Adam and Sven walked almost in step to the castle library, mostly at Sven’s insistence. As they walked, Adam explained what had happened yesterday. “…and then she slapped me hard enough to knock me off my feet.” He concluded, once again bringing his had to the faint bruise on his cheek. Whatever was in the strange ointment he’d been given, it sure was effective. “Yeah, you probably could have handled that better.” “No need to rub it in…” Adam muttered as they stepped into the library. After searching through the towering shelves of dusty old books for a few minutes, the two of them found Lily curled up on a plush armchair wrapped in several layers of old woven blankets that had probably been quite beautiful once, but were now faded and grey with age. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she had clearly had time to calm down by now. A light frown marred her face, but it was probably directed more at the dusty old scrolls she was reading than anything else. “Lily, I…” Adam began, but Lily waved away his attempt at an apology. “Don’t. Sure, you were being insensitive, but I was clearly out of line.” “Oh, well if you’re sure. Sven’s here, by the way.” That made her look up, and she actually smiled when she saw the gangly young man standing before her. “Sven! It’s been too long! How have you been?” “Oh, you know. Making do. Keeping busy. I hear you had a rough time yesterday.” Lily’s smile fell slightly. “I’m trying not to think about that, for now. Probably not the best way to deal with it, but…” “So, what are you reading?” Adam asked hastily, hoping to steer the conversation onto safe topics. “Oh, this?” Lily raised one of the scrolls. “It’s just old census data. Fairly dry reading, but it keeps me occupied.” She started frowning again. “It doesn’t add up, though…” “What doesn’t add up?” “Population growth. According to the records, it’s ten thousand years since the last time we were here…” “That long? Really?” “I know, right? It’s a wonder this castle is still standing, let alone that any of the banners and things have survived. I’m starting to suspect there’s some kind of magic preserving the place.” “So what was that about population growth?” Sven asked, sounding quite interested. “There hasn’t been any! There was a brief growth period after the end of the war, but just enough to bring the numbers back up to what they used to be. Since then the total population has increased by less than ten percent, in thousands of years. Combine that with the way technology seems stuck at the same level and it’s like the whole country is in some kind of stasis…” “What about the other country? The one we fought, I mean.” “Your guess is as good as mine. There doesn’t seem to have been any diplomatic relations whatsoever between the nations since the war ended.” “That’s odd…” “Everything about this is odd!” She put the scroll of census data down with a sigh. “But I can figure it out later. There are more pressing issues we need to deal with. Like why the Prince of Earth is in his jammies.” “I was sleeping when the portal picked me up, OK? I didn’t exactly get a choice in the matter.” “Well, let’s go find something for you to wear.” Lily emerged from her cocoon of blankets, revealing her own bright yellow outfit. “I’m sure they’ve got an over-tailored silk ensemble just waiting for you.” Sven looked between Adam’s and Lily’s slightly garish silk outfits with a look of trepidation on his face. “Do I have to?” “This is stupid. I look stupid.” Sven muttered sullenly as he fidgeted with his outfit, the shimmering silken garments ranging from deep forest green to the bright hue of a fresh spring leaf. “You sleep with a night cap on.” Adam remarked somewhat mercilessly. “It absorbs the sweat and keeps it from building up and running into my eyes, OK? I only wear it in really hot climates.” “It’s got a jolly little bobble on it.” Adam continued, a teasing smile on his face. “It was a gift, all right? Shut up.” Lily groaned loudly. “Oh my god, stop being such children! Adam, stop teasing Sven. Sven, stop complaining about the clothes. At least you don’t look like a giant canary.” “She’s right, you know. At least the green goes well with your tan. Yellow really isn’t Lily’s colour. It’s honestly almost offensive to my sensibilities as a tailor.” “You think this is bad for you? I’m a model! If my stylist saw me in this getup he would pitch such a fit.” Sven held up his hands placatingly. “All right, all right. We all look stupid. I’ll stop complaining about it. How about we take a look around the castle? There must be something interesting to see around here.” Unable to think of anything better to do, Adam and Lily agreed. Walking through the castle, the three of them were surprised to see the old building was suddenly bustling with activity. No matter where they went they seemed to find some young man or woman dusting the furniture, airing out the rooms or scrubbing the floors. Jan clearly wasn’t kidding when he said he intended to have the place cleaned by the end of the week. Sven made a point of greeting every servant they passed and complimenting them on their hard work. He never got any response beyond a deep bow and the occasional mumbled words of gratitude, but he took it in stride. As they walked, they reminisced about what little they could remember about the place. Lily was particularly fond of the nursery, having spent a good number of hours there playing with the servants’ children. She briefly entertained the notion of trying to find out what happened to them all after she left, but since she couldn’t remember any of their names she put the idea aside as they continued their tour through the building. Perhaps inevitably, their aimless wandering eventually led them to the portal room in the central tower. This was where their