
Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgements

Dedication

1 - The Beginning of all The Trouble

2 - The Candlestick Dragon

3 - The Condemned House

4 - The Man with a Mission

5 - The Doorway To Another Land

6 - Opening a Door

7 - Poe

8 - Lukas

9 - A Hero In the Making

10 - Escape from Fadden

11 - Larson's Folly

12 - Rullin

13 - Novarmere

14 - Explanations

15 - In Honour of Wren

16 - The Power of the Sceptre

17 - The Cottage in the Clearing

18 - Friends

19 - Bonding

20 - Losing a Friend

About the author
Chronicles of Novarmere:   
Dark Wizard Quartet Book One

THE CANDLESTICK DRAGON

Melanie Ifield

A Melanie Ifield book

First published by Melanie Ifield in 2013

 PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0-9922839-0-2

Copyright © Melanie Ifield 2013

Cover illustration: Kevin Burgemeestre

Cover art copyright © Melanie Ifield 2013

All rights reserved

www.melanieifield.com

No part of this book may be reproduced in any way, in any form, mechanical, electronic or otherwise, without expressed permission from the author.

All characters are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Author: Ifield, Melanie

Title: The Candlestick Dragon / Melanie Ifield

Series: Ifield, Melanie 'Chronicles of Novarmere: Dark Wizard'

Target audience: Primary and early high school ages

Acknowledgements

I would like to give ongoing thanks to Thomas, Richard and Brendan for the technical support and computer know-how.

And last, but not least, to my sister, Jane, editor extraordinaire. Her patience and tireless efforts to correct any errors and make this story the best it can be, is greatly appreciated. Any mistakes are my own.

My love and thanks to you all.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank those who have read my books and given me such valuable feedback and encouragement; I would be lost without you.

For Mum, Dad and Jane

For always believing it would come true 
The Beginning of all The Trouble

Extraordinary things can happen, even on ordinary days. Daniel Smith, an ordinary twelve year old boy, was woken early on one such day (though, at the time, he had no idea of its significance). It simply wouldn't have happened - if he hadn't gone. He wouldn't have known any better as he went back to school, was bullied, felt small, defenceless and insignificant. There would have been no paralyzing fear, no running, and no hiding. He'd have just gone on as he always had.

He'd had a choice, of course. There was always a choice. He could have stayed home.

But he didn't...

'It's recycle centre day. Up you get,' Darling Smith waltzed into Daniel's room and flung up the blind. 'How can you stand living in a cave like this?' She pulled back the blankets, which threatened to smother him.

Daniel groaned. A quick glance at the clock told him it was only 7am.

'It's Saturday, Mum. Can't I sleep in on a Saturday?'

But by then it was too late. Once awake, there was no chance of going back to sleep. Plus, as he had just pointed out, it was a Saturday. There were now two whole days away from school; two whole days of freedom before he'd have to face all that again.

'The earlier we are, the better the chance we have of finding the good stuff. I need to get at least two pots for the agapanthus and I thought we could look for another arm for Mr Ed.' Darling raised her eyebrows, glancing in the direction of Daniel's much-loved bear.

Then she added those words; the words which could have kept him safe.

'Don't you want to come today? If you aren't up for it, you could stay and watch some TV, if you like,' she said, doubtfully. Daniel rarely watched TV. He preferred to read.

Mr Ed sat on his pillow, listing slightly to one side, the left side, where he only had a tightly sewn hemline and no arm. Guilt was a great motivator, so Daniel got out of bed and dressed quickly.

Daniel patted Mr Ed's head.

'Wish me luck, old bear. If I can find another bear that is remotely your colour, you'll have an arm by this afternoon.'

The fact that Mr Ed was a dark velvety brown, with patches of white, didn't help. Daniel felt bad about ripping his arm off when he was two. He'd been on the hunt for a new arm for years. He refused to compromise and attach one that didn't match Mr Ed exactly.

The recycle centre wasn't all that far away. This had upset Daniel when they had first moved in.

Everyone knew there was a 'Right Side' and a 'Wrong Side' of town. It wasn't a good sign, Daniel had told Darling, living that close to the dump and the recycle centre. But it was all they could afford on her waitress wages, so they made do.

It didn't take him long to get ready. A quick wash of his face, a dive into his sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt and then Daniel and Darling drove to the centre. Darling had borrowed the car from a work colleague to carry the pots she hoped to find.

'Are you going to be okay to explore on your own?' Darling asked.

'Sure, you go find pots and stuff. I'll look for bears.'

The last thing Daniel wanted was to be stuck sifting through broken terracotta trying to find a pot that wouldn't leak.

Darling glanced at her watch. 'Meet you back here in thirty minutes. Is that going to be enough time, do you think?'

Daniel nodded agreement as he turned away. There were never many bears in a recycle centre, anyway. People usually gave them to charity shops, such as the Salvation Army stores, when they were no longer loved.

He wandered off, poking through the piles of junk. Though he hated to admit it, Daniel loved recycle days. They tried to make a point of going once every month or so. Even now, after they had moved into town only three weeks ago, Darling had found the local recycle centre and promised Daniel a trip.

'Junk. Junk. Crap. More crap.' He sifted through the rubbish people had left behind. To his eyes, most of it could have gone straight to the actual dump - bypassing the recycle centre completely.

'The garbage some people use to own,' he muttered to himself, holding up a tea set, nicely arranged on a tray. The only trouble was, the whole lot had chips and cracks and the tray itself was missing a handle. He put it back gently.

Daniel looked at his watch. Time had flown. He only had five minutes to get back to the rendezvous point to catch Darling. Sifting through piles of recycling always took longer than he anticipated.

Taking a different path to the front of the centre, Daniel stepped up the pace. He kept a good look out for any bears. The only bear he'd seen so far, with arms the same size as Mr Ed, was all white. Or it had been at one stage in its life.

'Whoa.' Daniel pulled up short.

He pushed aside a Princess Doll and some fluffy fairy wings and then lifted out what had caught his eye.

The candlestick was made of stone -gray, dull, lifeless stone. It stood about half a metre high and was quite thick. But it wasn't the candlestick itself that had made him stop. It wasn't the lovely clawed foot that formed its base, or the smooth and shallow hole where the candle was meant to be placed.

It was the dragon.

Wrapped around the candlestick, talons extended, one clawed foot reaching out as though pointing the way, was a dragon. A dark green painted dragon with red eyes that seemed to gleam in the sunlight.

The dragon was covered in scales and spikes and layers of thick, ridged skin. It even had plates of ridged folds around its eyes. The head was facing upwards, mouth wide open, roaring silently at the world, revealing menacing spiky fangs. The tail started thick near the body and tapered to a wedge, which was also spiked.

Daniel ran his hand over the scales and spikes.

'Awesome,' he said.

Now this was worth getting up early for. Whilst there was, yet again, no arm for Mr Ed, this was even better.

He jerked back his hand. There was a spot of blood on one of his fingers. The spikes were sharp, even though they were made out of stone.

Daniel carried the candlestick back with him. Darling was already waiting, chatting to the man behind the counter. Daniel grinned. Everyone ended up talking to Darling.

'Hey, Mum, can I get this?' Daniel held up the candlestick.

Darling glanced at his prize.

'No bears?'

'Only one, but it was white. Can I have this instead?'

She sighed. Apart from searching for bear arms, Daniel collected dragons. Luckily, the prices at the recycle depot were a lot more reasonable than antique stores.

'Sure, if that's what you want,' she said.

Just then, another man, who had been looking around quietly to the left of the counter, walked over. He smiled and Daniel's skin crawled. His smile was fake and tight. It made the skin around his eyes crinkle, but the eyes themselves, stayed flat and hard.

'Madam, would you mind terribly if I was to have a look at the candlestick before you paid the good man?' he asked, all oily and nice, but in a way that made Daniel want to cringe.

She looked a bit surprised.

'Of course, if you wish. Daniel, show the gentleman the dragon.'

He didn't want to. He wanted to keep the candlestick behind his back, though he couldn't understand his own reluctance. Perhaps it was the man's forced smile, which was slowly starting to look like a snarl. However, Darling's frown decided him. 'Anything for Darling'. Everyone always said that.

He handed the candlestick over to the man, who studied it intently, with the look of someone who was excited, but trying to keep his cool.

'My, I haven't seen anything like this in a while. I have a collection, you know.'

And yet, somehow, Daniel knew he was lying.

The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet.

'I'll pay double. I'll pay you, young man, and the recycle gentleman. I would very much like to secure this for my collection.' He put the candlestick on the counter and opened the wallet.

Daniel watched his face, as Darling and the recycle guy stared at each other in surprise. Only Daniel saw the tight little smile of triumph and the way the man's eyes twitched back to the dragon and appeared to sneer at it.

'That's okay,' Daniel said, reaching over and pulling the candlestick closer. 'I have lots of other dragons at home, too. This one will be the, ah, centrepiece.'

Darling glanced at him, eyebrows raised. She knew his dragons were little plastic figurines, not large, realistic, stone ones. He shook his head at her. He had to have this dragon. It didn't matter if it seemed rude to the other man. Daniel didn't like him and didn't want the stone dragon to go to him.

Darling sighed. She knew that stubborn look on her son's face.

'I'm sorry, but Dan's got his heart set on it. And I had agreed,' she showed the man the money in her hand, ready to pay for pots and dragon alike.

'But really, Madam, I have to insist. He's just a boy! I will offer you twice as much in exchange.' The man was no longer smiling. In fact, he had a scowl so dark that Darling took a step back. Daniel picked up the candlestick and hugged it to his chest.

It looked like it was going to get ugly, Daniel thought bitterly. Darling never stood up for anything. The man would easily bully her into giving him the dragon.

Then the recycle man stepped in.

'I'm sorry, but the lad did want this. I'm going to sell it to his mother and she can think about what she wants to do later. Perhaps you could exchange numbers. Then she could always phone you if the lad changes his mind.'

Fat chance, thought Daniel. He loathed the man on sight.

'Thank you,' said Darling in relief, and she took the recycle man's offer to help load the pots, as well.

The man who had tried to take the dragon didn't offer his number. He didn't even take Darling's. Instead, he leaned in close to Daniel, put his hand on his arm and whispered, 'You'll regret not giving me that dragon, you know. You aren't meant to know him.'

Daniel brushed him off and hastened after Darling. He could still feel where the man had grabbed his arm. It was cold and hot and slimy, all at once. He shuddered. The man had to be crazy. After all, didn't he mean to say that Daniel wasn't meant to own the dragon, not know him?

Looking back over his shoulder, Daniel saw the man watching them. He continued watching as they packed the car and he was still glaring at them as they drove away.

Daniel felt clammy and his stomach ached. Then he took the dragon out of the shopping bag and forgot the man entirely.

It took Daniel three trips between the car and the backyard to unload the pots, gnomes and other garden things Darling had eventually decided to buy. Finally, however, he was able to leave and take the dragon candlestick to his room.

'Sorry, no arm for you today, Mr Ed. But get a load of what I scored!' Daniel dragged the old bear to the end of the bed, where he sat with the candlestick.

It needed a wash and possibly a wire brush, to scrub off some of the flaking paint. If he could manage it, Daniel thought he'd try to bring some paint home from school in order to re-touch it.

This thought reminded him that he actually had to go back to school eventually, even though it was school camp the following week. He sighed.

Putting newspaper down to protect the rental property's threadbare carpet, Daniel found some old sandpaper and started to lightly sand the stone. As he worked, he muttered to Mr Ed, keeping his voice low.

'First, no one likes being the new kid,' he looked sideways at Mr Ed, but the bear remained quiet. That was the best thing about him - and the worst. He never complained or interrupted, but on the other hand, he never had anything constructive to say either.

'And if that wasn't bad enough, Buster Felton and his lot beat me up again last week. I'm lucky Mum hasn't seen the bruises.' He was still hiding them from her. Last time he'd been beaten up (in their previous town), Darling had galloped down to the school, yelled at the teacher and actually pointed out the offending parties.

Daniel lived in dread that she might pull the same stunt here. It was bad enough being the New Kid. It would be terrible if it was discovered that his mother was overzealous in her need to see justice done.

'Let's be honest here, Mr Ed. I'm small, nerdy and wear glasses,' said Daniel, as he worked on the candlestick's base. He pushed his glasses back up his nose. They tended to slide down whenever he was occupied with something. Actually, they tended to slide down for all sort of reasons, with great regularity. It was just one of the problems associated with having to use recycled objects.

Daniel accepted that he did not help himself with the nerd comments made at school. His main passion was reading about historical figures. His favourites were Hannibal, Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great.

He glanced around his room. They couldn't afford much in the way of new things and furniture, but he made up for it with the odds and ends he'd collected at various recycle centres and thrift stores over the years. Thirteen smaller dragons lined the window sill.

Daniel scrubbed at a particularly hard bit of dirt, stuck to the dragon's back.

'Well, you'll be a great addition to the collection,' he said to the dragon, 'though you won't fit on the sill.' The base was simply too wide.

'I wonder who that creepy man was. He certainly didn't want me to have you.' He remembered the look in the man's eyes and gave a shudder. 'It doesn't matter now, I guess.'

Daniel sat back and looked at his handiwork. The stonework was clear of debris and the dragon's scales, spikes and ridges were clear of dirt. The only trouble was - he definitely needed a new paint job.

'I might even touch up your eyes. They should be fire engine red,' said Daniel.

He looked at them closely.

They looked back at him closely.

Daniel frowned. Were they really looking at him or was it just a trick of the light? He bent to pick up the candlestick, to move it closer to the window.

The eyes blinked.

'Whoa!' gasped Daniel and promptly dropped the candlestick.

The Candlestick Dragon

Daniel sat there and stared across at the candlestick on the floor. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He widened his eyes are far as they could go, to stop himself from blinking. Maybe he was seeing things.

Daniel stared at the red eyes.

The red eyes stared back.

'Okay, now. This is freaky.' The overhead light was too dim and there was not much natural light emanating from the tiny window, so Daniel got up and went to find his torch. He wanted to examine the dragon better.

He climbed across his bed, which was pushed up against the wall. His torch was jammed between the bed and the wall. Whilst he was leaning over, preparing to pull it out, there was a loud crack from behind him!

Daniel froze. He wasn't too sure if he really wanted to turn around.

There was a soft belch and then someone said 'I can still smell you, you know. Where did you go?'

Daniel swung his legs around towards the wall and turned to peer over the edge of the bed.

The dragon stared up at him from its position on the floor.

This time, Daniel knew it wasn't a trick of the light. The dragon was no longer attached to the candlestick and was now flexing its talons, while flicking the spiked wedge on the end of its tail, as it stretched.

'Wow,' Daniel whispered, awestruck.

The dragon looked up at him.

'Mind if I join you? I hate getting a crick in my neck.' Without waiting for a response, it launched itself into the air and flew to land at the other end of the bed. They watched each other closely.

'You can talk! You're real!' exclaimed Daniel.

'So can you. And so are you,' the dragon replied drily. Daniel had the faint suspicion it was laughing at him.

He leaned forward, reaching out slowly with one hand, so as not to frighten it, like he'd seen on the TV. The dragon raised an eye ridge and gave a soft belch; smoke and a spurt of fire coming from its mouth.

Daniel sat back with a yelp.

'You aren't going to eat me, are you?' He thought that this was an important detail to establish straight off. The dragon may be pint-sized, but there was a small possibility that its main diet consisted of small boys.

The dragon laughed; a deep, coughing, growling laugh.

'I don't eat people. They're stringy and tough and don't have much meat.' It looked around. 'Where are we, exactly?'

'We are in my bedroom. I brought you home from the recycle centre.' Daniel suddenly had a nasty thought. 'Someone won't be out looking for you, will they? I mean, it's not every day talking dragons appear. You aren't a robot, are you?'

He desperately didn't want the dragon to be a robot.

'Robot?' it asked, tilting its head. 'I don't know what a robot is, but I'm sure I'm not one of them. Are they a demon species of dragon native to here?'

Daniel clapped his hands to his mouth. It was not a robot! In addition, there was a chance that there might be demons and multiple species of dragons in existence. Excited beyond belief and trying to tell himself that he wasn't the least bit afraid, Daniel uncorked his mouth.

'We don't actually have dragons here. This is Earth. We only have figurines of dragons.' Remembering his dragon collection, Daniel leaned over and grabbed a couple of them down from the window sill.

The dragon leaped back and bared it fangs. A plume of smoke rose out of its nostrils.

'What have you done to them? I can't sense any life in them at all!' It was clearly distressed.

'No, no,' Daniel tried to reassure the dragon. 'They're plastic, see?' He picked up his pocket knife and cut off one of their heads. He didn't like doing it, but what was a plastic toy compared to a live, smoking dragon?

The dragon pounced.

Daniel shrieked and jerked backwards, promptly falling off the bed.

'What are you doing?' They both roared at the same time.

'Me? I was showing you that they're only plastic!'

'Me?' snarled the dragon at the same time, coming to the end of the bed and glaring at Daniel, who was now at eye level. 'I was protecting my fellow dragon. You cut its head off!' The dragon roared again, though not as loudly as Daniel had expected. It shot a short stream of fire at Daniel, who ducked to avoid it.

'Don't do that,' he snapped back, tossing the decapitated dragon into the bin. 'I'm telling you, it was never alive. They made it in a factory. You know, with machines...It is a tiny, lifelike statue, but it is not actually alive!'

The dragon glared at him, red eyes glowing. The dark green scales glittered in the torchlight and the flames that flickered between its teeth were very real and very bright.

'I don't know what this 'factory' is, or a machine for that matter, but I am new here and must take your word for it.' The dragon gulped back the flames and settled into a crouch, still looking with some concern at the second dragon in Daniel's hands.

'You aren't planning on cutting its head off as well, are you?' it asked, reasonably politely.

'No,' Daniel said, shortly. 'I hadn't planned on cutting anyone's head off. I just thought you should see that we don't have real dragons here. But I'm sorry if it upset you.'

He thought it was best to change the subject, so he put the second dragon back on the sill and sat on the bed again.

'Where do you come from and how did you get here?'

'I can't remember.' The dragon flicked its tail miserably. 'I can remember some things, but not others. Last thing I remember, I came through some sort of door. Anything else is patchy ... at best.'

Daniel didn't really know what to say to that. He only knew of one person who had lost his memory. Mr Brown was the local crazy person whom no one could understand. He had recently been rescued by the police as he wandered along the main street and had been admitted to the local nursing home. It had even made the local news.

'That's not good,' Daniel said, for the lack of anything else to say. 'Well, I'm Daniel and this is my home. I live here with my mum, Darling Smith and I go to Fadden High. It sucks.'

The dragon looked up at him from its crouch.

'You don't like the house, the town or the school?'

Daniel grinned. It was a clever little dragon.

'All of it, I suppose. We only moved here three weeks ago. It's a pokey little town and there is this kid at school, a big bully, who picks on me. Actually, that has been pretty standard in all of the schools I have attended,' he admitted.

Daniel stopped talking and bit his lip. He didn't want to talk about Buster Felton, or his cronies Todd Fulbright, Dale Fabian and Buster's 'Best Friend', the horrid Patrick Kennington. He just wished he would grow taller, like his mum was always promising he would. It was hard being close to thirteen, but being the size of a ten year old.

Daniel wished he had a Best Friend. One he could gang up with so Buster wouldn't pick on him so much. He only had Frank, a fellow dweeb he had met in his first week at school, who was also bullied. They sometimes sat together at lunch and shared their misery.

The dragon started to scratch the remainder of the flaky paint off its scales.

'Could you do that on the newspaper? I don't want to have to explain it to Mum,' Daniel said, pointing to the paper under the candlestick.

The dragon looked in the direction he pointed, shrugged and flew down to sit on it.

'Anyway, we came here because Mum was offered a job from a friend who knew Mum had just lost her old one. So we're here and I'm stuck at that school and I hate it,' said Daniel. How he hated it!

'There is always someone who is bigger and nastier than we are,' the dragon commented philosophically. 'I do remember that there are much bigger dragons where I come from; ones that can eat you whole.' It looked up from its cleaning.

'Yeah,' said Daniel 'always someone meaner and bigger than we are. So why are you here, do you think?' he asked, changing the subject. He didn't want to think about how depressing it was that there were four particular 'someones', meaner and bigger than he, who would be waiting for him the next time he entered the school gates.

The dragon shook itself like a dog and dust rose off its back.

'I have a Very Important Mission,' it stated. Daniel could just about hear the capitals.

'Great! What is it?'

'That's also something I don't seem to be able to remember,' the dragon admitted, sheepishly.

'Well, do you remember your name? Perhaps, if you could remember who you are, the rest will follow?'

That sounded like a reasonable suggestion.

The dragon appeared to consider it. Then it smiled. Daniel pulled back a little. Not that he was frightened, but that was an awful lot of teeth.

'My name is Nilofar and I come from Novarmere. I've been sent by someone to do something. I'm to report back on my findings and then something will happen.'

Daniel tried hard not to laugh. The dragon didn't have much of an idea. He was also starting to feel slightly light headed. It was completely unreal to be having this conversation in the first place.

'Welcome to Fadden, Nilofar. But that doesn't sound very specific. Could you try to narrow it down a bit?'

Nilofar gave him a dirty look.

'If I could, don't you think I would?'

'Sorry, sorry. It's just, well, this world is pretty big. Without some idea of what you are meant to be doing, you could be here for a while. And I don't think you're meant to be here, you know. You're really conspicuous.'

The dragon shrugged his heavy shoulders. 'Sometimes not being where we are meant to be and being where we are not, is just the thing we are meant to be doing.'

Daniel laughed. That made no sense at all.

'Whatever ... Hey, are you hungry?' Daniel asked impulsively and then regretted it. What was he going to feed a dragon?

'Something hot and meaty would be nice,' agreed Nilofar. 'What sort of meats do you have?'

'Beef patties, mince and I think some leftover roast. Though, I wouldn't suggest that you eat the roast, because Mum would definitely ask questions.'

Daniel didn't know how he would explain Nilofar to Darling Smith, though he was kind of hoping he wouldn't have to. It would be far better to keep the little dragon a secret. She'd only throw a fit. Or demand he took it back to the recycle centre in the hopes of finding its owner. He hoped the scary man wasn't its owner.

'I don't think she'd miss a couple of patties though. I could defrost them in the microwave,' Daniel added, as he peeked out his bedroom door.

He was sure Darling would be occupied in the garden for ages. She'd ended up buying enough pots to replant the entire bulb section. But it was good to be cautious. He was amazed she hadn't come charging in with all the noise Nilofar had made already.

Daniel led the dragon to the kitchen. There, they both gorged on re-heated beef patties, with Daniel adding a few raw salad vegetables to his meal. Nilofar came to the conclusion that the patties were nice enough, but didn't compare to the small deer-like creatures of Novarmere. At least, what he thought he could remember of them.

Once they were settled back in the bedroom, Daniel started to grill the dragon on exactly everything that he could remember.

'It doesn't matter how small,' Daniel said. He could remember this technique from his favourite cop shows. They were always asking witnesses to remember even the smallest detail. Though he wasn't into much TV, he did like the crime shows.

'We need to know where it was in town that you arrived and how you got here. Why were you in the recycle centre, for starters and why were you wrapped around a candlestick?'

Nilofar lay on the bed, his stomach a large mound, and belched. A small amount of smoke curled up from his nose.

'I was taken there. I remember waking up from a deep sleep and realising I'd been Solidified too long. I cracked open my eyes to see if things were safe and there were men everywhere.'

'What's Solidified mean?' Daniel asked.

The little dragon huffed some smoke and delayed his response, whilst he appeared to ponder the question.

'It seems to be something I can do whenever I wish to. Look!' He stiffened, and his body slowly turned to stone. After a moment, he shook off the casing once more with an audible crack, and could move again. 'Perhaps all of my species can do this. We won't know until I remember everything. Anyway, back to the men in the room with me.'

He shuddered. Daniel reached over and patted his scales.

'That must have given you a fright. Were they scary men?'

'They wore horrid, strange helmets on their heads. Some carried wicked weapons, similar to axes, but that's not what they were. They were ripping up the floor of the room I was in and laughing. One grabbed my candlestick and threw me into a hard carrying device - .'

'Why did you call it 'your' candlestick?' Daniel interrupted.

Nilofar looked surprised. 'I don't know. I just know that it's important somehow, so don't lose it. Anyway, they then threw me into this carrying device with a wheel.'

You mean a wheelbarrow? They must have been wearing hard hats and using mattocks!' Daniel felt excited.

He knew who they were and where Nilofar had been found!
The Condemned House

'You were taken from one of the houses on the construction site! It had to be! All we need to do is go back there and determine which one it was.'

It occurred to Daniel that this would be an adventure, but also a lot of exercise. Not something he excelled at.

'Can you remember anything else?'

Nilofar grumbled. After so much meat, a dragon was meant to sleep. All this talking was beginning to annoy him.

'I can remember things after I woke up, it's the things beforehand that -' he stopped. He bared his fangs and growled.

Daniel sat back quickly.

'I was spelled!' Nilofar looked at Daniel. 'While I can Solidify myself into stone at will to look like a statue, I don't usually become forgetful when I've done it. It had to be a spell!'

'There was some confusion about travelling through a Gateway, so she got her pet wizard to put some sort of spell on me. Just wait till I get back. I'll eat him alive!' he roared, flames crackling.

Daniel forgot to be afraid and grabbed Nilofar's snout, shutting his mouth firmly.

'Shhh ... you start roaring, or setting my bed on fire and Mum will certainly come in. Who is 'she' and who is the 'wizard'?'

He could feel his heart starting to race. A wizard! A real live wizard and a real live dragon!

Nilofar shook off his hand.

'I shall be quieter,' he promised, still growling under his breath.

'I don't know,' he continued, responding to Daniel's questions. 'It's very frustrating. I can see her in my mind, but I can't name her. I know the wizard too. It must have been the spell that has made my mind all fuzzy. They gave me the mission and then made me forget! How can I do what I'm supposed to do without my memory?'

The little dragon clawed the blanket in distress.

'We need to go to the construction site. It might hold a clue,' said Daniel, decisively.

He stood up and grabbed his school backpack. He thought about it. There was little chance that they would be able to get there, search, and be back before dark without Darling noticing his absence. Considering the circumstances, a white lie wouldn't be too bad, he decided.

Leaving Nilofar curled up, snoring his dinner off, Daniel went in search of Darling.

He'd never actually lied to his mother before. He omitted telling her when he was beaten up at school. But that was for protection; for him and her. This was going to be different and Daniel wasn't too sure if he could do it convincingly.

He found her swearing under her breath over a broken pot.

'Hi, Mum,' Daniel picked up one of the pieces and handed it to her.

'Thanks sweetheart. What are you up to?' Darling took the piece distractedly and threw it into a pile with some others. 'The silly thing was too fragile. I put the soil in and it split down the side.'

'Hope you have enough of them.' Daniel's mind wasn't on pots. 'I forgot to ask you earlier, but is it okay if I go over and play at Frank's house? He asked me yesterday... and for dinner too ...'

Daniel had mentioned Frank a couple of times since starting school. While Frank wasn't exactly a friend, Darling wasn't to know that. He suspected that she would be so hopeful that Daniel was making friends at his new school that he may actually pull this off. Hence, Daniel was prepared to use Frank's name to get out of the house. It had the added bonus of making her happy.

Darling wiped sweat off her forehead, smearing soil across her face.

'Sure, hon, it's lovely to see that you're making friends. When can I expect you home? Do you need me to drop you off?'

'I'll be home around eight. I can walk there.' Daniel gave her a grin and raced back inside before she could ask any more questions.

Even without the candlestick, Daniel found carrying Nilofar heavy. He'd stuffed him into the backpack so Darling wouldn't see him. He hid the candlestick under his bed.

He turned off Tulipwood Circuit and headed down Featherstone Street. Daniel pushed through the hedge where Calthorp met Featherstone and found himself on the Fadden South oval. No one used it much, as it was on a not-so-slight hillside slope. This gave a great view of the construction site and Capital Road, the main artery heading out of town. However, it also meant that it was less attractive as a sporting venue, due to the fact that balls tended to naturally follow the direction of the slope and one team always had to work harder than the other.

'There,' Daniel pulled the Solidified dragon out of the bag and put him on his shoulder. 'You can change back now, we're nearly there.'

Nilofar, who had kept his eyes and ears from Solidifying, broke open his stone case, sending dust into the air, and clung as gently as he could to Daniel's jumper. Daniel walked across the oval and stopped at a large yellow and black sign.

It read: Construction. Danger. Keep Out.

'Not so friendly,' Daniel commented drily, pausing ever so slightly before ducking under it and continuing past the first few houses. 'Any of these look familiar?'

The dragon looked around from his perch on Daniel's shoulder.

'Keep walking,' he said.

They passed several more houses. None of them had windows or doors. They were losing paint and some had caved-in roofs.

'How did your ruling class allow this to happen?' Nilofar looked around with horror. 'Even your peasants shouldn't have to live with holes in their roofs!'

Daniel laughed shortly.

'We don't have a ruling class, exactly. We have a government. They're meant to govern.' He looked at the homes. 'Most of the time, I guess, they do.'

Nilofar shot flames into the air.

'There - that one.'

Daniel stopped walking and stood opposite a crumbling, small shell of a house. He could tell that someone, at some stage, had loved it. There was still evidence of garden beds having been created and when he got closer, he could see fine patterns in the woodwork around the doorway and window sills.

Only now, the flowers were dead, there was no door and what glass was left in the windows, was shattered into jagged edges. As with the others in the street, all life had fled from the old place.

His heart quickened. Daniel refrained from pinching himself, but he still felt like he would wake up from a dream any minute. Even so, it looked pretty ordinary for a potential doorway to another land.

'You sure?' he asked Nilofar.

'Yes,' the dragon flew off his shoulders and straight into the house.

'Wait!' Daniel stumbled after him. Stupid dragon! What if someone was in there? What if he flew straight through into his own land and left Daniel behind?

There were large sections of the rooms where the floor boards had been completely ripped up and all the doors had been removed. It was completely stripped, ready for demolition.

'Nilofar, where are you?'

Daniel found the little dragon perched on a mantelpiece. He was looking around. As if trying to find something he'd lost.

'I was in here. I had to come from somewhere and there has to be a way back. Help me find it, Daniel.'

There was something very urgent and almost fearful in his voice. Daniel gave him a look.

'I have to be able to find my way home,' whispered Nilofar.

'There isn't anything in here, though, Nilofar.' Daniel said helplessly, as he scanned the room.

The room was empty, except for the mantelpiece. The fireplace had been ripped out and parts of the chimney had fallen down to fill up the hole it had left, but the actual framework of the mantelpiece was still in place.

There was a beautiful pattern which emerged from the mantelpiece and continued right around the room, engraved into the wooden architrave. It mimicked a vine swirling around the wood, as though twined around a post. The vine had funny shaped leaves, with four regular ends, making it diamond shaped.

Other than that, there was nothing to indicate it was any different to any other room in the house.

They both sat in the window, defeated.

'What if there was something important missing, like a door and your construction people took it away?' asked Nilofar.

Daniel had been thinking the same thing. He just hadn't wanted to mention it to the dragon in case it had disheartened him. However, he thought it was a bit obvious to believe that an actual door was the doorway to another world.

'If they've cleaned out everything that could be sold or recycled, then possibly the doorway, or whatever it was that you came through, has gone for good,' he said, nevertheless.

They were both staring out at the road when they heard a car.

'Someone's coming. Quick!' Daniel dropped down and tucked himself under the window ledge. Nilofar joined him.

'Why are we hiding?' the dragon whispered.

'This is a construction zone. We aren't supposed to be here and you aren't supposed to exist. We'll wait for them to go.'

His heart pounded. Darling would kill him if he was brought home by the police for trespassing (let alone being caught out in a lie).

He peeked over the edge.

A car cruised into sight. It was going very slowly. It had no markings. Daniel breathed a small sigh of relief. Not a cop, then.

'Are we safe?' asked Nilofar.

'Not if they are the developers,' he replied in a whisper. 'We just have to wait till they go.'

But the car didn't go. It stopped - right outside the house where Daniel and Nilofar crouched.

'He's getting out.' Daniel watched in horror as a man got out of the car and leaned against it, watching the house. Daniel started. It was the man who had tried to buy Nilofar at the recycle centre. For a second Daniel locked eyes with the man. Then he ducked out of sight.

'We're in trouble now, Nilo. He saw me. And he is not the type you want to meet alone, in an abandoned house.' Daniel felt his heart sink, almost to his toes. A cold feeling trickled down his spine, raising goose bumps along his arms.

'There's nowhere to hide.' Nilofar looked around the completely empty room.

'Get into my backpack and whatever you do, don't make a sound,' ordered Daniel, fear making his voice terse and mouth dry.

'Here he comes!'
The Man with a Mission

'Hello?'

Daniel sat quietly, with the bag in his lap, while the man called out from the front door. 'I saw you in there. It's okay. You're not in trouble.'

'He sounds pretty reasonable,' Daniel muttered, for the benefit of Nilofar tucked deep into the bag. 'But I doubt he means it.'

He could hear footsteps echoing along the corridor and then the man appeared in the doorway. He looked at Daniel and Daniel looked back. The man smiled, in the most awful manner.

'You again - hmm...? What a coincidence,' the man said. He almost stepped into the room, but paused again. He ran his hands along the surface of the doorway and then sniffed them.

He smiled in a truly horrifying way and his eyes gleamed in triumph.

'It reeks of his magicks in here. Which means -' he looked up and locked eyes again with Daniel. 'Young man, I really must insist on taking that dragon from you.'

Daniel stood up, still clutching the bag, wondering how hard it would be to leap through the window and make a dash for it. If only he was the sort to exert himself. He suddenly wished he'd taken some fitness classes.

