mentioned her plan at supper, so she must still be thinking it through. Why
had she picked me to be part of the delegation? The thought was frightening
but I had to trust Mam's judgement.
Soon after dawn, we continued our journey eastwards.
We travelled for three days, each stage of our
journey more wearisome than the previous. It was hot
and dusty, the sun beating down mercilessly. After the
third day we skirted the town of Yiannena.
At last we saw a ridge of mountains on the horizon,
the ones we needed to cross in order to reach Meteora.
Two nights later, as we made camp on their lower
slopes, those high Pindhos Mountains loomed very
close. Tomorrow, well before noon, we would start to
climb. Beyond the mountains awaited the plain of
Kalambaka, where the Ordeen would emerge from her
fiery portal. Every mile brought us closer to that
ultimate danger.
CHAPTER
11
N IGHT ATTAC K
Ilay wrapped in my cloak some distance from the
cooking fire. It had been a hot day but the stars were
bright and the air was starting to cool a little. Just as I
started to sink into sleep, I was awoken very suddenly
by a loud noise.
It sounded like wild laughter but ended in a frenzied
scream. I looked out into the darkness beyond the fire.
Immediately the sound was repeated from a different
direction and I lurched to my feet, snatching up my
staff.
It was maenads – I felt sure of it. They were preparing
to attack. Other people were stirring about me. In
the light of the embers I saw Bill Arkwright's shaven
head as he kicked dirt across to extinguish the orange
glow of the fire, plunging us into relative darkness. In
the distance the other fires were also being doused, so
that the enemy had only starlight to see us by. I saw
Arkwright crouch down to make himself less of a
target and I did the same.
There were more shrieks and yells, this time from
behind us and much closer. We were surrounded: the
maenads were moving in, about to attack. A shadowy
figure ran straight at Arkwright and he struck out at
her with his staff. The maenad fell at his feet with a
grunt but others were sprinting towards us from all
directions. I could hear their feet thumping on the dry
earth. I whirled to meet an attacker at my left shoulder,
swinging my staff in an arc. I caught her on the head
and she overbalanced and fell away. I pressed the catch
in my staff and the blade emerged with a click. It was
a fight to the death now. Maenads were all around,
some stabbing at me with long cruel blades, others
charging with bare hands. Some had killed already.
The mouth of one was dripping with blood and she
had pieces of skin and flesh trapped between her teeth.
I whirled round, trying to keep them at bay. There
were too many to fight off and I'd no hope of help.
Everyone else was in the same predicament. We were
heavily outnumbered.
My only hope was to break out of the circle so I
attacked, lunging forward, spearing my staff towards
the figure directly before me. She fell back and I leaped
over her body into an open space. The maenads were
still shrieking behind me. I needed to link up with
some of the others – Bill Arkwright and the Spook or
even the Pendle witches – and fight alongside them.
A shadow loomed up from my right, and before I
could spin to defend myself a hand gripped my wrist
fiercely and tugged me away into the darkness.
'Just follow me, Tom!' cried a voice I knew so well.
It was Alice!
'Where are we going?' I demanded.
'Ain't time to talk now. Got to get away first . . .'
I followed at her heels. We ran away from the camp,
heading roughly east. The sounds of pursuit faded, but
when Alice showed no sign of slowing down, I caught
her up and grabbed her arm from behind.
'I'm not going any further, Alice.'
She turned to face me, her features in shadow but
her eyes glittering in the starlight.
'We've got to go back, Alice. They'll need all the help
they can get. We can't just leave like this. We can't
abandon them and think only of
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