"Stay close to me," Tak told Essca as he picked his way carefully across the rubble strewn floor. Reaching an undamaged stretch of corridor he broke into a run, rehearsing the words of war spells in his mind in case he needed to cast them in a hurry. Soon they'd reached the banquet hall in which he'd eaten the horn of potency, but now the room was a ruined mess with tables and chairs overturned and the bodies of several of the King's men lying dead on the floor. The hall had several exits. The soldiers couldn't have been trapped there. If they'd made a stand it could only have been to cover the King's retreat, but which way? Tak glanced towards two open doorways, both of which seemed to lead further into the keep. Which one?

     "Essca, which way do you think the King would have gone?"

     The girl thought for a moment. "I think this way leads to the kitchens. There's probably a back way out..."

     Tak ran through the indicated door. Yes, that's what the King would be looking for, he thought. A way out, to escape. If he could get to the stables and find a horse, he'd stand a chance.

     The sounds of fighting came from up ahead and Tak slowed, every sense alert, wanting to see without being seen before rushing in. There were two Domandropolian soldiers fighting alongside three of King Lamont's men, facing seven Yinnfarsian and Sholl men. Tak and Essca cast their spells together, sleep rather than death spells so as not to harm their own people (but who does Essca think of as her own people? wondered Tak.)

     All twelve men in the room were soon lying unconscious, and Tak cast an antispell on his two men to wake them back up. "Take care of things here," he snapped, then dashed off through the doorway they'd been defending.

     There was no sign of the King or any of his remaining men in the storeroom they found beyond, but the door leading out into the delivery yard was standing open. Again, Tak crept cautiously through, not wanting to be mistaken for an enemy by a terrified rearguard, but the yard was also empty. Screeches of enraged gem steeds came from somewhere, and the shouting and cursing of fighting men, but all the action was going on somewhere else. A diversion, perhaps? To lure the new arrivals away from the fleeing King and his pursuers? Tak ran on along the cart track that led between the keep and a tall, ivy covered curtain wall until he found himself back in the main courtyard, littered with stone rubble and the bodies of the dead.

     He heard Essca cry out his name and cast another defensive spell around himself in an involuntary reflex action, just in time to deflect a blast of fire aimed at him from behind. He spun around and saw a black robed figure stepping into view from the alcove in which he'd been hiding, his body enveloped by a shimmering Globe of Invulnerability. The man strode towards him with cocky self confidence, secure in the knowledge that the spell was aptly named, and Tak didn't bother wasting any spells on it. He knew that its one great weakness was its limited duration. All he had to do was stay alive until it expired.

     Time was on his side, therefore, and the enemy wizard should have been trying to kill him as quickly as possible, but instead he seemed in no hurry and paused to inspect the Gem Lord. "So you're Sapphire," he said, eying him speculatively. "You're the one who decided to make off with one of my apprentices."

     Tak glanced at Essca, who nodded. So, this was the dreaded Velzen. He paused before answering, wanting to drag this out as long as possible. "What are you doing here?" he demanded at last. "You have no business here."

     "Neither have you," replied Velzen. "Go home and see to your own city, peasant boy. Meddle not in the affairs of your betters." He turned to Essca. "You, girl. Come with me."

     "I'm with him now," replied Essca, backing away fearfully. Tak didn't doubt it was taking all her courage to speak that way to her former master. "I'm finished with you, and with Sholl."

     "So that's the way of it," said the Sholl wizard without surprise. "So be it. Die then."

     He cast a vicious spell at her and Tak had to dive in front of her, shielding her with his own defences. The girl stared at Velzen in horror, then ran across the courtyard and in through a door.

     "Let's keep this between us, shall we?" said Tak, his eyes narrowing as he felt hot fury welling up inside him.

     Velzen was happy to oblige and cast a lightning bolt at him, which reflected from his shield to hit a wall, bringing a rain of rubble down around them. Tak felt his defensive spell wavering and knew it would only survive one more hit, while Velzen's Globe of Invulnerability still had quite some time left in it. No point casting a spell directly at him, but perhaps...

     The damage to the building caused by the lightning bolt had given him an idea and he cast the same spell at the wall behind the enemy wizard. The wall exploded outwards and the Sholl wizard looked around to see tons of quarried stone falling towards him. He raised his hands reflexively, even though he was in no danger, and while his attention was diverted Tak cast another spell at the ground under his feet. The same trick that Velzen's apprentice had tried on him.

