Weaveworld

3

Suzanna had seen the conclusion of Cal’s struggle with the by-blow from a distance, and might have reached him in time to prevent his going into the Gyre alone, but the tremors that rocked the Narrow Bright had Shadwell’s army in sudden panic, and she came closer to being killed in their haste to get to safe ground than she’d been in the conflict itself. She was running against the tide, through smoke and confusion. By the time the air had cleared, and she’d oriented herself. Shadwell had dismounted and disappeared into the Gyre, and Cal was following.

She called to him, but the earth was in further convulsions, and her voice was lost beneath its roars. She cast one final look round to see Nimrod helping one of the wounded away from the Bright, then she began towards the wall of cloud, into which Cal had now vanished.

Her scalp tingled; the power of the place she stood before was immeasurable. There was every chance that it had already annihilated those foolhardy enough to trespass inside; but she couldn’t be certain of that, and as long as there was a sliver of doubt she had to act. Cal was there, and whether he was dead or alive she had to go to him.

His name on her lips, as a keepsake and a prayer, she followed where he’d gone, into the living heart of Wonderland.