Resalintas, Burton and Wain were still talking together in quiet voices as the young wizard dashed up the steps to join them, and they looked around in surprise. This time there was no doubt that the old priest recognised him, but there was no change in his expression or his attitude and Thomas understood that, despite what he and the others had accomplished, he was going to treat him exactly the same as everyone else. “Can I speak to you for a moment, please?”

     “Certainly,” replied the Brigadier. “What can I do for you?”

     Thomas looked around and saw that the others had joined him, including Naomi and the trogs. “Privately, please,” he said.

     A look of pure disgust appeared on the black girl’s face, but Burton nodded and led the way through into a back room, half full of stacked chairs and tables. Resalintas followed. The elderly priest apparently assumed that any private conversation would naturally include him.

     “Well then, here we are,” said Burton, a little impatiently. “Now what’s this all about?”

     “I think I can find out where the Scrolls are,” said the wizard.

     Resalintas leaned forward, his steel grey eyes widening with interest. “How?” he demanded, that single word causing the wizard to tense up as if he were in the constricting coils of a giant serpent.

     “I, er, I can’t tell you,” replied Thomas, withering under the old priest’s intense gaze. “But we have to go south, down the coast of the Western Sea. That’s all I can tell you.”

     Resalintas frowned, and the wizard quailed even more. “If you have any information that bears on the matter, it is your duty to share it with us. The withholding of such information could be interpreted as treason.”

     “I can’t tell you!” pleaded Thomas desperately, beginning to bitterly regret his decision to come forward. “There’s a hypnotic block in my mind that prevents me from telling anyone. It’s the truth, I swear it!”

     The old priest looked deeply into the wizard’s eyes and saw that he was telling the truth. He nodded slowly. “Down the coast of the Western Sea?” he said thoughtfully. “To the Lonely Isles?”

     Thomas was astonished. “Why, yes!” he exclaimed. “You, you know of it?”

     “When I was younger, I once went to a certain place in search of knowledge. The place I went to, however, only allowed each person to ask one question in his lifetime.”

     The wizard nodded excitedly. “That’s where we found out where to find the Sceptre of Samnos. All the others asked a question, but I didn’t. I kept my question in reserve. I’ve just got to ask it, and it’ll tell me exactly where the Scrolls are.”

     “No,” replied Resalintas, however. “Don’t ask where the Scrolls are. Just ask what’s written on them. It’s the information we need, not the Scrolls themselves.”

     A look of hope and excitement had appeared on his face, and Thomas felt a swelling pride that it was he who’d put it there. He nodded in agreement. If they didn’t need the Scrolls themselves, then it was just a straightforward carpet trip to the Oracle and back, with a brief stop in Mala to drop off Naomi and the trogs. They’d be back in two weeks. “Can we keep the carpets for the trip back?” he asked. “To get the information back quicker?”

     “I can do better than that,” replied the old priest, and he produced a metal tube which he unscrewed at one end to reveal a rolled up sheet of paper. “This scroll contains several priestly incantations. Like magic spells but for clerics and priests, specially prepared to allow anyone to utter them, thereby releasing the power contained in them. I carry them around in case of unforeseen emergencies. One of them is a Farspeaking spell, which you can use to get word to me any time of the day or night. I want you to use it the moment you obtain the information. The very minute. You may use the other incantations on the scroll if you have to, but be careful as they are very powerful. More powerful than anything I would normally give to a wizard as junior as you.”

     Thomas took the tube with a trembling hand, hardly able to believe the favour he was receiving. Their previous exploits must have made a bigger impression on the old priest than he’d thought. Those Scrolls must be really, really important, he thought. I wonder what’s on them?

     Brigadier Burton, meanwhile, was trying to control his annoyance at having a mere Captain making important decisions without consulting him. Of course, there was nothing ‘mere’ about Resalintas, but even so. “What the hell is this place?” he demanded. “This place that can provide information that has eluded Belthar’s entire intelligence network?”

     “I’m sorry, Sir,” replied Resalintas, “but we cannot tell you that. As the wizard said, we have hypnotic blocks in our minds that prevent us from speaking of it.”