'It's at home. I wanted to clean off the old paint and dirt. I left it behind with the sandpaper.' Daniel wanted to stop himself from babbling. He'd heard that babbling was a sure sign of lying, but he could not help himself. The man was scary. Daniel had no idea what he had meant by the place 'reeking' of something. He just hoped it was not the smell of his fear about which the man was referring.

The man stood there and looked at him, a deep frown creasing his forehead.

'You see my dilemma, boy. I must have that dragon and you stand in my way. It's a problem with only two solutions and I don't really care which one we take. Either you give me that dragon willingly, or I make you give me the dragon. Are we clear?'

Daniel looked into his eyes and felt his heart start to slow. He thought that this was strange because a moment before it had been pounding so fast and hard, it had almost split his chest. But those eyes - they were flat, dead-looking and hard as marble. They locked with Daniel's gaze and he felt his mouth open.

Words started to form on his lips. Truthful words that would have sounded much like, 'the dragon is just in this bag, sir, would you like to take him?'

Daniel struggled hard. It's magic, his mind screamed and he tried to change the topic before they slipped out.

'Well, sir, the truth is, I'm just here to look for...' Daniel was about to say the – 'doorway to Novarmere' -, when he felt something nudge his stomach hard. He gave a jolt.

Nilofar had head-butted him through the bag!

He covered up the movement by clutching the bag tighter. It hadn't been much, but it had been enough to break the link between him and the man. He blinked and looked away.

'Yes? What are you here for? Why would you be here, of all places? Is it a coincidence?' the man muttered to himself. 'I don't believe in coincidence. Therefore, he has to be here for the same reason I am and therefore, he's dangerous.'

He walked closer to Daniel, reached out and grabbed his arm. He leaned down and whispered.

'I will have that dragon and you will go and get it for me. I can follow you wherever you go, don't think that I can't. I will blast a hole right through that lovely mother of yours if you don't bring that dragon to me!'

Daniel felt his resistance shrivel once more.

'You can't do anything to her,' Daniel aimed for sounding defiant, but knew that he had only managed weak and shaky. 'I'll tell the police you threatened her.' He didn't know what he was saying. The image of Darling with a hole in her stomach made his own stomach lurch sickeningly.

'I can do whatever I want and your local law enforcers could never stop me,' the man almost laughed.

That decided it. Daniel wrenched his arm away from the clinging, cloying hand. He was deathly sick and tired of people laughing at him. It happened every day. Well, that was it! The man wasn't going to threaten Nilofar and Darling in the same breath, whilst also laughing at him.

'Leave me alone!' he exclaimed, desperately, 'You can't force me to give you that candlestick. You can't make me do anything. I'm going home and ...' Daniel wasn't quite sure how he planned to finish that sentence.

The more he spoke, the darker and more ferocious the man's face became, until he thought the man would certainly explode. His sheer presence was horrifying. He seemed to swell in front of Daniel's terrified eyes. He loomed over Daniel, until all he could see was the man's snarling face and his resistance faded yet again.

'I was being reasonable,' the man broke in, with a hiss. 'I asked you to give it to me. I will wait no longer. You will bring that blasted dragon to me at the Masters' Arms Motel, tomorrow morning, or I will see that you all die!'

There was another sound outside the house. It claimed the man's attention, as he looked hastily out of the window. Another car had pulled up behind his. He looked at it and back at Daniel, whilst appearing to shrink back to normal size.

'Remember, boy, tomorrow morning. Ask for Mr Rullin. You will bring me that candlestick.' With a parting shake of Daniel's arm, he walked away, to greet with a smile, wave and an apology, the man who leaned against his car.

'Sorry, sorry, I know this place is a construction site. I couldn't help driving through. I'm an antique dealer, you know. Sometimes, you just can't tell what you might find in an abandoned place like this. The potential was too great,' he reached the other man and held out his hand, face wreathed in smiles.

The other man shook Rullin's hand and accepted his apologies. Rullin looked back toward the house once, as the other man watched him get into his car. His eyes glowed with fanatic zeal and loathing. Then the two cars pulled away from the curb and drove off, leaving Daniel and Nilofar alone in the house, once more.

Daniel collapsed onto the floor. Sweat was pouring down his back and his legs couldn't hold him. Rullin's very presence made his stomach boil and want to empty itself.

Nilofar!

Daniel ripped open his bag and peered in, as the little dragon thrust his head towards the light.

'Are you okay?' they asked in unison.

Daniel gave Nilofar a rather sickly grin. He leaned back against the wall and noticed that his hands were shaking.

'I'm not really the hero sort,' he confessed to Nilofar. 'Look at my hands.'

He held them out, silent testimony as to how afraid he'd been.

'I nearly gave you up. You should find your own way home, Nilofar. If I run into Rullin again, I'm bound to spill the beans on you.' He felt depressed. He'd nearly caved in.

The dragon climbed out of the backpack and stood looking at Daniel, who sat in a dejected heap.

'You faced magic, Daniel,' the dragon said, quietly. 'Stronger magic than I've felt in a very long time. The potential in this Rullin is huge. He may not be able to access it all in this world, but he definitely has it. This means he comes from my world. It also means he is doubly dangerous, as he obviously remembers where he came from and why he is here, whilst I do not.'

Nilofar came closer and put his head on Daniel's leg, offering comfort. The dragon's scales exuded a gentle heat, which warmed Daniel and settled his nerves. Daniel scratched him along the ridges on his head. The dragon hummed.

'There is no shame in being tricked by magicks, particularly when your adversary is bigger, better armed and has more knowledge of magicks than you. There is no shame because you told him nothing and you stand – or, shall we say, sit - the victor.'

Daniel gave a muffled snort.

'I didn't give us away because you poked me and somehow broke the spell. Although, I did try to fight it, you know. The idea of handing you over to that man made me sick.'

'I merely reminded you of who you really are. Someone brave enough to try to help me, even though I am a stranger to you. You aren't someone to give into Rullin's magic, though you did give me a scare there for a moment,' the dragon gave a growling laugh. Smoke billowed. 'I am glad he had to go. We need to find a way to restore this place to how it was when I got here. Then we might stand a chance of getting me back to where I belong.'

Daniel stood up, his legs still a little shaky.

'The only thing that is different is the lack of a door? Are you sure of that? Nothing else? Do you think that if we get that door back, we'll be able to open the doorway into Novarmere?' He looked around the room.

It really wasn't anything much. It didn't stand out as a marvellous and magical gateway to another world.

Nilofar nodded.

'All right then,' Daniel was resigned. He tried to feel excited about the idea of a new world. But suddenly, it seemed a little frightening.

There weren't just talking dragons and friendly wizards.

It also came complete with evil magic and according to Nilofar, dragons so large that they could eat a person.

He sighed and picked up the bag. They had a lost door to find.

Daniel stood there and stared into space. Then he smiled. He looked at Nilofar.

'I know exactly where your door is,' he told the dragon.

The Doorway To Another Land

'I bet the door is at the recycle centre. They wouldn't scrap them all– not if they were in good condition. We have to get back there.' Daniel felt a prickle of excitement.

'What if it's gone forever?' the dragon asked gloomily.

'Cheer up; we can always check the dump, as well. They're right next to each other. Whatever we do, we have to make sure that Mr Rullin doesn't follow us.'

'I think I know him. I think I've come across him before,' Nilofar said, broodingly. 'I don't know what, but there is something about him...' He hadn't liked Rullin, either, and his spikes quivered. 'At least ... his magicks smelt familiar, somehow.'

'Smelt?' asked Daniel. He recalled Rullin sniffing his fingers after running them along the wall.

'Most magic has some kind of scent, but I can't quite place his. Now isn't the time for a lesson on magicks, though,' Nilofar commented, distractedly.

Daniel nodded. He completely agreed; although the idea of learning more was exciting.

'He was pretty suspicious. I'd hate to mess with him again. So let's get going before he thinks about coming back,' said Daniel, as he hiked along the street, back towards the oval. He ducked past the yellow construction tape and headed towards the hedge. Nilofar was a comforting, solid weight at his back, head poking out of the bag.

'We'll sort him out later. We need to get you back to Novarmere to find out what it is you have to do.' Daniel didn't want to consider what the trip back might do to Nilofar's memory, or his own, for that matter (if he was lucky enough to go with him). At least, if they had the door, they could decide if going through it was worth the risk.

It seemed to take no time at all to get back to Calthorp Road. Daniel turned down it, instead of heading home. He hurried just a little more. He had to get them to the centre before it closed for the day. It was open on the Sunday as well, but now there was a deadline. Rullin was expecting him in the morning.

He was half jogging by the time he arrived at the centre, out of breath and sweating.

'I ... don't ... do ... sports,' he panted, swinging the bag off his back and dumping it with an 'oof' on the ground. He sank down next to it. 'I ... just ... hate ... sports.'

The dragon poked his snout out of the bag a fraction, just enough to be heard.

'If you are coming to Novarmere with me, you will have to get used to it.'

'Me?' Daniel looked at his companion, as the reality of making the trip dawned on him. 'Go with you? Are you nuts? Who would look after Darling?'

He'd given it a little bit of thought. He'd have been lying to say that he hadn't. The idea of an adventure was very appealing, even though the idea of Rullin was not. But he had school, as much as he hated to admit it. And he had Darling, who couldn't remember to turn the oven off unless he reminded her.

'I must introduce you to those who sent me. If my mission is so important and I fear it is, they will need someone who understands this land to help me carry it out.'

'Let's get you home before we worry about that,' said Daniel, standing up and putting Nilofar and the bag back over his shoulders.

But he couldn't help the excited flutter in his chest. Whoever had sent Nilofar had to be as powerful as Rullin, surely. After all, they'd managed to get the dragon here (minus great big patches of his memory, of course - but that was a mere technicality).

'Back again so soon?' the man behind the counter smiled at Daniel.

'I thought I might look at some doors. For Mum,' he lied.

The guy's face lit up. 'She is a wonderful lady, your mum. Doors are down that aisle. Yell out if you need any help.'

Daniel waved and went to have a look.

Nilofar had found himself a little hole in the backpack and was peering out at the doors as well.

Half an hour later, Daniel went back outside and found a quiet corner. He opened the bag and looked down at the dragon.

'You're so heavy,' Daniel complained. His shoulders were aching. So were his legs. 'Well, we've looked at all the doors here. Was there anything you recognised?'

Nilofar shook his wedged head.

'Not a thing. Nothing that reminds me of the door I glimpsed from inside that room. We've failed! I'm stuck here and whoever it is that waits for me on the other side will wait in vain.'

'Boy, you're a joyful soul! Let's not give up yet. There's still the dump.' He closed the bag and headed next door.

There was a little dingy shed at the front gate, where a man took the money people paid to allow them to use the facility. He was fat and smelly and hadn't bothered to shave for the last few days. Daniel wanted to avoid talking to him, but the sheer size of the dump was daunting.

'Do you know where the developers put all the junk from the houses down past Faddon South oval?' he asked the man.

The guy looked at him through half shut, red rimmed eyes.

'Down that way,' he pointed. 'They brought in big semi-trailer loads of the stuff. I think that they should just trash the lot when they bulldoze the houses. But the yuppie kid who runs the show has ideas of 'preservation',' he mimicked a posh city accent. 'They took loads to the recycle centre and what was rejected from there, arrived here. Waste of time and money, if you ask me.'

Daniel thanked him and headed around the massive piles and deep pits, along to the new section; freshly dug out and ready for filling. He wrapped his hanky round his mouth and nose. The stench made his eyes water.

'So much junk,' he said, as Nilofar emerged from the bag to rest his head on Daniel's shoulder. They both looked around in dismay. 'This could take forever.'

Daniel stood on the lip of the new pit. It was huge. At the very bottom, what looked like relatively small piles of rubbish had already started to accumulate. Daniel sighed and started to walk down toward it.

By the time he had reached the bottom, his legs were aching even more.

Standing next to the rubbish heap made him realise is wasn't so small. Everything was piled up, higgledy-piggledy.

'It's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack,' he said exasperatedly.

'And even if we do find it, how were you planning on getting it out of here?' asked Nilofar, as he launched himself from Daniel to the closest pile, landing atop a fridge with no door. He watched Daniel with his red glowing eyes.

'Don't ask me questions like that.' Daniel squirmed. He had really only been thinking of getting the door into place to see if they could re-open the doorway to Novarmere. He had not really considered the logistics of getting them between here and there.

'Let's just focus on finding it first, shall we?' Daniel thought that transporting it anywhere would have to wait in any event.

The sun was going down and the shadows inside the pit were lengthening at a fast pace by the time he decided to give up.

'It's hopeless. We'll never find it and even if we do, we'll never get it out of here today. Let's go home,' Daniel wiped sweat off his face. Reading about adventures was much easier than the hard work involved in actually having them.

'I can't give up. Don't you see? It's my only way to get home. I can't walk there and I can't fly there. There is no 'There' unless we open a doorway. All I can think is that the door must be the key.' Nilofar sounded very upset.

Daniel couldn't see him clearly now, as darkness had closed in and the little dragon was diving through piles of rubbish in sheer desperation. Daniel sat down on a broken stool, bracing his left leg to make sure it didn't tip him off.

He was tired. It had been a long day. Not in his wildest dreams could he have ever thought he'd be caught up in something like this - with a dragon, no less. Both of them hunting for a door that may, or may not, be, the key to another world.

Daniel wondered if the dump got locked at night and if the man would come looking for him - probably not.

'Come on, Nilo. We have to go. I promised Mum I'd be home around eight. If I'm late, she might think to call Frank's parents.'

He got up with a groan and walked around the closest pile. Daniel had been sure he'd heard Nilofar digging back there.

Only now, there was nothing. There was silence.

'Not funny. Come on, let's go,' Daniel kept his voice low, trying to keep the tension out of it. He didn't want the dragon to think that he was afraid. He peered into the darkness. Surely boys weren't supposed to be afraid of the dark?

'Nilofar! We have to go. Stop playing around.'

'Daniel?' the little dragon's voice came from behind a pile to his left.

Daniel jumped. 'Nilo! You gave me a heart attack. Where are you?'

'Over here. Come and see this. I've found it!'

Daniel trotted over to where he could now see two little glowing red orbs winking in the shadows.

On the other side of a heap of junk, Nilofar was hovering in mid air.

'Whoa,' breathed Daniel. They'd certainly found it.

On the ground was a thin, lightweight door. The design, wild vines with diamond leaves, shimmered gold in the darkness. It wasn't a very bright glow. If it hadn't been almost dark, he would never have realised it emitted its own light.

Daniel looked at the dragon as he glided down to rest beside the door.

'We've got to get this back to the house. Unless you think it might work here?' He picked it up, surprised by how light it was. He held it out to Nilofar.

'But we can't open it. It's just a door. Without a frame it has no 'way' - as in - a doorway. It's just a door,' Nilo repeated, as he hesitantly poked a talon at the door.

'Well, we will need to fit it back into the frame at the house, then. It's not too heavy. I think I can get it back there.' Daniel lifted the door and looked around.

Nilofar swooped down and grabbed the bag with his claws.

'Can you carry the door on your own?' he asked.

'Not all the way tonight. We wouldn't make it. But if we can get it to my house, we can get it to your doorway tomorrow,' said Daniel.

He felt disappointed, but time had run out. He couldn't bear the thought of Darling catching him out in his lie by phoning Frank. They had to get home and hide the door.

'Lead the way,' he told Nilofar. 'And try not to walk me into a hole. I can't see as well as you seem to be able, in the dark.'

'Humans - so deficient,' Nilofar chortled, flying off.

It took them much longer than Daniel had hoped to get back to Rose Place. They had to take a roundabout route, as they could hardly walk along the main road. Not with a glowing door and a flying dragon leading the way. It was the one handy outcome of trying to avoid bullies – learning all the alternate routes home.

Going via overgrown pathways meant it was closer to a quarter to nine by the time Daniel hid the door under a bush outside his bedroom window.

His shoulders ached and his back felt like someone had driven a hot poker through his spine, but he was still feeling pleased. They'd made it and no one had seen them.

Darling was cranky. She'd been close to phoning Frank's place to find out what had happened to him. She couldn't find his number, which had hardly helped her temper. Daniel shuddered to himself. Thank heavens she hadn't.

Crawling into bed, after a long hot shower, Daniel started to reach for Mr Ed. Mr Ed, who had lived on Daniel's bed all his life.

He paused and then, whispered, 'Do you want to sleep on the pillow with me, Nilofar? It's got to be more comfy than that candlestick.'

There was a rush of air and the swish of wings. The dragon came to rest beside Daniel's head.

'Thank you - though you'd be surprised. A candlestick might not be for everyone, but when I'm Solidified, it's quite the thing.'

Then the dragon curled up like a cat, wrapping his tail over his nose and went to sleep.

Daniel grinned into the dark. It was just a shame that there was no one he could tell. Tomorrow he was off to visit another world.

Opening a Door

'Get up! It's time to go.' Daniel grunted, as the voice muttered in his ear. He flung his hand out, smacking something hard and spiky.

'Ouch!' he exclaimed, sitting up in surprise. Mr Ed was usually so soft and squishy.

Sitting on the pillow, smoke curling out of his nostrils, was a dark green dragon. Bright red eyes gleamed at Daniel.

'Whoa!' he whispered. It hadn't been a dream. It was all real. Nilofar was right there. 'What's the time?'

'Late,' the dragon announced.

Daniel picked up his watch beside the bed and put on his glasses.

'Seven thirty on a Sunday is not considered late!' he yelped, as Nilofar poked him with a talon.

'Every moment we waste is one we are never getting back. Every moment we waste puts me further behind schedule.'

'Yeah, great - fat lot of use that is. You don't even know what you're late for. Or if you're late at all!'

'If we delay now, Rullin might start looking for us. At the moment, he believes you are bringing the candlestick to him. It won't take him long to realise that you have no intention of doing so. We can't waste a minute.'

'Fine, fine, we'll get up.' Daniel felt sick even thinking of Rullin.

'Better to be safe than to be trampled,' the dragon advised airily.

Daniel refrained from commenting.

He dressed and stuffed Nilofar, wrapped around his candlestick, back into his bag. He had considered taking only the dragon, but on Sunday, Darling always cleaned the house. The last thing they needed was her to find the empty candlestick.

He had no idea how they were going to move the door to the construction site in broad daylight. He was just glad it was Sunday. No workers there - again.

After a quick breakfast with a vastly surprised Darling Smith, who never saw Daniel out of his room at that hour unless she pried him out, Daniel made up further excuses to be gone for the day. He had given this some thought before he went to sleep the night before.

The following week was school camp. Darling already knew he was going to be away until Friday evening when the bus returned.

Darling had swallowed his other lies, so Daniel decided to make up some more. He explained to her that it would be easier all around if he went over to Frank's today and stayed the night, so that he could go to camp with him the following morning. Darling, though surprised, didn't quibble. Daniel was surprised to feel that his palms were damp. Lying to his mother just wasn't something he'd ever considered doing before. Hiding the occasional bruise had been as far as he'd ever gone when deceiving her in the past. He wasn't too sure he liked how easy it was.

He then made a lightning phone call to Frank, to ask him to tell the camp instructors that, due to family reasons, Daniel couldn't make it. He was sure he could write up a note to cover his disappearance, later.

This gave him the whole week to himself. Daniel felt incredibly liberated and yet, somewhat at a loss. His usually overprotective mother had merely smiled encouragement at the idea of him making friends and left him to it. He hoped that a week would be enough for Nilofar's mission, but on the other hand, a week being unsupervised by parent or teachers, seemed to be a long time.

Walking around the edge of the house to the bush which currently hid the door, he muttered to Nilofar, 'I'll be lucky not to be grounded until I'm twenty if she ever catches me out in these lies, you know. Lucky for me, she's never paid all that much attention to my activities. Not a detail-oriented person, my mum.'

Though why she believed him when he had told that he was taking an old door back to Frank's uncle's place to start working on its restoration, was beyond him. She had also swallowed his assertion that it would be better if he stayed the night there, when in fact, he loved Sunday night roast and generally preferred to be home with her. Though her lack of curiosity was useful this time round, for the first time in all the moments when Darling had been preoccupied with the garden, or cleaning, or some such, Daniel felt a hard lump in his chest.

It would have been nice to think she wasn't too busy to ask. It was also scary to think he was completely free. He blotted it out of his mind. There were more immediate things to worry about.

Hefting the door back up and across his back, squashing the backpack, Daniel felt his muscles groan. For someone who hated physical exercise, he was certainly overworking them.

'Sorry, Nilofar, but we can't have you flying around. You don't know who might see you,' he said in a low tone, hoping the dragon wasn't getting too squashed under the door.

It took ages. Daniel felt as though he'd walked a marathon, or two. By the time he'd crossed the oval, trudged down the roped off roads and made it to the house where Nilofar had been found, Daniel was ready to collapse.

Taking the door into the house, he set it against the wall with the same pattern engraved on it. As soon as the weight was gone, Nilofar stuck his head out.

'Are we there?' He looked around and wriggled the rest of the way out of the bag. 'I think you need to put the door back in the frame.'

They both looked at the doorway. There were grooves where the hinges were meant to go and holes for the screws that would have held the door in place. But the framework was badly damaged, as though the workers had wrenched the door out by pure force.

One side of the doorframe was buckled and there was evidence of hammers and possibly even a jimmy-bar, having been used.

'They weren't exactly careful, were they?'

'To be fair, it wasn't as if they expected the door to ever come back,' Daniel reasoned.

He picked it up and angled it into the frame. He looked at Nilofar, seated on the mantelpiece. 'Should we be on the other side? Kind of like, open it and walk into this room, rather than walk out?'

So they swapped positions and Daniel tried again.

It wasn't an easy fit. He wiggled and jiggled, and huffed and puffed.

'Damn!' Daniel sighed. 'I can't get the stupid thing to fit back in. It only has to rest there so we can open it.' He gave the door a swift kick.

He leaned it against the doorway and stood back. The upper end of the door had buckled to a point where it no longer matched up to the straight edge of the top of the doorframe. It also had obvious water damage, as the lower end had swelled, making it too wide. It was useless.

'That was a great waste of time and effort. I vote we have a snack and think of another way.'

'Perhaps,' the dragon said, 'we don't need to have the door sit perfectly in the frame. Perhaps it needs to just lean there and then we open it?'

They could see past the door into the room - a plain, boring room, with no furniture, and one scrappy mantelpiece. Daniel looked at Nilofar.

'I don't know...' he knew he sounded dubious, but couldn't raise any enthusiasm. 'I think for it to work, we need the door to block our view of the other side. Otherwise, we wouldn't need the door, just the doorway.'

He knew nothing about the physics of magic, but he was sure the room would never morph into a new world while they stood staring at it through the gaps between the door and the frame.

Nilofar waddled up to the base of the door and breathed a small amount of flames onto it.

'Don't do that!" Daniel grabbed him and pulled him back. 'Are you mad? It's made of wood and so is most of this room. You'll burn it to the ground with us in it!'

Nilofar grumbled.

There was a slight pause, then a sigh. A soft breeze flickered through the house. Then in one little shimmer, the door realigned itself and snapped into place. Hinged and all.

'What did you do?' whispered Daniel.

'Nothing,' replied the dragon.

'It must have been your breath! Should we open it?'

Daniel reached out and turned the handle. He found he wasn't breathing. On the other side of the door was hopefully a whole new world and his hand was shaking.

He pulled. Nothing happened. The door remained closed. He jerked on the handle. It wouldn't budge.

'Breath on it again,' he demanded.

Nilofar did so.

Still nothing happened. Daniel leaned down and took a closer look at the handle.

The four leafed design was repeated on both the handle and the metal plate underneath. Daniel studied it for a moment longer, then exclaimed.

'The design, Nilofar, it's a keyhole! The four leaf points are holes. We need a key!'

He paused.

'You don't happen to have a key on you, by any chance?' Daniel asked, hoping the answer would be simple and quick.

The dragon snorted smoke at him.

'Where exactly would I hide a key?' he shook his wings, and they grated together stiffly.

'Good point,' Daniel had to agree. He sat down next to the dragon. 'We need a key. The thing is locked tight. Whoever it was that sent you here needs to have their head examined. What is the use of a magical door without a magical key?' Frustration made Daniel pound his fist into the floor, right onto his backpack. It hit the candlestick.

'Ouch! Nilofar...' he pulled the candlestick out and turned it upside down. The base had four claws, one on each corner of the square; long claws, deep enough to fit into keyholes.

With an excited yell, Daniel leapt up and thrust the base into the leaf design. All four claws went in with a snick.

But it wouldn't turn.

He took it out again to look more closely at the plate which held the keyholes. He traced the pattern on it with his finger so that he could feel every edge.

'It's got four holes, one on each edge of the leaf.' He smoothed his palm across the face of the leaf. 'Hold on, there's a pattern here.'

Daniel knelt down next to the door and looked even more closely at the green and gold patterning below the doorknob. The leaf was broad, like the base of the candlestick. There were fine tracings of 'veins' across its face and at the centre there was a bizarre pattern, where the veins appeared to be jumbled together.

'They look like, well, if I didn't know better, very small words or something. Cut out of the gold veins of the leaf making kind of, ridges, I guess. You have a look. It could be code, or written in one of your languages?' Daniel stepped aside and lifted Nilofar up.

The dragon stuck his nose up close to the door.

'It's a jumble of words. But they make no sense to me, although I have seen them before.'

Daniel put the dragon back on the ground and sat next to him.

'Can you remember where?' he asked.

'If I could, don't you think I would tell you?' the dragon ground his teeth in frustration. Daniel grimaced.

'Sorry.'

He held up the candlestick.

'The answer has to be on here,' he muttered, looking at the base, the sides and the top. 'You know, there isn't much room for an actual candle in the top. A long candle would just topple over and out.'

Daniel stuck his finger in the top, where the candle was meant to go, to measure the depth. There was a little click and as he quickly withdrew his finger, something came with it.

'Why, it's a ring!' Daniel now wore the ring on his finger. It had a flat black gem stone on the top, which was criss-crossed with a fine grooved pattern.

With a suspicious gleam in his eye, Daniel went to the door and pushed the ring's grooves on top of the raised tracings. It clicked and clung there, affixed to the door. He then took the candlestick and placed the four claws into the four leaf edges and it all fit together easily.

He grinned at Nilofar, who had flown up to his shoulder.

'Whoever it is you work for, they're actually pretty crafty,' he told the dragon, turning the key in the lock.

The door shuddered, a fine line of light appeared around the edges and when Daniel turned the handle, the door swung open.

'Whoa,' he said, looking beyond the doorway.

Poe

The sun was just peeping over the horizon. Birds were starting to call and a mist was rolling back from the warming rays.

There were trees so tall Daniel could only just see their tops from the doorway. A dirt track wound its way from the door through the trees and off into the distance.

He looked behind them. The house was quiet and kind of eerie. Daniel looked back through the doorway. It was amazing!

Without worrying about how it might affect his memory, Nilofar took flight through the doorway, straight up, soaring into the air, doing back flips and diving down, only to shoot back up again. He was obviously enjoying himself. He went so high he was just a pinprick in the deep blue sky.

'Well, hello there.'

Daniel glanced in the direction of the voice, paused before taking a step forward and then shrugged. Nilofar didn't appear too disconcerted by crossing the threshold, so he also stepped through the door and watched as a tall and well built man strolled along the path towards him. He wore flowing pants under a very long tunic, which was split down the sides to allow for his stride. In one hand he had a long staff, on which he leaned gently. The other was raised in greeting.

'Are you with the dragon?' he asked Daniel with a smile, turning his head up to see where Nilofar had got to.

'Um, yeah,' said Daniel, realizing with relief that he still remembered who he was and why he was there.

'Wonderful. We'd hoped Nilofar wasn't going to be much longer. I have been waiting for him for a while now. I have to admit, I was getting a bit concerned. I did mention to Her Majesty that one little soldier was perhaps not enough,' he shrugged, as if to say 'what can you do?' 'But the thing is, you see, it was probably best to send in someone who is small. Less likely to bring attention, don't you think?'

The whole time he had been talking, the man had come closer, until he stood next to Daniel. On closer inspection, Daniel could tell that the man, though tall and extremely broad (with the beginnings of grey in his hair), was little more than in his early twenties. His face was smooth, beardless and unlined. He had a youthfulness about him that belied the grey in his hair.

Finally, the man looked down again. He extended his hand for Daniel to shake, at the same time resting the staff in the crook of his arm, so that his other hand was free to grip Daniel lightly on the shoulder.

'I'm Poe, the Princess' wizard. You are?'

'Daniel - Nilofar's friend. I'm afraid we haven't quite...' Daniel didn't know how to tell a wizard that they had failed the mission because whatever spell they had used on Nilofar had wiped the mission's agenda completely from Nilofar's mind. Would Poe turn him into a frog?

He released Poe's hand and took a small shuffle to the side. He didn't like the idea of being a frog, at all.

Just then, Nilofar caught sight of Daniel talking to Poe and dived down, flattening out so that he could come to rest on Daniel's shoulder.

'Poe! You overgrown, half witted, numbskull of a wizard! I lost half my mind because of you,' growled Nilofar, obviously remembering the wizard, spitting flames in his direction.

Poe laughed.

'Only half your mind, Nilofar? And because of me, old friend? I would hate to think so.'

'It's no laughing matter, you traitor. I could hardly recall my own name when I got there. I had no recollection as to where I came from and what I was doing in a whole new world.'

Poe stopped laughing. His eyes went flat and dark.

'You mean you haven't returned with the sceptre?'

The dragon stared at him. His eyes glowed and smoke flowed.

'I didn't even remember what I had to do, let alone that a sceptre was involved,' he said.

'This is a disaster!' Poe grabbed his hair with both hands and gave it a sharp yank. 'The Princess' presentation is only a few days away! We need the Royal Sceptre or the tradition will be broken. The Queen will hang, draw and quarter me.'

'That will save me the trouble. Wave that tragedy you call a wand and give me back my mind before I roast you!'

Daniel stood there the whole time, feeling his mouth open and close, eyes flicking between the distraught wizard and the head of the dragon (the only part he could see without craning his neck). He felt a little sick. Both dragon and wizard were angry and he had no idea if the dragon could roast a wizard, but he certainly didn't want to find out.

It also occurred to him that in coming to Novarmere, he'd changed time zones somehow. Feeling his mind starting to boggle at it all, Daniel focused on the conversation at hand.

'Can't we just go back and get it, if it's so important?' he broke in.

The heated argument stopped abruptly. Nilofar turned his thick neck to look at Daniel, bringing Daniel's cheek terrifyingly close to fangs and flame. The wizard opened his mouth and then closed it.

'That sounds perfectly reasonable, but can Nilofar get the job done in time without rousing suspicion? It's time, you see. We don't have a lot of it. The Princess is turning thirteen shortly and it's a tradition that all Royal Heirs be presented to the people and the Land, holding the sceptre.' Poe pulled at his hair again.

'Why?' Daniel thought that if it was only a tradition it surely wouldn't matter to break it this once.

'It's always been done that way. It would be considered very bad luck to change the way things are done now and we need to keep people's spirits up. Especially as this reign has already had its fair share of tragedy.'

Daniel opened his mouth to ask what had happened, when Nilofar butted in.

'Give me back my mind and we'll go back. Daniel and I can get it done,' Nilofar winked one red eye at Daniel.

'Sure,' Daniel stuttered. 'Not a problem. We'll find it.'

He hoped that he sounded a lot more positive than he felt.

'Are you a wizard there?' asked Poe, in wonder.

'Don't waste time,' growled Nilofar, saving Daniel from responding. 'Do your thing.'

Poe pulled out a short, thin stick and waved it at the dragon, whilst muttering a strange incantation.

The dragon sneezed and coughed up a flame ball.

'I hate being magicked,' he whispered to Daniel.

Yellow smoke shot out of the end of the wand and flew up Nilofar's nose. His eyes went wide and yellow for a second, after which he pointed his snout to the sky and roared flames.

Nilofar launched himself into the air.

'Time to go, Daniel. I remember! We can't let the thief win!' And the dragon flew back through the doorway and disappeared into the house.

'Well, it was nice to meet you,' Daniel looked awkwardly at Poe. 'See you soon.'

Poe nodded. "Just bring back the sceptre and you'll be more than welcome in Novarmere. I'd love to come with you, but you see - I need to be in contact with the Land to keep your Gateway open. By the way, if you could kindly let Nilofar know that the only spell I used on him before he entered the Gateway was a protection spell, I would be very grateful. ' He looked thoughtful. 'Maybe it interacted with the magic of the Gateway somehow...'

Daniel left Poe pondering the effect of spells on Gateway travel. He stepped back into Fadden, and closed the door, so that the other world could fade away, or do whatever it is that other worlds are meant to do in this situation.

'Sure, no problem, I'll just defeat some inter-world travelling thief and bring back a Princess' sceptre. Whatever,' he said under his breath, a tad sarcastically. He hoped that they knew what sort of a bargain they'd struck.

'Hey, Nilo, where'd you get to?' Daniel went to find the dragon, who was sitting on a window ledge, looking out on the street.

'We have work to do, young master,' the dragon didn't even look at him and his voice was deeper and steadier.

Daniel hoped that gaining his memory wouldn't turn the dragon into a stranger.

'What exactly happened back there? Who is Poe? Who stole the sceptre?'

The dragon turned his magnificent head to look at Daniel. His eyes were sad, but they also held a gleam, like a challenge.

'The Queens of Novarmere have always held the sceptre as a symbol of their rule. It looks like a plain wooden stick, thick and decorated with the same vine leaf pattern you can see on the door. It is a symbol only, young Master, but a powerful one for the aristocracy and commoners alike.

