The emotions her face dredged up blinded him to the knowledge that she couldn't possibly be there. He grasped her hand, desperate to tell her all the things he should have said but never had the chance, but all that came out was a weak, 'I'm sorry.'
The woman's eyes glittered hatefully. Through the haze of his crushing guilt, Mallory finally noticed something off-kilter about her. Pain jabbed into the back of his hand, drawing his attention to fingers that were no long the slender, pale ones he had grabbed but made of twisted blackthorn. A drop of his blood gleamed on the end of one sharp protrusion.
The woman's face unpacked, altered, until what remained was a head that appeared to be constructed of crumpled paper with black, blinking eyes hovering above a malicious grin. The body was now constructed wholly from the same twisted strands of blackthorn.
Mallory threw himself back. 'I saw you. In Ogma's library.'
The creature lifted its hand high, tilted back its head and dripped Mallory's blood into its open mouth. 'Now we are joined for all time,' it said in a voice like rustling paper, 'and that will not be for long.' It advanced on Mallory, one finger outstretched as if accusing him.
Scrambling to his feet, Mallory hacked off the blackthorn creature's arm. With a crackle, the forearm regrew from the stump, the index finger extending into an even more brutal point.
'You cannot stop me,' the creature said. 'Nothing ever stops me.'
Mallory lopped off the arm again, but it grew back just as quickly.
From out of the whirling birds, Hunter exploded into the creature. An instant later Caitlin was at his side, axe at the ready.
'Should have brought some defoliant.' Hunter watched the creature pick itself up and turn those chilling black eyes upon him.
'Take it easy,' Mallory said. 'Your weapons can't hurt it.'
For a second the creature weighed an attack, and then another high-pitched shriek increased the birds' wild activity. Battering her way through the wall of feather, beak and talon, Caitlin searched for their adversary, but there was no longer any sign of it.
They retreated to the only entrance to the loft space and waited until the birds had calmed and returned to their roosts. A careful investigation throughout the branching wings of the loft found only a ragged hole into the night and a potential escape route across the roofs of the city.
As they looked out over the lights of the Court of the Soaring Spirit, Hunter said, 'You hear that?'
At first they thought it was the thunder of an approaching storm until faint metallic notes rose up amongst the pounding. 'The Enemy,' Caitlin said. 'They've reached the Great Plain. It won't be long before they're at the city walls.'
Mallory's attention was caught by the distant outline of the Burning Man simmering in the night sky. 'The fire's rising within it, see?' he noted. 'It's nearly done. Soon the Void will here, and when that happens the clock stops. It's the end of the world for all of us.'
Chapter Two
1
From the window, it appeared as if a black cloak had been laid across the rooftops surrounding the Palace of Glorious Light. As the night receded with the first silvery light of dawn, that cloak gleamed with an oily sheen that eventually revealed itself to be thousands of ravens perched in eerie silence. The beady eyes of the Morvren all turned towards the palace.
'What is it with birds?' Hunter said. 'Since that thorny bastard attacked last night, I've spent all my time picking feathers out of every crevice. And now this.'
'Blame Church. They're his.' Laura carved her name in the stone with a small knife.
'I think he might debate the ownership issue with you. A supernatural omen of death following you around to pick the bones of the fallen isn't quite the same as a budgie.'
'Looks like there's more of them,' Laura said, casting a bored glance out of the window.
'They know something we don't.'
'You're lucky you've got me to protect you, then.'
'Sorry? Did you say 'torment'?'
A gong resonated along the silent corridors, summoning them to a gloomy chamber where the walls and windows were hidden behind purple and scarlet drapes. Magickal artefacts were piled high on the tables and floor, suggestive of some hidden ritual pattern — skulls, crystals, athames, statuettes, jewels, candles and more. Parchments and books were stacked head-high in one corner. With a long, delicate brush, Math carefully inscribed protective runes on a section of wall that would soon be hidden again behind the drapes. His four-faced mask turned slowly and deliberately.
Even though Church and Shavi talked intensely in one corner, there was an unshakable feeling that something had just departed the space.
'Nobody thought to lay on a muffin basket?' Hunter said. 'You can't have a breakfast meeting without muffins.'
'Funny man.' Laura shied away from Math and went to annoy Tom, who had just lurched in, grumpy and tired.
Soon the two teams and Tom were gathered, with Math observing silently from one corner. All of them were aware of the bond they shared, despite their personal differences. The air was electric with the Pendragon Spirit.
'What lies ahead is more than we've ever faced before, and there's a strong possibility that none of us will be getting out of this alive,' Church said. 'It's important we're under no illusion about that.'
'It's the job,' Hunter said. 'No point grumbling about it.'
'That's easy for you to say. You've got a death wish,' Laura said tartly.
'We know where we stand,' Mallory said. 'The question is, where do we go? And just as importantly, what do we do about that thing we found in the loft last night?'
'If, as you describe, it can change appearance at will, it could remain amongst us, picking us off one by one,' Shavi mused.
'Who's to say it's not here now?' Ruth said. They all shifted uneasily.
'Math, what did you find out?' Church asked.
'The creature is known as the Hortha.' Math's voice echoed hollowly from behind his mask. 'It is mentioned many times in our histories, as an agent of destruction and death and chaos.'
'An agent of the Void,' Caitlin added.
'The Hortha is a hunter, a tracker. Once it has identified its prey, it cannot be deterred or stopped. It will continue until it has killed.'
'Okay, you got a load of gods lined up out there ready to fight for the cause,' Veitch began, 'but from where I'm standing, the biggest threat to the Void is the Army of Dragons. If I was the Enemy, I'd send that thing out to pick the whole lot of us off one by one. Cut out the heart.'
'We're not going to be sitting back, letting the Hortha get on with it,' Church said. 'Ryan?'
'So, what, he gets to call the shots now?' Laura said.
'We're all here because we've got individual strengths that benefit the group as a whole. Veitch — and Hunter — they're the strategists.'
'What am I? The cheerleader?' Laura said sullenly. 'Give me a C-U-N-'
'Let's focus, shall we?' Church insisted.
