Everway - The Story

Prologue

This story is set in the Thousand Spheres, worlds of wonder and mystery linked by magical gates. Only a gifted few may walk the paths between the spheres, and such are the heroes of this tale. The spheres share a sky and seasons, but the people who live in the realms come in all sizes, colours, beliefs and talents. Such is the diversity of cultures and the rarity of spherewalkers that there are few tales that are found in every realm - but one persistent legend is that of Everway, in the realm of Roundwander on the sphere of Fourcorner, the great city at the crossroads of the worlds…

Chapter 1
A Light in the Darkness

In which a black mist brings the heroes together

Rathgard is passing through a village in a peaceful realm. He stops to watch a magician (Slight) who is performing on the village green. Slight chooses him as a volunteer, gives him a box, and makes a coin disappear. When Rathgard opens the box, a black mist billows out and sweeps both Slight and Rathgard away…

Jayson has been thrown out of a village and heads towards the nearest gate, a rocky outcrop in the middle of a wilderness. As he approaches his destination, a black mist billows out of the gate and sucks him in…

Flame is in the realm of Sandburn, on the run from chief Rhinohorn, who has accused her of being a witch. She is chased by two hunters. One of them sticks a poisoned arrow in her. She comes to a stream, which she causes to boil as her pursuers start to cross. The steam from the river turns black and comes after her. Just as she is swallowed by it, she sees a figure in white, with a blinding light for a head…

Wrath is in his throne room when a pedlar approaches, saying he has a gift for him. He opens the box, from which pours a black mist which swallows him. He tries to escape by going into the ethereal realm - this is unsuccessful, but he sees the pedlar, who has a scaly face and is laughing at him…

The heroes wake up in an open area in pitch blackness. Attempts to light lanterns are entirely ineffectual - they give off heat but no light. Wrath tries to dominate the group but is dissuaded by Flame, who chills his armour. Jayson finds that he can communicate with Wrath’s dragon Tempest using images. The heroes work out that they are in a stone circle - the stones are faintly magical. They find a path and follow it to the hut of Not of the People, a slightly mad woman who explains that the darkness came a few months ago. She describes the village of the people of the sun and the village of the people of the moon, and tells how she and her mother were thrown out of the former when her father was discovered to be from the village of the moon. She explains the origin of the enmity between the two villages (both peoples wanted to do a ceremony at the old worship place at the same time) and the old legend of the founding of the villages by Heaven’s Light.

She also tells of the Lightbringer, a woman who attempted to reunite the villages twenty years ago by getting their chieftains to marry. Something went wrong on the night before the wedding, and the Lightbringer lost patience, blinded the mob who came after her (temporarily), and gave each leader and Not of the People a third of a tablet which, she said, would help them to find her when they had learned sense. Not of the People gives the heroes her tablet fragment.

The heroes decide to visit the village of the sun people. On the way they encounter a crocodile, but warned by Jayson, they kill it. Slight takes one of its teeth.

The village of the sun people is surrounded by a wooden stockade. Wrath decides to take the direct approach and flies in on Tempest. Unfortunately, Tempest does not clear the stockade successfully and crashes into the village, alerting the guards who then attack him. Tempest’s flaming breath and Wrath’s zhi bolts cause major carnage. The heroes appear and "drive off" Tempest and Wrath - Rathgard persuades the leader of the village, Hellia Goldensdaughter, that they are on her side. Hellia explains that the darkness started when the moon swallowed the sun. This had happened in the past, but the sun had always re-emerged. She and her people think that the moon people have found a way to prolong the time that the sun is swallowed, in order to give them time to destroy the sun people forever. She also explains that the reason why they rejected the Lightbringer was that one of the village children had stolen a book from her room, in which she had inscribed her true name - Lightfoot Moondance. Clearly she was with the moon people and therefore not to be trusted. Hellia gives the heroes the second part of the tablet.

Meanwhile, Slight has sneaked off to the village of the people of the moon. He encounters a web of strings that have been stretched around the village to warn them of intruders. He talks to Selenus Crescentson, the leader of the people of the moon, and manages to steal his third of the tablet. Unfortunately he drinks some drugged wine and the world goes black(er).

The other heroes (with the exception of Wrath) arrive just in time to prevent Slight from being drowned in one of the deep, cold pools that surround the village. Piecing the fragments of the tablet together, they work out that there is a gate in the mountains which can be reached by following a stream that runs by the moon village. Leaving the villagers to their fate, they go to investigate. Wrath follows them at a distance.

It quickly becomes clear that the gate is the source of the darkness that has afflicted the land. It flows out of the gate in debilitating waves, sapping strength and causing delusions amongst the paranoid. The heroes try to pass through the gate to discover its source, but are pushed back by the force of the mist. They decide that the only thing to do is to get the sun people and the moon people together in the hope that something will happen.

The heroes return to the village of the moon people, where a huge fight is going on between the two villages. With Wrath’s and Tempest’s assistance, Rathgard manages to persuade the villagers to band together against the evil flying demon lord, but not before terrible casualties are taken on both sides. The survivors are persuaded to visit the Old Worship Place to perform their ceremonies, but nothing happens. Finally, everyone goes to the gate, which the heroes in desperation get the villagers to destroy by pulling down its lintel. The mist disperses and the sun shines in the valley once again, revealing a stark landscape of dead bushes and twisted trees. Slight examines the broken lintel and finds a sigil of a dancing woman under a crescent moon.

Chapter 2
The Guardian of the Gate

In which the heroes have bad dreams

After resting for a few days, the heroes decide to leave the valley and head for the realm of Sweetwater along an old trade route through the mountains. They are joined by Walker, a young, solid healer with an air of tragedy. He too was brought by the black mist after going out of his mind with grief when his beloved died. He thinks himself to be cursed as his family was killed three years ago by raiders who used the symbol of a white scorpion. This causes Jayson some alarm, as his family was also killed by white scorpion raiders twenty years ago. Jayson thought, however, that he had hunted down every last one of the raiders and slaughtered them…

On their journey, the heroes see Tempest and Wrath flying overhead. They also notice a figure in white on a distant mountainside. Jayson takes command of an eagle to investigate further, but when he gets there, the figure has gone.

The heroes descend by a waterfall and reach Laketown, a frontier outpost on the edge of Mirror Lake. In the tavern, they learn of a gate in the Spires, a group of rocks some two days travel away, which leads to a realm called Stonedeep. There used to be extensive trade with Stonedeep, but this ceased about 100 years ago when a monster came to live in the Spires. Curiously, the townsfolk disagree totally on what the monster is - so much so, in fact, that a brawl breaks out (an event with which Slight may not have been unconnected). The heroes are advised to ask at Sweet Dreams, the closest town to the Spires, though the locals consider its inhabitants to be a "right bunch of nutters".

The heroes reach Sweet Dreams without incident. It is a town in decay. Rubbish and rubble litter the streets, and the whole place stinks to high heaven. Curiously, the people are largely unbothered by this. Their local deity, the Sender of Dreams, gives them beautiful dreams at night, although from time to time it also takes people away to the land of dreams forever. The population consists largely of poets, composers, artists and dream diviners. The heroes befriend Prydar Roar Runnerson, the sole practitioner of the official cult of the lion god Leos, when they drive off some street urchins who were trying to besmear him with mud. He tells them that the Sender of Dreams and the monster by the gate are one and the same thing. People disappear regularly from Sweet Dreams and its surroundings, presumably taken by the creature - sometimes as many as two or three a month. The creature is venomous and leaves poisonous patches on the ground. He also tells them of a woman calling herself the Awakener, who passed through the town just before the creature came. She would not accept help, but said that she and her partner were being pursued by the "raging waters". She set off for the Spires gate just before the monster arrived.

The heroes also meet Render Gateguard, an eccentric who considers it his duty to guard the town. He tells them tales of the town’s glory days - of kuful, an exquisite refreshment from the land of the Fat People beyond Stonedeep; of Chime Number Three, a bell dancer from the Glorious Empire; and of Earthshaker, a great mage who planned to invade Everway but who mysteriously disappeared.

After spending the night outside the town (and experiencing some pleasant dreams), the heroes decide to take on the monster straight away. They set out across abandoned farmland to the Spires. On the way they see Tempest and Wrath once again, but Slight manages to hide the group.

As the heroes approach the Spires, they begin to be assailed by disturbing visions in which they fight and sometimes kill their own family members. Despite these distractions, the heroes press on regardless. Finally entering the Spires, they encounter its inhabitant - a large blue dragon, which attacks with mad, random, distracting images in which storm-lashed waves feature heavily. Jayson tries to drop on it as it emerges from its cave but misses spectacularly and loses his sword. A couple of the heroes manage to crawl into the cave, but the dragon is just about to mash the others when it is distracted by a challenge from Tempest. As the heroes dash for the safety of the cave and the gate in its depths, they get a last glimpse of Tempest and Raging Water, sitting together…

Chapter 3
Journey to Stonedeep

In which the heroes take on the Undead

The heroes arrive in a somewhat battered condition in a temple complex at night. On the way, Slight has a vision in which a dragon hurtles out of the sky, crashes into the ground, and bursts into flames. A demonic being in armour strides out of the fire and announces that he is seeking his bride.

Alerted by her screams, the heroes rescue a young and beautiful woman called Rarity from a couple of ghouls. During the fight, Rathgard takes a wound to his thigh which severs an artery. Walker tends to him. Rarity explains that the ruler of the realm, the Ghoul Queen, sent ghouls after her because she is beautiful. The Queen intends to hand over the most beautiful woman in the land to a being called the Awakener, who will soon be arriving. Rarity knows little of the Awakener, other than that he takes beauty and brings death. She advises the heroes to seek the priest Greatheart, the priest of the God who Died, in the local town of Underwood.

Leaving Walker and Rarity to tend to Rathgard, the heroes make their way to Underwood. On the way they meet Wrath, who gives a somewhat confused story about Raging Water and another dragon being "entwined in love" but somehow separated, and an agreement that Raging Water and Tempest have come to by which Tempest will act to ensure Raging Water‘s interests in this realm (or something).

The heroes enter Underwood by pretending to be downtrodden farmers coming back from the fields. Slight casts an illusion to enhance this notion and it very nearly succeeds. The ghoul on the gate is however suspicious enough to question Wrath, who has to respond in an appropriately servile fashion, an effort that very nearly kills him. The heroes find Greatheart, who tells them that the Awakener will be arriving at Stoneflat in two days time. He also says that the Ghoul Queen was a young enchantress who arrived and took power about 100 years ago. Finally, he cautions the players to watch for the priestess Wonder, the Ghoul Queen’s representative in Underwood, and for Victor, a young farmer who is raising an army against the Ghoul Queen’s regime. The heroes stay with Greatheart and escape just before Wonder’s minions come for them.

On the way back, Wrath decides to teach the ghouls in Underwood a lesson and flies back on Tempest. Unfortunately for him, he is spotted by a ghoul detachment and a well-placed arrow brings Tempest crashing to the ground. Tempest crawls into the forest, more dead than alive, and is tended by Walker.

The heroes head rather more cautiously for Stoneflat, where an ingeniously contrived attack involving distracting swarms of insects, illusions, a fly-by by Tempest and good old-fashioned arse-kicking by Flame and Jayson successfully disposes of the ghoul honour guard sent to escort the Awakener. He arrives in a freezing, howling wind bearing a charnel stench, and encounters Victor’s army, which he proceeds to slaughter by snapping his fingers at them and saying "Die". He then demands to be taken to his bride. Wrath thinks that he should be escorted north to the gate to be taken to Raging Water, but Tempest has other ideas. He heads south towards the Ghoul Queen’s palace.

The Awakener disposes of the ghoul opposition and strides into the Ghoul Queen’s chamber, followed by Wrath and, at a safe distance, by the other heroes. The Awakener demands if this is his bride. After some demur Wrath answers "yes". "Be my bride", says the Awakener, and raises a claw. The Ghoul Queen rises and comes towards him. "Yes," she says, "it is right. The stasis must end". Her minions cry out to her to stop, and the air around her throne boils with spirits trying to reach the land of the living, but too late - the Ghoul Queen’s hand touches the Awakener’s, and there is a crackle of power as white light envelops the two figures, causing them to mix and merge. When it clears, a young woman and a large blue dragon with red spines are left standing there. The woman thanks the heroes and tells them that the palace and its contents are theirs. She then mounts the dragon and they take off. The dragon looks for a moment at Jayson with golden, alien eyes, then a slit opens in reality from which a black fog leaks. With a single flap of its wings the dragon is gone. Then a second slit in reality opens, and Raging Water appears, spraying everyone with images of rough seas and the people they love and hate the most. It flies across the room and dives into the gap through which the first dragon vanished just as it closes.

The heroes take a moment to push their dropped jaws back into place, then search the palace for treasure. Slight takes the Ghoul Queen’s sceptre, Wrath finds six diamonds for his zhi bolt and also takes a bag of black dust that one of the Ghoul Queen’s servants was carrying, Flame finds a book that contains sigils to make her fire knives come back to her when thrown, and Jayson takes a well-balanced sword called Sun’s Eye. They set off to retrieve their missing companions.

Chapter 4
The Battle for Waterside

In which the heroes come to blows

Rathgard is still extremely ill, despite Walker’s best efforts. The heroes get him back to the Ghoul Queen’s palace, but decide not to stick around as Wrath is, as usual, taking control of the country. They sneak away and board the Eagle under Captain Wolfson, heading for the port of Waterside in the Hawk Empire where there is rumoured to be a gate.

On board, Flame does a divination to discover the nature of Walker’s curse. The result ("Some things change, some things stay the same. All people die, but you are cursed by death") does nothing for Walker’s self-confidence. A storm blows up, which threatens to sink the ship - Rathgard’s evil leering face is seen in the clouds, suggesting that the storm is associated with Rathgard’s fever, and a soothing balm from Walker causes it to abate. Flame subsequently does a divination and finds that "no medicine in this sphere will help him". Shortly afterwards, a small boat of odd design is seen with a figure dressed in white in it. Jayson takes control of a dolphin to investigate, but when it checks the boat, it is completely empty.

The port of Waterside is a small walled town in the lea of a headland on which stands a great square lighthouse with a lantern consisting of an Egyptian-style eye cut into each wall. The heroes disembark and make enquiries. They learn that the gate is in a cave under Lighthouse rock and is only accessible via a causeway that is uncovered at low tide. It leads to Plenty, the land of the Fat People, where there has apparently been some trouble which has led to the drying up of the regular kuful supply. Tub of Plenty and Saffron Gold of Everway are two merchants whose trade has been affected.

The next day, some of the heroes go to the clerestory to obtain the necessary permits to travel through the gate. They encounter a strange little man called Why who makes toys based on "scientific principles". Why is travelling to Everway to report on the activities of the priestly rulers of his home world Man-Sun to Chamber Platinum (the priests had destroyed the commune of scientists dedicated to knowledge and peace that Why had lived in, forcing him to escape with his friend Tranquil). He had entered the Hawk Empire through a gate in the far south of the country which leads to Slight’s home realm of Woodhall. Disturbingly, Why reported seeing a village there (not Slight’s home village) which had been razed by White Scorpion raiders…

The cost of the passes is steep, but the heroes manage to bully the local traders into financing an expedition to see what is wrong in Plenty. On the way back, they notice some suspicious-looking people around the docks and elsewhere, and suspect that they are spies for Wrath’s rapidly burgeoning empire over the water. Flame persuades a fisherman to take her out to sea, where she encounters Wrath’s fleet of ships sailing for the harbour. She gets back before them and the heroes stir up the people (Slight‘s fear and confusion abilities prove useful), so that a mob gathers on the dock as Wrath’s ships sail in. One of Wrath’s ships tries to make fast at the end of the dock, but Flame coats the wood with oil and then sets fire to it. The townsfolk are not best pleased to see the end of their precious dock set on fire, and are even less pleased when Tempest comes up under the dock and sets fire to it just as Flame is walking back, making it look as if she has gratuitously torched the whole area. The final much-delayed appearance of the clerestory guards suggests to the heroes that a quick exit is in order, and with Why’s able assistance, they escape to the gate. With much puzzled talk about a cat which is both alive and dead at the same time, they pass through to Plenty.

Chapter 5
Rebellion in Plenty

In which the heroes make the world safe for fat people, and learn more of the black mist

The gate takes the heroes into a field of vines, which despite the warm sunny weather and the evidence of tending clearly have something wrong with them. The air is however good for Rathgard, who makes a miraculous recovery from his injury. The heroes follow a path into a field of wheat (bizarrely in all stages of its growth cycle) which is also not doing well. A wasted woman approaches them, skeletally thin, wearing in a loin cloth and carrying a stick. She holds out her hand for alms. The next thing the heroes know, they are walking down the path - the wasted woman has vanished, as has Why and a number of the heroes’ treasured possessions. Walker loses the necklace that his beloved gave him, Slight loses the sceptre which he picked up in the Ghoul Queen’s palace, and Jayson (much to his distress) finds that Furbelly, one of his ferrets, is missing. Flame and Rathgard get off relatively lightly, losing some food and water and a coin. Jayson and Walker vow to find the wasted woman and get her to return their purloined goods.

The heroes enter an abandoned village. The central square contains wine-presses (which have been broken) and a small shrine to a jolly black woman wearing an improbable hat made of fruit. The same woman appears on frescoes on the surrounding houses, helping the (mostly thin) villagers with their work and dispensing corn and other goodies from a cornucopia. The ground of the square is covered with squashed grapes.

Nearby is a large, impressive house which the heroes investigate. Rathgard trips a spell which releases an enormous fire-breathing demonic hound. In an impressive display of teamwork, the heroes manage to haul it back into the magic circle where it had been incarcerated and repair the runes to hold it there. They then investigate the house which proves to have been owned by one Bulbous son of Dough, a merchant with Everwayan connections. Clothing found in a cupboard shows that the former occupants of the house were extremely fat. Slight discovers a carving from his home realm.

The heroes stay the night and then do some investigating. Walker and Slight work out that the water in the well is tainted by some sort of magical curse which Slight finds naggingly familiar. They try to detect it underground and deduce that it is being spread through underground streams. Attempts to trace it back to its source, however, fail a short distance from the village.

The heroes head for the nearby town of Kufultrees. This is located in an orchard of trees with peculiar bright green turnip-like fruit which has also been affected by the curse. The heroes enter the town and encounter a corpse sprawled in the street, the skull crushed. It is the size and shape of Obelix. As the heroes are examining it, a grotesquely fat woman (Girth) emerges from a nearby house carrying a wheelbarrow, assisted by her equally ample daughters. When she sees the heroes, she assumes that they killed him and demands that they let her take her husband’s body for burial. Whilst the heroes are trying to explain themselves, several thin townsfolk armed with pitchforks and other implements of destruction appear and attack Girth. They assume that the heroes (who of course are all slim and lovely) are on their side, an assumption which proves to be entirely inaccurate.

Girth retrieves her husband’s body and invites the heroes in, guiding them round the magical booby traps which litter her garden. Assisted by her maid Lean, she buries her husband and plants a sapling on his grave. Slight decides to go out and investigate what the thin people are up to, while Rathgard talks to her.

Girth’s story is that the fat people and the thin people had lived in harmony until a few months ago, united by a shared worship of Mother Harvest (the jolly black woman). Unusually for a goddess, Mother Harvest appears to be a real being who regularly visited the villages. Whenever she turned up there was a celebration which brought the people together. She has not been seen for several months; Girth suspects that Rake, the leader of the Thin rebellion, has somehow captured her and is holding her in his headquarters. The proximate cause of the rebellion is the blight on the crops, which has led to food shortages (the thin people refused to accept that fat people should have larger rations than thin ones). The fat people have taken to protecting their houses with magical wards, which has caused the Thin Rebellion to implement a "slay on sight" policy towards spell casters.

Meanwhile, Slight has been having an entertaining time amongst the thin people. He encounters the local leader (Slimshanks) and manages to steal her orders, which reveal that General Rake’s HQ is at a place called Source and that his next target is a village called Mootown. He also learns of a planned rendezvous by several thin detachments in the town square.

The heroes smuggle Girth and her daughters out of their house (untroubled by the thin detachments, which appear to be marching around in circles in the town square for no readily apparent reason) and into the house of Glutton, who promises to look after them. The heroes acquire a map which shows them the location of Source and set off for it.

Rake’s HQ is a cave in a ravine next to a small village in the mountains which has been turned into an army camp. The cave is lit by torches, the smoke from which curls and slides across the ceiling in an ever so slightly unnatural manner. The heroes manage to overcome the guards at the cave entrance but are less successful in neutralising the ones inside, who manage to sound the alarm. A running battle against Rake and his minions develops, which culminates outside a prison made of curious honey-coloured rock where Why and a bedraggled-looking scholar are being held. The rock appears to define a magically dead area. The heroes successfully mash the opposition, causing Rake to flee towards the entrance pursued by Rathgard, Flame and Walker, while the others free the prisoners. Rake is brought down by a well-placed bowshot before he can reach the entrance, but a couple of guards escape, closely followed by Rake’s (thrown) severed head.

Meanwhile the scholar introduces himself as Wormwood Crookstaff, of Everway. He is a scholar of magic who was captured by Rake as a suspected mage. Much to his chagrin, Wormwood cannot actually do magic, but he can detect it and has realised that the whole area is enchanted. The source of the enchantment (as the more magically sensitive heroes had already realised) is through a small entrance fairly close to the prison…

The heroes fight their way through increasingly debilitating waves of weakness to a small cave, in which is a ten foot deep pool. A statue of Mother Harvest stands at the bottom. It is clearly magical, and clearly corrupted - clouds of blackness stream away from it, like ink in water, and into a vast lake which supplies the water for the whole of Plenty. The heroes recognise the blackness as another manifestation of the mist which brought them all together.

Wormwood suggests that a ritual of divination is performed to determine the mist’s source. Assisted by the heroes, the magic words are spoken. The mist swirls up and a vision of a boy dressed in white appears, floating in the air with his toes pointing towards the floor. Around him is wrapped a loathsome cockatrice, dripping slime. The vision fades.

The heroes drag the statue from the pool and cunningly place it in the prison, where the rock will retard the magic of the curse. They seal it in place with rocks brought down by a Sphere of Pure Flame, a device which Flame discovered and recognised in a storage chamber (she has one more). They then escape by climbing up the walls of the cavern, just before the army turns up.

As the heroes clamber exhausted over the edge of the ravine, they find a large number of thin people wandering around in a confused fashion. Then they see a light coming across the fields. It is the wasted woman, wearing a tattered cloak and carrying her staff and a lantern. She smiles and nods at the heroes, then thrusts her stick firmly in the ground. She turns, her cloak flapping in the breeze… and the next thing the heroes know, the moon has come out and the woman has gone. Her staff has sprouted healthy-looking buds and hanging on it are the items which the heroes had lost earlier. Furbelly runs to its master. A skylark starts to sing.

Wormwood listens to the heroes’ tale with enormous enthusiasm ("how interesting!" is his favourite phrase, which causes Flame to take an intense dislike to him). He is horrified when he hears about how the heroes dealt with the first manifestation of the mist by destroying a Walker‘s gate ("why didn’t you come to Everway at once?") and realises that the mist, being a spell which can pass between spheres, poses a threat to Everway. He invites the heroes to come with him to Everway to report to Chamber Platinum. Leaving the people of Plenty to rebuild their shattered realm, the heroes and Wormwood start along the long coastal track which leads to the realm of Tales, and thence to the fabled city at the crossroads of the worlds…

Chapter 6
The Telling of Tales

In which there is a surfeit of stories

The heroes travel to Orange Blossom, where some inspirational speech-making from Rathgard and some rabbits from Jayson and Flame allows the heroes to gather necessary provisions, mainly in the form of crystallised fruit. On the way, Rathgard has a chance to talk to Why and learns that Why’s former travelling companion Tranquil is none other than his own foster-brother. Tranquil is recovering in a village in Woodhall and intends to follow Why to Everway.

The heroes set off along the road to Tales, a coastal path that follows the base of a huge cliff. They stay overnight with a fisherman called Narrow and meet Fish Trader, a merchant who is buying fish to sell in Everway. On subsequent nights they stay with a harmless lunatic egg-collector called Guillemot who is seeking the One Egg That Will Save The World (laid by a being called The Great Auk), and with the friendly fisherfolk of Rockharbour.

On the way, the heroes have plenty of time to quiz Wormwood about Everway and other matters. They learn the following:

• Deities identical to Mother Harvest occur on several spheres, always with the same attributes.
• Dragon hybrids (Tempest is a red-blue hybrid) are usually insane.
• There is a white dragon called Alurax who was cursed by the gods to be a dragon for one day a year and a human for the other 364. Alurax hates humans and comes up with many cunning schemes for harming them.
• The Walker’s Pyramid is complete except for its capstone and has been for centuries. The Walker is among the spheres looking for it. There are conflicting versions of who the Walker is (though it is generally agreed that he, she or it is humanoid in shape) and what will happen when the Pyramid is completed.
• Everway is run by several families, each of which performs some function in the city. The families include:
  • The Crookstaffs. They are organised into covens which specialise in different forms of magic. Wormwood belongs to the Green Hand coven, which is involved in magic to do with plants and animals. The Stone Flower coven specialises in Earth-based magic. A minor coven (Seeming Image) studies illusion magic. Crookstaff children are brought up communally and do not generally know who their parents are.
  • The Moondancers. The Moondance family is responsible for maintaining the Walker’s Pyramid and for collecting the tributes brought by pilgrims. Wormwood thinks that they are deliberately spreading conflicting versions of the Walker legend, either to hide the truth or because they do not know what the truth is. Wormwood has met Lightfoot Moondance, who unusually for a Moondance family member spends much of her time away from Everway.
  • The Scratch Family. Runs the Library of All Worlds and controls access to it.
  • The Mask Family. Responsible for entertainments in Everway. A relatively new family, formed from the Wailers after a disagreement about ceremonies.
  • The Mudbank Family. Responsible for sewers.
  • The Toothpuller Family. A minor family, responsible for dentistry.
  • The Mother Family. Capable of taking away pain.
  • The Keeper Family. Responsible for guarding the seventy-one gates into Everway.
  • The Host Family. Responsible for providing hospitality within Everway itself. Non-Everwayans must stay in Strangerside unless they are boarding with a Host family. Wormwood says that he should be able to get a Host family to take the heroes in.
• Almost all Everway families are matrilineal, with the family name running through the female line. Men traditionally bring dowries when they marry into another family, to pay for their increased status. Male non-Everwayans who wish to become Everwayan citizens must marry into a family - female non-Everwayans must start a new family, bringing skills that are useful to Everway as a whole.
• Flame knows what the word "matrilineal" means. Jayson doesn’t.
• Chamber Platinum is a scholarly organisation devoted to acquiring knowledge of other spheres for the Library of All Worlds. It is run by a council consisting of members of several families.
• Everwayan ladies dress provocatively (because they can). Flame is likely to be mistaken for a member of the Mask family, especially by matrimonially-minded men. The Mask family may take offence at this.
• Walker should avoid using his true name in Everway, as it will cause offence to the Moondance family. The name "Steps" has been proposed by his fellow travelling companions as an alternative.

The heroes enter Tales, a green but chilly land with poor soils. Just before sunset, they arrive in Storyhome, a smallish city by the river Fable. At its Centre is a large square in which a market is just winding down. Wormwood points out the Masterteller’s Palace, where the winner of Storyhome’s annual storytelling contest resides, the Arbiters’ Hall, where the umpires of the storytelling contest live, and the Temple of the Father of Stories. He explains about the economics of tale-telling (the longer or more original the tale, the more valuable it is) and proposes showing the heroes an inn where they can stay (he himself intends to board with a friend).

As the heroes cross the square, they see a scuffle break out between some local townsfolk and two gypsy-looking people, one a large man, the other a young woman. One of the traders accuses them of cheating and several passers by try to grab them. The large man shouts "Kefin Basahn! Kefin Basahn!", shrugs off his assailants and makes his escape, but the woman is captured and dragged towards the Arbiter’s Hall. The heroes notice that she is peering at them, as if trying to make someone out. Jayson observes that Slight is behaving oddly…

Wormwood ignores them, commenting that they are just Basahn. As he leads the heroes to the tavern of Openhand Talekeeper, he explains that the Basahn are a gypsy-like travelling folk who are reviled throughout the thousand spheres for selling shoddy goods and generally being untrustworthy bastards. One theory for why they behave as they do is that they speak their own language which they regard as the "real" one. Since the common tongue isn't the real language, they consider it okay to lie in it. All the Basahn are spherewalkers but the Everwayan authorities won't let them into Roundwander at all.

Slight, Flame and Jayson manage to slip away from this diatribe and see the trial of the woman. Despite Slight's loquacious and effective pleas on her behalf, she is sentenced to be kept overnight in the cells and publicly ridiculed the next day.

In the evening, most of the heroes (with the exception of Slight, who has mysteriously disappeared) gather at Openhand's story circle in the town square. As they sit round a roaring fire, eat roast potatoes and drink warm spicy wine, they are joined by Wormwood, his friend Quill Scratch, her shy adolescent assistant Inkhand Scratch, an elderly gentleman called Storykiller by the locals (he works with Quill at the repository of Dead Stories and politely asks if he can write down the tales told), the huntress Leopard's Eye, a local farmer called Ploughshare and an amputee weapons seller called West Walker.

The tales told are these:

• Leopard's Eye tells of the habits of cockatrices and the death of her lover.
• Rathgard tells how he helped a tribe living by a river by killing all the members of an enemy tribe upstream - however, the enemy tribe had been keeping a fish that poisoned the water in check and the downstream tribe all died.
• Wormwood tells of the Hooded Councillor, who takes over realms by corrupting them from within and whose true form is a giant cockatrice.
• Quill's story is of the Kingmaster, who destroyed himself and an entire realm with a mirror that made whatever it looked upon disappear.
• Walker tells of a valley where he was attacked and bound by grasses which moved him to a circle of trees. The trees accused him of being a murderer for treading plants down, but said that they would free him if he could find why the water which fed them had stopped flowing. Walker found that a landslip had blocked a stream - he removed it but the dammed waters flooded the valley and destroyed the trees and the grasses.
• Ploughshare tells of the warmongering wizard Obsidian, who, tricked by a cunning illusionist called Many Masks, acquired a mouth in his stomach that ate magic and mages. Including, eventually, himself ("feeeeeeed meeeeee!").
• Why tells of the musician Song, his magical double bass, and an encounter with a sexy goddess.
• Openhand tells of a traveller called Magus who was trying to find an answer to the question "why are there only a thousand spheres?". After talking to a wise man called the Hermeneutic, he found a tribe which showed him, in a vision, a wall made of dragon's bones which surrounds the thousand spheres.
• West Walker tells of the creation of dragons by the gods, the war between them, and the creation of weak and puny humans as a result.
• Flame tells the story of the woman made of spaces who tries to find a man to marry.

Jayson disappears early on in the storytelling to look for Slight. Shortly after the storytellers have gone to bed, he wakes up Walker and Flame. He has tracked Slight to a Basahn encampment a little out of town. There he saw Slight surrounded by a lot of unfriendly-looking gypsy types (including a few with green scaly skin), talking to an old woman. The woman went into her caravan and came out carrying a pyramid which he surmised was the capstone to the Walker's Pyramid in Everway! Then a squawking creature sounded an alarm and Jayson had to run for it.

Jayson, Walker and Flame arm themselves to the teeth and are just about to depart to rescue Slight when he walks in through the door. Slight explains that it was all a misunderstanding - the woman who had been arrested is in fact his elder sister Lynx, who had run off with bandits (actually Basahn) when he was a young boy. The pyramid, which he shows them, is actually a toy that was given to him as a thank you present for rescuing Lynx (close examination reveals that it has a tesselated pattern of lizards on it in different colours, and is only eight inches high, making it an unlikely candidate for the Walker's Pyramid capstone). It all sounds terribly plausible.

Jayson and Flame get drunk and make various unsuccessful attempts to open the pyramid. In the morning, they are found asleep on the hearth surrounded by a litter of empty beer mugs and bent and broken utensils. The pyramid is in the ashes of the fire, entirely unharmed.

Walker, Jayson and Why visit the Repository of Dead Stories to do some research while the others prepare for the trip to Everway. Why examines the pyramid but seems curiously uninterested in opening it. He suggests that it might be trapped. Flame does a divination, asking about the pyramid, and gets the response "only the purely knowledgeable may open it".

The Repository is a mass of scrolls with no particular system. Storykiller helps out the searchers and they discover that ... [um, I've forgotten what I said. If anyone can remember, please let me know otherwise I'll make something up.]

Eventually Wormwood and Quill appear, hand in hand. The party is gathered up and makes its way to the gate to Everway, which lies at the bottom of a shallow pool. There is a brief pause while Jayson and Walker work out how many blocks the Walker’s Pyramid is made of (their answer: "about a thousand"), and for Quill and Wormwood to make their touching farewells. Then, with the blessings of the Tollhearers ringing in their ears ("may the Father of Stories make yours a happy tale"), the heroes head for Everway.

Chapter 7
Death of a Scholar

In which the heroes’ glorious entry into Everway is disrupted

Venusday, 18th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

The heroes arrive on a warm sunny afternoon in a circular enclosure. The welcoming committee consists of a sour clerk, her two daughter guards and a magic-detecting cheesehound. The necessary customs process is gone through - Flame's sphere of pure flame is confiscated (she has a receipt), but Slight manages to prevent the pyramid from being discovered. He does, however, trigger (or more accurately not trigger) a detection device which causes portcullises to come crashing down and guards to come running, yelling "Basahn! Basahn!". Fortunately a few seconds later the "device" (a watch-sprite that yells like a child in pain when a human walks by) does go off and Rathgard pacifies the guards before a fracas can develop.

Wormwood leads the way along the path through the gate lands, pointing out the Keeper barracks (the Keepers are the Everway family responsible for guarding the gates and collecting gate tax). Dodging a religious procession from Criss-cross ("show respect for the priestess of the Goddess of the Doorways, unbeliever!"), the heroes finally get their first view of Everway.

The city, about two to three miles across, is perched on a rise overlooking a bay. The low late afternoon sunshine gleams off the hundreds of spires, towers, minarets and domes that make up its skyline. The most prominent features are the three hundred foot high flat-topped stepped pyramid at its highest point, and the jet black city wall, forty foot high and studded with white statues in alcoves. Smoke from a thousand chimneys drifts across a river over an even larger conurbation behind it. Walker has a disturbing moment of deja vu.

After passing through a gatehouse over a ditch marking the limit of the gate lands, the heroes walk the three miles to the city gate, passing some ancient ruins and a large farmstead belonging to the Emeralds, Everway's ruling family. There are various minor encounters with the wide variety of travellers, including an elephant being led by the trunk by a small child, a crocodile of schoolchildren playing magical tricks on each other, and an ancient tremulous man who grabs Walker by the collar and burbles something about "the Watcher Outside" who "sees everything". Whilst waiting in the queue at the city gate, the heroes see an altercation between a young woman wearing clothes made of colourful gauzy scarves stitched together and the gate guards, who refuse to let her through. Wormwood says that she is a Mask family member who has been declared by a magistrate to be a Person of Disputed Status (a suspect in a crime).

The heroes all pass through the gate without incident - well, all except Slight, who is told by a man in wizardly robes to take down his glamour. Wormwood greets the wizard (Glint Crookstaff) and vouches for Slight.

Wormwood suggests reporting the news of the Black Mist to Chamber Platinum at once before he finds them a Host house where they can spend the night, and leads the way down the grand sixty-foot-wide main street (Walker's Way). The heroes encounter a stately woman in fine emerald robes, whom Wormwood identifies as Hope Emerald, the King's second sister. The rumour is that she had a falling out with the king and was banished to live in the Emerald quarter rather than in the palace, as the rest of the King's immediate family do.

Wormwood continues to lecture on the various buildings lining the street as the party continues onward, and is just pointing out a Peril Bell tower when there is a twang and he tumbles to the ground with an arrow sticking in him. Flame, Jayson and Rathgard catch sight of a dark-haired figure with a crossbow darting away from the parapet of a flat-topped building on the other side of the street and go after him. Why runs down a side road to head the would-be assassin off. Slight goes to help a woman who is having hysterics on the far side of the road. The woman's daughter runs to an entrance way calling for help. Several Watchers emerge.

Walker tends to the stricken Wormwood. Although the arrow missed vital organs, it soon becomes clear that it was poisoned - Wormwood's body is convulsed by tremors and shakes, and he starts to have ecstatic visions. A fair-headed female Watcher (Faithful) is the first to arrive and gives Walker room to work, but one of the later arriving guards (Justice) tries to take charge and requisitions Fish Trader's cart to take Wormwood to the Temples of Mercy, even though Wormwood is clearly too ill to move. Faithful and Justice are still arguing when, despite Walker's best efforts, Wormwood dies. His last words are: "The Peril Bell... how interesting...".

Justice orders the body to be taken to the local Watcher sept (conveniently just a few yards away) so that it can be examined by a Mother. He asks Fish Trader and Walker to accompany him for questioning. While nobody is looking, Fish Trader sneaks the arrow (which has a purple-stained tip) into his cart.

Meanwhile, Jayson and Flame decide to climb up to the roof where the assassin was while Rathgard guards the doorway to the building. Jayson and Flame boost each other onto a lower adjacent roof, but are menaced by Watchers arriving from the sept opposite, who tell them to stop. Flame gets up to the roof that the assassin was on, while Jayson gives himself up. She sees a number of chimney pots, a trap door and a rope hanging down to an alleyway behind. Guessing that the assassin went through the trap door, she sets fire to it and leaps through the flames to the store room below.

Rathgard manages to persuade the Watchers to let him help search the building, which proves to be a set of meeting rooms and living quarters for lesser members of the Gold family. On the top floor the Watchers encounter Flame. Rathgard convinces them to let her join in the search. After several minutes searching it becomes clear that the assassin is not hiding in the building - Flame is for going back up to the roof, but the Watchers order her and Rathgard to accompany them to the sept for questioning. Flame refuses and runs off in a hail of arrows (Rathgard manages "accidentally" to put them off their aim).

Climbing down the rope into the alley, Flame runs down a side street. The air is rent by the sound of whistles as the Watchers communicate with each other. Seeing a Watcher running down a street, she follows him into a square with a strange statue of three human and inhuman figures standing back to back. Lying near it, surrounded by a crowd, is a blood-stained body. It is Why, who has been stabbed in the back. The Watchers are loading him onto a makeshift stretcher. Flame accompanies them back to the sept.

The heroes are shown into a room and asked to wait, as Keensight Watcher, the local magistrate, wishes to speak to them. They are soon joined by Flame and the unconscious Why, whom Walker tends. Why is in fact not too badly wounded - the knife missed vital organs - but the wound is ragged and he has lost a lot of blood. The strange, long-fingered Mother Comforter comes in, takes away Why's pain and prescribes some blood-strengthening herbs. She offers to take away Walker's pain as well, but Walker refuses.

The heroes are kept waiting for a further two hours and become progressively more paranoid as their questions are stonewalled by the Watchers. Eventually they are asked to come to the courtroom. Walker and Flame refuse, saying that Why must be looked after, so Rathgard, Fish Trader and Jayson attend. There they meet Slight who had come to the back door of the sept and been arrested by the Watchers.

Keensight Watcher enters. She is a slight but imposing woman with a mane of long white hair that falls back over her shoulders, a large Roman nose and a fierce expression. She is wearing a robe with green frogging on the shoulders and an amulet which is clearly magical. She comments approvingly on Slight's presence, stating that she was on the point of issuing an arrest warrant for him, then takes a report from Justice, correcting him when he tries to gloss over his altercation with Faithful. She questions the heroes about how they first met Wormwood. Rathgard replies with a censored version of the truth. Keensight asks what secret it was that Wormwood wanted to tell Chamber Platinum. Rathgard refuses to say, arguing that it was "a point of honour" to deliver the message to Chamber Platinum alone. After some shilly-shallying, Keensight explains her suspicions - the assassination was carefully planned, but no-one except the heroes could have known when Wormwood would return or where he was going. She orders the heroes to remain overnight so that individual statements can be taken.

The solo interviews prove to be a convoluted business due to the heroes' paranoia. Jayson tries to get messages out using his ferrets, but there are a large number of Watchers guarding the corridor (Rathgard tries unsuccessfully to befriend them). Flame is asked by Walker to do a divination - "How can we best obtain an ally in this city?" - and gets the strange answer "Nothing". The heroes spend a rather uncomfortable night.

Earthday, 19th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

Next morning, the court reconvenes. Keensight points out inconsistencies in the heroes' accounts - her amulet detects lies, but she also evidently has some additional information sources. After giving the heroes one last chance to explain themselves, she declares them to be persons of Disputed Status, banning them from using the facilities of Everway (with the exception of the Temples of Mercy if they fall sick) and the Gates. When she also demands that one person remains behind as a hostage, Flame's patience snaps. The candles in the candelabra suddenly blaze up and go out, and a fracas develops in the near-darkness.

Unfortunately for the heroes, the fight is rather one-sided. The heroes are unarmed and the Watchers are numerous, extremely well-trained and familiar with their surroundings. Flame is knocked out and Walker, Fish Trader and Jayson are subdued. Why and Rathgard do not take part in the fight. In the confusion, Slight escapes and hides in a cupboard in the morgue. Jayson's ferrets also manage to get away with messages for Redoak Crookstaff (the head of Wormwood's coven - Slight has already visited him) and for Chamber Platinum. The messages explain that Wormwood Crookstaff's companions are being held captive in the Royal sept and accuse the Watchers of trying to suppress a message of vital importance to Everway.

The heroes are taken down to the communal cell, where they meet the garrulous cheese-smuggler Three Trees, a drug-addled libertine who makes a pass at Flame, and various other low-lifes. Flame is attempting to melt the bars when a wizard sent for by the Watchers appears, who turns out to be none other than Glint Crookstaff. Rathgard pleads with him to take a message to Soulseeker Crookstaff, the head of Deepmind coven and one of the Inner Circle (the ruling council of Chamber Platinum), and he agrees to do so. On the way out he meets Slight, who has been recaptured.

The heroes are kept locked up for several more hours, during which Jayson's ferrets leave the note for Redoak with a boy in the vicinity of the Crookstaff covens and the message for Chamber Platinum in a grocery store. Eventually Keensight sees them once more. After a moving speech by Rathgard, she lets the heroes off with light fines (Walker and Flame 20 hefts, Fish Trader and Jayson 15 hefts and Why, Rathgard and Slight 5 hefts), much to Justice's disgust. Against her personal inclinations, she also lets the heroes go - they are still persons of Disputed Status, and they must attend the inquest into Wormwood's death in three days time. She indicates that the heroes' status will be resolved when she has sufficient evidence to form a judgement one way or the other, and the fines have been paid. She comments that she would like an explanation for Flame's book of maps and book of codes (the heroes' possessions were evidently searched by the Watchers, though they managed to miss the arrow in Fish Trader's cart).

The heroes are standing outside the sept deciding what to do when a ragged boy (Topknot Motley) comes up to Flame with a message written in strange shaky handwriting. It is from "a friend" and advises them to take lodgings in Cork Street in the Crafters Quarter of Strangerside "so that they may be contacted" as they have a "mutual goal". Topknot was given the message by a boy in the bazaar who didn't say where he got it from.

The heroes decide to split up. Rathgard, Jayson and Flame engage Topknot to take them to the Library of All Worlds in an attempt to deliver Wormwood's message to Chamber Platinum. Walker, Why and Slight head for the bazaar to change some money and then to Cork Street to look for lodgings, while Fish Trader goes off to sell his fish to a merchant he knows in Strangerside. They agree to meet at dusk in Crafters Square just to the south of Fool's Bridge.

The bazaar is huge, with thousands of stalls selling all manner of goods from pottery to clothes, food, furniture and more exotic items. It is thronged with shoppers and traders, entertainers of various levels of competence (Slight sees one doing impressive parodies of passers by, which inspires him to ask an unsuccessful juggler about the system of pitches - they are all run by the Motley family). Walker changes some money and Why acquires some materials for making a toy dragon that uses lenses to focus sunlight for a real burning effect. By comparing prices, they deduce that there are 24 copper beads to the heft and that one heft will buy about eight loaves of bread.

They then make their way to the huge circular Pyramid Plaza, dominated by the massive bulk of the Pyramid itself, its sheer-sided 40 foot high steps towering overhead and blocking out much of the sky. Posts are dotted around from which brightly coloured flags hang in the Moondance house colours of crimson and gold. Various religious ceremonies are going on, with groups of pilgrims and locals led by Moondance priests moving around the Pyramid in complex patterns of ritual abasement and prayer. The whole place has a hushed reverential atmosphere, like an open air cathedral. On the east side, pilgrims bearing offerings to the Walker wait in line to be blessed by a slowly revolving statue of an androgynous figure holding out a long bless-stick (a pole ending with a circular holy symbol containing a representation of the Pyramid). Slight determines that all magic is cancelled in the immediate vicinity of the Pyramid. Walker talks to a pilgrim and then to Slide Moondance, a lowly sweeper with an allergy problem who tells him that the Moondance family is hierarchical, with 32 quires at his (lowest) level, each of which has a different theology concerning the Walker (Slide's is that the Walker is an avatar of the Inestimable One). The head of the family is Glimmer Moondance.

On the way to Fool's Bridge, Walker's group also passes the Pump House (a large cylindrical building with a sixty foot long steam-powered beam engine poking out of the top), the spectacular headquarters of the Gold family and the trilothon-surrounded Plaza of Fools. Eventually they get to Fool's Gate, which leads down a steep road to the Fool's Bridge suspended some thirty foot above the Sunset River. Crafter's Square, a small-scale version of the bazaar with added stevedores from the docks below, lies across the bridge and Fish Trader is waiting for them. Leaving Walker in the Nine Cities tavern to meet Rathgard, Flame and Jayson, the others head down Bottle Street and into Cork Street to find lodgings.

Cork Street has clearly seen better days - no cork makers are in evidence, and instead the area appears to be inhabited by masons, carpenters and other trades. The only inn on the street is the Heroes' Tavern, a shabby half-timbered building run by the unctuous Weasel Stoatson and his formidable wife Bramble. The only other inhabitants are a drunk who asks if they have a message from Brighteye Gold and a friendly-looking grey haired doctor called Morbid Greener. Why and Slight arrange lodgings with Weasel and go to fetch the others.

Meanwhile, Flame, Jayson and Rathgard head over to the Library of All Worlds, a sprawling mass of stone towers, chambers and courtyards surrounded by a high wall patrolled by plumed guards. The main entrance is off Library Square up a set of marble steps. As the heroes approach, the guards lower their spears - they regretfully explain that as persons of Disputed Status, they cannot be allowed to enter. Rathgard persuades them to pass a note addressed to Codex Platinum Scratch, another of the Inner Circle and Master of the Library. The guards tell Rathgard to come back after one bell.

Rathgard and company head to the bazaar, change some money at Topknot's money changer and have a meal. On returning to the Library, the guard tells them that the message was passed to one of the scribes but no response has been forthcoming. As it is getting late, they make their way to Fool's Gate. Leaving Topknot with a promise that there may be more work for him the next day (he looked rather disappointed with his tip), they meet up with Walker in the Nine Cities tavern, where they are shortly joined by Why and Slight.

On the way back to the inn, they pass a supercilious-looking wizard with a mage-light over his head. Walker pretends to be drunk, giving Slight a chance to examine the Crookstaff sigil that the man is wearing round his neck. Back at the tavern, Flame orders a bath which she proceeds to heat up herself, severely disconcerting Bramble's adolescent, acne-covered and orange-haired pot boy Copper. Over the evening meal, while Slight does some scouting outside, Rathgard sweet-talks Bramble. The heroes retire to bed.

Marsday, 20th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

Next morning, the heroes' breakfast is interrupted by a knock on the door. Weasel is round the back having a shouting match with Bramble, so Why answers it. It's a corpse. Of a young woman, to be precise, with long fine hair. Her eyes are glassy and have a greenish glow. In a cracked voice she invites them to come to the Street of a Thousand Kisses, where her master will meet them. Rathgard, Jayson, Why and Flame accompany her while Fish Trader remains behind to tell Slight and Walker, who have already departed on other errands.

The zombie leads the heroes into Everway and via a circuitous route involving the Court of Fools and a curious stone ark eventually brings them to the Street of a Thousand Kisses. This is lined with respectable-looking houses with closed curtains and shutters. One slight oddity is that many have a large porter standing guard outside. Another is the strange sigils carved on the pavement outside: a heart, a pine cone, an egg, a squiggle that could be a lash, an oyster... Leaving Flame on guard (a couple of repulsive youths come up to her and make suggestive remarks about cloth and shuttles, which she ignores), Rathgard, Jayson and Why are led through a plush room where decorative young men are lounging and up to a bedroom where Ulrich Crookstaff awaits them.

He is the oldest man the heroes have ever seen, with a long and tangled beard, a face which is a mass of liver spots and wrinkles and eyes that are milky with cataracts. He is surrounded by zombies (one has a pair of pince nez which it holds at arm's length while examining the heroes). Ulrich introduces himself as the leader of the Crookstaffs and apologises for the heroes' treatment at the hands of the Watchers. He explains that he wishes to discover the identity of Wormwood's murderer and suggests that they might have a mutual interest in doing so since it may help to resolve their disputed status. His view is that Wormwood's assassination is political in nature and is not related to Wormwood himself, pointing out that killing someone on a major street less than a hundred yards from the Palace suggests that a message is being sent. He mentioned a number of families that might do such a thing, including the Scratches (the Crookstaffs' long-standing enemies), the Emeralds, the Moondancers and the Snakerings. Asked where to start, he suggests investigating the poison used - the symptoms are unusual.

Ulrich also managed to question Wormwood's shade briefly and knows of the Black Mist, which he promises to raise with the relevant authorities. He indicates that it would be good for the heroes to give an account to the Inner Circle of Chamber Platinum, but that it is unlikely that any will want to meet them while their Disputed Status is unresolved. Ulrich cannot intervene directly to resolve their status because to do so might cause other families to take an interest.

The heroes depart with 24 hefts offered by Ulrich as living expenses. Why and Jayson visit Slide Moondance to determine if ecstatic visions might be part of Moondancer ceremonies, but he tells them that only "pagan religions" do that sort of thing. He asks them to send Walker his way as his allergy problem has come back.

Back at the inn, Flame decides to check out the layout of the local streets in case of trouble. She notices a boarded up house and decides to investigate. The house is covered with excrement and a mysterious glow emanates from a room upstairs. As Flame enters the room, she is attacked by a black faceless flapping thing which she crisps. It proves to have been a bunch of sticks and black cloth activated by an animate potion. The luminescence turns out to have come from the lines in five Middleland glow cheeses that were hidden in the filth. Flame takes one back to the inn where Weasel says that it a rare delicacy prized by the major Everway families and is worth about 100 hefts. He explains that the cheese tax was imposed to help raise a fleet to counter the invasion of Ruby Sunset Island by Middleland 150 years ago. The heroes have cheese on toast for lunch.

After their rather expensive meal, the heroes then examine the arrow and discuss what to do next. They ask Slight, who has been mysteriously locked in his room for most of the morning, to determine whether the poison is magical or not. The figure that emerges from his room is not however Slight, but Splendid! - a dumpy figure with a turban, green hair and a long moustache. Splendid! determines that the poison is not magical and Flame that the arrow is designed to cut rather than penetrate, having characteristic serrated edges. Why and Jayson head to the bazaar to talk to apothecaries about poison, while Fish Trader and Flame investigate weaponmakers, and Rathgard tries to befriend some more Watchers by finding where they relax.

Why talks to the apothecaries in the bazaar and eventually manages to press Greenhorn, a follower of Aesclepius, into telling him what he knows. The poison is joyberry juice and in the Glorious Empire is one of the Ten Forbidden Poisons. Its use is banned there because it is invariably fatal and there is no known antidote. Fortunately joyberries only grow on a distant sphere which is the home of the Green Mountain warriors, who use it in their religious rituals. And it so happens that there is a camp of them about three miles to the west of Everway... Greenhorn advises talking to Warsong as he is the most friendly.

Flame befriends a weapon seller, who tells her that the serrated arrow is most likely from Keep in the Woods. This is another realm several hundred miles to the north which was founded by the Pikes, a family that was banished from Everway after an incident 900 years ago where cockatrice poison was introduced into a feast and resulted in the death of King Eagle Farwatcher. Trade with Keep in the Woods is banned, so the arrow must have been imported illegally.

Rathgard discovers that the Watchers relax in taverns run by the Host family. Non-Everwayans have to be invited in to these establishments. He also learns that the Watchers' weapons are manufactured by the Smiths.

Splendid! tries to set up in the Court of Fools but runs into trouble with a troupe of Masks, who order him off. He retaliates by jinxing their performance and then heads over to the bazaar where he arranges to use Whine Motley's pitch. He then meets Flame and helps her to test Everway's defences by creating a diversion near the Gaming Houses while she hides under a cart that is leaving the city. The ruse is unsuccessful - Flame is quickly detected by a cheese hound - but there is nothing that the Watchers can arrest her for and she burns them when they try to frisk her. Splendid! heads over to the Arenas, where he spends a successful afternoon.

That evening, the heroes meet up with Walker, who has had a frustrating day visiting the Temple of Mercy, the Crystal Sphere coven, the Wailers and the Tenders, none of whom have been able to help him. He heads out again to a local hospital run by the Brothers of Mercy, a group of priestly healers which tends to the low-lifes of Strangerside. There he learns of Bliss, an addictive drug that is killing the beggars of Beggartown; of a gang war between the Daggerboys (reputedly working for the Masks) and the Sons of the West in Beggartown; and that the Blackhearts are muscling in on the pitch of Bruiser's Boys in the Crafters' Quarter.

Joveday, 21st Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

The next day, Rathgard, Why, Fish Trader, Walker and Jayson head for the Green Mountain Warriors camp. It is situated on a water meadow next to a creek and is surrounded on two sides by forest. It clear that all is not well - the cooking fire has been allowed to be burn down to embers, children run unsupervised and people are standing around arguing. Carpenters are manufacturing a rectangular frame containing a man-sized cross and a large bonfire is being built. When Rathgard, Jayson and Walker approach and mention Warsong, they are met with hostility - a flame-haired woman (Redmane) accuses them of having corrupted him and demands that they be driven out or killed. Walker counters by claiming that his honour has been insulted and demands satisfaction. The Elders decree that he must take the "Test of the Warrior" against Bloodstink, the tribal champion.

This turns out to consist of drinking the "wine of Epona", mare's milk in increasing stages of fermentation. Walker, with his rugged constitution, is ideally suited to this task and easily outlasts Bloodstink. The tribe's respect for the heroes increases sufficiently that Rathgard is able to state their business, only to be told that Warsong is not available as he is sentenced to die this afternoon. It seems that Great Axe, the former chief of the clan, was found dead in his tent two days ago. His symptoms indicated that he had been poisoned by joyberry juice. A search was made of the tribe's tents and a joyberry was found in the box where Warsong keeps his shaving things. After consulting with the drug-addled tribal shaman Spirit Dancer, who told them that "the spirits are not with that one", the elders have declared that Warsong should be put to death. Rathgard and Walker talk to Warsong but don't get much out of him as he is mentally preparing for death. They talk to Horsewhipper, one of the elders, who tells them that Sorrel, Warsong's younger brother, is now tribal chief. Redmane is his wife. He also explains what the tribe is doing outside Everway - they were hired to help fight Earthshaker and his armies eighty years ago, but when Earthshaker was defeated without a battle the Everway authorities refused to pay them the money they had been promised. Meanwhile, Jayson heads off to talk to Great Axe's widow Rowan.

Rathgard heads out to talk to Fish Trader and Why, who are hiding in the trees near the camp. Why offers to fetch Slight from town in case some spiritual manifestations are needed. Fish Trader goes after him.

Back in camp, Rathgard talks to Sorrel and Redmane, but is surprised to discover that both appear to be telling the truth when they say that they have never touched joyberries. Walker engages Bloodstink, who immediately challenges him to another test of warriorship, this time horse riding. Rathgard is just heading over to talk to Heaven Seeker, Spirit Dancer's assistant shaman, when there is a yell from the sacred tent and Spirit Dancer comes running out babbling about a cat demon. Rathgard and Walker propel the unwilling Heaven Seeker into the tent and "cleanse" it (there is of course nothing in there). Rathgard takes the opportunity to question Heaven Seeker about the frown of puzzlement he had seen cross his face earlier when Warsong's guilt was being discussed. Heaven Seeker confides that if Warsong had stolen any joyberries then there should be fewer than expected in the sacred store. But it seemed to him that there were just as many as before. Old Fetlock, the Memory of the tribe, would know how many there should be.

Rathgard has a chance to talk to Jayson, who has emerged from Rowan's tent, but he seems curiously distracted and unhelpful. Walker goes off for his re-match with Bloodstink, which he just loses. Rathgard manages to inveigle his way into Old Fetlock's tent, and learns from her that a stranger came from town six months ago and bought three joyberries from the fifteen that the tribe had left. Great Axe and Warsong handled the sale. She orders Heaven Seeker to count the number of joyberries left - there should be nine, because three have been used in rituals in the last six months. Eventually Heaven Seeker reports - including the berry taken from Warsong's tent, there are ten. This is enough to delay Warsong's execution while another elder meeting is held.

Meanwhile, back in Everway earlier that morning... Splendid! heads back to the bazaar, but finds that every time he tries to do his show, a gang of Mask toughs armed with clubs comes after him. He makes a game of it, dodging from place to place in the bazaar. Flame also heads into town armed with a cheese sandwich. When the Watchers, alerted by the cheese-hound, stop her at the gates and demand that she pays the tax on cheese being brought into Everway, she eats the sandwich, to their immense frustration. After checking that there are no new weaponmakers with useful information, she joins in Splendid!'s game by buying soft fruit that bystanders can throw at the Masks when they come to spoil the fun.

As a result, Why arrives in the middle of a food fight. Hustling Slight off just before the Watchers appear, he persuades him to come to the warriors' camp. Flame follows them.

In the camp, the meeting of the elders is not going well for Warsong. There are five elders, and three still think he is guilty. Rathgard manages to persuade him to talk about the stranger who came six months ago. He was dressed in rags and had a scar across one hand. Warsong has a vague memory of having seen him before then, but can't remember where.

Slight, Why and Fish Trader (who met them on the road) finally arrive and a plan is hastily concocted. Concealing themselves in the bullrushes near the bridge, Flame and Slight create an illusion of cat demons in the cooking fire while Why uses his ventriloquism skill to persuade the villages that they are about to attack the sacred tent. In a rare moment of lucidity, Spirit Dancer recognises them for what they are but Flame quickly heats the gold rings on his moustache to shut him up. Then she sets fire to the sacred tent while Slight and Why create illusions of the tribal spirits defeating the cat demons. Walker (who has been curing Old Fetlock's rheumatism) and Rathgard persuade an unwilling Heaven Seeker to enter the burning tent and rescue the joyberries. By this time the tribesfolk are putty in the heroes' hands and quickly accede to the "spirits'" demand to release Warsong, particularly as Spirit Dancer has been rendered unconscious by a ju-jitsu move from Rathgard (when he comes to and sees the mess that is the sacred tent, he screeches and runs off into the woods). Rathgard does an inspirational speech in which he paints Everway as the enemy and suggests a party to celebrate peace and reconciliation amongst the tribe, which the traumatised tribesfolk interpret as "get drunk as quickly as possible".

Before everyone is completely comatose, however, Jayson has a word with Warsong who then talks to the elders. They commingle their spit upon the ground to signal an agreement. Jayson comes up to Rathgard and apologetically explains that he has decided to stay with the tribe "for personal reasons". He feels that his fate has led him here. He says that he may be in touch in the future, particularly if the heroes continue with their plans to bring down the ruling powers in Everway. Rathgard and Walker return to Everway with Warsong, who wishes to pay his blood debt before taking up his responsibilities as tribal chief.

In the afternoon, Splendid! finds Whine Motley again, who is drunk - he suggests a partnership, but Whine is no longer keen after the altercation with the Masks. Splendid! also asks about marriage into the Motleys. Whine suggests Creep Motley, who is looking for a husband. He gives her address, which is just north of the Court of Fools.

Why and Flame return to the inn, where Flame is promptly arrested by Doubtless Watcher and associates as a suspected cheese smuggler. After ensuring that her case will be heard promptly she allows herself to be taken to the Court of Fools sept where she is seen by Slowstep Watcher, another hatchet-faced magistrate. Flame explains about her discovery in the boarded up house, a story which is confirmed by Slowstep's truth amulet, but makes the mistake of claiming ownership of the confiscated cheese. Slowstep demands the chitty that proves that the tax has been paid on the cheese and fines her 50 hefts when she can't produce it.

Back at the inn, the heroes discuss what to do about Warsong. He is clearly at risk from the assassin, and Rathgard comes up with the idea of disguising him as Jayson. Warsong refuses to lose his moustaches (which are a sign of virility in his tribe), though he reluctantly agrees not to wear the distinctive green cloak. Slight determines that Warsong has a (natural) blockage in his memory, and by hypnotising him manages to reverse it, allowing Warsong to recall where he had seen the purchaser of the joyberries before. It was in the Bazaar - he was one of the Motley, and Slight recognises in his description the clever mimicker of passers by that he saw on his first visit there.

Saturnday, 22nd Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

The day of the inquest into Wormwood Crookstaff dawns - it's set for one bell after midday. The heroes deal with the problem of Warsong's recalcitrance by shaving off his moustache while he is asleep, which seriously upsets him (but does at least make him look vaguely like Jayson). Flame tries to make it up to him by taking him upstairs, but he refuses.

Splendid! tries again at the Court of Fools but is stopped by another troupe of Masks, who tell him that only Everwayans can perform there. He heads into the bazaar, but Whine is nowhere to be seen. Other Motleys tell him that he has been spooked by the Masks. They also give him the name of the man who bought the joyberries - Huckster Motley - and explain that he is not popular with his fellow family members because he always seems to have money which he refuses to share. None of this is of interest to Splendid!, however, who continues with his show.

Walker also heads out early and tracks down a priest of Odin, who tells him that he has been "touched by a god" but not one he recognises. He also says that the deity which touched him isn't evil. Flame pursues her reconnaisance of Strangerside, while Why heads off to Crafter's Square to sell his toys. Warsong, Rathgard and Fish Trader set out to find Splendid! in the Bazaar.

They soon track him down and Splendid! tells them what he knows. Rathgard decides that the Watchers should be informed and goes to find one. By good fortune he encounters the friendly and go-getting Force Watcher, whom he persuades to arrest Huckster. As they approach his pitch Huckster sees them and makes a break for it, scattering shoppers left and right. The heroes are prepared, however, and Fish Trader leaps spectacularly over a stall and brings him down. Huckster whips out a purple-stained serrated dagger and in desperation Fish Trader grabs his arm. Seeing that all is lost, Huckster slashes his own wrist and expires of joyberry poisoning. His final words, after some babbling about gold and women, are "The Empty Mask... is... mine..."

Force Watcher takes charge and arranges for Huckster's body to be carried to the local Watcher sept at the west end of the Bazaar. The Watchers search him and find some money and a house key. Force assures the heroes that he will vouch for their actions at the inquest.

Meanwhile, Flame decides to go for a swim in Shimmermoon Bay. Crossing the Fool's Bridge, she makes her way through the trees and scrub at the base of Everway's city wall, noting a huge ruined tower that marks its southern-most point. She decides to climb it but is challenged halfway up and forced to retreat. On her way down she notices a Mudbank river worker emerging from a rock outcrop. Investigating, she finds a narrow passage that winds under the tower. She is spotted by another Mudbank who tells her that she is likely to be shot at if she continues. Flame enters the city via the Fool's Gate and confirms that the passage emerges in the city side of the tower ruins, providing a secret entrance into Everway.

Flame then heads to the Watcher's sept on the Walker's Way where the inquest has begun. As well as Rathgard, Fish Trader and Why, there are lawyers present for the Crookstaff and Gold families, a number of familiar witnesses and some onlookers including a young woman with tufts of hair that stick out in all directions, a trio of elderly women who knit and comment sotto voce on the goings on, and a mysterious cowled figure.

Keensight Watcher is presiding in her usual grumpy fashion. She says that the purpose of the inquest is to determine the manner of Wormwood Crookstaff's death and to ascertain whether the Crookstaffs wish to bring a case against another family. She summarises Wormwood's activities outside Everway - he was doing private magical research in Plenty for Chamber Platinum, authorised by Soulseeker Crookstaff, Grey Snakering and Goldring Digger.

She then asks Rathgard to take the stand and explain how the heroes met Wormwood and subsequent events up to their arrival in Everway. Rathgard does so. Wand Crookstaff, the lawyer, interjects to ask questions about Wormwood's state of mind and whether he spoke to or went off with anyone (Rathgard glosses over Wormwood's liaison with Quill, not mentioning her by name). Various other witnesses corroborate the heroes' version of events after their arrival in Everway. Keensight expresses skepticism about the suggested means by which the assassin got on to the Gold residence roof, which would have involved an unlikely arrow shot if done from the alley behind it.

Discussion turns to the mysterious poison used to kill Wormwood, and the heroes produce a sensation in court by revealing their findings about it. Greenhorn is fetched from the market and reluctantly confirms Why's evidence, and Warsong describes the purchaser of the joyberries. Rathgard outlines events in the market that morning and though Keensight is clearly suspicious of Huckster's convenient demise she has to accept Force's testimony that it was self-inflicted. As evening is approaching she suggests an adjournment until the following day to enable Huckster's background to be investigated, and Wand agrees.

Outside, Warsong thanks the heroes once again and returns to his tribe, promising them a friendly welcome should they ever come visiting. Rathgard persuades his new friend Force to allow the heroes to accompany the Watchers as they go about investigating the late Huckster. This they do by the simple if unsubtle expedient of threatening beggars until one reveals where Huckster lived. His house turns out to be a modest affair just off the Plaza of Fools, but inside there is plenty of evidence of Huckster's double life, including a wardrobe full of disguises, a locked cupboard containing assassin's tools, some illegal cheese and a cache of jewels hidden under a floorboard. Two unusual features are a lantern marked "Property of the Theatre of the Thousand Spheres - do not remove" and a burnt piece of paper that Flame finds in the grate. The greater part has been charred away but the initials "L.M." can just be made out at the bottom. Force speculates that they could stand for Loudvoice Mask, the proprietor of the Theatre of All Worlds, but tells the heroes not to mention this at the inquest because they could be sued. Rathgard, Fish Trader and Why decide to stay with the Watchers, while Flame returns to the Heroes' Tavern to inform the others of developments.

Meanwhile, Splendid! has also been doing some investigating in his own unique way. Pursued once again by a gang of Mask thugs led by the brother and sister team of Slice and Dice, he teases them with mention of the Empty Mask, but gets no response. After making his getaway, he decides to take the bull by the horns, marches straight up to the front gate of the Mask family house on Festival Square and asks to see the Empty Mask. The exceptionally unfriendly gatekeeper professes no knowledge of what he is talking about and throws him back on to the street. Realising that the Empty Mask is clearly some deep secret and that telling the Masks that he knew all about it was perhaps not the soundest survival strategy, Splendid! hastens back to the Heroes' Tavern, disappears into his room, and emerges once again as Slight.

And what of our tragic young healer? He visits a temple of Apollo, mentions that he is "cursed by death" and is directed to the Temple of Hades. The priest there cannot help him but suggests that he visits Mousewitch at the Temple of Glun the Primaeval, who has some facility with removing curses. Mousewitch, a fat balding man with bad breath, examines Walker and says that he can perform a ceremony to remove the "darkness in his soul" but will require a small service first. A new priestess called Humility has just taken over the nearby Temple of Elpis (the goddess of hope) and is attracting Mousewitch's congregation from the worship of the primaeval chaos from which all came to which all will return. Mousewitch wants Walker to help him reveal the error of Humility's ways. He won't say exactly how. Walker says that he will think about it and heads back to the Inn, where he joins Flame and Slight.

Sunday, 23rd Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

The inquest reconvenes with all the heroes except Walker in attendance. The discoveries in Huckster's house are discussed, and Flame makes a point of revealing the burnt piece of paper with the LM initials. But there is little else to say. Keensight concludes that Huckster was the assassin, but charges cannot be brought against him because he is dead. Nor can his employer, if any, be identified. She raises her concerns about how the assassin got onto the Gold residence roof and how he knew which route Wormwood would take through the city. But when she asks Wand Crookstaff if she wishes the Watchers to pursue either of these lines of enquiry, she glances at the mysterious cowled figure in the audience gallery and shakes her head. The Crookstaffs, she declares, are satisfied that neither the Golds "nor these Outsiders" (referring to the heroes) had a hand in Wormwood's death.

Keensight is clearly unhappy but has no choice other than to declare the inquest closed with the verdict "Murder by unknown assailant". When Rathgard reminds her, she grudgingly rescinds the heroes' Disputed Status, remarking that "if you wish to prosper in Everway, you would do well to respect the legitimately constituted authority."

As the heroes leave the court house, the woman with the tufts of hair is waiting for them. She introduces herself as Glue Scratch and has been observing proceedings on behalf of Chamber Platinum. She invites the heroes to meet her boss Codex Platinum Scratch, the Master of the Library of All Worlds and chair of the Inner Circle of Chamber Platinum, as "she understands that you have a message for her".

Chapter 8
The Old Town Cellars

In which the heroes acquire a lair

Glue leads the heroes through the streets of Everway and up the steps to the grand entrance to the Library of All Worlds. This time, as they approach, the guards do not bar the door (news, it seems, travels fast in Everway). It leads into a large, cool atrium that is crowded with people waiting patiently in line for entry to Chamber Silver, Everway's library for the common folk. Glue opens a small side door and ushers the heroes into a huge cobbled quadrangle with a central fountain containing a statue of King Keensight Farwatcher, a major patron to the library. Tall administrative buildings flank an imposing edifice of grey stone, decorated with solar motifs and surmounted by a huge golden dome. This, explains Glue, is Chamber Gold, a library reserved for high-ranking Everwayans. The interior is richly decorated in wooden panelling. The heroes get a glimpse of the book delivery podium, with its lifts on ropes to the vaults below, and the richly dressed readers.

A door at the far end leads into a small courtyard, little more than a walkway hemmed in by buildings. Ahead, an ancient circular building with a glass dome sits between three massive vaults. This is Chamber Platinum, the oldest part of the library. Slight notices that the whole building is enchanted.

Glue unlocks a door and leads the heroes into a small dark hall, lit by lanterns. Ornate gilded marble statues of merchants and kings line the walls. Seated between two of them is a young woman wearing a black silk dress of unfamiliar style with many pockets. She is fair-haired and looks very young, barely out of adolescence, but her expression and the confident way she carries herself suggest someone far older. She carries a palette and there is an easel in front of her. As the heroes approach, she rises and comes towards Flame. "At last!" she says in a small breathy voice. "You've brought my book. Can I have it please?"

Things at this point go very strange. Slight immediately spots that the woman and her painting are blindingly magical, but the magic is of a completely unfamiliar sort. They seem somehow more real than their surroundings. Slight turns to Rathgard to tell him this - and discovers that he is frozen, as if stunned, as are Fish Trader, Why and Glue. Only Flame and he have freedom of movement.

The woman, focusing on Flame, introduces herself as Painter. Flame denies that she has any books, but Painter is having none of it. She says that Flame's master, whom she calls Shadow, had promised her the "Book of Making" and had said that someone would bring it. When Flame asks what the Book of Making is, Painter replies that it is none of her concern - "if your master had wished you to know, then he would have told you".

Meanwhile, Slight has sneaked a look at the painting on the easel. It depicts a gloomy pit, deep underground, with a pile of boulders at its lip. At this point Painter notices him and throws a cloth over it.

Flame continues to deny all knowledge of what Painter is talking about. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," says Painter quietly, and the room goes darker and becomes wavy, as if seen through water. Flame senses that her own body is also becoming blurry, but finds that she cannot look away from Painter, the only real thing in the room. Nonetheless, Flame still refuses to admit that she has the book. The tension holds for an unbearable moment, then gradually the room returns to normal. Painter sighs, as if exasperated by a recalcitrant child, and explains that she can wait a little longer as she does not wish to "cause a scene". She warns Flame that she cannot escape as "I have your likeness now" and disappears. The other heroes are unfrozen and continue on their way. When asked, Glue mentions that the woman had been there for the past six months but nobody had thought anything of it. Slight suggests that Painter is a goddess and that defying her may not have been a good idea.

There is no time for the heroes to talk further, however, for Glue has led them down into the dark labyrinth beneath the central reading room and ushered them into the cold, austere office of Codex Platinum Scratch. She is surprisingly young-looking for such a senior official, with a high domed forehead, long black hair, steely blue eyes and a serious demeanour. She welcomes the heroes with a stiff smile and explains that she received the message that Rathgard sent to Soulseeker Crookstaff via Glint Crookstaff. She apologises for the incarceration of the heroes when they first arrived, explaining that Keensight is not as used to Outsiders as Chamber Platinum is, and asks who arranged for their release. On learning that it was Ulrich Crookstaff, she warns the heroes against him, commenting that "he works to his own agenda".

Rathgard conveys the news of the approach of the Black Mist. Codex seems suitably concerned and gives orders to her assistant Blemish Scratch, a handsome man with curly hair, a neatly trimmed beard and a large Roman nose, to get the sages to dig out any records of similar events. She then asks about how the heroes met and why they travel together. Rathgard replies with a potted summary of the heroes' adventures, similar to the one he gave at the inquest.

Codex then asks if the heroes would like to join Chamber Platinum. This, she explains, is an organisation dedicated to the exploration of the Thousand Spheres, with the aim of seeking knowledge of people and places and recording it for posterity in the books of the Library of All Worlds, where anyone of good standing from any sphere may read it. The benefits are a small monetary reward for investigations deemed important by the Council of Sages, reasonable expenses, the right to submit books to the Library and use of the Chamber Platinum reading room for personal research.

The heroes being agreeable, Codex sets them a task straight away, which is conveniently located in the Old Town of Strangerside. A complex of cellars runs beneath it which contain the remains of ancient buildings. These are of particular interest because the records of the original settlement of Everway were destroyed when the first Library of All Worlds burnt down some 2000 years ago. Codex has had word that a rockfall has revealed a room containing a mural; it is, however, in a part of the cellars inhabited by a Beggartown street gang called the Sons of the West, who are unlikely to take kindly to a group of Everwayan scholars wanting to invade their turf. The heroes' task is to gain access to the mural and record it for posterity. Codex doesn't care how they do it, but the mural must remain unharmed.

Codex reveals the following facts about the Sons of the West:

• Their leader is a man named Towershield
• They are a militaristic group who claim to be "bringing justice" to Beggartown, though they seem more interested in fighting the other street gangs in the area.
• A group of smugglers is also based in their part of the cellars, presumably with Towershield's consent.
• The smugglers are being watched by a spy in the Sons of the West because they are thought to have links to Middleland. It was from her report to her superiors that Codex has learned of the existence of the mural. Her name is Shadowhide Snakering, but Codex does not know who she is pretending to be within the gang.
• The heroes' first task is to locate the entrance to the complex as Shadowhide does not mention where this is.

Codex promises 25 hefts each, with a bonus of 10 hefts if the mural proves to be particularly important. She arranges for portions of Shadowhide's report to be copied out for the heroes. She asks the heroes to report to Blemish Scratch who will induct them into Chamber Platinum, a procedure involving swearing an oath not to kindle a fire, mundane or magical, within the walls of the library; not to steal books; and not to sell or willingly part with the keys to Chamber Platinum. All the heroes agree to do so except Flame.

Their induction complete, the heroes are presented with their personal keys to Chamber Platinum and are shown out by Blemish Scratch (with the exception of Why, who stays behind to find the contact - Sigil Platinum Scratch - to whom he needs to report the problems in his home realm). They return to the inn where they find a note from Walker. Having rejected Mousewitch's offer, he has visited Humility in the Temple of Elpis and has decided to stay there for a time. Thinking this rather unusual behaviour, everyone except Why goes to All the Gods Way to check up on him. They discover Walker in a sunny white-washed Greek-style temple talking earnestly to an attractive fair-haired priestess. He does not appear to be ensorcelled and dusk is approaching, so with some ribald remarks from Flame about what he will be getting up to that evening, the heroes depart back to the inn.

After supper, Flame goes out to put up an advertisement for her services on the public noticeboard in Crafters Square ("Flame - Diviner and Seer - Divinations 30 hefts"). There she sees a note in childish handwriting asking for brave adventurers to rescue the writer's brother, who has been kidnapped and will be sent down a mine. She mentions it to the others when she returns, but as the meeting place is the Court of Fools and the password is "ickley grubs", the heroes decide that it is a child's prank.

The night passes peacefully, except for Walker who is awoken by stealthy footsteps in the main hall of the Temple of Elpis. The intruder proves to be a small boy carrying a bag of human bones, who with minimal pressure reveals that he was sent to plant them by Mousewitch. Humility hails a passing Watcher of her acquaintance, who takes the boy into custody and agrees to deal with the errant priest of Glun.

-- o --

Moonday, 24th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

The heroes in the tavern are awoken just before dawn by something scratching at a window. A skeletal and rank-smelling bat delivers a bag containing 180 hefts and flies off.

After breakfast, the heroes set out to locate the entrance to the cellars. They make their way from Crafters Square along the bank of the Sunset River, passing the busy docks where small ships and fishing boats can load and unload their cargoes and skirting the smelly and ramshackle mess that is Beggartown. By comparison, the Old Town is clean and relatively safe - the streets are swept and are regularly patrolled by hired mercenaries. The buildings make up the residential estates of Strangerside's wealthier and more established families, and while smaller and shabbier than those in Everway, have a certain faded grandeur. However, despite several hours of searching the heroes fail to spot any entrance that the Sons of the West could be using as a way into the cellars.

The heroes decide to split up. Rathgard looks for a job in the Old Town. Fish Trader says that he will make contact with the local merchants. Slight has the bright idea of borrowing a boat to look for possible entrances that could be used by the smugglers, and soon spots the end of a rope dangling from one of the sewer holes that emerge about half way down the sheer hundred foot promontory on which Strangerside Old Town stands. He puts a spell of overconfidence and safety on the narrow rocky beach immediately below.

Flame mooches around the docks, watching the unloading of crates of oranges from Orange Blossom. She intervenes in an altercation between some drunken stevedores and a carpenter's apprentice, burning the tree trunk he had purchased and knocking them into the river, but when she offers to have sex with him he turns bright red and runs away.

Meanwhile, back at the temple of Elpis... Walker attends the morning ceremony and observes the participants, who include an arrogant merchant, several beggars and a brightly dressed traveller. He heals Dust Mudbank, an old woman bent double by arthritis, and overhears the traveller saying that she wasn't able to get the rose petals that Humility loves. After the service, Walker is just about to confess all to Humility when they are interrupted by Chequer Hambone, the local priest of Apollo, who has come to gossip about the mysterious indisposition of Mousewitch. He teases Humility with the suggestion that Mousewitch came on too strong and was rejected by her, to which Humility responds with good humour. Finally, Walker manages to tell Humility his tale. She questions whether the words that Flame used were a true reflection of her vision - having met Flame the previous evening, it is clear that words aren't her forte. When Walker demures, she suggests that he accompanies her on an errand.

Fish Trader learns something of Towershield's background from his merchant contacts. It seems that he is influenced by the Midlands, a sphere of feuding feudal barons who are named after the points of the compass, and sees himself as a knight in shining armour ruling over the streets of Beggartown. Fish Trader's contacts see him as a nuisance because of his "taxes" on local traders. Fish Trader decides to head into Beggartown to find out more.

In Old Town, Rathgard stops to help a carter, Sconce Candlewick, with a broken wheel. He has heard of Towershield and has seen him swaggering with his toughs in Bleak Street. Rathgard assists Sconce in delivering his consignment of wine to the Harbingers, one of the ruling families of Strangerside, but cannot find any secret entrances in the cellar. He decides to obtain a position with a family and swans into the office of the provost, Billet Harbinger, declaring that he is the person who has been sent to "sort out his problem". It turns out that Billet does indeed have a little local difficulty. He is trying to deal with a crisis that has arisen because a caravan with a consignment of chatterfish has been lost in the Blacksand Desert. The Harbingers were unable to take out insurance on the delivery because of the raids by the Blacksand Desert People. Forgetting all about the mission he was supposed to be on, Rathgard offers to help out and spends the rest of the day persuading other Old Town merchants, the Lightsteps and the Brewbutts, to defer their demands for compensation. Billet is suitably grateful, pays Rathgard a small sum for his service, and says that he may ask for his assistance again.

