"Tropruscht of the Caves came to Denlineil eleven years ago," said Mayor Gregarcantz. "At first she ran a house of consort before closing it to do mercenary work. I was on the town council then and that was where I met her – we were selecting a posse to pursue the Moncrovian Thiefkiller, who had migrated here to continue his murdering."

"I wondered why she is Tropruscht of the Caves," began Val’ha.

Gregarcantz spotted the pitcher of apple toddy, poured himself a mug and sat on one of the overstuffed couches. "She lived in the caves north of here, on the western side of the road that leads to Gold Dragon and Kaersoanen. I know little from her mouth, mind you – were it not for a visitation from the Veiled Marquis, I would not be able even to tell you where Inez had stolen off to with Tarlos." A tear came into his eye.

"The Veiled Marquis, you say?" asked the Baroness Val Tress. "The cursed agent of Agora, the Goddess Families?"

"The very one," said Gregarcantz. "It was the night after Cagliostra resigned and left town – I was at Center Denlineil reviewing Lemoyan architectural manuscripts, with Terr’Sol gone and I the only one there when he came in through the wall. I must say, I was at first weak in my heart – Marquis Onofopor was clad entirely in black robes and a veil and spoke in a strange, deep language I did not understand." Gregarcantz sipped his toddy. "When he saw my fright and puzzlement his tongue, changed to that which we are speaking now, and he said that Tropruscht’s past will affect Denlineil’s future forever and to search the Fields of Claraudice to save the city."

"From Xorus?" Porcie asked. "I have seen his fog begin to infect the air here."

"You are correct, insipirile knight. Xorus has concentrated himself in Moncrovia and now endeavors to cover the rest of the kingdom, but from what I have learned from the Veiled Marquis, we may be able to repel him."

"What has this to do with my son?" Tarl-Cabot said with great impatience. "What has this to do with rescuing Tarlos?"

"The Veiled Marquis," said the Baroness, "only appears to thwart harm to progeny, does he not?"

"Yes, yes." Gregarcantz, flustered by Tarl-Cabot, closed his eyes in concentration. "Before Tropruscht moved to Denlineil with her two boys Chalister…"

"Chalister?" asked Farron and Quigley at once.

"…and Tim…"

"Tim?" asked Val’ha.

"Before then, she lived in the caves past the Fields of Claraudice, where there was said to be a lair of medusae for many-score years."

"She told me once that she was gifted with medusa’s stare and immune from their gaze," said Tarl-Cabot.

"It was," Gregarcantz said, "both true and a gift she used well. The Veiled Marquis revealed to me that with her skill in archery and the power of the medusa’s stare, she defeated the queen of the colony in a challenge and became medusa-queen herself. After the Marquis left I pulled as many documents from our city’s archives as I could, and discovered unqualified disappearances over the years of many different people from around this region, with many posses to search for them; in most cases, the posses did not succeed. It was the contention of the Marquis that their bodies were turned to stone when they were captured or strayed too close to the colony and that their magickal statues, thousands of them, lie below Terra, though the medusae have since abandoned the caverns. This is where Inez has taken Tarlos."

"Inez thinks I will give her the Sword." Tarl-Cabot gritted his teeth. "I will slide it through her neck."

"Take this." The Mayor removed from beneath his robe a platinum band and gave it to Tarl-Cabot. "It is a wish-ring. When you find Tarlos, send him home to me, for it will take one person anywhere within the Terran realm one time." Tarl-Cabot put the ring on his middle finger and bowed slightly. "I am sending with you a guide who was also one of my wards in her youth, Ma’teus who I have already told you about. She has been prepared for this task, Tarlos being her foster brother, for some days."

"I must ask you, Mayor Gregarcantz," said Val’ha, "Are you familiar with the vessel Dwarfkeep harbored outside?"

There were calls of surprise and a nod from Gregarcantz before Andy spoke. "We have not had time to tell you, but Lady Flegretha docked near our home a fortnight ago and she calls upon us almost daily. She helped a group of Moncrovian little people to safety in Denlineil – though I do not know how long this city remains untouched – and, speaking in the greatest confidence, Sir Thoryn as well."

"Thoryn!" many exclaimed at once.

"True. He is in hiding, but Farron and I spent many hours visiting him."

Terr’Sol was now beginning to fire the morning. "Let us hasten to begin our work," said Val’ha, "but I must see my dear friends before we depart. Gregarcantz, can you have Ma’teus meet us aboard Captain Flegretha’s ship?"

"Indeed I will, Lady Val’ha."

