That night passed uneventfully and Tak awoke at first light, fully refreshed and ready to swing dragons by their tails. It looked like another fine day was on the way, with the brightest stars managing to hang on in the brightening sky and a brilliant comet pointing down to where the yellow sun would shortly be appearing above the horizon. The marshes were alive with the croaking and barking of swamp dwellers and the singing of wading birds, and the air had the crisp, fresh feel that told the one time peasant boy that it was going to be swelteringly hot before too many hours had passed.

     Yes, it was going to be a fine day! thought the wizard as he jumped out of his sleeping blankets. Barl would probably be back today, with a smile on his face and a signed treaty tucked in his belt, and then they could return to Domandropolis, where he could begin making the arrangements for his marriage. He could see the crowds already as the whole city turned out into the streets to cheer the bridal carriage, carrying her to the temple of All Gods where clerics and priests of all the major faiths would be waiting to give them their blessings. It would be a spectacle such as the city hadn't seen for many years, since the overthrow of Khalkedon in fact. The other Gem Lords would be there to wish them well with a kiss or a handshake, and then they would be off on their honeymoon. The glaciers of Frigia would be beautiful at this time of year, or perhaps the forests of Medisylvestria...

     "Fireball!" cried one of the lookouts, however, jerking the wizard rudely out of his reverie. "Fireball from the castle!"

     The Captain came running out of his tent, his tunic in one hand, and he struggled to pull it on as he dashed across to the edge of the camp, where Tak joined him. As they watched, another bolt of white flame soared from one of the high windows, shooting high into the sky where it blossomed into a ball of yellow fire that lit the whole side of the castle and the courtyard below.

     "It's the signal!" cried the Captain. "Lord Ruby's calling us! Mount up! Mount up and prepare to ride!"

     "What's going on?" demanded Essca, coming to stand beside Tak.

     "Barl's in trouble," replied Tak, taking her by the hand and leading her across to his steed to which he hurriedly began strapping his saddle. "We've got to go help him. You wait here. We'll come back for you when it's over."

     "No, I'm coming with you," the girl replied, her eyes noting the second seat behind the first on the saddle, designed for the carrying of a passenger. "I can help."

     "It's too dangerous. You're safer here." He pulled the last straps tight and swung himself up into the seat.

     Essca hung unto his arm, though. "I can help you! I want to help you!"

     "You can help me best by staying here, where I'll know you're safe. Knowing you're in danger would be too distracting, I wouldn't be able to concentrate."

     Essca's eyes burned with determination, a look that Tak would grow familiar with over the coming years and make him love her all the more. "Is this how you want to start our relationship?" she demanded. "By separating us? I'm a wizard, trained for battle. This is what I've been trained for since infancy. I will not be a kept woman, shut in your bedroom for the rest of my life. I will not be your pampered pet! If you love me, you must love me for what I am. A wizard in my own right."

     Tak stared at her in heartrending anguish, but then he nodded and pulled her into the saddle behind him. "Just be careful, okay? Promise me you'll take care."

     "Promise," cried Essca gratefully, putting her arms around his waist.

     Everyone was mounted on their steeds now, watching him for the signal to take to the air. Tak raised one hand, the other gripping the reins, and shouted the command. The steeds lifted the front ends of their bodies up from the ground, balancing on their muscular tails and bringing their wings clear of the ground. Then, their heads outstretched to their fullest extent on the ends of their serpentine necks, they flapped their mighty wings, fighting their way into the air. Their downdraught sent waves racing across the long grass and leaves swirling into the air and Essca gasped with alarm, her arms tightening around the other wizard.

     Then they were airborne and the hillock was receding below them, along with their camp and all their equipment which they'd have to remember to come back for later. That was forgotten for now, though. Every head was full of calculated speculation of what was waiting for them at the castle. A battle, certainly. Barl would never have called them in unless there was serious fighting going on. Tak cursed himself bitterly. The Captain had been right. He should have stayed with the other Gem Lord, ready with his spells to fight beside him. If any harm came to him because he'd left him alone...

