The door thudded closed behind me. Standing in the darkness I let the wish to be ignored drop away and concentrated on summoning my glow, feeling the temperature in the enclosed stairway drop suddenly as light spilled out onto the stairs. It was getting easier to do this. Was that practice, or was it getting stronger?
I stepped down the stairs slowly and cautiously, wondering why Blackbird hadn't waited for me. Hadn't she heard me? Then another thought occurred to me. Perhaps it wasn't really her, but merely the semblance of her meant to draw me here? If it wasn't Blackbird, was it Carris? Had she seen what happened in the alley? Could she make herself look like Blackbird to lure me down here and take her revenge?
I took the stairs slowly, the swaying light making it more difficult to judge my footing. At the base of the stairs the corridor led on into darkness. I took a hesitant step forward into the gloom, allowing my glow to swell and throw back the shadows in its shifting, dancing light.
'Gramawl? Are you there? It's me, Rabbit. I came with Blackbird yesterday, remember?'
My voice sounded hollow and empty in the darkened passage. There was no answer.
'Gramawl?'
I walked forward a pace or two, my arms spread to show peaceful intent. Still there was no sign of him. I walked a few paces more. The light moved with me and the stairs gradually faded into the dark until it was just me in a length of illuminated corridor. I made slow progress. The passage angled left then right, as before, but when I came to the place where the stairway went up to Kareesh's den, there was no trace of the stairs.
How could they not be there? We had climbed those steps. I was sure this was where they had been. I felt along the wall where I recalled the opening, looking for some clue. There was only a blank wall with a smooth expanse of tiles. I stood in the dark wondering whether Blackbird had somehow got inside and was even now laughing with Kareesh at my expense. Then a tiny sound came to me from further down the corridor, like a scuff or a stumble.
'Gramawl?' Was he lurking there?
I remembered him appearing without a sound, and figured that either he'd wanted me to hear him or it wasn't Gramawl that was moving down there. Perhaps Blackbird had not found a way into Kareesh's den after all.
A row of fluorescent lamps marked the roof of the tunnel, though none of them offered the least glimmer of light. As I sidled along the tunnel it sloped downwards. I found the passage to be much longer than I had initially thought. Once I heard the tumbling flow of water but couldn't identify where it was coming from. Several times there were distant rumblings, whether from passing tube trains or irritated trolls I couldn't say. At one point I stopped, half deciding to head back to Covent Garden. Then I heard a distant echo of footfalls ahead and moved quickly to pursue it, only to be greeted by the empty walkway. Nothing entered the pool of light around me and I met no other soul.
At one point I shouted down the corridor. 'Blackbird! I've had enough of this wild goose chase. Show yourself!' There was no sound, no light, and no answer. The light swung and shifted around me, disturbed by a wind I couldn't feel, rippled by a hand that didn't show, leaving me alone in the half-light.
I began to feel she wasn't down here, that she'd tricked me into following the tunnel and locked the door behind me, sealing me in to pursue the endless passages until I expired. I began to imagine the tunnel had no end and that it would go on, featureless and unlit, until I wore myself out or turned back.
At such points I would hesitate and wait, and after a short pause a small sound, some token of presence, would echo from the tunnel ahead, telling me the person I followed went before me. Was it an illusion, meant to tempt me on? Was it really Blackbird or something darker and more sinister?
I continued on down the passage. Occasionally there were marks of some previous human presence, whether a piece of graffiti or a discarded paper, but mostly these were old and yellowed. Once I came upon a smear of oil, smelling of minerals and machinery, with no remnant of the machine it had come from. These reassured me that I wasn't walking in a circle. A little further on an empty mineral water bottle proclaimed some more recent occupation. The tunnel began to bend and angle from its course and I got the feeling it was coming to an end.
Finally I reached the base of a circular stairway, similar to the one I had started on. As I stepped onto it I heard a door thump shut above me. I was meant to follow upwards.
Setting a steady pace, I climbed the stairway, convinced now that whoever was ahead of me was waiting above. The stairway wound round and around until I reached a steel-clad door on a landing. I took hold of the handle, half expecting it to be locked. It yielded easily and the door swung open to daylight.
I released my glow and let it die, emerging into a passage. On each end of the corridor, heavy doors blocked the way, but steps led upwards in the other direction with faint daylight indicating the way out.
The heavy door swung shut behind me with a thud, echoing the earlier sound.
Ascending the steps, I climbed into a room stacked with chairs and tables. A row of windows opened out onto a daylight street outside and I realised as a bus passed by below eye level that I had climbed to a level above ground. I stepped up into the room and blinked in the strong light. At the same time a hand circled around from behind me. There was a flash of something bright and I felt a sharp point press hard under my chin.
'If you so much as blink I will ram this blade up through your brain.' It pressed into the underside of my chin, the point digging into my skin.
'Mmm,' was about as much as I dared say, nodding was out of the question but I could hear the truth of her intent.
'Step sideways slowly,' the voice commanded.
I did as she asked. It sounded like Blackbird, but I was taking no chances. So far she hadn't killed me.
'Just so you know I'm serious, if I see a glimmer of gallowfyre, a darkening of the ambient light, if a cloud even crosses the sun, I am going to shove this knife up through your head so hard it will stick out of the top, understand?'
'Mmm,' I acknowledged, not really understanding but complying, the knife pressing the point into the root of my throat, under my chin.
'Step backwards slowly, one small step at a time. There's a wall behind you.' I edged backwards, the knife lifting me onto tiptoe. 'Turn left and face the wall.'
I turned around slowly and she moved around with me until I faced the wall.
'Kneel slowly, facing the wall.' I did as she demanded and as I reached an uncomfortable half-kneeling position she moved the knife so it stuck into the back of my neck under the base of my skull. Her knee pressed into my back, pushing me forward.
'Now put your arms out and spread your fingers wide against the wall. If you move a fraction from there I will kill you instantly. Do you understand?'
'Yes'. I pressed my face against the wall. All my senses were telling me her words were the absolute truth. She would kill me.
'I'm going to offer you a choice. It's not much of one, but it's all you're getting. You can tell me what I want to know and I will kill you cleanly and send you back where you came from. Or you can refuse and I will bind you to this body so when it dies, you will also. You can hear the truth in my words, yes?'
'Yes,' I could hear the truth in them. She was going to kill me. 'But-'
The knife pressed inwards. 'Now. I am going to ask my questions and then you're going to die. My question is simple. Why are you here? What did you come for?'
'Blackbird…' I had to convince her it was me.
'No!' The knife stabbed inwards and I'm sure I felt a warm dribble run down my neck. 'No names, not even that one. I'm giving you nothing, understand?'
'But it's me, Rabbit. We spent the day together, yesterday. You can tell it's me.' I hated the whiny quality in my voice but I was desperate. She had to believe me.
'How can you lie to me without my being able to hear it? Is this some new wraithkin gift?' Her voice had a puzzled quality, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'How are you doing that? Tell me and I'll despatch you quickly and painlessly.'
'No, please, it really is me. How can I convince you?'
'Convince me? I saw you in the alley with Fenlock. I saw the gallowfyre. I know what you are. I don't need convincing, I just need an answer.' There was anger in her voice that translated into pressure in her hand. I tried to slide up the wall from a kneeling position. I needed her to believe me. I needed a distraction. I needed something.