Everyone stirred to their next action when the Baroness said, "One thing puzzles me still, Mayor. How will finding these statues save your city against the elements of Xorus?"

"It is my intention," said Gregarcantz, "that once Tarlos is safe and Inez dealt with, we will claim the statues for the borders of our city. Their charm, according to Marquis Onofopor, will make hallowed the ground around Denlineil and form a barricade against any corruption of the Song by any being, mortal or immortal and allow us to continue to live in peace."

"If what I have experienced of Moncrovia’s ravaging is any indication," the Baroness rejoined, "it is a highly honorable task with which you proceed, but I warn you: Magickal protection is one thing; it is quite another for Prince Joel’s nonmagickal guards to come charging across the Denlineilian Bridge to take over and occupy your city, as they have done in M’trossmyph’."

After they explained Pivrax’s encounter with Siress Cyr to the startled mayor, he regained his resolve. "So be it, if it comes to that, but fear of physical menace does not necessitate ignoring our safety against Terr’des’ darkness either. But now I have also a question for you, Baroness Val Tress: Is it true that your bloodline has in it the medusa’s stare?"

"We do, but from your telling the medusae are gone from the caves."

"So the Marquis said, so he said."

**

It was a joyous reunion between Flegretha and Thoryn and their friends. The companions crowded in the spice-laden galley, with Pivrax forced to sit on the floor and Thoryn squeezing Val’ha’s hand. The shela’i Faielves sparkled aboveboard tending to the Dwarfkeep’s rigging and the only others aboard had already been introduced – two Gnomes. "I say to you here, after we arrived in Denlineil, I dismissed my entire crew but for the Faielves, blessed little workers. The Brothers Gnome are hard workers as well and do not eat much, so I have hired them." Flegretha produced a sack and dropped it upon the table, sending apples spilling. "It is not much for a breakfast, but with the Faielves up top – turns out they are fairly good with rope and sail! – I have to make do for myself. There must be some bread…"

"I will get it." Sir Thoryn retrieved two heaping baskets of long-loaf. "We have missed you all."

"It is quite an escape you made, Thoryn," said Baroness Val Tress. "I can only hope that the Baron was also granted freedom by an anonymous benefactor."

"If there was a way out, I am sure he found it, though I know not what became of your guard. They may have escaped, found help or gotten the Baron out."

"Speculation, but thank you."

"It must have been quite packed aboard the Dwarfkeep, Lady Flegretha," said Porcie, "with your crews and their families."

"Aye, Master Porcie, as thick as blackberries waiting to be jellied. It is good that my ship was designed for Humans – without the cabins being as large as they are, you could not get anyone a comfortable bed, much less tall Thoryn here!"

"I had to be careful," admitted Thoryn, "not to step on anyone when I awoke. Some of the families had to make do with the floor."

"Well, that is all past us now, golden-hearts." Flegretha clapped her hands. "You arrived only a day before I was to depart from here to scoop up my little Tarnac in the northwest woods of Loran and bring forth my wherefore on this K’aleb Elf."

Val’ha laughed. "It is apparent you did not take our advice to wait for Tarnac in Moncrovia."

"To the contrary, Lady Val’ha, I did in fact do this, though in my stead I left dated notes for my beloved everywhere he might go – on the Bugbear even. But you see it was quite impossible to remain any longer in Moncrovia…the Elves were in straits. Xorus’ black shadow was back in their dreams, his energy being so strong within the city that even those with the fairest natures were starting to give in to his false promise. No, I fear all is destruction in the Royal City. We had to leave."

"What did your notes instruct?" asked Val’ha.

"’Dear love, and I wrote him things that are a bit private on some, so I shall not reveal those portions, but each said I have left for Denlineil for two weeks’ stay near your family and urge that if you read this, hasten from Moncrovia as fast as you can! The city is plagued with Xorus’ evil, and I cannot bear the thought of his return to your spirit. I have taken our workers from here to their safety and will remain in Denlineil, by my estimate, between Mocrolester 27 and 43, which allows that you have indeed come this far at least, but do not travel the highway to the east as the Royal City is being destroyed. Instead, return to the Lorax Stream where it feeds into the Ospet River – in three more weeks’ time I will find you there.’ I arrived at the suggestion of meeting in the northwest forest," concluded Flegretha with resolution and sadness, "when it was apparent to me that even with five weeks’ passing, my sweet elfling could still be up there. I am aware now what perils creep about in the northwest forest: the new realm, Gargantua’s godhood for a stone…"

"If it is as you say," said Baroness Val Tress, "the Xoran witch he was to meet he has met with already." With that, Flegretha and Thoryn learned of Tarlos’ kidnapping by Inez to the abandoned medusa caves of Claraudice.

