Destroyer of Worlds

1

Beyond the marshes, the Grim Lands reverted to rocky shale for a few miles before the ground descended along a steep slope to a desert of grey dust that had the same texture as ashes. Occasionally, blackened, twisted trees stood in lonely vigilance on the desolate wastes, giving the impression that the entire area had been swept by a massive conflagration that destroyed even the tiniest particle of life.

'Don't you see,' Caitlin said to Mallory when he raised this thought, 'that everything we pass through is just a different symbol of death and decay. I don't think any of it is real — it's just what we project onto it.' Her voice had the clipped tones of the Morrigan, her eyes dark and unblinking as she searched for any threat in the folds of the dense fog.

Though it was still unmistakably Caitlin, Mallory missed the warmth of his friend when the Morrigan was riding her; he had even grown to miss her separate personalities, as irritating as each of them was in turn. Even calm, the Morrigan cast a frightening shadow; there was always the sense that violence could erupt at any moment.

Ahead of them, Etain and the other Brothers and Sisters of Spiders roamed through the mist, searching for potential danger. The Wayfinder continued to point its path ahead, but they had no idea if they were any closer to their destination, or if the shifting quality of the Grim Lands would keep them wandering for ever; their own brand of purgatory for the sins they had committed in life.

And somewhere at their back was the Hortha, never wavering, eternally vigilant, driving forward until he could take their lives; that, too, was part of their personal purgatory, as frightening in symbol as it was in reality. There would be no rest for either of them, and only death at the end. Bitterly, Mallory wondered if that was a metaphor for life.

Cruel fingers of wind plucked up the ashes and swirled around them, stinging their eyes and pitting their faces. Choking, they wrapped handkerchiefs across their mouths and noses, put their heads down and continued in silence for another mile, fighting against even more limited visibility. Howling, the gale increased in intensity the further they advanced, as if attempting to hold them back.

Thundering hooves brought them up sharply as Etain skidded from the mist to a sudden halt next to them. 'Do not take another step!' she yelled.

The moment she spoke, the wind died and left an eerie silence that reminded Mallory of a just-vacated room. Leaping from her mount, Etain took Mallory and Caitlin's hands and led them forwards a few feet to the edge of a sheer drop. Plucking a pebble from the ashes, Mallory dropped it into the dense fog. There was no sound of it hitting the bottom.

'The Abyss,' Etain said.

Caitlin took the Wayfinder from Mallory and held it aloft. The flame continued to point ahead across the gulf. After exploring in both directions along the edge for several yards, but finding no immediate sign of an end to the drop, he said, 'This makes no sense.'

Tannis, Owein and Branwen dismounted and continued to explore while Caitlin and Mallory conferred with Etain. 'What do we do now?' she said.

'We never thought it was going to be easy,' Caitlin said. 'Whoever, or whatever, took the trouble to hide the Market of Wishful Spirit out here was never going to set up signs for us to find it.'

'So we climb down? That could take for ever,' Mallory said.

'Everyone in the Grim Lands knows there is no bottom to the Abyss,' Etain observed.

'So it's on the other side,' Mallory said.

'There is no other side. This is the boundary between the Grim Lands and the unknown. Nothing passes beyond this point.'

'Ask Hal,' Caitlin said.

'The Blue Fire has little strength here. It might weaken him if he has to manifest himself.' Mallory weighed his options, then peered into the glass panels of the lantern. 'Hal? You there?' He glanced at Caitlin. 'I feel stupid talking to a lamp.'

Caitlin couldn't suppress a smile. 'You telling me your life hasn't prepared you for that?'

'That's right — mock me.' He unhooked the hinge and opened the door that gave access to the wick. The familiar burned-iron odour of the Blue Fire drifted out.

With a fizz, the flame flickered larger and licked out of the lantern, but there was none of the surging whoosh and crackle of flames that Mallory had experienced before; and Hal was no longer the searing figure of raging fire. He resembled a ghost, so intangible that his form flickered and guttered to reveal the grey dust behind. The only sign of the Blue Fire was a thin halo limning him.

'You survived Callow's attack,' Mallory said.

'Just. It took nearly all my reserves. I'm barely hanging on now.' He gave a wan smile. 'Not much use to you any more, if I ever was.'

'What happens when the reserves go?' Caitlin asked.

He raised his hand and waved almost-fingers gently towards the Abyss. 'Gone, gone, gone.' He saw her face fall, and added hastily, 'Don't worry, I'm ready for it. The time I've spent in the Blue Fire — which to me feels like all-time — has been…' He laughed quietly. 'There's no point me trying to explain it. Let's just say, I've seen all there is to see, experienced all that's on offer and know the answers to every question I ever considered. Even the big ones.'

'A few tips wouldn't go amiss,' Mallory said.

