song increased in strength the light intensified so that it went from a deep green to a pearly white that was almost painful to look at.
With a roar he clapped both hands against the citadel and, amidst an explosion of sparks, started to push. The wall juddered and moaned in response to his onslaught and slowly, ever so slowly, his hands began to push a section of the citadel’s stone blocks inwards.
The stonesinging and twisted shriek of the tortured wall didn’t go unnoticed. Cries of alarm and shouted orders could be heard in the distance.
‘Darkmount …’ Charlie began, but stopped when she realized the huge strain he was under.
Veins were popping across his forehead, tendons stuck out along his neck, sweat dripped from his nose and his eyes had narrowed into slits of concentration.
Begrudgingly the section of wall sank deeper beneath his fingers.
A spear slammed into the floor by Charlie’s feet as a troop of Stoman guards rounded the corner. With shouts of anger they rushed towards them.
‘Better hurry that up!’ shouted Charlie to Darkmount as she watched the soldiers narrow the distance.
Nibbler reared back on his feet and pawed at the air. Unleashing a torrent of flame that crackled into the night he prepared to jump into the skies.
Charlie grabbed him by the tail. ‘No! We can’t afford to get separated. I’ll deal with it.’
Stepping forward and summoning her Will, she crouched into a loose K’Changa pose and waited for the first Stoman to come within striking distance. Charlie licked her lips in anticipation. She was determined that after her last confrontation with Stoman soldiers – back in Alavis where her Will had failed her – this time would be different. This time she wouldn’t act like a scared little girl.
But before she could put herself to the test a shuddering screech came from the citadel as Darkmount, with a final grunt, forced his way inside. There was a boom as the section of wall he had been pushing fell forward.
‘In!’ he roared. Grabbing a loose rock, he flung it so that it deflected a thrown spear that had been intended for Charlie. ‘Get in!’
Charlie and Nibbler took one last look at the running soldiers before ducking through the hole in the wall.
Veins still pulsating and with sweat coursing off him, Darkmount knelt down, heaved up the fallen slab and, with a final bellow of stonesinging, slammed it back into place.
13
Dark Forces
The young Stoman boy lay awake, wrapped in his blankets. Something unusual was happening and it took a while for his sleep-befuddled brain to work out what exactly had woken him. There – a rhythmic pounding, so low pitched he could hardly hear it, but he could certainly feel it as it rippled through his bones.
Wide awake and curious, he threw off his blankets, made certain his pannier was secure and added an extra log to the fire to ensure it would still be alight when he returned. The night sky was clear and the stars twinkled overhead, but over towards the Red Moon Canyon – where the rhythm seemed to be coming from – was an odd glow. With his curiosity growing, the young boy crept forward past thick stalks of wild amethyst bamboo and beneath the softly glowing leaves of crycarry trees. As he neared the canyon, the pounding noise grew in volume and the light intensified. Scrambling down on his hands and knees, he edged forward right to the canyon’s edge. Peering over he looked down and gasped in astonishment.
Below, a Stoman army flowed through the canyon like a scarlet river. The pounding he had heard was the measured step of hulking soldiers as they marched in order, battalion after battalion sweeping past amidst flickering torchlight.
Each Stoman soldier wore polished scarlet leather armour and was armed with an axe, sword or mace. Black circular shields embossed with a clenched fist were strapped to their arms, and at the head of each battalion marched a hooded figure who carried a blood-red pennant that flapped in the rushing canyon wind.
As the army marched on and on, seemingly endless, the Stoman boy gazed in wonder at its sheer numbers. After what seemed like hours, the infantry passed and the young boy was just about to rise from his vantage point and return to his bed when a rustling, scuttling sound froze him in his tracks. Once again, torchlight lit the canyon and rounding the bend came the Stoman cavalry, different from anything that had preceded it.
The boy’s eyes