From my last visit I knew that time behaved differently here: it seemed as if I’d spent long years as a prisoner of the Fiend, but on my return to earth I found it had been mere weeks. I knew the reverse could happen too. For all I knew, time might be passing more rapidly back in the County, where now only four months remained before Halloween. Even if I did succeed in retrieving the dagger, it might be too late.
The forest was beginning to thin out now, the large ancient trees giving way to saplings and scrub. Directly ahead I could see what appeared to be a vast, featureless plain divided by a path that began just beyond the final tree. Beyond the green glow from the forest the land was dark – but for this narrow path, which was formed of tiny white stones.
‘I must leave you now,’ Pan said. ‘Follow the white path across the abyss that lies between each domain. It will take you into the next one.’
‘Into the territory of the Fiend?’ I asked.
Pan shook his head. ‘Who can say? The domains of the dark constantly shift and change in relation to each other. Nothing stays the same for long. But if you can eventually find your way back here, I will help you return to your own world. But you entered my domain without an invitation, so remember that before doing so I will demand that you pay the price of your presumption.’
I stared at the path for a moment longer, and when I turned back to ask Pan what the price was, he had already gone.
I was standing still, but the green trees were receding. As I watched, the forest quickly shrank until it was no larger than the moon back on earth. A moment later it was no bigger than a star, and then it vanished completely. Had it grown smaller or had it simply moved further away? It was impossible to tell.
I was alone, and now all around me was darkness. I sniffed three times, checking for danger. All seemed well, so I stepped onto the path and began to walk, the stones crunching loudly with each cautious step of my pointy shoes. It was perfectly straight, becoming fainter and fainter until, in the distance, it appeared to be no more than a fine line. Only the white stones were visible. I began to walk faster, striding on.
Again it was hard to judge the passage of time, and I don’t know how long I’d been walking when I heard a distant howl somewhere to my left. It sounded like the hunting cry of a wolf or some other large predator.
Suddenly nervous, I increased my pace a little, listening out. I became aware of the loud crunching of my shoes on the pebble path. If it was some sort of wolf and it hadn’t sniffed my scent already, surely the sound of my footsteps would bring it in my direction? I decided to walk alongside the path rather than on it.
But when I tried to step off, my left shoe encountered no resistance. There was nothing there. No ground.
Pan had said that an abyss lay between each of the zones! And what was an abyss other than a great emptiness, a bottomless pit?
Pitching forward into the darkness, I twisted desperately and managed to fall sideways, back onto the path. Then, my heart hammering after that close call, I knelt and looked down. I could see nothing. On all sides was absolute darkness. With my left hand I reached down, but could feel nothing. What could I do but continue on my way, keeping to the path?
My heart steadying to a normal rhythm, I crunched along, trying to work out the most likely explanation for what had happened. Either the ground had just disappeared or the path had somehow climbed upwards – in which case, what was supporting it?
The hunting cry came again. This time it was much nearer but it came from below. So I had left the ground behind. I was safe from the creature for now – unless it could somehow find its way up onto the path.
Soon I heard the howl once more – higher and nearer – and I immediately became more nervous. Was it already up on the path?
I walked even faster, wondering what manner of creature was behind me. Was I being hunted? Was it some sort of daemon?
I glanced back, and in the distance I could see something loping towards me on all fours. It looked like a small dog, but that might be because it was still a considerable distance behind me. I really had no idea how big it was. I began to run. It was difficult to get up much speed on the stones, and I slipped and almost fell headlong.
Risking another glance back, I immediately wished I hadn’t. What was following me now looked very big, more wolf than dog, and it was gaining by the second. There was something strange about the creature’s face. Yes, it had the bestial face of a wolf, but its expression was sly, crafty and almost human.
A chill ran the length of my spine as, suddenly, I knew exactly what pursued me.
It was the kretch, the creature that had been created by witches to hunt down and slay Grimalkin as she carried the Fiend’s head. Fathered by a daemon called Tanaki, it had great powers of regeneration and had grown steadily stronger, learning from each encounter with the witch assassin. One of its weapons was a deadly poison that had weakened Grimalkin; only with the help of my magic had she finally been able to kill it.
Now it had a new existence in the dark.
And I was its target. I had hoped to sneak into the dark unseen but for Pan. What a fool I’d been! Things were watchful here, and this creature had found me already.
I didn’t want to use my magic: it was a finite resource and I might have need of it later. Not only that . . . Each use of dark magic brought me nearer to being a fully-fledged malevolent witch with a cruel heart of stone. This is what worried me most.
But here I had no choice. I decided to be economical with my power and use the minimum. I exerted my will, and a thick mist began to form across the path so that I could no longer see the kretch. I added to that a spell of bewilderment.
I didn’t know how effective this would be against such a creature, but within seconds it howled again – no longer the triumphant cruel cry of a hunter; more of a baffled whine.
There was no knowing how long it would remain lost and befuddled, so I began to run again, until the mist and the kretch were far behind.
Soon I’d something else to worry about, though. I realized that, in the distance, I could see the end of the path. The white line of stones simply stopped, and beyond it lay nothing but darkness.
What if I had become trapped in the space between zones? Did the path start and end with nothingness? I wondered. A dark rocky cliff lay directly ahead, and I saw that the white path didn’t end after all; it simply disappeared into the mouth of a small cave.
Was this the entrance to the next domain?
A yellow light shone just inside. Unless I was mistaken, it was the flickering light of a candle. Who did it belong to? Cautiously I approached the entrance and halted, peering within.