man much bigger, with stooped shoulders and a billowing cloak blowing behind him. He calls out something in a harsh and guttural voice that sounds vaguely familiar. For a moment, while trying to place it, I forget the severe cold.
The large man’s arm reaches out to hit a smaller figure beside him. The force of the man’s blow knocks the creature to the ground. The cloaked man then kicks out at this creature with a booted foot, while the old man looks on. The cart suddenly stops and three other creatures, similarly sized, run, or leap, to their fallen colleague. The younger man yells abuse at them. One of them squawks, then flaps cumbersome wings at its side, lifting slightly off the ground. Another approaches my cart, peering in with red glowing eyes. ‘He’s awake,’ he calls out in a thick tone, as if his tongue is too large for his mouth.
The cloaked man bellows, ‘Deal with him as I have commanded. We will arrive soon.’
At these words two of the creatures leap into the back of the cart with just a single flap of their wings. They tower over me, blocking the light from the torches. And while I can’t distinguish their features in this blackness, I sense what they’re about to do. I try to use my powers, to unbind myself from these chains. But nothing happens. The pair of creatures leap on me, and I kick out at them feebly with my chained legs. It has no effect, and soon the other two follow, hitting and kicking.
The beating continues. Instinctively I try to bring my feet to my chest to protect my internal organs as best I can, but the kicking at my back could be just as fatal. I finally realise what they’re doing – beating me until I lose consciousness. They probably don’t want me to remember the way. As if that were possible. I make my body go slack; I’m not far from unconsciousness anyway. They eventually leave, and soon the cart is moving again.
I try to breathe deeply and slowly to regain a mental balance. I need my powers to get out of this mess. If only I could use my wings. But if this place really is the underworld, then it would be pointless anyway, as only an immortal can force an opening. And while I might be able to move around within it, where would I go?
I try to loosen the chains and the mesh. But I’m tied securely. I try again to use my powers, but when I visualise what it would take to unbind me, I feel nothing. What strange capability do these creatures have? It feels as if I’ve been enslaved by some sort of enchantment. But magic? How can that be?
After several attempts to use the skills I’ve picked up over my lifetime, all unsuccessfully, I lie back and concentrate on soothing my aching body. While I can’t heal myself, I can ease the pain of these bruises.
Eventually the cart stops, and I keep my eyes closed and my body as relaxed as I can for when the creatures make a return appearance. They lift me, two at my head, two at my feet. I gather from this that they’re not all that strong. Their size must hold them back, about half that of an average man. And their wings appear to be more of a nuisance than any use to them.
We pass doors that squeak when they swing from their hinges, then another, heavier, I suspect made from iron. It slides across with a grating sound. Once through this door the creatures drop me. The old man is with them. He coughs and his chest whistles.
The man in the cloak enters. ‘Release the chains,’ he says, throwing them a key. And this time his words, spoken from a much closer distance, send a tremor of fear through my heart. He sounds very much like Marduke. But how can this be? That man is dead. Then I remember that he died whilst in the past. He should be in the middle realm, a wandering lost soul. Not here. Not unless … Lathenia went searching for him in that grey world and brought him back!
As the cage is removed, I roll on to my side and brace myself for the possibility of Marduke’s rescue. My suspicions soon prove correct. The man towering over me is none other than Marduke himself, living and breathing. Yet the man before me