The Blood Line by Ben Yallop Page A

dizzy and nauseous. He had almost thought he had been abandoned by Aleksy when the man finally reappeared panting. The evening was drawing in.
    ‘Sorry,’ said Aleksy ‘It took a while, but I’ve brought a friend to help.’
    Suddenly an enormous roar ripped the air. Sam looked around in alarm. A tree came spinning end over end high in the air before smashing to the ground in front of the Complex. Riven scattered in alarm. A moment later the alpha sitecah burst into the clearing, staring down as people swarmed around its feet. It roared again.
    ‘Right time to go,’ said Aleksy and he was up and running. Sam sprinted after him through chaos. Objects flew and crashed around him as those Riven with sufficient presence threw rocks and trees at the beast. The giant swept people aside and span around trying to swat as many as it could. Sam dodged sideways as a huge hairy foot crashed down where he had been a moment earlier. He bumped into a black-cloaked magician, span off him and carried on running, focused on the line. Aleksy threw presence around, pulling people out of their path as they sprinted across the rocks, leaping branches and fallen bodies.
    Then, amazingly, they were there. The guards were trying to co-ordinate other Riven to concentrate their presence on the sitecah as Aleksy and Sam finally reached the line. Aleksy tore it open.
    ‘Off you go. Good luck.’ He gave Sam a smile.
    ‘Wait, why don’t you come with me?’
    ‘I have unfinished business here. I have friends in those mines and I once promised that I would get them out. Besides I also owe the King for this.’ He pointed to his scarred face.
    ‘Thanks for everything, I hope to see you again,’ said Sam. ‘Will you be alright?’
    ‘Oh, I’ll be fine,’ said Aleksy ‘See if you can keep in touch,’ he added, tapping his head.
    Sam saw the giant begin to spin as more and more Riven began to concentrate their presence on him, turning him around and around so that he could not balance.
    ‘Go!’ urged Aleksy.
    Sam dived towards the line just as the enormous body of the disorientated giant crumbled towards him like a building falling. Sam disappeared with a split second to spare as the giant hit the floor where he had just been standing with an enormous crash. The familiar disembodied feeling of weightlessness overwhelmed Sam.
    In a few seconds, or it might have been an age, Sam found his vision clearing. He blinked in the sudden darkness. The air was cool. All was quiet. Then a train rumbled past, visible through a brick archway. He was in the London Underground. He was back.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    London
    Present day
     
    T he Auld Witch fixed the black-cloaked Riven woman with a beady-eyed stare. The woman, Morley, shifted uneasily under the Witch’s gaze and fiddled with her dark frizzy hair.
    ‘Found a new line have you?’ said the Witch. ‘Think this might be the one? The line in the plague pit that the King is so keen to find?’
    ‘Be quiet,’ snapped Morley. ‘It’s none of your business, witch.’
    ‘He’s been looking for that line for a very very long time. And you think you’ve found it now?’ The Witch laughed. ‘Only you can’t tell because your presence isn’t strong enough to allow you to see where it leads.’ She laughed again and wandered off into the front part of the newsagent store which she ran as a cover to allow the Riven hidden access to the areas deep under London.
    Morley, left alone by the staircase which led down to the underbelly of London, shifted nervously from foot-to–foot. Stupid hag , she thought to herself. It was annoying that she was right. Morley couldn’t tell where the line led. But she was under strict orders, as were all the other Riven. If you found a new line, within or near a plague pit under London, then you were not to use it until someone more senior – and sufficiently powerful – had been down to check it out. All Riven moving in and around London