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"So, how are things in New Valarak?" asked Camara as Leoric and his party sat in her living room, recovering after their ordeal in the cave. She seldom saw Leoric these days; his duties as a Spectral Knight meant he rarely had time to make social calls.
Leoric sighed, wondering where to begin, how to explain the events that had landed himself and his companions in a sealed cave. "The city thrives," he said at last. "But I fear the Spectral Knights are in danger - three of our number have been enslaved."
"Darkstorm!" Camara practically spat the word out, her deep green eyes blazing angrily. She only knew the Darkling Lords by reputation, but she had never cared for what she did know and she was grateful she and her young family lived far enough from New Valarak to, hopefully, avoid becoming caught up in one of the Darkling Lords' schemes.
"No - it wasn't Darkstorm this time," Leoric replied before telling her the whole story up until the cave rescue. "We were warned," he concluded. "Galadria, Arzon and Feryl must not even glimpse the Crystals of Power and the only way I can be sure they won't is to rescue them before Bogavus gets them to the Lost Shrine."
"But it's at least two weeks' journey from here," Camara objected. "And, if Bogavus has a head start on you . . ."
"Camara," Leoric interjected, crossing the room and resting his hand on her shoulder, "I swore the very day they were taken that I would not give up searching - and I intend to keep that promise."
Camara looked at him understandingly; even as a child, Leoric had never been one to stand by and let others suffer - like the time he had taken on three school bullies single-handed. She considered telling the others about it but decided not to, although she still smiled when she recalled the black eye one of the young thugs had received.
"I know you will," she said at last, feeling in her heart that Leoric would succeed in his mission - or perish trying. "And I wish you luck. I'd join you, but I've got two children to think of - I can't take the chance that nothing will happen to me on this mission . . ."
Atla understood Camara's dilemma; the decision to leave her sons with their father in order to search for Yilly had not been easy. Like mothers everywhere, the two women instinctively wanted to protect their offspring in the only ways they knew how. "You must do what you feel is right," Atla said. "Our children's futures may . . ."
"No," Camara said, shaking her head. "I'm not a fighter like Leoric - my place is here."
The escaped prisoners were back on the slave-chain, all seven of them in varying states of dejection following the ill-fated attempt to rescue Leoric and his party. Even the normally irrepressible Arzon sat staring rigidly ahead, preoccupied by his thoughts. He was beginning to wonder if Bogavus might have planned this all along, if capturing himself and the others who had been taken from New Valarak was part of a clever scheme to lure Leoric into danger.
"Arzon?" Pallenne's voice cut through the young knight's sombre reverie. "Do you think it's true - what Bogavus said?"
Arzon sighed heavily. "I don't know, Pallenne," he told her, wishing he knew for definite that his fellow Spectral Knights were alive. But, for the life of him, he couldn't see how they could have escaped from the cave, in which case . . . "If it is, it means we're on our own."
"I never knew Leoric," Dagan added, looking down at his manacled hands as he spoke. "But, from what you've told me, he was a brave fighter - my father would have liked him and the rest of your friends."
"Aye," Galadria said. "They can't have survived this long - not without fresh air. I - I just can't help wishing we could have done more to help them," she added, wringing her hands helplessly. She gazed at the sky and tried to get her mind off the events of the day, events that had evidently left herself, Arzon and Feryl the last survivors among the Spectral Knights.
"Wishing won't bring them back," said Arzon, staring down at the ground. "But at least they . . . " He broke off as he glanced in Feryl's direction and noticed that the young knight's blue eyes were brimming with unshed tears. "Feryl, are you all right? Only I know how close you and Leoric were."
Feryl, his voice choking with emotion and wishing desperately that he could find somewhere to grieve in private, tried to reply but he broke down before he could complete his sentence. Arzon, feeling a pang of empathy for his grief-stricken friend, drew Feryl towards him and they clung to each other, Feryl resting his tear-stained face on Arzon's shoulder - united in their sense of loss. The others tried to avert their eyes to give Arzon and Feryl the only privacy possible while they were all chained together, but it wasn't easy - those who had been captured from New Valarak were grieving themselves and even Dagan and Yilly were feeling the emotional turmoil of the day's events.
At length, Galadria's voice cut through the gloomy atmosphere. "Wait," she said, keeping her voice as steady as she could muster. "They haven't killed Leoric's ideals, have they? And, as long as Arzon, Feryl and I live, we will try to uphold them - for all our friends."
"I - I guess you're right," Feryl said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "The question is - how? In case you've forgotten, we're prisoners again."
