“The scrolls!” cried Thomas urgently. “Where are they? Are they safe?”

     “The wizard had them in his tent,” replied Dennis. He was tying the last few buckles of his armour, glad to be dressed in his uniform again. “He was trying to get the casket open.”

     “Which one was his tent?” asked the wizard, staring frantically around the camp.

     “Er,” said Shaun, pausing in the act of sheathing his sword. “I think it was that one.”

     He pointed at the pile of ashes, still smouldering gently. Thomas gave a cry of dismay and dashed over to it, kicking ashes and glowing sparks aside with his boots. At last he gave a sigh of relief and picked up the casket. It was covered with ash and scratched and splintered from the Shadowwizard’s attempts to open it, but still intact. He shook it and heard the scrolls sliding around inside. “They’re safe!” he said gratefully. “Thank the Gods!”

     “We’re safe too,” pointed out Dennis with a little smile.

     The wizard gave a guilty start. “Yes, of course,” he said. “I didn’t mean, er, you know...”

     The two soldiers laughed, and Thomas turned even redder, knowing they’d be pulling his leg about it for weeks afterwards.

     He looked at the tent into which Naomi had taken Diana. “You think they're okay?” he asked.

     “I’d leave them alone for a while if I were you,” said Teasel. “What they need now, only another woman can give them. You can talk to them later, when they're ready.”

     “Yeah,” agreed the wizard. “I was just thinking that we shouldn't hang around here too long. In case they come back.” He glanced into the woods in the direction the Shadowsoldiers had gone. “There were at least half a dozen of them still alive.”

     “I'll go see how they are,” said the nome, moving towards the tent. She called out to the others women and waited to be invited before entering. The others watched the tent for a while, wondering what was going on inside, and then Thomas went over to examine the dead Shadowwizard’s body.

☆☆☆

     The pack wolves left the enemy camp half an hour later, everyone watching the surrounding trees carefully for any sign of an ambush. None came, though, and they arrived back at their own camp without incident. Dawn was not far off by then, and they were still afraid of trouble from the surviving Shadowsoldiers, so they simply packed up their belongings and equipment and moved on, all of them knowing that they wouldn't feel really safe until they were a good distance away from the area.

     With Naomi’s help Diana was able to control her fears and deal with her memories, and she spent most of the day's walk in meditation and prayer, thanking Caroli for Her help and asking for strength to help her cope in the future. She asked Caroli for a sign that she’d be alright from now on, and was overjoyed when Arroc produced her silver caroli flower, torn from around her neck and casually discarded by the Shadowsoldiers. The clasp was broken but Arroc’s stubby fingers had bent it back into shape, and when Thomas saw the look of joy and relief on her face as she placed it once more around her neck, he knew that she was over the worst of her ordeal. She would soon be using the experience as a source of strength, he knew, and counseling others who’d suffered a similar ordeal. The wizard smiled to himself. She had survived, and was stronger than ever because of it.

     The remainder of their journey to the Vale of Thorns garrison was uneventful and they arrived two days later to find it bustling with activity as the occupants repaired the damage done by the Shadowsoldiers a few days before. They handed over the scrolls to the garrison Commander, and told him that they had to be taken to Captain Resalintas in Bula Pass as quickly as possible. The Commander was sceptical at first, and unwilling to divert any troops from the important work of rebuilding the garrison, but eventually they succeeded in persuading him and a flight of griffins left the next day, bearing the precious scrolls on their long journey back to Belthar.

     The pack wolves, being much less important, had to walk back, and they watched from the road leading away from the Vale of Thorns castle as the griffins shrank in the distance. “So,” said Thomas with a strong feeling of satisfaction, shading his eyes with his hand against the bright sky. “Centaur team begins with a triumphant victory. This should earn us a few gold stars back in Redhill.”

     “I suppose it'll take a while to get messages to all the other Wolfpacks,” said Dennis. “They might keep on looking for the scrolls for months yet, not knowing that they've been found. All that wasted effort! Just think what they might be doing instead.”

     “Maybe Wain will send them Farspoken messages giving them new missions,” suggested Shaun.

     “I've never known him to do any such thing,” replied Dennis, though. ”Apparently, Farspoken messages can be intercepted.” Thomas nodded.

     “But he might do it in exceptional circumstances,” suggested Shaun. “He won't want fifteen Wolfpacks wasting their time searching pointlessly for something that's already been found. He'll want to give them useful missions to carry out.”

     “Possibly,” replied the wizard. “It depends on how well he knows the individual team members. You can only Farspeak to someone you have a clear mental image of. If he's personally familiar with them then he can, but if they're just names in a personnel file to him…”

     “He never took the time to get to know us,” pointed out Diana. “When Resalintas came to give us the mission, that was the only time he actually addressed us. Before that, he was just a face in the distance.”

     “You were only there for a few weeks,” pointed out Dennis. “He's spoken to me several times. I think he probably remembers me well enough.”

     “So maybe he’ll Farspeak to those he can, simply telling them to go back to Redhill for new missions,” the wizard suggested. “Something that doesn’t matter if an enemy wizard overheard it.”

     “Possibly,” the soldier replied. “I suppose we’ll find out when we get back.”

     “Speaking of which…” said Shaun with a sigh. “We'd better pick our feet up. The roads not getting any shorter.”

     “Yeah,” said Thomas as the seven pack wolves began walking faster. “And no griffins for us. We're not important enough. They can't even spare horses for us.”

     “Good!” said Arroc with feeling. “Ah hate horses!”

     “At least it's a fairly straightforward journey,” said Shaun. “North to the river. Get a boat to New Mala, then a ship back to Ilandia. From there on, we’re in Beltharan territory the whole way.”

     “Unless it's been overrun by the enemy,” said Naomi gloomily.

     “Thank you miss sunshine,” said Shaun with a smile. The black girl smiled back and pulled the strap of her tiger skin higher up her shoulder.

     “Even if it hasn't been,” said Thomas thoughtfully, “I expect we'll still manage to have an adventure or two along the way. We can't seem to avoid them, and it's a long, long way!”

     “I feel sorry for anyone who tries to come between you and Lirenna,” said Shaun, though, and the wizard nodded his agreement. If Wain did manage to recall her team, he might be reunited with her in as little as three months! He felt a thrill of excitement at the idea and the others grinned at each other, all of them happy to see him happy.

     “I wonder what our next mission will be,” said Teasel as they continued along the road. “Something exciting I hope.”

     “We'll find out when we get there,” replied Thomas. “I doubt the war will be over yet. There'll be something they want us to do. Probably something dangerous. We should probably enjoy this journey while we can.”

     The others nodded thoughtfully, and they walked in silence for a while.