Marc Chadbourn - The Devil in green

Sophie opened her mouth and a sound came out that made Mallory's ears hurt. It appeared to be composed of syllables he had never heard before, alien sounds he could hardly comprehend coming from a human throat. Sophie only uttered it, yet it created a deafening roar that cracked the sky.

Fury grew on the faces of the crowd. Mallory's fingers clasped even tighter on the hilt of his sword, so sure was he that they were ready to strike.

'You have made enemies of us through your discourtesy.' Rage flashed across Abarta's face and edged his cold voice. 'The words of power should never be used lightly. We are not beasts of the field to heed your command.'

'I came here to make an offering… to put us at your favour,' Sophie said sharply, 'but you tried to trick us — and that's a discourtesy to us.' She was shaking. Mallory could sense her fear, though her confidence masked it from the others. 'Now you must answer my questions.'

'Three,' Abarta said, refusing to acknowledge that she had the upper hand. 'Only three.'

Sophie looked to Mallory. He nodded for her to continue using her own judgement; time was running out.

'Who… or what… is the one we are searching for?' she said tentatively.

Abarta gave a faint triumphal sneer. 'Someone who wishes harm to some of your kind.'

Sophie cursed under her breath. 'Where can we find him?'

Mallory flinched; he knew Abarta could give another non-answer: a name they didn't know, or on your world, or in the Far Lands. But instead, Abarta smiled. 'I give you this, knowing it will do you no good. If you want to find the one for whom you are searching, you must travel to a place in the Fixed Lands… in your world… known to your kind as Knowlton. There you may attempt to storm his keep.' A ripple of mocking laughter passed through the crowd.

Sophie took a deep breath. 'How can we stop him attacking our kind?'

'By defeating him.' Another ripple of laughter. 'Or by surrendering to him.'

'Come on,' Mallory said quietly. 'We have to get out of here.'

The door of Blue Fire still crackled at their backs. They took a step towards it.

The ringing sound of knives being drawn echoed across the cathedral site. 'Know this,' Abarta said. 'Old Shuck blocks the way for all who travel to Knowlton. And where Old Shuck leads, can the Wild Hunt be far behind? You will fall before them like saplings in a storm, in the Fixed Lands or in the Forest of Night… and then we will see how fragile you really are.'

Suddenly they moved as one, knives drawn and glinting, black eyes filled with a hungry horror. Mallory grabbed Sophie and threw the two of them through the door. There was the sensation of warm rain again and then they crashed hard on snow. Night was almost upon them; only a thin line of light lay along the horizon.

They didn't wait to catch their breath. Instead they ran across the outer bailey and the car park and along the road out of the site, and they didn't stop until Old Sarum was far behind them.

'Time's running out,' Mallory said, as they marched through the crisp snow at first light. 'If the brethren aren't dying already, they will be soon — either from starvation or because those things will have broken through the walls.'

'We're doing the best we can.' Sophie walked beside him gravely. The moment they had set foot on the road to Knowlton, the last remnants of elation at their escape from the cathedral had been wiped away by the gravity of what lay ahead. They were under no illusion about their chances of surviving an encounter with the Devil, less still that they could convince the Adversary to call off the attack. But they had hope.

'Still time to back out,' Mallory said.

'I will if you will.'

'I've got nothing to lose. Your people are counting on you.'

'Then we'd better make sure we get back in one piece, hadn't we?' She stamped her feet to warm them. 'You really think you can pull this off?'

'No, but I'd never be able to live with myself any more if I didn't try.'

His tone was striking, almost desperate; she wondered what it was in his past that was playing out in his decision to save Miller and the others. 'And the same goes for me, Mallory. If you've got the ability to do good, then you've got an obligation to use that ability. That's what my beliefs tell me.'

Awkwardly, she reached for his hand. He took it, and for a while their mood lightened.

They had spent the dark hours of the previous night huddled in one of the deserted semis on the northern fringes of the city before searching out a militiaman at dawn. He had never heard of Knowlton, but after consulting a map book in his sentry post, they discovered it was a hamlet of only one or two houses south of Salisbury.

'I wouldn't be going down that way if I were you,' the militiaman had warned them. 'It's wild country. Not much between Salisbury and the south coast.'

Now the city limits were visible away to the west and the road stretched out before them. The sun was turning golden as it crested the horizon. The cloud-free sky was a pastel blue; it was going to be a glorious day.

'At least we know where we're going,' Mallory said, without highlighting the anxiety he felt at what lay ahead.

They broke for a snack around eleven. They'd found a stash of cans on their overnight stay that had escaped the looters, and had brought a few tins of beans and fruit, a couple of spoons and a can-opener with them. They found a sheltered spot on the edge of a wood and Mallory lit a small fire to take the chill from their bones. A thaw had set in under the unseasonably warm sun, which eased their mood a little.

'I'm still trying to work out the rules of this world,' Sophie said, eating her baked beans with little desire.

'Does it matter?'

'When you're not top dog — which humanity isn't now — it matters more than ever. You don't want to offend some of the things that are loose.'

Mallory rubbed his hands in front of the fire. 'You want a rule? Never get in a transporter with a fly.'

She laughed, but the unsettled mood returned to her features too quickly. Her restiess eyes ranged across the countryside; there was no sign of human life. 'What Abarta said about the Wild Hunt-'

'He was just trying to scare us.'

'I've heard of it… something from mythology-'

'Lots of different mythologies. It's very adaptable. A Dark Lord leads a few mates and a pack of ghostly hounds across the countryside, scooping up anyone unlucky enough to be out. The Christians said it was Satan hunting lost souls to drag off to hell.'

'Ruth Gallagher met them, I think.'

'Sounds as if the Uber-Witch passed on a lot of useful information.' He paused when he realised Sophie was watching him curiously.

'You know a lot of things, Mallory.'

'I'm very well read.'

'What did you do in your past life?'

'I ate, I drank and I slept.'

She cursed. 'You're as infuriating as those things at Old Sarum.'

'I try.'

'What are we up against, Mallory?'

'Something that makes us look blind and stupid. It planned everything so carefully, manipulated us from the start. The siege… the way we were run to bring the beast in ourselves so we could be attacked from the inside, to break the faith of the brothers… even the choice of victims, picked to play off the two factions vying for power, so they'd suspect, and doubt, and hate… It knew everything that was going on, knew us better than we knew ourselves.'

'If this is supposed to be a pep talk, Mallory, you need to re-examine your material.' She dumped the remnants of her beans in the fire, then said, 'Why are you doing this, Mallory? Not so long ago, you were saying you didn't believe in anything, and now you're putting your life on the line. Have you finally found something worth fighting for? It must be something big to cause this kind of volte-face.'