Mark Chadbourn - Destroyer of Worlds

At the foot of the tree, the earth energy crackled into the snow, moving in a rapid, dizzying spiral until it sizzled in a direct line towards the cliff wall and up the rock face where it illuminated the sign of a dragon eating its tail.

'Here!' Tom yelled. 'Here, now!'

Shavi raced towards it and slammed his hand into the centre of the symbol. A flash dazzled them all for a second, and then with a judder that threw them from their feet, the rock tore itself open to reveal a door into a dark space.

'Church! Ryan! Ruth! Come, now!' Shavi called.

Church and Veitch continued to whirl around the remaining Fomor, their swords leaving fiery trails in the air. They were both covered with cuts that spattered blood onto the snow. But Ruth was almost unrecognisable. She hovered six inches above the ground, arms outstretched, head back, the blue light from the Spear washing around before driving out intermittently at the storm-tossed ranks of Fomorii still closing in. She held them back, though just barely. To Shavi, she looked like one of the gods, as frightening and enigmatic as a force of nature.

He ran to her, but when he placed his hand on her side, her head snapped around, her face filled with fury and he was thrown ten feet back with a blast that left him close to unconsciousness.

Church's cry shocked Ruth from her trance, and she crashed to the ground. Still dazed, she was at first unable to comprehend Shavi's smoking form as he staggered to his feet, but gradually realisation dawned on her. Her devastation was clear in her face.

'Ruth!' Church called urgently.

The lines of Fomorii gradually recovered and prepared to attack. Although they held their enemy at bay, Church and Veitch could not find an opening to escape towards Shavi. Gathering herself, Ruth dived beneath the attacking beast and rammed the Spear of Lugh up into the creature's belly. Amidst a burst of blue light, the Fomor exploded. As the body parts rained down, Church and Veitch grabbed Ruth and half-dragged her towards the gaping hole in the cliff-face where Shavi beckoned urgently. Behind them, the howls of the approaching Fomorii echoed.

Diving through the open doorway, they had one last look at the horde of shape-shifting beasts bearing down on them before the door slid shut and they were plunged into darkness.

As they caught their breath, Tom struck his flint and found a cobweb-festooned lantern hanging on a hook next to the door. The flame guttered, then leaped. They stood in a vast entrance hall amidst blocks of fallen masonry and discarded swords, spears and shields as if a final battle had been fought there. Columns soared up into the dark and ahead of them a few cracked steps led up to a towering archway beyond which lay only shadows.

Tearfully, Ruth hugged Shavi. 'I'm so sorry. I could have killed you.'

'A slight singe here and there, but I am fine.'

'We'd all be dead if not for you,' Church said.

'You're a scary woman,' Veitch added. 'Where did all that come from?'

'The power's been growing in me for a long time.' She ran a shaking hand through her hair. 'Back on our world, I could feel it, but didn't really know how to get to it. Here…' She chewed her lip. 'I'm afraid I might not be able to control it.'

'It's always about you,' Laura snapped. 'Hunter's still out there. And Jack. We can't leave them.'

'We can't go back out,' Veitch said sharply.

Sensing the mounting tension, Church stepped between the two of them. 'Hunter's one of us and we don't abandon anyone. And we can't go on without Jack. We need him. Maybe if we wait until the Fomorii have dispersed-'

Shavi shook his head. 'I can find no way to open this door from the inside.'

'There's got to be,' Laura insisted.

'You are right,' Shavi replied, 'but there is no source of Blue Fire in here. There must be a different mechanism for opening it.'

Cursing loudly, Laura booted a rock furiously into the shadows where it bounced off walls with a series of echoes that was unnerving in the stillness.

'What is this place?' Miller scraped his boot through the thick, white dust on the floor. 'It doesn't look like anyone's been here in centuries.'

'These,' Tom replied, 'are the Halls of the Drakusa.'

In the narrow view of snowy ground from the crevice, Hunter counted the passing Fomorii as they ranged by, their resonant call and response rumbling through the rock itself. He estimated at least twenty were still hunting for him and Jack, and they were drawing close to their hiding place. Even with the Balor Claw, he guessed he wouldn't last more than a moment or two out there. Beside him, Jack shook violently from the cold and Hunter could barely feel his own feet. As far as he could assess, he had only two options: freeze to death or get torn apart by the beasts.

As he turned his head away from the opening to whisper more words of encouragement to Jack, he felt a current of air move across his face. Instantly, he registered that it had come from within the crevice.

He urged Jack to move to one side so he could crawl to the back of the crevice, where he found a dark hole leading in and down, barely big enough for him to squeeze inside. He motioned to Jack and said quietly, 'There's a draught. That means it leads to a cave system with some kind of egress.'

'You're insane,' Jack hissed. 'Look how small it is! We'll get stuck in there and die. Horribly.'

'We're going to die horribly if we stay here and that's the truth. You need to take my lead on this, Jack.'

Jack examined the hole anxiously. 'Look at it, Hunter. If we get in there and find it's too small to go on, we're not going to be able to back out. We'll be trapped in a space about as big as a coffin. I think I might go mad.'

'I know I'm asking a lot of you, Jack, but this whole business is asking a lot of all of us. We've got to rise above our fears, because everyone is depending on us. If you die here, the hope that Church is fighting for dies with you.'

'Have you done anything like this before?'

Without missing a beat, Hunter replied, 'In the former Yugoslavia, I was buried alive in a mass grave. About one hundred dead Muslim villagers on top of me. I had to work my way through the bodies and then dig myself out with my bare hands. I rate this as slightly better odds.'

Jack's terrible fears fought on his face. After one brief glance back at the Fomorii, he nodded. 'All right.'

'Good lad. I'll go first. It's going to be pitch black in there, but if you can feel my boots ahead of you, you'll be okay.'

Hunter manoeuvred himself and then wriggled his head into the hole. The air smelled of deep, wet places. He forced his shoulders in. The granite above dug deep into his back, and for a moment he feared he was wedged. Jack was right: there would be no coming back out the same way. Pressing hard, he constricted his breathing and ignored the burning compression in his back and chest. After a second, he had forced his way under the lip of rock into an area that allowed him little more than an inch on every side. Jack wriggled in close behind him, occasionally reaching out to his boot-heel for reassurance. Hunter was overwhelmed by the boy's bravery; few others would have been able to suppress such a basic human fear for the greater good.

There was only room to reach out ahead and use his fingers to drag him down the slight incline, with a gentle push from his boot-tips for a little extra thrust; it was going to take a long time to get wherever they were going — and he refused to entertain any other thought than that there was a definite destination ahead.

Breathing was difficult and increasingly painful. He had to take small, regulated gasps to prevent hyperventilation; in between gulps, he instructed Jack to do the same. His fingers were numb, but he was convinced they were tearing from the exertion against the hard rock; he was sure he could smell blood.