Read Online Jack of Ravens by Mark Chadbourn - Free Book Online Page B

answering me.’
    Conoran laughed. ‘You are a wise man, Giantkiller. You would make a good member of the Culture. Yes, my people know of the Blue Fire. It is part of our body of knowledge, passed down through each generation in our colleges. And it was known by the ones who preceded us, who set up the markers on the landscape where the Blue Fire is strongest.’
    Etain had been listening to the conversation carefully. ‘And we are now champions of this great power,’ she said with incredulity.
    ‘Existence needs champions now,’ Conoran said gravely. ‘The seasons are turning. A time of great devastation is coming, a time of reckoning.’
    ‘And we must fight?’ Etain’s voice trembled. ‘I can see why you were chosen, Jack – you are a great hero. The fire burned within you even before you met the Beast. But the rest of us—’
    ‘You wouldn’t have been chosen if you weren’t up to the job.’ Church tried to sooth the jumping shadows he saw in her eyes. ‘And I have a feeling that
Existence
doesn’t make mistakes.’
    ‘No,’ Conoran interjected. ‘Only humans.’
    The sound of Branwen and Owein bickering rose up from the rear of their column. ‘Be quiet,’ Tannis hissed. ‘Do you want to bring the enemy upon us?’
    ‘This one has been given a great gift yet acts like a small child,’ Branwen said contemptuously.
    Owein snorted and tried not to look embarrassed. ‘I just said we should have asked what was wanted of us before we took the Pendragon Spirit.’
    ‘I was wrong. You are not a small child. You are an old woman scared of a storm,’ Branwen spat.
    ‘Quiet,’ Tannis hissed again. ‘You are both old women.’
    Church felt a prickling in the pit of his stomach and quickly surveyed the sparsely wooded area through which they moved. The bright moonlight illuminated the scrubby grass, raising phantom shades. Nothing moved. The only sound was the gentle tread of their horses’ hooves on the sward.
    Tannis noticed Church’s alertness. ‘You see the enemy?’ he asked quietly.
    ‘No, but I can feel something – can you?’
    Tannis raised his head as if sniffing the wind. ‘Yes, something foul.’ A look of surprise crossed his face. ‘I smell blood.’
    Church understood: all their senses were becoming heightened. ‘Redcaps,’ he said. ‘They’re lying in wait somewhere.’ Yet he couldn’t imagine where. The only movement in the landscape was a few drifting strands of mist amongst the trees.
    Owein brought his horse up alongside Church and Etain’s. ‘I hear nothing.’
    ‘There’s nothing there—’ Church began.
    ‘No, I hear
nothing
– no screech of owls, no bats in the trees, no movement of branches in the wind.’
    Church realised that Owein was right. The whole area felt deadened. Church’s attention moved back to the drifting mist. It was now clinging to the bottoms of the trunks and had taken on a faint, unnatural greenish colour.
    Church felt a weight in his chest that reminded him unpleasantly of the spider-poison. ‘Ride!’ he shouted. The word had barely left his lips when it dropped like a stone in the sound-deadened zone. No one else had heard him. Their attention was fixed on the eerie green mist, which was now billowing towards them.
    Church saw Branwen mouth, ‘Goddess be with me,’ felt Etain stiffen against him. They were all mesmerised.
    A sudden shift in time jolted him: the mist was now neck-high and only fifty feet away; and again, now only twenty feet away. Shapes moved inside it.
    Church’s attention was caught by activity to one side. On a ragged outcropping of granite stood a tall, thin man in black robes wearing an emotionless silver mask that caught the moonlight. He carved intricate patterns in the air with sweeps of his robed arms.
    Church only had a second to register this before there was a ferocious roar and five Redcaps erupted from the mist. They were as fast as thoroughbred horses, their muscled legs shaking the ground. Close up,