"Dear brother!" Thoryn lamented to Tarl-Cabot, then, "I will go with you."

Flegretha said, "I should wonder what it will be like without you, so close we have been these weeks, fair knight."

"I suggest that you have a replacement, Captain Flegretha," said Tarl-Cabot. "As we speak, our friends Andy and Farron are packing whatever they can in flight of Prince Joel’s guard. Can you give them passage from here?"

Flegretha’s eyes went skyward and she pulled on her beard. "Aye. I have seen the posters about this city and was deeply saddened to find so many of you on it. Be warmed in your hearts, however, my loves, for in Moncrovia and Denlineil many know of your feats and few believe you would kill the King and Queen. You have many more friends than you might guess."

"For all that, Andy and Farron and others will soon find newer posters I am sure with their names added," said Porcie, "mine included."

"I shall offer them to join me then," promised Flegretha to Tarl-Cabot, "and for all of you, I have a gift." She left the galley for only a moment, returning with a two-foot disk of copper; it reflected Val’ha’s face upside down in the morning light, like a great spoon, and reeked stronger and spicier than anything else on the ship. Flegretha appeared delighted at everyone’s puzzlement. "The mirror is yours, Lady Val’ha, and it makes a fine shield as well! It is my newest invention, Heinghold’s Mirror after the Demigod of Magickal Items – worked many months on this with the Faielves, just got done soaking it for nine days with spices and magnets. It might offer you some assistance in dealing with any medusae still straggling within the caverns you seek, and at the very least, it matches wonderfully with your copper scimitar!" Val’ha took Heinghold’s Mirror by its leatherstrap handle and smelled it again. "Though it is untested," said Flegretha, "the Faielves insist it is an oracle. I suspect it will be better for other things, though."

"What is in it?"

"Arbutus, of course! In addition to our usual spices, within the copper we pounded arbutus and powder of belladonna, henbane, poppy seeds and mandrake."

Gregarcantz arrived with Ma’teus, a dark-haired Woman, her weapons a bow and silver-tipped arrows and several silver knives in a single leather sheath; her warhorse Firedancer waited outside, fully saddled and with more provisions. Gregarcantz produced for Sir Thoryn one of his own mounts, and as Andy and Farron set sail on Flegretha’s Dwarfkeep out of the Denlineilian harbor bound for the northwest forest, Ma’teus led Tarl-Cabot and the others to the Fields of Claraudice to contend with Inez.

**

A horsepath running between the west-shore homes and Denlineil Stream left the city on a short bluff that grew to become a cliff overlooking the wide, slow-moving brown river. After some hours when the journeymates had traveled well out of Denlineil with their company now just birds, squirrels and the mountains the took up most of the western sky, Ma’teus turned left into the forest, but there was no path Val’ha could see. The Baroness, second in line, halted, almost causing Dragonslayer’s nose to hit her mount’s behind. "What is this?" she demanded of Ma’teus. "Have you chosen for the northeast highway? That is where you are heading."

"Stop, Firedancer." Ma’teus turned and smiled at the Baroness. "You may trust that this is the way to the Fields, for I once took this trail."

"Trail? Trail? There is not a woodfern askance or a pinecone broken." Baroness Val Tress sighed. "Well, I shall trust but that we will not reach the highway, since we have no other alternative."

Ma’teus stopped smiling. "It is not a trail most can see, this is why I have been appointed to you by the Mayor." She proceeded through the pines, which were with luck far enough apart that the companions’ faces were not continually whipped by needles.

Midday found them in a small clearing for rest. Pivrax and Quigley tended the mounts; Thoryn and Val’ha spread a blanket over the tall yellow grass and brought forth loaves, fruits and dried meats. Ma’teus did not partake with the others, instead keeping to herself a short distance away; Val’ha picked up two pears and joined her. "It will be a great treasure for your city to surround itself with the magickal statues, but I am curious what makes their charm."

Ma’teus took a pear and some time before answering. "Their sacrifice makes their charm."

"Their death, you mean?"

"Not their mortal bodies so much as the ending of their spirits’ time here. "

"’Sacrifice’ is a unique choice of words." The Baroness sat next to them. "I think of ‘sacrifice’ as untimely or even heroic, but it is not appropriate for those who wander off into the woods and succumb to the hissing of the medusae."

Ma’teus quickly finished off her fruit, licked her teeth and threw the core toward Firedancer. "We should be off."

