around it had fused into a dirty-brown glass lump. 'So he didn't notice a tree about to fall on his head.'

'Unfortunately for him.' Naldeth sniffed with a disdain reminiscent of Velindre.

'You managed another victory without a slaughter of innocent women and children.' Risala was still standing within the circle of Kheda's arms.

'That's something, isn't it?' Naldeth smiled crookedly.

'Let's hope Velindre's managed to keep the cave dwellers alive.' Kheda looked around to see how their allies were faring. Most were scrambling to their feet, ashen beneath their coating of dirt and grease, grabbing spears more to lean on them for support than with any intent of fighting. Across the valley, the tree-dwellers' women and children were climbing slowly down from their platforms and shelters, wailing and throwing themselves to the ground in abject surrender.

Risala looked up and down the dry stream bed now so drastically reshaped by flood and magic. 'Where was his dragon when he needed it?'

'I don't know.' Naldeth shivered involuntarily. 'I couldn't have pulled off that trick if it had been anywhere close.'

'Would you know if it was attacking Velindre?' Kheda looked at the forest back beyond the crest of the valley's eastern edge.

'Oh yes,' Naldeth assured him.

'Has it truly just given up and gone away?' Disbelieving, Risala was still looking around.

'There must be other places on this island with easier pickings.' All the same, Kheda wasn't convinced.

'Perhaps.' From his tone, neither was Naldeth. 'But dragons aren't known for backing away from a fight.'

'So if it returns to finish this fight, you and Velindre will need that ruby egg.' Kheda looked out across the valley beyond the tree-dwellers' settlement.

'Then let's make for the Zaise.' Risala pulled free of his embrace.

'How do we do that without taking this army with us?' Naldeth wondered.

'Let's just go.' Kheda searched for the scarred spearman among the village warriors and beckoned him forward. The warrior stepped up readily, dirty face alert. He clutched Kheda's hacking blade, the broad steel clotted with blood. Kheda encompassed the whole force with a sweeping gesture and then cut down with one hand to divide them. He found the stooped hunter in one half and pointed over to the abject tree dwellers. Holding the man's gaze, he pointed to the bloody hacking blade and shook his head slowly, his expression forbidding. The stooped hunter nodded slowly, some unidentifiable emotion clouding his brown eyes. Hoping he had made himself clear, Kheda turned his attention to the scarred spearman standing with the remaining warriors and made as if to push them all away, back towards the caves and Velindre. The scarred spearman nodded readily and called out to other hunters. The wild men began moving away, purposefully, some with a definite spring in their step.

'I think they appreciate a victory where they're not leaving half their friends dead behind them,' Risala observed.

Kheda looked at Naldeth. 'Are you fit to fight any more today, if we do run into that dragon?'

'If it's that or be blasted into dust.' The young mage rubbed at his beard, bruises of tiredness under his discoloured eyes looking as if the bloodstains were spreading. 'But I'd rather not, if we can possibly avoid it. And the sooner we recover that ruby the better.'

'Come on, then.' Kheda turned to tackle the treacherous slope down to the stream bed.

Naldeth let slip an incomprehensible Tormalin oath.

Turning, Kheda expected to see the young mage struggling with his false leg on the broken ground. Instead he saw a fiery ring of elemental magic shimmering on Naldeth's steel thigh.

A bespeaking.Kheda recalled Dev's name for the spell.

'What's happened?' Vehndre's voice echoed through the magic of fire and steel, harsh and tinny.

'We've killed their wizard and sent the tree dwellers running in all directions.' Naldeth sounded more resigned than proud. 'We're on our way to recover the Zaise?

'Some of our spearmen are taking charge of the tree dwellers but the rest should be making their way back to you.' Kheda wasn't sure if the magewoman could hear him.

'Get back here with the ship as fast as you can.'

Even allowing for the distortion of the spell, Kheda could hear strain in Vehndre's clipped words. 'Has something happened?'

Naldeth peered into the scarlet circle, frowning with growing concern. 'What's the matter?'

'Just get back here. We need the Zaise —' This time there was no mistaking the catch of a sob in Vehndre's voice.

'Is it the dragon?' Naldeth clenched impotent fists.

'No.' Velindre rallied. 'There's no dragon or any wild mage here and I can hold off anything short of that till you get back.' A treacherous quaver shook her voice and the spell blinked into nothingness.

'Give me an arrow, a feather, something to burn.' Naldeth held out a hand to Kheda 'I'll bespeak her and—'

'There's something wrong.' Risala looked uncertainly at Kheda.

'Yes.' He waved away Naldeth's hand. 'But whatever it is, it's not so wrong that Velindre couldn't use her magic

to speak to us, and she didn't ask us to come straight back to her.' Kheda began walking cautiously down the slope. 'And she's right. We need the Zaise. We can probably get back to her as quickly with the ship as we could by walking.'

'Naldeth,' Risala said abruptly, 'what gemstone would an earth dragon seek above all others for its egg?'

'Amber,' the wizard replied readily. 'Not rubies.'

'I think we'd know if the black dragon had found the Zaise.' Kheda drew his sword as they advanced across the mud. The stooped hunter and his contingent of spearmen were just reaching the tree-dwellers' settlement. A few looked curiously at the mage and the two Aldabreshi but none made any move to follow them.

'We can be grateful for the awe that wizards inspire around here,' Naldeth said sardonically.

'They all appreciate that you're well able to take care of yourself.' Kheda was relieved to find that he could see clearly through the tall forest on the far side of the stream bed for a reassuring distance.

The spiny underbrush thinned out as they left the bank behind and the sturdier, more densely leaved trees soon gave way to the twisted nut trees with their scanty foliage. Kheda kept his sword drawn all the same, Risala tense with vigilance at his side. The dappled, spindly trees grew sparser still and Kheda saw grey rock and parched brown earth ahead ending abruptly in the knife-like cliff. He searched the ragged edge outlined against the western sky for any possible hint of a lurking dragon.

'Do you remember exactly where that cave is?' He tossed the question back over his shoulder.

'Yes.' Naldeth was toiling up the slope with scant breath to spare.

'Which way do we go from here?' Gripping the hilt of his sword, Kheda walked warily out into the open. The

sun beat down with unrelenting fury and the sea breeze offered no more than an illusion of coolness. A moment after it brushed Kheda's forehead, he realised it was as hot as a furnace breath. The headache that had been stubbornly lingering since the assault of the cloaked wizard's magic assailed him with new force.

'There.' Naldeth pointed unerringly to a rocky protrusion.

They made haste towards it, fresh sweat beading every

brow.

A thought chilled Kheda despite the punishing heat. 'Naldeth, can you get the Zaise out of that cave on your own? If Velindre was using magic on the waters to keep

it there—'                                                                  .

'It's easier to unpick an antipathetic element than it is to work with it,' the young mage said curtly. 'I see you re learning something about magic,' he added with the faintest

of smiles.