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The tunnel The rent between this world and the Dehtmares

We’re here

It’s an hour or so before sunset We’ve set the horses free and are on our knees, hiding behind bushes, studying the scene A hole in the ground ahead is the focal point The branches of the trees around it are thick with strips of cloth, bits of wood, bodies of the dead A solid ceiling, like the one around the ring of ical stones where we sheltered earlier, in what feels now like a separate age

Beneath the cover of the trees-hordes of de with dead bodies, eating Every disgusting shape and shade iinable Soet through them all," Goll whispers

"I could create a diversion," Lorcan suggests "Attack at one side and draw the with me"

"No," Goll says "That wouldn’t work Maybe Bran could dance and lead theorously

"Too many," Drust ic?" I ask "Aspell?"

Drust nods "That’s our best hope but we can’t count on it These are superior to most of the demons we’ve faced They’re some of the more powerful deuard the opening"

"Then they h the spell," I note

"Aye But we’ll have to risk it We’ll cast a strong spell over you, me and Bran, then advance Goll, Lorcan and Connla can attack at the same time, at different spots, to create distractions"

"Sounds good to ?" He stops, brow furrowing as he stares at Connla The vain warrior has cut the flesh of both his pal his cheeks and forehead with blood, quietlywords which could be either a spell or a prayer "What are you doing?" Goll asks suspiciously

Connla finishes the spell or prayer, then smiles "A bit of added protection"

"That won’t help," Drust says

"We’ll see," Connla chuckles, casually glancing over the top of the bush at the demons "Well, I’m ready Make up your o"

Drust regards Connla with uneasy surprise So into battle, but Connla isn’t one of the like a

"You understand e’re discussing?" Drust asks "If you fight, you’ll die It will take time to cast the spells of closure The demons will kill you while we’re at work"

"Just worry about your "

"A man at last," Goll remarks wryly, then faces Drust "So the three of us will attack the dee ahead on your own?"

Drust hesitates, then abruptly changes his mind "No Some demons may have orders to stay by the entrance in case of an attack ItWe’ll stick together and push on as a group If they see through the spell, Bec and I will ht then"

"We won’t let you down," Connla says grandly

Drust and I concentrate and draw upon our ood, even though I didn’t sleep I feel power bubbling up inside, stronger than ever When I cast the , iht th of the new spell He’s surprised, but follows roup safely within it

"The spell will trail us," I tell Drust e’re finished "We won’t need to maintain it as alk We can focus on the task ahead"

"How did you"It just cahs "Such promise There’s so ician has ever done I wish" He stops and steels himself Checks that everybody has a weapon to hand (except sih the bush and enter the cae through the de over tentacles and twisted li human bodies and the even fouler ser than any who attacked our rath They look fiercer and stronger I don’t think ould have survived an assault by this lot Yet these aren’t the strongest Demonata, only the more worthy servants of the demon masters

Until this moment I didn’t truly believe the demons would overrun the land I was inwardly sure that ht hard and win in some places, repel the de If we fail and the demonon how fast the de pile of ruins, broken bones and decaying flesh within a week

Bran studies the de at some of the more hideously defor unily sheep Everybody else looks at theust and fear

A four-headed, red-skinned deht at h the spell But then it belches, spits out a chewed-up hand and lowers its head again I step over the half-dissolved, bile-speckled hand and fight to keepmonster

Close to the hole It looks like a natural rip in the earth, though the area around it has been torn at and dug up, to enlarge the mouth No demons rest close by-they keep at least six or seven paces away froh a space between twoDrust walks to the rim of the hole and looks down I step up beside hi down, deep into the earth Unnatural heat billows from it I want Drust to start the spells here, close the tunnel from this point, not lead us down that shaft to whatever horrors lie beneath

But Drust points down, as I kneould He makes sure we all understand, then lowers hi into the darkness of the pit I go next, then Bran, Lorcan, Goll Connla brings up the rear

