point
Bill Arkwright came up alongside me.

'Well, Master Ward, how does this compare to the
County? Have you changed your mind yet? Would
you like to live here?' he asked.

'I wish I was back home,' I told him. 'I miss the green
hills and woods – even the rain!'

'Aye, I know what you mean. This is a parched land
all right, but from what your mam said I think we'll be
getting some rain soon enough.'

He was referring to the deluge that would come
soon after the appearance of the Ord. 'There's something
I'd like to ask you, Master Ward. If anything
happens to me, would you take care of the dogs? No
doubt Mr Gregory wouldn't want them at Chipenden
– a boggart and dogs don't mix too well! But you'd be
able to find them a good home somewhere, I'm sure.'

'Of course I will.'

'Well, let's hope it won't come to that; let's hope
we're all safely back home in the County before too
long. There's danger ahead, worse than we've ever
faced before, I fear. So just in case we don't meet again,
here's my hand in friendship . . .'

Arkwright held out his hand and I shook it. With a
nod and a smile towards Alice, he left my side. I felt
sad: it was as if we were saying goodbye for ever.

But there was another goodbye to face, this one from
the Spook. A while later, he too moved across to walk
beside me. As he approached, I noticed Alice fall back
to join Grimalkin, who was now behind us.

'Are you nervous, lad?' my master asked me.

'Nervous and scared,' I told him. 'I keep taking slow
deep breaths but it doesn't seem to help much.'

'Well, it will, lad, it will. So just keep at it and
remember all I've tried to teach you. And once we get
inside that citadel, stay close to me. Who knows what
dangers we'll find there.'

He patted me on the shoulder, then moved away
again. I wondered if that was because he didn't like
walking too close to Alice. Soon afterwards we paused
for a short rest and I wrote down what Seilenos had
told me about tappers in my notebook. It helped to
calm me down. No matter what danger threatened, I
had to keep up with my training.

When we set off again, I had one more visit – one
that both Alice and I could well have done without.
Mab and her two hook-nosed sisters approached us.

'What you been up to, Tom?' Mab asked, looking
sideways at me. 'That's no dead girl walking beside
you. She should be dead by rights, that Alice Deane.
Saw it happen. Saw that lamia witch sucking her blood
and tearing her with its teeth. Only something from
the dark could have saved her. That's the only thing I
couldn't have seen coming. What you been up to,
Tom? Must have meddled with the dark, I think. That's
the only thing that could've done it! What does Mr
Gregory think about that, eh?'

Alice ran and pushed Mab backwards so that she
almost overbalanced and fell. 'Things are bad enough
without having to listen to you talk rubbish. Get you
gone! Leave Tom alone!'

Mab turned to Alice and stretched out her hands in
front of her, clearly intending to scratch her face, but I
quickly stepped between them. Mab shrugged and
backed off.

'We'll be on our way,' she said, her mouth twisting
into a smile. 'Leave you to think over what's been done
and what's been said. You're close to the dark now,
Tom. Closer than you've ever been before . . .'

With that Mab and her sisters moved away, leaving
me with my thoughts. I continued to walk with Alice
but neither of us spoke. What was there to say? We
both knew that I'd been compromised by the dark.
I was just glad that the Spook hadn't overheard what
Mab had said.

Late that morning the weather began to change. The
wind got up again, blustering into a gale that screamed
about our ears. We journeyed on through the heat, but
we were now very uncomfortable.

Soon Alice pointed directly ahead. 'Look at that,
Tom. Ain't ever seen anything like that before!'

At first I could see nothing; then a menacing shape
loomed up on the horizon.

'What is it? A cliff? Or a black ridge of hills?' I asked.

Alice shook her head. 'It's a cloud, Tom. And a
strange dark one for sure. Ain't natural, that! Don't like
the look of it one little bit.'

In normal circumstances such a fearsome cloud
would have heralded a violent storm, with a heavy
downpour to come. But as we drew nearer, I could see
that it was curved at its rim like a great black plate or
shield. The wind ceased again, and the temperature
began to drop alarmingly; whereas before we'd been
scorched by the heat, now we began to shiver with
cold and fear. We were suddenly plunged into a twilit
world, our faces deep in shadow.

I looked about me: Alice, Arkwright and the rest of
our company, including the Pendle witches, were
walking very slowly, with bowed heads, as if
oppressed by the weight of the darkness above us.
Only the Spook held his head high.

Although there was now not a breath of wind, I
could see that the ominous and unusual cloud was in
turmoil, churning and swirling far above as if some
giant was stirring it with a massive stick. Soon I could
hear a high, shrill shriek; suddenly, on the distant
horizon, I saw a column of orange light.

'That's what Mam told us about, Alice,' I exclaimed,
pointing ahead. 'It's the pillar of fire. The Ord must be
somewhere within it!'

We were at least three miles away from the fiery
column, but I could soon feel its warmth on my forehead
despite the drop in temperature around us. We
were heading for an immense crimson vortex, a
gigantic throbbing artery connecting sky to earth. It
looked dramatic and disturbing, and seemed to be
thickening and flexing rhythmically: I was afraid that
it might suddenly explode outwards to engulf us all.
Lightning forked upwards from its base, bifurcations
of white and blue like the jagged branches of trees
reaching out into the black cloud above.