"Pah, we have just settled ourselves! I state again, with some knowledge of the medusa, that I do not find what you refer to as ‘charm’ due from ‘sacrifice’ something to swoon about. There is only one term for the death of Men who give themselves to any Woman’s song – medusa, siren, rose-goddess, wer’mere maidens – and it is ‘temptation.’"

"I beg difference!" Val’ha related her encounter with rose-goddesses at Castle Ohrt the previous summer. "Porcie, Thoryn and Trisahn, until the goddesses appeared, were on their guard and neither strayed nor were tempted. The goddesses’ melody caused them stupor, none else."

"And you were left standing? I see, dear maiden Elf, you have neither wondered of your immunity to the temptresses nor known desire in your short life." Val’ha was so outraged by the Baroness’ remarks that she could not speak, which left only for Val Tress to continue. "It is exactly my point that Men’s desire makes them weaker than Womankind, and I have seen no exceptions to this rule. I ask, therefore, that both of you stay alert to any surviving medusa – Flegretha was wise to give you Heinghold’s Mirror, Lady Val’ha." The Baroness turned to Ma’teus. "And to you, I ask that you choose your words with greater judgement. Now I must seek relief before we depart." She went off into the forest.

Quigley, who had come near, was merry when he saw Val’ha flush. "I have not had the pleasure of the Baroness’ company until this past fortnight, but when I was High Advisor to Princess Igri, she used to tell me often of her cousin’s challenging engagements."

"Myself," said Val’ha, "I have had her company. She is correct in one regard – we should be on our way in short manner." The companions laughed.

"It is also easy, when she has the medusa’s stare, to cast aspersions on Men for being drawn so to the medusa’s hiss that they are compelled to look upon her ugliness and become stone," said Quigley, "but not all Men are tempted to their deaths by harpies and rose-goddesses. There are others."

"Other kinds of Men? Do you mean those with medusa’s stare?"

"Lady Val’ha," laughed Ma’teus, "Medusa’s stare is the ability to gaze upon medusae without becoming stone, and only Women are gifted with this immunity."

"As to being seduced toward whatever end," said Quigley, "I encountered in my youth a Terr’dean succubus but did not lapse into her power – from her I learned much about myself."

Tarl-Cabot approached with his horse Flip. "It has been too many days already my boy Tarlos is held by Xorus’ witch, Lady Ma’teus. Can you tell us what lies beyond these pines?"

"A field," she answered. When Tarl-Cabot relaxed a little, Ma’teus stood abruptly and held up her hand. "Be neither despondent nor elated, Sir Tarl-Cabot: Though it is a field beyond the wood, we challenge the fortune-wheel, for it may not be the field we seek." Ma’teus cast her voice so that all could hear, and drew them to her audience just as the Baroness returned. "The Fields of Claraudice lie beyond this pine forest, to be sure, but that which we seek – a cornfield – appears only once every fortnight."

"What do you mean?" several asked.

"Claraudice was a recluse and an enchantress. Across her land she laid a spell to protect and hide herself – without this magic, the medusan sacrifices," she gazed fleetingly at the Baroness, "would not have the power in themselves to become protective statues, but would instead be only poorly fated stone figures."

"We are to travel sixteen days to find corn?"

"Or one, or ten, my lord, I do not know the exact cycle of appearance," Ma’teus said, "but until we find a field of cornstalks, we will ride each day through Claraudice’s maze of pine and wheat."

"Let us tarry no longer." Tarl-Cabot mounted Flip and clipped off through the trees.

**

They galloped through their first wheatfield some hours later. A forest loomed on the horizon, but as Terr’Sol crossed the sky and though the pinewood behind them became tiny and eventually gone, the one ahead came no closer. The only advantage the companions had was a slight trail that appeared at the field’s end-grass. "Messy enchantment," said Tarl-Cabot. "When, Lady Ma’teus, will we ever reach the end of this wheat?"

"It will be nightfall when it comes upon us, and then at once." As Ma’teus foretold, just when darkness began its encroachment on the day, it was to Val’ha as if the second pine grove had grown legs and raced toward them. The swift departure of the distance between travelers and trees created a headwind that caused the mounts to stagger and Val’ha swoon from the rushing, but then it was done and they decided to make camp.

"I have wondered," said Sir Quigley to Ma’teus after they had eaten, Vuvu and the horses grazed upon the wheat and all but they and Val’ha gone to sleep, "what might become of us if we turned back at any point."

"It would be as if you were continuing forward, but you would never find the cornfield. The moment we entered the first wood, there was no going back without peril of becoming lost forever."

"Whether from your knowledge or Gregarcantz’ then, have any who ever entered the Fields of Claraudice returned besides you, and Tropruscht?"

