‘It will be here soon now… very soon,’ the Caretaker continued in a low, echoing voice. ‘It may even be here already. You must be prepared. The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons must be united. But know this: one of the Five has already fallen. And without the correct number their effectiveness is dimmed.’ He stared towards the few lamps still burning in the windows of Magdalen. ‘There is little hope. Soon even the last light may be extinguished. And then my job shall be done.’

The Caretaker continued to fade, drifting across the grass, becoming more insubstantial the further from Hal he got.

‘War…’ The giant’s words were breaking up. ‘There will come an ending.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’ Hal called.

The Caretaker’s response was lost to the night breeze. A second later, he vanished and the blue haze along with him. Reality was hard and fast all around. But inside Hal the dread that had been mounting all night had now crystallised.

He had been noticed. And something was coming.

‘ The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.’

Karl Marx

‘Give us the sword.’

The skinhead wore a fixed, dead stare, but it was the shotgun the thug was pointing casually that held Mallory’s attention. In the distance, smoke from the burning village clouded the blue sky.

‘It’s not very fair, is it?’ Mallory said. ‘Sword… shotgun…’

‘You should have thought of that when you were choosing your weapon.’ The skinhead let out a gurgling laugh, then looked around at his gang as if he had said something clever. The gang clustered closer, smelling blood.