Molos Gomm was away from Castle Nagra for over four months, during which Tak and Philip avoided each other as much as possible.

     Tak spent most of his time in the library, studying furiously in his desire to match Philip in spellcasting ability but, although he managed to perfect the few minor spells his master had taught him, he failed to learn any more. Learning a new spell for oneself, even when one has another wizard's spellbook to study, is notoriously difficult, and as a general rule only experienced wizards can do it. Apprentice wizards have to be walked through a new spell by their masters. Philip could probably have helped him, but Tak was damned if he was going to go to him. He have a sigh of resignation and went back to the study of general principles.

     Philip made no further attempt to bring a bedmate back to the castle, but sometimes he would ride out on horseback and return two or three days later, probably having spent some time with the bawdy girls of Volk, the nearest large town.

     Having the huge four poster bed to himself was a luxury Tak made the most of while he had it, knowing it would come to an end when his master returned. He could deny Philip, but not Molos Gomm. He knew he would be turned out of the castle if he failed to provide the service he had been brought to perform and he couldn't now bear the thought of that. He hated the thought of serving the wrinkled wizard's needs, but he was willing to endure it if it meant staying and continuing his studies. He was addicted to wizardry, to the feel of the power flowing like liquid fire through his body, and he would do anything at all to service that need. Plus, of course, the old man still had the deaths of his family to answer to, although Tak had decided to leave that until the wizard had nothing left to teach him. His mind shied firmly away from the question of whether he could actually bring himself to take his life. He would deal with that problem when the time came.

     As the weeks went by and Philip grew increasingly irrational and dangerous, Tak found himself wishing harder and harder for the old man's return. There was a murderous look in the older apprentice's eyes now whenever they chanced to meet in the corridor. The memory of how the younger apprentice had denied him his bedmate and then humiliated him in front of Trobo burned ever hotter in his mind until Tak began to actually fear for his life.

     Philip eventually began to reach the point where he wouldn't care what Molos Gomm thought. He was approaching the state where he might simply creep up behind the boy and bludgeon him to death with something heavy. Tak began to feel murderous eyes on him wherever he went, making him increasingly nervous and jumpy. He began locking the door to Molos Gomm's bedchamber at night and spent his every waking hour glancing fearfully over his shoulder. He began to think seriously that the only way to secure his safety would be to 'take care' (he couldn't bear to even think the word kill) of Philip before he was taken care of himself. It would be simple self defence after all...

     When Molos Gomm finally returned, therefore, Tak felt a great sense of relief that his life was safe once more, and almost didn't mind that his body would once again no longer be his own. The first he knew of it was the screeching of a giant eagle out in the courtyard, and when he rushed to the window he saw the old wizard dismounting from the great bird, Trobo walking out to greet him and unsaddle his mount. Knowing he would expect his apprentices to be there to greet him as well, Tak left the room and hurried down the stairs, nearly bumping into Philip in the great hall. They stared daggers at each other, then walked side by side out into the cold air.

     "Ah, my good boys!" cried Molos Gomm in delight, reaching out his arms to them. The two young men dutifully walked into his arms and allowed themselves to be hugged, and Tak's skin crawled as the old man's hand savoured the yielding flesh and hard bone through the robe. "How good to see you again! How good to smell you!" His long beaky nose nuzzled Tak's hair and his hand slipped down to fondle his buttocks. All of a sudden it seemed incredible to Tak that he'd been wishing for his return. It took all his self control to keep himself from pushing the old man violently away.

     "Has all been well while I've been away? Is the castle well?"

     "All's well, master," replied Philip, staring at Tak as if daring him to contradict him.

     Nothing was further from Tak's mind, though. He wanted nothing more than for Philip to forget what had happened. "All is well," he agreed therefore, and he saw Philip breathing a small sigh of relief.

     "Good! Good!" cried Molos Gomm in delight. "I can't tell you how good it is to be back. War's a nasty business, you know. A very nasty business indeed, but enough of that. I need a good bath to recover from my journey..."

     Tak tensed up. He knew what was coming.

     "...and I think it would be nice if we all shared it together. A sort of welcome home bath. That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

     "All three of us?" said Tak and Philip together, staring in horrified surprise at each other.

     "Yes, why not? See to it, will you, Trobo?"

     The houseman nodded once, then took the harness into the stables. Behind them, the giant eagle shook its wings indignantly and took to the air, heading back to its mountain home.

