Dying Fall

and, having writ, moves on.
Eventually, Ruth and Kate are standing on the steps, looking out at an expanse of water. The beach has completely vanished.
    Ruth’s phone recalls her to life. She isn’t surprised when she sees that it’s from Cathbad but the words make herstand stock still as the cold North Sea breaks over the step and soaks her feet.
    Have found Dan’s laptop. Tell Nelson.
    *
    As night falls Thing becomes more and more frantic. He keeps going to the front door and barking at the rain. Cathbad lights more oil lamps and tries to start a fire. It is something he’s good at (Nelson once called him a closet arsonist) but today his skills desert him. He kneels by the hearth, crumpled paper in hand, defeated. Thing whines softly in the background.
    ‘It’s OK, boy,’ says Cathbad. ‘Do you want food? There’s food in the kitchen.’
    As he says this he hears Nelson’s voice, those familiar flat northern vowels.
    He’s got enough food for a week.
    There are several food bowls in the kitchen. Pendragon has left his dog enough food for a week. His friend – the druid who keeps a high-tech office hidden in his bedroom – obviously isn’t expecting to return for some time. But why leave the door unlocked, especially when he has all that expensive equipment upstairs? Cathbad stands still, listening to the house. The ancient beams creak, upstairs something – probably a mouse – is scurrying from room to room. Outside, the rain hammers on the windows as it did the day he came here with Ruth. Did Pendragon know then that Ruth was Dan Golding’s friend? Was that why he seemed so scared when they arrived? A sudden movement makes Cathbad jump but it’s only Thingscratching at the door. The crazy animal evidently wants to go outside. Well, Cathbad believes in following instincts, his own and those of other creatures. Holding the lamp high, he opens the heavy oak door.
    Thing runs down the hill. Cathbad follows, more carefully. It’s dark now and the ground is steep. Also it’s raining heavily, turning the earth to mud. Cathbad stumbles. He doesn’t want to break his leg and lie undiscovered for weeks. Also, he doesn’t want to lose the dog.
    ‘Thing!’ he calls. ‘Thing! Come back!’
    He sees a white shape at the bottom of the path and heads towards it. Thing is standing by a small group of trees. Hidden in the trees is a building, taller than it is wide, an outhouse of some kind. Cathbad approaches, driven on now by a sick certainty of disaster. By all the gods in the pantheon, he knows that nothing good lies within.
    Cathbad pushes open the door. The lamp has gone out but the moon rides out from behind the clouds, illuminating brick walls, a pile of half-chopped logs and Pendragon’s body hanging from a beam.
    Thing starts to howl.

CHAPTER 21
    Cathbad backs away. For a second, he just wants to shut the door and pretend that he hasn’t seen the grotesque figure swinging to and fro. It is only the sound of Thing’s desolate howling that brings him to his senses.
    ‘It’s OK, boy,’ he says, ridiculously, to the dog. Because, if anything is clear, it’s that things are very much not OK.
    He approaches the swinging body. Logs lie scattered on the floor. Presumably Pendragon stood on this pile before kicking it away. There seems to be nothing else to stand on. Cathbad takes out his phone and calls for an ambulance while, at the same time, searching for a ladder, a chair, anything. Eventually, he finds an old water butt and pulls it into the shed. The wood is rotten but he manages to balance on the reinforced rim. He takes a sharp knife from his pocket (the possession of which, as Nelson could inform him, renders him liable to a lengthy jail sentence) and cuts through the rope suspending Pendragon from the ceiling. He had intended to catchthe body but Pendragon is a big man and his weight, combined with the perilous perch, is enough to send Cathbad crashing to the floor. Cathbad actually falls onto his friend’s body, but even as he scrambles to his feet and starts cutting the rope around Pendragon’s neck, he knows it’s too late. The wizard is dead: Cathbad knew that as soon as he opened the door.
    When the paramedics arrive, they find Cathbad kneeling by his friend’s body, the dog at his side. They are very kind and professional, actually covering Cathbad with one of those foil blankets favoured by marathon runners. Pendragon is lifted onto a stretcher and carried into the