Forest Kingdom Trilogy 3 - Down Among the Dead Men

thoughtfully. So this was the legendary Scarecrow Jack, the wild free spirit of the Forest. He didn’t look as impressive as MacNeil had thought he would. His clothes were little more than rags, and though he’d apparently been through a recent drenching, he still looked and smelled as though he hadn’t bathed since he was baptised. And yet there was something about him … something in the calm face and steady gaze that made MacNeil want to trust him. Even if he was Hammer’s man. MacNeil shrugged mentally. If Scarecrow Jack was half the man his legend made him out to be, he’d be a useful ally in the tunnels under the cellar, and right now he could use an ally he could safely turn his back on.
    “I’ve heard a lot about you, Jack,” he said finally. “I wouldn’t have thought this was your kind of fight.”
    “This is everybody’s fight,” said Jack evenly. “The Beast will destroy the Forest and everything that lives in it if we allow it to wake. You’re going to need me down there, Sergeant. I can feel it.”
    “He’s right,” said Constance. “I can’t go with you. My magic makes me especially vulnerable to the Beast. It might be able to use me against you. Jack’s part of the Wild Magic; he can guide and guard you when I can’t.”
    MacNeil looked at Hammer, who shrugged indifferently. “All right,” said MacNeil briskly, “but, Jack, if we have to use our swords, get out of the way fast and stay out of the way. Is that clear?”
    “Sure,” said Jack. He stared unmoved into the dark opening in the floor. “Who goes first?”
    “I do,” said MacNeil. “That’s my job.” He checked the amount of candle left in his lantern, hefted his sword once, and then stepped gingerly down onto the first of the bloodstained steps inside the opening. The wooden step groaned loudly and gave under his foot. MacNeil waited a moment, and the step steadied itself. He made his way carefully down the stairs, and the light from his lantern moved slowly ahead of him, revealing more steps falling down into the darkness. Hammer drew the sword on his hip and followed MacNeil down the stairs. Jack retrieved his torch from the wall holder, and followed Hammer down into the darkness. Halfway down the steps, MacNeil glanced back over his shoulder at Hammer.
    “I would draw your other sword, Hammer. You’re going to need it down here.”
    “No. Not yet.”
    “I’ve seen what lives in these tunnels. There are great crawling giants—”
    “I said not yet! I’ll draw the Device when I have to, and not before. The Beast isn’t the only thing here that sleeps lightly.”
    MacNeil remembered some of the whispers he’d heard about the Infernal Devices during the Demon War, and shuddered despite himself. There were those who said the Damned swords were more of a threat than the demons could ever be. MacNeil squared his shoulders and carried on down the stairs, and he and Hammer and Jack quickly disappeared into the gloom, until even the glow of the lantern and the torch was gone, smothered in darkness.
    Flint and the Dancer shut the trapdoor after them, grunting in surprise at the weight of the great slab of solid oak. They looked at the two steel bolts, glanced at each other, and then stepped back from the trapdoor.
    “Bolt it,” said Wilde. “You never know.”
    The Dancer shook his head. “If they have to retreat in a hurry, they’re going to need a quick exit.”
    “What if they bring something back with them?”
    The Dancer smiled. “That’s what we’re here for.”
    Wilde looked at him coldly. “Confident, aren’t you, little man? When this is over, I’m going to enjoy tearing your reputation into shreds, Bladesmaster.”
    “Dream on,” said the Dancer. “Dream on.” He looked thoughtfully at the closed trapdoor. “We’ll give them an hour, and then we’ll go down looking for them.”
    “Right,” said Flint.
    “It would make more sense for us to get away and pass on the word to your reinforcements,” said Wilde.
    “You can do that,” said the Dancer. “The rest of us are Rangers. Rangers don’t run, and we don’t leave cases half finished. We know our duty.”
    “Besides,” said Flint, “Duncan’s our friend. We can’t abandon him. And if he dies, we’ll avenge him.”
    “If we can,” said Constance.

CHAPTER 6
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The Beast
    The stairs seemed to fall away forever. Darkness pressed closely around the narrow pool of light as MacNeil led Hammer and Scarecrow Jack down