'Not that long ago one of the Queen's advisors, Lukas, stole the sceptre. By the use of arcane magicks, he disappeared. Poe traced the magical signature out of the Realm,' Nilofar locked eyes with Daniel, 'and into this one.'

He puffed up until he stood all of twenty five centimetres tall.

'We do not know who was powerful enough to create the Gateway for Lukas to escape through. Poe had tested him when he applied to work at the Castle. Lukas himself has no power. We didn't know much about this land and the Queen didn't wish to send anyone into danger for a mere symbol, no matter how valuable, so I volunteered to find the sceptre to bring it back.'

Daniel broke in, 'They thought that you would be small enough to go unnoticed, didn't they? Not a big threat to others, but able to take care of yourself?'

'Essentially, yes. When the sceptre and Lukas disappeared, there was a faint magical stench left behind. Poe could feel the outline of something we'd never encountered before – it was the leftover magic of a recently opened Gateway. We found the answer in an old law book on magical do's and don'ts. Gateway travel is a dark and forbidden magic. Not much is written on how it affects travellers and it took Poe considerable effort to achieve a Gateway at all. In fact, if there hadn't been the residual power left over from the one made to bring Lukas here, he may never have been able to complete the one we have. It was thought that it would be safer to send a dragon through, we being part of the magic of the land and all. We thought that I would be a lot less conspicuous than my full grown brethren. I didn't realize I would fall asleep so long when I Solidified and lose my memory'

Nilofar paused and then said. 'You know, he probably only managed to re-open it at all because of his wild magic. That is the magic that links wizards with the Land, nature and all that stuff.' He inhaled on a sigh. 'Now all we need to do now is to find Lukas.'

Daniel didn't have a clue as to what Nilofar meant by 'wild magic', but didn't want to appear too ignorant, so he focused on the problem of the missing Lukas. He figured he could ask all sorts of questions once the mission was accomplished.

'Do you even know what he looks like?' Daniel asked, curling up next to Nilofar on the sill.

'Of course, young Master. Now that I have my memory back, I can picture him perfectly. I did live with them in the palace, you know,' he said.

'Sorry,' Daniel held up a hand. 'Could you stop with the 'Young Master' stuff? I'm still just Daniel.' It kind of made him feel uncomfortable, though, at the same time it was awesome to be called Master by someone as unique as Nilofar.

Nilofar bowed his head in agreement.

'Let's get out of here. I'll take you for a walk around the streets to see if you recognise anyone. Though he may have moved on, you know. Wouldn't he suspect someone would be sent after him and try to get as far away as possible from the doorway?' Daniel picked up the backpack he'd discarded when they tried to open the door and stuffed the candlestick, minus Nilofar, into it.

He didn't want to leave that lying around.

'He wouldn't believe someone would be sent after him. This sort of magic is practically unheard of, being illegal and all. Novarmere can't have people opening Gateways to other worlds willy-nilly. He – and whoever it was who sent him - would have thought such an escape would prove nigh on untraceable. It is lucky that Poe could access the Land's deep magic and sense the Gateway. He has used a similar trajectory, though the candlestick was an innovation, and vine leaf pattern is peculiar to Poe's own magic. I fear that while we are in the same general area as the thief, we have some hunting to do. And the constant connection to the Land in keeping the Gateway open may prove too taxing on Poe. We will have to be quick.'

'Well, quick it is, then. The workmen will be here tomorrow to start to -' Daniel's eyes opened wide. 'They'll be coming to assess the houses and start demolishing them! We have maybe a couple of days, then you have to get back through the Gateway or you'll be trapped here, forever!'

Lukas

The pair hurried back through the construction site and along various roads, Nilofar peeking out from the backpack as they travelled. They bypassed Daniel's home and eventually reached the main road into Fadden, which was considerably busier and would lead them to the centre of town.

Travelling down the road in this direction meant crossing the river, something Daniel wasn't happy about. He didn't mind taking the bus to school across the main body of the bridge, but the idea of walking the narrow foot bridge along the edge didn't thrill him. He was afraid of water. Given their limited household budget, Darling had never paid for swimming lessons.

When they reached the bridge, he hung onto the rail and looked straight ahead. If he didn't look down and see the water, Daniel rationalised, it didn't exist.

Nilofar had tucked himself deeper into the backpack, with his candlestick. He could feel the dragon moving around, which upset his stride, but he didn't want to complain. It was too nice to have company.

'We're there,' Daniel puffed, when he reached the town centre. He felt completely out of his depth. There was so much to achieve. He didn't want to be responsible for delaying Nilofar by being so unfit, thereby possibly stranding him far away from home.

'I'll just keep an eye out, so go slowly and make sure I can get a good look at everyone,' Nilofar whispered.

'Everyone? Surely you only need to be concerned with people who are new in town? Like me?' Daniel thought he knew most of the more recent arrivals to town.

He had always taught himself to find out who else was new to town because it was something they would have in common. This was, of course, particularly useful if they were new to his school. Not that it had done him any good in Fadden. There hadn't been any new kids, just the two new women working for the Council and the crazy man, Mr Brown.

Daniel stopped walking. He slapped his hand to his forehead in an exaggerated manner.

'I'm so stupid! Mr Brown! He's forgotten everything as well. You know, Poe mentioned that he had only put a protection spell on you. Maybe he was right and it interacted with the magic of the Gateway. I wonder....' He paused and tried to put the pieces together. 'You know, Rullin doesn't seem to have lost his memory. He seems pretty powerful, so he probably didn't put a protection spell on himself.' He broke off as another thought assailed him. 'Do you think that Rullin is working with Lukas?'

'That is certainly possible, young... Daniel.' Nilofar sounded thoughtful 'Tell me about this Brown. '

Daniel trotted down an alley and pulled the bag around so that he could peek in at the dragon.

'I am pretty sure Mr Brown is this Lukas you and Poe believe is the thief! He's locked up at the nursing home. They can't let him out or he wanders off. And no one knows anything about him, where he came from, or who he is. I only know he is even in town because the policeman who found him is Patrick Kennington's father and Patrick gloated about this crazy man he saw.'

Nilofar blinked.

'Well,' he said dubiously, 'if you think that he and I lost our memory due to our travel through the Gateway, it may be Lukas. Whoever sent him through may have had the same idea as Poe. It is not like Gateway travel is at all common. They may also have tried to protect Lukas from a possible magical encounter in this unfamiliar world. Then again, it could just be a coincidence. Take me to the nursing home and we'll soon find out.'

Daniel hauled the backpack up again and changed direction, rushing across the main street and downhill, towards a long, low, white building surrounded by green lawns and a high fence.

He walked through the gate, trying out different scenarios in his head. How was he going to convince a nurse to let him see Mr Brown?

In the end it wasn't difficult. Once the nurse spotted them, she released the locking mechanism on the door, which allowed them access to the foyer. Daniel guessed that with people wandering around who couldn't be expected to remember anything, they had to keep the front door locked at all times.

The nurse on duty was so delighted to have someone pay attention to their loneliest inmate, she led Daniel straight outside and round the back. There, a tall, thin man sat hunched over on a bench.

'He's all yours sweetie. Don't be long, though, he'll want his afternoon tea soon,' she said and with a smile, was gone back the way she came.

'Nilofar,' Daniel whispered. 'Can you see him?'

He lifted the bag slightly and held it out from his body so that the dragon could get an unobstructed view. It wasn't as if the crazy man was going to ask them what they were doing. He was too busy staring at a stick and mumbling to it as though it was his best friend.

Suddenly, the dragon's head reared out of the bag.

'Yes, that is Lukas! Let me at him, the thieving dog!' The dragon started struggling out of the bag.

Daniel tried to grab him and stuff his head back in, but he got his hand caught on a spike and wrenched it back.

'Nilofar, leave him alone! We just need to find out where the sceptre is.'

But it was too late. The enraged dragon slipped out of the bag and flew straight at the thief. He landed on the seat beside Lukas and hissed, spitting short bursts of flame and smoke.

'It's okay, young... Daniel. He has the sceptre with him.'

Daniel inspected the stick Mr Brown was holding, more closely. It did indeed have the faint patterns of a four cornered leaf on it.

'I can't believe it,' he murmured, stepping closer, hoping he was large enough to block the view of the dragon from anyone looking out of the windows, but suspecting his slight frame really wasn't much protection.

At the appearance of the dragon, the man gave a yelp and brandished the stick like a weapon.

'You can't hurt me, you scurvy beast, I have the stick of power and ...' he trailed off, frowning, as though trying to remember what exactly his magical stick was capable of.

'Scurvy? Beast?' Nilofar screeched, his indignation driving his voice into the upper registers.

Daniel felt a giggle rising up his throat. He swallowed it. The tiny dragon, badgering the tall man, who looked as lost as a baby, waving a stick around as though it would save him, made a comical picture. He was also surprised that Lukas was so lucid. After the nurse's warning, he'd half expected not to be able to understand a word the man said.

'It's okay, Mr Brown, we've come to, um, take your stick of power in for, ah, maintenance. You'll get it back just as soon as the wizards say it's up to, um, standard.' This lying gig was getting easier and easier.

The man turned to give Daniel a glance, before refocusing on Nilofar. A fire breathing dragon was definitely more of a threat.

'I shan't give up my stick,' he whined. 'I have to keep it. Till he comes for it, I have to keep it. I do.' He kept muttering, fearfully looking around.

Nilofar frowned.

'Looks as though I was right and he may be working with Rullin. He's just as afraid of Rullin as I am,' Daniel said, looking around.

'Be that as it may, we still need the sceptre. We'll just have to take it.' The dragon flew up and snatched the stick right out of the man's hands. He gave it to Daniel and landed on his shoulders, wrapping his tail lightly around Daniel's neck for balance.

'You thieving son of a ...' the dragon glanced sideways at Daniel and coughed. 'Son of a fishmonger!'

Daniel grinned. He'd heard a lot worse when Darling had dated a miner. The man had sworn like a trooper.

The man known as Lukas looked blank. His eyes hadn't left the stick in Daniel's hand. They narrowed in a parody of cunning. Hard to believe in a man who had no idea who or where he was.

'Just a stick ... Time runs out. No ceremony for the Princess, one for another instead...' He smiled nastily and then blanched as though he had said too much.

Daniel frowned. 'Can they use it with someone else? What exactly will happen if there is no ceremony for your Princess on her thirteenth birthday? Can't they just do it all later?'

'I'm not sure, young Ma ... Daniel. It is part of the magic of the Land. Poe might know, but he isn't here,' Nilofar sighed. 'We certainly do not want more bad luck and we certainly can't afford anyone else being Bonded, if that is at all possible. That would throw a dragon among the pigeons. '

At the mention of Poe, Lukas leapt to his feet.

'Poe, Poe! Woe! Woe! Stay away from Poe! He's a wizard, you know,' he leaned over to whisper to Daniel. He glanced around. 'I'm sure of it. Wizards ... sticking their noses where they don't belong.'

'I don't think he's mad at all. I think he's starting to remember things, but no one here can believe them, which is why they think he's confused. They locked him up because he talks to a stick and talks about wizards,' Daniel exclaimed.

If he hadn't just got back from Novarmere, he would have also thought Lukas was completely barmy.

'We need to go, Nilo,' he whispered urgently, backing away from Lukas, who continued muttering about wizards. 'We have to get you back home before Rullin finds us.'

'Thanks. We'll, um, get this back to you at some stage,' Daniel said, addressing himself directly to Lukas and waving the stick at him. 'Do you think it'll be okay to leave him here, Nilofar?'

'I doubt he'll ever fully remember without further contact with Novarmere or a wizard. Even if he does, they'll just think he's mad. Wouldn't you agree?'

Even though he had brought it upon himself, Daniel felt sorry for Lukas. As they walked away, Lukas made to follow. He started to mutter increasingly loudly about thieves and people taking off with someone else's stick of power. It wasn't long before he was yelling at them.

Daniel, with Nilofar slung around his neck, ran past the nurse's desk (luckily unattended) and activated the code for the door, printed in small instructions beside the button for release. They dived out the front door, slamming it shut on Lukas.

Daniel stood and watched in relief as Lukas tried to force the door open, all the time ranting about thieves. . There was just no way a crazy man from another world would understand what a safety code was. The door was sealed until the nurse decided to unlock it.

'If we hurry,' Daniel said, 'we might just get back to the house before dark to send you and the sceptre through.'

Nilofar, now back in the bag, sent a little puff of smoke out the top.

'Will you come back for the presentation?' he asked.

'I would love to, but I can't let Darling worry. I mean, how would I get back? Will the Gateway stay open indefinitely? Won't Poe get tired? And the construction workers will come through next week. They may have weekends off, but before long, they'll be back to tear down the houses. We don't have a big window of opportunity going for us.'

That was a horrible thought. Daniel didn't like the idea of never seeing Nilofar again. Mr Ed would be a pretty dull companion after a talking dragon.

'We will work something out, Daniel. I am sure Poe could construct another Gateway, somehow.'

'How did he do it in the first place?' Daniel sat down for a moment to take a rest. Sure, time was running out, but his legs needed the break and frankly, he just couldn't carry Nilofar for another moment without one.

'Poe is a pretty powerful wizard, though, unfortunately, relatively untrained. The sorcerers of Il' Havannah wouldn't have him at their Academy. He randomly attempts spells and if they work, it's more by chance than by good management,' Nilofar explained.

'He was tracing the thief through whoever's magic it was that sent him here. He merely replicated the signature and forced a Gateway to open. It must not have been pleasant, because he looked to be in an enormous amount of pain.'

Daniel pondered that for a second. It seemed to him to be more and more likely that it was Rullin who had opened the Gateway first and sent Lukas through. This led to another unpleasant thought.

'If Poe only replicated what Rullin did and the workers are about to destroy the existing one, another Gateway might be out of the question then?' Daniel asked, his hope of visiting for the presentation fading.

'Quite possibly. The Queen might never allow it again, I suppose. Bending the Land that way, forcing it to create something so unnatural? I'd be surprised if the sorcerers didn't feel it and send a delegation. The Land will pay the price in the long run, mark my words,' Nilofar sounded gloomy again.

Daniel sighed. It was time to go. He glanced up and froze. Walking around the corner of the nursing home was Rullin. Luckily, they were fairly hidden where they sat.

'What if he talks to Lukas?'

Cold dread seeped down Daniel's back.

If Rullin spoke to Lukas, he would know the sceptre was gone. He would know that a boy and a dragon had taken it. And he would believe him, unlike the nursing staff, and come looking for them. He could even cut them off before they reached the abandoned house.

'What can we do, Nilo?' Daniel hurried after Rullin, fatigue forgotten in the face of his concern.

'We'll figure it out, young Daniel. All will be well,' the dragon's voice was muffled by the material of the bag.

But Daniel couldn't believe him. What could a little boy and a little dragon do to protect themselves against a wizard? A powerful one who could bend the very fabric of space and time and force a Gateway to another world?

'How did Lukas manage to get the sceptre in the first place? If it's so close to the ceremony, wouldn't it have been guarded, or be with the Queen?'

'There were ceremonial guards around it, as its value comes mainly from its historic significance. Every Queen in written history has been 'Bonded' to the Land, its people and the sceptre, as they enter their teens. There was one guard at each of the four points of the glass case holding the sceptre. Sometimes, the Princess' pet, Dagma, would accompany them as added protection. Lukas tried, but failed, to kill her. Unfortunately for the Queen, her royal guards were slain.'

'Possibly more unfortunate for them, than the Queen,' huffed Daniel, continuing his pursuit of Rullin. 'Who is Dagma?' he added.

'A gargon,' replied Nilofar, matter-of-factly, in a way that implied Daniel should know what that was. 'And I was not trivialising their deaths, young Master. I was merely emphasising that it was the Queen's own guards. It really is too much to take!'

'Hmm,' Daniel agreed absently, as he ducked around the back of the home, to where a nurse was sitting with Lukas, trying to get him to settle down.

He crouched down behind a decorative flower pot which held a massive flowering geranium, hoping Lukas wouldn't give them away. He wanted to ask Nilofar what a gargon was, but silence was needed.

'I tell you, miss, a dragon. That's what it was. My stick was taken by a dragon,' Lukas leaned closer to the nurse. 'It was no ordinary stick, you see. It was a magical stick of power. Mark my words, it was powerful. The wizard said so. Horrid things, those wizards.'

'That's torn it,' Daniel said softly to Nilofar. 'He couldn't have conveniently forgotten our visit, could he? Oh no, now Rullin will definitely know everything.'

'At least we have the sceptre,' said Nilofar.

'Does that actually mean anything? It's not as though it can protect us. If he knows we have it, we are in even more danger.'

Nilofar didn't respond. He didn't have to. The silence spoke for him. Daniel started to sweat.

'Here he comes,' muttered Daniel for Nilofar's benefit, as Rullin exited the building and walked over to the nurse and Lukas.

'Oh,' Daniel heard her say 'how lovely. He has two visitors in one day. It'll be good for him, Sir. If you could try to settle him, I'd really appreciate it. Do you know him? The police are looking for anyone who knows him, you see,' she prattled.

'Not at all,' Rullin sounded bored. 'Thought I'd just stop past and visit anyone who was lonely. It's a sad state to be in, loneliness.'

'As if that bothers him,' Daniel whispered in disgust.

The nurse smiled and they made a little more chitchat before she finally moved away.

Rullin stood looking down at the seated Lukas.

'You useless waste of space! What have you done with my sceptre? As if this day could have got any worse. That idiot boy didn't turn up! He has no idea who he is playing with. And you -' he growled, breaking off in disgust.

Lukas twisted his fingers together, hung his head and muttered under his breath.

'Speak up, I haven't got all day. Damn it, I thought you had a stronger mind than this.' Rullin sat down beside the thief.

'Dragons, you see. Too many of them ... can't stop ... got to go ... need to keep the stick of power safe,' Lukas falteringly whispered to Rullin, with a small confidential smile.

'Stop muttering at me about dragons. It was a gargon, anyway. And it's not like you had to kill it. You only had to blow that sleeping enchantment in its face,' Rullin dropped his head in his hands for a second.

'I don't know why I even bothered with you. I am more than a match for that imbecile, Poe. I could have just reached in and taken the sceptre. But no, He wanted me to stay out of it. You begged for a chance and He would prefer that I wasn't revealed. Now, look at the mess we're in.' He glared at the man beside him, whose mind was still wandering.

'I'm stuck here, searching for that stupid rod and you've gone and lost it - that and your weak mind, both! You have stuffed up! Dagma woke up too soon, so I had to open a Gateway and stuff you in it. Poe was alerted, so I followed you so that they wouldn't cut off my head and so I could retrieve that stupid sceptre, which somehow you've now managed to misplace.' He choked off in fury.

Rullin ran his finger round the collar of his shirt.

'Not that they'd have been able to decapitate me. Oh no! But you had to go and pick the worst possible moment to make your move. You blithering idiot.' He slapped the back of Lukas's head. 'Right at the time the Il' Havannian Master was at Court.'

Nilofar gave a little gurgle. 'The Queen had a Master at Court and she never told me!' he squeaked, through layers of bag and jacket.

'Shhhh,' whispered Daniel, desperately.

Now was definitely not the time to get caught.

'I could smell traces of that Poe's disgusting magic – silly protection spell. Little good it did you when I used it! Led me straight to what they call a recycle centre, here in town. Then that stupid boy took the stupid dragon.' He was almost spluttering with rage. 'I know it's that imbecile Nilofar - useless thing!'

Nilofar started to struggle wildly, muttering all kinds of threats, which were thankfully muffled. Daniel suddenly had his hands full, trying to keep the dragon wrapped up.

'Then what do you know, I follow the trace to a house which positively reeks of Poe. Not that that is a problem anymore,' he grinned. 'And you, locked up here with no brain. I have half a mind to leave you here forever. So, where have you hidden my sceptre then?'

Lukas, confused with Rullin's rant, had focused on simpler things.

'Boy. Dragon. The dragon took my stick. Stupid dragon. You said stupid dragon. He had fire-breath.' Lukas held out his arm, marked by Nilofar's careless roar.

Rullin grabbed his sleeve and peered more closely at it.

'He was here - Nilofar and that boy? That boy has awoken the dragon? What did you do? Did you give them the sceptre? Your damned stick?' he roared, spittle flying out of his mouth. 'Where is my sceptre, you fool?'

'Dragon! Dragon took it away. My stick! Flew off with it and the boy,' Lukas snatched back his arm and leapt to his feet in agitation.

'It wasn't my fault,' he whined.

Rullin pushed him aside and headed inside. His long legs soon outstripped the wavering totter of Lukas.

Daniel waited until he couldn't see Rullin anymore, then he crept away. When he deemed it safe, he started to run.

He finally pulled up. He just couldn't run anymore, with Nilofar, the candlestick and the sceptre in his bag. His legs felt as though they were about to fall off.

He made it to the bridge and flopped down under the arch, as close to the edge of the water as he dared. It was almost as though he was daring himself to be brave. Daniel smiled grimly at the idea.

He hauled Nilofar out, with one hand wrapped around the dragon's belly. He set him on the ground and eyed him balefully.

'Well, we're stuffed. We have a demented wizard on the loose. We have the sceptre, but tomorrow the demolition site is fully operational and who knows, they may even bulldoze down the house. The house, which has the only open Gateway to Novarmere in it,' he summarised. Then, because he really wanted to know, he asked, 'What on earth is a gargon?'

He paused briefly and collected his thoughts. 'And what did Rullin mean; the house is no longer of concern?' Daniel suddenly remembered Rullin's evil laugh and it made him feel all kinds of panicky inside.

Nilofar, who was still fuming from Rullin's aspersions on his character, huffed smoke for a few moments, spikes quivering and wings flaring.

'Nilofar, concentrate! This is far more important than someone calling you names,' Daniel suddenly shouted, losing his cool.

He'd been followed, threatened, lived through the shock of a talking dragon and a new world and now he could almost see the ticking clock running down in his head. He didn't have time for Nilofar to have a breakdown.

'Sorry,' the dragon looked ashamed. 'But who does he think he is? Saying what he did about me and Poe.'

'He's obviously a very powerful wizard, that's who and we need to-' Daniel stopped.

They needed to get back to the door in the house. To see what Rullin had meant. But his legs just refused to move.

'A gargon is a horrendous beast,' Nilofar said, changing the subject and addressing Daniel's original question. He moved closer and put his head down on Daniel's leg.

'They're a cross breed between a gargoyle and a dragon. Long ago, a wizard (or sorcerer) was playing with bloodlines and took blood from dragon-kind and gargoyle-kind and created the gargon,' he shook his head. 'I think they quite likely put in too much gargoyle, myself, as Dagma has difficultly with flying. If she had more dragon in her bloodline, she'd be more aerodynamic. We have debated this heatedly on the odd occasion.'

'Wait a minute. You actually argued with this creature about her heritage - to her face?' Daniel looked down at Nilofar. Either the dragon was nuts, or he was braver than he let on.

'She's not so bad - one of a kind and all that. She is happy to argue about anything, really. She can be very... cranky ... when pushed too far. Though, possibly the subject was a little controversial, now that I think about it,' he admitted and rapidly changed the subject again. 'So, how are you feeling? Rested, ready to go?'

Daniel stared down at his legs. They did feel suddenly better.

'What did you do?'

'Ahhh ... nothing much. I've lent you some of my strength. It takes it out of me, but I'm not the one walking around, am I?' Nilofar crawled into the bag tiredly.

Daniel got to his feet. He stretched his legs. They felt fantastic, even better than they usually did. They felt completely rested.

He set off again, crossing the bridge, making sure he didn't look down.

He had only reached Featherstone Street when he smelt it. Daniel stopped and sniffed the air.

Nilofar stuck his head out and also sniffed the air.

They looked at each other, Daniel's eyes going wide and wild.

'That's smoke!' He looked up and pushed his glasses firmly back into place. 'Look! It's coming from the middle of the development site!' Daniel quickened his pace, his heart threatening to gallop out of his chest.

He could see wisps of smoke climbing into the air, and now and again as the wind shifted, there were gusts of thicker, black smoke erupting. He didn't think that looked good at all.

Daniel slowed down as they got closer to the house. He crept along, hiding behind other homes, ducking into overgrown gardens. Turning the last corner, he was brought up short.

A fire engine blocked the street, red lights flashing in the afternoon gloom. Firemen stood around, keeping an eye on the general chaos, but not interfering. Several cars were parked much further away and people were milling around.

Mr Rullin was just getting out of his car further down the street, a smirk on his face. It disappeared when he spotted Daniel.

Daniel stood there, open mouthed. He on the one side of the road and the crowd (holding Rullin back), on the other.

The house, with the magic doorway and the patterns of vine leaves opening the way into Novarmere, was merely a smoking husk.

'We're too late,' Daniel stuttered, through numb lips. He simply couldn't take it in. All the smoke and the firemen standing around, apparently only making sure the sparks didn't travel to the other houses. They hadn't even tried to save the old place. It was completely guttered.

The door was burned to ash.

Nilofar was trapped and the sceptre trapped with him.
A Hero In the Making

Daniel could see Rullin forcing a pathway through the crowd.

'We have to get out of here,' he muttered, backing away and turning to run. He didn't know how much longer his legs would feel the effects of Nilofar's borrowed strength, but he certainly wasn't going to waste the gift.

He heard a shout behind him and risked a quick glance back. Rullin had managed to make his way through the crowd and was close on his tail.

'I hope you magicked my legs really well, Nilo, because we're about to test them.'

Daniel hoped that his recently developed knowledge of the area would prove beneficial, as he dived through lanes and backyards, skirting around the oval, in an effort to lose Rullin.

But nothing seemed to work.

He dodged and hid. Rullin somehow kept finding them.

He doubled back through some rubble; Rullin was suddenly at the end of the street.

'How does he keep doing that?' panted Daniel, starting to feel the effects leeching away. He couldn't afford leaden legs now.

Nilofar, realising there was no point in hiding, had his head poked out of the top of the bag looking back over their shoulders, to let Daniel know what Rullin was doing.

'He touched your arm, didn't he?' the dragon asked.

'Yes, you saw. Twice. It was like being touched by ...' Daniel couldn't think of anything bad enough. '... Something really horrid.'

By this stage, he had made it to the other side of Calthorp and was headed towards Dashwood. He didn't want to head home. There was no way he was going to lead Rullin straight to Darling.

Nilofar groaned.

'Then he's following his own signature. You can't allow a wizard to touch you. Once is bad enough. Twice and he can follow you forever.'

Daniel dropped into a storm water drain, crossing it because he'd read somewhere that dogs couldn't smell you after you'd crossed water. It was freezing. Bad enough he had had to walk into flowing water; the temperature hardly helped.

'If I wash my arm in this water, will he lose us?' He didn't want to put his arm into the icy water. He hadn't liked the idea of putting any of himself in the water.

'It doesn't work that way. The magic is inside you now. You have his signature under your skin and he will always be able to locate you. He just has to concentrate very hard on you. He saw you back at the fire. Now he knows what you are wearing, he can picture you in his head and track you. If he touches you again, he won't even need images as a marker.'

'Thanks a lot.' Daniel didn't know how he felt about that.

Sodden up to the knee, Daniel hauled himself up the other side of the drain.

'Do you know where we are going?' Nilofar asked, interestedly.

'Away.  As far away from Darling as possible. I can't let him find her. I know I'd give him the sceptre if he threatened her,' Daniel choked on the words.

'Then, by all means, let's steer clear of your home,' Nilofar agreed. 'But I'm afraid you'll need a better plan than to keep on running. The strength I lent you won't last much longer.'

It was as if they had limited life batteries. Daniel could almost feel his legs start to splutter and choke. They had very little energy left in them.

He looked around desperately. He'd followed the drain. It curved behind the dump and under Trunk Road. They could head towards Forest Street and after that, possibly, the river.

But Daniel's mind, tired, cold and panicked, was stuck on Forest Street, refusing point blank to contemplate the river.

Through lips now slightly numb from the evening air, he told Nilofar, 'Buster lives on Forest Street.'

He ordinarily would have stayed well clear of it. Buster had warned him that if he ever found Daniel on his home turf, Daniel was pulp. Daniel didn't want to be pulp, but he was more worried about a dangerous wizard right now.

'Can you see Rullin?' Daniel stopped running. He just couldn't do it anymore.

His whole system was on overdrive. He'd never done so much exercise in his life. He had hot sweat from running, cold sweat from fear and numbness from the cold air, all pressing in on his awareness. It was system overload and he could almost feel his brain zoning out.

'Not just now. Don't let that fool you. He can find you in an instant.'

'Not very reassuring,' Daniel came to a complete halt. 'If he can find me whenever he wants, why doesn't he just appear? Just poof! Like a real wizard, instead of running me around like a mouse on a wheel?'

Daniel realised he was half shouting. He shut his mouth.

But the words were zinging around in his head. He was tired and scared and mundane enough, he was hungry. Being Sunday, he suddenly wanted to go home to a roast. Even if Darling thought it was strange to see him.

'I say we stop. That's it. If he wants me, let him come and get me.'

Nilofar wiggled himself out of the bag and came to rest beside the now seated and completely exhausted Daniel.

'What sort of attitude is that? What sort of hero just gives up?'

'I'm not a hero, Nilofar. I'm not anything. I'm just a boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't fight a wizard. I can't even hide from a wizard. Now, don't you see? This is me. Useless.' Daniel didn't even have the energy to shout anymore.

'You have the sceptre, Daniel. That's more than I had when you met me. You have taken it away from that evil man. You have a great heart in wanting to protect your mother by not leading him to her. Do not discount these things.' Nilofar sat and stared at Daniel, his voice deep and gentle.

'I will go and see where our wizardy friend has got to. I do not think, Daniel, he can just appear, or he would have. He has to follow on foot. And while his power is limited, there is hope.'

The dragon rose into the air. Daniel watched him go, as the sun started to sink. It was getting late.

He imagined the smell of the roast Darling would put on, even without him there. Her absentminded smile as she forgot to turn the oven off till she could smell the leftovers burning around 2am. If he ever got home, he'd never grouch about roasts on Sunday, ever again.

'Daniel, I've found the Masters' Arms. Rullin has returned to his rooming house.' Nilofar landed heavily on Daniel's shoulders. It looks like he has decided to take a break for the night.' He gave Daniel a toothy grin. 'In sticking to the back roads and ditches, we have forced him to abandon the - what did you call it? That's right – the car. He is not used to running around.'

Daniel didn't want to say anything, but he wasn't either. He shrugged.

'Well, why would he bother tonight when he knows he can just find me tomorrow, no problem?' Daniel asked.

'But don't you see? He'll eat, bathe and then rest. We can capture him and hold him prisoner!' Nilofar tightened his tail, again draped around Daniel's neck, in excitement.

'Wonderful. Don't forget, he can tell when I'm nearby. So all he has to do is lie there and think about me and I appear. Walk right into his room, no less.' Daniel unwound the dragon's tail before it choked him. 'No thanks, Nilofar. We have to think of something better than that.'

'Such as, how are we going to get you back to Novarmere? How much time do we have left there? Can Poe take Rullin's mark off me?' Daniel hoped so. But it was all dependent on whether they could get to Poe.

What a mess, he thought.

'We could wait till he sleeps. He can't be thinking of you and plotting how to catch you while he sleeps. Then we go in and -'

'And what? Ask him nicely to leave me alone and hope he agrees? We simply can't run around Fadden forever, if he doesn't. Otherwise, we can hope he gets tired of it all and just goes home. We can't get the sceptre out of here. Not without...' Daniel broke off. He grabbed the dragon and brought him to eye level.

'We can't get you back there without Rullin. Don't you see? The only person who can break open another Gateway from this side is Rullin. He won't have stranded himself here. He has to know a way home, because otherwise why would he bother coming here? Rullin is the key. Rullin is your way home!' Daniel felt excitement expand in his chest.

'Are we just going to go up to him and ask politely? Oh please, nasty evil wizard Sir, would you be so kind as to open a Gateway to allow me to go home?' said Nilofar, mimicking Daniel' voice. Then he added.  'It's one thing to force a captured enemy to perform simple tasks, it's quite another to ask for help opening such a complex thing as a Gateway from that same enemy, you know.'

'Don't be sarcastic. There has to be a way. You could exchange the sceptre for a lift ...' Daniel faltered under Nilofar's fierce scowl. '... or something.'

For a moment, he had thought it had sounded reasonable. Poe was stuck in Novarmere, with or without the power left in him to force open another Gateway. Rullin had been the one to originally open the Gateway that brought Lukas to Fadden. He had also later followed after him.

Rullin had to get home. Whoever it was that he had referred to at the nursing home, Daniel reasoned, would want the sceptre sooner rather than later. If he had destroyed the Gateway they knew of, it stood to reason that he had another one lined up to take him back.

'You'll have to stay really close to him, Nilofar. You can't miss the opportunity to go back.' Daniel felt hollow inside.

It hadn't been long. Only two days. But already he couldn't bear to imagine how dull and unpleasant his life would be without the little dragon around. Even putting up with Buster wouldn't be so bad, if he had Nilofar to go home to.

The dragon reached out a front leg and placed it on Daniel. The long sharp talons gripped him, though relatively gently. But he didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. Nilofar couldn't stay. His own life, his whole world, was locked beyond the Gateways.

With a supreme effort not to be too maudlin, Daniel stood up.

'Well, if my presence can be felt by Rullin, I should go to him. I can't go home and endanger Darling. I can't let him go back alone to Novarmere. He'll feel me coming and you can surprise him. Hopefully we can figure out a way to trick him into taking you back there with him. What does it matter if it doesn't work and we have to take off after that? Better that than Rullin using the power of the sceptre for whatever purposes he has in mind.'