Although fixed in the same spot, the column was
rotating rapidly in a widdershins direction, against the
clock. Swirling dust formed a mushroom at its base,
and at its apex combined with the substance of the
swirling cloud. The shrill whine grew to a raucous
screech and there was now a sharp smell, at first
difficult to name; it bit high into my nostrils and I
could taste it on the back of my tongue.

'It smells like burning flesh!' cried Alice, sniffing the
air. 'And sounds like souls screaming in Hell. They're
burning! All burning!'

Yet, if so, it was the reverse of what my senses told
me: this was creation rather than cremation; flesh
reborn of fire. If what Mam had told me was correct,
the Ordeen and her servants were entering our world
in the midst of those flames. It was a fiery portal. The
heat upon my face abated somewhat; the fury lessened
as the colours shifted across the spectrum, crimson
slowly transmuting into bronze.

'There's a huge building!' cried Alice, pointing fearfully
ahead. 'Look! Inside! You can see it inside the
flames! That's the Ord . . .'

Alice was right. I could see the vortex slowing and
shrinking, but the process was one of definition rather
than collapse; now almost transparent, it allowed us to
make out the shape of the Ord that lay within, that
dark dwelling place of the Ordeen.

It had three twisted spires of equal height, so tall
they almost reached up into the cloud. Behind them, as
though protected, was the dome Mam had talked
about. And both towers and dome rose from a massive
edifice that resembled a great cathedral, though far
larger and more magnificent than Priestown's,
the biggest church in the County. And whereas a
cathedral sometimes took decades to build, this
seemed to have been formed in a matter of moments.

The pillar of fire had now disappeared altogether.
We moved on, getting closer and closer to the dark
mass of the Ord, which rose up before us like some
gigantic, terrifying beast. Although the outer darkness
increased again, there was a strange new light
radiating from inside the Ord. It was now lit from
within by a bronze glow that was increasing in power
even as I watched. Now, for the first time, I was able to
appreciate the detail of the structure. Each twisted
spire had long narrow windows, arched at the top like
those of a church. They were open to the air, and
through them the inner fires shone more brilliantly.

'There are horrible things moving inside the
windows,' Alice whispered, her face filled with awe
and terror. 'Things from Hell.'

'It's just your imagination, Alice,' I told her. 'It's too
far away to see anything properly.'

But notwithstanding my rebuke, I
could
see movement
at some of those windows; indeterminate shapes
that flickered like wraiths against the light. I didn't like
to think what they might be. Then my eyes were
drawn to the main entrance – the largest of the
cavernous doorways that gave access to the structure.
It was high and arched, and although it glowed
brightly, deep within it was a darkness so complete
that I was suddenly seized by dread of what it
concealed. The Ord had come through a portal from
the dark, and anything might lurk within it.

We were nearing it now: the citadel was immense,
rearing up before us to block out the darkness of
the sky.

A shouted order rang out from behind us, and we
turned to see the warriors come to a halt before
changing their formation into two crescents, horns
facing the Ord. They looked formidable, with their
glittering mail and weapons. They had performed the
first of their two tasks well. The maenads had been
kept at bay: occasionally small patrols had peeled off
from the main force to drive them away and hunt them
down. Now these mercenaries faced an even more
dangerous assignment: they were soon to ride straight
into the heart of the citadel and fight the dark beings
within.

We walked on. It had been agreed that the
mercenaries wouldn't approach until it was time to
attack. I gazed at the citadel, searching along its outer
wall, and finally my eyes found the secondary
entrance that Mam had described: above it was a
gargoyle skull with huge antler horns. This was where
the delegation would enter. If we failed, the Ordeen's
servants would surge out through the main entrance to
ravage the area.

Suddenly I felt the first drops of moisture on my
face; drops that quickly became a torrent of warm rain
falling through the utterly still air. As it descended,
drumming furiously on the hard dry ground, steam
began to rise from the Ord, and the fanciful idea came
to me that some invisible blacksmith, having completed
his work, was now quenching the heat to
temper it for his intended purpose.

Within moments a dense white mist was rolling
towards us and the visibility was reduced to a few feet.
Everything became eerily silent. It wasn't long before
Grimalkin loomed out of the mist, along with Seilenos
and the other members of Mam's escort who would
make up the thirteen of the delegation.

Mam turned to me, patting me on the shoulder in
reassurance. 'It's time. You'll need to be brave, son. It
won't be easy. But you have the strength to come
through it.'

'Won't the maenads have warned the Ordeen that
we're approaching? Won't they tell her that we have an
army of mercenaries with us?'

Mam shook her head. 'No, they can't contact the
Ordeen directly. They simply wait for her arrival and
then take advantage of the horror that she brings,
feasting on the dead and dying.'

'But won't we have been seen anyway? Won't those
already awake within the Ord guess what we intend
to do?'