That evening, Estinas returned to show the six travelers to the dining room for their evening meal. It contained four long tables, each covered by a plain white tablecloth, one of which had been set for seven places. Silver plates and cutlery had been set on it along with carved crystal goblets and seven silver candlesticks, each with a thick white candle that gave off a pleasing fragrance as it burned. There was no trace of any food, though, or any doorway, other than the one they had come in by, that might have led to a kitchen, and as they took their places they wondered what they would be eating.

     "Are you ready for your starter?" asked Estinas. He was dressed in a magnificent crimson dinner suit decorated with silver and gold thread in pleasing abstract patterns. His golden griffin glittered in the candlelight as it hung on his chest, looking almost alive as minute air currents made the candle flames flicker and dance. He sat at the head of the table with the others sitting along its length, three on either side.

     "Yes please," said Diana. Like the others, she was dressed in the evening clothes she'd found in her wardrobe, fitting so perfectly that they must have been made especially for her, even though she hadn't been measured for them. She and Lirenna looked as elegant as princesses in their flowing dresses, and the men looked like princes in their hideously expensive velvet and tannil suits. Each set of clothes not only fitted them perfectly but also suited their own individual tastes. Thomas wore a suit that was blue all over with a high collar and a half cape that came down to just below his shoulders. Shaun and Matthew wore heavily stylised military uniforms, too ornate and cumbersome to be of any use in a battle but magnificent to look at, while Jerry's outfit was so outrageously colourful that it was almost painful to look at. He alone of them was wearing a hat, it being a shocking disgrace in nomish society to be seen in public without one.

     Diana's dress was simple in design, being a light grey all over, but was strikingly beautiful nevertheless while Lirenna's was coloured in restful woodland greens and browns. Looking at them, Thomas found it hard to believe that these were the same two women who'd just spent months slogging and cursing through some of the toughest, least hospitable terrain the planet had to offer. They looked more as though they'd never set foot outside a palace in their lives, and had never known anything other than boringly peaceful, pampered lives.

     Estinas took his golden griffin in one hand, waved the other over the table, spoke a few words, and the first course of their evening meal appeared on the table. Bowls of sliced Jamba fruit in pineapple juice, with bowls of sugar for anyone who wanted it. None of them had ever tasted Jamba fruit before, it being a rare delicacy from the jungles of the south so expensive that it was more commonly known as King's apples, but they were as easy to create using magic spells as plums and pears, and much tastier.

      They devoured them with relish, and when they had finished Estinas made the empty bowls vanish. A moment later they had been replaced by the main course. A whole tableful of delicious and artistically prepared foods, the centrepiece of which was an entire roasted gribird served on a huge china tray with a variety of vegetables arranged around the edge. Thomas was impressed. To create a layout like this with just a single spell was quite an achievement, fully equal to anything he'd seen in Lexandria. Was it true magic? he wondered, or was it being accomplished by Samnos Himself, channeling His power through the priest? He'd only ever heard of priests of Samnos using their God's power to kill and cure, but he supposed the God of War could do whatever He wanted, so long as He had a worshipper able to open the way for His power to enter the world.

     The travelers had been surviving on trail rations for the past two months, with only the occasional decent meal as they passed through a town with a tavern, and had lost a fair bit of weight on their journey. They had never been fitter, but they had also never been hungrier and the feast before them was like a dream come true. They pounced on it, therefore, and within half an hour had inflicted serious damage on the gribird, as well as on the rest of the table's contents. Even Diana looked tempted to try the meat. Since it had been created by magic, and no animal had needed to die to provide it, Thomas assumed that she felt no moral qualms about eating it, but she managed only one mouthful before pushing the rest away. Thomas remembered her saying once that she'd lost her taste for meat since beginning her clerical training when, like most clerics of Caroli, she had decided to become mainly vegetarian.

     "How long has the Maze been here?" asked Lirenna, sipping from a long necked crystal glass of wine.