Daniel realised he couldn't just hand the thing over to the wizard. Not even to secure a trip to Novarmere.

Nilofar smiled.

'Spoken like a true hero,' Daniel heard him murmur.

With Nilofar in the bag, Daniel made his way to the Masters' Arms. He didn't feel like a hero. But he felt a warm glow in his chest, just hearing Nilofar say it.
Escape from Fadden

The Masters' Arms was actually just around the corner, although Daniel found that his feet were dragging more and more, the closer they came to the motel.

While it was flattering to hear Nilofar call him a hero, Daniel was acutely aware of all the reasons he was not. His grubby state, the horrendous pounding in his chest where his heart was, the glasses that had slipped down his nose again, how small and vulnerable he was. And now he was about to confront a wizard and he was terrified.

He was way past exhausted, entering some sort of twilight zone where arms and legs appeared to be working all of their own accord. Unwilling, but seeing no alternative, Daniel slid inside the Masters' foyer.

The front desk was unmanned. There was a bell he could push for service, but more importantly, there was the book of guest listings lying open next to it.

Daniel looked around to make sure no one had been summoned when he entered the room. All was very quiet.

He tiptoed over to the book and turned it slightly so that he could see it better. Running his finger down the entries, he finally found what he was looking for. Rullin. Mr W. Rullin. He was booked in till the following day. Daniel wondered if Rullin had a sense of humour and the W stood for 'Wizard'. He dismissed the idea as quickly as it had arrived.

'Good thing we came tonight, Nilo. He's checking out tomorrow. That means he gave himself till Monday to get the sceptre, before going back and making Novarmere pay for whatever sick reason he has for making them suffer,' Daniel muttered, taking note of the room number and hastening to the lifts.

The lift doors pinged gently as they reached the fourth floor. Daniel knew Rullin would know he was there. But there was nothing he could do about it.

He released Nilofar from the confines of the bag and they made their final plans.

'I'll just open the door. If he really does know I'm here, then it'll be unlocked. He may not believe I'd be so stupid as to bring you and the sceptre with me.

'Once I'm in, I'll keep him talking. We'll figure it out as we go along.'

'Exactly how am I going to persuade him to open another Gateway and take me through?' Nilofar could see the obvious hole in Daniel's plan.

'I'll ask him, as though I have decided to give up and work with him,' Daniel whispered. He was feeling hot and cold, nerves jumping. He couldn't believe he was about to face Rullin again. But at the same time, a certain recklessness had come over him, borne of desperation. Asking Rullin to take Nilofar back with him suddenly didn't seem so difficult.

Nilofar snorted a shaft of smoke and bared his fangs.

'Let's get this over with,' he said.

Daniel walked up to Room 413.

He didn't bother to knock. He just reached out and turned the handle. Just as he had hoped, it opened easily. For a moment Daniel stood there. Then he entered the room.

Rullin was standing in the middle of the room beside the standard issue motel bed. He was muttering in a foreign language and before him, suspended in mid air, was an ever widening circular patch of darkening cloud.

He nodded.

'Come on in, boy. You have proved more difficult to capture than I had first expected. But this time you won't escape quite so easily.'

He turned round, a nasty smirk twisting his lips.

'Come in, Nilofar,' he said, gesturing with one hand.

Daniel felt himself move without even moving his feet. He slid across the carpet, freeing the entrance for Nilofar to enter. The dragon was batting the air with his wings, but whatever force had moved Daniel, dragged Nilofar in as well.

'You won't get away with this, you know,' the dragon was trying to sound reasonable and even a little scary. But to Daniel he just looked ridiculous, clawing at the air, as he was deposited on the floor.

'Oh, but I have. What? They thought sending you would somehow get the sceptre back?' The wizard laughed, but it was a cruel, heartless sound. Daniel shivered.

'You didn't get it, so it wasn't such a bad plan after all, was it?' he blustered, heart sinking as he felt the rod in his bag.

Rullin ignored him.

'Now I have the great Nilofar.' Rullin gave a contemptuous snort. 'As well as the boy who has been a thorn in my side and, if I'm not mistaken, the sceptre itself. I can feel it.'

He waved his other hand and the cloud grew to Rullin-sized proportions.

'Now I can go home,' he purred. 'Now I will return and Novarmere will be mine.'

'There is no way you will be able to counteract the power the Queen has at her disposal. She's the rightful Ruler and Poe and the Il'Havannah sorcerers will destroy you.' Nilofar tried to smile.

'Ah well, by the time I get back, I should hope the Queen has been killed or is more than a little occupied. There is the little matter of having allies, you see. Mine just happen to be more powerful and of a far greater number than yours,' said Rullin.

'It's Sunday night,' he paused, 'and in a few days time there will be an empty ceremony, where a Princess will be presented to her realm minus the trappings of power. What a shame the sceptre won't be there to meet her. Instead, it'll be at a ceremony of my own making, meeting with someone completely different.'

'Like you?' Daniel sneered, feeling sick.

'Me?' Rullin's eyebrows went up. 'Hasn't Nilofar told you anything? As wonderful as that may sound, me getting all that power and glory, I am too old to be Bonded to the Land and sceptre through the ancient and traditional methods. It has to be someone about to turn thirteen. But don't you worry, my companions and I have found the perfect candidate. The sceptre will not be wasted.'

Daniel looked at Nilofar, whose red eyes were glowing with unholy anger. How many companions did Rullin have working on this? How far did this treachery extend? All of a sudden, Daniel knew that they had to get to Poe. They had to warn him of the potential threat to the Queen and the Princess.

He nodded slowly at Nilofar. There would be only one chance for this to work. As Rullin stepped closer to get the sceptre, Daniel leapt.

He shouted at the dragon 'Get through the Gateway!' and flung himself at Rullin.

Rullin roared and grappled with Daniel for control. The cloudy circle behind him started to waver and balloon, then shrink, in terrifying patterns.

'He's losing control of it,' Daniel shouted to Nilofar.

'I can't leave you here.' Nilofar landed on Rullin's back, digging in his talons as a distraction.

It worked - a lot better than they had anticipated.

Rullin flung himself backwards, yelling wildly. The cloud reached out its tendrils towards the wizard.

Nilofar let go and tried to grasp Rullin's hand, which was reaching for Daniel. Daniel pulled back, but Rullin was too strong. Closing his fingers over Daniel's wrist, Rullin dragged Daniel towards him.

Nilofar was suddenly beside Daniel, talons outstretched, grasping the backpack. Rullin gave a yell of triumph and the cloud swallowed him whole. Daniel jerked backwards, but Rullin's grasp was too powerful and he was pulled head long into the cloud as well.

Behind him, he could hear Nilofar's wings. He could feel Nilofar's breath.

Then all he could feel was tugging - hands tugging him forward, talons tugging at his back and all around him, the thick, blinding cloud.

Daniel couldn't see a thing. Not Rullin, nor Nilofar - just a cold darkness, which brushed coolly across his cheeks and rushed through his hair. He couldn't feel anything below his feet and his stomach rolled sickeningly.

Daniel closed his eyes and tried not to think of Rullin and where they might be going. He thought of the lovely green pathway Poe had walked along, the tall, tall trees and then, strangely, a picture of a forest Darling had shown him, not that long ago.

Then Daniel's mind couldn't handle the shifting feel of nothingness beneath his feet and it shut down, snuffing Daniel out like a candle.

He came awake slowly. His head and shoulders ached. There was a burn mark where Rullin had grabbed his wrist.

Daniel sat up and looked around. Unfortunately somewhere in the mad flight, his glasses had been dislodged, so all he could see was a fuzzy green blur.

Daniel felt around with his hand. Without his glasses he was relatively blind. Heart thudding, mouth dry, he widened his search by crawling around in circles. They had to be here somewhere.

There. Daniel's stomach settled back to where it belonged, as he pushed his glasses firmly behind his ears and into place. He blinked.

He was in a forest. Massive trees extended high into a bright sky. There were no clouds and it was certainly not winter. Daniel stripped off his jumper and stood up. Everything had that shimmery summer feel about it.

He had to be back in Novarmere, with his memory intact. He wondered if it was possible Rullin had had the Gateway in the Master's Arms waiting for his return the whole time and had never needed the one in the abandoned house. That certainly explained why he was happy to destroy it, although their travel through the dark cloud had seemed a lot more haphazard than just walking through a doorway. Daniel shook his head to clear it of the remaining fogginess.

Then it hit him.

He had no backpack.

No backpack, no food, no water, no Nilofar and no way home unless he could find Poe, before Rullin found him.

Daniel was terribly aware of the burning feeling where Rullin had grabbed him to pull him into Novarmere. It was the third time Rullin had touched him. He didn't know if it was as significant as Nilofar had mentioned and didn't want to find out. The very idea that with the third contact, Rullin could do something worse than just track him, settled into his stomach like stone.

He had to get moving, but where?

Daniel turned a full circle. There was no pathway. No friendly greeting from Poe. No Nilofar swooping down to meet him.

There was just silence - lots of quiet, green silence.

'Well,' said Daniel, speaking out loud to give himself some confidence, 'I can't stay here. I have to find the others.' His stomach let out a loud grumble. 'And some food,' he added as an afterthought.

He had missed lunch. Who knew what time it was here? Daniel's stomach only knew it was dinner time.

He picked a direction and started to wander through the trees.

There were bushes in random clumps, vines climbing tree trunks and some thick lush ferns which sometimes prevented him from following his chosen direction towards the sun. But he went round them, or fought his way through them and tried to stay true to his course.

As he walked, Daniel started to pick out different sounds. There were a bunch of birds; they'd cry out and then go silent. He even saw some tracks, which he hoped were deer, but about which he wasn't too sure.

It bothered him that the birds were falling strangely quiet and no other animals could be seen. Once the birds had given their cry, they were not heard from again. Daniel started to mark their calls. They originated some place to his left, but were circling closer. This didn't make him feel so great. Sweat started to run down his back and gather on his palms. He'd read somewhere that birds were always quiet when a predator was around.

Daniel picked up his pace. His legs had entirely different ideas about what they were meant to be doing. He had pushed them past their limits in Fadden, even with the magical strength added by Nilofar. They had run and carried him much farther than ever before. They had even walked through flowing water. Now, they didn't want to do as they were told.

Huffing and puffing, Daniel pushed on. He could hear the warning cries of the birds getting closer. Which could only mean whatever it was that they were warning against, was on Daniel's trail.

He risked a look back over his shoulder. He could see the tops of ferns shaking as the thing following him ploughed through them.

Daniel started to run. He knew it was useless. His didn't have much run left in him. He couldn't outrun whatever it was. His breath hitched in his throat and the back of his eyes tightened.

By now, all the birds had gone quiet. There were no more calls. The thing was on the hunt. But in the place of the cries, came a harsh breathing; a harsh grunting as the 'thing', hunted Daniel.

Daniel pushed aside another fern.

'Can't stop,' he puffed to himself, like a sports coach. 'Have to keep moving. Move those legs.'

But he couldn't.

Eventually, Daniel stopped. His sides were aching, his legs were on fire and he couldn't help feeling as though he was about to cry.

He slid down to sit at the base of an enormous tree and scrabbled around for a stick or a rock or something. He'd wait.

The huffing and grunting came closer.

Daniel's heart pounded hard enough to almost break his ribs. He felt ill, so light headed that he was amazed he didn't pass out. He leaned against the tree on one side of a little clearing. On the other, from between the ferns he had just pushed through, stepped a large black wolf-thing.

Daniel stared.

It was definitely wolf-like - four legs, large hungry dog-shaped head, thick black fur. But there were differences as well. For starters, in his foggy mind, Daniel couldn't for the life of him remember any wolves with glowing green eyes, large canines which curled down past their bottom lip, feet the size of dinner plates, or that stood the size of a large pony.

It pulled its lips back in a snarl. Slobber dripped from two rows of fangs. It sniffed the air and turned those glowing eyes on Daniel.

Daniel froze. He was sure everything froze - his blood, his feet, his mind and his heart, the lot. Those eyes were feral and very much aware. The wolf almost grinned, seeing how helpless Daniel was.

'I'm going to get eaten,' Daniel whispered through stiff lips.

It padded forward, sniffing as it came. Daniel didn't move. He couldn't have, even if he'd tried. There was something about those eyes...

The wolf came right up to where he sat. He could feel the heat of its breath, which smelt foully of the stench of decayed meat, dried blood and a deep rottenness. Daniel screwed his eyes closed. If this was the end, he didn't want to see it coming.

He sat there, eyes closed. Nothing happened. The heat went away. The overwhelming feeling of a large body extremely close disappeared.

The overwhelming fear did not.

Silence.

Daniel gingerly opened one eye - just one, to test.

The wolf had backed itself all the way to the ferns. Its lips were peeled as far back as they could go in a silent snarl. Its eyes were focused on something behind Daniel. All its black fur was standing on end.

Daniel struggled to his feet. He had to try something. Anything! If there was something behind him causing such a monster to back away, he had to run, one last time.

He managed one step.

Larson's Folly

'Don't move. Don't even blink.'

Daniel stopped, foot partially raised, balanced on his toes. He didn't look behind him. He didn't take his eyes from the wolf monster, which was slowly disappearing into the ferns.

'Put your foot down and take one step back and to your right. Whatever you do, do not get between me and that wolfling. Don't look away from it either. Right now, it thinks we're together and you're my 'pup'. So act like you feel safe and stare it down.'

'Act safe. Stare it down. Right, got you. Not a problem,' Daniel agreed, his lips moving, but hardly connecting to his thoughts.

Daniel took one step back and to the right. At the same time, his rescuer must have taken a step forward, because she was suddenly beside him, in the corner of his eye. Daniel started to turn his head to get a good look at her.

'Don't look at me,' she snapped. 'Watch those ferns. It's still there. It won't go for a few moments yet.'

'That's a pity,' Daniel said. That's a pity? Could I sound more moronic, he thought, mentally giving himself a shake.

There was silence for a few more moments and then the girl turned away from the ferns. Daniel did too.

She was taller than he was. Not that that meant a lot, Daniel being on the small side for his age. She was wearing clothing of different shades of green; light green leggings, a dyed green leather tunic, funny green shoes and her hair was braided back and held in place with green leather twine.

In her hands was a lethal looking long bow. Around her waist, clasped by a thick leather belt were two knives and a short sword.

'You came into the Great Forest with no weapons?' she asked Daniel, her bright silvery eyes full of scorn and a little bit of concern. 'Are you stupid?'

'I'm -' Daniel started, but she cut him off.

Tugging him by the shoulder, she started walking.

'Not that it matters and I can see by what you are wearing that you are not from around here, but you know, you really should think things through. This is a large, densely wooded forest. What did you think would live here? You're lucky it was just one wolfling. A pack would not have taken any notice of me.

'What if it hadn't even been a wolfling?' She continued the scolding. 'What if it was something like a darkling, or an allimagator? Lucky you weren't near their breeding grounds. They'd have torn you apart. But as they prefer water, you're marginally safer this far away from Allimagator Lagoon.' She talked fast and walked faster, practically hauling him along by this stage.

'I'm Wren. This is my patch of the forest. I'm a ranger. I'm meant to keep it safe for my people,' she looked a little shamefaced. 'If they find out a wolfling came into Sheef's Clearing, this close to Larson's Folly, they'll take away my ranging status.'

Eventually she slowed. Daniel could hear voices and laughter - the types of sounds happy, contented people make when they come together. His heart started to work normally again. She wasn't taking him off somewhere to bury her error.

Wren stopped and pulled Daniel round to face her. Thin brows swooped down into a frown.

'Who are you, anyway?' she asked, finally taking an interest in the boy she had saved.

'I'm Daniel. I'm a bit lost,' Daniel replied. He wanted to tell her all about Poe and Nilofar and Rullin, but he wondered if perhaps that might not be such a good idea. After all, he didn't know who she worked for.

'Well, Daniel, nice to meet you. I'm very glad that I came home that way at that time, instead of a few minutes later.'

Not half as glad as I am, Daniel thought. He didn't like the picture forming in his head of the 'few minutes later' in her scenario.

'Here we are,' Wren said, pulling back some fern fronds and pushing Daniel forward.

Daniel didn't ask where exactly 'here' was. He didn't want to sound as though he had no idea. He thought he'd better keep that to himself, for the time being, at least.

There weren't all that many people around. But those he could see were smiling and enjoying food and drink. His stomach growled audibly and Wren laughed. Daniel's face burned.

'It's a bit later than usual for our luncheon break, but if you care to join us, I think your stomach might appreciate it,' she said, walking down the gentle slope towards the benches set up in the shade of a copse of trees.

Daniel followed, looking around.

The clearing was much larger than the one from which they had just come. There appeared to be wooden homes erected around the edge, a tavern of some kind down the far end and a large church in the middle. It was a very large church, constructed from a wood Daniel had never seen before.

It was silver, with pale pearl and peach veins through it. The spire extended up so high, it looked as though the builder had been trying to reach the sky. On the top of this was a look out. At least, that was what it looked like. Daniel couldn't be sure. He did think it would take a stronger stomach than his to climb up there to find out.

'Hey! Look what I found.' Wren swung herself over one of the long seats, nodding to Daniel and picking up a platter of food. 'He was lost, wandering around the forest.' She didn't elaborate and started tucking into the food.

Daniel didn't want her to get into any trouble, but he was worried about that wolfling. What if it was rabid and came back, closer this time?

He took some time to observe the people sharing Wren's bench.

There were six men, all looked quite hardy and all were laden with various weapons. There was one other woman. The woman looked tougher than all of them, even though she appeared to have no weapons. He suddenly didn't think the wolfling would stand a chance, even if it did bring friends.

The other woman narrowed her eyes.

'Where did you come from?' she asked, not unfriendly exactly, but there was no warmth in her voice.

Daniel accepted a platter of food and stood there with it. He knew he had to think of something.

Then it was suddenly all too much. He didn't care if they were for or against Poe and the Queen. He needed to unburden himself and see if they were able to assist him.

He sat down next to Wren and tore a chunk of bread off the half loaf on his plate and loaded it up with cheese and meat. He didn't even want to think what sort of meat it was.

'I'm Daniel.' The rest of the words poured out of him in a mixture of exhaustion and relief. 'I've come here because Poe asked me to. It's important I get to him and the Queen. They are in trouble, but I was separated from Nilofar and then nearly eaten by a wolfling.' He realised he'd given Wren away and had probably said too much at the same time, so he shoved the bread into his mouth.

At the mention of Poe and the Queen, all of the men at the table sat up and subjected him to a similar scrutiny to that which he had just recently given them. When the wolfling reference came up, Wren looked a bit ashamed and the other woman frowned.

'Where was the wolfling, Wren?' she asked.

'Sheef's Clearing,' Wren admitted.

Three of the men got up. One nodded at the woman.

'We'll take care of it - check it out to see where it went and if there are any others.'

'I should go too,' Wren stuffed the last of her bread into her mouth and jumped up.

They nodded and the man who had spoken indicated that she should lead the way.

'Hope you find your friends,' Wren said to Daniel, as she left.

He nodded, mouth still full. That left him with the other woman and the three remaining men at his table. He eyed her and hoped she was as easygoing as Wren. He wished she hadn't gone.

'You can call me Lenehan. So you believe the Queen is in trouble? We can take you to her. It's a bit of a hike,' the men laughed, 'but we should make it just after the Princess' birthday ceremony.'

'After!' Daniel spluttered, and swallowed. After wouldn't do at all. 'We can't make it after. I need to find Poe now! I need to get...' He stopped himself.

He nearly said 'debugged'. Daniel didn't know how to tell them that right at that moment Rullin might be tracking him. If Rullin didn't already have the sceptre, he would suspect that Daniel had it and be hunting for him as they spoke.

'Well, we don't happen to have a dragon handy, so I'm afraid we can only do our best.' Lenehan turned away from Daniel and bent over a map with one of her men.

'If we cut straight down across the tributary to Allimagator's Lagoon, we could get to Partler's farm. He'd sell us some horses.' One of the men said to her, looking at Daniel doubtfully and tracing a line over the map with his knife.

Daniel understood their doubts. He was, after all, a complete stranger dressed in foreign clothes and asking them to believe that their Monarch would be in trouble if he didn't reach her. He cast about for some way to convince them.

'The sceptre! I know who took it.' Daniel didn't mention that he had no idea of where it currently was.

There was a marked change in their demeanour at those words. Lenehan started to roll up the map, even as the men rose from their seat.

'We'll set out directly' she said 'We'll have to walk double-time with minimum breaks or we won't get there in time'.

'You don't have horses?' Daniel had never ridden a day in his life, but this lack of speedier transport was a definite problem. He didn't want to reveal his ignorance, so he didn't bother to ask how something the size of Nilofar was meant to be of any use whatsoever in the matter of transport.

Lenehan nodded at the man who had suggested Partler's farm, as though she had not heard Daniel's dismay.

'Best idea,' she agreed with the man. 'You, Tod, take Laningrin and get Shar, to assemble supplies. The boy and I will meet you on the southern path shortly.'

She turned her nearly black eyes back to Daniel.

'We lost our horses in a wolfling pack attack a few weeks back. It was all we could do to save each other.

'We have our suspicions about a pack that size – it seemed very organized for wolflings. However, we've been too busy making the area safe to give it much thought. We have not had a chance to send anyone to Andamooka for new horses. We thought we would wait for the messenger dragon, which was scheduled to come past us to announce how the ceremony went, in a few days. We planned on sending him off with the request. Looks like I won't be here to see to it.'

As she talked, Lenehan led Daniel to the massive church. She opened one of the front doors, and led him in.

'Welcome to Larson's Folly, Daniel.' She smiled at his expression.

The place was divided into stalls. There were clothes stalls, food stalls, stalls that sold trinkets and stores that sold parchment and pens.

'All this in a church?' he asked, wide-eyed.

'It hasn't been used as a church for many years. That's why it's called Larson's Folly. History tells us Larson wanted to greet the Gods. So he cut down the last of the silvereens (the largest trees in the forest) to build this great temple to his own arrogance. The township that has developed adopted the name Larson's Folly, to remind everyone to remember our place. The Gods do not want to be upstaged by the likes of us.

'But this temple itself was way too large to be used for worship alone. So we divided it into stalls, so everyone had cover from the winds and rains of winter. It also now serves as a place to go when there are marauding packs of wolflings about.'

Lenehan held a tunic up to Daniel and shook her head.

'Too long - what about this one?' she tried again.

Eventually, he was outfitted just like she was, with leggings, tunic and a belt. She even bought him a small knife, all the while ignoring his protestations about having nothing to give her in exchange.

By this stage, Daniel had started to wobble on his legs. He was feeling a bit Gateway-lagged, his body not too sure when in time it was meant to be. Lenehan noticed and laughed.

'I don't know what you've been doing, boy, but I think you won't last the hike we have planned,' she said.

Grabbing her money pouch and shoving it into her pocket, she took him to the assigned meeting place. The men were assembled, one leading a donkey loaded with gear.

'The wolflings didn't take the donkey?'

'Donkeys are smart. This one ran into the Folly itself. The only beast left. Wolflings don't particularly like donkey anyway – it's a tough meat,' Lenehan explained. She turned to the men. 'The boy is almost asleep on his feet. Let's see if we can't pack him on the donkey too.'

Daniel wanted to protest, but it was taken care of before he could get the words out. One of the men, the giant ranger called Laningrin, shifted things around on the back on the donkey and Tod picked Daniel up and strapped him into place. Tod smiled at him through his bushy beard.

'Better to have you strapped in, lad. Don't want you to fall off if old Mull here decides to try and dump you.'

With the swaying of the donkey and the quiet murmur of the talk around him as they headed down the track, Daniel soon nodded off. His body knew it was night time, even if his eyes told him it was only afternoon.

He didn't know how long he slept, but his sleep was interrupted by a sudden cessation of motion.

Daniel shook the last of the mugginess from his head and peeled open his eyes.

Something had changed. The rangers were still and quiet. The donkey had picked up their attitude and shifted his feet nervously.

Tod padded softly past Mull and Daniel on the path, to talk to Lenehan. He'd obviously been bringing up the rear.

Lenehan nodded at him. 'Take Shar and see if you can't put an end to it, then,' Daniel heard her say. Then she joined him.

'We're being followed,' she explained. 'Tod's not sure what it is. Doesn't think it's a darkling, thank the Goddess. So they'll go back, take care of it and we'll make camp on top of the rise just ahead. It gives us a defensible position.'

She led the way, leading Mull and Laningrin followed the donkey. They helped Daniel down and Lenehan started to build a fire. Laningrin took out some meats and bread. Daniel just stood there, hands tightly clenched, looking back down the trail.

'What's a darkling?' he asked. He couldn't bear not knowing what else was out there and if it was worse than the wolfling.

Lenehan glanced across the clearing at Laningrin. She shrugged.

'You should know, I guess. It's a very dangerous predator.'

'There's another one? Isn't the wolfling enough? Aren't there any nice animals in this place?' Daniel's voice cracked and he covered his fear with a fit of coughing.

'Darklings can suck out a man's life without even touching his body,' Laningrin continued with the description, his voice rough and scratchy. 'They fly on wings of leather, have no sense of smell, but have eyes like a hawk. They usually hunt at dusk or dawn, but have been known to come out during the day, especially in the deeper forest.' He settled onto a patch of grass next to Daniel.

'They're bigger than a horse but smaller than a dragon and hard to kill ... but not impossible, mind,' he added quickly, noticing the fear written on Daniel's face.

'How can they be smaller than a dragon and yet bigger than a horse' Daniel thought of Nilofar. 'That doesn't make sense.'

Lenehan gave a sharp laugh and set the sticks she'd stacked, on fire.

'I believe you are referring to Nilofar? He's a fire-hatchling. They don't grow very large and he's a young one at that, with many years' worth of growth yet. A dragon ... a true dragon, is bigger than a house and only some of them are 'friendly', let's just say.' She added more fuel to the fire.

'The Queen's messenger dragon, now he's friendly. Wild dragons from the north, out past the mountains called Dragon's Spine, are not so nice. At least, that is the rumour. It's been many years since anyone's gone exploring up through the Dragon's Jaw. There are no settlements that far north and no dragon would take you there. They don't tend to travel down south often either.' Lenehan adjusted her position next to the fire and changed the subject. 'Now that we are settled, how about you tell us what the hurry is?' she asked nicely, though her eyes were cool and her hand rested gently on her short sword.

Daniel gulped. There was nothing for it – he had to explain how he had got there and what he and Nilofar had done. Including the fact that Rullin knew where he was. So he did.

'Rullin?' Laningrin's brow wrinkled when he'd finished. He looked at Lenehan. 'I've not heard of a wizard called Rullin. You?'

She shook her head.

'The only wizard I know of in Novarmere is Poe. That isn't to say there can't be another. But most were killed many years ago now. Novarmere is the only place where the practice of wizardry has been made legal, for Poe's sake.  Or should we say, the Princess'. She'd be devastated if anything happened to her wizard.'

'Killed? Illegal?' Daniel tried to keep his bread down.

'The sorcerers of Il'Havannah. They banned wild magicks and the wizards that wield it, from the land,' she explained.

'It's their thing,' Laningrin added, when Daniel looked blank.

Before he could open his mouth to ask them anything else, like how wizards differed from sorcerers, there was a shout from down the track.

A crashing, swearing Shar came running up the rise. Lenehan and Laningrin had already doused the fire, drawn swords and stood between the path and Daniel and Mull, before he had had time to assimilate what was happening.

'Four wolflings ... not like any wolflings I know ... They're too self aware ... smarter than the usual dog-brains. One took Tod,' gasped out Shar.

'Load the boy. Set your bows at the ready. Prepare to leave,' Lenehan snapped. If she felt the loss of the ranger, Tod, her face and voice certainly didn't show it. She was all business.

Daniel was thrown atop Mull; bows were pulled round from shoulders and arrows notched, ready to fly. Laningrin led off, Mull followed, ears flicking nervously and both Lenehan and Shar followed, walking backwards, arrows trained on the greenery behind.

Heart pounding, Daniel kept turning round to look. He squinted through his glasses, pushing them once more into place. All he could see was the gently waving trees. There was an unnatural stillness in the air.

'Laningrin,' he whispered, not wanting to disturb the man from his task, 'I wonder if one of them is the same wolfling Wren rescued me from. It also seemed more aware than a dumb animal.'

The more he thought about it, the more Daniel could see more clearly. The wolfling had been too aware. It had actually grinned at him, as though knowing exactly who he was and what he was doing there.

Laningrin kept going, but addressed his comments over his shoulder, to Daniel.

'I doubt it is the same wolfling, lad. One wolfling would not get past the others. Wren took three other rangers with her, all more experienced than she. No disrespect, lad, but she's only been a ranger for the past two months. She has learning still to be done. They won't have let her fall foul of a lone wolfling.'

That didn't help. Daniel could picture the beast's eyes in his mind, glowing green and repellent. In fact, they had reminded him rather a lot of Rullin.

'Laningrin! I know who is behind the wolflings. It's Rullin. He's a wizard! He can open Gateways! I'm sure he could take over a few wolflings.' Well, he wasn't sure of anything, really. But given what he knew of Rullin, an animal wouldn't pose too much difficulty for him.

'Lenehan, the lad believes we have wizards involved,' Laningrin hardly raised his voice, but Lenehan whistled her acknowledgement. 'No use worrying. Even if the beastie got past them, these two won't get past us.'

Clinging onto the swaying back of a terminally slow donkey, being hunted by possessed wolflings, Daniel didn't feel reassured by what Laningrin had said. He sat with his head permanently swivelled backwards.

'Whoa up,' Laningrin stopped. 'Len. Time to kick the donkey loose, I fear.'

Lenehan came up beside Daniel. She handed him the loose rein of Mull and a stick.

'Tap him every so often. He knows the way to Partler's farm. We'll follow when we can. Don't let him stop and don't let him leave the path. He might take it into his head to wander off to the Lagoon if he gets thirsty, but it's breeding season. The allimagators there would tear you both apart. Here, take this,' she slipped a leather thong from around her neck. It had a small disk strung on it and she folded it into Daniel's hand.

'Partler will give you horses if you show him this. If we don't arrive soon after you, leave without us.'

'Okay,' Daniel said through numb lips.

'Now get going,' Laningrin smiled at him. 'You'll be fine. We'll get rid of the wolflings and be right behind you.'

But Daniel saw them all glance at each other grimly. As Mull started to trot away, he saw them push their bows back across wide, strong shoulders. He saw them pull their knives from belts with the one hand and settle short swords comfortably in the other. Before the first corner swallowed them up, Daniel saw them turn back to face the black wolflings which prowled out of the forest beyond them.

Then Mull trotted around the corner and they were gone.

Rullin

Daniel gave Mull another solid whack with the stick and the donkey let out a loud bray and started to gallop.

Well, for a donkey it was a gallop. For Daniel, it was a mad, unsteady dash. His education had most definitely not included donkey riding.

He clung desperately to the saddle, to the supplies and to just about anything he could lay a hand on. This included Mull's short and spiky mane.

It wasn't enough. By now there were yells and growls behind them, and Mull seriously took off. While the sounds got fainter and fainter, so did Daniel. He bounced and jiggled and his fingers, jammed under leather straps and wrapped in donkey mane, started to go white.

His glasses started to slip and the world flashed before his eyes again, quite alarmingly.

Quite simply, as Mull ploughed his way through the thicket, for a brief moment Daniel lost consciousness. He knew, vaguely, that they were meant to be on a path, not going through thicket at all. He knew that he should hold on tighter to those straps and strips of mane.

But his fingers just didn't work. For a short moment, Daniel's senses ceased to function and he fell sideways, slipping seamlessly down Mull's heaving flanks and hitting the ground at a great rate.

He bounced, slid along some fine, soft, moist moss and came to rest with his right side being gently lapped by what seemed like water. Cool, refreshing even and definitely not hot and crazy like Mull. So Daniel allowed himself to stay there for a moment and then a moment longer.

He could no longer hear the yells of the rangers, fighting for their lives and attempting to save his. He couldn't hear Mull's ragged breathing either. This was a concern he parked in the back of his mind.

Eventually Daniel had to sit up. He ached in all kinds of places and his tailbone complained from his sudden dismount.

He was sitting on the mossy bank of a lake. Daniel might have admired the view, except that now he was fully alert, the idea of being so close to that much water was making him sweat.

He shifted his position and was about to stand up, when the water rippled like a wave. It was as though someone had thrown something large into the lake and the wave was now heading toward Daniel.

He pondered the wave whilst he looked around.

As they had been walking along, the afternoon had been growing older. Long shadows were starting to draw closer together. And in a forest with trees this size, shadows were pretty much everywhere, anyway. Now, it definitely had a dusky feel about it.

Daniel shivered. What had Lenehan been saying about dusk? Something hunted at dusk near the water's edge.

Another wave rippled across the still face of the lake.

Lake? Daniel looked around.

'It couldn't possibly be a lagoon, now, could it?' he asked himself sarcastically. 'A lagoon where all the allimagators are ...?' He trailed off his own line of questioning. He might as well call it as he saw it. There had to be allimagators here, at Allimagator Lagoon.

Backing up quickly, Daniel started to retrace some of Mull's hoof-prints. He didn't want to be caught outdoors for darklings to hunt at dusk. He didn't want them to fight over what the allimagators left.

He was about to turn around, putting the water behind him so that he could run from it, when a head surfaced close to where his feet had just been. Daniel's stomach heaved yet again.

At some stage it may have looked like an alligator. Or even a crocodile. But Novarmere had put its unique stamp on the reptile.

The head was dragon-like. It reminded Daniel a lot of Nilofar, only Nilofar was tiny. His whole body would only have served as half of this creature's head. It had a long snout, lined with massive teeth, which it showed off as it gaped widely in his direction.

