CHAPTER 1

In Which Next StepsAre Contemplated

Kit stood gazing at the burnt-out ley lamp still sizzling at hisfeet. The heat from the metal carapace had singed the drygrass, sending tiny tendrils of white smoke drifting up to assaulthis nostrils with a harsh metallic scent. Overpowered by the energycoursing around and through the enormous tree before them, thedevices had expired in a burst of heat and blue light.

"I guess that's that," he concluded.

Brother Lazarus bent over Mina's hand, inspecting the burn.

"We know the ley is here—no doubt about it," said Kit, taking inthe yew's gargantuan trunk, hard as iron and big as a house, growingright in the middle of the ley. "Now all we have to do is figure outwhat to do about this whacking great tree."

"I think that will have to be a problem for another day," saidWilhelmina, withdrawing her hand and shaking it gently. Raising hereyes, she indicated the circle of sky above the clearing; the clouds nowheld a dusky tint. "We're starting to lose the light. What do you wantto do now?"

"We could stay here and make camp," suggested Kit, "and thentry to establish contact with River City Clan in the morning." He sawthe glint of dissention in Wilhelmina's dark eyes and quickly added,"Or we could think of something else."

"How about this?" she said. "We could see if the Valley Ley isactive and use it to get back to Prague."

"What about Burleigh? I thought we were trying to stay out ofhis way."

"I doubt he's still hanging around. He's probably long gone bynow."

"But if he's there waiting for us?"

"There's an element of risk, I admit," she said. "But standingaround gawping at the problem"—she gestured towards the colossalyew tree before them—"isn't going to help. Anyway, it isn't as if thattree is going anywhere."

Brother Lazarus, who had been pacing the circle formed by theneedle-drop of the yew's spreading branches, stepped into view andannounced something in German. He spoke in a quaint, Italian-inflectedDeutsche all his own; Kit could follow nothing of what hesaid, but sensed a note of excitement in his tone. Having delivered hismessage, he marched off around the tree once more.

"Well?" Kit asked, watching the priest count off the paces.

"He says that you were right—judging from the size of the treeand the diameter of the trunk, it has been at least a thousand yearssince you were here last—give or take a century or three. Your StoneAge pals are ancient history, I'm afraid." She gave Kit a sympatheticpat on the shoulder. "Sorry." Turning again to the rapidly fading sky,she said, "There really is no use in staying here now. Let's go back toPrague and I'll buy us all a nice dinner—schnitzel and beer, the bestyou've ever had. What do you say? We can sleep between clean sheetstonight, and tomorrow we'll put our heads together and figure outour next steps."

"Right." Kit took a last look around the clearing, then agreedwith some reluctance. He stooped and gingerly tested the heat of theley lamp case. It had cooled enough to touch without burning, so hepicked it up and then retrieved Mina's. "We best not leave these lyingaround. You never know who might trip over them."

Shrugging off his pack, Kit stuffed the broken devices into it,nestling them down beside his furry tunic retrieved from the cavemouth. The shirt—cut from skins and stitched by hand using a crudebone needle and strands of dried gut—was no treasure; he wouldhave ditched it long ago but for the priceless object sewn into a pouchinside: Sir Henry's green book. How he had managed to hold on tothat through his ordeal was a minor miracle, and Kit was not about tolose it now. Shouldering the pack once more, he smoothed the frontof his borrowed cassock, gave the voluminous sleeves a tug, and said,"Okay. Let's see if we can navigate our way back to Prague beforeanother thousand years have passed. Think you can find the ley?"

Mina glanced around at the white limestone bluffs barely visiblethrough the trees to the south. "Shouldn't be a problem," she said."Anyway, if we stay here we'll probably get eaten by something bigand hairy."

"It's this way then." Kit led them back to the rim of the gorgeand the long downward trail that contained the ley. They descendedinto the valley and into deepening shadows. The chiselled rock facerose sheer on the left-hand side of the track, and the right-hand sideangled off sharply into heavy brush and the tops of trees growingfarther down the slope.

"I could never catch it when it was open, you know," he toldMina as they started down. "I tried as often as I could, but withoutsuccess, until I finally gave up. I had your lamp and figured if I everstumbled across another ley, the lamp would tell me."

"Like it told you about the Spirit Well?"

"That was a total surprise," Kit allowed. "Last thing I was expecting,really. Something very strange and"—he gave a shrug—"maybeprofound was going on in the Bone House. I'd give a lot to know whatit was that En-Ul was really doing."

"What do you think he was doing? Any ideas?"

"I got the impression ... The clansmen don't use language aswe do, remember, it's more a mental thing—you get impressions andimages, so you have to picture what you mean and hold it in your head.It's weird, but it works." Kit stopped walking. "Anyway, the closest Iwas able to get to it was that he was in some way dreaming time."

"You mean creating time?"

"Maybe, or maybe the Old One was seeing what time wouldbring and somehow interacting with what he saw. Like I say, the finerpoints escaped me. All I got was an impression of sleep and dreamingall mixed up somehow with time and creation and ... I don'tknow ... being."

Wilhelmina saw that Kit had halted and pulled up. "Why havewe stopped?"

Kit put out a hand and pointed to a bench-like rock jutting fromthe cliff face. "This is where I landed when I first arrived."

Mina nodded. "I recognise the place—from my experimentaltravels." She pointed down the narrow trackway. "But I always landedfarther down the path. So maybe this is where it starts."

"Whatever," said Kit. He glanced at the sky and the shadowsdeepening across the canyon. "It should be active any moment now—ifit is going to operate at all."

"Don't say that," Wilhelmina chided. "You might jinx it."

Brother Lazarus said something to which Wilhelmina gave ananswer. The priest stepped forward and held out his hand, spreadinghis fingers wide. He paced off three more steps and then turned witha grin and spoke again.

"He says the ley is active now—not full strength, but enough,"she explained.

"He can tell by feel?"

"It's something he's developed over the years—experience, Iguess." She moved to join the priest on the path. "Don't you ever feelanything when you make contact with a ley?"

"There's the throwing up," Kit replied, falling into step with...