ourselves.'
'Your mam said that at the first sign of trouble I had
to get you away. Especially if the maenads attacked. Get Tom to safety , she said. If anything happens to him, it's all for nothing anyway . Made me promise that, she did.'
'But why would it be all for nothing? I don't
understand.'
'Whatever your mam's plan is for defeating the
Ordeen, you're an important part of it, Tom. So we've
got to keep you safe. We need to keep heading east.
We'll be up in the mountains before dawn. They won't
find us there.'
Alice sometimes hid things from me but had never
told me a direct lie. I knew that she was following
Mam's instructions, so reluctantly I continued east. I
was still worried about the attack on the camp. There
had been so many maenads down there, but I knew the
defenders would put up a good fight. There was
Mam's warrior guard, but also the witches from
Pendle, the Spook and Bill Arkwright – he would
certainly do his best to break a few skulls.
'Why didn't you or the Pendle witches sniff out the
attack?' I demanded accusingly. 'And surely Mam or
Mab would have known what was coming and raised
the alarm too. What went wrong, Alice?'
Alice shrugged. 'Don't know the answer to that,
Tom.'
I felt uneasy but said nothing more, keeping my
worries to myself. Mam had already told me that her
foresight was waning. I felt sure that the Fiend was
weakening all our powers, making our mission more
and more impossible.
'Come on, Tom. Let's move!' Alice cried, an urgency
in her voice. 'More than likely they'll still be
following . . .'
So we ran on a little further before slowing to a
steady jog.
As we reached the foothills, the moon came up
above the solid bulk of the dark Pindhos Mountains
rising before us. No doubt somewhere ahead there was
a route through them, but we weren't back in the
County and didn't have either a knowledge of
the terrain or a map to refer to. All I knew was that
Meteora was somewhere to the east beyond this range.
So we climbed as best we could, hoping to find our
own way through.
We'd been climbing through a pine wood for about
ten minutes – my body was starting to sweat with the
exertion – when Alice suddenly came to a halt, her
eyes wide. She sniffed the air three times. 'There are maenads following us. Ain't no doubt about it. They
must have a tracker.'
'How many, Alice?'
'Three or four. Aren't too far behind either.'
I looked back, but even with the moonlight bathing
the slope, I could see nothing of our pursuers through
the trees. However, Alice was rarely wrong when it
came to sniffing out danger.
'The higher we get, the more chance we've got to
hide and throw 'em off our trail,' she said.
So we turned and hurried on. Soon the trees were
left behind us and the ground became steeper and
more rocky. The next time I looked back I could see
four shadowy figures moving swiftly up the trail. They
were closing on us fast.
We were following a narrow track between two huge
crags rising up on either side when, suddenly, we saw a
cave ahead, its dark maw leading downwards. The path
led straight into it. There was nowhere else to go.
'We could lose 'em down there in the dark. Hard to
track us too,' Alice suggested. Swiftly she sniffed the
entrance to the cave. 'Seems safe enough, this one. No
danger at all.'
'But what if it's a dead end, Alice? If there's no way
through, we'll be trapped down there in the darkness.'
'Ain't got much choice, Tom. We either go in or turn
back and face 'em on the path!'
She was right. We had no alternative. I nodded at
her, and after using my tinderbox to light the candle I
always carried with me, we entered the cave. The
descent was gradual at first and the air was much
cooler than outside. Every so often we paused for a
second but could hear no sounds of pursuit. It
wouldn't be long before the maenads came after us
though. And what if we reached a dead end? That
didn't bear thinking about.
But the path up to the cave entrance was well-worn,
suggesting
'Your mam said that at the first sign of trouble I had
to get you away. Especially if the maenads attacked. Get Tom to safety , she said. If anything happens to him, it's all for nothing anyway . Made me promise that, she did.'
'But why would it be all for nothing? I don't
understand.'
'Whatever your mam's plan is for defeating the
Ordeen, you're an important part of it, Tom. So we've
got to keep you safe. We need to keep heading east.
We'll be up in the mountains before dawn. They won't
find us there.'
Alice sometimes hid things from me but had never
told me a direct lie. I knew that she was following
Mam's instructions, so reluctantly I continued east. I
was still worried about the attack on the camp. There
had been so many maenads down there, but I knew the
defenders would put up a good fight. There was
Mam's warrior guard, but also the witches from
Pendle, the Spook and Bill Arkwright – he would
certainly do his best to break a few skulls.
'Why didn't you or the Pendle witches sniff out the
attack?' I demanded accusingly. 'And surely Mam or
Mab would have known what was coming and raised
the alarm too. What went wrong, Alice?'
Alice shrugged. 'Don't know the answer to that,
Tom.'
I felt uneasy but said nothing more, keeping my
worries to myself. Mam had already told me that her
foresight was waning. I felt sure that the Fiend was
weakening all our powers, making our mission more
and more impossible.
'Come on, Tom. Let's move!' Alice cried, an urgency
in her voice. 'More than likely they'll still be
following . . .'
So we ran on a little further before slowing to a
steady jog.
As we reached the foothills, the moon came up
above the solid bulk of the dark Pindhos Mountains
rising before us. No doubt somewhere ahead there was
a route through them, but we weren't back in the
County and didn't have either a knowledge of
the terrain or a map to refer to. All I knew was that
Meteora was somewhere to the east beyond this range.
So we climbed as best we could, hoping to find our
own way through.
We'd been climbing through a pine wood for about
ten minutes – my body was starting to sweat with the
exertion – when Alice suddenly came to a halt, her
eyes wide. She sniffed the air three times. 'There are maenads following us. Ain't no doubt about it. They
must have a tracker.'
'How many, Alice?'
'Three or four. Aren't too far behind either.'
I looked back, but even with the moonlight bathing
the slope, I could see nothing of our pursuers through
the trees. However, Alice was rarely wrong when it
came to sniffing out danger.
'The higher we get, the more chance we've got to
hide and throw 'em off our trail,' she said.
So we turned and hurried on. Soon the trees were
left behind us and the ground became steeper and
more rocky. The next time I looked back I could see
four shadowy figures moving swiftly up the trail. They
were closing on us fast.
We were following a narrow track between two huge
crags rising up on either side when, suddenly, we saw a
cave ahead, its dark maw leading downwards. The path
led straight into it. There was nowhere else to go.
'We could lose 'em down there in the dark. Hard to
track us too,' Alice suggested. Swiftly she sniffed the
entrance to the cave. 'Seems safe enough, this one. No
danger at all.'
'But what if it's a dead end, Alice? If there's no way
through, we'll be trapped down there in the darkness.'
'Ain't got much choice, Tom. We either go in or turn
back and face 'em on the path!'
She was right. We had no alternative. I nodded at
her, and after using my tinderbox to light the candle I
always carried with me, we entered the cave. The
descent was gradual at first and the air was much
cooler than outside. Every so often we paused for a
second but could hear no sounds of pursuit. It
wouldn't be long before the maenads came after us
though. And what if we reached a dead end? That
didn't bear thinking about.
But the path up to the cave entrance was well-worn,
suggesting
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