It had been over a week now since he had heard from Inari. He wondered if it was possible to summon the fox-he'd never tried it; the spirit had always appeared to him-but, he supposed, if there was nothing to report, then everything must be fine. He knew Lucy could look after herself, probably better than he could, but that didn't stop him from worrying about her or the three others with her, even though he didn't know them nearly as well. He imagined it must be something like how a big brother would feel towards a little sister.

In fact, he was much more concerned about Alex, who he'd received no news about at all since their departure from Earth six weeks ago. Jack agreed with Sardar that Alex was probably still alive: Icarus wouldn't have gone to the trouble of abducting him unless he was more useful to the Cult alive than dead. But that introduced a whole new range of unpleasant ideas, like what the Cultists might do to get him to talk. He knew Alex was resilient, more so than anyone else he'd ever met, but how long could he hold out against Dark alchemy and demons? And if he had already cracked, would they just kill him as he was of no more use to them?

Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and went to see if Sardar, in the next cabin, was awake. He knocked, and the elf called for him to come in.

As he entered, Jack was struck by a strong sense of deja vu from the very first time the two of them had spoken at length, after Sardar had been rescued from the heart of Mount Fafnir. The amber lights were low, shadows stretching across the floor and collecting in the corners of the cabin. The elf lay in bed, looking just as physically drained as he had after coming out of the volcano, his ochre eyes half-closed and his face drawn between curtains of grey-flecked dark hair. As before, Jack saw a strong semblance of a Zoroastrian priest in deep thought.

The elf beckoned him to sit on the end of the bed. "You couldn't sleep either, I take it?"

"Nope," Jack replied, leaning back against the wall.

"What's on your mind?"

Jack explained his concerns about Lucy and Alex.

"Yes, I miss Ada too. And Hakim, obviously. And Vincent. But we haven't chosen an easy life, have we? I suppose it's up to us to sacrifice comfort and the closeness of loved ones for the good of everyone else."

"I'm not complaining." Jack replied quickly, "I made my choice, the same as you. I had Lucy and Alex, but other than that I never really had any friends at home. But I've got friends in the Apollonians I wouldn't give up for anything. I've known you lot for such a short time, but still..." He was afraid he was becoming too sentimental, but Sardar smiled encouragingly.

"I'm glad you feel that way. Think of it like this: every Cult plot foiled, every Shard discovered is one step closer to reuniting with Lucy and freeing Alex. And maybe we Apollonians can spend some time together as friends rather than agents when this is all over."

Jack hadn't thought ahead to it being over. He was slightly surprised at the suggestion. So far, it had been about getting over the next hurdle, fighting the next demon, finding the next Shard. "I'd like that. I've never been on a proper holiday."

They were both silent for a moment before Jack built up the courage to ask the question burning on his lips. "So you think there can be an all over, then? You think we can beat the Cult for good, and that'll be that?"

Sardar inhaled slowly, gazing at the ceiling. "Even if we stop the Cult, it won't be all finished. The Cult of Dionysus think they manipulate the Darkness, but the Darkness really manipulates them. That's their biggest folly. It's sheer arrogance for a group of mortals to think they can control a cosmic force which, as far as we know, has been around indefinitely. You already know that. We can bring an end to the Cult, but the Darkness will still seek to consume the Light, even if it doesn't have mortal p.a.w.ns to act for it. That's why finding the Shards of the Risa Star is so important-not just to keep them from the Cult but because we rely on this ubermensch legend to bring an end to the Light-Dark conflict for good.

"If only we still had Isaac here..."

Sardar's eyes clouded over, and Jack instantly regretted bringing up the elf's old friend. He didn't know what to say. "Were you close?"

"Yes, we were. Isaac, Charles, and I were the first Apollonians: three mortals from three different worlds. We were all, if you don't mind me saying, great minds, but Isaac was greatest of all. He invented the first of our dimension s.h.i.+ps almost single-handedly-he and his brother Ishmael built The Golden Turtle together. And he had this way of inspiring people, of helping them believe that even when the future looks like an abyss, we can change the world for the better."

"He sounds very like you."

"You are very kind, but-"

"No, I mean it. I've seen it. People look to you for leaders.h.i.+p; they're comforted by you being there. Do you think the Apollonians would have gone inside Mount Fafnir or into the middle of a battlefield just for any old person?"

Sardar smiled again. "Thank you." He paused. "Jack, there's something you should probably know before we go any further. A suspicion of mine. It's only that at the moment, but even so-" He broke off. "No, don't worry. It can wait. We should probably both get some sleep."