Slight and Flame head up to Crafters Square and meet Why, who has had a bad day. He managed to meet Sigil Platinum Scratch and tell her of the priests' attack on the commune on Man-sun, but her response was not encouraging - Everway is unlikely do anything about the situation. They head over to a fish stall for lunch, where a young woman with long black hair and a hawk on her shoulder comes up and greets them all by name. She introduces herself as Wishbone, a spirit worker from the sphere of Shifting Sands, who has been sent by Codex Platinum Scratch to help out. Together they take the boat back to the sewer entrance, leaving Why who, bizarrely, is being besieged by people trying to buy his toys.

At lunchtime, Humility prepares a basket and goes out, taking Walker with her. At this time of day, All the Gods Way is an assault on the senses. Colourful processions of priests and worshippers holding all manner of religious artefacts wind up and down the narrow road, incense smoke and odours of animal sacrifice waft through the air, and clanging bells, thudding drums, shaking rattles and monkish chanting assail the ear. Humility gets hissed at by Clamour Raven as she passes the Temple of Kali and she curses Walker when he intervenes. They make their way to a house in a nearby side street where an old woman, Alabaster Stonebreaker, is laid up with a broken leg. While Humility prepares out the lunch that she has brought, Alabaster talks about her granddaughter, who is pregnant with a child due in a few months. Walker improves her leg, but notices the shadow of a wasting disease that he is able to retard but not cure. As they head back, Humility comments that this will allow Alabaster to see her great grandchild before she dies, so not everything that Walker does is cursed.

Meanwhile, Fish Trader has ventured into the district of Beggartown, home of the lowest of the low in Roundwander. The streets here are verminous with humanity. Primitive lean-tos of filthy cloth and wood have been set up in the lee of the ruined buildings and around them are the detritus of human existence - blackened firepits, cracked pots of water, ragged flags of washing, piles of rubbish and puddles of stinking sewage. Two women wrestle over an over-ripe melon, yelling at each other; other people squat by cooking pots, or carry water in pails, or sprawl against the walls drinking or trying to sleep. Ignoring the pleading hands, the cries of "Alms!" and the half-hearted pick-pocketing attempts, Fish Trader searches through alleys of Beggartown until he comes across a couple of tough street-gang types selling Bliss. He notes approvingly that it appears to be good business - they are surrounded by eager customers, there is little danger of interference from the authorities, the sales overheads are low and there is plenty of repeat business. Successful purchasers scuttle off with their small packages, or stagger over to a nearby wall where they stuff the reddish brown powder under their fingernails and soon slump into unconsciousness. Fish Trader pretends to be one of them as he waits for the drug-sellers to close up shop.

Back on the river, Flame, Wishbone and Slight skulk in the reed beds opposite the Old Town sewer entrance. After some discussion they agree on a scouting mission. Wishbone sends her hawk to knock down the rope and the three scramble up, Slight with some difficulty. The sewer tunnel is partially blocked by rubble in places but was clearly well-built, with a paved walkway allowing passage above the filth. Flame lights a discarded torch and leads the way into the darkness. After about 100 yards they come to an opening to the left from which light spills. Flame kills the torch - inadvertently cancelling Slight's "just like us" spell - and sends a fire-blade into the eye of the peg-legged smuggler who emerges from the entrance to see what is going on. Abandoning all pretence of subtlety, the heroes charge into the room. It is a typical smugglers cave, full of boxes, sacks, weapons and sailing equipment and (of course) smugglers, one of whom is disappearing through the other entrance shouting for help. Slight and Flame recognise him as Three Trees, the garrulous fellow they met in the Watcher lock-up when they first arrived in Everway. Wishbone sends her hawk flying after him. Flame uses her fire-blades to dispose of the inexperienced young man and woman who come at her, but the leader of the group, a grizzled and burly middle-aged man, proves a slightly tougher proposition. By the time that she and Wishbone have subdued him, arrows are thrumming through the air from two archers stationed at the far entrance and the sounds of booted feet and shouting indicate that further reinforcements are on the way. Flame smashes a bulls eye lantern and sets fire to the contents of the cave (forcing Slight out of his hiding place) and the heroes withdraw into the passageway. As she stops to set up another fiery barrier, Flame is hit in the arm by a lucky arrowshot and the heroes beat a disorganised retreat back to the boat, arrows hissing into the river around them. Wishbone fears that she has lost her hawk, but it eventually returns, bedraggled and slightly singed.

Walker has been sent by Humility to the bazaar to collect some flowers for the temple, which he does along with a bunch of her favourite roses. As he pushes his way back through the worshippers in All the Gods Way, he hears her name. The speaker is a good-looking man in his early twenties with slicked back hair and a faint beard, dressed in a rust-red jerkin with puffed sleeves and smelling of lavender. When Walker goes up to him he introduces himself as Kegtap Grapestamper, an old friend of Humility's from Olive Bough. Walker takes an instant dislike to his supercilious ways and refuses to say where she is. Kegtap stamps off ahead of him but goes to the wrong temple, enabling Walker to reach the Temple of Elpis first. An undignified scuffle ensues in the entrance as Kegtap attempts to push past Walker and Walker refuses to be pushed. Humility emerges from her meditation room, sees Kegtap and recoils, asking what he is doing here. The story soon comes out - Kegtap and Humility were once lovers, but he abandoned her for someone else once he had taken her virginity. Humility's ensuing bout of depression was only alleviated by regular attendance at the local temple of Elpis, which led to her training for the priesthood. Kegtap says that he is sorry and that he wants to renew their relationship, claiming that they had "something special". Humility replies that her place is with the worshippers at the temple now. As Kegtap turns nasty and grabs her, Walker intervenes. He picks Kegtap up, pinioning his arms to his sides, and ignoring the kicks and the wild accusations that he has seduced Humility, carries him bodily out into All the Gods Way and dumps him in a convenient pile of dust. Kegtap picks himself up, mindful of the Watchers that regularly patrol the street, and stomps off after warning Walker that "this isn't over". Back in the temple, Humility collapses in Walker's arms and says that she is very glad that he is here.

In Beggartown, the two toughs brush off the last of the desperate beggars and come over to Fish Trader, demanding to know why he has been spying on them. Fish Trader replies calmly and politely, saying that he is a trader who is interested in doing business. The more senior of the toughs, a vicious-looking woman with short hair and scars called Stiv, accuses him of being a spy for the Sons of the West and threatens him with a dagger, which Fish Trader effortlessly avoids. Realising that they cannot menace him, the toughs retreat towards the Dark Alley area of Strangerside, first setting a crowd of beggars onto Fish Trader and then trying unsuccessfully to lose him in the maze of streets. Eventually they realise that nothing they can do will shake him off and they retreat to Gold's Gardens, where they get themselves arrested by a couple of patrolling Plumes. Speculating that the Daggerboys have some sort of arrangement with the guards, Fish Trader returns to the Heroes Tavern.

While Wishbone is tending Flame's wound, Slight heads up to the ruined wall that surrounds Old Town and finds the point directly above the sewer entrance. Looking over the city 100 yards in the direction of the tunnel, he works out that the smuggler's cave must be below the southwest edge of the Old Town promontory, a little north of Bleak Street. Slight makes his way there and after a brief nose around the Mercy Hospital, pokes among the ruins of the old buildings nearby. However, there are many of them, the sun is setting, and Slight is getting hungry. In any case, he has a much better plan for getting into the cellars again. He makes his way home to find some rope.

At the Temple of Elpis, Humility recovers from the shock of Kegtap's appearance just in time for the evening service, which is much like the morning one. There is one additional worshipper of significance - Sorestep Watcher, the passing patroller whom Humility had called in to deal with the boy with the bag of bones that Walker had caught the previous night. After the service, he has a quiet word with Humility. When everyone has gone Humility tells Walker what he said - he was reminding her that the Everwayan authorities do not permit Outsiders to claim sanctuary at any temple in All the Gods Way as it is a security threat. Sorestep can ignore Walker's presence for a little while but not for much longer. Humility herself is in a difficult position as the family sponsor who allowed her to live in Everway has recently died, so she asks Walker whether he would consider going back to stay with his companions, who clearly care about him and need him. She says that he is welcome to return at any time and expresses the hope that he will do so. Walker says that he understands and packs his bags.

At the Heroes Tavern, the evening meal is being prepared as Walker walks in. He is introduced to Wishbone, who instantly spots that there is something odd about his spiritual aura. She agrees to perform a ceremony to divine what it is. With herbs and chanting she enters a trance state. She soon sees a connection between Walker and something outside him, a shining silver path looking very similar to those that pass between the Gates of the Thousand Spheres. Following it, she comes to a narrow opening, a tiny hole beyond which she can sense something huge and powerful. She tries to force her way through it... and is assaulted by a wave of images of change, landscapes that blur and melt into one another, the cycles of life played at incredible speed, clouds scudding across the sky, great cities rising and crumbling to dust. Wishbone is only just able to retain enough of her sense of self to break the trance and flop exhausted on the table. When she tells Walker what she saw, he gets to his feet. He knows now that he is an agent of change, not death - though whether the change will produce something good or something evil, only time will tell. Grabbing an extremely willing Flame, they head upstairs for some long overdue sex.

As a result, when a nervous couple turns up in response to Flame's divination advertisement, she is unavailable. They introduce themselves as Whiting and Stoneflake Chipper, a poor Strangerside family. They explain that they want to know what happened to their daughter Terracotta. She was incarcerated in the House of Calm, a secure institution in the Gatelands, after trying to kill a Stranger because the "the voice of the Walker told me to". She had a history of visions and the Mothers determined that she was incurably insane. Whiting and Stoneflake had visited her regularly, but six weeks ago the Mothers said that she had run away. As Flame is still preoccupied (Walker's legendary endurance, it seems, doesn't just extend to walking and drinking fermented mare's milk), Rathgard suggests that they return the following day with something of Terracotta's to aid the divination. As they leave, Whiting remarks that they can only afford 15 hefts rather than the 30 mentioned in Flame's advertisement. Rathgard says that he is sure that will be fine.

-- o --

Venusday, 25th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

Why comes down to breakfast carrying his bags. He announces that he needs to leave Everway on a commission that he can't talk about. As a going away gift, he gives the heroes a toy giraffe that can act as a flash bomb.

Wishbone notices that the spirits of two of the smugglers that Flame killed yesterday are still buzzing about her fire-blades, calling each other's names ("Aft...", "Spume..."). It seems that they were lovers in life and their last thoughts were of each other. Wishbone calms and coaxes them into spirit bottles so that they can be reunited when she returns to her home realm. From them she obtains a rough impression of the part of the cellars with which they were familiar.

Slight has finished his spell-working and goes with Rathgard to place the rope on the beach below the sewer outlet, where he hopes some of the surviving smugglers will find it. The others head over to the Bleak Street ruins, and with Wishbone's hawk and Flame's Finding Paths skill, they soon locate the entrance, a unprepossessing hole located in a pile of rubble that was once a stone stairway leading down into a cellar. Joined by Slight and Rathgard, they retire to a nearby hostelry in Old Town to discuss their aims and tactics. They agree that their aim is to take over the cellars and use it as a power base. Their tactic is a direct assault through the entrance that they have found.

Back at the ruins, Slight casts a spell on Wishbone's hawk that gives her the semblance of a bat. Wishbone holds the bird in her hands and spends several minutes looking into its eyes before releasing it into the dark hole. Wishbone reports that after a difficult descent there is a long, straight passageway with a faint light at the end. She directs the hawk to investigate a side entrance... and disturbs a colony of bats, who mob the attacker. The hawk makes a quick exit.

The heroes make their way cautiously down the worn steps into a dangerously precarious-looking cellar, the ceiling of which is held up by rubble. The floor has split in the middle and a rope leads down to another cellar below. A V-shaped passage leads between collapsed joists and stonework to a well-built sewer tunnel like the one that Wishbone, Slight and Flame investigated yesterday. In the distance, beyond an opening from which emanates an ammoniacal stink, the passage turns a corner and faint torchlight can be seen.

Deciding to attack before the defenders can organise themselves, the heroes charge with Fish Trader to the fore. They run into the room ahead and come to a screeching halt. A ten foot deep channel runs across the floor and beyond it is a classic drawbridge, with arrow slits on either side. There is a shout of "who goes there?" from the concealed defenders.

Rathgard stops to parley, but Flame has other ideas. Glass vials arc across the gap and burning oil splashes onto the ropes holding the drawbridge up. After some moments of confusion, arrows thrum across the room. Walker leaps across the gap and onto the drawbridge, trying to pull it down with his weight. He succeeds but is knocked into the channel as the flaming planks come crashing down.

Flame and Fish Trader charge across the gap and engage the half dozen men who have formed a shield wall across the passageway, protecting archers who fire from behind them. Rathgard follows close behind, trying to persuade them to lay down their arms so that can talk. Wishbone and Slight hang back and skewer the archers who emerge from side entrances. At first the shield wall fighters put up a surprisingly good defence - they have clearly received training - and a lucky arrow shot from the archers takes Wishbone in the arm, causing her to slump against the wall. But Flame causes the fires of the burning drawbridge to flare down the passageway, Walker charges forward and Slight makes the whole sight even more fearsome. The shield wall crumbles as three of the fighters surrender, dropping their weapons, while two others cower in fear. The archers are sent flying by Walker, Fish Trader and Flame as they charge into the second shield wall that had been forming further down the corridor. The defenders retreat through an entrance beyond and the heroes follow them.

They emerge at the top of a flight of steps leading down thirty feet to the rubble-and-packed-earth floor of a sixty foot circular chamber. Its walls are made of greenish stone and its worryingly cracked domed roof is supported by massive curving struts. Narrow walkways curve around the walls to other entrances at the four cardinal points. A dais with a high-backed chair stands near the back of the room and in front of it are ranged a dozen armed fighters. Ten archers stand on the walkways opposite and further figures are emerging from the entrance to the heroes' right. The figure on the dais speaks. "All right, you've made your point. Let's parley."

Closer up, Towershield (for it is he) is a broad-shouldered individual with long black hair, permanent three-day stubble and a snaggle-toothed grin. He has a certain greasy charm, but is effortlessly outclassed by Rathgard's lordly manner which is boosted by Slight's magic (much to his annoyance, Towershield keeps finding himself calling Rathgard "sir" or "my lord"). His aim is to bring "justice" for the beggars of Beggartown, to whom he has a somewhat condescending attitude. He readily listens to Rathgard's plans to take over the smuggling operation as a means of getting at the Everway hierarchy, and admits that he has taken Three Trees prisoner, but he is much more concerned about the Daggerboys and their distribution of bliss, reserving a particular loathing for their leader Cut Throat whom he considers to be human scum. Towershield introduces his lieutenants: Brassart, a pudgy taciturn thug who commands the shield-bearing Bears; Guisarme, a handsome man with a pronounced widow's peak who is in charge of the bow-wielding Eagles; and Voulges, an innocent-looking but dead-eyed thatch-haired teenager who leads the sneaky and stabby Wolves.

Meanwhile, following a tip-off from Slight, Walker takes one of the few women in the complex aside. She is Snowcloud, a small, energetic, auburn-haired character who is Guisarme's girlfriend. She is also Shadowhide Snakering and she is seriously annoyed. The heroes' intervention has wrecked her mission; her aim now is to escape, taking Three Trees with her for interrogation. Walker persuades her to get out now while she can, promising that he will meet her at a tavern in Strangerside Crafters Quarter at midday tomorrow (Earthday) with information that she can take to her superiors.

Wishbone uses a visit to the lavatory as an excuse to poke around the back of the complex and discovers the mural room. She informs Slight, who goes off to take a look. Rathgard tells Flame about Whiting and Stoneflake's visit last night, and Walker hands over 15 hefts deposit (which is in fact his own money). Guisarme discovers that his girlfriend has gone, but Rathgard defuses any potential violence by getting him drunk.

It is now dusk, and Flame, Walker and Wishbone head back to the Heroes Tavern to keep the appointment with Whiting and Stoneflake. As they approach it, they are surprised to see Slight emerging with his pack on his back. He starts guiltily when he sees them and makes a run for it, but cannot match Walker's endurance. Back in the tavern, he explains all. He had found the mural, which is clearly very ancient. It depicts the bottom half of a scene in which children are fleeing, laughing, from a small pyramid made of tessellated red, white, black and yellow lizards which are coming to life. The scene overlooks a river, and in the background is a promontory that is clearly the one on which Everway stands. Only there is no city...

Flame remembers that Slight was given a pyramid puzzle just like the one in the mural back in Tales - she and Jayson had spent a drunken evening trying to get it to open. She recalls that Slight had said that it was a gift from the Basahn in gratitude for rescuing two of their people (one of whom was Slight's sister Lynx) after they had been incarcerated for attempted theft. Slight reveals that this is not quite true. The pyramid was not a gift, but a message that Slight had agreed to deliver for Urumora, the Basahni leader, to a stall holder in the Bazaar called Prester Ironholt. Slight has located him - he sells household items - but has not done anything more. He now fears that the pyramid, being an ancient artefact, is far more important than he thought and that people are going to come after him, hence his quick exit.

To explain why he agreed to take the pyramid, Slight also tells them some of his family secrets. Lynx, his sister, whom he had claimed had run off with the Basahn, was in fact taken by them in payment for healing performed on Slight's mother during his birth. Slight's father Watchful had intended Slight himself to be the payment but he could not be found when the Basahn came to make their collection. Lynx had also revealed that Slight was illegitimate, being the by-blow of an affair that his mother had had. He does not know who his true father is.

Somewhat nonplussed by this mountain of revelation, the heroes ask to see the pyramid again and Flame agrees to look after it. They agree that they will have to lie to Codex about what the mural depicts.

Back in the cellars, Fish Trader and Rathgard prevail upon Towershield to let them see his prisoner Three Trees. Rathgard persuades them to swear fealty to each other in an attempt to ensure that Towershield does not kill Three Trees and Three Trees does not betray the existence of the river entrance to the Everway authorities. His freedom achieved, Three Trees spills the beans on the smuggling operation. In particular, he mentions the following:

• A ship called The Sneak Wolf delivers cheeses and other goods from Middleland. In return, the Middlelanders want details of the movements of senior Everwayans, including Ulrich Crookstaff and Grey Snakering.
• They have a contact from Keep in the Woods called Hammerhand Pike who supplies them with weapons.
• The smuggling gang includes one other woman called Manta, who was out at the time of yesterday's fateful incursion. Three Trees agrees to leave a message for her.

Meanwhile, back in the Heroes Tavern, Whiting and Stoneflake have been waiting patiently. Flame takes the 15 hefts that they offer, but Whiting and Stoneflake inadvertently give away Walker's little ruse. This causes a problem. Flame can only take payment from the querent and it must be for the full amount. Eventually a deal is worked out where Stoneflake agrees to carve a model of Slight's pyramid for Walker for the sum of 15 hefts, allowing her to pay the full 30. She asks the question "Where is my daughter Terracotta?" and Flame does the divination, scribing her sigils on the floor of the inn. Eventually the answer arrives: "Terracotta is in many places - in the air, at sea, on the land - but most of all she is on Fireship Island". Weasel (the innkeeper) says that this is one of the islands in the Sunset River estuary just to the south of Everway. Stoneflake and Whiting ask Wishbone, Flame and Walker to investigate.

-- o --

Earthday, 26th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

Flame and Walker awake refreshed after another night of vigorous sex. Awaiting them and Wishbone in the main room of the Heroes Tavern is another supplicant. She is Beldam Crookstaff and can best be described as a mouse in a dress. "Oh dear... I hope you can help me... Are you the adventurers who were with Wormwood Crookstaff?"

Beldam, it turns out, is a lowly servant in the Green Hand coven. She has been tasked by her scary boss Unguent Crookstaff with tracking down a missing library book that was last in Wormwood's possession because a "senior Gold has asked for it". The book is called "Unusual Gods of the Thousand Spheres" by Leaf Walks with Grace and was written about 100 years ago. Beldam went to Wormwood's chambers to collect the book from his personal effects, but someone had cleared the room. Being somewhat simple-minded, she is terrified that her failure might precipitate another incident with the Scratches, who had already tried to get the Crookstaffs banned from the library.

Flame and Walker confirm that Wormwood's effects were taken from the Watchers' sept by the Crookstaffs after his murder. They suggest that he may have lost the book when he was arrested in Plenty. They tell Beldam to send Unguent to them to confirm that it's not her fault.

When looking for the book, Beldam did find one thing - a page of Wormwood's notes that had fallen behind his desk. It mentions several strange names, each accompanied by a list of realms. Some are familiar - Mother Harvest and the Walker are mentioned, as is the Bacchanal (a group of satyrs that have made off with Wishbone's younger brother), and the Phoenix Queen, a legend of Flame's home realm - but others, such as Count Roderick, Silly Me and the Copper Duke, are not. Each name has an associated list of realms, which include Slight's home of Woodhall, Plenty, Skylight (where the heroes first met), the Glorious Empire and Rath, from where Rathgard got his name. Beldam leaves the paper with the heroes.

Back in the cellars, the Sons of the West are going through their morning routine. There is a daily falling out parade for the half-dozen or so gang members who are going off for a day's R&R - Towershield gives them a pep talk, bigging them up and telling them that "the defeat of our smuggling allies was but a small reverse that has led to greater things". Rathgard enhances his message with his own oratory and they leave punching the air. Next, a dozen toughs led by Brassart go out "on patrol". Judging from the list of names that Brassart takes with him, this will involve extortion from local traders. Towershield asks Rathgard to ensure that he and his companions make themselves scarce this evening, as he is expecting an Important Visitor. It seems that Rathgard is becoming popular - Guisarme, looking somewhat the worse for wear, comes up and thanks Rathgard for being such a good friend the previous evening, and a gang member called Scarab, inspired by his oratory, offers to do something about the overflowing toilets.

Flame, Walker, Wishbone and Slight return to the cellars and the heroes wander off into the smugglers' caves to discuss what to do next. Voulges follows them - when asked why, he says he is "just lookin'". Rathgard asks him about the Daggerboys, but when Fish Trader queries whether they should be killed or allied with the Sons of the West, he looks nervous and goes off to supervise some training.

The heroes agree that their next tasks should be to investigate Fireship Island for Stoneflake and Whiting, find out about the Daggerboys' lair in Dark Alley, and talk to Three Trees about re-establishing smuggling operations. Walker says that he needs to meet Shadowhide Snakering at midday and asks what he should say to her. The agreed story is, essentially, the truth - that they were on a mission from Codex Platinum Scratch to investigate the cellars for Chamber Platinum and encountered the smugglers by accident. The one embellishment is that they never found Three Trees.

Wishbone and Flame head for the docks and hire a boat to take them downstream to the archipelago of marshy islands that form the mouth of the river just south of Everway. They see several flimsy-looking boats containing corpses and candles that have become trapped in the mud and reeds. The boatman explains that the traditional funeral rite is to launch the corpse-boats from the Dusk Bridge at night. They are supposed to float out into Shimmermoon Bay and sink, but some inevitably get caught. Workers from the Mudbank family are responsible for freeing them.

Fireship Island is about 50 yards across and consists of a mound surrounded by reed beds on which stands the blackened remains of a circular stone tower. This, explains the friendly boatman, was an unsuccessful defence against the fireships of the Whiteoars, a family of the Sea Lords (a viking-like realm further up the coast of Fourcorner) who conquered Everway some 300 years ago (2149). They defeated the Hardhand dynasty which had built the city wall and the supposedly impregnable tower at its southern end (where Flame found the secret passage). The Whiteoars ruled for 70 years until the Everway civil war, when the entire family, down to the last child, was massacred by the forces of the Great Council in a bloody palace coup. An empty chair for the Whiteoar member is still set out at council meetings, an act of mockery.

Flame and Wishbone investigate the reeds and soon discover what they had feared. Following Rathgard's advice, Stoneflake and Whiting had given them one of Terracotta's possessions, a copper bracelet with a picture of an owl. This was one of a pair bought from a doctor which were supposed to control the voices in her head. They had no effect, but Terracotta was convinced that they did and it was the loss of one of them that caused her to attack the stranger and got her sent to the House of Calm. Her parents subsequently found the missing bangle in her room. Wishbone and Flame have now located its twin - on the wrist of a six-week-old corpse trapped in the reeds. Or, more accurately, half a corpse - the skull and torso have been bisected from top to bottom by a magically sharp blade and the other half is missing. Wishbone determines that the remains are a shell, indicating that Terracotta's spirit is elsewhere. She listens out for nearby spirits in the hope that they might have further information, but hears only an old woman who is worried that her daughter is marrying a good-for-nothing, and a beggar obsessed with Bliss. Enlisting the reluctant help of the boatman, Flame builds a boat and sends Terracotta's half-corpse on its way. She keeps both bracelets to show to Stoneflake and Whiting.

Meanwhile Rathgard, Slight and Fish Trader get a chance to talk to Three Trees. From him they learn that a few items are salvageable from the burnt out smugglers' cave, including some fire-damaged Middleland cutlasses intended for Destrier, the leader of a mercenary band providing guard services to merchants crossing the Blacksand Desert, and a heavenroot (a valuable drug that produces a non-addictive high). Other goods, including some Wineland Ancient and Nanny Ebonair cheeses and a Basahnware dinner service, are stored in two safe houses - one belongs to Manta's mother Tuna and the other is a fisherman's hut in the marshes to the west of Strangerside. Three Trees also mentions that he has news of a potentially lucrative contract that requires travel to other spheres and suggests that the heroes see his contact, an emporium owner called Lemon Stemsnip.

On the debit side, the smugglers' Keep in the Woods contact Hammerhand Pike is expecting a payment of 100 hefts for a weapons delivery which was largely destroyed in the fire. He is a paranoid individual so getting in touch with him is tricky, involving coded messages on public notice boards.

The Sneak Wolf is also due to turn up in six days time (on the first day of the Month of the Scales, the autumn equinox), which involves a long trip to the ocean beyond the Circle Sea. Its commander Captain Tench is expecting information on the movements of senior Everwayans. This means procuring a ship. Fortunately the former leader of the smugglers, Granite, had a suitable vessel and since his family in Everway was not exactly legitimate it is unlikely that they will be claiming it. It is called the Spice Runner and is a 30' long ketch. It is currently moored down by the river and could make the trip out to the ocean in 4 days with favourable winds. The journey could usefully be combined with a visit to Wineland (to the northwest of the Circle Sea) to purchase more cheeses.

Rathgard gets a chance to talk to Towershield about taking on the Daggerboys. It will not be easy. Cut Throat's headquarters is at the top of an old stone water tower in a warehouse complex in the Dark Alley quarter of Strangerside. Towershield's previous attempts on it were repulsed by its impregnability and its fierce defenders.

Walker returns from his assignation with Shadowhide. She was furious at the non-appearance of Three Trees but was somewhat mollified by the mention of Codex Platinum Scratch's name. He also brings back some tavern gossip about Glimmer Moondance, the leader of the Moondance family, who has preached an incendiary sermon claiming that the Walker is the one true god of Everway. This is tantamount to a declaration of war on the ruling Emeralds and their Mother Goddess. Opinion is divided about whether she has gone off her head, is starting a power play to take control of the kingship, or is finally restoring the worship of the Walker to the position it should have had all along. Walker also mentions that he saw a kuful seller in Crafters Square flying a new flag - a blue dragon with red spines...

Rathgard and Fish Trader decide to visit the strangely-named emporium owner (Lemon Stemsnip) to discuss trade, leaving Walker to scout out the Daggerboy operations and Slight to spy on Towershield's mysterious visitor. Three Trees takes them to an upmarket boutique in Old Town where a fair-haired woman in a finely cut black and crimson dress and elegant arrow-point cap is assisting a fussy Everwayan matron with her purchases. Leaving her customer in the care of her assistant, she retires to a back room with the heroes to discuss more lucrative business. It seems that a rich patron is in need of an enterprising spherewalker to travel to the Glorious Empire to retrieve a purchase from Glaze Artisan, the most famous potter in the Thousand Spheres. Artisanware attracts a high rate of tax in Everway, so the patron is keen for the item not to come to the attention of the Keepers at the gate. With Three Trees' advice, Rathgard manages to secure a price of 1000 hefts for the delivery. Travel in the Glorious Empire is difficult for those who are unfamiliar with its ways, so although the heroes could do the job themselves, another intermediary would be better. Three Trees has two possibilities in mind: Pagoda Five, a native who has acted as an intermediary for artisanware before, or Callus Wenderway, a cheery rogue who enjoys the thrill of smuggling and who could probably be persuaded to do the job for as little as 150 hefts. The item is required for the Carnival of the Dead in seven weeks time. A deal is struck and Rathgard secures an advance payment of 200 hefts.

Meanwhile Flame and Wishbone have returned to the Heroes Tavern to report their findings to Stoneflake and Whiting. They hand over the miniature pyramid promised in payment for the divination, which is an impressively detailed facsimile of Slight's although the red, black and yellow lizards are rendered in paint rather than coloured stone. Wishbone breaks the news as gently as she can and does not mention the cause of death, but is not helped by Flame's description of the disposal of the body and the way it "bobbed pleasingly as it floated away." When they have got over their shock, Stoneflake asks Flame for another divination to determine how the body got to Fireship Island. Wishbone strongly advises against this and Flame agrees, saying that it's best not to know "who murdered her". Stoneflake says that now she must find out, but Whiting is not so sure. Wishbone persuades them to go away and think about it, and they agree to come back tomorrow with their answer.

-- o --

At dusk, after preparing a getaway rope, Slight sneaks into the main part of the cellar complex to observe preparations for the arrival of the mysterious visitor. There is much cleaning of weapons and polishing of boots, and the reason for this soon becomes apparent when the stranger removes his ragged cloak and false beard to reveal a short, portly man with oily black hair and a moustache, a dark green uniform and a helmet surmounted by a ridiculously tall feather. He is Peacock Plume, and he is here to put the Sons of the West through their paces. Slight cannot resist adding a little chaos to the square-bashing, with the result that the session soon degenerates into arguments and fisticuffs that have to be broken up by Towershield and his lieutenants. As he sneaks away, Slight hears Voulges mutter "Wouldn't 'ave happened if Rathgard was 'ere..."

Towershield shepherds the increasingly puce Everwayan back to his room where he is given a thorough dressing down. Slight watches for motivations but learns only that Peacock is not enthusiastic about the project and is working under orders. Towershield exerts all his considerable charm to persuade him to return the following week and eventually the little man subsides. Slight follows him as he re-dons his disguise and stomps back to the Mercy bridge, but decides not to risk detection by the gate guards. He heads back to the Heroes Tavern, a plan forming in his head.

Walker's investigation of the Daggerboys has taken him into Dark Alley. This is a classic thieves rookery of narrow, twisting, soot-stained streets. The buildings are more intact than those of Beggartown, but the windows are broken and the roofs are falling in. There are strong stenches of human occupation, and yells, crying, manic laughter, sounds of love-making and occasional screams echo down the alleys. Figures stir in the shadows, most drunks or beggars, some more sinister. Between the buildings the water tower can be seen outlined in the crescent moon, but the route to it proves frustratingly difficult to find. Eventually, Walker pins a drug-addled would-be mugger called Dug against a wall and gets him to point the way.

The Daggerboys' lair is a complex of three buildings: a roofless row of tenements, a three-storey warehouse and the water tower itself. As Walker approaches the well opposite the narrow alleyway that leads into it, he is accosted by half a dozen scarred and slashed toughs. He retreats but not before observing bridges at different heights between the buildings, a three-week-old head on a pole and two bow-wielding guards on the well-built and non-flammable water tower.

After further scouting of the area, Walker returns to the Heroes Tavern where a party meeting is in progress. Wishbone has had the idea of asking the question that Stoneflake and Whiting wanted the answer to - where did Terracotta die? - and Slight elaborates his notion of getting Rathgard to do the training that Peacock was providing. Flame's fee for the divination is the 50 hefts that she owes for the cheese fine, and the heroes agree to use party funds to pay it.

Rathgard, Fish Trader, Slight and Three Trees go out to meet Callus Wenderway at the Five Sisters tavern to the west of Talespinner's Square. Callus is playing his lute in a corner, surrounded by an admiring and largely female crowd. He is a handsome man with black hair swept back in a widow's peak and a neat goatee beard. He also has an irritating catchphrase ("ha-HA!") and something of a one-track mind. He talks about his adventures with only a few minor lies that Rathgard can detect, and Three Trees vouches for his reliability on previous jobs. Slight goes down with a serious case of hero-worship. Callus talks about the route - it's a four hop trip, from Everway to a realm called Temple, then 2-3 days along a wide and safe road to a gate to a city in the Glorious Empire called Floating Petal, then a four-day hike into the Dragon's Teeth mountains. He also mentions a couple of girls that he intends to see en route. Overall, the journey will take six weeks. Rathgard frets that this only leaves a week before the vase must be delivered to its mysterious purchaser, but Callus assures him that he will be back at midday precisely on the 7th day of the Month of the Scorpion. A deal is made - 50 hefts up front, 50 hefts on delivery and 50 hefts for sticking to the timetable. Just as the heroes are leaving, Callus casually mentions that getting the vase back through the Everway gate could be tricky, as the Keepers discovered the hidden compartment in his lute the last time through. Slight eagerly offers to provide a diversion.

Back at the Heroes Tavern, Flame has completed her hour-long preparations. She feels that it is a good divination - the words are clear in her head - but the answer is disappointingly cryptic. "In the maze beneath the books, behind a hidden door, is the portal that the Twelve made to the Furious One's ghost world. Terracotta was killed between its lintels." Wishbone suggest that the "maze beneath the books" could be the labyrinth of passages below Chamber Platinum and Flame recalls that the party's erstwhile companion Wrath described himself as "The Last of the Twelve" when they first met. Perhaps he is the "Furious One"?

Marsday, 27th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

A bright, warm, early autumn day dawns. Slight and Walker head into Everway, accompanied by Flame who wants to pay her cheese fine. They part at the Court of Fools sept, where Flame hands over the 50 hefts, receives a receipt declaring her no longer a Person of Disputed Status, and has some fun giving the bored Watcher at the desk a pre-menopausal hot flush. Meanwhile Walker shows the pyramid to Prester Ironholt in the Bazaar, who says that it is a children's toy and buys it off him for 25 hefts. Slight lurks behind to watch what he does with it, putting a spell of urgency on Prester which causes him to scan the crowds anxiously.

Walker and Flame meet up at the Library of All Worlds and they make their way to Chamber Platinum using Walker's scholar's key. There is no sign of the mysterious Painter. In the reading room they are assisted by a young archivist called Nib Scratch, who guides them down into the maze of passageways below to the office of Blemish Scratch, Codex's chief assistant. Walker explains that they managed to "sneak into" the mural room, past the cellars' inhabitants. Flame hands over the drawing that she made of the mural (which does not show the unknown writing that runs along its base), about which Blemish is duly ecstatic. Walker mentions he had seen similar pyramids sold as children's toys by Prester Ironholt, but the name elicits no response. Nor does mention of "Terracotta", Flame's oath "by the Twelve Gods", or a ghost world with an entrance in a maze - either Blemish knows nothing or he is a good liar. He pays the agreed reward of 25 hefts per person and tells them that he will let them know when Chamber Platinum has more work for them.

Chapter 9
The Daggerboys

In which the heroes take on the street gangs of Strangerside

Wishbone has remained at the Heroes Tavern to scout the water tower with her hawk. The bird's-eye view shows that it is solidly built and hard to climb. The warehouse's roof has fallen in and only fragments of the first and second floors remain. A near miss by a whizzing arrow reveals that these are populated by two bored archers in sniper positions near the outer wall. Smoke from a cooking fire curls from the far end of the tenements and a number of people can be seen moving inside.

At the docks, Rathgard and Fish Trader look over the Spice Runner with Three Trees. It is about thirty foot long with a 30' main mast and a 15' mizzen mast. Three sails, one attached to the forestay, are furled neatly. A central hatch behind the main mast leads into the stowage and sleeping areas below decks which are some six feet high. A water barrel is bolted to the main deck by the mizzen mast. The gunnels sweep up in elegant curves to fore and aft. The rudder is attached to a simple tiller. Three Trees says that it requires at least three crew to operate it.

They are discussing the journey to meet with the Sneak Wolf and a possible visit to Wineland to stock up on cheeses, when Scarab (one of the Sons of the West) runs up. He asks Rathgard to come quickly - Guisarme, Towershield's lieutenant, has been killed! On the way back to the cellars, Scarab tells them the story. Towershield and Guisarme had an argument last night (following the disastrous training session) and Guisarme went off with eight Eagles on patrol. They were down in the southern reaches of Beggartown when a woman told them that three Daggerboys were selling bliss in Dimmer Court, well within Sons of the West territory. This was an ambush - Daggerboys boiled out of doorways and leapt down from the walls, and the Eagles' bows were ineffective in the confined space. Five took stab wounds and Guisarme was downed by a knife thrown by Cut Throat himself which turned in mid-air and buried itself in his throat. The remaining Eagles carried him to the Mercy Hospital, but he bled out before they got there. Towershield is beside himself - he and Guisarme were friends from childhood, and things were made worse because something similar happened to a gang member called Vambrace three weeks ago. "At least we managed to get the body back this time," says Scarab.

Rathgard, Fish Trader, Three Trees and Scarab enter the cellars unchallenged - the charred remains of the drawbridge are down and the guards are absent. All the Sons of the West are gathered in the audience chamber, where Guisarme's bloodstained body is lying on a table. On the dais, a red-eyed Towershield is giving a speech in a voice raw with emotion. Guisarme was his friend from boyhood - they had grown up in the slums of Beggartown and founded the Sons of the West together. "He was a true man, upholder of all the qualities we call good - honour, justice, chivalry. Now he lies here, slaughtered by base betrayal and that evil bastard Cut Throat. Well I say no more! No more of us will lie on that table. No more will those foul backstabbers come among our people, spreading their blissful poison. No more will we sit and wait for the bastards to come to us. We will take the fight to them. We will corner them in their lair and slaughter them like the scum they are! No mercy, no quarter - they all die! This ends now!"

After this rousing speech, Towershield demands that Rathgard come to his quarters with Brassart and Voulges to help him plan the attack. A map of the water tower and the surrounding area is laid out on the table, covered in scrawled arrows. Towershield wants to attack tonight, but his planning is inchoate. Brassart suggests that the Blackhearts, a gang which owns the area around Talespinner's Square, could be persuaded to help. Rathgard says that he will talk to Nighthawk, their leader, who can be found at a brothel known as the Lavender House. He promises to help and suggests that Towershield sets his gang to sharpening their weapons. He and Fish Trader head back to the Heroes Tavern for lunch.

Back at the Bazaar, Prester Ironholt has finally spotted the person he is looking for and waves him over. He is Cudlip, a small ragged boy about ten years old. Prester gives him the pyramid and says that he is expecting the 50 hefts that he was promised. The boy dashes off with Slight in sneaky pursuit. He heads south past the Gold residence to the Walker's Ark, a huge stone folly in a large unpopulated grass-cracked plaza a little north of the Court of Fools. As he approaches the monument, which is some 60' high and 250' long, Slight thinks he sees a silhouette of a woman capering on the roof ridge of the house structure above the main deck, a bag on a stick slung over her shoulder. She is hard to see because the midday sun is shining right overhead, and she disappears as Slight gets closer.

The boy disappears into a dark doorway at the base of the ark. Slight takes extra care not to be seen, a wise precaution, as it turns out, because two child guards are watching the staircase that leads up to the deck above. Even so, with the kids' high perception and the blunting effects of the Pyramid, it is a close-run thing. Slight clambers up two further flights of steps, passing dank-smelling rooms containing a few mouldy sticks of furniture, to reach the main deck. The boy enters the house building and Slight follows him, which proves to be a mistake. The room is a childrens' lair - the walls are covered with drawings in crayons and chalk (and mouldering scraps suggesting that food fights are not uncommon), rugs, carpets and cloths are strewn across the floor, and brightly coloured clothes are draped in and around a dressing up box. At the far end an intact though worn ornate chair is set up, and seated on it is a young woman of nineteen or so, dressed in an Egyptian-style tunic and skirt and wearing a crown, with a pile of papers on her knees. Around her are around 20 children of various ages armed with toy crossbows, swords, helmets and cloaks, who all look up when Cudlip enters. Not even Slight's powers are enough to deflect their combined gaze. "Who are you?" says one. The queen stands up. "Give the password!" she orders.

Slight tries to charm his way out of the situation, but the queen is having none of it and cries of "get him!" echo round the room. Water balloons and flour bombs go whizzing past his ears as Slight makes a run for it. The kids are well organised, throwing ropes over the deck and sliding down to confront him as he emerges from the interior. Only some hastily thrown up confusion spells enable him to make a clean getaway. On the way back he checks the statue of the dancing woman in the centre of the Court of Fools - it is indeed the same person as he saw on the roof. Which is surprising, because the weather-staining and wear suggest that the statue has been in place for a couple of centuries at least... Panting and slightly damp, Slight joins the rest of the heroes for lunch.

Plans are made. The heroes decide that Towershield should be persuaded to lead a conventional attack through the main alley while they sneak in through another entrance. The assault will take place in the early hours of the morning. Slight, Walker and Wishbone decide to do another recce of the warehouse, while Rathgard and Fish Trader head back to the cellars to keep tabs on Towershield. Flame goes into Everway to have some fun at the Masks' expense.

The scouting party check out the warehouse once again, noting the blocked double doors to the south and the shuttered windows on the first and second floors, one of which gives access to the platform with the sharp shooter on it. To get up there, however, will require a 25 foot ladder. They set off to find one, along with a few other items that Flame had requested for a plan of her own.

Rathgard and Fish Trader return to the cellars to find battle preparations in full swing. Leaving Fish Trader to manage Towershield, Rathgard sets out to talk to Nighthawk. He finds the Lavender House without too much difficulty and manages to persuade Sapling, the madam, to let him stay in a room while her leader is found. At length Nighthawk saunters in accompanied by two Blackheart heavies. She is a woman in her 30s, dressed in black leather and sporting a variety of chains and bludgeons. There is a scar on her cheek from a previous run-in with the Daggerboys. She has a no-nonsense attitude and considers Towershield to be an idiot, so her first response when Rathgard broaches the idea of a combined attack is to reject it. Rathgard has to use all his considerable powers of oratory and persuasion and even then she proves a tough negotiator, wanting first to lead the attack, then demanding the bliss trade as her reward. When Rathgard demures, she disdainfully accuses him of having moral qualms. Eventually she agrees to take part on the understanding that any money found in the Daggerboy lair is hers. The Blackhearts will attack from the eastern end of Bilge Street while Towershield will come from the west.

Flame heads back into Everway, stopping off at a forge where she creates some metal gambling chits with inscribed runes - a new skill for her. She makes her way to one of the domed Gaming Houses in the west of the city and saunters in. Almost immediately she is harassed by heavyset bouncers who take exception to her appearance - Wormwood Crookstaff had mentioned that she might be mistaken for a Mask, and the bouncers seem to think that she is mocking them with her choice of attire. One tries to pull the phoenix feathers from her face and gets some burnt fingers for his troubles. Flame retorts that she isn't responsible if the Masks choose to copy her mode of dress, at which point the bouncers order her out. Flame throws her chits on the table, which promptly catches fire. Amid the screams of panicked patrons and the smell of burning cards, she makes her escape.

The heroes gather at the cellars to make final preparations. After much searching, the ladder has been procured from a builder in the Crafters Quarter, and ropes, fireworks and a large barrel full of oil have also been acquired. Slight gets busy making the barrel seem valuable, important and attractive, while Flame inscribes her special sigils.

Joveday, 28th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473

At last all is prepared and the heroes set out under the crescent moon. One would have thought that a group of shifty-looking people carrying a 25 foot ladder would attract attention even in the dubious neighbourhoods of Beggartown and Dark Alley, but no-one seems to notice. A couple of passers by comment on the "nice flag" that the heroes are holding.

The side of the warehouse is reached without incident. Muffled clinks and low voices can be heard from down the road where the Blackhearts are gathering. Flame picks up the barrel and saunters over to the guards who are troubled by Towershield's less than stealthy approach from the other side. When they challenge her, she holds up the barrel. "This is a gift from the Masks", she says in the most sultry voice she can manage, "and so am I. Take me to your leader."

The guards are nonplussed, but Slight's magic takes effect and two scarred toughs escort her inside, one carrying the barrel and both totally ignoring the blades at her hip. They lead her into the warehouse where there is a rope on a hook that leads to the remains of the first floor and the bridge to the tenements. Half a dozen Daggerboys gather at the edge as the escorts haul up the barrel. Keeping an eye on the sharp shooter in the corner, Flame stretches and suddenly gestures at the barrel just as the hauliers land it on the floor above. It explodes with a mighty boom, killing all of the onlookers and sending body parts flying. Flame's escorts stare in shock and then crumple to the ground as Flame's fire blades strike home.

Meanwhile, the other heroes have ascended the ladder, apart from Fish Trader who reveals an unexpected talent for climbing sheer walls. Walker rips away the second floor shutter but it falls badly and nearly knocks Rathgard off the ladder. Fish Trader swarms inside and knocks the unsuspecting sharp shooter off his perch, then leaps down and takes the other one just as she shoots at Flame, who is climbing the remains of the rope. The other heroes swing across to the remains of the second floor on the other side of the warehouse. Walker gets there first and heads left to the rope bridge that connects to the roof beams of the tenements. Arrows from two guards on the water tower whistle past his head as he saws at the ropes, severing them just in time to frustrate the daggerboys from the tenements who come balancing along the roofbeams.

Flame has reached the first floor and makes her way onto the bridge that crosses to the first floor of the tenements. Below her, a confused scrum of Sons of the West, Blackhearts and Daggerboys vie for control of the entrance alleyway. In the doorway ahead, Flame sees the piles of stones, nets and oil that the defenders have prepared to launch on the unsuspecting heads of those below. Big mistake. Flame gestures and the oil goes up with a whoosh, turning the tenement doorway into a fiery inferno and crisping the first of the daggerboys making his way towards her. The others hang back, unable to pass the raging fires. At a shout from Rathgard, Flame retreats into the warehouse and is hauled up to the second floor.

The heroes gather at the window from which a narrow plank slopes up to the parapet around the top of the water tower. Rathgard dodges back as the two bow-wielding thugs take their shots and arrows thunk into the warehouse wall. The guard nearest the plank whips out a dagger and starts to saw at the rope holding it in place. Suddenly Fish Trader pushes forward and races over the plank with preternatural speed, startling the guard and causing him to drop his knife. He is followed by Walker, who picks the man up bodily and throws him over the edge to fall screaming into the melee forty feet below. He and Rathgard make short work of the second guard while Flame makes her way over the plank. Slight studies the fight below - the dagger boys still fight fiercely, but their numbers are thinning - and sews confusion in their midst. He is surprised to see Towershield look up, notice that the heroes are almost at the tower, and leap ten feet straight up on to the first floor bridge.

Fish Trader and Flame dive into the dark doorway that leads into the tower's interior. They find themselves on a wooden platform stacked with supplies and paper packets of bliss, overlooking the old stone reservoir. Stairs lead down to left and right and five people - a madly grinning thug, a sly bandana-wearer with chemically-stained leathers, a scarred woman with a belt full of throwing daggers, a skinny robe-wearer who is hiding in a corner and a slim, wiry man with curly hair, snaggle teeth and a sense of command - are waiting. Fish Trader tackles the thug and Flame takes the bandana-wearer as Rathgard and Walker pile in.

Flame flicks out her fire knives, but a throwing knife from the woman distracts her, and bandana man scores a light cut on her upper arm. Immediately Flame feels her whole side start to go numb, and bandana man grins evilly. Flame retreats as Rathgard takes her place and sends her blades winging towards the knife woman. On the other side of the room, Fish Trader has dodged past his opponent and heads for Cut Throat, leaving the thug to Walker. The thug stabs at him and twists the knife in such a way that even the usually impassive Walker gasps with pain. He soon recovers, however, and reduces his opponent to a bloody pulp on the floor.

Rathgard is struggling with bandana man while fending off flying daggers from the woman, but distraction from Slight and Wishbone's hawk soon turns the tide of battle. Meanwhile Fish Trader is squaring up to Cut Throat. As he leaps to bear him to the floor, Cut Throat slices his hand with a dagger and sends the bloody blade flying into the air. The knife turns and plunges into Fish Trader's side, making him grunt with pain and miss his target, though he still manages to knock Cut Throat off his feet. At that moment, there is a yell of "He's MINE!" and Towershield races into the room. Cut Throat is distracted and Fish Trader, lying on the floor beside him, takes the opportunity to maul his neck with his teeth. Towershield leaps fifteen feet from the platform on to Cut Throat and stabs him through the heart.

It is all over. The knife thrower goes down under a flurry of blows, and the skinny robe-wearer dies with a small squeak as one of Flame's fire blades pierces his throat. Towershield hacks Cut Throat's head off his body, while Walker and Wishbone heal Flame's and Fish Trader's wounds. Gesturing to Rathgard, he says "Come on, let's end this." Together they walk out onto the parapet. "Hey, here's your leader!" shouts Towershield and throws the head down to the demoralised remnants of the Daggerboys below. He turns to Rathgard. "And it now it's your turn." Seizing Rathgard by the arms, he pushes him out over the parapet. "I heard the tavern talk. So the Sons of the West has a new leader, eh? Planning to betray me, were you? No! The Sons of the West are MINE!" Rathgard struggles and kicks, but he is no match for Towershield's strength. He feels himself start to topple...

... And there is a shout of "Stop it stop it stop it!" and a squelchy thud. Towershield's grip slackens as blood jets from the knife wound in his throat. Voulges darts across the bridge and pulls Rathgard to safety. Together they throw Towershield's body over the parapet. Then Voulges gives Rathgard a strange look and starts chanting - "Rathgard! Rathgard! Rathgard!" The chant is taken up by the group of victorious fighters surrounding the handful of cowering daggerboys below. "Rathgard! Rathgard! Rathgard!" Even some of Nighthawk's gang join in - she clouts them hard and stalks off in disgust as the chant reverberates off the filthy buildings of Dark Alley and up into the pre-dawn sky. "Rathgard! Rathgard! Rathgard!"

-- o --

While the hero of the hour gets the party started by authorising the ransacking of the Daggerboys' food supply, the others investigate the contents of the water tower. There are supplies of food and water to last for several weeks - Cut Throat clearly anticipated a siege - and about a dozen packages of Bliss, each with a number, date and location in Beggartown. On a desk in the corner is a ledger (the weaselly guy in the robe appears to have been the gang's accountant) which records the shipments in a different hand from the writing on the packages. Annotations in the margin - "Topknot two hours late", "Topknot very rude to self" - give the name of the courier, and Walker recalls that Topknot Motley was the boy who delivered the message from the "friend" who turned out to be Ulrich Crookstaff, and who subsequently showed the heroes round Everway when they first arrived. Intrigued, Wishbone interrogates the spirit flitting around the accountant's body, who reveals that there was a second boy courier. Slight recognises him as Cudlip, the collector of the Basahn pyramid who led him to the Walker's Ark.

After some discussion, the heroes burn the Bliss packets on the bonfire, saving only one for research. While Walker and Wishbone heal the wounded, Rathgard notices that the remaining uninjured Daggerboys are being bullied and goes to talk to them. He identifies Steel, a small rotund woman with knife scars on her neck and a fierce demeanour, as their natural leader. He demands her fealty, which she reluctantly gives, and in return Rathgard sets her and her companions free, to the noticeable disquiet of the Sons of the West. Rathgard uses the opportunity to get them in a separate room and ask them about the Bliss trade. Steel says that it started six months ago after Cut Throat met a mysterious supplier. The trade was originally half the size that it is now, and deliveries came via Cudlip and Topknot (who belong to a gang called the Nippers) twice a week. The locations were originally in Beggartown close to Dark Alley, but spread further as the trade grew. Cut Throat made no payments for the Bliss deliveries, but the supplier insisted that the batches must be sold in the places and at the times marked on the packets. Once, when Cut Throat tried to expand the trade areas outside the prescribed range, the supplier cut off deliveries for a week.

Alerted by Steel's story, Wishbone questions Cut Throat's spirit. For him, it was always about the money - he neither knew nor cared what effect the drug had on the people of Beggartown. His contact was a grey-haired woman called Highstake Mask whom he met, only once, at the Strangerside Arena. Wishbone bottles Cut Throat's spirit in case it is needed later. She also asks Towershield's shade about Peacock Plume. He first made contact a year or two ago, offering lessons in military discipline. The Plumes are responsible for the security of Old Town and Talespinner's Square, and Towershield thought that their aim was to keep Beggartown, a potential source of trouble, quiet.

As the party starts to break up, Rathgard notices Brassart sitting on his own with a beer and a very unhappy look on his face. He saunters over and sighs theatrically. "Towershield was such a noble man. If only he hadn't tried to kill me! Why do you think he did it, Brassart? Why?" With some assistance from Slight, Brassart is soon won over. Rathgard puts him in charge of the Sons of the West and Daggerboys deputed to guard the water tower, with Mace, Guisarme's second in command, as his assistant. Then he and Fish Trader head back to the cellars with a half dozen Daggerboys and the remaining Sons of the West.

Flame, Walker and Wishbone return to the Heroes Tavern. Weasel informs them that Stoneflake and Whiting showed up last night - they have found 30 hefts for another divination. Flame sends Copper the pot boy to tell them to come at once and inscribes the swirling pattern while they wait. Stoneflake and Whiting appear, money in hand. It seems that they have taken out an exorbitant loan with one of the moneylenders of Strangerside. After some discussion with Walker and Wishbone, they agree on the question "Where should go we go to resolve the mystery of Terracotta's death?" Flame performs the ritual, but the words that come to her are not exactly helpful. "There is no mystery to the red one's passing - seek the hidden gold, and all will be revealed." Stoneflake and Whiting look so disappointed that Wishbone and Walker refund their money and promise to investigate some more.

Back at the Cellars, Rathgard's day is not going much better. He just wants to sleep, but people keep expecting him to make decisions. First, the daggerboys have to be integrated with their former mortal enemies. Rathgard makes them into a separate unit with Steel in charge. Then Voulges asks if he should take a group to "do the usual rounds", i.e. getting the local shopkeepers to pay their protection money. Rathgard eventually tells him to do so, but also to ask about any problems they are having. "Rathgard the Just!" says Voulges excitedly. Three Trees tugs anxiously at his sleeve - the Spice Runner has to be supplied with food, water and crew, and must set off tomorrow if they are to visit Grapetown and still make the rendezvous with the Sneak Wolf. Rathgard sends Fish Trader to find the others at the Heroes Tavern and go and hire some sailors.

Just as things look like they are calming down and Rathgard is thinking longingly of a warm bed, a cry of "Towershield! Where are you?" comes from the entrance to the kitchen area. It is Radiant, a slim young woman with long greasy black hair whom Rathgard vaguely remembers was Towershield's squeeze. When she sees Towershield's battered body, she bursts into hysterical tears, and when informed that Rathgard was the proximate cause of his death, she takes it out on him. Cedar, the gang's small, dumpy and vicious cook, restrains Radiant and under the spell of Rathgard's honeyed words, she eventually subsides. She takes Towershield's body to his room to prepare it for its journey out to sea.

Cedar is glad to get an opportunity to talk to Rathgard, because she is in need of firewood, ale and vegetables for the evening meal. Rathgard asks who would normally deal with this and is told that the helpful Scarab, who (it turns out) is the quartermaster, is missing. He survived the fight at the water tower and said he was heading back to the cellars, but hasn't arrived. Rathgard tells Cedar to take charge and gives her 30 hefts from Towershield's strong box, getting the key from the still weeping Radiant. He sends two runners, one to Voulges and one to Brassart, telling them to start patrolling Dark Alley and look for the missing quartermaster. Then, finally!, he manages to shake off the last of his supplicants, finds a bunk roll, and falls into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Meanwhile, Slight, forgotten about as usual, has been catching some kip at the Water Tower. He observes that Mace and Brassart seem to be making an effective team and goes to check up on Nighthawk and the Blackhearts. As he approaches the Lavender House (the brothel where Rathgard originally made the deal), he notices a man with a concealing hood and a suspicious air slip in the door and have an animated conversation with Sapling, the madam. An agreement is made and a purse is handed over. The man, whom Slight senses is performing a disagreeable but necessary duty, then heads back towards Crafters Square. Slight follows him as he crosses into Everway and makes his way past the Pyramid to a side door in the walled gardens adjoining the King's Palace, where he knocks and is let in.

Since there is nothing more that Slight can do here, he decides to trace Topknot Motley's connection with Ulrich Crookstaff. He makes his way to the Crookstaff Covens, hard by the city wall to the north of the Library of All Worlds. Crossing the central plaza with its squat tower surmounted by a glowing three-dimensional rune, he soon locates what can only be Deadwalk Coven, Ulrich's home. It is a gaunt square four-storey building surrounded by a graveyard. It is covered in alcoves in containing mummified humans and animals, while skeletal gargoyles watch from the eaves through empty eye sockets. Slight is unsurprised but still intimidated as he approaches the front door and the nearby heavily armed mummies turn to face him. His knock is answered by a corpse dressed in servant's clothes, who informs him in slow hollow tones that "Master Ulrich is unavailable". When Slight asks whether Topknot Motley has been here recently, the porter rolls a 4 on the zombie reaction table and gives him a cold stare. Realising that there are few things more futile in life than arguing with zombies, Slight heads towards the Bazaar with another plan for learning about Topknot Motley.

Back at the Tavern, Wishbone walks into Everway on business while Walker, Fish Trader and Flame go to find a crew for the Spice Runner. Flame suggests locating a ship that looks well-crewed, burning it to the waterline and recruiting its now unemployed sailors, but Walker thinks that asking in the taverns around Crafters Square is less likely to attract attention. On arrival there, however, it turns out that he is wrong. People are staring at Flame and there are whispers of "that's her!" Striding over to the notice board, Flame soon finds the cause - a wanted poster declaring her a Person of Disputed Status for arson at the Gaming Houses, and offering 5-10 hefts for information about her whereabouts and a 100 heft reward for bringing her in. By now a large crowd has formed and is pressing in, led by an officious merchant and his employees, around a dozen tough-looking stevedores. "On behalf of the City of Everway, I arrest you for..."

He gets no further because Flame puts her red-hot hand to the noticeboard and it goes up with a whoosh. Walker strides forward swinging his staff and shouting at people to get back, while Fish Trader melts into the crowd. The stevedores move forward, 3 or 4 looking for an opening past Walker's whirling staff while the remainder make for Flame, who is starting to shimmer with heat. Some more enterprising crowd members fetch buckets of water while two spear-wielding Watchers hurry over from Fool's Bridge.

The stevedores approaching Flame suddenly realise their mistake, but the crowd behind is pushing them and a couple make contact. Their agonised screams and the smell of singed flesh panic the crowd and people scramble back, knocking over the merchant ring-leader and giving Flame and Walker an opening. The approaching Watchers are suddenly confronted by Fish Trader, who speaks quietly to them, after which they back away. The three heroes take the path to the docks under a hail of rocks and bricks from the crowd behind them. Flame stops and draws a line on the ground, marking it with sigils. A wall of flame springs up, temporarily holding back the baying crowd. The heroes make their escape down the (fortunately deserted) docks, taking cover in the Spice Runner.

In the cellars, Rathgard's precious sleep is disrupted by a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, boss, but they insisted on seeing you..." "They" turn out to be two beggar boys called Raddle and Wen, skinny as rakes and half-dead from hunger. When Rathgard enters, they straighten into a semblance of military posture. They want to join the Sons of the West. Raddle says that his parents were caterers who lost all their money when the Golds refused to pay them for food that they had delivered, claiming it was rotten. Wen's parents were immigrants from the Midlands who could not find work - his father disappeared and his mother was murdered. Realising that accepting them or even offering them food would open the floodgates, Rathgard refuses their applications and sends them away. They are replaced by a scrum of arguing and shouting people, who turn out to be two families led by the redoubtable matrons Shimmy and Kelp. Each accuses the other of theft but have been persuaded to come to the "new master" for judgement. Rathgard tells them to sort it out for themselves, but they are too busy arguing to listen to him. Shimmy is just declaring that she slept with Kelp's son, caught the pox from him, and then gave it to Kelp's sister, when Rathgard loses patience and has them bundled out. He gives direct orders to the gate guards not to let anyone else in and to get the drawbridge repaired. Radiant comes in and asks him about arrangements for the funerals of those who died. Boats must be constructed and a message is sent to a local carpenter called Spinnaker to do so. Three Trees reminds Rathgard that they must head off at first light tomorrow if they are to visit Grape Town and catch the Sneak Wolf. Rathgard airily assures him that everything is in hand.

Meanwhile, Slight has found his quarry - his old acquaintance Whine Motley, from whom he rented a performance pitch in his guise as Splendid! Whine does not of course recognise him, but it is a simple matter for Slight to win his trust. He takes him to a small dingy house near the Court of Fools which turns out to be a Motley speakeasy. There Slight finds someone who has heard of Topknot - he hangs out with a girl called Sienna Weaver and a Mudbank child. All three are members of the Nippers, but the Motleys know very little about the gang other than that it runs errands for the families of Everway. Slight also asks about the messenger from the palace that he had seen earlier, but no-one recognises him. As it is approaching dusk, he heads back to the Heroes Tavern for supper.

At the docks the hue and cry has finally died down. Walker tells Flame to remain in the Spice Runner for now, while Fish Trader offers to return to the cellars to tell Rathgard what has happened. Walker returns to Crafters Square to complete the aborted mission to recruit a crew. There he bumps into Wishbone and they enter the Nine Cities tavern. Walker is recognised but there is no overt hostility towards him. The barkeep helpfully points them towards a white haired fisherman called Seahook, who proves to be laconic but competent, with a good working knowledge of the Circle Sea and a willingness to engage in slightly shady activities. His main concern is the "Bluestripes", but Walker manages to bluff that they are taken care of. Seahook agrees to be at Spice Runner at dawn tomorrow and to bring two additional crew. Wishbone heads back to the cellars to give Rathgard the good news.

On his way back through the docks to find Flame, Walker becomes aware that he is being watched. His follower is not hard to spot - a small child - but shaking him off proves problematic and Walker has to resort to intimidation to get rid of him. He catches up with Flame just as she is about to go into the main town. He persuades her to remain on the largely unpopulated dock where she places explosive sigils on some of the boats in case of trouble.

At the cellars, Cedar, Voulges, Fish Trader and Wishbone have returned and the evening meal is in progress. It is interrupted when the gate guards announce the arrival of Brother Valentine, the leader of the Mercy Hospital, who wishes to speak to the absent Walker. Rathgard invites him to join them. Valentine is a harassed-looking man in his 30s with a long thin head and straggly black hair and beard who is wearing crimson robes (they don't show the blood) and a large gold ring of office and carries a staff. He peremptorily comes to the point - he has heard that the Sons of the West have captured the Daggerboys' Bliss supplies and he wants them. On being told that they have been destroyed, he informs the heroes that they have condemned hundreds of Beggartown Bliss addicts to death. Bliss cold turkey, it appears, has horrible side-effects. Victims are unable to sleep and become extremely sensitive to any sensation of touch, taste, smell or sound. The effects drive a small proportion mad and a similar number try to commit suicide. For most, the sleeplessness and sensitivity wear off after a few days or weeks, but around 1 in 5 never recover and eventually die. The only effective treatment is gradually decreasing dosages of Bliss.

There is one other agent that Valentine knows of that can be used to treat Bliss withdrawal - Lethe's Water, a medicinal wine made in Vineland that promotes restful sleep and forgetfulness. It is not totally effective - Valentine has found that it decreases the death rate by about half - but it is better than nothing. Valentine does not know anything about how Lethe's Water is made, other than that it is produced by a family called the Spiralvines and contains a secret ingredient. Maybe if Walker could find out what it it is, a purified concoction could be prepared that might be more effective. There is also a legend told in Grape Town about Lethe's Water, but Valentine doesn't know it. He vaguely recalls that it has something to do with satyrs?

On receiving Rathgard's promise that everything possible will be done to solve the Bliss problem, Valentine relaxes a bit and opens up about the history of his family and the hospital. The Brothers are an off-shoot of the Mothers (they share the trait of putting family name before first name) and were formed in 2239 when a decision was made that the Mothers would no longer visit the sick in their homes if they were living in Strangerside. Since at the time the town was heaving with wounded soldiers and sailors from the Ruby Sunset Island War, a Mother called Immortal Love decided that this was unacceptable and led a minor walkout of (mostly male) family members. They took over a ruined warehouse on Bleak Street and converted it into a hospital. The Brothers subsist on handouts from Strangersiders and the occasional conscience-stricken Everwayan. The Sons of the West have been regular contributors, the Daggerboys less so.

After Valentine has departed, Wishbone gets the chance to update everyone and quiz Three Trees on the Bluestripes. These turn out to be a fleet of 20 caravels that are an offshoot of the Everway Navy. They are unusual in that they are crewed by a single family (a sept of the Keepers), unlike the rest of the navy where the sailors are from various families and the officers are members of the Crow family (an arrangement that proved to be a bureaucratic disaster during the Ruby Sunset Island War). Smugglers fear the Bluestripes because unlike the lumbering cogs of the main fleet, they are fast, well-equipped with the latest technology, and ruthless in their pursuit of Everway's commercial and military interests. They mostly patrol near Shimmermoon Bay and Three Trees reckons that they should be safe once they are out in the Circle Sea.

After supper, Slight reappears and the heroes all gather at the Spice Runner to decide who should go on the voyage tomorrow. Rathgard has to be one of them since his negotiation skills are required, and despite her aversion to sea travel, Wishbone wants to go to Grape Town to learn the satyr legend. Fish Trader volunteers to be the muscle in case of trouble. Flame, Slight and Walker will remain behind to take care of the heroes' interests in Strangerside - Flame will have to go disguised for a few days while the furore about the wanted poster dies down. The heroes head back to the cellars, except for Wishbone who goes into the marshes to find herbs to treat seasickness.

At the entrance to the cellars, Rathgard is pestered by yet another beggar, but this one gives him pause. She is Heron and she has her teenage son Iron with her. Like most beggars she is dirty and ragged, but unusually she has clearly made an effort. The more gaping holes in her clothing have been patched, her pale face has recently been washed (Walker can see that she is not well), and her straggly yellow hair is tied back. Her request is also unusual - she makes a dignified plea for Rathgard to make life better for the people of Beggartown, "not for us, but for our children. They have to have a better life". She explains that she has run away from an abusive husband in Earthbank who beat her. On learning that she ran the family accounts, Rathgard immediately makes her his new quartermaster. Iron is more of a problem, being a bit slow and having no skills to speak of, but Rathgard offers him a place as a deckhand on the Spice Runner to see if he can make something of himself.

Chapter 10
A Life on the Ocean Wave

In which the heroes expand their empire at home and make useful contacts abroad

Back at the docks, Walker and Slight split up. Slight heads to the Heroes Tavern on a quest to find Sienna Weaver. Bramble is in residence. She tells Slight about the Weaver's family house, a ziggurat-shaped building to the south of the Court of Fools that the Moondancers regard as a blasphemous copy of the Walker's Pyramid.

Walker returns to the cellars. As he reaches its entrance, he senses that he is being watched. He spins round and catches sight of a small figure ducking behind a wall. There is the patter of running feet.

Down below, the activities of the Sons of the West continue as ever. There is still no news of Scarab, the missing quartermaster. Flame has got bored waiting for Walker to return and has gone walking in Beggartown. A deputation of toughs led by Gorget head off to do the daily shakedown. Walker tells them to let it be known that he will hear cases requiring judgement between 4th and 6th bell (midday). He also gives orders that any kids lurking near the cellar entrance are to be brought to him.

The guards duly capture someone, but it turns out to be a messenger boy from Spinnaker the carpenter, saying that he has completed the six funeral boats for the Sons of the West killed in the battle with the Daggerboys. Heron says that a Wailer should be hired so that the proper ceremonies can be performed and Walker asks her to arrange it. He sends runners to find Flame.

Slight has found the Weaver family house, which is distinguished by its lack of doors at ground level. Access is via ladders to the higher levels of the ziggurat. Slight charms one of the guards into telling him the location of the school that Sienna Weaver goes to, which is in a nearby street. However she is playing truant, much to the distress of her mother Linen. Slight learns that her best friend is Sandy Mudbank.

Slight heads to the Walker's Ark, where he lets himself be noticed by the children standing guard. On being ordered to give the password, he remembers the poster that Flame brought back from Crafters Square when she put up her divination announcement, which the heroes had rejected as being a prank. While the password escapes him, mention that he is a member of a band of heroes is sufficient to get him an audience with Carrot, the child-woman queen of the Nippers.

Carrot shoos the children out of the room and bursts into tears. Her brother Bean has been captured while they were playing near the Digger house. Big men with swords grabbed him and took him inside. She is afraid that the Diggers will send him down a mine. Further questioning reveals that they were in fact playing a trick on a man called Moneybags, trying to hook the hat off his head with a fishing rod while he was sunbathing ("but he's a bad man, so he deserved it. He's lending money to the Masks so they can run a brothel in Strangerside" [Eyes widening] "You don't think they're going to send Bean there?"). Carrot sent out a scout, and thinks that Bean is being held in a tower near the north wall of the Digger compound. She mentions that the Diggers are having a ball this evening, so tonight might be a good time to launch a rescue. She also says that the guards have lizards that can detect magic. Slight receives a plan of the layout and a sketch of Bean, who appears to be about 13 years old. He agrees to talk to his fellow heroes.

Meanwhile, Flame has been making her way through the mean streets of Beggartown, stepping over bliss-addled bodies and swatting away would-be muggers. Whispers and stares show that news of yesterday's events has percolated even into this den of iniquity, which gives Flame an idea. Using the secret entrance beneath Hardhand Tower she enters Everway and heads for the scene of her previous mischief. The Gaming House is closed but shows little sign of damage other than a few scorch marks. Flame sends a few of her special coins under the door and by good fortune ignites the building materials piled inside. When the building is properly ablaze, she makes her escape. If you're going to be accused of burning a place down, you might as well do it properly.

Slight's next port of call is the Mudbank family house, close to Hardhand Tower. It is a complex of small, plain buildings, in keeping with the family's lowly status in the city. The main meeting hall is a smoke-blackened, square-sided domed edifice that smells, not unpleasantly, of cured animal skins. Damp heat wafts from the communal bathing area right by the door. The guards are friendly but do not know where Sandy Mudbank is.

Back at the cellars, the guards have caught a kid called Pepper. She works for the Nippers, who have been paid by someone to obtain information about Walker's whereabouts. Walker gives a detailed itinerary of his intended movements and threatens to kill anyone who follows him in future. He says that he wants to meet Queen Carrot.

Pepper is being escorted out as Flame returns. She tells Walker about the unfortunate accident at the Gaming House and they set off to see Brassart and Mace at the water tower. En route they encounter a panting messenger. Scarab has been found! He was dumped in an alley near Gold's Garden and is in a bad way. Hastening to the water tower, they find that Scarab's arms have been broken in several places by chains. He is in too much pain to speak until Walker performs a healing on him, after which he tells his story. He was captured by the Blackhearts as he was returning to the cellars after the battle of the water tower and held in an old warehouse. Nighthawk is using him to send a message - "pay me what I am owed, or else".

Slight has visited Mole Street, the road that runs past the north edge of the Digger estate, which is bounded by a ten foot high wall pierced by a locked iron gate. As he peers through, a guard passes by with a four foot high bipedal lizard on a chain. It turns to face Slight, utters a warning "chk chk chk" and bounds forward. Slight hastily beats a retreat. It seems that Carrot was right about the magic-detecting reptiles. He heads back to the Nine Cities tavern. Sienna has not returned, so Slight spreads rumours of Lord Rathgard, the new power in Strangerside. A denizen remarks that he could do more for the town than its current leader, Lamplow Tendwick of the Merchant's Council.

Back at the water tower, Walker gives a speech to the assembled masses, gearing them up for war with the Blackhearts. Scarab's treatment will not stand - "we are all one". In the name of the "Dagger of the West", they will redress this wrong. Some former Daggerboys tell him what they know. The Blackhearts specialise in the use of chains to break limbs. They run the brothels and restaurants in the vicinity of Talespinner's Square on behalf of an Everwayan family, but no-one knows which. They have an HQ somewhere in the marshes to the west of Strangerside. Someone suggests talking to Bruiser, leader of the eponymous gang in the Crafters Quarter, who may know more.

At this point Slight appears, having been redirected from the cellars. He tells them about his encounter with Carrot and his observations of the Diggers. Walker recruits Dirk, a former Daggerboy with a talent for lock-picking, telling him to meet them after the funeral and to wear black.

Walker, Flame and Slight head over to the Crafters Quarter to talk to Bruiser. They soon find her gang swaggering down one of the side streets; 20 young men armed with clubs, with Bruiser, a short, broad, flat-faced woman, in their midst. She leads the way to an empty courtyard where they can discuss matters in private.

On seeing Flame, she says that she has a bone to pick with her - "you've been causing trouble on my patch". It turns out that Walnut Tendeep, the officious merchant who tried to effect a citizen's arrest in Crafters Square yesterday, has demanded that Bruiser "do something" about Flame and her associates. Bruiser has no intention of doing so, because he's a stuck-up arse, but she mentions that Clam and Finch, the two stevedores who were pushed into Flame when she was flaming, are being treated at the Temple of Mercy and may never regain the use of their hands. Walker says that he will visit them.

With regard to the Blackhearts, Bruiser makes clear that she isn't going to help - "it's more than my life's worth". She does reveal, however, that it is the Gold family that owns the brothels and restaurants that the Blackhearts run. Bruiser has looked at attacking Nighthawk before, but it is not easy. She moves between brothels at random times and is always well protected when out in the open. The Blackheart's nominal HQ, the "hut in the marshes", is in fact a quite substantial building and is surrounded by traps - the easiest approach may be from the sea. Bruiser warns that there may not be much of interest there; Nighthawk is not stupid and knows that it is vulnerable. She also mentions Nighthawk's chain blade, which snaps limbs when thrown and magically returns to her hand.

The sun is setting, so the heroes head for the Dusk Bridge to attend the funeral of the six casualties of the battle of the water tower. At length the boats are launched and Flame ensures that they catch fire or do not in accordance with the families' preferences, which is seen as a very good omen.

Back on Saturnday evening, the heroes convene in Mole Street with Dirk. Faint music and conversation waft from the ball in the main building. Being aware that use of magic would be a bad idea, Slight has disguised himself as a drunk nobleman. He will distract the guards by demanding to be let in by the back gate while Walker, Flame and Dirk climb over the wall.

At first, everything goes to plan. Slight's distraction is successful and the others succeed in sneaking through the darkened garden to the tower where Bean is being held. Flame douses lights and inscribes sigils on nearby surfaces. Dirk, however, proves not to be as good a lockpicker as hoped and Walker is forced to break down the door and knock out the sleepy and drunk guard in the guard room inside. Dirk puts on the guard's uniform and he and Walker head upstairs while Flame ensigils the guards' pallets.

The first floor room is a servant's room that is currently unoccupied. The door to the second floor is unlocked and opens on to a room with a good quality bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers, a bear skin rug on the floor, dolls and dolls houses against the wall and miner's lamps on the mantelpiece over the fireplace. It too is unoccupied. Progressing up to the third floor, Walker alerts the guard standing outside the door, but manages to silence him before he can raise the alarm. From inside the room comes a cry of "get me out of here!" The heroes have found their boy.

Or rather, man-child. When Walker unlocks the door with the guard's key, Bean is revealed to be some five years older than Carrot's sketch of him. He is six foot tall and clean-shaven with a shock of black hair, but is dressed like a boy in a button-down red shirt and shorts. He also has the attention span and sulky demeanour of a child and speaks in a higher pitch than his naturally bass voice. He has been imprisoned in what appears to be a boy's bedroom with hoops and other games and a large and elaborate fort with toy soldiers. As Walker and Dirk hustle him downstairs, he complains loudly that he is hungry. Fortunately, Flame's appearance reduces him to an embarrassed silence.

Slight has managed to engage three of the patrolling in guards in an argument through sheer force of personality alone, but even he cannot distract all of them as Bean blunders through the bushes and one guard goes to investigate. Flame decides that the time has come to trigger her decoy and activates the flame sigils. There is a smattering of applause from guests at the ball who think that it is a firework display. The distraction is sufficient for the heroes to get back across the wall with Bean just before the guards reach them. Slight throws his voice and hisses "a message from the Empty Mask" before making his escape with the others into the dark streets of Everway.

Back in Everway the night before, Bean wants to go straight to the Ark, but the heroes insist that he comes with them to the cellars and he sulkily complies. Leaving him to the tender mercies of Voulges, Flame and Walker head out for their final assignation of the evening, which is to send a reply to Nighthawk. They head for a brothel near Talespinner's Square called the Sailor's Luck, where they pretend to be a drunk couple and go up to the Blackheart standing on guard. He demands money to let them in, at which point Walker slugs him and breaks his arm. He tells him to tell Nighthawk to meet them in Crafters Square at 2 bells after dusk tomorrow. The altercation is interrupted by the emergence of a client, a richly dressed white-haired Everwayan, with a bodyguard. Walker picks him up and rolls him in the local midden while Flame occupies the bodyguard. Realising that she is outmatched, the bodyguard tells them that her name is Lentil and that her master is Whitedust Stonebreaker. Walker advises her to disappear, and he and Flame head back to the cellars.

-- o --

Sunday, 30th Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473
Strangerside, the Cellars

The heroes' quiet breakfast is disturbed by shouting from the sleeping quarters. A young gang member comes racing in, pursued by another; they grapple at the top of the stairs leading down into the cylindrical chamber and tumble down them. Walker wades in, separates the assailants and demands to know what is going on. The attacker (Helm) accuses the attackee (Scutch) of stealing a copper ring that his ex-girlfriend gave him. Helm was wearing it when he went to bed and found it gone in the morning. He blamed Scutch because he is known to have been a thief before joining the Sons of the West. Walker points out that he is in fact wearing a copper ring. Helm stares at his hand and looks very confused. Slight immediately denies all responsibility.

After getting Helm to apologise to Scutch (and to Flame for interrupting her breakfast), the heroes investigate but without great success. The chamber where Helm was sleeping seems ordinary, there is no magical residue on the ring, the members of the patrol that Helm was with yesterday don't report anything unusual, and general questioning of the Sons of the West by Slight doesn't reveal any other unusual disappearances.

While all this is going on, the morning ritual continues. Walker tells the twelve most competent uninjured gang members to report at 4 bells after midday for a special mission, and instructs Heron to find some dark clothing and some daggers. Gorget is just leading out the day's shakedown team when there is a cry from the kitchen of "this tastes like sick!" and Bean makes a belated appearance, closely followed by a furious Cedar the cook. Walker calms things down and he and Flame question him. Bean's story of his capture by the Diggers corresponds to Carrot's, but there is a shiftiness in his responses that makes the heroes suspicious. He finally admits that he is in fact the son of Goldring Digger, meaning that the heroes have kidnapped him from his own home. This seriously alarms Voulges, who points out that Goldring runs the royal mint and is one of the most powerful people in Everway. She could send in half an army if she know that they had him. When he asked why he and Carrot have run away from their mother, Bean replies that she is boring and they want to be kids forever.

Walker, Flame and Slight make their way via to the Walker's Ark to talk to Carrot. She is glad to see them and profoundly grateful to hear that Bean has been rescued. She makes the heroes earls and countesses of the Court of the Nippers - Walker is "Big Nipper", Flame is "Flame Goddess" and Slight is "Unimportant". Walker takes advantage of their new status to look at her some of her papers. These include:

• An order from Cunning Gold for information on the whereabouts and activities of a man answering Walker's description. It is dated Marsday, 27th day of the Month of the Maiden.
• Another ongoing order to transport a "miscellaneous light item" from Prester Ironholt to Cunning Gold at the Gold family house "when required". The order has been in place for two years, but has only been enacted twice, once six months ago and once last Marsday.
• A weekly order, started six months ago, to deliver "miscellaneous light items" from Highstake Mask of the Shuffler Troupe Gaming House to Cut Throat in Dark Alley. Carrot remarks that this was unusual because the Masks usually use the Motley for courier services rather than the Nippers. Carrot has never met Highstake face to face.

