the path, they become sheep to the slaughter.'
'Tell me how it happens,' she repeated.
'Only I get to know that. This whole business is… hmm, let me select a cliche for your enjoyment… a house of cards. So fragile. A mass of subtle, interconnecting events. Change one and the whole thing falls apart.'
'Even now?'
'Especially now. As we approach the end, everything is in a state of flux. So many variables. But do not worry, my bitter, twisted love. I intend to keep a firm hand on the tiller. If the currents try to push us away, I will steer us back into the flow of the blood-dimmed tides. Subtlety is the key. A shift in emotion can be just as effective as a slice across the jugular. More so, in fact.'
'But you wait here?' Niamh said. 'Why are you not influencing the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons?'
Because,' he said with a faint smile as he turned back to the stars, 'all goes to plan.'
8
After sharing the news about the Wayfinder, Mallory and Caitlin made their goodbyes in a bright manner that belied the nature of what they were about to endure.
They took themselves to Math's chamber where the sorcerer had already marked out a ritual space in the centre of the floor. He stood in one corner, quietly mouthing incantations that left the atmosphere charged. Veitch perched on the edge of a table, flexing his silver hand rhythmically.
'You ready?' he said.
'You're joking?' Mallory said. 'Dying is the biggest human fear. You condition yourself to spend all your life running in the opposite direction.'
'It's not an ending.' Caitlin's axe was strapped in a harness across her back. 'If anyone should know that, it's the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons.'
'Easy for you to say, with the Morrigan riding you like a horse. This is home ground for her.'
'If it makes it any easier, I've been through it,' Veitch said.
'It doesn't.'
'Why did you do it?' Caitlin asked.
'I wanted to break any control the spiders had over me,' Veitch replied. 'I wanted to be my own man again.' He paused. 'This is going to sound weird, but the Grim Lands are the only place I ever felt at home.'
'That's sad,' Caitlin said.
'No, it's weird.' Mallory cast a suspicious eye towards Math, whose incantation had grown louder. 'What's it like?' he added uneasily.
'Pain, just for a bit. Then it's like being on a roller coaster heading down the biggest dip. Queasy. And then… nothing. Next thing you know, you'll be waking up in the temple in the Grim Lands. Don't touch anything there, right? It's the Void's place. Get straight out.'
'And the dead?' Caitlin asked.
'Don't expect them to be friendly. They welcomed me with open arms… I don't know why. But they're not usually so happy about the living trespassing on their ground.'
'How do I know this isn't just one of your ploys to do me in?' Mallory asked.
'Look, mate, I know you don't trust me, and I know you don't like me, but honestly, if I wanted to do that, I'd just gut you in your room at night when you weren't looking.'
'You could try.'
'All right.' Caitlin sighed. 'Let's put the whole men thing behind us. This is serious.'
'Just… don't worry,' Veitch continued. 'I wasn't going to take any risks with this. I went out of my way to find a ritual that could take me over the barrier in one piece. I was primed and fully charged when Church got me down in Cornwall. Half an hour after they carted my body off, I was in the Grim Lands. And here I am. I look okay to you?'
Mallory took a deep breath and looked to Caitlin. 'Okay, then. We've got a job to do.'
She took his hand and led him into the ritual circle.
'It's the ride of a lifetime, Mallory. Imagine how much more you're going to appreciate life when you've died and come out the other side.'
'How do you know I haven't died and come back already?' Mallory said. Caitlin fixed him with a quizzical gaze, but he didn't respond.
Math's voice grew louder, the rhythmic chanting taking on a hypnotic quality. The atmosphere became more intense. Strange shadows flitted across the room.
'Here.' Veitch handed them each a goblet of dark liquid. 'So you won't feel a thing.'
'How are you going to do it?' Mallory asked.
Veitch held up a long silver knife, the handle carved with symbols.
Mallory eyed it for a moment, then downed his drink in one. 'Death, here we come,' he said with as much bravado as he could muster.
9
Night was falling as the thick smudge of black moved across the entire span of the Great Plain. Storm clouds boiled above it, throwing out jagged bolts of lightning that turned the darkening sky white, and with it came the deep, resonant heartbeat in the ground. Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.
The Enemy had arrived.
With a mounting feeling of dread, Church watched from the battlements of the great wall. Even with the Army of the Ten Billion Spiders and the Burning Man, he had never really comprehended the true scale of what they faced. 'How many of them are there?' he breathed.
'Perhaps a million.' Beside him, Lugh remained phlegmatic. 'Perhaps more.'
'How can anyone survive this kind of battle?' Church said.
'We do what we can. As do you.'
Lugh's faith was touching, but Church had a more immediate concern. 'How are we going to get past the Enemy lines?'
'There may be another route.' Math's eerie, echoing voice rose up behind Church, where the sorcerer had just arrived with Veitch and Tom.
'All done?' Church asked.
Veitch nodded, but wouldn't meet Church's eyes. The killing had clearly affected him.
'What other route?' Church asked.
'There are paths that cross lands and time and everything we know. One only needs to locate the correct door,' Math replied. 'Through Winter-side, which shimmers just a breath away from this land, stories tell of many routes.'
'You can show us the way?'
Math shook his head. 'There are only stories. One speaks of a door in the Halls of the Drakusa, which exists, like this Great Court, in both Summer-side and Winter-side.'
'Then we could get into Winter-side here, and back out again there,' Veitch said.
'How do we find it?' Church asked.
'There are only stories,' Math repeated.
Tom sighed. 'All you great heroes, and as usual, you're at a loss. It's a good job I'm here.' He showed them the ring Freyja had given him. 'One of its more pleasing abilities is to guide the owner to their heart's desire. That led us to Ruth, so you know it works. I suppose, if you ask me nicely, I can accompany you to Winter-side and show you the way.'
'Woo hoo,' Veitch said with weary sarcasm. 'Us and the old git on the road again. Just like old times.'
