Mark Chadbourn - Destroyer of Worlds

His comment was underlined by a scream rising up on the edge of the crowd.

'The Libertarian will go all out to stop me reaching the First,' Church said. 'He knows it could be a turning point.'

'You do what you have to do,' Ruth said. 'I'll round up the others and try to head off the Libertarian.'

Before she could move, Veitch ran up. 'That scream — I think it was Rachel. I can't find her anywhere.'

'She's under our protection,' Ruth said. 'If the Libertarian has hurt her, he's going to pay.' She reluctantly dragged her gaze away from Church and left with Veitch before any questions were asked about what she was thinking.

Church decided he didn't need to ask; increasingly, they were seeing the Libertarian as him — not as some other character shaped by an as-yet-unrealised crucible, but as him: his thoughts, his motivations, his hatred. And perhaps they were right.

Matthias grabbed his arm as he made to leave. 'You must ensure no harm comes to the First, or else all is lost.'

Church gave his assurance, and then ran off towards the long fingers of twilight reaching across the landscape. Behind him, the sounds of celebration continued unabated, but night was falling fast.

Beyond the marshes, the Grim Lands reverted to rocky shale for a few miles before the ground descended along a steep slope to a desert of grey dust that had the same texture as ashes. Occasionally, blackened, twisted trees stood in lonely vigilance on the desolate wastes, giving the impression that the entire area had been swept by a massive conflagration that destroyed even the tiniest particle of life.

'Don't you see,' Caitlin said to Mallory when he raised this thought, 'that everything we pass through is just a different symbol of death and decay. I don't think any of it is real — it's just what we project onto it.' Her voice had the clipped tones of the Morrigan, her eyes dark and unblinking as she searched for any threat in the folds of the dense fog.

Though it was still unmistakably Caitlin, Mallory missed the warmth of his friend when the Morrigan was riding her; he had even grown to miss her separate personalities, as irritating as each of them was in turn. Even calm, the Morrigan cast a frightening shadow; there was always the sense that violence could erupt at any moment.

Ahead of them, Etain and the other Brothers and Sisters of Spiders roamed through the mist, searching for potential danger. The Wayfinder continued to point its path ahead, but they had no idea if they were any closer to their destination, or if the shifting quality of the Grim Lands would keep them wandering for ever; their own brand of purgatory for the sins they had committed in life.

And somewhere at their back was the Hortha, never wavering, eternally vigilant, driving forward until he could take their lives; that, too, was part of their personal purgatory, as frightening in symbol as it was in reality. There would be no rest for either of them, and only death at the end. Bitterly, Mallory wondered if that was a metaphor for life.

Cruel fingers of wind plucked up the ashes and swirled around them, stinging their eyes and pitting their faces. Choking, they wrapped handkerchiefs across their mouths and noses, put their heads down and continued in silence for another mile, fighting against even more limited visibility. Howling, the gale increased in intensity the further they advanced, as if attempting to hold them back.

Thundering hooves brought them up sharply as Etain skidded from the mist to a sudden halt next to them. 'Do not take another step!' she yelled.

The moment she spoke, the wind died and left an eerie silence that reminded Mallory of a just-vacated room. Leaping from her mount, Etain took Mallory and Caitlin's hands and led them forwards a few feet to the edge of a sheer drop. Plucking a pebble from the ashes, Mallory dropped it into the dense fog. There was no sound of it hitting the bottom.

'The Abyss,' Etain said.

Caitlin took the Wayfinder from Mallory and held it aloft. The flame continued to point ahead across the gulf. After exploring in both directions along the edge for several yards, but finding no immediate sign of an end to the drop, he said, 'This makes no sense.'

Tannis, Owein and Branwen dismounted and continued to explore while Caitlin and Mallory conferred with Etain. 'What do we do now?' she said.

'We never thought it was going to be easy,' Caitlin said. 'Whoever, or whatever, took the trouble to hide the Market of Wishful Spirit out here was never going to set up signs for us to find it.'

'So we climb down? That could take for ever,' Mallory said.

'Everyone in the Grim Lands knows there is no bottom to the Abyss,' Etain observed.

'So it's on the other side,' Mallory said.

'There is no other side. This is the boundary between the Grim Lands and the unknown. Nothing passes beyond this point.'

'Ask Hal,' Caitlin said.

'The Blue Fire has little strength here. It might weaken him if he has to manifest himself.' Mallory weighed his options, then peered into the glass panels of the lantern. 'Hal? You there?' He glanced at Caitlin. 'I feel stupid talking to a lamp.'

Caitlin couldn't suppress a smile. 'You telling me your life hasn't prepared you for that?'

'That's right — mock me.' He unhooked the hinge and opened the door that gave access to the wick. The familiar burned-iron odour of the Blue Fire drifted out.

With a fizz, the flame flickered larger and licked out of the lantern, but there was none of the surging whoosh and crackle of flames that Mallory had experienced before; and Hal was no longer the searing figure of raging fire. He resembled a ghost, so intangible that his form flickered and guttered to reveal the grey dust behind. The only sign of the Blue Fire was a thin halo limning him.

'You survived Callow's attack,' Mallory said.

'Just. It took nearly all my reserves. I'm barely hanging on now.' He gave a wan smile. 'Not much use to you any more, if I ever was.'

'What happens when the reserves go?' Caitlin asked.

He raised his hand and waved almost-fingers gently towards the Abyss. 'Gone, gone, gone.' He saw her face fall, and added hastily, 'Don't worry, I'm ready for it. The time I've spent in the Blue Fire — which to me feels like all-time — has been…' He laughed quietly. 'There's no point me trying to explain it. Let's just say, I've seen all there is to see, experienced all that's on offer and know the answers to every question I ever considered. Even the big ones.'

'A few tips wouldn't go amiss,' Mallory said.

'It'd be like cheating in an exam — you'd get banned. All right if you work out the answers for yourself, but no insider dealing.' Hal's face grew serious, and a little sad. 'Don't worry, Mallory. Really. Don't worry.'

'Can you help us now?' Caitlin asked. 'We can't see what we're supposed to do next.'

'Yeah, the Wayfinder flame's a bit of a blunt tool,' he replied. 'I can't get it to point down.'

'That's it? We climb down?'

'Not all the way. You'll see what I mean.' A crackle like static disrupted Hal's indistinct form. 'Not much time left for me.' The words broke up.

'Then get back in the lantern,' Mallory said. 'We're going to return you to the world.'

With a nod of thanks and a smile, Hal faded away. Mallory fastened the Wayfinder to his belt before inspecting the drop, and after a few moments' preparation he eased himself over the edge, feeling for hand- and footholds. Under the deft, fearless control of the Morrigan, Caitlin came next, followed by Etain and the others.

Progress was slow, and soon Mallory's joints were aching from the strain of clinging on to the rock face, while reaching out all around to find nooks that would support his weight. From time to time, they had to go back up to take a different route when the footholds disappeared.