They stayed in their cosy cave, having a quiet bite to eat and biding their time until Saff deemed it safe to sneak out. They dropped lightly onto the ground and crept quietly towards the small trees set back from the road. Freya kept her eye on the gently snoring mound of the farmer, a black form nestled near the base of a tree, and the larger black shape of his horse, standing asleep nearby. Freya and Saff both took the opportunity to relieve themselves, before re-joining at a safe distance from the farmer. They conferred in whispers and settled on their plan, before stealthily making their way back into their cave of hay in the cart.

  The next day Freya awoke once more to the gentle swaying of the cart. As they had discussed the previous night, they stayed put for most of the day, occupying themselves with nibbling food and peeping out of a tiny hole in the hay. Saff spent some time studying Freya's tablet, but was unable to unlock any more of its secrets. With Freya's help, he memorised the two verses she had already learnt. All in all, it was a restful, uneventful day. Near dusk, the farmer stopped for the night to set up camp and, as they had done the night before, Saff and Freya made sure he was well asleep before quietly slipping off the cart and melting into the darkness. The next day he would enter Yawside, so this was where they would part ways with their unsuspecting host.

  They walked for a quarter of an hour before making camp for the night in the trees that still lined the side of the road. The first thing Saff did when he had chosen a suitable spot was to pull out his talking stone and attempt to contact Rube. As before, a shimmering blue haze formed around the stone, casting an eerie blue light on Saff's face and hands such that they looked like they were floating by themselves in the darkness. But to Freya's puzzlement, nothing further happened. No ghostly image of a face appeared in the glow. Saff closed his fingers abruptly around the stone, dousing the light instantly.

  Freya looked at him anxiously. “Why didn't it work?”

  Saff shrugged lightly. “Might be asleep already. Might be invisible. I'll check with the others.” If Saff had been unconcerned about his inability to contact Rube before talking to Paz and Thyst, it was certainly not the case afterwards. It turned out that neither of them had been able to contact Rube either that night, or the previous one.

  Saff admitted that it was a little odd, but nothing to be overly concerned about, and besides, what could they do anyway? The best thing to do was to stick to their plan. They would try again tomorrow night. Who knew? Maybe they would be able to contact him then.

  The following morning, they woke to an overcast sky. They ate some bread and honey, washed down with water, then quickly packed up their camp. As they emerged from the trees, Saff inspected the horizon. “Looks like rain today. We had better get going.”

  Off they set. They had not been walking long before they heard the hoof beats of a galloping horse behind them. Saff grabbed Freya's arm as they waited for the horseman to pass. He flew past, never suspecting they were there. It was a Guard. They waited until he was out of sight before reappearing and continuing on their way. Shortly, a cart approached in the distance. Again, Saff held Freya's arm and they stepped farther away from the road. Minutes ticked by as they waited for the cart to pass them and disappear from view on the road behind them. Once more, they reappeared, but no sooner had they set off, when another cart approached them from behind.

  “This is ridiculous!” Saff muttered as they once again stepped back from the road. This time Saff kept pulling her farther to the east. “Let's just keep well away from the road, shall we?”

  They moved into the trees, but within sight of the road. Whenever they saw or heard someone, Saff made them both invisible, but at least they were able to keep moving. In this manner, they walked on throughout the day, stopping only briefly to rest and take a bite of food. The scenery was dreary and the journey uneventful. As daylight turned to dusk, they found a secluded spot amongst the trees and made camp for the night.

  THE NEXT MORNING, THEY woke early, had a quick meal of cold food, and set off. As they had done the day before, they travelled off the road, but kept it in sight., Again, Saff turned them both invisible whenever they heard or saw anybody. They made steady progress for the next few hours and just when Freya was thinking it wouldn’t be so bad after all, the trees thinned out as they transitioned to scrubland. The ground was becoming more and more sandy and soft underfoot, which made the going tougher.

  This wouldn’t have been such a problem if it hadn’t also started raining. The initial light rain soon settled in to a steady drizzle. They pulled their cloaks tighter around them, drew their hoods low over their faces and plodded on. So focused was Freya on putting one foot in front of the other, that she didn’t hear the galloping hooves until Saff had put his hand on her arm. After the rider had passed them, Saff exclaimed under his breath. Reacting instinctively, she turned to look at him, even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to see him ... but, appalled, she realised that she could see him! Well, that is, she couldn’t see him, but she could see his shape: just because they were invisible didn’t mean that the rain fell straight through them. It landed on their heads, their shoulders, and dripped down their backs and arms, creating a watery outline around a distinctly human shape.

  “Your invisibility is no good,” she whispered. “What are we going to do?”

  “We have no choice,” Saff whispered back. “We need to get completely out of sight of the road. Head into the Shady Desert. And pray that we don’t get lost!”

  Saff kept them invisible until they could no longer see the road behind them. All around was a grey world of streaming raindrops. They trudged on and on. Now there was no more vegetation, only sand underfoot; they were truly in the desert. Each step they took was soon erased by the rain pounding on the shifting grains of sand. The ground was no longer dead flat, but small dunes had been formed by the wind—in ages past or today, who could tell? They were drenched through, but there was no point in stopping, for there was no shelter anywhere. It was getting darker and darker. Freya strained her eye, peering ahead.