On questioning, Carrot reluctantly admits to her relationship with Goldring Digger but says the same thing as Bean - her mother spends all her time in long boring meetings and reading papers, and they prefer to be kids forever. She deputises two Nippers to return with Walker to the cellars to pick up Bean. Slight will head to the bazaar to find Topknot Motley, while Flame will go to the gaming houses to locate Highstake Mask. A new password is decided upon ("horns of plenty"), a new secret sign is invented (thumb your nose and wink), and the heroes go their separate ways.

Slight finds Topknot Motley begging in the Bazaar and persuades him to go into a quiet back alley to talk. Topknot doesn't know much about the parcels he was picking up, but does recall that once, when waiting at the Shuffler gaming house where Highstake Mask works, he saw an acquaintance of his called Hopeless Motley arrive with a set of parcels. Highstake was annoyed with him because he was late. Topknot doesn't know where Hopeless tends to hang out. Slight thanks him and goes to find his other acquaintance, Whine Motley. On emerging into the bright sunlight of the Bazaar, he is surprised to see Flame's face on a paper fluttering on a nearby notice board. It's another wanted poster - her crimes now include kidnapping as well as arson and the reward for information leading to her arrest has doubled.

Meanwhile the subject of the poster has been getting to up to more mischief. Flame locates the Shuffler gaming house - it's a larger and more prosperous version of the one she burnt down and is located further west along the Cart Way towards Traders' Gate - and manages to sneak in by tagging along behind a group of punters. Alas, no woman matching Highstake Mask's description is in evidence. However, one card game catches Flame's attention. A plain middle-aged woman wearing the characteristic embroidered robes of the Mother family is seated with a couple of men who from their dress and demeanour are probably bodyguards. A well-dressed man - presumably their master - is standing over them, watching the game with an amused expression on his face. The woman is furtive and nervous, holding the cards close to her face. Judging by the pile of hefts in front of her, she is also winning handsomely, to the obvious annoyance of one of the men. Flame heats up the metal goblet that holds his drink, with gratifying results. The man yelps when he touches it, drops his cards, leaps up and loudly accuses her of being a witch who is cheating by using magic. The man's master tells him to calm down, but the enraged fellow continues his furious tirade against the cowering woman, knocking over the table and sending goblets and coins flying. He is restrained by his companions as a door opens and a grey-haired masked woman emerges, accompanied by two burly bouncers. She immediately takes charge of the situation, explaining that Mother Graceful is a regular customer and that the idea that she would cheat is completely absurd. She insists that the accuser and his companions leave, then takes the shaken Mother to one side and apologises. Mother Graceful says "thank you, Highstake" and leaves. Flame has found her quarry.

As Highstake turns to go, Flame comes up and plucks her sleeve. She pretends to be a Nipper and asks about the next consignment. Fortunately, Highstake does not recognise her, and replies crossly that there is no consignment "because the Mothers haven't sent one", apparently because of trouble in Strangerside. She also lambasts Flame for talking to her in public rather than coming round the back, and for her pathetic attempt to disguise herself as a Mask, which will fool no-one.

Walker and his Nipper honour guard return to the cellars to find them strangely empty. The drawbridge is down and the guards are not at their post. Walker finds Windlass, the man he left in charge, and demands to know what is going on. Windlass shamefacedly admits that Bean has disappeared and the whole gang is looking for him. He and two other Sons of the West were trying to keep him amused by showing him the armoury and he just... vanished. Walker gets them to reconstruct what happened. Bean was in the middle of the room and the guards were all around him. Windlass turned to take down a weapon from the wall and when he turned back, Bean had gone. The other guards report the same experience. Walker curses and sends one of the Nippers back to the Ark to tell Carrot the bad news. He then goes out to find Bean for himself.

Slight's search for Whine Motley in the bazaar proves fruitless, so he goes to meet Flame by the Gaming Houses to see if she has learned anything. Flame tells him about Highstake. Since Slight is better at hanging around unnoticed, he sends Flame off to the Plaza of Fools to see if she can track down Hopeless Motley, while he keeps tabs on Highstake.

Flame has better luck than Slight. In the Plaza of Fools, she bumps into a Motley performing the world's most incompetent card trick and by feigning interest in him gets an invitation to the local Motley speakeasy, a shabby back room a couple of streets away. By good fortune, Hopeless Motley is enjoying an afternoon drink with his friends Creep, Feckless and Mutter. By the time-honoured method of buying everyone a round, Flame gets talking to him and makes him sufficiently drunk to talk about his courier activities. He becomes very maudlin at the loss of income caused by the cessation of the trade, complaining that Mother Immortal Light hasn't sent for him in days. Armed with this information, Flame returns to the cellars.

Meanwhile, Walker is heading down Bleak Street when he encounters Voulges and his posse coming the other way, Bean in tow. Voulges explains that they encountered the runaway in Beggartown as he was about to be mugged by some desperate bliss addicts. They all hastily return to the cellars. Bean's story is that everybody just started ignoring him and he was bored, so he decided to head back to the Ark on his own by the "special secret route".

Flame returns at this point and passes on her news. To ensure that there are no further untoward incidents, she and Walker decide to escort Bean back to the Ark themselves. This happens without incident and Bean and Carrot are reunited, to their evident joy. As they leave, Flame advises them both to get laid.

Back in Everway, it is time for the plot against Nighthawk to be prepared, but Slight is nowhere to be seen. Walker goes to fetch him from the Shuffler Gaming House while Flame returns to the Cellar to prime the recruits. After some difficulty, Walker manages to locate Slight lurking around the back of the Gaming House. Slight had of course completely forgotten about Nighthawk, but he was getting bored anyway. Highstake has done nothing more interesting than go outside to smoke a pipe.

At the cellars, Flame explains the plan. It is simple - to assassinate Nighthawk when she turns up for the rendezvous. Slight will make the gang inconspicuous and Flame will prime the area with explosive sigils and oil. While Slight is carrying out the necessary preparations, Walker remembers the bliss packets retrieved from Carrot and dispatches a message to the Mercy Hospital telling them to send round someone competent, but no-one comes.

At length all the preparations are complete and the heroes set out for Crafters Square. All the traders have shut up shop for the night but the taverns are full. A couple of drunken stevedores look on in bemusement as Flame douses awnings in oil and carefully lays out sigils and coins, completely ignoring the dozen tough men armed with clubs and knives who lurk nearby. Slight has dressed up for the occasion, taking on the guise of a Plume officer.

Unfortunately all these preparations prove fruitless, for Nighthawk doesn't show up. Instead, a concussed beggar staggers in, her head and face covered in welts from bludgeons. "She... got your message. Meet... Talespinner's Square... half a bell.... No more than six."

After a hasty discussion, the heroes decide that the shift of venue to Nighthawk's home turf does not fundamentally alter the plan. Flame gives out some of her ensigiled coins to the men and finds a late opening trader to sell her some more lamp oil, which she pours over herself. Slight slips into Talespinner's Square and finds the patrolling Plumes. Making himself known to them as "Tassel Plume", he tells them that there is a major disturbance in Crafters Square and they should go there immediately. He then heads over to the large wrought iron gates that mark the entry to Gold's Garden and closes them.

After arranging the twelve members of the Daggers of the West in two groups of six and sending them to lurk in two corners of the square, Flame and Walker step out into the centre. The door to the Lavender House opens and a dozen Blackhearts file out, Nighthawk in their midst. She demands a payment of 500 hefts for her part in the attack on the Water Tower, which Walker refuses to pay. Nighthawk nods as if this is what she expected and signals to her men, who move forward.

The square erupts in combat. Walker, spinning his staff, takes on half the Blackhearts while the men of the Daggers of the West emerge from the shadows and attack the other half. Flame squares up to Nighthawk, who sends her chain blades spinning just as Flame sends out a twelve foot gout of fire. Nighthawk dives to one side to avoid the burst as her chain blade wraps around Flame's arm. There is a snapping sound and Flame looks down to see that her arm is at an unnatural angle. A moment later she feels an agonising pain and tumbles dizzily to the ground.

Walker is not doing much better. The tip of his spinning quarterstaff has caught a Blackheart square in the face, but another five assailants are menacing him with bludgeons and he has to leap to one side to avoid a crushing blow. Slight, lurking by the gate to Gold's Garden, hears several boots thudding closer as a Plume patrol rushes to the scene. A closed but unlocked gate isn't going to hold them for long.

The chain blade around Flame's forearm is glowing blue and magically unwrapping itself, causing further waves of debilitating pain as Nighthawk looks on with a grim smile. Fighting unconsciousness, Flame uncorks an oil bottle and throws it at Nighthawk. It lands at her feet, spattering her with its contents. She then heats herself up to incandescent.

Walker dodges another blow and is relieved to see an ensigiled coin arcing over from the team of henchmen who are coming to assist him, which has the effect of distracting his attackers. Slight quickly works a spell on the gate to make it seem impassable and impossibly tall.

Nighthawk's chain blade flies back towards its owner, who realises too late that it is now red hot and screams as the metal burns her flesh. The oil catches fire and she makes a panicked run for the fountain in the centre of the square. Flame gets to her feet and chases after her. Walker jabs an assailant in the stomach and angles his staff back to trip up the flaming Nighthawk as she passes, which enables Flame to throw herself onto her. There is a huge whoomf and a last agonised scream as the struggling assailants are engulfed in a massive fireball which shoots into sky. After the smoke clears, a blackened corpse is all that remains of the leader of the Blackhearts.

It is all over. The Blackhearts retreat, leaving six of their number wounded or dead. Of the Daggers of the West, two have significant injuries. Walker smashes Nighthawk's skull with his staff and picks up the chain blades, then supports the wounded Flame out of the square. The heroes return to the cellars, leaving a puzzled group of Plumes arguing about how to get over a five mile high gate.

-- o --

Moonday, 31st Day of the Month of the Maiden, 2473
Strangerside, the Cellars

The next day dawns without any untoward incidents. Walker has healed Flame's broken arm and gives instructions to Voulges about what to do if the Plumes turn up. He also sends a message to the Nippers asking them to keep an eye on the Golds and find out with whom they are allied. Walker plans to take control of the Blackhearts' headquarters and enlists Treb (short for Trebuchet), a fisherwoman's son, to guide them through the marshes.

First, though, it is time to return to Talespinner's Square and inspect the damage from the night before. The front door to the Lavender House has been reduced to a few sticks of charred wood and falls off its hinges as the heroes approach. There are a couple of Blackheart guards, but they immediately surrender when they see Flame. One of them, Veil, explains that the majority of the gang have realised that resistance is useless and want to join up, but a hard core of around a dozen have holed up in the hut in the marshes. They are led by Blackjack, a girl who was Nighthawk's protégé.

The heroes meet up with Sapling, the brothel's madam, in the largely undamaged entrance hall at the back of the building. She surrenders the accounts and Walker sends Treb back to the cellars to fetch helpers to pick up the accounts from the other brothels and restaurants that the Blackhearts used to run and take them back to Heron. Sapling confirms that the majority of the takings go to the Golds, who pick them up in a guarded coach each Marsday.

By this time a number of the Blackhearts have turned up. They are sceptical and Walker has to make another speech, explaining that there are no hard feelings and exhorting them to join the "Black Daggers of the West". When asked what the heroes are for, he says that they support "community and business people" against the "corrupt council of the merchants" and the "evil influence of Everway". While nowhere near Rathgard's level of oratory, he is sufficiently convincing that all but a couple of the Blackhearts, some eighteen in all, sign up.

Meanwhile Slight has been hanging around in the square. He hastily removes the spell on the gate to Gold's Gardens that is still confusing passers by and listens out for rumours. The most interesting one is that Goldring Digger has publicly denounced the Masks in the Great Council, accusing them of kidnapping her son with the help of the "firestarter". She claims that the attack on the gaming house was a deliberate ploy by the Masks to deflect attention. Further investigations are precluded by Walker and Flame who insist that he accompany them, despite his protests.

Their next port of call is Bruiser and her gang near Crafters Square. She assumes that the heroes will be taking over her patch next, but Walker assures her that this will not be the case if she is reasonable. They agree an alliance; each gang will support the other if attacked, and Bruiser will pass on any rumours she hears about the Everway families. To avoid misunderstandings there will be a weekly meeting. Bruiser appoints Bouncer, a fellow gang member, as her envoy.

Back on Moonday, Walker, Flame, Slight, Veil and Treb are cautiously making their way towards the Blackhearts' HQ. The marshes are flat, damp and smelly, with small trees and thick bushes concealing muddy gullies some ten foot wide and deep. The heroes are following a trail studded with broken tiles that leads to their destination, a two storey stone building set on a slight rise about fifty yards from the sea. As they traverse a set of planks laid across a marshy area, Veil helpfully points out a tripwire attached to a spring blade designed to cut the victim off at the knees.

The path crosses a gully via a wooden bridge that Veil says has a weak spot at its centre and spikes concealed in the mud below. As the party reaches it, they are hailed by Blackjack from an upstairs window of the house some fifty feet beyond. Slight immediately dives into the nearest bush. Walker offers to let her join the Black Daggers of the West, but she is cynical about their motives - "We saw what you did to Nighthawk. Why should we believe you?" Slight whispers a warning that people are sneaking up the gully towards the bridge from both directions. Ropes descend from the upper storey of the house and four more Blackhearts come sliding down them.

The party form up, with Walker and Treb in the vanguard and Flame taking on the flankers. One of the attackers throws a bolas that wraps around Flame's legs, knocking her over. Walker lets the first of his assailants past for Veil to deal with and knocks the second off the bridge. Treb smartly shield-bashes one of his opponents into the weak spot which gives way with a crunch and drops him yelling onto the spikes. For some reason, the flankers abandon their sneaky approach along the gully and scramble up on to the bank, giving Flame time to unwrap the bolas and skewer two with flame knives before they even reach her. The two on Slight's side of the bridge mill about in confusion, apparently unable to agree on which direction the bridge is in.

Meanwhile four more Blackhearts have formed a defensive cordon on the far side of the bridge, protecting Blackjack who is yelling at them to "get the Firestarter". She has good aim; a pot of something nasty arcs towards Flame, who is helping Treb dispose of his remaining assailant. In an impressive display of dexterity, she catches it, swings around and lobs it back at the four bridge defenders, enveloping three of them in sticky fire. On the other side of the bridge, Walker knocks out his opponent and runs forward, while Veil's assailant gets an unexpected blow to the back of the head from Slight.

The screaming, flaming defenders fall back, leaving the way open for Flame to charge Blackjack who is getting out another vial. She throws it just as Flame reaches her. The jar shatters, releasing a corrosive green liquid that splashes on Flame. But her great heat causes it to evaporate, creating an acidic mist that billows over Blackjack and sends her stumbling back, blinded. Walker comes up behind her, plants a boot in her back and snaps her neck.

As well as Blackjack, two defenders are dead. Walker patches up the wounded and offers them membership of the Black Daggers of the West. Eight accept but two walk away in disgust.

Veil disarms the traps and the heroes enter the building to claim their prize. The interior is mostly bare but upstairs there is a hoard of stored goods including arms from Middleland and elsewhere, cheeses and preserved meats, gold and silver ingots, valuable herbs and spices, silks and jewellery. Slight reckons that whole lot comes to about 2000 hefts. Slight puts a spell on the treasure to make it seem worthless while Walker deputes Flame and Treb to guard it until he can send a more permanent posse.

Walker and Slight return to the cellars in time for the evening meal, but there is no food to be seen and Cedar the cook is on the warpath. Someone has stolen all the kitchen knives and she is not cooking anything until they are returned. The gang is hungry and irritable. Walker instigates a search which reveals a couple of other petty thefts, contributing to the tension. Eventually, Slight thinks to look in the drawer where the knives are kept and sees them lying there. When asked if this is the usual knife drawer, Cedar seems confused - it seems she was looking in the wrong drawer. With normality somewhat restored, Walker sends out gang members to the hall in the marshes and promotes Veil and Steel to officers in a bid to defuse tensions between ex-rival gang members. Slight murmurs that Veil is not happy about this.

Flame and Treb return and the heroes discuss what to do about the continuing disappearances in the cellars. They seem to be linked with Slight's powers in some way and Flame wonders if it is something to do with his lizard pyramid. Slight points out that Flame has had it for the whole time that the disappearances have been going on. In any case, while investigating the missing knives he has sensed the faintest hint of a disturbance in the magical aether. He cannot tell anything about it, other than that it is not primarily aimed at stirring up trouble.

This gives Slight an idea. He searches out a suitable object, eventually settling on a pair of dice owned by an ex-Daggerboy called Scar, which he is using in a game. He puts a spell on them to make them seem special - "if these went missing, all hell would break loose". He than spends all evening watching them, but nothing happens.

Venusday, 1st Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
Strangerside, the Cellars

The day begins with Heron's report on the brothel accounts. Most of the profits go to "GG" with payments to the Plumes and the Blackhearts for "security services". There is also a list of clients and their predilictions that would make good blackmail material - names mentioned include Whitedust Stonebreaker, Vengeance Crow, Weft Weaver, Clink Gold, Dewdrop Mudbank, Stonelock Keeper, Tapfoot Moondance, Velvet Plume, Anvil Smith, Threnody Wailer and Clackit Weaver. Even more interesting however, is a series of notes relating to "the Palace", to which, it seems, a girl is sent regularly, sometimes as often as once or twice a week. The pattern suggests that the client goes through phases, often ordering the same girl for several weeks in a row before evidently getting bored of her. The two most recent go by the unlikely names of Beautiful Rice and Topaz.

Flame and Walker head over to the Lavender House to find out more, leaving Slight to continue investigations in the cellar. Sapling claims to have no knowledge of who the client at the Palace is, but says that they are highly discriminating with a preference for young busty types. She makes the arrangement with Tamarind Emerald, a messenger from the palace.

She summons Beautiful Rice, who is a dark-eyed, big-bosomed beauty originally trafficked from the Glorious Empire. She is also a bliss addict and demands a hit before she will tell them what she knows. Instead, Walker heals her, releasing her temporarily from her cravings. Gratefully, she tells them that the client is none other than Crown Prince Tourmaline himself! When she went to the palace, she was strip-searched and led blindfold to one of several bedrooms for the assignation. Tourmaline liked her sufficiently to give her a gift and Flame accompanies her to her room to see it. It a small gold box that contained bliss, but there is no distinctive maker's mark. Flame gives Beautiful Rice some money and some advice.

Walker authorises repairs to the Lavender House and says that he will look over the "approvals list" when Sapling sends it to him. He enquires after Topaz. After her failure to please the client, she has been sent to another brothel called Pendulous Pearl's. Walker and Flame make their way over there. It is a shabby building in a decidedly less salubrious part of town and is run by the eponymous and asthmatic Pearl. She tells them that Topaz is not there as she has gone sick. Walker and Flame track her down to a tenement in Dark Alley, where she is being tended to by her disapproving mother. Her body is covered with red sores that weep pus, and it is clear that she is close to death. Walker heals her, but she can add little to Beautiful Rice's account. She only had a couple of sessions with the client and it ended badly when she refused to engage in certain sexual acts. Flame and Walker give her mother some money and return to the cellars.

There have been no further untoward events, but Slight has detected that there is a spell on him. It is a very subtle thing that affects his perceptions; he would not even have noticed if he had not been paying attention. He speculates that a similar enchantment may have caused Terracotta to attack the Stranger and get taken to the House of Calm. He has a plan, however, and goes into Everway, while Flame and Walker pick up the bliss parcel they obtained from the Nippers and head for the Mercy Hospital.

As they approach, it soon becomes clear why no-one has come to collect the package themselves. The entrance has a crowd of 150 desperate people outside it. A harassed Brother Valentine has barred the door with his staff, shouting at them that the hospital has no supplies of bliss. A red-eyed man tries to grab him, saying that he hasn't slept in five days. Another shouts that his case is worse - he hasn't slept in a week.

Walker and Flame barge their way through, to Valentine's evident relief. Inside, conditions are even worse. The other Brothers are desperately trying to corral a screeching psychopath with a knife without hurting him. People cover every available surface, shivering in the chilly autumn air. A woman is having convulsions while bliss addicts near her look on dully, too exhausted to help. There are at least three bodies that nobody has got around to moving. A stench of gangrene emanates from a man's blackened foot. A woman is giving birth. She is bleeding copiously; an older woman - presumably her mother - is holding her hand and crying for help. The child is still-born.

The heroes help where they can and bring the most immediate crises under control. When there is a spare moment, Walker asks if he can speak to Brother Valentine in private. Valentine ushers them into the office of the portly, benevolent Brother Quicksaw, who hastily stuffs some papers into a desk drawer before giving them some privacy. As Walker explains about the bliss, Flame idly examines Quicksaw's papers. They are a report on the symptoms of bliss addiction, noting where each patient acquired the drug, the circumstances under which they used it, and its effects. Flame shows Brother Valentine, who says that he did not authorise this research and summons Quicksaw to explain himself. Faced with Valentine's anger and Walker's menacing demeanour, Quicksaw soon caves in. He has been sending reports to the Mothers for the last six months in exchange for medical supplies, using a Nipper called Carrot Top to carry them to Mother Immortal Serenity at the Temple of Mercy. Valentine is furious that Quicksaw has been helping the Mother House without authorisation and Walker and Flame leave him haranguing the sheepish sawbones as they head back to the cellars, taking the report with them.

Meanwhile, Slight has been enacting his plan. He goes to Pyramid Square and stands in the shadow of the towering mass of midianite, experiencing the uncomfortable sensation of his concealment spells ebbing away, as if he were disrobing in public. However, the drastic measure is effective; as he moves away from the square, he senses that the unfamiliar enchantment has gone.

His next port of call is the Heroes Tavern, to see if Stoneflake and Whiting are there. They are not, but there is a burly man sitting at a table who gives him a friendly nod as he enters. Weasel is looking even more shifty than usual; Slight spots his unsubtle pulled earlobe gesture and is out of the door before the man can get to his feet. As he pelts down the street, two arrows from the upper windows of the Heroes Tavern whizz past his ear and he hears the whistles of the Watchers.

Back in the cellar, things are going strange again. The whole gang is twitchy because a member called Mangonel says that he has seen a ghost in the corridor leading to the drill room. It was an old man dressed in ancient Everwayan clothing and he was looking for something. The lights are burning oddly and there seem to be more shadows than usual. Walker, Flame and Voulges head for Towershield's room (now their bedroom) for a discussion, but the door has disappeared. They regroup in the kitchen and Flame thinks to check on the lizard pyramid to see if it has changed in any way. As she gets it out of her pack, it suddenly floats up into the air, glowing impossibly brightly. Then it falls to the floor and everything goes black. Flame feels forward with her hands, finds the fallen pyramid and stuffs it back in her pack. Vision gradually returns.

Walker bellows for Slight, who has just come into the cellars having lost his pursuers in Beggartown, demanding to know firstly where the door to their bedroom has gone and secondly what the hell just happened. Slight finds the door in its usual place. To investigate the second, he asks Flame to get the lizard pyramid out again. It is a fake, with the lizards painted in, and it has no magic on it. Looking at the spell that was on the door, Slight detects a connection to Walker and Flame and a third rapidly fading magical strand leading somewhere else. Accompanied by Flame and Walker, he traces the wavering signal out of the cellar. As they emerge from the ruined building that hides the entrance hole, a man with a black and silver cloak fades into view on Bleak Street beyond. "Don't trust him!" whispers Slight urgently. Without turning round, the man says, "Hello, son."

-- o --

Venusday, 1st Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473, evening
Strangerside, Bleak Street

Slight, Walker and Flame are facing the stranger who has appeared in front of them. He appears to be in his thirties, has black skin, and is richly dressed. He raises his hands. "All right, you got me," he says. "My name is Cunning Gold. Shall we have a drink?"

Flame immediately demands her pyramid back; Cunning refuses because he says that it belongs to him. Walker invites him into the cellars, but Cunning persuades them to go to a snug in the Harbinger's Rest tavern in Old Town instead. He gets Slight to create a "do not notice me" spell to give them privacy, commenting approvingly that he wasn't as good at Slight's age. To prove that the pyramid is his, he opens it with a combination of strength and magic. It contains a piece of paper covered in script that is the same as that on the mural in the old cellars and in Flame's book that she cannot read. Cunning explains that it is written in Cleacuun, the language of the Basahn. It is from Urumora, the Basahni leader whom Slight met in Tales (and, it turns out, Slight's great grandmother). Cunning doesn't say what the message says, explaining that it is "Basahn affairs", but when pressed he tells the following tale:

• The Basahn were the original inhabitants of Roundwander. They built a great city called Ambasara in the place where Strangerside is now.
• Some time later, humans came. The Basahn treated them cruelly and enslaved them.
• Eventually the humans rose up and overthrew their masters, under a leader called the Titan. He was an Avatar, which Cunning explains is like a god in human terms. Ambasara was destroyed.
• The surviving Basahn escaped and have been wanderers ever since. They split into two factions: the Returners, who wish to re-conquer Roundwander, and the Founders, who want to find a new permanent home. The Returners are led by a sorcerer called Maba. Neither faction has been successful in its aims: invasion attempts by the Returners have been thwarted by the use of watch-sprites, which detect Basahni intrusions, and Founder Basahn are hounded out of anywhere they settle by mistrustful humans.
• Urumora and Cunning work for the Founder faction and the pyramid is a way for them to pass messages without attracting the attention of the Everwayan authorities or rival Returners.

Flame points out that Cunning claims that Slight is his son but they don't look alike, Cunning being ebony in colour while Slight has an olive complexion. In response, Cunning lets his glamour drop. The face that is revealed is older and is covered in scars which show evidence of neat stitching. Cunning explains that this was done to him by Maba, who is his father. Human bones and organs were sewn into him to make him sufficiently human to set off the watch-sprites and hence gain access to Everway. Maba intended for Cunning to be his spy, but Urumora rescued him and he joined the Founder faction. He came to Everway some seventy years ago and married Topaz Gold so that he could gain access to the Library of All Worlds. He is now a widower.

Intrigued by the writing in the note, Flame asks if Cunning has heard of Painter - could she be an avatar? When Cunning looks puzzled, she explains that Painter knows Shadow (the wizard to whom Flame is indentured in payment for a healing that he performed on her mother). This proves to be an unfortunate revelation. Cunning immediately clams up, saying that "Shadow" is the common tongue name for Maba and that Flame could be tainted, knowingly or unknowingly reporting back anything he says to Maba himself. As he gets up to leave, Walker asks him if there is anything they can do. Cunning says that they can find more information on Maba's whereabouts and activities, and expresses the wish that Slight were magically stronger so that he could protect them. He offers to help Slight develop his talents and expresses the hope that they can have some sort of relationship. Slight says that his magical abilities are very minor and that Cunning is not his father.

Back in the cellars, Slight examines Flame's book. He confirms that it is highly magical, but not a magic that he recognises. Walker suggests that he might learn some Basahn from his father in order to read it. Slight repeats his denial of the relationship, but Walker tells him not to be silly.

Earthday, 2nd Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars

Flame and Slight go to pay a little visit to Weasel, leaving Walker to do the admin. This takes the form of an eccentric bandy-legged man in his sixties called Pushpin, a hatter in Dark Alley who is panicking because Cut Throat's boys have not been around to collect their protection money. He eagerly hands over his hefts and is reassured when Walker promises not to increase the amount. Pushpin is accompanied by Brassart, who presents a bill to cover the repairs to the water tower. Walker has no idea if Brassart's costs are reasonable, so he passes them on to Heron. He also asks her to check with the ex-Daggerboys and -Blackhearts and make a list of tradesfolk from whom protection money should be collected.

No mysterious strangers are in evidence when Flame and Slight reach the Heroes Tavern, but nor is Weasel. Bramble, his wife, is minding the shop, so Flame, her true appearance cunningly concealed by Slight's arts, introduces herself as Colander, a purveyor of bar equipment. Bramble explains that Weasel has gone to buy supplies in the market in Crafters Square, and Flame and Slight make their way there. En route they pass by a wanted poster for Flame and note that the rewards have been increased, the new numbers written in by hand. They eventually track down Weasel who is carrying a keg back to the inn. Falling into step beside him, Slight drops the disguise. Weasel, unable to run, resorts to begging for his life. He explains that the Watchers set up the ambush when he told them that the heroes sometimes returned to talk to Stoneflake and Whiting. After giving him a stern lecture on loyalty, Flame lets him go and she and Slight return to the Square to find out who increased the reward on the wanted posters. Eventually a local remembers that they saw a member of the Motley scrawling something. Flame decides to return to the cellars while Slight goes off to see his definitely-not-father at the Gold residence.

Getting to see Cunning turns out to be as simple as asking for him at the front door. Cunning is delighted to see Slight again and they spend a profitable afternoon studying the basics of Cleacuun in his lavish office. In the process Slight learns that the mural in the cellars probably once adorned a Basahn nursery and that Maba was one of a pair of twins, the other being Guren, the founder of the Founder Basahn. According to legend, both were sons of Odin, the Basahn god.

Flame returns to the cellars and tells Walker about the increased reward. The use of the Motley implies that one of the Masks is behind it, but it is not clear who. Flame is all for going into Everway and burning down another Gaming House, but Walker persuades her to investigate first. They do this by going to the Dusk Bridge and approaching the two Watchers who are supervising the long line of beggars seeking entrance. The Watchers have more sense than to attack Flame on sight, but they call for reinforcements while Walker asks them why Flame is a Person of Disputed Status. He learns that Dealer Mask, the leader of the Shuffler Troupe, is the man behind the reward. Hearing whistles and seeing bow-women appearing on the parapet, the heroes beat a prudent retreat.

Back at the cellars, it is evening and the heroes are having supper when there is another unexpected visitor. Peacock Plume has returned, ostensibly for the regular training. He assumes that they will want to continue with the existing relationship and tells them off for expanding too quickly - "your enthusiasm is commendable, but all these recruits will undermine discipline." He asks about the command structure and reminisces about Towershield, saying that he was good potential officer material. Walker asks him for money but Peacock says that the Plumes already provide equipment, so there would have to be a good reason. It becomes apparent that the Plumes were treating the Sons of the West as a militia for their own use and that too much security within Strangerside would be seen as a bad thing by them. The meeting ends inconclusively, with Peacock saying that he will have to report back to his superiors.

Slight is now back which means that it is time to pay a call on Dealer Mask. Asking around has revealed that he owns one of the larger and more dubious of the Gaming Houses, so the heroes sneak back into the Everway via the secret entrance and make their way there. Using the pseudonyms of Base Metal and Colander Gold and Insignificant Motley, they gain entrance and buttonhole the Maitre d', Flick Card Mask, telling her that they have information about the Firestarter for Dealer's ears only. With Slight's persuasion, they are shown into a red-draped room in which some richly dressed Everwayans are playing a high stakes game using fortune cards. One of them is Dealer Mask, a 50 year old well-built man with grey hair and arched eyebrows. Accompanied by his four tough-looking bodyguards, he shows them into a private office to talk business.

Flame and Walker reveal their true identities while Slight hovers in the background, doing his utmost to confuse the bodyguards. Dealer does not seem unduly worried but asks them directly which family is employing them. Walker intimates that the Golds are his employers but that this could change if Dealer retracts the Person of Disputed Status charge. Flame cheerily offers to burn something down for him. Dealer points out that he has lost a large sum of money from the gutted gaming house so the heroes already owe him, and that even if he wanted to, he could not rescind the Disputed status because the Diggers also want Flame for kidnapping. Mutual threats are exchanged, with Dealer hinting that the heroes could be the victims of an unfortunate accident and Flame suggesting that the Gaming Houses are looking awfully flammable. Dealer offers the heroes a five minute head start before he sets the Watchers on them and the heroes head back home.

Marsday, 3rd Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars

Another day dawns. Slight goes off to spend another day with Cunning Gold, while Walker and Flame have a late breakfast and deal with the admin, which Walker is finding increasingly irksome. Heron reports that Brassart's bill for the Water Tower repairs is excessive; Walker tells her to deal with it. A messenger arrives with a note from Sapling. In it she regrets to announce that Beautiful Rice has been found dead of bliss poisoning, but assures them that the other staff will take over her duties and that no diminution of revenue is anticipated. Walker and Flame immediately head off to investigate.

They question Sapling who tells them that Beautiful Rice, being reserved for the Palace, had no clients last night. She also mentions that Beautiful Rice's best friend, a fellow courtesan from the Glorious Empire called Cherry Blossom, has disappeared. Suspicious, Flame and Walker check on the body. Beautiful Rice is lying on her bed in her room. The gold box that she said was a gift from Prince Tourmaline is on the bedside table and has been filled with a reddish-brown powder that looks very like Bliss. Walker goes to take a sample for examination - and feels a sharp stabbing pain in his fingertips. Someone has placed a small blade in such a way that anyone plunging their fingers into the box will cut themselves. The reason for this becomes apparent when the heroes examine the corpse's fingers. The cuts are swollen and discoloured, as if she had been bitten by a snake. Blood poison. Beautiful Rice was definitely murdered.

With the finger of suspicion pointed firmly at Cherry Blossom, the heroes ask Sapling about her. She had two regular clients, Dewdrop Mudbank and a pale, fair-haired man called Clackit Weaver. The latter was a particular favourite; he would often take her out to local restaurants. Walker sends out underlings to ask if they were seen last night, while he and Flame go to check up on Topaz.

They arrive at the squat in Dark Alley to find another cloth-covered corpse. Topaz's mother Thistle is sitting resignedly by the bed. She says that after Walker's healing, Topaz was on the mend and was sleeping peacefully, so she went out to get some food. She was only gone for half a bell or so, but when she got back, Topaz had died. Walker examines the body - the bedclothes are somewhat disarranged but he finds no obvious sign of foul play. Walker offers to pay for a Wailer so that Topaz can have a proper funeral. A quick survey of the incurious locals does not come up with any sightings of mysterious strangers.

Back in Talespinner's Square, the heroes' enquiries prove more successful. Two people answering to Cherry Blossom's and Clackit Weaver's descriptions were seen heading into Everway last night. Flame and Walker chase up the lead by heading into Everway via the secret entrance and visiting the Weaver family house. As they approach the ladder leading up to the entrance in the ziggurat step above, Walker demands to see Clackit. The guard confusedly answers that she knows no-one of that name, but suggests that they see the family Recorder, Warp Weaver. She is a pleasant motherly woman who is happy to answer the heroes' questions. No, there is no-one of that name in the Weaver family, and there has not been for some years. Nor are there any Weaver men answering Clackit's description. Clackit is not who he said he was.

The heroes pay a call on Carrot and Bean, still enjoying their freedom in the Walker's Ark. Carrot puts out a call and a report soon comes in. A woman answering Cherry Blossom's description was seen heading out of Everway towards the Gatelands first thing this morning. Clackit was not with her.

Annoyed, the heroes return to the Lavender House for the final assignation of the day, which is to confront the Gold who is due to collect the takings. He is an arrogant young man called Sunrise Gold who arrives in a covered coach pulled by two horses. He quickly assesses the situation and agrees to Walker's proposal of talks. Walker hints that the heroes are working for the Masks but suggests that their loyalties can be bought, naming the rescinding of Flame's disputed status as part of the deal. Sunrise says that this might be possible but he would need to talk to Glisten. He is also insistent that the week's takings are handed over as usual, but Walker persuades him to accept half as a sign of good faith.

Flame and Walker return to the cellars for the evening where they meet Slight who has had an interesting day with his father. Slight remembered that Beldam Crookstaff, the servant who came to see the heroes about Wormwood's effects and who gave them the page from his research notes, was worried about a missing book that Wormwood had borrowed because a "senior Gold" had wanted it. Slight asked Cunning if that was him. Cunning said no, but to Slight's mind his response was not convincing. Slight also got an unusual reaction when he told him about the party's early adventures. Cunning was particularly interested in the description of Wrath and was highly amused, saying "so the heroes that the Dragonlord found were... oh dear, poor old Ulrich!" He refused to elaborate on this remark.

Joveday, 4th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars

Flame and Walker are woken in the small hours by shouting from the dormitory caves. They find a number of ex-Blackhearts surrounding a woman called Thresher facing off against a roughly equal number of ex-Sons of the West. A spotty young man (Quintain) lies groaning on the floor, cradling a broken arm. Blades and bludgeons are drawn. Walker tells everyone to calm down as Flame prepares to skewer anyone who doesn't comply. Her dagger ignites with a whoosh and there is a clatter of dropped weapons.

Various accusations are hurled, but it appears that Quintain came on to Thresher and wouldn't take no for an answer, so she broke his arm. Neither Walker nor Flame are sympathetic to the randy young man, causing mutters of discontent from the Sons of the West that are only slightly ameliorated when Walker heals the break. Everyone goes back to bed in a grumpy mood.

Things are not much better in the morning. Voulges and Steel are at each other's throats over the rota for cleaning the latrines, which are overflowing again. Voulges, told off for picking on ex-Daggerboys, mutters about how much better things would be if Rathgard were here, a sentiment with which Walker heartily agrees - "I can't bear having to be reasonable all the time". A cheery chap called Byrnie proposes free passes to the brothels for all gang members to relieve the sexual tension, a suggestion which earns him a prime position on the new latrine rota. Anvil, who has been looking after the injured from the battle for the Water Tower, requests funds to purchase a sharp saw. One of the Daggerboys' wounds has turned septic and the leg needs to be cut off. Walker goes to take a look and finds twenty other people in need of his attention. He spends the morning healing, leaving Flame in charge.

Slight passes the day with Cunning, asking questions. Cunning tells him that Glisten Gold may resort to military measures if the income from the brothels is cut off. He has heard little from the Masks, other than that Loudvoice Mask, the director of the Theatre of the Thousand Spheres, is resigning, possibly in response to Flame's insinuations at Wormwood Crookstaff's inquest. After Cunning is evasive in explaining his remark about "poor old Ulrich", Slight mentions the Twelve. Cunning is genuinely surprised and shocked and begs Slight not to talk of them, for they can be dangerous. When Slight questions this, saying that Wrath described himself as "the last of the Twelve", Cunning says that on the contrary, the Twelve are very much alive. In return, Cunning expresses an interest in Painter, asking what Slight knows about her and where they met. Slight gives his impressions, but claims that Painter and Flame talked about Flame's home realm when they met in the entrance to Chamber Platinum. It is not clear whether Cunning believes his lie.

Back in the cellars, Flame quells the bickering in her own unique and terrifying way, which does not endear her to the troops but solves the indiscipline problem temporarily. She also makes short work of a business proposition from Herring Turnwick, an apothecary with the fake charm and oily manners of an insurance salesman, who asks to be allowed to sell his cure-all nostrum in Beggartown in return for a share of the profits. Flame confiscates his sample and says they'll get back to him. It does not take Walker long to identify the major ingredient of the nostrum as poppy juice.

After lunch, Flame decides to pay a visit to Brother Valentine at the Mercy Hospital. The run-down warehouse is as busy and unsanitary as ever, but the hordes of besieging bliss addicts are less in evidence. Brother Carmine, a harassed young man, takes time from spooning gruel into the mouth of a dying beggar to tell her that Brother Valentine has gone to the Mothers at the Temple of Mercy in Everway to beg for supplies. Disguising herself with her Slight-enchanted hood, Flame goes to find him. She uses the secret entrance under Hardhand Tower and makes her way north east past the Houses of Dusk to Sufferer's Square. The main temple is a 150 foot diameter circular structure in white and brown, surmounted by a blue mushroom-shaped dome. Steps lead up to the three discreet entrances which are hidden behind pillars so that citizens can enter without being observed from the square. Each entrance has two alert-looking Watcher guards and Flame is just wondering whether to risk going past them when she sees Brother Valentine emerge. He is empty-handed and looks very annoyed.

Flame catches up with him as he heads down Healer Street towards the Mercy Bridge. The Mothers have rejected his request for help, claiming that they have nothing to spare. Flame asks him what he needs and donates the ten hefts that she was carrying. They go to the Bazaar and Flame intimidates the stall owners into giving Valentine a good deal on a handful of bolts of linen for bandages. On the way back, Valentine mentions that killing a Mother is one of the few crimes in Everway that is punishable by death. He explains that this was a result of the assassinations of newly arrived Mothers after the Blood Plague by Moondancers who disapproved of their worship of the Mother Goddess rather than the Walker. Flame sees Valentine back to the Mercy Hospital and returns to the Cellars.

After finishing his studies with Cunning, Slight also visits the Temple of Mercy. Unlike Flame, he is not bothered by the guards at the entrances and slips inside. The atmosphere is an odd combination of hospital and cathedral. The cool central area, lit by high windows, is dominated by a large circular altar on which stands a fifty foot high statue of the Goddess in her healing aspect. In front of this is a roped off area for prayer. Offerings from grateful Everwayans litter the floor round the altar, ranging from decomposing food to precious works of art. The altar and some of the statues have slots in their bases for monetary offerings. Stone incense burners fill the air with perfume but fail to disguise the more unpleasant smells of illness. Mothers wait to greet the sick, first triaging them according to symptoms and then taking them into side rooms (chapels of healing) for examination and consultation. Disturbing sounds of sawing and muffled shrieks can be sometimes be heard, but are soon lost in the temple's hush. Clean-up crews regularly dust and mop the interior and quietly remove the debris of the operations (and the occasional body). Those requiring hospitalisation are wheeled away through two wide covered colonnades leading to the ancillary towers to left and right. Slight notes the hugely extended fingers that some of the Mothers possess and the guards at the entrances of the narrow enclosed staircases leading up to the offices on the first and second floors. Aware of the louring presence of pyramid, he decides not to push his luck and returns to the Cellars.

At supper time, Brassart turns up to complain about the people that Heron sent to repair the water tower, accusing her of using her cronies from Beggartown. Heron replies forcefully that they are simply people who want to work; two of them are skilled builders who have already suggested cheaper sources of wood, stone and tools, and the remainder are working for half the wages demanded by Brassart's "friends". Brassart shouts that the one in charge, a woman called T-Square, is a bliss addict. Heron acknowledges that this is true but says that she is an experienced forewoman and is trying to get clean. Walker intervenes at this point and reasons with Brassart, telling him that he will be well paid. Brassart is not placated and goes off in a sulk. Heron thanks Walker for supporting her and points out that they have a ready-made workforce in Beggartown - "if you can offer them a better life and convince them that you're not just in it for yourselves, they'll follow you anywhere." Walker tells her to make enquiries and goes off to help the Brothers at the Mercy Hospital, while Slight and Flame try to identify some of the important-looking words from her Cleacuun book.

Saturnday, 5th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Milch Cow, Strangerside Docks, midnight

Having successfully got away from the Bluestripes, Captain Henbane is eager to dump her passengers and get back to sea to find the Spice Runner. Realising the danger and trying to buy some time, Rathgard exercises his charm to persuade her to go for a drink with himself and Fish Trader. They make their way up to the Nine Cities Tavern in Crafters Square. There are not many people about, but Rathgard does get to catch up on the latest gossip. The big news of the day is that the Stonebreakers have refused to pay their City Tax, claiming that their share is too high. Their leader Lucent Stonebreaker, objected to several city expenses, including the use of genuine gold streamers at the last Festival of Masks, the cost of new uniforms for the Crows and the Keepers, and 100,000 hefts of additional "miscellaneous expenses" incurred by the Palace for which no explanation has been forthcoming. The Emeralds are launching a court case to reclaim the debt.

General sentiment in the bar is that this is not a case that the Stonebreakers are likely to win. They have public backing from the Weavers, Mudbanks and Scratches; Almond Weaver has been particularly outspoken. It is also likely that they have tacit support from other families. Someone points out that the Watchers were left out of the uniforms settlement and so are likely to be disgruntled. However, the majority of families are likely to be against them. Much now rests on whether the Great Council decides that the uniforms are a concern for the State of Roundwander rather than just the city of Everway, which would make the non-payment of taxes related to them into a case for the King's Justice, which is run by the Emeralds, rather than the City Justice, which is run by the Council.

Eventually, not even Rathgard can persuade Captain Henbane to stay and they head back out into the square. As they are making their farewells, Rathgard notices Wishbone's hawk hovering over nervously nearby, clutching a piece of paper in its talons. Fish Trader quietly disappears into a back alley and emerges with a cut on his forehead and the paper in his hand. It says that the Spice Runner will hide in the marshy islands south of Everway and asks Rathgard to fetch Slight.

Rathgard leads the way back to the cellars where he receives a hero's welcome, especially from Voulges who hugs him tightly. Walker quickly fills him in on the increase in his empire since the departure of the Spice Runner and mentions the tensions in the gang. Rathgard and Fish Trader stay behind to organise a bonding exercise while Walker, Flame and Slight head for Blackheart Lodge to pick up a boat.

On the Spice Runner, things are tense. Seahook has beached the overloaded boat on an island in the middle of the marshy delta off the coast of Strangerside and with Reel's and Slate's help has dismantled the mast and covered the hull with branches to make it less obvious. Iron is sent to hide in the bushes in case of trouble. Wishbone sends out her long-suffering hawk to monitor the situation. It is not good news. Captain Henbane has found the channel through the centre of the delta and is rapidly approaching.

Fortunately, just as the Milch Cow is about to hove into view, there is a splash of paddles from the opposite direction. Slight and Walker appear and Slight bespells a distant clump of bushes to look like a disguised ship. The distraction works; there are cries of discovery followed by cries of disappointment, and the Milch Cow glides off in another direction. Seahook, Reel, Slate and Walker row the dismasted ship to Blackheart Lodge, where Flame is waiting. The goods are unloaded and Seahook says he will take the Spice Runner back to Strangerside Dock. Carrying the most valuable and perishable goods, the party returns to the Cellars for a well-deserved rest.

After a late breakfast, the heroes gather to discuss what to do next. They are now rich - the Spice Runner's load is worth at least 10,000 hefts and the substantial hauls from the Daggerboys' and the Blackhearts' headquarters have added to the kitty. Three Trees offers to take care of selling the contraband. He has a long list of buyers for the wine and cheeses and knows Destrier and other mercenary types who will pay top prices for the arms. The fruits, dried crab meat and alchemical ingredients can be sold under the counter in the Bazaar. He will also pay off Seahook, Reel and Slate. Rathgard commends Iron and asks him if he would like to be his secretary, but Iron would rather work in the kitchen - life at Rathgard's side is rather too exciting for his taste.

The heroes state their interests. Flame wants to look for Painter in the Library of All Worlds, but it is pointed out that she cannot enter Chamber Platinum without trouble because she did not swear the oath not to set fire to the books. Wishbone offers to go in her stead. The heroes agree that some revenge should be taken on the Mothers and on "Clackit Weaver" for (presumably) instigating the death of Beautiful Rice. Flame is also keen to pursue the Terracotta mystery and Slight says that he will try to get more out of Cunning about the Twelve. As regards the rivalries with the various Everway families, the heroes decide that the Golds are probably their best allies. Walker mentions Heron's interest in improving the lot of the Beggartown masses. Rathgard is enthusiastic but says that taking down the Everway ruling families is the top priority. He does allow Heron to get things moving by talking to her contacts. Fish Trader suggests creating a genuine fishing fleet that could provide food and a front for smuggling operations and says that he will talk to his associates. Not entirely trusting Three Trees, Rathgard sets Dirk to spy on him.

After lunch the heroes disperse to their various tasks. Walker, Flame and Rathgard visit the Mercy Hospital to deliver the serenial to Brother Valentine, who is duly grateful. They ask him what else could be done to improve the lot of the people of Beggartown and he mentions the lack of fresh water as being a major cause of ill health. Most of the people get their water from contaminated wells or from the river by the docks. Arranging collection of water from further upstream would undoubtedly improve conditions.

Wishbone makes her way to the Library of All Worlds. Painter is once again absent, but she does get to see Blemish Scratch, who tells her about Golden Mounts, a realm that is said to be particularly beloved of satyrs. Wishbone notes that the only entrance to the stacks is constantly overseen by the librarians of Chamber Platinum, making it difficult for Terracotta to have been brought this way undetected.

Slight has an enlightening session with his father. He returns to the subject of the Twelve and their connection to Wrath, describing Flame's divination but saying that he had come across it in the Repository of Dead Stories in Tales. When he mentions going to the Library of All Worlds to investigate further, Cunning begs him not to; investigating the affairs of the Twelve is dangerous, he says, and particularly at the Library. When Slight says that he has no choice because his fellow adventurers will investigate even if he doesn't, Cunning finally admits that he knows who they are. The Twelve is a secret society of senior Everwayans who are trying to turn themselves into avatars. He thinks that Wrath may be a failed experiment.

Walker and Flame collar a Nipper and send a message to Carrot asking her to put her minions onto investigating Clackit Weaver, in particular the possibility that he may be a Snakering. They also ask for any news on Cherry Blossom, his partner in crime.

Back in the cellars, Slight asks to see Flame's Cleacuun book again. He managed to make some progress on his important word list with Cunning and is hoping that it will now make more sense. It does not, but Slight notices something that he hadn't seen previously. The book reeks of an unfamiliar power, but now that he looks at it closely, he sees a second, more familiar, magic associated with it as well. Following the threads, Slight realises that the book is tied to Flame. If anyone tries to take the book against her will, her destructive power will be tapped and focused on the thief. He realises that this is why Painter, for all her powers, could not simply take the book.

After supper, Slight tells the others what he has discovered. Fish Trader wonders whether the Twelve is experimenting on spherewalkers; it would explain why Chamber Platinum is constantly recruiting them. The heroes decide that they want to break into the library and find the place where Terracotta was killed. A dampener is put on their plans, however, when Flame is asked to do two divinations: one for the location of the hidden door in the maze beneath the books and the other for the most useful thing that they could take. The first yields the answer that there are two hidden doors. The second response is "three keys from twelve", implying a door with multiple locks.

Chapter 11
The Trade Dispute

In which the heroes cry freedom and learn of a chilling connection

Sunday, 6th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars

Heron has not let the grass grow under her feet - she has already put the word out that Rathgard will speak to the assembled masses of Beggartown at Dimmer Court this evening. The heroes are just deciding what to do for the day when there are sounds of argument. A harassed Daggerboy says that a woman called Caddis Whitestar is at the door and is demanding the protection that Rathgard promised. As it is 4 bells, the time that Walker promised he would be available for judgements, here she is.

Caddis is a tall, forceful woman in her fifties with short white spiky hair and a russet waistcoat. Her clothing is covered in smears of clay, indicating her profession as a potter. Her manner is direct and rude, which annoys Rathgard who pushes Fish Trader forward to deal with her. It turns out that the person she needs protection from is another potter, Hewer Wainscot, who has a booth near hers in Crafters Square. Recently he has dropped his prices and she cannot compete - she and her daughter Skillet are on their own and are only just making ends meet as it is. She wants someone to go and "have a word" with him. He lives in Redearth Street in the Crafters Quarter, a road just down from Cork Street and the Heroes Tavern. Fish Trader decides that Treb, the gang member who distinguished himself in the fight against Blackjack at Blackheart Lodge, is the man for the job, and tells him to check out Hewer's booth in Crafters Square and his workshop.

After Caddis Whitestar's intervention, the heroes go back to discussing their next moves. Flame's divinations suggest that there is little that can be done at the Library of All Worlds. Slight is not progressing as rapidly as he had hoped with the Book; it uses words that are very different from the everyday Cleacuun that he has been learning with Cunning. Slight has seen the phrase "of light and darkness" and a word meaning "chaos" or "disorder" a few times in the text, but that's about it. Fish Trader wonders aloud about how Cunning came to know about the Twelve, while Flame rudely describes Slight's ancestors as "bassoons". Then there are the Mothers. Why are they experimenting with bliss? Slight suggests borrowing a bliss addict and taking him to the Temple of Mercy to see what they do. As Walker and Flame are too notorious to engage in this experiment, they decide to head over to Crafters Square to investigate Hewer Wainscot for themselves. Flame also wants to find the physician from whom Stoneflake and Whiting bought the owl bangles that Terracotta was wearing. Rathgard remains in the Cellars to chat to people.

Crafters Square is organised in a similar fashion to the Everway Bazaar, with long lines of stalls. Caddis has her pieces laid out on a dirty cloth on the ground. She is bawling "pots and plates! finest designs!" at the top of her lungs, but there is little interest. Walker and Flame catch sight of Treb who is lurking nearby. He points out Hewer's small wooden stall a few places further down the line. Hewer is in his 40s, tall, skinny and clean-shaven with long thinning black hair, and is accompanied by a teenage apprentice. The quality of his goods is noticeably better than Caddis', with more designs in a wider range of colours. He is selling them for about half a heft less than Caddis. Although his stall is buzzing, Hewer does not look happy - there is an air of desperation to his sales pitch. Walker and Flame approach, pretending to be a couple after a big order. Flame picks up a plate. There is a pretty flower design at its centre, but she can see that it is concealing another shape. Holding it up to the light and scratching with her thumbnail, she reveals it - the crossed spade-and-pick symbol of the Diggers.

Walker persuades Hewer to take some time off to show them his workshop. As they walk to Redearth Street, he comments on how competitive his prices are and hopes that their large order can be had for the same amount. Hewer is noticeably unhappy about this and explains that he has had a few cash flow problems, but nothing that shouldn't soon be sorted out. Flame mentions the design on the plate and Hewer admits that yes, it was a 200 piece order for the Diggers that was cancelled. The intermediary for the sale, Threnody Salter, told him that his services were no longer required, as she had found a cheaper supplier.

More of the story comes out as Hewer shows them around his neat studio and introduces them to his wife Hard-as-Nails (actually a motherly, well-built woman in her forties) and his four apprentices Babble, Roller, Woodsmoke and Wart. Hewer is not the only one whom Threnody has laid off - his arch-rival Vesper Morningstar accused him of stealing her business, and Oddeye Softsand and Faience Twolamp, purveyors of high-quality landscape-painted plates and twee animal jugs respectively, are also suffering. Walker says that he is an associate of the new Lord of Beggartown and offers Hewer a line of credit. Hewer begs him to have a word with Threnody and find out who his competitor is, offering a knock-down price for their order if he does so.

Flame, who had wandered out into the yard behind the studio while the men were discussing business, comes back in carrying a handful of grey powdery clay with an unusual rainbow sheen. "This is pretty", she says, "I want our set to be made out of this." Hewer is highly embarrassed and explains that the clay, which Flame had spotted spilling out from under a locked door, was for a special order and that there were limited quantities. He refuses to say more, citing commercial confidentiality, but suggests seeing Ten Bell Tiler, the order's originator, as he supplied the clay. As Walker and Flame return to Crafters Square, she explains why she was so interested. She thinks that the clay is the stuff from which Wishbone's spirit bottles are made. She shows Walker some pot fragments she found on a spoil heap in Hewer's yard, which do indeed seem to be the right shape and design.

Wishbone, Fish Trader and Slight head over to the Mercy Hospital and explain their plan to Brother Valentine. He is not optimistic about their chances - the Mothers at the Temple of Mercy charge Strangers and Outsiders a "consultation fee" of three hefts and then generally tell them that there is nothing they can do - but agrees to lend them one of his patients, a six year old boy called Web who is conveniently catatonic. Wishbone asks if the Mothers are aware of the Waters of Lethe treatment for bliss addiction and an abashed Brother Quicksaw admits that yes, he passed this information on. With child in tow, the heroes head for the Temple of Mercy, detouring through Crafters Square to pick up a statue of the Mother which Slight glamours to look special. He also makes Wishbone and Fish Trader appear to be servants from a rich Strangerside household, with Web as an adopted child.

The heroes enter the Temple of Mercy without incident. They are greeted by Mother Cherisher Pious, a young man in a blue robe. He is impressed by Wishbone's show of devotion as she places the Mother statue offering and offers up a prayer, and listens attentively to her story about the Beggartown child that her mistress and master had agreed to adopt, who had most unfortunately fallen under the spell of the accursed drug bliss before he arrived in their house. Mother Pious says that the Temple has some expertise in the matter and offers to waive the fee, but Wishbone refuses - "dues must be paid". He shows them into a side-chapel, a plain room dominated by a picture of the Goddess and a rather alarming examination table with manacles, and tells them to wait.

A half-bell later, a woman in her 30s with long black curly hair and equally long fingers enters and introduces herself as Mother Immortal Serenity. She gives Web a cursory examination and asks what part of Beggartown he came from. She confirms that he is suffering from bliss addiction and suggests the Waters of Lethe treatment. Wishbone hints that an increase in funding to the Temple from her rich mistress might be possible if there was anything further that the Mothers could do, but rather surprisingly Serenity refuses, saying that the "heart must be pure". As she leaves the room, Slight tells the others to create a diversion so that he can follow her.

A distraction involving a knocked-over child is duly created, and Slight succeeds in sneaking past the guard at the bottom of the staircase which Mother Serenity ascends. It leads to a narrow curving corridor with pierced windows overlooking the central area on one side and a series of doors on the other. Luckily there is no-one around. Slight creeps after Mother Serenity as she enters a door marked "Mother Immortal Light / Mother Immortal Serenity". Applying an ear to it, he overhears the following conversation:

"Any good?"

"Not really. They said they didn't know where he was from. But his symptoms were the same as batch 264."

At this point Slight's luck runs out and a door opens further down the corridor. Slight dodges into a stairwell as a Mother glides past, cursing the proximity of the Pyramid which is reducing the effectiveness of his concealment spells. He makes to go up the stairs but hears footsteps coming down. Rapidly retracing his steps he opens a door marked "Private" and slips inside. This proves to be a mistake. It is a room where the Mothers prepare for surgery. Slight catches a brief glimpse of a rack of freshly laundered robes and a stone fountain dispensing scented water for washing, but his attention is occupied chiefly by the three Mothers with long fingers who turn to stare at him. "Outsider!" says one, and they set up a loud piercing ululation. Slight rapidly backs out of the room and hurries down the stairs just as two guards come pounding up. He points back the way he came. "A stranger, in the robing room!" he says. "Hurry!" He is in luck - the guards fall for his subterfuge and rush past him. Back out in the main area, he sidles behind a fat merchant and uses him as cover to reach the safety of the open air. He rejoins Fish Trader and Wishbone as they conduct their catatonic charge back to the Mercy Hospital.

Back in the Cellars, Rathgard's day is not entirely without incident. Sapling sends a list of potential prostitutes for promotion to the Lavender House (Ginger, Daffodil, Pearl Number 3, Ketch, Diamond Delight, Laughing Lily and Sir Happy) and he makes an appointment to inspect them. After sorting out some arguments in the gang, he is just wondering what's for lunch when he hears shouting from the kitchen. One of Cedar's skivvies, a plain girl with black hair whom Rathgard vaguely recalls is called Wist, is lying on the floor, pinned down by Voulges who is forcing something into her mouth. Rathgard raises a questioning eyebrow. Voulges says that he spotted her adding an odd-looking herb to a small pot intended for the "master" so he is making her eat it to prove it isn't poisoned. It soon becomes clear that Voulges' suspicions were correct; Wist gasps out her hate for Rathgard, blaming him for the death of Towershield, who, she says, was the love of her life (even though he never noticed her). The herb is a common ingredient in rat poison. Leaving Wist's body twitching on the floor, Rathgard takes Voulges to one side, thanks him for saving his life again, and gently suggests that next time he reports suspicious behaviour rather than taking direct action. Voulges gazes adoringly up at him and declares that he will never let anyone harm him. Rathgard orders that fitting funeral arrangements are made for Wist and settles down to a poison-free lunch.

In Crafters Square, Flame and Walker are seeking out the apothecary who sold Terracotta's bangles. This is not difficult; the small tent decorated with owls is a dead giveaway. A curly-haired man in priestly robes is standing in front of it exhorting passers by to "seek the healing of Athena". Healing talismans in the form of symbols (olive tree, owl, distaff, spear, gorgon shield) inscribed on conveniently wearable accessories are laid out in a tray beside him, including bangles exactly matching the one on Terracotta's body. Flame starts asking pointed questions about the effects of these objects and Walker cuts short the man's sales spiel by loudly feigning madness, causing them to be bundled into the tent, where the huckster asks them what they are up to. He remembers Terracotta; she caused quite a rumpus the second time she visited. She was convinced that the bangles were helping and wanted another set, but her parents could not afford them. He was sorry to hear that she had been taken to the House of Calm and is surprised when Walker tells him that Terracotta escaped, for it is in the same compound as the House of Penitence, a prison. Flame gives him 5 hefts for the information and the pair decide to check out the House of Calm for themselves.

It is quite a walk; the compound is a mile and a half northwest of Everway, just south of the Gatelands. Two large, grim five-storey buildings, one white-washed, the other grey, are built back-to-back, surrounded and separated by a 20 foot high wall. Both have serried rows of barred windows and only the screams, groans and sobs of the mad distinguish the prison from the asylum. The gatehouse to the House of Calm is guarded by a couple of Keepers, but the reception is manned by a beefy-looking Mother who introduces himself in fluting tones as Mother Noble. Flame and Walker pretend to be relatives of Terracotta who have come a long distance to see her, but Mother Noble says that there is no-one of that name among the inmates. Flame persuades him to look back in the record book, which does reveal her name; however, she "left" some six weeks ago. Noble seems somewhat disconcerted about this and suggests that they talk to Mother Serene who was her carer and who just happens to be in the courtyard. He waves them through.

The gatehouse leads into an exercise yard containing a few sorry-looking trees and bushes. Some gibbering lunatics are being given their daily airing. They are chained and leashed like dogs, their blue-robed warders standing a few yards away as they sniff around the "garden" or just gaze into the sky and howl. Mother Serene is a pleasant looking motherly woman who is accompanied by her assistant Scruple, a thin-faced, sour-looking man. Serene freely admits that Terracotta escaped; she squeezed out between the bars of the window of her third floor room and swung to the top of the wall on a rope made of her own clothes. When Walker expresses surprise, she agrees that it seems unlikely but says that insane people often have surprising reserves of strength and cunning. Passing the leash of the lunatic she is tending to Scruple, she offers to show Walker the cell where Terracotta was kept, which he accepts. The view from the cell makes her story, if anything, even less convincing. There are no scratch marks or other signs of the escape, and the swing to the wall, while physically possible, would have required superhuman strength.

Mother Scruple, left behind with Flame, is rather more forthcoming. He remembers Terracotta because she attacked him when he tried to get her bangle off her. "She clearly required special... treatment". He was surprised when she disappeared, "though that happens rather a lot round here". He mentions a beggar called Galleon, who had a penchant for eating cats and who annoyed Sootstain Digger when he killed her prize moggy. He disappeared after going off for a special treatment at the Temple of Mercy only a couple of weeks ago. It is getting late and there seems little more to learn here, so when Walker returns he and Flame make their farewells and return to the Cellars.

Wishbone, Fish Trader and Slight return Web to the Mercy Hospital and take the opportunity to test some theories about what the Mothers are up to. Brother Quicksaw confirms that there was a pattern to the bliss symptoms in different parts of Beggartown; some areas showed high levels of addiction, others had unusual side-effects such as bleeding from the eyes. He also noted that the effects changed over time, with later victims showing less variability in the severity of their symptoms compared to earlier ones. Fish Trader speculates darkly that the Mothers are trying to find a way to keep Something in a dreamless sleep. The heroes determine that Web is from Midden Well. Back in the Cellars, they check in the Daggerboys' ledger - batch number 264 was indeed delivered there.

Evening is drawing in and Rathgard is preparing for his appearance at Dimmer Court. He orders Cedar to prepare some food for the assembly and opts to take Flame, Walker and Fish Trader with him. Wishbone remains behind at the cellars in case of trouble, and Slight wants to investigate the Temple of Mercy again when there are fewer people around. Voulges insists on hand-picking twelve of the toughest Black Daggers as a bodyguard.

Dimmer Court is a high-rise ruin consisting of a central courtyard surrounded on three sides by tall buildings and a six foot wall pierced by an archway along the fourth. The buildings have been gutted but the walls facing onto the court are still standing. About two hundred beggars sit or stand in the shadowy window openings that they reach by scrambling up the rubble on the other side. In the centre of the courtyard is the ruins of a fountain - only the basin remains and it is filled with rubble and junk, but, lit by torches, it makes a good stage. It is also a good target for an assassin's arrow, but Voulges assures Rathgard that he has men patrolling behind the scenes.

Things do not start well. As Rathgard, the heroes and Heron stride forward to take their places, there is pointing and whispering. "It's them!" A heckler shouts "Hey, it's Flame the Floozie and her stick-up-the-arse boyfriend! Did he tell you to come? I bet he always tells you to come..." The ensuing laughter quickly turns to cries of panic as Flame sets a flask of oil on fire and hurls it towards the first floor window from which the voice came. She aims to miss, but a cry and a thud suggests that at least one unfortunate has lost their balance in the scramble to get out of the way. Rathgard calls out the heckler, mocking him for his anonymity. Perhaps wisely, he does not reply.

Rathgard introduces his team, presenting them as the "Anti-Everwayans" who will fight for Beggartown's interests. He presents Walker as a great healer, Flame as a mighty fighter who has proved herself in the battles against the hated Daggerboys and Blackhearts, and Fish Trader as a champion for honest business people. He promises a fairer deal for everyone.

The beggars listen but even with Rathgard's powers of oratory they prove a tough audience. One asks whether the heroes will provide protection "like what Towershield did" (a question that occasions cynical laughter: "He only protected 'imself!"). Fish Trader assures them that as security chief, he will impose the rule of law. Another asks when the bliss supplies will be restored. Rathgard suggests building breweries instead. He also promises better access to Everway for beggars and asks Heron to take notes about the lack of firewood, clean water and food, the dilapidated housing, the feral and illiterate children and the omnipresence of vermin, promising that all of these problems will be dealt with in time. Things go slightly off the boil when he suggests the formation of area committees with competent leaders - it appears that there is considerable rivalry and turf warfare between the Docksiders, the Midden Well Mob, the Dimmer Courtsiders, the Harlots of Against-the-Wall Alley and the Catmange Street Crawlers, to name but a few. Nonetheless, Rathgard builds to his peroration about the bright new future awaiting the people of Beggartown and Voulges gets them chanting his name. When he announces free sausages and beer for everyone, the crowd erupts in cheers.

As usual, the more useful work gets done behind the scenes as various people come up and make suggestions. One suggests encouraging the beggars' entrepeneurial spirit with micro-loans, an idea that interests Fish Trader. A villainous type suggests hiring privateers to raid the firewood boats on the Sunset River. Heron introduces T-Square, who says that she will be happy to help build proper houses when she is finished at the Water Tower. Flame takes an interest in pest control and is told of two people who could possibly help - Ten Trap Snapshut, a rat catcher in the eastern Crafters Quarter who would probably be interested in stopping rats from Beggartown invading his area, and Verbena Snowblossom, a woman with the power to draw rats to her by singing - though the latter is considered useless and mad as she thinks rats are cute and insists on catching them humanely and taking them to a place of safety. A beggar who is seeking to ingratiate herself shows Walker the cause of the sniggering when he and Flame first appeared - a number of posters depicting the sexual adventures of "Flame the Floozie" and "the Walker" ("Flame the Floozie admires the Walker's Mighty Staff!" and so on) have been pasted around the back of the Dimmer Court buildings. Flame and Walker immediately decide to commission their own, better, versions. They ask after the identity of the heckler, but no-one seems to know who he was.

Slight has returned to Sufferer's Square and is lurking, waiting for an appropriate moment to enter the Temple of Mercy as it winds down for the night. Unfortunately it appears that the Mothers are a dedicated lot and many work late. They leave in groups and make their way up the lantern-lit South Root Street towards the Mother family houses around Nurturer Square. Slight spots Mother Immortal Serenity with three others - one of them is a woman in her 40s with long black hair and extended fingers who seems the most likely candidate for Mother Immortal Light. It is several bells after dusk before the traffic dies down, and even then a Watcher stands alertly in the Temple portico. Slight uses his alertness against him by making a member of a passing patrol of Watchers seem suspicious. While they stand arguing, he slips inside through the fortunately unlocked door.

The interior is eerie by moonlight and the shadowy figure of the Goddess looms menacingly. Slight makes his way without incident to Immortal Light's office and slips inside. It is a small and cluttered room dominated by a desk under the window. Bookshelves and tables covered with papers stand against the walls. The papers show that "Lotusland Compound B" is her chief research occupation - several describe its preparation in various ways and with various other materials, and reports in Brother Quicksaw's familiar hand are carefully correlated. Frustratingly, however, the notes do not state clearly what she is aiming to achieve. On the desk a paper entitled "DB Alternatives" has the following list:

• Halyards
• Turnwicks
• SotW - opposed - can't use
• Orangeblossom - Fortitude's clinic
• Other realms? Healertown? Glorious Empire?

There is still no-one around, so Slight decides to do a bit more investigating to try to find where the "special treatments" are done. He sneaks down the corridor into one of the ward towers. A sloping ramp leads upwards; lights and groans from above indicate that this is where the patients are, so he tries a small door nearby, which leads down to an underground corridor with doors at regular intervals. Most are locked, but one attracts his attention due to the chittering and squeaking coming from behind it. Ignoring the "Private - do not enter" sign, he opens it - and is met by a nightmare vista of mewing cats with eyes full of blood, dogs with amputated paws and rabbits scampering manically round and round their cages. Taking one look at the assembled horrors, he grabs some papers from a nearby desk and flees, letting himself out through the tower's service door.

Moonday, 7th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars

Flame wakes up with an idea. She sends out a couple of minions to find and summon Verbena Snowblossom, for whom she has a proposition. It does not take long for her to turn up. She is a pale-skinned woman with thick yellow curly hair and staring eyes. Her arms and hands are covered in rat bites and she carries a backpack with a pole to which a number of cages are attached by chains. She is as kooky as popular sentiment suggests, but readily agrees with Flame's suggestion that moving the poor suffering rats of Beggartown to a place with a better food supply - such as the Bazaar and the King's Palace - is a good idea. Flame gets her to demonstrate her singing, which though piercing, tuneless and painful to human ears, does indeed seem to summon the local rat population of the cellars and make them amenable to capture in cages. Flame deputes a number of gang members to help Verbena smuggle the rats into central Everway through the Hardhand Tower entrance.

Dirk comes limping in. He has sprained his ankle jumping off a wall while trailing Three Trees. He has nothing significant to report - Three Trees is doing exactly what he said he would. Walker sends a couple of gang members off to watch the House of Calm and trail any inmates that are sent off for "special treatments". Walker and Flame finally remember to tell Wishbone about the clay they found at Hewer Wainscot's. Wishbone demands to see the pot shards and confirms that they are the right size and shape to be spirit bottles. She wants to visit Ten Bell Tiler immediately and Rathgard agrees to go with her. Flame and Fish Trader decide to follow up the Threnody Salter connection while Walker stays behind to read the notes discovered by Slight, who is still asleep following his late night exertions. They describe surgical operations performed under the influence of different batches of Lotusland compound B administered in different ways. The results are described in chillingly clinical prose, frequently ending "subject died".

Threnody's emporium is a small town house in Apple Street, close to the centre of Old Town. It has red-curtained windows and discrete doors at front and back. The interior is an art gallery tastefully showcasing the best of Strangerside arts and crafts including paintings, sculptures, furniture, household goods and textiles. Flame is admiring a full length mirror when Threnody herself enters. She is a strikingly good-looking middle-aged woman with long dark hair, a stylish black dress and a wasp-thin waist. She is gracious and polite and offers them wine which Fish Trader recognises as a Grapepresser vintage. Flame orders a full-length mirror and asks if it can be wrapped, delivered and fixed to the ceiling above her bed. To her credit, Threnody's demeanour barely wavers. While she is distracted, Fish Trader examines the plates on display. One catches his eye because it has a design that is strikingly similar to the one on the plate that Walker brought back from Hewer Wainscot. Turning it over, he notices that the ridge on the base has some irregular incisions and dots that look decidedly odd. He and Flame purchase the plate, which Threnody offers for a ridiculously cheap price, lower even than Hewer's. When Fish Trader comments on the good value, Threnody explains that she has an efficient local supplier.

Meanwhile, Rathgard and Wishbone are tracking down Ten Bell Tiler in Turnwood Street. This does not turn out to be too hard as he owns about half of it. A row of terraced houses close to the river has been knocked together and formed into a compound. Smoke from kilns drifts out across the street. An archway leads to the courtyard at the back and seated in it is a white-haired old woman, dressed in grey, who is knitting and muttering to herself. Somewhat bizarrely she is wearing a human jawbone with tooth marks on it as a necklace. She glances up as the heroes approach and sits back in her chair "Ten Bell! Outsiders! Coming into the house!"

Her alarm brings the owner running. He is a bulky, ebony-coloured, arrogant-looking man in his 40s, dressed in rich red robes that make him sweat slightly. A chewed human rib hangs round his neck on a thong. He calms the paranoid old woman who is evidently his mother, and ushers the heroes round the back. As his name implies, he makes roof tiles. On one side of the courtyard, the kilns shimmer with heat; on the other, the terraced houses have been hollowed out and their backs removed to make long thin covered barns where apprentices roll out red clay into moulds ready for firing. One house in the middle of the row has been left intact and nearby is his office, which is covered with papers.

The interview does not go well. Wishbone informs Ten Bell that he may be trading in stolen goods from her home realm and asks him where he got the clay and who he is making the bottles for. Ten Bell comments that Wainscot has been blabbing and says that it is a confidential commercial arrangement that he cannot talk about, then tries to usher them out. Rathgard intervenes, asking Ten Bell if he knows who he is. Ten Bell doesn't know and doesn't care. Rathgard introduces himself as "the Lord of Beggartown" which does not impress him. When Ten Bell still refuses to answer Wishbone's questions, Rathgard gets threatening. Ten Bell shouts "Mother! Call the -" but doesn't get any further because Rathgard throws a pile of papers in his face, then takes advantage of his distraction to pin his arm behind his back and force him to the floor. Ten Bell sulkily submits and reveals what he knows about the contract, which is not a lot as he is a middleman. A "friend" placed the order for 20 bottles on behalf, he thinks, of an Everway family. The deal was sweet - 30 hefts per bottle - but Ten Bell lacked the skills to make them himself so he outsourced the job to Hewer for, he says, a 10% cut of the fee (Rathgard's truth sense pings at this point and Ten Bell eventually admits that he is taking a 33% cut). A cloaked messenger who refused to identify himself delivered the clay and the plans for the bottles, and has returned at weekly intervals to pick up the pots that Hewer has managed to make (he is next due in two days time, on Earthday). To Ten Bell's considerable annoyance, the mystery buyer has only paid for 3 of the 10 pots delivered so far, claiming that the others "do not work". When asked who the "friend" was who brokered the deal, Tiler reluctantly reveals a familiar name - Lemon Stemsnip, the woman responsible for the deal to fetch an Artisan pot from the Glorious Empire that the heroes employed Callus Wenderway to do.

Wishbone tells Ten Bell to tell Stemsnip that the deal has fallen through and that the clay has been stolen. Furthermore, the Strangerside gangs will be annoyed if any details of the deal go public. Rathgard bangs Ten Bell's head against the floor and tells him that his "cooperation will be noted and appreciated". He and Wishbone saunter out, leaving Ten Bell to nurse his bruised bonce.

Wishbone continues the clean-up operation, taking a thug squad from the cellars and some money round to Hewer Wainscot's. She explains that the spirit bottles are sacred to her realm and that the clay could be stolen, and offers to pay 200 hefts for his lost trade, suggesting that he could make some commemorative mugs instead. Hewer readily agrees and hands over the sack of clay and the plans for the pots. Wishbone glances at them. They are covered with instructions and annotations in what she recognises as her mother's handwriting.

Back at the cellars, the heroes spend several hours puzzling out the strange markings on the plate from Threnody Salter's shop. Eventually Wishbone cracks it - it is a simple numerical cipher encoding a repeated three word phrase. The words are "HELP TRAPPED PLEASE".

Moonday, 7th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars. Evening.

Over supper, the heroes discuss their next moves. First on the agenda is the Mothers. Walker's perusal of the papers that Slight stole from the Temple of Mercy has led him to the conclusion that they are pursuing medically beneficial research by highly unethical means. The heroes decide that the best approach is to dump the matter into the hands of the Everwayan authorities, but are unsure how to go about this.

Fish Trader is eager to set up a police force and asks Rathgard for help in picking suitable gang members. He also wants to improve the Beggartown water supply. Realising that cash flow could soon become a problem, Rathgard summons Treb and tells him to map the Strangerside marshes to find good smuggling routes, and sends a message to Three Trees to arrange another meeting with Captain Tench.

Then there is the matter of the Threnody Salter's plate with its hidden message. Wishbone expresses surprise that the writer did not specify where they were being held. Flame points out the four-pointed star in the centre of the plate, where the maker's mark usually is. It is maddeningly familiar - where has she seen it before?

Finally there is the Terracotta connection. Flame gets Walker to pay her for a divination into the whereabouts of the cat-eating beggar Galleon who disappeared from the House of Calm after going for a "special treatment". The message, for once, is clear: "Beneath the books, beside the portal, the cat-eater awaits his fate". Clearly, further investigation of Chamber Platinum is called for. It is suggested that Slight could take a message to Codex Platinum Scratch with a warning about the security of Everway, but the heroes are too tired to plan things further.

Venusday, 8th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473

The next morning dawns bright and clear. At breakfast, a couple of gang members report that there was unrest in Everway yesterday. It seems that Glimmer Moondance preached another incendiary Moonday sermon about the primacy of the Walker and a couple of hours later, a gang of "concerned citizens" (some of them Moondancers) marched up All the Gods Way demanding the removal of the false deities. There were scuffles and a couple of temples were set on fire.

Wishbone, however, is more interested in following up the spirit bottle connection to Lemon Stemsnip and gets Rathgard to take her to her Old Town emporium. Ms Stemsnip is as elegant and inscrutable as ever, but happy to talk, particularly about her "good friend" Threnody Salter. When Rathgard expresses surprise at the cheapness of her plates and wonders whether such items could have a doubtful provenance, Lemon mildly avers that if Threnody says that they are above board, then they must be. She is less enthusiastic about Wishbone's questions concerning the sparkly clay and the deal with Ten Bell Tiler, stating that her business relies on discretion and hinting that it would be a shame if their mutually beneficial arrangement about the Artisanware pot were to be put in danger. Rathgard exercises his rhetorical skills, elaborating Wishbone's concerns that the magical bottles could be used to control the dead, and Lemon finally drops one hint - that if the dead are involved, it might be sensible to visit the place in Everway where they are to be found. Wishbone deduces that Lemon is referring to the Houses of Dusk and hurries into Everway, while Rathgard heads for the Lavender House to meet the new recruits.

Flame and Walker visit Redearth Street to see if Hewer knows anything about the four-pointed star on the plate. Hard-as-Nails answers the door; she does not recognise the mark as being that of any of Hewer's normal competitors, but does note that the plate's pattern is a clear copy of one of his designs. She directs them to Crafters Square. Flame is not wearing her hood and ignores the pointing, the staring and the part-contemptuous, part-admiring and part-fearful mutterings of the onlookers. Hewer greets them nervously. At first he does not recognise the mark, but Babble pipes up, remarking that it looks like the eye make-up of those people from Hunter's Moon who live in the New Merchant's quarter. Hewer then remembers that he sold a plate to one of them a few months back, who said that he was buying it on behalf of his master, Waving Flag. Hewer is not best pleased at seeing his creative work copied, and asks Flame and Walker to look into it. He assesses the plate's quality as reasonable, but does not think that it could have been produced profitably at the price that the heroes paid for it. Walker assures him that they are "standing up for the working man."

Slight has reluctantly concluded that he must visit Cunning again as he is making no progress in his studies of the Book. He decides to take the direct approach and asks Cunning what a phrase in the Book means, claiming that he saw it inscribed on an old stone wall in Plenty. Cunning is very interested, saying that it is a very old form of Cleacuun found in books dating from before the destruction of Ambasara, the majority of which have been destroyed. He doesn't believe Slight's lie about the wall and asks him where he really saw it. Slight sticks to his tale. Cunning expresses disappointment that his son continues to lie to him and refuses to say more, other than that it is an invocation of some sort, perhaps to the Basahn god Odin.

He does however, arrange for Slight to meet Glisten Gold, Sunrise Gold's employer and owner of the Lavender House and other establishments around Talespinner's Square that were formerly run by the Blackhearts. She is a stout woman in her 50s with curly yellow hair, greying at the edges. Slight recalls that there was a rumour that she was recently caught receiving smuggled cheeses. She asks him about his involvement with the other heroes - Slight replies that they are spherewalkers who saved his life back in Plenty. He amuses them so they let him tag along. He asks Glisten if there is anything that can be done about Flame's disputed status. Glisten points out that the Blackhearts were her employees and that the murder of Nighthawk is one of the items on Flame's charge sheet. Slight claims that all the heroes wanted to do was to stop the bribery and corruption that the Blackhearts were engaged in. Glisten tells him to bring evidence of Nighthawk's dodgy dealings and she will see what can be done.

