"You are the ones who brought the warning of the Shadow to Fort Battleaxe," said Drake, speaking hesitantly as he wondered if he could still be mistaken.

     "Yes, that's right," said Diana, surprised, "but how did you know? Surely our names aren't known to everyone in the city."

     "No, but they are known to those of us who went into the Shadow to check your story."

     They stared at him in amazement. "You were one of the spies who were sent into the Shadow because of us?" asked Shaun. "That's incredible, that we should meet here, months later and hundreds of miles away."

     "That's not the only coincidence," added Drake as a serving maid arrived with their drinks, ales all round except for a glass of wine for the cleric. She then turned to the priest to ask if he wanted a drink, and he ordered another ale. "One of the others who went with us, a ranger, saw you before you got to Fort Battleaxe. A bunch of shologs and buglins from a place called Darmakarak were chasing you and would have caught you, except that he managed to divert them away. When he found out that you were the reason for our going on that mission, you could have knocked him over with a feather!"

     Diana turned pale at the news. Her brothers had spoken often about what shologs did to their prisoners. “I hope we get the chance to thank him one day,” she said. “But our meeting here cannot be a coincidence. It can only be the hand of the Gods. It seems likely that They meant for us to meet, which probably means that They have another task for us."

     "Why?" asked Matthew. "Our quest’s over, isn't it? We're just on our way home now, to get ready for the invasion, when it comes. We're needed at home, we can't go gallivanting off on another quest."

     "If the Gods have a task for us, then I, for one, will he honoured to attempt it," said Drake. "However, at the moment, I'm also just on my way home, and I expect that we will part company forever when we get there. In the meantime, I hope that you'll allow me to travel with you. I've been devoid of human company for over three months, and I'd very much enjoy having someone to talk to."

     "We'd love to have you with us, wouldn't we?" Diana glanced at each of the others in turn, and they all agreed cheerfully. "Good, that's decided. All right then, what shall we talk about first?"

     "If you don't think me rude," said Drake, "you mentioned that you've just completed a quest. I wonder if I could ask you what it was. It's just curiosity, you understand, and if you don't want to talk about it, I understand completely."

     "No, not at all," said Diana. "We were looking for the Sceptre of Samnos. With the war coming, we thought it would be needed."

     "Yes it will be," said Drake in amazement. Then he smiled. "You must have been disappointed to hear that someone else got to it before you, but it was probably for the best. By all accounts, the Maze of Samnos is terrible, and you almost certainly wouldn't have gotten through it."

     The others looked puzzled. "But we did find it," said Diana. "We're the ones who found it and took it to Samnia."

     Drake stared at them in outright disbelief and astonishment. "You?!" he exclaimed so loudly that everyone else in the room looked up in surprise. He looked around and glared at them until they lost interest and went back to their own businesses. "You found the Sceptre?" he continued in a quieter voice. "You wouldn't mock me, would you?"

     "Charming," said Jerry. "He thinks we're lying."

     Lirenna shushed him up. "It's true," she said, "and you're right, the Maze was terrible, but we won through with the help of a great wizard called Zebulon, a greater wizard than any of us is ever likely to be."

     "Forgive me," said Drake. "It's just that you don't seem... I mean, you seem..."

     "You mean we're much too young to possibly have been able to do it," said Thomas. "It's true. Me, Lenny and Jerry only graduated from Lexandria about five months ago, Di’s only been a cleric a little longer than that and even Shaun, the eldest of us, is only twenty two. We would never have made it without Zebulon's help."

     "I've heard of a wizard called Zebulon," said Drake. "He lived in a secret stronghold called Vantarestin with his own private army."

     "That's him," said Thomas.

     "Where is he now? Has he returned to Vantarestin?"

     "No," said Diana sadly. "He died in the Maze about three years ago."

     "Three years ago?" said Drake, puzzled. "But the Sceptre was only found about a month ago. How could he have helped you if he died so long ago?"

     "In two ways," said Shaun, drawing his sword and laying it on the table. "Firstly, he left me this sword, which is magical. It's saved our lives many times along the way."

     "It's beautiful!" said Drake admiringly. "May I?" At Shaun's nod, he picked it up and examined it wonderingly. "I've rarely seen such exquisite workmanship. This is one of the finest swords I've ever seen. There are probably only a couple in Fort Battleaxe that could equal it. Make sure you take good care of it." He handed it back.

     "I will," said Shaun. "It was only Rhanov's second best sword, though. I can't help wondering what his best was like."

     "What was the second way in which Zebulon helped you?" asked Drake.

     "Something we found on his body," said Lirenna. "The Eye of Millandar, and a message inviting whoever found it to take it. It used to have the power to ward off the undead, but it was destroyed during our escape from the Maze."

     She briefly recounted their encounter with the spirit at the exit from the Maze and how the eye had exploded when Shaun had tried to use it as a weapon against the spectre. The woodsman looked ashamed and embarrassed as she told how he'd lost them such a valuable object, but Diana smiled at him and gave his hand a friendly tap. "You couldn't have known," she said, and he smiled gratefully back at her.

