Free The Spook's Nightmare by Joseph Delaney Page B

want!’
    It ignored my shouts, and my heart was in my mouth: it was upon Alice before I could get into a position to defend her. For one awful moment I thought it had trampled her, but I saw her drop to her knees and roll clear just in time.
    The buggane came about again. Once more it pawed the ground and snorted hot breath through its nostrils. This time it was looking at me. I’d got what I wanted. Now I was the target!
    It rushed at me, red eyes locked with mine, sharphorns ready to impale me. But I concentrated hard, sucking in a deep breath, trying to slow the flow of time outside myself. It was a gift I’d inherited from Mam – something that I’d only recently discovered I possessed. I’d used it to defend myself against the Ordeen – she’d said I had ‘a speed that mocks the tick of time’.
    If so, I certainly wasn’t mocking time now. The gift wasn’t easy to use and I was far from being in full control of it. I tried my best, but if time did slow, it didn’t seem to bother the buggane much. It was upon me in seconds, and as I stepped clear and dropped to one knee, its right horn missed my head by a fraction of an inch.
    I’d barely time to get back on my feet before it charged at me again. This time it shook its head, sweeping its horns wide. But I’d already anticipated that, jumped clear and stabbed at it with my staff. The blade cut it just below the ear and the creature bellowed with pain and seemed to stagger slightly before turning to attack again.
    The silver blade had hurt it. If the daemon assumed the form of a worme, its armoured scales would make it hard to kill, but now I had an opportunity to plunge my blade into its heart and put an end to it. I felt more confident now and began to focus.
    Concentrate! Squeeze time. Slow it. Make it halt!
    It was working. The buggane really did seem to be slowing. Before, its legs had been a blur, but now I could see the individual movement of each one. As it came within reach of my staff, it was almost frozen in time, its breath in a still cloud, its red eyes like glass. Seizing my chance, I stepped to one side and raised my staff, ready to stab behind its shoulder and down into its heart. It was almost completely still now. I’d nearly done it – stopped time! One thrust of my blade and the daemon would be no more. I thrust downwards, but, to my intense disappointment, met only empty air.
    The buggane had vanished!
    The surprise disappearance broke my concentration and I lost my grip on time. I felt the breeze on my face again, heard it sighing through the branches; the moonsent brief shadows flickering across the ground before being obscured by cloud once more.
    I stood there, letting my breathing return to normal after the exertion of the struggle. Would the creature rematerialize? I’d hurt it, but not that badly. Perhaps it had sensed what I was attempting to do with time; realized the threat I posed. Would it come back – this time in a more dangerous shape? Or would it whisper to me in its spirit form and start to drain my animus?
    I glanced across at my master. He still wasn’t moving. How badly was he hurt? It was only then that I realized that there was no sign of Alice.
    ‘Alice! Alice!’ I called, but there was no reply. Fear clutched at my heart. Had the shaman seized her?
    ‘Alice!’ I shouted again, desperation in my voice. The only answer was a groan from the Spook, so I went over to see how he was.
    As I knelt down beside him, he sat up with a grunt of pain. ‘Here, help me to my feet, lad …’
    I laid my staff down on the ground, put my arm around him and helped him up.
    ‘How badly are you hurt?’ I asked anxiously. There was no sign of blood but he was deathly pale.
    ‘Fortunately the point of the horn missed me, but it whacked me hard on the shoulder and knocked me clean unconscious. I’ll live – but with a headache and a few bruises to remember it by. What happened?’
    I told him about my fight with the buggane