Back at the cellars, Fish Trader assembles his police force (Mattock, Pauldron, Shank, Gash, Pommel and Snapjaw) and gives them their orders. They will act as the city watch and as the fire watch, for which they will be paid a salary; there will be no extortion on pain of death and they will enforce the law with extreme prejudice. When Pauldron nervously asks what law they will be enforcing, Fish Trader tells him that they will stop people robbing and beating each other. They will be known as Peacekeepers and Fish Trader himself will be the Peacemaster. Impersonating a Peacekeeper will be a capital offence. They go out on a first patrol; en route, Fish Trader stops at a milliner to place an order for some distinctive hats. They spend the day listening to shopkeepers complaining about being cheated by their suppliers and kids scrumping apples.

Wishbone has gone to Wailers Square, the austere 300' diamond-shaped plaza that is the main focus for the funeral ceremonies of Everway. It is paved with smooth grey cobbles and has a 30' wide blackened pit at its centre where cremations are held for those families that do not follow the boat-building ritual. At its four corners stand the Houses of Dusk, 100' square edifices faced in blank stone and surmounted by square towers, and its south-west side is dominated by the striking family house of the Wailers, with its huge dome surmounted by a massive carving of a human skull. At this time of day the square is relatively unpopulated making it difficult to linger without attracting suspicion, so Wishbone makes like a tourist and approaches the Watchers guarding the entrance of the westernmost House of Dusk to ask them why Everway needs four Houses for storing the dead. Unfortunately the guards prove very uncommunicative, curtly explaining that the Houses were built at the time of the Blood Plague when the additional morgue space was needed, and ordering her to be on her way. As she is wondering what to do, a funeral cortege comprising a large urn carried on poles and mourners with earth smeared across their faces emerges from the northernmost House and makes it way towards Corpse Street, accompanied by ululating Wailers. Wishbone is about to follow them when she notices an unhappy-looking ancient Tender leaving the eastern House, accompanied by a younger colleague. The old Tender, Headstone, is complaining that someone has been moving the bodies at night, a notion that his companion pooh-poohs. He also mentions a terrible smell from the drains - his companion replies that Mistress Morgue has probably already talked to the Mudbanks.

Wishbone catches up with the old man as he takes his leave outside the Tender Family House on Corpse Street and offers her services, but Headstone is not keen to involve Outsiders, with their strange notions of what is proper and respectful - "why, many of you don't even believe in reincarnation!". He also seems vague as to precisely what happened to the bodies. Wishbone takes her leave of the old man, saying that she will take the matter up with Lord Rathgard, and decides to continue following the funeral cortege, but gives up when they reach the Stonebreaker Family House and it becomes clear that they are Diggers taking their loved one home for burial.

Rathgard enters the still-charred entrance of the Lavender House in time for lunch. He bumps into Slight who is trying to convince Sapling to let him take the house ledgers to show Glisten Gold, and together they persuade her to offer them up. Sadly it appears that the Blackhearts were quite honest in their dealings; the only evidence for dodginess that they can gather is Sapling's assertion that the tips left by punters for their favourite girls were not recorded but taken as income by the gang. However, this is not a problem for Slight, who spends an hour enchanting the books to make them redolent of cheating and duplicity and sends them off by courier to the Gold family house.

Meanwhile, Rathgard inspects the potential replacements for Beautiful Rice and Cherry Blossom. In general they are a slovenly lot whose demeanours do not reflect their cheery names, but Rathgard thinks that one - Diamond Delight - may show some intelligence behind her accommodating, doll-like exterior. He promotes her and another girl called Ginger, and instructs Sapling to select her if another summons is received from the Palace.

Walker and Flame enter The Lady Freedom, one of the taverns off Talespinner's Square that the heroes now run. It is heaving with customers and the waiter tries to shoo them out, but Flame looks meaningfully at him and the maitre d' hurries over and whispers forcefully in his ear. The waiter moves to evict some diners from one of the booths that line the walls, but Flame and Walker insist on sitting at the communal table. Walker asks about who keeps order in southern Strangerside. It seems that street gangs are not so much in evidence - the New Merchants Quarter is patrolled by Plumes and the Halyards, a group of smugglers, have their family house in the Paper Makers Quarter, but mostly operate out of Snakehead Harbour. Flame talks to Parchment Vellum, a dry-faced man who is a scrivener for the Tackmakers of the Gryphon Stables in south-east Strangerside, but he hasn't heard of Waving Flag. His companion Sheet, however, recognises the four-pointed star and says that she has seen them in Silk Street in the New Merchants Quarter, a short distance south-east of Talespinner's Square.

After a free-of-charge lunch, Walker and Flame investigate Silk Street. It is a prosperous area full of merchants' mansions and warehouses; ox-drawn carts lumber down the road and servants laden with goods stagger along the pavements, stepping into the roadway to avoid the armed Plume patrols. Asking a passer by quickly identifies Waving Flag's compound. It is built of reddish-gold stone and is surrounded by a 15' wall. Minarets mounted on short square towers stand at the four corners and on either side of the front gates. Guards armed with bows are noticeably in evidence, but bizarrely they barely glance at the street but focus on the internal courtyards. The wrought iron gates are closed - Walker rattles on them and a surly guard steps out of a minaret and demands to know what they want. Walker says that they are here to discuss an order with Waving Flag but the guard replies that the "Master" does not do business directly any more and advises them to contact Threnody Salter.

Resisting Flame's suggestion that they burn down the lean-to buildings in the courtyard that they can see through the gates, the heroes retreat to a local tavern, where they find an off-duty servant who works for another merchant on Silk Street. Waving Flag, it seems, has a poor reputation in the area. In the last few months he has refused to pay the levy for the Plume patrols, and the neighbours do not like his use of archers which is seen as threatening.

Walker and Flame return with this intelligence to the Cellars and meet up with Wishbone, who communes with her hawk and goes scouting. The main building is a flat-roofed rectangular edifice some 40' high with courtyards at front and back connected by tunnels. There are several guards on the walls and two more on the roof. The northern courtyard has two shimmering kilns, a stocks and a sinister bloodstained pole with chains. The heroes decide that something must be done about Waving Flag this evening. They collect various equipment that they think they might need and Slight casts glamours so that they cannot be followed and tracked. The plan is to take out the guards on the wall and secure the front gate before attacking the main house itself.

Earthday, 9th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473

In the early hours of the morning, the heroes make their way to the back of Waving Flag's compound. Slight's spells help them to dodge the Plume patrols and the single guard on the west wall. Fish Trader throws up a grappling hook on a rope and swarms up it, while Slight casts a spell of overconfidence on the general area. Rathgard and Flame make their way up, to be met by Fish Trader with a feral gleam in his eye. There are no guards coming so the heroes split up - Walker, Flame and a reluctant Slight head right towards the west wall, while Fish Trader, Wishbone and Rathgard turn left. On the way, Wishbone discovers the bloody remains of a guard slumped over the wall.

Flame's group successfully clear the western wall, taking out the unsuspecting guard at the northwest tower. On the east side, things go smoothly until Fish Trader approaches the gate house, at which point a neighing horse alerts the guard on the roof who sounds the alarm. Fish Trader dashes down the steps to the southern courtyard and smashes one of the ground floor windows. Flame leaps down from the west wall to join him while the other heroes head back along the east and west walls to the north courtyard.

Flame pauses to pour oil on her hands. As she climbs through the window, she sees Fish Trader dash through an office containing a shrine to a hunter deity with stars for eyes, a red flag, a desk with an order book and pot and plate designs, and a treasure chest, and charge through the door in the opposite wall. She hears a voice say "'Ere, who are you?" and then a roar and a clash of weapons. She gets to the doorway in time to see Fish Trader reeling back from a big, ugly man who has an ugly gash in his throat. The man sees her and throws a glowing club that strikes her painfully in the leg. Flame instinctively grabs it and sets it on fire, which proves to be a good move because the man summons it back and receives a handful of flaming wood for his pains. The distraction is sufficient for Fish Trader to recover and launch a blindingly fast attack. Flame gets a brief impression of fur and then the man's guts are pouring out of a slash in his belly and he slumps to the ground. Fish Trader looks back at her and says "come on!" as he makes for a door in the opposite wall. Pausing to set the man's body on fire, Flame follows him.

Outside, the heroes are preparing for the roused guards. Wishbone sends Hawk to deal with the guard on the roof - the latter is reluctant to attack an armed man, but successfully distracts him and and snatches the bow out of his hand. While waiting for Hawk to return, Wishbone hears a clank of chains from a large cage-like structure against the east wall. A woman's voice calls out "Please - what's going on?" Wishbone tells her that they are here to rescue them and to keep calm. On the other side, Walker jumps down onto a similar cage, while Rathgard runs over to the door in the northwest corner of the building and readies his sword. Walker throws his staff at a surprised Slight, runs over to the east cage and rips the door of the east cage off its hinges. He notes the bedraggled occupants huddled inside, two of whom have lost tufts of hair and are trembling with signs of metal poisoning, then turns to face the two guards who have emerged into the courtyard and hurls the cage door at them, pinning one of them underneath it and knocking the other into the path of Rathgard's rapier. Slight throws Walker's staff back to him, then starts to pick the lock on the western cage.

Back in the house, Flame follows Fish Trader into an austere bedroom smelling of sweat and burnt wood. It is empty and Fish Trader charges straight for the door in the west wall, but Flame notes the burn marks on the walls and picks up a book of magical-looking designs open on the small altar to the Hunter in one corner. A few moments later, after passing through a nondescript kitchen and entering a large workroom with long tables and benches with shackles, she discovers its owner - a bare-chested, pot-bellied wizard covered in tattoos who is chanting and spinning like a dervish. He gestures as one of his tattoos glows, and Flame feels her feet give way beneath her. Another flick, and Fish Trader is pushed back against a wall. On the far side of the room, four guards who are heading for the door in the north wall turn towards them.

Outside, Rathgard and Walker take down two more guards who have emerged from the door and pile inside, while Wishbone encourages the ten skeletal and stinking women from the east cage to head for the front gate and await them there. Slight rapidly picks the lock on the west cage and helps the ten chained men out of their squalid prison. One, who seems more with it than the rest, thanks him and introduces himself as Howling Wolf. Slight notes that all the slaves have the same star designs around their eyes as their captors.

Back in the work room, Rathgard and Walker enter just in time to prevent Fish Trader and Flame from being overwhelmed. A side-swipe from Walker's staff catches one guard in the head and sends him crashing against a wall, while Rathgard manages to dart in and skewer another while he is still turning. On the far side of the room, Flame pulls herself up on her hands and throws one of her flaming knives at the wizard, catching him in mid-spin. It does little damage but distracts him sufficiently for Fish Trader to close the distance. Another tattoo glows and Fish Trader flinches back in pain, but then leaps on the wizard, dragging him down between two tables. There is a crunching of bones. As Flame struggles to her feet, she sees the wizard dead on the floor, his head at an unnatural angle and a look of surprise and fear in his glassy, bulging eyes.

At this point a door in the south-west corner of the room opens and two more people enter. One, a short pudgy man in his forties with a goatee beard and coiffed hair, is dressed in a nightgown. "What is the meaning of this?" he shouts. "How dare -" "Go back, get help!" says his companion, a helmeted and leather-clad man with a handlebar moustache, and shoves him back through the door. He draws his sword and readies himself. Walker's quarterstaff flashes this way and that as he fends off the two remaining guards who are attempting a pincer movement, so it falls to Rathgard to take on this new opponent. Leaping on to a table, he gives a battle-cry - "Cheese for all!" - and leaps on to him, knocking from in front of the door. Flame takes the opportunity to snatch up her returned flame knife and go after the retreating Waving Flag.

He has a forty foot head start, so is almost at the exit of the room beyond the door (a barracks - strong smell of feet and unwashed clothes) by the time that Flame reaches it. She throws a flame knife and scores a line across his back, blood hissing in the heat, that sends him pitching forward. Looking back and seeing Flame coming inexorably for him, he scrambles to his feet and races for the front door at the end of the hallway beyond. It is locked and the few seconds that it takes for him to fumble out the key and unlock it are all that Flame needs to catch up with him. As he flings open the door, she touches his nightgown which goes up like a torch. The slaves by the gate shrink back as their former master, flaming and screaming, staggers out of the front door, tumbles down the steps, and collapses on the ground below. A smell of roasting meat wafts on the breeze.

The aftermath is complex. Only two of the guards have survived - the one pinned under the gate and the moustachioed bodyguard, who surrendered after seeing what Fish Trader and Walker did to the two remaining guards. He gives his name as Cutting Edge, but refuses to say any more about the operation. The shouts and screams have attracted the attention of neighbours, who come with armed guards to investigate, followed by a surly deputation of Plumes. Rathgard gives them a tour of the compound to show that the heroes are not bandits who have just massacred an entire household for no reason. The Plumes are not happy that the heroes took the law into their own hands, but are somewhat mollified when Rathgard hands over Cutting Edge and the remaining guard to them and says that they can take the credit.

The slaves are in a bad way, malnourished and covered with suppurating sores. The ones with metal poisoning are painters - Walker deduces that the paints they were using were toxic. As he and Wishbone treat them, Howling Wolf tells what happened to him in a soft whisper:

Howling Wolf's Tale

• He was a farmer from the village of Moonglade in the Packwood in Hunters Moon. It lies on the road to the Crying Pool, which contains the Gate to the realm of Stonebreak.
• The realm of Hunter's Moon is known for its great golden moon, where the Hunter, a god with stars for eyes, lives. But one day a couple of months ago, a black mist covered the sky and obscured it. The people felt that their connection with the Hunter was broken and became fearful.
• Some started to barricade their homes and hoard food. Others, the ones who hunted the giant lemurs in the Cracked Plains, threatened their neighbours and forced them to work for them.
• Then things got worse. Smoke was seen rising from the neighbouring village of Broken Hollow. Normally the people would have gone to help, but they were too afraid.
• Then a ragged outcast ran into Moonglade. She said that Broken Hollow had been attacked by fierce warriors carrying black flags with white scorpions on them. They had white scorpions painted on their foreheads. The warriors sacked the village, killed its inhabitants and then burnt it to the ground. There were hundreds of them.
• Howling Wolf took his young daughter and ran, taking only the clothes on his back. As he reached the edge of the wood, he saw black smoke billowing from his village.
• He made for Mossy, a nearby town. On the road he met a gang of hunters who beat him up and took his daughter from him. He does not know what became of her.
• Wretched and grieving, he reached Mossy destitute. It was full of refugees from the White Scorpion Warriors. There he met Waving Flag, who bought him food and drink and offered to give him a new start in Everway. He said he was looking for workers for a new enterprise and promised him food and roof over his head and regular wages.
• Waving Flag made the same offer to several other refugees and took them all back to Everway via Temple.
• When he got to Waving Flag's house, he worked hard as a potter for a week. When he and the others asked for their wages, Waving Flag said that he was withholding them until the "costs of the journey had been paid for".
• Several workers protested at that, so Waving Flag had them clapped in irons. They have been shackled ever since. Those who protested were whipped brutally. One died of his wounds.
• The person who was judged to have worked the least hard each day was put in the stocks in the suffocating heat of the furnaces and left without water overnight. Those who were still alive in the morning were sent back to work.
• A number of his companions died of illness or malnutrition – they were hauled away and their bodies burned in the ovens.

The slaves are still too shell-shocked to decide what to do next. Rathgard wants to give them Waving Flag's compound as a place to start again, but after glancing at his fellows, Howling Wolf shakes his head. The place has too many terrible memories, he explains. Rathgard urges them to sleep on it.

-- o --

Flame remembers the treasure chest in Waving Flag's office. It is locked, but Slight confidently asserts that he can open it and sets to work with a pin. The latch soon clicks open, but as it does so a needle flicks out, stabbing him in the thumb. It is poisoned and Slight falls convulsing on the floor. Walker preserves his life force while he slices Slight's thumb open with a knife and sucks out the venom. The chest contains 3000 hefts. Meanwhile Wishbone discovers the charred remains of human bones in a store room next to the kilns and bottles the spirits that are flitting there. The heroes get a few hours rest, despite Slight's constant moaning that he is in "such pain".

It is mid-morning when they awake. Walker has had a bad dream in which he sees White Scorpion Warriors destroying numerous realms, which reminds the heroes that they planned to talk to Codex Platinum Scratch. There remains the problem of what to do with the house. The ex-slaves are still adamant that they want nothing more to do with the place, but Rathgard thinks that they should at least have legal ownership so that they can sell it and set up in Strangerside. Among Waving Flag's notes, Fish Trader discovers correspondence from Diligent Politesse, a lawyer living in the Papermakers Quarter, and offers to pay him a visit to determine the legal situation. Half the ex-slaves led by Howling Wolf want to join the Black Daggers of the West while the remainder are content to make a fresh start in Beggartown. One of the latter, Trickling Brook, the artist who came up with the idea for the code on the plate, says she will paint portraits of the heroes as a thank you present. Fish Trader discovers a covered coach and a cart in one of the lean-to buildings in the front courtyard. With the horses in the nearby stables, the heroes can now travel in style if they wish.

Rathgard, Fish Trader, Walker and the still whimpering Slight head back to the cellars with the ex-slaves, where they are eagerly welcomed by Voulges who hails Rathgard as "the Liberator". Leaving Heron to make arrangements for the ex-slaves, Rathgard sends messages for Hewer, Caddis and the other disadvantaged potters to come to the newly designated "Liberty House" at two bells after noon the day after tomorrow. The milliner's designs for the Peacekeepers' headgear have arrived; Fish Trader looks askance at the more outlandish suggestions and settles on a reinforced bowler hat.

The heroes are just about to disperse on various errands when Cudgel, a bouncer at the Lavender House, shows up with an invitation and a request from Sapling for the heroes to come quickly as "the messenger is waiting". The invitation is written on fine parchment with gilded edges. It is from "Her Wisdom the Princess Absinthe Emerald" and requests the pleasure of Master Splendid! Outsider and his company at a soiree at the High King's Palace in two days time, indicating that a performance is expected. Slight immediately perks up. Walker and Fish Trader accompany him to the Lavender House, leaving Rathgard to handle the two workers from Threnody Salter carrying a six foot mirror who want to know the location of the bed that they are to fix it over.

Flame makes her way to the Water Tower where she finds Brassart and Mace lounging on an old sofa on the first floor of the ruined tenements, ale mugs in hand, watching the activity below. They welcome her with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. T-Square and her team are making good progress on the repairs - the burned and chopped bridges to the top of the tower are back in place and the ground floor of the cottages has been made habitable. Flame picks one of the empty rooms and orders it to be made ready for a forge, a job that T-Square says will take very little time as she was planning to set one up herself. Noticing Mace and Brassart muttering together behind her back, Flame orders Mace to accompany her back to the cellars. When Brassart complains, she says that she will get someone else appointed to assist him, since he does not seem to be able to manage on his own.

In Everway, Wishbone enters the musty-smelling reading room in Chamber Platinum and asks the sages for an appointment with Codex Platinum Scratch, as she has important news. Codex is not available, but Blemish Scratch comes to see her and they sit down in the one of the reading room alcoves. Wishbone passes on Howling Wolf's story of the White Scorpion Warriors and their possible connection to the sphere-travelling Black Mist. Blemish expresses some interest, saying that this is not the first mention of such a tribe that he has heard recently. Reports have come in from the Hawk Empire and from Gem, one of the seventy-three realms accessible through the Everway Gates. Wishbone asks about older reports; Blemish says that the oldest he has been able to find was from Great Plains twenty years ago, and there was a more recent one from the realm of Fable about three years ago. He says that he will inform Mistress Codex and the Snakerings, though he feels sure that they latter already have the issue in hand. In return, he asks about access to the Cellars for Chamber Platinum scholars, saying that Mistress Codex is not pleased that an invitation has not already been forthcoming. Wishbone says that she will take it up with Lord Rathgard.

At the Lavender House, Fish Trader, Walker and Slight are met by a visibly discomposed Sapling, who shows them into a comfortable private room where the messenger from the Palace is waiting, cup in hand. He is a young clean-shaven man with a pudding bowl haircut dressed in a leaf-green linen tunic and trousers with a laced leather jerkin - clearly servant attire, but good quality. An enveloping cloak and hood is neatly folded beside him, and Slight suddenly remembers that he has seen him before, after the Water Tower fight - he was the mysterious figure visiting Sapling whom he followed back to the Palace. He rises and introduces himself as Tamarind Emerald. Addressing Slight, he explains that he is here to instruct the company in Palace etiquette for such events and to answer any questions that Master Splendid! might have. He adds that he has been "instructed to inform you that Her Wisdom the Princess Absinthe did not say that she is particularly eager to meet and witness the talents of your fire manipulator, and that she gives her word that the Host's Oath will be honoured."

While the heroes are digesting that peculiar piece of circumlocution and wondering what the Host's Oath might be, he explains the regulations. The performance may be no longer than half a bell and must be suitable for about twenty persons of refinement. Props may be brought but weapons, explosives and violent magic will not be permitted within the Palace. The soiree will take place at two bells after dusk in the Salon of Musical Delights; there will be three acts in total with intervals for refreshments between each, during which the next performers can set up. Tamarind adds that it is customary for performers and audience to mingle during the interludes.

He asks Slight how many will be in Master Splendid!'s company, stating that a maximum of six is allowed. Slight says that Master Splendid! will bring two assistants, and also learns that his act will be the second of the three. As he prepares to leave, Tamarind hastens to assure them that recompense for their services will be made if the performance is adequate.

Slight is eager to return to the Cellars to practise his act, but Walker stops to ask Sapling about Princess Absinthe first. She is in her 40s and a cousin to King Horizon; her husband, Bitter, is one of his closest advisors. Among the populace she is rumoured to be a witch who has engaged in (unspecified) dark magic, and there are whispers that her relationship with Bitter is rather closer than is strictly proper for a royal marriage. Sapling also explains the Host's Oath, which is a traditional undertaking among the Everway families (and enforced by the family of that name) that no attempt will be made to arrest or otherwise harm an invited guest while they are under the host's roof or for fifty paces around it, unless the guest forfeits their protection by seeking to harm the host or their property.

Back at the cellars, Flame has returned with a disgruntled Mace in tow. She and Rathgard are deciding what to do with him when there is the usual commotion at the entrance indicating the arrival of yet another supplicant. He is Lentil Seabloom a stocky ex-fisherman who is the leader of the Midden Well mob. He has a proposal to address Beggartown's water problem, which is to get Midden Well working again. With a few stout ropes and some strong arms, he says, the masonry that blocks it could be removed and the town could enjoy clean water again. Heron, who has been listening in, immediately pipes up. The well was blocked 100 years ago because it became contaminated with effluent from the midden nearby, causing an outbreak of the "Two End Spew" that killed several people. She has an alternative suggestion; if suitable receptacles could be provided, she could organise a rota amongst the women of Beggartown to fetch water from a mile or so up the Sunset River, where it is cleaner. All eyes turn to Rathgard to make the decision. He decides to investigate both options. Walker or Wishbone can look at the well to see if it is still contaminated (and if, as Heron claims, the spirits of the victims of the Two End Spew still haunt the area), and he will see if the potters who owe him a favour could provide the containers for Heron's plan.

Fish Trader has made his way south of Talespinners Square to the Paper Makers Quarter, a shabby genteel area of scriveners, scribes, notaries, lawyers, vellum-makers and other literary professions. Diligent Politesse lives in a small narrow town house and answers his own front door. He is in his mid-sixties with a mane of white hair and a hunched back from hours of poring over papers on a desk. He is friendly and very polite, a characteristic explained by his origin in the Civil Kingdom. He is shocked to learn that Waving Flag was a slaver and is happy to discuss the compound. Waving Flag owned it outright, having bought it several years ago. Since he did not leave a will, the house reverts to his family, which according to Everway law is the Outsiders, meaning that anyone not born in Everway or Roundwander could claim to be the new owners. In the event of a claims dispute, the judgement generally goes in favour of the immediate blood relations, but in this case the two surviving members of Waving Flag's family are in prison on charges of slavery. Diligent therefore thinks that if the ex-slaves were to put in a claim, it is unlikely that anyone would challenge them. He is happy to create some paperwork asserting their right to the property. Fish Trader thanks him and returns to the Cellars.

Earthday, mid-afternoon

Walker has joined Wishbone in Chamber Platinum, where together they research the Basahn. There is surprisingly little to go on, but Wishbone unearths a book of folk-tales about the Basahn from various spheres in which untrustworthiness, stealing and trickery are common elements. The tales traditionally end with the Basahn disappearing overnight without anyone seeing them go. Walker locates an anthropological monograph by a long-dead Chamber Platinum scholar called Eye of the Land describing some aspects of Basahn culture and religion. Curiously there are a number of passages where the writing has been obliterated by a flood of black ink. Walker deduces that these relate to descriptions of the Basahn moving from place to place.

Flame returns to the Water Tower where her new forge awaits. She spends the afternoon creating a pair of fire knives incorporating the sigil from the spellbook of Waving Flag's wizard. It is a transforming sign, taking power focused on to it and converting it into electrical sparks. The knives produce a satisfying crackle when they strike, and Flame looks forward to trying them out in battle.

Back at the cellars, Slight has locked himself away to practise his routine. Fish Trader and Rathgard solve the problem of what to do with Mace by inducting him into the Peacekeepers. Fish Trader is very insistent that Mace accept his authority, which, eventually and reluctantly, he does. They get Steel to decide who should replace him as Brassart's second-in-command - she chooses another ex-Daggerboy called Gouger.

It is now evening and Walker and Wishbone have returned to the Cellars. Wishbone recalls that tonight is the night that the cloaked messenger is due to call on Ten Bell Tiler to collect the spirit bottles, and she takes Fish Trader as back-up. Autumn is coming and a chilly north-easterly wind is blowing, which makes the two bell wait in the shadows at the corner of Redearth Street a test of endurance. Finally the messenger turns up, coming down the street from the Dusk Bridge. He is as Ten Bell Tiler described him, a slight man in an enveloping cloak with a hood pulled down over his eyes. As he disappears through Tiler's front door, Wishbone and Fish Trader hastily concoct a plan - Fish Trader will lurk in an alleyway further up the street and nab him as he passes by, while Wishbone will trail him in case he doesn't go that way. Fortunately, everything goes to plan. The messenger emerges, pauses to adjust his hood with a frustrated sigh, and sets off the way he came, Wishbone cautiously following. As he passes the dark alley where Fish Trader is lurking, there is a sudden blur and thud and he is no longer on the street.

Wishbone enters the alley to find her victim in an arm-lock with a knife at his throat. The cloak has fallen open, revealing an elderly man dressed in the blue robes and the spiral medallion of a Tender. He is clearly scared but nonetheless arrogant, confident that low-life street thugs would not dare to harm an Everwayan. He reveals that his name is Passing Tender but refuses to say anything about his business with Ten Bell Tiler, claiming that it is a private family transaction. Wishbone becomes increasingly frustrated, pointing out that she knows all about the spirit bottles and what they do, so there is no point in hiding anything. Passing doggedly sticks to the story that they are for a family ritual and that Outsiders are not permitted to know of such things. Not even hints of more extreme measures (Wishbone: "could you hurt him just a little bit?" Fish Trader, looking dubious: "I can try...") gets anything out of him. Finally Fish Trader calmly informs him that if he doesn't tell what he knows right now, he will kill him. Passing says that he cannot, but he does give one clue - "east house". This is not enough for Fish Trader, who cuts his throat before Wishbone can stop him. Passing expires in a pulsing spray of arterial blood.

Wishbone quickly bottles his spirit and questions it while Fish Trader disposes of the body at the dock, keeping the spiral medallion and the few hefts in his pocket to make it look like the work of common thieves. The conversation goes as follows:
"I'm so sorry, Mistress Morgue..."
"What were you doing this evening?"
"Getting the bottles for the Crookstaff."
"Which Crookstaff?"
"I don't know her name."
"What are the bottles being used for?"
"I don't know."
"Why is what you are doing so shameful?"
"Because they are messing with the dead."
"Why is Mistress Morgue doing this?"
"To keep the House going."
"In what way?"
"Money."

Clearly the eastern House of Dusk is the next place to go, but Wishbone does not fancy a traipse into Everway so she summons Hawk, who is hunting in the marshes, and heads for the Dusk Bridge as a convenient location from which to do a recce. The bloodstained Fish Trader returns to the Cellars.

In the interim, Peacock Plume has made his weekly visit, where he is received politely by Rathgard, Walker and Flame. He commends them for their anti-slavery activities but suggests that in future they should involve the authorities first. He also proposes a deal. For their part, the Plumes will continue to turn a blind eye to activities in in Talespinners Square and surrounding establishments and will provide further military materiel. In return the heroes will:

• Continue their efforts to impose the rule of law on Beggartown
• Tone down their anti-Everwayan rhetoric
• Not carry out security duties for families in Old Town or the New Merchants Quarter
• Inform the Plumes of any activities by the Mask, Weaver or Crookstaff families

After he has gone, Rathgard asks around the gang to find out why the Plumes should be interested in the doings of those particular families. The Masks are well known for their gambling and other dubious activities; the Weavers have their firebrand leader, Almond Weaver, who wants to make Everway more democratic. In the case of the Crookstaffs, it is likely due to politics within the King's Court - Ulrich has the ear of the King and is thought to have too much power.

Walker and Flame spend the rest of the evening christening their pimped-out bed. Walker finds the mirror somewhat disturbing - it is almost as if someone is watching him through it...

Meanwhile, a not entirely happy Hawk lands in a flutter of feathers in one of the small high openings that provide ventilation for the eastern House of Dusk and awkwardly shuffles forward, Wishbone peering through her eyes. The interior is a large eerie morgue, lit by magical incense burning in small copper censors that hang from the ceiling. The incense produces cold vapours that waft over the wrapped corpses laid out on thirty of the hundred slabs below. Near the door to the street is another light, from a lantern around which five people are standing. One is a stately-looking woman wearing the blue robes of a Tender; two, a curly-haired man and a cowled woman, are dressed in Crookstaff robes; and the final pair are hulking guards, dressed in leather with closed face helmets and carrying large baskets on their backs containing wooden spears. They appear to be waiting for someone.

After a few minutes the Crookstaffs start to express impatience, the Tender shrugs and the group moves off between the slabs, looking at the bodies. After a while the cowled woman stops and points at a corpse, which the Tender unwraps to reveal a stout middle-aged woman. The cowled woman draws out a spirit bottle and places it on the slab, bows her head and focuses while the rest of the party watch her. After five minutes, she looks up and shakes her head in defeat. The Tender signals to the guards, who go down some steps in the corner of the room and re-emerge carrying a wrapped corpse of an emaciated old man, which they lay next to the woman's body. The curly-haired Crookstaff holds his hands over the new corpse which glows brightly for a moment. When the light recedes, an exact copy of the woman lies in its place. The guards take up the original corpse and carry it into one of the private chapels nearby, while the Tender re-wraps the copy and places it in the same position. The whole party then retreats into the side chapel, taking the lantern and the spirit bottle with them.

Wishbone tries to get Hawk to fly down to see what is going on, but she is suddenly terrified by a sound or a smell that Wishbone cannot sense and it takes all her calming skill to persuade her to stay where she is. By the time that Hawk is settled, whatever was going on in the side chapel has finished. All five figures re-emerge and head for the exit. The guards are breathing heavily and the number of spears in their baskets has noticeably reduced. When the morgue is empty, Hawk flutters down and reluctantly approaches the side chapel. There is something in there that she really doesn't like. All that is visible is a few splinters of wood on the floor and a slab on which are some dollops of maggot-infested putrescent goo that Hawk will not go near. There is no sign of the woman's corpse or the winding sheet that it was wrapped in.

Emerging through the ventilation hole, Hawk catches up with the conspirators as they go their separate ways, the Tender and the guards towards their family house and the two Crookstaffs heading north. The curly-haired one stops off at a Host tavern while the cowled woman heads into Pyramid Square. At this point Wishbone's connection with Hawk wavers and snaps, and she comes abruptly to herself in the shadows under the Dusk Bridge.

Marsday, 10th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars

At breakfast the heroes discuss Wishbone's adventures of the night before. Slight recognises the description of the curly-haired Crookstaff - it is Glint Crookstaff, the member of Seeming Image coven who spotted his glamour when the heroes first entered Everway. Fish Trader suggests that perhaps the body was fed to some monster being kept beneath the House of Dusk - maybe a giant time-eating vulture?

The Peacekeeper hats have arrived, and Fish Trader takes his force out on patrol, keeping an especial eye on Mace. Walker, Rathgard and Wishbone decide to investigate Midden Well, while Flame stays behind to get an update on Project Pied Piper. Slight goes off to practise his act some more.

Passing through the now-familiar squalor and stench of Beggartown, Rathgard, Walker and Wishbone are greeted by Lentil Seabloom at the entrance to an open area within the maze of crumbling ruins. To one side is the midden pit, clearly still in use, and at the centre is a well surrounded by a collapsed white stone wall. Wishbone confirms that there are no noisy spirits nearby. Watched by a crowd of curious locals, Walker is lowered down on a rope. The main blockage is about twenty feet below the mouth of the well and consists of a wooden beam on which are perched a number of boulders and various bits of rubbish that have been thrown in down the years. Dislodging the beam should be enough to make the well usable again.

As he is being winched back up, Walker notices a commemorative plate wedged in the rubble, cracked but otherwise miraculously undamaged. It depicts a David-and-Goliath style battle between a young wizard labelled "Ulrich Crookstaff" in flowery writing and a demon-faced figure called "Earthshaker", who has emerged from a gate surrounded by a hoard of minions. "Ulrich" is fresh-faced and only has a couple of back-up zombies; he is standing in a heroic pose in front of a crowd of cowering Everwayans, wielding a glowing staff. Hazy lines suggest that he has just reflected a spell back at Earthshaker, who is seen tumbling into a fiery crack in the ground.

It does not take long for Lentil to rig up a block and tackle of the sort used to drag fishing boats onto shore for maintenance, and Walker goes back down to fix a rope to the beam. Rathgard is in his element exhorting the crowd to pull for the good of Beggartown, and at length, after tremendous effort, the beam finally shifts and comes free to a cheer from the crowd. Walker is lowered down once again and this time reaches the water level some sixty feet below, which he declares to be brackish but drinkable. Leaning over to survey the damage, Wishbone notices a discoloured crack in the wall that could be the source of the contamination from the midden. She advises making good before using the well again. There is no shortage of eager volunteers to do the work.

Rathgard remains to accept the adulation of the crowd while Wishbone heads for the library and Walker goes to find out what mischief Flame has been up to. After pressing flesh in best politician style and encouraging an impromptu feast, Rathgard takes Lentil to one side and suggests that as he seems an enterprising chap, he might want to consider returning to his former occupation as a fisherman to help feed the people of Beggartown. Lentil explains that the problem is lack of boats. Rathgard tells him to consult Spinnaker and get a boat built.

Meanwhile Fish Trader and his posse are out on patrol. Their first miscreant is a beggar child who is stealing vegetables from a stall. As soon as he sees them he goes haring off. Fish Trader sends the eager Mattock after him, but in his enthusiasm he trips on a rolling potato and goes sprawling on the ground. Rather than get involved in an undignified chase, Fish Trader asks to whom the child belongs (the answer is Peg, a friend of Heron's) and says that they will get him later. A few minutes afterwards, the contents of a chamber pot are tipped out of a first floor window as the patrol passes under. Most manage to dodge except for the large, slow moving Snapjaw, who gets the noisome contents full on the head. Fish Trader sends her home to clean up while the rest of the Peacekeepers confront the perpetrator, a large beefy man called Cormorant who proves to be belligerent and unrepentant when confronted, despite Fish Trader's softly voiced warning. Rules lawyer Pommel cites an edict from the Council of Merchants requiring citizens to give an audible warning before discharging effluent on the street, but Fish Trader resolves the issue more directly by laying Cormorant out with a punch. The rest of the patrol is uneventful, though it is clear that the Peacekeepers will need some licking into shape - Gash tries to chat up every young woman he meets, and Shank clearly has anger management issues.

Back at the cellars, Flame is trying to find out how the rat relocation programme is going. Seeing the gang members sent to assist Verbena Snowblossom skulking in the sleeping caves, she demands to know why they aren't out and about. The answer is that Verbena has been arrested after she remonstrated with a couple of Watchers who spotted a couple of gang members releasing vermin in the Bazaar ("let the rats run free!"). She is being held in the Watchers Sept in the Pyramid quarter. Flame is organising a group of gang members to help her in burning the sept down when Walker returns. He suggests the more civilised expedient of just paying the fine and smooth-talks the official in charge into freeing her for a mere six hefts. Verbena is eager to let her rats go as "the poor things must be starving" and Flame suggests that the garden gate by the Palace might be a good location. Verbena is just releasing the last of her charges when a large Watcher looms menacingly. Walker raises his quarterstaff and Flame is about to throw her fire knives when the Watcher cries "Stop! It's me!" and reveals himself as Slight, who has been practising his spells close to the Palace to ensure that they are still effective. Flame and Verbena go home while Walker and Slight try another experiment in which Slight does an impromptu juggling act while Walker engages in a little light thievery among the onlookers. His haul is a medallion, scarf, pin and a necklace which he gives to Flame as a present when he returns.

Wishbone stops off at the Nippers to ask if they have learnt anything about Clackit Weaver. A boy reports that he saw a man matching Clackit's description sneaking into a side entrance of the Snakering family house. Wishbone also asks about the guards with the spear baskets that Hawk saw last night, but the nippers have not seen them.

Back at the Library of All Worlds, Wishbone settles in for another few hours of reading, looking for clues to help explain the events of the previous evening. She is idly turning the pages of an ancient bestiary when a picture of an ugly bird-like monster with a vicious beak, forked tongue and spurred legs catches her eye. The text that accompanies it is even more interesting. Anything it pecks or scratches is corrupted - weapons rust, wood rots, and organic matter turns to a festering mush that the creature eats. Wishbone reads the title at the top of the page and raises an eyebrow. Could a cockatrice be lurking in the House of Dusk? And if so, what is its connection to the spirit bottles?

-- o --

Back at the cellars, Slight, Flame and Walker spend the evening planning their routine for the soiree at the Palace. They decide on a tripartite performance - Slight will do some prestidigitation among the audience, then Flame will set fire to Walker, then Slight will return with a grand illusion to finish the show. Flame suggests that she and Walker wear as little as possible in the hope that one of them can snare Prince Tourmaline, should he be attending. Slight will enhance their natural allure. Fish Trader debriefs the Peacekeepers, telling them not to rob and not to chat up women on duty. Rathgard asks if anyone knows anything more about Bitter Emerald, but learns little other than that he is a close confidante of the King and was born a Mudbank. Wishbone returns and reports on her cockatrice discovery. It is not clear what to do next about the spirit bottles - identifying the female Crookstaff that Hawk/Wishbone saw in the House of Dusk seems sensible, but her garb was not distinctive and confronting Morgue Tender might tip off the conspirators.

Joveday, 11th Day of the Month of the Scales, 2473
The Cellars

As the heroes are having breakfast, Three Trees returns with the proceeds of the sale of the contraband from the trip to the the Sneak Wolf. As promised there are over 10,000 hefts. Rathgard declares a bonus and a special gang dinner to celebrate on Saturnday, with the normal meal to be distributed to the poor of Beggartown. Heron will buy a safebox. Three Trees is just turning to go when Flame, examining her share of the bounty, notices something odd. About one in fifty of the coins are the wrong colour and are slightly lighter than they ought to be. The gold is not pure. Voulges' eyes grow cold and he advances on Three Trees menacingly, drawing his dagger. "Have you dare you cheat the Lord Rathgard!"

Three Trees swears that he had no idea; he mixed the proceeds from the various sales, so the coins could have come from anywhere. Slight defuses the situation by confirming that the underweight coins have the magical mark that all Everwayan hefts have, indicating that they are in fact official tender. The dates are all the current year. The heroes deduce that the Diggers, who run the royal Mint, are probably responsible for adulterating the coinage, and that this is probably clandestine - only those who habitually weigh coins, such as the Golds, and people with a sensitive affinity for metals, such as Flame, are likely to notice the change. Voulges still thinks that Three Trees is in some way responsible and should be made to take the coins back, but Rathgard points out that the Golds will be expecting their cut of the proceeds from the Lavender House, and what better way to see whether they are in on the conspiracy? Voulges expresses his admiration for Rathgard's cleverness.

Wishbone decides to visit the Nippers to see if they recognise the female Crookstaff, stopping off en route to buy a packet of sweets at Crafters Square. She shows the dodgy coins to Carrot, who confirms that they are genuine products of the Royal Mint. She says that the Golds must know about it as they regularly weigh coins in the Bazaar. She does not recognise the female Crookstaff, but from the description she would guess that she is a necromancer at Deadwalk Coven. Wishbone asks about any messages sent between Deadwalk Coven and the Tenders. Carrot summons Halibut, a grimy-faced nine year old, who, when bribed with sweets, tells Wishbone that several packages have indeed been sent from one to the other in the past few weeks. Some were jingly, some heavy as if full of earth. Halibut doesn't know who in Deadwalk Coven was the source as the transactions were initiated by zombie. When Wishbone expresses surprise that the Deadwalk zombies did not deliver the packages directly, Carrot points out that the presence of lumbering undead around grieving relatives could be considered a tad insensitive.

Back at the cellars, Fish Trader expands his empire, recruiting a second band of Peacekeepers including Howling Wolf and three other ex-slaves, a moon-faced boy called Ember and Dextrous, an ex-(she says) lockpicker. He sets them to spying on Mace and the other members of the original Peacekeeper who are enjoying a day of R and R. Treb returns to the cellars and reports to Rathgard. He has found a couple of routes through the marshes near Blackheart lodge that would be suitable for smuggling operations, but they are only navigable by rowing boat. He nervously greets Veil, who ignores him. Later, Treb asks Rathgard for advice on how to get to know her better. Rathgard advises finding out what she is interested in.

Flame and Walker head over to the Mudbank family house to try to track down Beautiful Rice's other lover, Dewdrop. The guard at the door is unhelpful, but a mention of the "cleaning girl" gets them an audience. Dewdrop is a harassed bureaucrat who is deeply embarrassed that his dirty little secret has come out. Walker promises discretion and Dewdrop tells them all he knows about Beautiful Rice, which sadly is not much. They took bliss together and he last saw her three weeks ago. She said nothing useful about her other lover, Clackit Weaver.

It is approaching two bells past noon - time for Rathgard and Fish Trader to talk to the potters at Liberty House. Voulges insists on forming an honour guard to accompany them, while Iron and a couple of the ex-slaves bring drinks and refreshments. The compound has been cleaned up by gang members, but the odd blood splash and the smell of unwashed flesh in the barracks still remain. The meeting takes place in one of the display rooms. Both Caddis and Hewer are present, as are Vesper Morningstar, a plain-faced woman in her 40s who is a direct competitor to Hewer; Oddeye Softsand, who as his name implies has a lazy eye; and Faience Twolamp, a small grey-haired lady whose collar is fastened with a clasp in the shape of a large-eyed spaniel puppy. Hewer expresses his profound thanks for the heroes' intervention - he has already had an expression of interest from a major Everway family (the Diggers) which will enable him to avoid bankruptcy. Unfortunately he also mentions the contribution that the heroes made for the glittery clay, which ignites the ire of Vesper who claims that they are being unfair. Thinking quickly, Rathgard explains that everyone will benefit from his plan, which is to get local businesses to sponsor "deluxe freedom pots" that will be sold to the well-off via the heroes' commercial and smuggling channels. The heroes will take a cut on every pot sold, which will be ploughed back into mass-producing cheap water containers for Beggartown inhabitants - "a pot for every household". Rathgard explains convincingly how this will drive demand for new cookware that the potters will be in a good position to fulfil. Everybody becomes excited about the plan, with the surprising exception of Faience Twolamp, who says that she is too busy at present. Apparently she has a commission to make pots from a nice young man who comes to see her once a week. He insists on her using a special clay and sticking strictly to his designs. Rathgard sends a runner back to the Cellars to fetch Wishbone and dismisses the other potters with a stirring speech.

Wishbone soon appears and Faience tells what she knows. It seems that she has been making spirit bottles for several weeks. She is frustratingly inexact about the number that have been accepted - at least a dozen, but it could have been fifteen or twenty. Not all of them have been paid for. The man, who matches Passing Tender's description, turned up at her door saying that Lemon Stemsnip had sent him. He had recently being pressurising her into producing them faster, saying that "plans had advanced".

Chapter 12
A Soiree at the Palace

In which the heroes hobnob with the Royal Family of Everway and encounter an old friend

Slight, Flame and Walker set off for Palace, the former in the turban, green hair and long moustache of Splendid!, the latter two in the skimpiest possible outfits concordant with public decency. Heads turn in the streets thanks to Slight's spells of allure. The side door to the Palace is reached without incident. A small grill opens and a pair of suspicious eyes peers out; Splendid! announces himself and his companions "Stone" and "Flame", and they are ushered inside. The door leads into a room populated by an intimidating number of armed Emerald and Plume guards, a cheese hound, and a bored-looking Crookstaff called Pince-Nez. The heroes and their equipment are politely but thoroughly examined. Pince-nez perks up considerably as he scans Splendid! with a glowing amulet, complimenting him on his glamours and declaring that "Her Wisdom is in for a treat tonight!". A guard recognises Flame as "the Firestarter", but is told by the commander to let her in due to "orders".

The heroes are led down a narrow passage by Lime, a bald-headed man in his early 60s, passing a squawking and twittering watch-sprite en route. The palace is a confusing maze of passages that lead past various state and meeting rooms, many richly decorated with inlaid gems, frescoes, paintings and elaborately carved pillars and cornices in a variety of styles. Lime ushers the heroes into a larger corridor that leads to a hall containing an elegant marble staircase, some twenty foot wide, spiralling up to the floor above. An elegant richly dressed middle-aged woman with red hair bunched at the sides of her head is remonstrating with two small children, one of whom is sitting sulkily on the stairs. On seeing the heroes, their eyes go round and they start bombarding them with questions. Crystal, the girl, is particularly fascinated by Splendid!, calling him "Mr Hidey Man" and asking why his hair is green. Splendid! produces a gift coin for her. The boy, Viridian, seems taken with Flame, reaching out a sticky hand to touch her. Lime apologises profusely to Lady Ruby for the distraction that the players are causing; Ruby replies that it is no matter. Flame ignites her hand, which sends Viridian running for cover behind his mother's skirts, and the children are hustled upstairs.

As the heroes are leaving the hall through the wide corridor beyond, another door opens and a group of soldiers pile into the corridor, chatting cheerfully. In their midst is a youth with a diadem on his head and an unwise attempt at a beard, dressed in a very similar manner to the guards around him. "Your highness!" says Lime and bows, frantically flapping his hands to get the heroes to do the same. The youth, who has Rathgard levels of charm, puts everyone at their ease and introduces himself as Prince Peridot. He expresses regret that he cannot come to the soiree himself, as he has a diplomatic dinner with the high ambassadress of Alabaster, but wishes them luck. He clearly has an eye for Walker, to the obvious jealousy of one of the guards.

The Salon of Musical Delights is relatively restrained by the standards of the rest of the Palace. It is a sixty foot square room lined with red drapes and with a domed ceiling depicting a tasteful but dull fresco of satyrs serenading some presumably long-dead Everwayans in a sylvan setting. One third is given over to a stage and there is a balcony at the back with three boxes, one of which is curtained off with eyeholes. The remainder of the room is taken up with two rows of chairs, side tables and about 15 richly-dressed people, six wearing the characteristic green attire of the Emeralds, who are standing in small groups making polite conversation. There is also a troupe of Masks clustered around one of the side tables, who turn to stare at Flame as she enters. Lime approaches a group dominated by a formidable-looking woman with a circlet in her hair, who proves to be Absinthe Emerald. She greets the heroes politely, expressing particular pleasure at meeting "the fire manipulator that I have heard so much about", and introduces her husband Bitter, a dark-skinned, sour-looking man; the austerely dressed Grey Snakering; and Wile Snakering, an elderly lady with bright eyes. There is no time for small talk however, because the opening performer is ready to begin.

As the guests take their seats, a strikingly beautiful woman with cat-shaped pupils steps forward. She is wearing an elaborate headdress and silks secured by snake-shaped bracelets. To the accompaniment of drums and a piper, she performs a dance mimicking the actions of different animals, both hunter and hunted - a bird taking flight, a snake slithering through the grass, a gazelle running from a lion. Her movements are sensual and mesmerising, with unexpected rushes and darts around the stage. It is clear to Slight that she is using magic to subtly change the shape of her body, and it reminds him of something, but he can't think what. Flame notices that Gentle Dew's bracelets come from a market in Serpent's Coil, a realm she has visited. Walker sees that the piper has a shadow on her lung. Gentle Dew's act ends with an overtly erotic dance that causes a few crossed legs amongst the men of the audience. She moves so fast that she seems to blur, leaving sensuous callipygian and mammillary after-images as she whirls around the stage. The music rises to a frenzied climax and stops. Gentle Dew freezes, her silks swaying to a halt. There is enthusiastic applause as the doors open to admit servants carrying sweetmeats and a large steaming tea urn suspended between two poles. Bitter thanks Mistress Dew, who leaves the room in the company of Absinthe.

The heroes are busy setting up their act, but have time to interact with the other groups.

• Slight goes over to the Masks who are standing around a table discussing the likelihood that Flame will burn the Palace down. They are led by a small stocky man in an elaborate but uncomfortable-looking padded costume whom they call Loudvoice; Slight recalls that he is the proprietor of the Theatre of the Thousand Spheres and was associated with Huckster Motley, the murderer of Wormwood Crookstaff. He tries to apologise for his previous contretemps with the Mask family ("Splendid! - he is full of tears!"), but receives a less than cordial response. Flame, noticing this, subtly warms the air around Loudvoice, causing his face to become even more beetroot-coloured than usual. Slight also has his revenge, placing spells of disappointment on the Masks' equipment. He does this with care, however, for he notices that one of the Mask troupe has magical talent.
• Walker overhears a conversation between some members of the military families concerning "the situation in Temple" where "they are still massing". A sept of Keepers has been sent through the gate to protect the other end. Sparkling Brook of the Glorious Empire will not be pleased.
• Flame spots two twenty-something Emerald princesses who are obviously sisters. To the clear displeasure of the elderly relative who is trying to engage them in conversation, they are casting longing looks at a handsome young man wearing Gold family regalia who is conversing with two other merchant types. Flame goes up and introduces herself. The princesses, Facet and Plane, express extreme boredom and promise a reward if she can make the evening interesting. Flame offers to go over to the man (Trader Gold) and see if he might be interested in a liaison. She calls "Stone" over to keep the ladies entertained and leaves them deciding who will sleep with whom after the soiree. Garnet, the elderly relative, becomes increasingly apoplectic, but is ignored.
• As Flame approaches the merchant group, she hears them discussing a lost shipment in the Blacksand Desert. One of them, a Scratch from her clothing, cattily asks a member of the Digger family whether this will "cause problems". Trader Gold remarks that the Freerider Outlaws are becoming quite a nuisance and wonders aloud how they know the route of the caravans, speculating that Desert Fox might be plotting to get more resources out of Everway. The Scratch makes a remark about the king listening to their proposal. "Paper money?", scoffs the Digger. "Never!"
• Slight is intercepted by a third Emerald lady, who is heavily pregnant. She introduces herself as the princess Persimmon and requests a small favour of him. Producing two sealed notes, she asks if he can use his legerdemain to slip them into the pockets of two people, explaining that it is a little joke. One is Prince Morningstar Emerald, a young man with a widows peak who is currently talking to a man whom Slight recognises as Redoak Crookstaff, the leader of Green Hand coven. The other is Lord Bitter. Slight decides to do it straight away so it will not be associated with his act. Bitter is relatively easy - Slight arranges for the note to appear under the cup of tea he is holding, and he looks at it puzzledly and stuffs it in his pocket - but he is nervous about doing anything with Morningstar while Redoak is nearby. Fortunately, as he approaches it becomes clear that Redoak is trying to get away. He is explaining that something is not proper and would be seen as favouritism by the other families. Morningstar pouts, complaining that he is a prince of the realm and should be able to do what he wants. Redoak promises that he will see what he can do and makes his excuses, giving Slight the opportunity to drop the note where Morningstar will see it.

Flame manages to talk to Trader Gold, who turns out to be a rather dull young man. Thanks to Slight's spells, he is more interested in her than in the Princesses, but seems determined to resist temptation. Before anything further can happen, Absinthe returns. After checking with Slight that all is prepared, she announces a performance by Master Splendid! and his associates and invites everyone to take their seats.

At first, everything goes well. Splendid! goes among the audience performing small acts of prestidigitation: Absinthe's circlet disappears and reappears on Bitter's head, Garnet finds a card that Trader Gold had signed in his pocket. Flame and Walker's act also goes well - there are some gratifying gasps as Flame pours oil on Walker's outstretched arms and sets them on fire. One of the more loutish military types remarks that the smell of singed flesh is "a nice touch", though other members of the audience do not seem quite so delighted. Spendid! moves on to the third part of the act, a series of illusions combined with an increasing atmosphere of mystery and darkness. Midway through his set, the door crashes open and a rubicund young man with golden hair and a petulant expression staggers in, bottle in hand, followed by some concerned-looking guards. "Oh look!" the man slurs. "It's one of Auntie Absinthe's soiree... things. Why didn't you invite me, eh? Any pretty girls here?"

Slight's carefully contrived atmosphere is ruined. "Your highness, please!" says Bitter, but the man ignores him. His eyes fall on Flame. "Why, aren't you a pretty one? Come here!" Flame indicates that she will take care of things and moves to obey the prince while Walker sprints over from the other side of the stage. Splendid!, improvising furiously, tries to incorporate him into the act, in the process managing to deposit one of his coins in the prince's clothing. Absinthe takes charge, tells off Tourmaline for being being disrespectful to her guests and orders the guards to "assist him". A somewhat cowed Tourmaline is bundled out of the room with Flame's assistance, leaving Slight to salvage what he can of his act. It builds to a furious climax, but the applause at the end is hesitant. Bitter thanks Master Splendid! for a performance worthy of his name and the doors open to admit servants carry platters of cakes and wine.

Flame gets as far as the bottom of the stairs with Tourmaline, after which the guards politely but firmly ask her to return to the salon. As she approaches the doors, Absinthe emerges flanked by two guards. "Ah, Mistress Flame. Thank you for helping with my nephew. If you would care to join me in my office, I think it is time that you and I speak woman to woman." She leads Flame into a richly furnished room on the other side of the hall. Two comfortable divans face each other across a table with a decanter and glasses. Absinthe pours and offers Flame a glass. She apologises for her little ruse in bringing her here, explaining that it would not have been proper to invite a Person of Disputed Status directly. Clearly under the impression that Flame is the leader of the heroes, she commends them for helping to capture Wormwood Crookstaff's murderer, taking over one Strangerside street gang and eliminating two others, rooting out a slave trader and helping the poor of Beggartown. "Though there is also the arson, kidnapping, murder and smuggling of course."

Absinthe explains that the heroes' seemingly contradictory social and criminal activities are driving the Snakerings mad trying to work out how much of a threat they are and which family they are working for. So she thought she would just ask - woman to woman - what Flame is actually trying to do in Everway. Flame replies that they are not working for any family but are simply trying to make life better for the people of Beggartown. She adds that Rathgard is the leader of the heroes, not her, a statement that Absinthe clearly does not believe. She remarks that improving the lot of the poor is a laudable aim that many in Everway share - "despite what you may think, we are not monsters". However there is only so much that can be done without destroying the fabric of Everway society.

Absinthe apologises for Tourmaline's behaviour - "Golden is having real trouble controlling him". She comments that many in the family consider that he is temperamentally unsuited to be king. She warns that there will probably not be any more royal custom for the Lavender House as Golden is looking elsewhere. Flame asks whether Absinthe knows anything about the deaths of Beautiful Rice and Topaz. Absinthe replies that it was probably the Snakerings, acting under Golden's orders. Given the heroes' expressed hostility to the Everwayan authorities, there was concern that they might make accusations that could be used by the Emeralds' enemies. Without witnesses, the charges would not stick.

Flame asks about removing her Disputed Status. Absinthe says that the kidnap accusation from the Diggers will not last - the Snakerings know perfectly well that Woodbeam and Carat are in the Walker's Ark with their childrens' runner network. She admires their enterprise, but says that it will soon come to an end. "Much as I enjoy tweaking Goldring Digger's nose, she is a mother and has a right to know where her children are." Removing the other charges will likely be trickier, but as a favour to Flame, she will see what she can do.

The subject of the bliss trade also comes up. Absinthe appears genuinely surprised to hear that the Mothers are behind it, and, while suspecting that they have their reasons, concurs that their methods seem a little extreme. She offers to have a word with them.

Absinthe closes out the conversation by saying how much she has enjoyed their little heart-to-heart. She is glad to find that Flame is not the monster that some had made her out to be and hopes that Flame has found the same with her. She suggests that if their plans might align, she may seek her help in the future.

Back in the salon, Slight gets to see the effects of the notes that he delivered for Princess Persimmon. Bitter keeps his composure, with only a tightening of the jaw indicating his distress. Morningstar makes a beeline for Persimmon and has a furious whispered conversation with her. He asks if she is sure and whether it could be someone else. Persimmon smiles and says that she does not know what he is talking about. When Morningstar contradicts her, she tartly points out that if that's the case, he will also know that this is not the place to discuss it. Morningstar stalks off in frustration.

Grey Snakering sidles up to Walker and cheerily asks how the smuggling is going. It is Walker's turn to pretend to know nothing. Grey drops the subject, but warns him that they are watching.

Slight, observing the Masks set up the elaborate equipment for their act, notices that the magical one that he spotted earlier is missing. He points this out to Loudvoice, who is overseeing the preparations. Loudvoice replies distractedly that Lithe is probably in the garderobe, though Slight observes that he seems a little puzzled.

Plane is openly flirting with a clearly embarrassed Trader Gold, so Walker moves in on Facet who seems glad of the distraction. He has just given her his contact details for an assignation when Absinthe and Flame return. Absinthe announces that to conclude the evening, "our friends from the Theatre of the Thousand Spheres will perform an excerpt from a Glorious Empire play". Everybody takes their seats.

The Mask performance is a combination of a drama and an acrobatic exhibition. Flying Salmon, the heroine, is journeying to the Temple of the Six Wise Monkeys to find a cure for a mysterious illness that has struck her village. The villainess, Red Mantis, vows stop to stop her - she wants Flying Salmon's lover Gentleheart for herself, and is deliberately making him and the rest of the village sick so that he will be grateful when she cures him.

Many obstacles beset Flying Salmon, including a perilous crossing of a rope bridge reduced to a single strand, a cave with a pile of treasure that proves to be a (genuine) illusion hiding a group of assassins (Slight notices that the missing Lithe has returned), and a tribe of ape people who must be avoided by swinging from tree to tree on ropes, sometimes out over the audiences' heads. There is much many-against-one wushu-style swordplay involving leaping from rock to rock, back flips and somersaults, which does not seem very realistic to Flame. Out of the corner of his eye, Walker sees movement in the drapes covering the box in the balcony. Someone is watching through the eye holes.

The performance ends with a dramatic confrontation between Flying Salmon and Greatheart, who has followed her (and is actually an illusion), followed by an even more dramatic and acrobatic fight with Red Mantis after she stabs him. Red Mantis is eventually forced to retreat and a broken-hearted Flying Salmon vows to complete her quest, not for her now-expired lover, but for the good of the village.

The audience applauds but less enthusiastically than the performance merits thanks to Slight's spells. Loudvoice is clearly disappointed. Absinthe thanks the evening's performers once again and bids the assembled company good night. She asks the heroes to remain behind.

The guests file out, including the Masks who have managed to disassemble their props remarkably quickly. Absinthe explains that there is one other person whom she wants the heroes to meet. He did not wish to join the others because his appearance can be somewhat - distracting, particularly for the heroes, whom, she understands, did not part with him on the best of terms the last time that they met. A disbelieving suspicion rapidly crosses the heroes' minds, which is confirmed when a figure steps through the open doorway. He is dressed entirely in plate armour with a symbol of a hand holding a half moon engraved on the chest. Two red eyes gleam from the closed helm covering his head. It is their erstwhile companion, Wrath. "My friends! So good to see you again!"

Absinthe asks whether he agrees that she has kept her end of the bargain. Wrath concurs that she has been a good servant. Absinthe bristles, but says that they will start negotiations the following day. Wrath turns to the heroes.

Wishbone has been using Hawk again to spy on the Houses of Dusk. She has some luck, spotting the stately woman they saw last night (presumably Morgue Tender) talking to a shabby-looking Watcher in her 50s with long grey hair. For the next bell she follows the Watcher as she plods across the Dusk Bridge and into the Crafters Quarter. Her first port of call is Ten Bell Tiler's house, after which she searches the street and surrounding area, including the alley where Passing Tender met his end. After knocking on a couple of doors and talking to locals, she heads back into Everway to the Watcher's sept in the House of Dusk quarter.

As she sets Hawk flying from the sept, Wishbone has some further luck. She spots Glint and the female Crookstaff heading towards the Houses of Dusk, clearly intent on a repeat performance of last night. Wishbone reckons that if she hurries she has just got time to catch them and see what was really going on. Telling Hawk to take shelter and then caching the link with her in the back of her mind, she heads for the Mudbanks' secret entrance. Quarter of a bell later, she approaches the open door of the House of Dusk. Fortunately there is no-one about and the night is overcast. A faint light shines from within; as Wishbone creeps closer she sees that the conspirators have already chosen their victim and moved into the side chapel, leaving the main room in shadow. The spirits flitting around the bodies lying on the serried slabs are restless, and become more so as a strange ululating howl emanates from the side chapel, accompanied by a nauseating stench. Hawk, perched up in the air vents, stirs restlessly in her mind. Wishbone finds a vantage point that allows her to see through the open doorway. Two guards in heavy armour are fending off a five-foot high purple and red bird-shaped monstrosity with wooden staves while guiding it towards the body of a young man lying on a slab, a spirit bottle placed by its head. The man's spirit, still attached to the corpse, is strong, and even from this distance Wishbone can sense its confusion and fear. The cockatrice slashes with its claws at the poking sticks, causing them to rot instantly and crumble to dust. Eventually it notices the free meal and hops on the slab, slicing down with its sharp beak. A wave of putrefaction races up the body from feet to head; terrified, the spirit flees into the bottle, and the female Crookstaff darts forward and snatches it up.

As the cockatrice starts to feast on the festering remains, Wishbone decides that a distraction is in order. Reactivating her link with Hawk, she guides her towards one of the cold incense burners that pour icy mist onto the corpses below, telling her to attack it as if it were a pigeon. Hawk's claws catch in the holes in the burner and pull it off its hook, causing to crash to the floor with a loud clang. The results are, perhaps, rather more dramatic than Wishbone was intending. The guards are trying to persuade the cockatrice to return to its lair by poking it with staves. One is distracted by the noise and receives a cut to the shin from the creature's razor-sharp spurs. His leg instantly turns green and gangrenous and he drops to the floor. The cockatrice hops back on to the slab, spreading its talon-tipped wings. Glint swears loudly and pushes Morgue and the female Crookstaff through the door, turning and executing a quick series of hand gestures. A very real-looking wall covers the entrance.

Morgue shouts that they have to go back in and rescue Cenotaph, but Glint says that that will destroy the illusion and let the cockatrice free. "I will have words with you later!" says a furious Morgue as she heads towards the door. Glint looks at the woman. "Come on Greymoss, let's get out of here. Morgue can sort out this mess." They skedaddle, leaving the coast temporarily clear. Wishbone takes the opportunity to leave, Cenotaph's dying shriek echoing in her ears.

Outside, she pauses to take her bearings. Morgue is heading towards the Tender family house, calling for more guards. Glint and Greymoss are disappearing round a corner. Wishbone decides to follow the Crookstaffs. They pause outside the same Host tavern that Glint went into last night. Glint remarks that there's no way that Morgue will allow it again now that someone has been killed. Greymoss replies that it might not matter as they may have enough. Glint invites her in for a drink, but she says that she must report to Master Nightwing. Glint shrugs and heads into the bar. As Greymoss sets off through the dark streets, Wishbone follows on behind, drawing her knife.

Rathgard and Fish Trader are having a quiet evening in with the gang when an unexpected visitor, Sunrise Gold, shows up. He says that he has authority from Glisten Gold to negotiate a deal. He thanks them for drawing attention to the irregularities in the Lavender House accounts and offers the same terms as the Blackhearts had - a 25% share of the profits from the brothels and restaurants around Talespinners Square. Rathgard negotiates up to a 45% share. Sunrise also offers the services of the family lawyer, Butter Gold, to help with Flame's disputed status.

Rathgard offers Sunrise a drink to celebrate the new alliance, but he cannot stay. As he departs, a beggar comes rushing into the room. "Fire! Fire in Beggartown!"

-- o --

Wrath gestures for Absinthe to leave so that he can have a quiet word with his friends. As she goes, Slight scans her from behind Walker's solid bulk. She is afraid of Wrath and worried about what he will do. But she is also extremely interested in his relationship with the heroes. Wrath asks after Jayson and Rathgard and enquires what the heroes are up to. Walker replies that they are anarchists who are trying to shake up the staid social structure of Everway. Wrath is all for striking right away, saying that they should cut the head off the snake. Walker talks him down, likening the Everwayan leadership to a hydra with multiple heads. Wrath agrees to meet the heroes again at his quarters in the Host Family House at noon tomorrow to discuss plans. He wants Rathgard to act as his emissary to Everway.

At this point, Slight pipes up. Poking his head out from behind Walker, he says "You're not the last of the Twelve! The other eleven are still alive!" Wrath looks confused. Further questioning reveals that "Last of the Twelve" is the first title that Wrath awarded himself and is a phrase that has been in his head ever since he can remember, which is about 50 years back. Further discussion is curtailed when Absinthe re-enters the salon accompanied by Peridot and a number of guards and asks everyone to leave as there has been an "incident". Peridot takes charge of Wrath while the heroes are sent back with Lime. As they enter the security post by the door, Slight puts a spell of unburdening on the most susceptible-looking of the accompanying detail. The leader of the door guards asks what has happened, as they have not been informed. "Mistress Wall has been murdered!" blurts Slight's victim. The unfortunate fellow is sternly disciplined for revealing family secrets in front of strangers and the heroes are shown the door with instructions to keep what they have heard to themselves. Lime provides a safe pass to allow them to reach the city gates without being arrested.

Outside, the air echoes with the shouts of troops who are searching the Palace and surrounding areas. Flame spots a group of armed Watchers and Masks 50 paces down a side street who are clearly waiting for them. She suggests that Slight make them invisible, but Slight is tired. Fortunately, at that moment a group of Plume guards comes around the corner and demands that they move on, as a cordon sanitaire is being set up around the Palace. Walker points out that the Watcher/Mask posse should also not be there. As the Plumes head over to have a word with them, they withdraw down the street allowing the heroes to make their escape. They reach the Dusk Gate without incident and are let through by the Keepers. There is a pall of smoke and a mysterious vortex of cloud hanging over central Beggartown. Dragging a reluctant Slight along, Flame and Walker go to investigate.

Fish Trader and Rathgard ascertain from the terrified beggar that the fire is in Clatterpan Street, just south of Midden Well. Leaving instructions with Voulges to lock down the base in case of a sneak attack, they head to the scene. Fish Trader brings his Peacekeepers with him.

Thick acrid smoke is billowing from the burning wooden lean-tos built against the row of derelict and mostly roofless two storey stone houses lining the north side of the street, and panicked shouts rise above the crackle of the flames and the crashes of collapsing masonry. The inhabitants are mostly concerned with rescuing their few possessions, while their neighbours look on, too shocked or too selfish to help. A mother stands hopelessly surrounded by her children, watching everything she owns go up in smoke. A boy yells that his grandfather is trapped in an upstairs room. A woman clutching a collection of pots and pans appears in a doorway just as the flaming lintel gives way, trapping her screaming underneath. Embers drift on the evening breeze; on the other side of the road, wood and tarpaulin are already smouldering.

Fish Trader and Rathgard quickly assess the situation and give orders. Mattock and Snapjaw bravely run forward, lift the lintel off the badly burned woman and drag her to safety, a battered copper kettle still clutched in her semi-conscious fingers. Pauldron organises the onlookers, getting them to beat out sparks and fetch water from the newly opened Midden Well. Fish Trader dives into the fiercely burning dwelling pointed out by the boy and emerges an improbably short time later carrying the unconscious body of an old man. After giving orders to take the rescuees to the Mercy Hospital, Rathgard stands still. His eyes go unfocused and he starts making plucking motions in the air, to the bemusement of onlookers. A minute or two later, the wind starts to rise and a spiral of cloud takes shape overhead. Big fat drops of rain sizzle on the glowing embers and soon a heavy and highly localised storm is pouring onto Clatterpan Street. Beggars arrive carrying pans of water from Midden Well, but already the fire is under control. Rathgard drops his hands and staggers from exhaustion. An onlooker stares at him in amazement. "It was you! The Lord Rathgard has brought the rain!"

Flame, Walker and Slight arrive to help with the clean-up. Now that the immediate danger is past, the heroes' thoughts turn to the cause. Flame walks along the row of ruined buildings, using her expert judgement to determine where the fire started. It is clear from the charring pattern that the fire spread from west to east, and from a few blackened twigs that she finds next to the burnt-out remains of the westernmost building, Flame deduces that the source was probably some firewood that had been piled against it. Fish Trader finds tracks of bare feet and holed boots on the waste ground nearby - their size suggests small adults or large children. Slight listens in to the whispered conversations of the locals - it is clear that they know something but are reluctant to say. Slight picks on a competent-looking woman and be-spells her to see Rathgard as someone she can confide in. It does the trick; she goes over to him and asks if they can speak privately. Rathgard asks Slight to give them a privacy bubble. The woman, whose name is Patience, says that she saw three teenagers playing with burning rags on the waste ground. Their names are Spelt, Hobnail and Groat, and they are well-known in the area as young thugs in the making, barely articulate and caring for nothing. Their despairing parents have given up on them and the neighbours are afraid of them. Rathgard commends her for coming forward and Fish Trader assures her that justice will be done.

Some lost-looking victims of the fire come up to Rathgard and ask where they should go. Rathgard is done with being heroic and commands their neighbours to take them in, ignoring their complaints that they barely have enough to support themselves, let alone some extra mouths. The heroes return exhausted to the cellars, except for Walker who heads to the Mercy Hospital to help with the wounded. En route he encounters Wishbone, who is coming down the street. He notices and remarks on the bloodstains that cover her sleeves. "I'll tell you later," says Wishbone.

Greymoss has kept to the well-lit North Root Street and Old Wall East Street since leaving Glint at the Host tavern, but as she enters the maze of streets surrounding the Digger Family House, Wishbone seizes her chance. Deciding to stab first and ask questions later, she creeps up on her victim and drags her into a side alley. She is momentarily distracted when two large death's-head hawkmoths detach themselves from Greymoss' clothing and flutter squeaking into the night, but before Greymoss can take advantage, Wishbone's knife is buried in her throat. Wishbone sends Hawk to deal with the fluttering spies while she bottles Greymoss' spirit, takes the filled spirit bottle and the few hefts that she was carrying, rips the pockets of her dress to make it look like a robbery, and hides the bloody body in a midden. Leaving the city is complicated by the large number of guards searching near the palace, but with Hawk's help she reaches the secret passage beneath Hardhand Tower without incident. She washes off as much of the blood as she is able in the river before returning to the cellars, encountering Walker en route.

The bottle retrieved from Greymoss' corpse proves to contain the spirit of a young Weaver whose chief regret is being unable to care for his children in the last months of his wasting illness. Wishbone notes that the spirit is unusually strong and loud. Greymoss' spirit is afraid that she has disappointed "the Master" once again, especially after what happened in Shifting Sands. Wishbone teases out the story as much as she is able. Greymoss was an apprentice necromancer with an affinity with undead moths and a talent for seeing spirits around dead bodies. Her Master, Nightwing Crookstaff, is a great scholar and a great man (Wishbone suspects that Greymoss was a bit in love with him). He sent her to Shifting Sands to learn the arts of spirit working using a spherewalker with the familiar name of Callus Wenderway. But the fierce hawk-nosed woman she was sent to, whom Wishbone immediately realises is her mother Old Crow, thought she had no talent and dismissed her after two days. Callus paid Old Crow a large amount of money - Greymoss doesn't know where it came from - and returned with several bags of clay (he complained constantly about the weight, which was at least an improvement on the lewd suggestions he kept making on the way out). Greymoss is not sure what Old Crow wanted the money for, but everyone in Shifting Sands was worried about an invading spherewalking army called the White Scorpion Warriors. People were making weapons and training to fight.

Greymoss' spirit is frustratingly unclear about what the spirit bottles are to be used for. Nightwing said only that they were for a "great magic" that would revolutionise the study of necromancy. She complains that he only confides in his two lieutenants Ossifer and Animus. The cockatrice was Nightwing's idea after Greymoss proved unable to get the spirits into the bottles using spirit worker techniques. Nightwing knew that the Tenders had access to cockatrices because their poison is a major ingredient in something called "the waters of death" (a Tender family secret, apparently). She has filled about twenty bottles in the last few weeks.

Puzzling over what she has learned, Wishbone heads for bed.

After the exertions of the night before, everybody sleeps in late, except for Walker who wakes early after another bad dream. Cedar the cook is complaining about the extra work that the party this evening is going to cause; Heron has already dealt with the matter by recruiting some of her neighbours in Beggartown to be extra cooks. Rathgard receives a letter from Mallet Ironbrow, an architect living in the Crafters Quarter. He says that he is an ex-Beggartown man and after hearing reports of Rathgard's speech in Dimmer Court, would like to meet him to discuss ways of improving the lot of the people. Rathgard sends back a non-commital response, suggesting that Mallet comes to the Cellars on Moonday morning.

A second, slightly more alarming, message arrives in the form of a skeletal bat clutching a note in spidery writing, addressed to Wishbone. It is from Ulrich Crookstaff, and reads as follows: "I understand that you murdered one of my coven members yesterday. I am sure you had your reasons. I would like you to talk to Nightwing Crookstaff about what he wants the spirit bottles for. I can guarantee that the defences of Deadwalk Coven will not be activated against you, but bring backup just in case. P.S. Be discreet." There is some party discussion about how Ulrich found out so quickly (undead fleas are suggested) and why he wants Wishbone to do his dirty work.

The heroes disperse to various tasks. Rathgard, Walker and Flame head to the Palace to deliver a message to Absinthe about the missing Mask member who seems the most likely suspect for the murder of Wall Emerald. They do not get in, but a guard, Frond Plume, promises to tell her. They then visit the Nippers to see if there are any more rumours, but learn only that Wall was found stabbed in her private apartment.

Slight has reluctantly decided that he must visit his not-father Cunning again if he is to make progress in his quest to find out more about the Twelve. As always, Cunning is delighted to see him, but seems rather distracted. Slight tells him about the events of last night, including Absinthe, Gentle Dew, the Masks and Wrath; Cunning is interested and somewhat amused to hear about the last, remarking that Absinthe is being either very clever or very foolish in bringing him to Everway. He becomes more irritable when Slight asks about Wrath's remarks about the "Last of the Twelve", saying that he has said all he has to say on the matter. Slight decides to go for broke. He tells Cunning the whole story of the Terracotta mystery, including Flame's cryptic divinations, and warns him that the heroes will soon be investigating the maze below Chamber Platinum. When he is finished, Cunning is silent for a moment. "I see that I am going to have to move sooner than I thought." Slight asks him what he means, to which he responds that the Twelve have something that he needs. When Slight pesters him again, asking him if he knows who the Twelve are, Cunning's patience snaps. "Of course I do, you young fool! I'm one of them!"

Cunning now reveals the following about the Twelve:

• He has been a member for many years, having overheard an interesting conversation in Chamber Platinum. He used his mind control powers to join the group.
• There is a powerful artefact in the Chamber of the Twelve that will help the Founder Basahn cause. He will need the heroes' help to take it. He refuses to say what it is.
• As the heroes surmised, the Chamber of the Twelve has a door with three locks. The keys of three of the Twelve are needed to open it.
• The connection with Wrath: about 80 years ago, there was a magical ritual called the Transcendence which was supposed to turn the Twelve into avatars. Greatheart Emerald, the crown prince, was used as a sacrificial victim. It went horribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of all concerned. One of the participants was called Wrathful Crow and the Twelve believe that somehow, his spirit survived in the form of Wrath. The disappearances of so many senior Everwayans were explained as the work of Middleland assassins, resulting in King Vision Emerald ordering tit-for-tat assassination attempts on Middleland leaders that were unsuccessful and a public embarrassment for Everway.
• One of the ceremonies carried out in the Chamber involves cutting a victim in two.

Cunning names the other members of the Twelve. Six are people Slight has heard of - Ulrich Crookstaff, Absinthe Emerald, Quill Scratch, Codex Platinum Scratch, Wile Snakering and Loudvoice Mask. The others - Render Crow, Mother Gentle (the manager of the House of Calm), Buryer Tender, Blizzard Crookstaff and Slowstep Watcher - are new. Cunning says that they are riven by factionalism and Wrath's appearance may trigger a meeting within the next few days. Wormwood's death was probably ordered by one of the faction leaders - Ulrich, Absinthe and Codex - because his researches were getting too close to unearthing the truth about avatars. Cunning thinks that either Ulrich or Absinthe was responsible. He is a member of Codex's faction and would have heard if she had been involved.

Now that Cunning has come clean, Slight thinks that he has to give something in return to keep in with him, so he tells him about the book where he read the Basahn words that Cunning was so interested in. Cunning gets very excited, saying that it is the "missing piece" that he has been searching for. The book is an old artefact that goes by the unexciting name of the Book of Words and legendarily belonged to the Basahn god Odin. He demands that Slight fetch it for him, forgetting in his excitement to ascertain where the Book is. When Slight hints that it is protected, Cunning declares that if more drastic action is required to acquire it, it must be taken. He promises to explain everything when the Book is in his possession.

Slight describes the encounter between Flame and Painter, claiming that he did not hear what they talked about. Cunning does not recognise Painter nor the painting that she was doing. He thinks that Painter is a servant of Maba who was giving Flame orders.

Fish Trader takes another patrol out with the aim of tracking down the fire-starters. On the way they encounter two beggarwomen yelling and tearing at each other's clothes, surrounded by a group of bystanders. Fish Trader sends in Pauldron, Shank and Snapjaw to break them up and asks what it was about. One woman claims that she had found a hunk of meat and the other woman stole it. Mutual recriminations are soon flying. Fish Trader resolves the issue by the dividing the smelly carcase in two. Gash is still trying to maintain his ladies man image; he calls out to a "friend", who moons him. Fish Trader reprimands him for bringing the Peacekeepers into disrepute.

They arrive at Clatterpan Street, still damp and ash-covered from last night, where the erstwhile inhabitants are poking through the ruins for anything that might be salvageable. They are in luck; the youngest hooligan, Spelt, a skinny thirteen-year-old in a tunic much too big for him, has returned to the scene of tbe crime and is mooching about on the waste ground. Mattock is all for charging in, but Fish Trader makes the group hold back. He creeps up on the unsuspecting youth and pounces. Spelt turns to flee, but is no match for Fish Trader's speed.

The team returns to the cellars with their captive. After leaving him to cool his heels for a while, Fish Trader gives him two options - join the Peacekeepers, or hang for arson. Spelt sulkily accepts the former and takes the Peacekeeper's oath. Fish Trader sets him his first task, which is to track down his former companions.

It is midday - time for the interview with Wrath. Rathgard, Flame and Walker approach the entrance gate of the Host Family House opposite the Palace on Walker's Way. It is a large and attractive white-washed building, covered in vines with fiery red-orange leaves that seem to glow in the autumnal sunshine. Four Plume guards stand in front of the wrought iron gate, accompanied by two indigo-robed Hosts who greet the heroes by name. A young man with good cheekbones appears; he introduces himself as Gladsong Host and says that he will take them to Wrath's quarters. He leads them through the gate into a cool and welcoming courtyard overlooked by many-windowed walls, with a central fountain surrounded by a small glade of ferns and palms. Stone benches are dotted about where exotically dressed guests sit quietly conversing or dozing in the sun. Gladsong asks them to wait while he informs Lord Wrath of their arrival. Flame notices sounds of horsey unhappiness emanating from a wide archway, but resists the temptation to investigate.

