them from fleeing back this way. Stay here and guard the princess, my friend.' Torquil nodded.
Colwyn turned to Lyssa. 'These two risked their lives to help us. I can't leave here if there's a chance they're still alive.' She nodded, watching anxiously as Colwyn and Oswyn raced down the narrow passageway, their eyes intent on the bloody tracks marking the floor. Dust and debris rained down on her and deep-throated rumblings sounded all around. They would have to hurry.
The two men rounded several turns before they came upon Ergo, lying limply, his head resting in Titch's lap. Oswyn bent over him, checking his wounds.
'Cuts and bruises, but nothing fatal.'
'There's a chance, then.' Together they lifted the dazed Ergo to his feet, each man slipping beneath an arm, and half walked, half carried him back the way they'd come. The tunnel began to collapse behind them.
The Fortress was coming down around them, and it seemed that the rate of collapse was accelerating as they ran. Ahead lay the bridge they'd crossed on entering. No Slayers stood athwart it to block their retreat, but the unsteady span made the dark abyss below seem even deeper. They'd barely dashed across when the center of the arch cracked away behind them, to tumble into the bottomless depths beneath.
They turned a well-remembered curve and came to a halt. Ahead lay debris and huge blocks of solid material.
'This is where we entered,' Torquil growled in frustration, 'but the old entrance is gone, blocked.' He flinched as a small piece of rock struck his shoulder. The Fortress was shaking like a pile of twigs. At any moment the last of the roof might come down atop them.
Colwyn shifted his half of the burden of Ergo, and Titch tried to help compensate. 'Torquil, Oswyn, stand behind us. We'll make our own exit.'
The two thieves obediently moved aside. Their eyes widened at what happened next. Oswyn muttered silent oaths, but Torquil expanded like a proud uncle. One more time, his decision to throw in his lot with this man was vindicated.
The tongue of flame Colwyn threw at the wall licked at the dark resinous substance and smashed through to the outside, reaching brilliantly into clear sky.
Then the way was clear, as the last of the fire vanished into the heavens, and they were clambering down the quivering flank of the Fortress. Colwyn was positive he'd never again feel anything as comforting beneath his feet as the grassy loam that greeted them at the base of the structure. He caught Lyssa as she made the last jump, swung her effortlessly to the ground.
Within the Fortress, the rumbling became a maelstrom of destruction.
'Is the whole thing going to collapse?' Oswyn asked as they moved away across the field.
'I don't know, but we're still too close. Hurry yourself!'
They increased their pace until they'd run a respectable distance across the field. There the exhausted Oswyn chose a thick patch of grass and flowers and gently lowered Ergo to the ground. Lyssa joined him in tending to the smaller man's injuries.
Torquil shaded his eyes as he and Colwyn stood side by side, studying their former prison.
'It's falling to pieces, all right,' Torquil observed. 'And something else.'
Colwyn said nothing, merely nodded and watched. Torquil's comment was premature. As they looked on, the massive structure abruptly fell in on itself with a great roar, almost as if in the final measure the monolith's internal support was little more than fury and nightmares.
Then the earth shook beneath their feet as the pile of rubble slowly rose into the air. It moved languorously at first but rapidly picked up speed, rising heavenward until it was lost to sight.
Somewhere a bird let out a hesitant cheep. Insects resumed their buzzing and small furry things peeked out of tiny holes. The grass that had been crushed flat beneath the Fortress's immense bulk began to straighten, responding to the return of light and air. In a few days none would be able to tell what had so recently afflicted the peaceful valley.
'Let's hope we never see it's like again.' Colwyn mumrmured.
'The Beast was its power and you destroyed the Beast,' Torquil pointed out. 'It's gone forever.'
Both men turned around as a sharp cough sounded.
'Ergo!' Titch shouted delightedly as the injured man opened his eyes.
'He'll be all right,' Lyssa told the boy.
Ergo let his gaze focus on the woman seated nearby. 'I must be in paradise,' he mumbled. He saw the others standing nearby, eyeing him solicitously. 'You are the princess? The one we sought to free from the Beast?'
She smiled. 'Yes.'
'He was right. You are worth dying for.' He let his head lie back on the cushioning grass. 'And there is blue sky overhead, and clouds, and I smell wild pepper and other growing things. We've won.'
'Yes,' she told him, 'you've won,'
Titch leaned close. 'I owe you my life, magnificence.'
'Think nothing of it,' Ergo replied, his spirits rapidly returning. 'As you know, I specialize in trifles.' Titch couldn't repress a grin.
'Ah, boy, I should have stuck to puppies.'
'Oh no,' Titch said, speaking to the others. 'You should have seen him! He turned himself into a giant of a tiger and took on a whole army of Slayers.' His words were filled with admiration and amazement.
'He cut them all down, all by himself.'
'Go on, boy,' Ergo urged him. 'Now tell them how I nearly bested the Beast myself, though I fought with one broken leg and my left arm numb at my side.' Titch tried to respond, but dissolved in boyish laughter, unable to lie and giggle simultaneously.
'We'll have to see about getting you that puppy, boy. One that doesn't disappear every time you doze off.'
'Really? You think so?'
Ergo nodded. 'I am quite positive.'
Colwyn smiled at the exchange, suddenly remembered something almost forgotten. He reached for the chain still hanging about his neck, removed the gold key hanging from it and handed it out to Torquil.
'I think it's time now you unlocked those manacles, don't you agree?'
Torquil hesitated, studying the metal bands encircling his wrists. 'You know, 1 think I'd like to keep them, as a memento of our little journey. Have them gilded someday, if I can afford it.' He moved to hand the key back to Colwyn, who refused it.
'No, the key is yours.'
Torquil scratched at his beard. 'Only the king and his lord marshal have the right to carry this key.'
Colwyn's grin widened. 'That's right,' he said briskly, and turned away to resume his conversation with Lyssa. Torquil frowned in confusion, eyed the key. As realization took him, his frown turned to a grin, then a wide smile. He chuckled, then roared with delight at the irony of it all.
His laughter echoed across the open field, bounced gently off grass and flowers as the little troupe started northward through the valley.
Northward, toward home.
