Maddy ​did not stir. Only her left hand moved, her fingers curling into the familiar shape that was Bjarkán, the rune of revelation. If it was a rat, Bjarkán would show it. It was not a rat. A wisp – just a wisp – of FaErie gold gleamed in the circle of her finger and thumb. Maddy pounced. Her strike was well timed. At once the creature began to struggle, and although Maddy couldn’t see it, she could certainly feel it between her hands, kicking and twisting and trying to bite her. Then as she continued to hold it fast, the creature finally went limp; the shadow dropped away from it, and see saw it clearly. It – he – was not much bigger than a dog fox, with small, clever hands and wicked little teeth. Most of his body was covered in armour – pieces of plate, leather straps, half a mailshirt cut clumsily down to fit – and out of his brown, long-whiskered face, his eyes shone a bright, inhuman gold. He blinked at her twice. Then, without any warning, he shot away between her legs… Maddy touched the final rune. She spoke the cantrip. The Hill opened… Maddy Smith has always been an outsider. Born with a rusty-coloured rune on her hand – what the villagers call a ruinmark – she is scarred by this symbol of the old gods, a sign of magic. And everyone knows that magic is dangerous. Except for Maddy, who actually thinks it’s rather fun. Until now. For suddenly her friend One-Eye, a rascally Outlander, wants her to open Red Horse Hill and descend into World Below – a world filled with goblins and far worse – to retrieve a relic of the old gods… Full of trickery, magic and the enchantment of the Norse myths, Runemarks is an epic fantasy adventure – richly inventive and superbly imaginative.