Only when her assailant had pulled her into the warehouse and flung her unceremoniously on to an oily concrete floor did she see who it was. 'What are you doing?' she raged.
The Bone Inspector levelled his staff at her, as if to frighten her into silence. His piercing blue eyes gave him a menacing quality, emphasised by the unkempt grey-black hair hanging lankly around his shoulders. He wore the same dirty cheesecloth shirt, baggy trousers and sandals Laura had seen him in the first time she met him at Avebury.
'Keep silent if you want to keep living,' he growled.
Laura dusted herself down as she flashed him a contemptuous look. 'I bet you get all your women this way. Let's face it, they're never going to compliment you on your dress sense.'
He grabbed her wrist roughly and dragged her over to a window, wiping away the dirt so she could peer out. Fomorii ranged as far as the eye could see, some carrying human bodies, others moving intently about some activity she couldn't discern.
'God.' Her throat had almost closed up.
'The whole city is their stinking pit now.,
Her fear was so strong Laura couldn't mask it; she stared at the Bone Inspector with wide eyes. 'So this is their base?' Then: 'They've killed everyone?'
The Bone Inspector took pity on her. He let go of her wrist and led her gently to a pallet where they sat side by side. 'It's a shock, I know.'
'You know what? Let's forget trying to describe things, because there just aren't the words.' She buried her head in her hands, shaking as all the repressed tension came out in a rush. When it had eased, she looked up at him suspiciously. 'What are you doing here?'
'Looking for you.'
This made her even more suspicious. 'How would you-'
'So I don't have to sit here answering stupid questions all day, I'll tell you. I came looking for your body. You made a sacrifice. It wasn't right that you were just dumped, forgotten.' He looked away to minimise the impact of what lay behind his words. 'Thought I'd take your bones back to somewhere fitting-'
'You're just a sentimental-'
He waved a threatening finger in her face. 'It's my job. I'm a guardian of the old places because I'm a priest of the land, if you will. I tend to the people who fight for it.' His eyes narrowed. 'But I don't have to like them, understand?'
'Well, God forbid you should show some sensitivity.'
'The earth energy's strong in you and your travelling troupe of hopeless cases. I can feel it even more now the changes you've wrought have started to wake the land.'
'So you followed your nose.' She looked back towards the window uncomfortably. 'But how did you get past all that?'
'It wasn't so bad when I came in. They were spreading out across a different part of the city, doing whatever foul business they do, and the eastern approach was pretty open. Even so, I had to move under cover. Took time.' He shrugged. 'Can't see how we're going to get back out, though.' He eyed her askance. 'So how come you're not a pile of blood and guts and bone? And why do you look like you've been sleeping in a compost heap?'
'You really know how to chat up a girl.'
'Well?'
'How should I know? I've given up trying to work anything out any more.'
They sat alone with their thoughts for a while until Laura said, 'Did it work?'
He knew exactly what she meant. 'You saved her life. Who knows, you might even have saved much more than that. I pointed her and that miserable leader in the direction of the Western Isles to try to get the Golden Ones on our side. They might even do it, if they can put a lifetime of failure behind them.'
'The others?'
'Don't know.'
There was another long silence before she asked the question they'd both been avoiding. 'So I've escaped a particularly horrible death to spend the rest of my life in a stinking warehouse with someone who doesn't know what soap is. Or do you have anything approaching a plan?'
He stared blankly at the dirty floor. 'No. No plans.'
Church and Ruth stayed in the cabin until night had fallen. The air was tinged with the fading warmth of the day and the scent of burning oil as the flickering lantern in the corner sent shadows shivering across the wooden walls.
All their attempts at making head or tail of the eddies of mystery and intrigue swirling around them had come to nothing, but so much was at stake they couldn't afford to just sit back any longer.
'We have to find the Walpurgis-he's the key,' Church said eventually. 'There's something very strange going on here, on this ship. These days I trust my instinct more than anything, and sometimes it's almost like I can feel deep, powerful currents moving just beneath my feet. I don't know if the death of Hellawes has anything to do with it, but Cormorel's murder is right at the heart. I don't understand why the gods in the furnace are stockpiling weapons, what the meaning is of all the strange looks and half-heard comments the other gods are making. Whatever it is, I know it's going to affect us, even if it's only that we're definitely not going to get any help from the Tuatha De Danann until the suspicion has been taken off us.'
'How do you expect to find the Walpurgis if Manannan's massed ranks can't?'
'I don't know, but I know I've got to try. He's down there somewhere.'
'I don't know.' She shook her head worriedly. 'The Malignos are still roaming around. You cross them, you won't be coming back up again.' She sucked on her lip thoughtfully. 'I'd better come with you.'
'No,' he replied forcefully. 'I'm not being chivalrous, it's just good tactics. If I don't come back, at least there'll be one of us left to try to hold it all together.' The shadows had pooled in her eyes so he couldn't read her expression. 'You still think it's going to end in tears?'
'Oh yeah.'
They were interrupted by a cry from the deck, strangely lonely in the still of the night. Church got up and peered out of the window. 'Another island.' A couple of lights glimmered in the sea of darkness. A rumbling ran through the walls as the crew prepared to drop anchor.
'More delays,' Ruth said with irritation.
Church watched the lights for a moment longer, then said, 'I think we should try to get on the landing party again. Any information we can pick up is going to help us.'
'Do you really think they're going to let us after the last one?'
'We can get Baccharus to help-he seems to like our company.'
'Or Niamh.'
Church agreed uncomfortably, 'Or Niamh.'
Ruth looked away.
'We have to-'
'I know.' Curling up on the bed, she rested her head in the crook of her arm and tucked her knees up to her chest. 'We have to do what we can to make things right, however unpleasant. It's war.'
The rocking of the ship changed its tempo as Wave Sweeper came to a gradual halt. Chains rumbled and clanked dimly, followed by a splash as the anchor hit the water. Then there was only a gentle swaying as the boat bobbed at its tether.
Church left the window and returned to the bed, sitting in the small space at the end that Ruth's long limbs weren't occupying. Her feet touched his thigh; she didn't move them away. 'Do you remember, just after Beltane, sitting by the campfire?' She shifted slightly, put her feet on top of his legs. 'That was a funny time. We'd already been through so much, had this massive blow, yet we felt-'
'So close.'
'Exactly. This year hasn't been like anything else in my life. I know that's stating the obvious, but I mean on an emotional level. It's been so… potent. I've never felt more alive.' He cupped the top of her pale foot in his hand. It felt so cool, the skin as smooth as vellum. 'And it makes me feel guilty.'
'What, we'd be better off moping around?' She stretched lazily. 'There was a lot missing from the life everyone led before. Nobody was living at all.'
