Scathach slipped both nunchaku out of their sheaths and turned to the right, following the animal trail. “Let’s get you that drink. And I promise not to kill anything that doesn’t try to kill me first.”

The trail dipped down into a hollow, and the grass, which had been waist high, now grew to their shoulders. It hissed and rasped together noisily. The air was filled with the rich cloying odor of life and growth. Without the cool lemon-scented wind on their faces, the temperature immediately rose.

Scathach held up her hand and Joan stopped and immediately turned to look behind them. The Shadow stood with the back of her head against her friend’s. “Be careful,” she said, using the French language of Joan’s youth. “Something’s wrong here.”

Joan nodded. “We cannot see through the grass, our sense of smell has been overwhelmed, even our hearing is impaired. Coincidence?” she wondered.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Scatty answered. Pushing her nunchaku back into their holders, she pulled out her matched short swords. “Something is wrong here,” she repeated, “very, very wrong.”

They moved forward carefully, conscious that with limited vision, hearing and even smell, they were at a disadvantage. Anything could be hiding in the tall grasses.

“Snakes,” Joan said suddenly.

Scatty jumped and spun around. “Where?”

“Nowhere. I’ve just realized we haven’t seen any since we arrived. Yet this place should be filled with them. Especially here, in this grassland; it’s the ideal environment.”

They took another half-dozen steps and the grass suddenly ended. Directly ahead of them lay a sparkling blue pool, the perfectly still water reflecting streaks of unmoving white clouds in the sky above.

And sitting on the boulder by the side of the river was a man wrapped in a long hooded leather cloak. He turned his head to look at them, and they saw that the bottom half of his face was concealed by a scarf, leaving visible only a pair of bright blue eyes.

“Scathach the Shadow and Joan of Arc. Where have you been? I have been waiting for you for such a long time. Welcome to my world.” The hooded man stood, and as he spread his arms wide, they saw the curved metal hook that took the place of his left hand.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Sophie opened her eyes and Josh’s face swam into view. She watched the relief wash over his features. His blue eyes were suddenly magnified by tears.

“Hi, sis,” he whispered, but there was a tremble in his voice, and he coughed and tried again. “Hi, sis. How do you feel?”