Gladsong returns and conducts the heroes up to Wrath's quarters are on the third floor. Two Fabletown guards stand by the door. Inside, the rooms are grand with exquisite wooden furniture and spotless white walls. Papers are strewn over a table and a samovar is hissing. Wrath greets the heroes and invites them to continue their conversation on Everway and its weaknesses. He remarks that he is considering moving the capital of his empire here. His assessment is that Everway is ripe for the taking, but will require some planning. Absinthe and the Emeralds in general are "trusting fools", but the Snakerings, Keepers and Crows are organised and competent and could put up a stout defence. As a holding measure, he has agreed to formal diplomatic ties.

Wrath asks about realms outside Everway that might be useful allies. Rathgard mentions Strangerside, the Middlelanders and their armada, and Keep in the Woods. Wrath's other concern is with secret weapons and other defensive surprises that the Everwayans might have. The heroes do not know of any, but offer a divination with Flame. Hefts are duly paid and chalk scrawls are drawn over the pristine floor. When it comes to the question, however, Wrath instead asks "Where can I find Death?" The answer - "Death is in two places; one is at the heart of this city, the other far away" - does not satisfy anyone.

In response to the heroes' query about his odd question, Wrath tells them about "the Guardians". The explanation is a bit confused, but it appears that the Guardians come to him when he is in the astral plane. They are dressed in white robes with an orange stripe, but their faces are blurry (like many things in the astral plane). Now that he thinks of it, there are twelve of them. Tempest does not trust them, but Wrath does, because their appearance seems familiar. Several years ago, the Guardians revealed to Wrath that he was the "Chosen One" and that his destiny was to seek out and destroy the ultimate enemy - Death itself. They last came to him when he was using the astral plane to look for the heroes in Sweet Dreams. After he had reported his activities, their leader, an old man, congratulated him on meeting "the Four", telling him to stay with them as they would lead him to Death.

Getting back to the subject in hand, the heroes persuade Wrath to visit Everway's neighbouring realms to drum up support for a change of leadership in Everway. Wrath asks Rathgard to be his emissary while he is away, but Walker and Rathgard convince him that it will be more effective if they work together in secret rather than allying in public. In fact, suggests Walker, they should stage a falling out now so that no-one will suspect.

In the courtyard below, the dozing worthies are startled by the sounds of raised voices from a third floor window. They are even more surprised when a body comes hurtling through it in a shower of broken glass, falling thirty feet to the ground below. Anxious servants run over, but remarkably the solid young man appears to be unhurt and picks himself up after lying stunned for a few moments. At the same time, two angry people emerge, followed by a worried-looking young Host. "He's a pig!" says one, a woman wearing a mask of phoenix feathers, some strategic furs, and very little else. "I've never been so insulted! No manners at all!" The Host starts to utter some soothing platitudes, but the woman stops him with a raised hand. "No, it's no good, I'm not staying a moment longer in the same house as that beast! Are you all right, darling?" The defenestration victim responds that he will live, and angrily demands to know when the Lord Wrath will be arrested for attempted murder. On receiving no response from the nonplussed Gladsong, the three storm out, loudly decrying Everway and its justice system for failing the ordinary people. Peace descends again, broken only by the swish of brooms as an army of servants clean up the broken glass.

The heroes walk across Walker's Way to report to Absinthe, but are met outside the Palace by Tamarind Emerald. Rathgard demands to be taken to see Her Wisdom; Tamarind replies that she is busy, but that he will pass on their report. Walker says that what they have to say is a confidential matter for her ears only, but Tamarind stands firm. An impasse is reached. Eventually Tamarind tells them that her Wisdom will be most disappointed by their attitude. Nonetheless he is to let them know that they will be investigated for being present in the Palace at the time of the death of Princess Wall, but he has been instructed to say that her Wisdom did not tell the Snakerings that they are not to be considered suspects.

After a long lie-in, Wishbone makes her way back to the Houses of Dusk, desiring to talk to Morgue Tender. Somewhat unusually, there is a Scratch family cremation going on in the centre of Wailers Square; thick black smoke curls up into the air and the Wailers are going full blast. Wishbone asks to see Morgue at the House of Dusk, but is told that Vault Tender is in charge that day. She makes her way to the Tender family house, a collection of austere white building with curving roofs dominated by the Temple of Endings, a large circular edifice with a spiral motif over the door. Wishbone asks to see Morgue, saying that she can see spirits and she may be interested. Eventually she is shown into an office where Morgue is writing a report. She is utterly defeated and very depressed. Wishbone explains that she knows about the spirit bottles - she is going to talk to Nightwing, but wants Morgue to say that she sent her so that she has plausible deniability if he uses a truth-detecting artefact. "Yes all right," sighs Morgue. "You can say that I sent you. It won't make any difference anyway."

Wishbone returns to the cellars, where the heroes plan their next activities. A gang member reports that a grey-haired woman called Steadfast Watcher showed up at the entrance to the cellars asking to speak to Wishbone - she will return tomorrow. Rathgard is overseeing the party and Slight, who is still recovering from the exertions of last night, elects to stay with him. Fish Trader, Flame and Walker join Wishbone as she goes to find Nightwing in Deadwalk Coven.

-- o --

Wishbone, Fish Trader, Flame and Walker walk down the stone path leading through the graveyard that surrounds the gabled four storey building, aware of the gargoyles and skeletons that turn to watch them through empty eye sockets. They are unmolested, however, until a mummy standing guard by the front door asks them in creaking tones to state their business. Wishbone mentions Nightwing and spirit bottles, and after a brief pause they are let in.

A zombie dressed as a butler leads them through the mazy interior. Through doorways, black-robed figures can be seen performing incomprehensible rituals. In one, a dog's corpse lies on its side, its leg raising and lowering. The zombie butler leads the heroes to a door and shows them in.

Nightwing's office is high under the eaves of the building, overlooking the graveyard below. The narrow gothic windows are covered with thick drapes and the room is lit by a coldly glowing globe in the centre of the room, similar to the ones in the Houses of Dusk. Like the rest of the Coven, the room smells of dust and preservation chemicals. The furniture is old and heavy dark wood with reddish-brown upholstery. There is little attempt at decoration, but the chair posts have carved skulls at the top. The peaked roof is in shadow; from time to time, something moves up there. Nightwing, a slight man dressed in scholar's robes with black receding hair, a goatee beard and deep penetrating eyes, sits at a desk strewn with papers. A single spirit bottle is standing on some notes in Old Crow's handwriting. His attendant zombie, a lumbering hulk of a corpse armed with a sword, stands at attention behind.

Nightwing welcomes the heroes in cultured tones and offers them wine and nibbles. Walker tastes the wine - it's a good Vintner vintage and not poisoned - but declines the nibbles, which look dusty. Nightwing professes great admiration for Wishbone's people, the spirit workers. He explains that spirits have been known about in necromantic circles for years, where they are considered to be nuisances as they resist the process of zombification and can leave a necromancer in incomplete control of his creation. He was trying to find a solution when he read about the practices of the Temple of the Council of the Dead in books written by spherewalkers. In particular, he was inspired by the tale of Leaping Salmon, a legendary leader of the spirit workers who, when the Walker arrived in the form of a stone golem that caused massive destruction to the spirit bottles in its way, saved the unhomed spirits by allowing them to possess her, at the cost of her own sanity. Such an inspiring tale. So full of possibilities.

Walker finally cracks and asks why this story is of such importance. Nightwing does not answer directly, but explains that he wants to change the traditional order of things, just as the heroes do. They could be allies. The heroes respond cautiously, asking what his intentions are. Nightwing says that his ambitions are quite modest - he just wants to rule Deadwalk Coven. Ulrich Crookstaff, he says, has been stifling necromantic research. Nightwing conjures a globe of light and sends it up into the rafters, revealing the source of the rustling sounds. In a cage, two batwinged homunculi chitter and swoop from one perch to another. Nightwing claims that they are the results of the first new necromantic spell in many years.

Walker asks if Nightwing intends to kill Ulrich. Nothing so crass. Nightwing doubts that it is even possible; Ulrich has had over 90 years to prepare and will have defences against every form of physical attack, magic and poison. But he does have a weakness - his zombies. Attacking them all at once would bring him down. Which is where the tale of Leaping Salmon comes in. By smashing the bottles near the zombies, the spirits will take up residence in them, and, by extension, in Ulrich himself, driving him mad. He will end his days in the House of Calm, Nightwing will become leader of Deadwalk Coven, and both King and Council will be thrown into disarray. A situation that the heroes could surely exploit.

Walker asks Wishbone if Nightwing's plan is possible. Wishbone admits that in principle it could work; spirits prefer to attach to once-living matter, so zombies would make good hosts, and she has seen living people driven to distraction by spirits that have attached to them, though she does not personally believe that the legend of Leaping Salmon is likely to be historical fact. Walker asks Nightwing what he would want the heroes to do. Nightwing says that they can assist in the final attack; even now his acolytes are taking their positions to ambush Ulrich as he returns from the Great Council. So who will the heroes support - himself or Ulrich?

Wishbone answers that question by snatching up the spirit bottle from his desk. Walker strikes at the zombie's legs with his staff, Fish Trader leaps over the desk and Flame pulls out a knife. Nightwing curses them for fools, and starts trying to cast something, but has to dodge back to avoid Fish Trader's lunge at his throat. Flame's fiery knife connects with his shoulder, setting his robe on fire and spinning him against the wall. The zombie proves to be enormously strong and Walker has to duck as its sword sweeps over his head. Wishbone decides to test Nightwing's theory and lobs the spirit bottle at the zombie's chest.

Suddenly there is a bang from behind Wishbone and Nightwing's second-best zombie lurches out of a wardrobe. Its cause of death is clearly evident from the guts that poke through the sewn-up flap in its abdomen. Taking advantage of the distraction, Nightwing draws himself up and starts a magical invocation. A pulsing dark cloud starts to form in front of him but then dissipates as his words falter and he bats at something that only Wishbone can see. A few seconds later, he shrieks in pain as Fish Trader's dagger catches him in the eye and Flame's second fire knife buries itself in his nether regions, setting them on fire. Stumbling blindly back along the wall, he reaches into his pocket and throws something on the floor. A cloud of grave-dust billows up, causing Fish Trader to take a step back.

Walker is having more luck with the zombie, whose actions have become uncoordinated with the distraction of its master. It swings its sword wildly and Walker grabs its leg, sending it crashing to the floor. Further back, Flame turns to face the new zombie while Wishbone evades it and goes to secure the door. She hears the sound of running feet from the corridor outside.

The grave dust obscures Fish Trader's vision and he is forced to strike blindly into the choking fog. He feels his weapon connect with something, but it is not clear what damage he has done. Flame shouts "Hold still, Nightwing! We can save you!" while throwing an oil bottle at the second zombie and turning it into a human-sized torch. Leaving the convulsing zombie on the floor, Walker puts his staff in front of him and charges at the door as it opens revealing two acolytes and a zombie dog that runs straight onto Wishbone's dagger.

The billowing grave dust suddenly drops to the ground, revealing Fish Trader's handiwork. Nightwing is slumped against the wall, his head half-hanging off his blood-spurting neck. Both zombies stop moving and the human torch zombie falls over, setting fire to some papers. Walker's charge sends the acolytes flying backwards out into the corridor and he shuts the door and bars it.

The heroes pause to take stock. Wishbone moves over to the Nightwing's corpse and quickly bottles the two spirits flitting around it. At Walker's behest, Flame puts the fires out, asking plaintively why they can't just burn the whole place to the ground. Outside, the stunned acolytes are picking themselves up and shouting for the defences to be activated, but nothing happens. A plan is hastily concocted. Walker quickly wraps a bandage round Nightwing's neck and he and Wishbone carry the corpse out of the door, shouting for the acolytes to make way as Nightwing has had an accident and they are taking him to the Mothers. Their ruse is successful and the puzzled acolytes hold off, allowing the heroes to make their escape. They abandon Nightwing's corpse at the bottom of the stairs.

As the heroes pile onto the elaborately inscribed plaza surrounding the Crookstaff Tower, they see a number of black-robed figures converging on the entrance to Dweomer Street, between the elegant multi-bridged towers of Unity coven and the whispering stone monoliths of Zephyr coven. Ulrich and his zombies are just coming into view further down the road. The heroes run forward, Wishbone shouting a warning at the top of her voice and summoning Hawk. Fish Trader and Walker charge towards six acolytes who are lurking round the corner of a building next to the street, while Flame tosses a coin at a group who are running across the square, setting the cloak of one of them on fire and distracting two others.

Fish Trader throws his knife, catching the wrist of the lead conspirator just as he was about to throw his spirit bottle. Walker's roar distracts two more who turn to face him. On the far side of the road, a group of four acolytes charges at the leading zombies in Ulrich's pack; two succeed in throwing their bottles before a zombie explodes in a cloud of choking gas that brings them all to their knees. Hawk dive-bombs another, distracting her from her attack.

"Nightwing is dead, you bloody idiots!" shouts Fish Trader as he punches a nearby acolyte with a knife. Walker has incapacitated his two assailants and calls on the two remaining acolytes to surrender or die. One responds with a black ball of roiling darkness before getting stabbed by Fish Trader. Flame stands at the entrance of the street sending fire knives flying at any acolyte foolish enough to come near. As Wishbone runs towards Ulrich, she sees two more acolytes emerge from a building further down the street and come running up behind him. Her warning dies in her throat as purple lightning flashes between two zombies, frying both of them.

Only four acolytes remaining standing. Fish Trader stabs one while a fire knife from Flame does for another. The last two race for the safety of Deadwalk Coven. Wishbone captures the two spirits that had succeeded in attaching to Ulrich and collects the remaining bottles from the dead or injured acolytes. In his slow, creaky voice, Ulrich thanks the heroes, adding that once again he is in their debt. He invites them back to Deadwalk Coven to take a glass of wine.

The heroes are ushered into a parlour lined with animal skulls on the walls and small mummies in display cases. There is an awkward moment when the wine serving zombie's hood falls back and the heroes come face to withered face with their erstwhile companion Wormwood Crookstaff. Ulrich apologises, explaining that it is normal for Crookstaff bodies to be re-purposed as zombies when their owners have no further use for them. Wishbone explains the details of Nightwing's plot to Ulrich, including the tale of Leaping Salmon, which Ulrich finds most interesting. He expresses admiration for Nightwing's ingenuity. Walker describes the plaque of Ulrich versus Earthshaker that the heroes found in Midden Well. Ulrich says that the depiction is somewhat fanciful - he cannot say exactly what happened for reasons of state security, but hints that he opened up the earth under Earthshaker's feet just as Earthshaker tried to open up the earth under his. Changing the subject, Walker says that the heroes have met a powerful magical being (Painter) in the Library of All Worlds, but Ulrich has not heard of her; he remarks that Codex's security must be rather lax. Nor it seems, was he aware that Wrath was in the Palace last night. Walker mentions that Wrath called himself "The Last of the Twelve", but Ulrich says he has no idea what that means.

Ulrich asks if there is anything he can do for the heroes, and Flame describes the Mothers' Bliss experiments, which he says he will raise with King Horizon. The heroes also mention the assassinations of Tourmaline's girls, but Ulrich can do little other than to confirm that they were probably the work of Snakerings. As it is now late, Ulrich thanks the heroes once again and shows the heroes out, providing a mummy honour guard to get them safely back to the Dusk Gate.

It is party time at the cellars. The air is full of the smells of roasting meats, potatoes and vegetables, prepared by Heron's army of Beggartown cooks under Cedar's disapproving glare. Voulges insists that they taste everything they make, just in case. Red banners now decorate the walls of the central chamber, each showing Rathgard in a commanding pose surrounded by a victory wreath made of black daggers. There is copious wine and beer, and Iron ensures that everyone's flagons are topped up. Slight decides to get drunk.

There are some 80 people present, including several ex-slaves and 20 walking wounded from various fights, many of whom come up to Rathgard to sing the praises of Walker for getting them back on their feet. Among them is Scarab the Quartermaster, now recovered from the beating he received from the Blackhearts, who angles for his old job back. Rathgard persuades him to share it with Heron, saying that he will be in charge of "advanced procurement". Byrnie turns up with his girl - actually a slatternly trollop from Pendulous Pearl's - and some of her friends, which lowers the tone but evens the numbers. A less pleasant arrival is Brassart, looking furious. Rathgard greets him pleasantly but Brassart rudely retorts that he nearly didn't come, as he clearly isn't worth a personal invitation - he only heard about the party from Heron. Rathgard takes him to one side to try to smooth things over, and asks what's really wrong. Brassart complains that his command of the Bears has been handed over to Veil, a Blackheart, without a word of explanation. And it's not as if she even wants the job. Rathgard tries to persuade him of the importance of his command of the Water Tower, but does not get very far. Brassart stamps off, angrily snatching a flagon from the tray that Iron is holding out to him.

Rathgard is intrigued by Brassart's remarks about Veil and goes to talk to her. Veil loyally says that she is enjoying her job; she praises Aketon, one of her men, for his leadership qualities. Considering a possible transfer, Rathgard asks what she thinks of the Peacekeepers. She says that as a former street-rat she finds them overly law-obsessed, and Fish Trader in particular gives her the creeps. Seeing that Treb is tentatively approaching, Rathgard thanks her and goes to talk to someone else.

Slight has been making good headway in his efforts at inebriation and is staggering around the room in a warm foggy haze of contentment with the world in general. He is just considering whether to join in the raucous rendition of the "Ballad of Let-me-in Lily" that has broken out around Byrnie's table when he notices Brassart and Gouger whispering in a corner. Casting a "don't notice me" glamour, he wanders over. Gouger asks Brassart if he's going to do it. Brassart says no, there are too many people. Gouger asks if he is sure - he can distract Voulges. Brassart says yes, he's sure - "we'll get him another time."

It occurs to Slight that he ought to inform Rathgard of this, but then a chair and a flagon swim into view and that seems like a better idea. He is joined by Treb, who has struck out badly with Veil. He pours his heart out to Slight, explaining that she laughed in his face when he offered to show her some good hunting sites in the Strangerside marshes, forgetting that as an ex-Blackheart she was already deeply familiar with them. What should he do? "Don't be alone," advises the now maudlin Slight. Treb catches his low mood and confides despairingly that he thinks Veil fancies Rathgard, so he hasn't got a chance. Slight reckons there is something he can do about that and waves his fingers. Treb suddenly finds himself at the centre of a lot of attention, including two of the trollops from Byrnie's table, their jealous admirers, and a couple of gang members called Trew and Hauberk. A scrimmage develops that devolves into an all-out brawl that spreads throughout the room. As chairs are crunched, flagons go flying and the banners are torn off the walls, Veil sighs, wades into the fray, pulls the cat-fighting girls off the cringing Treb and drags him towards the sleeping chambers. The fight continues until Rathgard clambers onto a table and calls a halt, cheerily telling everyone that they will be rising at dawn to clear up the mess. Stepping over Trew and Hauberk, who had given each other black eyes and are now making out, he heads to bed.

As always, Walker is up bright and early despite the exertions of the night before. In preparation for the encounter with the Twelve, he wants to scout out the underground chambers below Chamber Platinum, but needs Slight to get him in. Stepping over the recumbent bodies of the gang members, he eventually finds the little man curled up in a corner of the sleeping caves. He has had a disturbed night and is nursing the mother of all hangovers. "You're a healer - heal me!" he complains, so Walker says he will fetch something to get him on his feet. He returns with a bucket of water, which he administers by hauling Slight out of bed and dunking his head in it. Slight is now wet and cold as well as hung over, but is, as Walker promised, standing up.

Rathgard is in the audience chamber supervising the clean-up operations. A smell of burning bacon wafts from the kitchen where Cedar is busy carbonising the breakfast piggery thoughtfully provided by Heron. Thinking to get out of a long walk uptown, Slight says that much as he would like to accompany Walker, he has to talk to Rathgard about something he overheard last night. Sadly, things do not quite work out as he hoped. On learning of Brassart's and Gouger's conversation, Rathgard decides that a visit to the Water Tower is in order. The plan is for Voulges and Rathgard to make an inspection with Flame and Slight as backup; Voulges will allow himself to be distracted and they will see if Brassart does something. As Dirk has managed to stab himself while playing the knife game and needs a proper dressing, Walker agrees to wait until Slight gets back. Fish Trader inspects the Peacekeepers and then goes to look for Three Trees, who was not at the party last night.

On the way to the Water Tower, Slight casts an aura of vulnerability on Rathgard and a glamour of foolishness and gullibility on Voulges. As they pass through Talespinners Square, Flame points out a poster advertising the Marvellous Automaton, a Wonder of the Civil Kingdom, that will shortly be making an appearance in this very place. They reach the Water Tower, where Brassart and Gouger come out to greet them with a suspicious lack of surliness. Rathgard explains that he realised that he had been neglecting Brassart of late and has come to see how things are getting on. Brassart offers to show him around. The tower and its buildings are in much better shape than they were two weeks ago; the fire damage is almost repaired, the bridges have been restored and the roofs of the tenements partially replaced. Seemingly forgetting the plan, Flame heads to her forge, gets the fire going and starts hammering on the anvil. Everyone forgets about Slight.

Brassart casually suggests that Rathgard might like to come up to the top of the Water Tower to see the plans for the next phase of refurbishment, while Gouger takes Voulges off to show him the defensive arrangements. Slight sneaks after Brassart and Rathgard as they climb the bridges, ropes and beams leading to the water tower's top chamber. Peering inside, he see Rathgard looking at some papers on a table, deliberately exposing his unprotected back. To his alarm, Slight sees Brassart surreptitiously loosen the knife at his belt in preparation for a quick draw.

Rathgard comments that Brassart's plans are all very well, but they just won't do. In any case, he is planning to replace him as Commander of the Water Tower following his deception with the repair bill. Brassart's eyes glitter dangerously. "I don't think so." "You will do as I say!" orders Rathgard. "I think you'll find that you're not my commander any more," replies Brassart, and drawing his knife, leaps at him with a yell of "For Towershield!". Rathgard throws the papers in his face and draws his own weapon. Outside, Slight casts a "come here" spell on the reservoir entrance. In the forge, Flame feels the summons, grabs the poker she has been heating and jumps up to the first floor bridge.

Back in the water tower, Rathgard is facing off against Brassart. He sees an opening and lunges for it, but it is a feint. Brassart steps to one side and Rathgard feels a sharp pain as his knife slashes his ribs, narrowly avoiding his stomach. He is forced to retreat to the wall and Brassart comes after him.

From the entrance, Slight casts spells of misdirection, causing Brassart to stab at air. This gives Rathgard the breathing space he needs to complete the wind weaving on which he has been working for the last few minutes, ever since Brassart invited him up to the water tower. A small tornado roars through the reservoir chamber, picks up Brassart, and sends him flying out through the door to crash into the parapet surrounding the outer walkway. As he picks himself up, half-stunned, Flame emerges from the warehouse window onto the plank. She throws the red-hot poker and Brassart bellows with pain as it strikes his neck. Flame darts across the plank, drawing her knife. She squares up to Brassart and manages to score a blow on his knife arm, but before she can land the coup de grace, Brassart spins and slumps with one of Voulge's daggers sticking in his back. Flame has to content herself with lighting up his body and tossing it over the parapet to land in a blazing heap below.

As Rathgard emerges wearily from the reservoir entrance, Voulges throws himself bodily into his arms. His face and upper torso are covered with bloodstains from Gouger's slit throat. Disengaging from his admirer, Rathgard peers over the parapet to see the smoking corpse and the shocked faces of T-Square and the other builders looking up at him. "Hm. Time for drinks and nibbles," he announces.

The hapless Slight is dispatched back to the Cellars to assist Walker. They are walking up Bleak Street when a small dark man in bright orange and green robes turns and stares at them. "Aieee!" he screams, pointing at Walker, "It's him! The Shifting Man! Run!" And he takes to his heels.

Walker gives chase and manages to trap him in a cul de sac. He is trembling with fear. "No, no, no! Please don't hurt me! Not like the others..." Walker reaches out to steady him but the man backs away. Using his most soothing manner, Walker assures him that he is safe and suggests that they repair to a nearby tavern to discuss what this is all about. The man, whose name is Winnow Tallgrass, is not keen but is eventually persuaded. He is a farmer from the village of Longmarsh in the realm of Wizards Reach, a large grassy plain dotted with the blasted ruins of magicians' towers that were destroyed in a great magical war that happened centuries ago. He tells the following strange tale:

• Five years ago, he says, Walker showed up in his village as a shining, multi-coloured figure. His features were constantly rippling like waves in water, but his general shape and his staff remained the same. Where he walked, the grass under his feet twisted into strange shapes.
• The figure grabbed one of his neighbours, a young lad called Stubble, and demanded to know where the "Twisted Library" was.
• Stubble (of course) did not know. So the Shifting Man threw the youth to one side and grabbed another person, an elderly woman called Calyx, and demanded to know where the "Hermeneutic" was.
• Now, as it happens, the Hermeneutic is known to the people of Wizard's Reach. He can often be found pottering around the old wizards' towers. But the people of Longmarsh had not seen him in over a year.
• Frustrated, the Shifting Man cast Calyx away and stalked off. The people of Longmarsh never saw him again. But he is remembered, because where he touched Stubble and Calyx, their skin and clothing transmogrified into soft, fleshy lumps and tubes.

As to what he is doing in Strangerside, Winnow explains that a few months ago, he found an artefact in one of the wizard's towers. A wise woman told him that it is a Transformer's cloak that will turn its wearer into a bird. He has brought it to Everway in the hope of selling it to the Crookstaffs. Slight examines it - it is not what the wise woman said it was, but it will allow its wearer to leap long distances and fall safely from a height. The Crookstaffs will almost certainly not be interested, but Walker offers to buy it for 200 hefts. He and Slight take Winnow to the Heroes Tavern and tell him to wait there.

-- o --

Wishbone has awoken with some unanswered questions about the spirit bottle plot and decides to ask Nightwing's shade. Finding a quiet spot at the back of the sleeping caves, she focuses on the spirit bottle and the small bone totem inside, and opens her mind to the spirit's whisperings. Nightwing's chief regret is the necromantic research plans that he will never get to put into practice, but Wishbone fairly easily guides him onto the subject of Old Crow's reward for helping him, which he confirms was a substantial amount of gold. Asked where the gold came from, the spirit replies "the others, of whom I should not speak". However, under pressure of Wishbone's will, speak he does. They are the "ones who would see change in the Everway." "The Twelve?" suggests Wishbone. "No, no - Freedom Crow!" Wishbone sighs. Yet another plot.

Sadly, Nightwing's shade is not much more forthcoming on his employers, as he was not particularly interested in their intentions. It seems that Freedom Crow is concerned that the military threats to Everway from its neighbours are not being taken seriously enough by the High King's Court and is planning to take action. Nightwing's chief interest was in replacing Ulrich Crookstaff, an aim on which he and the conspirators happened to concur. Wishbone has more questions, but a runner sent by Rathgard interrupts her trance. Could she come at once please?

Rathgard and Flame soon tire of drinks and nibbles at the Water Tower and head back to the cellars. En route they discuss the replacement for Brassart and decide that Aketon is the best candidate. They are approaching the entrance to the cellars in Bleak Street when they are hailed by an Everwayan woman in her mid-fifties with long grey hair and a perceptive gaze, dressed in a shabby Watcher's robe. She introduces herself as Steadfast Watcher and politely asks if Wishbone is available, as she has a few questions regarding a case that she is working on. She also greets Flame, saying that she needn't concern herself as her current investigation does not involve her. Rathgard says that he doesn't know where Wishbone is, but invites her into the cellars to take a look.

Steadfast is interested in the entrance route ("a drawbridge - most impressive!") and in the central chamber, now completely cleared of the detritus of the previous night's party. Alas, Wishbone is nowhere to be seen. Rathgard sends off a runner to find her and invites Steadfast to take a cup of something in his office. Steadfast explains that she is investigating the murder of an Everwayan, Passing Tender, that she thinks happened off Redearth Street; she is interested in Wishbone because she and an associate were seen nearby on the night in question. She quizzes Rathgard on his earlier visit with Wishbone to Ten Bell Tiler and the altercation that ensued, which Rathgard passes off as a disagreement over a business contract.

Wishbone finally appears and Steadfast continues her polite but pointed questioning. She clearly suspects that Wishbone knows more about the case than she is letting on - she was in the area, had an animus against the Tenders and their arrangement with Ten Bell Tiler concerning the special clay, and was later seen loitering in the vicinity of the Houses of Dusk, where Passing Tender used to work. "You must admit, it seems a little suspicious." Wishbone plays it cool, pointing out that there is no evidence that Passing Tender was actually killed in Redearth Street. In any case she was only there to check that Ten Bell Tiler had stopped his dodgy business practices. Flame chips in, remarking that Ten Bell Tiler himself is a far more likely suspect. Steadfast is unconvinced and is trying to get Wishbone to come to the sept for further questioning when there is a commotion in the main chamber outside. Rathgard excuses himself and leaves to see what is going on.

Having consigned Winnow Tallgrass to the tender mercies of Weasel Stoatson and Bramble at the Heroes Tavern, Walker and Slight return to the cellars to raid the communal piggy bank. They are interrupted, however, by one of the lookouts keeping watch over the cellar entrance. A bunch of armed Plumes and Watchers have appeared and are demanding to speak to Master Splendid!, Master Stone and Mistress Flame. As Splendid! is, erm, indisposed, Walker and Flame go out to meet them, after a brief consultation with Rathgard. Slight follows them out wearing his usual "don't notice me" glamour.

The leader of the delegation proves to be none other than their old friend Shadowhide Snakering, the small, energetic spy whose mission the heroes inadvertently ruined when they first invaded the cellars. She is still annoyed with Walker for failing to deliver Three Trees into her hands, but has more important things to discuss. She wants to know whether the heroes saw anything suspicious while they were at the Palace on Joveday evening. She adds that they themselves are not of disputed status, in this matter at least (looking meaningfully at Flame), because a senior Everwayan has vouched for them. Seeing no reason to dissemble, Walker gives Shadowhide the full story of Lithe the temporarily missing Mask, taking the opportunity to drop Loudvoice Mask in it by saying that he was "in the know".

Meanwhile, down below, Steadfast is still trying to persuade Wishbone to come back to the sept with her. She tries to get Wishbone to open up about her problem with Ten Bell Tiler and the clay, which Wishbone counters by saying that it was a matter relating to Ulrich Crookstaff and that Steadfast should talk to him. Seeing that she is getting nowhere, Steadfast takes her leave. On her way out, she notices some colleagues in Shadowhide's delegation and stops to talk to them. Slight takes the opportunity of the distraction to insinuate himself into the group, giving the impression that he is a slightly dishevelled Plume.

At that moment, there is a loud clanging from the direction of Everway. Shadowhide's delegation look at each other in alarm. "The Peril Bells - we'd better get back!" They set off at a run towards the Dusk Bridge, Slight among them. Walker calls for Wishbone to come up and summon Hawk.

With their eye in the sky and Wishbone's running commentary, the heroes soon understand what is going on. In belfries throughout the city, bells are rocking and chiming without any obvious means of propulsion. The cause of the magical alarm is clear - a familiar blue dragon with red spines hovers just out of bow-shot above the Palace, carrying an even more familiar rider, who shouts something to the upturned faces below and turns to go. Just in time - the windows of the Tower of Roots, a fleshy green bulb-shaped building supported on a braided column of massive gnarled roots that dominates the skyline on the eastern side of the city, suddenly light up and magical lightning tears across the sky. The bolt just misses Wrath and Tempest, but the resulting turbulence makes their departure to the north west rather more wobbly than intended. The Peril Bells gradually quieten.

Shadowhide hails the Keepers on the Dusk Gate who explain the dragon situation. "Maybe the Three Dragons have come!" says one alarmed Watcher - Slight suppresses a chuckle as he recognises the rumour that he started when he was interrogated at the Watchers' sept after Wormwood's murder. A loud clap of thunder makes everyone flinch. "It's all right - he's fleeing," reports a Keeper. "Tower of Roots almost got him. Good to know old Hawk is still alive." Shadowhide orders the patrol to accompany her back to Snakering House. Talk returns to the murder of Wall Emerald. A Plume suggests that maybe Glimmer Moondance is involved - after all, she practically declared war on the Mother Goddess in her last sermon, didn't she? Her commander tells her to keep her religious opinions to herself.

Slight is hesitant to ask too many questions for fear of giving himself away, and as they are approaching the Pyramid, he employs a quick misdirection at the next intersection to sneak away. Finding a Host tavern in the vicinity of the Court of Fools, he pretends to be a Digger worker and starts asking questions about the afternoon's events. There is a febrile atmosphere. The Peril Bells have rung for the first time in many years, and no-one can remember the last time that the Tower of Roots was used for anything other than light shows at festivals. People are particularly alarmed that the Dragonlord's last words, shouted over the Palace before he left, were "I'll be back!"

Slight learns that Hawk Crookstaff is the master of the Tower of Roots; he lives all alone at the top and is thought to be slightly mad. As for Wall Emerald, she was the "Wise Mother" of the Emerald family, a title apparently signifying religious leadership. The name of Glimmer Moondance is on everyone's lips - opinion is evenly divided between those who think she was responsible for Wall Emerald's murder and those who think she is standing up for the "true" Everway. It all gets a bit shouty, so Slight leaves.

Back in the cellars, the papers confirming the ex-slaves' claim to Waving Flag's compound have arrived from Diligent Politesse. Rathgard calls over Howling Wolf and tells him to take the papers round to his erstwhile companions in Beggartown. Howling Wolf says that being a Peacekeeper, he should check with the Peacemaster that he is not needed first, but Fish Trader is not around. He returned while Rathgard was with Steadfast, assembled half a dozen Peacekeepers and then left again without saying where he was going. Rathgard frowns as he sends Howling Wolf on his way. This is odd behaviour, even for Fish Trader. Where could he have gone?

Chapter 13
The Assassin

In which Fish Trader's true nature is revealed and Flame goes on a little trip

A half bell later, Howling Wolf returns with his grateful companions. Among them is Trickling Brook, the inventor of the plate code, who is carrying a set of wrapped frames; the portraits of the heroes that she promised to make. The heroes eagerly unwrap them. They are based on Fortune Cards - Rathgard is the King, striking a heroic pose distinctly reminiscent of the banners at last night's party, while Walker stands solidly with his staff as the Defender and Wishbone is shown in the act of transforming into the Eagle. Flame's portrait shows her as a great and terrible Phoenix Queen, standing in a broken egg shell wreathed in a fiery halo, with Walker in the background as her bodyguard. However, the picture is loose. Beneath, daubed on the backing, is another painting, a semi-abstract mass of greys and blacks with a lighter grey circle in the centre. Flame peers at it, trying to work out what it represents. Wishbone looks up, suddenly aware of a powerful flash of magic, but her warning dies in her throat as Flame's body strobes in different rainbow colours and vanishes. The picture frame clatters to the floor.

Pandemonium ensues. Walker demands to know what just happened, while Voulges advances menacingly on Trickling Brook, who is frantically denying any involvement. Rathgard gets everyone to calm down and asks Wishbone what she saw. Wishbone says that Flame's spirit was sucked down a path that had been prepared for it, taking her body with it. Walker picks the frame up and cautiously examines the picture. It has changed; Flame's back and shoulders can be seen in the foreground and the mass of greys and blacks are now clearly the walls of a pit reaching up far above her to an opening above. Acting on a hunch, Walker closes his eyes and opens them again. Flame's position has altered and the pit opening is brighter. A few seconds later, a fair-haired female figure has appeared at the pit's rim, holding a lantern in one hand and a small rectangular object in the other. Rathgard and Walker recognise who it is from the brief glimpse they got of her in Chamber Platinum, before everything went strange. It's Painter, Flame's book botherer.

As Slight is not back yet, Walker decides to take the picture to Cunning and sets off at a run, accompanied by Wishbone. Rathgard interrogates Trickling Brook, who has nothing much to add. She finished the portraits last night and left them in the workroom of the house that she shares with the other ex-slaves in Stinkbutt Street. As Fish Trader has still not returned (where is he?), Rathgard and Voulges accompany her back to her dwelling in search of clues.

As they hasten across the city, Walker glances from time to time at the picture. He is pleased to see a fiery knife streaking towards Painter's face, although when he looks again, Flame is in mid-leap to avoid her own weapon which has somehow been translated to the bottom of the pit. During the next few minutes an angry conversation takes place, then Painter and the light disappear, leaving Flame glowing in the darkness.

Getting to see Cunning in the Gold family house proves to be annoying. He is in a meeting and only the mention of an "urgent shadow-related matter" eventually gets them an audience. After reassuring him that his son is fine, Walker finally persuades him to examine the picture by saying that they had seen Painter, Maba's possible assistant, in it. Cunning finds the portrait extremely worrying. Its power is clearly a form of gate magic, but it is tangled up with a particular place, a particular person and a particular thing. Also, from Walker's description, Flame was transported instantaneously, which everyone knows is impossible. Travel through gates always takes time. Cunning does not know where the pit could be nor how to find it; he does not think that anyone else could use the painting, as its magic is so closely tied to Flame's being. Walker nonetheless tries, focusing hard on the picture and willing himself into it. He feels it grow a little cooler in his hand, but nothing else happens. Cunning suggests talking to the Crookstaffs but warns that it may not be much use, as no coven has specific expertise in gate magic. Unity coven, which specialises in hybrid elemental magic, is the only one that might be able to help. Privately concluding that Slight's father is indeed as useless as Slight always says he is, Walker and Wishbone thank him and head back to the cellars.

The ex-slaves have appropriated a dismal semi-ruined building in Stinkbutt Street in the Midden Well area of Beggartown. The roof and most of its upper storey are missing but the ground floor is largely intact and contains two sleeping rooms, a kitchen, a workroom and a small shrine to the Hunter. Rathgard questions the ex-slaves and their neighbours about unusual visitors last night - eventually one called Low-to-the-Ground recalls seeing a fair-haired stranger matching Painter's description in the workroom, but for some reason she did not find it surprising or noteworthy. Investigating further, Rathgard find some flakes of dried paint on the workroom floor, which he collects to show Slight. As he is about to go, the ex-slaves ask him about the lawyer who drafted the papers, as they would like him to arrange the sale of their new property. Rathgard gives them Diligent Politesse's address.

Back at the cellars, Walker and Wishbone return to another crisis. Four panicked Peacekeepers, two covered in blood, are gibbering at Gorget who is trying to get a coherent story out of them. They catch phrases like "cheetah-headed guy" and "tore his throat out", but Walker decides to concentrate on the more important thing and demands to know if Slight is back. The distracted Gorget tries to get him to take charge, but Walker says that the Lord Rathgard will deal with the situation when he gets back. Gorget waves at the sleeping caves.

Slight, who is slightly inebriated, is not best pleased at being roused from his quiet lie-down, but quickly gets up when Walker threatens to use the bucket again. He takes the picture to the small workshop he has set up in a side-cave and uncovers it. Flame can be seen dangling by her fingertips about halfway up the wall of the pit. Slight concentrates and tries to activate the magic of the portrait, which works but in an unexpected way. The Book of Words, which is sitting on a table nearby, suddenly strobes and vanishes, reappearing in the foreground of the picture. The next glimpse shows Flame climbing down with an annoyed look on her face.

Slight is more careful after that. He cannot get the picture to activate again, but does manage by a stupendous effort of will to follow the magical thread tying it to the pit's location, allowing him to get an idea of which realm it is in. It is not one he knows, but he senses mountains, slaves and a belief in a being called the "Great Llama". Meanwhile, Flame can be seen resuming her painful fingertip climb up the pit, having picked up the Book. Eventually she reaches the edge and hauls herself over. The light dims and the picture fades to black.

Meanwhile, Rathgard has returned to the cellars to receive a worrying report from Gorget. Fish Trader's secret mission, whatever it was, has gone seriously pear-shaped. He had taken the Peacekeepers to a street in the Crafters Quarter where a bunch of apothecaries lived. After asking around for someone called Yew Threadlip, they had entered his house and found a secret room filled with weapons and weird potions. Fish Trader had just gone in to take a look when they were attacked by a creature shaped like a man with a cheetah's head, who moved incredibly fast and had killed Pommel and Ember before anyone could react. Fish Trader emerged from the secret room and told the rest of the Peacekeepers to run, which they did. They waited for Fish Trader, but he never came out.

Rathgard hastily organises a rescue mission, roping in Walker, Wishbone and one of the Peacekeepers, the cocky but now traumatised Gash. They make their way over to Sawbones Street, near Redearth Street. Gash points out Yew Threadlip's residence, a two-storey wooden building with black shutters. There is no-one about, so Rathgard raps on the door of the house opposite. A bald-headed man cautiously peers out. Yes, there was some banging, shouting and running from across the way about a bell ago; he and his wife got scared and hid. Everything has been quiet since.

Leaving Gash on guard outside, Rathgard, Walker and Wishbone cautiously enter the house through the unlocked back door. They make their way through a laboratory containing herbs and ointments that Wishbone recognises as treatments for libertine's itch, pube roaches and other embarrassing medical ailments, and climb the stairs. There is a buzzing of flies and a smell of blood that gets stronger as they approach the door of a small office. A scene of carnage meets their eyes. Three bodies lie amid congealed streaks of blood and splinters of smashed furniture. Two are those of Pommel and Ember, one with a ripped belly, the other with his throat torn out. The third is Fish Trader, who is lying face-down in a pool of blood. An oval dent and a halo of red splatters suggest that he has been thrown head-first into a wall.

"He's alive!" says Wishbone, who can sense that Fish Trader's spirit is almost but not quite detached from his body. Walker leaps into action, gathering the pieces of Fish Trader's shattered life-stone and slowly coaxing them back together. With Wishbone's help he stops the bleeding and binds Fish Trader's head; he is still unconscious, but thanks to Walker's great powers, he will live. While he is working, Walker notices a piece of paper poking out of Fish Trader's pocket. It reads "You're like the others - weak. Do not try to stop me, little kitten."

Meanwhile, Rathgard investigates the room. A solid eight foot tall wardrobe has survived the carnage, but in defiance of all storytelling tradition, its interior does not conceal a secret passage or magical portal. Instead, Rathgard notices a series of scratch marks on its side. Asking Wishbone for a bunk up, he clambers into the three foot gap between the top of the wardrobe and the ceiling, where a hole in the wall allows entrance to the hidden room beyond. This is disappointingly empty; there are dagger and sword hooks on the walls and rings in the dust on a shelf, and an open chest with a curious lock consisting of five slits in an arc, which contains nothing.

Rathgard clambers back to find Wishbone tending to Pommel's and Ember's bodies and Fish Trader slowly coming to. "Where... is he?" he asks. "Where's Rrauw?"

• Fish Trader is not the simple merchant that he seems to be. He is in fact a Peacemaster from the realm of the Peaceful Isles. His people are cats with the ability to shape-change into humans and are dedicated to bringing peace to other realms.
• He is in Everway as a spy. The Peacemasters have recently encountered Everwayan adventurers who have shown an unhealthy interest in the Peaceful Isles. They have even set up an embassy. Concerned at possible invasion, the Peacemasters have decided to bring peace to Everway. They intend to subvert Everway's rulers from within. Fish Trader has stuck with the heroes because they share a common aim.
• This morning he heard from an associate that another peacemaster, Rrauw, is no longer following orders and may have gone rogue. Rrauw has been investigating the Theatre of the Thousand Spheres in the guise of a Mask called Lithe. He is almost certainly responsible for the murder of Wall Emerald, which was not sanctioned by the Peacemaster elders.
• Rrauw had also been posing as Yew Threadlip, a doctor with a reputation for treating the ailments that are too embarrassing to bring to the Mothers (unlike Fish Trader, he is capable of more than one human guise). Fish Trader got a possible address for him from Brother Valentine at the Mercy Hospital and was investigating Rrauw's secret room when he returned. The fight was short and one-sided - Rrauw is stronger and faster than Fish Trader.
• The chest in the secret room contained papers relating to Rrauw's spying activities. Fish Trader no longer has them - Rrauw must have taken them - but he remembers one in particular, headed "targets". It mentioned the following people:
  • Grey Snakering
  • Goldring Digger
  • Serpent Moondance
  • Ardent Scratch
  • Lucent Stonebreaker
  • Victor Crow
  Each name was accompanied by notes on their possible personal protections and ominous words like "bow", "claws" and "poison". A sub-heading "Defences" listed numbers with locations and weapons, including "balcony", "stairways" (with "ceremonial halberds") and "main entrance".

Rathgard has numerous questions, but Fish Trader is too tired to answer them. He also refuses to show Rathgard his true form. Supported by Walker and Wishbone, he returns to the cellars.

There have been no changes to the picture since Flame made her escape and Slight has made no further progress in untangling the magic, so Walker goes worriedly to bed. Some hours later, he is woken from a disturbing dream in which he is falling down a well with a woman whose face keeps changing shape by the sounds of someone moving in his room. It's Flame. She looks tired and her fingers are raw. "I made a new friend," she says.

• The transition was rapid but not painful. The painting expanded to fill her field of vision and came to life around her. The air turned cold and damp and the ground became rocky under her feet.
• She was at the bottom of a ten feet wide by thirty feet deep pit. The walls were smooth and made of grey granite. She knew that they would be hard to heat up.
• A light appeared and Painter leant over the edge. She carried a lantern in one hand and a small flat object in the other. "Oh good," she said. "You found my picture. So my dear, time to pay your dues. Give me the book and I shall return you to your friends."
• Flame challenged her, saying that she knew that Painter could not just take the book. Painter acknowledged that it would be inconvenient, but said that Flame has no choice - she is in a cave in the middle of a mountain with no exits to the outside world, so only Painter can take her back.
• Flame then pointed out that she did not have the book on her - she had left it elsewhere for safekeeping. Painter offered to get it for her. Flame raised her hand to her face in thought, using the action to conceal her other hand as she grabbed the fire-knife at her belt and flung it at Painter's smug face. Her aim was good, but Painter flipped up the object in her hand which proved to be another painting. The fire-knife vanished into it and emerged just where Flame was standing. Flame had to leap to one side to avoid being impaled.
• Painter was annoyed - "you little minx! Just give it to me!" When Flame still refused, she withdrew, saying that Flame would eventually die of thirst or starvation and then she could just take the book.
• Flame decided not to hang around. Painter had intended the wall of the pit to be unclimbable and for most people it would be, but most people had not grown up in the Phoenix Caves where navigating sheer rockfaces was part of the coming of age ceremony. Which is is not to say that it was easy - the only way that she could gain purchase was to stick her fingers into fine cracks and haul herself up by finger-power alone. Flame was not best pleased when, half way to freedom, she saw the Book appear below her and had to go back and fetch it.
• At last, after over an hour, she reached the top and hauled herself over the lip. The pit was in a large, low cave which she could sense was deep underground. There was dripping water but not much else. Flame wandered around for a bit and discovered a small side-cave with a table, chair and lantern - presumably Painter's temporary base of operations. Back in the main cave she found a side passage, but after half an hour of following it, it ended in a dead end. Flame headed back to Painter's cave and checked the wall carefully. She found a crack beyond which she could sense another space. Using one of her coins, she managed to blast a way through, but the cave that lay beyond proved to be another dead end.
• Flame was just deciding what to do next when she heard someone whistling from the main cave. A young woman, about 20 years old with long multi-coloured wavy hair and with mismatched blue and brown eyes, came strolling into view. She was dressed in rags and carried a bundle in a red-spotted handkerchief on the end of a stick. Flame thought she bore a remarkable resemblance to the statue of the dancing woman in the Court of Fools. "Hello, you look lost," she said. "Do you want some help?"
• Flame gratefully accepted, and the woman introduced herself as Silly Me. She was somewhat annoying, with a tendency to ask random questions, like "why is the rock grey?" and "why the isn't the floor soft and squidgy?", but Flame remained patient.
• Flame asked if Silly Me knew Painter, which evoked the response that she was a painter herself. She offered to show Flame, and got out a set of Fortune Cards. She said that they were portraits of her friends, and others - Mother Harvest is Autumn, and the Hooded Councillor is the Cockatrice. She said that she gave her pictures to the wanderers and the dragon people and they took them everywhere. And her friends became more real.
• Flame asked if Silly Me had heard of the Twisted Library. "That's one of my cards! It's hard to find because it keeps getting lost. The Hermeneutic always knows where it is, but he's hard to find too."
• Silly Me expressed gratitude that Flame had helped her friends in the Stone Ark who wanted to be free.
• Flame asked Silly Me whether Painter was one of her cards, to which the answer was no, she's something else. Asked if she had any suggestions about how Painter could be defeated, Silly Me said that maybe Flame's connection to the Book could be used, but that there would be a price to be paid.
• Eventually, they turned a corner and Silly Me pointed out a door in the wall that would take Flame back to her friends. As they made their farewells, she warned Flame to watch out for the Mist - it's coming and will trap her if she's not careful. The Book will help - she did keep the Book, didn't she?
• Flame stepped through the door and found herself near the latrine cave at the back of the cellars. There was no door behind her.

-- o --

Outside it is a bright, chilly autumn day, but in the cellars, the mood of the gang is sombre. The bodies of Pommel and Ember have been brought back from Sawbones Street and are lying in a side-cave. Rathgard sends a runner to Spinnaker to prepare some funeral boats. Fish Trader's appearance at breakfast with a blood-stained bandage wrapped round his head does not improve morale. The heroes are glad to see that Flame has returned and listen with interest to the story of her encounter with Painter and Silly Me. Slight suggests that Painter could be a dragon and proposes that Flame does a divination to find out. However, Walker is determined not to let her out of his sight and they go off to find Winnow Tallgrass at the Heroes Tavern, taking 200 lightweight hefts from party funds. Slight heads into Everway, saying that something is making him feel uneasy and he wants to find out what.

Rathgard, Wishbone and Fish Trader have an appointment with Mallet Ironbrow, who arrives promptly with two bodyguards. He is a prosperous architect in his forties, stout, bearded, and richly dressed in fir-trimmed robes with the accoutrements of his trade - squares, dividers, compasses and rolls of paper - sticking out of the pockets. He explains that he grew up as a Beggartown brat in Stinkbutt Street; he escaped because the priestesses of the Temple of the Flowers got him an apprenticeship, and now he wants to give something back. Inspired by Rathgard's speech at Dimmer Court, he proposes a programme of works in Beggartown that he will design and help to fund. He hopes that Rathgard can provide labour and raw materials, particularly good-quality timber.

Rathgard asks where he could get the timber from, and Mallet admits that it could be a problem. Like everything else in Everway, the wood trade is run by families who are less than enthusiastic about selling to Strangers and Outsiders. Most of Everway's wood comes from the forests below the Sunset Mountains to the east and is brought by barge down the Sunset River by the Stonebreaker, Gold and Digger families - the Stonebreakers, being the family that specialises in building construction, generally have the best quality. As a fine upstanding citizen, Mallet could not possibly recommend it, but if the heroes were to consider a "people's tax" on the trade, they would likely find that the barges are lightly guarded... At this point, one of Mallet's bodyguards, a solidly built yeoman type, leans forward and whispers in his ear. "Ah yes, and my man Humus here has reminded me that he used to live by the Sunset River - a place called Waterwheel. Perhaps he could be of use?"

Rathgard thanks him for his suggestion and says that he will consider it. In the mean time, Mallet could make a start on the designs, perhaps focusing on things that that do not need so much wood, like water pipes and sewers? Mallet is particularly taken with Rathgard's suggestion of a communal bakery and says that he will go over to Stinkbutt Street to review the land and draw up plans.

At the Heroes Tavern, Winnow is hunched over the breakfast table, trying to ignore the epic row that Weasel and Bramble are having in the back room. He is glad to see Walker and Flame, and hands over the cloak without a qualm when they produce the 200 hefts. It is shabby and faded, but works as advertised - Walker can jump from one end of the room to the other in a single leap. Before they go, Winnow asks if they know any spherewalkers who could help get him back to Wizards Reach - the woman who brought him, Pagoda Five, has returned to the Glorious Empire. Walker says that he is a spherewalker and could escort him back if it's not too far - what route did he take? Winnow gives him the list of realms: Jellytree, a jungle of translucent rubbery vegetation which the natives tie together to make living quarters; Llama Heights, a land of high mountains where slaves build spectacular stone cities for their priestly overlords who worship the Great Llama (Walker and Flame exchange a significant glance); and Iron Citadel, a metal city ruled by the Copper Duke and his wife, the sorceress Allure, where smiths produce countless weapons of iron and steel. Winnow says that the last of these should be avoided - the Copper Duke is preparing for an invasion of a neighbouring realm and they are paranoid about foreign spies. Pagoda Five and Winnow had to sneak through the city by night, avoiding the patrols of fire-breathing metal hounds that are the Duke's special creations. Winnow had never been so scared in his life. Walker says that he and Flame will go to the Library of All Worlds to investigate an alternative route.

Outside, Flame points out that she is not a member of Chamber Platinum and may still be banned from the Library as a Person of Disputed Status, but Walker has faith that he can get her in. This proves to be the case; as they approach the Library main entrance, a Librarian Militant tries to stop Flame, but his companion points out that her name has been taken off the banned list. Walker opens the small side door that leads to Chamber Platinum with his key and they reach the reading room without incident. Flame asks a librarian if anyone looking like Painter has been hanging around recently, but she does not recognise her.

Sadly, two hours of research do not vouchsafe an obvious alternate route to Wizards Reach. There is no tome with a master map of the connections of the Thousand Spheres; the Sages get shifty when Walker asks for one. They eventually admit that such material is classified. A helpful Sage locates a shelf with books that mention Wizards Reach and Jellytree, but none of them describe any additional gates. Flame, bored, explores the upper levels of the reading room and finds a door with a no entry sign that may be worth a look - however, it is locked, so Slight will be needed. The pair decide to break for lunch and head out into the open. Flame sniffs - ah, burning stuff, her favourite smell. It seems to be coming from the east side of the city - perhaps they should investigate?

Back in the cellars, Wishbone has thought of another question to ask Nightwing's shade. How did Freedom Crow make contact with him? The answer is a man called Factotum, who came to see him at Deadwalk Coven. Nightwing is frustratingly unclear about Factotum's appearance, describing him only as a nondescript middle-aged Everwayan in black robes - he cannot even say what family Factotum belonged to, only that he did not have the military bearing of a Crow. Seeking more information, Wishbone decides to venture out to see the Nippers. Fearing that her encounter with Steadfast Watcher may have made her a Person of Disputed Status, she disguises herself as a pilgrim and slips in through the secret passage below Hardhand Tower, buying some sweets in Crafters Square en route. As she approaches the Walkers Ark, she notices a couple of shady-looking characters - Watchers, by their appearance - doing a very poor job of lurking incognito in the streets nearby. Using Hawk's guidance she is able to give them the slip.

Queen Carrot is as gracious as ever and Bean manages to keep his eyes off Wishbone's chest for at least some of the time. No, they have never heard of Factotum, but are much more forthcoming about Rrauw's list of names. They spot immediately that they are six of the Seven Advisors who lead the Great Council of Everway - the seventh is Ulrich Crookstaff, who does not usually attend. Ardent Scratch is Codex Platinum Scratch's husband. Serpent Moondance is a religious conservative who supports Glimmer. Grey Snakering, despite being a close confidante of the King, has somehow managed to wangle his way onto the Great Council as well; as with Ulrich, no-one is quite sure how he has done this. Lucent Stonebreaker is under pressure to step down due to her family's refusal to pay the City Tax. Victor Crow was a can-do soldier in his youth but his notoriously dissolute bachelor lifestyle is leading to ill health. His brother Freedom is a rival and is agitating to succeed him on the Council, citing the threat of war with Keep in the Woods. Rrauw's "Defences" notes also suggest the Council House where the Great Council meets - there is a balcony and the guards in the chamber have ceremonial halberds. Wishbone thanks Carrot and Bean for the information. She tells them that Wall Emerald was probably murdered by a shape-shifting serial killer and asks them to let her know about any violent deaths.

Despite roaming all round Everway, Slight cannot identify the cause of his feeling of unease, so he goes to see Cunning, who asks him whether he got anywhere with the portrait. Slight tells him about the mountainous realm he sensed, but Cunning does not recognise it. Slight wonders aloud whether Painter could be a dragon, like Alurax, but Cunning does not think so. When Slight asks if his not-father has sensed anything strange this morning, he gets the somewhat alarming response "You feel it too?" They speculate some more, but the only idea that Cunning can come up with is that perhaps it is an after-effect of the Peril Bells going off yesterday when the Dragonlord threatened the Palace. This gives Slight an idea, and he heads back into the city, observing as many peril bell belfries as he can. As usual, the bells are twitching even though there is no breeze; maybe it's his imagination, but he would say that they are swinging slightly more than usual. As he is looking up at the belfry on East Root Street, he notices a haze in the air and a smell of burning. It seems to be coming from nearby. Slight goes to investigate.

Back in the cellars, the runner has returned from Spinnaker. Yes he can do the funeral boats - they can be ready by tomorrow - but he would also like an advance on the two fishing boats that he is making for Lentil Seabloom. The heroes are giving him so much work that he wants to expand his business. Fish Trader talks to the Peacekeepers, telling them that Pommel and Ember will be remembered as "heroes of Everway" - streets and buildings will be named after them. Rathgard says that the "Ember Bakery" is being commissioned. Afterwards, Fish Trader and Rathgard collect the personal effects of the deceased to return to their families. Pommel's diary is a surprisingly literate and thoughtful tome - he clearly had the makings of a talented writer. It contains laugh-out-loud funny character sketches of Towershield, Guisarme and Rathgard, as well as thoughts on Everway's politics and legal system and observations of daily life in the gang (he spotted that Veil and Treb were falling for each other more than a week ago). He was respectful of Fish Trader but critical of his harsh judgement calls. Ember's effects are more bizarre and include glove puppets, shiny bits of glass, old playbills for events in the Arenas, a devil's mask that he clearly stole, boiled sweets and some wooden carvings in strange, flowing abstract shapes.

Fish Trader takes it upon himself to visit the families, starting with Ember's in Dark Alley. On the way through Talespinner's Square, he sees a nondescript woman in a long robe standing on a box inveighing against the so-called Lords of Beggartown. "They're nothing more than another street gang, living it up in luxury while ordinary people starve!" Some discreet enquiries reveal that she is a well-known firebrand called Turbury Oakapple and she often does this sort of thing. It's not clear what her agenda is - her range of subjects is somewhat eccentric.

Fish Trader also notices a printed poster pinned up on a wall that may have been Turbury's inspiration. It is a long tract raving against the tyranny of the King and the Great Council:

• "ONCE AGAIN the so-called Great Council has raised OUR taxes while they luxuriate in idleness, so puffed up with piggish greed that they can scarce raise themselves from their couches to waddle to the table for the next feast provided by OUR sweat and labour…
• And while the hordes of MIDDLELAND threaten our western lands, and OUTSIDERS continue to POUR through our undefended gates in a NEVER-ENDING STREAM, polluting and corrupting our land and people, what does our High King do? NOTHING! Lost in vice and idleness, concerned only with his boy-whores and girl-whores, he lounges on his Emerald Throne, oblivious to the DANGERS that beset this land!"
The poster ends: "WE DEMAND:
• The formation of a PEOPLE'S CHAMBER to run Everway in the interests of ALL its inhabitants
• The EXPULSION of all OUTSIDERS who are corrupting our land
• The DESTRUCTION of the Gates so that our fair city is never threatened again
• INDEPENDENCE for the Lands of Roundwander so that local people may govern their own affairs
• LONG LIVE THE GATEBREAKERS!"

Shrugging, Fish Trader moves on. He soon finds Ember's family, the Fallowmeres, in a dingy apartment in Dark Alley. On hearing the news, the mother, Petal, and Ember's brother and sister Apt and Tulip burst into tears; the stepfather, Hod, merely grunts. Petal thanks Fish Trader for arranging everything and assures him that they will be at the funeral tomorrow.

Pommel's parents, Nib and Scratch Spiderhand, are scribes living in the Papermakers Quarter, and are decidedly more stand-offish. They disowned Pommel (whose original name was Quarto) when he threw in his lot with Towershield and are not surprised that he has come to a bad end. They all but accuse Fish Trader of tapping them for cash for the funeral. Fish Trader manages to keep his temper and hands over Pommel's diary, which they unwillingly accept.

By following their noses, Flame and Walker locate the source of the burning. It is a place that they know - All the Gods Way. Several of the temples are on fire and others have had their icons and altars smashed and desecrated. Watchers run past with water buckets, while priestesses, swamis, imams, clerics and gurus, some looking decidedly shell-shocked, tend the wounded or try ineffectually to clear up the mess. Walker says that he should check up on Humility. "Oh, your other girlfriend", Flame remarks acidly. "Humility is to you as a candle is to the sun", replies Walker.

Sadly, the temple of Elpis was one of the main targets and is now a smoking pile of rubble. Clamour Raven, the neighbouring priestess of Kali, has somehow climbed up on it and is laughing in triumph. She remembers Walker and tells him that if he has come to rescue his girlfriend, he is too late. She indicates a white-clad body buried in the rubble. Walker scrambles over to the corpse and turns it over. It is a dark haired woman; not Humility, who had fair hair. Flame climbs up and punches Clamour in her smug face. It is a perfect blow - an arc of blood jets from her nose and she tumbles down the rubble, knocking herself out. Walker goes to talk to Chequer Hambone, the friendly priest of Apollo, who is packing to leave. Glimmer Moondance has made it too dangerous for him to stay in Everway. He says that Humility was dismissed two weeks ago after her sponsorship by the Smiths was withdrawn; he suspects that her erstwhile boyfriend Kegtap Grapestamper had a hand in it. He is not sure where she went.

As they leave All the Gods Way, Walker and Flame bump into Slight, who has pieced together the story of the riot by listening into conversations. Once again, it started after Glimmer's Moonday sermon, which decried the worship of the "False Mother" and declared that the time had come to begin the purification of Everway. She had led hundreds of Moondancers and other worshippers armed with torches, stones and clubs to All the Gods Way where they had set about destroying the temples with cries of "Purify!" and "The Walker is the one true god!" The Watcher response was half-hearted at best, but eventually enough arrived that the rioters dispersed. Most of the Moondancers returned with Glimmer to Pyramid Square, but there are still a few fanatics milling around near the Mother houses. Sensing an opportunity to get revenge for the bliss experiments, Walker and Flame ask Slight to disguise them as Moondancers. Slight does so and puts a few glamours on them, but refuses to get drawn in further, saying that he will wait for them in a nearby street.

The ruse is entirely successful. Walker and Flame soon locate the 30 or so Moondancers who are milling around at the corner of Nurturer Way and South Root Street, and with a bit of speechifying that Rathgard would have been proud of, Walker manages to stir them into attacking the small rustic wooden houses in which the Mothers live. Sadly there is no large headquarters building and the 50 foot Nurturer statue in the central square is not flammable, but with Flame's help the rioters get a good third of the area burning. The Mothers retaliate with unearthly ululations and their long-fingered leaders prove to have an unnerving ability to cause agony in anyone they touch, but Walker and Flame are well-satisfied with their afternoon's mayhem. As the harassed Watchers arrive, they make themselves scarce, pick up Slight, and, as it is still a bell or two before sunset, head back to the Library of All Worlds.

The afternoon's events are also observed by Wishbone through the eyes of Hawk. She sees Glimmer Moondance, a short, stout, middle-aged woman with black curly hair, a large hook nose and a grim expression, leading her troops away from the smoking remains of All the Gods Way. She also witnesses the later attack on the Mother Houses which are led by a strangely mismatched pair of Moondancers, one a bulky man with a staff and the other a woman with a fire-starting ability remarkably similar to Flame's. Wishbone's reverie is interrupted by Dirk, who comes limping in with an urgent message from the Mercy Hospital. Three Trees has been brought in unconscious. He is critically ill and needs urgent medical treatment. Wishbone gathers up her salves and unguents and hastens across.

Three Trees is indeed in a bad way. His head is lumpy with bruises and his torso is covered in deep gashes with ragged edges. Wishbone cannot identify the weapon that caused them. He has lost a lot of blood and is suffering from exposure. Wishbone packs the wounds with healing herbs and persuades his spirit, which was on the point of leaving, to stay where it is. Asking Brother Valentine to let her know as soon as Three Trees comes to, Wishbone heads back to the cellars to report to Rathgard.

Fish Trader has returned, which gives Wishbone the chance to update him on the identities of the people in Rrauw's note. Fish Trader looks worried and heads off, saying he has to see someone. Without telling him, Wishbone follows him with Hawk and sees him enter Old Town, but loses him in the gathering dusk.

In Chamber Platinum, Slight examines the locked door that Flame found while Flame distracts the nearby Librarian Militant by talking about weapons. He cannot pick the lock, but it is a simple matter to bump into a Sage and steal his key. The door creaks as he opens it and the Librarian Militant notices, but Flame provides a distraction by flirting with her.

Alas, the room does not contain any information about the locations of Gates. It does, however, have a number of books that mention the Basahn. Slight steals a Cleacuun phrase book but gets distracted by a story about a band of warrior-wizards called the Shadow League. Its founder was a warrior princess of the Daring Kingdom named Ocean, who sought vengeance against a man called Slate who had betrayed and killed her father. They met on the battlefield, but Slate was armed with a foul enchanted blade and cut off Ocean's hand. The wound would not heal, and Ocean would have died, had not her lover, a Basahn sorcerer called Shadow, placed his powers in his hand and joined it to her wrist, taking her death for his own. Shadow did this willingly, for he loved Ocean and desired nothing more than to have children with her, which his Basahni nature made impossible. With her new powers, Ocean eventually slew Slate and took back the lands of her ancestors. She bore many children, and each had the black hand of her lover and her warrior's might. And thus was the Shadow League born.

Slight is interrupted by a surreptitious knock on the door. Walker tells him that it is dusk - time to go home. Flame waves goodbye to her clearly smitten admirer and the three return to the cellars.

Over supper, Walker announces his intention to travel to Wizard's Reach with Winnow Tallgrass to see if he can find out why he was looking for the Twisted Library when he was the Shifting Man. Wishbone suggests an alternative - why not just ask Flame to do a divination? Hefts are duly passed and a bell later, the answer comes. "Because the Changing One, your master, was looking for the place of the Man of Shadow." Puzzling over what this means, the heroes go to bed.

The day starts with the appearance of a small boy called Flip with dramatic news from the Nippers. Glint Crookstaff has been murdered! His bloodstained body was found shoved head-first down a well on a side street between Walker's Way and the Crookstaff Quarter. Fish Trader recalls that the names Glint Crookstaff, Mirage Crookstaff and Pince-Nez Crookstaff appeared in Rrauw's notes on a sheet headed "Threats". Walker asks Flip if there has been any activity following the riots yesterday. Flip reports that a long-fingered Mother employed a Nipper to take a message to the Palace, but doesn't know what it said.

Walker and Flame decide that today would be a good day to get out of Strangerside and offer to scout out Waterwheel as a possible location for piratical activity. They take Slight with them, which suits him as he is still trying to identify the source of his continuing unease. A runner is sent to Mallet Ironbrow asking if they can borrow Humus as a guide and he obligingly shows up half a bell later.

The party makes its way through Talespinner's Square, noting that there are even more flyers for the Marvellous Automaton, and heads east through Grandmother Square, with its damaged statue of Grandma Snakering flinging the serpents into Shimmermoon Bay, to the pungent Tannery Lane. This ends in the Cowgate, a wooden-framed building draped in brown leather hides to keep the wind out. There is a raised platform with two bored-looking Mudbank guards playing cards, who glance over at the contents of the carts coming into or going out of the city but otherwise pay little attention. As they walk through water meadows grazed by large herds of cattle, Walker asks Humus about Waterwheel. As its name implies, it is a flour-milling village. The Sunset river, usually about 100' across, runs through a rocky channel that narrows its width by a third. The mills built into its sides reduce the navigable waterway still further and the barges have to be carefully poled through the remaining 30' gap. Humus thinks that the millers, who are led by a hard-nosed woman called Deft Grindstone, may be amenable to a little toll taking - they have an exclusive contract with the Snakerings, but flour imported from the Nine Cities is undercutting them and the Snakerings have cut payments to the bone. Humus has personal experience of this - he was a farmer who fell on hard times and was forced to sell up when Deft refused to give him a loan.

The road to Waterwheel has descended to the south bank of the Sunset River, and Flame holds up a hand. "This would be a good place for an ambush," she says. The river is wide but there are thick banks of reeds where the Spice Runner could be hidden and a small fishing jetty surrounded by trees that could be used to offload the goods. It is only a couple of miles from Strangerside, so a few carts should be sufficient to get the wood back to Liberty House.

After another half bell, Waterwheel comes into sight. It is a pretty place built in golden yellow stone, with half a dozen watermills, a shop, a small temple to the Walker, a pub called The Miller's Daughter and a dozen farmsteads. Humus leads the way to the first mill and knocks on the door. A hard-faced woman, her hair bound in a cloth cap and her clothes covered in white dust, opens the door. "Humus!" she cries. "How are you? How is the family?" "Dead," replies Humus curtly. "These people want to talk to you."

After that awkward introduction, Walker, doing his best Rathgard impersonation, explains their plan. Deft has heard of Rathgard - rumours of "the rain maker" have been spreading through the farming community - but doesn't see what it has to do with her. Walker offers money. Deft is suddenly more interested, but wants plausible deniability. An arrangement is reached; the villagers will supply carts to carry away the timber and will send word when a Stonebreaker barge passes through the village. The heroes, dressed as Middlelanders, will raid the barge at the ambush point and send the empty barge back upriver. Walker manages to avoid committing to the amount that Deft will be paid, saying that Rathgard will negotiate in person tomorrow.

After concluding their business, the heroes stop for a drink at the Miller's Daughter. Walker builds up some good will by treating the ailments of a farmer and several old ladies. Slight searches for the source of his uneasy feeling again, but cannot determine a direction - it is just as strong here as it is in Everway. Flame suns herself.

Good news arrives from the Mercy Hospital - Three Trees has revived. Wishbone goes to see him and finds him propped up on a filthy mattress, his face still swollen and discoloured. In a weak voice he explains that some thugs waylaid him as he was returning to the cellars after a meeting with Coalface Digger on Saturnday evening. They told him that "the boss doesn't like competition" and that they were going to teach him a little lesson to show just how much. The "lesson" involved fists and boat-hooks, and Three Trees was unconscious at the end of it. He didn't recognise the thugs, but their choice of weapon suggests that they are members of the Halyards, the smuggling gang who operate out of the Papermakers Quarter and Snakehead Harbour. Three Trees has crossed paths with them before - their leader is an unpleasant woman called Lamp Halyard and they have two boats, the Whitebait and the Hammerhead.

Leaving Three Trees to recover, Wishbone heads over to the Nippers to find out more. They have not had many dealings with the Halyards, but know that the family home is in Windward Street, close to the Strangerside marshes. They have made one delivery there - a package of calming medicines for Lamp's mother. The house was well-guarded. Wishbone writes a message and asks the Nippers to deliver it to Lamp Halyard. It tells her to confirm or deny that she is the source of the "message" to Three Trees and gives her one day to respond.

After a leisurely breakfast, Rathgard decides to take a stroll in his domain. Down in Midden Well, people are queuing up to use the new water supply. Rathgard stays to press the flesh and listen to their complaints, which are mostly about lack of food, poor housing conditions, and the brutality of the Keeper guards of the gates to Everway. He is just considering paying a visit to Spinnaker when a man comes running in with news. King Horizon has been injured! He was setting out to meet a diplomatic mission when his horse was spooked by a rat in the Palace courtyard and threw him. His condition is not known, but the Mothers have been sent for.

-- o --

After hearing the news of King Horizon's rat-related accident, Rathgard decides to continue with his plan of visiting Spinnaker. His workshop is on Bleak Street just south of the docks. It is a large shabby wooden shed, dominated by the frame of a new fishing boat. Spinnaker, a small thickset man in his 50s with thistledown hair and a prominent Roman nose, is adjusting a steam-softened plank on a bending jig, while his apprentices Dubber, Strake and Oakum are working on the funeral boats. Rathgard remarks on the eyes that Dubber is painting on his boat. Dubber explains that he and Ember were best friends. When Spinnaker took Dubber on as an apprentice and Ember joined the Sons of the West, they discussed the possibility that he might end up making Ember's funeral boat. Ember begged him to put eyes on the boat "so that it would know where it was going".

Spinnaker confirms that Lentil Seabloom ordered two fishing boats. He wants to charge 1000 hefts per boat, but Rathgard argues him down to 800. He offers to pay 400 as a down payment on the first boat with the rest in a few days time. Spinnaker is happy with this and says that the boat will be completed in about two weeks. As the two are shaking hands, Fish Trader arrives with a message from Wishbone explaining her intention to visit Ulrich Crookstaff at Deadwalk Coven. Rathgard says that he will meet up with her there, but first he needs to see Lentil.

Fish Trader and Rathgard soon track down the errant fisherman in Midden Well. With Fish Trader hovering menacingly over him, Lentil somewhat uncomfortably explains that he ordered two boats because stretching a net between them is a far more efficient fishing technique and he thought that Rathgard would not mind. Rathgard does mind, being aware of the large call being made on rapidly dwindling party funds, but as he can tell that Lentil is not lying about his intentions he decides not to take it further. Instead he suggests that Lentil gets a crew together for the Spice Runner. Lentil says he can have one ready by tomorrow. Fish Trader heads back to the Cellars to rally the Peacekeepers while Rathgard goes to meet Wishbone at Deadwalk Coven.

After saying her goodbyes to Carrot and Bean, Wishbone heads towards the northern end of the city to locate the well where Glint Crookstaff's body was found. She notes the tension in the air and the increased presence of security forces, particularly around the Library of All Worlds where half a dozen Librarians Militant are standing on the steps. Venturing into the back streets between the Crookstaff Quarter and Walker's Way, Wishbone soon locates the murder well in Liminal Alley. The body has been removed but an elderly balding Watcher with a scar on his scalp is still poking around. Wishbone goes up to him, pretending to be a pilgrim who is lost. He proves to be an unusually friendly fellow for an Everwayan; he introduces himself as Flintstrike Watcher and is only too happy to talk about the investigation. Glint's neck was ripped open, as if by a wild animal; there were scratches - claw marks - on his shoulders, so it looks like he was jumped on from above. Flintstrike reckons that it is probably some Crookstaff internal feud; it would explain why they knew about and claimed the body so quickly. He warns Wishbone to be careful as it is the second murder in the area in the last few days, and gives her directions to return to Pyramid Square.

As they are walking back to Strangerside, Flame has a good idea for causing more trouble for the Mothers. She takes some silver and gold from her pack and works them between her fingers as she walks, folding them together in layers. The result, she thinks, will spontaneously burst into flame at regular intervals. Walker chats to Humus, while Slight wanders along behind, worrying.

In Talespinner's Square there is a new development that catches Walker's eye. Several builders are working on a five foot high wooden platform that is taking shape a little way south of the central fountain. Walker goes over to their leader, a thick-set man called Trowel, to ask what they are doing. Trowel produces a building permit signed by "Factotum Stranger". "And who is this Factotum who thinks he has authority over my square?" Walker demands to know. Trowel is not sure. He an employee of Aspen, a carpenter in the Crafters Quarter. Factotum came to her shop yesterday; he was a tall man in his forties with a widow's peak, wearing black robes. The contract is to build a stage by this evening - Factotum will come to inspect it at dusk. Trowel thinks that the contract is very lucrative for Aspen as she dropped everything to make it happen. Walker tells him to carry on, but keeps the permit.

Meanwhile, Flame gets Slight to disguise her as a Mother, using a cheap dress and a piece of cloth procured from a market stall as a headdress. It is not Slight's best piece of work, but he thinks it will hold - certainly there is much staring and whispers of "what's a Mother doing in Strangerside?" as she walks past. After agreeing to meet back here one bell before sunset, he and Flame head into Everway, while Walker goes back to the cellars.

Flame's plan is largely successful. She steals a bunch of flowers from a window box and lays them in strategic locations near the burnt area of the Mothers' quarter, depositing her silver and gold layered coins as she goes. She is just straightening up from the woodpile where she buried the last one when she comes face to face with a blue-robed woman. "You are not a Mother!" she says. "Not yet, but a girl can dream," replies Flame, gathering up her skirts. The woman lets forth a ululating howl and doors start to open all around. Flame legs it, pursued by a pack of baying priestesses. She soon outdistances them, scoots into a side alley, and incinerates her disguise. Whistling a little tune, she saunters back home.

Slight, meanwhile, is trying to break into a Peril Bell tower. He disguises himself as a Seeming Image mage called Fade Crookstaff and finds a tower with an entrance in a quiet alley. To his eyes, the magical ward across the door is clearly visible. It is very old and unusually resistant to the effects of the Pyramid - clearly Crookstaff work. The magic is earth-based, which is not his speciality, but he makes slow progress.

Back at the cellars, Walker meets with Fish Trader and catches up on the morning's events. He sends Treb and Veil out to the marshes to fetch the Spice Runner in preparation for Lentil. Then he goes over to the Mercy Hospital and to look in on Three Trees. He does not approve of the way in which Wishbone has packed each wound with a paste of foul-smelling herbs, but has to admit that it has been effective in keeping them infection-free. Using his own magic, he accelerates the healing process. While doing so, he asks Three Trees why the Halyards might have attacked him. Three Trees says that they might be feeling threatened - he was looking into new business opportunities with Everway families and may have encroached on what they see as their turf. Walker expresses the opinion that taking on the Black Daggers was not a wise decision - look at what happened to Nightwing. Three Trees demurs. Lamp is no fool and will be aware of what Flame can do. Also the Halyards are numerous - there are around fifty in the Windward Street headquarters and another thirty in Snakehead Harbour. They will not be a pushover.

Fish Trader has decided that some action with the Peacekeepers is called for, and top of his list is tracking down Hobnail and Groat, Spelt's fellow arsonists. He takes the large and placid Snapjaw and the thief Dextrous as backup and they head out to a squat in Fleapit Lane where Spelt says that they are likely to be found. Like so much of Beggartown, it is in a dilapidated state, but has a functional first floor. Leaving Snapjaw to guard the front, Fish Trader, Dextrous and Spelt sneak down the alleyway behind it and enter through the back door. Fish Trader leads the way up the stairs. As he reaches the top there is a loud whistle behind him and the sound of running feet. "Catch him," snarls Fish Trader to Dextrous and bursts through the bedroom door. A very naked Groat is poised in the window, nervously preparing eyeing up the eight foot drop to the street below, where Snapjaw is waiting. Her mind is made up for her by the equally naked Hobnail, who pushes her out with a panicked yell of "Get out of the way!". Fish Trader leaps forward and drags him back as he tries to follow. "Got her, boss," says Snapjaw from below. There is a spitting sound, a cry of protest from Snapjaw and the sound of running feet. "Sorry, boss..." Fish Trader sighs, ties Hobnail to the bed and jumps out of the window himself. Racing past Snapjaw who is wiping the spit out of her eyes, he gives chase and brings the fugitive down about 100 yards down the street. Dextrous returns as Snapjaw and Fish Trader have finished tying the prisoners up and apologetically admits that Spelt gave her the slip. Fish Trader tells her not to worry - they will put out a "wanted - dead or alive" poster. He has broken his Peacekeeper oath so there is only one one possible fate for him. Hobnail and Groat are hauled back to the cellars, where Fish Trader offers them the same deal - join the Peacekeepers or hang for arson - that he offered Spelt. They reluctantly accept and take the oath.

The social call on Ulrich does not prove fruitful. A zombie says that he is unavailable, despite Wishbone's protestations that Mirage and Pince-Nez Crookstaff are in danger. They are advised to take the matter up with Seeming Image Coven directly.

Finding the coven proves somewhat awkward. It cannot be viewed straight on but can only be seen out of the corner of the eye. Eventually after some squinting, Rathgard manages to locate the front door, which solidifies as they approach it. As he raises his hand to knock, it metamorphoses into a dragon's head that breathes a very convincing bolt of fire and asks what their business is. Wishbone's answer soon results in the door being opened by a woman in her 30s with long dark hair and a large downward pointing nose, wearing a dress with small mirrors sewn into it. She proves to be none other than Mirage Crookstaff herself. She leads the way down a corridor of Corinthian columns and elaborate swags to a room with a ceiling of drifting clouds and windows overlooking a sunlit meadow.

Without going into specifics, Wishbone explains the threat to members of her coven and the likelihood that Glint's death was more than a random attack. Unfortunately, Mirage is a typical smug Everwayan, and while she is grateful for the warning and will inform Pince-nez, who is working in the Palace, she does not believe that a couple of Outsiders can help. She mentions that Glint's body is in another room but refuses to let Wishbone interrogate his spirit, saying that Master Ulrich is skilled in such matters. She will let them know about anything that he discovers.

