Something heavy fell to earth. Gareth knew that it was the leather pouch Lucretius had slung across his body. The magician had thrown it down onto the ground in rage.

"You have tried to poison me," Lucretius screamed. "I'll kill you for this, just as I killed your father."

"Leave," Clare cried. "Flee while you still can, magician. If my husband finds you, he will surely destroy you."

Gareth saw the flash of Clare's gown in the fog. A new fear seized him.

He realized that Clare could not see any more clearly than he could. If she chanced to lose her bearings, she might fall into the sea.

"Clare, this way," he shouted. "Do not run toward the cliffs. Run to me."

Footsteps thudded softly in the moist ground. Clare appeared out of the mist. She ran blindly toward the sound of his voice. Then she saw him.

"Gareth."

"Stay with Dalian." Gareth raised his sword and went past her.

He nearly stumbled over the leather pouch that was lying on the ground.

The book had fallen out.

Dried flowers were scattered about. The familiar scent of mugwort was strong.

Another loud sneeze made Gareth whirl to the left. Lucretius stood in the swirling gray mist. His black cloak was thrown back behind his shoulders, revealing his mail hauberk.

"So you think that you are a more clever magician than I, Hellhound?"

Gareth did not answer. He paced toward Lucretius.

"Stay back." Lucretius held his sword ready for battle with one hand.

With his other, he reached into the folds of his cape and withdrew an object the size of a cup. "I can throw the contents of this vial farther than you can reach with a sword, Hellhound."

Gareth glanced at the large vial. It was filled with a green-tinged potion that he did not recognize. "Do you think I fear whatever you have in that jar?"

"You would do well to fear it." Lucretius's smile was savage. "Tis a corrosive elixir that burns whatever it touches, including skin and eyes, Hellhound."

"He's right, my lord." Dalian took a step forward. He stared at the vial in Lucretius's hand. "Tis a mixture that he concocted when he tried to create gold from base metals. It burns like fire."

Lucretius laughed softly. "Listen to the boy, Hellhound. Or risk your eyes. What good is a blind hound?"

"Gareth, I believe that he speaks the truth," Clare said. "Do not get close to him."

"He does speak the truth," Dalian insisted. "Have a care, my lord."

Clare did not take her eyes off Lucretius. "Why did you kill the recluse?"

Lucretius shrugged. "The foolish old woman saw me. She believed me to be the ghost of Brother Bartholomew come to search for his lost Sister Maud. But for some reason she felt she had to prove the point."

"She followed you to the convent library and you killed her," Clare whispered.

"I wanted to see if you had stored your father's books in the convent library before I went to the trouble of trying to find it in your hall. It would have been so much simpler if you had handed it over to the nuns, Clare."

"They were not interested in it," Clare said. "So I kept it."

"Idiots." Lucretius glanced at the book lying near the pouch. "The greatest secrets of the ancients are in that volume. Your father found them in the Arabic treatises that he translated. Mayhap the very secret of immortality is in there."

"Do you intend to leave the isle without your precious book, magician?"

Gareth prodded the volume with the toe of his boot.

"It appears that I shall be forced to leave it behind today, but you may be certain that I shall return for it." Lucretius smiled his cold, dazzling smile once more. "And you will never know when or where I shall next appear. The knowledge will no doubt keep you awake at night, eh, Hellhound?"

"I stopped you this time, did I not? I can do it again, if need be."

"Bah! You were fortunate this time, that is all. Next time, things will be different."

"Leave, then, if that is your intent. Take your foul elixir and get off this isle."

"As you wish, Hellhound. But first I will leave you something by which you shall always remember me." Lucretius hurled the vial, straight at Gareth's face.

"No," Dalian yelled. He leaped to intercept the vial, reaching for it with his bare hands.

"Dalian," Clare shouted.

Gareth did not even think about his reaction. It was instantaneous, the sort of quick, physical response that had saved his life on countless occasions.

With one hand he grabbed Dalian and yanked him out of the way. With the other he brought his sword up in a swift, short arc. He caught the vial on the flat of the blade.

Gareth used the momentum of the swing to propel the small jar off to the side. It struck a rock and shattered. There was a soft hissing sound.

"Dear God," Clare breathed. "It is eating away at the rock."

"You have the devil's own luck, Hellhound." Lucretius raced toward the cliff path. "But it cannot last forever."

"There is no boat waiting for you down in the cove, magician," Gareth said softly. "My men discovered it a short while ago."

"Nay, that cannot be." Lucretius's cloak whipped around him as he halted at the top of the cliff path. "You He. I discovered those caves. No one knows about the cliff caves."

Gareth smiled. "You do not know much about young boys. They are insatiably curious. William found the caves long ago."

"Damn you, Hellhound." Lucretius lunged toward him, sword raised.

Gareth met the rush easily. Steel clashed against steel. Lucretius leaped back out of reach, feinted, and closed once more.

The magician was good, Gareth conceded privately as the two men circled each other. He was both fast and clever. Lucretius might make a show of disdaining the fighting arts in favor of magic, but it was obvious he had a talent for swordplay.

Conscious of the sheer drop at the edge of the cliff, Gareth maneuvered to ensure that it was Lucretius's back that was to the sea, not his own. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Clare drag Dalian out of harm's way.

Lucretius attempted another rushing charge. Gareth sidestepped it.

The magician swung around and this time Gareth found himself in the position he had wished to avoid. His back was to the cliffs.

Lucretius closed again, sword glinting dully in the gray light. Gareth felt the ground give way beneath his left boot heel. The edge of the cliff began to crumble beneath him. The waves below were very loud.

With all of his strength, he dove forward, headfirst, in an attempt to dive beneath the thrust of Lucretius's steel.

Lucretius was already committed to the blow. His face contorted with rage as Gareth slid in low, just beneath the blade, hit the ground with his shoulder, and rolled.

"Die, Hellhound." Lucretius swung around as Gareth surged to his feet.

Die, damn you."

Gareth saw the opening and moved in, sword ready. Lucretius could not get his own blade up swiftly enough to effectively parry the blow.

But even as Gareth went in for the kill, Lucretius screamed and dropped his sword. He flailed wildly as the ground gave way beneath his feet.

"No," Lucretius yelled. "No, it cannot happen like this. I'm a magician."

Gareth caught himself and stepped swiftly back from the disintegrating cliff edge.

Lucretius pitched backward into the gray nothingness that waited for him. His scream rent the air for endless seconds and then it abruptly ceased.

In the great silence that followed, Gareth met Clare's eyes.

"Gareth." She ran toward him and threw herself into his arms, hugging him fiercely. "You are safe."

"Aye." Gareth looked over the top of her head at Dalian, who was staring at the place where Lucretius had last been seen.

"Do you think he is truly dead, my lord?' Dalian asked in a strange voice.