When they awoke, sunlight was streaming in through the eastern window. Thomas found that he'd rolled in his sleep to within an inch of the shaft and he reared back in alarm, scrambling to the wall and sitting with his back to it, his heart beating wildly. We must have been really tired to have been crazy enough to sleep in here, he thought. We should have slept outside. It's a miracle none of us fell down!

      After eating a light breakfast, they left the building and went outside. They found that the building they'd slept in was surrounded by a circular lawn which appeared to have been recently cut and was speckled with daisies. It was in turn surrounded by dense woodland, similar in floral content to the Overgreen Forest, and they fervently hoped that its faunal content was not also the same. The last thing they needed now was to run into a family of trolls or a tribe of goblins.

      The lawn was as wide as a city street all around the building, except towards the north east where it formed a long avenue running for about a hundred yards before turning a corner. “I suppose we follow the grass,” said Matthew. “It wouldn’t be there unless it led somewhere.”

     He took a couple of steps along the avenue, but Shaun put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “The most likely place for the Oracle to be is the centre of the island,” he said, pointing towards the trees that surrounded them. “That way.”

     “There’s no reason the Oracle should behave logically,” pointed out Jerry, though. “It’s just as likely to be at the end of the avenue as anywhere else.”

     “We’ve had to overcome one obstacle after another to get this far,” pointed out Thomas. “Why should it suddenly get easier now? Maybe that avenue leads to a trap. Whichever way we go, we need to be careful. Really careful.”

     “I say we go that way,” said Lirenna, pointing along the avenue. “See what’s down there first.”

     “But carefully!” warned Thomas, still shaken up by Lirenna’s narrow escape.

     “Yes, obviously,” agreed the demi shae. “Shall we go then?” She looked at Shaun, who nodded in reluctant agreement, and together they set off along the grassy avenue.

      When they reached the corner and went around it, though, they saw that he'd been right. After another fifty yards the avenue went right up to the edge of the cliff, over which a stiff breeze was blowing. Out of curiosity, they went up to within a few feet of the edge, and Shaun and Thomas got down on their stomachs to look out over the half mile drop.

      Thomas experienced a dizzying sense of vertigo and had to close his eyes until it passed. When he opened them again, the dizziness had passed and he was able to get a good look around. Their boat was still where they'd left it, safe and sound, although the tide had come in and it was now afloat, held in place only by its anchor. Still, unless a storm blew up it should be safe enough, he thought. He hoped.

      On the horizon he could just see the tip of Arn's mountain, and behind it, Greenwing Mountain. A few other islands were also visible, and he realised that the island of the Oracle would be clearly visible from them if it were not invisible. Incredible, he thought, that they could live so close to it and be totally unaware of its existence. The Oracle had hidden itself well.

      “Come on, we're wasting time here,” said Shaun, sliding back a few feet and standing up. "Being so close to the edge makes me nervous."

     Thomas felt the same, and he suddenly remembered the boulders lying at the bottom of the cliff. The cliff crumbles sometimes, he realised with horror, and he leapt backwards, nearly bumping into Diana. He mumbled an apology as they set off back to the building.

      When they got back, they set off in the approximate direction of the centre of the island, through the forest. They weren't worried about getting lost. If they lost their way, all they had to do was keep going in a straight line until they came to the edge of the cliff, then follow it around until they came back to the avenue that led to the shaft building. The only problem they thought they might face was that they couldn’t see very far in this dense forest and so might pass quite close to the Oracle without seeing it. In the event, however, this didn't turn out to be a problem.

      They realised that there was a much more serious problem when they heard the howling of wolves nearby, and they just barely had time to form themselves into a circle and prepare themselves before they came bounding into sight and leapt at them. Shaun's sword swung in his hand almost as though it had a life of its own, chopping through powerful shoulders and drenching him with hot blood as the dying creature slammed into him, bowled him backwards. Matthew thrust his sword through the heart of another.

