When he regained consciousness, his head pounding with pain, he was lying in the back of the cart. His hands were still tied, or he assumed they were. They were numb with cold. He couldn't do a thing with them, but they were behind his back and he couldn't move them. His ankles were also tied and he was tightly gagged with a thick strip of cloth. Jack must have worried about him waking up too soon.

     The axe handle was lying nearby, and a sudden wave of fear, mingled with anger, swept through him when he saw the fresh blood that stained its thick end. He could have killed me! He could have smashed my skull like an eggshell! He made loud, angry noises through the gag and Jack looked round at him. He grunted in satisfaction and went back to his driving.

     The sky was growing light. Dawn was approaching. He struggled to a sitting position to see where he was and a bound hand struck a wooden board. Agony flashed through him, so great he almost passed out again, but when the pain had ebbed away to a dull ache Tak found he was reassured. At least his hands were still alive.

     They were well on their way into the mountains, he saw. There were already steep slopes on both sides of the road, reaching up on one side and down on the other, and ahead of them he could see the entrance to the narrow, steep sided valley that led to Castle Nagra itself. At the rate they were going they were probably less than an hour from arriving.

     He imagined what would happen when they got there. Jack Nowl holding Tak out over the precipice and threatening to drop him if Lyssa weren't returned to him. Philip laughing and turning his back on them. Would Jack really drop him? He didn't know, but he thought he might. He really thought he might. His guts shriveled with fear as he imagined Jack letting go of him, imagined falling, his bones shattering as he bounced off one stony outcrop after another...

     He had to tell him that Philip cared nothing for him. Disliked him immensely, in fact, and would like nothing better than to see him dead. He tried to speak, but the thick wad of cloth held in his mouth pressed his tongue to the bottom of his mouth and held his jaws so far apart that the hinges ached painfully. The only sounds he could make were a few unintelligible grunts which Jack Nowl ignored, probably guessing he just wanted to be untied.

     He thrashed about, kicking the side boards with his bound feet, desperate to communicate that he had to tell him something.

     "Stop that," said Jack without looking around. "Lie still or I'll knock you out again."

     The matter of fact way he said it told Tak he meant it and he froze in terror, sobbing quietly with despair. There was nothing he could do. He was completely in Jack Nowl's power.

☆☆☆

     The day grew brighter as the yellow sun rose higher and steamy vapour began to rise from their clothes and the wooden boards of the cart. Below them, a layer of mist lay at the bottom of the valley, its surface undulating like slow motion waves on a cloudy ocean in the very faint breeze that was beginning to rise. It was one of the most beautiful sights Jack Nowl had ever seen but he was in no mood to appreciate it. All he could think of were the miles passing by beneath them, carrying him ever closer to a likely death. Any risk was worthwhile to rescue his daughter, though. The thought of her in the monstrous wizard's bed caused all thought for his own safety to burn away in a flame of red fury.

     They entered Nagra Valley, and half an hour later they turned the last bend in the high, narrow road giving him his first glimpse of Castle Nagra. His heart quailed in fear at the sight of the dark, forbidding walls and towers, home to who knew what nameless horrors. It was a place of such terrible reputation that he wouldn't have come this far to save his own life. His daughter was in there, though, and the thought made him sit upright with new determination. He would do whatever it took to get her out. Whatever it took.

     He looked over his shoulder at the boy tied up in the back. A handsome, good looking lad, there was no doubt of that. If he'd had the benefit of a proper upbringing, the loving care of a close family like his own, there was no doubt he could have grown up into a fine, decent man. Tall and strong. The sort of man he'd have been proud to call a neighbour. As it was, though, it was almost certainly too late to save him. Living all his life in such company, who knew what evil ways he'd already picked up?

     And if he was allowed to grow up, who knew what crimes he would commit. What misery and suffering he would inflict on innocent, decent people? How many other innocent girls would undergo the ordeal his Lyssa was suffering even now? He could prevent that misery if he killed the boy now. Of course, he needed him alive for the time being to get his daughter back, but maybe an opportunity would come. Killing wasn't something that would come easily, he knew. He was a good man, decent and law abiding, but he was also a husband and a father and his family had to be protected. He would do whatever was necessary.

     Why had the boy come alone into town?

     Some scheme of his own, no doubt. Something that would profit him. He had all but admitted as much, and it said much about how he'd already been warped and twisted that he was capable of such plotting and scheming at such a young age. Why had he deliberately put himself into such a vulnerable position, though? So vulnerable that Jack Nowl, a mere man, had been able to capture him so easily?

     A nagging doubt began to gnaw away at him. Could it be that he really had come to help? Could he, Jack, be making a terrible mistake? He thrust the thought away angrily. The boy must have been counting on some arcane power to protect him. A power that had failed. That must have been why Toby was on his side. The boy had put some kind of spell on him. Yes, that was it. It must have been his love for Lyssa that had saved him from a similar fate. How surprised the boy must have been! After living all his life amongst wickedness and evil, to suddenly meet the power of pure love. Could he even understand the power that had defeated him? Almost certainly not. The concept was probably completely alien to him, and that was perhaps the greatest tragedy of all.

     The castle loomed ahead of him now, its back to the mountains that emphatically marked the eastern boundary of the territories and vassal lands of Domandropolis. Jack supposed he was already in sight of the watchers in the towers; fell beasts summoned from the darkest corners of the world. Too late to change his mind now, not that he had any intention of doing so.