"None other that I know. It was only accident that I entered the Fields; I was exploring and with good fortune, by the time I discovered where I was, I knew already from Father Gregarcantz about the legend, so I just went on and on for nine days until I reached the cornfield. As soon as I saw it, I reentered the pines and after only a few leagues I was on the bank of Denlineil Stream again. I have never ridden so hard than to get home as that day."

After hearing Ma’teus refer to the Mayor as her father, Val’ha said, "You must be close to Tarlos, both of you being the wards of Gregarcantz."

"Yes." Ma’teus face was equal parts joy and sadness. "We are to some a strange family, but we are one with love and insipirility. Only on this trip have I found out our late Aunt Tropruscht was my brother Tarlos’ real mother, and meeting Sir Tarl-Cabot and Tarlos’ Uncle Thoryn, I am hopeful there is enough blood providence that we may rescue him." She gazed off into the dark.

"Well, I am weary." Quigley stood and stretched. "In some sense, lady guide, I could be called your cousin; I once knew Tarlos’ brother Chalister long ago."

"Really! Goodnight, Sir Quigley."

"Goodnight, ladies." While Ma’teus dampened the fire, Val’ha checked Dragonslayer, then put her pack over Heinghold’s Mirror, lay her head down and fell asleep.

**

Val’ha was bathed in deep emerald light, fully conscious but with no sense of direction, space or time, not even of her own senses or body except her green-light. At first she felt as though she was rising, but knew this to be only an impression from the Terran realm. She could see but did not see, the green-light was cool and smooth but she could not feel, she thought but did not form thoughts, and beyond all of this, outside her magickal light, Val’ha detected – as if at the very edges of the heavens themselves – a shadow lurking, hiding and waiting.

Val’ha was uplifted for more than an hour, but she knew also that measuring Time in this place was pitifully useless. When she had reached a point where the light concentrated, she willed herself to move ahead, though "ahead" too meant nothing. Her intuition told Val’ha that the blurry sphere of light was a green door, and she was anxious and uneasy to go beyond it.

When she did, she was suddenly surrounded by the night sky. Now, though she could not sense herself necessarily, she could see, hear and feel what was around her. I had no prior warning of this dream…she was high in the air, trisahn half-bright and only wisps of cloud trailing grey across the stars. To her sides and behind her, though she had no head to turn, a voiceless brown-light seemed to be directing her, and her memory raced back until she envisioned Oromasus’ death aboard the Bugbear what seemed so many ages ago. The brown-light of Oromasus – he is in the limbic realm, Chext’a said. With that statement she felt a bond of assurance strike through her as a jolt of energy, and tried to address Oromasus but realized she had no power of speech. Oromasus, she thought, can you hear me? Can you answer? A smaller burst of energy went through her and she sensed his affirmation. Though she had so many questions, Val’ha did not feel any answers other than no or yes would be forthcoming from the departed wizard’s spirit and decided to wait until he had taken her wherever he intended.

When Val’ha flew a bit further she looked down in wonderment, for she was above Mount Carias’ southeastern foot. Because the sky was clear, Val’ha could see Terra, the Flooher’ty Sea to her left, its islands far off and the highway that connected Moncrovia to Denlineil directly below. She was thrilled by her night-flight until two things appeared: first, the unmistakable opaline fog of Xorus, which fingered the mountain face and pointed itself up the coastline like a great evil vine toward Denlineil; the other, the checkered Val Tress estate. Their trees and crops had been burned, and the Baron’s tower and other buildings lay in heaps of timber and granite blocks. Most devastating, just as Val’ha reached the point directly over the rubble of Val Tress Hall, she could see bodies strewn everywhere – Humans, horses, swans, none had been spared from slaughter.

Val’ha hit a whiff of cloud and she propelled further toward Moncrovia, constantly against the majesty of Carias and into Xorus’ ever-thickening white-blue mist, until Terra was so deeply covered that Val’ha could not see anything but the mountain above and sea where the crawling fog did not yet reach. She felt herself go down, down and down and was in the next instant just outside a keyhole window, lit from the inside by candles and from the outside by the fog-dispersed moonglow. Castle Moncrovia. King Joel’s Blue Hall, where Tarl-Cabot was troth to Princess Igri, Val’ha remembered, and felt the coaxing of the brown-light to move through the pane and as she did, the glass felt cool, as if she placed her skin next to it. When she had glided through to the Blue Hall, she no longer felt the force of Oromasus and was alone on the high sill of the room.

