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The passage ended at a cluster of doors. David looked briefly at them and chose the middle door. He took hold of the black metal ring handle and twisted it. He felt the latch on the other side lift and so he pushed the door open.

Jack peered over his shoulder into the darkness which the torches lining the passageway barely penetrated.

'She's not in there, David,' he said smugly. 'Come on, let's use a more methodical way of ... '

'Come in,' a voice commanded from the darkness. It was low and gravelly. 'Come in, both of you. '

'Who is that?' Jack asked, but David had already entered. Jack swore, pulled a torch off the wall and followed him in.

'There you are, Jack, I told you she was here.'

Jack only had time to register that Ace's mouth was gagged before the torch was swept out of his hand and the door pushed shut behind him. He spun round to see who his assailant was.

'Well, well,' Nuada chuckled, 'this is a surprise. I hadn't expected my call to summon Earth people.

My dear,' he said to Ace, 'one of your friends is a witch.'

Jack's mind reeled - David had said he'd felt someone was calling him.

'Chrissakes, David, you said it was Ace's animal magnetism.'

Ace grunted incoherently through the rag tied over her mouth. Jack edged over to her and when Nuada did nothing, he freed her. She stood up and rubbed her arms to restore her circulation.

'You scumbag,' she spat at Nuada. He laughed and then stabbed the flaming torch at her face. She reeled back.

'Now then. I wonder which of your friends has a mark upon his neck.'

Jack remembered David showing him the unusual birth mark. 'David,' he whispered. Why didn't he move? He'd stood there staring at Nuada almost since they'd come into the room.

David's mind was elsewhere, hidden memories rising to torment him. They weren't his memories, they belonged to someone. .. something else.

A hell of teeth and claws that lasted for eternity, bound in the subterranean cave-pit amongst the amorphous ever-shifting shapes. . . a momentary lessening of the pressure. . . a release into liquid ...

rising to the surface alone ... the light, burning at first but then. . . attacking the flying creature and assimilating it ... the absorption of the small furry vertebrate ... a pulling across the land, calling him from afar ... the long journey that lasted many days. . . the tumbling transition to another world ... the search amongst the woods ... discovering the intelligent being and entering it ... dormancy, years of dormancy ... and now awakening. .. glorious awakening ...

16:

Altered Flesh

The details of the flying machine were gradually resolved as it approached the ramparts of Dinorben. It was roughly ovoid in shape - a series of flat panels ran around the lower edge and were surmounted by a gleaming dome. It emitted a low droning sound and left behind a slowly dissipating trail of water droplets that gleamed brightly in the rays of the sun. It passed over the valley and then, rapidly descending, it headed towards the wall.

'There, you see, Ydvort,' Dryfid said, twisting his hair around his fingers, 'Goibhnie would hardly place himself in the hands of his enemy, would he?'

'It could be a double bluff, my friend,' Ydvort counselled.

Dryfid tugged his hand free from his beard and patted Ydvort on the back. 'I am glad I do not have a mind like yours, Ydvort. Your own cunning makes you read too much into other people’s actions.

Goibhnie is our friend. Clear a space, you men, clear a space so that Goibhnie may return to Dinorben and the embrace of the Land Mother.'

Ydvort shook his head. 'We shall see whether he returns as a friend.'

Stevens pushed his way through the milling soldiers and gazed up at the falling aircraft. The sound rose to a higher pitch as its descent was slowed and it settled softly on to the rough stone of Dinorben. A door flipped open in the side and Stevens held his breath wondering what new marvel would emerge. It was rather a disappointment that a small man in a brown jacket, a garish sweater and darkly tartaned trousers should be the occupant.