"We can start by taking the Pledge," replied Galadria, recalling the day when, imprisoned in Darkstorm's cells, Leoric had rallied his followers and named them the Spectral Knights. Now that Leoric and half his followers were - she hesitated to use the D word - gone, it was up to the three who remained to keep alive what he stood for.
"The Pledge - what's that?" Yilly asked, overhearing the two Spectral Knights talking.
"You'll soon see," Feryl told her with a slight smile on his face, his emotions back under control.
The seven companions gathered round in a circle, each stretching their right hand out as far as the chains would allow. At a nod from Feryl, they drew back their hands and shouted in unison:
"May the Light shine forever!"
"Oi, keep your voices down!" ordered Brother Turel. "You lot are in enough trouble as it is, so I suggest you keep quiet - or you know what you'll get." He waved his strap at them menacingly.
Leoric and his companions were, of course, very much alive and still on the trail of Bogavus. They knew that being trapped in the cave had cost them time, time the prisoners could ill afford to lose and meant to get back on their trail as soon as possible. But, right now, they had come across a more familiar enemy . . .
"Leoric, we've got company," Ectar whispered as seven other knights, their weapons drawn ready to attack, surrounded their party. Ectar grinned as he recognised his old adversary from the Age of Science skulking at the rear of the group.
"Reekon - what a pleasent surprise!" he said, his words laden with sarcasm. Then, before Reekon could retaliate, Ectar grabbed him and flung him against Lexor, sending both Darkling Lords sprawling on the ground. Seeing this, Darkstorm snarled angrily, strode over to his incompetent knights and hauled them to their feet.
"Don't just sit there, you fools!" he snapped. "Get on with the fight!" To emphasise his words, Darkstorm promptly gave Lexor a sharp kick and sent him sprawling - directly in front of Cryotek, who had his bola poised to attack within moments.
A free-for-all quickly erupted as Spectral Knights and Darkling Lords attacked each other with weapons and the wide ends of Power Staffs. Even Gawalar and Atla, armed with only their bare fists, managed to get a few blows in.
As he parried attacks from Cravex, Leoric saw Mortdredd, Darkstorm's chief lackey and well-known for blindly following his leader's every order, sneaking up behind Atla and thought so fast that his next move was almost instinctive. Shouting, "Atla, watch out!" he swung his whip, coiling it round the Darkling Lord's ankle so that he tripped when he attempted to move. Leoric then gave a surprised Cindarr a whack with his Power Staff and disarmed Virulina, who had been poised to attack from the side.
"Wait!"
All activity halted at the sudden shout from Darkstorm. The Darkling Lords stood waiting for their leader's orders, while the Spectral Knights wondered what had brought about this turn of events. Darkstorm, being a textbook megalomaniac, rarely did anything unless there was something in it for him.
"What are they doing?" whispered Ectar, who had just pinned Reekon to the ground and was holding him down with his foot.
"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Leoric. "It's not like Darkstorm to . . . In any case, I think we'd better at least hear what he's got to say."
"Well, Leoric," Darkstorm said to his long-time rival, his voice deceptively soft as he gazed round at his enemies. "I can't help thinking something's wrong here - aren't there supposed to be seven Spectral Knights?"
"Mind your own business!" snapped Cryotek, who had no patience with Darkling Lords at the best of times. But Leoric silenced him with a frown and turned to address Darkstorm himself.
"Actually, we were looking for our colleagues," he explained. "The wizard Bogavus has them and . . ."
Cindarr spoke next, his words as usual betraying the fact that he had more muscles than brains. "Bogavus?" he said questioningly, scratching the back of his head. "But he passed Merklynn's honesty test . . ."
"He deceived us!" Ectar said bitterly, dismissing for the moment the question of how Cindarr - who had not been present when Merklynn carried out the test - could know about it.
"It's not just Galadria, Arzon and Feryl who are in danger," Leoric explained. "Unless we stop Sanofainus, no Prysmosian's life will be worth living."
"Wait a moment!" Darkstorm shot back, unfamiliar with the situation the Spectral Knights were in and, as always, not in the mood for lengthy explanations. "A second ago it was Bogavus - now it's Sanofainus. Which is it?"
"Both," Leoric replied. "Bogavus works for Sanofainus - as a slave trader. And, from what I've been able to figure out, Sanofainus needs slaves in order to obtain the Crystals of Power."
"And if Sanofainus succeeds?"
"I dread to think of the consequences - not only to us but to all Prysmosians." As he spoke, Leoric thought of the harrowing scenes Merklynn had shown, of the young Prysmosians imprisoned in a living nightmare with no hope of escaping alive. Unless the slaves were freed before all the Crystals had been found, he knew everything he and the other Spectral Knights had fought so hard to protect would be lost - irretrievably.
