‘You will go to high ground or be carried there,’ growled Glock. ‘You must be protected.’
‘It is too late for that!’ Lief exclaimed. ‘No-one here is safe now. If we fail to kill The Fear, it will destroy the village. And there is no way out of this cavern.’
Clef, Nols and Azan had been watching them anxiously. Now they came closer. ‘Please delay no further,’ muttered Clef. “The Fear will any moment grow tired of waiting.’
Still the companions hesitated, Lief glaring defiantly at the rest.
Kree screeched and flapped his wings. Jasmine looked up, alert.
‘The thing in the cave is stirring,’ she murmured.
But the goblins knew it already. They were all shuddering and drawing back. Some of the children had begun to cry.
Lief leaped past Barda and swung himself onto the top of the cage. ‘Make haste!’ he shouted.
Seeing that he had taken matters out of their hands, Glock, Jasmine and Barda clambered after him.
‘Take the ropes!’ Lief called to Clef and Azan. ‘Pull us over to the cave!’
As Clef and Azan ran to do his bidding, a harsh, grating call sounded over the water. It was low and full of menace. Foam-flecked waves began to surge from the cave. Water splashed against the wall and flooded through the open panel into the cage and beyond.
‘You see?’ Worron hissed to Clef. ‘Your defiance and your grandmother’s foolishness will be our death!’
Clef made no reply. Shoulder to shoulder with Azan, he was heaving on the rope. The cage slid down the shore and reached the water. A few in the crowd cheered.
‘Our torches are lost, and the cave is dark,’ Lief called. ‘Can you light it?’
‘Worron can,’ Clef called back. ‘If he is willing. He has all our power in his hands.’ He turned his head to where Worron stood scowling furiously. ‘Will you light The Glimmer, Worron?’ he asked. ‘If it is what the people want?’
‘No, I will not!’ Worron shrieked in a frenzy of rage. ‘How dare you ask it of me? You have chosen to go against my orders. You will all die because of your folly. And I will not lift a hand to help you!’
Another fearsome cry sounded from the cave. The crowd retreated in panic. Even Clef and Azan took a stumbling step backwards, and the rope slackened and sagged.
But Nols stood her ground. ‘Keep pulling!’ she shouted. Clef and Azan gripped the rope and heaved once more. The violently rocking cage with the four companions clinging to its roof was lifted clear of the waves and began moving away from the shore.
Lief looked back. Foam swirled around Nols’ ankles as she stared at Worron, her face filled with contempt. Her voice floated clearly across the water.
‘Since you were chosen I have followed you loyally, Worron, despite my doubts. But now you show your true colours. You are a tyrant and a coward! You…’
‘The old crone’s tongue is as sharp as yours, weakling,’ Glock sniggered to Jasmine.
‘Hold your own tongue, Glock, or I will tear it out by the roots!’ flashed Jasmine. Satisfied at having stirred her to anger, Glock snorted with laughter and was still.
And so it was that Nols’ final words came to their ears loud and clear. Words that hit Lief and Barda like thunderbolts.
‘I withdraw my trust in you, Worron,’ Nols cried. ‘You are not fit to lead the Plumes. You are not fit to be Piper.’
16 - The Fear
Stunned, Lief stared back at the shore and at the crowd gathered there. Suddenly he was seeing the land for what it was—an island.
‘The secret sea!’ he breathed. ‘We found it, and we did not know! And that island, the people—’
‘Goblins,’ growled Glock.
‘No!’ Lief exclaimed hoarsely. ‘Pirrans! The descendants of the Pirrans who followed Plume. The owners of the mouthpiece of the Pirran Pipe!’
‘I never dreamed the islands could be anywhere but in the open sea,’ gasped Barda.
‘None of us did,’ said Lief. ‘Doran disguised his map well, by drawing another, of the western sea, beneath it. Yet, if we had thought carefully about the story, we might have guessed the truth.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Jasmine demanded. ‘What truth?’ But to her annoyance neither Lief nor Barda seemed to hear her.
‘The Pirrans had no time to think,’ Lief murmured. ‘The Shadow Lord was upon them. They had to hide—disappear from his sight—at once! So they simply commanded the earth to swallow them up. And down below they found another world. A world of which even the Shadow Lord knew nothing.’
Clinging one-handed to the cage, he pulled out his copy of the map and shook it open.
‘The lines are not tide-lines,’ he said slowly. ‘They are cavern walls!’
‘And if that is so, we are—here.’ Barda pointed midway between Plume Island and a gap in the line that ran around the it. ‘And that gap is The Glimmer. Though why it has that name I do not know, for it is as black as night.’
Lief stuffed the map back into his pocket. ‘If we succeed in this, one piece of the Pirran Pipe will be ours! The Plumes will not be able to refuse us. And the way will be open for the journey to the other islands.’
‘I have no idea what you are talking about,’ said Jasmine sharply. ‘But I do know that if we do not succeed in this, we will all be dead.’
She turned to face the cave that yawned before them. The water had stilled, and now lapped peacefully against the rock wall.
‘The Fear has heard or felt the approach of the cage,’ she said. ‘It is quietly waiting for its Gift.’
‘Then it is about to get a shock,’ said Glock, grinning savagely and drawing his heavy sword.
‘It could be we who are shocked,’ said Jasmine.
Glock puffed out his chest. ‘This beast may terrify those puny goblins, but it will be no match for a Jalis warrior. I will slay it single-handed.’
‘We had better make a plan, just in case you need help,’ said Jasmine dryly. ‘Barda?’
‘The Fear expects the Gift to be caged, so will approach without fear,’ said Barda. ‘We can take it by surprise. Glock, Lief and I have swords, so we will see to the tentacles. While the beast is distracted, you, Jasmine, will attack its body from behind. Agreed?’
Lief and Jasmine glanced at one another and nodded. Glock snorted impatiently.
‘The Fear lives underground, so no doubt it hunts by touch, hearing, or even smell, rather than by sight,’ said Jasmine. ‘But we need to see. We need light.’
Lief glanced over his shoulder to the shore. Nols and Worron were still in argument. The crowd was hesitating, looking nervously towards the cave.
‘If Nols fails to convince the people to join her, there will be no light,’ he said. ‘We cannot depend upon it.’
The cave gaped before them now. As the cage lurched into its mouth, Lief felt a draught on his face—a chill, sour breath that raised the hairs on the back of his neck.
In moments, the light from outside was just a dull glow. Then there was no light at all. The cage came to rest, settling with a creak into thick, sour-smelling blackness. Shallow water lapped gently against its base.
It was very still, very quiet, very dark. And in the darkness, something stirred.
‘Ready,’ whispered Barda.
Lief held his breath. His sword hand was slippery with sweat.
There was a slithering sound, like the sound of a great snake coiling over rock. And a delicate rippling, like a giant eel writhing through water.
But the sounds seemed to be coming from all around them. They were echoing from the cavern walls and roof, echoing from every direction, so it was impossible to tell where they had begun. The darkness was alive with slithering and splashing.
The companions turned one way, then the other, jostling each other in their confusion.
‘Where is the thing?’ hissed Glock. ‘Curse this dark!’