☆☆☆

     Thomas stretched to ease his aching muscles. How long had he been talking? A minor incident in Tak's apprenticeship had swelled into a full blown adventure as details had come to him even as he'd been talking and he'd ended up spending half the night describing what he'd originally intended to spend a mere ten minutes on. A wave of fatigue swept over him. He'd better get to bed soon if he expected to be any use to Pondar Walton tomorrow. Or was it tomorrow already? He realised he'd lost all track of time, but it had to be at least midnight.

     Lirenna was grinning at him, as fresh as though she'd just risen from a good night's sleep. "So you can hardly remember, can you? So you have hardly any memories from that period in his life?"

     Thomas looked embarrassed. "Apart from that, I don't. The next year or so's just a blank. Just a return to the old routine of learning magic, doing all the hard work and odd jobs. Staying out of Philip's way and, and... you know."

     Lirenna nodded, serious once more, and touched his hand.

     "Molos Gomm wouldn't let Philip leave the castle for anything other than serious business," continued Thomas, "so he couldn't visit his bawdy girls any more. Nor would his master allow him to bring anyone back to the castle. Instead, Molos Gomm told me, Tak I mean, to see to his needs. He had to obey, he had no choice, and Philip was brutal with him. I'm glad I don't remember much of that, except that Philip developed a fondness for bondage. He took a savage delight in exercising power over Tak, in dominating him every way he could. It didn't end until Philip died, by which time Tak had been in the castle for over four years. That's the next thing I really remember properly." He yawned and stretched again. "Some other time, though. Time for bed."

     Lirenna grinned again, and the predatory look he knew so well was back in her eyes. "Bed, yes!" she said, taking him by the hands to help him to his feet. "And I know just how to make you forget perverted externums!"

     She moved into his arms, kissed him firmly on the mouth, then began unbuttoning his shirt. The two of them left a trail of clothes on the floor leading to the bed.

☆☆☆

     Thomas had intended to resume Tak's story the following night, but tragic news from the Jules Verne put it out of his mind for some time. The Ship of Space had been forced to abandon its exploration of the moons of Rama when the crew had been struck down by a mysterious illness. All twenty crewmembers, shae folk and moon trogs as well as humans, had been afflicted by painful cramps in all their joints, swiftly followed by vomiting, spontaneous bruising and bleeding from every orifice. Gunther Fugh, the wizard on command, had given orders for the ship to leave the planet immediately, then took the whole crew back to Tharia via the teleportation cubicle.

     Clerical healing had done nothing for the victims until someone recognised the symptoms of the skydeath. The special prayers that the Goddess Caroli had revealed to Her worshippers to combat this threat were used at once and most of the crew made a full recovery, but Gunther Fugh was one of three humans and a moon trog who died despite everything they could do.

     "Skydeath!" raged Saturn furiously. "The orb must have failed! But how? Where did we go wrong? Where did I go wrong?"

     He had taken personal charge of creating the Orbs of Skydeath Protection from Schoena Scull's original, rescued after many adventures from the Southern Continent, and the possibility he'd made a blunder at some point during their manufacture enraged him like a personal insult. "I was so careful," he seethed, his hands clenched into fists, his single eye glaring. "I took every precaution! Used only the finest ingredients! I could not have done a better job!"

     "No-one's blaming you," said Natan Crowley, regarding the other wizard with some concern. "Magic is inherently unpredictable. Every spell we ever cast has a chance of failing for no reason. You know that as well as I do. And with all the magic aboard that ship it's a miracle anything works at all."

     "There'll be an enquiry of course," grimaced Saturn.

     "A mere formality," said the Director reassuringly. "And there's only one possible conclusion it can come to. Death caused by spontaneous spell failure. Seskip's probably writing his report already."

     Saturn thought he probably was, but he thought he might come to a slightly different conclusion. Death caused by spell failure for reasons unknown. Technically it was the same thing, but the 'reasons unknown' contained the unspoken implication that the casting wizard had erred in some way. It was an accusation of incompetence in everything but name. Saturn seethed harder. Damn him! He wouldn't miss this opportunity to put the knife in!

     "I'd like to lead the team to install a new orb," he said flatly, putting his feelings for the Head Proctor aside for the moment. "We've suffered a tragedy, I know, but the search for the Shipbuilder civilisation must go on. It may seem callous, but we're facing a potential threat to the whole planet. We have to keep out priorities right."

     "I understand the urgency," said the Director. "How soon can you get the new orb ready?"

     "It's ready now. I finished both orbs at the same time."

     "Good. Off you go then. And be careful. If anything happens to that second orb, the Rossem Project is dead in the water."

     Saturn nodded and left.