From the glow on the windowsill Val’ha knew that she herself was her green-light. Inside, the long ceiling that had once featured the image of a long blue rose and stem was painted over with black; down across the opposite wall, the roses that had poured from the large vases on the day of Tarl-Cabot’s betrothal were now black and withered. Only the tapestries marked any connection to the Blue Rose kings. The entirety of the hall glowed a vague opaline and Val’ha sensed, just barely, the drone of the corrupted Song that she knew all too well from Castle Ohrt, the Isle of Sipsids and the Island of Dragons as Xorus’ eminence.

Val’ha heard voices below – on the royal dais, sitting in the King and Queen’s former thrones, sat Prince Joel and Zini, his High Advisor. The Prince was more heavily armored than High Advisor Zini, but both wore shirts with a herald Val’ha at first did not recognize; when she did she was horrified, for it was of a pair of black two-headed dogs, teeth bared and eyes as red as the flame that raged between them. The dogs are his symbol, his empaths, Trisahn had said of Xorus once.

One of great entryway doors opened and Feukpi, aglow in opaline, made toward Joel and Zini, his footfalls on the uncarpeted stone floor sending an echo against the ceiling and his Xoran light-circle making the inner pillars’ shadows dance madly over the tapestried ancestors. Feukpi’s approach barely affected Prince Joel, deep in conversation; every nuance of sound reached Val’ha, whether by Oromasus’ design or not, and she heard all that was said: "We will spare, Zini, whatever is necessary of my Black Dog guard toward their capture – I will not allow for the Floohertys’ escape after we ourselves failed to capture the two witches, and especially after Sir Thoryn got away! I want this coven of murderers caught and destroyed! If it takes twenty, forty, a hundred, so be it!"

"We must address at some point, Lord Prince," said Zini, "the enhancement of your army as well as their pay. Both are already at their limit and we have taken all we can from Moncrovia’s emptiness."

Prince Joel gritted his teeth. "My highest objective is to end the lives of those…who…killed…my…parents. You will find me Val Tress. You will find me the Elf. You will find me Tarl-Cabot. You will find me the Floohertys. You will find me the knights and the witches who stuck us in that damned room for a whole day with two corpses!"

"Yes, Lord Prince." Zini stood and bowed, sounding desirous to leave quickly, but was stopped by Joel’s raised hand a second after the Prince appeared to notice the opaline conjurer before him.

Prince Joel regarded Feukpi for several long moments before shrugging his arms. "Have you spoken? What does she say?"

By way of answer another light-circled figure entered the hall. Cagliostra – the alchemist, alderwoman, merchant and betrayer – had surrounded herself with Xorus’ will. Val’ha was so distressed she almost retreated from the room, but she struggled to focus as Cagliostra floated noiselessly across the Blue Hall and spoke. "I will seek sponsorship through High Wizarder Heemstress into the Order of the Sages, Lord Prince."

"Excellent!" The windows shook; Prince Joel rubbed his hands together, stood and bowed to the two magicians. "You have done well, Lord Feukpi, introducing to us a wizard of communion, and I welcome you, Lady Cagliostra, in beginning your journey toward the endorsement of the Sages to become High Wizarder to the first King of the Black Dogs."

Cagliostra and Feukpi returned the bow and Val’ha thought Feukpi so quivered with delight from the Prince’s approval that he would start spinning about in the queer whirl he had danced on the Island of Dragons, but he contained himself. "Now to all of you," said Joel, resuming his throne and inviting Cagliostra to sit where Zini had in Queen A’gren’s chair, "I have been pondering how we shall conduct our affairs beyond the immediate tasks of meting justice upon my father’s killers and their allies. Feukpi, how many have you raised within the mist?"

"Nearly all, with my powers," answered Cagliostra instead. "Lord Feukpi has much knowledge of where rest the unblessed dead around Moncrovia, he has had corpses unbury those in the cemeteries, and within the fog of Xorus we have completed the work. At least twenty-five thousand corpses await your order in Ohrt Valley."

"How many living guard do we have along the border with Joh’oprinia?" the Prince inquired of Zini.

"Five thousand, a quarter of your combined army."

"Does that include those from Joh’oprinia?"

"Yes, Lord Prince, in addition to the Blue Rose loyalists and some mercenaries, but I say to you again…"

"Enough, Zini. Lady Cagliostra, as I have told my distant cousin Feukpi, my guard have proven to be extremely reticent about serving with the undead, but I dohave need for a navy. Take every ship still in Moncrovia’s harbor – have your creatures tear the city’s structures apart board by board to build me the rest. I want at least fifty vessels in my fleet, enough to honor the flagship I commandeered to bring Ardanla home and deal with her father for consorting with our enemies."