Anxiety not entirely a.s.suaged, Jack bid Sardar good night and returned to his own room.

Their voyage ended two days after it had begun, when The Golden Turtle was at the closest part of the river to the destination marked on the map. The group departing the s.h.i.+p-Jack, Ruth, Dannie, Sardar, and Bal-had, for lack of any other appropriate clothing, been equipped with Thorin Salr-style tunics, boots and cloaks, and, to the dwarf's relief, their swords. This time, without the need for stealth in a city center, they were able to lower the ramp so the five could scramble ash.o.r.e without first soaking themselves in water.

"We can't have got here before the Cult, can we?" Ruth said to Sardar, looking around the riverbank.

Jack silently seconded her caution. There was nothing to suggest anyone else had been here, but as they had found out before in a bad way, sight definitely wasn't a reliable sense when Dark alchemy was involved.

"We might well have," the elf replied, gazing at the trees. "Nimue may not have been able to travel using Darkness. The Cult back in Thorin Salr transported a bridge that way, but that was a fairly simple structure. Whatever this new machine they've built is, it looked a lot more complex..."

The forest stretched out before them, peaks of whispering green cl.u.s.tering up the rise from the river and rolling over hills in the distance. The sky was much clearer here than back in the city. Trails of frosted white laced across the azure sky, free from the excrement of smog-choked chimneys. In stark contrast to the stone and pummelled mud of the Albion streets, the ground beneath them here was springy and alive with gra.s.s and bracken. Gone, too, was the stench of charring that had stuck in their noses and throats for the entire time in the city. Here, they could breathe clearly again.

They moved up the rise and into the thick of the forest, following Sardar's map reading. Jack was taken aback by the new surroundings. He had seen an orchard on Earth, but it had been circ.u.mvented on all sides by buildings, anything mildly threatening removed by generations of human locals. This place, he could tell, hadn't been manufactured at all. Pockets of uneven gra.s.s and leaves sprang up here and there around his feet, and clumps of moss clung to the sides of trees. Wild banks of stinging nettles and other flora considered unfas.h.i.+onable in civilized society were in the full throes of life all around. Fallen branches had been left as they were, becoming colonized by mushrooms and absorbed into the ground. It was enough to make any landscape gardener suffer a breakdown.

It might have been his imagination, but everything seemed greener here too. The sunlight filtering through the cl.u.s.tering canopy of leaves was dyed a brilliant patchwork of emerald and gold, speckled patterns darting with the breeze over the ground. It must have been late November or early December on Earth now, but here the world seemed in the thick of spring.

Sardar led them up the rise and then down into a wide tree-covered valley. Several other landmarks had been indicated on the map, and they ticked them off as they pa.s.sed: a narrow ravine, at the bottom of which a brook gurgled; a large tree stump in the shape of devil's horns; a ring of fungi-encrusted standing stones. Finally, after at least an hour's walk, they pa.s.sed between two gra.s.sy banks and moved out of the cover of the trees.

They stood on the edge of a wide glade, trees surrounding them completely. The sun was directly above, set like a jewel in sapphire surroundings. It must have been about midday.

"It should be here," Sardar said slowly, examining the map as he strode into the center of the ring. "The X is marked right here..."

The others began looking around. Other than that it was the first one they'd come across, the glade seemed entirely unremarkable. If possible, Jack thought, this area seemed the greenest and liveliest place yet: even in the shade of the trees, there was not an inch of bare earth where some life had not sprouted.

"Well, then what are we miss-?" Bal broke off his sentence with a gasp.

Jack wasn't listening. He had caught sight of something glimmering in the shadow of a sycamore. When he moved closer, it looked as though two toffee-colored jewels had been set into the bark, glinting in the sunlight. He blinked.

The pair of jewels blinked back.

Chapter XV.

the sword in the stone Jack stumbled, landing hard on his back. He stood and backpedalled as fast as he could. The others had retreated too. His eyes still fixed upon the tree, he grasped one of Ruth's arms for support. Even through the rush of panic, he still registered the brush of her warm fingers as they clasped his wrist for rea.s.surance.

It wasn't only the sycamore. Even as they watched, more and more glints became visible out of the shadow of the canopies. The trunks themselves seemed to be liquefying, the entire structure maintaining its shape but the grain now flowing like ripples on water. Knots widened everywhere, and the very bark seemed to extrude itself from within, reaching outwards into the center of the glade. A twisted arm to the right, a gnarled leg to the left, branches rustling with the movement, and seconds later they were surrounded by a group of figures.