     As the wizard said, thought Thomas, trembling with excitement. Resalintas had spoken of him as though he were a proper wizard, like Tragius Demonbinder or Elmias Pastin, two of his teachers at the University. And why wouldn’t he? I am a proper wizard! He swelled with pride, and his throat closed up tight with the intensity of his feelings. Even if his life had depended upon it, he wouldn’t have been able to say a word at that moment.

     The Brigadier’s face darkened with deeper annoyance, and Thomas found himself close to hysterical laughter. A need to know basis is fine when you’re one of the ones who needs to know, he thought. He bit down on his tongue in a desperate attempt to keep his mirth bottled up inside.

     Burton hurrumphed unhappily and stormed back out onto the stage, where the others were still waiting. “Centaur team will be going south,” he said. “Down the coast of the Western Sea, in order to follow up a possible lead. Just in case the lead pans out, though, I want the other teams to carry on as normal. I want all areas covered, so the team that would have been going south will go to the Overgreen Forest instead. Which team is that, Captain?”

     “Unicorn team, Sir,” replied Captain Wain, and Thomas gasped. That was the team Lirenna had joined.

     “Those team members that have specialised knowledge of their mission destinations will swap between the two teams,” continued the Brigadier. “That’s you three people, isn’t it?” He was looking at the Winterwells.

     “Well, Centaur team will need a cleric,” replied Wain, “and I think one of her brothers ought to stay with her. There’s really only need for one of them to join Unicorn team, so long as that person knows the area well.”

     The Brigadier nodded. “See to it, then,” he said, and left the hall, setting off down the corridor with long, angry strides, leaving those teamsters still in the hall staring after him in astonishment. Resalintas followed, giving them a final, penetrating stare and nodding to himself in satisfaction.

     Shaun stepped over to Thomas. “What in the name of Hell did you say to them?” he asked.

     Before the wizard could reply, though, Captain Wain gestured for the members of Centaur team to gather around him. “Do you have any preference as to which of you wants to join Unicorn team?” he asked the Winterwells.

     Shaun paled and stepped closer to Diana, as if to protect her from something. He gave Matthew a desperate, pleading look and the wizard knew that the curse of the Runeblade was coming back to haunt him again. In his minds eye, he would be seeing dead women, unclothed and broken by the terrible ordeal they’d been subjected to.

     Matthew gave the slightest nod and Shaun relaxed gratefully. The younger brother also hated the thought of being separated from his sister, Thomas knew, but whereas it would only be a heartbreak for him, it might be the end of Shaun’s sanity. “I’ll go,” he said therefore. “It’ll be good to see the old woods again.”

     Captain Wain nodded. “Very well. You will join Unicorn team immediately, along with you, Jherek. I want a trog in the team in case you have any contact with the trog army. Teasel will replace you in Centaur team, no-one knows the coast of the Western Sea like she does, and you’ll need another swordsman as well.” He thought for a moment. “You can have Thorndyke. He comes from Kenestra, which isn't that close, I know, but he may still have some knowledge of the area. I’ll go and let them know, just in case the carpets have arrived and they’re getting ready to go.” He then also left the hall, marching off in the same direction as Burton and Resalintas.

     “Thanks, Matt,” said Shaun gratefully. “I really appreciate it.”

     “No problem,” replied Matthew, smiling. “It’ll be funny being all alone with a bunch of strangers, except for Lenny, of course. I’ll miss you.”

     “We’ll miss you as well,” said Diana, giving him a big hug. “You make sure to take care of yourself.”

     Thomas was also sorry to see the young soldier go, but the regret was overwhelmed by a different, and entirely unexpected emotion; joyful relief. Lenny won’t be alone, he thought happily. Matt’ll be with her, looking out for her. He loved and trusted the young man as though they were brothers, and the knowledge that he’d be there to keep a brotherly eye on the demi shae came as such a profound relief that for a moment he was too overcome with emotion to speak. It wasn’t a matter of protection, he knew. If there was any protecting to be done, it would probably be the enchantress who’d be protecting the soldier rather than the other way round. No, it was just the fact that she’d have a friend to talk to. She wouldn’t be surrounded only by strangers. He went over to him, therefore, and put a hand on his shoulder.

     “Take care of Lenny, won’t you?” he said, unable to keep the smile of relief from his face. What must he be thinking? he thought in horror. He must think I’m glad to be rid of him!

     Matthew understood the real reason for the wizard’s joy, however, and grinned happily, deeply touched by the magnitude of trust it implied. “I will,” he promised earnestly. “And I’ll have an eye on that mountain man as well.”