After much effort, Slight manages to hack the spell covering the door without triggering the obvious alarm (unauthorised entry is will make the peril bell swing wildly, alerting everyone nearby). He makes his way up the spiral stair to the balcony surrounding the bell itself. From here it is clearer how it works. The magic is an interesting mixture of water and earth, with the earth aspect tied to the physical structure of Everway and its surroundings and the water aspect to its people. The water aspect is perturbed and Slight can tell that the perturbation matches his own. Whatever is making him feel uneasy, the bells sense it too. Unfortunately it is not much clearer what the cause of the perturbation is - the bells are set to detect any threat to Everway's stability, so it could be almost anything. Slight is brought out of his reverie when a reflection of the setting sun shines off the bell and straight into his eye. Wasn't he supposed to be somewhere else about now? Oh yes, Talespinner's Square. Slight hastens away.

After returning from their various errands, Walker, Wishbone and Flame make their way to Talespinner's Square an hour before dusk. The workers have finished early and the platform is complete. Wishbone and Walker investigate it but find nothing untoward - there are more cross-bar supports than would be needed for a normal theatrical stage, but no hidden trapdoors or other signs of trickery. Walker and Flame have a drink at an outdoor table at the Lady Freedom at the southern end of the square, while Wishbone sends up Hawk to look for Factotum or the Marvellous Automaton. There is no sign of either, but she does see that a series of fires has broken out amongst the Mother Houses. Watchers are busy carrying buckets while Mothers hurry to rescue furniture and other items from the blazing buildings.

A panting Slight turns up a few minutes before sunset and the four find suitable lurking spots. They wait a bell, but alas, Factotum does not turn up. They are about to give up for the night when Wishbone, looking through the eyes of Hawk, spots something odd in the marshes to the west, a bright glow in the vicinity of Blackheart Lodge. The Spice Runner is on fire! Getting closer, Wishbone can see two writhing figures tied far too close to the flames and burly dark clad men armed with boat hooks running to and fro. Walker grabs an urchin and tells him to take a message to the cellars. The Black Daggers are under attack!

It is time for Pommel's and Ember's funerals at the Dusk Bridge. All the Peacekeepers are present, as are Ember's family and Spinnaker's three apprentices. More surprisingly, Pommel's parents Nib and Screed are there too, looking chastened. They apologise to Fish Trader, saying that reading their son's journal has made them realise what they have lost, and offer to pay half the costs. Nib asks if a Wailer has been hired and nods approvingly when Fish Trader says that she has. In the event, Ember's mother Petal does all the wailing required. Fish Trader gives a eulogy, saying that Pommel and Ember saved his life, and Rathgard mentions that a memorial will be built. After the boats and their guttering candles have drifted off into the darkness, Petal comes up to Fish Trader and urges him to take revenge on the monster who killed her son. Fish Trader says that he is working on it.

The funeral is just breaking up when a breathless messenger arrives from the cellars conveying Walker's news. Rathgard suspects that the Spice Runner is a feint and sends runners to the Lavender House and the Water Tower telling them to prepare for an attack. He and Fish Trader run back to the cellars.

As the heroes hasten towards the path to the marshes, Wishbone keeps them up to date on developments at the Spice Runner, which are a little surprising. Most of the Halyard thugs have disappeared into the marshes, so Wishbone urges Hawk to do something about the two tied up bodies near the fire, which closer inspection reveals to be Scar and Chinstrap, the two Black Daggers who were on guard at Blackheart Lodge. Both are in a bad way and are barely conscious. Hawk won't go close to the fire, but Wishbone persuades her to steal a hat from the arrow-pierced body of a thug that is lying nearby. She drops it onto one of the guards, rousing him. A few seconds later, three of the Halyards return, two supporting a third whose leg has been mangled by a trap. They head towards a rowing boat drawn up on the beach, where they are joined by three others, and they cast off, shouting and gesticulating angrily. Everything is quiet for a moment, and then Treb and Veil emerge from the shadows. They pull the guards away from the fire and then douse it with pots of water. The Spice Runner is gutted, but repairable.

Hawk tracks the retreating Halyard boat by its lantern as the heroes plot revenge. It is making its way up the coast, clearly aiming for the family house in the Papermakers' Quarter. Fortunately, that's just where the heroes are. A quick recce identifies their likely route - a narrow creek running 100 yards from the sea to a water gate below a high-walled fortress-like building on the edge of the city. The path through the marshes crosses it 50 yards from shore and it is from here that the heroes decide to launch their attack. Slight casts spells of confusion on the creek and enhances Flame's appearance with demonic stylings. Walker lurks in the reeds on one side of the creek while Flame awaits them on the other.

The attack goes exactly to plan. The ambushers have plenty of warning thanks to the plaintive cries of "Is this the right channel?" and "Where's this bloody fog sprung from?" from the normally experienced Halyard sailors. As the boat approaches the bridge, Flame unsheathes her fire blades, turns her temperature up to incandescent and leaps into the boat. Faced with this sexy but terrifying fire demon, two of the men do the sensible thing and dive overboard screaming; two others try to defend themselves with boat hooks, but Flame crosses her arms and flings them out again, skewering them both and sending them backwards into the water in beautifully symmetrical arcs of fire and blood. Meanwhile Walker has jumped into the stern of the boat, twirling his staff. His assailants never get close. Successive blows to left and right loft them several feet into the air and they come crashing down into the reeds, unconscious or dead.

The heroes take control of the boat as Wishbone bottles the spirits of the two smoking corpses floating in the water. The escapees can be heard floundering through the marshes nearby, but the heroes decide to let them go. Instead they row the captured boat down to Blackheart Lodge, where Treb and Veil are tending to the burned guards. While Walker heals them, Treb explains that he and Veil shot as many as they could from the darkness. When they came out to investigate, Treb let them see him and led them into the traps that Veil had re-armed. Three are dead and three are wounded, by arrow, acid and man-trap. Treb apologises for not being there to save the Spice Runner - he and Veil were, um, detained - but Walker commends them for their initiative.

Wishbone interrogates her bottled spirits, learning that Lamp was furious about her note and launched the attack to send a message that she will not be ordered around. Flame, Wishbone and Slight elect to stay in Blackheart Lodge overnight with Treb, the wounded guards and the three captive Halyards, while Walker and Veil return to the Cellars to update Rathgard.

-- o --

As they sit around the fire that Treb has lit in the fireplace of the main room, Slight expresses his theory that Rrauw is the cause of the peril bell perturbations, which suggests that his actions will put Everway in danger. What do Flame and Wishbone want to do? Flame fancies a tiger hunting expedition. Wishbone thinks that Carrot and Bean should be warned about the threat to their mother, Goldring Digger, who is one of the council members on Rrauw's list.

To allay any fears of an immediate counter-attack from the Halyards, Wishbone sends up Hawk to spy on their HQ in Windward Street. There is no sign of anything imminent, but there are many guards patrolling the surrounding streets. Wishbone counts twelve of them, armed with boat-hooks, nets and bags of half bricks. "Why half-bricks?" wonders Flame. Perhaps their captives could explain? The heroes decide to leave it until the morning, and turn in for the night.

Rathgard, Walker and Fish Trader, the Cellars

Flame, Wishbone and Slight transfer their prisoners back to the Cellars in the early morning, using a spell of normality to avoid unwanted attention. In Talespinner's Square, a man with a trumpet slung across his back is nailing up some more posters - "The Marvellous Automaton - here today!" Wishbone stops to talk to him, but discovers only that he is another hired hand of the mysterious Factotum.

Back in the cellars, the heroes take their Halyard captives to a side chamber for interrogation. Despite menaces from Flame and Walker and attempts to bargain from Rathgard, the three men - Stern, Spar and Tiller - remain tight-lipped. "Leave it to me," says Fish Trader, and ushers the others out. There is some brief screaming, then the door opens and Fish Trader says that they are ready to talk now. He does not go into details about how he changed their minds, saying only that he used a Peacemaster technique known as "the proctologist's claw". It is difficult to tell if he is joking or not.

The matter of the half-bricks is quickly resolved - they are a defence against Flame. The plan is to knock her out with missiles that she cannot easily burn up. Rathgard finds this very amusing. The cowed captives give some details about the interior of the Windward Street house and let slip that Mizzen Halyard, Lamp's dotty mother, is kept in the attic and is likely to be her chief concern. Asked whether Lamp will retaliate for last night's events, they reply that yes, she definitely will.

At this point one of the gang members that Walker sent to monitor Talespinner's Square appears. The Marvellous Automaton is coming - a small procession headed by a mariachi band is just entering the square. The automaton moves on its own and is indeed extraordinary. Everyone heads out to see, leaving Voulges in charge of the Cellars.

By the time the heroes arrive, everything is in place. On the stage are a chair and table, various props, and two figures. One is a 30-something woman dressed in colourful robes with red and gold stripes, with long black hair tied in an elaborate set of loops and curls. The other, much more imposing, figure, is a 12 foot high silver-metal simulacrum of a man. Its head is a flattened ovoid with two eye sockets, shell-like ears and no mouth. The torso is a faceted silver metal breast plate dotted with grey-white hemispheres, tapering to a waist where it articulates with a pelvis-shaped lower piece. Its arms are tubes ending in three-fingered claws for hands; small cogs and pistons can be seen where they join at shoulder, elbow and wrist. The legs are attached to wheels that project out of the lower torso piece. The upper half of its head and its shoulders are covered with red pyramidal crystals that gleam in the sun. The automaton keeps perfectly still, balanced on its flat, plate-like feet.

The bill posters have done their job, and the area around the stage is packed with people, making it difficult to see. Walker and Flame shoulder their way through the crowd, while Rathgard and Wishbone head to the balconies of the Lavender House for a more strategic view. Slight cannot see and since he can sense no interesting magic, decides to scout out the Halyards' HQ. Fish Trader goes with him.

The mariachi band falls silent and the woman on the stage steps forward. In a deep contralto voice with a distinct accent, she introduces herself as Comity Soubrette (Rathgard's truth sense pings). She is, she says, an apprentice of the great inventor Polymath Valiance (ping), and has travelled many days from the Civil Kingdom (ping) to present "the Wonder of the Modern Age - Eidolon, the Marvellous Automaton!" At the mention of its name, the eyes of the automaton light up a deep crimson, and it turns its head towards Comity. The crowd gasps.

Comity continues her spiel, explaining that Eidolon is a product of the latest discoveries of Civil Kingdom artisans and natural philosophers (ping). The crowd is interested but sceptical. In response to questions, Comity says that Eidolon is made of aureliargentium, a term that Flame considers to be metallurgical nonsense, and is powered by sunlight absorbed by the crystals of carnelian quartz embedded in its head and shoulders. She also claims that no magic is involved in its construction or operation, which surprisingly does not seem to be a lie. Flame quietly inscribes some explosive sigils in the wood at the front of the stage.

Next, Comity put Eidolon through its paces. It pours her a glass of wine, with which Comity toasts the audience. It balances on one leg. It tries to juggle three eggs, managing a couple of catches before one goes flying and smashes on the floor. Another lands on its shoulder and drips down its upper arm, smoking when it encounters the evidently hot pistons that power the elbow joint. Eidolon performs an impressive handstand, balancing for several seconds before flipping back upright, and a less impressive shuffling dance. By this time the crowd is thoroughly on side and is shouting out suggestions. Comity commands Eidolon to sit in a chair, which splinters to matchwood under its weight and sends it sprawling. The crowd roars with laughter.

As Eidolon picks itself up, its gaze falls on Walker and his staff. It pauses for a moment, its eyes flickering, and then reaches down and tears up a plank from the stage. The crowd laughs, thinking that it is part of the act, but Comity is clearly disconcerted. She orders Eidolon to put the plank back. Eidolon bends down, but then stops. With an audible "ping", something springs out of the groove in the back of its head. It straightens up again and there is a hum of rising power. It starts to swing around, holding the plank out. The table and remaining eggs go flying. "Oh shit," says Comity in a distinctly Everwayan accent as she backs away.

Walker leaps on to the stage brandishing his staff as Flame detonates her sigils, creating a curtain of fire and smoke. Screams erupt from the crowd and there is a mass panicked scramble to get away, leaving several bludgeoned victims in the dust. Rather than taking on Walker, Eidolon leaps through the inferno to land neatly next to Flame. Back at the Lavender House, Rathgard pelts down the stairs and out into the square, while Wishbone launches Hawk, tracking Comity who is trying to disappear in the fleeing crowd. She sees her pause in a side alley to divest herself of her wig and robes, revealing Motley rags underneath.

Ignoring the licking flames, Walker searches the stage for the component that sprang out of Eidolon's head. He eventually finds it - a bolt attached to a small spring. Meanwhile Eidolon is facing off against Flame. It connects with the floorboard, sending Flame diving for the ground, but breaking it in the process. Flame takes the opportunity to lob a coin into its left knee joint. Eidolon's head turns as it scans its surroundings, then it drops the splintered remains of the board and heads off at a run for the southern end of the square, sending citizens fleeing for cover. Flame grabs a handful of ashes from the smoking remains of the stage and gives chase.

Eidolon reaches the open tables of the Lady Freedom, pulls down one of the poles supporting the awning above them, and turns to face Rathgard who has just arrived. Its left leg suddenly explodes as Flame detonates her coin, sending cogs and shards of metal flying. When the dust clears, Eidolon is still standing, but its knee is clearly damaged. Rathgard deliberately does not draw his weapon, but instead rather optimistically asks it a riddle. Eidolon pauses for a moment, and there is a rising hum of power. Then beams of blue light spring out of its eyes. They just miss Rathgard but hit the scabbard of his sword. Rathgard dives out of the way. The beams leave a smoking scorch mark in the ground where he stood.

Walker comes hurrying up. "Here, catch!" he shouts to Rathgard, who is still on the ground, and throws the bolt to him. Rathgard catches it one-handed. Twirling his staff, Walker makes himself an obvious target. Eidolon turns to face him and rains a rapid series of one-two blows towards his head with the awning pole, which Walker deflects with his staff. Meanwhile, Flame has arrived and takes a flying leap onto Eidolon's back. Using her climbing ability, she scrambles up to its gem-encrusted shoulders. She forces her handful of soot into the joints but it has little effect.

Eidolon moves forward, pressing its attack on Walker and sending chairs and tables flying. Wicked-looking blades slide out from its wrists and carve ugly notches in Walker's staff, which miraculously survives the blows. Rathgard throws the bolt to Flame who snatches it from the air. Clinging on with one arm round Eidolon's neck, she tries to cram the bolt into the slot where it came from. It refuses to go - she feels that it was attached to a plate that was once held in place but is now loose. The bolt appears to serve no practical purpose.

Wishbone comes hastening up and throws a flask up to Flame. "Try this on the joints", she says. The flask contains a mixture of oil and salt pilfered from the kitchens of the Lavender House. Flame smears it into Eidolon's shoulder joint and is pleased to see the delicate cogs and pistons catch and grind and smoke start to rise from the interior.

One of the small hemispheres attached to Eidolon's torso flies off and explodes in a blinding flash of light that temporarily blinds the heroes. Eidolon uses the distraction to launch itself upwards and grab onto the railings of the first-floor balcony of the Lady Freedom. Walker, using the leaping powers of his new cloak, disrupts its passage by getting hold of its leg, but Eidolon manages to scramble up. It reaches up for the Lady Freedom's sign. Rathgard grabs a tablecloth and throws it up to Walker who is swinging one-handed from the balcony railing; he boosts it up to Flame who wraps it round Eidolon's head just as Eidolon wrenches the sign from its support. The sudden loss of vision causes Eidolon to lose its balance and topple backwards off the balcony - Flame leaps clear as it crashes to the ground below. Rathgard and Wishbone soak the automaton with oil they have collected from the Lady Freedom's kitchen, and Flame jumps on it as it is sitting up, setting it on fire. The flaming automaton manages to get to its feet, but Rathgard and Wishbone whip a tablecloth round its useless left leg and trip it up again. Flame smashes its eye crystals with a dagger pommel.

It is clearly all over for Eidolon; electric discharges fizzle in its empty eye sockets, three of its limbs are impaired, and smoke pours from its interior. It stops moving and begins to shake. A barrage of springs, cogs and gears fly out from its joints and head. There is a rising whine that becomes a scream, accompanied by a loud "vworp, vworp, vworp" alarm. The heroes run for cover. With a huge "kaboom!" the automaton explodes, taking out a corner of the Lady Freedom and showering the street with crystals and metal shrapnel. The dome of its head flies up and rolls to a stop at Rathgard's feet.

As Wishbone is picking herself up, she notices a flash from a tower down the street. A small red-haired man is standing on a balcony with a telescope to his eye. Summoning Hawk, who has been tracking Comity back towards Everway, she points him out to the others. "Isn't that your friend Why?" she asks. The little man notices her gesture, gives a start and disappears into an odd egg-shaped contraption parked next to him. Sycamore seed-shaped wings unfurl from its top and the device rises into the air. It flies off erratically over Everway, carefully bypassing the Tower of Roots, and disappears towards the northwest. Flame sends Hawk after the ovocopter but loses it when she reaches the limits of her connection.

The reconnaissance of the Halyard HQ does not go well. Fish Trader and Slight walk down Windward Street pretending to be messengers, but stick out like a sore thumb to the highly alert guards. They are quickly recognised - even Slight - and have to escape by haring down a side-alley, which ends in a blank wall. Fish Trader scrambles up it and manages to haul Slight up just before the thugs reach him. They drop down on the other side and find themselves in Scrivener Street, which Fish Trader recognises as the place where Pommel's parents live. Comparing their hasty impressions of the Halyard HQ, Slight and Fish Trader come up with a strategy for getting to Lamp. The aim is to get as many of Flame's self-igniting coins into the house as possible and smoke the Halyards out. Fish Trader can climb up onto the roof and drop them down the chimneys; others could be tossed through the narrow windows, and Slight can leave some on the street with a glamour to make the guards pick them up. They return to the Cellars to put their plan into action, avoiding Talespinner's Square as they are sure that nothing exciting has been happening there.

The heroes attempt to reassure the traumatised citizens; Wishbone and Walker tend to the injured, while Rathgard encourages the local shopkeepers to sweep up the square. He corners the terrified owner of the Lady Freedom and presents him with Eidolon's remains, suggesting that his establishment reopens with the name "The Automaton's Head". As gawkers slowly drift back into the square, he recounts the fight as an epic legend. Comity becomes the "mystery woman" who, he can exclusively reveal, was an Everwayan in the pay of the Civil Kingdom! Who can she be? And what was the Civil Kingdom trying to do? Could there be other Everwayans in the conspiracy? Soon he has the audience in the palm of his hand. A detachment of Plumes come up and thanks him for his efforts in defending the square; Rathgard modestly replies that they can take some of the credit. He suggests that they try to find out who paid the mariachi band.

Thanks to the heroes' efforts, life in the Square soon starts to return to normal, despite the very obvious scorch marks and the collapsed tavern. As they have lunch, a new rumour sweeps round the square concerning King Horizon. It seems the accident was more serious than previously thought; Horizon's back is broken and he is paralysed! This could make him unfit to be High King as an old Everway law says that he must be able to lead an army. It is all up to the Mothers who are treating him - if they declare that his condition is permanent, he may be forced to abdicate in favour of his son Tourmaline. Nobody is too thrilled by that prospect. The heroes return to base, leaving a detachment of gang members to remove the remains of the stage and pull down the posters.

Another, more disturbing, piece of news has arrived courtesy of a nipper - there was another murder near the Crookstaff Covens last night. Or rather three murders - an elderly Crookstaff and the two Plume guards who were escorting him home. All three were found mauled to death in a side alley. The Crookstaff had a distinctive pair of glasses jammed in his eye socket. From the description, it is clearly Pince-Nez. Rrauw has struck again.

After some discussion about whether they should be engaged at all, the heroes decide that they need to find out more about the Council, specifically when it is next meeting. Walker offers to go and find out. Wishbone sends the nipper back with a message for Carrot and Bean about the danger to their mother.

Flame spends the afternoon making more of her delayed action coins, adding sulphur to make them extra explode-y, and Slight enchants them with a "pick me up and put me somewhere flammable" glamour. Wishbone suggests that smoke bombs tossed through the windows, doors and chimneys would add to the mayhem and asks if anyone in the gang knows of someone who might sell them. Dextrous the definitely-not-thief pipes up - her ex-boss, Misty the Gecko, used to visit a shop in Half Moon Street called "Smoke and Mirrors" that sells theatrical effects. Its proprietor, Vigilant Turnwall, has some below-the-shelf items for "special customers" of a criminal inclination. Wishbone asks if Misty the Gecko is still around - Dextrous says that she was arrested by the Plumes and was never seen again, which is why she joined the Daggerboys. Wishbone takes Dextrous and heads off to the Crafters' Quarter. Meanwhile, Fish Trader drills the Peacekeepers. He remembers Spelt and sends one of the Peacekeepers to get a "Wanted for Arson" poster made - 10 hefts for information about his whereabouts, 20 hefts for his body. Howling Wolf draws a good likeness.

Walker makes his way up to the Mercy Bridge and across into Everway, heading towards the Council House. He notes the febrile atmosphere in the city following the revelation about the High King - there are twice as many Keepers as usual at the gate, and Watchers and Plumes are patrolling ostentatiously in the streets around the Temple of Mercy. Near Pyramid Square, posters have been plastered up exhorting passers by to "Join the Cleansers!" and to "Cleanse Everway!" Walker stops to talk to a soot-stained worker who is reading them. His name is Puddler Smith and he thinks that Glimmer Moondance has the right idea; it is time that Everway is purged of all those Outsider gods and goes back to the traditional worship of the Walker. Walker pretends sympathy and asks if he can join in. Puddler seems a little surprised that an Outsider would want to join a crusade against his own gods, but advises him to come to Pyramid Square at noon on Moonday. Changing the subject, Walker asks about the Great Council. Puddler says that it is not meeting today, but will do so tomorrow. Walker thanks him for saving him an unnecessary journey, and returns to the Cellars. On the way back he pops into the Mercy Hospital to check up on Three Trees, who is doing much better. Three Trees gives him a description of Lamp - mid 40s, heavy set, lank black hair, disfiguring purple scar on the left cheek.

Wishbone's trip to Smoke and Mirrors is uneventful. It is a small shop close to Crafters' Square, its windows full of masks for the Carnival of the Dead next month. Vigilant Turnwall, a suave dark-haired man in his forties, seems wilfully obtuse when Wishbone asks about "smoke bombs that have an effect on the audience", but the presence of Dextrous and mention of Misty the Gecko's name finally persuade him to bring out his secret wares. Wishbone purchases six bombs; mention of Rathgard's name gets her a reduced rate.

Late in the afternoon, Slight disguises himself and heads back to the Papermakers' Quarter with some of the explosive coins. He is rather more successful at passing unnoticed this time and succeeds in reverse pickpocketing several of the guards as well as dropping coins to be picked up in the road. He secretes several coins into a wagon as it lurches down the street and is pleased to see it enter the large warehouse doors in the north-eastern part of the building. Deciding not to chance his luck, he hurries home.

At length, everything is prepared; time for Operation Lamplighter to begin. Slight, Fish Trader and Flame head to the docks with Treb and Veil, who have brought the Halyards' boat round from Blackheart Lodge; they will head to the relatively unguarded watergate, from where Fish Trader will climb up to the roof with smoke bombs for the chimneys while Flame sets the water gate on fire to block it. Walker, Rathgard and Wishbone will cover the front of the building; Wishbone takes the lead carrying buckets of water, and with Hawk hovering overhead to coordinate with the others.

-- o --

Phase one: The initial assault
The boat containing Fish Trader, Slight and Flame glides silently into the creek that leads to the Halyards' water gate, rowed expertly by Treb and Veil. The autumnal air is chilly and damp and a mist hangs over the marshes; the silence is broken only by the occasional call of marsh bird. Flame's sharp eyes spot the glow of a lantern lighting up the fog and she calls a halt. "I'll deal with that", says Fish Trader, and slips over the side, his knife in his teeth. A few minutes later he returns. "Well, that was easy," he says. The boat continues, to stop again a few moments later as Hawk arrives with a message from Wishbone about two guards with lanterns in the marshes. Flame soon spots the second one and Fish Trader deals with him in the same way. Slight puts a "terrifying beast" glamour on Fish Trader as the boat glides up to the unguarded watergate. Flame sets to work while Fish Trader shins up the forty foot wall to the roof.

Walker, Rathgard and Wishbone approach down Windward Street in their ensorcelled guise as members of the Papermakers' Quarter fire brigade. They pass a couple of guards without incident and wait for a signal. It soon comes in the form of a huge explosion that blows open the large warehouse doors at the northern end of the building - the coins that Slight secreted in the wagon earlier have shown a gratifying sense of coordination. The heroes hasten towards the chaos, passed at full pelt by the two guards they saw earlier, who again do not notice them. "How in the Walker's hell did she get in the house?" says one to the other, as she pulls a half-brick from the bag at her belt. Four more guards approach from the south, but one of them explodes as a coin in his pocket goes off. His leg goes flying across the street and rebounds against the wall of the neighbouring house, causing his companions to stop in horror. Wishbone takes the opportunity to roll a smoke grenade through the warehouse doors.

Round the back, Flame is still kindling the damp wood of the watergate as the explosion goes off. Slight spots two guards who were playing cards at the far end of the docks and quickly turns Flame's small conflagration into a large-seeming one. It works, just - the guards dash up the stairs to the main building, yelling that the watergate is on fire and impassable. Slight decides that his work here is done and retreats in the boat with Treb and Veil, while Flame runs round the southern side of the building to join the fun at the front.

Up on the roof, Fish Trader drops two smoke bombs into the northern-most chimney stack, then walks nimbly along the ridge to plant two more in the southern one. Climbing out over the dormer window, he surveys the chaos below. Smoke from Wishbone's bomb is billowing from the warehouse. Several guards emerge from the front door just to the south and reel back, choking, but are pushed into a defensive line by an ugly scarred man with a scimitar, who yells at a huge muscled man with a net to guard the door. Wishbone tries to sneak forward to plant a second smoke bomb, but is spotted by a wiry woman with a gutting knife. "Hey, it's one of them!" she yells. Walker charges into the forming line, his staff held sideways. Two go flying and a third looks into Walker's blazing eyes and takes to his heels. Rathgard draws his sword and faces up to the man with the scimitar, who recognises him. "The Lord of Beggartown", he sneers. "It'll be a pleasure taking you down." Further down the street, more guards are approaching from the south. As they pass the alley at the southern end of Halyard House, two flaming knives arc from the shadows and send them sprawling. The escapee from Walker's attack spots Flame and shouts "She's here! The fire witch!" before Flame kills him too.

Deciding that the others have things under control below, Fish Trader swings down and smashes boots-first through the dormer window. The floor trembles as two more late-acting coins go off on the floors below him. He is in an attic full of boat equipment - ropes, planks, barrels and sails. More importantly, two guards are running towards a trap door next to the southern wall. They turn to face Fish Trader who leaps on them, knives in hand. It is the last thing they see. Fish Trader opens the trapdoor a crack and glances below. A corridor leads east and west; smoke billows from a door on the opposite side accompanied by high-pitched coughing sounds and childish cries for help. A nurse carrying an improbable number of babies emerges from a second door and makes her escape to the west. Fish Trader decides to ignore the children and focus on Mizzen, who is presumably in the room that the guards were guarding to the north. He checks the door - locked, though the body of one of the guards has the key. Listening, he hears a tremulous voice asking what's happening. Fish Trader leaves well alone, and instead sets fire to a conveniently tarred rope nearby. That should bring them. He lurks by the trapdoor for his prey.

Phase two: Taking out the leaders
Back in front of the house, the heroes square off against their adversaries. The scimitar man makes a feint towards Rathgard, who spots the disguised attack and steps in under his guard, wounding him in the side. Walker takes on the huge man with the fishing net, darting forward to make him throw it and then strafing round him until he is thoroughly entangled. Wishbone shouts "Catch!" to the wiry woman and tosses the smoke bomb she is holding. The woman leaps to one side which causes her to miss her attack. Flame runs for the front door. She sees a short passageway leading to a large room which is filled with smoke from one of Fish Trader's smoke bombs. Two guards holding fish hooks are coming forward, urged on by a peg-legged woman behind them. Two more figures lurk beyond her. Flame crouches down and guts both guards as they pass her.

Wishbone takes advantage of the smoke bomb going off to stab the wiry woman, who partially deflects the blow and returns it. She is blindingly fast and Wishbone's left arm goes numb with a deep stab wound. Walker incapacitates the entangled man further by kicking him hard in the balls and turns to help. Rathgard presses his advantage and takes down the scimitar man with a clean stab through the heart. Screams for help drift down from above. Rathgard brandishes his sword and charges through the front door yelling "Save the children! Save the children!" Behind him, Flame becomes incandescent and follows. A harpoon flies out of the smoke-filled room, missing Rathgard but striking Flame. The head melts in the heat so no great harm is done, but it creates a nasty bruise.

Behind the wiry woman, Walker raises his staff overhead and nods to Wishbone, who understands his intentions and feints to the side. The wiry woman jumps to the left and stabs again at Wishbone. She misses, unlike Walker's staff which comes smashing down on her head. Wiry woman goes down. Wishbone retreats to the far side of the street to tend to her wound and check with Hawk on what's going on with Fish Trader up above, while Walker dives into the smoky interior.

Rathgard finds himself in a smoke-filled double-height main hall. To his right, chairs are grouped around a fireplace that is belching fumes; beyond it, a staircase rising to a balcony above is just visible. The room is slightly clearer to the left, where three people are waiting in front of a door in the south east corner. The leader is a woman in her 50s with short grey hair; her left leg ends at the knee and she balances on a wooden prosthetic that ends in a metal spike. Behind her are a man and a woman, evidently twins. They are good-looking and elegantly dressed in dark coats. Both are armed with long poignards - the man tosses his from hand to hand as they wait to attack. "Stop!" cries Rathgard. "The children - we must save them!" The pegleg woman scowls. "Yes, and whose fault is that? Die, interloper!" She pirouettes and the sharp end of her prosthetic sweeps across at chest height. Rathgard has to dodge back, nearly colliding with Flame who is throwing a fire knife at the harpoonist, a grey-haired man, whom she has spotted on the stairs. The knife goes wide and creates a scorched, smoking crater in the wall. Walker charges past Rathgard, heading for the man with the poignard.

In the attic, Fish Trader hears footsteps from the corridor below. He hides against the southern wall as the trapdoor opens a crack. "Damn it, there's a fire up here. And Squid and Baitwell are dead!" says a deep, gruff voice. "Forget them!" orders a woman's voice from below. "Go and get Mizzen!" The trapdoor opens further and a large man with a bald head starts to emerge. Fish Trader waits until he is halfway through and then jumps on him. The attack does not go quite as planned - the large man blocks the blow and manages to catch Fish Trader's wrist. The two go rolling over the floor, Fish Trader ending up on top. The man looks up into Fish Trader's face and Slight's terror glamour kicks in, momentarily incapacitating him. Fish Trader decides to enhance the effect by transforming and going in for the kill. Hawk is hovering outside the dormer window, and down in the street, Wishbone gasps as she sees Fish Trader's true form, and of what it is capable. "Clonker! What's happening?" comes the woman's voice. Fish Trader looks up, muzzle dripping, and bounds over to the trap door. He wrenches it open and leaps onto his unsuspecting victim.

Down in the hall, Rathgard recovers from the surprise attack and successfully times a dodge and riposte as the peg-leg spike sweeps past a second time, wounding the grey-haired woman in the neck. Flame's other fire knife does not miss and pins the harpoonist against the wall - the wound is not fatal, but the subsequent conflagration is. The man with the poignard retreats from Walker's attack, backing against the wall in apparent fear. Walker presses his attack, but feels a sharp pain in the kidneys as the man's twin stabs him from behind. Too late, he realises that the man was positioning him for the backstab. "We got 'im!" says the woman triumphantly, then gasps as Flame's fire knife buries itself in her back with far more fatal results. Agonising pain momentarily overwhelms Walker's senses before he wills it away with practised ease. As his vision clears, he sees the poignard man fleeing through the south door into a passageway beyond.

Phase three: Saving the innocent
Wishbone enters the hall to see Rathgard incapacitate his opponent by throwing a chair at her and following through with a perfectly-executed lunge; the grey-haired woman loses her balance and goes down with blood seeping from a wound in her side. "To the children!" says Rathgard, charging up the stairs past the smoking corpse of the harpoonist. Flame follows him, while Wishbone and Walker remain behind to secure the ground floor.

The stairs lead up to a walkway that forms a balcony around three sides of the hall. As Rathgard reaches the top, a door opens releasing a billow of smoke and two coughing and partially-dressed men armed with boat-hooks. When they see Rathgard they raise their weapons but do not attack. "The children are in danger!" says Rathgard. "Follow me!" The men are reluctant to do so, particularly when they see Flame glowing behind Rathgard. "Where's Lamp?" one of them asks. "She's dead," says a voice from across the hall. Fish Trader, in human form, his clothes covered in blood, emerges onto the balcony on the far side of the hall. As he does so, a door opens and two women charge him. Almost casually, Fish Trader steps to one side, grabs them by an arm each and flings them over the side of the balcony to go crashing onto the floor twelve feet below. The sight of this takes the fight out of the guards on Rathgard's side and he propels them forward, commanding them to show him which room the children are in. "I'll look for escapees in the marshes," says Fish Trader, vaults over the balcony to the floor below, and disappears out of the front door.

Down below, Wishbone and Walker are exploring the southern passageway leading from the hall, opening doors as they go. They pass a dining room, two coughing scullions retreating from a smoke-filled kitchen, a set of spiralling stairs leading down to the dock and its still-burning watergate, and a back office whose disordered chairs indicate an interrupted meeting. The passageway ends with a large door to the warehouse, which contains piles of boxes and barrels, the remains of a cart, several bodies, some of which are in bits, a burning pile of hay, and a sobbing youth who is trying to free the rearing and terrified horses who are tied up in a stable area against the north wall. Wishbone takes pity on the boy and helps him release the animals, while Walker sorts the still-just-about-living from the dead and moves the former into the main hall, where he sets up a makeshift hospital.

Fish Trader's handiwork is very evident in the second floor passageway, drawing gasps of horror from Rathgard's unwilling guides. Lamp's body lies at the centre of a blood explosion beneath the open trapdoor, her scarred face fixed in a rictus of horror. Three other guards lie slumped nearby. The childrens' room lies just beyond, the door glowing and smoking. The cries for help are turning into coughs. Rathgard urgently gestures at Flame to turn the temperature down on the door and boots it open. The room is filled with smoke; several small forms are lying on the floor, while three are gathered at the far end of the room where the window is. One of them, surprisingly, is Cudlip the Nipper, deliverer of pyramids and bliss packages. Rathgard quickly ascertains that the unconscious kids are alive and tells the guards to get everyone down to the front hall. He and Flame climb up into the attic, extinguishing the blaze up there, and smash open the door. The room beyond is dusty and smells strongly of old person. It is dominated by a four-poster bed in which a confused-looking old lady with a mass of wild white hair is sitting up. "Who's there?" she says. "Is that you, Lamp?" Rathgard puts on his most reassuring smile and tells her that everything is fine.

Rathgard returns downstairs to negotiate with the two dozen or so Halyard survivors gathered in the main hall below. The grey-haired peg-leg woman, Cleat, acts as their spokesperson. She is bitter at having to deal with the slaughterers of half her family, but realises when she is beaten. She gives her word not to attack the Black Daggers or their interests again and to negotiate a peace treaty once they have had a chance to attend to their dead; in return, Rathgard says that they can keep their family house. Wishbone sends out Hawk to tell Slight, Treb and Veil that the fight is over and they can return home, and a note to Fish Trader to tell him to stop hunting Halyards in the marshes, which sadly comes too late for the fleeing poignard man. As they row back out to sea, Slight notices a ship, ghostly in the pale moonlight, anchored offshore near the creek mouth.

Everyone is in a celebratory mood after last night's victory, except for Slight whose nagging sense of doom has strengthened once again. Rathgard orders the Halyard prisoners to be released as a sign of good will, and Voulges adds "Saviour of Children" to his long list of Rathgard's heroic attributes. Heron reports that Peacock Plume appeared last night with a consignment of swords and shields as per their agreement.

The heroes reflect on yesterday's action-packed events. Their chief questions are "what was Why up to?" - one suggestion is to ask around Crafters Square to see if anyone remembers anything about his behaviour on the day before he left - and "how can we stop Rrauw?" Discussion of the latter is interrupted by the arrival of Pepper the Nipper who has a request for Big Nipper, Flame Goddess and Hawk Lady to attend her majesty Queen Carrot at their earliest convenience. Flame, Walker and Wishbone agree to return to the Walker's Ark with Pepper, while Rathgard, Fish Trader and Slight head to the Great Council.

At the Ark, Carrot and Bean take the heroes into a side room. Carrot expresses concern about the threat to their mother that that Wishbone warned about in her message from yesterday and asks for more details. Wishbone explains about the assassination list, the likely location of the attack, and the link to the murders of Glint and Pince-Nez Crookstaff. Walker asks if there have been any further murders. Carrot doesn't think so - a delivery of dried fish from the realm of Delta could not be made because the Keepers have blocked access to parts of the Gatelands due to "an incident", but it doesn't seem to be connected.

Carrot decides that they have to get a message to their mother and asks the heroes to carry it. Bean objects - "who cares if she dies?" "Bean, don't be such a child!" says Carrot sharply, and her eyes widen at the sudden realisation that she is behaving like an adult. While she is writing it, Walker describes "Comity Soubrette" to Topknot Motley and asks if it sounds like anyone he knows. Topknot is not sure, but it could be an acquaintance of his called Terrible Motley. He recalls that she seemed very smug about a big acting job that she landed roughly a week ago. He hasn't seen her since, but Topknot knows of a house near the Court of Fools where she often stays.

At last Carrot is done - she hands over a scroll sealed with a Digger sigil and asks Walker to deliver it to the Watchers who guard the main entrance of the Council House. As they leave, Flame looks to see if her friend Silly Me is doing her balancing act on the Ark roof again, but she is not there.

The meeting place of the Great Council is a diamond-shaped building set at the centre of a pleasantly harmonious plaza. Four arching supports rise from its corners to meet sixty feet above at the apex of a lapis lazuli dome that hangs over the council chamber. A shady portico runs around the building at street level and minarets to the north and south house bells that mark the start and end of Council sessions. Four burly Watcher guards armed with halberds are guarding the councillors' entrance in the middle of the south-east side, and two more protect steep narrow stairways to the public gallery on either side of it, assisted by a youthful spotty-faced Crookstaff called Phantasm.

Walker, Flame and Wishbone meet the others who have been lurking in the portico. Slight enchants Carrot's letter to make it seem important, and Walker hands it over to one of the guards who promises to deliver it. Signs next to the stairways declare that weapons and harmful magicks will not be permitted in the public gallery, but a set of no-importance glamours on the heroes' items and another on Phantasm to make him trust the experienced guards are sufficient to make them look the other way.

The heroes split up; Walker, Flame and Wishbone take the left staircase and Slight, Rathgard and Fish Trader the right. They emerge onto a wooden balcony that runs around the 120 foot square council chamber, just below the dome. The majority of the room is occupied by steeply banked rows of stone benches that rise to the walls on each side, accessed by stairs at the corners. The families of the General Council sit in groups on three sides; each family has three councillors dressed in formal grand robes and a number of functionaries who sit below them. The fourth quadrant, opposite the entrance, is empty except for eight throne-like chairs on the second highest row and the Council Convenor sitting at a narrow desk below them. Six of the chairs are occupied; the empty ones are for Ulrich Crookstaff, who is not present, and the Whiteoar representative, who will never appear because the entire family was massacred during the Everway Civil War. The rows of benches surround a thirty foot square arena with a speaking circle inscribed at its centre and two desks for the stenographer and the official recorder of council decrees. Watchers with ceremonial halberds guard the foot of each stair and two Digger guards stand behind Goldring's chair.

The balcony itself is largely unoccupied. On the west side, two bored-looking Scratch children accompanied by their tutor lean listlessly on the rail, a fashionably dressed woman is taking notes, and a Motley is catching forty winks in a corner. The only other people present are the four crossbow-wielding Watcher guards who patrol each side. Rrauw is not in evidence.

The heroes settle down to wait. Walker is pleased to see a guard take Carrot's message to Goldring Digger who frowns at its contents and passes it to her advisors, but does not otherwise react. Slight casts an over-confidence glamour in the general area and a "don't notice me" one on Fish Trader, while Walker tries to distract Flame from setting fire to things out of boredom and Rathgard listens to the proceedings below. The topic of debate is supposedly the death of Wall Emerald and what it means for city security, but proceedings have been hijacked by a proposal to force Lucent Stonebreaker to step down from the Seven Advisors until her family's City Tax status has been resolved. Lucent is arguing passionately that the dispute is between the Stonebreakers and the Emeralds and that under the Bipartisan Principle, none of the Great Council families can intervene.

At length a new figure emerges onto the balcony and Fish Trader goes tense. Rrauw is disguised as a tall lithe human with grey-streaked yellow-brown hair and a white goatee beard. He is dressed in shabby apothecary's clothing and appears to be unarmed. He ambles round the south-west side of the balcony, past Walker who is snogging Flame to stop her from attacking immediately, and goes to lean on the railing by the guard on the north-east side, above the seven advisors' chairs. Wishbone notices that the spirit of one of his victims is flitting around him. Rathgard starts to sneak towards the north corner, while Fish Trader keeps out of sight. Walker and Flame surreptitiously untie the ropes controlling the ventilation mechanism in the dome.

Slight casts a "notice me" glamour on Rrauw. The guard turns and looks suspiciously at him. "Hey, what are you -" His question is cut off with a gurgle as a bloody slash opens in his throat. Rrauw wrenches the crossbow off the guard's tumbling body and aims at Grey Snakering who is getting to his feet and turning to look. "Assassin! Clear the chamber!" roars Fish Trader. Rrauw looks up, surprised - nonetheless, the bow twangs and Grey goes tumbling back, his head smashing on the bench below. Rathgard draws his rapier and pelts along the balcony towards Rrauw, yelling "Hey, fur face!" in an attempt to distract him. As the chamber erupts in panic, Wishbone gathers up the children and their tutor and hustles them towards the exit.

Rrauw's body blurs and his true form is revealed - a man-cheetah with vicious teeth and claws. Slight quickly changes the glamour on him to give the impression that he is a ninja in a cheetah mask. With appalling speed, Rrauw vaults over the balustrade and drops onto one of the Digger guards 15 feet below claws outstretched. The man goes down in a spray of blood and Rrauw is on the other before he can react, pouncing on him and ripping out his throat with a shake of his head.

Rrauw's distraction with the guards gives the heroes time to close the distance. Rathgard hangs over the balustrade and drops. Walker decides to use his new cloak, grabs Flame and goes sailing across the chamber. Unfortunately the cloak is not designed for two people and they fall several yards short of their target, crashing into Serpent Moondance who goes flying. Slight frantically tries to blur the action as much as he can, while Fish Trader transforms into his true were-tiger self, leaps down and goes bounding up the rows of seats towards the fray.

Rrauw's next target is Goldring Digger and he pounces on her as she turns to flee, bearing her to the ground. Flame and Walker shove Victor Crow out of the way and go for a combined top and bottom rugby tackle - Rrauw sees them coming, but is distracted by a tiger's roar from the approaching Fish Trader, and they succeed in knocking him off his victim. Rrauw flails violently - one claw rakes Rathgard's leg as he darts in for a strike, sending him spinning back spraying blood drops, and his thrashing back legs gouge chunks out of Walker's shoulders and chest. But Flame has retained her grip and the air is full of the smell of burning cat hair. Rrauw writhes frantically to get away but in doing so, exposes his underbelly to Fish Trader's teeth and claws. Fish Trader slashes with a paw, opening the artery in Rrauw's thigh, and the fight goes out of him. As his life-blood drains away, he beckons to Fish Trader. "Everything we fought for - gone! The Peaceful Isles - a mist came, everything changed... War between the Elders... Then men, invaders with white scorpion marks... My little kittens, all dead... Avenge us! Avenge us all!" And with that, he expires.

Walker and Flame quickly turn to Goldring Digger, whom they are relieved to see is wounded but alive. Flame bends down and whispers in her ear "Your daughter sent us to save you". The other advisors are picking themselves up, save for Grey Snakering whose brains are leaking from his smashed skull. A phalanx of Watchers led by a burly commander shoulder their way through the mob of screaming councillors who are piling out of the exit. The commander bellows at the heroes that he is Injunct Watcher, and by order of the Great Council commands them to lay down their weapons and surrender to the properly constituted authority of Everway. "Sorry, can't stay" responds Flame, climbs up the wall to one of the row of small diamond-shaped windows just below the balcony level, and smashes her way through. Fish Trader, back in human form, does the same, while Walker gathers up the wounded Rathgard and leaps up to a third. Unnoticed on the balcony, Slight watches as Injunct turns in frustration and gives orders for the Advisors to be taken care of. As soon as the coast is clear, he strolls out.

The heroes gather in a small alleyway nearby, and Walker performs a quick heal on Rathgard so that he can walk. As they return to the cellars, Slight checks on the Peril Bells. To his dismay, they are still swaying and his feeling of dread has not diminished. If anything, it has become clearer - it's something to do with the way that people are behaving.

Perhaps because he has spent so much time with him, Slight immediately spots the tell-tale signature of Cunning's magic in the main chamber of the Cellars. "All right, I know you're here," he says. Cunning fades into view. "I've come to tell you. The meeting of the Twelve - it's tonight."

Chapter 14
Against the Twelve

In which the heroes finally meet the Twelve and acquire a strange object

Cunning takes in the heroes' general state of exhaustion and the bloody bandages around Walker's chest and Rathgard's leg. He expresses relief that his son is unhurt. "Not son!" responds Slight crossly. Walker points out that they have just saved some senior Everwayans from an assassin and can't they have a break? Cunning apologises but says that this is the only opportunity that they are likely to have to acquire the Pearl in the immediate future.

In response to the heroes' questioning looks, he recounts an old Basahni legend. It tells of a great magician called Spheremaker who sought to create a new world. Much of the tale describes a series of quests he performed to obtain the Instruments of Odin - the Pearl of Making, the Edge of Light and Darkness, and the Book of Words - which involved fighting a great red dragon, entering the realm of the dead, and a journey to an undersea kingdom, all the while harried by his dark twin, Shadow, who is determined to stop him. The final quest is to capture a godling to sacrifice, which he does by tricking him into sitting on an enchanted throne. At the tale's climax, Spheremaker takes the instruments to the Sacred Place for the creation ritual, carrying the bound godling on his back. Setting the Pearl into the Edge's handle, Spheremaker speaks words from the Book and then slices the godling in two, shaping the magical energies released into a new world. Alas, it is all in vain - Shadow arrives and corrupts the ritual, and the newly created world explodes. Spheremaker retreats to his castle, sadder and wiser, and never tries to create a world again.

Cunning explains that the Twelve learned this tale from a spherewalker who traded with the Basahn and wrote it up for Chamber Platinum. For various reasons they thought that creating a new world might help them to become Avatars. Somehow they managed to acquire the Pearl and the Edge, but their attempt to re-enact the world-creating ritual went awry. The Pearl is now kept in the Chamber of the Twelve under Chamber Platinum, while Ulrich looks after the Edge.

The heroes have some questions. Wishbone asks if the Founder Basahn want the Edge and the Pearl so that they can recreate the ritual, to which Cunning blithely responds yes - and the Book as well, of course. Walker asks what the Edge does. Cunning says that its power is that it can cut anything in two. He has seen it used by Ulrich to create a portal by slicing a human victim in two lengthways. The portal opens onto a strange world of ghostly shapes that appears to be the personal reality of the Dragonlord. The Twelve used it to communicate with and to attempt to control the Dragonlord, although of late this has proved difficult due to the interference of Tempest, who does not trust them. Sadly, the Edge will probably not be present tonight - Ulrich only brings it with him when the Twelve have previously agreed to communicate with Wrath, and the purpose of tonight's meeting is to discuss Absinthe's reasons for letting him into Everway. Cunning does not know where the Edge is kept, but is aware that it is known to the Everway authorities which can make getting hold of it difficult, even for Ulrich.

Cunning provides a map of the Chamber of the Twelve and details of a secret tunnel that runs from a privy outside the Scratch family house, which he says will be used by Render Crow, Quill Scratch, Loudvoice Mask and himself - the others will arrive via the Chamber Platinum undervaults. He wants the heroes to create a diversion and steal the Pearl - he doesn't want to know the details, because Ulrich has a truth-sensing amulet and he wants a shot at the Edge afterwards. A suspicious Rathgard asks about the likely resistance from the Twelve. Cunning says that the chief threat is Ulrich. He will have some of his zombies there so he will be magically defended. Render Crow and Slowstep Watcher are doughty fighters, and Blizzard Crookstaff has powerful ice magic. Wile Snakering and Loudvoice Mask may have some nasty tricks up their sleeves, and Mother Gentle will use her pain touch, but he does not expect Codex, Absinthe, Quill or Buryer Tender to put up much resistance.

Cunning hurries off, leaving the heroes to do their planning. They immediately decide that a direct attack on the full Twelve is too dangerous - a better approach is to ambush individuals as they leave after the meeting and take their keys off them. Quill Scratch and Loudvoice Mask seem ideal victims. As a backup plan, Slight proposes that he puts a "leave your keys here" glamour on a box and leaves it by the main entrance to the Library of All Worlds, an idea with which Rathgard is much taken. He also expresses the desire to listen in on the Twelve's discussions - Cunning had assured them that both doors to the Chamber will be open, and it should be safe to hide in the passageway between them. Eventually it is decided that Walker, Flame and Rathgard will set up the ambush, either in the secret passage or near its entrance, while Wishbone and Fish Trader accompany Slight to the chamber doors. Hawk will remain up top and provide any necessary communication between the two groups.

The heroes acquire the necessary equipment for their plans - sacks, hoods, rope and a strongbox - and rest up prior to the sortie. At two bells after dusk they set off through the dark streets, using Hawk'a vision and Slight's glamours to sneak past the many patrolling Watchers. Walker and Flame peel off at Scrivener Street to recce the entrance to the secret passage, while the others head up to the Library of All Worlds. The main doors are guarded by several alert Librarians Militant, but Slight, pretending to be a drunk Everwayan, manages to drop the be-spelled strong box in the shadow of the balustrade flanking the steps up to them.

The privies outside the Scratch family house are down a shadowy alleyway leading to a back yard enclosed by buildings on all sides. The one with the secret passage entrance is conveniently isolated from the rest behind a pile of firewood. Flame investigates while Walker stands guard. She soon locates the opening mechanism, but gets so engrossed in its workings that Walker has to haul her bodily away when Loudvoice Mask turns up with two bodyguards. They make it to a hiding place just in time to hear Loudvoice tell his thugs to wait for him by the main entrance and see him disappear into the privy. A few minutes later, they have to hide again as Quill Scratch and Render Crow emerge from the back yard, discussing whether "the old bat" will tell the truth about what she's been up to. A fluttering of wings from an alley on the other side of the street announces that the others have arrived; Flame and Walker sneak across to join them. Slight sees Cunning, hurrying as if late, disappear into the privy just as chimes ring out across the city for the third bell after dusk.

Leaving Walker, Flame and Rathgard to deal with the Mask thugs and the two bodyguards that Render Crow has brought with him, Slight, Fish Trader and Wishbone engage the mechanism in the privy and venture into the passage that opens before them. It slopes steeply down below the Scratch house and then makes a sharp U-turn to follow the line of Scrivener Street towards the Library of All Worlds. After 300 yards or so, it ends in a door. Fish Trader cautiously pushes it open and the heroes step on to the flagstones of the Chamber Platinum undervault. They are in a chilly corridor, dimly lit by a glowglobe in the ceiling; to the left it ends after thirty feet at a door, while to the right it stretches in a slight curve for fifty feet or so, then turns a corner to the left. The heroes quietly make their way to the corner, where a faint rectangle of light in the opposite wall outlines the secret door to the Chamber of the Twelve, left ajar by Cunning as he promised. Pausing only to check on his spells of concealment, Slight creeps up to it and slips through.

He finds himself in a narrow passage, about ten feet long. At its end is another door, this one half open. Through it, he can see part of a large circular room, about sixty feet across, lit by a globe hanging above the twelve foot diameter table at its centre. The Twelve are seated in high-backed chairs around it - Slight can see about half of them, including Cunning, who is facing the door, as well as Codex Scratch, Wile Snakering, and a couple more people he does not recognise. The wall of the chamber is pierced with entrances at regular intervals; the one directly opposite is shadowed and a powerful magical wrongness emanates from something in the room beyond. However, Slight is not interested in that, for just next to it is a pedestal on which a faintly glowing object is sitting. It's hard to see because the table and its occupants are in the way, but Slight knows one thing; whatever it is, he wants it. He wants it now.

The Conversation

Before he can make a move, however, Codex brings the meeting to order, accusing Absinthe Emerald of putting the city in danger by inviting the Dragonlord to Everway. In the conversation that follows, it soon becomes apparent that the heroes and their connection with Wrath have been a source of much alarm and miscommunication among the Twelve's various factions. Ulrich admits to having had Wormwood Crookstaff killed, and Wile Snakering reveals that she has a spy among the Black Daggers, while Codex mentions the Book, Pearl and Edge as part of a disagreement with Render Crow. Slight catches a glimpse of the Pearl, glowing faintly on its support, and suddenly realises that everything that Cunning has told him, which he had assumed was an elaborate story in order to manipulate him, is in fact true. He is still processing this revelation when the conversation in the chamber turns nasty. Ulrich insinuates that Cunning is a spy, using Slight's own visits to the Golds and Walker's passing reference to the "Last of the Twelve" as evidence. Render Crow draws his sword and Cunning vanishes. Slight, after agonising for a moment, takes a deep breath and steps through the door. "Actually, Wrath himself told us. I can explain..."

He is immediately surrounded by a ring of hostile faces. Absinthe asks what in the Walker's hell he is doing here, while Buryer Tender demands that the intruder be killed. Wile unsheathes a wicked-looking knife and Slowstep draws a stout cudgel. Ulrich's zombies scatter to different parts of the room. In the entrance passage, Fish Trader frantically signals to Wishbone, who focuses inwards. Back in the side alley, Hawk gives a cry and dives into the secret passage. Walker, Rathgard and Flame, who have just finished concealing the bodies of the Mask and Crow guards, recognise the signal and sprint after her.

The Death of Cunning

In the Chamber, Render is slashing in frustration in the general vicinity of Cunning's chair. "Keep still, you traitor!" he roars. "Allow me to help with that," says Ulrich, and makes a gesture. On the far side of the room a zombie's head explodes, releasing a cloud of dust. Slight recognises what it's made of - particles of midianite, scraped from the Walker's Pyramid. As the dust cloud spreads, Cunning fades into view close to the Pearl and screams as the magical stitching holding him together starts to unravel. The cloud envelops the central glowglobe, which goes out. Pandemonium reigns for a few seconds, until a wintry light starts to emanate from Blizzard's staff, revealing Cunning's body, bloody bones and viscera poking through flaps of skin.

"You didn't have to do that!" says Slight, "just let me explain!" Render, advancing on him with drawn sword, advises him to talk quickly. "He's probably brought his friends," remarks Absinthe. Quill says that she will guard the door. Buryer Tender continues to exhort anyone who will listen to kill the intruder. Mother Gentle sets up a penetrating ululation and advances on Slight, long fingers raised, as do the other weapon-bearing members of the Twelve. Slight retreats to the wall.

"What's your relationship with Cunning?" Wile demands to know. "He was the first of your cabal that we identified," replies Slight, an answer that does not go down well. Wile, Render, Slowstep and Mother Gentle close in around Slight. "Yes! Kill him!" shouts Buryer. Fish Trader sighs, changes into his true form and charges into the room, leaping upon Quill in a fury of ripping claws and teeth. Wishbone lobs spirit bottles at the feet of Ulrich's advancing zombies. Blizzard starts to chant a spell. Slight takes advantage of the distraction to use what remains of his midianite-attenuated powers to cast an "I'm already dead" aura on himself.

The Cavalry Arrives

A screech from Hawk announces the arrival of the others, though not in time to prevent a couple of Ulrich's undead bats from fluttering off down the corridor to the undervault. Walker, Slight and Rathgard come piling out of the secret passage, quickly take their bearings and pelt down the corridor. Rathgard reaches the doorway first and charges in, yelling for all he is worth. He spots Ulrich behind three zombies to the left and makes for him. Flame, following close behind, becomes a human torch and runs towards Blizzard as he stamps his staff on the ground, causing a thick freezing fog to billow up around him. Walker stands in the doorway, barring it with his staff.

Fish Trader's next victim is Mother Gentle, whose ululations suddenly stop as she is borne to the ground. He feels agonising pain as her long fingers grasp his upper arms, but it just makes him bite down harder. Somewhat to his surprise, her flesh tastes human. Slight, unnoticed by everyone, crawls towards the pearl. Walker sees Loudvoice Mask, dagger in hand, trying to make a run for it, and smashes him against the wall. Loudvoice is the fourth of the Twelve to die.

Meanwhile, Slight, completely ignoring the mayhem behind him, has reached the Pearl. Its magic has the same alien quality as the Book of Words, but whereas getting the Book to do anything at all involved an enormous expenditure of will, the twisting currents lurking in the Pearl's depths seem familiar and easy to manipulate. Slight senses that here is real power; rather than merely affecting people's perceptions, the Pearl can create realistic illusions with no mental manipulation required at all. Slight sends an experimental thought into the Pearl; a small cloud of magical potential puffs out and dissipates. So many possibilities...

Back in the fight, Fish Trader looks up from mauling Mother Gentle to see Slowstep Watcher approaching, swinging her cudgel. Wile and Render Crow make for Walker, trying to draw him from the door so that the others can escape. Blizzard attempts to encase Flame in ice, which works about as well as you would expect. Flame punches Blizzard hard in the face, grabs his staff and breaks it across her knee. Magical energies pour out of the broken ends, sending the two halves flying across the room. Walker, facing off against Render Crow, has to fling himself to one side, though the distraction also stops Render from landing a blow.

Rathgard versus Ulrich

Rathgard has dodged between two of Ulrich's defending zombies without incident and now faces the ancient man himself. Ulrich starts to perform a series of gestures and Rathgard nervously braces himself for some deeply horrible magic. But Ulrich's fingers slow; his eyes become unfocused and, bizarrely, he giggles. Rathgard takes his chance and slices at his neck. As he does so an uncoordinated zombie bumps into him, causing the stroke to go wild. Nonetheless, there is a satisfying amount of blood.

The melee with Walker has moved away from the door, leaving the path clear for Codex Scratch, who had been hiding under the table, to make a run for it. Wishbone sees her approaching and pulls the door closed from outside, bracing herself against it. She remembers Ulrich's undead bats and sends Hawk into the undervaults to track them down.

Back in the room, Wile and Render move in on Walker as he picks himself up. Slight attempts to use the Pearl to conjure up a distracting image of Fish Trader, who is actually taking on Slowstep Watcher a few yards away. Magical energy boils out and coalesces into a shadowy, vaguely humanoid form - nothing like Fish Trader, but enough to distract Wile who turns to look at the looming figure who has suddenly appeared behind her. She takes the fall force of Walker's staff on the back of her head and goes down. Slowstep fares no better. Fish Trader traps her against the chamber wall and goes in for his third mauling of the day.

On the other side of the room, Flame stabs the now defenceless Blizzard with a fire-knife, which though not as hot as usual is still razor-sharp. Ulrich has subsided to the floor and Rathgard hacks at his neck, widening the wound. The zombies suddenly collapse. Rathgard gets the head off entirely and tosses it to Flame. "Incinerate this, will you?" Flame puts Ulrich's head beyond use.

Finishing the Job

The only remaining threats are Render Crow and the rather lesser one of Codex Scratch, who is futilely trying to pull the door open against Wishbone's greater strength. Walker distracts Render by jabbing with his staff; Fish Trader leaps on his back and takes him down. Slight hides the Pearl in his coat and approaches Codex. "You know, it will be much simpler if you just surrender." The fight goes out of her and she raises her hands.

Flame and Rathgard reach down and haul out Absinthe and Buryer from under the table where they have been hiding. Buryer is gibbering with fear and has soiled himself. Absinthe is slightly more composed. She offers to negotiate - whatever the heroes want in return for their lives. Marriage into an Everway family, anything. Fish Trader, who has returned to human form, is unimpressed. He goes up to her. "Absinthe Emerald, you are a murderer and must pay the penalty." And he slashes her throat. Fish Trader repeats his words and actions for Buryer and for Codex. The others make no attempt to stop him.

Silence descends in the chamber and Wishbone opens the door. After catching their breath, the heroes explore. Rathgard, Walker and Flame open a door on the east side of the chamber and haul out a scrawny man with bad teeth, presumably the missing beggar Galleon. His skin is cold but Walker says that he is still alive and can, in time, be revived.

Meanwhile, Fish Trader, Slight and Wishbone investigate the southern chamber. It is dominated by a rectangular stone pillar about ten feet high and eight feet wide. An arch resembling a Gate has been carved on the surface facing the entrance. Wishbone and Slight detect that magically, there is something profoundly wrong with it. Fish Trader observes the manacles attached on either side at ankle and arm height and the reddish-brown stains on the floor, and comes to the same conclusion.

Closer examination reveals that the middle of the arch has a number of human-height vertical incisions which are particularly disturbing. To Wishbone and Slight, the cuts are not just in the rock. They are wounds in reality that open on - somewhere else. More distressing to Wishbone are the dozen or so spirits that are clustered on either side of the rents, embedded in a magical working that stops them from dissipating. Or rather, the two dozen half-spirits. Each has half the complexity of a normal spirit - half the memories, half the personality. Wishbone communes with them as best she is able and determines that they come in pairs, one on each side of the arch. One of the pairs is clearly Terracotta - both halves of her spirit remember the owl bangles. Wishbone tries to persuade them into one of her few remaining spirit bottles, but the two halves refuse to cohabit.

Wishbone is just deciding what to do when she receives an urgent alarm from Hawk. Armed men, coming this way! She quickly alerts the others, who gather up Galleon and as many books and papers as they can carry from the two library alcoves and head out into the main passage. Slight and Walker stay behind to find out what the armed men are doing. Slight tries to use the power of the Pearl to disguise the entrance to the chamber. He succeeds in creating a solid-looking wall - it smokes a bit at the edges, but otherwise is utterly convincing. He also tries to make himself and Walker blend in with the passageway nearby, but quickly stops as he feels an unpleasant fading sensation as if he were being erased from existence. Slight contents himself with using his ordinary magical powers to make himself and Walker unnoticeable.

They don't have long to wait. Half a dozen Librarians Militant march around the corner and stand scratching their heads. "I could have sworn that one of the secret rooms is around here," says one. The others discuss their bizarre standing orders, given them by Codex Scratch herself - if they see an undead bat, investigate the west wing. Eventually, after a fairly cursory search, they leave the way they came. Pausing only to strengthen the wall illusion, Slight and Walker hurry back to the join their companions at the end of the secret passage.

-- o --

As the heroes catch their breath in the alley next to the Scratch family home, Walker has a chance to examine Galleon further. It is not good news. The drug that has kept him in suspended animation has also destroyed his liver. If revived, he would live for a few hours at most. He would also be useless as an information source because his tongue and vocal cords have been surgically removed. The heroes decide that the best place for him is the Mercy Hospital. As everyone is exhausted, they decide to return to the cellars rather than go back into the Chamber. Slight uses the Pearl to conjure a small rock that he puts into his pocket.

The journey home is without incident, but involves more patrol-dodging. Walker takes Galleon to a puzzled Brother Valentine while everyone else heads to bed, except for Slight who is eager to try some more experiments on the Pearl. He is disappointed to find that the pebble has dissipated by the time he gets back, implying that his wall illusion probably has too. He succeeds in creating a house-sized illusion and a plate on top of another plate, but soon falls asleep.

Walker dreams of the Twisted Library. He draws a sketch and shows it to people. No-one recognises it. He asks Flame to do a divination. "Where can I go to find the Hermeneutic's Twisted Library that I dreamt of last night?" One hour later comes the response: "The Twisted Library travels through the spheres. You must follow. Start with the Land of the Satyrs." They figure out from Wormwood's notes that the "land of the satyrs" is probably Golden Mounts.

They decide to head to the Library of All Worlds to pick up rumours and to research gates to Golden Mounts. En route they pass through Sufferers' Square, where they see a number of sick people laid out on sheets in the street, watched by a crowd of gawpers. As they watch, two burly Mothers carry out another person and drop them on the floor. A member of the crowd explains that the sick are all Moondancers, whom the Mothers have refused to treat until they receive reparations for the damage done by the Moondancers to the Mother family houses. Flame whips up the onlookers with an incendiary speech against the Mothers, accusing them of being only interested in money. A number of Cleansers support her. Meanwhile Walker goes to treat the sick, but is challenged by a Watcher commander. As they are arguing, one of the ill people has a coughing fit that looks as if could soon be fatal - seeing this, the Watcher commander finally gives way. A group of Moondancers eventually turns up and starts to carry the ill people away. Walker offers to help, but his offer is spurned by the Moondancer's leader, an arrogant man who says that their own family physicians can treat them and that they need no assistance from unbelieving Outsiders.

Rathgard tries to detect if senior gang members are loyal by asking casual questions. Voulges mentions concerns about the Peacekeepers - they seem to be a law unto themselves and are constantly going off to have conversations, sometimes with other gang members, in the relatively unused caves at the back of the cellars. He asks if Rathgard is sure that Fish Trader is loyal. Other gang gossip: Treb and Veil are constantly disappearing. Steel has a lover. There is a gambling ring for which Byrnie seems to be responsible.

Slight experiments further with the Pearl. His biggest problem is the short amount of time that his illusions last - a few minutes at most. Hoping to find some clues, he starts to read through the papers from the chamber of the Twelve, but soon gets bored. A thought strikes him - perhaps Cunning got hold of Wormwood's notes on avatars?

In the morning Wishbone makes spirit bottles to replenish her dwindling supply. While waiting for them to cure, she reads further papers from the Twelve. A gang member tells her that Steadfast Watcher called again yesterday, saying she had some news. Wishbone sends a message to Steadfast Watcher, telling her to drop by.

Fish Trader checks in with the Peacekeepers. Snapjaw is missing. He talks to Rathgard who tells him what Voulges said. Fish Trader goes off to investigate. He finds the Cleansers - there are seven of them in Three Trees' old cell cave, arranged in a semi circle about a crude drawing of a Pyramid with a flame above and washbasin below. They are chanting "Cleanse and burn! Cleanse and burn!" as they dip their hands in the water and then hold it over a candle. "Have you come to join us?" "The Walker is returning! We must cleanse the city of Outsiders!" Fish Trader closes the doors and transforms. There are screams, abruptly cut off. The door opens and a bloody Fish Trader steps out. He goes to wash and change, sending the on-duty Peacekeepers to clear away the bodies, then finds Rathgard. The gist of their conversation goes like this: "We had a cultist problem, but I dealt with it."
"Who was involved?"
"A couple of my Peacekeepers and some of the gang. Gorget was one of the commanders."
"Can I talk to Gorget?"
"I wasn't clear. Gorget was one of the commanders."
"So you killed them all?"
"Yes"
"Hmm. Next time this happens, talk to me first, eh?"

Collecting some gang members, Wishbone goes to see Hewer Wainscot to get her new spirit bottles fired. Wainscot says that they will be ready at lunch time tomorrow. On the way back she sees a naked zephyr monk cruising towards Everway. She follows with Hawk and sees the monk land in the gardens next to the Palace. As Hawk swoops down to follows, she is challenged by another (male) hawk, which makes as if to attack and then stops.

Walker and Flame arrive at the Library of All Worlds. The main doors are shut and guarded by a tense line of Librarians Militant. Walker goes up to talk to them and by luck encounters a chatty one. He learns that the library has been closed due to an incident. A gang of Crookstaff necromancers turned up at midnight last night with some mummies and zombie bloodhounds and demanded to be let in. There was a major stand-off that only ended when some Plumes from the Palace turned up. Now the place is crawling with Watcher and Snakering investigators. Apparently some bodies have been found.

Walker and Flame head back to see what is going in Pyramid Square. They arrive to find a large demonstration outside the Moondance family house. Gleam Moondance is giving a speech from a balcony, denouncing the Mothers and their false god. Flame tries to repeat her tactic but this crowd is not keen on Outsiders. Several members of the crowd are carrying a flame, pyramid and bowl design. Walker asks the demonstrators who came up with it, and gets a surprisingly vague set of replies - the general consensus is that "Glimmer suggested it - didn't she?"

On the way back, Flame comes up with another plan. She and Walker decide to "make a donation" to the Temple of Mercy. In Sufferer's Square, crowds of demonstrators are squaring off against the Watchers who are guarding the entrance. Flame and Walker take advantage of the distraction to slip inside. The interior is as cool and elegant as ever, but also heavily guarded. Flame drops some of her delayed-action coins into the various offering boxes. She wants to get up to the robing room that Slight described on the first floor, so Walker pretends to have an episode, yelling "Cleanse and burn! Cleanse and burn!" in the middle of the hall. The effect is electric and gratifying. Guards sprint from all sides of the hall and bear him to the ground, giving Flame time to dart up the stairs, place some coins in pockets and piles of towels, and slip out before the guards return to their posts. Walker is thrown bodily out into the street, profusely apologising - he doesn't know what came over him. He and Flame head home, agreeing to come back to watch the fireworks later.

Back in the cellars, Rathgard and Fish Trader try to calm the gang as news of the slaughter spreads. One of the chief instigators is Gash, the formerly cocky but now traumatised Peacekeeper who was one of the witnesses to the deaths of Pommel and Ember. He is one of the gang sent to remove the bodies, and he recognises the wounds. Rathgard hears him speculating that the beast that almost killed Fish Trader is still around and is targeting the gang. Rathgard decides to nip this in the bud and calls together his four lieutenants: Voulges, Veil, Steel and Gorget's second-in-command Aventail. He tells them that the incident was caused by Cleanser gang members, whose ceremonial chanting inadvertently summoned a demon. Fish Trader happened to be passing and managed to kill the demon, but not before it had slaughtered the participants. He reminds them that the back of the cellars is very old and probably magical - witness the mural, which clearly shows an object that is part of a magical ceremony of some sort. Hence there is to be a new rule, enacted at once - no cults or chanting are to be permitted. Veil apologises, saying that she was aware that some of the gang members had become Cleansers but had thought that it was harmless. Rathgard asks the commanders one by one if they are with him. His truthsense pings when Steel responds.

Gash is still worrying about shape-changers, so Fish Trader personally reassures him, explaining that Yew Threadlip was a cultist and probably summoned the demon that killed Pommel and Ember. Deciding that now is the time to lie low, he slips out of the Cellars and goes to see his handler.

Evening

Since they need a glamour to slip into Everway, Walker and Flame go to find Slight, whom they discover packing to leave (again). Slight explains to everyone about Urumora's note and what it means. He needs to get to Woodhall, but is unsure of how to get there. The route that Why took when he passed through Woodhall goes via the Hawk Empire, which, according to Blemish Scratch, is overrun with White Scorpion Warriors. There is another route via the High Stones, the gate near Slight's home village, Rathgard arranges for gang members to be given a night off to trawl the taverns for spherewalkers who might know the way.

They sneak into Everway via the usual route under Hardhand Tower - surprisingly, none of the usual Mudbank workers are around. As he goes, Slight experiments with creating an obscuring fog using the Pearl, but finds that it does not last and is anchored to where they are. Walker notices the rubbish and other detritus piled in the normally pristine streets. Alleys are scrawled with fresh graffiti, including the now-ubiquitous flame-pyramid-basin motif of the Cleansers and their infamous motto. Slight looks up nervously as they pass a peril bell tower. He is sure it is swinging now - he can almost hear it in his head.

Dodging the patrolling Watchers takes more time than usual, and the heroes arrive only just in time for the main event. The doors of the temple are still open as Mothers leave for the night, escorted by Watchers. Numerous patrols are criss-crossing the square, so the heroes settle for a side alley across the way. Flame counts down the seconds. Exactly on cue, a huge explosion rips open a hole in the side of the temple, sending dust and rubble spraying over the square. The Watcher patrols dive for cover. Through the doors, the interior of the temple glows a rich red as the offerings, altars and furniture go up in smoke. Flame ensures that the buckets of water that the Watchers bring are ineffective, at least for a while. Slight is eager to get back, so to Flame's disappointment they decide to call it a night.

In the cellars, Rathgard sidles up to Steel as she prepares to go out to see her mysterious lover. He offers to walk with her a little way, promising to leave her alone whenever she asks. Steel is clearly not happy about this, but accepts. Rathgard's truthsense pings several times during the ensuing conversation - Steel is not going on a date, doesn't fundamentally care about the plight of the people of Beggartown and doesn't think that shaking up the hegemony of the Everway families is a worthwhile aim. Her preference would be to steal from the rich merchants of Strangerside. Steel and Rathgard part ways just north of Talespinner's Square and she disappears into the crowd. Rathgard lurks in the most likely alleys that lead towards the Everway gates, but Steel does not go that way.

Once safely back in Strangerside, Slight decides to check up on the gang members who were looking for spherewalkers and splits off from Walker and Flame. He wanders into a random tavern off Talespinner's Square. No gang members are present, but he does see someone he recognises - Callus Wenderway, the full-of-himself spherewalker sent to retrieve an Artisanware pot from the Glorious Empire. Callus looks exhausted - his clothes are stained and torn, he clearly has not bathed, and there are dark rings around his eyes. Slight watches him from a side table as he orders a drink, saying that it is just one for the road before he goes to his employer to "confess his failure". Slight tracks him as he makes his way to Bleak Street and asks the guards at the top of the passage for permission to speak to Lord Rathgard, then follows him inside.

Rathgard invites Callus into a side room and invites the other heroes to join them. Callus greets Rathgard, Fish Trader and Slight by name and eyes up Wishbone and Flame. With a shadow of his former cockiness, he throws himself dramatically on his knees, saying that he must beg their forgiveness for failing in his mission to procure the artisanware pot. But he has brought them back something else - "a thousand new people to join your great endeavour! Good stout, brave folk, all of them. In need of a little assistance, but sure to be your loyal followers!"

• The journey started well. He set off on the 28th Maiden and arrived in Temple on 5th Scales.
• He spent three days on the Great East road. He noticed that there were many beggars and travellers, which made finding accommodation at the various temples along the way much harder than usual. His silken tongue got him accommodation, however, including one night with a very accommodating vestal virgin called Felicity who really didn't live up to her job title.
• The travellers were mostly from Hunter's Moon but there were some from Gem and Woodhall. They were travelling to Everway and the Glorious Empire, having been forced to flee from their homes by the Black Mist or the White Scorpion Warriors.
• When he arrived at the Gate to Floating Petal, he found it surrounded by armed guards. The Glorious Empire had closed the Gate due to the pressure of refugees. No amount of persuasion or bribery would let him travel further.
• There was nothing for it but to return to Everway. As news of the Glorious Empire blockade spread, the road become thronged with people doing the same thing as him. The temples started closing their doors, overwhelmed by the press of people.
• When he got back to the Everway Gate, he discovered that it too had been sealed off by Keepers. They used explosive magicks (a wizard with a fireball staff) to keep people away.
• Callus spent an uncomfortable night in the makeshift open-air camp that had sprung up around the gate. Nearby temples were able to provide food and a few blankets, but not much else.
• As the sun came up next morning, the horizon was tinged with black. This caused panic in the camp - many of the people recognised the first signs of the Black Mist.
• Callus realised that he had to get help to break the Keepers' blockade. He spoke to the camp's two leaders, a man and a rather beautiful woman in white and together they formed a plan. The man spoke to the crowd and persuaded them to follow it, even though it meant that some of them would not get to Everway straight away. He promised to return with help.
• The plan was this: One group of refugees organised a diversion that drew the Keepers away from the Gate. Meanwhile a much bigger force sneaked in round the back (the Gate is on the edge of a forest). The refugees linked arms and then bound their wrists with cloth, string, or whatever they could lay hands on. Callus led them into the Gate.
• Originally 2000 people were supposed to come through. Only 1000 made it, so the chain must have been broken by the Keepers at the Temple end.
• When they arrived in Everway, they were challenged by the Keepers, but the sheer pressure of the arriving people forced them out into the Gatelands. More Keepers arrived and corralled them in a dell. With the leaders' help, Callus was able to sneak away in the night. He came to Strangerside and sought out the heroes. It took him a while to find anyone who would tell him where they were.

The heroes are eager to know who the leaders of the refugees are. Callus says that they asked him to find Rathgard and Walker specifically. Their names are Tranquil and Humility.

Chapter 15
Trouble in the Gatelands

In which the heroes get out while the going is good

Cedar appears with some food for Callus. While he is eating, the heroes take the opportunity to quiz him on the routes that he knows. Slight is first up, asking about alternative routes to Woodhall. Callus says that there is one via Gem, but he hasn't travelled it personally. Walker tries to follow up his clue about the Twisted Library, but Callus does not know the way to Golden Mounts or to any other realm that could be "the land of the satyrs". The heroes decide that there is nothing for it but to ask Flame for a divination. Fish Trader says that he has to head out again and disappears into the night.

The question that Walker asks is "What is the sequence of realms that will get us the fastest from here to Golden Mounts?" While they are waiting, Rathgard takes the opportunity to catch up with returning gang members, who have brought back a couple of juicy rumours. The first is that the Crows invaded the Scratch family house earlier today. They said that they were looking for one of their leaders who had disappeared. The bodies of his bodyguards were found hidden in the alley beside the house, along with those of two Masks. The Scratches claimed it had nothing to do with them, and are demanding reparations for the invasion of their property. The second is that the Weavers, Mudbanks and Stonebreakers have gone on strike, which explains the build-up of rubbish in the streets. The strike was announced by Almond Weaver, who said that it was to force the Great Council to reform itself.

Flame's divination produces the answer "There is no sequence that will get you to the satyrs' realm. You must simply travel." Wishbone suggests that this means that Golden Mounts is directly reachable from Everway. Flame is looking tired, but agrees to do one more divination. The question that the heroes decide on is "What person can we seek in Everway to learn most about the true origin and purpose of the Cleansers?". While Flame is performing her ritual, Fish Trader returns, looking worried. He says that his spy-master has disappeared.

Flame's answer eventually comes: "The fire and water worshippers have no purpose of their own. No person in the Eternal City is causing them." The heroes discuss what it means, eventually concluding that the force or spell that is causing the Cleansers must be coming from outside Everway. As Flame is looking exhausted after her third divination of the day, the heroes go to bed.

Rathgard is woken at dawn by Scutch, who says that a messenger in offical livery is waiting outside with half a dozen soldiers. Her name is Slither Snakering. Rathgard manages to persuade her to come in and deliver the message, which is a summons for all the heroes (except Slight) to attend the Watcher Sept in Walker's Way at midday sharp to give evidence on "important matters pertaining to the security of Everway". Failure to do so will cause them to be declared Persons of Disputed Status. Rathgard languidly acknowledges receipt of the message and sends her back.

The other heroes are summoned and Rathgard tells them of the latest development. Fish Trader is particularly eager to go - now that his cover has been blown and the Snakerings are on his tail, he wants to get out of the city as soon as possible. He observes ominously that Steel has not returned from her "date" last night. If she has been supplying intelligence to the authorities, the summons may be a trap. The heroes agree that they should all accompany Callus to see what is happening in the Gatelands - Flame, Walker and Wishbone can then walk back to respond to the summons at midday. They pack camping equipment and provisions for a long journey, just in case.

As he has already prepared for departure, Slight has time to do one last experiment with the Pearl. He holds it over the Book and observes their magical interaction. His hunch is proved right - the two interact strongly, the Book's thread-like magic twining round the shapes formed by the Pearl's clouds. Slight surmises that reading from the Book might allow the creation of structures that are more long-lasting than the ones he has been able to make so far. It's not something he can do on his own, however - it would need someone who has an affinity with the Book's magic.

At length, all is prepared. The heroes decide to use the secret back exit from the Cellars, a rope leading up to a sewer entrance in an Old Town back alley. They avoid talking to the gang, only telling Voulges where they are going.

