was able to get off a shot. With trembling knees he continued forward, gripping the torch tightly in his hands.

After a time Ian heard a sound filtering down the tunnel toward them, and he also felt a slight breeze on his cheeks. “What’s that noise?” he asked in alarm. “And that breeze?”

“We must be close to another opening,” said Perry, sniffing the air. “I’d say we’re close to the cliff’s face above the strait. You can smell the sea on the breeze.”

Ian sniffed too, and he could just smell the briny scent of open water. After making a slight turn, they came to a sizable pile of rocks in their path. Beyond the pile came a cold breeze and the strong smell of the sea.

Perry put his hand on Ian’s shoulder, squeezed past, and picked his way along the many large rocks littering the ground. “It seems the beast’s lair must be beyond this pile of rubble,” he said as the others moved in close to have a look. “It must have made a home for itself in one of the caves along the face of the cliff and I’d guess that the creature either heard or smelled the children and dug its way through here to get at them in the cavern behind us,” he said.

Ian’s gaze never left the large pile of rocks strewn aside like toy blocks. The sheer strength of the hellhound continued to astonish him.

“That’s odd,” Perry said, pulling Ian’s thoughts away from the floor. Perry was staring at the ceiling of the tunnel.

“What’s odd?” asked the earl from just behind Ian.

“Well, I would have thought there had been a collapse of some sort from the ceiling, and that’s how these rocks became piled here, but it’s smooth and even, consistent with the rest of the cave’s ceiling. It looks undamaged.”

“So these rocks were placed here on purpose?” the earl asked.

“By the amount of lichen on these rocks it appears they were placed here a long time ago to seal this side of the tunnel off, but why I can’t fathom.” Perry glanced at Ian, a bit of wonder in his eyes. “And a good thing too,” he added, “because if this barricade hadn’t been here, and if the beast hadn’t had to dig through it to get at you, I’m very certain you would not have made it out alive.”

“I wonder why someone would go to all that trouble to seal this section off?” Thatcher mused from behind the earl.

“It is strange,” Perry agreed, and Ian had an odd sense that the rocks had been purposely placed there as a barrier to help him, but he immediately dismissed the thought, because it was foolish, of course. “My lord,” said Perry, “to your knowledge, have any of the other tunnels had sections sealed off like this?”

The earl shook his head. “No,” he said. “None of them.”

“Strange,” repeated Perry, but then he shrugged and poked his rifle over the pile of rubble to the tunnel beyond, using his other hand to point his torch and illuminate the dim space. After a few moments he waved everyone forward, and Ian and the others stepped carefully among the fallen stones and scrambled over the main pile to the other side of the barrier.

When they were clear, they discovered yet another cavern, this one the largest of all. Ian had explored many of the caves along the cliff’s face, but he’d never been in this one. The ceiling was high above the earl’s head and the cavern was enormous. As the group filed in and waved their torches about, their footfalls and hushed voices echoed off the walls. Ian bounced his own torch beam around, looking for more of the lettering, but none of the walls appeared to have any sort of writing at all. Slowly, the hunting party spread out, investigating the cavern’s nooks.

“Look here!” exclaimed the earl, and Ian saw that he was kneeling beside a small pile of fur and bones. Ian hurried over to have a better look. “The beast has made a meal of something,” he said, his face pulled down into a scowl.

“That’s not all it’s been up to,” said Alfred from the far end of the cavern. “Or rather, she’s been up to.”

Henry, Ciaran, the earl, Ian, and the schoolmasters quickly gathered around Alfred, who was also kneeling by something on the ground. When Ian got close, he could see that the beast had hollowed out a space in the soft lime,