It swam to the edge of the lake and stood up to walk out of the water. It had a crocodile's body - thick, long and chunky with short, stumpy legs. But while it may have been crocodile-like in shape, it was massive. With fangs and beady, cold, little eyes that zeroed in on Daniel.

'Isn't anything in this place normal sized?' Daniel felt a flash of irritation at the unfairness of it all, before he turned and ran.

From the sounds behind him, he could tell that the allimagator was running too. It crashed through the undergrowth, grunting all the way.

Daniel noticed a massive nest, with three huge eggs in it, as he bolted past. The allimagator veered off from the chase. Daniel paused to look back. It was standing near the nest, opening and closing its mouth, roaring and grunting at his intrusion.

'Don't fret,' he muttered. 'I wasn't planning on coming back.'

He found a trail again, by sheer luck, and plunged down it.

He hoped it was the trail to Partler's farm. He hoped he wasn't headed back in the direction of the wolflings.

Very soon, though, he had to admit, he was hopelessly lost. This time, though, he knew a bit more about what was out and about hunting in the forest and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

'All I had to do was stay in bed. That's all. 'No Mum', I could have said, 'no recycling centre for me today. I'd prefer to have root canal, or final maths exams, twice!' Then I'd not have found Nilo. Not have helped him with his stupid mission, with his stupid princess and get sucked into a stupid world where everything is mutated giant-size and wants to eat me,' Daniel puffed, blowing his cheeks out as he ranted to himself.

'But, oh no, I wanted to see what it felt like to be on an adventure. To see if actually doing things, rather than reading about them, might not just be loads of fun.'

'Well, look at that. Not so much fun. Lots of running and hiding and yet more running. Riding stupid donkeys, whilst running away from stupid giant wolves, which are more intelligent than they should be. And I've only had five minutes sleep in however many days it's been since I actually had a night?'

Daniel knew he was being silly. He was talking too loud, possibly drawing all kinds of notice. He was slowing down, instead of speeding up, and he was complaining about things he couldn't do anything about.

But it made him feel just that little bit better, venting his fear in angry rants, so he didn't stop.

Muttering and threatening Nilofar with dire consequences, Daniel didn't even bother to look where he was going. He didn't wonder where the path he'd been following had disappeared to. Or where, in fact, it had been going to in the first place.

He didn't notice it had faded out from lack of use. That he'd originally been riding directly south, with the sun sinking on his right and was now walking directly into the setting sun. All he could think about was that the dark was getting more pronounced and darklings hunted at dusk.

He didn't feel the gentle pull on his senses that led him deeper into the Great Forest. It was a very subtle touch.

And he didn't even notice when he came into the clearing, the little wooden cottage nestled in the bushes. He didn't see the smartly dressed wizard step out the front door. Because he was too busy bitterly telling himself what a fool he was and yes, Buster Felton and his mates were right, Daniel Smith was an idiot.

He was still muttering, not realising the effects the magic was having on him, when Rullin raised his hand and cut Daniel off by the mere expedience of sending him to sleep.

The sleeping Daniel was then lifted and carried into the cottage, up some stairs and left lying on a cold, hard, wooden floor.

Oblivious to the discomfort, Daniel slept on. Oblivious to all, Daniel was watched by the wizard, who looked down on him and commented to the cat, 'He'll take some time to wake. Let's have tea.'

And Daniel slept on...

... until he woke up. Stiff, but refreshed, Daniel lay still on the cold, hard, wooden floor.

He couldn't see or hear anything. Eventually, the silence was too much for him and he forced himself to sit up. His glasses were beside him on the floor, so he picked them up and settled them on his nose. He pushed them firmly into place.

He was in a small room. It was bare, clear of anything that might give him his bearings. It was perfectly square, the walls a dark brown colour and the floor all wood. There were no windows. It was perfectly depressing. There was one door and it was firmly closed.

'Nilofar?' he whispered. He couldn't see the dragon. He couldn't hear the little bellows Nilofar called breathing. Then Daniel remembered all that had taken place. He peered into the dark corners.

'Lenehan? Laningrin?'

Though he'd only whispered their names, it hadn't been quiet enough.

There were footsteps outside.

Daniel turned round and Rullin appeared in the door.

'Well, look what I have here,' the wizard smiled, 'a perfect trading tool. Come on, downstairs with you.'

He reached over and pulled Daniel to his feet by the collar. Daniel stumbled, but finally got his legs to function. He allowed himself to be pushed down the stairs, half walking, and half stumbling.

Downstairs was cosier. There were comfy chairs and a fireplace in which a fire burned brightly, even though it had been summer outside.  Tea was out and toast was smeared liberally with honey. There were sounds of activity coming from beyond the room, through a door beside the fireplace.

'Ah, the sweet comforts of home. Nice what having help around the place can do.' Rullin walked over to the fire and rubbed his hands together.

Daniel sidled closer to the front door. It was bright morning. He could see the sunshine through the window. He'd managed to sleep the whole night through.

'I wouldn't try that, if I were you. No one comes in or goes out unless I decide I want them to. This is my place, boy, and here I make all the rules.'

Daniel's heart sank even further. So it was Rullin's place. Though this did mean he was still somewhere in Novarmere, which was a good thing. Because he didn't want to think how difficult it would have been if they were in another country. On the other hand, being trapped in an evil wizard's lair hadn't been high on his priority list.

He sat down rather hard on one of the chairs. It groaned and complained, then settled down.

'I'm in the Great Forest?' he hazarded a guess.

'Ah yes, for now. A little place I discovered some time ago. Perfect for what I need. The upstairs room, you see, had to be empty and ready for any Gateway activity. I can't have anything near a Gateway when I open one, boy. I might accidentally suck whatever it is to wherever I am going.' He roared laughing.

'Kind of like what happened to you. You don't see the funny side?' asked Rullin, seeing Daniel's sour look. 'But you will. I'm the only one who can send you home, you see. Oh, well, that's not quite true, but near enough. After all, you can hardly ask Poe now, can you? Who knows where that fool would send you? I can at least aim my Gateways perfectly.'

Daniel felt a surge of hope. Poe had opened one right into Fadden, following the path of Rullin's magic. Surely he had learnt from that and could do it again.

He thought of all the heroic tales he had read. If the hero ever got the chance, they gathered as much information as they possibly could, before taking action. Rullin was busy gloating; so best to direct that gloating into providing useful information, Daniel thought.

'What is so important about Novarmere and the sceptre Lukas stole?'

Rullin clasped his hands behind his back and stood in front of the fire to keep them warm, even though outside it had been like summer. He caught Daniel looking at the flames.

'Like them? I've always loved a good fire. As you know,' he chuckled, referring to his demolition of the house back in Fadden. 'Don't see why I can't have them in summer as well. It's easy enough to make it winter when I have four walls to hang the spell on.

'Anyway, what were you asking about? Ah yes. Novarmere. Don't you see? Of course you don't. You're only a boy and not even from around here,' he said, with a patronising smirk.

'While it has nothing specific to do with Novarmere for the man with whom I work, it has everything to do with Novarmere, and to some extent, Il'Havannah, for me.'

Rullin moved away from the fire and sat opposite Daniel. He pushed a plate of the bread and a cup of tea towards Daniel.

'You might as well eat and drink. I don't want you to starve ... just yet. No good asking them for my sceptre if the exchange rate plummets because you keel over.'

Daniel didn't need to be told twice. He was ravenous and started to stuff his mouth with bread and honey. Rullin watched him with disgust, his lip curling.

'So,' Daniel asked with his mouth full, crumbs blowing across the table, 'Nilofar is here too, with the sceptre? How do you know?'

'I can only presume. He understands the basics of magic, of course. So to get sent directly to that craven creature Poe, it would have been just a matter of holding the image of Poe hard enough in his mind, such as I did with my room. It is easier to imagine a bare room. Don't have to try to remember the decorations or furnishings.'

'So Nilofar would just have imagined Poe and he would have arrived wherever Poe is once he got through the Gateway?' Daniel grinned. Thank goodness the dragon and the sceptre were safe. Shame he hadn't known of this very handy trick, too. He remembered the forest picture of Darling's that had been in his mind at the time he had been drawn into the cloud. Oops – that explained the forest he had landed in – must have been a little non-specific for the Gateway. At least it had put him in a forest. It could have been worse. This mode of transport had been too different from his previous Gateway experience to know what he could have expected.

'Stop interrupting,' Rullin snapped. He obviously liked a silent and appreciative audience.

Daniel didn't want to anger him. No matter what he said about Daniel being an asset he could barter with, he couldn't help remembering Rullin's casual threat against Darling. The man was a killer.

I can't ever forget it, Daniel thought.

'Through the use of my own magic, I have a vague idea of where the sceptre is - mainly because I took it and brought it back, through a Gateway. So it has my signature magicks on it. So I know it's here in Novarmere. Nilofar would have gone straight to Poe, to report his failure in relation to losing you, no doubt.'

This appeared to cause Rullin great enjoyment, as he chuckled and thumped the table. His thumping brought the person from the other room scurrying in, as though summoned.

Daniel stared. Calling this animated creature a person was far from accurate. Once upon a time, it had probably been a hat rack, a tea cosy, and quite possibly, an umbrella.

It stood upright and had five arms. On its head, or what Daniel presumed it considered its head, it wore a tea cosy as a beanie. Folded down its back, almost like a spine, was the umbrella. Daniel could only think it was raised when it rained.

The thing had no face, as hat stands don't have anywhere to put them, so it came tottering in on its four legs and nearly walked into the table, which promptly told it 'to watch what it was doing'.

Daniel nearly choked. Was everything alive? He looked at Rullin, who was watching him with a smug look in his eyes.

'A lot cleverer than Poe suspects, aren't I? I am left here to basically rot until He needs me. It's so boring, so I started to experiment,' he waved his hand around the room.

Daniel took a closer look around him.

The clock on the mantelpiece waved.  In the painting hanging above it was a portrait of a lovely woman brushing her hair. The lady smiled sadly at him, the chairs plumped up their own cushions and the cat, curled up on the rug (which Daniel hadn't noticed before), opened its eyes, yawned and said, 'He's not awfully bright, is he?' to Rullin.

Daniel closed his mouth. He didn't want to look like the village idiot, but he'd never seen so many strange things.

'How...Why would you do this?' he stuttered.

'Why? Because I can, because the stuck up, arrogant, pathetically weak and mindlessly boring Masters in the Academy for Sorcerers in Il'Havannah told me I was not welcome with 'your kind of magic',' Rullin's voice twisted in an absurd mimic of a long ago Master.

'Your kind?' Daniel felt they were finally getting back on track. He kept a wary eye on the cat and kept eating.

'Wild magic. Land magic. The sorcerers wouldn't have me or Poe at their stupid school. We both have wild magicks. The sorcerers focus on scientific magic. Scientific! They subdue their minds, learn spells, recite strange garbage and claim they have the answers to everything.'

'So what is it you do? What is wild magic?' Daniel swallowed some tea so that he could speak clearly.

'I make things happen. While I am in contact with any part of the Land, I can bend things to my will. Oh, certainly, there are limitations. I can't just wish the damned sceptre into my hands, or there'd be no need for you, would there?' he grinned maliciously at Daniel.

'But I can do many other things. And the greatest of them are the Gateways. They are the wildest of wild magicks. I may not have attended the academy, but my new companion has searched for texts around the Known World and has many I am sure those ignorant fools, do not. This has given me far more knowledge than they could ever have hoped to have taught me.'

Daniel shifted to make himself more comfortable. For all that Rullin had created his current company, it was obvious that he wanted to talk to someone more real. Daniel was happy to oblige.

'Boring you, am I?' asked Rullin.

'No, of course not, I'm very interested.' Daniel suspected that he sounded forced and fake. But while he was actually genuinely interested, making light hearted conversation with a madman was asking a lot.

'Then let me tell you a few things about Novarmere, magic and what I have planned,' Rullin settled back into his chair and steepled his fingers.
Novarmere

Daniel held his breath for a moment, then decided that air was far more important than expectation and continued breathing. He had to be completely focused so that he could tell Poe and the Princess everything.

'Many years ago, the histories tell us, there was a war between the wild magic wizards and the sorcerers of Il'Havannah. The reason why it began is lost in the annals of time I always thought it strange as they lived in different countries and the sorcerers should have known better than to attack a magicks so entwined with the Land.' Rullin shrugged, staring into the fire.

The hat-stand person came in with more tea, negotiating around the table better the second time and managing to pour the tea into the cups and not into their laps. It dipped its tea cosy in a bow and went back out again. Rullin didn't even acknowledge it, but Daniel did.

'The wizards were relatively safe, while they were in Novarmere. But the sorcerers vastly outnumbered them and they kidnapped the Heir Apparent, forcing the wizards to march on the Il'Havannian capital, Il'Shavannah.

'Once the wizards lost contact with their Land, they were easy prey. The small magicks the wizards performed could not stand strong against the might of science. They were nearly completely destroyed.

'The histories are vague on how they came back to Novarmere. It was a struggle, but a few managed to make it home. They realised they were always going to be vulnerable if they were to leave their homeland. So they created the sceptre.

'This, they left for the royal line of Novarmere Queens. They wrote of how this would link each Queen to the Land, especially if she should have no magic of her own.

'The magicks were eventually bred out of the royal line and the wizards' teachings slowly died out. The sorcerers never forgot their hatred of the wild magicks, or their jealousy. They test every applicant to their academy and if one should show even a flicker of potential for wild magicks, they are sent away. Everyone from Novarmere is suspect in their eyes.' He was obviously contemptuous.

'While I have the magicks, they are not sufficient on their own to render Novarmere my own. They need to have access to the ancient and deeper magicks of the sceptre. Don't be fooled by the often ignorant assumption that everything to do with the sceptre is hocus-pocus and all magic is wizardry.'

'They are inextricably linked with each other and the Land. The Queen requires the sceptre for the ceremony. As do I, if I am to Bond my own candidate. My Lord wants to dominate all of the Known World. I merely wish to crush the Il'Havannian sorcerers and rule Novarmere,' he smiled at Daniel. 'Not a bad little ambition, surely?'

Daniel wasn't too sure if he was meant to answer that or not. So he applied himself to the tea.

'The war was the problem, you see. It has forever made people fear what might happen if magic is let loose again in Novarmere. Darklings were constructed in the war, by wizards, who were consumed by their own power and madness,' Rullin told Daniel, unaware of the irony of his words, as his eyes glinted with an unhealthy intensity.

'My Lord does not have the same fears. He is determined to rule all the Known Worlds and he is not one for failure. But he needs me. He needs my magic and therein lies his weakness. He cannot control Novarmere without magic. He cannot create Gateways, which not only transport him throughout our world, but as we now know, into others as well. Think of the possibilities. He could control it all.' Rullin sipped his tea, as though this revelation was a mere trifle.

Daniel went cold. Then hot, then cold again. The entire Known World. Earth was now a Known World. He might not have met this Lord that Rullin kept referring to, but if his henchman was anything to go by, he didn't want to even think about him making more Gateways.

'Now,' said Rullin, getting to his feet 'I really do have things I need to see to, such as how my spies and wolflings are going.'

He smirked at the look on Daniel's face. 'Yes, controlling wolflings is as easy as snapping my fingers.

'Watch this miserable creature and don't let him out of this house,' he growled at the animated furnishings. They trembled and nodded whatever part of themselves they could. 'I'll be back as soon as I can.'

When Rullin had left, Daniel picked up all the dishes and took them through the other door. Beyond it was the kitchen, where the hat-stand was busy washing dishes.

It turned and bobbed its cosy at him.

'Can you actually see anything or did he forget to give you sight at all?' Daniel asked, as he put the dishes down near the sink.

The hat-stand waved its free arms.

'It can hear and see in varying degrees of efficiency.' The cat had followed Daniel and now jumped up on the kitchen bench to eye him coldly. 'He needed things that could do their job.'

'Right,' Daniel agreed and backed out of the room. He had never liked cats and this one freaked him out. He hoped it would stay put.

He sat back down in one of the soft, plump chairs and thought for a long time. He was missing a few things, that was obvious, like who this Lord was and why he wanted the things he did. He also did not know who else the pair had working for them and how long before time ran out.

So Daniel did something he never knew he could do. Something he wasn't usually good at and defied his own rational idea of himself.

Daniel sat and talked to the furnishings. Daniel made friends and while Daniel made friends, he learned a lot and thought a great deal more. One of the things he learned was that none of the talking animations (perhaps with the exclusion of the cat) could stand Rullin, who had sadly mutated them to a point where they would never again be free.

Rullin had been gone for an hour by the time Daniel had made friends with the sadly neglected and lonely furnishings. The lady in the portrait had been the most helpful, as she had watched and listened to Rullin for many years.

The cat had left the house before he had started his conversations and Daniel could see it sunning itself on a low tree bough across the clearing. He was glad it went out. While the idea of a talking animal was easier to comprehend than say, a talking lounge chair, its knowing eyes and scornful comments drove Daniel nuts. With it gone, the lady was quite forthcoming, relaxing enough to make jokes with Daniel.

'Now all you need to do is to convince the door to open,' she told him with a smile.

Daniel had already worked that out. The cat had demanded the little cat door to open and it had. The main door, with its fancy handle, was better (in Rullin's mind) than any sort of jail. It would open only for Rullin.

But Daniel had been talking to the door as well.

At first, he had just included it into the conversation. Then, he started to actually ask the door for its opinions on things. He followed this up by including it in the laughter and the general gentle ridicule of Rullin.

Just past the hour, Daniel finally stood up.

Now or never, really, he thought. Either the door understands how urgent this is and how friendly I am compared to Rullin, or it doesn't and it never will and I'll be stuck here until he comes back.

'Master Door,' while Daniel wasn't too sure how to address a door, he thought strict courtesy would be best. 'I know you work for Rullin, but I was hoping you would let me out, please. It's getting late and I need to find my friends.'

He didn't think he should mention Poe and Nilofar by name, in case the furnishings had been brainwashed into thinking his friends were the Enemy.

'I can't,' faltered the door. 'You know I can't. He'd find a way to make me pay. I can't disobey him, even though you are my friend, Daniel. I'm spelled into following his orders.'

Of course it would have been, Daniel thought.

He looked around the room for inspiration, but instead was drawn to a welcoming sight through the window.

'Nilofar! Lenehan!' Daniel shouted. He jumped up and waved through the glass, but they weren't looking in his direction.

Directly across from the cottage, Nilofar was facing off against the cat. Both of them were spitting, only Nilofar could spit flames, so he was getting the better end of the deal.

Bow drawn and notched with an arrow, Lenehan was scanning the area for potential trouble. Beside her was a young girl with long black hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes. She was quite tall and very thin, and dressed in flowing pants and over-tunic, and in her left hand was Poe's long staff.

Daniel looked down at his clothes. They were dusty from the room upstairs and dirty from his mad dash with Mull and the run from the allimagator. He rubbed his honey-sticky hands down his tunic.

He had a good idea of who was with Lenehan and he didn't get to meet a Princess every day. He had no intention of doing so with sticky hands. There was nothing he could do about the dirt stains.

The Princess Rishana nodded at whatever Lenehan was saying to her and motioned to others behind her. Daniel's heart leaped when Laningrin, Wren, and Mull came into sight. Someone was riding Mull. Or more to the point, someone sat atop Mull, hunched over, thick grey hair hanging down, covering his face.

He jumped up and down, yelling to grab their attention.

'You may as well save your breath,' Cassandra, the lady in the portrait, told him. 'They can't hear you through the glass. Rullin may be a madman, but he's not stupid. They will never hear you, though if they get past Tiggre, they may see you.'

Daniel looked at her, then back to where Nilofar had bailed up the cat.

'I don't think getting past Tiggre will be much of a problem,' he grinned. 'Nilofar may be small, but he's more than a match for a cat, even a talking one.'

Cassandra shook her head. 'All is never what it appears,' was all she said.

Princess Rishana had obviously had enough. She made a cutting motion with her hand and then looked back at the man on Mull. She made some sort of comment and pointed at the cat.

The man looked up. Daniel gasped. It was Poe. But not Poe as he could remember him. That Poe had been twenty, light hearted, smiling and with small streaks of grey.

This Poe had deep lines around his mouth - lines of pain and exhaustion. Daniel could see that his hair had turned completely grey. He sat slumped, too wasted to stand.

Laningrin wrenched his knife from his belt and spoke to the Princess. It was obvious he was going to finish the cat himself.

'Oh no,' Cassandra whispered, 'don't make him angry.'

Daniel gave her a puzzled look, but by then it was too late. Laningrin had stepped past the others and sent Nilofar back to rest on Poe's shoulder. He crouched low, angling the knife towards the cat, which appeared to smile.

It was then that Daniel got a very nasty feeling. He could sense the tension in all of the furnishings; the fear.

'Laningrin! No!' he shouted, uselessly beating on the window, watching as his friend came in fast to dispose of the tiny tabby...

...who leapt backwards, landing on the ground and starting to grow...and grow!

One minute Laningrin faced a cat smaller than Nilofar, the next – a feral tiger. Except this tiger had wings, six inch fangs, powerful muscles and thick strong legs like tree trunks.

'Now your friends will pay with their lives,' murmured Cassandra. 'I am very sorry, Daniel.'

'Wha... What is that?' stuttered Daniel.

'He's a morph, an ancient familiar of the wizards, turned by his master. Tiggre isn't like the wolflings or darklings that Rullin might control for a time. He actually thinks for himself and is evil all by his own choosing. He is aware of what Rullin needs and wants and he will stop at nothing to make sure you stay put. Or that they hand over the sceptre. He will have already sent for Rullin.'

Daniel looked around the cottage wildly. Rullin was on his way back and his friends had no idea of the danger they were in. Tiggre only had to keep them from escaping.

Poe had managed to climb down from Mull and was making his way to stand beside Rishana. But Daniel could see the effort this was costing him. The Princess was shaking her head as Lenehan moved forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Laningrin.

'Don't you see? I have to get out there! They need to know about everything.' Daniel broke off, heart pounding.

He rushed to the door and grabbed its handle.

'You have to let me out. Don't you see? If Poe dies, I'm trapped here and you'll never be free.' But the door remained solidly closed.

'You can't appeal to the better nature of wood,' Cassandra noted, sadly.

'I can't just give up and watch them all die.' Daniel went to the fire place and grabbed the poker. It squeaked and gave a wiggle, but he held it firmly.

'If none of you will help, I'll have to do it myself,' he said, through gritted teeth.

He went back to the window, just in time to see Laningrin fall as Tiggre swiped him with his claws. Daniel squared his shoulders and brought the poker down on the window pane with all his might.

There was a shout from the poker and a screech from the window. The poker bounced off, but a small crack ran up the window's face.

'I don't think that is a very good idea,' Cassandra sounded worried.

Daniel took aim for another shot. 'Why not?" He grunted as he swung. More cracks appeared and Tiggre turned his large ginger head to look straight at Daniel.

'Because Tiggre and Rullin will feel it, that's why not. You're using a magical instrument on a magical instrument. Even if you can't feel it, we can. The magicks are clashing and destroying one another. You will kill that poker and the window.'

'Sorry,' muttered Daniel to the poker, 'but I can't let my friends die and you aren't really alive, anyway.' And he rammed the end of the poker into the glass, shattering it along the cracks.

There was a horrendous shriek. Loud enough to make everyone inside and around the cottage stop to cover their ears. Even Tiggre paused, mouth open in a snarl. The poker started to smoke; the window dissolved. Daniel hardly thought about it - he threw himself through the window, and charged Tiggre with the now red hot poker.
Explanations

'If you hadn't suddenly appeared, I'd have been eaten for sure.' Laningrin sat leaning against the base of a tree, his shoulder being strapped by Wren. 'I've never seen a morph, and I never want to again. Did you see the size of that mouth?' he grinned weakly at Daniel.

'If I hadn't got separated from you all, you'd never have had to come find me.' Daniel hung his head. If only he hadn't walked off the trail.

'We couldn't have defeated those wolflings and worried about protecting you at the same time. We had to send you away with Mull. I should have thought about the possibility of Mull ditching you and sent Laningrin along with you.' Lenehan bowed to Daniel and then the Princess. 'I apologise for the lost time and the fear I have caused through poor decision-making.'

Daniel gawped. Lenehan was apologising? Had the world gone nuts? She was the most competent and organised leader he'd ever seen. His getting caught by Rullin had nothing to do with her. He opened his mouth to tell her so, but the Princess spoke first.

'You are our Head Ranger, Lenehan. You will remain as such until my Mother, the Queen, says otherwise. We all make choices in the heat of moments that can lead to unforeseen events. Be grateful that this one resolved itself satisfactorily,' her voice was cool and formal; then she smiled and her formal demeanour dissolved. 'We need you, Len. We have to get back to Andamooka for my birthday ceremony.'

Daniel grinned to himself. Did he ever have some ideas on that! Firstly, though, he had to warn them.

'Cassandra told me that Rullin and Tiggre could feel what I was doing in the cottage with the destruction of his magicks. Rullin will be on his way here, now. We should get moving.'

After Daniel had charged out of the cottage with the shrieking poker, Tiggre had leapt into the air and headed north at great speed. The Princess had immediately ordered Lenehan and Wren to pick up the wounded Laningrin and remove them all from the clearing.

But they had been forced to stop only a small distance away, to bind up Laningrin's shoulder (bleeding from five long, deep claw marks), as well as to let Poe rest, only a few measures away. It wasn't far enough. Daniel shuddered. Nowhere was far enough with Rullin able to find him whenever he chose.

Eventually, Laningrin's shoulder was tightly bound and Poe had recovered sufficiently from the magical backlash from the cottage to keep moving, so the Princess ordered them on the march. They were heading once more to Partler's farm. Daniel was having a hard time dealing with the knowledge that he was hanging out with a real life Princess. Every now and again he'd steal a glance at her, just to make sure it was all real.

'When we get there, I expect to hear everyone's accounts as to what has been happening.' Her eyebrows sank into a frown. 'I was unaware of even half of what was going on, until Mother told me the sceptre was missing.'

It obviously made the Princess exceedingly angry to discover so much had happened behind her back.

'How did you get away from the ... um  ... palace ... without any guards accompanying you?' Daniel ventured a question, even though the thoughtful scowl on her face was very discouraging of conversation.

'I gave them the slip. Mother won't find out until we get back. Though I have to admit, I am glad to find the rangers out here,' she smiled at Lenehan. 'Even with Poe and Dagma with me, I was getting concerned. I was hoping that Dagma would be able to make contact with Fireforge, but so far, she hasn't been able to find him.'

Daniel had no idea what a fire forge was and he wasn't too sure if he wanted to meet the gargon, so he kept quiet for the rest of the hike.

They soon crossed the pathway where Daniel had first taken a wrong turn. They continued in the direction he should have taken before being rudely hi-jacked by the donkey. They didn't see any more allimagators, for which Daniel was very thankful. He shuddered quietly to himself. The Great Forest, in his opinion, needed a few more rangers and a lot fewer predators.

It was a much nicer walk with company. Daniel didn't feel the constant worry about what would attack next. He could listen to the others chatting quietly and laughing at things, though Poe was very quiet and did not attempt to interact with any of them.

Nilofar came swooping through the forest canopy and landed on Daniel's shoulders, his weight a familiar comfort after being captured by Rullin.

'How far is this Partler's farm, Nilo? Will we get there by lunchtime?' Daniel reached up and scratched the dragon's eye ridges.

'We won't reach it till late this afternoon at this pace, Daniel. Mull is foot sore and Poe is unable to help himself, let alone the donkey. We'll eat soon and then keep on going as fast as they can. We don't want to be caught out in the dark.'

'You know he can find me. Have you told them? There is no place we can hide that will save me from Rullin,' Daniel whispered.

'They know. They'll plan for that, young Master. Don't worry. We'll swap stories and discuss what steps to take, once we have some distance between that place and us.' The dragon appeared to be very confident.

Daniel couldn't feel it, himself. He could almost hear Rullin laughing and in the back of his mind was a picture of Tiggre, teeth bared, attacking Laningrin. He'd never seen someone else's blood. He didn't even like to see his own. His stomach clenched and he bit his lip to keep his teeth from chattering. Adventures weren't really anything like what he'd thought they would be.

Finally, after a short consultation with Lenehan, the Princess called a halt for lunch. The rangers asked Nilofar to start a fire and then they took their bread, meat and cheese and melted into the forest.

'Where are they going?' Daniel didn't like the idea of being left with only the Princess, Poe and Nilofar to protect him. It was not that he didn't trust them, but Lenehan, Laningrin and Wren were a great comfort.

'Not far.' Poe had climbed slowly off Mull and settled himself next to the fire, browning up some bread, sweating freely in the heat of the flames, on what was already a warm day. 'They will keep a close watch on our perimeter and make sure we don't get any surprise guests.' He smiled wanly at Daniel.

'Nilofar, can you go and check what is keeping Dagma, please?' the Princess requested. The dragon took flight.

'Now, I want to hear what you have to say,' she looked at Poe, then Daniel. 'Lenehan will come back soon. She should hear this as well. No point in having rangers and not keeping them informed.'

Gliding back from her tour of the forest surrounds, Lenehan took up a position close enough to join in the conversation, but removed enough to be able to scan their location. She stood relaxed, yet ready for combat, sword out. She held some cheese in the other hand, from which she took the occasional bite. Daniel felt an inappropriate urge to giggle at the incongruous picture it made.

Nilofar came back and settled in between Poe and Daniel.

'She's coming, Your Highness. She was distracted by a small herd of deer. She tells me it's been far too long since she last hunted.' Nilofar's tongue came out and cleaned a smear of red from one of his talons.

'We'll just have to start this without her. I want to know everything. My mother only recently informed me that the sceptre had been stolen and the royal guards murdered. No one thought to tell me about this at the time. She mentioned that some wild wizard opened a Gateway to another world, hiding the treasure far away and Poe sent Nilofar through to scout for it,' she sounded slightly scornful, but didn't apologise to the humiliated little dragon.

'I want to know how they managed it, who was involved, why I wasn't told and who this boy is. Right now, wizard.' She fixed Poe with cold, blue eyes.

'Your mother and I didn't want to worry you so close to the ceremony; what with all the things you had to do to get ready and the excitement of a thirteenth birthday. We wanted it to be special for you.' Poe started.

'It was going to be very special for me and the whole country if the sceptre wasn't found, now, wasn't it?' the Princess butted in, voice quivering with fury. 'It's the most important moment in my life until the day I am crowned. How could you think it was acceptable not to keep me informed and to only send Nilofar to retrieve it?'

'Your Highness,' Nilofar's voice was soft and meek. 'They didn't want to alert the whole Court that something terrible had happened. They were also unsure of where exactly the Gateway was going to send whomever they asked to go. Who else should they send, but someone expendable and small enough to attract very little notice? The fact that I may not have come back with the sceptre in time, or at all, was also considered. Better me than anyone else.'

She fixed Nilofar with an unwavering glare from those piercing eyes of hers and eventually he lowered his head and broke the contact.

'I understand the reasoning. But I will not be treated like a child. You will remember where your loyalties lie from here on, won't you?'

Daniel got the impression, from the distasteful twist of her mouth as she said this, that threatening her friends was not something the Princess enjoyed. Her eyes met his. They were shadowed with tiredness and fear. And a whole lot of love for the people around her.

'I will not lose you, Nilo, nor Poe. Look at the state he is in, due to this mess.' She reached over and picked up the dragon, for all as though he were a toy, and settled him on her lap. 'No more secrets.'

'No, Your Highness,' Nilofar almost purred, as she scratched his spikes and ridges.

'And I have been Rishana to you for too many years, my dragon, for you to address me formally forever. I have had enough of being angry. It was just that I was afraid of what would happen if we failed.'

'We?' Lenehan broke in.

Rishana glanced at the ranger.

'Of course - you don't think I'd wander off in this wild forest of yours, without you all to help me get the sceptre back to Mother, now would you, ranger?' When the Princess smiled, Daniel decided, she was exceptionally pretty. He blushed.

'We can't risk the heir to the throne. As it is, if your mother knew where you really were -  so close to allimagators, with dusk only a few hours away, and a wild wizard tracking your companions, do you think she would spare me from the headsman?' Lenehan spoke to the Princess, but her eyes kept sweeping the area.

'Peace, Lenehan. I have three rangers, a wizard, a dragon and a gargon as companions. I am sure Mother will not be too upset with me. I hardly covered my tracks. The guards we 'lost' will be able to track us here in no time. Though they may be a little upset with us for giving them the slip, they aren't that far away.  Now, Poe, why do you look like death?' She turned to glance at Daniel. 'They wouldn't spare the time to fill me in. Poe was following the weak link he had set up with you when you first met.'

Daniel thought about what she had just said. Then he remembered. When he had first come to Novarmere, Poe had shaken his hand, while clasping his arm. It hadn't just been a friendly gesture. Like Rullin, Poe had been making sure he could always find Daniel.

Daniel felt a keen stab of disappointment. He had been through a lot of fear and worry for nothing.

Poe coughed, his whole frame shaking with the effort it took.

'I apologise if I was rude, Princess. We had no idea what had happened to Daniel and I felt very responsible for his safety. It is because I sent him back into unknown dangers to find the sceptre, that he is now stranded in Novarmere.

'I was concerned when Nilofar turned up without him. We both agreed Rullin would have kept as tight a grip on him as he could. Thus, it was imperative we moved fast.'

Poe turned to Daniel.

'I'd given up when the Gateway collapsed. Nilo informed me that the other side was burned. That would explain the terrible backlash of magicks I received. I was devastated - believing not only that I had lost my dear friend, but that something may have happened to you and that we'd lost all hope of retrieving the stolen property.'

He shook his head.

