The Hounds of Avalon
an extract from the novel
had fallen by the time they located the mysterious tower in the section
of the court that resembled the Moorish quarter of a Spanish city: white
stone, minarets, ornate awnings and fragrant smoke blowing in the warm
breeze. It lay high up the hillside, and when Sophie turned to look
back over the court spread out below her, the sight took her breath
away. Tiny white lights had sprung up everywhere, like fireflies in
the dark; there were candles in windows, and lanterns hanging over shops
along the streets, tiny suns holding back the night.
The tower stood in a small walled garden filled with palms and orange
trees and small, spiky shrubs. A white-stone path wound through the
vegetation. More lanterns hung from the trees, attracting moths in clouds.
The gate was unlocked.
Caitlin caught Sophie's arm and said, "Let's go carefully."
"Why? Guard dogs?"
"I've heard some strange things. The one who lives here might be dangerous.
There are stories about him ... " She caught herself. "Let's just be
The tower was constructed from ivory, glass and gold, each element
merging into the other with a delicate architectural sensibility that
instilled a quiet wonder. The path led to a mahogany door covered with
iron studs. A bell-pull hung beside it. Caitlin hesitated and then grabbed
the pull to announce their presence.
For a long minute there was no reply. Gradually, a rhythmic hissing
rose up from the vegetation on either side of the path. As Sophie and
Caitlin waited with thumping hearts, snakes slithered on to the path
towards them. The serpents glowed so brightly that the women couldn't
be sure if they had substance or were just patterns of green and red
The snakes moved quickly along the path and then split into two groups,
curving around on either side of Caitlin and Sophie. They continued
up the sheer, slick walls and came together over the top of the door,
where they began to crawl into each other's mouths. The serpents merged,
became larger until finally one huge snake undulated down until its
eyes were on a level with Caitlin and Sophie. They glittered red with
a disturbing intelligence.
"Speak your business," the snake said with a soft sibilance.
"A Sister of Dragons and a Fragile Creature are seeking the wisdom
There was a brief pause before the serpent said, "That name has not
been heard since the days of the tribes."
"But it still holds, does it not? Math, great magician, brother of
the goddess Don. He was a friend to Fragile Creatures in times past."
"There are no times past," the snake hissed. Another pause. Then:
"Enter ... and prove yourself worthy to stand before the Seer of the
With a fizz, the snake dissolved into tiny balls of light that drifted
away on the breeze. A second later the studded door swung open in a
heady aroma of incense.
"I don't like the sound of that," Sophie whispered.
Caitlin stepped over the threshold and made her way to a staircase
that wound around the inside of the walls. It was lit intermittently
by tiny lanterns, but there were still many troubling pools of shadows.
Caitlin and Sophie moved hesitantly up the stairs, one hand trailing
on the cool wall for support. When they had reached what they guessed
was the halfway mark, the atmosphere became oppressive.
"Can you feel it?" Sophie asked. "Something's coming."
A sound like the wind through leaves echoed softly at first from further
up the tower, drawing closer. Caitlin and Sophie waited with mounting
apprehension, until the first signs were indicated by undulating shadows
cast by the flickering lanterns.
"Snakes," Caitlin said. "Lots of them."
As they rounded the bend in the stairway, Caitlin and Sophie saw these
weren't the light-snakes they had encountered at the foot of the tower,
but hard-scaled, sharp-fanged serpents that were undoubtedly real. Yet
they had an otherworldly ambience that made them even more menacing.
Several were as broad as Sophie's body, their tails lost in the dim
recesses of the upper tower, but the majority ranged from the width
of an arm to barely larger than a finger, shimmering greens and scarlets
and golds, with strange black patterns along their skin that resembled
There were so many snakes they filled the stairway up to Sophie's
waist, a slow-moving tidal wave that would easily engulf the two women.
Sophie grabbed Caitlin's arm. "Come on. We have to go down."
"We can't," Caitlin said desperately. "This is our one chance. If
we go down, he'll never let us back up again." She turned to Sophie,
her face hard and determined. "You go. You don't have to do this."
"You're insane! Look at them."
The nearest snake had the hood of a cobra, but strange alien growths
sprouted like mushrooms along its back. It reared up to bare its fangs,
venom sizzling where it splashed on the steps.
Caitlin surveyed the mass of writhing bodies, then said firmly, "It's
a test. Math wants to see if we're up to the honour of meeting
The nearest snake moved within striking range. Caitlin made her decision
and then lay flat on the stairs.
"What are you doing?" Sophie said incredulously.
"He said we had to prove we're worthy. He wants us on our bellies,
"You're mad." Sophie looked from Caitlin to the snakes and then back
down the stairs. "If I survive I'm never going to forgive you for this."
She closed her eyes and pressed her face hard into the cold ivory of
The serpents reached her a second later, a weight of writhing mass
pressing down so hard that Sophie felt she might suffocate. The sensation
of constant movement above her made the bile rise in her throat. Their
skin was dry against her face, forcing their way through her hair, wriggling
past her cheeks, under her nose, forcing her lips apart with their tiny
bodies, pressing against her eyes.
And then the claustrophobia set in and she began to choke, but the
weight above her was so great she couldn't have lifted herself up from
the steps if she tried. Panic rammed her rational thoughts aside.
The snakes continued to come for what felt like hours, until Sophie
couldn't believe there were so many snakes in all the worlds. Just when
she thought her last breath was about to give out, the mass above her
grew lighter, and quickly receded.
Finally, she was on her knees, choking and spitting, unable to believe
she hadn't received one bite. Caitlin was beside her in the same state,
yet strangely smiling. She grabbed Sophie's arm and indicated down the
stairs where the serpents had gone. Sophie looked round; there were
no snakes to be seen anywhere.
"You're not telling me that was all in my mind," Sophie choked.
"It was real all right," Caitlin said. "And we survived."
After a moment to gather themselves, they started back up the winding
stairway. The aroma of incense grew stronger, and eventually the stairway
opened out on to a room that covered the whole floor in the very top
of the tower. Four windows at the cardinal points looked out over the
glittering lights of the dreaming city. In front of each sat a creature
that resembled an animal, but had the same otherworldly quality as the
snakes, a gleam of intelligence in the eye, or an odd movement of the
mouth as if it were muttering to itself, or an unusual size.
There was an enormous boar, fat and bristling, its piggy eyes green
and furious, a hawk that was almost as big as Sophie, a salmon, again
as big as person, sitting in a large wooden chair, its tail flapping
against the wooden floorboards, and a bear, watching them contemptuously.
All were fastened by an iron chain attached to a ring bolted to the
floor. The four beasts radiated an air of menace that made Sophie and
Caitlin wary of venturing too close.
Purple drapes covered with gold and silver magical symbols lined the
walls between each window, and the floorboards were marked out with
similar magical symbols. A brazier gave off the heavy incense, while
other mystical objects lay around: several lanterns burning with a dull
red light hanging on chains from the ceiling, a brass telescope, maps
and charts on a table, books and flasks and philtres.
And in the centre of the room, nearly seven feet tall, stood Math.
He wore long black robes that covered his entire body and on his head,
protruding from a four-holed cowl, was a brass mask with a different
face in each of the holes: a boar, a falcon, a salmon and a bear.
"You survived the test," he said from the mask of the boar, with a
voice that was strangely gruff. "I would have expected such a result
from a Sister of Dragons. But from a Fragile Creature?" He tilted the
mask towards Caitlin. It would have been easy to wilt under the cold
eyes just visible behind it, but Caitlin held her head proud.
© Mark Chadbourn 2004.
The Hounds of Avalon is published in April 2005 by Gollancz;
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