'You have my pledge on it,' Kyot cried, pirouetting Sprint on a tight bridle.

'Come back to the House at Clatterford when the frost before morning is lithe more than a whisper to chill the fingers. Come then, and the arrows you seek will be ready!'

Fairday pa.s.sed the torches to a waiting Candleman and descended the steps. 'Take care, my precious daughter,' he begged, reaching up and gripping her hand.

Tanglecrown pawed the ground, sweeping his anders in a glittering arch.

'I have the Lord of Stags, Father, and the greatest Archer that ever walked Elundium at my side. I have nothing to fear.'

'Krulshards is loose and travels where he pleases. Her spreads despair and darkness that blind my second sight.

Beware, daughter!'

Eventine smiled down at her father, her eyes full of love. 'I treasure the daylight, and thus I must defend it.'

Fairday frowned, rubbing his long, age-flecked hand across his forehead, catching a glimpse of a daylight yet to come.

'Wait!' he cried, holding on to his daughter's cloak as she turned Tanglecrown to follow Sprint towards the ford.

Tanglecrown halted and Eventine looked over her shoulder to her father.

'You will find two travellers on the road, wearied and worn

to rags. Pa.s.s them by and all Elundium will fall into darkness.

Find them and bring them here to the Crystal House of Clatterford.'

228.

The River in the Darkness

With each step the roaring noise grew louder, filling the dark secret road with a rage of sound, forcing the King and those that followed him to m.u.f.fle their heads.

'What can it be?' Breakmaster shouted, his hands slipping on the mist-wet reins.

Grey Goose motioned to them to stop and ran ahead, an arrow ready necked on to the bow. King Holbian sat down on the cold wet floor and, leaning back against the rough rock wall, slipped into sleep. Angis slid down from Beacon Light's saddle and knelt beside the King, wrapping his gnarled knuckles in her shawl.

Holbian murmured and opened his eyes. 'To have such friends here, at Road's End, is more than I deserve.' His heavy eyelids slowly shut and his head nodded forwards.

'He is age worn and brittle,' Angis whispered, tugging at Breakmaster's sleeve and pointing to the maze of fine fractures in the King's face and neck.

Breakmaster nodded silently and drew Angis aside. 'Nevian pledged me to keep him warm, but it is impossible in this dark damp place; even the steelsilver coat is not enough to stop the King from shivering.'

Grey Goose emerged from the darkness, glistening beneath a layer of clinging water mist. 'Breakmaster,' he hissed, shaking his arms and rubbing his wet hands vigorously together to make them warm. 'Come here quickly.'

Drawing Angis and the horseman away from the King he

229.

told them what he had seen further down the tunnel. 'We are doomed! Like rats in a trap we are fated to drown in the dark.'

'Trapped? How?'

Grey Goose shook his head as if trying to cast away what he had seen. 'There is an underground river, fast running and deep and dangerous, less than one hundred paces further on.'

'But the Chancellors?' interrupted Breakmaster. 'Surely if we are trapped they must be also.'

Grey Goose laughed bitterly. 'There was a bridge, a narrow single span, but either it broke beneath their weight or they ruined it once they were across. The way is closed and the broken rubble from the bridge has partly dammed the river.

The roaring noise you can hear is the water rising to flood this

miserable secret road.' ~ .

Breakmaster turned and stared back at the huddled city folk spread along the rough rock walls, clenching his fist. He feared water and felt his throat tighten in panic. 'I would rather face a thousand Nightbeasts . . .'he began to whisper, when Grey Goose gripped his arm and shook him fiercely.

'You must be strong. There is none but us to lead; the KinE is ageing and growing weaker with each step; we are the only Captains.'

Breakmaster laughed, 'I have stood before galloping horse'

and tamed the wildest beasts but . . .'

'Then stand by me now, friend,' whispered the Archer nervously pulling at his bowstring, 'and tame the beast the lurks in your heart, it will be your greatest triumph.'

'And the hardest baule,' Breakmaster added, turning t.

Angis. 'Go gently amongst the people,' he instructed her in ~ hushed whisper, 'find Arachan, the stonemason, and brir4

him with all haste to me.'

Arachan hurried forwards, his stone-chipping tools clink ing against each other in a coa.r.s.e hessian sack thrown acres his shoulder.

'The masons that carved this tunnel had skill beyond n'

understanding,' he laughed, swinging the heavy tool sack

it:

to the ground before asking what task they had called him to do.

'Follow,' Grey Goose commanded, disappearing into the mist-wet black tunnel. The water had risen almost to Grey Goose's knees before he reached the broken bridge and showed the mason the disaster that blocked the path.

'Wonder of a lost age,' Arachan murmured, staring at the broken span of the bridge where it rose in a steep arch out of the raging waters.

'Is there a way to cross?' Breakmaster asked, struggling to control his panic and keep his voice level.

Arachan laughed and waded out on to the bridge. 'Light me a spark, horseman! And try to keep it steady in your hand.'

Kneeling, the mason inspected the smooth stone of the bridge and peered down into the jumble of broken stone blocking the river. Whistling and humming tunelessly he scaled the walls and climbed out over the black boiling water. 'Pa.s.s me a searcher,' he shouted to Grey Goose who was holding the sack of tools above the rising flood.

For what seemed half a daylight Breakmaster shivered, knee deep in the freezing cold water, holding the spark, while Grey Goose pa.s.sed a steady flow of dull, hammer-blemished

tools up to the mason. 'Is there a way? Tell us.'

Arachan laughed and climbed down out of the roof, wiping his dirty face on his sleeve. 'The stonemen that fashioned this road built two bridges, the one you see ruined and impa.s.sable and above that a narrow ledge. I expect the ledge bridge follows a natural fault in the rock and they probably used it to cross the river while they were building the lower one.'

'But can we escape using the ledge?' Grey Goose asked above the roar of the water cascading over the fallen rubble. It was deafening and dampened the music of the steelsilver coat as King Holbian came forward to find his Captains in debate.