adventure had begun so many years ago, and had ended mere months after it began. Now that they had all come to accept that they’d returned, they each felt like something was missing. “Amber should be here with us.” Lily was the first to say what they were all thinking. “It probably won’t be long before she arrives.” Adam guessed. “It’s been more than half a day since Sven arrived.” “I wonder what she’ll be like…” Sven mused. “She was so shy and timid when we first met.” “I don’t think she had any real friends before she met us. I wonder if…” A portal glowing brilliant red appeared before she could finish her sentence. The flash of colour briefly blinded them, and by the time they could see again the portal had already vanished, leaving a squirming young woman sitting on the floor. The woman was constrained by a tight, white straightjacket and her face was covered in old burns. The burns ranged from dull, brown patches that almost blended with her dusky skin to livid red and purple blotches, and her long black hair grew in scraggly lumps around the burns on her scalp. As the three onlookers watched in stunned silence the woman cast her head about wildly, a manic gleam in her dark eyes. Lily was the first to regain enough composure to speak. “A… Amber?” The girl’s head snapped towards them, her eyes growing wide as they flickered between their faces. A strange smile tugged at her cracked lips. “I’m… Back?” Her voice was dry and raspy, barely more than a whisper. “That’s right, Amber. You’re back. Everything is going to be OK now.” “I’m back!” her voice rose in pitch, taking on a manic edge. “I’m back!” She threw her head back and laughed, but it wasn’t a nice laugh. It was the laugh of someone who had been through far too much and had no idea how to handle it. An insane, desperate cackle that showed no sign of stopping or subsiding. Lily worriedly reached out towards her, but a flickering flame appeared in the air between them, driving her back. “Amber! Your magic! Stop!” But the flames just kept spreading, growing larger and hotter until they’d driven all three of them back to the entrance of the room. They watched anxiously as the floating flames danced around the room, igniting every banner they touched until the whole hall had erupted into a blazing inferno. The loud crackle of flame underscored the desperate laughter that still sounded from the centre of the room. One of the thick wooden beams, too old and dry to resist the flickering tongues of flame, came apart under its own weight and fell to the floor with a booming crash, sending embers and burning shards of wood flying around the room. “We have to get her out of there!” Adam shouted frantically. “Don’t be stupid!” Sven replied. “As long as she has her magic the fire can’t hurt her, but it would burn you to a crisp in minutes.” “The fire might not hurt her, but those beams can! If one of them falls on her, it’ll kill her!” “And if you go in there, you’ll be dead!” “What about you then! Use your magic! DO SOMETHING!” “Use my magic on what? The only stone here is the castle itself. I’d bring the whole place down on us. Come on, we have to leave!” Adam gave Sven a conflicted look before looking back at the smouldering beams lining the roof… “Asses to that!” And with that Adam leapt into the blaze, ignoring the flames that were already eating at his silk tunic. Sven shouted something at him, but he didn’t listen. He paid no more attention to Sven’s words than he did to the sting of smoke in his lungs or the burning heat against his skin, every part of his being focused solely on the task of saving Amber. Almost without thinking he drew his sword from its sheath, using it to cleave through the fallen beam that blocked his path… But the heat and the smoke was getting the better of him, and his legs soon refused to carry him further into the blaze. Stumbling forward, Adam desperately reached out for something, anything, that could help him. And he felt something respond. He could sense a body of water somewhere nearby, possibly a rainwater cistern on the castle roof. Dredging up every last bit of strength he could muster, he called the water toward him. It came slowly at first, but soon it started pouring in through every crack and crevice it could find. Surrounding himself with a bubble of water, Adam burst through the flames until he reached Amber. The girl seemed to have taken a complete leave of her senses and was caressing the passing flames, still laughing hysterically. Her straightjacket had long since turned to ash, revealing that the old burns extended across her entire body. Grabbing her arm as gently as he could, Adam half led and half pulled her through the flames, his other hand keeping the shield of water up as well as he was able. When he had almost made it back to the entrance of the room he heard a crack of wood above him, and all he could think to do was to throw Amber out of the way as the broken beam fell towards him. A dull thump resounded above him, and Adam wondered for a moment why he wasn’t dead. Looking up, he saw Sven with his bracers locked together in guard position, holding up the fallen beam even as the smouldering wood burned his stone-clad arms. Marshalling what little presence of mind he had left Adam brought the water up to extinguish and cool the beam, then moved on to put out as much of the other fires as he could. As the inferno died down to a smoulder, Adam let the small glob of water that hadn’t yet boiled away fall to the floor. The crisis averted, Adam finally let himself realize just how far he’d pushed himself. With a sigh of both relief and exhaustion, he collapsed into a heap on the warm, soggy ashes that covered the floor. As Amber’s hysterical laughter slowly subsided into tearful sobs, Adam let his mind slip into unconsciousness.