the sudden shaking in her hands. It didn’t help, but at least it hid her fear from the others. ‘Right, running I can do. Any other last words of wisdom?’
‘Yes. Your Will will not help you in the lower dominions.’
‘What!’ choked Charlie and Nibbler in unison.
‘Your Will will only get you through the Gate and back. Nothing more.’
‘Please tell me you’re joking. Please tell me that was just bad Stoman humour.’
‘As I have told you several times: I do not joke.’
‘No, no, of course you don’t,’ said Charlie, white-faced. The shakes were now starting in her arms and legs. ‘You don’t joke.’
‘Hold up,’ growled Nibbler. ‘Charlie, forget this. There’s no way you’re going in there. Not without me and not without your Will. Listen, Darkmount, the deal is off! Definitely off! What kind of idiot are you and what kind of idiots do you think we are? We don’t need this; we can find the location of the Gate another way. We don’t –’
‘A deal was made!’ said Darkmount, his angry voice crackling around the cavern. The shadows seemed to darken, the light grew dimmer and the bishop appeared to grow in size.
‘Yeah, well who makes deals like that with little girls?’ yelled Nibbler. ‘Got to be some kind of twisted person to pull a fast trick like that!’ He stared fiercely at the bishop. Small puffs of flame burst from his mouth.
Darkmount jumped to his feet, his stonesong already building. Rage made the veins in his face and neck bulge. ‘So you would revoke a deal?’
‘That wasn’t a deal, that was a trick!’
Nibbler, just as furious, reared up on his back legs, spread his wings wide and gushed out a torrent of bright flame that burned and flared across the room. Dark green and bright yellow flames crashed together with the explosive sound of a thunderclap.
The two adversaries snarled and spat wordlessly at one another. Darkmount drew his arms over his head and increased the passion of his song. Nibbler sucked in a huge breath of air, widened his mouth and tensed his legs ready to jump forward.
‘Enough!’ screamed Charlie. Jumping upright she sent a sheet of golden Will between the two. ‘Enough! I will do it!’ she shouted. ‘I will do it. I will see this through. A deal is a deal and if this is what it takes to beat Bane then this is what I shall do.’
‘Charlie, are you sure?’ asked Nibbler as he settled back on to all four paws. ‘Are you sure this is what you want to do? There’s always another way.’
‘No, it’s not what I want to do. I’d rather be chilling at home with my parents or hanging with you, Jensen and Kelko back in Sylvaris, but this is what’s gotta be done. If we want to keep moving forward then this is the way.’ Charlie forced out a dry laugh. ‘This is the Will and the Way. Ha. You know Azariah would be laughing if he could only see me now.’
Hands clenched by her sides, she swallowed her fear and prepared herself for what was to come.
11
A Lawyer’s Touch
The crows cascaded through the air like a ragged scarf caught in the wind. Wheeling this way and that, their movement was fierce but discordant. Overhead, ominous clouds churned with the promise of thunder and lightning; below, the apparently never-ending grasslands of the Great Plains stretched as far as the eye could see.
As the flock sped onward, their flight became more chaotic, more disorganized, as though they were having trouble acting as one. At the point when it seemed as though the birds would break off in different directions, an abrupt change came over them. Cawing nastily they spiralled downward and, nearing the ground, burst into one large flailing mass of inky feathers. With an odd sound of breaking glass Mr Crow stepped on to the grass.
Still dressed in his suit and tie, and still slightly transparent after his battle royal with Nibbler – the distant horizon could be seen through his body – Charlie Keeper’s lanky lawyer and legal guardian looked very out of place.
Truly, Mr Crow was a stranger in a strange land.
Almost immediately he began to pace up and down. A perplexed expression crept across his face and as he strode back and forth with jerky motions his angular nose began to quiver.
‘What to do? What to do? What to do?’ he asked.
Ignoring the fact that he could see the grass through his shoes and refusing to acknowledge that