After teleporting out of the tower, Seskip had planned to spend a few more hours recovering before making his way to the magic proof cells, but Thomas's warning had given him a new sense of urgency. Privately, he thought the young wizard's theory rather unlikely, but then he'd also initially discounted his theory about felisians being behind the sabotage incidents and he'd turned out to be right about that. The lad had a fine brain on him, there was no doubt about that, so he had to take the warning seriously, no matter how outrageous it might at first appear.

     One interesting consequence if the Gown lad was right was that it didn't matter if they revealed themselves to be from the future. He could simply present himself to the current Head Proctor, reveal himself for who he really was and explain the nature of his mission. His counterpart might release his men and allow them to leave, and there would be no danger of his own world suffering from the leakage of information into the past. Any changes in history would take place in the newly created universe, not the original one. Unfortunately, though, he couldn't act in such a reckless manner until the theory was well and truly proved. Until then, he had to keep his identity secret and be prepared to suffer total memory loss if he was captured and threatened with mind reading spells.

     Tucking his spellbook back in its pouch, therefore, he went looking for a proctor. He found one less than a hundred yards away, watching suspiciously over a group of young men studying textbooks in the shade of a laida tree. The apprentices complicated matters a little, but not much. He just had to make sure they didn't see what he was about to do.

     "Hey!" he hissed from behind a neatly trimmed hedge, where the proctor could see him but the apprentices couldn't. "Hey!"

     The proctor looked round, saw Seskip beckoning to him with a bony finger. He came striding arrogantly over, intending to demand who the hell he thought he was, but as soon as he was out of sight of the apprentices Seskip hit him with a sleep spell.

     A rune sewn into the proctor's robes flared brilliantly as it absorbed the energy of the spell, and then he snarled angrily as he pulled a wand from his belt and aimed it. Seskip ran forward, brushing the wand aside even as it discharged a stream of sticky strands at the spot he'd just left, and he swung his fist hard at the proctor's jaw. An undignified way for a wizard to handle an opponent, but the proctor went down and stayed down so it was just as well. Seskip froze silently for a moment, listening for any sign that the students had overheard the melee, but they were still chatting happily just as before. Satisfied, he grabbed the proctor by the shoulders and dragged him further into the cover of the bushes.

     Acting quickly in case he was discovered, he cast a mind probe spell on the proctor and used it to learn everything he knew about the magic proof cells. Their location, and various details about their security, had changed many times down through the centuries and he didn't know precisely what year it was.

     By the time he'd finished the proctor was beginning to regain consciousness. Seskip removed the man's robes and the shirt beneath, then tore the shirt to strips and used it to tie the proctor up, using the last bit to gag him. The proctor glared furiously at him, and Seskip watched him for a few moments to see if he seemed likely to free himself and how much noise he was capable of making. He decided that the nearby group of apprentices might be able to hear him. He'd have to move them away.

     He studied the proctor closely, then cast a spell on himself. His appearance rippled and shifted until he became the mirror image of the proctor, right down to the uniform and the rune bearing robes. He checked the proctor's bonds one last time, then returned to where the apprentices were gathered.

     His voice was still his own. If he'd been able to hear the proctor talking he could have altered his own voice to match it, but that was now impossible. The students obeyed his command to move along, though, even though they stared in puzzlement and grumbled under their breaths. They hadn't been doing anything wrong! They always sat here! Seskip glared at them until they were well down the path, heading for the fifth year common room, then moved off in the opposite direction.

     The magic proof cells, he now knew, were in a system of basements deep under the Tower of Lexandros, deep enough that they shouldn't have been affected by the tower's collapse, and apart from a flight of steps down from the tower, which had been sealed up centuries before, the only entrance was by means of a tunnel leading from the Necromancy buildings. Even in Agglemonian times, this was by far the smallest and least used of the teaching buildings, although it would be reduced still further in size during the spell purge, when the secret of immortality, and as many clues that might lead to its rediscovery as possible, were ruthlessly eradicated from the library and the archives. Only a handful of people knew that it was within the school of necromancy that the secret lay, but Seskip was one of them.

     The necromancers, and the carefully chosen group of apprentices they taught, occupied only one wing of the building. The rest belonged to the proctors. They had their own dormitories here, their own offices and common rooms, and on the first floor was a row of cells with barred doors and windows into which students who persistently broke the rules were thrown for a day or two to scare a little respect and obedience into them.