'It'd be like cheating in an exam — you'd get banned. All right if you work out the answers for yourself, but no insider dealing.' Hal's face grew serious, and a little sad. 'Don't worry, Mallory. Really. Don't worry.'

'Can you help us now?' Caitlin asked. 'We can't see what we're supposed to do next.'

'Yeah, the Wayfinder flame's a bit of a blunt tool,' he replied. 'I can't get it to point down.'

'That's it? We climb down?'

'Not all the way. You'll see what I mean.' A crackle like static disrupted Hal's indistinct form. 'Not much time left for me.' The words broke up.

'Then get back in the lantern,' Mallory said. 'We're going to return you to the world.'

With a nod of thanks and a smile, Hal faded away. Mallory fastened the Wayfinder to his belt before inspecting the drop, and after a few moments' preparation he eased himself over the edge, feeling for hand- and footholds. Under the deft, fearless control of the Morrigan, Caitlin came next, followed by Etain and the others.

Progress was slow, and soon Mallory's joints were aching from the strain of clinging on to the rock face, while reaching out all around to find nooks that would support his weight. From time to time, they had to go back up to take a different route when the footholds disappeared.

'One good thing about this fog, you can't see the bottom,' he gasped. 'Saves me blacking out from the vertigo.'

After each few feet, Mallory paused and checked the Wayfinder. When they had descended for about half a mile, he realised he had passed the point of no return for his exhausted limbs, but just as he began to worry, the direction of the flame moved from upright to the left. Relieved, Mallory edged horizontally across the cliff face.

'Mallory!' The timbre of Caitlin's voice had changed to the rasp of her crone-like Brigid persona. 'Danger approaches!'

From deep in the fog, a high-pitched screech emanated. 'Etain!' he called out. 'What threats have got-'

The words caught in his throat as something swooped out from the fog, passing so close that it ruffled his hair before disappearing in a flash. A bird? he guessed, but he had an after-image of something bone-white and near-skeletal, as big as an eagle.

Bracing himself, he clung on with one hand and drew Llyrwyn just in time as the thing burst from the fog again. Missing both eyes, what little skin it had was pale and desiccated, wrapped tightly across bones that were visible all over; it looked as if the carcass had been left out in the sun for weeks. With the wild flapping of enormous wings, it attacked him with beak and talons, lunging and snapping, again and again. Mallory lashed out with his sword, but each swing threatened to pitch him off the cliff-face.

Caitlin arrived behind him just as two more of the bird-creatures emerged from the fog. Balancing so precariously on her toes that Mallory was sure she would fall, Caitlin lashed out with her axe and chopped one of the attackers neatly in two. As it plunged down into the fog, they heard the screech of more arriving.

Bringing his sword up sharply, Mallory despatched one bird, but the other had dug its talons into his shoulders and was driving its beak into his head as it attempted to tear out his eyes.

Struggling to defend himself from the bird's frenzy, his fingers detached from the cliff-face and he began to lurch out over the gulf. As his stomach flipped, Caitlin's hand snapped tightly around his wrist and held him fast.

Blood streamed down Mallory's face from the bird's furious assault. Then, as he fought and failed to get a purchase on it, the creature was torn away. Above his head, Etain clung to the cliff-face like a spider. Gripping the thrashing bird in her left hand, she snapped her teeth onto its scrawny neck and tore its head off. Both parts flew down past Mallory, but by then he was wiping the blood from his eyes and moving as fast as he could along the cliff before any more of the creatures attacked.

Their shrieks made his skin crawl, and he could hear them swooping just beyond the limit of his vision, circling as they looked for the right moment to strike.

Before they made their next move, he located a narrow fissure in the rock from which a cold wind blew. He dragged himself in quickly, with Caitlin and the others pressing close behind. The fissure opened out into a dark tunnel just big enough for them to walk upright.

Caitlin resisted Mallory's attempts to keep her away and tended to his wounds. 'Stop being such a man,' she said. 'At least you didn't say, "It's just a scratch." ' Her voice had all the warmth of the real Caitlin, free of the Morrigan's hardness. In the middle of that cold, miserable place, it touched him deeply, and he gave her arm a quick squeeze. She smiled back.

'After what Callow did to you, I have the feeling they're just trying to whittle us down, a bit at a time.'

Once the wounds had started to dry, they set off along the tunnel. After several yards, they became aware of a subtle change. The Grim Lands had a claustrophobic feel, as if the very environment was pressing in on all sides, but that had lifted. Mallory found he was breathing easier, and the air had richer odours — vegetation, he guessed — and was damper than the dry atmosphere they had been breathing for so long.

'This is weird,' Caitlin whispered. 'Etain, have you any idea where we're going?'

