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So overgrown was the path that the six travellers were on that they were forced to go in single file. Garren slashed away the undergrowth with his staff. It had been transformed into a scimitar with a razor-sharp edge, the jewel forming the end of the grip. Behind Garren came Lyca, upbeat and full of frivolity as usual.
Maya followed, sullen and silent. She had hardly said a word since the group met at the hollow. Tom kept pace behind her, happy to have warm, dry feet and feel the cushioned air soles soften his steps.
The well-wrapped vampire brought up the rear, just behind the grumbling fairy in his human form, refusing to resume his natural state and fly effortlessly above the undergrowth because, he said, it was sissy.
After they had finished their lunch, they dismantled the camp. The fire was put out with snow, and to cover their tracks, Garren called up a strong wind which sucked up the snow like an invisible vacuum cleaner and threw it into the air. The result was a highly localised snow shower that covered the whole clearing, hiding all signs that anyone had been there. Once happy that no trace of their presence remained, Garren enchanted everyone's feet so that no footprints were left in the snow and they set off along the path. Tom thought it quite strange and oddly compelling to watch the snow spring back up like a sponge as soon as they had passed.
"Stop!" Lyca hissed at Garren.
He halted and quickly scanned around for any signs of trouble, but saw nothing.
"Move along there," called Dan from behind.
"Shhhh," Maya hissed, gesturing to everyone to keep quiet.
"What is it?" Garren whispered.
"There are two Guardians up ahead," she replied quietly.
"How can you be sure?" Tom asked, looking past the others.
"I can recognise that smell anywhere," said Lyca sniffing at the air. "It's the sulphur from the well. It gets into their robes, hair, skin. It's like a beacon for me."
"I can't smell anything," Tom said, sniffing.
"You wouldn't; you don't have a wolf's sense of smell," she lowered her voice further still. "Or hearing, I can hear them talking."
"We need to find out what they are doing out here," Garren said. "They don't normally patrol the woods. Lyca, come with me, the rest of you, wait here and keep quiet."
Silently Garren and Lyca crept along the path. Garren could hear the voices too now. A few yards further, he dropped to the ground. Through the brambles, the cleric could see the two Guardians. They were stood in a small clearing just round the bend from where he and Lyca were crouching, standing before a tree. Garren strained to hear the words, but Lyca could hear them clearly and had for some time.
"... sent by our master on an urgent errand. Six fugitives are coming this way. Two females and four males, all wanted for treason. They are believed to be making for the bridge," one of the men was saying.
"If they get to the bridge, they shall get no further," came the breathy, rasping voice of a Sen-Tree.
"It is our master's wish that you and your clan lookout for these criminals and detain them if possible, or alert us if not," the Guardian instructed.
"Why not let them get to the bridge and be dealt with there?"
"How do you know what awaits them at the bridge?" asked a suspicious Guardian.
"We listen to the wind," replied the tree. "It comes down from the mountain and across the river. It whispers its secrets to those who know how to listen."
"The Count wants them captured alive for interrogation," said one of the robed figures.
"Then it shall be so."
The Guardians left the clearing and went back the way they came, away from Garren and Lyca. Garren signalled to go back and silently the two made their way back to the rest of their waiting company.
"This is bad in so many ways," Garren informed them. "Firstly, they have Sen-Trees in the wood. It's always been free of them in the past, which is why I chose this path. Secondly, the bridge we were making for is guarded and thirdly, not only does Balfour know about us, he also knows how many of us there are and our plan to cross the river; possibly the entire plan."
"But how has he accomplished this?" Valcris asked. "Only we knew of the quest for the Tome and of course the witch, but I cannot imagine that anything would entice her into betraying us."
"We saw Albert on the way, but we didn't tell him anything," said Tom.
"I think Albert can be trusted," Garren said.
"Normally I would agree," said Dan, "But you know how he is always talking of getting back home to that girl of his. He carries her picture everywhere he goes. What if Balfour has promised to get him back?"