'I was not in a good state. I don't have the training involved to maintain a Gateway and it's against the whole fabric of the Land to keep one open in any event. I managed to open one only through sheer necessity, which sadly nearly destroyed me. I'm not strong enough for this kind of magic and it fought me each step of the way. '

Poe ran his hand through his grey hair; a hand that shook and was lined, as though with great age.

'I will find a way to send you home, this I promise,' Poe bowed his head. 'I was hastening back to Andamooka when Nilofar popped into existence beside me. He had your backpack and the sceptre. Which was a good thing, as not moments later, Rishana arrived with Dagma. Having set out from the castle with her guards when she learned of the sceptre's disappearance, the Princess had given them the slip, to come on ahead. Finding the sceptre safe did much to soften her temper.'

'But, I have to say, coming out alone was a very dangerous and risky thing to do, Rishana,' Poe scolded, looking down at the Princess.

Rishana shrugged off his concern and turned to Lenehan, who took up the tale.

'We defeated the wolflings that attacked just after we sent you off on Mull. Sadly, Shar was also killed during the action. Wren appeared at the last moment and helped to overcome the beasts. She'd been tracking the one you came across, when it joined its pack-mates and all but destroyed the ranger group we sent after it. Wren was lucky to escape with her life.

'We managed to kill all three, but of course, we had already lost you by then. We wanted to set off to track you, but night was falling and the darklings were on the move. So we found shelter and today, the Princess, Poe and Nilofar found us,' Lenehan's words were succinct.

'We have very limited information about the  Gateways, but we could infer from the documents we had, that concentrating on where you wish to be, sends you to that place. I am deeply apologetic that you were not privy to this information, Daniel,' said Poe.

'Wouldn't have mattered,' Daniel swallowed his piece of toast before speaking. 'No matter where I appeared, Rullin would have found me. It's only a matter of time before he arrives here and probably with Tiggre - the morph!' He added when the others looked blank. He'd completely forgotten that they didn't know its name.

They all looked warily around, as though the morph would suddenly appear to devour them all.

'We will have to do something about that,' said Poe. Then he resumed his tale. 'Captain Remoh is going to be furious when he finally catches up with us. We have made him look incredibly foolish, being able to slip away so easily.'

Expressive royal brows drew down together in a frown – a look that Daniel was starting to find very familiar on the Princess.

'Are you calling me foolish too, wizard?'

'Don't pull rank. It's unbecoming,' a new voice stated from above.

Everyone leaped to their feet. Lenehan gave a sharp whistle and grabbed for her bow. Wren and Laningrin entered the clearing on the run, arrows notched.

They all looked up.

Hovering above them was the most extraordinary creature Daniel had ever seen. He'd never met a large dragon, or a gargoyle, but it was easy to see Dagma was truly a product of her heritage.

A body the size of a draught horse, with a long spiky tail; instead of the sleek lines built for speed and fighting, she had the awkward and rather dumpy body of gargoyles Daniel had seen in photos of old castles. She had thick, wide wings with claws at the end of each wing-tip, kind of like fingers, but with sharper ends.

Her head wasn't wedge shaped, like Nilofar's. It was blunter, with a flatter, more ape-like jaw. Her fangs, however, were every bit as long and vicious looking as a dragon's. Her talons weren't just for show, either.

'Stand easy,' Lenehan gave the order, as her bow dipped. Dagma was no threat to this company.

'Be welcome, Dagma. Land wherever you can find a spot.' The Princess smiled at the gargon.

Dagma looked around and tipped her wings slightly, preparing to land by the fire. When she did, the whole ground shook on impact. Daniel tried not to laugh. She was certainly not the most graceful of creatures. She folded her wings and shuffled closer.

'Are we discussing the retrieval of what we had lost?' Her eyes were large and liquid black pits. They were also full of anger and what Daniel could only describe as magic. He shivered.

'We are indeed. Allow me to introduce you to Daniel,' Poe nodded at Daniel.

'How do you do?' Daniel wanted to hit himself. Why couldn't he say something smart and witty when meeting new people?

Dagma inclined her ugly head. 'I do well, boy. Now, show me this wizard and I will eat him and then I can get the Princess home.'

'It's not that easy, Dagma. What if he spells you again?' Nilofar asked innocently.

The gargon snarled. Nilofar ducked under Daniel's shirt.

'I was tricked, you imbecilic little dragon. I was expecting a conversation with Lukas, as we had done several times before. This time, though, he pulled out a glowing sphere and it exploded in my face. I suspect he thought it would kill me, considering the dose, but the constitution of a gargon is not to be dismissed. When I awoke, the guards were all dead and the sceptre was gone. This is my shame.' The gargon didn't look very ashamed, Daniel decided.

'Yes, well, I don't think constructing one of those spheres is a simple job, so he won't have another one handy. Take my word for it.' Poe tried to look convincing. None of them were convinced.

'The Queen eventually agreed we should go and find you as swiftly as possible. She couldn't come in person, as a delegation from Bauhinia has arrived. They're making all kinds of war-like noises and the Queen needs to stay to use all her diplomatic power to contain that threat. We may have the guards at our back, but I'm not up to my full strength. We are a bit powerless, I'm afraid,' Poe finished his story.

Daniel smiled to himself. Wait till it was his turn to tell them about what he'd been up to. He had some theories he was just aching to discuss.

Dagma looked around at the forest. 'We can wait out the evening at Partler's. Then we can head back to Andamooka. I just can't see how we'll make it in time for your ceremony.'

There were general murmurs of agreement. Unless Dagma could somehow call Fireforge, there was going to be an empty ceremony at the Palace.  Nilofar emerged from Daniel's shirt and flew over to Poe, who handed him Daniel's backpack. Nilofar brought it to Daniel.

'Now, young Daniel, tell us everything that has happened to you since you returned to Novarmere. Please do explain who this Cassandra is, whom you mentioned earlier.' Nilofar blinked his bright red eyes at Daniel and smiled in, what Daniel assumed, was an encouraging way. Daniel didn't have the heart to tell him he looked horrendous, exposing a mouth full of fangs.

'It'll have to wait,' Dagma suddenly stood. She raised her head and sniffed the air.

'What is it?' Laningrin spoke up, watching the gargon's eyes tracking through the late afternoon light.

'Darklings - find some shelter!'
In Honour of Wren

There wasn't a lot of time. Not that the rangers needed it. The fire was out, the food abandoned and everyone on the move very quickly. Dagma leaped into the air with Nilofar, heading southeast with all possible speed.

'Can't they help?' Daniel puffed, as the rangers pushed them into a fast pace. Explaining that he wasn't an athlete wasn't going to do him any good.

'They will come back if we falter. But darklings will not be afraid of a small dragon, nor a hybrid. Dagma is a pet, not a warrior. The darklings are made to repel such things. We can't afford to lose either of our companions. Best that they are not called upon for defence.' Poe clung to Mull's back. Daniel tried to keep pace with the donkey for as long as he could.

'How far is this farm?' he panted.

'Not much further now. We can only hope Dagma gave us enough warning. We need to get indoors.'

'Don't they usually hunt later in the evening?' Daniel wanted to know.

'Save your breath,' Lenehan snapped, adjusting her long gait so that she didn't leave the Princess undefended.

Daniel complied. He didn't want to get left behind and he was straining his short legs anyway. He noted that the Princess ran with the ease of long practice. Not for the first time, Daniel wished he'd made more of an effort in gym class.

They came bursting out of the dense forest into a smattering of trees and tilled farm lands. Dagma and Nilofar were rousing the farmhands, opening barn doors and herding in horses and cows.

Daniel risked a look back.

At first he couldn't see much. The sun was getting low in the sky, as the afternoon had worn on whilst they had talked. Even with the longer summer days, dusk wasn't all that far away.

Daniel glanced forward again to check where he was going, afraid he'd trip. He then tried one last time to see over his shoulder.

Above the trees, blending into the skyline, came three dark shapes. They were midnight blue/black in colour. They would blend completely into an evening sky, he thought with a shudder. He stumbled, but Laningrin was there, catching his elbow, hauling him back to his reluctant feet.

'Hurry, lad.' Laningrin's face was pale and covered in sweat. Daniel could see blood staining the bindings around his shoulder.

Dagma left her post by the barn and flew out over their heads, screeching. A lightning bolt spewed out of her mouth.

Then they were there. Mull, Poe and Nilofar headed into the barn and the Princess, Lenehan, Laningrin and Daniel straight into the farmer's house. Daniel folded in half and collapsed by the doorway, staring back out through the frame, as no one had bothered to close the door.

'Where's Wren?' the Princess' voice rose in panic. 'What happened to Wren?'

Daniel gave a yell and pointed.

They had run so fast and heeded nothing except the need to find shelter, that they hadn't paid enough attention to the whereabouts of the whole company. Wren, determined to ensure that the others would reach cover, had planted herself firmly in one spot.

Now they could see her kneeling, just outside of the forest. She had her arrows by her side - one notched, the bow raised. With the darklings getting closer, she sighted and let fly.

Daniel raised his gaze. He could see Dagma in the air, coughing up lightning bolts and then the arrow sped into the melee.

But it was the darklings that made him gasp.

Three large shapes that looked like dark canvass flying through the air. Or manta rays. They were broad, silent and deadly. One peeled off to the side as Wren's arrow flew straight and true into its sheet-like body. It marked where she was and didn't appear affected at all by the arrow which clung for a moment, then fell to the ground.

Dagma stopped trying to distract them and instead, flew back in the direction of the barn. It looked as though she was trying to draw the darklings away from Wren's direct line to the farmhouse.

But the darklings weren't following. They were too busy flying in circles around Wren. She paused for a moment to gather her arrows (Daniel heard Lenehan whispering urgently, 'Leave them. Leave them. Move it.') and then leaped to her feet and bolted towards the farmhouse. Such was her panic she didn't even bother with the road, but leapt straight over the fence and headed across the field.

But it was too late. They could all see that. The Princess started to speak and then her breath caught in her throat. Lenehan took a couple of strides out onto the porch before Laningrin grabbed her and Daniel stared, trying hard to deny what he could see.

Wren was close enough that they could see her face. She could tell by the looks on theirs that she wasn't going to make it. For one moment she locked eyes with Daniel and then she stopped, pressed one arm across her body, fist to shoulder, in salute to Lenehan and turned to face the darkling at her back.

The thing closed over her and Wren was enveloped in blue darkness. They could see her pull her knives, as the short sword fell. Then they couldn't see her at all and a thin scream came from within the darkness that was the darkling.

'What is it doing to her?' Daniel didn't know how he could form words. His mouth, lips and even his tongue felt numb. The hair on his arms stood straight up, as the thin screaming kept coming.

Lenehan and Laningrin were silent, Lenehan locked in Laningrin's arms. The Princess had her face buried in her white hands. The farmer, Partler, turned sorrowful grey eyes to Daniel.

'It is tearing out her soul and sucking the life from her, as far as we know. Darkling magicks are older than living memory. They come from the times of the ancient war. They are as bound to this Land as the wizards who created them. There are only three that we know of, still in existence. We don't know if the wizards who originally made them were unable to craft more, or if the darklings simply destroyed them before they could attempt to do so. They only appear when dusk settles and disappear again sometime during the night. They reappear briefly at dawn, before vanishing to wherever it is that they hide during the day. Rarely do they venture far from the forest's edge, so it has been rumoured that their magic is confined to the woodlands. They attack small parties of people, never larger than around ten, for some reason, and they appear to be daunted by large dragons. At least, Fireforge is never bothered by them. They are a mystery six hundred years old and no one can study them, because they kill all who try. No one is really sure what it is they do to those they consume, but you can always hear the screams. May the Goddess rest her soul.' And he bowed his head, sorrowfully.

Daniel put his hands over his ears. It didn't cut out the noise.

'We have to make it stop. We can't leave Wren out in this.' He couldn't bear the idea. 'There has to be a way to save her.'

As if in a dream, Lenehan turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were wide, pain-filled and full of loss. She could shoulder no more - the attack by the pack of wolflings on the rangers' township, the loss of Wren's team, Shar, Tod and now Wren, herself. Lenehan was standing through sheer force of will and the help of Laningrin's arms.

'There is nothing to be done, lad. We can only do what is right and bear witness to the passing of a warrior,' Laningrin sighed, face softened by tears. 'There is no shame in grieving for the fallen.'

'Don't they have some sort of weakness? Can't they be killed?' Daniel refused to believe that anything was invincible – especially as they had a wizard in their party.

Lenehan shrugged her shoulders in silent despair and Laningrin was forced to answer again.

'If we had significantly greater numbers here, we could have possibly deterred them. Now, they have tasted Wren's fear. I don't know if reinforcements would be enough. Fireforge has been asked about how they can be destroyed but no dragon, he tells us, can speak of the war. Believe me, the destruction of these beasts is a priority, but fire merely angers them and as you can see, lightning does much the same.'

'But everything can be killed by something! They can't be immortal,' Daniel raged.

'No, nothing is immortal, Daniel, but many things can be long lived and can defy human explanation.'

Then, as simple as that, the sound was cut off. Daniel's ears almost didn't believe it. He could still hear the echo of Wren's pain, lashing the buildings. Then the darkling rose up to join its companions and they headed back into the forest. As quickly as that, it was over.

There, on the ground where Wren had been, was a crumbled mass of clothing. All that was left of her was her ranger uniform. Daniel felt his stomach heave. The darkling had destroyed her completely.

'Disintegrated,' the Princess's voice came, as if from miles away. 'They disintegrate the flesh after the soul is taken,' she whispered, as if to herself.

Daniel wished she had, in fact, kept that piece of information to herself.

Standing up, he only just made it to the edge of the porch before his lunch left him. He knelt there, heaving, and two hands suddenly gripped his shoulders. Laningrin.

'That's it. No shame, no shame,' the ranger murmured.

But Daniel felt the heat of a blush. Humiliation curled around his chest and constricted his heart. Surely Wren deserved more than this?

Laningrin handed him a flask and Daniel washed his mouth out with brandy. It made him cough and splutter, which disguised his tears. He'd never seen anyone die before. It was too big for his mind to get around.

The rest of the group came in from the barn. Dagma crouched outside, blunt square head resting on the porch steps. Everyone was silent, the horror all too real, all too present. Whatever was left of Wren could be felt in the flickering anguish moving in waves around the group.

The Princess coughed.

'Someone should go and pick up Wren's uniform,' she said, her voice deadened with grief.

With a sigh, Laningrin walked out into the gathering twilight. Dagma lumbered alongside him, her voice a rumble as she spoke only for Laningrin's ears.

Poe came over and rested his hand gently on Daniel's arm for a moment. He also quietly gave Daniel back his backpack; he'd carried it with him on Mull from the campsite. Daniel felt the reassuring weight of the sceptre and Nilofar's candlestick. He only wished they'd had time to discuss the sceptre before the darklings had turned up.

Things may have turned out differently if he had.

Partler's wife started setting the long table which served farmhands, family and guests alike. Daniel became aware of the smell of dinner; more cheese, greens and bread, warm from the baking. He hunched over in denial of his basic need for sustenance. Somehow, it felt wrong to do something as normal as eating in the wake of such loss.

When finally they all sat down to the meal, Laningrin joined them. He'd stowed Wren's tunic and leggings with her weapons, on the porch. There was quite a crowd. Poe sat next to Laningrin and Lenehan. The Princess was at the head of the table, Partler and his wife either side of her in honour of the fact it was their home.

Nilofar lay along Daniel's shoulders, tail loosely and comfortingly around his neck and five farmhands made up the rest of the diners. There wasn't much talk, just a subdued whispering for someone to pass the salt, or to hand over the mustard, as they helped themselves to the food.

Eventually the meal was done and dusk gave way to night. Stars came out in a blanket across the sky and Daniel could feel reaction settling in, as his body craved sleep.

Partler, his wife and the farmhands all bowed to the Princess and made as though to leave.

'Wait Partler, please,' she said. 'We would not turn you out of your own home. We're more than happy to take quarters in the barn, with Mull and Dagma.'

After some argument, where she eventually had to pull rank, Rishana got her way and the companions left the farmers to their own disheartened rest.

Once they were all in the barn, the Princess, who had stopped to collect Wren's uniform, grabbed a burning torch and bade everyone take a seat.

'We are gathered here tonight to wish the spirit of our departed friend a speedy journey to the Other Realms. She shall be remembered with honour, for all the days of our lives. May she find the Light of Hope, the Strength of the Love and Home with the Goddess,' she said as she placed the clothing onto a small pile of dried hay and put the torch to it.

'May she find Home,' the others all murmured.

Everyone except Daniel, who found he couldn't speak at all.

The Power of the Sceptre

There was a long moment of silence, and then Princess Rishana took a seat next to Lenehan.

'She gave her life to distract those monsters, so that we could all live and the sceptre could find its way home. Let it not be in vain.' Lenehan's voice was hard and scratchy.

All eyes turned to Daniel, who sat cuddled around his bag. Now was the time. He needed to tell them everything he knew.

He pushed the memory of Wren's anguished face out of his mind. He pushed aside the screaming as her soul was torn apart by the darkling. He looked at Poe, taking strength from those tired, but caring, eyes.

'As Lenehan has told you, I was sent ahead on Mull whilst the rangers faced the wolflings...' 'That had killed the others' he had been about to add. He swallowed the words and skirted the black hole opening up in his mind.

Nilofar's tail tightened a little and then relaxed.

'I was lost for a while, after I ran away from an allimagator,' another pause whilst he heard the soft gasps from the listeners, 'but Rullin found me. I guess his magic confused me and led me straight to him. I woke up this morning and spoke with Rullin before he left. Then you guys came and I used the talking poker to break the window.'

'Talking poker?' Poe echoed; eyebrows knitted in confusion.

'Everything in that cottage is spelled. Everything talks, or walks or does something unusual. Cassandra,' he explained 'is a lady in a painting in the living room. She's been with Rullin for nearly twelve years.'

'He's been living in that place, using it as a base right under our noses, for twelve years?' Lenehan was furious. 'What is the point of the rangers if we can't find something like that?'

'I'd say you didn't find it because you weren't looking,' Poe smiled slightly. 'You'd be amazed at how many things stay hidden in plain sight, because they weren't wanted, looked for, or expected. We probably would have passed right on by, if Tiggre hadn't been outside on sentry duty. Rullin is a very accomplished wizard.'

Daniel thought he could hear a hint of awe in Poe's voice. He shook his head.

'At some stage we need to go back and un-spell them. I promised them that they would get to rest. We may have to check with Cassandra, but I don't think living forever trapped in a painting would be much fun, do you?'

'We'll deal with the cottage later. Right now, we need to know anything you can tell us about Rullin, who he works for and what he plans on doing,' the Princess cut in, her grief making her curt.

'Sorry. From what I learned from Rullin and Cassandra, Rullin was tossed out of the sorcerers' Academy, hates the fact that wild magicks are considered deviant and wants revenge. His Lord (he didn't mention him by name), wants to rule the whole of the Known World and sees Novarmere only as a handy starting point. I guess because Rullin has so much power here. With this power and the knowledge given to him from this Lord, Rullin was able to learn how to create Gateways with a lot more ease than Poe.'

The others muttered amongst themselves, whilst Poe looked frustrated.

'We need to warn the Queen.'

'I don't know how to counter his magic. I'm too weak.'

'Let me at him, I'll shove a lightning bolt up his....'

'Dagma!'

'I'll fry him alive and bring you back his bones.' That comment came from an over excited Nilofar. Daniel unwound Nilofar's tail before he choked.

'Quiet!' Rishana shouted over the steadily increasing threats. 'Daniel, is there anything else - anything that could help us at all?'

He smiled. He pulled the sceptre out of the bag and handed it to the Princess.

'Here is all the help you need,' he said.

Rishana grasped the sceptre and rolled the plain, short staff in her hands.

'It's just a piece of decorative wood, Daniel. Sadly, it's a symbol of office, nothing more.'

'You're wrong, you know.' He wasn't too sure if correcting a Princess in front of her troops was a great idea, but there was nothing for it.

'The sceptre is everything. It's the sceptre that has the real power. That's why Rullin hasn't started taking over Novarmere. He can't. Long ago, the Queens of Novarmere all had magicks and the sceptre was their wand. The power was so great, it nearly wiped them out, so they stopped using it. In time, everyone simply forgot that it was more than just a symbol of power.

'The sceptre is the most powerful creation in all of Novarmere, though I have to admit, my source on these facts isn't exactly reliable. I don't trust Rullin, but Cassandra told me she and Rullin had discussed it at length. He has books on the subject. Old texts his Lord has gathered from all over the world.

'The sceptre is the most powerful wand in history. It was the most significant creation of the wizards, back in the time of the Wizard War, when sorcerers were trying to wipe wild magicks and wizards from the face of the Land. With, I might add, the help of traitors who believed that once the wizards were destroyed, they would be left to rule the Land and the wild magicks themselves.

'The sorcerers were going to betray them, though,' Daniel explained. 'Rullin's obsessed with the differences between their magic and his. Well, and yours, I guess, Poe - the magicks of the wizards. But every so often, there is one born of royalty who still possesses enough of the true magic of Novarmere. She could learn to control the sceptre's magic, I just know it. If you would try, you could use it to find and destroy Rullin.'

Everyone stared at Daniel as though he had grown a second head.

Then there was chaos.

Dagma roared; lightning shot everywhere. Nilofar flew off Daniel's shoulders to do a fast and furious lap of the barn, flames dancing (a little dangerously, considering their location) in his wake.

The rangers were excited and started talking about guarding the most precious artefact in the Known World and the Princess nearly dropped the sceptre, staring at the nondescript little wooden 'stick' in something akin to awe.

'It's too dangerous,' said Poe. 'You have no idea how to control magic, no training and no preparation. Who knows if you have any magic at all? It could destroy you.'

Rishana frowned. She didn't appear to like the word 'no'.

'With the sceptre, you could reverse Rullin's torture of the furnishings, take his mark off me, and send me back home,' Daniel tried to catch Poe's eye. He didn't want the wizard to caution the Princess from attempting to use the sceptre.

But even as he finished talking, Daniel could see the impossibilities of what he was asking. Poe hadn't the training to maintain a Gateway, or to protect them from the darklings. How could he help the Princess negotiate a magic so old, no one had even known of its existence?

His heart sank as their reality sank in. Rullin was coming and they were no better prepared now than they had been before he dropped his bombshell.

'I can only try,' the Princess said.

'With the power your Mother has granted me over all things magic, I forbid it,' Poe retorted.

'It is the only way, Poe. If I don't try, Daniel may be trapped here forever and Rullin could destroy us all. You know this to be true. You can hardly walk. You are no match for him. Especially after the punishment you took when the Gateway collapsed from the other side. You know that Mother has no magic whatsoever.' The Princess was cool and controlled.

She glanced at Daniel. She knew. There was nothing else they could do.

'I think we all need to get some rest. I'll work on the sceptre's magic in the morning. Rest, Poe,' she added firmly, as he opened his mouth to argue.

The Princess and Daniel retired to the far end of the barn, with Dagma and Nilofar in attendance. Lenehan, Poe and Laningrin curled up in the hay, closer to the door. Just in case.

Daniel woke the next day, a piece of hay sticking into his cheek. Putting his glasses on, Daniel found Poe sitting staring at his hands, his face a dark mask of anguish.

'Poe, what's the matter?'

'Look at me, Daniel,' Poe turned his head and speared Daniel with his anguished gaze.

'I'll be twenty one soon. Twenty one! And I look like someone three times that number. I need a staff to lean on these days, and I'm no warrior. I'm not the person to train the Princess to deal with whatever magic the sceptre throws at her.'

'You're all we've got, Poe. You can't give up now. You managed a Gateway. You're the Princess's wizard.'

'I should have been the one distracting the darklings yesterday.'

'Then you'd be the one who was dead,' Nilofar said, joining the conversation. 'No one survives the darklings and you know it. Wren knew it, which is why she chose to be the one doing the distracting. She knew she was expendable.'

'Expendable!' Poe exploded. 'You speak of someone worth more than you or me. She was a ranger and ...'

'And she knew that a ranger's first responsibility is to keep the Queen, her Heirs and the people of Novarmere safe. In saving us, Wren did all of that.' Lenehan and Rishana had joined them while Poe had been lamenting.

'She could ask for no finer way to end her days. Perhaps a gentler one, however,' Lenehan added.

There was silence.

Then the Princess brought out the sceptre.

'We have one day. I must learn all I can about how to work the power of this stick and defeat Rullin before he can interrupt the ceremony. Tomorrow is my thirteenth birthday. Whatever happens, we can't allow him to stop the Bonding ceremony with the sceptre. It cannot Bond with whomever it is Rullin has prepared for it.

'There were always only two options and now there is only one. It must be me. So let's go get some breakfast with our good farmer folk and then head back to Rullin's. Along the way, Wizard Poe, I will require all the instruction you can give me. Do not let Wren's sacrifice be in vain, everyone.'

They all trooped outside to head into the farmhouse for breakfast.

Daniel snagged Nilofar out of the air as he swooped past.

'What did she mean, there were two options? Has there always been a known alternative to Rishana?' he asked the dragon.

Nilofar glanced around, making sure everyone had gone ahead and were out of earshot.

'The Queen could only have one child. There is a saying here, Daniel – 'the Queen must have an heir and one to spare'. If something were to happen to the Princess, there would be someone to take her place. They would either step into her place, or be used as a delegate, when only someone of royal blood was needed for negotiations.

'But with only one child, the Queen had to turn to her sister's children. The Duchess Rivin had a son, Kohln and a daughter Leena. They were to be other options in place of Rishana if, the Goddess forbid, she did not survive. Leena would also have been offered to the sceptre for Bonding, had she survived.'

'Okay - two things. Why is it always the girls who inherit the throne and what happened to Leena?' Daniel stopped walking and held out his arms, so that Nilofar could come to rest in them to finish his story.

Nilofar shrugged. 'Unfortunately the law is the law and seeing as tradition is what dictates how royal blood reacts to just about everything,' he added sourly, 'for some obscure reason  the law demands that only daughters are heirs.

'As to what happened to Leena; don't ever raise this particular subject with Rishana. They were born on the same day and there was much rejoicing. Once it was known that the Queen would have no more children, Leena was proclaimed 'Spare Heir'.'

Daniel couldn't help it. He felt bubbles rising in his chest and snorted on a laugh.

'They actually get called the 'Spare Heir'? That's appalling. Aren't they insulted?'

'It's a great honour,' Nilofar glared at him.

'Sorry, sorry. Keep going.'

'Anyway, when they were five, Leena was named Spare in a wonderful ceremony we all enjoyed. By then her brother, young Prince Kohln had been born, to be raised as a diplomat. Everyone was delighted. But on the girls' fifth birthday, on the day of the Proclamation, Leena was out on her new pony with her mother and they were attacked.

'Everyone saw it. They were racing the horses back to the stables, their guards already killed. A winged beast swooped down and stole them right out of their saddles. Never to be seen again. The Queen felt her sister die, as their connection was very real. They were twins. We can only hope that neither the Duchess nor Leena suffered greatly.'

'That's terrible. Don't worry. I won't bring it up with Rishana. She'd probably bite my head off, anyway.' He added bitterly and started walking toward the farmhouse again.

Didn't anyone survive in this hard Land? Why did they all fight so hard to be linked to it and to be a part of it? At every turn, all Daniel could see was that it tried to kill them.

'Did they ever discover what kind of winged beast it was?' he asked, just before they went inside.

Nilofar shook his wedged head.

'No, that they did not. While everyone could see what was happening, the castle is a long way from the open meadows where they were riding. To on-lookers, it was merely a winged blob. Dagma and I were elsewhere at the time.'

Daniel bit his lip. Poor Rishana. He knew what it was like to be an only child, to have to invent his own games and play alone all the time. But he'd always been like that. He couldn't imagine what it had been like for her. To have a playmate her exact age and then have that person ripped away from her.

Breakfast was a tense affair. The farmers obviously needed to get back to their farm work, but didn't want to be rude to their royal guest and everyone else could still feel the loss of Wren's soul and that of the other rangers as well. Poe wasn't talking to Rishana because he was too afraid of what could happen if she decided to wield the sceptre and let loose its power.

Rishana remained gracious to their hosts and eventually she and the companions waved them goodbye.

They had only just reached the forest edge when Rishana pulled them up.

'We're not heading to the Palace. We are going back to the cottage,' she informed them. She kept her eyes on Poe, daring him to challenge her authority. 'I need to learn all I can about this sceptre and we know the most comprehensive account of it is in that cottage. Also, Rullin will find Daniel no matter where we take him.'

'Which means it would make more sense to head for the castle,' said Poe.

'I will not cower in the castle and wait for the wizard to arrive.'

'It's not cowering. It's common sense. Your Mother can protect you and the royal guards will deal with Tiggre.'

'Tiggre will eat them alive. How can they fight something that can change at will between small house cat and large beast? Tiggre could lose himself amongst the castle cats too easily. Mother cannot spare the time right now. Unless you think going to war with Bauhinia is a good idea, she is needed in those negotiations.'

The companions watched on as Poe and Rishana argued, their voices getting louder and louder. Daniel felt he was at a tennis match.

'This is final, wizard. I will not argue with you anymore. You will teach me how to unlock any magicks I may have, as we go. We need to protect Daniel, Poe,' her voice softened, trying to find a way around Poe's hard exterior. 'He doesn't belong here and if we can't protect him, he'll never get home. Do you really want that on your conscience?'

'Stop wheedling.'

She grinned. Poe didn't stand a chance.

'Come on everyone; let's go find ourselves another wizard to play with.'

'She sounds almost delighted to go hunting,' Daniel whispered to Poe, as he helped the wizard they did have, into the saddle upon Mull.

'She has a fighting spirit, does our Princess.' Poe looked at her fondly and then turned to Daniel. 'Just like you.'

'Me? I think you have the wrong person. All I do is get in the way,' said Daniel.

'You found the key to destroying Rullin's plans. If the Princess can unlock the sceptre's power, we may be able to rid the kingdom of his magicks. Though if she should get killed, the Queen will lock us all up, until we rot, in her dungeons,' he added glumly.

'What a lovely thought.' Daniel shuddered. He couldn't get locked up for all eternity. He had to get home to Darling.

Rishana led them away from the farm and back to the clearing they had left the previous day. There, she called a halt.

'Okay, I need some sort of lesson in this. Poe, how do you access your magic? How did you know you had wild magic anyway?' Rishana sat on a log. Lenehan and Laningrin both stood, looking in opposite directions, bows at the ready.

Poe dismounted from Mull and hobbled over to sit beside Rishana. Daniel sat as well and Nilofar curled up on his lap, smoke drifting up out of his nostrils every so often.

'I discovered that I had a form of magic when I was thirteen which, all in all, appears to be a very momentous age here in Novarmere. I was being bullied in my home village by some older boys. I can remember thinking 'I just wish you'd all leave me alone and go home.''

Daniel grinned. 'So what happened?' he asked, when Poe paused.

'They all suddenly turned around and walked home. They were still yelling insults, but there was nothing they could do. Their feet took them home. Needless to say, this didn't help my popularity. My family sent me to the capital to see if the old castle wizard there could discover what was wrong with me.

'Wizard Fry didn't have a lot of power. My kind of magic was scary for him. He sent me to the Sorcerers Academy. They tested me.' Here Poe frowned, his eyes going dark as if remembering something very painful. Daniel shifted uncomfortably and glanced at the Princess.

She leaned over and patted Poe's hand encouragingly.

'It's okay Poe, you can skip that part. We know you didn't stay there.'

'Thank you, Your Highness,' he answered formally. 'I was on my way back, the sorcerers having threatened to strip me of my magicks if I didn't leave at once, when I decided to visit the Mirrione Monastery. The monks there are famed for their knowledge and their tolerance for difference.

'I spent a number of years there. I read everything they had in their extensive libraries and I practised with an old Abbott who showed a remarkable ability for teaching me about wild magicks, though he never owned to having any himself. Then we heard the wizard for the Royal Family had passed away and I made my way to Andamooka. The Abbott told me I would be needed. So here I am.'

'Can you condense what you learned about finding your power into one easy lesson?' Rishana gave a twisted smile.

'Princess, I could feel it after I used it that first time. It's like a warmth curled up in my chest, as comforting to me as my own heart beat. I pull it up through my chest into my mind and I will things 'To Be So'. And they are ... usually. I am not strong enough at the moment for that to happen, or I would be of much more help.'

She frowned at his words and the frown deepened as she tried to concentrate on the sceptre, gripping it hard. Nothing happened.

'I can't feel a thing,' she confessed, shaking the sceptre as if it was broken.

Poe put one hand over hers and the other directly onto the wood and then shook his head.

'I can't feel it either. Nothing. It's dead.'

'Dead?' asked Daniel.

'Every living thing has a kind of signature, a pulse of life and magic within. I can feel the life within plants and animals and things created from them. This was cut from a tree, I assume, but somehow has lost its feeling of 'life'. I can't feel a pulse of magic in it at all. I'm sorry,' Poe directed his apology to the Princess.

'It has to be there somewhere. Rullin wants this stick,' she fumed. 'The very fact he has gone to such great lengths to get his hands on it, even to the extent of placing Lukas in the palace as a steward, tells me that he knows how to make this work. He's boasted of the things he means to do with it, both to Daniel and to Cassandra. If he thinks he can do it, then I should be able to as well!'

Daniel gawped. He didn't think it worked like that, but it wasn't his place to say anything. The Princess flushed at his expression.

'Well, it's all true. Even if I didn't express myself well. I just need to find the thing inside me that will work the thing inside it.'

Again she was silent, trying to will something to happen. Daniel watched for a while and then got bored.

'Come on, Nilo. Let's go talk to Laningrin,' he muttered, too low for Rishana and Poe to hear.

