‘It’s a
Anger flared within me. It was not my way to cower in an alley like this, hoping for a bell to save me. I listened carefully. There were cries of fear and pain all around us, but they seemed to be concentrated ahead of us, in the direction of the moon, where they were accompanied by screams of agony. That was where most of the predators and victims must be gathered.
I turned, gestured that Thorne should follow me, and began to run towards that baleful red moon; towards those cries.
‘No!’ Thorne’s voice shook. ‘That leads to the basilica square. That’s the killing ground!’
I ignored her, gathering speed as I ran through the narrow streets, each turn taking me closer to those terrible screams. I could hear Thorne running close at my heels.
‘Please, Grimalkin, listen to me!’ she called. ‘There are too many of them to fight. They’ll rip us to pieces. You can die again in the dark. And if you do, you become nothing. You fall into oblivion!’
‘Better to be nothing than to cringe in fear!’ I retorted.
Now I was sprinting, easing the first of my blades out of its leather sheath.
The square was a vast flagged area with the great stone walls of the basilica rising up beyond it, even higher than those of Priestown Cathedral.Who prayed within those walls? To which dark entities did they offer worship?
In front of the basilica, the square was a scene of carnage. The flags ran with blood and there were bodies everywhere, some dead, others still twitching or attempting to crawl to safety. The air was full of chykes that swooped and tore, slaying those who cowered below. The sound of screams rent the air, but loudest of all was the infernal beating of huge wings.
One creature saw me and glided forward, eyes glowing, talons outstretched. I hurled a blade into its throat and it fluttered to the ground, blood spraying from its open mouth.
Then I raised two of my long blades high above my head and yelled out a challenge: ‘Here I am! Attack me if you dare!’
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Thorne’s face; it was full of alarm and fear. Had the dark diminished her so much? I wondered sadly.
The chykes flocked to where I was standing, and soon I was spinning and whirling, performing my dance of death, slaying my enemies with each stab and thrust of my blades.
Suddenly I realized that the alarm on Thorne’s face had changed to grim determination. Soon we were fighting back to back. I laughed as we slew our enemies.
I’d gone to the dark, but nothing had changed.
I was still Grimalkin.
CHAPTER 1
SPOOK’S BUSINESS
THOMAS WARD
I ACCOMPANIED ALICE to the edge of the garden, where we halted and kissed goodbye.
‘Take care,’ I begged her. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you. ’
Alice was just about the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, but now there was sadness in her beautiful eyes. She felt the same way as I did: we didn’t want to be apart.