“I keep my word, Nightshade. You keep yours.” He stood and I felt the air ripple around me as he prepared torushand then was gone.
We spent a miserable day and a restless night in the drumlin field. Belis and I sparred as she tried to fit a decade’s worth of training into a single day. Rhiannon sat and watched, weaving the long grass into braids, muttering spells of protection and luck into the bands. The witch queen insisted we both sleep as much as possible while she kept watch. It was cold in the hollow and we huddled together for warmth, talking quietly in the night. When the first light of dawn came we rose and waited for Rhiannon to come down from the drumlin she had been perched on, her face newly striped with her blood. When she did she handed out charms on leather thongs, explaining one side would feel the pull of Caer Sidi and go warm. If we got lost we should follow the cold side, heading directly into the heart of the shadow.
We were still technically in Annwn, but it no longer felt like it. There were no birds overhead, no crickets singing in the undergrowth. The only sound was the breeze whistling throughthe grass and the faint thump of our own feet. We crossed a little stream at the edge of the hills, winding its way towards the canyon. I stopped to scoop up water for a drink.
“Ugh.” I spat it back out. “It’s bitter, smoky.”
“It’s ashfall in the rivers,” Rhiannon said. “When the wind blows from the west it whips up dust and cinders from the other side, carrying it over the border to pollute our lands. Seeds of the shadow on the wind.”
She waved a hand at the plains in front of us. “All this used to be forest, but the smoke blocked out the sun and the trees withered and died. The only thing that grows here now is this grass. And the thorns, of course, but we come along and burn them out every few months.”
“All along the border?” Belis asked. Rhiannon nodded.
“The north lands are chalk, so they were never used for much other than pasturelands. The winds grow fiercer every year. Even without theshadowbittenraids the corruption would begin to encroach on us.”
I bit my lip, staring at the rift, swirling mists veiling the wastelands on the other side from my sight. I had brought souls to Annwn on the understanding that it was a place of rest and beauty. This was as cruel as the mortal world, without even the promise of an ending.
“We should keep moving,” Belis said, hurrying us onwards.
The grass thinned as we approached the edge of the canyon, growing dryer so that it crunched underfoot. I felt very exposed out on the plain. Rhiannon kept glancing up at the sky and Belis gripped her spear tight as we ran.
We paused about ten yards back from the edge. Cracks were splintering back from the cliffs, suggesting that the slopes weren’t stable.
“Stay here,” Belis said, tilting up her spear. She extended it ahead of her, probing at the ground, checking each spot before she stepped into it. I drummed my fingers against the knife Arawn had given me, sure that at any moment the ground would fail. Belis reached the edge and peered over. I held my breath butnothing flew up from the darkness. I saw her smother a sneeze and she inched her way back.
“It’s pretty foul down there but I can’t see anything moving,” she said, accepting a swig from Rhiannon’s water bottle. “We should cover our faces, mouths and noses at the very least.”
“What else? Is there a way down?”
Belis shook her head. “It’s almost vertical on this side. Funny thing, but I can see paths on the western cliffs. Something has been coming down regularly but they haven’t managed to climb up here.”
“Should we move on?” I asked. “Find a better place to cross?”
“I think this might be as good as any,” Belis said. “At least here I can see a way out. I don’t want to find a way in but then get stuck at the base. We can rappel down and then walk up the path.”
“What about whatever made those paths?” Rhiannon asked. Belis looked grim, her hand tightening on her spear.
“If it comes to it, I’ll deal with them.”
Rhiannon shrugged and began rummaging in her pack. I frowned at Belis, remembering the last time we had had to fight, on the beach in Wales. I wanted her to be more careful of herself than she had been then. She ripped off a strip from the bottom of her tunic and handed it to me. I tied it over my nose and mouth. Belis covered her own face, looking over at me.
“We look like bandits,” she said. I patted the rough fabric to check it was tight.
“Better than breathing in that filth.”
Rhiannon was hammering a stake into the ground about five yards back from the rim. She tied one end of the rope to it and gave it an experimental tug.
“Excellent,” she said. “Here.”
I snatched the rope as she went to hand it over to Belis.
“I should go first. I’m lighter, I can test the strength. Besides, if it doesn’t reach the bottom you’ll be able to pull me back up. Rhiannon next, then you can climb down the rope.”
Belis opened her mouth to argue but Rhiannon nodded. “Very well, you can certainly try.”
“Thank you, Rhiannon,” I said, stepping over to the cliff’s edge. It looked very steep; the rock face was almost vertical. I thought back, trying to remember if I had ever seen humans doing this sort of thing before. They had wrapped the rope around their waist, I thought, then leaned back and just walked down the cliff. I twisted the line behind me, looping it back between my legs. As long as I held onto the rope this couldn’t go too badly wrong, I reasoned. Belis could always pull me up. Then I stepped off the edge.
The rope held, going tight around my waist and almost squeezing the breath from me. I still had one foot on the rim, the other dangling below me. Belis stepped forward but I managed to slam my free foot into the side of the cliff, finding a toehold. I dropped the second leg beside it, now completely standing on the side of the cliff.