     Velzen cursed as he felt the ground turn to water under his feet, and a moment later he was splashing his way towards the edge of the muddy pool, but before he could free himself Tak cancelled the spell. If the courtyard had been floored with stone the enemy wizard would have been held immovably, his arms trapped in the newly solidified rock. All the most useful spells required dextrous arm and hand movements. Those that didn't tended to be either death spells or minor nocumes, of no real use in this kind of battle. As it was, though, the ground consisted of nothing more than hard packed earth and Velzen was able to pull his arms free with nothing more than a grunt of effort.

     Even that took a moment or two to accomplish, though, and Tak used the time to good effect. While Velzen began casting a spell to free himself completely, Tak ran over to where the body of one of the King's men was lying and snatched up his sword. The Globe of Invulnerability had been designed as a protection against magical attack and could also protect against mundane weaponry, but there was one attack that had been known to have some success against it.

     Tak cast a Sharpness spell on the sword, eying the other wizard carefully to see if he'd caught on to what he was doing. It probably didn't matter what spell he put on the sword, but he thought he'd have a better chance of success if he cast one that had been designed for use on a weapon. His magic sense tingled as he felt the magical charge flowing through the metal, and the cold steel glowed with a ghostly blue light along the edge and at the point. That was where the magical charge was concentrated the most. An intensity, perhaps, great enough to penetrate the globe, to prick it like a soap bubble. He held it like a dagger, point down, and charged.

     Velzen saw what he was doing, though, and cast a spell that grew a tangled patch of shrubbery between them, into which Tak stumbled before he could stop himself. He tripped over a root and fell, sprawling, into the spiky brambles, cutting his hands and face, and then Velzen was casting another spell directly at him, sneering with contempt as he did so.

     "Thus passes the mighty Gem Lord," he said as Tak was enveloped in a crimson glow, dissolving the remnants of his Shield spell and then attacking his unprotected flesh. He gasped in agony as he felt himself burning, but he put the pain out of his mind and swung the sword with all his strength, aware that if this didn't work, he was finished.

     Velzen had evidently never heard of this potential vulnerability of his defensive sphere and made no attempt to dodge away, but the look of amazement that appeared on his face as he was surrounded by a crackling nimbus of blue light was almost comical. Tak dropped the sword and cast another spell. A simple light blade that he might have used against a common soldier.

     In that moment of vulnerability, though, in the split second between the failure of the Globe of Invulnerability and his casting of another defensive spell, Velzen was as defenceless as any common man and the blade of magical force slipped easily and effortlessly up into his stomach, opening him like a gutted fish. Blood and gore came spilling out, and Velzen gaped down at himself in horror, trying to gather his guts up in his hands and hold them in place. Tak, climbing back to his feet, stabbing again and again. Cutting the wizard's arms and shoulders while Velzen could only stagger away, weeping in horror. Finally, though, Tak managed to find his heart and, with a final sigh of despair, Velzen fell dead at his feet.

     "Nicely done," said a voice behind him, and Tak spun around, his hands flying into place to cast another spell. It was Baron Krelldicon, the massively powerful man dressed in full fighting gear and carrying a huge battle axe. He started in alarm, thinking Tak was about to blast him, but Tak relaxed when he realised it wasn't another wizard about to attack.

     "Baron," he said in relief, dropping his hands and looking about for Essca. Where had she gone?

     "So you're a Gem Lord," the big man said, also relaxing. "Lord Sapphire, right? I'd heard of your prowess in battle. Now I see the tales did not exaggerate."

     Tak was in no mood for small talk. "Have you seen the King?" he asked. "He's in great danger."

     Krelldicon shook his great bearded head. "If I'd seen him I'd be with him, helping to defend him. I have a great deal staked on his survival."

     "Better to keep your head down until this is all over," said Tak, though. "There's wizards about and they're not particular who they kill."

     He glanced back and forth between the direction he thought the King had gone and the direction he'd last seen Essca heading. What should he do? Follow the King or save Essca? His head told him one thing, his heart something else. He cursed bitterly, but while he stood here in indecision he was doing neither of them any good. He forced himself to decide. Essca was a wizardess, able to look after herself, and no-one was actively hunting her. He would follow the King.

     "Look out for Essca!" he shouted back at the Baron as he ran off. "She's a friend of the King!"