"I trust his integrity," Garren said. "Did anyone else see anybody on the way here?"
No one else had encountered anyone on their way to the hollow, and no one had mentioned their quest since their meeting the previous day.
"But even if we had been overheard in the tavern, I am sure we did not mention our intended route, we did not decide that till this morning," Valcris reasoned.
"It is most disconcerting, I agree," said Garren.
"We should abandon the plan and go home," Dan said emphatically.
"No way," Tom said. "It's OK for you; you can go home. I can't. I have to get that stupid book and use it to get back."
"None of us can go home now," Garren said. "Balfour knows who we are. We would be arrested the instant we walked back into the village. We are committed to the quest now and have no alternative but to see it through to the end. All we can do at this time is find another way to the river and rely on our good fortune that we come across no more Sen-Trees."
Sadly and silently, the group made their way back to the hollow where they had rested earlier, each one trying to find an explanation for Balfour's intelligence. Was he using magic to spy on them? Divination of such accuracy is a rare gift. Could someone have overheard them making plans? Had Garren overestimated Albert's integrity? They could all vouch for each other; couldn't they? Tom had only met them the day before, but Garren seemed to trust each one of them implicitly.
"Someone has been here within the last hour," Garren said as the group emerged into the hollow. Several sets of footprints had trampled the snow that he had wisely re-laid earlier. The tracks led from the Tarn Road where Tom and Garren had come and disappeared along a path to the right of the one they had taken.
"Let's make haste before they return. We'll make for the river further down."
They hurried off along another path, this time with Dan leading the way in his fairy form, flying way out in front, looking for Sen-trees, hoping that if he spied any, he could dart out of sight before they noticed him. If not, well it would not be unusual to find a fairy in the woods, it being, after all, their natural habitat.
This path was broader and easier to travel, but it was more exposed, so everyone was as quiet as they could be and used whatever senses they had at their disposal to identify possible dangers. Twice they stopped because Dan thought he had spotted a Sen-Tree, only to find it was nothing more than an ivy-covered oak. Lyca halted once because she could smell something nearby, almost causing Garren to reduce a badger to a smouldering heap of fur.
Despite the minor holdups, they made good time, and in less than an hour, they were almost at the river. However, the closer they got, the more uneasy Maya began to feel. Eventually, she called a halt.
"There is something up ahead," she said, the fear evident in her voice.
"I know," said Lyca to everyone's surprise. "I've had its scent for a while now. It's still a way off, but we are getting closer."
"Yes, I have this feeling of an awful presence. Powerful. It is waiting. It knows we are coming," Maya went on.
Valcris came and put his arm around her, "Do not fear, we are prepared now, thanks to you. We will be extra cautious."
"Ly, have you any idea what it is?" asked Garren.
"No, I've never come across this scent before, it's a new one on me. But it's nasty. Pungent, decaying, horrible." She shuddered, her nose wrinkled up at the unpleasant odour.
"What we stopped for now?" asked Dan flying back to see where they had got to. He perched on Tom's shoulder. Tom stood very still. He was intrigued by the little figure with his almost imperceptible transparent wings and the bright glow that came from them when he was in flight.
"Maya and Lyca can sense something ahead. Have you seen anything?" Garren asked.
"No, all clear to the bridge, not a sign of anyone. It's just a little further on. You'll be there in ten minutes."
"Hmm," Garren mused. "Ly, could it be a troll?"
"Could be, I never smelled one before," she shrugged.
"I would hazard a guess our enemies have engaged the services of a river troll. They live under the bridge in the dark places by the supports. Nasty little blighters they are too. Quick, strong and they smell like decaying fish. They will have you bound and under the water before you know what's happening. They don't like their food too fresh. After a few weeks in the river, you are nicely matured and ready to eat."
A shiver went through Tom at the thought of being tied up and drowned. "Can't we, you know, use magic on it or something?"