     He banished the thought from his head. Barl was a Gem Lord, one of the most powerful wizards in the world. There wasn't much he couldn't handle. And even if the worst happened and his body was destroyed, his gem, worn on his ankle where it couldn't be seen and betray his identity, would keep his soul safe until a cleric of Caroli could restore him to life.

     His thoughts suddenly jumped to Essca, who had no such safeguard. Death for her would be total and irreversible. The thought terrified him, but that look in her eyes had denied any chance that she'd be left out of this, no matter what he said or did, and he realised she'd want to be included in every battle the Gem Lords fought, until the inevitable day she was killed.

     He couldn't allow that! He couldn't live without her! He had to find a way to protect her. He wondered whether they could find a way to repeat what Khalkedon had done to the rest of them; connect her soul to a gemstone to prevent it from being sucked away to the afterlife in the event of her death. Investigating the possibility would be the first order of business the moment they arrived home. Even before their marriage.

     Her hands were tight around his waist as she looked down at the swamp, now far below them, bravely trying to control her fear. Tak was impressed by how well she was taking it. Many strong men cried out in fear the first time they rode a gem steed, but she was managing to control her terror in silence and his heart went out to her, loving her even more. I must take care of her, he told himself. I'll set her down a safe distance from the heart of the fighting... but no, that would mean setting down on the fringe of the action himself, and as the most powerful wizard, his men would be needing him in the thick of things, where he'd be able to do the most good. Essca would just have to look out for herself.

     His heart cried out in protest, but he had a responsibility to his men. He had to give them all the support he could, give them their best chance of getting back home alive. He consoled himself with the thought that Essca was a wizard, and that any enemies they found on the ground would probably run in terror the moment she cast her first spell. It would also, of course, make her a target for any enemy wizards who turned up... He forced the thought firmly out of his head. He'd just have to make sure he was a more inviting target. Attract all the enemy fire to himself.

     Because the ground was so flat, they were able to see the castle almost from the moment they took to the air, even though it was many miles distant, and they saw the orange glow of fire leaping from one of the high towers, along with a pile of rubble below a wide hole that had been blown in the outer wall. There was no fighting to be seen, though. The enemies, whoever they were, must already be inside.

     Tak cast a spell to magnify his voice so it could be heard by all his men. "Nobody is to get involved in the fighting, except to defend themselves, until we know what's going on. We'll find Lord Ruby and get a situation report from him. If he just wants help getting out of there we'll escort him to safety, but he may want us to enter the fighting on one side or the other. Anyone who finds him, do as he tells you and pass the message on to the others, and to me."

     He saw each man raising a hand to show they understood, and he prayed that Barl was still alive, that they were in time. He wouldn't have called them in unless his life was in very real danger. I shouldn't have left him, he berated himself again. If anything's happened to him...

     Just them the entire top of the burning tower was blown apart in a violent explosion that sent debris raining out in a fiery fountain to cause secondary damage to lower walls and buildings. A figure was revealed standing there, enveloped in a shimmering sphere of magical force that was absorbing and reflecting the bolts of energy being hurled at him by an unseen enemy, further down the stairs. Tak recognised Barl, and his heart leapt with joy and relief as he gestured for the Captain, who was leading Pyre alongside his own steed, to follow him down. He hurled a spell to force the enemy wizard back into cover, and the Captain led Pyre down to the top of the tower, where Barl climbed gratefully into the saddle. The three gem steeds and their riders then soared up and away to safety.

     "Sholl and Yinnfarsians," explained Barl. "They attacked without warning. They must have been afraid Essca would reveal their plans before they could carry them out."

     He glared at the girl, who released her hold on Tak long enough to spread her hands in a gesture of ignorance. "I knew nothing about it!" she insisted. "I thought we were just here to spy out the guests. Find out who they were and what they wanted."

     "Well we know what the Yinnfarsians want now," said Barl. "They want the King dead. When they found out he was plotting with us they decided he was too much of a liability. They'll kill him and replace him with someone more pliable. Our one chance to salvage the situation is to find and rescue the King, if he's not dead already. If he stands up and declares an alliance with us, they'll have no choice but to withdraw."

     "Why are the Sholl involved?" asked Tak, glancing between Barl and Essca, inviting either of them to answer. "What's their interest in this?"