The heroes head out of the city along the road from the Strangerside Arena and cross the Sunset River without incident. The day is overcast with gusts of cold wind. Callus tries to chat Wishbone up, claiming that he knows Shifting Sands with its famous "octopus zoo", but she has other concerns. As they make their way northwest through the Gatelands, Wishbone looks over at the walled city and senses the doom hanging over it like the haze of smoke from its many chimneys. She realises that this is what Slight has been feeling for the past few days.

Guided by Callus, the heroes cross the Imperial Way and head about a mile further west along the strip of rough ground that lies between Redhand's Ditch and the road that marks the southern border of the Gatelands. The dell where the refugees are being corralled is obvious by the numerous military figures standing around, the makeshift command tent to one side, and the faint smell of human excrement on the breeze. It is a roughly circular dip in the ground only an acre or so in size, and is ringed by armed Keepers - roughly one every 10 feet - who have put up a makeshift wooden fence.

The party halts while Slight casts a glamour that gives the impression that they are important officials. Then Rathgard marches up to the youngest and most inexperienced-looking of the Keepers surrounding the dell and demands that his group be let in, as they are here on "official Snakering business". The guard looks confused, saying that Commander Stonelock has given orders that no-one is to cross the barrier, but Rathgard waves the summons with its official Snakering seal in her face and says that there has been a change of plans. The Keeper gives way and unhooks the fence planks to let the party through. She offers to fetch Stonelock, but Rathgard says that he will report to her after he has made his inspection of the camp.

Conditions in the dell are grim. One thousand men, women and children are crammed into an area barely 250 feet across. The only shelter is a few scrubby bushes and the remains of a low wall. It stinks and there are piles of excrement - there has been some attempt to organise a latrine area, but the refugees lack digging implements. Another part of the dell has been designated for the sick. People with a variety of illnesses and injuries are lying on cloaks and other makeshift bedding - healers are moving among them, but without supplies, they can do little more than hold hands and speak soothing words. Walker, Flame and Wishbone head over to see what they can do, while Slight says that he is going to look for people from Woodhall.

Rathgard and Fish Trader follow Callus towards the throng of people in the centre of the dell. As they approach, there are cries of "he's back!" and the crowd parts, revealing a man and a woman in their midst. Both are dressed in white - the man, who looks like a skinnier, clean-shaven version of Rathgard, in monk's garb, the woman in priestess' robes. They are Tranquil and Humility.

At the sight of Rathgard, Tranquil smiles warmly. "Greetings brother, it's good to see you again. Or perhaps I should say - all hail, your Majesty!" He makes a mock bow. Rathgard raises an eyebrow before embracing his brother. Tranquil hastens to explain.

• Having decided to dedicate his life to peace, love and non-interference, Tranquil was staying at a commune of scientists dedicated to knowledge and peace on Man-Sun, learning their ways. There he befriended Why, a curious little man who was always asking questions. One day a group of armed men and women calling themselves the Priests of the Red Sun raided the commune and slew most of its inhabitants. Why and Tranquil fled towards a farmhouse that housed a little-used Gate, where Why had an epiphany and realised that he was a spherewalker. Tranquil and Why escaped through the Gate, and found themselves in Woodhall.
• They were followed through by a priest with an orange beard, who shot Tranquil with a bow. Why rescued him and left him to recover in Woodhall, while he went on ahead to get help from Everway. Tranquil does not know where the orange-bearded man went.
• While he was recovering, a spherewalker from the Glorious Empire (Glass Blower 6) arrived from Man-Sun. She brought some interesting pieces of news:
  • Queen Elian of Rath is dead. She named her former lover, Rathgard the Giantbane, as the new King of Rath in her will. Some people say she was assassinated.
  • Rath has been taken over by Elian's brother Valerian in a coup. Everyone knows that he is a stooge of the Copper Duke, the lord of Iron Citadel. He had assistance - the Duke sent a number of his deadly fire-breathing hounds and a deputation of mechanical soldiers.
  • The citizens of Rath have formed a rebel force that calls itself the Guardians of Rath. They have adopted Rathgard as their spiritual icon (Tranquil finds this hilarious). They believe that Rathgard will come to save them.
  • The man with the orange beard is most likely one of the Coppermen, a group of assassins associated with the Duke. They can be identified by copper-coloured hair and have taken over some of the religious institutions in Man-sun in the guise of the Priests of the Red Sun. Tranquil thinks that he was mistaken for his brother.
• When the Mist made itself felt in Woodhall, Glass Blower 6 was able to take him to Triangle, Stonebreak, Hunter's Moon and Temple. She left him there as she intended to return to the Glorious Empire. Tranquil found himself leading a band of refugees who were trapped in Temple when the gate to Everway was closed. There he met Humility and Callus.
• Woodhall was in a bad way when he left. The little villages were all fighting each other. The trees became wreathed in mist which appears to be toxic to them – they were losing all their leaves. Bands of White Scorpion warriors were roaming freely.

Getting back to the matter in hand, Tranquil asks Rathgard to intercede with Stonelock to get food, water, shelter and medical supplies for the refugees - he has tried himself, but she is determined to send them back to where they came from. Rathgard advises that Everway may not be the best place to be at the moment - in an act of brotherly one-upmanship, he gives an edited account of his recent adventures in stopping the Twelve, whom he describes as a group of mad Everwayans who were trying to turn themselves into gods. Nearby refugees listen in awe.

Flame wanders over to the fence surrounding the dell and starts idly carving sigils on the fence posts in preparation for an incendiary spectacular later. When challenged by a nearby guard, she explains that she is checking the fence for sturdiness.

Walker and Wishbone meet the harassed medics and pitch in as best they can. Walker treats Mallet Redthumb, an empath and spherewalker from Gem with crystals embedded in his skin. He talks about the Mist and its arrival - it manifested as a faint haze that caused empath powers to go out of control, resulting in people killing each other to stop the intrusive thoughts. Mallet stayed alive by keeping ahead of the mist's edge, which advanced at roughly 20 miles per day, until he reached a Gate. Wishbone talks to Breeze Whalesong, a fisherman from Hunter's Moon. His story is that he was forced from his home by White Scorpion warriors, some of whom were friends and relatives from a neighbouring village who had transformed into vicious genocidal maniacs.

Walker is co-opted by a young, stocky medic called Dag Bonesetter to look at a sick child named Pebble. She has red fire fever and is in a bad way. Her aunt Mink, a tall and stately woman wearing a big broad-brimmed gardener's hat, earth-stained leathers and a distinctive black-and-yellow silk scarf, hovers anxiously by. Walker is rather surprised when Slight comes running over, making no attempt to conceal himself. "Quick, is that you?" asks Mink.

It soon becomes clear that Mink is also Slight's aunt (though she knows him as Quick) and Pebble is his sister. His other sibling Raccoon is also here, but Mink sorrowfully reports that Slight's father Watchful and his uncle Cheerful remained behind with the other menfolk to take on the White Scorpion Warriors that were threatening the village. She says that the Warriors and the Mist came from a realm south of Woodhall.

Meanwhile Fish Trader has come over and is eyeing Dag suspiciously. Dag returns the look and, on the pretext of checking Fish Trader's wounds, takes him to one side. He is a fellow Peacemaster who escaped from the Peaceful Isles shortly after the Mist arrived. He tells Fish Trader that his wife and kittens are safe for now - they made it to the "cursed cave", a place that the Mist will not enter. Dag warns Fish Trader that some Peacemasters have become White Scorpion Warriors.

Humility comes over to Walker and asks how the Temple of Elpis in Everway is doing. Walker tells her as gently as he can that it has been destroyed and her successor has been killed. Humility shakes her head sorrowfully, saying that it is of a piece with what has happened to her since they last met.

• Shortly after Walker left her, Humility was told that her sponsor, Verdigris Smith, had died, and the Smiths had rescinded their sponsorship of her presence in the All the Gods Way. (She later heard that Kegtap Grapestamper had a hand in this, promising the Smiths favourable trading rights in Olive Bough.)
• She considered moving to Strangerside, but decided to return to the Great Temple of Elpis in Temple.
• Her replacement, Sister Credence, arrived on the 1st day of Scales. Humility was able to travel back with the spherewalker who brought her, a priest of the Temple of Ganesh called Rumbelow.
• As soon as she arrived at the Great Temple, it was clear that all was not well. Her brother and sister priests were harried and distracted. In part this was due to the large numbers of refugees that the temple was sheltering, but there was more to it than that. There was a sense of despair - many of her fellow priests took her to one side and told her that they were not sure if they could carry on in the goddess' service. They felt that Elpis had deserted them.
• Humility could see what they meant. To her, the temple had always been a beautiful, tranquil place with pristine white walls and columns, but now it seemed pale and washed out. The roses that bloomed around the temple were faded and withered. The great statue of Elpis, which had always filled her with spiritual awareness of the goddess, now just seemed a prettily carved rock. Humility became convinced that with each day that passed, the walls were becoming a little greyer.
• Rumours circulated of trouble in other temples, too. Humility heard that Rumbelow was wounded in fighting between the priests of Ganesh and Sobek. In the Temple of the Four Mother Goddesses, the statues came to life and started arguing with each other. Ares the war god was seen leading a band of followers in random directions.
• Eventually Humility decided that she had to get out and do something. She heard that a number of refugees were camped out around the Gate to Everway, so she decided to take them some food and blankets. She could not persuade any of her demoralised brethren to help her.
• She was in the camp when the Keepers blocked the Gate. Then Tranquil showed up and she recognised someone she could work with.

Walker listens to her tale with sympathy, then calls over and introduces Flame, who is rather less sympathetic. Fortunately, they are summoned away for a party conference before anything too harsh is said. The heroes decide to stick with the plan - Walker, Flame and Wishbone will head to Everway to answer the summons, while Rathgard, Fish Trader and Slight will talk to Stonelock Keeper.

Stonelock Keeper is poring over a map laid out on a table with her commanders outside a command tent that has been erected about fifty yards from the dell. She is a stout, solid woman in her fifties with greying curly hair, wearing leather armour with a polished metal breast plate to which is affixed a large hexagonal seal of command. She is not best pleased to see Rathgard, responding to his initial greeting by saying that she asked for military backup, not bureaucrats. Slight glances at the papers on the table, which has a map of the dell and the surrounding area with a number of arrows drawn on it. Evidently a military operation is being planned.

Rathgard attempts to convince Stonelock to allow water in to the refugees, but Stonelock is inflexible and authoritarian. She says that giving the Outsiders anything will only encourage them to stay, which is against standing orders. She points out that they are telling wild stories about an evil, insidious spell that turns the sky black, and a fierce warrior horde that kills everything in its path. If rumours get back to Everway there could be panic. Or worse - there is already resentment against Outsiders stoked by the Moondancer troublemakers. Their appearance could trigger a riot that could result in a massacre. It's in the Outsiders' own interests to return. And what if this is a plot by the Glorious Empire or some other realm hostile to Everway? Maybe some of the Outsiders are spies or assassins. A number of senior Everwayans were murdered on the very night they arrived, including Wile Snakering. And the spherewalker who led them through cannot be found. This may be more than a coincidence. She concludes that there is no point in arranging food, water or shelter, because one way or another, this camp is being broken up. She hopes it can be peaceful, but if the Outsiders won't leave of their own free will, they will be forced to.

Rathgard eventually makes some headway, getting Stonelock to concede that giving the refugees water will get them to move faster when the time comes to send them back. She is just about to give the order when a faint tinny sound is heard from beyond the edges of the camp - "pa papa pa!". Could it be - a bugle?

It is a bugle. It announces the arrival of a company of soldiers, marching in formation across the rough ground from the south road that runs along the edge of the Gateland foothills. At their head is a swaggering man dressed like a showy Roman centurion in a white tunic that falls to the knees, a big leather belt with a medallion hanging from it, a metal breast plate and a large helmet with a bright red feather. The bugler, a woman with straight dark hair called Spatha, marches just behind him. His troops - about 100 of them - are self-confident gladiator types, dressed in scraps of showy armour and little else, and armed with a variety of impractical but nasty-looking weapons.

"Argus Raven," says Stonelock, her voice icy. "Just what we need."

It soon becomes clear that Stonelock cordially loathes Argus and Argus has no respect for Stonelock. Stonelock opens hostilities by saying that "Captain" Argus is not whom she requested for backup - she asked for troops from Render Crow's sept. Argus says that on the contrary, she asked for military support in case of a forcible eviction and his men are perfectly up to the job. Stonelock points out that his bunch of preening gladiators has no practical experience of crowd control, but Argus airily dismisses her concern - just from looking at them, it's clear that the enemy is demoralised and a concerted show of force is all that's needed to break them up. Stonelock angrily rounds on him, telling that breaking them up is the last thing they want to do, and demands that either Argus takes her orders, or marches his "army of popinjays" straight back to Everway. Argus gives way with a "Yes ma'am", and salutes. Stonelock sighs and turns back to the table. Argus looks at his company and rolls his eyes. There are a few stifled sniggers, which fortunately Stonelock does not notice.

Stonelock tells Argus that his troops can set up a camp nearby. Argus suggests reinforcing the perimeter of the dell, and Stonelock reluctantly agrees. Spatha gives crisp orders and Argus' troops disperse to their various activities.

After this less than promising beginning, Stonelock and Argus start to argue over tactics. Argus is for a single dramatic charge by his troops to "break the will" of the Outsiders. When Stonelock protests that this will cause panic, we airily responds "We'll be gentle - only use the flat of our blades. Probably. May need to make an example of a few of them."

Rathgard feels compelled to interject at this point, mildly remarking that it's embarrassing that Argus' troops can't control a group of Outsiders without them being weakened first. Argus demands to know who this interloper is and sneers when told that he is a Snakering. Stonelock reiterates her decision to keep the Outsiders penned in until the spherewalker arrives. Argus unfortunately picks up on the fact that she has lost the spherewalker who led them through the Gate in the first place, causing her to lose face. Rathgard says that he supports Stonelock and suggests fetching water for the refugees to help them get ready to move on. Stonelock pauses, nods, and gives the order, purely to spite Argus. When he sneers at Stonelock for following the orders of a jumped-up pen-pusher, Rathgard dramatically ups the ante by throwing a punch at him, which he barely dodges. Outraged, he draws his sword, as does Rathgard. "You have insulted my honour!" he shouts. "I demand a duel!"

Slight sees his chance and quickly casts a suggestion that this duel is of the highest importance. Nearby troops stop what they are doing and come over to watch. Argus' eyes narrow. "Very well," he says. "If this Snakering lackey can make me cry mercy, we'll follow his plan. Otherwise, we follow mine." He swaggers in a circle, accepting the cheers of his troops, then signals to Spatha who sounds her bugle as he turns and charges at Rathgard.

Fish Trader stands ready to transform and Slight prepares to tip the outcome by casting small illusions using the Pearl, but in the event, they are hardly needed. Argus is good at gladiatorial combat, but Rathgard is a skilful duellist. He dodges Argus' initial charge and parries the subsequent flurry of attacks, giving ground as if he were out-classed and panicking. When Argus over-extends himself, he darts in and scores a touch on his shoulder. Argus roars in fury and comes at Rathgard again, this time genuinely causing him some difficulty. Rathgard goes down on one knee and Argus aims a vicious downswipe that goes awry as his foot slips on a greasy grey patch that had not been there a moment before. The two square off again and trade blows; then Argus flinches as a flickering shadow appears near his left eye and instinctively raises his sword to defend himself, giving Rathgard the perfect opportunity to lunge forward and stab him in the ribs. Argus goes down on his backside with blood pouring from his flank. "Do you cry mercy?" asks Rathgard. "Never!" gasps Argus, as he pushes himself up, sword wavering in front of him.

"Stop!" commands Stonelock, touching the seal on her breastplate. Rathgard finds himself unable to move. Argus falls over again. "This has gone on long enough. Argus, you lost. Spatha, take him to your medic." Spatha drags Argus away. As the effect of the command spell wears off, Stonelock tells Rathgard that the duel was unnecessary, but grudgingly admits that he is a good fighter and perhaps has more sense than she gave him credit for. Rathgard suggests getting some food for the refugees and for Argus' troops, who must be hungry. Stonelock looks over at the refugees huddled in the dell, on whom Slight has cast a spell of compassion, and agrees. Having got her to say yes, Rathgard follows it up by suggesting that rather than forcing the refugees to go back to Temple, they could be sent elsewhere - perhaps Golden Mounts? Stonelock considers, admitting that it's a quiet realm with which Everway does not have a formal treaty, but says that she would need a signed order to do so. Rathgard says that he will go and get permission from the Everway authorities, and find a spherewalker to take them through.

He and Fish Trader return to Tranquil and Humility to tell them that food and water are coming and to explain the arrangement with Stonelock. They are not happy - the sick should really not be moved again - but accept that it is probably the only way to resolve the situation peacefully.

As they approach the increasingly doomed-looking city, Wishbone sends Hawk up to scout ahead. Rubbish has piled up surprisingly quickly and smoke drifts from the fires that are burning in several places. Gangs of Cleansers and their opponents roam the streets and the usually teeming Bazaar is almost empty. In Walker's Way, Hawk spots a couple of dozen Watchers and Snakering guards hanging around the sept, but it is not clear if it is intended to be an ambush. The nearby Peril Bell is twitching ominously.

Just outside the Imperial Gate, the heroes confer. They decide to continue with the plan, but Wishbone will stay outside the city so that she can summon backup if needed. The Keeper guards on the gate have left their posts to deal with a mob that is smashing the Mother statue next to it, so Flame and Walker are able to slip in unchallenged. As they approach the sept, Wishbone, through Hawk, notices a disturbance from further down the street. A number of small and not-so-small struggling figures are being dragged along by Watchers, some of whom are bandaged, others wet and covered in flour. At the head of the procession is a stone-faced Snakering man in a long dark coat. Wishbone recognises the two largest captives. They are Carrot and Bean.

Above their heads, Flame and Walker hear Hawk's warning cry and see her dive into Jackal Way. They take the hint and get off the street before the Watchers can spot them. Skirting the Library of All Worlds, they meet up with Wishbone outside the Theatre of the Thousand Spheres. Everway, they decide, is a bust. The only thing to do now is to gather up what they need and get back out to the Gatelands. They head south towards the Hardhand Tower exit, passing a crowd of Mudbanks and Weavers armed with pitchforks and clubs who are headed towards the Palace, crying "Save the King! Save the King!". It seems that the Mothers have declared that King Horizon will never recover from his injuries, so Tourmaline will inherit the throne. The crowd believes that this is a ploy by the Mothers because they didn't get enough support in their action against the Moondancers. There is even a suggestion that the explosion at the Temple of Mercy last night was an assassination attempt against Horizon by "enemies of Everway" in the mistaken belief that he was being treated there.

Safely back in Strangerside, the heroes split up. Wishbone makes her way to Hewer Wainscot and picks up the two dozen spirit bottles that he has made for her. She ties a message to Hawk's leg explaining what has happened and sends her to find Rathgard out in the Gatelands. Walker and Flame return for one final time to the Cellars, where they are besieged by worried gang members who have heard yet more rumours. An armada of ships from Middleland is approaching! The zephyr monks saw it on its way to the Circle Sea. It will be here in a week! Walker and Flame do their best to calm things down, saying that everything will be fine. Walker take Voulges to one side and tells him that they have to take a short journey and to hold the fort in the mean time. Lord Rathgard is depending on him! Meanwhile Flame raids the kitchen stores and takes all the non-perishable food she can find.

Walker, Flame and Wishbone rendezvous at the Heroes Tavern, where they load up Fish Trader's cart and collect the bewildered Winnow Tallgrass. They head out of Strangerside through the gate from Snakering Square and make their way to the Gatelands, where they meet Rathgard, Fish Trader and Slight midway between the dell and the Imperial Gate.

The heroes prepare to return to the refugees. Slight forges a Royal Command approving the planned expulsion of the Outsiders through the Golden Mounts Gate and giving permission to requisition all the supplies needed. It further commands both Stonelock's and Argus' septs to return to Everway at once, leaving a minimal guard on the Gates. It is decided that Fish Trader will play the spherewalker that Rathgard has found to take them through. Slight prepares to cast a glamour so that Stonelock will not recognise him, but Fish Trader says that there is no need. His body shimmers and changes into a tall, fair-haired man. Fish Trader says that it is a new form on which he has been working.

With the preparations in place, the heroes return to Stonelock. She accepts the papers with a raised eyebrow at the command to abandon the Gates, but Rathgard is very persuasive about the multiple threats to order in the mother city. Realising that he does not know which Gate is the one to Golden Mounts, Rathgard requests a deputation of Keepers to clear the way and to ensure that none of the refugees escape. The requisitioned supplies arrive; as it is now late afternoon, Rathgard persuades everyone, including the Keepers, to sit down for a meal before they leave.

It is time to go. Following the Keeper pathfinders, Rathgard and the disguised Fish Trader lead the cart and the column of bedraggled refugees towards the gently rolling foothills and into the narrow pallisaded passageway marked with the name "Golden Mounts". Ignoring the screeches of the hidden watch-sprite, they emerge into the circular enclosure surrounding the tall stones making up the Gate and, after a pause to ensure that everyone is linked together, set their feet on the silver path that only spherewalkers can see. One by one, the refugees disappear through the swirling portal. Walker and Flame are the last ones through; they turn to take one final look at the city and the dark smoky haze that is hanging above it. Faintly on the breeze they hear an urgent clanging, as the Peril Bells sound at last.

Chapter 16
Golden Mounts

In which the heroes break up a party

The refugees and the heroes emerge to the sound of twittering birds and trickling water and the smell of oleander. The Gate is at the base of a small cliff that forms one side of a shallow, bubbling spring; they must wade through cold, knee-high water to reach the nearby bank. It is late afternoon and the air is warm with just a hint of autumn chill. The pool is in the middle of an oak wood. A path follows a rocky stream that winds away through the trees down a gentle slope to the north.

Wishbone and Slight are relieved to discover that the sense of dread that oppressed them in Everway has vanished. As the refugees continue to flow out of the gate, Wishbone sends up Hawk to investigate their surroundings. She spots a set of odd-looking yellowish hills to the northwest and a series of wooded ridges rising to a mountain range in the north, but most usefully, a village just down the hill. At Rathgard's behest, Humility and Tranquil pick out able-bodied hunters from among the refugees and send them off as scouts and foragers.

The column of refugees moves off down the path. The forest seems peaceful, with signs of deer and boar, and has many seed- and fruit-bearing plants and trees. After half a mile or so, the trees start to thin out. There is a sound of distressed bleating from a nearby bush, where a goat has got its horns tangled. It has a bell round its neck. Flame offers to free it by setting the bush on fire, but Rathgard and Wishbone opt to use more traditional methods.

The path abruptly emerges onto a meadow where a mixture of goats, sheep and cows are grazing on the thick grass. There is a smell of thyme and oregano. In the distance is a small village with whitewashed and red-tiled houses surrounded by gardens and fields. Beyond it, the ground slopes up in a series of forested ridges towards a low mountain range in the hazy distance. There is not a soul in sight. Rathgard notes with some puzzlement that there is no smoke rising from the chimneys. Perhaps the villagers are having a festival?

The heroes call a halt at the edge of the forest. Not wanting to spook the villagers with an invading horde, they decide that a committee consisting of Rathgard, Tranquil, Humility and Slight should prepare the way. Slight casts a glamour of friendliness and they move forward.

The village is a hamlet of approximately forty houses, each covered with fig or grape vines and with its own garden, arranged around a circular plaza with a crude wooden statue of a boar at its centre. A single road runs through it north to south. It soon becomes obvious that the village has been abandoned for several days - a couple of deer look up and dart off down the main street as the party approaches, chickens are wandering freely, and a pail containing the dried curdled remains of milk lies on its side in the middle of the road. While Tranquil and Humility go to fetch the other heroes, Rathgard approaches a nearby house. The door has been left propped open and a broom has been abandoned on the veranda. Inside, there is rotten and mouldy food on the table and leaves and chicken droppings on the floor. Slight investigates the boar statue, finding the name of the village - Boarholt - inscribed on its base. He spots a grander house at the edge of the plaza that he guesses belongs to the village chieftain and tries the door, which is unlocked. Inside is a neat office containing papers describing the contents of the village stores and trading with nearby villages, including one called Redwine which seems to be some days away.

The heroes split up to investigate further. Flame finds the forge at the edge of the village. A half-finished horseshoe is lying on the anvil and a hammer and tongs have been dropped on the floor. Fish Trader and Wishbone investigate a path leading off into the wood to the east. It soon ends at a small circular wooden-roofed temple. Inside, some now rotting offerings have been laid in front of a wooden statue of a man wearing a circlet of vine leaves and holding a staff with a large pinecone at the top in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other, which Wishbone recognises as the god Dionysus. A frieze on the wall behind the statue depicts the same man leading a troupe of satyrs in a dance. Fish Trader resists the urge to burn the place down.

Back in the village, Rathgard investigates the store which stands next to the chief's house. It is full of the produce from the recent harvest: dried meats, apples, figs, nuts and root vegetables. A number of circular blank spaces and empty racks indicate where wine amphorae and beer barrels were stored. They are all empty.

Walker and Humility are looking for medical supplies, with Flame trailing suspiciously after them. They locate a building set a little way from the others on the far side of the village which proves to be a small hospital containing a couple of unmade beds and more importantly, a supply of bandages, splints and healing herbs. As Flame is still giving Humility the side-eye, Walker suggests that she check out a large building with a porticoed veranda nearby. It proves to be a school. In the large central room, benches for about forty pupils are arranged around a writing desk and a chair. Books, styluses and wax tablets have been thrown down on the floor. On the desk is the teacher's diary. The florid title page indicates that it belongs to "Prolix Buttertongue", a "humble student of literature" who is recording his observations for the benefit of "the others who will come after me". Flame settles down to read it, eventually joined by Slight.

Mostly it is a routine account of daily village life, occasionally interspersed with conversations with travellers passing through the village. Frustratingly, Prolix does not give precise dates, instead using terms like "Autumn, five days after the harvest" or "Spring, thirteen days after the second new moon". Among the more general items, there are a couple of reports of villagers being injured after getting too close to the "Maenads", which explains the existence of the hospital. Prolix does not leave the village very much, but he mentions visits to the "old palace" to see "Pholos", who seems to be a rather drunken friend. Most of these accounts end "Hangover next morning."

• A group of refugees from a religious war in Caer Gloria.
• One traveller describes spending a night in a translucent house made of trees tied together in Jellytree.
• A couple of references from Wormwood's notes: Westerly (Count Roderick) and Sentinel's Flame (the Copper Duke).
• A recent entry describes a conversation with a spherewalker called Polder Highmoon who had just visited the fabled Twisted Library, which revealed to her the secret location of a great treasure. Knowing that much of what the books in the Twisted Library say is a lie, she was going to the Library of All Worlds to try to verify the information.

• Some older reports of a blue-robed woman with long fingers accompanied by two green-cloaked bodyguards who refused to give her name or explain what she was doing ("though I believe that she must be a Mother!"). She asked for directions to the Sunhills. Prolix records that she passed through the village again a few more times, but there is no recent mention of her.
• Another regular visitor is a young woman with a military bearing: Morrigan Crow, a personal adjutant of General Victor Crow. Prolix befriended her on a return trip from seeing Pholos when he found her lost in the forest in a state of heavy dreamflower intoxication. Prolix guided her back to the village and helped her to recover. Morrigan has come back at regular intervals ever since; it seems that her task is to gather dreamflowers for her master, who has a medical condition.
• The most recent entry in the diary is particularly interesting. Dated "15 days after harvest", it describes a conversation with one Lightfoot Moondance, "one of the fabled priests of Everway!" the previous day. She was seeking the Twisted Library, and having recently spoken to a spherewalker who had just been there, Prolix was able to advise her of its most recent location, in - unfortunately the entry trails off at this point, and the only other words on the page, in considerably shakier handwriting, are "The Bacchanal has come! Euoi! Euoi!".

Slight and Flame report their discoveries to the other heroes. As it is clear that the villagers have been drawn away, the decision is made to let the refugees occupy the village. It is a tight squeeze - there are beds for less than half of them - but most are grateful just to be able to sleep with a roof over their heads for the first time in many days. Tranquil, Humility and Callus offer to get things organised, including cooking and laundry rotas, building temporary accommodation, and hunting and gathering expeditions to replace food and firewood. As it is now getting dark, the refugees set up cooking fires and feast on meat and vegetables from the village store.

As they sit around the camp fire with Tranquil, Humility and Callus, the heroes decide that they need to go on ahead to find Prolix Buttertongue and locate the other gate. Wishbone says that her brother Gecko on the Wall may be among the Bacchanal and she wants to rescue him if possible. Rathgard takes Tranquil to one side and they have a quiet brother-to-brother talk, in which Rathgard advises Tranquil to be ready to travel again if the Mist appears. Tranquil assures him that he will do what's needed - "I'll be here, taking responsibility as usual". Slight checks in on Aunt Mink, Raccoon and Pebble, who is making a quick recovery. They are happy to remain here for now but will eventually want to return to Woodhall. Slight says that he intends to go there to find out what happened to his father and uncle.

Rathgard sends out scouts to look for evidence of the direction in which the villagers went. It does not take them long to find tracks of booted feet and cloven hoofprints in the mud by the banks of the stream to the north of the village. Broken undergrowth and bits of smashed jugs indicate that the villagers roughly followed the road as it climbs up a wooded ridge.

The heroes gather their belongings and some food and make their farewells. Walker insists that Winnow Tallgrass come with them. Fish Trader reluctantly abandons his cart as the wooded trails are not suitable for it. The grateful refugees - those that are awake, anyway - wave the heroes off as they strike north.

At first, following the trail is easy. At the top of the ridge, the road passes between two herms and then splits into three. One path follows the crest of the ridge towards the east, one continues down the other side to the north, and the third branches towards some striking-looking rounded yellow hills that are just visible above the tree-tops to the northwest. It is not clear which way the villagers went - there are signs in all three directions. The heroes decide to follow the northwest path.

The path leads for a mile through the trees and opens out into an upland of rolling sunlit meadows that are covered in dry grass dotted with patches of bright yellow flowers. In the bright sunshine, the air is hazy with pollen, and there is a sweet scent which reminds the heroes of something, but they can't think what. Two weathered herms stand on either side of the road. Unusually, they each have an arm outstretched, palm facing forward. There is writing around their bases, but it is weathered and faded.

The heroes adopt a cautious approach. Wishbone sends Hawk out over the meadows, but she rapidly becomes uncontrollable, developing a strange obsession with a small gorge to the east. The next plan is to send one of the heroes in tied to a rope. Rathgard is not interested, Fish Trader thinks it's a stupid idea, Flame would burn the rope, Wishbone says she has an addiction problem and Slight refuses, so it is left to Walker to do the deed. The others tie his hands behind his back and loop a rope round his waist, and he goes forward.

Without any clear idea of how he got there, Walker finds himself wandering through a cool, tangled wood by a river. Up ahead he sees a fisherman casting his net into the water. Walker gets a strong sense of deja vu. The fisherman drags the net onto shore. As Walker edges forward, he sees that it is full of small pyramidal stones. The fisherman, a large humanoid figure with a strangely blank face, starts to sort through them. He must not be allowed to find the stone he is looking for.

Back by the herms, Slight sees Walker drop to the ground and tries to sense what he is feeling. It is a confused jumble, similar to the fleeting emotions of a dreamer, but one feeling dominates - a determination to do something. Slight gets out the Pearl and tries to create a wind to blow the pollen away from Walker. He succeeds in summoning up a cool, damp breeze, but finds it difficult to control its direction.

Walker sees that one of the pyramid stones in the net is gleaming and reaches forward to grab it, but finds that his hands are tied behind his back. With an irritable grunt he flexes mightily, and the bonds snap. Seeing this, Fish Trader, Rathgard, Flame and Wishbone haul on the rope round Walker's waist, just as Walker is about to make his grab for the stone. Walker feels a force trying to pull him away from his prize. A red mist descends and with a roar of fury he lurches forward, grabbing the stone. The heroes on the other end of the rope are dragged several yards into the grass. Wishbone's eyes glaze over and she sets off at a run towards the cleft that Hawk saw. Winnow springs forward and brings her down with a rugby tackle.

Walker sprints off into the forest, running as fast as he can. Back at the herms, Rathgard starts shouting his name. Pausing for breath, Walker thinks he hears someone familiar and decides to head in that direction. Suddenly he finds himself in bright sunshine on the edge of the Sunhills. The pyramid stone has gone.

The heroes decide that collecting dreamflowers is still a good idea despite the risks. Wishbone provides a small sealable pot and Walker dashes to the nearest clump of flowers, this time holding his breath. It is still a fairly surreal experience but he succeeds in grabbing a few flower heads and stuffing them into the pot before running back to the others.

The heroes return to the cross roads and take the northern path. It crosses a series of rocky ridges, dipping down into the shady valleys between them, then rises up through forest to a flat plateau ringed by an ancient, crumbling earthworks. The path leads to a gap in the grass-covered banks which is guarded by two herms.

The heroes stop and Wishbone sends up Hawk once again. The earthworks enclose a field of short scrubby grass with patches of bare earth. At the far end, close to the forest edge, are the remains of a grand building made of grey stone. Broken pillars line its front and the remains of colourful frescoes can be seen on its walls. The building once had several storeys but only the first couple remain. The walls are smothered in vines and little bushy plants grow in the cracks in the stones. The interior is a 100' square courtyard with water butts, amphorae, boxes and tables ranged around the walls. There is a large banqueting table set up in the centre which is wreathed in swathes of dried laurel leaves. There are also a dozen or so large creatures which at first Wishbone takes to be misshapen horses, but soon realises are in fact centaurs. Some are performing various domestic tasks, others are lying on their sides asleep in the sunshine. Hawk also spots a back entrance from the building that leads directly into the forest.

The heroes decide to approach from the rear. They make their way through the forest and come up to the entrance gate. It is guarded by a centaur with the upper half of skinny young man and the lower half of a roan stallion called Nessos, who aggressively demands to know what the heroes are doing here and whether they have any wine. Rathgard says that they are travellers and no they don't, at which Nessos tells them to clear off. Not wanting to create a scene, the heroes are about to depart when a slurred voice asks Nessos what all the fuss is about and tells him to let them in. The voice belongs to a paunchy, balding middle-aged man with the lower half of a dapple grey who is leaning drunkenly against the central table. He introduces himself as Pholos and asks if they have any honey, because he wants to make mead ("meeeaaaad!"). The heroes instead unpack their midday meal and invite the centaurs to join them.

The party learns the following:

• Yes, the centaurs have seen the villagers recently. They passed through about a week ago and tried to steal some wine. The centaurs menaced them with spears and they went away. They have probably gone on to Satyr Heights, which is at the top of the mountain to the north.
• Satyr Heights is a regular resting spot for the Bacchanal. It arrives there every few years.
• Pholos is expecting some new recruits soon. When asked what he means, he explains that the centaurs are all human celebrants who have been transformed by Silenus, the leader of the Bacchanal. He asked Pholos what he most desired and then touched him with his thyrsos (pinecone on a stick). In Pholos' case, his drunken wish was to be hung like a horse, and the next thing he knew, he was a centaur and the Bacchanal had left him behind. The other centaurs have similar stories.
• The Maenads, fierce women with claws for hands and long sharp teeth who live in caverns to the east, are similar transformees.
• The Bacchanal has several dozen satyrs in total.

Pholos and his group have no other information of interest to offer, so the heroes make their thanks and depart. The land slopes steeply upwards and the woodland changes to a mixture of fir, cedar and pine. The undergrowth thins out to the occasional bush and the ground becomes covered with brown, dried out pine needles. Ridges and outcrops of grey rock become increasingly common and the air turns cold. After a couple of hours of climbing, they reach the edge of the treeline. Ridges of grey rock run up towards the mountain's peak with only the occasional hardy bush tucked in out of the wind. The footing turns treacherous due to scree. Up ahead, near the mountain top, the trees begin again. This is clearly a magical forest however - it is dark, thick and green, and small lights move between the trees.

Leaving Winnow at the lower treeline, the heroes climb up and enter the Bacchanal's forest. Slight can sense that it is immensely old and powerful - its magic is very like that of the Wasted Woman whom the heroes encountered in Plenty. Narrow shadowed paths twist between old trees and thick bushes. Small pale lights hang in the branches or drift from bush to bush. From up ahead there is a faint sound of drumming, and hidden owls hoot in the branches. The air is cool and damp and smells of many things - pine resin, roasting meet, sour wine and a musky animal odour that is strangely arousing.

The heroes make preparations before proceeding. Slight puts a "we're ordinary people" glamour on the party. On Wishbone's advice, they take precautions against distracting smells; Slight wears a sock as a face mask, Flame, Wishbone and Fish Trader stick wax up their nostrils, and Rathgard ties some smelly cheese under his nose. Walker will hold his breath.

Following the sound of drumming, the heroes make their way through the maze of paths towards the forest's centre. In a tiny glade they find the corpse of an old woman with a festering leg. She had dragged herself a few yards from the makeshift stretcher on which she was evidently carried here. Further on, they are startled by a faun that darts out from behind a tree, turns to look at them with wide, human eyes, and then dashes off into the undergrowth. Further still, and they see the first signs of living human presence - a bottlebrush bush with clothing draped over it, and nearby, the shadowy forms of a naked couple asleep, slumped over each other.

At length, firelight and movement can be seen between the trees and the heroes find themselves at the edge of a large field. Hundreds of people are here, dancing, drinking, kissing. Satyrs wreathed in foliage dart between them, plying them with more drink or food. Above, a full moon hangs in a cloudy night sky.

The heroes cautiously join the crowd. On the outskirts, thirty children, each wearing a flower crown, are dancing in a ring. They seem to be enjoying themselves, but judging from the looks of exhaustion on their faces they should have gone to bed hours ago. A satyr band is energetically playing pipes and drums. Some of the villagers have acquired instruments too and are enthusiastically joining in. The centre of the field is marked by a large, ancient oak, and a thick crowd of sweaty people are shuffling and capering around it in an ecstatic trance, heads thrown back and eyes glazed, calling out "Euoi! Euoi!". They look exhausted, but the music won’t let them stop. A female satyr darts out of the crowd and presses a goblet of wine into Rathgard's hand, then coyly winks. "Come with me," she says, taking his hand. The hypnotic sound of the drums and the wailing of the pipes sets his blood pounding, but Rathgard just has the presence of mind to drop the goblet and fall over as if drunk. The satyr gives a moue of disappointment and turns away. Rathgard takes a deep breath, but is alarmed to find that the smell of ripe cheese is having an arousing effect on his privy parts. He quickly tears the gag away.

Wishbone makes her way towards the cooking fires, where a large trestle table, festooned with vines, is covered with plates of food. Villagers with distended bellies are seated on benches, stuffing themselves with the latest offerings from the satyr cooks. They are looking unhealthily red-faced but are unable to stop eating; one of them has developed pig's trotters and a small curly tail. The eaters shuffle up to create a space for Wishbone. The smell of meat and spices somehow penetrates through the wax noseplugs and sets her saliva flowing, but as she is about to sit down, a gap opens up in the dancing crowd beyond and she sees her brother under the central oak, holding an amphora and standing next to a larger than average satyr with thick curly hair and impressive goat's horns who can only be Silenus. He gazes benignly at the frenzied crowd, wine cup in one hand and thyrsos in the other. Released from the spell, Wishbone goes to find the others.

The other heroes are watching the dancing. Fish Trader finds that his feet are tapping of their own accord, but he just manages to bring them under control. Walker is tempted by a passing satyr carrying a wine horn, but doesn't drink it. Instead, it gives him an idea. Waving the horn wildly in the air he shouts "Let's have a dance!" Rathgard and Flame cotton on and form on impromptu conga line, encouraging others to join in, while Wishbone and Fish Trader watch from the sidelines. The line makes its way towards a large bay tree from which dozens of amphorae are hanging. Nearby is a trestle table around which are grouped a number of very drunken men, including a balding fellow with a skimpy beard who is wearing a stained scholar's robe. Suspecting who this might be, Rathgard calls out "Hey Prolix, come and join us!" The man staggers to his feet. As he weaves drunkenly towards the line of dancers, Wishbone skillfully intercepts him and lures him out of the grove with the promise of some fun. She puts a stop to his clumsy fumblings by cracking the lid of her pot of dreamflower and waving it under his nose, which puts him into a trance. Fish Trader, who has followed them into the bushes, says that he will escort the drunken sot back to Winnow.

Back in the grove, Walker has guided the conga line towards the oak tree where Silenus and Gecko are. He invites Gecko to join them and Gecko starts forward to do so, but Silenus uses his thyrsos to bar his way and whispers in his ear. Realising that their little stratagem isn't going to work, Walker, Flame and Rathgard let the line continue without them and merge into the crowd to await events. They see their chance when Silenus holds out his wine cup for a refill and Gecko's amphora proves to be empty. With a gesture Silenus sends Gecko towards the amphora-covered bay tree. Flame and Walker cavort after him, providing cover for Wishbone who calls his name from the other side of the tree. As he goes to investigate, she pulls him into the bushes, while the other heroes surround them.

Gecko is a slim, gawky sixteen year old with straight black hair, a feeble pencil moustache and a light sprinkling of dark hairs on his chin. He is dressed in the remnants of his spirit worker clothing and two short goat horns protrude from his forehead. He recognises Wishbone and asks what she is doing here. Wishbone says that he has to come to rescue him - Old Crow has sent her to get him back. Gecko responds that he doesn't need rescuing and that he joined the Bacchanal to get away from Old Crow. He wants to stay and doesn't believe Wishbone when she tells him that he has been bewitched. Wishbone is forced to use the dreamflower pot again to make him compliant and the heroes start to hustle him away. As they do so, a satyr spots them and darts away.

Getting out of the forest should be a simple matter of following the slope downhill, but it proves to be much more tricky than that. The paths between the trees twist and turn and the heroes keeping finding themselves back near the grove. Eventually Wishbone sends up Hawk and the eye in the sky helps them to make progress. Dodging searching satyrs, the heroes finally catch a glimpse of the slopes of Satyr Heights through the trees ahead. But as they round a bush, Wishbone, who is leading the way, almost bumps into Silenus, who is not looking pleased. "Where are you taking my cupbearer?" he roars. Wishbone retreats several paces, while Walker pulls Gecko off to one side and Slight takes to his heels. Flame throws oil at Silenus' thyrsos and succeeds in setting it on fire. Rathgard tries to persuade Silenus that he should let Gecko return to his family, but Silenus is too angry to listen. "I'll turn you all into swine!" he shouts. Flame tries to set Silenus himself on fire, but he proves resistant to her powers. Silenus raises his now flaming thyrsos and prepares to bring it down on Wishbone. Before he can do so, however, Wishbone whips out the dreamflower pot and throws the contents right in his face. Silenus' eyes glaze over and he staggers back. Around him, the forest starts to turn transparent. The heroes make a desperate run for the edge of the woods and get out just before it vanishes entirely. They are on a cold mountainside just before dawn. At the edge of the treeline below they see the welcome glow of the campfire that Winnow has built. Behind them, hundreds of unconscious and hung over villagers are slumped on the bare rock.

As they recover, the heroes get some time to talk to their rescuees. Rathgard is concerned that Gecko was forced to leave the Bacchanal against his will. Gecko admits that he freely chose to join them, but says that he was drunk when he made the decision. Life with the Bacchanal was like a vivid dream - they visited several realms but he never left the forest, so he didn't see any of them. An enormous variety of people joined the party, including some White Scorpion Warriors. They weren't friendly and were left behind when the Bacchanal moved on. Slight asks about how the Bacchanal travelled. Gecko says that it involved some sort of ceremony by the satyrs. They would start singing and the moon would move visibly across the sky.

Prolix has a very sore head, but manages to provide a few more details of his conversations with Polder Highmoon and Lightfoot Moondance. The "gate to the north" is a couple of days travel away near a town called Redwine. It leads to a village called Camelrest in the desert realm of Shimmersand. The Twisted Library was located on the desert road between Camelrest and the capital city of Gatemeet - Rathgard's face lights up at the name, as it is a place that he has visited.

Prolix tells the heroes the legend of the Twisted Library. It is reputed to be the creation of a powerful wizard (whose identity varies from realm to realm) who took pride in collecting knowledge in all its forms. Eventually, however, hubris claimed him and he began to boast that his library made him as wise as the gods themselves. So the gods caused a subtle falsehood to enter into one of his spell books. When the wizard had cause to use the spell, it summoned a demon to the library who carried the wizard off screaming to the nether hells. The demon's evil, it is said, twisted the library and sent it hurtling off through the Thousand Spheres. Prolix professes a scholar's scepticism at such a tall tale, but Polder's description of it would seem to bear out at least some elements. She said that it had an eerie atmosphere and she had the constant feeling that "the owls" were watching her.

One final piece of information that Prolix is able to give is about Lightfoot Moondance's reason for wanting to find the Twisted Library. She believes that the Walker is trapped somewhere in the Thousand Spheres and is trying to make a map so that devout Everwayan spherewalkers can more effectively search for him; like the heroes, she discovered that Gate maps were not available in the Library of All Worlds and was seeking out the Twisted Library as the next best source.

The heroes thank Prolix and make their preparations to depart - they are on an urgent mission and have no time to help the villagers return to Boarholt. Winnow offers to stay behind and help, but Walker persuades him to come with them. Gecko decides that he should return to Shifting Sands to complete his training as a spirit worker. As Everway is too dangerous to travel through, he too agrees to accompany the heroes until he can find another way home.

Chapter 17
Guardians of Rath

In which Rathgard leads a revolution

The Gate to Shimmersand is located on a rocky plain some two days journey from Satyr Heights in an edifice known as the Henge of Priapus. The main street of the nearby town of Redwine is lined with merchants selling fertility and performance charms. Passing swiftly between the two phallic pillars that form the Gate's lintel, the heroes embark upon the silver path between the worlds.

They emerge in the late afternoon in a cool oasis surrounded by rocky cliffs. The water's edge is covered in an unusual reed with a thick yellow stem from which emerge a spray of fine wavy orange hairs. A well-trodden path leads up to the nearby village of Camelrest, a hot, dusty caravanserai surrounded by paddocks containing hundreds of lowing camels. The orange-robed locals prove to be friendly and not too venal. Rathgard strikes up a conversation with a middle-aged camel driver called Jerboa and learns that Queen Ibex is still on the throne, though she has lived in permanent mourning since the unfortunate event that claimed the lives of her husband, son and daughter. The drivers complain that she has done nothing to prevent the forces of Iron Citadel from marching freely across the country and setting up a cordon at the Gate to Rath, which is stifling trade. Walker asks after the Twisted Library and is annoyed to learn that it has disappeared, a fact which equally irritated the grand Everwayan lady who was also looking for it a couple of weeks ago. He gets a description of its entrance from one of the drivers who saw it: warped lintels, owl statues on pillars on either side, green flickering candles. The lady - Lightfoot Moondance - travelled on to the Camel's Hump tavern at Gatemeet and the heroes decide to follow her. Jerboa offers to guide them for a modest fee.

Next morning, the heroes set off on the long hot journey through the desert. Aware that he is a wanted man, Rathgard adopts a disguise, purchasing a locally-made robe and burnoose, wearing a large false nose from Slight's disguise kit, and adopting the cognomen of "Cheeserind". For some of the heroes, travel by camel is a new experience. Fish Trader briefly shows his true form to his mount, which spends the rest of the journey in quivering terror. Slight falls off his camel as it lurches to its feet.

En route, Rathgard tells the others of his time in Rath. It lies in the realm of Glitterpeaks, so-called because the mountains have deposits of pure copper, gold and other precious metals that glitter in the sun, and was ruled by a long line of witch-queens. He came across the city in his wanderings and liked it sufficiently to hang about, taking a job as a city watchman based in Deadguard Fort. Queen Elian spotted him when he was part of a royal honour guard and a romance developed - he sneaked into her bedroom in the Palace using a secret passage accessed from a slum area called Wallshadow. When a raiding party of giants threatened the town, Elian promoted him to General and gave him a bronze mushroom full of a herb that was highly toxic to them. Rathgard's clever strategy involving hidden ropes stretched across their path led to a glorious victory. Elian and Rathgard were eager to be wed, but Elian sent him off to do good elsewhere. She said that she would wait for Rathgard's return.

Jerboa fills in the rest of the story. When Elian knew that she was dying, she declared that Rathgard should be King until a new witch-girl could be found. This violation of custom outraged her son Valerian, who used soldiers supplied by the Copper Duke to take control of the city and declare himself King some six months ago. The traditional trade in herbs, unguents and spikefins, a salmon-like fish with a narrow and sharp dorsal spine, has subsequently dried up, to be replaced by convoys of armaments and soldiers in one direction and carts full of metal ore in the other.

The capital of Shimmersand is a sprawling mud-brick metropolis situated around a lake in a shallow X-shaped valley. It has seen better days. The Palace of Domes, home of Queen Ibex and what remains of her court, stands high on a cliff overlooking the crossing point. The heroes arrive at dusk and make their way to the Camel's Hump tavern, a large square building with a central courtyard where caravans can park up. On the walls outside are some tattered posters depicting a familiar figure. Rathgard is outraged to see himself described as the "Usurper" when Valerian has little better claim to the throne than he does. The sum of 1000 gold coins offered for his head seems pretty paltry too.

The heroes spend a cosy evening in the bar. Lightfoot Moondance, unsurprisingly, is remembered for her insistence on taking the road to Longshadow Peak, where the Gate to Rath is, despite the presence of Iron Citadel forces. She was following a rumour of the Twisted Library's new location. Walker asks about the wanted poster outside. The locals are hesitant to speak about it, but say that they have been told that the Usurper could be returning with an army of giants to seize control of the throne. Rathgard admits, sotto voce, that this plan had occurred to him.

The following day, the heroes say farewell to Jerboa, who wants to return home, and set out with a driver he recommends, a tough-looking woman called Anklet. Slight casts a "This is not the usurper you're looking for" glamour on Rathgard to deflect unwelcome attention, which proves useful when the caravan encounters a detachment of sweating copper-armour-wearing guards escorting a convoy of ore carts being pulled by automata in the shape of oxen, which Slight detects are animated by avatar magic. Its surly commander tells them that they are wasting their time going to Rath to trade - almost all available trade goods have been requisitioned by the military.

After a pause for lunch, the heroes set out across a baking arid plateau. Wishbone, scouting ahead with Hawk, suddenly notices someone standing in the middle of the desert, dressed in clothing that is more purely white than any she has ever seen. She points the figure out to the others, but the intense heat haze makes it difficult to see. Wishbone guides Hawk in for a closer look; as she does so, the figure does something with their hands and disappears in a blinding flash. Slight gets a sense of a strange alien magic, similar to Painter's. He takes a detour to investigate the spot where the figure stood, but is disappointed to discover no magical residue. There are a few footprints in the sand, so the figure was real.

The heroes approach their destination late in the evening, having calculated that this will allow them to arrive in Glitterpeaks in the early hours of the morning when the guards will hopefully be sleepy. Before that, though, there is the contingent guarding the Gate at this end to deal with. Scouting by Hawk shows it to be quite small, a mere dozen or so people standing around an old square-pillared tomb entrance built into a foothill of the mountain looming above. They are dressed in copper armour and carry three foot long thin metal tubes. Their leader is of more concern, for she has the robes and bright red hair of a Copperman. Leaving Anklet at a safe distance, the heroes cautiously approach the tomb, Slight strengthening his glamour on Rathgard. Flame notices that the tubes that the guards are carrying have sigils which are not unlike the ones that she uses for her spells. The woman introduces herself as Tong and demands to know why they are travelling to Rath. As Fish Trader explains their cover story, she scrutinises the heroes carefully, comparing them to the drawings of Rathgard and two other people that are stuck on the tomb. Flame, Fish Trader and Walker ready for a fight, while Slight prepares to hide. Eventually, however, Tong gives a curt nod and lets them through. Passing through the Gate in the empty burial chamber, the heroes once again set out on the path between the worlds.

They emerge at the top of a thirty foot high pile of large boulders. A path winds down from the top and disappears off to the southwest. A small cluster of barracks-like wooden cabins stand around a camp fire off to one side. The cairn overlooks a large area of flat fields which contain a set of fifty foot long ridges, each with a ten foot high menhir at one end. The air is cool and damp. More immediately, two guards at the top of the mound leap to attention, barring the way, and a clanging bell causes another ten to emerge from the huts. The most concerning opponents are the squad leader, who is buckling on some elaborate spiky armour, and a dog-like automaton with glowing red eyes and steam venting from its nostrils.

The guards at the top rudely ask who the travellers are and what they are doing here. Fish Trader says that they are looking for the Twisted Library. The guards become, if anything, even more suspicious. "Are you with that Everwayan?" demands one of them. Fish Trader manages to smooth things over, explaining that they are "rivals for knowledge" and expressing relief on learning that Lightfoot has been arrested on the orders of King Valerian. The guards order the heroes to descend the mound and present themselves for inspection.

Fish Trader manages to strike up a rapport with the squad leader over trading opportunities; travelling to Sheepship is out of the question because the harbour is off-limits, but rapidly invented claims of a good source of metal ore elicit a positive response. The squad leader suggests that he speaks to Captain Redrock at Deadguard Fort and say that Adamant sent him. Meanwhile the firehound has been snuffling in a disturbing manner at the other heroes - Slight worriedly realises that his glamour may not be effective against a mechanical being - and when it approaches Rathgard, Flame decides that a diversion is in order and reduces some of its joints to glowing slag, causing it to fall over. While the guards are puzzling over this unusual behaviour, the heroes start to edge towards the edge of the nearby forest. Adamant angrily tells them to stop. Slight casts a panic glamour - "That thing's about to blow!" - and Flame duly ensures that it does, in spectacular fashion. Ignoring Adamant's orders to chase after the heroes, the guards focus on preventing burning firehound fragments from setting fire to the wooden huts, allowing the heroes to reach the edge of the forest. A voice from a nearby bush says "Psst, this way!"

The voice belongs to a small round woman in her forties with greying hair tied in a bun. She introduces herself as Snowdrop and asks if they were responsible for the firehound's demise. Her face falls when Fish Trader claims that they are merely travelling merchants. Snowdrop invites them back to her camp anyway - it is somewhere to rest and she would like to hear about what's happening in Shimmersand. Rathgard suddenly remembers where he has seen Snowdrop before - she was a Palace servant who made a pass at him, and it was all very awkward, so he decides not to drop his disguise. However he cannot resist answering Snowdrop's questions, and suddenly her eyes go wide. "Your voice..." She pulls out a medallion inscribed with a somewhat idealised version of Rathgard's visage from under her jerkin and compares it to his face. "It's you, isn't it? Lord Rathgard, you have returned to save us!"

Rathgard has no choice but to come clean. Snowdrop excitedly explains that she is a leader of the Guardians of Rath, a secret organisation dedicated to preparing for the return of the true King. Her co-leader Estoc is at the camp ahead and will want to hear all about Rathgard's plans. Rathgard remembers him too - a stick-in-the-mud officer at Deadguard Fort who advised him against starting a liaison with the Queen.

The heroes arrive at a small hunters' camp in a forest clearing. Estoc is indeed there, once roused from his tent, a tall man in his sixties with short grey hair, a trimmed beard, and a military bearing. He is accompanied by half a dozen hunters dressed in leathers and carrying bows. Snowdrop introduces Rathgard and his "allies", smugly reminding Estoc that she said he would come. Despite the lateness of the hour, Rathgard insists on a status report. The Guardians have four leaders - in addition to Estoc and Snowdrop, there is Catkin, workers' liaison, and Fiddle, leader of the "Guild of Free Operatives", who represents mercantile interests. Estoc is clearly not a fan of either of them. They are all opposed to Valerian's rule, which is brutal, with curfews, summary executions and children as young as ten sent to the mines. The opposing forces are numerous and well-armed. As well as the firehounds, there are human-shaped automata patrolling the walls of Rath and the troops are armed with boomsticks, which fire projectiles in an explosive burst, and geyser cannons that blast scalding water. Estoc has been organising small-scale raids - they managed to destroy a firehound by "hitting it until it fell apart", but it took twenty people and there were casualties. According to Snowdrop's contacts among the servants, Valerian himself spends most of his time in the royal apartments in the Palace tower, which are highly guarded. He has control of firehounds and can apparently communicate with squad leaders - he was able to redirect a couple of squadrons when Estoc tried a feint attack.

Rathgard gets all those present to swear fealty to the idea of respecting Elian's final wishes as a way of testing if they are telling the truth about their allegiance. Somewhat surprisingly, it appears that everyone present is loyal. Walker asks after Lightfoot Moondance and learns that she was seen being dragged protesting through the streets of Rath and into the Palace about ten days ago. As even Rathgard's eyes are beginning to droop, everyone gets a few short hours of rest.

The next morning, the heroes and the Guardians head for Rath, moving along forest paths to avoid the patrols on the main road. There is some disagreement about how to announce the fact that the Guardians' figurehead has arrived; Estoc wants to take Rathgard to meet Catkin and Fiddle in the Undermarket, a secret location used for trade in illicit goods, but Rathgard demurs, preferring to meet them outside the town. They compromise on meeting the other leaders secretly in the Undermarket with Rathgard remaining incognito. They approach the Witchwood, an area of woodland north of the town where the Witch Queens grew their medicinal herbs. It has been burnt to the ground and is now a mass of blackened stumps and charred bushes. Rathgard is quite upset about this, having pleasant memories of disporting with Queen Elian there when they went to pick herbs for the war against the giants. Fish Trader suggests a new rallying call for the Guardians - "Avenge, restore, re-plant!". Estoc leads the way to a tunnel entrance concealed in a rock outcrop. Leaving Hawk to hunt over the nearby Fellmire, the heroes enter an old smugglers' tunnel that leads under the walls of Rath.

The Undermarket is a large natural cave below the main market square, lit by large bracket fungus lamps. Crude wooden stalls in the centre of the area form a small market selling shady goods of all descriptions, smoky stew of dubious origin, and rough home-distilled spirits. Around fifty people are buying, selling and carousing. Two of them, children of about ten years old, come running towards Estoc, shouting "Daddy! Daddy!", closely followed by a middle-aged woman, evidently, Estoc's partner from the looks exchanged between them, who shoos the kids away when they start asking him to judge an alleged misdemeanour. Estoc sends two of the hunters off to find Catkin and Fiddle and everyone convenes in a small private cave, which Slight makes profoundly uninteresting to the curious.

It is quickly apparent that the four leaders have different agendas and are disunited. Catkin, a tall man in his thirties with long dark hair, a straggly beard, and a fervent fire in his eyes, is eager to use "the people" to launch a direct assault on the castle. Estoc wants a more cautious military build-up, using trained fighters armed with weapons that are effective against the Copper Duke's firehounds and automata. Fiddle, a short, stout, clean-shaven man in his forties who is evidently not an honest merchant, is unimpressed by the military manoeuvring and favours an assassination attempt on Valerian himself. His main objective, he says, is to get trade flowing again. Snowdrop says little, but simply looks at Rathgard with shining eyes.

The heroes identify Deadguard Fort and the Palace as the key points of interest and discuss launching simultaneous attacks on both to draw the guards out. Catkin eagerly claims that he can create a diversion in the Great Market, which lies between the two - he has the Spikefin fisherfolk, the Fellmire hunters and the Dapplebanks farmers readied for action, and claims that the Deadguard Fort rank-and-file will join the revolution when they see what is happening. "It's all arranged!" he says. Estoc asks to speak to Rathgard privately and tells him that Catkin's plan won't work. The guards at Deadfort are professional soldiers and will be loyal to the regime for as long as their commander is loyal. Rathgard consults with the other heroes and the plan is changed - get into the Palace first, deal with Valerian, then use his head to persuade Captain Redrock to surrender.

Catkin is suspicious when the heroes return, but is placated when Rathgard tells him that they are following his plan with a few small modifications. He explains what he has arranged: farmers and fisherfolk will build a barricade in the streets to the south of the Great Market out of rubble and up-turned boats, water barrels will be used to douse firehounds, and hunter snipers will take out the enemy leaders from the tops of nearby buildings. Estoc looks unhappy, saying that he has a small force of trained fighters who would be better able to resist the Iron Citadel troops, but Rathgard says that he wants him to stay in reserve and prepare to take Deadguard Fort. Fish Trader quietly asks Fiddle to arrange for Catkin to suffer an unfortunate accident if it looks like he will be leading people into a massacre.

There only remains the trigger to set events in motion. An hour or two before dawn is deemed the best time. Catkin suggests that a group of fisherfolk illegally selling spikefins would be enough to trigger an altercation. Rathgard expresses the concern that actual fisherfolk could be harmed, so Catkin says that he will accost a guard himself, an idea that is enthusiastically welcomed by Walker.

The heroes rest up and prepare for the night's activities. Fish Trader takes a catnap, Wishbone restocks her supply of herbs from the market, and Rathgard meets with carefully selected representatives of the Fellmire hunters, Dapplebank farmers, Spikefin fishers, and merchants with houses bordering on the Great Market. He urges everyone not to take risks, but to "tip and run" - use the barricades, but don't get caught behind them. The representatives leave, promising to spread the word.

Leaving Winnow and Gecko in the Undermarket, the heroes emerge from a secret entrance in a side alley south of the Great Market. They creep cautiously through the dark streets, using Hawk to avoid the patrolling guards. At length the thirty foot high wall of the Palace looms above them. Guards stand at regular intervals and a clanking, steam-belching automaton patrols up and down, occasionally stopping to scan the city below with red ruby eyes. Rathgard studies its routine and darts across the street when the coast seems clear, searching for the catch hidden in a crack in the wall that will open the secret door. His memory does not fail him, but the catch, when located, proves stiff and resistant. He manages to work it free, but as he does so, the automaton above announces "Alert! Intruder!" in a grating metallic voice, causing guards to come swarming out of the nearby watchtowers. Flame heats up the gleaming metal between the automaton's eyes and smoke starts to pour off it. Slight repeats his panic glamour of the night before, distracting the guards as the heroes make a run for the now open door. The automaton explodes with a loud bang, showering those nearby with debris and sending a fiery mushroom cloud high into the air. As the heroes pause to catch their breath, they hear screams and shouts coming from the Great Market. The signal to the revolutionaries has been well and truly sent.

The secret entrance leads into a maze of twisty little passageways, all exactly alike, that permeate the walls of the Palace. Rathgard only knows the way to Queen Elian's bedroom, which is in the wrong direction (Elian, unlike her predecessors, chose to live in an apartment near the Great Market so that she could be "closer to the people"). The heroes decide to keep heading left in the hope of finding a way into the tower. Eventually they discover another hidden door, which opens onto a shadowy garden, now unkempt and overgrown, containing sepulchres for each witch queen. The most recent is Elian's, which consists of a simple slab with a reclining effigy holding a bronze cup in the shape of a mushroom, surrounded by red roses (love), cyclamen (resignation and goodbye), and blue violets (I'll always be true). Noting the highly alert guards on the far wall, the heroes retreat back into the passage and continue searching for a way into the tower. Eventually they encounter a small staircase leading up to a door that looks promising.

Before they go through, Wishbone stops to check in with Hawk who is circling over the city. Around one hundred guards and associated firehounds are drawn up in formation in the Great Market, facing a milling mob armed with scythes, bill-hooks and sickles. It is difficult to tell what is happening, but arrows are flying and some people are on fire. Pushing through the door, the heroes find themselves in a narrow curved passage. Directly opposite is an opening into an impressive reception room lined in white marble and red drapes, dominated by an elaborate golden throne at its centre. There are also half a dozen guards, but the heroes manage to sneak over to the servants' staircase to the left without being spotted. Slight and Fish Trader scout ahead up the stairs, which proves to be wise because there is a lone soldier guarding the entrance to the Royal apartments on the second floor. Slight prepares to cast a distracting glamour, but is beaten to the punch, or in this case throat ripping, by Fish Trader, who transforms and pounces on the unlucky victim.

The heroes reach the door to the solar on the third floor without further incident. Beyond they can hear an imperious voice demanding to know what is happening in the city. Without wasting a moment, they form up and charge in - Walker and the transformed Fish Trader in the vanguard, followed by Flame, Rathgard, Wishbone and Slight.

-- o --

The door opens onto a large candle-lit semicircular room where the royal family and their companions used to work, rest and play. It has been turned into a war room. A large desk covered with maps and papers now occupies the space in front of the shuttered veranda where the queen and her companions once sat and talked; Valerian, a handsome man in his 30s with gold-brown wavy hair, goatee moustache and beard, is standing in front of it, flanked by two automata and two fire hounds. In front of him are a pair of worried-looking commanders with half a dozen guards lined up behind them.

Fish Trader makes for Valerian directly, leaping onto a nearby 8 foot long dining table, then to a card table and finally onto the head of the northern-most automaton. Walker picks up the dining table, sending cutlery and glasses everywhere, and charges towards the centre of the room, shielding Rathgard who advances with him. Flame causes a candelabra in the south-western corner of the room to explode, distracting the southernmost automaton. Wishbone looks for some sign of the device that Valerian is presumably using to communicate with his troops, but there is nothing obvious that she can see. Slight throws a panic glamour over the human inhabitants of the room, which rather gratifyingly causes Fish Trader to be identified as an incoming firebomb. Valerian and the two commanders fling themselves to the ground while the guards scatter to the eastern wall. Only the two firehounds are unaffected - one turns to face the oncoming table, while the other moves to protect its master from Fish Trader.

As the northern automaton reaches up to dislodge the intruder, Fish Trader launches himself at Valerian, but is knocked off course by a flying leap from one of the fire hounds. He lands at the feet of one of the commanders, who draws a mace and presses a button that makes it glow red hot. Walker's battering table misses Valerian but hits the automaton, knocking it back. Rathgard darts out from cover to get at Valerian, only to find the other commander, a burly woman, has picked herself up and is in his way. Her eyes widen as she recognises the intruder and she draws her mace. Flame heats up the firehound near Fish Trader, while Wishbone takes advantage of the distracted guards to move to a door in the east wall that Rathgard had identified as the Queen's workshop, a place into which Elian had never let him go. The other firehound leaps over the table to land between Walker and Flame. The southernmost automaton gives a wholly unnecessary warning of "intruders!" and comes marching around the desk. Slight focuses on maintaining his panic glamour, which is still cowering the guards.

Wishbone flings open the door to the Queen's workshop and discovers what she was looking for - an elaborate copper and brass machine like a church organ crossed with the entire brass section of an orchestra, with valves, tubes and flaring bells poking out in every direction. It looks too complicated to fiddle with, so Wishbone contents herself with picking up a promising-looking jar full of brown liquid from the alchemicals, preserved animal parts and boxes of herbs stored on a nearby dusty shelf. Back in the main room, Walker vaults over the table and wrestles the northern automaton to the ground. Flame increases the heat on the firehound in the middle of the fray while throwing a knife at the one nearest her, which only does a little damage but attracts its attention. Fish Trader grabs the commander looming over him and throws him over his shoulder into the firehound; the commander's hands make contact with red hot metal and he screams. Rathgard sees an opening and dodges past the other commander's clumsy blow, coming face to face with Valerian who has drawn his rapier and is exhorting the guards to form up. Valerian recognises his opponent. "You!" he says. "Elian sent me," replies Rathgard enigmatically.

Divested of his opponent, Fish Trader charges towards Valerian as Rathgard tries to skewer him. Unfortunately the combined move does not go well. Rathgard is forced to pull his blow and Fish Trader has to dodge, ending up half-hanging off Valerian's right side with his claws stuck in his cloak. Walker grasps his automaton's head and succeeds in twisting it off, but a loop of cable spools out and it keeps moving, raising a hand to reveal a tube protruding from its wrist with ominous scorch marks at its end. Wishbone throws her random potion at the other automaton; the glass vial hits its head and smashes, releasing a fuming acid that dissolves its eyes. Deprived of sight, it goes marching off towards the southern wall. The northern hound breathes a ball of fire at Flame, who is unimpressed. She throws another knife at it, which severs a control line. It falls to the floor, twitching.

Rathgard catches sight of the other hound behind Valerian, which is now incandescent. "Look out, it's about to blow!" Valerian laughs. "Nice try, but I'm not fooled. Attack, my pretty!" At this point, the hound blows up, killing the commander who is lying on the floor next to it and knocking the other one back towards Flame. Valerian is propelled forward into Rathgard's arms. Fish Trader catches some of the blast and yowls in pain.

Flame runs forward to help Walker. Seeing her coming, Walker stretches out the cable between the automaton's head and its body. "Cut this!" he shouts. Flame sails over the table, neatly severing the cable with a swipe of her blade as she lands. The automaton goes limp. Rathgard nuts Valerian hard in the face and he goes staggering back with blood streaming from his nose. Fish Trader attempts to scramble up Valerian's back and bite his throat out, but there is a loud bang from behind him and he feels a sharp stabbing pain in his side as a guard successfully discharges a boomstick. He screeches and flails randomly with his claws. Belatedly, Slight realises that he needs to change his glamour now that the "bomb" has exploded, and switches it up to "it's all hopeless". Wishbone, seeing how the fight is going, readies a spirit bottle.

The remaining commander has picked herself up and is readying a boomstick. Flame throws another fire knife at her, while Walker charges forward. In the centre of the room, Valerian's face is a bloody mess from Fish Trader's scrabbling and an eyeball has been punctured. "He's angry now. I really suggest you surrender!" shouts Rathgard to the guards as he lunges forward to skewer Valerian in the shoulder. Valerian staggers back, still up, but there is another bang and a hole opens in his chest. Valerian looks unbelievingly at the commander whose shot at Walker went wild as a result of Flame's knife, then his remaining eye goes blank and he falls backward to the floor. Wishbone darts forward and quickly bottles his spirit.

While Flame takes the guards' surrender and Walker heals Fish Trader, Rathgard advances on the commander, who is looking in horror at the weapon in her hand. Rathgard persuades her that she did the right thing in shooting "the traitor" and she gradually calms down, revealing that her name is Fuller. Slight and Wishbone go next door to try to figure out how to use the mad contraption to tell the forces in the Great Market to stand down. Slight has the bright idea of assisting Wishbone as she attempts to contact out of Valerian's spirit. He quickly spots that Valerian was a weak character who was trying to prove that he was worth something to his dead mother; by pretending to be her, Wishbone quickly gets him on side and he reveals the device's secrets. Wishbone sends out an order telling the automata and firehounds to halt.

Rathgard sends the guards as runners to the human commanders of Valerian's forces, telling them to stand down. Wishbone figures out how to turn the automaton voice boxes into a public address system, allowing Rathgard to reinforce his order with a direct announcement to lay down arms, arrest any coppermen, and gather in the Great Market. He also declares that Estoc is the commander of Deadguard Fort with immediate effect. Fuller asks what should be done about the prisoners in the palace dungeon, including the Everwayan. As he suspects that some of them may be genuine criminals, Rathgard says that they are not to be harmed but should be kept locked up for now.

The heroes make their way to the front of the palace where a balcony overlooks the Great Market. The square below is covered in scorch marks and burned and arrow-shot corpses. Valerian's human troops have obeyed orders and are gathered in a tight group near the palace, looking nervous. Further back are a large number of townsfolk, some still armed with improvised weapons, looking suspicious. Rathgard, an old hand at crowd theatrics, steps forward just as the light of the rising sun strikes the balcony, flanked by the heroes and Fuller. Slight has to do very little to make him appear as the saviour of the realm.

Rathgard declares that the battle is over; Rath will be restored to the Witch Queens' line and all traditions will, in time, be restored. The Copper Duke's people will be allowed to return home unharmed if they leave immediately. Estoc and Fuller are the senior commanders; Rathgard himself will be regent until a new witch child can be found. Rath will be Strong! United! Self-sufficient! The crowd goes wild.

After accepting the adulation for several minutes, Rathgard retires and turns his attention to the most pressing issues of the realm. One problem is what to do with the automata, which could be dangerous if the Copper Duke were to re-establish control over them. Wishbone suggests getting them to stand in a circle and then ordering each one to disassemble the one in front. Estoc, Snowdrop, Winnow and Gecko on the Wall arrive with news of the battle. Catkin is dead; he was facing off against a troop detachment when the automaton on the wall exploded and the panicked commander unleashed the fire hounds. Rathgard orders the building of a memorial to him and to the 60 citizens and guards who died in the fighting. There is no sign of Fiddle, and the Undermarket has been cleared out.

In the Great Market, Flame pokes through the now disassembled remains of the automata and discovers that each one contains a small cube of pure fire and earth, which makes whatever it touches red hot. Various uses are suggested for them including smithing, steam power, and saunas.

What with one thing and another, the heroes quite forget about their guest until late in the day. They remember that she blinded the people of Skylight when they attacked her, so decide to take a cautious approach; Rathgard and Slight will go in with a chair and some decent food, while the other heroes will lurk around the corner.

As they approach the grilled door, an imperious voice demands to know what's been happening. Rathgard tells her to get back from the door and she reluctantly complies. Lightfoot is a tall, imposing woman in her mid-forties with long and straggly grey-yellow hair. She is dressed in a scarlet robe with gold lace fringing, covered by a red velvet travelling cloak. There is a Moondance medallion round her neck. She paces with restless impatience, refusing the chair that Rathgard has brought, but helping herself fairly liberally to the wine. Rathgard shrugs and sits in the chair himself.

She starts by demanding haughtily to be let out. Rathgard says that may be possible, but he wants to know about where she has been travelling first. Lightfoot voices her suspicion that he is working for Valerian and that this is a trap. Rathgard reveals that he knows that she is looking for the Twisted Library, and their interests may align. Lightfoot deduces that he spoke to that "irritating scribe in Golden Mounts" and that he must have come from Everway. Rathgard asks whether she has encountered the Black Mist. Lightfoot says did, in Gem, and warned Chamber Platinum, but that annoying Blemish Scratch said they already knew about it. She asks what's happening in Everway. Rathgard says that her warnings were ignored and things are not good. This makes Lightfoot trust him enough to tell him more about her quest to find the the Twisted Library. She first had the idea ten years ago, after being frustrated in her attempts to find a map of the spheres in the Library of All Worlds. Rathgard says that he is also looking for the Twisted Library and suggests that they join forces. He asks about Lightfoot's maps - she says that they were taken from her. Out in the hallway, Wishbone communes with Valerian's spirit and learns that they are in his desk upstairs. Copies are surreptitiously made.

The wine starts to go to her head. She talks about her quest to find the Walker, whom she believes is the Lost Goddess who is waiting somewhere in the Thousand Spheres for a true believer to find her. The person who does so will rule as the Walker's representative and the Pyramid will be their palace. She expresses frustration that just because her vision is not one of the 32 precepts, she is a lowly 16th prime even though she is Glimmer Moondance's sister. Rathgard asks about Glimmer's motivations - apparently she claims that the Contact Pyramid, an artefact worn by the Moondance First Prime which supposedly allows them to communicate with the Walker, has started speaking to her after centuries of silence. What did it say? "Cleanse and burn". Lightfoot gets so drunk that she reveals a shocking secret - Glimmer is having an incestuous affair with her own brother Gleam! Lightfoot was so disgusted when she learned this that she quit Everway in another attempt to find the Twisted Library. Rathgard asks about the Shifting Man and Painter, but she hasn't heard of either of them. Rathgard leaves, promising that she will be moved to better accommodation. Lightfoot guesses that he has overthrown Valerian and calls him a good man.

Next morning, the hangover has kicked in. Lightfoot apologises for her behaviour the previous night, and says that she owes him her freedom. She would still like to find the Twisted Library, but realises that she should pay off her debt first. She offers to take Winnow and Gecko back to their respective realms - she knows a route to get Winnow to Wizard's Reach that doesn't go through Iron Citadel. Winnow is all for it; Gecko likes the idea of going travelling, but likes the idea of helping to defeat the Black Mist more, so elects to remain with the party. Lightfoot's maps are restored to her and she tells the heroes what she knows about Everguard. It is a mountainous realm that is criss-crossed with mighty defensive forts, earth-works and walls; its people claim to be descended from the Shadow League. When she was there twenty years ago after the Skylight debacle, things were falling apart, with the clans of the Everguard fighting each other. People blamed the wizard Oakstaff, who lived in the mountains and sent out a black fog that caused chaos when people annoyed him. Lightfoot tried to talk to him but got lost.

The heroes prepare to depart for Sheepship. Rathgard talks to Estoc, who agrees to look for the witch child. Rathgard promises to return (for real this time).

Chapter 18
The Twisted Library

In which Flame encounters an old enemy and Walker undergoes a surprising transformation

Rathgard decides to find out more about the route through Sheepship and puts out a request to his population. There are no spherewalkers who have been that way but he is able to find a tavern keeper who has spoken to some that have. The Gate to Sheepship is in a sea cave beneath the imaginatively named Gate island, about a day's sailing southwest of Rath and halfway to the land of the Red River Shamans, and is overseen by a hermit called Watches the Moon who helps travellers coming the other way. There is little trade with the fierce shepherd clans who live there; they are more interested in raiding each other when their mountain islands drift into range, which happens surprisingly often. Rathgard learns that the gate on the other side is in a jumble of rocks in a field on one of the islands. The other gates are on different islands, so taking a boat might be wise in case the locals prove inhospitable.

Estoc is keen to send a military ship to the Red River people to provide any logistical support that they might need in throwing off the remnants of the Copper Duke's forces, so an ocean vessel is quickly requisitioned from the harbour. The heroes make their preparations: Walker and Wishbone raid the queen's workshop and stock up on herbs, Flame examines the fire cubes but can't figure out how they are triggered to produce heat on command, and Rathgard and Fish Trader acquire a 6 person boat with a detachable sail, and a food hamper.

The next day, farewells are made. Lightfoot and Winnow Tallgrass set off for the gate back to Shimmersand; from there she will take him back to Wizard's Reach via Shiversea, Llama Heights and Jellytree. Estoc and Snowdrop come down to the harbour to see the ship off. Snowdrop urges Rathgard to return as soon as he can.

The journey to Gate Island is uneventful. Watches the Moon, a small grey-haired man who lives in a little hut by the shore, is pleased to see the heroes, honoured to meet Rathgard, and delighted to hear that the Copper Duke's people have been defeated (they were most unmannerly). He guides them into the sea cave and shows them the path up to the Gate from the beach at the back. Carrying the boat, mast and hamper between them, the heroes set foot on the silver path between the worlds.

The heroes emerge into a cold, cloudy and drizzly early afternoon in the middle of a large sloping field half way up a mountain. In the distance, at the bottom of the hill, is a village with an ominous pall of dark-tinged smoke or mist hanging over it; large waves crash against a shore about a mile beyond. Out to sea, another mountain island can be seen on the horizon. Of more immediate interest, however, are the bloodstained and butchered sheep that litter the surrounding area. Wishbone and Walker determine that they have been dead a few days and were killed with both edged and blunt weapons.

The heroes cautiously pick their way through the decomposing corpses and approach the village below. Closer to, it is clear that there has been a brutal attack. The buildings are burnt and ruined and the black-tinged mist that winds between them is clearly unnatural. Rathgard is all for giving the place a wide berth but the road to the shore passes through it and the large and unwieldy boat would be difficult to take across country. Besides, Wishbone wants to look for spirits who could say what happened.

The identity of the attackers soon becomes clear - a large crude stylised scorpion has been graffitied on a wall, which Walker recognises as the work of his old enemies, and Slight identifies the tell-tale magical signature of the Black Mist that he encountered in Plenty. Wishbone finds and bottles the spirit of a young woman who had been crushed beneath a fallen beam; she is called Bothy and says that the raiders were members of the Blackbriar clan, who had turned into White Scorpion Warriors. They came in boats, burnt the houses and killed the inhabitants, and slaughtered the sheep. They were completely crazed. Bothy saw smoke from the shore, so presumes that they had destroyed the local boats before attacking, presumably to prevent the inhabitants from escaping. She says that the mist appeared before the warriors.

The heroes are in a hurry and there is little that they can do, so they leave the destroyed village behind them and take the road towards the shore. About half way along is an unnatural outcrop of black rocks, from which emerges what looks like a pillared Greek portico reflected in a distorting mirror. The supporting columns are twisted and the large green copper double doors are so warped that there seems no way that they could open. On either side of the entrance are two four foot high pillars supporting large stone owls that stare fixedly at the heroes as they approach. Above them are sconces (several degrees off true) containing torches that burn with a green flame and no smoke. Could it be?... it is! - the heroes have at last found the Twisted Library.