"Difficult," Garren answered. "They are so quick. By the time you have cast a spell at him, he has already blocked it or dodged it. No, as soon as we put a foot on the bridge, he'll have us."
"I could fly over without him noticing," said Dan. "So could Val, if we waited till after dark."
"That's no good for the rest of us, is it?" said Lyca sarcastically.
"If my memory serves me well, there used to be a little farm a mile down the river," said Val. "If it is still there, we might find just what we need to help us. Lyca, my dear, as you are the fastest on foot, well, during daylight hours, I wonder if you and Dan might like to pay a little visit there."
A minute later Val had taken Lyca and Dan aside and communicated his plan. Lyca grinned like a Cheshire cat and disappeared down the path with the fairy following above. Valcris returned to the others and said, "Let us make ourselves comfortable on the edge of the wood, at the speed Lyca can run it shouldn't take long."
Sure enough, within half an hour of the remaining companions perching themselves on stumps of felled trees on the edge of the wood, listening to the sound of the river only a few yards away, Dan returned.
"Where's Lyca?" Tom called.
"She's coming. She's having a bit of trouble," Dan replied chuckling.
As he spoke, Lyca emerged, bottom first, from a path holding on to a length of rope. The rope did not appear to want to come with her despite her pulling and cursing. Eventually, the other end burst forward, causing Lyca to fall over backwards. Attached to the rope was a very stubborn white goat, munching away at some cloth torn from the hem of Lyca's cloak.
"A goat!" Tom exclaimed. "How's that going to help?"
"Do they not teach you anything at school these days?" Valcris said. "The only thing a river troll is terrified of is a goat. It's like elephants and mice, spiders and bees, normal people and taxmen; they cannot abide them."
Lyca managed to get the goat over to the group, where it immediately made a bee-line for Tom. Initially, Tom was a little wary of the animal. As a townie, he had never been this close to a goat before and only knew of their reputation for eating clothes and charging at people. But, as the goat nuzzled his shoulder, he scratched it behind the ear, which it seemed to like, and thanked him by trying to lick his cheek.
"Well, I suppose it's worth a try, assuming there is a troll guarding the bridge," Garren said. "As you two have the benefit of speed and wolf-like reactions, it would be best if you went first,"
"Oh thanks, friend," said Lyca taking the rope from Tom. "Send the dispensable ones in first."
Dan and Lyca walked nervously towards the bridge. The goat, at first reluctant to leave his new friend, butted Lyca up the backside before trotting happily beside her, satisfied he had shown her who was in control of the leash.
The three of them stepped on to the bridge and stopped, Lyca and Dan bracing themselves against whatever was about to attack. The foul odour was so bad now that even Dan could smell it. Whatever it was, it was close, but neither sight nor sound gave away its nature.
They took a few more steps and stopped again. Nothing. The watchers gathered on the bank, not too close to the bridge just in case, shifting from foot to foot with anxiety, ready to shout a warning the second they saw a movement. A few more paces and they were almost a quarter of the way across—still nothing.
"A troll would have got behind them by now," Valcris said, "to cut off their retreat to the bank and force them further on to the bridge."
Dan thought he heard a sound behind him and spun around. There was nothing there; it must have just been the bridge creaking under their weight. It did it again, this time he felt it. Lyca gasped, she was looking towards the far side of the river. About two-thirds of the way across a hand the size of a shovel appeared from under the bridge. It was attached to an arm as thick as a lamppost. It grabbed the side of the bridge and heaved an enormous head and shoulder up to look around, investigating the cause of its disturbance. As its thick-set eyes adjusted to the light, Lyca seized Dan by the arm.
"Dan," she whispered. "We're going to need a bigger goat."
Dan turned around just as the wire-haired head turned in their direction, and the black beady eyes focused on them. There was a short delay before the information from the eyeballs reached the creature's tiny brain, was decoded, considered, options presented and a course of action decided upon, by which time the fairy had transformed and zoomed off like a firework, while Lyca and the braying goat were neck and neck as they legged it off the bridge and back to the watching companions. Lyca pulled up when she reached them, but the goat, who had had enough excitement for one day, pulled free of Lyca's grip and darted off into the woods.
