Moll’s eyes darted round the chamber. They were at the end of it. There was nowhere left to run. Gryff snarled through clenched teeth and Oak whipped out his dagger, pushing Moll, Alfie and Siddy behind him.
The footsteps charged on through the darkness towards them. Moll’s pulse hammered in her ears and her skin crawled with sweat. It was over. There was no way out. She reached for Gryff and felt his heart beating with hers.
‘Oak!’ came a cry from the shadows.
Terror gripped Moll’s throat. The Dream Snatch had started inside her again – slow and steady. She watched in horror as three dark shapes loomed out of the shadows. Skull? Hemlock? Gobbler?
‘Oak!’ the voice cried again.
Siddy had closed his eyes, prepared to be eaten alive by whatever was coming for him, and, beside him, Alfie felt for his dagger. Oak strained his neck towards the advancing shapes, his dagger outstretched before him.
And then he lowered it and smiled.
One after the other, Domino, Wisdom and Noah shot out of the shadows into the light.
‘Sorry if we caused a fright,’ Domino panted, hands on his knees. Though he was the smallest of the brothers, he’d outrun them both. ‘Mooshie sent us after you as soon as she saw it.’ He wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘You’re not safe down here.’
Oak took a step forward. ‘Saw what? What’s happened?’
‘Skull’s coming back,’ Wisdom said, ‘with Hemlock, Gobbler, Brunt – all of them. Cinderella Bull read it in her crystal ball. Skull knows we lied about Moll searching for the amulets far from the camp. He must’ve used some kind of dark magic now he knows her name, to find out where she is.’
Domino nodded. ‘They’ll come back to our clearing, Cinderella Bull says.’
‘With the hounds?’ Oak asked.
Noah shook his head. ‘Cinderella Bull saw them in her crystal ball too. The Lull’s healing properties worked, because when the hounds woke up they were just harmless strays. Skull let them loose when he realised, but we’ve wheeled the wagons out of the clearing and hidden them in the forest—’ He paused. ‘Because Skull means to burn Moll and Gryff out of Tanglefern.’
Gryff dug his claws into the ground, his fur bristling with anger. Beside him, Moll clenched a fist round the amulet.
‘Well, Skull and Hemlock aren’t going to smoke us out because we’ve found the amulet and – and . . .’
Moll uncurled her fist to show the glowing amulet, but her words crumbled into silence. And what? What did she think they’d be able to do with a necklace against the power of the Shadowmasks?
But Wisdom, Domino and Noah were staring at the amulet now, transfixed.
Wisdom straightened himself up, running a hand over his ponytail, and then he noticed the carved shapes of the silver stags all around them. He looked at Moll. ‘You’re right. Skull isn’t going to smoke you out, Moll, because these stags and that amulet are worth ten times the power of the Shadowmasks.’ His eyes shone. ‘We got a chance now, Pa, haven’t we?’
Oak nodded. ‘Are all the camp safely away from the clearing?’
‘They’re up in the Sacred Oaks already,’ Noah said. ‘Most are armed with daggers and Jesse’s got a pistol. When Skull comes, they’ll let him have it.’
Oak took a deep breath. ‘Then we’ve got to go fast because I won’t let my camp fight Skull alone.’
Siddy glanced at Moll’s and Alfie’s daggers, then he tapped Oak’s back. ‘I haven’t got anything to fight Skull with.’
‘You can borrow my catapult,’ Moll replied, handing it to him, along with a sharpened stone she’d kept tucked in her pocket since the night she’d been rescued from the heath. ‘If the rocks are sharp and the aim’s keen, it’s as good as a dagger.’
They turned from the wall of stags and Moll threw a last glance at the carved wildcat, hoping that somehow, somewhere, her pa would feel it. Using the light from the amulet to guide them, they sped through the chamber, raced up the staircase, then hauled themselves out of the well.
The domed door was open just a fraction and beyond it there was darkness and silence.
Wisdom looked at his father. ‘We need to climb this oak – from there we’ve got a better position to fight.’
Oak nodded to his sons. ‘Use your daggers wisely on Skull’s three lads – to wound, not kill.’
Siddy felt for Porridge the Second and muttered a last goodbye.
Fear snaked round Moll’s throat. Inside the heart of the forest she was safe. But out there were Skull and Hemlock. And the Soul Splinter.
She thought back to her pa’s words: you’re not going anywhere in life without bravery. And, with that, she tiptoed towards the door and crept outside.
While they had been inside, night had fallen in the deserted clearing and the sky was full of stars. Gryff slunk in front of Moll and leapt up the Sacred Oak. Moll felt for the ridges, scoops and bulges in the bark and twisted up after him. The others followed, spreading out across the branches.
Moll clung to the trunk, her body trembling. In the distance, there were lights – and they were crossing the boundary, snaking through the river in a line of fire.
Oak clutched his dagger, then turned to his sons. ‘Skull, Hemlock and Gobbler are souls rotted in hell – do as you like with them. No one’s going to mind them gone from Tanglefern.’ He clasped each son by the hand. ‘Now split up among the branches and take aim.’
Moll shuffled out along a branch, but Oak grabbed her arm and yanked her behind him. ‘They can’t be allowed to see you, Moll. You’re to stay back. Understand?’
‘But it’s all because of me this is happening!’ she whispered. She felt for her pa’s dagger. ‘I want to help fight back!’
‘If we lose you, we lose everything, Moll: the forest and the Bone Murmur. That’s what this is about.’
And so, flanked by Gryff and Alfie and shielded by Oak, Moll could only watch as Skull’s gang drew nearer and nearer.
Oak cupped his hands to his mouth and let out an owl call. And, from every Sacred Oak around the clearing, owl calls answered. The camp knew Oak had come back for them and now it was time to fight.