Somewhere ahead, I heard seabirds calling and, before we reached the summit, another harsh, rhythmical sound – the surge and ebb of the sea on a shingle beach.
At the top we paused and looked down. Below us was what appeared to be a large coastal town. Its huddle of narrow streets sloped down to meet the wide curve of a bay. Fishing boats bobbed at anchor or lay stranded on the beach, where a red tide was lapping hungrily at the pebbles.
‘Is this the Fiend’s domain?’ I asked, staring up at that scary red moon – sure that I was right and very relieved to have found it so quickly.
But to my dismay, Thorne shook her head, looking tense; I thought I saw fear in her eyes. ‘I’ve never been in the Fiend’s domain so I don’t know what to expect,’ she explained, ‘but I do know where we are now . . . This is one of the most dangerous domains of all. It’s where most of the human dead who belong to the dark congregate. It’s full of dead witches and abhumans, not to mention daemons and other entities that prey upon them. This is where I first came when I died. I got out of here just as quick as I could!’
‘It was the blood-moon that made me think this place belonged to the Fiend. It’s like the scary one we all saw that night he came to earth,’ I said.
‘That moon never sets here – it’s fixed in one position. It’s always dark. This is a terrible place . . .’ Thorne murmured.
‘Ain’t no point in going down there, then, is there? Best thing we can do is follow in your footsteps,’ I told her. ‘We need to get out of here right away.’
But Thorne shook her head. ‘I wish it were that simple, Alice . . . I do know the way out. There is only one in this domain – but it’s down there in that ugly, dangerous town. If we want to leave this domain, we have to go down into those streets.’
This was bad. A town full of such entities offered a whole range of threats. And if the place scared Thorne – said by Grimalkin to be one of the bravest people she’d ever met – it certainly scared me.
‘I could have lots of enemies down there,’ I told her. ‘Will they know I’m here? I did my best to cloak myself.’
Thorne nodded. ‘Even with the most powerful cloaking imaginable, there are still ways, especially as you’re still alive. It’s very rare to see a living person here. It sends out strange ripples into the dark, and some of the dead will be skilled at sniffing out where you are.’
‘Wouldn’t like to meet up with Bony Lizzie . . .’ I said. She was the first of many enemies who came to mind. There were lots of things that witch would like to pay me back for. I remembered how I’d helped Tom escape from the pit near Chipenden where Lizzie had imprisoned him. That had led to Old Gregory capturing her and throwing her into a pit in his garden. But she wasn’t the only one I needed to fear.
‘And there are others whose days I’ve ended or helped to end. They could all be waiting for me,’ I told Thorne.
Thorne wouldn’t meet my gaze. She bit her bottom lip and turned her back on me.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
She swivelled round to face me. For a moment I thought I saw her eyes glisten with tears, but then I wondered if it was just a trick of the light. That strange moon had made it look like they were filled with blood.
‘There’ll be plenty waiting for me too,’ said Thorne. ‘I helped Grimalkin for several years, and there are a fair number whose lives I ended with just my own blades. That’s all the more reason to move quickly. Let’s make for the gate without further delay.’
What she said made sense. The longer we waited up here, the more likely it was that our enemies would be able to sniff us out. So we began to descend the slope towards the town.
As we walked, I decided to bring up the subject of the dead drinking blood. There were things that I needed to know, and I also wanted to make up for my reaction when Thorne had drunk the skelt’s blood. It was best to get it out into the open and find out what the situation was.
‘So the dead need blood. What happens if you resist and don’t drink it?’ I asked.
‘It’s impossible to resist.’ Thorne’s voice was full of passion, and I knew she must have struggled to fight against it. ‘The hunger for blood just grows and grows until you can’t resist it any more.’
‘So what about me?’ I asked. ‘Is the rule different for someone who enters the dark while still alive?’ I had felt no urge to drink the blood of that dead skelt, only disgust. ‘The truth is, I ain’t hungry for food at all. I just get thirsty from time to time.’
‘I’ve got bad news for you, Alice. All you can do is drink water. You can’t afford to eat anything here. If you drink blood or eat anything at all, you can never go back to the world of the living. That’s just the way things are here – one of the rules that you have to follow. It’s not likely that you’ll feel any urge to eat. But the truth is, at the moment you are using up your body’s life-force. That’s what’s feeding you. You’re drawing on your own reserves. Stay in the dark too long and you’d use it all up. You’d return a dry husk and wouldn’t live for more than a few weeks – or even days. So that’s all the more reason to find what you need quickly and get out of here.’
It was usually good to know the truth, but every new piece of information made my situation appear worse. However, there were many more reasons other than my own survival to hasten my return to the County.
‘You’re right, Thorne,’ I told her. ‘I have to get back with the dagger in time to complete the ritual at Halloween. Grimalkin may be powerful, but she can’t keep the Fiend’s head out of the clutches of his supporters for ever. There are too many of them and they’ll catch up with her one day. I need to get back before that happens. Is that one of the reasons why you’re helping me, Thorne – to help Grimalkin?’
By way of reply, Thorne gave a barely perceptible nod. She had died at the hands of the Fiend’s servants. No doubt revenge was another of her motives. Then I thought of another question. It was something I didn’t really want to dwell on, but I had to know the worst.
‘What happens to those who die here in the dark?’
‘If the dead die again here, they crumble away to nothing and cease to exist – it means oblivion. After a while some of the dead don’t struggle to survive any more. They’d rather be nothing than exist in eternal torment here in the dark. That would be my fate. But I don’t know about the consequences for you, Alice. I’ve seen no other living people here. Maybe there are others who know what happens . . .’