The creature was now wading through the river towards them. Its massive arms outstretched towards the awe-struck group, snarling through its big uneven brown teeth. It must have been twenty feet tall and was naked from the waist up. Fortunately, the water hid the rest of it and the company on the bank had no intention of waiting around to find out if its entire outfit matched as in unison they turned and fled down the river bank until the lumbering monster was out of sight.
"That was no river troll," said Dan, flying alongside them. "That was a mountain troll. What the hell is a mountain troll doing under a bridge?"
"I don't know, maybe it's the river troll's day off," panted Lyca sarcastically.
As they came to a stop, Tom asked, "Are you sure it's not still following us?"
"It's alright," Garren said. "Mountain trolls are incredibly slow and stupid. Quite the opposite of river trolls. Once we were out of sight, it would have forgotten what it was doing and gone back to the bridge. But now at least we know we are not going to get to the other side of the river that way."
"Can't we use magic on it if it's not as quick as the other kind?" Tom asked.
"No," Garren answered. "It is so thick-skinned that all but the most powerful hexes will just bounce off. Magical creature see. Has a sort of built-in immunity to spells, enchantments and most types of fungus. Would have been wiped out centuries ago otherwise."
Valcris seated himself on a rock and drew his long cloak around himself. Dan flew up to the treetops to make sure the troll was not possessed of the intellectual capacity to follow them. But, sure enough, it had given up the chase when it could no longer see its prey and returned, slightly baffled, to its previous position under the bridge, where it was happily occupied in trying to prise a rusty bolt out of a support post with the blunt end of a fish.
"What now?" asked a frustrated Thomas.
"Go back home and have a quart of ale," called Dan from his treetop. Everyone ignored him.
"We'll have to find another way to cross the river," said Garren. "They are not going to let us in through the front door."
"Why not?" Lyca said. "What if we disguise ourselves as Guardians and go in with the others? They are coming and going on their patrols all the time."
"Balfour is not stupid. He has put his own guards on the gates to check the Guardians in and out, and they use passwords which are regularly changed," Garren explained. "I tried to get in once. Only just escaped."
"How we getting to the other side then?" Lyca asked.
"After sunset, me and Val could fly across," Dan said, coming down to join them.
"That's not going to help us unless you are going to carry us across," Lyca said.
Tom looked at the vampire, hopefully.
"Sorry, I could not keep you in the air for such a distance," Val said.
"How about a boat?" Maya said shyly.
"Where are we supposed to get a boat from?" Dan snapped.
"There's one over there," said Maya pointing to the far bank.
Everyone stared at the far side of the river and sure enough, there was a rowing boat nestled into the bank under an overhanging willow.
"Let's see if we can get it," said Garren. Standing on the very edge of the bank, he held up his staff and immediately the gemstone began to emit its brilliant glow as he performed a summoning spell. The boat started to swing its bow towards them and drifted a little way from the bank before it stopped, caught on something at the stern. "It's tied up."
"I'll go and see if I can untie it," Dan volunteered and zoomed off.
His bright glow could be seen arriving on the far side of the bank where the boat was tied up, before disappearing behind the willow. Seconds later, he reappeared, heading back to the waiting group. "It's no good," he said. "It's chained to a thick wooden post. I can't shift it."
"That's that then," said Garren. "We'll have to keep going and find another way."
"No," said Tom angrily. "We need that boat." He stared across the river, and a bright yellow glow shone from inside his jacket. The companions heard the sound of splintering wood and looked across the river to see the little boat with its stern low in the water, straining against its chain. The splintering sound came from the bank where the old rotting post it was attached to was breaking. Suddenly it gave and the boat, sped across the water, complete with chain and what was left of the post. In moments the boat thudded into the muddy bank.
Everyone stared at Tom in shocked silence before Garren said, "Did you mean to do that?"
