By mid-afternoon, the drumming was pounding in Karan’s head. It would not be long now.

“Snoat’s coming ashore,” a lookout called.

Xarah let out a squawk. Her mustard-yellow hair was standing up. “The flow is rising.”

“From the summon stone?” Shand’s voice was sandpaper on glass.

“That’s what Xarah is monitoring,” said Malien. “How can we assassinate a man who’s so paranoid and so well guarded?”

Shand whispered in Tallia’s ear.

“I don’t like it,” she said, glancing at Llian.

“I think it’s worth a try.”

The drumming was rising as well. “What’s worth a try?” said Yggur, who was sitting quietly in the background. He looked much better than he had at Chanthed.

“Later,” said Shand irritably. He looked around. “Where are Nadiril and Lilis?”

“They went to have a look inside Alcifer.”

“Incredible! You’d think we were on a picnic.”

He assembled a deputation: himself and the two smallest Aachim men. Karan thought they projected an air of weakness. Perhaps that was his intention.

“Go quickly!” said Malien. “Meet him halfway.”

“You have somewhere in mind?” said Shand.

“I’ll show you.” She led them up a little hillock and focused her field glasses. “The road from the quay passes through a lovely garden, then across an island in an artificial lake – there! It’s a beautiful place and Snoat is an aesthete; he’ll be drawn to it. Meet him there.”

Karan’s stomach throbbed; she could only think about Sulien. The magiz could be planning another attack on her right now. She went back and sat next to Llian, who was recording the day in his journal. Malien was ten feet away, her back to a tree and her eyes closed.

“What are they up to?” said Llian.

“I don’t know,” said Karan. “But I don’t like it.”

The afternoon crawled towards sunset. “I can’t bear this,” she said suddenly. “Malien, I’ve got to stop the magiz opening the gate. I have to go back to Cinnabar.”

“You’ve attacked her twice,” said Malien. “You can’t use the transpose spell again.”

“If my gift for mancery was unblocked —”

“You’re too old,” said Malien. “The middle-aged brain is too inflexible.”

“I’m only thirty-six!” Karan snarled.

“It would probably kill you.”

“Every second person I’ve met lately has wanted to kill me, and if the Merdrun get through, Sulien, Llian and I are at the top of their list. Unblock my damned gift!”

“All right!” Malien snapped. “It’ll be worth it to be rid of you.” She sucked in a long breath. “Sorry, I take that back. Give me a quarter of an hour.” She walked away into the trees.

Llian had gone potato white and was breathing in strangled gasps. Karan took his hand, aching to be able to comfort him.

“Last time you went,” he said, “I was sure they’d torture you to death. I can’t take any more, Karan.”

She gave him a watery smile, the best she could manage. “It’s the only way to save Sulien. If… if I don’t come back…” Her voice cracked. “You’re my rock, Llian. You’ve got to be strong, for her sake and mine.”

He took her into his arms. “I’ll do my best.”

“The enemy, they’ll…” She gulped, swallowed a massive lump.

“I’ll find a way.”

“You’ll explain to her, won’t you?” said Karan. “I can’t bear to think —”

“I’ll tell her why you couldn’t answer her calls. She’ll understand.”

Malien reappeared, carrying a round metal box and looking exceptionally grim.

“What’s the matter?” said Karan. “Have you realised that you can’t unblock my gift?” She half hoped for that; it would be an honourable way out.

“No,” Malien said tersely. “I’ve realised that I can.”

“And?”

“Do you remember the day you gave birth to Sulien?”

What a question. It had changed Karan’s life.

“This will be ten times as painful,” said Malien.

“You’d better get on with it then.”

“Getting your gift back could have… consequences.”

“I’ll take the risk,” Karan said recklessly.

Malien took out a strap made of woven wire, with an emerald disc on the front and a black opal disc on the back. She fitted it around Karan’s forehead with the emerald disc in the centre of her brow, then pulled the strap so tight that it hurt, and buckled it. She put a similar strap around Karan’s chest and a third on her right wrist.

“Ready?” said Malien.

“Yes,” Karan said softly. Her eyes slid to Llian, whose fists were knotted in his hair. He was in agony. She swallowed.

Malien touched the emerald disc on Karan’s wrist to the one over her heart, then the one on her brow, and whispered a phrase she did not make out.

Pain sheared through her heart, her skull, her belly, then her limbs, as if torturers were pulling her limb from limb. When it finally passed, and she could sit up, she said, “I can’t feel the power.”

“You don’t have any more power than you did before,” said Malien.

“Why not?”

“Imagine you’re an adult with a gift for music, but you’ve never learned to play. You’d have to practise for years before you could play a complicated piece. It’s the same with mancery.”

“Then what was the point!” cried Llian.

“Before Karan’s gift was blocked she could work simple spells she’d learned as a child. Now she can use them again.”

Llian exploded. “So you’re sending her against the magiz – the greatest sorcerer the enemy have – armed only with kiddie magic?”

