The three wizards and Diana met back at the inn at nightfall, and went to the common room to wait for Shaun and Matthew. "Did you find anything?" Lirenna asked Thomas.

     "No, nothing," he replied with a weary sigh. "No mention anywhere of either the Oracle or the Sceptre. There were only a few hundred books in the whole library and most of them were histories and biographies, as are most of the books in the world. I did find something, though. A history of Fort Battleaxe from the start of the first Shadowwar, just over a hundred years ago, until a couple of years ago when it was written. Near the end of it, it mentions that Zebulon entered Ilandia several times, asking people if they knew anything about the Oracle. That was in 2087, just before he set off to find the Eye of Millandar. It also notes that on one such journey he visited Andor."

     "So he also thought that Allis might know where it was," said Jerry. "We must be on the right track."

     "Not necessarily," said Thomas. "There's still no way of knowing whether she could give him the information. She might still be a dead end. Don't forget that there was no mention of the Oracle's location in his journal. If he had learned its location from the Mad Woman, wouldn't he have written it down there?"

     "Perhaps he wanted to, but couldn't," suggested Lirenna. "If the Oracle wants to remain as secret as possible, it might have prevented him from setting the information down anywhere."

     "This is all useless speculation," said Diana. "We won't know one way or the other until we find the Mad Woman and ask her ourselves."

     "Yeah," said Jerry, "But it's still a hopeful sign that Zebulon thought she could help. Hey, you'll never guess what we found in the museum..." They chatted on for several more minutes, while Diana looked fretfully out the window. When the bell rang, calling them for dinner, and her brothers still hadn't returned, she began to get worried. They've probably found a tavern and are drinking themselves silly, she thought. If they think I'm going to demean my Lady's powers by curing their hangovers, they've got another thing coming!

     The others noticed her fidgeting and looking repeatedly at the door all through the meal, and made various half serious suggestions about what might be keeping them, some of which made her laugh nervously, but in truth, they were also getting a little worried. Thomas, in particular, who had grown up in Ilandia, knew the kind of trouble they could easily have gotten themselves into, but he said nothing for fear of worrying her further.

     When they'd nearly finished eating, a city guardsman entered the room, stood in the doorway searching the faces of the diners, and then came marching in their direction. "Are you Diana Winterwell, Thomas Gown, Lirenna Daliris and Geremy Blumintop, the four people who entered this city with Shaun and Matthew Winterwell?" It was a purely rhetorical question. The number of shae folk in the city could be counted on the fingers of two hands, and there were even fewer nomes.

     "Yes," said Diana in alarm. "Where are they? Are they all right?"

     "They're fine," said the guardsman. "I've been sent to take you to them. Will you come with me please?"

☆☆☆

     Shaun and Matthew were shown into an interrogation room by a young guardsman. Already in the room, sitting behind a desk, was a Major of the city guard, and standing behind him was a priest of Samnos, wearing Sergeants stripes on his crimson robes. "Good evening," said the Major. "My name is Major Dessin, and this is Vasta, the regimental chaplain. We need your permission for him to use the power of Samnos on you for this interview. You are within your rights to refuse, but if you do it will, quite naturally, lead us to seriously doubt the truth of anything you say to us, which could be bad for you. Do you understand?"

     "Yes, sir," said Shaun. "We welcome the use of a priest's ability to detect lies because we've got nothing to hide."

     "Good" said the Major. He turned to the priest. "Sergeant, if you would?"

     "Yes, sir," said the priest. He placed his hands on Shaun’s head and spoke what they assumed were the words of a prayer in a language they didn't understand. The woodsman felt a faint tingling running down his spine, which soon faded. Then he did the same to Matthew. "Done, sir," he said."

     "Good. Now then, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it falsely. Are you dead?"

     "Yes, sir," said Shaun, and felt another tingle run down his back. The priest nodded in satisfaction. Matthew gave the same answer, with the same result.

     "Good," said the Major. "Some people, having the protection of other Gods, have the ability to defy the powers of a priest of Samnos. I'm pleased to find that you do not, which means Vasta will know instantly if you tell a lie. Now we can begin. Three bodies have been found in a street near the temple of Nimbus. Did you kill them?"

     "Yes, in self defence," answered Shaun.

     "In self defence, eh? All right. Tell me everything that happened leading up to that event."

     Shaun did so, and was halfway through the narrative when an orderly opened the door and showed Diana and the three wizards in. Shaun paused in surprise when he heard Diana's sigh of relief at seeing them, but the Major motioned for him to continue and he did so. Diana paled as he described the fight in the narrow street, and especially when he told of how Matthew had almost been killed, but she remained silent.

     When he'd finished, the Major glanced at the priest, who nodded. "Well," he said with a sigh. "It seems you could do nothing else under those circumstances. I find that you acted in self defence."

     "Does that mean we can go now?" asked Matthew in relief.

     "Hardly. There remains the small matter of the magic sword." He reached under the desk and produced it. "You know that it is forbidden to bring magical weapons into this city without declaring them first."

     "No, we didn't!" protested Shaun. "No-one told us that!"

     "When you passed through the city gates, you must have seen the notice detailing the rules governing magic use. Didn't you bother to read it? Not that it matters. Ignorance is no excuse." He gazed longingly at the magnificent weapon. "The penalty is six days imprisonment and confiscation of the sword."

     "No! You can't!" shouted Shaun. "It's mine!"

     The Major ignored him. "Sergeant, take him to the cells and show the others out."

     "No, wait," said Diana, coming forward to stand before the Major. "The sword was given to him by the great wizard Zebulon and his friend Rhanov, its previous owner. You can see Zebulon's symbol on the wrist guard. We are on a highly dangerous mission on behalf of My Lady the Goddess Caroli, and we will need it if we are to accomplish it. I beg you to let him keep it and let him go free with us. I give you my word that we will leave Fort Battleaxe immediately, this very night, if you do. Please, My Lady will be very grateful if you do this for us."

      She didn't say that the Goddess would be far from grateful if he refused, but the implication was there and the Major grew red from the implied threat. "It sounds strange to hear a cleric of the Goddess of Healing arguing in favour of the use of weapons,” he said. “I thought you were totally opposed to all forms of violence."

     "We are allowed to use minimal force in self defence, and a magical weapon is the only kind that will prevail against some of the foes we expect to come up against. Keep the sword for yourself, and not only will you anger My Lady, but you will also be aiding the forces of evil that even now threaten the Empire that you are sworn to defend."

     The Major hesitated, wanting to give in, but not wanting to lose face in front of his men. He turned to the priest as a means of escape, "What does your Lord say in this matter?" he asked.

     The priest cocked his head and gazed off to infinity, as if he was listening to something. Finally, he said, "He does not wish to involve himself. He leaves it to your own judgement."

     Thanks a lot, thought the Major. He sighed. "Very well,” he said. “You may keep the weapon, but we will hang onto it until you leave tomorrow morning. The guard Captain of the west gate will return it to you as you leave."

     "Thank you, sir." said Shaun. "I appreciate your kindness and wisdom. There will be no more trouble from us, I promise."

     "There had better not be," warned the Major as they left.