      There seemed to be several different kinds of animal in the pack, from slender, hair winged butterfly wolves to gigantic crowbears and everything in between. Creatures that would normally attack each other on sight, but united here by a common purpose; to drive the interlopers back to where they'd come from or, failing that, to kill them. Their unnatural behaviour drove them to keep on attacking even after the woodsmen had killed several of them and they completely ignored Jerry's illusions, paying them no more attention than they would a curl of morning mist. The nome had to draw his dagger. He looked pitifully small beside an eight foot long gore hound that he could have ridden like a horse, but when it broke past the woodsmen and lunged at him he swung the knife with a shouted curse, plunging the blade deep into powerful, hairy flesh. A moment later all three wizards had their knives in their hands, their eyes wide with fear as they waited for the next attack.

      These aren't ordinary animals, thought Thomas as he narrowly avoided having his throat torn out with a thrust of his knife. What have they got to eat on an island this small? They're only here to stop us. They're guard creatures, kept by someone and trained to attack intruders. They're probably trained not to run away, to keep on fighting until all of us or all of them are dead.

      There was a scream from behind him and he saw Shaun out of the corner of his eye as he plunged his sword through a butterfly wolf that had knocked Jerry down and torn him open. Shaun swung his sword to keep the others at bay while Diana lay her hands on the bloody mess that was the tiny nome's stomach, healing him as well as she could. She saved his life but the wound was not fully closed. She knew from past experience that to fully heal such a serious wound would require an effort of concentration that would leave her close to useless for the rest of the day and she didn't want to put herself in that condition in case anyone else was hurt later on.

      Two gore hounds leapt at Matthew at once while Shaun's attention was diverted, and while the younger brother succeeded in skewering one of them, the other locked its teeth around his arm, yanking him off his feet and planting its huge clawed feet on his chest. Then the huge jaws lunged for his throat and it would have been the end of him if Thomas hadn't given a cry of horror and jumped forward, stabbing it with all his strength.

      The knife was yanked out of his grasp as the creature twisted around, the slavering jaws reaching for him instead, and the wizard fell backwards, his hands held protectively out in front of him as if he'd be able to hold it off with his bare hands. Matthew came to his rescue, however, holding his sword in both hands to steady his shredded arm. He threw himself in front of the wizard and the wolf impaled itself on his blade.

      For several moments Thomas could only stare, unable to believe he was still alive, but then he pulled his knife out of the twitching corpse and stood again, ready to face the next attack.

     Diana saw the remaining wolves closing in, their long, yellow teeth bared as they snarled their hatred, and she shrank back in fear. There were too many of them! If they all attacked at once, and they would, the six travelers would be overwhelmed and slaughtered. The young cleric saw no way to escape, none at all, and she felt only an immense sadness as she imagined what her life might have been, what all their lives might have been.

      Then, out of nowhere, an idea came to her. With hands still stained red with Jerry's blood, she took her bottle of holy water from a pouch on her belt, where it had been heavily padded to protect it from the hardships of the journey. She opened it and sprinkled its contents over the others while crying out in a loud, clear voice. "Help us, my Lady! Give us the courage and strength to drive away these creatures that oppose Your will! Send us Your strength and Your blessing in the hour of our need!"

     The Goddess responded, giving Her power willingly, and her friends immediately found themselves fighting with renewed vigour as new strength flooded through their bodies, temporarily banishing their weariness.

      The others were not immediately aware of what had happened but, feeling a surge of new strength and hope, they attacked the wolves with fury and determination, fighting with such a frenzy of desperate rage that the creatures were driven back, breaking off their attack to circle the travelers warily, looking for an opening. There were six of them left, including two crowbears, one of which was bleeding heavily from a wound in its side inflicted by Lirenna's knife. The attack had left her with a savage gash in her left arm, but also a glorious sense of pride that she'd managed to defend herself against such a powerful creature. Her breath came in deep, panting gasps and her eyes glowed with excitement. She felt more alive than she'd ever felt before in her life.

     When Thomas turned his head to check on her he stared in astonishment. The quiet, polite, softly spoken young woman he'd come to know had vanished, and in her place stood a warrior princess from a bard's tale. Her silky dark hair streamed behind her in the light breeze and the knife she was holding in a pale, slender hand dripped with dark blood. She was magnificent!

      "You must drive them off before the Lady's power leaves you," cried Diana urgently. "You haven't got long. I can feel Her power streaming through my body and I don't know how long I can keep it up."