Despite appearances, the doors open easily when the floral wreath knockers are pulled, revealing a winding staircase that descends into the ground. It is lit by more of the green flame torches and guarded by pairs of owl statues that peer out from alcoves every thirty feet or so. Walker has a strong sense of déja vu. Wedging the boat in the entrance to stop the doors closing behind them, the heroes start to descend, taking care to watch their footing as the treads are subtly different heights and angles from each other. Slight, Walker and Wishbone sense a watching Presence that is strongly hostile to the oblivious Flame. Slight says hello and Walker says hello again, but it does not respond.

Eventually after what feels like an inordinate distance, the stairs end at another pair of twisted doors. These open into a vast cavernous space smelling of parchment and dominated by enormously tall book cases that reach up and out into the darkness. All the shelves are warped, as are the books themselves. The higher shelves are accessible from metal walkways reached by abnormally long twisty spiral staircases. Wooden carved owls with big staring eyes stand on ledges and in alcoves. In the centre of the space is a reading area containing dozens of owl-shaped lecterns, lit by green-flame candles. Something, or many somethings, are watching from the shadowy corners.

There is one reader in the library, a young fair-haired woman in a black silk dress with many pockets, who looks up as the heroes enter. There is an easel on the desk beside her.

"Ah, you're here at last". She flips up a small painting, and Walker strobes and disappears. Rathgard, Wishbone and Fish Trader are frozen.

Painter (for it is she) addresses Flame, ignoring Slight who is doing his best nothing-to-see-here impression. "I don't know how you got out of that pit I left you in, but I'm not making that mistake again. Here's where your friend is." She shows Flame the painting, which depicts Walker in a cage facing a couple of hungry-looking lions. "And this is where I'll send him if you don't give me what I want." She holds up another picture, which is an overhead view of the smoke-wreathed cone of an active volcano with a large lake of molten lava at its centre. "So which is it to be - the Book, or your lover?"

Flame looks Painter in the eye, then deliberately turns her back and walks towards the entrance. "I'll do it!" warns Painter. "Last chance!" Flame keeps walking. Losing patience, Painter holds the pictures together. Walker strobes and disappears, to the annoyed puzzlement of the lions, and re-appears high above the volcano. Flame spins on her heel and points at the pots of paint by the easel, which catch fire. "How petulant!" says Painter.

Slight, meanwhile, has been sidling closer to Painter, using the desks as cover. He sees the picture on the easel, which is of Bleak Street in Everway, looking south. A wall of black mist stretches up into the sky a few yards from the picture's viewpoint, and emerging from it is a large spider-shaped automaton - clearly Why's work - with a basket of supplies dangling from its abdomen. Rathgard, Wishbone and Fish Trader all struggle against Painter's spell; Rathgard tries to call out, but it comes out impossibly slowed down.

Flame throws a fire knife at Painter, who swallows it with the lion picture. Taking advantage of the distraction, Slight makes a grab for the volcano painting, but only succeeds in knocking it out of Painter's hand, sending it skittering across the floor. As Slight dives for it, she gives a grunt of annoyance and freezes him to the spot.

"I'll burn the Book rather than give it to you!" shouts Flame. Wishbone and Slight sense a sudden surge of attention from the Presence in the library. "Hah," says Painter. "You can try... Say goodbye to your friend. He must be dead by now."

Frozen in mid-air, Slight has a good view of the volcano painting. Walker is rapidly approaching the lava; he has spread out his cloak in an effort to slow his descent and from his posture he appears to be preparing to try to jump, somehow, off the molten surface. With great effort of will, Slight forces his eyes closed and open again. Walker is now a small figure outlined in a penumbra of smoke and fire. But something strange is happening - the picture is changing even while Slight is looking at it, Walker's outline shimmering and rippling like water. Slight closes and opens his eyes again. The figure has vanished from the painting.

It reappears in the library, six and a half feet tall and vaguely humanoid, its outline blurry with constant flickering change. It reaches out a shimmering, indistinct arm and picks up the volcano picture, which changes into a whirlpool of absolute chaos, and throws it at Painter. Painter's head whips round. She gets as far as "Nooo, what are you..." and then her screaming form is sucked into the chaos pool. The picture clatters to the floor and everyone finds themselves unfrozen. The Shifting Man turns back into Walker, who collapses.

It is clear that the library is seriously displeased at the disturbance - there is a rising susurrus of whispers, the candles flicker and the dark shadows grow and shift. The owls are moving, stretching their wings and clattering their beaks. Flame considers grabbing some books, but as the bookshelves are looming menacingly and a swarm of owls and shadows is on its way, discretion takes the better part of valour and instead she helps Fish Trader with the unconscious Walker. Wishbone snatches up a couple of the paintings that Painter left behind and the heroes head for the stairs. Getting up them seems to take far longer than it should; the passage twists as perspective shifts, the steps themselves seem determined to trip them up, and from below the shadows reach out towards them as the torches snuff out, one by one. At last they reach the top. Leaping past the smashed remains of the boat, the heroes pile out of the doors, which slam shut like teeth. The library vanishes, leaving them in total darkness. The air is cold and the ground feels rough and rocky. There is a faint rumble, like a volcano erupting in the distance.

Slight spots a glow from his rucksack and pulls out the Pearl, which provides a feeble illumination. They are in the ruins of a building built against a long wall that runs downhill and uphill. Hanging over a door frame is a sign, broken in two. It says "Welcome to Everguard. Please present goods for inspection."

Chapter 19
The Fortress of Shadow

In which the heroes encounter the creator of the Black Mist, and inadvertently unleash an apocalypse

The heroes take some time to recover from their recent exertions. Walker soon regains consciousness; the last things he remembers are the red-hot glow of the approaching lava lake, the agonising pain in his legs as they started to char in the heat, and thinking "not again..." as the transformation began. Wishbone examines him - the lower part of his clothing is burnt away, but his legs are healed, although they are now decorated with fleshy protuberances.

Meanwhile Slight experiments with the Pearl. The Black Mist is swirling all around, pushing the heroes downhill like a strong wind, but Slight finds that by exerting his will he can create a bubble of reality a few yards across into which the Mist cannot come. The effort is tiring, however, and he realises that he will not be able to keep it up for long.

Remembering the strengthening interaction with the Book in his last experiment, Slight asks to borrow it from Flame. The magical melding is still there, but much to his frustration, the Book resists Slight's efforts to fully invoke it. Rathgard wanders over, intrigued by what Slight is doing. "Can I have a go?" he asks. Slight hands him the Book. Rathgard opens it at random and starts to read, pronouncing the Cleacuun words as if he has spoken the language all his life. The Book's magic flares up and Slight finds that he no longer has to exert himself to maintain the Pearl's reality bubble. It will not last forever, but it will hold for now.

Wishbone examines the paintings she grabbed from Painter's work area as they fled the library. One shows the Cellars, which are full of refugees huddled in blankets. Treb and Veil are distributing supplies, watched over by heavily armed toughs, some of whom are Black Dagger gang members, some of whom are not. The other is another trap for Walker, which Flame destroys.

After some food, the heroes prepare to move out. There is some discussion about investigating downhill - they can sense that there is a Gate there - but they eventually decide to follow the wall uphill, against the flow of the Mist. Flame makes torches from the Welcome to Everguard sign.

The wall snakes into the darkness, following the contour of the ground upwards. The top is ruined, but it is still twenty feet high. A path runs alongside it. Wishbone and Slight can tell that the Mist is flowing down from above - even with the Pearl's resisting influence, it still tries to push them away. Slight can also some sense some misdirection spells cast on the landscape, once powerful but now decayed with time.

The heroes follow the wall for some two or three miles, making up limericks to keep their spirits up. The volcanic rumbling gets louder, becoming a constant vibration under their feet. At length a ruined watchtower comes into view. The heroes investigate it, determining that it is on a local high spot and that there is a cliff on the other side of the wall.

In the absence of another idea, the heroes continue to follow the path, which takes a left turn from the watchtower's entrance and descends slightly for a few hundred yards before ending at a ruined gatehouse overlooking a dry moat about twenty feet across and eight feet deep. On the far side, just within the Pearl's range, is a sheer grey stone wall with arrow slits, flanked by two square towers just visible to left and right. A raised wooden drawbridge is held against the wall by strong chains. Slight and Wishbone can sense that the Black Mist's flow direction has changed. It is now coming from above as well as ahead, beyond the wall. It is like standing at the bottom of a magical waterfall.

Flame and Fish Trader offer to climb up and cut the chains on the drawbridge. Slight says that they have been magically strengthened and that it will almost certainly alert the forces inside.

As the heroes are discussing what to do, Gecko pulls at his sister's sleeve. "I can hear something. There's a spirit out there." Wishbone hushes the others and listens out. Sure enough, she hears a strange sound above the all-pervasive rumbling, a regular flapping sound like a tablecloth being hit against the ground, accompanied by a spiritual pulsing. It is coming from further round the wall to the left.

Since they have no choice, the heroes go together, following the path by the ditch as it curves around to the north. After a few dozen yards, the flapping sound is audible to everyone. It is coming from the ditch. Looking into it reveals a rather horrible sight. Crawling along the base of the moat is a mass of leathery ochre-coloured skin in the form of a child who has been steam-rollered flat. The head still has some shape - the skull appears to be present - but the eyes are gone and the mouth is lacking a lower jaw. A fine network of stitches covers its entire body; it does not take a medical genius to figure out that they sew up the incisions where bones and organs were removed. The thing cannot stand upright but instead manoeuvres by turning itself over and over. Slight observes that the stitching is similar to that with which Cunning was held together.

Wishbone jumps down into the ditch and attempts to commune with the spirit, but soon wishes she hadn't. She gets a nightmare set of images: while he was playing in the street, a dark, hard-to-see figure comes up and holds out a wizened hand... waking up tied to a bench, painful leather straps holding him down... turning his head, he sees another boy with dark skin strapped to another bench, looking with terrified, betrayed eyes at the hard-to-see figure, who is standing nearby... a homunculus with grinning sharp teeth sits on his chest and holds up a knife, then plunges it down... so much pain... the homunculus is back, holding a needle and thread… later, the knife coming towards his eyes... so much pain that he passed out... coming to in a rubbish heap outside the castle walls... trying to get back in... for 70 years, trying to get back in... kill Hurruch! kill the needle demon!

Somewhat shaken, Wishbone communes with Ulrich Crookstaff, who tells stories of needle demons owned by Basahn who do horrific Frankenstein-like things to stolen children. Wishbone shows sympathy and offers to free the spirit, whose name is Lathe, from the body, but Lathe says that he cannot leave it until Hurruch is dead, and Wishbone's own observations soon confirm that there is indeed a foul magical working holding his spirit in place. Wishbone offers to get Lathe into the castle, but instead Lathe starts rolling along the ditch. "Follow! Follow!"

The heroes walk slowly behind as Lathe flops around another tower and up a slope where the side of the ditch has collapsed. Ahead the ditch ends at a sheer rocky escarpment, against which the wall of the fortress has been built. Lathe veers away and follows a narrow twisty path through the mazy outcroppings of rock that cover the escarpment's shallower side, eventually stopping next to a six foot high ledge which gives access to a narrow, dark crack in the rock, just wide enough for a human. "Guards! Scouts!" whispers Lathe.

Further questioning by Wishbone makes clear that this is a secret exit from the fortress - in the past, groups of guards would emerge from it, look around and go back in, though this has more or less stopped since the Black Mist became a permanent feature of the landscape. Wishbone asks when this was. Lathe says that the Black Mist first appeared about twenty years ago, but it came and went. It only became permanent perhaps five years ago? It's difficult to tell - time is hard to keep track of in permanent darkness. Wishbone asks who created the Mist. Lathe says that it was the owner of the castle, a wizard whom the guards call Oakstaff.

As the heroes hoist themselves up onto the ledge, Lathe expresses a desire to accompany them. He is carefully lifted up by Walker and Fish Trader - Flame is not touching that.

The passage is small and narrow. There is no mist here, and the dusty footprints indicate that it is rarely used. It ends in a small door that opens into an extensive dungeon. It is now mostly empty, but the large numbers of shackles bolted into the cell walls and the old stains on the floor show that its population was once extensive. A dozen or so of the cells are occupied. The prisoners are filthy, anaemic, emaciated and weak, with bloody wounds in their necks. One of them calls out in a hollow voice - "Quick, is that you?"

Slight peers at the speaker and recognises beneath the filth and rags the emaciated form of his uncle Cheerful. Leaving Fish Trader to guard the entrance hall, the heroes free the prisoners, do what they can for their wounds, and give them something to eat and drink. Cheerful revives enough to tell his story, which is that he and Slight's father Watchful were captured in Woodhall by White Scorpion Warriors and brought here through two Gates. He saw 30-40 White Scorpion Warriors as he was dragged into the castle. He is not sure how long he has been kept here, but every few hours one or more prisoners is taken away and returned some time later, with a fresh wound in their neck and weak from loss of blood. Prisoners usually survive two or three episodes of this, after which they don't come back. It has happened to Cheerful twice. Both times he was dragged upstairs by white scorpion warriors, through a mazy series of rooms - he heard the guards complaining that they had shifted again - and across the inner courtyard towards the gate of the keep, which was guarded by a house-sized djinn. He doesn't remember anything after that except coming to back in his cell, with fresh blood trickling from his neck. Cheerful grabs Slight's arm. "Watchful's up there now!"

The heroes show Cheerful and the other prisoners the way out and head up the stairs, Lathe flapping along behind. They open onto a shadowy passageway lit by a flickering torch, with doors to left and right. Walker strides towards the leftwards door. Slight calls out "Don't..." just as Walker bangs his head against an invisible obstacle. "...go that way, it's an illusion," finishes Slight. The heroes are more cautious after that, forming up in pairs with Fish Trader at the front. The passageway opens up into a shabby room containing a table, some benches, and two more doors. The one on the left opens into another room with a high vaulted ceiling, and yet more doors. And so it continues; Slight can occasionally detect more illusory furniture and misdirection spells similar to his own that lead them round in a circle, but there do seem to be an awful lot of rooms.

As they tramp through the endless parade of chambers, Walker looks at Flame walking beside him. He feels a flare of resentment that she chose to sacrifice him to save the Book. Who is she saving it for? Could she be secretly in league with Maba? Flame glances at Slight. What's his agenda? she thinks. Is he going to steal the Book and the Pearl and abandon them all again? Slight eyes Wishbone. She seemed very interested in the Pearl - is she going to try to take it for herself, perhaps trade with Maba to get Gecko and herself home? No, wait, that's nonsense. He glances at Rathgard, who is eyeing up Fish Trader, his hand straying to his sword; Fish Trader catches his gaze, stops and locks eyes with him, his hands flexing and shimmering into claws. Yes, definitely another misdirection spell, designed to make them fight each other. He tries to break it using the power of the Pearl, but to no avail. Instead, he tries to counteract it by casting a powerful glamour, an illusion of comfort and safety.

It works, but not for long. Each hero finds themself in a dream that quickly turns into a nightmare. Fish Trader is attacked by old companions who have become white scorpion warriors, Flame re-encounters her old master who tells her that she is useless, Wishbone becomes Hawk and is shot with an arrow by her mother, Walker sees Humility getting her throat slashed by a white scorpion warrior in Boarholt, Rathgard sees the Black Daggers being massacred by Watchers in the Cellars, and Slight finds himself in Crookstaff Plaza, watching a magical ceremony performed by Glimmer Moondance, Necropolis Crookstaff and Blemish Scratch, which is intended to fend off the Black Mist and which goes horribly wrong. Finally managing to wrench himself out of his own vision, Slight spots a door that looks different from the others and shepherds the catatonic heroes through it, which instantly dispels the illusion.

The heroes find themselves outside. Ahead of them is a courtyard surrounded by high walls, containing a eighty foot high stone keep with four square towers. From its roof emerges a huge rotating vortex of Black Mist, crackling with black lightning, that spills out and over the fortress walls. The ground shakes and the rumbling of the Mist drowns out speech below a shout. Of more immediate interest, however, is the glowing form of the house-sized fiery djinn, straight out of a desert-based fairy tale, that is standing in front of the lowered portcullis that is the only obvious entrance to the keep, flaming scimitar in hand. The djinn sees the heroes and points the sword. A ten foot diameter fireball erupts from its tip and hurtles towards them.

The heroes scatter - Slight, Wishbone and Gecko retreat back into the doorway while Fish Trader, Rathgard and Walker fling themselves to one side, leaving Flame in the epicentre. To her surprise, it really hurts. She hasn't felt anything like it, not since her earliest memory of trying to save the phoenix egg. She looks down at her hand, which is blackened and smoking. Her powers have failed!

Peering out from behind the doorway, Slight sees that Flame is unsinged, so the fireballs are illusory. Wishbone also works this out after sending up Hawk, who does not see anything. She tells Gecko to cover his ears and eyes. Gecko complains that it seems very real. Wishbone goes all big sister and tells him to just do it.

Meanwhile Fish Trader, Flame and Walker dodge left and right to try to distract the djinn. Slight peeps out from behind the door, beckons Rathgard over, and hands him the Book. Together they extend the Pearl's influence out to 40 feet or so as the djinn brandishes its scimitar and shoots another fireball at the dodging figures. It hits the edge of the Pearl's sphere of reality and vanishes. Rathgard realises what's going on and pulls Slight unwillingly forward. The djinn strides menacingly towards them, swinging its scimitar. Slight starts to run back towards the doorway, but Rathgard holds him in place. The djinn strides into the Pearl's area of influence and fades out of existence.

The heroes approach the portcullis that guards the entrance to the keep. It has been magically strengthened to the point that not even Walker can move it. Deciding that the time for subtlety is past, Flame inscribes sigils on the bars in particular places pointed out by Slight, steps away and raises her hand. Boom! The portcullis shatters, revealing the solid oak doors beyond. The piercing clang of an alarm bell rings out over the rumbling of the vortex. Fish Trader, Walker and Flame charge the doors together; the first attempt fails, but they burst open on the second attempt.

The room beyond takes up the entire inner area of the keep. There is more dilapidation than is obvious from the outside - the wooden floors of the three upper storeys have collapsed, leaving only a few joists and beams poking out of the walls. A twenty foot diameter magical circle is incised into the flagstone floor in the centre of the room, an impossibly complex pattern of lines, runes and sigils that glows in red and purple. Hanging five feet above it is a globe made of circles of light that constantly move in swirling hypnotic patterns, crackling with power. At its centre, wrapped in tangled tendrils of magic projected from the globe's edge, are three things - a cherubic-looking boy dressed in white, his arms outstretched, a snake-like cockatrice that wraps around him, and below them, a huge egg laced with fiery cracks. This unnatural construct is the source of the Black Mist vortex that billows up and out through the remains of the roof eighty feet above. Tendrils of mist from the vortex stream through eight large paintings that have been affixed to the walls at various heights. Three emaciated prisoners hang from shackles attached to the back wall of the room; with a shock, Slight recognises one of them as his father Watchful. A dozen White Scorpion warriors are ranged defensively in front of the magical working, headed up by a huge bearded barbarian, clearly a former compatriot of Jayson's, who is flanked by two enormous warthogs.

As the heroes take this in, a paper-thin whisper echoes in the air. "So grandson, you have come to join us? And you, apprentice, have you learned wisdom?" Slight, who is looking for the source of the voice, ignores the question, and Flame responds by setting her hand on fire. "Ah, such a pity. So it shall be." The white scorpion warriors charge forward - as they do so, Flame feels a claw-like hand on her shoulder and a stabbing pain in her neck. She twists violently free and catches sight of a shadowy figure just before it vanishes into the fray.

The heroes split up to deal with the multiple threats. Walker and Fish Trader take on the big barbarian and his pets, hoping to make space for Slight to reach the magic circle, while Flame and Rathgard square off against six white scorpion warriors each on either side. Wishbone hangs back and tries to find Maba with her spirit sense, while Gecko guards the door.

The fight does not start well. Walker successfully holds off the barbarian leader, but Fish Trader is gored by one of the warthogs. Six white scorpion warriors close in on Flame; she heats up their weapons, causing two to drop them, but two more land hits on her. With some nifty footwork, Rathgard succeeds in holding off all his assailants while he summons up a wind weaving. Wishbone locates the shadowy sorcerer to one side of the magical circle just as he completes his spell, causing three black mist lightning bolts to shoot from the vortex and hit Rathgard, Walker and Flame. She notices that the effort of casting seems to cost him - he becomes temporarily visible, a wizened skeletal figure with translucent skin, as he moves with unnatural rapidity towards the back wall.

Walker's and Fish Trader's efforts have left a clear path to the magic circle for Slight. As he sneaks towards it, he glances up at the pictures, which have a magical signature similar to Painter's but with a Basahni twist. Most are of unfamiliar locations, though he recognises the distinctive blocky architecture of the Hawk Empire in one and the statue of Mother Harvest that the heroes relocated in Plenty in another - only a thin wisp of Black Mist trails to that one. One picture, however, stands out from the others. It depicts a bleak plain, lit by a single bright star, containing hundreds of large stone pyramids, and a colossus-like figure wandering among them. There is no mist trail, but Slight can sense that the sorcerer has a magical link to the place depicted.

Turning his attention to the cage in front of him, Slight's heart sinks. It is the most intricate magical working that he has ever seen, a weaving of Earth, Air, Fire and Water with Basahn and Avatar magicks. It is also partially powered by the Mist, so dismantling it without causing a catastrophic explosion will be lengthy and dangerous. Sighing, Slight hunkers down and sets to work.

Back in the fight, Flame pours a bottle of oil on herself and goes into full fire goddess mode, causing her four remaining attackers to draw back. She sees a table with alchemical reagents near the magic circle and heads towards it. Wishbone calls out her observations of Maba's movements, draws her knife, and darts forward to assist Flame. Fish Trader abandons Walker to leap on the white scorpion warriors surrounding Rathgard, who is casting with one hand and brandishing his rapier with the other, leaving Walker to protect Slight from the big barbarian. He succeeds but at the cost of a gash to his leg from one of the warthogs. By the far wall, one of the prisoners gasps and spasms as Maba appears next to him and jabs a long pointed talon into his neck. Fish Trader's attack distracts the white scorpion warriors enough for Rathgard to complete his working and send a sharp gust of wind in Maba's direction, knocking him away from his prey. Maba falls to the ground and disappears.

Unable to see Maba, Flame hurls a reagent bottle from the table at a white scorpion warrior who claws at his face screaming and then slumps to the floor. Wishbone manages to stab another in the guts, but is struck a glancing blow by a mace. On the other side of the room, Fish Trader swipes at one of his assailants, lacerating them, while Rathgard, who had been blocking, hears a whisper in his ear: "You cannot stop us. Everway will soon be ours." He finds himself with his sword lowered as two white scorpions charge at him.

At the magic circle, Slight, who has been making very little progress with the working, glances up at Walker, who is behaving very oddly. He has lowered his guard, pausing only to kick one of the warthogs away, and is holding out his hand as if he were performing a healing. He ignores a brutal axe blow from the barbarian that bites deep into his ribs and a charge from the other warthog that tries to knock him off his feet. The barbarian is clearly nonplussed and pauses before taking another swipe that shatters Walker's upper arm, causing him to drop his staff. But Walker just stands there, holding his position.

Fish Trader leaps onto one of the white scorpion warriors attacking Rathgard and mauls him, while Flame wraps the other in a fiery embrace. Rathgard is freed from his trance just in time to catch a glimpse of Maba, who is now visible as a faint shadow, feasting on another prisoner. He quickly shapes a twist of wind and knocks Maba sprawling again. On the other side of the fray, Wishbone finds herself facing two of Flame's erstwhile opponents. She manages to stab one but is stabbed herself in return. Bleeding, she retreats towards the door.

Flame, searching for another adversary, sees Maba scrambling to his feet. She charges towards him but suddenly there are five different Mabas running in different directions. She picks one at random and grabs him, but he pops out of existence. Another illusion! Back near the door, Wishbone is feeling faint from loss of blood but just has the presence of mind to pick up a warhammer and throw it at the big barbarian, distracting him from taking another slice out of Walker. From the door, Gecko calls out "Reinforcements, coming this way!" Wishbone limps over to help him bar the door. Fish Trader, who is having a fine old time, mauls another white scorpion warrior, leaping from the dropping corpse to the final one in range.

Rathgard moves over to help Walker, shouting at Flame to "look for the one with the shadow!" Flame, glancing at the fleeing Mabas, sees what he means - in the light from the magic circle, only one has a penumbra. She chooses her target accordingly and her hands close on solid flesh.

At the magic circle, the barbarian buries his axe several inches into Walker's chest. "Are you done yet?" Walker grunts. Slight, who has spotted a promising-looking sigil that if removed should dismantle the globe, but has not had time to check for possible side-effects, says "maybe?" "Well, get on with it," says Walker, and starts to collapse. In a panic, Slight uses the Pearl to create a reality where the sigil does not exist, and retreats backwards. The globe erupts in blinding light.

Flame has borne Maba to the ground and is now face to face with her erstwhile master, an ancient and wizened Basahn whose bones, organs and pulsing blood are clearly visible through his transparent skin. He raises a hand to try to blast her away, but nothing happens. "You fools!" he whispers. "Now the Walker will escape with the capstone and everything will end! You have doomed the Thousand Spheres!" Flame hits Maba to shut him up - it's not a killing blow, but to her surprise Maba's eyes turn glassy and his last breath sighs out in a death rattle. She just has the presence of mind to roll away as the body explodes with a damp squelch.

With a series of massive booms, the magical cage disintegrates in a fireworks display of escaping magical energies, leaving its inhabitants hanging in mid-air. The cockatrice unwraps from the boy and gives a great screech, then slithers down a nearby drain emitting an overwhelming stench of putrefaction. The boy steps down from the burning egg, which cracks open, revealing a human-sized phoenix burning with bright orange and yellow flames that flies straight up towards the roof. It hovers there for a moment, transforming into a woman with a fiery crown who looks down at Flame with an expression of respect and thanks. Then she resumes her upward flight, bursting through the ragged roof. Everyone has to dodge the flaming rafters that come crashing down. Only the boy remains. He looks at all the heroes and smiles, raising his arms towards them, the image of innocence and purity. The heroes feel an overwhelming urge to protect him. But as they move closer, he drifts backwards into a tunnel that opens behind him, and then he is gone, leaving them with just the memory of his smile.

An uneasy silence descends, broken only by the soughing of a cold wind and the thuds of bodies hitting the floor as the remaining white scorpion warriors collapse like broken marionettes. A cold grey light filters down through the broken roof above, illuminating the last remaining wisps of the dissipating Black Mist. Despite their triumph, the heroes feel uneasy, as if something huge has been unleashed. Slight's eyes turn to the painting of the bleak plain. All but one of the stone pyramids has vanished, and the colossus is in the act of picking it up. Slight feels an overwhelming sense of dread and looks away. His gaze falls on the bodies of Maba's victims, hanging from their shackles. A cry escapes his lips - "Father!"

Almost all of the heroes are injured. Worst off is Wishbone, who is in a very bad way. Gecko is frantically trying to stem the blood loss from her many injuries, while Hawk nudges at her anxiously. Walker is unconscious with a sucking chest wound. Flame, Rathgard and Fish Trader have all taken nasty but not life-threatening damage. Slight is totally unhurt, at least physically.

Rathgard is the only mobile person with healing skills. He focuses on stabilising Walker, pressing a compress over the wound in his chest and tying it in place. Walker gradually regains consciousness. Meanwhile, Slight frees Watchful's body from its shackles and lays it out. When he has finished, he glances up at the picture of the bleak plain again. The colossus is moving out of frame to one side, carrying the remaining stone pyramid above its head like a huge hat. The bright star that was previously visible in the background has vanished.

With Walker back in action, the rest of the party are soon up and about again, if not exactly at full health. Rathgard checks over the ex-white scorpion warriors - three are unconscious but still alive, including the big barbarian. The latter's pet warthogs menace him, but Fish Trader, who is in no mood for nonsense, slaughters them, remarking that they will make a good hog roast later. Rathgard drags the barbarian over to the wall and ties him to the shackles. Wishbone looks for Maba's spirit but it has dissipated.

Lathe has flapped over to the tower door in the north east corner. "Hurruch! This way!" The heroes form up and fling the door open, revealing a classic wizard's workshop. The walls are lined with shelves containing books, alembics, crucibles, retorts, glass jars of herbs, seeds, mannequins, snake skins and pickled body parts. Preparation benches stand in front of them,on which paintings have been set in little stands. Maba appears to have been experimenting with traps in which the focus of the painting is also the focus of another painting, but the half rats and the sprays of blood suggest that these were not successful. Somewhat incongruously, an easel stands in one corner, with a half-finished picture of a grey metal citadel glowing in the light of dozens of flaming forges where smiths are creating elaborate constructions of copper and brass. Another corner has a large ornate desk with an ink and quill and an open leather-bound book covered in thin spidery handwriting. Dozens more books are stacked on shelves above it. A largely empty display case stands against one wall.

The floor in the centre of the room is covered with the ill-scrubbed out remains of a number of magical protection circles. Dust hangs in the air above them in an unnatural way. But perhaps of most interest is the large cage about six feet in diameter, its door open, that hangs from the ceiling amid the bunches of herbs, dried crocodiles and other alchemical paraphernalia. Crouched over the twitching body of a rat is an extraordinary creature looking like a cross between a goblin and a vulture. Its skin is waxy green and two long lank tufts of grey hair hang off its otherwise bald head. The face is broad with a wide mouth and enormous pointy ears. Its four arms, two of which are attached to its body by stitching, are long and spindly, and end in dexterous fingers, holding blood-stained scalpels and a needle and thread. It looks up as the heroes enter and grins, showing a mouth that is full of sharp needle teeth.

The heroes approach cautiously, which allows Hurruch to make the first move. Brandishing its scalpels, it leaps down from the cage onto Walker, dodging a fire knife thrown by Flame. It jams the scalpels deep into Walker's shoulder, trying to amputate his arm, but fortunately Walker is too tough. As the other heroes encircle it, Harruch gives up on its attempted dismemberment of Walker and jumps towards the approaching Rathgard, who gets his rapier up just in time. The flying demon impales itself on the end, giving the other heroes time to stab, skewer, slice and bash as it flails its scalpels at Rathgard's hand, screeching with rage. The light goes out of Harruch's eyes and its body slumps; the stitching on its grafted arms unravels and they drop off. Flame quickly incinerates the remains. Lathe's body stops moving and comes apart - Wishbone sees that his indomitable spirit is still around and bottles it.

As the heroes catch their breath, there is a cry of "My warthogs!" from the vortex chamber. It seems that the big barbarian has revived. Fish Trader goes to deal with him while Rathgard organises the surviving ex-white scorpion warriors. Flame and Walker go off to investigate the other towers, leaving Wishbone and Slight to search the room. Wishbone is drawn to the display case, which is largely empty, but contains an axe that is clearly magical. There are hooks for a large sword, a square cushion with a circular dimple and an empty book stand. There is residual magic on the cushion which Slight recognises as being from the Pearl. Wishbone deduces that the Edge, the Pearl and the Book had once been stored here.

Slight's chief interest is the books on the desk and the shelves above it, which proves to be all thirty volumes of Maba's journal. Unfortunately it is written in archaic Cleacuun and will take some time to translate. Slight picks out some passages in the most recent volume that contain names he recognises.

The first is an entry describing Maba's fury that his protégé Earthshaker, the original owner of this very castle, was defeated by "an upstart Crookstaff" using the Edge of Light and Darkness that had been stolen from him. Maba's spies later told him that the use of the Edge had created a permanent gash in reality which the Everwayan authorities have covered up.

Slight also finds an account of Maba's encounter with Painter. It started twenty years ago when he encountered an innocent-looking young woman in a black dress who was painting a picture of a landscape. Maba immediately recognised her as a powerful magician, specialising in a form of picture magic which he had never encountered before. They got to talking - Painter said that she was painting the picture as a trap for a dangerous and powerful enemy who was lurking somewhere in the Thousand Spheres. Maba explained that he was trying to bring about the downfall of a city whose inhabitants had wronged his people (not something he would normally have told anyone, but she seemed so innocent...). They agreed to help one another. Painter would teach Maba her magic, and in return, Maba would give her the Book of Words. Painter created pictures for the Hooded Councillor and Innocence and helped to trap them. She then demanded the Book. Maba refused, saying that he wanted to be sure that "his spell" worked first. Painter went off to look for her rival, saying that she would send for the Book later. A more recent entry says that Painter demanded the Book again, and Maba gave it to "an amusing servant" to take to her in Everway.

The last entries describe some enhancements that Maba has made to the Mist's effects. He used Painter's techniques to create paintings which have allowed him to spread the Mist much more quickly by bypassing several spheres. Secondly, he managed to trap the Phoenix Queen using a picture. It did not go entirely to plan - the Queen became an egg - but nonetheless her power has given the Mist a destructive edge in the form of storms of black lightning.

Back in the vortex chamber, Fish Trader persuades the barbarian to calm down. He is Hopping Sparrow and is a Great Plains warrior, as Jayson was. Fish Trader decides not to kill him for now.

Walker and Flame investigate the south-west tower. The ground floor is bare except for sets of shackles on the wall, a straw pallet in one corner and a large table and chair in the centre of the room. Slumped over the table is a nightmare monstrosity, now fortunately deceased, made of three human torsos stitched together, with three legs, two arms and one head. The key chain attached to the belt of the pteruge that covers its lower half suggest that it was a jailer.

The person it was guarding is in a locked chamber two floors above. Seated on a wooden bed is a dark-skinned Basahn woman who appears to be in her 50s. Her black hair is pulled back and she is dressed in rags. When she sees Flame and Walker, she starts towards them, babbling in Cleacuun. To Walker's healing senses it is clear that long imprisonment has driven her mad. Flame tries talking to her, and eventually she utters one word that they understand - "Spheredancer". Worried that she might be dangerous, Walker and Flame back out of the door, locking it behind them.

The south east tower proves to be a guards barracks, but the north west tower is rather more interesting. It seems that this was the operations headquarters for the Returner faction. The ground floor is dominated by a huge table with a large map of Everway and the Gatelands, with arrows and notes in Cleacuun written on it. The Walker's Pyramid is ringed and is clearly the primary military objective. There are portraits on the wall of various military-looking types, many of whom are clearly Basahn. Some unusual carved boxes containing notes in Cleacuun lie on a table in front of them. The floor above is a chaotic library filled with more reports, some clearly very ancient. Walker finds one in the common tongue that describes an attempted invasion of Everway by Thumbprick Noshadow, another of Maba's hand-picked trainees, which was foiled by a magical ceremony called the Mudbank sacrifice.

Having completed their investigation of the towers, Walker and Flame drag Slight away from his books and get him to talk to the Basahn prisoner. Slight greets her in Basahn, while Walker lurks in the background, trying to improve her shattered mental state. Her eyes light up and she comes towards him, reaching out a hand. "Vastro! Ecani!" she says softly. Slight backs away, somewhat alarmed. Vastro was Cunning's Basahn name, and "ecani" means "son", so it seems that this crazy woman is a) mistaking him for Cunning and b) is Cunning's mother. Slight hastens to disabuse her of that notion, but reveals that he does know Cunning. Eventually, with some confusion, the story emerges. The woman, whose Basahn name is Lefun, once lived in a village in Slight's home realm, posing as a priestess called Spheredancer. Maba brought her to this castle and made her pregnant. Her son, Vastro, was taken away from her when he was a young child, and she has been locked up ever since.

Slight confirms that Urumora is Lefun's mother. Lefun wants to know what happened to Cunning - Slight slightly twists the truth and says that Maba sent him to Everway as a spy, but he changed sides. The authorities discovered him and he was killed. Lefun sighs sadly, but remarks "at least he didn't help him." How was she captured?, asks Slight. Maba bewitched her. Why her? He wanted to humiliate a Founder.

While all this is happening, Wishbone questions Ulrich's spirit about the Edge. This is not easy - the spirit is degenerating - but she learns the truth of the Earthshaker story ("I cut the ground from under his feet") and gets some clues about how the Twelve got the Edge and the Pearl. They were stolen by a thief called Redfox, who wanted a house full of mirrors as a reward. The spirit continues to babble: "Ah yes, the Edge... in the Armoury... secret... very secret... a secret way... you need the sword and the staff, of course. I copied the sword, you know, and I always had the staff. Where is the staff? I had it a moment ago..." Wishbone surmises that the latter must be the twisted staff of office which the heroes saw Ulrich carrying on a couple of occasions, but it is unclear what the sword is.

The heroes decide that they must go back to Everway. It will be a long journey, and there is the problem of what to do with the freed prisoners, former white scorpion warriors and Lefun. They are about to scavenge the fortress for supplies when Gecko comes in. "There's someone here. They want to talk to you." Into the room strolls a strange figure. He? She? - it's very hard to tell - is quite small and thin, with short brown hair. They are dressed in a smart jacket and trousers, in bright white, and are holding a small round mirror in one hand. "Hello," they say. "My name is Kayte. It looks like you need some help."

Slight immediately spots two things - firstly, this is the figure in white who has dogged the party's steps ever since they first encountered the Black Mist, and secondly, Kayte has the same alien presence as Painter. However, Slight is fed up with mysterious strangers; he walks up to Kayte and rudely demands to know who they are and whether they are going to claim to be yet another long-lost relative. Kayte assures him that she is not (it seems that Kayte is female, "at the moment"). Slight then demands that she explains everything.

So Kayte does. But it makes very little sense. She says that she comes from outside the Thousand Spheres, where there is a place called Amber that casts shadows that are also worlds. Some of the people who live there - Amberites - can walk between shadows just by thinking hard, and one of them - Brand or Fiona - created the Thousand Spheres as a "secondary shadow set" using "a shadow version of the Jewel of Judgment". Questions about what this means lead to more nonsense about gods(?) called Oberon and Dworkin and a Pattern and chaos. The gist is that the Jewel is a powerful magical artefact that was involved in creating Amber and its shadows, and Kayte thinks that the Instruments of Odin may be its equivalent in the Thousand Spheres.

"Yes, but what are you doing here?" interrupts Slight crossly, "and why have you been following us?" The answers to these are slightly more coherent - Kayte found the Thousand Spheres while on the run from her nemesis Painter (whom she calls "Sharra"), and became interested in its unusual features, particularly the Air/Earth/Fire/Water element system ("just like the Greek philosophers said") and the Avatars, which she describes as magical entities created by shadowfolk through the power of sheer belief. She is particularly impressed that one of them succeeded in evicting the Basahn (who are apparently the Thousand Spheres equivalent of Amberites and have the same power of shadow-walking) from Everway, the Thousand Spheres equivalent of Amber. Kayte spotted the Black Mist as an unusual cross-shadow phenomenon and noted that it had brought the heroes together. As for why Kayte is here right now - she detected the undoing of the Bleak spell and has a strong intuition that this is a bad thing. It is linked to Maba in some way - perhaps he left some papers that could explain?

The heroes take the hint and give the journals to Kayte, who reads them at speed. "Oh," she says. "Oh dear." She points out a set of entries from early on relating to Maba's twin Guren, or Spheremaker. Slight had heard a Basahn legend from Cunning in which Spheremaker tries to make a new sphere by tying a godling to an enchanted throne and slicing it in two with the Edge, only for his attempt to be frustrated by Maba. But Maba's account is rather different. It is not a godling that Guren tries to sacrifice, but Anubis, the Avatar of Death. And the Edge does not slice it in two, but instead bifurcates it into its two component parts, the Avatars of Stasis and of Change.

After forcing the weakened Guren to flee (Maba spends several pages gloating about this), the Avatar of Stasis ("which the humans call the Walker") left the Avatar of Change bound at "the Heart of All" and sought midianite with which to wall it up for ever. It kept the Edge, as it was the one object in the Thousand Spheres capable of cleaving midianite. It is only much later that Maba realises the danger. If the Walker succeeds in its aim of walling up its opposite, then all change in the Thousand Spheres would cease and the Returners would never succeed in their ambition of re-taking Everway. So he reluctantly joins forces with his "fool brother" to stop that happening.

They found the Walker in the remote sphere of Bleak, on the point of discovering the capstone. Guren and Maba created a mirror in the sky that translated the Edge away from the Walker and created a thousand false copies of the capstone to hide the real one. The copies needed to be renewed regularly as the Walker found and destroyed them, a process taking much energy, and Guren and Maba agreed to take it in turns to do this.

The implication is clear. Now that the spell is broken, the Walker is on its way back to Everway with the capstone. If it succeeds in placing it, then stasis will spread throughout the Thousand Spheres and everything will stop. The heroes will have to get into the Pyramid to free the Avatar of Change, but how? The Edge, clearly, perhaps with the help of the other Instruments of Odin. "Oh dear," says Kayte again. She points out that the Instruments that the heroes know about have affinities with three of the four elements - the Pearl with Water, the Book with Air, and the Edge, presumably, with Fire. But what is the Instrument associated with Earth? Perhaps it's Ulrich's staff, says Wishbone. Kayte suggests a more alarming alternative - the capstone itself! With its power, the Walker may well be able to shadow-walk direct to Everway without having to pass through the Gates.

The heroes must return to Everway at once. Fortunately, Kayte can help. She can't translate to Everway herself - it's one of the rules, apparently, just as the Basahn can't casually shadow-walk in there - but the heroes are native shadowfolk and she should be able to use her mirror to transfer them there. She just needs a large, reflective surface, located in a place the heroes can visualise. Can the heroes suggest anything?

Wishbone has a bright idea and tries to retrieve an image of a shiny surface in the Armoury from Ulrich's failing memories. Unfortunately she doesn't succeed, but she does get a strong vision of a mummy case with a missing eye, suggesting that Ulrich's "secret way" probably starts from Deadwalk Coven. Flame has a better idea. She remembers the full-length mirror that she ordered to be installed over her and Walker's bed in the cellars in order to distract the snooty emporium owner Threnody Salter while they were investigating her shop. Kayte plucks the image from Flame's mind and manages to establish the connection. She assures a suspicious Walker that she doesn't make a habit of peeking through random mirrors, so any sense he may have had of being watched is entirely his own paranoia.

Rathgard and Fish Trader hastily gather food to offer the gang in the cellars. Slight collects the journals while Wishbone picks up some of the pictures. Walker takes the axe from the display case - he can tell it is magical but doesn't know how to trigger it. Kayte offers to deliver the ex-scorpion warriors and prisoners to their home realms and to take Lefun to Urumora. She also magicks up a tube made of flexible metal containing a salve that helps Walker's and Wishbone's healing somewhat. Cheerful and Gecko will accompany the heroes; they load Watchful's body onto a handcart so that he can be given a proper funeral away from this place. Fish Trader, who is still somewhat suspicious of Kayte, volunteers to go first. As the heroes line up to leave, Rathgard asks Kayte for any last advice. "If you encounter the Pattern, whatever you do, don't leave the path" she says cryptically. "Good luck." She raises her mirror and one by one the heroes strobe and vanish. They find themselves tumbling onto a double bed that Flame and Walker know well. They are back in the cellars, in Everway.

Chapter 20
Return to Everway

In which the heroes decide the fate of the Thousand Spheres

The room the heroes are in has had a make-over – a large number of weapons are attached to the wall, and the door is framed by two banners depicting a stark design of a black dagger silhouetted against a red setting sun. The smell of frying bacon and the unmistakable tones of Cedar, the gang's cook, berating her underlings, suggest that it is breakfast time. Rathgard decides to make a grand entrance and gets Slight to cast a concealment glamour over the entire party before they leave the room.

The military motif is continued in the main chamber of the cellars where larger versions of the dagger-and-sun banners hang on the walls and the crowded refectory tables have tablecloths with the same design. Guards with drawn crossbows patrol the edges of the room. Towershield's chair has been replaced by a black metal throne; Voulges is lounging on this, surrounded by sinister-looking black-clad ruffians. All are well-dressed and armed with long, wicked-looking stilettos. The heroes recognise some of them – Treb and Veil are there, along with Gorget, Aventail, Mattock, Scar, Byrnie, Dirk, Mangonel and various other gang members – but others are new, and they do not look friendly.

Rathgard moves over to Voulges' chair and signals to Slight to drop the glamour. Flame throws one of her coins up in the air and makes it explode, causing general consternation; there is a hiss as dozens of blades are drawn. "Pleased to see me?" says Rathgard. Voulges flinches slightly, but otherwise does not move. He still looks about fifteen but his face is lined and he is wearing an eyepatch. He glances sulkily at Rathgard. "So, you're back."

"Not good enough!" roars Fish Trader, startling everyone as he draws a dagger and stabs at Voulge's other eye. Rathgard nudges his arm so the blade just misses its mark, instead scoring Voulges' cheek. Voulges jerks his head back to avoid the blow, cracks it on the backrest of his chair, and slumps unconscious.

There is general chaos. A dozen crossbow bolts fly across the room at Fish Trader, who dodges most of them but is hit by a few. There are shouts of "assassins!" and the heroes find themselves surrounded by a ring of swords and spears. Rathgard calls for calm, but even with Slight's assistance and Flame's menace, he cannot take control of this crowd. Walker steps forward, swinging the axe to make a path through the melee. A word comes into his head and he says it - "karack!" The axe glows and half a dozen shadowy figures with blue glowing eyes and mouths boil out of it. The ring of combatants draws back. Rathgard calls for calm again and this time Gorget and Aventail step forward and tells the gang to stand down. Rathgard says to get Voulges to Mercy Hospital as quick as possible - this has all been a horrible mistake. Walker is able to get the shadow men to return to the axe by saying the command word again, though they seem reluctant.

Gorget suggests that the heroes make themselves scarce - Voulges has a coterie of companions who will want to avenge this attempted assassination. He tells Treb to go with them. Rathgard agrees, but first he wants to know whether the Mist has gone? Yes, yesterday, says Aventail, to everyone's enormous relief. "We did that. Oh, and the Walker is coming to end the world!" Gorget confers with Aventail and they agree that the heroes can stay and tell their story.

The heroes share out the food they have brought with them - a gesture which is appreciated by some - and give the members of the gang who are willing to listen a summary of their adventures. In return, the gang tell them about events in Everway since the heroes left.

The full force of the Mist appeared on the day after the heroes left. It rolled over the Gatelands despite the Crookstaffs' best attempts to stop it. Many people fled to the south. Others flocked to the Pyramid, trusting it to protect them.

The latter were right. The Mist could not get past the Pyramid's anti-magic shield and instead flowed around it, leaving a sphere encompassing Everway and a couple of hundred yards beyond. Huge refugee encampments formed around its walls and in the northern strip of Strangerside. The Mist still came into Everway, however. Black smoke puffed out from the Houses of Dusk and the tower of Crookstaff Plaza. The Tower of Roots was attacked by black lightning bolts and reduced to a charred husk.

The Palace announced that Prince Tourmaline had assumed the duties of King. It did not say what had happened to King Horizon. Rumours swirled that he had been assassinated.

An invading armada of Sea-Lords arrived a couple of days after the mistfall, led by a man on a dragon. They occupied the peninsula at the foot of Hardhand Tower. The ships had been badly damaged by the Mist. The Sea-Lords attacked Hardhand Tower with the dragon-man flying overhead, but he was hit by black lightning and the Keepers and Watchers fought them off. The Sea-Lords launched sporadic attacks every few days thereafter and prevented anyone from approaching Everway from the Fools', Dusk or Mercy bridges.

In the Crookstaff Plaza, Glimmer Moondance, Blemish Scratch and Necropolis Crookstaff announced that they would perform a Ritual of Cleansing to rid Everway of the encircling Mist. They inscribed a triangle within a pentacle on the ground, got five coven leaders (Scry Crookstaff, Soulseeker Crookstaff, Mirage Crookstaff, Herb Crookstaff and Firestorm Crookstaff) to stand in the five points, and started to chant. It went horribly wrong - mist emerged off the pentacle's lines and the whole thing rose into the air, taking the occupants with it, and starting to burn with black fire. A portal opened above it from which Black Mist billowed. Lightning bolts rained down on Crookstaff Tower, destroying it.

The ritual was prevented from completing by the intervention (and self-sacrifice) of Redoak Crookstaff, who organised the remaining Crookstaff mages to activate the protective circle inscribed into Crookstaff plaza and then stepped into the circle himself to guide the protective magicks at the forming portal. Horribly, the ritual "froze" at the point of disruption, leaving the black smoke column victims trapped until they died.

After some days, the Palace announced that the septs of Watchers, Crows and Keepers had been welded together into a single force to "fight the Mist". Quite how they would do this was not made clear; certainly, reports from the Arenas, where the new force was training, suggested a lot of bickering. More cynical observers suggested that the actual aim was to see if the Gates can be reached safely and if so, which ones were most likely to offer an escape route for the royal family. At length an army of 500 or so soldiers formed of septs from all three families left through the Imperial Gate and marched into the Mist.

The remnants returned a few hours later. Some had become enveloped in black fire and had turned on their companions. Others had fallen into a deep sleep from which they could not be woken. After this failure, Everway shut and barred its gates.

Things went from bad to worse in the huge refugee camps set up in the mist-free region surrounding Everway's walls which were suffering from lack of food and firewood. Riots and fighting broke out regularly and had to be repressed with brutal force. Many lost their lives attempting to scale Everway's walls, only to be thrown bodily off it by Keeper, Crow and Watcher soldiers. Voulges, who had been using the gang to organise shelter, accommodation and food for the refugees as well as he had been able, recruited everyone who looked tough enough to form a militia to enforce the peace in Strangerside, using Fish Trader's Peacekeepers as his model. He tried to negotiate with the soldiers on the Everway walls to get them to accept some of the refugees, but they refused.

Why and a group of large spider-like automata arrived on Marsday, appearing out of the Mist that covered southern Strangerside. He came to the cellars and asked to speak to Rathgard. Why explained that he had been employed by Freedom Crow and the Smiths to make an army that was not susceptible to the magical deadening effects of the Pyramid. Fortunately it turned out that they were not susceptible to the Mist either. Why was able to send out his spiders into the Mist to collect food from local grain stores.

They also helped when Tamarind Emerald arrived, asking for the gang's help on behalf of Ruby Emerald to rescue her lover and father of her children, King Horizon. Tourmaline and the Mothers had claimed that Horizon's back was broken so he was unfit to be King, but this was not true - Horizon was being held in a secure tower in the Emerald compound. Asking "what would Rathgard do?", Voulges and Why hatched a daring plan to rescue him from under the noses of the guards, using the spiders to carry gang members over the city wall, which they launched on the evening of Saturday 3 Scorpion. It was a messy, chaotic affair in which several gang members were killed and Voulges was wounded, but they got Horizon out.

The King spent the early part of the week recovering in the Mercy Hospital, where with Brother Valentine's help, he was at last able to walk again, albeit with crutches. He made a personal appearance to thank the gang for their sacrifice, which impressed a lot of them. He promised that Beggartown would be transformed, and asked for the gang's help in getting the news of his recovery back into Everway.

There was further good(?) news when another fleet appeared out of the Mist. They were Middleland ships, but they were flying tattered black flags bearing the symbol of a white scorpion. The Middlelanders charged into the Sea-Lord camp and there was a huge pitched battle in which both sides massacred each other. The dragon-lord escaped, flying over Everway and heading into the Mist towards the Gatelands. He has not been heard of since.

Voulges and Why set up a system of town criers to announce the King's recovery and Why arranged for scrolls to be fired into Everway using specially modified arrows. Knowing that there might be reprisals, the King took over the Tendwicks' heavily fortified mansion in Old Town, using Voulges' gang to provide security. The King made a series of announcements declaring that once the current crisis was over, he would engage in a process of political reform with any families that wanted to work with him. A day or so later, it was announced that Prince Peridot had joined him. Voulges was often in attendance, and personally foiled an assassination attempt by the Snakerings.

About a week and a half ago, White Scorpion Warriors started showing up out of the Mist. At first they appeared as small raiding groups, but it became increasingly apparent that an entire army was assembling. By the end of the week there were thousands. Their commander was a small black-skinned woman with a personal bodyguard of reptilian bipeds. The rumour quickly spread that she was Darga, a Basahn.

Back in Old Town, there was frantic political activity. The Crookstaffs, Weavers, Mudbanks, Stonebreakers and Smiths all declared for Horizon. Freedom Crow appeared on the wall of Everway and demanded to talk to Horizon. Later it was announced that they had come to an accord to defend Everway together, in defiance of Tourmaline's orders. Crow soldiers started fortifying Old Town.

Hordes of White Scorpion Warriors moved to besiege Everway, turfing out the refugees. Repeated attempts to scale the walls were rebuffed by the defenders, but it is clear that there have been terrible casualties. Fortunately the invaders were focused on getting into Everway itself rather than attacking Strangerside, but they have prevented the collection of food, clearly intending to starve Everway out.

A day ago, the Mist finally dissipated, much to everyone's relief. The White Scorpion Warriors in Darga's army collapsed, but a core of (clearly Basahn) soldiers are left and are still fighting. The Gates of Everway are still closed.

The heroes go to Mercy Hospital to check on Voulges. It is more crowded than ever but noticeably better supplied – there are even workpeople whitewashing the walls and cleaning operating tables, and a new wing is under construction. Voulges is still unconscious but will recover, albeit with a new scar. Brother Valentine will arrange a funeral for Watchful with Cheerful's help. Rathgard, who is exhausted, begs a side room where the heroes can rest.

Wishbone scouts with Hawk, sending her in a wide loop anticlockwise around Everway. The King's residence in Old Town is clearly evident from the barricades across the streets nearby, the hasty reinforcements to the outer walls, the dozens of patrolling guards and the spider automata parked in the courtyard; the partly assembled components visible outside a heavily guarded workshop nearby suggest that this is Why's base of operations.

Everway itself has clearly suffered badly over the past month. The walls are blackened with soot and "Cleanse and burn" graffiti is still everywhere. Rubbish and rubble litter the streets, and the few people around hurry along with their heads down, clutching whatever they are carrying close to their chests. They are dirty and their clothes are ragged. A column of black smoke rises from the Houses of Dusk where bodies are being cremated en masse to save wood. The Temple of Mercy has not been repaired since Flame's and Walker's firebombing of it and the fifty foot statue of the Nurturer in the Mother family houses is missing its head. The Tower of Roots is a blackened stump, the remains of the stem and the bulb-shaped living quarters scattered around Star Square, along with the shattered remains of the houses they hit. Many of the statues on the Stonebreaker family house are missing arms, legs or heads and the fountains are choked with rubble.

North of the city, Hawk spots the Returner Basahn camps and sees a couple of thousand troops attacking the north wall using long ladders and siege engines. The defenders, a mix of Watchers, Keepers, Plumes and Crows, are holding their own, but look exhausted. The effects of the ritual are clearly visible in the Crookstaff Plaza - the tower at its centre is a pile of rubble and many of the nearby covens are semi-ruined. Deadwalk Coven is still intact, but one corner of the gaunt four-storey building is missing (temporary wooden covers have been nailed in place) and large chunks of masonry litter the graveyard that surrounds it.

Further south, the Library of All Worlds seems relatively untouched, but Librarians Militant and sages can be seen carrying out books and scrolls. Some are crying as their life's work is taken away to be burnt. To Flame's disappointment, Wishbone reports that the Mask gaming houses are also largely undamaged, though the Theatre of the Thousand Spheres is boarded up; gangs of Masks can be seen patrolling the streets, protecting their property. The rich decorations of the Gold Family House have been removed. A large area of streets near the Court of Fools has been blackened and ruined by a fire. The survivors are camped out in the Court of Fools and in the Walker's Ark, looking starved and desperate.

After a few hours rest, the heroes leave Gecko at the Mercy Hospital and head up to Old Town. Slight puts a "harmless and helpless" glamour on them. As they approach the makeshift barricade that has been erected across the street, they are challenged by a surly guard. Rathgard asks to be let through so that they can visit Master Why, adding that "he will be very pleased to see us". The guard refuses and sounds the alarm when the heroes refuse to leave. Rathgard points out that the situation has escalated beyond the guard's authority and persuades him summon his captain, Spearshaft Crow, who agrees to send a runner to Why's workshop as a means of de-escalating the stand-off. After a tense few minutes, Why himself appears on the barricade. He airily commands the captain to let the heroes in, and leads the way back to his workshop through streets that are crowded with soldiers, workpeople, couriers and bureaucrats. Why explains that the increased security is because the King and his court are worried about a group of shapechangers who are working to destroy Everway and who may have access to Gate magic. They have been implicated in the assassination attempt on the Great Council and may have been responsible for the summoning ritual debacle (as it involved what looked like a Gate).

Once they are alone, Walker demands to know what was going on with the Marvellous Automaton. Why, unfazed, explains that he needed to test his creation on the best group of fighters that he knew. The Comity Soubrette distraction was to avoid attracting the attention of the Everway authorities. Eidolon's weapons were blunted so there was little chance of genuine harm, though in retrospect, perhaps the laser eye beams were a mistake... He expresses surprise that the heroes were so destructive of public property.

The heroes debate whether to involve the Everwayan authorities in their plans. They need to get hold of the staff needed to open the Armoury, but that means talking to whoever is in charge of the Crookstaffs now. Why mentions that he has met her during his periodic audiences with the King - her name is Belladonna Crookstaff. He hasn't had much to do with her since she is all about magic, but she seems capable and sensible. She arrives on a magic carpet piloted by a zephyr monk. She is present today - Why was at a meeting earlier to discuss how to use his spiders to break the Basahn siege of Everway, something he is not keen on since they were not intended to be used on open battlefields (he wants to get back to work on his "woke gun"). The heroes decide to contact her. After much discussion in which use of smoke signals and scroll arrows are vetoed, they settle on sending one of the many runners who are standing by.

While they are waiting for her to arrive, the heroes ask Flame for a divination. The question they ask is "Where can we find the key that opens Ulrich's secret way to the Armoury?" Unusually, the response is helpful: "The key to the Armoury is approaching. The other key is in the entrance."

Eventually a tall raven-haired woman in her early forties, dressed in robes and carrying a particularly ancient and crooked staff, strides into view, accompanied by guards, two of whom are carrying a rolled up carpet, and a zephyr monk. She introduces herself as the new leader of Green Hand Coven (Wormwood, it transpires was her cousin). She recognises the heroes and asks about their involvement in the Great Council incident, acknowledging that they did Everway a service. Rathgard says it was a rogue shapechanger which they learnt about because it "killed some of our people in Strangerside". He disclaims further knowledge of a conspiracy. Belladonna looks skeptical but lets it pass.

Belladonna asks what the heroes want. Rathgard explains that they need to get into the Armoury because the Walker is coming to Everway to put everything into stasis - there is a weapon in there that will help. Belladonna agrees that something bad is coming; the new leaders of Deepmind and Crystal Sphere covens, Enigma and Prophet Crookstaff, have been bending her ear for the past couple of days about a "disturbance in the aether" and an "imminent disaster". She asks if they have any proof of their story about the Walker. Slight produces Maba's notes. Fortunately Belladonna can read them - she has been learning Cleacuun to "understand the enemy". She explains that the lock on the Armoury requires Sacnoth, a sword on a cushion that accompanies the King on ceremonial occasions, and the Crookstaff ceremonial staff. The Armoury contains powerful magicks, so both the Crookstaff leader and the King must agree to open it.

Rathgard decides to trust Belladonna and tells her about Ulrich's secret way to the Armoury, saying that the party's spirit worker had managed to contact his spirit. Belladonna had suspected as much - she had been suspicious of Ulrich and has found old papers in the Green Hand coven archives showing that he requisitioned a couple of summoned earth elementals for excavation works when he took control of Deadwalk Coven, shortly after the Earthshaker incident. She agrees to help the heroes but says that she must be present when they enter the Armoury.

There remains the slight problem of how to get into a fortified city that is under attack. Why's spiders could carry them over the wall under a concealment spell from Slight, but it's risky. The alternative plan is to use Belladonna's flying carpet. It is not designed for eight people but Norther, the zephyr monk accompanying Belladonna, says it should just be possible.

It is now evening, so there is no time to be lost. The heroes grab some supplies from Why's workshop and form up - it's a very tight squeeze and the carpet is clearly overburdened, but with Rathgard's magical assistance, Norther manages to get it into the air. Slight uses a concealment spell as they pass over the attacking Basahn and the Everway wall, and they land safely in Crookstaff plaza.

Close to, the damage to Deadwalk Coven is more apparent. Several of the gravestones in the cemetery that surrounds it have been knocked at crazy angles or are broken, and the number of watching gargoyles is significantly reduced. The whole place has an exhausted, listless feeling. The mummified beasts in the various alcoves still turn and watch as the heroes make their way up the path to the entrance, but they seem slower.

The heroes had no plan for how to get in, but fortunately Belladonna takes the lead. She marches up to the front door and demands that they open up for an inspection for "seditious magic". Overriding the protests of the acolytes guarding the door, she demands to speak to Toad Crookstaff, the coven's new leader, leaving the heroes free to investigate the basement. It a maze-like space full of tanks of pickled things, discarded necromantic experiments (some of which are still twitching) and mummy cases containing human and animal corpses awaiting animation. Wishbone investigates the pickling room where corpses are prepared for their life of undeath - saws, hooks, spikes and bloody funeral shrouds are very much in evidence - and finds a short corridor containing a mummy case with one eye that matches her vision from Ulrich's spirit.

Walker fetches Belladonna, who is arguing with Toad, a man who is as squat, fat and ugly as his name suggests. The heroes tell Toad and his assistants not to come into the basement until they have finished their inspection. Belladonna inserts the end of her staff into a hole where the other eye should be and the mummy case swings open. The heroes close the secret door after them so that no-one can follow.

The room beyond is neat and surprisingly bare. There is the remains of a pentagram in the centre of the floor where Ulrich clearly bound his zombies to him, a research bench with a few dusty reagents, and a cupboard with changes of clothes. There is also a second mummy case, and a repeat performance gains the heroes access to a dusty corridor. Propped casually in an alcove next to the entrance is a 5 foot long katana-like black sword with mystic sigils carved into the blade. Belladonna confirms that this is Sacnoth.

The corridor runs for about 100 yards before ending in a concealed door. As they progress down it, Rathgard asks why the Armoury was not opened during the recent attacks. Belladonna explains that by the time there was an enemy to fight, she had already decided to side with Horizon.

The door opens onto another passageway that ends in a small chamber a few yards to the left, containing a heavy stone double door with a stout centrally placed lock with two holes, one circular, the other a thin slit. A staircase leads upwards but is blocked by large boulders, presumably from the ruined tower above. The occasional creak and groan from the ceiling suggests that the area is not stable. Belladonna uses her staff on one hole while Rathgard inserts Sacnoth into the other. The doors creak open.

The Armoury is a dome-shaped room about 30' across. Dotted around it are stands, tables and alcoves on which are objects with small handwritten notes, like museum exhibits. The items are all magical and some of them are very nasty indeed. The most prominent from the heroes' point of view is a large stand near the centre on which rests their quarry, the Edge of Light and Darkness. It is about 6 feet long with a black pommel and a preternaturally shiny and thin blade inscribed with Cleacuun runes in white crystal. The end of the pommel has a large circular socket. The whole thing radiates magic that has the same alien quality as the Pearl and the Book. The sign on it says "Edge of Light and Darkness, 2401. Fabricated by Ulrich Crookstaff."

Both Fish Trader and Flame are powerfully drawn to the blade. Flame gets there first and reaches for the hilt. Belladonna shouts "don't...", but it is too late. An alarm bell starts clanging and the doors slam shut as six large mummies wearing armour covered with glowing magical runes smash their way out of concealed panels in the walls.

Why decides that this is not his fight and retreats back to the entrance to see if he can figure out the mechanism that opens the doors, while Slight looks to see if any of the other items in the Armoury could be safely used as a weapon. Walker shouts "karack!" and slices at the nearest mummy with his axe, shearing off one of its arms. The mummy is still active but the axe-warriors grab onto it and hold it back. Wishbone draws her knife and successful defends herself against mummy number 2. Deciding not to use the Edge just yet, Flame throws a small vial of oil over mummy number 3 and sets it on fire. To her surprise it does not go up in flames immediately - it seems that the runes offer protection. Rathgard draws Sacnoth and slices down on mummy number 4; the keen blade crunches through bone and metal down to the belly button, and its left side flops down. Fish Trader barrels into mummy number 5, loosening its bandages, while Belladonna throws out a bunch of seeds that instantly grow into strangling vines, immobilising mummy number 6.

Leaving the axe-warriors to deal with mummy number 1, Walker moves to help Wishbone, coming behind her mummy and smashing it over the head. Wishbone jams her blade into a gap in the thigh armour and succeeds in severing a tendon. Mummy number 2 goes down. Flame finally manages to get the oil going on mummy number 3 and pushes it up to incandescent levels. It explodes spectacularly, causing a vial of cockatrice poison from the Healer rebellion of 1658 to smash on the floor and opening a crack in the ceiling from which dust sifts down ominously. As mummy number 4 lurches towards him, Rathgard sees an opportunity to complete the job and slices Sacnoth diagonally down into the opening that he made before, this time severing its leg completely so that it falls over. The loosened bandages on mummy number 5 are writhing like snakes - Fish Trader's feline instincts take over and he pounces on a flapping end, grabbing it in his mouth and bounding away, causing it to unravel. Belladonna's strangling vines are still holding mummy number 6 but they are starting to snap.

Why's probing tools find the mechanism that operates the counterweight in the doors and they start to open. Slight takes the opportunity to make his escape, grabbing some an alchemical script marked "White fire recipe, 2149 - Aric Whiteoar - spreads and burns on contact" as he goes. Only three mummies are still left standing - Walker uses the axe at crotch height on the one held by axe warriors, disabling it, while Fish Trader turns his into a cat's cradle of wrappings that stretch perilously between the item stands and cabinets. Deciding that the time has come to try the Edge, Flame advances on the final mummy and swings it twice in a two-handed grasp. The blade passes through the mummy as if it were not there and it divides neatly into three parts that collapse to the ground. To Wishbone's magical sight, the blade also divides the spell that animated it into knots of magic that fizzle away. Ah, the power! Flame strides from the room, grabbing some Spheres of Pure Flame from her home realm en route. She ignores Belladonna's protestations.

The heroes make their getaway down the passage and back into the basement of Deadwalk Coven. Toad and his acolytes try to block their way, but Belladonna bulldozes past him - "As I thought, seditious magic!" "This is an outrage! I'll call a meeting!" whines Toad in response. They emerge into the night. Wishbone sends up Hawk, who sees am ominous disturbance in the air about 100 feet above the Basahn camp to the north of Everway. It must be the Walker. No time to lose! The heroes hurry through the moonlit and deserted streets towards the centre of town.

The Pyramid, midnight

The massive bulk of the Pyramid looms over the heroes as they approach, its six forty feet high stepped layers stretching into the sky. Slight feels his concealment glamours fade away, Wishbone loses contact with Hawk, and Fish Trader reverts to his true cat form, much to Why's alarm. Fortunately there are no worshippers out for a quick midnight prayer. Without ceremony, Flame draws the Edge and swings it down on the wall of the block in front of her. This time there is resistance, and the blade skitters to one side, leaving it unmarked. "What are you doing?" asks Belladonna in horror. Flame ignores her and holds out her hand for the Pearl, which fits neatly into the socket. She swings again - still nothing. A third attempt with Rathgard reading a passage from the Book also has no effect. Flame senses that the wall of midianite is too smooth and flawless for a non-Avatar to penetrate, even with the Edge. She needs a weakness, a crack which the Edge can use.

Walker senses power churning within him and realises that he can turn into the Shifting Man if he wishes. He turns to see Wishbone looking at him. "That connection you have - I can sense it," she says. "It's going up there." She points up towards the top of the Pyramid. Flame agrees - there must be a hole at the top that the capstone will seal. Time to go up.

The heroes have a quick discussion about how to do this. Flame and Fish Trader can climb, but hauling the others up each of the six forty foot steps would take time that they might not have. They decide that the spiders are probably the most effective way of getting to the top for the non-climbers, so Why pulls out a box with twelve red lights and presses a button to summon them, while Flame and Fish Trader begin the ascent, taking Walker as backup. A few tense minutes passes - Why curses as one of the lights goes out - and then there is a skittering from a street to the west, accompanied by the shouting and running feet of the alerted guards. Belladonna hurries to meet them as the spiders scoop up the remaining heroes and carry them up the side of the Pyramid.

The flat surface of the top-most layer is 70 feet wide. It gives an excellent view of Everway, Strangerside, and the waters of Shimmermoon Bay, which are living up to their name. Beyond the Imperial Gate to the north, the disturbance above the Basahn camp is clearly visible, a circular patch of blackness against the stars in which silver motes are swirling. Flame stalks to the centre of the layer, where four slabs meet. Between them is a tiny crack. Flame inserts the blade of the Edge and twists. The rock crumbles away leaving a small hole. Flame quickly carves out a hole large enough for a human or an automaton, revealing, for the first time in almost 2500 years, the interior of the Pyramid.

It's very dark, but there is one obvious thing. A glowing red path can be seen incised into the rocky floor 240 feet below. It twists and turns in an elegant set of loops about the centre of the chamber below, forming a labyrinth about 100 feet across. The shapes made by the path look very like the ones that Flame scribes when she does a divination. At the labyrinth's very centre, directly below, is what looks like a throne with a humanoid figure seated in it, head bowed. The figure is hard to see as it is constantly shifting and changing. A chunk of midianite from the edge of the hole drops towards the labyrinth below. About 10 feet above the floor, it is torn apart into bright sparkles.

To Slight and Wishbone, the Labyrinth is immensely magical, more so even than the Edge or the Pearl, and highly dangerous. It is a seething mass of barely contained chaos, twisted into strange shapes and configurations that make no sense - perhaps the frozen mind of a genius, or a mad person. There is an opening in the chaos right at the edge of the Labyrinth where the path begins. Clearly the intention is to follow the path from the edge to the centre, though it looks horribly difficult and dangerous to do so. There are magical barriers across the path – veils, if you like – that would have to be negotiated. Stopping or turning back would be fatal.

The next problem is how to get down there. The heroes lower a lantern on a rope which reveals that the floor is about 200 feet across, but the interior walls are the inverse of the exterior with each layer overhanging the next by twenty feet or so, impossible for even Flame or Fish Trader to climb down. Why sends one of his spiders, directing it to scuttle down to the edge of the overhang and then jump diagonally to the vertical wall of the layer below. It does well, making the first two leaps successfully, but then misses its footing on the third and goes tumbling towards the Labyrinth. About ten feet above the floor it hits the magical energies and shatters into fine dust. "Oh no, not Charlotte!" says Why.

More discussion ensues which is cut short when Wishbone points to the disturbance, where the motes are now coalescing into a silver path. The heroes hastily decide on a pendulum approach - Walker will lower down to as close to the Labyrinth as he can get, then swing out over its edge, jump, and try to survive the forty or fifty feet fall to the clear ground beyond. He will take the end of a second rope which will be anchored at the top by Itsy and Bitsy, two more of Why's spiders, forming a slide that the other heroes can use to descend.

Flame, Fish Trader and Rathgard slowly lower Walker down to as close to the Labyrinth as they dare. Walker drops coins to determine where the destroying energies begin. Once in position, he starts to swing, kicking out with his feet until he is flying high above the Labyrinth's edge, then lets go and dives. To his surprise he makes it easily - it seems that the powers of the Labyrinth counteract the magical deadening of the midianite in the Pyramid, allowing his cloak of jumping to function. He hits the ground and rolls, almost hitting the wall.

Walker is picking himself up when there is a deafening crack of thunder. A huge figure carrying a massive pyramidal stone above its head appears in the entrance of the portal to the north and drops from it, hitting the earth with a crash that shakes Everway to its foundations. Several buildings collapse, including the Arenas, Deadwalk Coven, two of the Gaming Houses, and one of the wings of the Palace. Part of the Everway city wall near the Dusk Bridge slides into the river. Screams and shouts drift up from below. A few seconds later, a steady Boom!, Boom!, Boom! starts up, the ground shaking with each one.

The heroes at the top have to decide quickly who will enter the Pyramid and who will try to stop the Walker. Flame, Rathgard, Wishbone and Fish Trader slide down the rope to join Walker, while Why summons his ornithopter to assist Slight, who has had an idea.

Walker takes the first steps on the path. At first it is easy - there is a slight resistance and a few sparks where his feet touch the surface. But after a few yards the resistance increases, as if he were walking into a stiff breeze. Behind him, Rathgard, Flame and Wishbone also step foot on the path; Fish Trader remains behind on guard.

As the heroes traverse the first curves of the path, the resistance steadily builds until every step is like walking through water, and the sparks rise to ankle height. Rathgard starts to tell the story of their success. Wishbone breathlessly announces that they are approaching the first barrier. Walker hits it, a sudden increase in the resistance that leaves his foot frozen in mid-air. Composing himself, he forces it down and breaks through. The others have more difficulty, particularly Wishbone who is struggling, but Rathgard's storytelling and Flame's bloodymindedness get them all through.

Up above, the ornithopter containing Why and Slight lurches into air just as the Imperial Gate bursts apart with an enormous rending crash, revealing the Walker. It is perhaps smaller than might be expected, a mere 25 feet high, a blank-eyed stone creature that is something between a colossus, a golem and a mummy, holding the massive 30 feet wide capstone above its head like a huge hat, but its approach is inexorable. Behind it, Basahn soldiers can be seen ineffectually throwing spears and arrows. A panicked crowd is milling in Imperial Way; Plume, Crow and Watcher guards force their way through and line up. On command, a volley of arrows flies towards the Walker. But a few feet from their target, the weapons lose all momentum and drop out of the air. The Walker crunches over them. An infantry charge with spears meets a similar fate - the soldier's movements slow as they approach the Walker until they are left hanging frozen in the air, and the Walker pushes past them.

The Labyrinth-walkers approach the second barrier. Every step is now an effort, as if they were wearing lead boots, and the sparks come up to their knees. Walker falls into his tireless stride but the others are panting and sweating. The second barrier is much like the first, only worse. Walker, a few feet ahead of the others, focuses on keeping his foot moving, and by exerting the full force of his will he eventually forces it through. The other three reach the barrier more or less together. Flame manages the best, summoning images of fire in her head and after what seems like an eternity forces her way through. "I... can't... do... it!" gasps Wishbone. Rathgard continues narrating the story of their success, but he is not moving. "My strength is your weakness," says Flame, "and my weakness is your strength." She reaches out her hands and pulls the other two forward.

Ignoring the dipping and swaying of the overloaded ornithopter as it hovers above Imperial Way, Slight focuses. The Walker may be immune to physical attacks, but he knows it can be fooled by illusions. But without the Pearl to help him, will his magic really work on the mind of an avatar? Only one way to find out. He sends out his strongest misdirection spell - "the Pyramid is over there". Amazingly, it works! The Walker lurches off the Imperial Way, to the chagrin of the phalanx of Moondancers who had prostrated themselves on either side, and heads down Traders' Shortcut towards the Bazaar. Its feet smash through the rows of wooden stalls, leaving splinters.

For the Labyrinth-walkers, there is a slight reprieve as they enter a long sweeping curve where the resistance lessens but the sparks rise to waist level, making the path difficult to see. The heroes edge their way along it, guided by Wishbone who can intuit the way. They are almost at the end when Walker overconfidently steps forward, failing to see that the path has made a sharp bend to the left. As his foot hits the ground, a tiny ball of magic forms over his head and a powerful bolt of magic zaps him. He staggers back, fortunately stepping onto the path again.

At the centre of the Bazaar, the misdirection spell fades and the Walker reorients itself towards the true Pyramid. Slight's efforts have left him feeling drained, but he tries casting the spell one more time. Again, it works! The Walker turns and moves down the Cartway, through Festival Square and into the Gaming House area, where it stops, confused. As it turns, looking for the Pyramid, the edges of the Capstone catch on the walls and sheer through them, causing several buildings to collapse. At length it determines the right direction and sets off again. Slight slumps; he is too weak to spellcast again, but he hopes that he has bought enough time. "Hmm, maybe this magic thing has it uses after all" says Why as he guides the ornithopter after the behemoth.

The Labyrinth-walkers approach the final barrier that guards the way to the centre. The resistance has risen again and the sparks are now up to chest height, so they decide to rope themselves together. Walker hits the barrier. Moving forward feels like pushing onto hot knives, but he focuses his will and the power of the Shifting Man that he feels within him into making his legs move, and after what feels like minutes he at last breaks through. The others are all trapped in the barrier like flies in amber, and magical clouds are forming over their heads. Walker hauls on the ropes binding them together with all his remaining strength. At first nothing happens, but then all three suddenly break through, sending Walker flying backwards. He gets zapped twice more before the others drag him back to safety.

Outside, the Walker approaches the Pyramid. It marches through the phalanx of guards that has assembled to stop it as if they were not there, scattering them left and right. Gathering itself, it leaps up with its burden to the first level. Boom! Everything shakes. The Labyrinth-walkers hear it as they struggle down the final curve to the centre, utterly exhausted, the sparks reaching above their heads. There is another earth-shaking crash as the Walker leaps to the second level. The Labyrinth-walkers take one more step... and suddenly the sparks die down and they find themselves in the centre of the Labyrinth, a circle twenty feet across, facing the Avatar of Change.

It sits quietly in a midianite chair, bound to it by stone bonds, a huge humanoid figure, blurry and changing, like a much larger version of the Shifting Man. Boom! The Pyramid shakes again. "Quickly, cut his bonds!" says Walker to Flame. She draws the Edge and approaches the chair, staggering as the Walker reaches the fourth level. Swinging it in a scything blow, she shears the bonds holding the Avatar's arm to the chair and steps back. Boom! The Avatar does not move. "What's wrong?" says Rathgard, moving forward. Walker pushes him back. He knows what he must do. He lets the Shifting Man take over and reaches out his hand.

Outside, Why and Slight look on helplessly as the Walker leaps onto the topmost level of the Pyramid. With a flex of its arms, it throws the Capstone over the hole, crushing the spiders that are still holding the rope. "Not Itsy and Bitsy!" cries Why, and then a wave of stasis ripples out from the Pyramid and he, Slight and all the people of Everway are frozen.

Below, Rathgard, Flame, Fish Trader and Wishbone hear the final crash. The stars visible through the hole above are extinguished as the capstone covers it, and they realise that they are entombed. But something is happening. Power flows from the Shifting Man to the figure in the chair and slowly, slowly, it moves. It flexes its still-bound arm, and the bonds break. As the last dregs of the Shifting Man's power leave Walker, the avatar rises to its feet and looks down at the heroes, its features unreadable. Wishbone senses that it is giving a command to the Labyrinth, something that she and all the others who reached the centre could do as well, if they wished.

Suddenly the heroes find themselves outside, on the topmost level of the Pyramid next to the Capstone. Everything is utterly still. Ahead of them looms the Walker, frozen with its arms outstretched. It turns to look at Change and starts to back away, but the Avatar moves forward swiftly and grabs it by the hand. In an explosion of white light, the bodies of the Walker and the Avatar merge into each other, in the same way that the Awakener and his Bride were joined in Stonedeep. When it clears, only a single figure remains – an ebony jackal-headed humanoid with glowing red eyes, wearing an Egyptian-style skirt and with an ankh round its neck. It bows to the heroes, including Slight and Why in the ornithopter, and again to Walker, who finally feels himself free of his curse. A voice echoes in their heads. "I am Anubis. Thank you for restoring me. If it is in my power, I will grant you all a Boon."

Epilogue

Thanks to Anubis, all the surviving citizens of Everway and Strangerside become aware of what the heroes have done. There is general rejoicing. King Horizon declares that a new festival day will be inaugurated in the heroes' honour. The returner Basahn army melts away.

Carefully hoarded food and drink is found in cellars and the feasting continues for several days. Eventually, however, the heroes go their separate ways.

Why returns to Mansun with an army of spiders. The Red Priests never know what hit them.

Rathgard returns to Rath and restores the Witchwood. A child with witch-powers is found to be the new queen. With Anubis' help, he seeks out Kayte and learns to shadow-walk.

Fish Trader returns to the Peaceful Isles. Much is ruined, but his kittens scamper up to meet him, followed by their mother.

The grateful citizens of Everway offer Flame an opportunity to found a new family, but she turns them down. With Anubis' help, she and Walker turn Golden Mounts into a party realm. The Bacchanal visit often.

Slight seeks out Kayte, annoying though he finds her, in order to learn to shadow-walk. Kayte shows him how to get to Amber.

Wishbone decides the fate of Everway. It will become Duat, the personal realm of Anubis, a place for tending the sick and the dead, with Wishbone as its high priestess. Pyramidal structures start to replace the destroyed Everway buildings. Some Everway families remain, but several decide to leave, including the Emeralds, Plumes, Crows, Masks and Moondancers. The realm has its teething problems, including the return of Wrath, who is still trying to destroy Death, with his new army of ex-Everwayans, but that is a story for another time...

THE END