Chapter 1
Prelude
Welcome to a new story set in the Zone, following on from the events detailed in the “Dragons of the Zone” trilogy. This story begins roughly six months after the end of “Eric and the Quantum Dragon” and focuses on Angelina Brackenridge and the arrival of the Iron Witch.
If you haven’t already read the previous stories, the adventure begins with “Sarah and the Steam Dragon”, followed by “Carmody and the Electric Dragon” before concluding with “Eric and the Quantum Dragon”.
Falsham Woods, east of Durham, RUK
The creature hunkered in the deep thicket of trees, its slitted yellow eyes gazing with hunger at the old woman tottering geriatrically up the pathway. She looked ancient yet well fed, her arms and legs thick beneath the layers of woolen coat and pleated skirt. Her faltering steps drew her ever closer to the lurking beast, only the bronze headed stick she carried preventing her from collapsing completely onto the dirt laden path.
It was the strange stick that caught the beast’s attention, wrapped as it was in some dark fabric that was unknown in its own realm. The material was thin it could tell, wrapped in a dense mass around the central shaft. What the device was used for eluded its simple understanding of human tools, but one thing it was certain of.
The strange walking stick was not a weapon. Nor did the elderly female give off even the faintest hint of magic strength. She was not an Adept, just a simple mortal of this world and thus she was only one thing that mattered to the creature. She was prey!
Mavis
Mavis huffed as she climbed the long slope into the treeline, using the umbrella as an improvised cane as her booted feet stumbled on the small rocks and damp mud of the path. It had rained less than an hour ago and judging by the heavy clouds rolling overhead it would do so again in short order. Her feet were still dry inside the sturdy hiking boots she wore and it would take more than a rainstorm to deter her from climbing this particular hill.
She lifted her eyes and peered short-sightedly at the dark treeline that loomed ahead, the fading sunlight failing to penetrate the deep shadows. For a moment she thought there was a hint of movement and the sound of a breaking twig, as if some large dark shape had glided from one tree to another, yet she squinted her eyes and all was quiet and unmoving once again.
“Come on Mavis” she chided herself with a wry chuckle. “These old legs can take a break when you get to the top”
She spurred into motion, her bronze tipped umbrella marking the way as she strode the final yards into the trees. At once she was enveloped in a cool, clammy dim light, the dense oak trees blocking what little sun could sneak between the domineering clouds above. It was quiet in here too, the sounds of birds and cows in their hedges and fields a distant background noise. For all intents and purposes, Mavis was alone in these woods, as far from another human being as if she were on another world.
Just as she liked it.
The path she had followed led her onwards into the packed oaks, their ancient trunks thick and substantial, testament to the centuries they had stood here. Mavis knew these woods of old, a haven for the forest creatures against the ploughed and harvested fields that surrounded it. It surprised many travellers to see the Falsham Woods still standing so resolutely when so many others had fallen to the axes and fires of humanity.
It was of no surprise to Mavis, for she had heard of the ones who guarded these ancient places. The legends claimed they were home to portals into the other realms, places where the boundary between worlds was thinnest. Such stories had brought her here, to investigate the wild tales that had been sweeping the county this past week.
Her slow, methodical gait brought her at last to the centre of the woods where a shallow depression in the earth lay open to the sky. Wild grass and dainty yellow flowers grew in the sheltered glen, their vibrant colour bringing life to the surrounding darkness of the woods. At the very centre of the hollow was a stone monolith, erected ages past by the early Britons who roamed these lands.
Mavis followed the pathway as it circled the ancient tooth of rock, seeing the gap in the trees beyond that led to the other side of Falsham Wood. If she had been a traveller she might have ventured that way, but her business lay here and with the monolith. She stepped off the worn path, her boots placed carefully between the flowers to avoid crushing a single one.
She crouched at the side of the time-worn rock, clucking to herself as she pondered the markings she found there. A faint sound of movement came to her ears, behind her as she expected. The last remnants of sunlight faded as the rainclouds swept overhead, plunging the forest glade into watery shade.
“You should leave now, before you lose the chance” she spoke over her shoulder, calmly and politely like she had been taught. “The path will remain open until midnight, then it will trap you here forever”
A surprised inhalation of breath, strong and powerful as she had feared. Her hands gripped the umbrella tightly, quelling the trembling she felt inside her heart. Once she turned, the dice would be cast and her actions could only follow towards one outcome.
“Go home, back beyond the Boundary” she implored the unseen watcher. “This is not a world you belong in”
“How do you know of the Boundary?” a deep, raspy voice demanded, far closer than she had guessed. Hot, moist breath washed over her neck, bringing a scent of rotten meat and dank earth. The smell was not unlike a freshly opened grave, one she was sadly too familiar with, yet the creature was not one of the restless dead. It was something far more dangerous, as evidenced by the eviscerated cattle she had seen on her walk to this ancient hilltop.
“I am a Guardian of this land” Mavis declared in a firm voice. “It is my life’s work to defend the mortal world from creatures like you. Go now, willingly and without malice, and I shall spare your life”
“You are old and frail, simple woman” the voice growled ever closer. “There are no magics to protect you, no weapons to harm me” it gloated. “It has been far too long since I tasted the flesh of humans. I think I shall stay!”
“So be it” Mavis answered and threw herself to the side as one massive clawed hand swept through the space she had been crouching in. She rolled over the damp grass, her skirt and coat twirling as she leapt nimbly to her feet. In one swift motion her hands twisted the bronze handle of the umbrella, releasing the internal catch with a soft click. A long, slender blade of gleaming steel slid from the sheath, runes etched into the surface in a pattern coiled and interwoven like the body of a serpent.