"It will be done."

"Good. When you have been accepted into the Order of the Sages and I have gone through my coronation…"

"And I have been awarded the Conschalan duchy…" interrupted Feukpi.

"I shall give to you official appointment as steward of my navy."

A venomous smile crawled across Cagliostra’s face. "The corpses will tear Moncrovia apart until you have a hundred ships."

"Perfect!" hailed Prince Joel. "When I have returned on the Possessor to Asch’endra after the traitor-king’s dispatch, I will pay a visit to my brother in North Mibwaze. What can you produce for me in a fortnight?"

"You have enough armada to effectively regain control of that commonwealth already," said Zini, "and I am also certain that the element of surprise is our ally in the matter of Prince Delvi-Alana."

Prince Joel pondered in silence for several minutes before he spoke again. "All I asked of my siblings was that they go quietly back to their duchies, but no, not Delvi-Alana. Zini, send forth a thousand guards on whatever ships are available to fortify Taramas. When we have taken over the city, we will use it for our base of operation from which to strike out against North Mibwaze for their petulant referendum."

"Yes, Lord Prince." Zini tried to bow away, but Prince Joel stopped him again.

"I want another two thousand guards along the Joh’oprinian border as well. King Percivale will not get away when I reach the shore of Bjursk-la. I will cage the rat where he lives and decorate the town square with his head."

"As you order, Lord Prince." High Advisor Zini bid a hasty exit.

"Shall I attend to Castle Moncrovia during your time in Joh’oprinia?" Feukpi bowed.

Prince Joel scowled. "My eldest son Lord Joel has domain in my absence, but he will need magickal wisdom. However, you will operate in consultation with Cagliostra, do you understand, cousin?"

"I do! I do!" Feukpi clapped his hands in delight, but settled when he saw that Prince Joel and Cagliostra stared at him as though they had just eaten rotten fruit. "Oh! I will return to Castle Ohrt and leave the two of you…"

"Do, and if your daughter Inez actually succeeds in her quest to obtain the Sword and trap the murderers in the Fields, you will notify me immediately. Now leave us," ordered Prince Joel. The conjurer float-stepped backward, his eyes fixed on the Prince until he was gone. Joel turned to Cagliostra. "There is one more thing you can do for me while I am in Joh’oprinia."

"Yes, my lord?"

"I have stationed my army along the Joh’oprinian border, but I wish also to seal the Straits of Flooher’ty and I will need the first ten ships and crews you create to do this."

"Do you think there is much chance…"

"At least one of their number, the witch-captain Eedebee, sails the sea – she may even be providing harbor to all of those we seek." The Prince pounded his fist upon the throne.

"With all respect, since the Age of Insipirility, our kingdom and Zcembrota have had an agreement that the Straits of Flooher’ty remain open."

"Then as soon as you have prepared the ships for departure, commune with Heemstress that the Sages, particularly the Zcembrotan High Wizarder and his King, should not consider our blockade of the straits to be an act of aggression upon Zcembrota, but withdrawal from the Flooher’ty agreement necessary for the protection of Asch’endra’s interest. Unless my cousin Inez succeeds in luring them to her, which I hold no expectation of, we will find the killers in whatever shadows they lurk."

"What is that?" Cagliostra’s voice carried directly to Val’ha. "There, that light up in the window! It is green…"

Prince Joel’s gaze followed Cagliostra’s. "It is but a star I think, lady wizard. Green, you say?"

"Is it?" Uncertainty plagued Cagliostra’s words. "It was inside the pane."

"The moon dapples your eyes…" Val’ha was pulled back through the cold glass and into complete darkness. She slipped down a bottomless shaft and in the next moment awoke to the cold ground, her breath fogging the copper mirror, and her companions stirring for the new day.

**

Val’ha’s revelations provided hearty discourse among her journeymates throughout the whole of the next day. "With Delvi-Alana returned to North Mibwaze," said Tarl-Cabot, "I am hopeful my troth is safely home on Reiglo Isle."

"Returned, or banished?" the Baroness asked bitterly, wiping her cheek. "At least your hope for Igri’s welfare remains alive. My own for the Baron, though, diminishes with Val’ha’s tale to nothingness."

"The King called his children to Castle Moncrovia to protect them within its hallowed ground from Xorus," said Thoryn, "now they must flee for such protection."

"What is your point, young knight?" demanded Val Tress. "Irony? My estate is ruined, all there are killed and I know nothing of my family’s fate. My heart has been dying with each day that passes – I am most disinterested in your vacuities."

"What," put in Sir Quigley too quickly, "does Prince Joel refer to as Inez’ ‘trap,’ Lady Ma’teus?"

