"That's incredible!" said Lirenna when Thomas told her about it later that day. They were back in the dwelling tree, the cramped confines of the tiny, living house creating a cosy intimacy between them. "And only you can sense it?"

"That's what they say," agreed Thomas, still feeling bemused by the very idea. "Only me, alone in the whole valley. Just think of it! That makes me special, and perhaps I can use that. Maybe it'll give me the leverage I need to find out what's going on around here."

"About time," said Lirenna with a grin. "I hate mysteries."

"I love them!" said Thomas, grinning wider. "And right now this whole valley's a mystery. This business with the meteorite, the Beltharans, Elmias Pastin... They all tie in together, I'm sure of it. Hey, guess what else I heard today."

"What?" asked the demi shae, settling back into the soft cushions and looking at him with her dark, slightly slanted eyes.

"They're rehearsing for a play in the great hall. You'll never guess what it's about."

"Tell me."

"They're doing the Quest for the Sceptre of Samnos. The epic tale of a small band of heroes whose daring exploits gave the world its one chance for victory against the rampaging Shadowhordes."

Lirenna's face lit up with astonishment. "You're kidding! Are we in it?"

"Not yet," said Thomas with a mischievous grin, "but we could be, in a sense. In the play it's Resalintas and his followers who recover the Sceptre, but I think we could convince her that his followers included a brilliant young wizard and a beautiful demi shae. Maybe we could even convince her to let us play the parts. What do you think?"

She gave a cry of delight and clapped her hands. "And they'll never know that two of the actors were among the actual people who did it! What wonderful fun! We won't tell them the truth, though, will we?"

"No, I'm happy to let Resalintas take the credit. Poor Derry's going to have a hard enough time as it is, after what happened to him in the testing chair. He doesn't need something to make him even more different from the other kids. Besides, we're not the kind of people who need to keep crowing over our accomplishments."

"But we can tell them how it really was and pretend we're just making it up!" said Lirenna, still beaming with delight. "It's perfect!"

"I thought we could pretend to have met the brilliant young wizard during the siege of Fort Battleaxe and he told us about it," suggested Thomas. "Gives it that little extra flavour of authenticity."

"It also has the virtue of being the truth," added Lirenna, taking his hand and twining her fingers through his. "Not only did I meet the brilliant young wizard, but I married him. So long as I'm careful what I say, I don't have to tell a single lie." Folklore had it that the shae folk were incapable of telling lies. It wasn't quite true. They could lie when they really had to, but they preferred to tell the truth whenever possible. "When are these rehearsals taking place?"

"As I understand it, they're taking place right now. This very minute."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" cried Lirenna, leaping to her feet and pulling Thomas up after her. "Come on, let's go!"

She held onto his hand and pulled him, laughing, out of the dwelling tree and down the woodland path that led to the University buildings.

☆☆☆

The Great Hall was just as they remembered it from their days as apprentices, so many years before. The high, arched ceiling with its gothic ribs and carvings. The huge stained glass windows through which the dying rays of the setting suns were slanting onto the wood paneled floor. The long stage at its far end on which the twelve magnificently carved chairs usually stood. Five chairs for the five heads of years, six for the six heads of the schools of magic and, in the centre, the Director's throne. Positioned to give the senior wizards a commanding view over the heads of the assembled apprentices during the daily assemblies.

The thing that struck them most about the Great Hall was the sheer size and grandeur of the place. It was a place designed to crush the spirits of all who entered, make them feel small and insignificant and leave them with a lasting impression of humility and unimportance that would last long after they had left, impressions that Thomas had long suspected were enhanced by magic spells. It was the apprentices it was designed to have this impression on, of course. They were already full of pride and self importance at having been selected as apprentice wizards, a position that placed them above the 'little people'. The so called mundanes. The non-wizards who formed the bulk of the world's population.

This self importance would only grow when they became fully qualified wizards. Godlike beings capable of wielding powers and energies beyond the ability of most people to comprehend. The arrogance that could so easily grow as a consequence could breed resentment and hatred among the mundane population, possibly leading eventually to a sudden, violent backlash against wizards and magic of all kinds. It had happened once before, a thousand years before, when the Massacre of the Mages had almost led to the extinction of wizardry on Tharia. One of the University's self appointed tasks was to see that this never happened again.

Beside every door were boards of dark wood on which, painted in gold, were the names and dates of graduation of the greatest wizards in the University's history. Thomas glanced at them as they entered, wondering if their own names had been added there, and was mildly disappointed to find they hadn't been. Not too surprising, of course, since most of the things they'd accomplished since graduating were unknown to anyone else. Everybody knew that it was Resalintas who'd recovered the Sceptre of Samnos, for instance, and their adventures on Kronos, including the discovery of the observatory, were a Beltharan state secret whose disclosure could damage the security of the much reduced and humbled Kingdom.

Thomas and Lirenna had mixed feelings towards Belthar. Both of them resented their occupation of Ilandia, which had only recently ended, and Belthar was a continuing threat to the hidden kingdom of Haven, but Belthar was still at war with the undead armies of the Rak Kings, all that now remained of the once mighty Shadowarmies, and neither of them would do anything to endanger the defeat of the armies of evil. They had decided to keep silent about Kronos, therefore, telling only the Queen and the Elders of Haven so that they could make whatever preparations they could for their eventual and inevitable discovery.