Before her loomed a creature unseen in these lands for centuries, only the folk tales of her ancestors giving knowledge of what it was. The beast stood over nine feet tall, shaped like a man made too wide and squat for his tremendous height. Arms dangled to the ground, ending in claws of glistening black chitin, the skin mottled in greens and greys. Its torso and shoulders were broad and heavily muscled, a simple wrap of animal skin draped to cover the chest, belly and groin. A head sat too far forwards on the neck, almost projecting from between the shoulders than atop them.
The face was the most terrifying, a caricature of humanity with huge yellow eyes and slavering teeth and tusks in a mouth wide enough to swallow a large cow. Two pointed ears dropped from the side of its head, the tips tufted in coarse black hair. Such hair was dotted across the chest and shoulders too, giving the creature the look of a bear if seen at a distance.
Mavis wished she was at such a distance right now, as the creature regarded her keenly. She knew what it was and would rather be facing an enraged bear. It was a Troll from the Dark Side and she was in serious trouble.
“Grandmother has teeth it seems” the Troll said with a leering grin. “I like it when they fight back, but that little needle won’t do any good against one of my kind. My skin is harder than iron and my claws can shatter trees with one blow. You are without magic old hag but I reckon you’ll taste good enough”
“Who are you calling an old hag!” Mavis snapped indignantly, then lifted her hand to the pendant around her neck, gripping the small round stone that was tied to a cord. She ripped the stone loose and dropped it to the ground at her feet, feeling like she had been reborn.
“Haven’t you ever heard of a Binding Stone, you stupid troll?” she gloated as her power rose within her, flooding her body and mind with raw magical energy. The Dark Side filled her, caressing her with its potent vibrancy like a familiar lover. Mavis held the slender rapier blade in front like a shield and channelled her magic into the waiting weapon.
“Scutum!” she called out in a ringing voice and the sword flared with green light, the Troll taking a step backwards as it shielded its eyes from the arcane glow. For a moment Mavis dared hope the creature would flee this world, that it would open the fading Portal and return to its true home. Then it slitted its eyes and gave her a calculating look, showing teeth and tusks as it weighed her up. It looked like she was still on the menu.
The troll roared its challenge, the deafening bellow knocking the grass flat and shaking leaves from the surrounding trees. Mavis felt her skirt whipped back in the blast of foul air and gripped her glowing sword even tighter as she stood her ground.
“For Avalon!” she answered in a quiet voice and stepped forwards, to serve her home and her Queen.
=====
It was quiet in the aftermath of the battle. Mavis sat against the rough bark of an oak, feeling the steady thrum of earth magic rising within the venerable tree, soothing her with its gentle strength. The bleeding in her side had finally ceased, her healing charms closing over the deep wounds at last.
“Nearly got me, you old bastard” she admitted to the corpse of her opponent. The body of the troll lay sprawled inelegantly some feet from her, fading into the dusk light as each mote turned to inky black smoke. Creatures summoned from the Dark Side, that mythical realm on the other side of the Boundary, could not remain long in the mortal world. Now that it was dead, the magic that had allowed it to stay was trickling away, sending the remains home to where it belonged.
Satisfied that the creature would not regenerate, Mavis levered herself onto her feet and walked past the body, settling into a crouch before the monolith once more. She drew a Candlestone from a pocket, channelling power into the marble sized rock so that it glowed with the light of a torch. Her eyes ran across the markings she had seen the first time and nodded to herself.
There was no doubt that the stone had been used as the focus for a Portal spell. Some Adept on this side of the Boundary had deliberately opened a path between the worlds, baiting it like a trap to summon a creature through into the Light Side. Mavis sat back on her heels, groaning as the wound in her side sent a twinge of pain through her old body, contemplating who could have done this. More importantly, why would they have done this?
She played the light from her Candlestone over the earth around the base of the monolith, seeing a small section of crushed grass hard against the stone. Mavis poked her fingers into the dirt and felt something small, sharp and hard wedged into the earth. It would not come loose from its dirt prison so she drew her long rapier from the umbrella sheath, working the tip between the stone and whatever was buried there.
It was an ignoble use for such a venerable weapon, forged in the days of the great Witch Queen, Elizabeth the First. Scutum had fought monsters untold over the centuries since but she doubted it had ever been used as a garden trowel before.
“Forgive me” she whispered to her metal companion and managed to prise the object free from the ground. She wiped the last fragments of loamy soil from the object with the hem of her skirt and laid it on her open palm. By the Candlestone light she could see what it was and she pursed her lips in a grim line.
The object was a small iron scale, shaped like a fish or reptile scale about as long and broad as the top of her thumb, with two holes at the flat upper portion where it would be secured. It was a piece of scale armour, an old fashioned form of protection that hadn’t been used in over a thousand years. This one was fresh and gleaming, like it had been plucked from a skirt of scale armour only yesterday.
“I see” Mavis said to herself, standing and brushing the dirt from the skirt and coat. She slipped the iron scale into a pocket along with the extinguished Candlestone. Her sword she wiped on the same section of her hem, knowing her landlady would have a fit at how badly she treated her good clothes. Once she did a final check around the glen, satisfied that all evidence of her battle and the Portal were erased, she headed down the path towards the lights of a nearby town.
Dusk had fallen at last over Falsham Woods, the dark cloudy sky matching the dark mood of Mavis as she trudged through the fields towards civilisation and the modern world..
