They flew on for two more hours, wanting to make sure they were well outside the jurisdiction of the Malan authorities, before landing again in the middle of a stretch of open prairie to complete their night's sleep. None of them were keen on the idea, as they were miles outside the protection of human civilization, in an area frequented by trolls, ogres and wandering tribes of humanoids, not to mention conventional wild animals that were known to prey on the occasional foolish, ill prepared traveler, and Diana made her feelings known to the men in no uncertain terms. There was really no alternative, though. There were no other human occupied territories within a day's carpet flight and they didn't dare set down anywhere where they might be surprised in the night by Malan guardsmen.

Arroc had been ashamed and embarrassed but unapologetic as he'd related the events in the tavern to Diana and Naomi, raising his voice to be heard above the noises of the carpet flight. The cleric had been angry, berating the trog savagely for using physical force in reply to a purely verbal insult, and berating him even more for taking it as an insult when the farmer had probably meant it perfectly innocently.

"If he had offended you, you should simply have told him so, and he would probably have apologised," she'd told him, but the trog's only reply had been "He called my mother a whore!" and that was the only thing she could get out of him. In the end, she was forced to simply let the matter drop and be grateful that no-one had been seriously hurt.

When morning came, the men all had thumping headaches, even Arroc, who could drink any human under the table, and Thomas was left marveling at the strength of treen ale. I hope I don't have to cast any spells today, he thought as he sipped carefully at his cup of Lydian tea, brewed from a bag of leaves that Teasel had produced from her backpack. I think I'd have trouble remembering my own name, let alone magic words. Fortunately, though, the prairie seemed peaceful enough at the moment, with just a few kebbobs grazing under the spreading branches of a solitary morsa tree and the tiny specks of prairie eagles circling in the sky above them. No sign of trouble anywhere.

The yellow sun was just peeping above the horizon when they sat down on their carpets again and took off, and the few clouds drifting placidly above the eastern horizon shone with golden linings as if their undersides were on fire. It turned out to be a glorious day, with a clear blue sky and hardly a trace of wind, although the members of Centaur team were unable to appreciate this as they flew at high speed through the crisp and cold high altitude air, their hair streaming out behind them and their clothes fluttering like flags in a gale.

Within the hour they'd returned to the coastline and turned southwest to follow it. Thomas's carpet now took the lead, since they were entering lands that Teasel knew best and it would be up to her to guide them to the Lonely Isles. "So long as the coastline continues more or less in a straight line, we'll know that we're not there yet," she told the wizard. "Where the Majestic Mountains march out into the sea and become islands, the coastline becomes very irregular."

The nome pointed out several landmarks as they flew over them. Several miles inland, just visible above the curve of the horizon, was a snowcapped, conical peak, standing all alone in the broad, flat prairie. "That's the Loneberg," she explained, pointing with a short, stubby finger. "According to legend, the entire mountain was raised up out of the ground by Diluvia, one of the first of the immortal wizards. She used it as her fortress in her battles with the other immortal wizards. Hollowed out the interior and turned it into a garden, with her palace in the centre, directly under the peak. She's supposed to be still there, asleep in her palace, waiting for the time when she'll emerge and reclaim her kingdom in the outside world."

"That's a common enough legend," replied Thomas with a smile. "If you believe all of them, there are at least a dozen immortal wizards out there, asleep in their secret hideaways."

"You could be right," admitted Teasel, returning the smile, "but the people living hereabouts really believe in the legend of Diluvia the Golden. You won't find any locals who'll go within a hundred miles of the Loneberg."

A few minutes later they spotted a series of deep furrows in the ground, miles long and each one a hundred yards wide. So huge that a man on the ground might not have recognised them for what they were but clearly visible from the air. "What in the name of the Gods is that?" asked Dennis.

"The clawmarks of Tass, the star dragon," replied the nome, grinning. "The place where she stopped to sharpen her claws on her way to Da-Rannis to do battle with her great rival Bix, the BaneDrake."