Even with a growing compendium of elves, dwarves, goblins, giants, and demons, Jack's brain seemed to be taking an extra long time to work out what he was seeing here. The figures before them were like trees but also like humanoids: their skin was bark, complete with moss and leafy branches, but there were definitely two arms and two legs on each of them. And, of course, the jewel eyes set into stumpy heads, all fixed upon them. It was as if the trees of the glade had been copied and pasted onto a human template.

Sardar got to his feet slowly, eyes flicking between the tree figures. "It's alright; you can get up," he whispered. "They're not going to harm us-I think."

Jack did as he was told. The other three did the same. Even when Jack stood, the figures were tall. Of course-they were tree-sized.

"Which of you is in charge?" Sardar ventured, glancing around the circle.

With much rustling, the figures looked among themselves in what seemed to be confusion. There was a crackling as a bark mouth opened, and words came like a breeze through autumnal branches-yet sounding to Jack distinctly Welsh.

"There's no one in charge. We're all equal here."

"Granted, but even an egalitarian society predicates the appointment of an executive-"

Jack placed a silencing hand on Sardar's shoulder. "You're fairies, aren't you?"

Several of the wood figures nodded slowly.

"How did you know that?" Ruth hissed, her eyes still on the surrounding figures.

"The black mirror. The Emperor mentioned fairies were here..." Jack had slightly surprised himself with his own memory. He had to admit, this wasn't what he'd been expecting. The fairies he'd known from childhood stories had been mouse-sized, with the build of ballerinas and glowing b.u.t.terfly wings. What he now faced was as different from Tinker Bell as was possible.

"What brings you here?" a beech asked. "Few venture into our lands, and fewer still do so intentionally."

"We have come to speak with you of grave matters," Sardar replied, "and to ask for your help."

"Then, please, sit with us and we'll speak," said a spruce.

Moments later, they were all seated in a circle in the glade. Whilst Jack was encouraged by their welcoming att.i.tude, he was still disconcerted by the fairies' ability to blend into their surroundings. Each of them was now almost divided in two: the upper bodies had remained as trees but, below, the bark had subsided in favor of green blades, looking like emerald-furred goat legs.

Sardar was kneeling, his cloak falling about his shoulder almost like folded wings as he addressed the circle. "Firstly, I must thank you for welcoming us into your abode. I wish that, in response to such hospitality, I bore good news, but I do not. Your realm is threatened by a great evil, which is approaching as we speak. A group of sorcerers who call themselves the Cult of Dionysus are set upon ravaging your lands and taking your most precious heirloom: the Third Shard of the Risa Star."

There was muttering around the circle.

"We've known for many years this day would come," a hawthorn replied, "but the Shard is not held dear by our people. It has wreaked its own havoc amongst us."

"Our ancestors were charged with its custodians.h.i.+p two thousand years ago," an oak continued, "and from the day it was entrusted to us, it has caused conflict. Our community has been repeatedly torn apart by struggles for control of its power."

"So where is it now?" Ruth interjected.

Many of the fairies exchanged looks.

"It is sealed. Hidden within this wood. Over half a millennium ago, our greatest alchemist, Merlin, sealed it within the forest so that only its rightful bearer, the one our ancestors were told would come for it, arrives."

"And that is the help we have come to ask for," Sardar replied. "We are members of an organization called the Apollonians. We are searching for the Shards of the Risa Star and their rightful bearers in order to combat the threat posed by the Cult. We have come to ask for the Shard, and we can use it to help you defend your home."

"We will not fight this force that threatens us," one of the older elms said. "Everyone in this community has taken a vow of peace."

Jack exchanged surprised looks with Bal, Ruth, and Dannie. They hadn't exactly been expecting a group of tree-morphing pacifists.

"That is laudable," Sardar continued, grimacing slightly, "but this is not some petty mortal conflict for pride or profit. We all face a Darkness which, if we do not unite, will engulf all our worlds. I implore you: you must defend yourselves and others by fighting off this evil."

"There is no evil which justifies taking up arms against another creature," a blackthorn intoned, as if reading from a textbook.

Several others around the circle nodded.

Sardar had stood now, and his voice trembled. "This is not only about you! You could sacrifice your lives for a puritanical ideology if only you mattered, but there is far more at stake than this forest. You think if you lie down, the Cult will just roll over you and leave you alone. They will not. They will not stop until every tree in this entire world is burned down, and then they will move onto another world and another and another, strengthened by the Shard which you so graciously relinquished to them." He was shouting now, and a few birds fled from branches.

The majority of the fairies looked stunned; others just shook their heads. There was a renewal of murmuring.

