'I have no idea what my responsibilities are,' Sophie replied carefully in case there was some hidden trap in his words. 'I only learned of my… office… second-hand and still do not truly understand what a Sister of Dragons is.'
Abarta mused on this for a moment. 'Then you have much to learn, yet you are deprived of a tutor. Let me aid you: Existence demands five Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. In times of hardship, as now, when one group passes another must be formed. The king is over the water — all Fragile Creatures await his return — and the other Dragon-warriors now have new responsibilities. So Existence called to you to take up the mantle. Do you understand?'
Sophie nodded, but her mind was clearly on other matters. She made as if to speak, but Abarta silenced her with a finger.
'The old stories are locked into the very fabric of Existence,' he continued. 'They repeat themselves as the seasons turn. The kings have different names, or different weapons, but they have the same role. They are all the same king because Existence has a need for this role to be filled. If one king fades from view, another must arise to take his place.'
The conversation was rambling, yet the beings remained intent and filled with anticipation. Mallory prickled, trying to read the meaning behind the surface. It was only when Sophie began to attempt to lead the talk back to the matter at hand that he realised: Abarta was seeking to distract them. In that place the sun was still high in the sky, but in their world it would be almost gone.
At that realisation, Mallory became anxious and attempted to catch Sophie's eye, but she had already decided to stop any more dissembling. 'I thank you for your guidance on this issue,' she began, with a little more curtness in her voice than she probably intended, 'but I wish to return to the questions I brought with me-'
'Oh, but there are so many things yet to discuss,' Abarta said, placing the tips of his fingers together. 'Of your roles and responsibilities, of the states of our respective worlds, of wars fought and ones yet to come-'
'Please. Time is of the essence.'
'Not here.' His eyes flashed sparks of annoyance at being interrupted. 'In your world, alignments may take place that have repercussions here in the Far Lands. But in our place, there is no then and might be, or not in terms that you might understand, and so no echoes or alignments.' He paused, ready to launch into another rambling discourse. Tension spread across Mallory's chest. Abarta tapped a finger on his chin in thought, then began, 'Now-'
Sophie opened her mouth and a sound came out that made Mallory's ears hurt. It appeared to be composed of syllables he had never heard before, alien sounds he could hardly comprehend coming from a human throat. Sophie only uttered it, yet it created a deafening roar that cracked the sky.
Fury grew on the faces of the crowd. Mallory's fingers clasped even tighter on the hilt of his sword, so sure was he that they were ready to strike.
'You have made enemies of us through your discourtesy.' Rage flashed across Abarta's face and edged his cold voice. 'The words of power should never be used lightly. We are not beasts of the field to heed your command.'
'I came here to make an offering… to put us at your favour,' Sophie said sharply, 'but you tried to trick us — and that's a discourtesy to us.' She was shaking. Mallory could sense her fear, though her confidence masked it from the others. 'Now you must answer my questions.'
'Three,' Abarta said, refusing to acknowledge that she had the upper hand. 'Only three.'
Sophie looked to Mallory. He nodded for her to continue using her own judgement; time was running out.
'Who… or what… is the one we are searching for?' she said tentatively.
Abarta gave a faint triumphal sneer. 'Someone who wishes harm to some of your kind.'
Sophie cursed under her breath. 'Where can we find him?'
Mallory flinched; he knew Abarta could give another non-answer: a name they didn't know, or on your world, or in the Far Lands. But instead, Abarta smiled. 'I give you this, knowing it will do you no good. If you want to find the one for whom you are searching, you must travel to a place in the Fixed Lands… in your world… known to your kind as Knowlton. There you may attempt to storm his keep.' A ripple of mocking laughter passed through the crowd.
Sophie took a deep breath. 'How can we stop him attacking our kind?'
'By defeating him.' Another ripple of laughter. 'Or by surrendering to him.'
'Come on,' Mallory said quietly. 'We have to get out of here.'
The door of Blue Fire still crackled at their backs. They took a step towards it.
The ringing sound of knives being drawn echoed across the cathedral site. 'Know this,' Abarta said. 'Old Shuck blocks the way for all who travel to Knowlton. And where Old Shuck leads, can the Wild Hunt be far behind? You will fall before them like saplings in a storm, in the Fixed Lands or in the Forest of Night… and then we will see how fragile you really are.'
Suddenly they moved as one, knives drawn and glinting, black eyes filled with a hungry horror. Mallory grabbed Sophie and threw the two of them through the door. There was the sensation of warm rain again and then they crashed hard on snow. Night was almost upon them; only a thin line of light lay along the horizon.
They didn't wait to catch their breath. Instead they ran across the outer bailey and the car park and along the road out of the site, and they didn't stop until Old Sarum was far behind them.
Chapter Fifteen
'The Infinite has no beginning. It is the beginning of all other things. It is divine, immortal and indestructible.'
'Time's running out,' Mallory said, as they marched through the crisp snow at first light. 'If the brethren aren't dying already, they will be soon — either from starvation or because those things will have broken through the walls.'
'We're doing the best we can.' Sophie walked beside him gravely. The moment they had set foot on the road to Knowlton, the last remnants of elation at their escape from the cathedral had been wiped away by the gravity of what lay ahead. They were under no illusion about their chances of surviving an encounter with the Devil, less still that they could convince the Adversary to call off the attack. But they had hope.
'Still time to back out,' Mallory said.
'I will if you will.'
'I've got nothing to lose. Your people are counting on you.'
'Then we'd better make sure we get back in one piece, hadn't we?' She stamped her feet to warm them. 'You really think you can pull this off?'
'No, but I'd never be able to live with myself any more if I didn't try.'
His tone was striking, almost desperate; she wondered what it was in his past that was playing out in his decision to save Miller and the others. 'And the same goes for me, Mallory. If you've got the ability to do good, then you've got an obligation to use that ability. That's what my beliefs tell me.'
Awkwardly, she reached for his hand. He took it, and for a while their mood lightened.
They had spent the dark hours of the previous night huddled in one of the deserted semis on the northern fringes of the city before searching out a militiaman at dawn. He had never heard of Knowlton, but after consulting a map book in his sentry post, they discovered it was a hamlet of only one or two houses south of Salisbury.
'I wouldn't be going down that way if I were you,' the militiaman had warned them. 'It's wild country. Not much between Salisbury and the south coast.'