When there was no response, Caitlin looked back to see that the Brothers and Sisters of Spiders had reverted to the same mechanical movements they had exhibited in the Far Lands. Their staring eyes swivelled to lock on to Caitlin, but they registered no sign of any intelligence.

'Uh, Mallory-' she began.

'Hush,' he hissed. 'The tunnel's coming to an end.'

They emerged near the foot of a hill. It was dark, and there was a forest all around, but ahead of them Chinese lanterns glowed in the trees surrounded by fluttering moths. An autumnal chill hung in the air, and the aroma of ripe fruit, damp leaves and fern.

'I don't think we're in the Grim Lands any more,' Mallory said quietly.

Cautiously, weapons drawn, they made their way down the remainder of the hillside. The Brothers and Sisters of Spiders walked steadily behind.

The lanterns cast a peaceful ambience over the forest setting. Not far away, high in the branches, an owl hooted and was answered immediately by another.

'How can we be in the Land of the Dead, and somewhere else at the same time?' Caitlin asked.

'Some kind of pocket?' Mallory suggested. 'If the Market was tucked away here to stop anyone stumbling across the Extinction Shears, the people would need some kind of atmosphere in which they could thrive.'

'Because only the dead can exist in the Grim Lands.'

'Exactly.'

'Who has the power to do that, Mallory?'

He had no answer for her. They found themselves on a track that wound into the forest where more of the lanterns clustered. In the soft, golden glow, they could just make out the shapes of the first market stalls, and as they neared they could see that it spread out far into the trees ahead.

'Why is it so quiet?' Caitlin whispered.

'Deserted?' Mallory suggested, but as they reached the first stall he could see he was wrong. Skulls, crystals, candles, mirrors and other magickal items were loaded onto the table under a dark-green awning. Behind it stood the owner, a man in a broad-brimmed black hat and dark coat. He wasn't moving. Pearly, glistening trails of spider webs covered him, reaching from the brim of his hat down to the table.

Mallory edged closer to him and touched his hand. 'Still alive,' he said. 'Sleeping.'

'Give him a kiss. See if he wakes up.'

'Sure. And if we come across a spinning wheel, you get to play with it first.'

The scene was the same at the next stall, where books and maps were loaded on the creaking table. The dusty, web-covered owner was a squat old woman with a warty nose and a scarf holding back her grey hair. Hesitantly, they advanced through the market, but everywhere the owners were locked in a deep sleep that appeared to have struck them where they stood.

'At least it keeps resistance to a minimum,' Mallory said. 'We just have to search through all this weird shit, try not to get our hands blown off by stuff that looks perfectly normal but is totally lethal, find the Extinction Shears-'

'And do it before the Hortha gets here.'

'Okay, ticking clock — I get it. You look over there, I'll do here.' He glanced at the Brothers and Sisters of Spiders watching them, unmoving. 'No point asking them. You keep guard!' he added with a shout. He was surprised when Etain and the others obeyed him and shuffled back along the path.

Mallory moved quickly along the stalls. He had no idea if the Extinction Shears would be out in the open or hidden away, although his knowledge of the Market suggested the owners had scant regard for the dangerous nature of the items they sold. Caveat emptor was the sole motto.

The wonders on display were so dazzling that he had to fight not to be seduced by them. Some, he guessed, were entrancing him magickally on some level beyond conscious thought, and he kept his attention skittering across the objects to prevent them from hooking him in.

Everything he could imagine was available. Sometimes, when he returned to a stall for a second look, the objects on it had changed, adding another disconcerting twist to his search. There were weapons of all kinds — swords, magic axes, hammers, daggers; poisons and potions to achieve any outcome; maps of every place he'd heard of, and many he was convinced only existed in stories; stuffed animals; statues whose eyes followed him as he passed; musical instruments — flutes made from human bone, lyres, skin-covered drums; medical instruments; implements of torture; mysterious creatures in cages that slept just like their owners; Tarot cards, playing cards, talking greeting cards, curse cards; hats, cloaks, belts — some magic, some perfectly normal; and, in the main, a host of artefacts that Mallory couldn't begin to comprehend.

Behind one stall, a beautiful, voluptuous woman stood with one hand on a cobweb-festooned cat. At the front of her stall was a crystal ball. Mallory gave it only a cursory glance, but it snared him instantly. Mesmerised, he peered into its depths where he saw not the distorted reflection of his face, but the skull beneath his skin. The more he stared, the more it drew him in, whispering, 'This is who you are.'

He was thrown roughly to the ground. Caitlin hauled him to his feet and shook him until his sense returned.

'Sorry, but I've been trying to rouse you for ten minutes,' she said. 'You were gone. That's not all — it was as if you were trying to pull the flesh from your face.'