     "It's been on this spot for only two hundred years," answered Estinas. "Ever since the priest Artemius used the last of its three charges and it was returned to the Shrine. When Rellenious came to the Maze it was located on the edge of the Ice Continent, north of Rossem. It moves every time the Sceptre is returned to it so that, no matter how many times it is found, its location is always unknown and a special quest to prove the worthiness of the claimants has to be made to find it. People who fail to solve the Maze never leave to give away its location." He saw their eyes widening as the meaning of his words came home to them, and he carried on speaking to keep their spirits up. "When the priest to whom you give the Sceptre has used its last charge, the Maze will move again, but only Samnos Himself can say where to."

     "But the basic layout of the Maze is always the same?" asked Thomas.

     "It has been for the past several thousand years, ever since humanity, by which I mean nomes and the shae folk, as well as all the other demihuman and humanoid races, all of whom share the same basic human characteristics of two arms, two legs, one head, etc. Ever since humanity has been the dominant civilized life on this world. Before humanity came, the last really significant civilized life was an aquatic form that existed two million years ago. It was similar to a cross between an octopus and a crab and inhabited the shallow coastal waters around the Western Continent. At that time the Maze existed underwater and was open to the sky, with passages wide enough for the creatures to pass through comfortably."

     Thomas was fascinated. He'd heard of these creatures before, in books in the University and other places, but had never before met a man who knew so much about them, and the two of them chatted about them while the others got on with their meal. When they had finished the main course Estinas magically cleared the table again and produced the third and final course, a selection of sweets the likes of which were not normally found outside the kitchens of the richest noblemen. The travelers were stuffed full already, but so tempting were the treats set out before them that they somehow made room for them and gobbled them down. When they were finished, though, a curious drowsiness came over them and, offering their compliments and regrets to the priest, they excused themselves and made their way back to their rooms, where they just barely managed to undress and climb into their beds before falling asleep.

☆☆☆

     Estinas visited each of them in turn a few minutes later. After checking to make sure they were comfortable, he snapped his fingers and the evening clothes he'd created for them vanished. He then left them to sleep in peace, until the sleeping potions he'd put into their wines wore off. They would all need a long, full night's sleep before tackling the Maze the next day, and he intended to make sure that they got it.

☆☆☆

     When Thomas woke up twelve hours later, he felt terrific. He jumped out of bed, spent a frantic twelve minutes in the bathroom freshening up in readiness for the day ahead, and then pulled on his travelling clothes, finding to his surprise that someone had washed, pressed and repaired them during the night. All the colours were as bright and vivid as new and
all the little holes and tears had been so expertly repaired that he couldn't remember where they'd been.

     He met the others in the common room, and found them equally fresh and energetic. Estinas appeared and invited them to a breakfast of bacon, eggs and buttered bread rolls, and when they'd finished they were so full of energy that they felt ready to take on anything. The wizards' spells blazed in their minds, impatient to be cast, and the woodsmen kept fingering their swords as if impatient to have something to use them against. Beside them, Diana was almost literally glowing with energy and enthusiasm.

     Thomas saw the priest's shoulders sag with sadness. This is it, he imagined the priest thinking. The time has come at last, it cannot be put off any longer.

     "I will now take you to the entrance to the Maze," the priest said, "but I ask you one more time. Are you really sure that you want to do this? The Maze is deadly dangerous, and if you enter, it is all too likely that you will never leave. I beg you to reconsider." His face had a hopeful, pleading expression that was shattered when Diana answered.

     "I will enter the Maze," she said. "I will make the attempt to win the Sceptre, because that is the task that has been given me by My Lady. I can't ask any of my friends to come with me, though. With their help and protection I have come this far, but their part in my quest is now over."

     "Don't be so stupid, Sis," said Matthew, in an insulted tone of voice. "Do you think we'd let you go in there alone?"

     "Right!" agreed Shaun. "We go all the way. Right?" He spoke the last word to the wizards, who agreed enthusiastically.

     "It is not the custom of the shae folk to abandon their friends when they need them most," said Lirenna solemnly.

     "Nor the nomes," added Jerry.

     "Thank you all," said Diana, who seemed to be both happy and sad at the same time. "I knew you would say that, but I had to give you the chance." She turned to the priest, whose face had fallen into a mask of grief. "Lead on, if you will."