"We must discuss this amongst ourselves," one of the fairies said. "Please, Apollonians, leave us whilst we decide."

The four other travelers joined Sardar at the very edge of the glade. They sank down onto either side of the gra.s.sy bank. The elf was breathing heavily, his face reddened. Ruth looked a little alarmed. Bal rolled his head back and closed his eyes. Dannie busied herself going through her utility belt and cleaning inventions with a filthy cloth. The faint wind of fairy voices from the center of the glade could just be heard, though no words were discernible.

"Well, you were right about them not harming us..." Jack ventured after a few moments.

Sardar rubbed his temple. "We had the same problem in Tabesh. Our republic has had a b.l.o.o.d.y history too, and so there was a natural aversion to war, which was good. But when a threat arrives that needs to be stopped, what do you do? When Zalem began to stir up racial trouble, a lot of people refused to make any move to counter him in case it turned violent. What they didn't see was that by doing nothing, they were just giving him free rein. And look what happened-he tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate the president. Isn't there any middle ground? These are almost the polar opposite of the fairies back on my world, who are fickle, spiteful, always ready to start a conflict-"

"And this is the elf who keeps having a go at people for racial stereotyping," Jack said coldly. He knew Sardar was angry, but he didn't appreciate hypocrisy from someone he so looked up to.

The five of them sat in silence for a very long time. Then, after what must have been almost an hour, the circle of fairies beckoned them.

The elm addressed them. "We have reached an agreement. We will not fight these enemies who approach us. We still believe that if we do not harm them, they will not harm us. However, we will guide you to the Shard's resting place. We have no love for that artifact. But we must warn you, only a rightful bearer will be able to draw it out of its prison and wield it."

Sardar's eyes narrowed, but Jack spoke before Sardar could. "Thank you. That's very helpful. Could you lead us there now, please?"

The fairies nodded.

The sycamore that had originally surprised Jack held out her branchy arm, and out of it a sphere of soft, pulsating light rose into life. "Follow this sprite. It will guide you to the Shard."

Jack nodded to the fairies and followed the sprite to the edge of the glade, where it bobbed, waiting.

Ruth, Bal, and Dannie did the same. Without looking back at the tree people, Sardar came as well. The travelers moved toward the cover of trees, leaving the fairy commune behind.

They descended a steep slope, the canopy enclosing them once more. The sprite bobbed ahead, its ethereal glow highlighting bark and leaf in lemony light as they ventured through the vernal tunnel into the very heart of the forest.

Jack stumbled several times, sending showers of dirt and twigs into Ruth's back. He took to padding along as carefully as possible, trying not to slip.

Their surroundings became wilder as they moved down the hill, the pleasant greenery of the forest seeming to give way to sinister forms. The trunks here were contorted into unnatural shapes, branches like agony-crippled fingers, leaves more grey than green. Creepers hung in matted coils like serpents, and the ground crunched with the detritus of hollow logs. No life seemed to stir at all.

"Well, we're getting close to something, at any rate," Sardar whispered.

No one replied. For Jack, this wasn't just because he was still annoyed at the elf for his outburst. A deadening silence clung to the air, to the extent that speaking or even breathing felt like an interruption.

Ruth accidently brushed a branch with her sleeve. "What is this stuff?" Some sort of whitish-grey powder had rubbed off onto her tunic.

"It's ash," Bal replied, squinting at it. "Definitely ash. But there isn't a volcano around here, is there?"

Then, quite suddenly, the sky opened. They had left behind the canopy of the trees. What they were now standing in could only tenuously be described as a glade. The ground continued downwards to a craterlike basin, stifled by the decomposing remnants of trees. Everything was smothered with the same whitish-grey ash-everything, that is, except the object at the very center of the basin, which the sprite now hovered over.

"What is it?"

Sardar slid down the slope for a closer look, spraying burnt-out matter about him like some kind of surfer. He knelt and examined the object and then beckoned the others. "It looks like some sort of... sword?"

Jack could see what he meant. The object looked like it had a handle and a guard, and its blade had been driven deep into a large rock below. The problem was that it was constructed entirely from dead leaves: it looked as if it might crumble to dust if any of them touched it.

"So what's this got to do with the Shard, then?" Dannie asked, her head tilted.

"I think," Sardar replied slowly, "that this is some kind of protective enchantment. Pulling the sword from the stone would seem to cause an alchemical reaction, revealing the Shard."

"Well, let's get on with it, then," Bal said, grasping the hilt.

The sword didn't crumble away. It didn't budge at all.