"Er... I just wanted the boat to be on this side," Tom said, equally surprised. "I guess I was sort of angry that we keep coming up against brick walls. I want to get back home."
"You got some power there, Sunshine," said Lyca, patting him on the shoulder. She caught hold of the boat and jumped in. "Seems solid enough," she said.
"Nice work," said Val to Tom, following Lyca into the boat.
Maya went next, shyly looking at Tom, then quickly looking away when he smiled back. Tom and Garren followed, the cleric casting a spell to set the boat in motion as there were no oars to use. Because the little boat was so cramped with them all in it, Dan flew by the side.
"Now this is the way to cross a river," said Lyca, reclining in the stern with her outstretched arms on the weathered wood. "No hassle, no trolls, just a nice gentle ride across the water... Whoa!"
Lyca suddenly found herself on the soggy floor of the boat with legs and arms waving about in the attempt to regain purchase on the world. Everyone else was in a similar predicament. The boat had received a blow to its side, almost capsizing it.
"What was that?" Tom cried, trying to get his foot out of Val's cloak.
"We collided with something, probably a tree trunk," Garren said. "Its turned us right around. Hold tight I'll get us back on course."
"I can't see a tree trunk," shouted Dan from above.
Garren turned the boat around and resumed course for the far bank. "Everyone keep a lookout for more debris in the water."
The nervous passengers scoured the rippling water as it flowed past them for any sign of floating perils. Each one of them had a nasty suspicion that their close shave was due to something a little more sinister than a floating log. It was not long before their fears were confirmed as once again the little vessel reeled from another almighty blow, this time accompanied by the sound of cracking wood. It was immediately followed by a second, even stronger impact that shattered the boat's side, knocking the helpless inhabitants backwards. There was a loud splash as one of them hit the water.
The boat was out of control, carried by the now strong current. The water in front of them erupted as if an underwater fountain had been turned on. The plume of water did not fall back into the torrent, but instead, the spray swirled around in the air like a gigantic swarm of mosquitoes, eventually sorting themselves out in the shape of a face. It was the face of an angry woman with long hair that floated behind her as if she was underwater.
"Leave my river, or your bones will rot forever at the bottom," boomed its gurgling voice.
A giant watery hand pushed the broken boat towards the bank from where it came.
Tom saw the water spirit only briefly as it pushed the boat to the edge of the river. The last impact had thrown Maya overboard, and she was floundering in the water, unable to swim. As she went under, Tom hooked his foot under the seat and leant over the side. Plunging his hand into the icy river, he managed to find the shoulder of Maya's cloak and hauled her above the water. She coughed and spluttered but managed to hold on to his arm. They heard the command, and Tom caught sight of the spirit over his shoulder as he fought to keep Maya's head above the water, a task made more difficult by the listing of the little vessel as it was pushed to the bank. Tom would have gone overboard himself had it not been for Val grabbing his belt.
The remains of the boat thudded into the bank, and at last, Maya was able to stand shakily in the shallow water. Still holding on to Tom's arm, she pulled herself towards the boat. Tom held out his free hand to help her climb in. As she took it, she felt a blinding pain in her eyes which lasted for a split second. The river, the boat and the other travellers faded into a bright light.
Then she was in a strange place.
There were grass and trees and yellow lights on poles, but too bright to be oil lamps. It was night. There were pairs of shining white lights attached to noisy metal carts which zoomed up and down of their own accord in front of rows of large buildings with lights burning in the windows.
Tom was also there. They were standing holding hands and looking into each other's eyes. They drew closer, and their lips touched.
Instinctively, Maya snatched her hand away from Tom, nearly falling back into the water. Again Valcris came to the rescue and hauled her into the boat. Unable to speak, she collapsed on to her knees and stared horrified at Tom. Barely aware of the others fussing and asking if she was alright, the realisation of what had just happened hit her. She had had her first real vision. She had seen the future. Her future. And Tom's.