     "This way, then, if you are really convinced that you want to do this."

     He led them back out into the corridor and along it, in a direction they hadn't been before. At the end of the corridor was an ordinary looking door, but as Estinas opened it and they filed through they found themselves in a great hall, the largest enclosed space that any of them had ever seen.

     It was the size of an Olympic sports stadium with a roof carved out of the living rock into a breathtakingly magnificent work of art. Images of all the known Gods were carved there, looking down with approval, indifference or malice at the tiny mortals who entered. Largest of them, so large that only His head and shoulders would fit onto the curving wall, was Samnos. His stern faced, helmeted head stared across at the carving of Skorvos opposite, the two war Gods paired off and separate from the others except for Conwar, God of Loyalty and Courage, close at Samnos's right hand, and Marash, God of Destruction, who skulked close behind Skorvos.

     The other good and evil Gods were lined up opposite each other along the length of the hall, with the neutral Gods in a line between them, as if keeping them separate to prevent a major bloodbath from breaking out. They all seemed to watch the seven tiny figures who crept timidly into the hall, especially the six youngsters who were staring nervously around like children creeping uninvited into a King's palace.

     The huge chamber was completely empty except for a three foot high, white marble pedestal near the far end, flanked by two life-size griffin statues. On the pedestal, miraculously balanced, was a golden staff. Beautiful but awesome looking. Intricately carved and decorated, identical to the one they'd seen in the tapestry in the reception hall. Gasping in amazement the six travelers ran towards it, only to run into an invisible rubbery barrier that ran across the middle of the hall. They pressed against it, trying to get a few inches closer to the Sceptre, now only a couple of yards away from them.

     "Yes, there it is," said Estinas reverently. "The Sceptre of Samnos. Thousands have died across the ages trying to claim it, and only a few dozen have succeeded. Take a good look, because this is probably the only sight of it that you will ever get."

     They stared at it in awe and wonder. It was five feet tall and averaged an inch thick, so intricately carved with abstract detail that several days would have to be spent with a magnifying glass to see all of it. It was apparently made of pure gold except for a few thin strands of platinum that spiraled about it and a cluster of yellow gemstones about six inches from the top. At the very top was a golden griffin, about eighteen inches across, with wings spread wide, frozen in the act of leaping into the air. This was the thing they had travelled so far and endured so much to find, and they couldn't believe that they were now finally looking at it.

     "All right," said Diana. "How do we get to it?"

     "The entrance to the Maze is over here," said Estinas. He spoke a word and a section of floor slid away to reveal a flight of steps leading down. They went over to it and looked down dubiously. It was dark and spooky down there, and a faint, putrid smell drifted up.

     "Well, the sooner we go in, the sooner we'll get out again," said Diana bravely. "Where does it come out? On the other side of the barrier, over there, I suppose?"

     "Yes," said Estinas, "but the Maze is much larger than this hall and has many levels. It's not too late, you don't have to go in. You could just leave and go home. No-one would think any the worse of you if you did." His voice had a pleading tone. He obviously desperately hoped that they would do just that.

     Diana shook her head with a sad smile. "Thank you for your concern," she said, "but we must go in. Thank you also for the help you have given us, and the kindness you have shown us."

     She put a hand to the silver flower that hung around her neck and whispered a brief prayer to Caroli. Then, with a deep breath to steady her nerves, she started down the stairs, the others following her.

     Thomas felt his heart pounding with nervous energy as he stood before the first step. The others were almost out of sight already in the darkness and it took all his willpower to make himself follow them. The first step was the hardest, and then he was descending steadily, trying to catch up to the others. He felt a strange sense of relief as he descended, as if he'd barely avoided a fate too terrible to contemplate.

     "This is your last chance," called down the priest. "Once the entrance here is closed, it cannot be opened again. There will be no escape this way."

     "We understand," called back Diana. "Goodbye."

     "Goodbye, and may the Gods go with you," said Estinas quietly.

     He spoke the word again, and the floor slid back into place with a clunk like the lid of a coffin being closed. Estinas stared down at it for a minute or two, like a man paying his respects to a recently deceased friend, and then he slowly walked away.