She turned and ran down the road, tears burning her eyes. She had the awful feeling that her death was virtually decided. When she did finally recover enough feeble courage to look back, the crossroads was empty. Beyond the walls, the Whisperers waited, a haunting vision that transfixed Caitlin, Matt, Mahalia and Carlton at the top of the tower. After a while, Mahalia left Caitlin and Matt, irritated by what she saw was an obvious attraction between the two; though how anyone could contemplate affection for someone as clearly insane as that mad bitch was beyond her. Out on the cobbles, she turned to Carlton and felt instantly calmed by his warm, beatific smile. 'What are we doing here, mate?' she asked gently.
He gave a Who knows? shrug, but Mahalia didn't believe it for a second, and then he nodded back towards the grim palace.
'OK, we'll go back,' she said. 'We could both do with a good sleep.' She was overcome with a wave of affection and gave him a big hug. 'I'm really glad you're with me, matey.'
He hugged her back and then broke free, grabbing her hand to drag her up the street.
'I wish you could talk,' she said, gradually slipping into the familiar state where she used Carlton as a sounding board for her own thoughts and insecurities. 'Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt you — I couldn't, not after what I've seen. But I'd really like to hear exacdy what you know about what's going on… it's so hard to keep at it without knowing what we're doing or where we're going.'
He turned and looked at her seriously. In his big, dark eyes, she thought she could see the universe turning. 'I do trust you, Carlton,' she stressed.
They continued the rest of the journey in silence, but Mahalia's thoughts occasionally turned to the question that troubled her: not what Carlton knew, but how he knew it. In the palace, she was afraid she'd never remember the mazey route back to their rooms, but Carlton did not hesitate. Yet when they weren't far from their chambers, Carlton stopped sharply and then propelled Mahalia into a shadowy alcove, pressing his finger to his lips to silence her. She could only guess that he'd heard something beyond her range.
A clanking sound slowly came into her hearing, followed shortly after by two of the short bearded guards, who were herding a tall youth along the corridor. Mahalia could tell he was quite young from his frame, but beyond that it was impossible to know anything more about him — a thick black hood covered his head, with only two eyelets so that he could see where he was going. His upper body was wrapped in so many heavy iron chains that Mahalia was astonished he could move at all. His progress was unbearably slow as he coped with their weight, but he still held himself erect.
As he passed the alcove, a strange thing happened. Though Mahalia and Carlton were hidden deep in the shadows, his eyes flickered towards them as if they were in plain view. Those eyes were a startling grey-blue and filled with a pleading desperation that made Mahalia shiver.
Mahalia and Carlton waited until the prisoner and his guards were long gone before continuing on their way. It was just another strange thing in a very strange world, yet as she lay in her bed she couldn't shake the look the prisoner had given her, and sleep did not come for a long time.
Chapter Six
'Oh, for the time when I shall sleep Without identity.'
'Don't go near the walls — they'll get you!' Briony's whining voice rose above the keening wind that cut like a knife across the Ice-Field.
'I'm not about to go near them!' Caitlin snapped back. She hugged her knees and looked out over the desolate landscape that appeared to go on for ever beneath the night sky; a black and white world. It was unbearably harsh, yet at times it still felt preferable to the place inhabited by her body.
'They're after you, you know,' Brigid cackled. 'They don't care about the others.'
'Why would they be after me?' Caitlin replied sourly. 'Why should anyone be interested in me? I'm no use to anyone. I can't heal people. I couldn't save… couldn't save…'
'Don't talk about them!' Amy shouted, her eyes wide with fear.
'They know you're special,' Brigid continued. 'They know you're a Sister of Dragons.'
Caitlin spun round. 'What does that mean? I don't know! It's just words…'
The old woman tapped her scrawny hand against her chest. 'It's in the heart, it's in the blood…'
'It doesn't matter,' Briony interjected, 'because you'll never get past those Whisperers. They're waiting outside the walls. They can't come in, but if you try to go out…' Brigid began to laugh hysterically, her phlegmy whoops soaring higher and higher until Caitlin wanted to scream at her to shut up. 'Let me out!' The harsh, rustling voice crept out from the shadows at the back of their tiny sheltered spot. Caitlin's blood ran cold. 'LET ME OUT!' Amy began to cry and Briony fell to her knees and covered her face, but Brigid just laughed and laughed and laughed… 'Caitlin?' She woke to find Matt leaning over her, his blue eyes searching her face. Once he saw that it was her and not one of the others, he smiled. 'You're a deep sleeper.' 'Something like that.' She sat up and scrubbed at her hair, which she was sure must look like a haystack. 'They're still out there. I just checked from the tower… it's been three days now. That weird purple mist keeps moving all around the walls.' 'They're not going to go away. They want me.' 'What have you done to attract that kind of attention?' He felt unbearably close, so she swung herself out of bed and walked to the other side of the room. 'All I know is we have to find that cure. And nothing's going to stop us.' 'I wish I had your positivity.' 'Have you been able to convince the professor to come with us?' 'I haven't been able to find him. I think he's avoiding me… or just soaking up the beer in some dive.' 'I can't understand it. He seemed so desperate to get here.' She splashed her face with icy water from a pewter bowl next to the bed. 'What's the point in crossing over and then just hiding out in this godforsaken place?' 'I haven't been able to keep a track of Mahalia or Carlton, either. They're roaming all over this place, night and day. They'll disappear for hours into the corridors, as if they're searching for something. And you know what a maze it is.'
'No great loss. Well, Mahalia, anyway. Carlton's a different story.'
'What do you mean?'
'I don't know exactly. There's something about him… I can't help feeling as if he's the key to what's happening.'
'Can you explain it?'
She sat back down on the bed, but left a gap between them. 'I don't know… it's in here.' She tapped her heart and her head. 'Instinct. I just think there's something locked away inside him, something important, if we could only get at it. He knows things…'
Matt clearly knew what she meant, judging by the expression on his face.
'We can't afford to sit around any longer, whatever Lugh said about time being strange in this place.' She stood defiantly and waited for Matt to join her. 'We need to get whatever information we can from this place and get back on the road. And,' she added flintily, 'Crowther is coming with us. We need him.' Caitlin and Matt decided to split up to search for the professor, and soon after Caitlin found herself in a maze of mews that had a faintly menacing air. She was the only one walking the cobbles, but occasionally she would catch a glimpse of someone standing in a darkened doorway. They would beckon to her, whispering promises of something or other — magic, escape, things she didn't understand but which sounded threatening or perverse — and she hurried on, knowing it would be dangerous to get too close.
The mews grew thinner and darker the further she progressed into the heart of that quarter, so that eventually she could touch both walls at the same time if she reached out. The sky had almost disappeared behind the overhanging upper storeys. The oppressive atmosphere at that point became more than she could bear; she couldn't shake the feeling that someone, or something, was waiting behind the doors to grab her and drag her in, never to be seen again.
It was at the moment when she decided to turn back that she heard her name. It sounded like the buzz of an
