Em found herself on a ledge, halfway down a colossal gorge of volcanic rock. Thanks to Vaughn’s climbing rope, the others were still with her. The uneven ledge was barely wider than a cycle lane, and circumvented the gorge like a prehistoric catwalk. The geological architecture of the place reminded Em of the setting of a horror film, the rocks forming castle-like turrets with needle-sharp spires rising as high as her eyes could see.
Steadying herself against the cliff behind her, Em looked up. The rock face was slick with lichens that shimmered with a silvery lustre. Other parts of the gorge were thick with bright, multicoloured moss. Oddly shaped trees sprouted sideways from the massive cliff walls, their roots like veins. The walls of the gorge stretched above them into blackness. Em wasn’t sure if it was a night sky, or just an eternal darkness. The thought made her shiver. Zach took her hand.
More extraordinary still were the beasts themselves.
Hundreds of grottos and chambers lined the gorge and were occupied by winged creatures of every imaginable size and shape, some perched, some flying, and all screaming and squawking. Decaying wraiths and devilish gargoyles wheeled through the gloom, trailing partially devoured carcasses and broken skeletal remains in their claws. Half-chewed beast heads lay skewered on some of the sharper needle-shaped rocks, dropped by the flying beasts overhead, while the flayed and stinking skins of beasts littered much of the ledge Em and the others were standing on.
The arches framing the grottos were covered in reliefs of beasts and demons howling and writhing against the rock. Everywhere she looked, Em recognized a beast from a fable or a story. Everything seemed to bulge outwards, threatening and grotesque and pulsing with life. The din was deafening, the earplugs about as useful as cotton wool. And the stink reminded Em of the putrid smells carried in the wind from a rotting fish carcass she’d once discovered under the jetty.
At the centre of each grotto – at least, those Em could see – was a wall of text, in a language she didn’t recognize.
‘Looks like ancient Gaelic,’ said Sandie, running her fingers over the letters.
The bottom of the gorge was dimly visible, its colossal structure reminding Em of a Roman amphitheatre with arched entrances to tunnels at various places round the periphery. The dirt floor was alive with so much overwhelming movement and chaos – beasts and bodies colliding, attacking, fighting in a hideous vortex of evil – that it was difficult for Em to comprehend exactly what she was looking at. It reminded her of a painting she had once seen at the Prado in Madrid with her mum: a dark, horrifying picture of Hell in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. Fear bubbled in her mind like lava.
Don’t try to absorb it all. I can feel your panic rising.
Em returned the pressure of Zach’s hand, trying to calm herself.
The swoop above their heads was almost soundless.
‘Move!’ Sandie yelled.
Em gasped. Vaughn swore. They all ducked as a griffin the size of a small plane swooped out of nowhere at them. Em stumbled, knocking backwards into Zach – who lost his footing and tumbled over the edge. His momentum yanked the rope and pulled Em and Sandie to the edge.
‘ZACH!’ Em screamed.
Vaughn untied his rope and dived after Zach, grabbing his hand, and yanking him back up on to the ledge. They both rolled back against the rock wall, panting hard. Em felt dizzy with relief.
Above them the griffin’s high-pitched call pierced their ears as it cut a tight circle and came back at them, its great eyes as green and brilliant as emeralds. Its breath felt like a hot wind on their skin as its wing tips almost swept them from the ledge. It swooped straight up into the darkness again, then dived into the abyss, snatching up a creature that looked like the cross between a hippo and a tiger. As the griffin tore its prey with its paws, half of the bloody carcass dropped again to the ground, where it was instantly set upon by a howling mass of monsters.
The griffin banked again, gliding high and lazy, then dropped back towards the ledge, its wings tucked close to its thick golden haunches and its ferocious gaze intense.
It was coming for them next.