He tucked Nilofar up on his shoulder and walked over to the ranger. The ranger didn't move his head, or stop scanning the forest, when Daniel came up beside him.

'Ah, hello, lad. Princess Rishana not doing so well with the sceptre, hmm?' There was a smile in his deep rumbling voice.

'Nothing appears to be happening at all, to tell you the truth. It was getting a bit boring. She's just sitting there, frowning at the wooden stick and Poe is muttering about dangers and the stick being dead.' Daniel shrugged. 'Not exactly action packed.'

'Life isn't always about action, lad,' the ranger said.

Daniel found this a bit hypocritical.

'But you live with action all the time. You get to hunt and fight and stay on the move. How can you say, 'life isn't about action'?'

The ranger allowed his eyes to meet Daniel's for a moment before he went back to watching the trees.

'For certain, my life has seen more action than the average, but there is always a cost, lad. Have you forgotten Wren, Shar and Tod and the others? What I was meaning, though, is that it is in the stillness of moments that you can discover your ability to cope with the need for action.'

This was confusing, and Daniel told him so. The ranger smiled.

'If you never knew quiet, you would not know sound. If you never knew daylight, you would not understand night. Thus it is with action and stillness. For you cannot understand how much action takes it out of you, nor how fast it is all going, until you can hold yourself in stillness.'

Daniel didn't know if he really understood, but he could see how the rangers would be enjoying a moment of quiet. So he nodded and started to watch the forest, too. It gave him something to do, other than worry about the next appearance of Rullin. Nilofar rested his chin on his front legs, and breathed smoke in Daniel's face, as he daydreamed.

There was quiet and peace for a while.

Then Poe let out a yell.

And the Princess shrieked.

Laningrin, Daniel and Lenehan started running towards them before they even thought about it. The rangers drew their swords, eyes darting around to try to find the cause for the shouting. Dagma had long since disappeared in search of food. The gargon appeared to have an insatiable appetite. Daniel hoped the Princess' yell would bring her back.

'What is it?' Lenehan yelled.

'Who is attacking? I can't see anything!' Laningrin was frantic.

'It's nothing,' said Rishana.

'Sorry. The sceptre moved,' Poe looked sheepish.

'Moved?' Lenehan, Laningrin and Daniel asked simultaneously and a little incredulously at the idea that such a tiny thing had warranted such a reaction.

'I was holding it and trying to get it to work, then I put it down.' (she glanced at Poe as he snorted), 'All right, I threw it away in disgust! It lay there ... and then it sort of ... wiggled.'

Lenehan looked sceptical. She stepped forward and poked the sceptre with her toe.

'Doesn't look like it's got much wiggle in it, Princess,' she commented, amusement in her voice.

'I'm telling you, it moved all on its own. Poe, you saw it. Tell them!'

The wizard nodded.

'She's right, you know. There was definitely a wiggle, all on its own. Princess, whatever you are doing, you must be getting through to it. Keep trying.'

'Getting through to it?' Daniel whispered to Nilofar. 'Has everyone gone mad? It's a piece of wood.'

'You were the one who was so convinced that it's the key to everything. Now you think it's just a stick?' the dragon huffed.

'I mean, it is the key, but it isn't an animate object,' Daniel said, but trailed off.

How did he know that for sure? What if the sceptre was a sentient being? What did any of them know about it? If Poe thought they were making a breakthrough, then perhaps they were.

The Princess picked it up again and Daniel could see the sweat shining on her face. Her hands were shaking and she was even more pale than usual.

'Just take a deep breath and try to make something happen,' Poe instructed.

No one moved.

Silence.

Then, with a blast that knocked them all down, a tree exploded nearby.

'Cover your head!'

'Drop to the ground!'

Daniel lay there coughing as dust and tree bits swirled around them.

More silence as the dust settled.

'Sorry,' the Princess's voice came from the other side of the clearing.
The Cottage in the Clearing

Daniel struggled to his feet, his ears still singing a little. He sneezed.

Nilofar, who had been blown clear across the campsite, shook himself like a dog and crouched low behind the log where Poe lay, senseless. The Princess had been blown backwards, but somehow had remained on her feet.

With a terrific crash somewhat reminiscent of the recent explosion, Dagma landed nearby.

'What happened? What's going on? Can't a gargon get something to eat without everyone losing control of the situation?' she fumed, picking Laningrin up by the scruff of his neck and shaking him to remove the debris.

The donkey let out a loud bray. Tied, as he was, to a tree near the one recently blown up, Daniel was amazed Mull hadn't keeled over in shock.

They all started to gradually regroup, Lenehan helping Poe, who was slowly regaining consciousness, back into a seated position.

'Oh, my head,' he held the offending body part with both hands. 'I feel as though you split me apart.'

Rishana stepped closer; everyone else stepped back.

'I didn't mean to. I didn't ask the stupid thing to blow up a tree. I asked it to show me something, such as how it felt.'

'I'd say we now know that it feels pretty ticked off,' Laningrin commented drily.

'Can you blame it? No one's spoken to it in years, as far as we know. Plus,' Poe added, keeping a wary eye on the sceptre, 'we've all insulted it so many times by calling it a worthless stick. If that had happened to me, I'd be ready to blow something up too.'

'Stop speaking about it like it knows what you mean. It's disturbing,' Lenehan said, wiping the sweat from her face. Her voice had just a hint of unsteadiness in it.

'Time is getting on.' Nilofar looked at the position of the sun. 'We need to get back to the cottage and draw Rullin there. Don't forget, he can sense where Daniel is and is probably on the move, as we speak.'

'I've only just made it work. I can't possibly face a fully trained wizard yet,' the Princess fretted, as they packed up camp and set off.

'I'll be with you,' Poe said, doubtfully.

'We'll all be here, Rishana. Don't you worry; I have a score to settle with that wizard.' Dagma waddled along beside them, saplings collapsing underneath her as she passed.

'That's very reassuring,' the Princess muttered.

She caught Daniel looking at her and rolled her eyes.

He was the only one who would walk beside the Princess. Everyone else, even Poe, maintained what they judged to be a safe distance – to varying degrees. Some, like Lenehan, were almost out of hearing range.

'How did it feel?' he asked.

'Weird. One minute I was just sort of asking it to do something and the next, there was this pressure in my head. Then I was swept backwards, while the pressure zoomed out of the sceptre into the tree.

'The strangest thing is, Daniel, I can still feel it. It's like a small part of my mind that isn't just me anymore.' She looked at the sceptre in her hands. 'Does it look any different to you?'

Daniel took a good look at it, pushing his glasses back up his nose. He was amazed they'd survived the blast.

The sceptre was still a wooden stick, but the vine's leaves had golden edges, just like the ones on the Gateway Poe had re-opened. The colour was faint, but definitely there.

He pointed to them, careful not to touch the sceptre with his hands.

'It was all plain brown before. Can you see how the leaves are getting more defined? I think maybe it's waking up?' He tried to keep his voice casual. By the look on her face, he had not succeeded.

'It's no good to us if everyone is afraid of it.'

'It just blew up a tree. Maybe it even tried to kill us. Of course we're all afraid of it. We can't feel it in our heads like you can,' Daniel replied hotly.

He grimaced. He was arguing with a princess. But she was so annoying.

'I don't think it meant to hurt anyone. It just needed to vent,' Rishana said with a toss of her head.

You'd think I'd insulted her, not the twig, Daniel thought and then, she's only working on it because I told her what it means. I should cut her some slack... Now he was even arguing with himself.

'Anyway,' she continued, oblivious to his internal struggle. 'I'll make sure that doesn't happen again.'

'How?' Daniel challenged.

She glared at him.

'Has anyone ever told you it's rude to speak like that to a princess?'

'Has anyone ever told you, you only pull that princess stuff when you're afraid or angry? Otherwise it's 'Oh please, call me Rishana',' Daniel snapped, raising his voice to mimic her tone.

'Why, you insufferable ... creature!' Rishana stopped walking altogether and turned on Daniel. 'How dare you speak to me like that?'

The other companions all stopped and tried hard not to catch each other's eyes.

'What is this? We're all just a little tense at the moment,' Nilofar spoke nervously, his eyes on the sceptre. 'The shock of losing Wren and discovering the sceptre's power -' he faltered as Rishana rounded on him.

'You stay out of this!'

'Princess, he's not from here. They don't have royalty in the place called Fadden,' Nilofar seemed like he was trying to sound soothing, but given his gravelly voice, he didn't manage to pull it off.

'I don't care where he's from. Manners are universal,' she snapped, turning away and storming up the path. Daniel thought the same might apply to her, but he quickly shut that thought down.

She'd only taken a handful of steps, when two bushes burst into flames.

'And you, keep your feelings under control,' she growled at the sceptre.

The fire went out.

'You spoke to it. It heard you!' Poe stared wide eyed at the singed bushes.

'I can feel it in my head,' the Princess admitted, not looking at Daniel.

'Let's hope it doesn't blow your head off, then,' Daniel muttered.

She pointedly ignored him.

While the Princess and Poe began discussing various theories for the sceptre's use, Daniel slowed his pace to plod along with Laningrin and Nilofar.

He was starting to feel a bit strange, but didn't want to interrupt their discussion. Truth be told, he was feeling a bit bad about how he had spoken to Rishana. He was sorry for it. Nilofar was right. They were all on edge. Wren's death had been horrific and he was sure Rishana's outburst, like his own, came at least, in part, from grief.

Daniel scratched his arm. It was burning.

'I think I've touched something I'm allergic to. You have any cream, Laningrin?' he asked, forgetting for a moment where he was.

'Cream? I have ointments for sores and burns, lad, but no creams,' the ranger replied.

'What's the trouble?' Nilofar perked up, raising his head off Daniel's shoulder.

'Nothing. Don't worry; I'm just a bit itchy.'

'Where?' the dragon was suddenly alert.

'Here, on my arm, and now my wrist. It's really annoying, but we need to keep going.' Daniel scratched and fumed. Now was not the time to be the weakest link.

'Poe, we might have trouble.' Nilofar flew up and landed on Mull's rump, much to the surprise of the donkey.

The wizard and Rishana broke off their heated discussion and looked back at him.

'What is it?' she asked.

'Daniel's arm is burning.' Then Nilofar lowered his voice and Daniel couldn't hear what he said next. It must have been important, because Poe pulled himself off Mull and hurried back to Daniel, leaning heavily on his staff.

'Show me,' he requested, holding out his hand.

Daniel pulled back his tunic's sleeve and held out his arm. They all gasped.

Across his wrist and forearm were red welts in the shape of fingers.

'Rullin's mark,' Poe breathed out.

'What's it mean?' Daniel pulled his arm back for a closer look.

'It means the wizard is thinking of you and is tracking your location. He must know by now that you're headed back to the cottage. This might be in our favour. He may not bother coming for you, but may wait for you to get close enough for his magic to draw you in.'

'Like last time,' Daniel's spirits sank.

'Not like last time,' Poe smiled determinedly.

Daniel looked up. He looked at Poe, then the Princess, who was still frowning at the sceptre. Next to her, Lenehan stood with her sword out and a grim look on her face. Then there was Laningrin, who winked at him and Nilofar who spat a small shot of flames out of his mouth. Standing behind them (her bulk taking up the pathway and more besides), squatted Dagma.

'Not like last time at all,' he agreed, feeling some of the knots in his stomach loosen.

'No,' said the Princess. 'This time you're more likely to get blown up than captured.'

She grimaced. 'Sorry for my manners, Daniel. I can't control this sceptre and it remains to be seen if we can escape Rullin without it. But that is no excuse. A princess who needs to remind people she is one, is no princess at all.'

'I'm sorry, too,' Daniel said.

'Then if that's all settled, let's go confront a wizard.' Nilofar grinned, flashing a mouth full of fangs.

'Does anyone else think this is insane?' asked Laningrin, of no one in particular. 'We don't know if the wizard is really going to be there, we don't know if the sceptre will help us or blow our heads off and we don't know if Poe and Dagma's magicks combined can destroy a wizard as powerful as Rullin. Yet we insist on heading into trouble instead of out of it. We have the sceptre. Can't we just go get the guards and be done with it?'

'Laningrin' Poe said somewhat impatiently, 'We know Rullin is on the move. We know the sceptre has power of its own and we cannot allow Rullin to get his hands on it. If he does, no guards or wizards are going to be able to defeat him. We cannot allow him to find us first and surprise us. We need to take this fight to him before the Presentation,' said Poe.

'If you follow that logic, we should get the sceptre to the Queen so that she can use it against Rullin,' Lenehan said.

'No,' Daniel disagreed. 'From what Cassandra implied, if the Queen had the ability to commune with it, it would have been evident on her own thirteenth birthday. The sceptre would have reacted in some way.'

'Looks like I'm it, then,' Rishana gulped, sending Daniel a sickly grin.

He liked her a lot more when she was being normal and not all stuck up and princess-like.

'I still don't like the idea of you playing with that thing without any clear idea of what it can do and how to control it,' muttered Poe, to a chorus of groans from the rest of them.

'Stop it. Don't you think I'm scared enough without you telling me how dangerous it is all the time? Come on Poe, if I blow us all up, no one will be able to punish you, will they?' said Rishana in a tone which brooked no further argument.

'How comforting,' Nilofar murmured in Daniel's ear.

Daniel grinned at him. 'At least she isn't telling us it's going to be okay.'

'False hope is better than no hope, Daniel,' Laningrin told him, coming up beside the pair.

'How much further?' grumbled Dagma, who hated walking at any time.

'Literally just around the corner,' said Poe. 'Shouldn't we have some sort of practise? Or battle plan?'

The Princess held up the sceptre and pointed it at a rock. She broke out into a sweat, but nothing else happened. The companions glanced at each other and sighed.

'I'm trying, okay? It's not been used for centuries ... it ... it ... it's resting!'

'We'll just have to pretend, bluff our way through.' Lenehan moved to the front of the group. 'We might not know what it can do, but Rullin does. We can use that to our advantage.'

'Right, so while Rishana is bluffing, Poe and I can try to get around behind him.' Daniel hoped he could take Poe into the cottage and that the magic door wouldn't keep them out. 'Do you think you could knock Rullin out, Dagma?'

The gargon's eyes gleamed.

'I'm not too sure about knocking him out exactly, Daniel, but he won't be moving one way or the other.'

Daniel gulped. He didn't want to ask specifics. They were all more blood thirsty than he had expected.

'What do we do with Rullin?' asked Rishana, 'We can't just leave him tied up and helpless in the Great Forest.' She seemed to have more scruples than the rest.

They were all silent for a moment. Probably reflecting on their levels of bloodthirstiness, Daniel thought to himself. Then, to forestall any further argument, he asked Poe, 'Can't we take him back to the castle? Make him stand trial?'

'Dagma, could you call on Fireforge now, do you think?' Poe asked the gargon.

'This far away from Andamooka?' she pondered. 'Perhaps - I could give it a try, but it is a long way for that sort of magic to reach, Wizard Poe. And technically, he could be anywhere. Why?'

'I was thinking it might be a good thing to have a dragon here who is able to carry someone. We could get him to take Rullin back to the castle for us. I can't say I'm looking forward to the trip back on foot with Rullin as our prisoner. Are you?' Poe looked at the others.

'Is there any way to nullify his magicks?' Daniel thought of Superman's kryptonite, or Achilles' heel. 'Is there some way that we could take them away?'

He didn't add, 'temporarily'. He didn't think he would have to. Surely they would all remember that they may need Rullin (if Poe was unable) to make one last Gateway to get him home.

'Our magic in deep inside us, Daniel,' Poe explained. 'I've only ever known one thing to block my magic and it would be a sickening thing to do to a fellow wizard.' He turned green just thinking about it.

'What is it?' the Princess had stopped her futile battle with the sceptre and looked up curiously at Poe's comment.

'I was experiencing some control issues when I was studying with the monks in Mirrione. They used syrup from the seed pod of the Ice Poppy. I drank it and my magic was blocked. I could still feel it and see it inside of me, but I could no longer reach it. They say that long term use can lead to madness.'

Daniel wondered if that would be a problem for Rullin. He thought the wizard was mad enough already.

'The Ice Poppy?' Dagma rolled her eyes. 'Do you know how rare they are?'

'Go, Nilofar, you have to find us an Ice Poppy,' the Princess ordered.

'But you might need me!' Nilofar exclaimed. Daniel gripped the tail hanging down his chest, as Nilofar swung forward in his excitement.

Rishana came up and lifted the dragon from Daniel's shoulders. Daniel released him reluctantly.

'You're too small and not strong enough in magicks for this fight, darling dragon. I need you somewhere else, doing this for me, doing this for us all.' She waved her hand around to indicate those around her.

Nilofar hung his head for a moment, then lifted himself into the air, circled once and departed.

Once Nilofar was safely on his way, the Princess deployed her meagre troops.

Lenehan led the way towards the middle of the clearing. Dagma kept pace with Laningrin clockwise around the edge of the clearing. They tied Mull securely and then Poe and Daniel slipped through the forest to the right of the cottage. The Princess followed a few paces behind Lenehan.

Daniel couldn't help feeling that they were terribly outgunned, even if Rullin was just one person. If only they'd had time for Poe to regain his strength or the Princess to master her use of the sceptre, or even to wait for Nilofar to return with an Ice Poppy to try to even the score a little.

'He is just one man, Daniel,' Poe caught the look on Daniel's face. 'Admittedly, a vastly learned and stronger wizard than I am, but Dagma is powerful and the Princess has –'

'Has a sceptre she can't control, believing it will save her because I told her it would.' Daniel's stomach roiled.

They were doing all of this because of what he had said. They all believed in him. They were risking their lives in the hope that a piece of wood could somehow save them and the Princess could somehow make it work.

'Things will turn out all right, Daniel. Be calm. We can't panic now.'

'Bit late for that,' Daniel muttered to himself, but he kept moving.

Daniel glanced down at his arms. The burning feeling hadn't gone away. The closer they came to the cottage, in fact, the fiercer it became.

'He's here!' Daniel hissed to Poe.

'Good.'

Poe waved at Lenehan and she turned back to speak to the Princess. Daniel could just see them through the trees toward the front of the cottage.

The Princess stood up resolutely and walked out into the clearing. She carried the sceptre in her hands and held her head high. She looked every bit a Princess, for all that her clothes were stained and rumpled.

Daniel gasped. Rullin stood in the doorway. He was smiling in that slimy way that made Daniel wish he could wipe it from his face.

'Princess, I was not expecting you. How nice of you to bring me my missing sceptre. All alone, are we?' He glanced around.

'This won't work,' Daniel gasped to Poe. 'He knows I'm here and if I don't show, he won't move.'

It was true. The wizard had come to the front door, but was standing there blocking the doorway. At any moment he could slip back inside, and be protected by the cottage.

'I have to show myself. You'll have to go on alone.'

'No!' Poe disagreed. 'We'll face Rullin together. I doubt I could sneak up on him anyway.'

The two of them walked out of the forest and over to Rishana. They stood in concert with the Princess, facing Rullin.

'Would you look at that - Poe, Daniel and Rishana! What a coup. My Lord will be pleased. Now, are you going to be a good little girl and give me that stick?' Rullin spoke casually, but Daniel saw something different in his face.

His eyes were narrowed with concern as he watched Rishana standing there, sceptre held like a sword. There was a small trickle of sweat running down the side of his face.

'Be a sweetie and hand it over. You know what I can do to you, if you don't.'

'Don't believe him, Rishana. He's scared. There's no way he'll risk that sceptre by throwing magicks at us,' Daniel whispered to her.

'I think you've met Tiggre? How about you give it to him and then I'll let you leave?'

Tiggre stepped from around the other side of the house. Not in little tabby cat form, but as a full grown morph. He was the size of a large pony. He growled, flashing his fangs. Daniel missed Nilofar.

There was no time to be timid. As Tiggre approached, muscles bunched as though ready to pounce, Dagma let out a massive roar and charged into the space between her Princess and the morph.

Both Rullin and Tiggre gave a start.

'You're dead!' Rullin exclaimed, as though his eyes were deceiving him.

'I slept, I didn't die. You think that brew you gave Lukas to dose me with would kill the likes of me?' Dagma snorted and twin lightning bolts flickered.

Tiggre curled in tighter on himself, tail lashing, on the verge of his pounce.

'Come and get me, kitty,' Dagma purred, planting her four powerful legs firmly in place, ugly gargoyle head leering.

The temptation was too great. Even though Rullin yelled 'Stop!' as Tiggre moved, it was too late. The morph leaped forward, all his aggression sending him powering straight into the gargon's body - teeth, claws, talons and fangs, fur and scales. The pair was of similar size, but in mass, the gargon outweighed the morph considerably.

They crashed solidly to the ground and as they strained to gain some advantage, they moved closer to the forest itself. Dagma's tail lashed, slashing a tree in half. Tiggre's paw swiped, missed Dagma completely and tore through a limb, ripping it from another tree.

For a moment, everyone else stood stupefied by the fight. The ground thudded with each blow. A lightning bolt leaped and Tiggre's fur smoked.

Then Daniel snapped out of it. He looked at Rullin, who had taken the opportunity to skitter closer, his hand reaching out for the sceptre, which jerked in Rishana's hand.

'Rishana, the sceptre!' Daniel yelled, knowing Rullin's magicks could allow him to command things to come to him.

Rishana looked away from Dagma and Tiggre, as Lenehan and Laningrin came pounding up, swords drawn, to protect her from the wizard.

'Back,' said Rullin and both rangers flew backwards, landing crumpled at the base of a tree.

Poe raised his wand and pointed it at Rullin.

'Stand still,' he said.

Rullin waved his hand as though to cut through the magicks directed at him.

'You can't spell me, Poe. I have access to power you can't even imagine.' Rullin held up his arms and started to chant.

Daniel could vaguely see the outline of something that looked like a castle tattooed on Rullin's biceps. He was far too distracted by the action around him to take a closer look. In any event, Rullin saw him looking and flicked his tunic back down his arm.

'I am a channel of my Lord's power, as he is of mine. Killing me will not help you, even if you could. Now give me that sceptre!'

Rishana stood there, face pale and brows drawn down in concentration.

'Now would be a good time,' Daniel said to her, out of the corner of his mouth.

'I'm trying! Distract him!'

Poe started throwing random spells at the other wizard, who laughed.

'That the best you've got? You always were a wannabe, Poe. Now look and learn. See what a real wizard can do.'

Rullin took a small step forward and pointed both his hands, fingers interlocked, at Poe, who collapsed in a heap on the ground.

'Poe!' Daniel yelled.

He glanced around. Lenehan was trying to stand, her head bleeding. Dagma was locked in the paws of Tiggre. Blood leaked down her scaly hide and chunks of fur swirled in the air. Poe was white and unmoving from the spot where Rullin's spell had knocked him down.

'Guess it's up to me,' Daniel muttered under his breath.

He usually tried to run from trouble, as he did whenever he saw Buster Felton and his gang. He remembered how this never really worked because they were faster than he was and always caught up with him. For a moment he recalled in vivid detail all the times the bullies in different towns had mocked him when he'd run away.

He thought of Darling and how the last thing he'd done was lie to her. He thought about how he might never see her again.

These things went through Daniel's mind at the speed of light. In that split second Daniel knew what he had to do. He had to stop running.

With a groan, Daniel flung himself at Rullin.

If someone had asked Daniel a few days ago if he was brave, he'd have laughed. If they had asked him if he thought running at things trying to kill him was high on his to-do list, he'd have doubled over, holding his sides.

And if someone had told him that one day he'd have friends so dear to him he would willingly sacrifice himself for them, he'd have fallen on the ground in disbelieving stitches.

As Daniel flung himself on Rullin, it occurred to him that this might be the last thing he ever did. He thought again of Darling, who'd never know that he had decided to take a stand.

Then it was too late to think of anything else at all.

Daniel catapulted into Rullin's chest, even though the wizard had been throwing magicks at him. Instead of stopping him, they now swirled between the two of them. Daniel felt them trying to force him back, but he clung on, wrapping arms and legs tightly around the wizard, inadvertently crushing Rullin's arms between their chests.

He could vaguely hear Rishana yelling at him to get out of the way.

He could hear Dagma roaring and Tiggre howling.

But while he could hear all of this, the only thing he could think about, was holding on. That he couldn't possibly let Rullin hurt anyone else. That, through Rullin's control of the wolflings, five rangers had died. That, through pure evil, a whole household worth of decorations had been perverted into unnatural creatures who toiled endlessly for their master.

Daniel, who had closed his eyes as he leaped, suddenly opened them and stared fully into Rullin's face.

Each stared into the other's eyes.

'Time to die, little human,' the wizard said, in a voice so very different to his own.

'Who are you?' Daniel whispered to the stranger within Rullin.

'Someone you'll never get to meet.' The power behind Rullin's eyes suddenly flared and Daniel felt it steal into his own body, reaching, questing for his heart.

'Master, you'll drain me,' Rullin murmured weakly in his own voice.

'The opportunity may not come again,' was the response and Daniel felt the magic reach his heart.

'Stop beating,' the voice commanded.

And it did.
Friends

Thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

That's all he could hear. Somehow, it was reassuring.

Thump-thump.

He could feel pressure and lightness. Then air came rushing into him, rested there briefly and rushed out again.

'One more time,' he heard, as if from miles away.

He wished they'd be quieter. He wanted to be able to hear that lovely solid thump-thump. There it was again. It had a wonderfully strong feel about it.

'I can feel his heart.'

He couldn't place the voice, but it sounded happy. He was glad for whoever it was. It made him happy, too.

'Is he breathing yet?'

'No. Wait! Yes, he just sighed.'

Well, that was nice. Thump-thump in his ears and soft air rushing through his body. He sighed again. Was it time to get up now?

Daniel opened his eyes and peered at the circle of faces. They were a bit blurred, but he could make out the concern lining each one of them.

'Hello,' he said, feeling somewhat confused and embarrassed.

'Daniel!' The faces all moved back and a scaly head poked into sight.

'Wow,' was all he could think of to say. 'Anyone ever tell you, you look remarkably like a dragon?'

'I'd say he's in some sort of shock. It's getting late, Princess. We should find some shelter.'

'There isn't any, unless you mean for us to all stay in Rullin's cottage?'

'I don't think we have a choice. It's too late to make it to Partler's, even if they could bear to take us in again after last time.'

'The cottage it is, then.'

'Do you think you can move, Daniel?' the dragon asked.

He blinked.

'Do you know where my glasses are?'

They were placed into his hands. Daniel put them on and suddenly everyone's faces snapped into crisp outline.

'Nilofar! You're back! Poe, you're standing! What happened? Lenehan! Laningrin!' Daniel's mind snapped open and names and events tumbled into place.

'Let's get inside. We can talk about it over a nice cup of tea.' Poe glanced over his shoulder. 'It's not safe outside at this hour.'

Laningrin picked Daniel up.

'Do you think you should?' Daniel asked him, glancing down at where the bandage had slipped and Tiggre's claw marks were once more oozing blood. (Daniel then had to quickly look away, firmly telling his stomach to stay in one place).

'I'm fine, lad. My head is a bit banged up, but you stopped any real damage.' The ranger sounded impressed and grateful.

Daniel was placed on the couch, which huffed a little at the dirt he brought with him, but settled down when it realised Daniel had been hurt. From this position, Daniel watched as the rest of his companions wandered around the room, staring at all the oddities that waved, chattered or walked about. The hat-stand came in and Daniel asked it politely for tea and toast.

'This is extraordinary,' Poe kept saying, as he lifted up the clock, tickled a pillow and shook 'hands' with the arm of a chair.

'Too much magic here,' muttered Lenehan, nervously fingering her knife.

The Princess, with Nilofar wrapped around her shoulders, went up to the painting and curtsied politely.

'Good evening, you must be the Lady Cassandra. I am very pleased to meet you,' Rishana said to the portrait.

Cassandra bowed her head graciously.

'The pleasure is all mine, Princess. I hope you are none the worse for your confrontation with the wizard Rullin?'

'We're all a little bruised, bloodied and tired, but Daniel prevented anything worse from occurring.' She looked over her shoulder and gave him a wide smile.

He was beginning to feel a bit of a fraud. He could remember launching himself at Rullin and trying to distract him. Then, it was blank.

'If you don't mind sharing your room with us, we would like to spend the night,' Rishana directed her comments to Cassandra.

After more general conversation, the hat-stand arrived with a pot of tea and a plate of toast, lots of toast. Once everyone had something in their hands, Daniel looked around and thought it okay to ask.

'What exactly happened after I was, um, knocked out?'

'Rullin fell over. It was like a puppet with no strings. He just dropped down, still as a stone. Tiggre must have felt it and took off. Dagma is still chasing him, but I don't think she will find him. The morph is a lot faster than our gargon.'

'Where's Rullin?' Daniel was too afraid to ask whether Rullin was still alive.

'Oh, he's safe enough, although mightily uncomfortable. He's in the kitchen, tied to a chair. Nilofar got back, just as you both collapsed. We've dosed Rullin heavily with Ice Poppy syrup. Mind you, he strongly objected to it and claims his magic has been burned or drained right out of him. We'll keep dosing him periodically, regardless,' Poe explained.

'Are you okay, now, Poe?'

'I wouldn't say I was up to dancing in celebration, but I'm feeling much better. Rishana finally got the sceptre to do something.' Everyone laughed and Rishana looked torn between being proud of her achievement and wanting to thump Poe.

'Once you managed to subdue Rullin, the sceptre let out a flash, blew up another stump, then turned on me and shot me full of magicks. That got me on my feet, I have to tell you,' continued Poe drily.

'Nice to know it has some uses, even if it's a little erratic,' Lenehan said.

'Now, Daniel, what happened? You were so brave. I had needed a distraction, but I didn't mean for you to save the day.' Rishana came and sat down on the floor next to his couch. She offered him more tea. Daniel nearly choked.

'I don't really...' he was about to say, 'remember', when suddenly he did. Just like that. He sat up, spilling his tea.

'It wasn't Rullin!'

They all shared a look.

'I'm not crazy. Trust me. I was holding onto Rullin so that he couldn't throw anything nasty while Rishana made the sceptre behave. I don't think that I would have really made much difference, but Rullin was fighting his own internal battle to protect himself from his Master. Rullin lost and his Master spoke to me through him. He told my heart to stop.' Daniel rubbed his chest, remembering the horrid feeling when, all of a sudden, his heart just stopped mid-beat.

'And it did,' he finished on a whisper.

He looked up at Poe.

'What kind of magicks could actually win the possession of someone else's body?' He didn't want to think of the actual dying part, or the tea that had actually made it to his stomach might make another appearance.

The wizard shook his head.

'I'm not really sure. It doesn't sound like wild Land magicks. I've never known Land magicks to kill, though if thrown hard enough it can certainly do you a lot of damage.'

Lenehan patted her head, where a white bandage covered the hit she'd taken when blown against the tree. 'Tell me about it,' she commented.

'And how did this 'Lord' manage to take over Rullin, enough to burn his magicks right out of him?' Poe shook his head. 'I just can't see it being done, that's a fact.'

'Go get Rullin,' the Princess' voice was flat and hard. Laningrin rose, disappearing into the kitchen.

A moment later he returned with Rullin - a very subdued and trussed-up Rullin. The wizard's face was pale and pasty and his eyes were full of hatred. Daniel wasn't too sure if it was directed at the companions who had thwarted him, or the Master who had just abandoned him.

'How did he do it, Rullin? Who is he? Where is he?' Rishana stood up, glaring at the wizard.

He spat at her feet, earning him a clip over the ear from Laningrin.

'I'll tell you nothing.'

'He stole your magicks. He even stole your body for a moment there. Doesn't that make you angry? Who could do that to you?'

Lenehan stepped over to Rishana and Daniel heard her murmur 'Leave him with us, Princess. He'll answer your questions.'

Rishana went pale. Daniel felt sweat break out across his face and hands.

Though she'd said it quietly, Rullin must have heard, for he sneered.

'That won't help you. There is nothing you can do to me that could exceed what He would do if I spoke.' With that, he folded his lips tightly and stared blankly at the back wall.

'We'll take him back with us, give Poe something to study, along with a lot of the texts in here,' Rishana declared. 'But that can wait. For now, the forest is too dangerous to travel and we all need a rest.'

'We won't make it back in time for your thirteenth birthday ceremony,' Nilofar fretted.

'Darling Nilo, so long as I have the sceptre, the ceremony can be held anywhere. It is only usually held in front of the Court and my mother because the intention is for me to receive the blessings of those who love me and whom I love and because it is considered an official state ceremony.' She looked around the others. 'Whilst I will miss having my mother with us, I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather hold my Bonding Ceremony than with you all.'

Daniel felt something clench in his chest, but he put it down to indigestion.

Just then, with a thundering clump, Dagma landed outside. Nilofar looked around.

'There just isn't going to be enough room to get her under cover before the darklings come out to hunt.'

Dagma stuck her great, big, ugly head through the open door.

'I won't need to come in. Look who I found,' she said, proudly. Then she stepped back out of the way.

Daniel struggled off the couch, determined to see what it was everyone else was exclaiming about. He made it to the door (which kindly moved so as to prop him up) and stared.

Taking up the whole clearing, possibly after knocking down some extra trees to do so, was a dragon. Not a Nilofar-sized dragon, but a dragon the size of a very large house, with a tail that vanished beyond his vision, a long neck which snaked above them and a wedged head the size of Dagma.

The dragon was a deep red. Where the fading sunlight touched him, scarlet flashed along metallic looking scales. He opened his mouth, pointing it politely upwards and a furnace of flames roared out into the sky.

This, then, had to be Fireforge.

'You managed it,' Daniel said blankly to Dagma. 'You called him.'