      Shaun understood. "We've got to rush them, Matt." he said. "Tom, you and Lenny stay and guard Di and Jerry." Thomas nodded, and the two woodsmen leapt forward at the two crowbears, catching them by surprise and making them lope away, screeching back at them. The two men chased after them, yelling and screaming, and although the crowbears could easily outrun them they were unnerved by the suicidal charge, and also by something else; a feeling they weren't at all familiar with and didn't like. It was the power of Caroli, sapping their courage even as it emboldened the men, and all of a sudden they found they weren't enjoying themselves any more. There was no pleasure in the hunt any more, only a terrible fear that the tables had somehow been turned on them. The power of Caroli also snapped the control they'd been under, the directive to keep on attacking even after several members of their pack had been killed, and all six of the remaining beasts turned and bolted, disappearing into the trees to hide and lick their wounds.

      Diana relaxed as she felt the power of the Goddess leave her. The others felt their new found strength ebbing away, leaving them weak and weary, and Shaun collapsed to the grass, all his limbs trembling. "Gods, but I thought we were finished!" he said, passing a hand over his eyes. "Was that you?" he asked his sister.

      "It was Caroli," replied Diana, who was feeling strangely light headed. She blinked her eyes, trying to make them focus properly.

      "I had no idea you could do that!"

      "I didn't do it," she repeated. "My Lady did it, through me." She stared at the now empty bottle. Did what had just happened need the holy water? And if so, did that mean it couldn't happen again until she found some more? Could she perform the blessing herself? Father Bryon had blessed the water she'd used to purify the temple in Dermakarak, and the water she'd used just now had come from a temple in Mala, but she'd watched the cleric perform the sacrament and he'd seemed to just pray over it, a simple incantation that she felt sure she could perform herself. She put the thought out of her mind for the moment. She had no doubt that Caroli would show her what to do if the need arose.

      She prayed over Jerry again, and the Goddess responded by healing his stomach fully. She then prayed over Matthew and Lirenna and Caroli responded again, but by then the young woman was almost dead on her feet, looking as though she hadn't slept for a week.

     "You heal us," said Shaun, steadying her as she wobbled unsteadily on her feet, "but who heals you?"

      "My faith is all the strength I need," she replied, smiling at his concern.

      Even so, Shaun insisted that she rest for an hour or so while the rest of them kept a wary eye out for the wolves. Thomas went over to have a look at one of the corpses, thinking he might find a collar around its neck or some other sign of ownership, but there was nothing. Its fur, already crawling with flies, was rough and matted, home to various different kinds of parasites that were busy getting a last meal before jumping ship. One eye socket was empty, he saw. An old wound, long healed over. In fact, the more he looked, the more evidence he found for old battles, some of which must have been so serious that it was a wonder the creature had survived.

      He moved to another corpse, the one that had almost killed him, and a patch of discoloured fur led him to discover a scar that completely encircled its neck. He smiled at the thought that maybe its head had been cut off by a previous visitor to the island, then reattached and healed back in place. Then he frowned unhappily as he failed to think of any other explanation for the peculiar injury. "Er," he began hesitantly. "This is a magical place, right?" The others nodded. "Then magical things happen here. Right?"

      "What are you getting at?" asked Matthew.

      He showed them the scar. "What would you say if I suggested that these creatures come back to life some time after they're killed? Restored, fully healed, ready to greet the next arrivals? I mean, look at them! Look at how many we've killed, and they must get people coming here sometimes, powerful wizards for instance, who're capable of dispatching the whole lot of them in a moment. Do they have a whole warehouse of wolves ready to replace the fallen? Or do they simply resurrect them?"

      "Resurrection is just a myth," said Diana, however. "Once a soul has gone to judgement, it cannot return. If you could, somehow, restore the body to life, it would be a mindless vegetable."

      "I'm not talking about people. I'm talking about animals. Maybe creatures that were magically created in the first place. I mean, look at this island! A cylinder of rock half a mile high. It would take all the wizards of Lexandria University to create something like this. Bringing a dead animal back to life would be child's play in comparison." He looked to Jerry and Lirenna for support and they nodded thoughtfully.

      "If that's true," said Shaun, "we ought to get out of here before they wake up." He turned to Diana. "How about it, sis? Are you ready to move?"

      "Let's go," she said, her eyes wide with fear as she watched the corpses, making sure they were still dead. They didn't move, though, much to her relief, and the travelers set off once more towards the centre of the island.