  “Look!” she called over the noise of the steady rain, “It’s so dark over there! Why is that?”

  “Ah, that would be shadow. This part of the Land is closest to the Wall. So close, in fact, that part of it is constantly in shadow. Hence nothing grows here—and the name ‘Shady Desert’. I suggest we keep the shadow on our right. It should lead us approximately in the direction of Yawbridge.”

  “I hope you’re right. Everything looks the same to me. I wouldn’t have a clue which way we’re going.”

  And still they plodded on. One foot in front of the other. The sand shifted underfoot, making the going hard. Rain soaked through her clothing, trickling down her back and dripping off her hood, fringe, and nose.

  After a while, Freya said morosely, “What’s with all this rain? I thought this was supposed to be a desert. Oh, I wish there were at least some shelter, somewhere!”

  No sooner were the words were out of her mouth, when Saff exclaimed, “Well, I’ll be ...”

  She lifted her head and saw it too: a solitary obelisk in the distance. They were drawn to it like a magnet, such a strange thing was it to find in the middle of this nothingness.

  It was large and solid, made of sandstone blocks: Freya stretched out her arms and still could not reach the two corners of one side. She craned her neck to judge its height with her one good eye and figured that it was ten times as tall as she was.

  “Come and look at this!” Saff said from the other side of the pillar.

  Freya hurried around to the other side to see Saff peering into a dark entrance. There were stairs leading down, down, down, until they disappeared into the gloom.

  “Well, what do you think? Shall we try it?” Saff asked, eyebrows raised. “I suggest we at least go a little way in and get out of this infernal rain.” He stepped into the opening.

  He went in about seven or eight steps—far enough to be sheltered from the rain, but not so far as to be in the dark—and sat down. Freya followed gratefully.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” And she promptly opened her satchel to search for food.

  They ate a light meal, but when they were done, they were loath to go back out into the rain. It was already late afternoon and it was still raining steadily. Saff fished out his talking stone. He failed to contact Rube again, but quickly updated Paz and Thyst on their interesting discovery. When he was done talking to the other Watchers, Saff suggested to Freya that they camp in the stairwell for the night. Freya was only too keen to agree. She curled up on the step and was asleep in seconds.

  Chapter 15

  Wrestling Practice

  It was Sunday, the day after the Games. Although Jack was tired after a day’s hard labour in the fields outside the gates of the Golden City, he was looking forward to his first wrestling practice session with Orn. He hurried home after the tenth bell, washed the grime off his hands and face, then changed into the light, comfortable wrestling clothing that Orn had given him. He presented himself at the old warehouse where Orn taught his pupils, well before the eleventh bell.

  Three other new pupils, and finally Orn himself, showed up, right on the eleventh bell. “Hello everyone!” Orn shouted.

  A chorus of varied responses returned his greeting. After they had introduced themselves to each other, Orn called them to attention.

  “Right, you lot, let’s get straight into it. I’m going to start real basic—even though you might think you already know it—just so as we can make sure that there aren’t any holes in your education.”

  Jack settled back on the hard wooden bench next to the others with rapt attention.

  “The whole object of the sport of wrestling is to get your opponent on his back with any part of both shoulders—or both shoulder blades—in contact with the ground for two seconds. This is called ‘pinning your opponent’. When you pin your opponent, the match is over and you are the winner.”

  “Sounds simple!” said the chap to Jack’s left, a big, muscly fellow called Herbert.

  Orn grunted. “Might sound simple enough, but it’s harder than you think! Although, if a wrestler is pinned immediately, then a match can be over in seconds,” he conceded. “However, if nobody gets pinned, then the winner is the wrestler who scores the most points during the match. In that case, the match consists of three two-minute periods. If there’s a tie after the three periods, then we go to a one minute sudden-death overtime period.” At Jack’s horrified look, Orn chuckled. “No. ‘Sudden death’ does not mean someone dies. It means that the first wrestler to score a point wins the match. So now I’m gonna tell you how you can score points.”

  Jack nodded and leaned forward.

  “There are five ways to score points in a wrestling match. The first way is by a takedown. A takedown is when you’ve managed to bring your opponent down to the ground so that most of their weight is either on their knees, thighs, buttocks or hands and you’re controlling them, but you haven’t managed to pin them. That’s worth two points.”

  Orn looked them each in the eye to confirm that they’d understood. Nodding to himself, he grunted and continued. “Next is an escape. You get one point if you manage to get away, or at least get into a neutral position when your opponent has you down on the mat. A neutral position means neither of you is controlling the other. Got it? Good, moving on. The third way is a reversal. A reversal is when your opponent is controlling you down on the ground and you manage to come from underneath and gain control of them. That’s worth two points! Now, for the fourth way I’m gonna need someone to demonstrate on. Jack?” Orn beckoned him forward.

  Jack got up and stood next to Orn on the padded matting, facing the others.