The twelve chairs had been moved to one side of the stage, creating a clear space on which a dozen or so men and women had gathered, discussing something in voices that were carried throughout the hall by its superb acoustics, a result partly of the hall's design but enhanced by more magic spells. They were discussing the scenery, by the sound of it. Trying to decide how much of it could be conjured up by illusion spells and how much would have to be real enough to be handled or walked on by the actors. Nearby, a small man was scribbling something in a battered, badly creased notebook, while a man and a woman had moved a little way away from the main group to talk about something else; a juicy bit of gossip if the expressions on their faces were anything to go by.

"They can't be intending to perform the play here, surely," said Lirenna as they crossed the room, heading for the stage. "The atmosphere's much too oppressive and intimidating."

"They're probably just using it as a convenient place to meet and rehearse," replied Thomas. "I would imagine they'll be performing it outdoors somewhere. Graduation field perhaps." Lirenna nodded in agreement.

The people on the stage stopped talking and looked around when they saw the new arrivals approaching, and a prim, tidy woman whose light brown hair was tied back in a bun stepped forward. "Can I help you?" she demanded impatiently, her moderately pretty face frowning in annoyance.

"Er, we heard you were doing a play about the quest for the Sceptre of Samnos," said Thomas when he reached the base of the stage, three feet below the actors.

"That's right," snapped the woman, "and we came in here for a bit of privacy. It's about the only place in the valley where you can work without people constantly coming in and interrupting."

"We're sorry to disturb you," said Lirenna, smiling her best smile, "but we thought we might be able to help you. We met Resalintas a couple of times during the siege of Fort Battleaxe and we thought we might be able to help you with a few historical details."

"You met Resalintas?" said a young man, coming forward to the edge of the stage and staring excitedly down at the newcomers. "You actually met him?"

"What was he like?" asked another young man.

"Be quiet, I'll handle this," said the woman, though. "Thank you for your offer," she said, " but we already have all the historical detail we need and the script is finished. It was very kind of you to make the offer, though, and now if you'll excuse us..."

"You say you've got all the historical details?" interrupted Thomas. "Then you know all about the people who accompanied him on his quest."

"He was accompanied by other priests, younger and less experienced. We already know that. I very much doubt that you can add anything of importance to what we already know."

"He was not accompanied by any other priests of Samnos," said Thomas firmly. "We know because we met some of the people who were on the quest in Fort Battleaxe. I got to know them quite well. I even saw the Sceptre of Samnos itself on one occasion."

"That's ridiculous!" retorted the woman with a snort of contempt. "Now I know you're lying! Telling tall stories and wasting our time! Now please go away before I call the proctors!"

"It's true," said Lirenna calmly. She held her hand up to the man who'd spoken to her, who reached down and helped her up onto the stage. Thomas climbed up after her. "We saw the Sceptre. I was once as close to it as I am to you. I am shayen, and I tell you that we are telling the truth. Do you want us to swear in the name of the Gods?"

"That won't be necessary," said the young man who'd helped her up. "We believe you, don't we, Kama?"

The young woman gave a loud sniff and tossed her head in annoyance.

"You must understand, this play is her baby," the young said to Thomas and Lirenna. "The whole thing was her idea. It was she who first suggested it and got it off the ground. She's just afraid that you're going to take it away from her."

"Please believe we'd never do that," said Lirenna to Kama, putting a gentle hand on her arm. "We're just concerned that you get the facts right, that's all. We grew very close to the questers in the short time we knew them, you see, and we just want to make sure you tell it the way it really happened, allowing for a little artistic licence of course."

The woman wavered, until her eye was caught by the young man, who nodded encouragingly to her. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't do any harm for you to have a look at the script," she said at last, "but no-one is going to make any changes that I don't approve of. Is that clear?"

"You're in charge," agreed Thomas. "Your decision is final."

"So long as that's understood," said Kama, nodding her acceptance. "All right, I'll listen to your suggestions."

"Splendid!" said the young man, putting his arms around Kama and Lirenna and squeezing them both. "To tell the truth, we've been having problems with the characterisation. Priests of Samnos are so two dimensional. It's hard to turn them into interesting characters."

"You just can't get into the part," protested Kama angrily. "There's nothing wrong with the characters, it's your acting that's at fault."

"Not even the great Sarjon could play a priest of Samnos without making him look like a block of wood. They've just got no personality! They're all faith and duty. I've always said that a play about priests of Samnos would never work."

"Well, none of, I mean, only one of the questers was a priest of Samnos," said Thomas. "The real questers were a really interesting bunch. They'd be great in a play."

"Well, why don't you do a character profile on each of them?" suggested Kama. "Just a short list of their personality traits. Their likes and dislikes. The kind of language they used, that sort of thing. I'll read them and see if I can use them."

"Okay," agreed Thomas. "We'll do that."

"In the meantime, Miles, can you lend them your copy of the script?" An older man with a bushy black beard stepped forward and smiled as he handed Lirenna a thick sheaf of papers. "Why don't you take that away with you, read it and come back tomorrow evening. We'll be here, and we'll listen to any suggestions you might have."

"We'll do that," agreed Thomas. "See you then."

Lirenna held out her hand for the young man to help her back down off the stage, which he did eagerly, and then she and Thomas made their way back out of the room while a babble of excited gossip broke out behind them.