     He imagined nameless creatures hurrying to inform their dark and terrible master of his approach. The wizard issuing orders to his minions to prepare for his coming. Perhaps coming forth himself to see what kind of man would dare to challenge him in his own stronghold. Fear grew in Jack Nowl as he imagined the power he was about to face. He thought of Lyssa, so bravely enduring the wizard's bed, and his love for her calmed his nerves. Turned his fear into an icy determination. He found the strength to carry on, to do whatever had to be done, and he consoled himself with the thought that if he died here, he would not die alone.

☆☆☆

     The sound of hoofbeats woke Tak from the lethargy into which he'd fallen. He looked around and felt a surge of new hope when he saw three men on horseback, riding hard. Toby and his two sons. He lifted himself up onto his elbows, making a muffled sound of delight and relief.

     "Fools!" cried Jack in horrified anguish. "The bloody fools!" He whipped the horse to greater speed, careless of the perilously narrow road and the deadly drop beside them.

     He'll kill us! thought Tak in terror. He'll take us over the edge! He rolled painfully to the edge of the cart, raised his upper body up and over the low wooden boards and, with a kick of his legs, pushed himself over the side.

     He landed hard on his shoulder and rolled. For a moment he thought he was going over the side anyway, but he hit the other side of the road and came to a halt with a hard, bonejarring thud that left him dazed. He was dimly aware of the cart clattering on without him, Jack holding the reins with one hand, swinging the whip with the other, and he saw him look over his shoulder to see how close behind his pursuers were. His eyes widened with shock and horror when he saw the boy lying half stunned at the base of the towering cliffs and he gave a cry of frustration as he reined the horse in and yanked hard on the brake. The skidding cart sent a small avalanche of stones raining over the precipice as hooves and wheels teetered on the edge.

     Jack leapt down from the seat while the cart was still moving at some speed, his feet slipping out from under him as he hit the rocky ground, but then he was back on his feet and running back to where Tak lay. The boy cringed back in terror against the wall of rock, but then Toby was there, jumping down from his horse and standing protectively between them.

     "Easy now, Jack," he warned, holding his hands out in front of him, ready to grab him if necessary. "Just take it easy."

     "You fools!" cried Jack in frustration as Toby's sons joined their father. "You don't know what you're doing!"

     Leaving his sons to keep Jack away, Toby ran back to see to the boy. "Easy, lad," he muttered as he removed the gag and pulled out the thick wad of saliva soaked cloth. "Gods!" he gasped, seeing the size of it. "You could have suffocated him!" He produced a small knife to carefully cut Tak's bonds, and had to gently pull the bloodsoaked hairy string out of the furrows they'd made in his flesh. "I'm sorry, lad, I'm so sorry. I had no idea he'd do something like this."

     He helped Tak back to his feet and rubbed his frozen hands to get some life back into them. "Jack, you motherless bastard! What did he ever do to deserve this?"

     "You know what he is," protested Jack Nowl, furious at being cast as the bad guy. "He's put some kind of spell on you. Can't you see that?"

     Toby forced himself to ignore him. "How are you, lad? Are you hurt bad?"

     "M-my shoulder's worst," shivered Tak, feeling it gingerly with a frozen blue hand. "I think it may be broken."

     Toby examined it carefully, although it was hard to get a feel for the flesh and bone through several layers of clothing. "I don't think it's broken," he said at last, "although it should be, the way you came off that cart. You'll have a spectacular bruise, though, and it'll hurt like murder once the numbness wears off. We'll get Father Turly to have a look at it."

     He began guiding the boy back to his horse, but Tak pulled away. "No, I've got to go on. I've got to get Lyssa out of there." He indicated the castle, the ruined outer gates of which gaped just a few hundred yards further down the road.

     All four stared at him. Toby and his sons in surprise, Jack Nowl in open fear. "You're not going back there," said Toby firmly. "You can make a new life for yourself. There's folks'll take you in, a good way from here where no-one knows who you are."

     Tak shook his head. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The spells he put on me are too strong, I would be compelled to return to him no matter how far away you took me. Besides, I have unfinished business with Molos Gomm." And I have to get back to that library. "Also, I'm the only one who can get Lyssa out. If I don't do that, everything I've endured so far will have been for nothing."

     "Do you hear that, Jack?" called out Toby scornfully. "This is the lad you were mistreating so shamefully."

     "You blind fools!" cried back Jack. "He just wants to set the guards on us. Carry us back in chains to his dungeons. He'll betray us all!"

     "There are no guards," replied Tak. "Molos Gomm doesn't need them. His power alone is enough to defend the castle, but he would never endanger himself by coming out to do battle in the open." He felt a little ashamed at how he was deceiving them, letting them believe that the old wizard was currently in residence, but he had to stop Jack rousing the whole town into a mob to storm the castle. He imagined enraged townspeople rampaging through the tapestried passageways, throwing flaming torches into every room they passed. All those books burning... "They know me in there. I can go in, find her and bring her out before anyone knows what's going on."

     "And what'll happen to you when they find out what you've done?" demanded Toby.

     Tak shrugged. "I imagine I'll be punished, but I'm already made to share an old man's bed to serve his pleasure. He'll have to be very imaginative to find something worse than that. Don't worry, he won't hurt me too much, and he certainly won't do anything to spoil my good looks."

     Toby was deeply unhappy. "At least come back and get yourself healed up first. You can come back when you're better."

     "Molos Gomm keeps a supply of healing potions in his bedchamber. I'll go there first." He took one of Toby's hands in his. "I'll be back soon."

     He edged past Jack Nowl, giving him a wide berth, and walked the rest of the way to the castle while, behind him, Jack resumed his bitter argument with Toby.