“Malien isn’t sending me,” Karan said quietly. “I’m going because it has to be done, so please stop shouting.” She turned to Malien. “I’m worried about returning to Cinnabar via the disembodiment spell. After I used it last time I couldn’t stand up.”

“As I warned you,” said Malien. “But you knew better.”

“Is there another way of sending me to Cinnabar?”

Malien hesitated. “Ordinarily, no.”

“But?”

“It wouldn’t work for anyone else, which is why the enemy haven’t sent anyone to Santhenar. But because you’ve been to Cinnabar three times already, and the path is embedded in you, a physical sending could work, though…”

“It’ll be the most agonising thing I’ve ever experienced,” Karan muttered.

“One of them,” Malien said drily.

“Why don’t you go too?” said Llian. “You could take the magiz on.”

“A sending spell can’t be worked on oneself. That’s why it’s called a sending. I’ll get ready then. My preparations will take a few hours. You might want to…”

“Write my will?” said Karan.

The levity sank without trace. Llian looked on the verge of collapse.

“It’ll be all right,” she said feebly.

“That’s what you said last time!”

They sat together, not talking. Last time Karan had been sick with dread, but she was quite numb now, barely able to feel at all.

As it grew dark, Shand’s party returned. Yggur, who had spent the afternoon at the sky ship, also appeared, though Nadiril and Lilis were not yet back.

“Well?” said Yggur.

“The only envoy Snoat will listen to is Llian,” said Shand. “And only if he brings, as a gift, his Tale of the Mirror.”

Karan reeled. Now, now she could feel. A shriek burst from her. “No, no, no!”

Malien turned to Xarah, who was crouched over a little device with concentric brass rings and sliding pointers mounted on a circular wooden base.

“How is the summon stone now?” said Malien.

Xarah moved one of the pointers a fraction. A tiny red crystal at the centre began to flash, faster and faster. “It’s almost ready to bring them through.”

“When the invasion comes,” said Shand, “we can’t be distracted by Snoat. Whatever the cost –” he glanced at Llian, then quickly away “– he’s got to die tonight!”

Why was he so cold, so indifferent to Llian’s fate? It had to be the drumming, which had driven the allies to fighting and bickering for the past month. “The moment Snoat gets Llian’s manuscript,” said Karan, “he’ll have him killed.”

“We’ve got a plan,” said Shand.

“Why can’t someone else take it?”

“Only Llian can get through to Snoat.”

“Then I’ll be his attendant.”

“What about Sulien?”

“You bloody old bastard! I’ll get you for this.”

Llian stood up. He looked as though he wanted punch Shand in the mouth – and Karan half hoped he would. “You’re sending me off to die, yet you haven’t even bothered to consult me.”

“There wasn’t time,” said Shand, avoiding his eyes.

“Liar! You made this plan hours ago. You don’t give a damn any more, do you?”

“It’s our only hope, Llian.”

“I can see that. That’s why I’m going.”

“No, you’re not!” snapped Karan.

“You didn’t ask my permission about Cinnabar,” Llian said gently. “I have to go because no one else can get to Snoat. What’s the plan, Shand?”

“Your escorts will be Ussarine, Hingis and Esea. Strength and mancery, but the twins won’t use any until after you pass the booby-trapped manuscript over.”

“What am I supposed to do with it?”

“Kill Snoat if you can, or injure him so Ussarine can finish him off. Then get the Command device.”

“Why?”

“Snoat used it to divert my gate from Carcharon, and the device will retain that memory. We can use it to remake the gate, open it right next to the summon stone and smash it to bits.”

“You’re mad!” said Karan.

“I dare say, but we’ve got to take the risk,” said Shand.

“It’s Llian taking all the risks.”

“Esea and Hingis will keep Snoat’s guards away. The sky ship, which he doesn’t know exists, will be hanging in the darkness above, ready to pick everyone up.”

“Great plan!” sneered Karan. “Four people versus a hundred guards, and the only means of escape an unreliable sky ship. What could possibly go wrong?”

“I don’t like it either,” said Yggur quietly.

“Given that your only contribution has been criticism…” Shand broke off. “Time to go.”

Karan watched the small party pass over the hill and out of sight, now understanding how Llian had felt when she had gone to Cinnabar. But then…

Mummy, my nose is bleeding. My head feels like it’s splitting down the middle. Mummeeeee…

The magiz had found Sulien again. There wasn’t a second to waste, nor any point in keeping silent now. Karan threw on her cold-weather gear and made a link.

It’s all right, Sulien. I’ll fix her – for ever! But before she could trigger Malien’s sending spell —

A sour chuckle in her inner ear.

A painful jerk, as though an anchor chain had been wrapped around her middle and thrown overboard attached to a huge weight.

Ten seconds of utter blackness.

Then a frigid blast of wind struck her in the face, and she went skidding past the magiz for a good fifty yards on glassy ice, spinning round and round. The magiz had dragged Karan’s physical body back to Cinnabar, to the icy plateau above the ring-fortress, and was bent on revenge.

“I will drink her life,” the magiz shouted over the shrieking wind. “Then yours. It’s all been futile, Karan. In ten thousand years no one has ever beaten us.”