Ma’teus pushed back a pine bough. "I can only think she means to either try to force us to go back before we reach the cornfield, kill us outright or allow us to reach the cornfield."

"Allow us to reach the cornfield? Is this not our own task, our very intent?" asked the Baroness.

Ma’teus released the branch and did not answer.

"Not today, it appears," Val’ha said, for ahead of them at the end of the forest waved the end-grasses of their second wheatfield. She pulled alongside Ma’teus as the trail widened.

"No, it is unfortunate."

"What did you mean regarding the cornfield?"

Ma’teus raised her voice to finally answer the Baroness’ and Val’ha’s question. "When we reach the cornfield, we will have the course of one complete day to find Tarlos and return to the forest. If we do not, we shall be forced to wander forever in the Fields."

"Well, why did you not just say so," mocked the Baroness, "such a small point as insignificant!"

"I do not know if it is even true. Gregarcantz mentioned it as one person’s hearsay on a parchment he found once. If we have not found Tarlos within a day or are delayed, according to that account, we will not return."

"Cccccouldd b-b-bee annnyth-ph-thingg th-thenn," said Pivrax.

"Indeed!" agreed Ma’teus. "Let me ask you, Baroness, much I have heard of your Baron’s imprisonment and the ruination of your estate. Why has he incurred such enmity from Prince Joel, besides the false notion of his involvement in the murders?"

"We lived – live," said the Baroness, "on the narrow strip of land that provides one of only two crossings around the mountains from Asch’endra to Conschala. When the Prince spurned and disparaged the Conschalan duchy, there formed a concern of Conschalans for the benefit and future of our people. The Baron was leader to this cause. Joel’s false charges against the Baron and me are a mask for his true intent – the silencing of Conschala and control of Val Tress Pass."

"Where are the other Conschalans? Is the movement armed or otherwise a threat to the Prince? Though I am from Denlineil, I have not ever heard of a Conschalan campaign."

"It remains in the shadows," said Baroness Val Tress, and she would say no more.

**

The wheat went on for five days. The party was short on supplies and patience when they left the sixth pine forest, but their sullen spirits rose when Ma’teus’ head lifted. She sniffed the air. "Corn! We are arrived!"

The cornfield stretched ahead to another forest on the horizon, but Val’ha hoped they would never see that wood; instead, she like the others focused on the field itself, with some frustration. There were no signs or markers of any cave system, medusa colony or hermit-wizard. As the companions slowly trekked the dried-mud ruts of the path, Val’ha guessed the wild corn had not been harvested in years; ear after ear of the current crop worm-infested in the overgrown field, weed packed the space between the stalks, and rot layered the ground and filled the air. "It is probably not important to ask, Ma’teus," said Porcie, "but did Claraudice ever welcome the medusae to remain in her Fields once she had conquered them?"

Ma’teus laughed. "That I do not know, Sir Porcie, nor if she had any relations with them atall."

"Well, then!" said the Baroness. "Other than allowing our horses – and let me not discount Sir Grey-Troll’s goat…"

"Th-ph-th-phannnnk you."

"…where is the lair’s entryway, Lady Ma’teus?"

"It is under this field, Baroness, but we will have to search for its exact location. I did not have the wherewithal when I was here last to find it."

"Was there nothing in the texts your father studied?"

"No."

The Baroness’ faced turned as red as the cross of her family crest. "Inferior! How does this world continue with such poor preparation?" she said to the heavens.

Ma’teus shrugged. "My task on behalf of Gregarcantz and the City of Denlineil has always been to provide you with information on the legend of the Fields, and to assist you in locating the passage to the colony so that I may lead others there to reclaim the lost statues, for I suspect if we are successful, you will not be in a position to do so yourselves."

"You have failed greatly on the first count," said the Baroness, "and on the second, pah and ballyhoo for you!" Ma’teus, Quigley and Thoryn formed a search group, Pivrax and Porcie another, leaving Val’ha with Tarl-Cabot and the Baroness. Each took a portion of the cornfield while their mounts grazed.

"You might consider," Val’ha told Baroness Val Tress as they smashed through the stalks, "not to be so harsh on Ma’teus, for if you remember, once you mocked us when we were chosen to accompany you to the Isle of Sipsids. But we were not so ill-prepared after all…"

"The captain turned into a tiger, a volcano ruined the entire estate and the island is still uncharted. Oh, but a few spirits were freed!" Val’ha was taken aback until, for the first time since she had known her, Val Tress gave a surprisingly merry laugh, saying only, "Lady Elf."