Elizabeth dragged her eyes, yawning, around the yard. The walls looked as though they were getting ready to collapse and on one side was a pile of bricks with a birds nest, cottage-like roof.

　　In the centre of the yard stood three perilously frail old women. Their mazy goblin faces hid beneath heaps of raggedy cloak. Elizabeth caught a glimpse of the purple crystals that hung around their necks and, in what was obviously a trick of the muggy early-morning light, thought that she might have seen one of them glow.

　　The way that they were watching her made Elizabeth quite uneasy.

　　Behind the old women were two blocky wooden handcarts, each one strapped to a small, scruffy mule. The carts were piled high with lumpy sacks that hummed with the smell of things dead and rotting.

　　Elizabeth threw her hands over her mouth in case she started to gag.

　　Izzario was leaning on his staff, like a wise and kindly shepherd. "These are the Eternal Sisters", he announced. "And they are going to be taking us the rest of the way".

　　Luella looked, aghast, from one cart to the other. "I hope you don`t think we`re going anywhere in those!"

　　Izzario offered an explanation. "The Darkstone Tower was built by King Velyn during the Long War of the North. And to help him win the war he pledged to give his soul to the Old Gods. Velyn had the tower built right on top of the Sacred Rock. The followers of the Old Gods - which includes the Eternal Sisters here - have been carrying their dead in and out of it ever since. So all we need to do is hide in the carts and no-one will notice a thing".

　　Luella was decidedly unimpressed. "That`s your plan - smuggle us in and hope we don`t get poisoned by the smell?"

　　"Yes it is", said Izzario, sounding mildly offended. "And I used up a lot of favours for this".

　　"You shouldn`t have bothered", muttered Luella.

　　She was still complaining as they climbed, reluctantly, into place.

　　And there was a lot to complain about. The stench had already turned Elizabeth`s nose into the least favourite part of her body, and up close it was a thousand times worse.

　　"Don`t worry, it`s only rotten cabbages", said Izzario, as a pair of knotty hands shuffled the sacks to cover them up. "Just hold your breath and try not to think about the maggots".

　　And then it was dark. Dark and warm and stuffy. Elizabeth was still trying to hold her breath as the cart began to move.

　　The background chunter of the city turned into a blaring, fearsome, howling wall of noise.

　　It was an ill-tempered assault on Elizabeth`s ears: Beggars begged, babies wailed, hagglers haggled, chickens clucked, dogs barked, children sang, fights raged, drunks cursed, crows crowed, gossips gossiped, doors slammed, windows broke, slops were slopped and Aelgren moaned: "I hope we get there soon".

　　"Shhhhh", whispered Elizabeth. "Dead people can`t talk".

　　Aelgren fidgeted like a cat-full of fleas. "Yes, but I`m nae dead!"

　　"You smell like you are. Now lay still and be quiet".Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

　　They moved in this way, through the spidery twisting alleys, until Elizabeth began to realise that she could hear other voices too. Not actual voices. But words in her head kind of voices. Voices that sounded as if she was listening in on the thoughts of someone else. Three someone else`s, to be precise . . .

　　"Our instructions are to take them to the tower".

　　"But you know what she is".

　　"She cannot be allowed to pass".

　　Elizabeth`s ears sizzled like bacon. She had the strange sensation that the voices were talking about her. Through a pebble-sized gap between the sacks she caught sight of one of the Sisters. The crystal around the old woman`s neck glowed brightly as the thoughts poured back and forth.

　　"We must take her to the Bloodstone!"

　　Elizabeth sensed the ground turn rougher, the wheels of the cart rattling over a hard and rocky terrain. It felt as if they were heading into a different part of the city, and she was suddenly gripped by a powerful urge to run.

　　The thought-voices fell silent. Elizabeth wondered if this meant they were getting close to the Darkstone Tower.

　　And without any warning the cart crashed heavily to the ground.

　　Aelgren yelled something unrepeatable as several of the sacks went tumbling away. Grungy streams of light poured in and an old woman with a crooked mouth held a dagger above Elizabeth`s head.

　　The knife plunged . . .

　　Elizabeth flingrolled out of the way, slammed hard into the side of the wooden box and yelped as a spasm of pain sank its teeth into her shoulder. She kicked out, thrashing her arms, the blade striking the spot where she had been laying a second before.

　　Aelgren lunged with a bellowing roar. Elizabeth looked up to see the Sister flying sideways, flattened beneath a rolling, crushing, solid barrel of fur. Then a sack burst open and a rain of grotty cabbages poured from the sky. Luella and Izzario flew to help as the remaining Sisters attacked with fury, screaming and howling like the lash of a bitter wind.

　　Elizabeth raised her hands as a shield . . . and with a brilliant *F*L*A*S*H* that was a lot like a streak of lightning, the three old women were thrown aside and scattered all over the floor.

　　They stared up at Elizabeth, mouths wide open in shock.

　　One of them was pointing with a long and bony finger, her voice a terrified screech. "Witch!" she yelled. "The girl`s a WITCH!"

　　"Wiiiiiiitch!!!" they wailed together.

　　Elizabeth watched in confusion as the Sisters climbed back to their feet, their ragged shapes spitting out a hail of shrieks and curses. The trio fled, like shambling ghouls, back into the streets of the city.

　　Elizabeth studied her hands, first one side then the other. "I didn`t do anything", she protested. "I didn`t touch them - I swear!"

　　Izzario lifted his eyebrows sceptically as Barnaby appeared from beneath the sacks.

　　"I was just laying there and I could hear them talking - but they were talking with their thoughts and they were saying weird stuff and the crystal was glowing and then . . . "

　　Well, that was the thing because Elizabeth didn`t know what had just happened. But whatever it was she was certain that it didn`t have anything to do with her, because she wasn`t the kind of person who went around zapping old ladies, even if they were trying to chop her up.

　　And she most certainly wasn`t a witch.

　　Was she?

　　Luella was boiling with fury. "So that went well", she blasted, kicking aside a rotten cabbage.

　　Elizabeth`s eyes followed the mushy cannonball as it rolled over a jigsaw of cracked and crooked tiles. Beyond them, curving past the crumbling stone walls of the ruined church in which she now appeared to find herself, was the sloping bend of a river. The river encircled an island of black rock, and there, on top of the rock - to Elizabeth`s complete and everlasting amazement - was the rising, thrusting, soaring, jutting spike of the Darkstone Tower.

　　The giant circular edifice was the colour of moonless night and riddled with fortifications that were like growths on a bony shell. The top was hidden behind a swirling grey tempest, spearing its way into a world beyond the clouds.

　　Elizabeth`s eyes swivelled upwards . . . and did not stop rising. The enormity of the thing was beyond her comprehension and she was craning her neck so much that it felt as if her head was going to fall off.

　　The Darkstone Tower was definitely big.

　　Very big.

　　Terrifyingly so, in fact.

　　"It doesn`t seem so bad", she said, criss-crossing her fingers.

　　Barnaby was staring up at the sky, slack jawed in surprise. "And how", he moaned, "are we supposed to get in now".

　　Elizabeth heard a sudden click . . .

　　And turned to see Luella with her crossbow pointing at Aelgren.

　　"I can think of a way", Luella said.