But would using it save Alice? Would it really be strong enough?
'I wish Alice to be unhurt, safe and well!' I cried, and then repeated the wish quickly as Grimalkin had instructed. 'I wish Alice to be unhurt, safe and well!'
I don't know what I expected to happen. Certainly not for Alice to simply appear safe and well at my side. I was hoping to see her crawl to safety from the lamia's lair. But all I could hear was the distant whine of the wind. Grimalkin had said that the wish contained years of stored power. Surely something should be happening by now?
But there was nothing – nothing at all – and my heart sank into my boots. The wish hadn't worked. Had I done something wrong? I looked down into the dark maw of the lamia's lair, and regret began to gnaw at my stomach. Why had I wasted my time using the wish? Why had I been so stupid? I should have lit my candle and crawled after her right away.
I opened my tinderbox, and it was then that I sensed something right behind me and remembered the third lamia. In my haste to save Alice I'd forgotten all about it! I turned round . . .
But it wasn't a lamia. No, it was something far worse. Standing there and smiling down at me was the Fiend himself.
He was in the shape of Matthew Gilbert, the murdered bargeman. Matthew had been an easygoing, burly man with large hands and a warm smile. The top two buttons of his shirt were open, revealing the brown hair on his broad chest. He looked every inch the genial fellow who had once plied his trade along the Caster-to-Kendal canal. But the Fiend had visited me in that form before so I knew exactly whom I was facing.
'Well, Tom, isn't this a special day? One I've waited a long time to arrive. You've finally used the dark!'
I stepped back in alarm at his words and shook my head – though I knew I was lying even to myself. How could I deny it? The Spook had warned that the Fiend would try to win me to his side, corrupting me bit by bit until my soul was no longer my own and I belonged to him. And he'd suggested that Alice was the most likely means to his achieving this end. And now it had happened. I'd used the dark to save Alice.
'Don't try and pretend that you haven't! After all, you've just used a dark wish. Do you think I don't know that? Your use of dark magic alerted me to what was happening, so I came right away. The wish has already saved Alice. She'll be with you soon – just as soon as I leave and allow time to return to normal. You are already free to move but nothing else is. Look about you – maybe then you'll believe me . . .'
The Fiend could distort the flow of time; sometimes stop it altogether. I looked up through the cleft in the rock and saw a bird, some kind of hawk, high in the air near the crag above, but it wasn't moving. It was still and frozen against the pale sky.
'You were lucky to escape and reach these mountains,' the Fiend continued. 'The attack took you all by surprise. The Pendle witches who oppose me didn't detect the threat. Not even that clever little Mouldheel scryer. Your mother's power came to nothing because I darkened her foresight – I've been doing it for many months now. How can she hope to prevail against an enemy who has my support? Tell me that!'
I said nothing. It was bad enough facing something as terrible and powerful as the Ordeen. But behind her, ready with his even greater strength, stood the Fiend.
Mam couldn't hope to beat him. The whole enterprise seemed doomed to failure.
'You've fallen silent, Tom. You know I'm right. So now I'll tell you more. I'll explain just how bad things really are. It's your birthday soon – you'll be fifteen, won't you?'
I didn't reply, but he was correct. I'd be fifteen on the third of August, which was now less than a week away.
'Your mother is relying on you to carry through her doomed scheme,' he continued. 'Do you want to know what part you're to play in this foolishness?'
'I trust Mam,' I told him. 'I'm her son and I'll do whatever she wants.'
'Whatever? That's generous, Tom. Very generous indeed. But you'll need to be generous – extremely generous – because she needs a lot from you. Your life, no less. On your fifteenth birthday you are to be sacrificed in order to fulfil her desperate need for victory.'
'You're lying!' I shouted, shaking with anger. 'Mam loves me. She loves all her children. She wouldn't do that.'
'Wouldn't she, Tom? Not even for the greater good? Individuals are expendable. She believes in the light and is prepared to do anything to defeat the dark. Even to sacrifice the thing she loves most. That's you, Tom. That's what she's going to do!'
'She wouldn't do that. She just wouldn't . . .'
'No? Are you so sure? A special blood sacrifice might just give her a chance. And your blood is very special, Tom. The blood of a seventh son of a seventh son . . .'
I didn't answer. I'd said enough already.
The Fiend was enjoying my discomfort. 'Not only that,' he continued. 'You are your mother's son as well. And she is not human. Do you know what she is?' He smiled. 'She's told you already, I can see that. You're so easy to read, Tom, like an open book. So you know what she's done in the past. How cruel and bloodthirsty she once was – a true servant of the dark. And despite her conversion to the light, she's reverting back to her original form. Think how easy it will be for a murderous creature like that to sacrifice you for a cause she believes in!'
Everything grew dark and I felt as if I was falling through space – and about to experience some terrible impact. It was as if I'd been thrown off a cliff and was hurtling down towards the rocks below. I was terrified, expecting to be smashed to pieces at any second.
Chapter 13
MY BLOOD
My whole body suddenly jerked but I felt no pain. I opened my eyes and squinted up into bright sunlight. It was late morning. I sat up and looked about me. My staff lay at my side.
Suddenly memory came flooding back. Alice! The cave!
I sprang to my feet. I was on a mountain path with steep crags on both sides. Whether or not it was the same track I'd been following the night before was impossible to say, but there was no sign of the cleft in the rock with its lamia cave, nor of the evidence of their feeding.
'Tom!'
I turned and saw Alice walking along the path towards me, tears streaming down her face. I'd thought she was dead, so without thinking I ran forward and wrapped my arms about her. All my doubts had disappeared. What did it matter what the Spook thought? At that moment, after all we'd been through, I didn't care. Alice returned my embrace, and for a long time we didn't move, but then she stepped back and held me at arm's length, her hands resting lightly on my shoulders.