Darkstorm and his followers broke off for a whispered conference, from which Darkstorm emerged with a surprising announcement.
"Leoric, we have long been enemies," he said in the disarming tone he always adopted when trying to win people round to his latest scheme. "But now it appears we face a bigger foe - therefore, I suggest we put our differences aside and pool our resources." But, as he spoke, he gave a secret signal to Cravex; Darkstorm had no intention of keeping his word.
But, under their current circumstances, the Spectral Knights knew they had no choice but to go along with their enemies . . .
Dagan sat up with a start when he heard the harsh screeching of a phylot. One of the fierce pterodactyl-like creatures was circling the camp, almost as if it was looking for something. But what could it want? Dagan knew phylots could be extremely dangerous - many farmers in known phylot areas had lost stock to the creatures - and twenty chained humans would present the perfect unmoving target.
"Feryl," he whispered, reaching forward and shaking the young knight. "Feryl, wake up!"
"Huh - what?" Feryl mumbled before rolling over. Dagan responded by shaking him harder.
"Feryl!" he shouted. "Arzon," he added, turning to Feryl's fellow Spectral Knight, "help me out here. We could be in for trouble." He nodded towards the phylot, now circling directly overhead and casting a shadow over the group of young slaves.
Arzon leaned closer to Feryl and emitted a piercing whistle, a trick which soon had Feryl sitting bolt upright, holding his ringing ear. Even the others were woken and Galadria, realising what had happened, promptly rounded on Dagan and Arzon. "That was a stupid thing to do - you know how sensitive Feryl's hearing is," she told them. "What's going on anyway?"
"Well I had to wake you up somehow," retorted Dagan. "There's a phylot flying around."
Feryl had recovered from the initial shock - he had learned to filter out the extra stimuli his heightened senses perceived - and sat watching the creature as it came in to land. It was then that he realised what it was . . .
"That is no ordinary phylot," he said at last.
Dagan and Yilly looked at him blankly. "Well, if it's not a phylot, what is it?" demanded Yilly, her eyes wide with fear.
"Cravex," Feryl replied grimly. "And that probably means the rest of the Darkling Lords are nearby."
Following Darkstorm's instructions - given while the Spectral Knights were safely out of earshot - Cravex had flown for the greater part of the night in search of Bogavus' party. It was unusual for any Visionary to voluntarily spend so long in animal form, but Cravex kept himself going with the thought that, once Bogavus knew Leoric was alive, the wizard would willingly lead the Spectral Knights into Darkstorm's trap.
"Bogavus, a knight wants to see you," said Brother Galm, approaching the wizard with Cravex following in his wake.
"Yes? Who are you and what do you want?" Bogavus demanded, none too pleased by the intrusion. He had hoped that, once he had "dealt with" the Leoric problem, he would be able to get his slaves to the Lost Shrine without any more interuptions.
"My name is Cravex - I'm a . . . messenger," the Darkling Lord replied, resisting the urge to set the Spider of Fear on the wizard - for one thing, he would more than likely need it later. "And what I'm about to say concerns the Spectral Knight, Leoric."
"Leoric?" Bogavus echoed as he saw his well-laid plans falling apart. "But I killed him myself - sealed him and his band of do-gooders into a cave."
"Obviously, you didn't do the job properly, because they got out - and they're still after you," Cravex informed him with an angry scowl on his face. "So the rest of the Darkling Lords and I came up with a plan - we will pretend to call a truce with the Spectral Knights. But, really, we'll be leading them to their doom in the Lost Shrine!"
Bogavus smiled to himself as he absorbed the ruthless knight's words. So what if Leoric and the others had escaped from the cave? There was more than one way to skin a Lion - and a Bear, Fox and Cheetah, if it came to that . . .
"Very well," he said at length. "When you get back to your group, tell them they'll be well rewarded once I've delivered these slaves to their destination."
Walking past the chained captives, Cravex could not resist stopping to gloat at the three Spectral Knights. Like most Darkling Lords, he took great delight in the misfortunes of others, especially if they happened to be Leoric's allies.
"Bet you're glad to hear your leader's alive," he smirked. "Well, you don't know the half of . . ."
Before Cravex could complete his mocking sentence, Feryl tripped him with his wrist manacles and held him down when he attempted to rise. "Fun's over, Cravex!" Feryl said, his voice dangerously quiet. "I want an honest answer from you - are the other Spectral Knights alive?"
"Aye," Cravex stammered, too stunned by Feryl's sudden move to fight back. "And their companions - a man and a woman."
"Where are they heading?" persisted Feryl, determined to make it clear that he wasn't through yet. But Arzon pulled him away before Cravex could reply.
"Let him go - at least we now know the others survived."
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