'Not me. The Queen asked Fireforge to find us, as it's the Princess' birthday tomorrow and Her Majesty was getting worried. Tiggre had turned around to fight me in mid-air (cheating, I have to say, as he is much more fleet on his wings than I am), when he suddenly bolted.

'I thought that I had finally intimidated him, but when I turned back, Fireforge was right behind me.' She sniffed, as though insulted. 'So I brought him here.'

The dragon's head lowered and eyes almost as big as Daniel, blinked at Dagma.

'No one brings me anywhere, little half-breed,' he growled, his voice so deep and gravelly, Daniel could hardly understand him.

Dagma shot a lightning bolt at him, but it exploded harmlessly against his scales.

'Be nice,' Rishana ordered, 'though I am glad to see you, Fireforge. Could you relay a message to my mother for me? As you know, my ceremony must be held in the morning, so clearly, even if we left now, we would not make it in time to have it at the Palace.  Mother will be frantic, thinking that I have missed the opportunity. She does not even know that I am now in possession of the sceptre. I would love you to allay her fears. After you stay the night, of course,' she added, considerately.

'Certainly, Your Little Highness,' the dragon rumbled. 'If I spot any of your palace guards, should I turn them back, or let them come on and escort you home?'

'What do you think - a royal parade home?' Rishana grinned at Poe.

'Well, that would mean us rangers could go back to Larson's Folly and perform the fitting farewells for Wren and the others,' Lenehan agreed.

'Of course,' Rishana sobered up with the memory of Wren's death. 'Fireforge, if you see the royal guards, tell them that after the ceremony we will make our way home via the King's Highway. They can meet up with us there and escort us back.'

She turned her head and whispered to Dagma in an aside, 'If you don't plan on being darkling fodder, I'd be very nice to the big dragon, if I were you.'

'Why?' Daniel asked Poe.

'Did you see how much damage Dagma's bolt did to him? Darklings won't attack Forge. He's simply too big, too strong and far too powerful for them. It'd take them weeks to consume something like him. If they survived that long.'

'Oh.' I'd have to agree with that, Daniel thought. The idea of anything being foolish enough to take the dragon on in a serious fight was just too ludicrous.

'My pleasure, Princess,' Fireforge agreed to the Princess' request and settled himself for the evening, He would leave very early the next morning to ensure he arrived at the castle in time. Unfortunately, there was no saving her mother from a day spent in fear for her daughter having missed the ceremony. Right now though, he kept vigilant, eyes scanning the sky and the forest.

'Doesn't he sleep?' Daniel wanted to know.

'Sometimes - but they don't usually do so much sleeping during the summertime. Dragons don't really need much sleep, although they can spend a fair share of the winter dozing, to make up for it, if necessary. At least, they do in Novarmere. Forge tells me that Dragon's Lair is still warm enough over winter to stay awake if they choose. If he can escape the demands of the Queen, he'll winter beyond the Dragon's Spine Mountains. Now come back inside. We all need to rest.' Poe took Daniel by the arm and helped him back to the couch. 'Tomorrow we celebrate the Princess' thirteenth birthday and Bond her to the sceptre and the Land.'

'Before then however,' the Princess said, acknowledging Poe's suggestion of rest with a smile, 'we celebrate victory, the recovery of our stolen property and the company of good friends and comrades.'

Daniel looked around the room. The hat-stand was standing in the kitchen door, an apron around its middle. Cassandra was smiling and exchanging flirtatious comments with Laningrin. Poe had launched into a discussion about Ice Poppies with Nilofar and Lenehan relaxed comfortably in a chair. With Fireforge outside, she was finally off duty.

He felt his heart expand inside his chest. These people had risked everything to find him when he had got trapped in the cottage. In return, instead of running away or being too cowardly to act, he'd given everything to save them. They were no longer just people he'd met along the way, strangers from another time and place. They were so much more than that.

'Tonight we celebrate,' he agreed, smiling at his friends.
Bonding

No one woke up particularly early the following day. The celebration had gone on late into the night. The hat-stand had provided an amazing banquet, digging up some very aged wine and one bottle that had fizzed with satisfying bubbles.

At one stage, Daniel had slipped outside into the cool air. Dagma was curled up into a relatively small looking lump next to Fireforge, who loomed hugely in the dark, head still up, scanning the forest, sky and stars. Daniel walked out and closed the door behind him, cutting off the laughter and shared stories behind him.

While he was just as excited as they were, he was starting to think about home.

Fireforge lowered his massive head and blinked at Daniel. In the darkness, the dragon's eyes glowed a soft green and his scales glinted such a deep red in the moonlight, as to look black.

'Are you all right, little human?' he growled, slowing his speech down so that Daniel could understand him properly.

'Just a little homesick, I guess,' Daniel admitted.

'Home,' agreed the dragon. 'A home is not to be taken for granted. They are to be protected and treated with love.'

The dragon looked north. 'One day soon, I will go home.'

'Why aren't you there now?' Daniel now felt comfortable enough to lean against Fireforge's scales. They were warm and hard. He could feel the dragon breathing.

Fireforge swung his head down again so that he could look Daniel in the eye.

'Long ago, we dragons made a pact with the Queens of Novarmere – the wizards would not fight us and we would not use our magicks on the wizards. To signify our continued support of this pact, one dragon spends a few years of their life in service to the little Queens.'

He huffed a bit of smoke, which Daniel took as laughter.

'Our lives are so long, what is a few of your years to us?'

'What does the Queen do in return?' Daniel asked. He couldn't imagine it would be anything as grand as having a dragon that answered to her.

'The Queen sends us one of her own, to be trained under the dragons' law. It has been a long time since we had anyone new. We have been very happy with the last one.'

'What do you mean?' Daniel asked, but no matter how he pressed, Fireforge wouldn't divulge what he had meant. It was obviously a secret maintained between the dragons and the Queen.

Laningrin had come out then and excused them both to Fireforge and swept Daniel back inside. Back to where his companions waited, to drink to his health and his friendship and the fact that he had saved the Princess' life by his ill-advised (or so Rishana said) and wild spring at Rullin.

At ten the next morning, they were all struggling to wake up. Eventually they were seated around the table, coffee thoughtfully provided by the hat-stand.

'That was a late one.' Laningrin held his head with a rueful grin.

'Good grief.' Poe suddenly turned to Rishana. 'It's your birthday, Your Highness. You're thirteen and we all forgot.'

Everyone started to shout birthday wishes, a song was struck up and Dagma burst her head through the door to join in.

The dragon was not amongst the well-wishes having left several hours before. He had shifted a little away from the house so that he could spread his wings and lift into the air without blowing it down. In doing so, he had knocked over a few more trees, expanding the clearing some more. It was certainly no longer the small clearing it had once been.

'Now that we have wished you well, we really need to Bond you to the Land, Rishana,' Poe said.

'What exactly do we do?' Daniel wanted to know, as everyone moved outside.

'We need to surround her and offer ourselves as her Bonded Companions. Mind you, that's just a name for those who sponsor the heir in her Bonding to the Land. Don't worry; you won't be stuck in Novarmere because you took part in this event.' Poe smiled at Daniel's facial expression.

Poe had the sceptre. He didn't have enough hands for his own staff, but Daniel noticed that he seemed a bit stronger. Perhaps, since the sceptre had given him more strength, he no longer needed the extra support.

They formed a very small circle around the Princess. Poe stood face to face with Rishana. The wizard opened his mouth to speak, but before he started, Rishana broke in.

'I wanted to take this moment to thank you all. You have gone over and above your duties to the Crown by opening Gateways, travelling to foreign lands and protecting each other from danger.'

She glanced over at Daniel.

'But mostly I wanted to thank Daniel.'

He felt himself blushing, and wished for the millionth time he was made of more heroic material. He doubted that Alexander the Great would have been unnerved when being thanked by his people.

'You risked everything for us. You accepted Nilofar into your home and aided him when he was unsure of what to do. Not only that, but you defied the rules of your home and lied to protect his secrets. Yes, he told me about your fabrications to your mother.' Rishana grinned.

'Then, even though this wasn't your responsibility and in the face of extraordinary danger, you not only stepped up to the challenge, but you literally threw yourself into the path of death. I will never forget that. I won't allow Novarmerian history to ever forget that. We thank you.'

'Here, here,' the others all chorused.

Daniel knew his face was as red as a tomato. At the same time, he also felt a grin threaten to split it in half. He only wished Darling could have been there to hear the accolade, just so that she would know that sometimes, if only the once, Daniel had triumphed.

When Poe saw Daniel wasn't going to say anything (couldn't say anything really, due to his heart being full of too much emotion and embarrassment), the wizard started the formal proceedings.

Daniel listened in a glow of amazement, taking some time to marvel at being there and that a princess had so publically thanked him, personally.

'Do you accept the legacy of the Queens of Novarmere, the Sceptre of Office and all the responsibilities that come with this? Do you accept being Bonded to the Land and peoples of Novarmere, Heir and Princess of Novarmere?' Poe intoned.

'Yes, I accept willingly and with great love and determination, to do my best for the peoples of Novarmere and their Land,' the Princess responded.

Daniel watched as they went through more ritualistic words and motions. It was obviously something they had practised in the weeks leading up to her birthday.

'And who stands with the Princess and Heir on this most Sacred of Days?' Poe asked, not taking his gaze from Rishana's.

'We do, the peoples and creatures of Novarmere,' the others replied. Daniel had opened his mouth, but having no idea what he was meant to say, kept silent.

Nilofar stepped forward and everyone looked down at him. 'I represent the magicks and the wondrous creatures of Novarmere and I accept the Royal Offering and Sacrifice and Heir. Welcome to the Land, Princess Rishana.'

He stepped back.

Dagma lumbered forward. 'I represent diversity and change and the Lore of Novarmere. I accept the Royal Offering and Sacrifice and Heir. Welcome to the Land, Princess Rishana.'

She rumbled back.

Lastly, Lenehan stepped forward.

'I represent the peoples of Novarmere, their Heart, their Mind and their Strength.'

Daniel couldn't think of anyone more likely to represent their heart and strength than Lenehan. He grinned.

'I accept the Royal Offering and Sacrifice and Heir. Welcome to the Land, Princess Rishana.' Lenehan finished her formal words and winked at Rishana before stepping back to re-form the circle.

Poe handed the princess the sceptre. As she took hold of the rod, the sceptre flared into life. It burst the plain wooden seal, shedding it like bark. Underneath was a silver rod, with the vine leaf pattern traced in golden thread, with tiny sapphires sprinkled all around the end, which consisted of a ball of black crystal.

The black crystal shot sparks and nearly blinded everyone. Poe shouted and Rishana wept.

'For you are Mine and I am Yours and may the Land be Yours and may You always Serve it Well.' This came from the sceptre!

The light faded and everyone stood there in shock.

'Was that meant to happen? What was that? What has happened to the sceptre?' Rishana's voice was several notes higher than usual. Tears still glistened in her eyes.

Poe looked at the sceptre in his hand.

'This is definitely not how I understand the ritual has ever gone before. The Princess' usually just say their lines and then the ceremony is complete.' The wizard appeared to be in shock.

Daniel couldn't take his eyes from the sceptre. The transformation was amazing. It glowed and the light reflecting off the sapphires, danced.

'It's amazing,' he murmured.

Nilofar landed on his shoulders.

'We've never seen it in this form before. I doubt anyone still alive has,' he told Daniel.

Daniel nodded, but he looked up at the sky. He bet that he could name a very long-lived someone who would have seen the sceptre act this way before.

It took another couple of hours to get organised enough to head out. In the end, the cottage furnishings decided that they would stay animated, as they quite enjoyed how things had turned out.  Without Rullin to bully them, they were quite happy. The rangers promised to send a scouting team down to keep them up to date and to re-locate Rullin's tomes. Laningrin promised Cassandra he'd be back as often as he could, much to the amusement of Lenehan.

Poe had completely given up even pretending he was getting ready to leave. He was absorbed in studying the sceptre, trying to figure out if the sapphires made any discernable patterns, or if it would talk again.

When Daniel had asked Rishana about his apparent lack of interest in proceedings, she had rolled her eyes.

'Let him play with it. I know that I am Bonded, I can feel it. The sceptre is shielding its own phenomenal power from scalding my brain. I only feel its presence as a small hard lump in the corner of my mind. If Poe wants to see if he can also get it to work, let him.' She smiled at Daniel. 'He can't do any harm.'

Eventually they were on their way, waving to the hat-stand who stood at the cottage door, fluttering a handkerchief in the wrong direction.

Poe sat atop Mull, thoughtfully staring into space, having tucked the sceptre into a pack at his back.

Lenehan lead the way out of the forest towards the great King's Highway, Laningrin and Dagma following, eyes never still (with Fireforge gone, wolflings were again a threat). Rullin walked between them, shackled to Laningrin, although all the fight had gone out of him.

Daniel walked along with Nilofar tucked around his shoulders, just behind Mull and Poe. The Princess wandered along, sometimes beside Poe, sometimes beside Lenehan. She appeared to be lost in her own thoughts as well.

Dagma and Laningrin kept Rullin trussed up and dosed with Ice Poppy syrup. Laningrin had his short sword out and kept it handily pointed at the wizard.

Rullin stumbled along, muttering angry words under his breath, looking a little green.

'What is he saying, Lan?' Daniel asked, feeling confident about addressing his friend more casually.

The ranger leaned closer to the wizard.

'He appears to be repeatedly asking why 'He' (whoever He is) would burn him out,' Laningrin replied. 'Also, he is making all kinds of interesting threats. Perhaps we should have allowed Fireforge to take him back?'

'No, I don't want him out of my sight.' Rishana shook her head, overhearing the conversation. 'He's too slippery and Fireforge could not keep him dosed with poppy. It's safer to have him with us, as strange as that sounds.'

Daniel shuddered. Having Rullin so close didn't feel safe at all.

Poe had attempted to dispel the magic that bound Daniel to Rullin, but he conceded that he couldn't completely remove it. While Daniels' arm no longer ached or burned, it still felt unclean in some way. Looking at Rullin made it prickle, even though the wizard was apparently now harmless.

It took them a couple of hours to clear the forest. Daniel felt lighter as soon as they left the looming trees behind. His legs felt weary, but with Nilofar back on his shoulders, humming to himself, everything was as it should be.

Lenehan called a halt.

'Dust ahead - I'd say the royal guards are on their way.' She smiled.

'Good old Fireforge,' Laningrin whooped. 'He's sent them this way.' He slapped Daniel heartily on the back, making him stumble.

'Well, lad, not far for you now. You'll be able to ride back in style.'

Daniel bit his lip. Now would be a good time to admit he had no idea how to ride a horse. But how hard could it be? He'd willingly forgotten how uncomfortable riding Mull had been and how easily the donkey had managed to discard him.

As they waited, the smudge on the horizon came into focus. Thirty horsemen, in brightly coloured tunics under burnished armour, with lances and swords, bows, arrows and knives all stashed about their persons.

The horses were solid warriors, with thick muscles and feathery hair on their legs in the likeness of a draught horse. Only, they appeared lighter on their hooves.

'What are those?' Daniel squeaked.

'They are the heavy cavalry. See the smaller ones behind the first row? The light cavalry are far speedier, but not as sturdy,' Nilofar informed him.

When the cavalry pulled up in front of the companions, Daniel could make out the difference. Twenty horsemen sat upon the heavy chargers while ten more danced around the outside, whirling their lighter horses around the perimeter.

There were also pack horses and a series of horses tethered together, which Daniel assumed were for the rangers to take back with them.

The captain of the guard stayed in the saddle, but bowed from his waist, frowning at Rishana. He had been concerned about having to explain to the Queen how he'd lost her daughter and whilst relieved to see her safe, was a little upset with her for making him worry.

'Your Highness, the Queen sends you her birthday wishes. She is very concerned that you did not locate the sceptre in time for your ceremony. We ran into some of her Royal Guard whilst we were out looking for you. Thankfully, Fireforge will be able to provide her comfort later. However, we were asked to escort you back to Andamooka as soon as possible,' he added, tight lipped.

'He's not going to dismount?' Daniel asked Nilofar in an undertone, thinking this was highly discourteous.

'It is not his place. His lieutenant will dismount and aid the Princess in mounting her horse. See?' Nilofar pointed out. 'The captain will stay horsed at all times, in case there is an attack. He needs to be able to sweep the Princess onto his saddle and take her away from danger.'

The lieutenant in question had approached, leading a snowy white charger. As he came alongside her, he cupped his hands for the Princess to place her foot in. He then boosted her into the saddle.

Rishana guided the horse to the captain's side.

'I'm sorry that we scared you by leaving, but time was running out. I'm glad you don't have to face my mother alone. I hope you can forgive me?' She smiled prettily at him.

'Always - but if you ever do something like that again, I'll exchange my captaincy duties with another,' he smiled as he said it, to take the sting out of his threat.

Everyone started sorting out the rest of the mounts and Daniel found himself confronted with a dark brown monolith which blew warm air down its nose at him.

'Well, you don't look too bad,' he informed the horse. 'Just don't try to throw me off ... It wouldn't take much,' he added under his breath.

He watched the others mount up and looked up at the sheer size of the beast standing before him, pawing the ground. There was no way he could just casually heave himself up. He couldn't even reach the pommel of the saddle, for starters.

Laningrin, already mounted, holding five horses on a long lead, brought his lighter mount up beside Daniel.

'Having trouble?' he rumbled.

'Um, Lan? Do you think you could, I dunno, help me up?' Daniel felt his face burning.

Laningrin grinned and leaned over.

'Stand still!' he demanded of his flighty mount, commandingly. It stood. He grabbed Daniel by the back of his tunic and hoisted him over the monolith's saddle.

'Now, put your feet into the stirrup irons on either side and gather up your reins. He shouldn't move until you do. They respond to rein and voice. You'll be fine, lad. This is where we part company,' Laningrin added.

Daniel, feeling very small and inadequate on the back of the heavy horse, stared at Laningrin.

'Part ... What?'

'We need to take these horses back to the rangers' station at Larson's Folly. Lenehan needs to get back to sort out more patrols, now that we've lost Wren, Tod and Shar. It'll be a sad day when we arrive.' He shook his head.

Daniel looked around. Lenehan was also mounted and held the lead of five more horses. She was bowing to Rishana and Poe. She glanced over at Daniel and Laningrin.

'I need to head off, lad,' the giant ranger murmured. 'You be safe. I hope you make it back to your Fadden soon.'

He leaned across the narrow space between their horses and gripped Daniel by the forearm in a warrior's farewell.

Lenehan came up the other side and added a few softly spoken words of parting and then they were away. Daniel sat there, a lump in his throat blocking any words he might have said. His eyes stung.

Guardsmen were wheeling their horses about, taking up positions around the Royal Person and her companions.

Rullin was surrounded by guards and Poe wasn't too far from him, as well. Daniel glanced down at his mount.

'Okay then, we need to keep up, but don't forget what I said about not letting me fall off,' he ordered it, without conviction.

The horse shook its head and stamped a hoof, sending Daniel sliding sideways. A nearby guard gave him a quick shove back into position.

'Up you go there, lad,' he chuckled. 'Just let him follow us. Old Naffar won't go wrong. He's a grand mount.'

Daniel held on and Naffar stepped out after the others.

Losing a Friend

Daniel allowed the conversation to flow around him without attempting any input. The guards were a friendly bunch, but they were concerned with the possibility of war with Bauhinia and talked about it at length. Daniel felt a little out of his depth.

The Princess was discussing matters of state with the captain and Poe had fallen back, leading Mull from the back of a light cavalry horse. Nilofar lay draped around Daniel's shoulders, dozing in the afternoon sunshine, a slight plume of smoke wafting from his nose.

'Is it far?' Daniel asked him, as Nilofar gave a snort and grunted, shifting a little in order to find a better position.

'To Andamooka? Not really. If we keep moving at this brisk pace, we should make it in well short of a week. Don't worry,' added Nilofar, mistakenly interpreting Daniel's look of concern, 'we may follow the edge of the forest, but the darklings won't bother us out here. Not only are we too far from their natural cover, but we're too well protected,' he nodded to the guards.

'What can they do to them? The darklings didn't even hesitate when Wren shot one. What use are armed guards?'

Whilst Daniel was worried about the darklings and wolflings and bad magic, the main reason for his consternation related to Nilofar's prediction for the length of the journey to the capital. A week, maybe a little less if they kept the pace up. Daniel felt a cold sweat break out between his shoulder blades.

Darling would be expecting him home in a few days. If both worlds followed the same rules of time (and whilst they appeared to be at different times of the day, his last two trips across the Gateway seemed to indicate that a day here was similar in length to a day there), he would not be able to get back before he was expected home from camp. Daniel hoped the sick lump in his stomach would eventually disappear. After all, he had no control over when Poe could work out how to create another Gateway.

'Numbers, for one thing, as Laningrin mentioned when ... well, back at Partler's farm,' responded Nilofar, breaking in over Daniel's haunted thoughts, but skipping over Wren's painful death. 'Darklings appear to like better odds. They don't like to come too far out of their forest and eventually, if attacked, their wounds do force them to go back to wherever they come from to regenerate. It was a surprise that they came so far out of cover to attack us at Partler's farm. He farms there with far less interference from them than you'd expect.'

Daniel secretly thought that they were all mad and hoped the King's Highway would veer even further away from the Great Forest's edge soon. Even being able to see it made his skin crawl. He'd never thought of trees as the 'enemy' but they certainly hosted enough murderous creatures.

Daniel sighed and gripped his horse with his knees. It was actually a lot easier than he had expected. Staying on Naffar's broad back at a ground eating walk, was no different to sitting on a barrel. His back and bottom informed him that several days' worth of 'barrel' riding, however, would cost him dearly.

The captain of the Royal Guard, Remoh, called a halt as the sun sank behind the forest they had only just recently left.

'We'll be coming up on the Riste River tomorrow,' Nilofar said, as he stretched himself on the grass. 'We've missed the region where it enters the Glass Sea, but the river itself is lovely.'

Daniel grunted. He wasn't about to become overly enthused about a body of water.

'Anything deeper than a bath is just a waste,' he told Nilofar, dumping his pack next to the little dragon. He wanted to sit down and scratch the ridges between his friend's ears, but the ground looked terribly hard and his bottom felt like it was on fire.

'You don't like water?' Rishana came up and started on Nilo's ridges in his place, as though guessing his intention. 'Please, sit with us for a while, Daniel - unless you would prefer to talk to the guards?' She gestured to where the older men were setting up camp.

'Ah no, that's fine. Just stretching my legs,' he muttered. 'I don't swim.' He added, finally addressing her question.

She raised her eyebrows.

'You don't swim? We'll have to teach you! Even Nilofar loves the water. Many of his larger cousins are of two minds, preferring to bathe themselves in sand, but Nilo is a regular fish, aren't you?' She grinned.

'I have to get back,' Daniel reminded her. Why did everyone continue to forget that?

'Oh!' Rishana looked surprised. 'It had completely slipped my mind. I'm so very sorry, Daniel. Of course, you must be very eager to get back to your family. I've never asked. Do you have much family?'

She sounded wistful.

Overcoming his bottom's desire never to make contact with anything again, Daniel perched gingerly next to Rishana.

'No, it's just me and my mum, Darling Smith. I never met my dad.' Daniel didn't want to think about it.

'Darling Smith?' Rishana tactfully ignored his second comment. 'Is Darling a term of endearment there, as it is here?'

'Yes. Mum's real name is Darleen, but when she was little she couldn't pronounce it properly and would introduce herself as 'Darling'. It kind of stuck.'

'How lovely, she must truly be a darling, to have kept the name. When you get home, you'll have to tell her how you saved the throne of Novarmere,' Rishana said, blissfully unaware of how little Daniel felt that he had actually contributed.

'Well, I didn't really,' he had to be honest. 'Rullin's Master actually did the job for us.'

She glanced at him.

'Are you mad? You saved my life. I could feel the power of that last spell. If he had managed to cast it I'd have been seriously dead, but you jumped in between. It was you who found out about the sceptre in the first place and you were also brave enough to go back to the cottage. We only have Rullin's word for it that his Master has burned out his magic.' She seemed very surprised at Daniel's reluctance to accept her praise. 'There will be a ceremony in your honour when we get back, you know.'

'You can't do that.'

'No one tells a princess she can't do anything.' she grouched in a very un-princess-like manner.

'Not back to that again, are you, Princess?' he sighed, marvelling at how she could be so down to earth and approachable one moment and then up on her high horse the next.

'You are the strangest boy I've ever met. You would die for me and yet you won't accept a simple thank you and be honoured for it,' she fumed.

'I didn't die for you.' Daniel felt queasy even admitting it.

'Then why did you stop Rullin?'

'Because I had to - he couldn't be allowed to rule over Novarmere. Someone had to stop him.'

'Exactly,' she smiled. 'Which makes you someone very important and someone my mother will want to meet.'

'You need to send me home to my mother. I do not have time to meet yours.' He could feel his face heating.

'It won't take more than a few days. I understand that your cover story for your mother allows you another few days before you must be back. There will be a parade, a banquet, an invitation to visit Novarmere whenever you like - that sort of thing.'

'Nilofar told me that making Gateways is banned in Novarmere; that it was an archaic practice of the old wizards and practically no one knows how. You're the Princess. You can't condone illegal practices.' Daniel stared at her.

'Well - possibly you're right,' Rishana hedged, with a frown. 'But I'm sure I can find a way around that. After all, we have the two last wild magicks wizards in our presence. If we can convince Rullin to share his advanced knowledge, we should be able to work out a way to make a Gateway that doesn't kill Poe.'

'And the law?' Daniel reminded her.

She slanted him a look.

'My Mother is the law, Daniel. I am certain she will want to amend it, knowing that there are brave people, such as yourself, on the other side of the Gateways.'

'Oh.' He felt a bit stupid. Of course, she was a princess. She created the law.

'Anyway, we'll worry about that when we get home. We'll have the next few days to work on Rullin to share his knowledge on how to open another Gateway.'

She suddenly grinned in delight.

'Daniel! I am the first heir to be Bonded, both with the Sceptre and the Land, in generations. While we can't know for sure what this means, in time Poe and I should be able to work out just how much magic I can really perform.'

That sounded good, in theory, for the Land of Novarmere, but Daniel made a mental note to ask Poe never to teach the Princess anything about Gateways. While the Queen might have been prepared to go above the law to pursue Rullin and Lukas through the Gateway in order to find the sceptre, he was fairly confident Rishana's willingness to change the law on a whim, wouldn't be acceptable. It was, as Poe kept informing them, powerful magicks and dark ones at that. And another thing - Novarmere and Earth were very different. He was not sure that it would be a good thing if each learnt more about the other. He hoped that further use of Gateways would be limited to getting him home. Another thing he would speak privately to Poe about, Daniel reminded himself.

'Okay you two, time for bed,' Poe came over and picked up Nilofar. 'We all had a late one last night and a very long and exciting day. Tomorrow we'll be up early and into the saddle again.'

Daniel winced.

'It gets easier,' Poe laughed, noting Daniel's reluctance. Daniel ducked his head, flushing.

There were general calls of goodnight and guards were stationed around the perimeter. Fires were banked and the horses hobbled.

Daniel crawled into the tent provided for him. Nilofar, after some discussion with Poe, came in and curled up next to Daniel.

'Night,' he whispered.

'Night Nilo, see you in the morning,' Daniel mumbled.

It was barely day break when there was a yell, then another.

Daniel raised his head and stared around, blearily. Grabbing his glasses and Nilofar, he struggled out of his tent.

Guards were running around, saddling horses and pulling down tents.

'What's going on, Nilo?' Daniel didn't think it looked particularly organised.

'I'll go find Poe and Rishana.' The dragon flew off.

Daniel wandered through the camp, hoping to find something to eat. Or a familiar face. It was amazing. Even though there were only thirty guardsmen, he could not discern a familiar face amongst them.

Rishana came running up, Nilofar clutched tightly in her arms. She had tears on her face.

'Rishana - what's happening?!' Daniel's heart started to thud painfully.

'It's Poe. He's missing.' Rishana flung her arms around Daniel, Nilofar forgotten - squashed between them.

'Missing?' Daniel whispered. He felt her shudder. 'How can this be?'

'We've been betrayed,' she answered in dismay.

'Who by - aren't they all your men?' he demanded to know.

She pulled herself roughly out of his arms and gave herself a shake.

'It wasn't one of the men. It was Dagma!' Her eyes were wide with horror.

'Dagma?!' Daniel couldn't believe it - the gargon? 'That's insane. She fought with us.'

Nilofar spoke up. His voice was rough and thick.

'One of the guards noticed her talking to Poe last night. He didn't think anything of it. They walked away from the camp and he never saw them return. He assumed they had come back another way.'

'But they never did,' wailed Rishana. 'Poe's things are still in his tent, including his staff. There are signs of a struggle outside the camp and then nothing. Poe and Dagma are gone. Rullin was knocked out, as well.'

There was another yell and Remoh came running up. Sliding to a halt, he saluted Rishana.

'Rullin is awake, Your Highness.'

Rullin was brought before Rishana.

'What have you done, wizard?' Her tone was so hostile and accusatory that Daniel expected Rullin to melt into the ground.

Instead, the wizard sneered.

'Exactly what was meant to happen, if I were to fail. Another would be called in my stead. You're all fools.' He smiled, but Daniel could see that he was not particularly happy. He hadn't expected to fail.

Rishana leaned forward and slapped his face.

'What do you mean?'

'I was never your only threat. Do you think my Lord would not have multiple servants working for him? Dagma is a wizard creation. Have you ever bothered to discover the gargon's history? Her Master is my Lord!'

'Don't let him get to you,' Daniel told Rishana. Her face was pale. 'His Master can't have that many spies. After all, back in Fadden he told me that he expected the Queen to be dead by the time he returned. And that didn't happen.' Then he stopped, realizing what he had said and hoping that he had not upset Rishana more.

Rullin snorted.

'It was my mission to get the sceptre to my Master and Bond our own candidate. Didn't you ever wonder why Dagma was only put to sleep and not killed like the rest of the guards? And yes –,' he directed this at Daniel, 'I did know you were listening to me when I was talking to Lukas, so I let you think it was only an accident.'

He resumed his outburst, 'If anything had happened to me, she was to immediately take what, and who, she could, back to the Master. We'd have used her instead of Lukas, except that she was never alone with the sceptre. She was of more use to us by being close to the Princess, and privy to all that you planned. '

'Didn't you wonder why she didn't kill Tiggre and why their fight drew the rest of you away from the Princess (which I could not use to my advantage as we had hoped)? A gargon could have destroyed him, you know. Fools! It was just a shame you were Bonded before she finally managed to strike. But nothing is irreparable. Now you are without a wizard and next time you see Poe, he'll be under my Master's control.'

'So, he needs to replace the wizard he destroyed. But they didn't get the sceptre.' Rishana pulled it out of her own pack and Rullin turned a little pale as he noticed its transformation. 'I was studying it myself last night. Dagma must have realised it was now or never to take Poe. She decided he was more important now that I'm Bonded.'

Daniel's stomach dropped heavily.

'No Poe?' He could hardly form a sentence. No Poe; no way home.

Rishana glanced at him and understood.

'We'll find him, Daniel. We will. Dagma can't have got far. She can't fly too far or too fast, carrying him. We'll find them, I promise. If it comes to it, I will try to open a Gateway myself, using the sceptre!'  Rullin just snorted at that suggestion.

She turned to the captain.

'We are no longer headed to Andamooka, Captain Remoh.'

'But, Princess, I have express orders from the Queen herself.'

'And I am rescinding them. This is much more important. Send ten men with Rullin, back to the castle. He is just a burden on our new mission to locate Poe, but we will have use for him later. Mother might like to accommodate him,' she gave Rullin a truly evil grin, 'as a prisoner, in the meantime.'

'Yes, Your Highness. Where are we headed?'

'Rullin, where would Dagma go?' Rishana lifted the sceptre menacingly and flicked her eyebrow at the once-wizard.

He laughed. 'Even if I knew, you would not get there in time. My Master has an outpost in the Eye of the Mountain, but, in fact, He could have directed Dagma to go anywhere.'

'Well, that's where we will head, for a start.' The Princess suddenly looked exhausted.

She turned to Daniel.

'I'm sorry we can't send you home right now.'

'That's okay,' he gulped. 'I couldn't leave knowing Poe is in trouble, anyway.' He thought sadly of Darling and the fact that she was shortly going to get very worried about him.

Nilofar landed on his shoulder and nipped his ear softly.

'Well then, it's decided.' Rishana turned to face north. 'We head off on a wizard hunt.'

The captain grinned at her.

'Yes, Your Highness.'

'A wizard hunt,' whispered Daniel.

They gathered the rest of the camping gear and mounted the horses.

'To the north!' the captain shouted, making his horse rear up and wheel around.

'To the north!' the guards echoed, drawing their swords and brandishing them in the morning sun.

'For the Princess Rishana!' Remoh bellowed.

'For the Princess!' Daniel found himself screaming the response, along with everyone else.

'For the lost wizard Poe!'

'For the wizard Poe,' was the roaring response.

'Here we go again,' Nilofar muttered in Daniel's ear.

They headed out ... to the north ... to find Poe.

The End
About the author

Melanie lives in the country with family and various barnyard animals. She is currently writing further titles in the Chronicles of Novarmere series and other books. She finds writing for children both exciting and exhilarating, as she is never sure where the characters plan on going next!

You can visit Melanie at www.melanieifield.com to find out more about upcoming titles and other series.

Daniel isn't out of trouble yet! Facing the possibility of never going home unless he can save Poe before the Queen's enemies can use him as a bargaining piece in a war nobody wants, Daniel races across the country of Novarmere with his new friends – can they find the wizard before it's too late?

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