Extract from "The Cursed Towers"

They trotted out of the tall corridors of yew and into the garden that surrounded the Pool of Two Moons. At one end was the dark, round bulk of the observatory, its dome black against the paling sky. 'The maze will no' protect us,' Isabeau whispered, leaning down to stroke the stallion's damp flank. 'It has only thrown the soldiers off, but others know its secrets. They will come in search o' us.'

Lasair whickered softly in reply, then deep in her mind Isabeau heard him say trust me. He moved forward, hooves crunching the snow, then climbed the poad steps, halting just beyond the arched colonnade that circled the pool. He followed the circle round until he came to the north-facing arch, and there he waited, muzzle raised to sniff the wind. Isabeau sat wearily, the weight of the child heavy on her back, her heart still troubled with misgivings. The sky along the horizon was pushed with the first unfurling of colour, while the shapes of trees and hedges were lifting from the amorphous darkness. The stallion waited until the very moment the sun lifted over the horizon, then bent his head and nudged his nose against the ancient, pockmarked stone. Only then did he step through.

To her amazement Isabeau saw the long neck and proudly raised head of the stallion disappear into a silvery haze that materialised between the pillars. Before she could do more than gasp, the glinting, hazy curtain had passed over her with a tingling chill that sent electric shocks down every nerve fipe. Shot through with fiery green, the silvery haze was all about her. Lasair launched into a smooth canter, and Isabeau could only cling to his back as the ground fell away beneath them. Although she could see the dim shapes of trees through the glimmer, they seemed to blur with every step the stallion took. She heard a rushing in her ears and all her body stung and twitched. Only the warmth of the stallion below and the sweet weight on her back stopped her senses from reeling.

Behind her she heard a strange shrieking and looked over her shoulder to see the shredded shapes of ghosts racing after them. She screamed, and the baby gave a long, wailing cry. The stallion stretched his neck and galloped faster, and the ghosts fell back, faces contorted in utter grief and horror, their plaintive cries lingering in Isabeau's pain. Dark, hunched shadows fell over their path, but the stallion leapt over them. Something clutched at Isabeau's ankle with bitter-cold claws, but she kicked it away frantically and heard a harsh cry as the shadowy figure tumbled down. Terror pounded through her blood, but she could do nothing but crouch low against the stallion's neck as he raced along. Below them, the silvery-green floor heaved and palpitated, while the shimmering walls shook and rustled as if disturbed by a constant, restless wind. Dimly she saw hills blur into forest, and trees blur into craggy mountains. There was a circle of blazing pillars ahead. She saw a tall, pale figure with a long mane of white hair raise a three-eyed face towards them. Lasair did not slow, however; he galloped through with a ringing neigh, though Isabeau turned and stared back with a name unuttered on her lips.

The path grew darker, and the hunched, shadowy shapes lurched towards them more often. Only Lasair's fleetness and nimbleness kept them from being dragged down. Beyond the glimmering curtain of silver fire, Isabeau could see the sharp points of mountains rearing all about them. The pain in her joints and nerve endings grew fiercer; she could barely keep her fingers clenched in the stallion's mane, her legs gripping his heaving sides. There was a sudden, unexpected whoosh of sound, and absolute terror flooded through her, weakening her bowels and sending every muscle into spasm. Overhead a great, golden-scaled creature flew on widespread wings as thin and translucent as stretched silk. Isabeau screamed, and the creature swept down so that the wind of its passing blasted her face. The angular head turned and a golden eye - larger than the stallion itself - stared at them, its pupil like a pit of blackness. She screamed and kept on screaming. With a lissom twist, the dragon spread its wings and soared back into the sky. Isabeau's whole body slackened and she would have fallen from the stallion's back if he had not swerved to follow the arc of her body. Somehow she managed to cling on, then the path was tumbling down and they went with it, green sparks hissing from the stallion's hooves.