For an instant, Drago caught Faraday's eyes. They are not afraid of me ... why are you! She turned her head away.

Just as Faraday thought they were over their quota of shocks for the day, there was a further scuffling on the stairs, and around the corner and down the final flight scuttled the feathered lizard, grinning cheerfully.

Faraday's mouth dropped open. It was at least twice the size it had last been.

To save anyone the embarra.s.sment of finding something to say, the two new boats b.u.mped gently against the side of the waterway and the hounds and lizard happily scrambled in.

"A lizard?" StarDrifter said slowly. "I think, Drago, that you must tell me what you and Faraday have been up to."

"No time." Drago stepped into the front boat. "We have a detour to take before we can approach Fernbrake Lake. SpikeFeather. Here, come sit with me. You did well to find Sanctuary," Drago looked up and forced a smile, "before StarDrifter found a new source of enchantment to magic it up out of thin air."

"Detour?" StarDrifter said. He sat down. "What detour?"

"Sigholt," Drago said, and held out his hand to Faraday to help her in. After a brief hesitation, she took it, then let go as she turned to lift the girl in.

"There is something there I must collect," Drago finished, and settled himself into the boat.

Just as StarDrifter began to ask what Drago needed to 464 .

collect, Drago's mood altered so sharply those watching could see the change sweep over his face.

"The Demons are well on their way to Fernbrake," he said. "They are more powerful than before, and travel with the speed of wind. Once at Fernbrake they will do their best to close Sanctuary forever."

"Then why waste time detouring to Sigholt?" StarDrifter cried, half-rising. "We need to get to -"

"Patience, StarDrifter," Drago said. "Sigholt can aid us. Well?"

"Well. . . what?" StarDrifter said.

"If you have discovered the secrets of waterway traffic, grandfather, then I suggest you demonstrate your knowledge to get us to Sigholt."

StarDrifter laid a hand on the smooth wood of the boat.

"Drago needs to go to Sigholt," he said.

The boat glided forward.

"Although the Stars alone know why," StarDrifter murmured, "when the peoples of Tencendor need Sanctuary more than Drago needs his trinkets."

Drago chose not to respond to that.

The boat, SpikeFeather observed, took them on the normal route to the Lake of Life, although previously SpikeFeather had always had to use his muscles to travel the distance. Now the boats slid silently and swiftly through the tunnels of the UnderWorld. The two that contained the dogs and the feathered lizard, which spent the journey jumping enthusiastically from boat to boat (and once splashing into the waterway from where Drago had to rescue it), followed obediently behind the one that StarDrifter commanded.

"These waterways connect the craft under the Sacred Lakes?" Drago asked WingRidge.

"Yes."

"And extend yet further" SpikeFeather said. "Over the years, I have travelled through waterways that stretch under the entire breadth and length of Tencendor and the Ferryman, * 465 *

Orr, told me that they also extend for leagues under the surrounding oceans."

"And every last one of them forming patterns," Drago mused, his eyes fixed on some distant spot.

SpikeFeather hesitated. "I suppose so. Why?"

Now Drago hesitated. His eyes refocused on SpikeFeather. "Is it much further to the Lake of Life?"

SpikeFeather swallowed his resentment that Drago chose to ignore his question. "At this rate? No. An hour, perhaps."

"Good," Drago said, and leaned back against the side of the boat and said no more.

Within the hour the three boats glided onto the Lake of Life, and Drago sat up and looked about keenly.

"Lakesview is deserted," he said.

"The Lake Guard arranged its abandonment when we knew the Demons approached," WingRidge said.

"Where are the people now?"

"In the surrounding hills. We did not know where, or how, to take them further. Should I now start moving them to Fernbrake?"

Drago shook his head. "Not by normal means, no. It would take too long. We have ..." he frowned slightly, "we have only some three or four weeks before the Demons will complete their quest. Before Qeteb -"

The others in the boat seemed to draw in their breath as one at the dreadful name.

"- walks again. The peoples of Tencendor must use other means to approach Sanctuary than their legs, methinks."

"Hour?" StarDrifter asked. "Dammit, Drago, stop giving us ambiguities to pin our lives on."

"StarDrifter, I am sorry. Sigholt will give all who linger nearby a direct route into Sanctuary. Believe me."

And with that, StarDrifter had to be content.

The boats glided to a stop at the wooden pier that sat some fifteen paces north of the moat that surrounded Sigholt. Everyone, dogs and lizard included, were glad to get out of 466.

the craft. The waters of the Lake seemed somehow corrupted; thick and loathsome, they yielded reluctantly to the demands of the boats.

"It has been the touch of the Demons," Drago said, looking back over the waters as StarDrifter helped Faraday and Katie from the boat. "The waters no longer wish to live. Within weeks they will have evaporated completely away."

