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    No, now there was a different sound, not like an animal. A slithering and a heavy sliding. As it grew louder, Brendan found something very strange was happening to him. His feet were bringing him closer to the cave while his mind screamed at him to get out of that place as fast as he could.
    Aisling was crying now, still calling out to Brendan to come away. When he glanced at her – though he could hardly pull his eyes away from the entrance – her face had changed. It was no longer that of a little girl, but of an old, old woman, wrinkled with pain and fear. But even this sight could not make him turn from the cave’s entrance. Nor could the fact that Pangur had her teeth dug into his sleeve and was frantically trying to pull him away, mewing pitifully.
    The slithering noise continued. His heart thumping in his chest, Brendan realised that there was Something awake down there. He had woken the Thing that lived down in the darkness, and it was coming for him.
    Now he was afraid, really afraid. He tried to turn and run, but terror overcame him and he could not move. The sense of the blackness coming from the cave was growing stronger and stronger. And a wind was coming from the entrance, a wind that sucked him towards the cave, that was pulling him in despite himself.

    Brendan realised that he was trapped, caught by the evil thing. He could do nothing but wait until he came face to face with the horror. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the one purpose that horror lived for was to destroy and to kill, to cause pain and sorrow and suffering.
    Something bright came between him and the dark wind. Aisling had come to help him. With all her strength, she was pushing one of the stone statues across the entrance to the cave. How could she do it, she is so small? thought Brendan. How could she possibly shift one of those great stone creatures? But she did. With a cry like a scream, the stone fell to the earth, blocking the entrance so that whatever it was that lived down there could not come out.
    The spell was broken. The wind stopped and Brendan found he could move again. He rushed over to where Aisling lay panting on the ground.Pangur curled herself around the girl’s neck, trying to warm her. Aisling’s face was as white as her hair. Her eyes were closed and her lips looked blue, as if the blood had stopped in her body. Brendan wondered if the strain of pushing over the statue had killed her.
    He said, frantically, ‘Aisling, Aisling, wake up. Are you hurt?’
    For a moment, nothing happened, but then Aisling shook her head. She slowly opened her eyes and Brendan asked, ‘What was that?’
    ‘I told you,’ said Aisling, and her face was like an old woman’s. ‘Crom Cruach.’
    They moved quickly from the clearing and as soon as they did, Aisling began to recover.
    ‘That’s the third time today I saved your life,’ she said. ‘I hope you are grateful. We had better go as fast as we can. If we don’t hurry up, you will be in big trouble with that uncle of yours.’

    As they walked through a forest lit by the red glow of the evening sun, Brendan asked, ‘What happened just now? Who is Crom Cruach?’
    Aisling shuddered. ‘I don’t like to even mentionhis name. It poisons the air of the forest. But you had better know. You have to realise how dangerous he is. Just in case you think of doing something stupid like going back to that clearing.’
    She paused and took a deep breath.
    ‘Crom Cruach is one of the Old Dark Ones,’ she said, whispering as if she did not want the forest to hear what she was saying. ‘He has many different names, and many different lairs. Some people call him Crom Dubh, the Black One. Others say that his name means Bloody Head. There are those who think that it means Bloody Mound. He has existed since the beginning of time. Through the ages, he has ruled by fear, and he has taken many different shapes, many forms. One of the shapes he takes is that of a huge snake. A