"Yeah," said Thomas, "but what are they really?"

"Nobody knows," replied Teasel. "Some kind of natural geological feature, I suppose."

"I dunno," said Dennis, though. "Those furrows look too regular to be natural. They look more like they were dug."

"Well, I don't know who by, then. Or why." Said the nome with a shrug. "They're older then the oldest known humanoid civilization. They were there when the first shae folk came out of Genarta and stood amazed at the beauty of the world."

"There were other civilizations before ours," said Thomas. "The G'Toff three million years ago, the Llanoks fifteen million years ago. Others before that. Maybe one of them dug the furrows, for reasons we can only guess at now."

The others nodded, and they continued to stare at the enigmatic furrows until they'd passed out of sight behind them.

Shortly after that they saw the ground rising before them; the foothills of the Majestic Mountains. "Would you like to see why they came to be called that?" asked Teasel eagerly.

"Because they're so majestic?" suggested Dennis drily.

"Shut up Dennis," advised Thomas in annoyance. "Yes, we'd love to know."

"I can't really tell you," said the nome, however. "I'd have to show you. It'll only take a few minutes, the speed these carpets go. What do you say?"

"I don't know," said the wizard, frowning. "We're in a bit of a hurry. I'll have to ask Shaun." He turned and beckoned to the other carpet, and Shaun brought it alongside. "What's up?" he asked.

"Teasel wants to show us something," the wizard called across. "A landmark or something."

"It'll only take a few minutes," added the nome excitedly.

"Is it important?" asked the soldier doubtfully.

"Not really," admitted Teasel, "but you won't regret it, I promise."

Shaun thought about it for a few moments. "Just a few minutes, you say?"

"Promise!" said Teasel, crossing her heart.

"Okay, what the hell," said the soldier with a shrug. "It'll break up the monotony of the voyage. Lead on, Leedun!"

The nome chuckled in delight and directed Thomas to turn inland, which he did, Shaun's carpet falling in behind. Soon they were in the mountains, weaving their way between ridges and peaks and following tortuous valleys and ravines to a spot near the centre of the range where the mountains reared tall and sheer. Their tips shone brilliantly as sunlight reflected off snow and ice, and the ridges between their faces were as sharp as knife edges.

This was a young range, Thomas knew. Only recently pushed up as Amafryka and the Western Continent crept gradually towards one another, and in all probability they were still growing. The first of a mighty range that would one day stand where the Western Sea stood now. That was in the future, though. Way, way in the future, and in all probability it wouldn't be humans who saw them but another race that had replaced them, as humans had replaced the G'Toff and as the G'Toff had replaced the Llanoks.

He was broken out of his reverie when Teasel gave the command to land, and he saw a wide, level space below them. A path led to it, narrow in places and with steps carved where it climbed or descended a steep slope. Proof that others occasionally came here, to see whatever it was that Teasel wanted to show them. He looked around, but all he could see so far were tall mountains and narrow valleys.

The carpets landed side by side on the level area, which was covered by closely cropped grass and dotted with sheep and rabbit droppings that they took care not to step on. "This is it," said the nome, bubbling with excitement. "The Kingsview. It was here, right here on this very spot, that Eldos the Bardmage came following the defeat of King Tornidol's army and saw the sight that inspired him to compose the Majestiad. The epic poem that inspired the army to return to battle and which led to their eventual victory."

"Saw what?" asked Dennis impatiently.

"Can't you see it?" said Teasel, laughing with delight. "Over there. Look. You see that big mountain there? You see that one next to it? Look between them, at the skyline way, way over there. See it?"