     The entrance to the tunnel leading to the magic proof cells, specially designed to hold fully qualified wizards, was in the basement and was always guarded by a pair of proctors with orders to admit nobody who wasn't accompanied by the Head Proctor himself. They would be the greatest obstacle he would have to overcome. There were numerous other traps and defences, of course, but they were the same as in his day. The University was conservative to an extreme matched by no other human institution on the planet, and its defences had proven so effective that they were only added to when radical breakthroughs in magical research made it necessary. Even then, the existing defences were left in place and Seskip, as a Head Proctor himself, knew exactly how to overcome them. The proctors entrusted with guard duty, though, would be the best they had. They would be alert and on guard, knowing that they hadn't caught everyone involved in the duel in the tower and that a rescue attempt was likely. They would be armed with wands and rods of power. Possibly even the Staff of Lexandros itself. It was possible that Seskip himself would be captured, but he didn't waver in his resolve. Those were his men in there, and he had no intention of abandoning them.

     His disguise allowed him easy access to the building, and a proctor even nodded a friendly greeting as they passed each other in the corridor. He strolled casually on his way to the stairs, carefully not looking into the rooms he passed. The man he was imitating would already be fully familiar with what was in them, and Seskip had to behave exactly as he would. There was a noise coming from one room, though. Someone rummaging through drawers and cupboards, and he allowed his eye to drift in that direction as he passed the doorway. Then he froze in mid step and stared in amazement.

     It was a proctor, or at least he was dressed as a proctor, but he was muttering under his breath as he searched and it was a voice he recognised. Saturn! But what in the name of the Gods was he doing here? He'd escaped! He was free and clear! Why come back to where he might once again run into his pursuers? Was he insane? Or desperate? He pushed these questions to the back of his mind. They could be answered later. Right now he had to take advantage of this opportunity the Gods had given him. He had to act!

     Saturn was already spinning around, though, having become aware of unfriendly eyes on the back of his neck, and Seskip could only stare in stunned amazement as the wizard pointed a knobbly finger at his heart and muttered the single word required for the death spell. He was so fast, like a striking cobra! Seskip never had a chance to defend himself. No wonder Saturn hadn't been afraid to come back. He must have nothing but contempt for him. A proctor. A wizard who'd been forced to accept the role of shepherding apprentices because he lacked the talent to make a proper career for himself. In that moment, Seskip knew that that judgement was correct. Saturn was his superior in every way. There was simply no comparison.

     Before the death spell could be completed, though, Saturn cried out in pain and fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands. Seskip acted immediately and cast a wizard holding spell. A spell that froze the flows of magic force in the victim's body, rendering him temporarily incapable of casting spells.

     Saturn must have felt it taking hold, because he raised his head and fixed a bloodshot eye on his adversary before climbing unsteadily back to his feet. "All right," he croaked, laying a hand on a bench for support. "You've got me. I won't resist."

     "You were hurt in the explosion in the tower," deduced Seskip, coming forward to look him over for obvious injuries. No blood, apparently no broken bones. Something internal, perhaps.

     "I was hit by a blast of quasi-magic," explained the other wizard as he submitted to the examination. "It did something to me. I don't know what, but any attempt to use magic causes me the most unbearable agony. I came here looking for a cure. You beat me in the tower, you just didn't know it."

     Seskip nodded, struggling to remain stony faced, but inside he was jubilant. He'd caught Saturn, one of the most powerful wizards alive in the world today! His today, that is. Who was the better wizard now?

     "So, what happens now?" asked Saturn unhappily.

     "You know the routine. Strip."

     Saturn nodded and began removing his clothes, along with all the carefully places runes and sigils they contained. Magics that could still make him powerful and dangerous even in his present condition. Seskip then manacled his hands behind his back.

     "I can't afford to leave you behind where someone might find you," he said. "You'll have to come with me." He cast an illusion over him to make him appear a fully dressed proctor. A naked man with manacled hands would be sure to attract attention. "As a professional courtesy, I'm prepared to leave you the power of speech, so long as you give me your word not to try to raise the alarm. You'd only end up in the magic proof cells along with me if you did."

     "You have my word," agreed Saturn.

     "Good. Let's go then. If the Gown lad's right, we haven't got much time."

     He made a bundle of Saturn's clothes and the books he'd stolen from the library and hung it about the wizard's neck like a pair of saddlebags. Then he gestured for Saturn to precede him out of the room.