The skin around Mallory's jaw was sore to the touch. Even so, he found himself irresistibly drawn back to the crystal ball, until Caitlin shook him again and dragged him, half-stumbling, across the path to the stalls she had been inspecting.

'I've found them,' she said. 'At least, I think I have. This is the only thing that comes close.'

Tucked away incongruously behind a pile of rags was a pair of shears with ornate gold handles, and though they appeared to radiate no light, Mallory saw a white glow wash over Caitlin and himself. As he examined them, Mallory had the impression that he wasn't looking at a pair of shears at all, but something infinitely larger and more mysterious; several potential images — an intricate clockwork machine, a crystal — skittered across his mind, but it always came back to a pair of shears.

'What do you think?' Caitlin asked.

Mallory had the strange impression that he had seen the shears before, as though in a dream. He decided it was instinct, but he was much surer than he ought to have been. 'That's them.'

As he reached for them, a silver candlestick on the table in front of his fingers moved. He cried out and leaped back. 'What the fu-!'

The candlestick flowed like mercury, rolling itself into a silver egg and then, sprouting legs, it scurried across the table to the edge and dropped to the ground.

'A Caraprix!' Caitlin exclaimed. 'I thought they were all in that room at the court with Jerzy.'

'Not all of them, apparently.' All across the market, the tables became alive with objects moving, changing shape, glowing with a silvery light. As the Caraprix scuttled to the ground and streamed towards the far side of the Market, Mallory saw in them an eerie reflection of the Army of the Ten Billion Spiders.

Delicately plucking the Extinction Shears from the table, Mallory was unsettled by how warm and yielding they felt under his fingers. Hastily, he slipped them into the bag at his belt, then turned his attention back to the Caraprix.

The stream of shape-shifting creatures led to a point where the forest came to an end, and only rock walls lay beyond. A glassy quality to the air right along the boundary gave the impression that they were standing in a bubble.

The Caraprix spread out along the boundary and came to a halt, exuding a bright white light that slowly spread upwards into a ten-foot-high rectangle. As the quality of the light changed, Mallory and Caitlin realised they were looking through a window onto the terrain of another world, where steaming jungle came up hard against a vast golden desert.

'The Far Lands,' Caitlin said in the hard-edged voice of the Morrigan.

'A doorway back,' Mallory noted. 'So we don't have to go through that ritual Math forced us to learn. I'm not even convinced he was sure it would work.'

'So the Caraprix brought the Market here?' Caitlin said.

'Looks like it. The perfect hiding place.'

Caitlin slipped her hand into Mallory's and gave it a squeeze. He was troubled by how quickly she appeared to be flipping back and forth between her true self and the part corrupted by the Morrigan, as if she was assimilating the goddess into her being. 'Then that's mission accomplished, ' she said. 'Let's go-'

Caitlin was interrupted by the sounds of fighting behind them. Racing back the way they had come, they found the Brothers and Sisters of Spiders in fierce combat with the Hortha, which was just inserting one extended, thorny finger through Tannis's forehead. With a dry, cracking noise, it burst through the rear of his skull and Tannis crumpled to the ground, the dim light in those dead eyes finally extinguished.

Instantly, it turned its rustling, papery face towards Mallory and Caitlin. 'Nowhere to run now,' it called drily.

Owein and Branwen attacked it with their swords, hacking through the dense blackthorn body only for it to sprout and grow back almost instantly.

Etain glanced back, questioningly, and Mallory shouted, 'Can you hold it off till we get away?' For the first time, Mallory saw deep in her eyes the merest hint of the Sister of Dragons she had once been. It brought a pang of conscience, but he reminded himself that her time had passed.

Yet she continued to stare at him with a hint of desperation, and he realised she was trying to communicate with him. He knew instinctively what she wanted to say. 'I'll tell him,' he called.

Branwen fell as the Hortha avoided her strike and punched the twisted spike into her forehead. As Mallory and Caitlin ran, they glimpsed Owein dropping too, and then Etain was fighting alone, sacrificing herself for the people she had once been driven to destroy.

The atmospheric conditions of the forest setting were altering fast; it was warmer, and Mallory and Caitlin felt as if they were running through treacle. Spatial dimensions distorted, and time itself came in stuttering fits and starts so it felt as if they were speeding towards their destination, then frozen as the world around them moved. Trails of light flowed from the Chinese lanterns swinging wildly in the branches. The Market began to compress and stretch towards the door created by the Caraprix.

The view across the Far Lands was now much clearer, and they could feel the tropical heat of the jungle and the dry wind blowing across the desert.

Pausing, Mallory grabbed Caitlin's hand. 'You ready?' he asked.

'We've come this far together. Why stop now?' She gave him a warm smile of deep affection.

'Back to life,' he said. 'Back to reality. Of sorts.'

They took the great leap together.