  “The fourth way to get points is from a near fall. You get near-fall points when you almost, but not quite, get your opponent pinned. So, a near fall—or a near pin—is when ...” – without warning, Orn grabbed Jack and had him flat on his back on the mat with Orn kneeling beside him, then he pulled Jack’s shoulders up off the mat – ”... both shoulders are held for two seconds within ten centimetres of the mat like this, or ...” – Orn twisted Jack’s shoulders so only one was touching the mat – ”... one shoulder touches the mat and the other is at a forty-five degree angle, like this, or ...” – Orn pulled Jack up and, whilst still kneeling, thrust one of his legs forward, then pulled Jack backwards over his knee, so that he dangled awkwardly – ”... your opponent is held in a high bridge, or back on both their elbows.” He pulled his knee out from under Jack, who collapsed flat on his back with an ‘oomph’.

  The other boys sniggered. Jack blushed bright red and scrambled to his feet and went and sat back down.

  “If a near fall lasts for two seconds, you get two points, and if it lasts for five seconds you get three points. Got all that?” Orn demanded.

  “So, to recap, you get points from a takedown, an escape, a reversal and a near fall. Now the fifth way to get points is from penalty points—you can get one or two points if your opponent does illegal holds, technical violations, unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct, flagrant misconduct, stalling or incorrect starting position, or a false start.” Orn counted the penalties off on his fingers as he listed them. “Now, illegal holds are basically any manoeuvre used that could cause bodily harm—whether intentionally or not.” Orn glared around at them as if they were all doing illegal manoeuvres on each other right there and then. “This includes holds that restrict breathing or circulation, forceful tripping, pulling your opponent’s thumb or less than four fingers or any hold used for punishment alone. Illegal manoeuvres are penalised as follows: first and second offense, your opponent gets one point, third offence they get two points and fourth offence ...” – Orn paused for effect, and practically growled – “... you get disqualified! Are there any questions?”

  Herbert cut his eyes at Jack and asked cheekily, “Can you please demonstrate those illegal moves on Jack, sir?”

  Orn glared at him. Herbert’s grin slowly faded from his face, and he cast his eyes down to the floor. The other boys shuffled around a bit and cleared their throats, but nobody asked any more questions.

  “Right, so let’s get going!”

  Orn had them pair up and got them to practise beginning a match, by shaking hands with the referee and each other and then standing facing each other in the neutral position. He explained that for the second and third periods, they got to take turns choosing whether they would start in the offensive or defensive position. A disk toss determined who got to choose first.

  “Now we’re gonna practise some takedowns,” Orn announced.

  “Yes!” Jack exclaimed under his breath.

  “Some different types of takedowns are the double-leg drop, single-leg sweep, fireman’s carry, arm drag, snapdown, and pancake, just to name a few. Let’s begin with the single-leg sweep.”

  They spent the remainder of the hour practising takedowns. The time flew by, and before Jack knew it, the twelfth bell sounded, and it was time to go home. He was sweaty, bruised, and exhausted—they all were—but he felt elated at the same time. Calling out cheery farewells to his new wrestling buddies, Jack turned up the street and set off towards home.

  He was about halfway home when he heard a gallop of hooves somewhere nearby. He searched for the source of the noise, but as he could see nothing untoward, he shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way. As he rounded the next corner, however, he had to step hurriedly backwards and press himself against the nearest house to avoid getting trampled by the careening group of horsemen.

  He had seen plenty of Guards before, but these were the most splendidly garbed that he had ever seen. An ornate carriage was being drawn by two big, black destriers in the centre of the group. The Guard seated on the front of the carriage whipped them incessantly. But what drew Jack’s attention most was not the ornate splendour of the carriage, but the complete lack of windows. Instead, the entire contraption was a solid black mass. He didn’t know why, but Jack’s skin crawled just looking at it.

  Once the group had left him in their dust, Jack hurried home.

  “Who was it?” he asked Hank later, after determining that his parents didn’t know.

  A look of fear passed over Hank’s face as he uttered just two words: “The Master.”

  Chapter 16

  The Crystal Kingdom

  Freya was having the most amazing dream: she dreamt she was floating on her back in the black night sky amongst thousands of tiny glittering stars. She gazed around, contented, enjoying her dream, when she spotted something. It was hard to tell, because it was so dark, and the glow from the thousand stars was quite faint, but it looked like Saff floating along beside her, fast asleep. Suddenly, all her drowsiness left her as she realised that she wasn’t dreaming at all. This was real! In fact, she was being carried, for if she concentrated she could feel many hands supporting her, and hear the pitter-patter of numerous feet. And it wasn’t thousands of stars in the night sky; she was in a tunnel, lit by the glow of thousands of tiny lights, glittering in the darkness, softly lighting the passageway.

  Instinctively she cried out and tried to sit up. A whisper ran like a sigh through the creatures carrying her, whatever they were, and they tightened their grip on her. She struggled, but the many hands pinned her arms to her sides and her legs together, so that she could not escape them. Resigning herself to go with the flow, so to speak, she closed her eyes and focused on her other senses. The air was warmer than it had been outside, but not at all stuffy.