They looked. At first they couldn't see anything, just a random collection of mountains and valleys like the ones all around them. The mountains over there were lower and flatter than most of the others, and Thomas realised that he was looking through a gap between the nearer mountains to reveal more distant ones that were closer to the edge of the range. The very furthest mountains he could see, in fact, were probably the foothills of the range, with nothing beyond but the dense canopy of Fengalla Forest. One of the mountains was low and triangular with a rounded top, steep on one side and with a much shallower slope on the other. The wizard was struck by its resemblance to a human nose. He chuckled to himself and was about to mention it to the others when he saw that a pair of smaller peaks next to it looked a lot like a pair of lips seen in profile, and that a larger mountain next to them, low and rounded, looked just like a chin.

All of a sudden he could see it, and he gasped in wonder. Half a dozen mountains, some nearer, some further away, which all together bore an uncanny resemblance to a human face looking up into the sky, seen from the side. Not just any face either, but a noble face. A wise face. The face of a king, or an emperor. The face of a man who could give an order and not worry about whether it would be obeyed because he knew with utter certainty that it would be. The face of a man who could command total adoration from his people. A man whom they would follow without doubt or hesitation into the very jaws of Hell itself. It was, there was simply no other word for it, a majestic face.

"You see it?" said Teasel, beaming with delight.

"Yes," replied the wizard. "Yes! Who is it?"

"King Tornidol," replied the nome. "Eldos the Bardmage saw it first, just the way you just saw it, and took it as a sign from the Gods that the King was destined to be triumphant against the armies of Eldric the usurper, and ever since then anyone who passes this way comes here to gaze in wonder upon it. I couldn't let you pass so close without showing it to you."

"I can see it too!" cried Diana in delight. "A man's face, lying on his back and looking up at the stars. Is that really what King Tornidol looked like?"

"According to Eldos, the resemblance was perfect. You can only see it from this one vantage point. From anywhere else, nearer mountains are in the way or the various features of his face are in the wrong place. You can only see it from here. The Kingsview."

One by one the others saw it as well, and as soon as they saw it they wondered how they could ever have missed it. "No wonder they call them the Majestic Mountains," said Naomi in wonder. "They couldn't have called them anything else."

They looked at it for a while longer, filled with wonder, until Shaun began to fidget with impatience. "We ought to be going," he said. "We've only got today and tomorrow before we lose the carpets, so we ought to make the most of the time."

"He's right," agreed Thomas, and they made their way back to where they'd left them. "Thanks for showing it to us, Teasel. I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"I can never see enough of it," agreed Teasel. "I could stay here all day and just stare at it for hours and hours."

Shaun paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "Yeah?" he said. "Tell you what, Tom, Di and me've got to drop the four of you off somewhere and go the rest of the way alone. Why not leave you here, if you like this spot so much? We're already pretty close to, to our destination. Just a few hours of carpet flight from here. We'd be back by sundown. What do you say?"

He'd expected Naomi to complain again, as she had before, but to his surprise she simply shrugged. "Why not?" she said. "Sounds good to me. What do the rest of you say?"

The others also agreed, although with rather less grace than that shown by the black girl, only Teasel being genuinely enthusiastic about it. "That's settled then," said Shaun with satisfaction. "We'll be back as soon as we can. See you later."

The Claimjumpers then sat down on their carpet, Thomas gave the command and they rose slowly into the sky.

☆☆☆

The others watched until they were just a tiny speck in the eastern sky, and then Naomi jumped onto the other carpet. "Well, come on then!" she called impatiently.

"Where are we going?" asked Arroc in confusion.

"We're going to follow them," said the black girl, grinning with excitement. "You don't think I'm going to just sit here while they go off and have all the fun, do you? What, sit here like good little children while the grown-ups go off alone? How dare they treat us like that? It makes me so angry I want to claw their eyes out! Well, I for one am not going to stand for it. I'm going to follow them and see this great sage for myself. So are you coming or not?"

Dennis and Arroc laughed and jumped aboard the carpet with her. "But they told us to wait here!" protested Teasel however.

"Come with us or wait here all alone," snapped Naomi impatiently. "It's up to you."

The nome hesitated a moment longer, but then shrugged and jumped aboard with them. Naomi laughed in triumph, gave the command, and the second carpet also rose, following the first.