Faraday looked back, and shuddered. She wished she could have seen this place when it had been vibrant with life and magic, but her duties, whether as wife to Borneheld, or as Tree Friend, had always kept her well away from it. She turned and looked up at the silvery-grey Keep. Here was Axis and Azhure's home, she thought. Here they lived for decades in laughter and love while I trod the byways of the forests, looking for tender gra.s.s shoots and missing my son.

Here is where my son grew up to adolescence. Without me.

Surprised by her sudden spurt of bitterness, Faraday dropped her eyes and looked at Drago, only to see sadness and bitterness in his face as well.

Sigholt contained no good memories for him, either.

Or was he thinking of her rejection?

"Come," he said, and walked forward without looking at the others.

"Wait!" Faraday cried. She ran after Drago, caught at his arm and pulled him to a halt, and then looked at StarDrifter.

"Will you take Katie on with you, StarDrifter? We won't be long."

He nodded, picked up the girl, and then the three Icarii walked forward, leaving Drago and Faraday by the sh.o.r.es of the Lake. He was silent, looking at her.

"I cannot, Drago," she whispered. "You know that."

He let his eyes drift over the waters. "I love you, Faraday."

She flinched. "I did not ask for that."

*467.

He looked back at her. "No. You didn't, did you? I apologise for putting you in a difficult position. It must have been embarra.s.sing for you."

Her jaw tightened. "We have a journey to make, you and I, and it will be difficult enough without your sarcasm to add to its trials."

His eyes narrowed, and she could not tell if he was angry or trying to repress merriment.

"I am a SunSoar, Faraday. I do not take rejection well."

Her lips twitched - he was laughing at her! And suddenly she burst into laughter.

"Are we friends, Drago?"

"Friends, Faraday." He held out his hand, and she took it with only the slightest hesitation. He pressed it gently, then let it go, and they walked after the others.

"And you know the other thing about us SunSoar males, Faraday?"

"No . .. what?"

"We never give up."

They walked directly to the bridge, the hounds sniffing curiously about, the feathered lizard investigating the undersides of several stones, as if he expected to find a meal awaiting him there.

Drago stopped before the bridge, and turned back to the others. "Wait for me here," he said, and before anyone could ask him any questions Drago had stepped onto the bridge.

"Well, second son," the bridge said. "You return at last. Is Zenith well?"

"Yes," Drago said. "Far better than when she last crossed you.

"Good." The bridge hesitated. "Drago, you have surprised me.

Drago's mouth quirked. "I have surprised many people, including myself."

468 "And will surprise more to come," the bridge said. "Sigholt waits for you."

Drago nodded, glancing at the Keep. "Bridge .. . you destroyed Rox."

"Yes," the bridge said happily.

Drago sighed. "I can understand your wish to do so," he said, "but nevertheless the Demons need to succeed in their quest to resurrect Qeteb."

The bridge was silent, sulking.

"I only took a bite," she eventually said.

"Nevertheless," Drago repeated.

"The Demons will manage well enough without him."

"I hope so." Then Drago gave a quirky grin. "I'm glad you finally managed to take a bite at someone."

The bridge considered whether or not to be offended at this remark - was he referring to the fact that he'd managed to dupe her when he was but an infant? - then decided to laugh softly.

"I have waited aeons for a chance like that," she admitted.

"Did he taste good?"

"Delicious!"

Drago laughed with her. "Well, then, despite my reservations, I do thank you for making the night a safer place. Bridge . . . bridge, from the depths of my heart I do apologise for my trickery of you so long ago."

"And I have been waiting some forty years to hear that," she said softly. "Go now, DragonStar SunSoar, and collect another trifle of your heritage."

Drago resumed walking along the bridge's back. When he was about to step onto the gravelled walkway before Sigholt's open gates, the bridge spoke again: "I am glad you came home, DragonStar."

Drago faltered a little in his stride, then recovered. "Thank you, bridge."

And then he was through the gates and into the inner courtyard of Sigholt.

469.

Everything was still, silent. Hay bales, half-empty crates and tangled tack lay scattered about the cobbles, bespeaking the haste in which the Keep had been evacuated. Wisps of blue mist drifted about the courtyard, losing and then re-finding themselves among the half-open doorways. Yet Drago understood that Sigholt felt in no way abandoned. She was just waiting, waiting for whatever millennium approached.

And waiting for him.

There was a slight movement to one side, and Drago looked.

Nothing.

No .. . there it was again. A deeper shadow moving behind an overturned barrel, and yet another shadow behind that one.

Drago's eyes narrowed, then he squatted down and snapped his fingers, his mouth moving towards a smile.

Three of the shadows leaped out towards him - and resolved themselves into cats. Nine more rushed out in a group behind the first three. Tabbies, blacks, tortoisesh.e.l.ls and indeterminate patches, stripes and splotches - and there a sudden flash of white. All the result of countless generations of unsupervised and noisy breeding beneath the stamping hooves of the stable horses.