     "One of the towns we passed through had a library," said Thomas, "and we were able to look up some of its history. It was once set in a coronet that was worn by the king of Pharonia, a long vanished shae kingdom, and therefore it rightfully belonged to the shae folk. We're sort of hoping they don't find out we're responsible for its destruction."

     "I'm shayen, and I'd never heard of it," replied Lirenna. "Even Pharonia is nothing but an ancient legend. Some of the shayen Havenites might be descended from Pharonians, I might be for all I know, but I strongly doubt there's anyone still around today able to claim ownership of a Pharonian artifact. The Eye was long lost and forgotten, and I'm sure there's no-one who would come chasing after us because of it."

     They then told the young priest the whole story, beginning with their meeting in Clarrin's Claim and continuing right up to their triumphant entry into Samnia with the Sceptre, where they had been greeted jubilantly by the ruling priesthood. They had stayed in Samnia for two weeks, during which they had been taken to Devonia, capital city of the theocracy, and been granted an audience with the PriestKing himself. After spending a whole day with his Majestic Holiness, he had rewarded them with holy rings of courage and the freedom of Devonia for the rest of their lives.

     Drake examined their rings with great interest. He'd heard of them but never actually seen one before, let alone six. They had been blessed by the greatest Bishop-Generals of the country and imbued with the sacred presence of Samnos Himself so that they would protect their wearers against panic and morale failure in difficult situations, allowing them to face dangers and perils that would otherwise have sent them fleeing in terror. Thomas, however, wasn't completely happy with that. "Fear exists for a reason," he said. "It keeps us away from dangers that might otherwise kill us." He still wore the ring, though. It was just too great a prize not to wear, and he was proud to be able to show it off.

     It was the rings that convinced Drake that they were telling the truth. He could sense the power of Samnos in them, as well as a feeling of rightness that told him that they were in the hands of their rightful owners, and seeing them proudly worn on their fingers, with the emblem of the PriestKing above a griffin on a golden circular disk, he found himself filled with a terrible feeling of jealousy. If only I could have been there! he thought. To have been present when the Holy Sceptre was claimed from its resting place for the first time in two hundred years, that would have been an experience greater than any other.

     It wasn't possible, of course. Priests of Samnos weren't allowed to claim the Sceptre themselves. Other people, like these, had to do it, so even if he had been with them at the time, he would have had to wait outside while they went in without him. And besides, he told himself, I have my own victories to savour. He remembered the good feelings he'd had during the lizard men's victory celebration, and how he'd felt at the time that he would never have such a great feeling of accomplishment ever again. So stop these stupid feelings of jealousy, he scolded himself. Remember that you're a priest of Samnos and behave like one.

     The terrible jealousy faded obediently away, and he listened calmly to the rest of their story, about how they had travelled from Samnia to Calmany by sea to avoid the Ghost Ocean, about the adventures they'd had battling storms, sea monsters and pirates, and about their overland journey from the Calmanian seaport of Aylard to Mondisa, a three day journey of just over seventy miles. They talked until the bell rang, telling them that dinner was now ready, whereupon they moved into the neighbouring dining room and were shown to a table by a charming, rosy cheeked Calmanian waitress.

     Dinner was simple, but filling and nourishing, and half an hour later they went up to the house's common room where they relaxed on comfortable armchairs to let it all go down. "Well, we've told our story," said Thomas to the priest. "Now it's your turn. Tell us what you're doing so far from home and how you got here."

     Drake did so, telling of the spying mission into the Shadow and what had happened there. The others grew quiet and grave as he spoke, and when he got to the part where they'd met poor Bushel turned into a zombie, Diana reached out and touched his arm. "How terrible!" she said, her face a mask of terrible guilt. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault. If we hadn't come along, that poor man and all the others might still be alive."

     "That's true," agreed Drake, "but how many would have died needlessly when the Shadowarmies invaded and caught us unprepared? The warning you brought us was good and necessary. It gives us a fighting chance, and you mustn't blame yourself for the deaths of soldiers who are prepared to die in a good cause."

     He then went on to tell of their flight south out of the Shadow and into the Blackwater Marshes. The others listened in excitement to his account of the battle between the lizard men and the pakin-kho, and cheered when he told of the victory and the celebrations afterwards. "I always thought that lizard men were all nasty and evil," said Shaun when the priest had finished. "I suppose they're like people, though. Some are good and some are bad."

     "There are more bad lizard men than good ones, though," said Drake. "That lot was exceptional."

     They chatted on for several more hours about things that were happening and things that were likely to happen, while evening drew on and night fell. A man came in and lit the oil lamps that hung in various places on the walls, but the seven travellers scarcely noticed, so engrossed were they in their conversation. After a while, though, they looked up to find that they were all alone except for a man who had fallen asleep in an armchair and was snoring gently. Realising with some surprise how much time had passed while they'd been talking, they decided to turn in for the night. Exchanging goodnights and promising to get together again in the morning, therefore, they split up and headed for their rooms.