Modern Magick

The Heart of Hyndorin: 5

Maybe this was the brilliant new plan. Drop us somewhere freezing and dangerously high up, and leave us to die of exposure.

No, he couldn't do that. The way out was embedded into the rock, a circle of weathered, craggy stones swept clean by the wind. The landscape offered little else in the way of hope. We stood, miserably huddled, on a soaring mountainside, surrounded by nothing but more mountains. Bleak and beautiful, these peaks were of a deep, dark stone; snow dusted the tops of those on the near horizon, rising still higher into the mist-white skies.

'This way,' said Wyr, and set off, winding his way in between two jutting crags. He had his hands in his pockets, probably to protect them from the cold, but he seemed untouched by the conditions. He sauntered off, whistling.

'Your ring is gone,' said Alban in my ear.

That cost me a pang. Yes, I had deliberately hung it out as bait for the double-crossing thief. No, I didn't love losing it.

'Then I guess I'm stuck with pink hair forever,' I said.

'Luckily, it suits you.'

I smiled up at him. 'You can definitely stay.'

'That was the plan.'

We set off after Wyr, me keeping a weather eye on the horizon for any unhappy surprises leaping out of the air. I trusted Jay to keep track of where we were going, in case we needed to find our way back to the henge. 'You do have the mysterious miscellany somewhere about your person?' I said softly to Alban.

'You mean the other... articles? Yes, I do.'

'Thank goodness.'

He grinned. 'Your faith in me is touching.'

'Actually I had no idea if you'd thought to bring them along.'

'...that was a gamble?'

'Yep.'

'You're a brave woman.'

'Or stark raving mad. The point is the subject of some debate, at Home.'

'Fair.'

'I don't know why I didn't think of it before we left.'

'Other things on your mind.'

True, but that was little excuse. I suppose the peculiar paraphernalia had seemed so random as to be hardly relevant, and I hadn't set eyes on any of it since that last trip to Mandridore. I'd clean forgotten.

Fortunate that we had Alban to rectify that particular mistake.

Then again, if I had brought them with me, they would probably have disappeared into Wyr's possession along with the scroll-case. Swings and roundabouts.

Wyr led us on a winding route, bearing steadily downwards towards a sloping valley below. We walked for the best part of half an hour, getting colder by the minute. By the time he finally stopped, my teeth were chattering. Even Alban looked uncomfortable.

'And here,' said Wyr, 'is where we all part ways with the straight and narrow.' He gestured at the ground, his hand tracing a vaguely circular shape in the air.

Without which clue, I might never have spotted the henge. It was so deeply embedded as to be virtually invisible, only the rough outlines of a ring of rock discernible. 'More Ways?' I said.

'This one isn't part of the official network, and you can't buy tokens to use it.'

'How did you know about it?' said Jay. I saw his point. The stone circle was so well camouflaged, if I hadn't known what I was looking for, I'd never have spotted it at all.