     Thomas laughed, and the two men hugged each other tightly.

     The wizard then withdrew a small distance, knowing that Shaun and Diana would want to make their own special goodbyes. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked around to find Naomi staring at him with a faintly hostile intentness. “You didn’t answer Shaun’s question,” she said accusingly. “What did you say to a Captain and a Brigadier to make them throw away all their carefully made plans?”

     Thomas found himself unable to tear his gaze away from her brilliant, emerald green eyes, and almost stammered before answering. “On one of our previous adventures, we came across an, er,” He searched for something that wasn’t exactly a lie, suspecting that the black girl would see through any lie immediately. There was something about those eyes that made it impossible to lie to them. “A sage. A wise old man who knows all kinds of things. It was he who told us where the Sceptre of Samnos was, and it’s just possible that he knows where the Scrolls are as well.”

     Naomi stared deeply into Thomas’s eyes, searching for the slightest indication that she was being lied to. “A sage, eh?” she said suspiciously. “So why couldn’t your girlfriend lead her team to him? She knows where he lives too, doesn’t she?”

     “Look it’s complicated!” cried Thomas in exasperation. “Only I can ask the question, it’s too complicated to explain why. Can’t you just accept it and leave it at that?”

     “I suppose I’ll have to, since you don’t trust me enough to tell me anything,” spat the black girl in disgust.

     She swept away to rejoin the trogs and Thomas followed her. “Look, there’s something else,” he said apologetically. “You’re not going to like it, so I’m just going to have to ask for your forbearance and understanding.”

     “What?” demanded Naomi warily, sharing a glance with Arroc.

     Thomas hesitated before speaking, having a very good idea how the news would be received. “It’s like this,” he said at last. “One of the conditions the, er, the sage made in return for the information he gave us was that we not reveal his location to anyone. He values his solitude, you see, and doesn’t want the whole world tramping to his doorstep demanding information, so, er, so...”

     The black girl stared in frank, stunned disbelief, an expression that was shared by the two trogs. “What exactly are ye saying?” demanded Arroc.

     “He’s saying,” said Naomi, glaring at the wizard in incredulity and disbelief, “that they want to drop us off somewhere while they go see the sage without us. Isn’t that right, wizard?”

     Thomas was burning red with embarrassment and shame. “It’s like I said, it was a condition he made the last time we saw him. I know how you feel...”

     “Do you? Do you really?” cried Naomi furiously.

     Arroc tried to inject a calmer tone. “It makes no sense ter divide our team, considering the dangers we’ll be facing every inch of the way. Naturally we would give our words of honour not ter reveal his location to any living soul.”

     Thomas was shaking his head miserably, however. “It’s not as simple as that,” he said. “This sage has, er, some very advanced mental powers, or something. Before he’d tell us where the Sceptre of Samnos was, he insisted that we submit to hypnosis, and left post hypnotic blocks in our minds making it impossible for us to give his location away. So you see, it’s not a case of not wanting to take you there, we just can’t! No matter how much we might want to.”

     Naomi stared hard into his eyes again, searching for the lie, but there was enough truth in what he'd said that he was able to withstand her gaze without flinching. “Well, in that case, I suppose we’ve got no choice but to wait patiently like good little children while the big boys go to see the big, bad sage,” she said.

     Her voice was so full of acid and venom that the wizard winced and dropped his eyes. “I’m glad you understand, and I’m really sorry. You don’t know how bad I feel about it...”

     “Stuff it, wizard!”

     Thomas nodded miserably and decided to back out while he could. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go say goodbye to my friends.”

     He waited for them to say something in return but Jherek turned to speak to Arroc instead. “Well, I can see ye’re going ter have a fine old time wi' that lot,” he said, his grin visible through the layers of cloth swaddling his face. “Nothing but laughter and hilarity all the way there and back. How I regret not being there with ye ter see it!”

     Arroc was forced to smile in reply. “You’re the lucky one, all right, getting out of this madhouse. It’s going ter be a long, long journey, even by flying carpet.”

     That made Jherek burst into loud, booming laughter and Thomas backed away hurriedly, wishing the ground would open under his feet and swallow him up. Naomi stared after him for a while, then snorted with indignation and strode away.