The herald turned on Caitlin. He pointed one of the swords towards her throat, then drove it forward. She was rooted.
Matt knocked the blade away at the point when Caitlin closed her eyes in acceptance that it was all over. The rusted metal tore through the flesh of Matt's forearm, but still he turned and smashed a fist into the herald's jaw. The attacker stumbled, off-balance. Before he could right himself, Mahalia appeared between his legs, thrusting a screwdriver up into his groin. Like a rat, she darted underneath him and came up, bringing a knife in a sideways motion across the herald's throat. Purple light was everywhere, mingling with the blue luminescence until they were all lost in colour.
As the herald went to his knees, Crowther yelled with a raw throat, 'Get to the centre! Where the light is strongest!'
They all scrambled to the place where music swirled all around like a tornado and a rush of excitement came up through the ground and into their heads. Crowther made some strange gesture with his hands, whispered a word they couldn't comprehend, and then there was a sound like thunder and the world rippled and fell away.
Chapter Five
'There are fairies at the bottom of our garden.'
The new world came up at them in a flash of white and they hit it hard, crashing to their knees and sucking in a huge gulp of air as if they had fallen from a high place. A fleeting memory of somewhere wonderful and blue slipped from their thoughts the moment they tried to catch it. Yet the sensations came too thick and fast for reflection on the transition. Snow lay thickly all around and a blizzard roared with such force they had to hunch against it like old men, yelling so their disbelief and amazement could be heard. Within seconds they were shaking with the bitter cold.
Despite their situation, Caitlin's eyes sparkled with wonder. 'I can't believe it! We're… we're…'
'In Fairyland,' Crowther said wryly. Good humour transformed his face. 'For those who have studied the Kabbalah, this is Yesod, land of dreams, first staging post for the dead. We all go here in our sleep sometimes.' He looked around, scarcely believing it himself.
'This is… just… amazing.' Even though he was buffeted by the blizzard, Matt stretched out his arms so he could fill his lungs. 'The crossing was so… wild.' He struggled to find words to describe the experience. 'I felt like I was filled with energy… like my thoughts were electric… like they were spinning around the universe. And here, it's… magic.'
They all knew what he meant. The very essence of reality was heightened, as if they had walked through the screen into a movie. Colours were brighter, textures more evocative, aromas unbelievably heady, sounds so vibrant they had to stop and listen in amazement to the music the wind made. Suddenly there was no such thing as mundanity and boredom. Magic burned in even the smallest thing and anything was possible. The sheer wonder of it made their heads spin.
'It's like a drug,' Caitlin said. 'You could lose yourself in it.' She thought for a moment and then added, 'Who'd want to go back after experiencing something like this?'
'Who indeed?' Crowther said.
The cold was too much for them to wallow in the experience. 'We have to find shelter before we freeze to death,' Matt yelled. He took in their position in a second. At their backs were the loftiest mountains any of them had ever seen, the peaks snow-capped and filled with the dreams of childhood, solid against a sky of threatening slate-grey cloud. Protecting his eyes from the stinging snow, he motioned down the slope.
The snow was knee-deep and it was hard going as they trudged downwards, but at least the gale was at their backs. Soon Matt spotted a gully filled with boulders as large and misshapen as mythological beasts. He led them directly into it, relishing the protection it gave them from the wind and the worst of the snow.
Once in the shelter, they relaxed a little, but after the initial exhilaration, worries surfaced. Mahalia checked back up the slopes, the haunting images of the Whisperers still echoing through her mind. 'Can they follow us?' she asked.
'I don't know,' Crowther replied, 'but I have no intention of waiting around to find out.' Caitlin was still dazed by the crossing. More than for the rest of them, the lure of the blue world they had passed through so quickly remained strong. 'What did they do to that poor man?' she said. 'It was as if they'd tried to turn him into one of them.' 'He looked like some kind of zombie,' Mahalia said. 'Maybe that's what they do — take people over.' Matt was checking his arm. 'What is it?' Crowther asked. 'The hermit guy wounded me. Pretty badly.' Matt held up his arm to show them. 'But it's healed.' 'A quality of the Blue Fire,' Crowther said. 'It has strong healing properties-' 'That blue, blue world…' Caitlin said dreamily. Carlton started suddenly, his eyes wide. 'What is it, mate?' Mahalia hurried to his side and followed his gaze, but there was only the thick snow running along the edge of the gully and the grey sky beyond. The boy shook his head, unsure. 'He's probably disorientated,' Crowther said. 'Understandable. We've done something remarkable here — travelled between worlds to a place that has influenced our dreams for millennia-' 'Oh, stop being so pompous,' Mahalia said. 'Carlton's probably dealing with it better than you. Don't forget-' 'I know,' Crowther said, adding in a childishly mocking voice, 'he's special.' Mahalia shook her head in disgust at the professor's immature manner before leading Carlton gently away. 'Don't worry, mate,' she said gently, 'we'll keep a good lookout.' They continued to pick their way along the gully, their teeth chattering. The gully ridge and the boulders obscured any view of their exact location, although it was clear they were on the lower slopes of the monolithic range. As they edged their way round a rock as big as a house, Matt threw an arm across Crowther's chest to stop him and pointed to the thick snow at the gully ridge. Two red spots blazed like hot coals. They disappeared, came back again, and then there was a flurry of snow and they were gone.
'Eyes,' Crowther said in shock.
'Something's tracking us.' Mahalia remained cool as she eased one of the knives from beneath her jacket. Carlton huddled close to her. 'Don't worry, mate, I'll look after you,' she whispered comfortingly. She eyed Caitlin coldly, fending off Caitlin's attempt to move in to comfort Carlton herself.
'Come on, Prof,' Matt said quietly, 'you're the expert here. What kind of predators should we be looking out for?'
Crowther's laugh was not comforting. 'Think of your worst nightmare, then expect something ten times more hideous. This is the land where anything is possible, good or bad. If we thought we were slipping down the food chain on our world, here-'
'I get the idea, Prof. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.' Matt continued to lead the way, but his eyes never stopped searching the surroundings.
Eventually the gully opened out on to a small, exposed plateau where the snow lay thickly. Beyond it, the land gradually fell away again and the snow soon gave way to another mass of the enormous boulders. 'Looks as if we're nearly in the foothills, Matt said. 'Should be easier going if we can get across this bit.' He didn't need to give voice to his fear that this would be the place where whatever was tracking them would attack; there was no cover, no place to run. At least they would be able to see it coming.
The snow was calf-high as they lurched into it, crunching underfoot like gravel. But they hadn't gone far when the two red eyes appeared suddenly on the ground six feet ahead of Matt. He half-turned, ready to urge the others to sprint back to the gully. Something rose up from the ground, as white as the snow that had concealed it. At first glance it resembled an enormous jellyfish with a crab-shell head from beneath which the two eyes glowed. But then they saw that beneath the strangely shaped skull it had a human form and what they had taken for the jellyfish-like drifting appendages were glistening white clothes hanging from its shoulders in tattered rags.