‘Yes,’ it said, but Nab did not recognize the voice. ‘Don’t look so in disbelief. I am you and you are me. All this could be yours, and more. You have seen the power of Dréagg and his glory. Follow him for this is what he offers you.’

The dreadful truth now began to penetrate. Dréagg was speaking to him; he was face to face with the Lord of Evil. Yet his brain was so numb that he was unable to move or even to think clearly. He stood rooted to the spot and, from a long way off, heard himself say,

‘What do you want of me? What must I do to follow?’

His double smiled again and put his arm around Beth, who also looked pleased and relieved. Never had Nab seen her looking so beautiful with her golden hair falling down over the sparkling white fur.

‘It is good,’ the double said. ‘You have chosen well for as Dréagg has shown you his glory so also has he given you a taste of his anger; an anger which had you rejected him would have followed you for ever.’

There was silence for a short spell; not a sound could be heard. Then a voice came once again from the golden glow in the corner of the cave.

‘You have the three Faradawn,’ it said, ‘locked in the Belt of Ammdar. Only you can unlock the Belt. Come then, take off the Belt and give it to me.’

The voice was gentle and seductive and much as Nab struggled with himself he found his hands going, almost of their own accord or as if someone else was guiding them, to the buckle on the Belt. He grasped one side in each hand and pulled quickly. The Belt came off and hung from his right hand.

‘Now come over to the corner and hand it to me.’

Nab started to walk mechanically across the floor of the cave, the Belt hanging limply from his grip. Deep inside himself a great clear voice was crying out ‘Stop’ but the force of Dréagg had so completely gripped his mind that he was powerless to resist. Then suddenly, as Nab was almost at the corner, something, some animal rushed into the cave and with an almighty leap fell upon the boy who stumbled and toppled over to the floor. Then Nab felt his face being licked and slowly as his mind began to clear he saw a wonderfully familiar sight.

‘Sam,’ he whispered to himself and then as the truth of the miracle made itself felt in his mind he shouted out joyously ‘Oh, Sam’ and flung his arms around the dog’s neck. A dreadful shriek pierced the air and they both looked in the corner. Gone was the golden glow and gone was the picture on the cave wall. All that was left was a great black shadow, twisting and writhing its sinewy way through a narrow crevice in the rock. For an instant they saw it and then it was gone, but the horror of that fleeting image remained with them for ever. As it went it cried out in a voice so full of venom and hatred that even the mountain shook and the boy and the dog huddled together in fear. In it was the threat of revenge and terror and a return so dreadful that it was beyond understanding.

‘Come on,’ said Sam, ‘we must get out of here quickly. ’

Nab’s legs felt shaky but he forced himself to stand. He picked up the Belt from where it had fallen on the floor and then they scrambled out of the cave which suddenly felt icy cold and damp and had begun to fill with foul yellow vapour that burned their throats and eyes. Nab could remember nothing about coming into the cave but Sam knew the way and he led the boy through narrow gaps where the walls came together and over heaps of fallen rock. The walls were running with water and mosses and lichens grew out of the cracks and ledges in the stone. Their eyes were now stinging terribly from the fumes and tears fell down their cheeks when finally, to their immense relief, the air became sweeter and they saw daylight. Faster they ran now and in his delight at being free Nab forgot about his bruised and battered legs and feet. Then they were out and into a golden autumn afternoon, running through the heather and gorse to get as far away from the cave as possible. As they ran they laughed and played with the joy of being together again and Nab kept looking at the fawn shape bounding along at his side, afraid it was all a dream and the dog would go away again as suddenly as he had come back. ‘Sam’s alive; Sam’s alive,’ he kept saying to himself, and every time he said it a new flood of pleasure swept through him washing his mind clean of all the black horrors he had been through.

Finally when they could run no more they flopped down on a thick clump of heather and lay there, out of breath and panting, looking up at the clear blue-grey sky and watching the little white puffs of cloud scudding across it. Then they talked. First Nab told Sam all that happened since they had seen him clubbed by the Urkku on Elgol and thrown into the boat. They had all thought he was dead, the boy said, and Sam replied that he had been unconscious for a long time. Then Nab told him about Jim and Ivy and the mountain elves and finally the plan for his escape which meant that he was now separated from the others and did not know where they were.

Sam then related how he had woken up in a shed and chewed his way out of it and then followed their trail, partly by intuition and partly by eavesdropping on Urkku conversations from which he had learnt not only their supposed whereabouts but also all about the plague and the state of the Urkku world. He had come across the burnt-out dwelling of the old couple back down the hills and guessed that they had given the animals shelter.

‘Did you know that one of the leaders of the Urkku is your old master?’ asked Nab and Sam replied that he had smelt his scent from the lowlands and that following it had helped him to find the trail of the animals up to Rengoll’s Tor.

‘The Lord of the Mountain Elves met me there and told me where you had gone. He was concerned that you were on your own and worried that Dréagg would try again to capture you.’

‘I can’t remember much of that,’ said Nab, forcing his mind back. ‘I remember getting lost in a thick mist that swept down from the top of the mountain, and I can remember following some kind of light and entering the cave. Then everything seemed to go hazy and blurred until I felt my face all wet when you were licking me. I must have been under some kind of spell which you broke when you found me and I recognized you. I don’t know how the Belt of Ammdar came to be on the floor though.’

He paused and let his mind wander through many thoughts. Then he and Sam got up and started to make their way up the last stretch of mountainside to the top of the Peak of Ivett.

It was early evening by the time they clambered up over the last little stony ridge and found themselves looking out across a small plateau dotted with clumps of cotton grass and tussocks of heather. The ground was black with peat and the air was heavy with the damp smells of autumn. Not a sound could be heard except the whistle of the wind through the grasses and they seemed so high that they felt more a part of the sky than the land. This was a different world, an ageless timeless world which the Urkku had never touched, and Nab stood rooted to the spot, awestruck by the power of the place and feeling its strength surge up through his body. He looked back and saw, stretching away as far as the eye could see, a great mosaic of colour as heather, gorse, trees and boulders fell away down the mountainside to merge eventually into a patchwork pattern of fields, woods, rivers and valleys, while the evening sun bathed everything in a misty golden haze.

He looked back to the plateau and saw, in the middle, a large pool of water, around which grew reeds and rushes. On one side of it there stood an ancient wizened oak tree whose twisted branches stretched out over the pool like the protective arms of an old, old man. Nab felt himself drawn to the pool. He walked over to it slowly and looked down into its black depths. He could not see the bottom and so black was it that the still water shone like a jewel. Then as he was standing on the side, he looked up into the sky and saw that the clouds were all coming together to form one huge billowy cathedral of white, tinged at the edges with pink and gold. Majestically it floated towards the peak and then stopped overhead. At the same time the wind suddenly got up, a warm caressing wind that blew the hair back from his face and bathed his eyes gently. He looked back at the pool and saw it shimmering with a strange light almost as if it were glowing like a fire and then he saw the oak tree give a great shudder and its branches moved up and out to stretch towards the sky. Every part of the tree, from the largest bough to the smallest twig, seemed to be moving. And now the Voice of Ashgaroth came to Nab on the wind.