     "We'll find out later," cried Barl. "Let's move! Find the King and get him to safety!" He didn't wait for an acknowledgement but pulled Pyre away into a long dive, back down towards the burning castle.

     The Captain gave hand signals to his men circling the castle to repeat Lord Ruby's instructions to them. Then the gem steeds swept down on the castle like diving eagles, their jaws gaping wide as they uttered screeches of rage to freeze the blood of friends and foe alike. Tak cast spell after spell to blast holes in the castle walls, and the gem steeds dove straight into them, their wings flattening to their sides as they wriggled like snakes into the wide, stone corridors.

     Tak jumped out of the saddle, pausing just a moment to help Essca down, then turned just in time to meet a troop of Yinnfarsian soldiers, most of whom quailed in terror at the sight of him. One of them, though, was a veteran who knew that wizards needed precious moments to cast their spells. He rushed at Tak with his sword raised, screaming a blood curdling battlecry, but Tak's steed struck and snapped him up in its jaws, literally biting him in half and spraying the Gem Lord with blood and strings of guts. The other soldiers fled in terror and Tak ran after them, followed by Essca and his steed.

     The next ten minutes were spent sprinting through halls and corridors, the bulk of the steed causing untold damage behind them as it squeezed its huge bulk through narrow doorways, bringing the ceiling down in half a dozen places. They saw fighting everywhere they went, but every time the combatants on both sides fled at the sight of them. Even the King's men, who disappeared before Tak could explain that he was on their side and ask the location of King Lamont.

     At one point they passed another rider and his steed, the Domandropolian soldier likewise having found no-one willing to face him and the gigantic creature that slithered behind him. "Take your steed back outside!" Tak told him. "We'll bring the whole castle down in ruins if we're not careful. Watch the walls and towers for any sign of the King."

     The man saluted and moved to obey as Tak continued on, heading towards the central keep where the King's quarters were located. It was possible the King's men were sheltering him there, making a last stand against their enemies. The quickest way was across the courtyard, so he blasted a hole in the wall and led his steed out into the sunlight.

     He heard the chanting of a spell before he saw the wizard and just had time to cast a defensive spell before being enveloped in white fire that clawed and tore at the barrier of magical energy he'd erected around himself. Behind him, though, the steed was less fortunate and he heard it squealing in pain as it burned, pulling back to the shelter of the building from which it had just emerged. Tak put it out of his mind. He'd have a look at its injuries later.

     He searched the courtyard, saw nothing, and then looked into the windows of the buildings opposite. He saw movement in one of them, and then the ground under his feet melted into a puddle of sucking mud. He sank quickly up to his waist. An ordinary man would have sunk completely below the surface in just a few more moments and drowned, but Tak levitated himself to safety and hurled a spell back at the window from which the attack had come.

     The wall exploded, but he also saw the splash of green radiance where some of the spell's energy had been reflected by a defensive spell. He cast another spell designed to nullify magical shields and followed it up with a blast of freezing cold. White ice accumulated around the gaping hole in the wall, and Tak dove towards it, ducking through it to stand where his assailant had been standing mere moments before. There was a figure lying there. A solid block of cold meat, a look of alarm and fear frozen on his face. It was a fairly young man, no more than thirty years old, and Tak spent a moment staring down at him in silent contemplation of the life he'd taken. Then he remembering Essca and spun about in alarm, but she was already there behind him, safe and sound.

     "That's Pijan," she said with a trace of regret. "He was another of Velzen's apprentices. Probably his best student. I wouldn't have believed anyone could finish him off that fast." She stared at Tak with amazement and fear.

     "Friend of yours?" asked the Gem Lord apprehensively. Could this come between them?

     "Sort of, but I won't grieve over him. The companionship he gave me was more than offset by the misery he caused me. If he's here, though, Velzen himself won't be far away. Watch out for him, he's formidable."

     Tak nodded, thinking of the man Barl had been fighting in the tower. No ordinary wizard could have backed a Gem Lord into a corner and held him there for so long. The Yinnfarsians had good wizards, of course, and there could be several of them present as well. He and Barl might well find themselves outnumbered.