The rock is hot to the touch but bearable Lots of holds Easy to climb The shaft turns to the left after a while Pure darkness around the bend I pause, look up at the overcast but beautiful, hu sky one last tiht

We cli our way down I could cast a lighting spell but Drust hasn’t, so I don’t think I should either I’es But a fewin a huddle, not sure what to do next, afraid to continue in case we’re on a platfor to feel ahead with ic," Drust whispers "You try too Explore with your mind Try and determine where we are and what lies ahead"

I close my eyes-not that it makes any difference in this place-and send out ic I get the sense of a large space around us-a cave, I think- but I can’t be sure of its exact size And I’ve no idea what the ground is like underfoot, whether it’s solid, breaks off into nothingness after a few feet, or is littered with traps

Fortunately Drust is hs the contented sigh of aand hard for "It’s all right," he says, exciteht flares dirow and expand, filling his palhts up the entire cave, revealing a site of beautiful wonders and a wretched terror

The wonders-V-shaped, glistening formations of a substance not quite rock So All sorts of sizes Water drips fro shapes, to splash over the floor of the cave or one of the uprising Vs In so for each other, growing towards one another

There are other fore, others tiny bulges And an underground waterfall to our right, the water appearing as if by h a crack in the rocks underneath, flowing on to who knohere

This is what I i to be like It doesn’t feel as if it belongs to our world It’s so quiet-except for the noise of the waterfall-and peaceful I feel like if I fell asleep, I could snooze for a hundred years and not be any different when I awoke Time doesn’t touch this cave-or if it does, it touches it softly, slowly, subtly

But then there’s the wretched terror, which is almost impossible to comprehend And difficult to describe

There’s a hole-the start of the tunnel-in one of the walls of the cave And around and within it, the head and warped body of a s just above the hole, li out of the rock Its body is spread out around it, mixed in with the rock, part of the wall An arht The chest and stoans visible inside the mouth of the tunnel

At first, I think it’s a trick of the rock formation, that the head has been stuck there to ee nature of the hole Then I think that the body just adorns the outside of the rock, that bits and pieces have been stuck on or crammed into cracks But as we move closer, drawn to it in silent fascination and horror, I see that isn’t right either

The body is the rock So the same space It’s as if the rock rew hard again around him It must have been a painful way to die Was he sacrificed? Did demons melt the rock and then-

The head bobs up and its eyes flicker open I stifle a screaasps all around me Goll, Lorcan and Connla raise their weapons auto for calht He can’t harm us"

"Don’t be so sure," the man in the rock croaks

"Balor’s eye!" Goll exclaims "It speaks!"

"What is it?" Lorcan asks "WhatTakes a step ahead of everyone, gazes at the face for a long moment, then looks back at Drust "Druid, what spell is this? That face is yours!"

I don’t understand what he’s saying until I look again and see that the face hanging froonised eyes A fuller beard But his shape, his mouth, his expression

"His name was Brude," Drust says quietly, eyes locked with the man’s "My twin brother A druid like me"

"Brotherrrrrr," the hs, then chuckles creakily "You have colory?"

"Brude hated Christiansthe question "I was never sure why"

"Because they corrupt," Brude hisses, eyes filling with fury "They change that which should not be changed They destroy"

"He decided to fight theic failed hianise an arainst them In the end he resorted to" He trails off into silence for a ain, louder this time "He opened the tunnel between our world and the Demonata’s Invited the deery and deaths He’s the one we must stop if we are to close the-"

"That’s why you came!" I cry suddenly "The other druids refused to help, but your tas the cause of the invasion You felt guilty You couldn’t bear to let so many people die because of him"

Drust nods slowly "We were like two parts of the same person ere children If he cut hied with ti us What he’s doing is wrong Christianity can’t be fought-and even if it can, it should be fought by human means, not demonic I couldn’t stand by and let ainst the entire human race I had to stop him"