"We think one of Jartan's granddaughters."

"Were you able to get to her?"

"We think she's hiding somewhere in this town. We're making inquiries."

A granddaughter? Could she take the time to hunt her down? She pondered the course; it'd only take an hour or two, but there were things far more pressing, and besides, whatever news she carried was not worth the bother of torturing out of her now.

"Let her go. Now bring me something to eat, and then we leave."

Struggling with exhaustion, Kochanski groaned with relief as his feet touched solid ground in front of Stonehenge. Deidre had guided him around the huge tree and into the clearing while he babbled excitedly, telling her of the famed history of the artifact back on Earth.

And yet it was not exact, he suddenly realized.

All the lintels were in place, the circle truly complete, the outer ring of stones all standing as well. The stones were covered with swirling designs made of chalk and blue paint. There were other differences as well: two smaller circles of upright wooden posts were in the middle, one inside the other, each the height of a man and with holes carved, apparently at random, through the posts.

He had never thought that the Stonehenge the druid would create would be the one he remembered from two thousand years ago, and not the one that was on the Salisbury Plains of today.

Making a link between the two would probably be impossible unless Kochanski could convince the crazy old man to knock half of his structure down. And the thought of making his own full-sized Stonehenge now seemed foolish. Even if he did, what chance would there ever be of success?

Dejected, he sat in the middle of the circle, pouring out the story to Deidre. She agreed with his analysis, telling him that her grandfather had tried many times to find Earth, and had always failed. She then got Kochanski to talk about himself, and sat with rapt attention until Leti and the others arrived to announce they were leaving.

Stretching, Kochanski looked over at the dark-haired girl, who shook her head and forced a smile.

"A long flight," she sighed, and then to his surprise, she drew closer and slipped her hand into his.

"Kochanski!"

"Oh, shit," he whispered. "I know that voice."

He looked over his shoulder and saw Sara flying in from the west, escorted by two of the druid's sorcerers.

"And here I fly across a damn ocean looking for you, worried sick, and I find you with this... this cheap woman!"

"Now Sara," Kochanski said, looking from one girl to the other.

"And who is this loud-mouthed child?" Deidre retorted.

"I'm his lover," she snapped. "Hisex -lover."

"Lover?" Deidre looked at Kochanski with wide-eyed shock. "So you seduce girls barely old enough to know better, is that it!"

She slapped him hard across the face and stalked away.

"I've never touched her!"

Deidre stormed off without replying.

Kochanski gave Sara a withering look. "Get out of my sight," he hissed.

"With pleasure, you cheater," she replied haughtily. "Now where's Leti?"

Kochanski nodded to where the rest of the group was landing.

"I'll never let you touch me now," she snapped, her voice choking.

"That's fine with me. I'd kiss a snake first."

She slapped him across the other cheek and stalked off.

Dazed, Kochanski stood in the darkness, swearing softly at whatever evil-minded god had ever conceived of the idea of creating women.

From out of the shadows Mark appeared. "Getting punched around a bit tonight, aren't we?"

"They can all go to hell."

"Both of them will want you even more now, if only to beat the other one." Mark smiled.

"God spare me." Kochanski rubbed his jaw. "Just what the hel! is Sara doing here?"

"She was sent by Pina. I was just talking with her and Leti. It took them over a week to crack the security code into the treasure vault. They wanted to double check, just to make sure. And they found what we already know--some very valuable crystals were missing."

"Pina tore the place apart with a security check. Vena came up as a suspect so Sara was sent out here to tip Leti off and run a check. The girl was seen in the area the night before the keeper was found. No one ever suspected that he had been murdered until they got the vault open."

"Kind of risky, sending a kid out like that," Kochanski replied, unable to hide his concern.

"She can obviously take care of herself. And don't forget, she is pushing eighteen," Mark replied.

"Too bad she didn't get here a couple of days earlier."

Mark nodded in agreement. "There's something else, though."

Kochanski could sense his fear. "Go on."

"Gorgon cut behind Jartan's forces three days ago. We haven't heard a word from them since."

Kochanski was silent, knowing something more was coming.

"It was the confirmation for Leti," Mark replied. "It's no coincidence; she's convinced Patrice is in league with him, that this whole thing was planned, and the only glitch in it was our forcing Vena to come along."

"Then what the hell was she up to?"

"With the power of the three Crystals of Fire, and the portal crystal, she could break the barriers the gods have set about this world to keep Gorgon out. It looks like the entire war was a feint to draw the three most powerful gods away from the true threat. Patrice is going to open a portal and let Gorgon in.

If she succeeds, he'll have his armies in Haven, perhaps even take Asmara and the Heart Crystal before Jartan can get back."

"Jesus Christ," Kochanski whispered. "If only we had known before Patrice got to us."

"Sara's trip wasn't all a waste, though," Mark said quietly. "At least now we know how bad things are.

Patrice will probably try to cut us off," he went on. "We'll take enough time to eat, but exhausted or not, we've got to try and catch her, or get back to Asmara and organize an attack before she opens the gate into hell."

Chapter 13.

"Jesus, Captain, I think it's burning," Kochanski called, coming up to fly by Mark's side.

Anxious, Mark tried to focus his attention through the thick overcast; he could sense the image of the first floating island off the coast, but beyond that--nothing.

There was nothing on the comm link crystals, either, and since leaving the mainland, the group had maintained a strict communications blackout to help avoid detection.

"He's right," Leti shouted, swinging up beside Mark and Ikawa. "They're in trouble."

"Let's get below these damn clouds. Maybe we'll see something."

Mark weighed the decision. Flying through the thick overcast hid their movement, since it was still unknown if Patrice had support, yet he didn't want to drop down on the floating island without knowing what was going on.

Mark looked over his shoulder. He could barely see Saito, who was directly behind him, and the rest of the group was strung out beyond in the clouds with Sara bringing up the rear.

At least he had convinced the druid and Deidre to rest overnight in Portus. Considering the grueling punishment of this flight, the old man would have been in the ocean by now.

"All right," Mark called, "let's dip out of the clouds and take a quick look. If we're heavily outnumbered, we'll pull back up."

Slowing he started to bleed off altitude, the rest of the group following suit. The thick overcast held for long minutes, until he felt as if they'd fly right into the ocean before they'd drop out of the storm.

Slowly, the greyness broadened out, there was a faint glimpse of dark rolling seas, then clouds again, then more sea, a wisp of tangled grey, and they were clear.

"Goddamn it," Mark groaned.

The horizon ahead was awash with flames, reflecting luridly against the low overcast.

"That bitch destroyed the city," Leti screamed in rage.

Mark drew his thoughts forward, scanning the sky for any movement of flyers. It was empty.

"I'm not picking up any combat," Kraut shouted, "just the city in flames."

"Standard battle approach," Mark called, using his communications crystal. "Remember, they have wall crystals. I'm calling in our arrival so they know we're friendly, but look out anyhow; they might be trigger-happy."

Mark tried repeatedly to raise the island's command center but was greeted by silence. As the group winged closer, to his horror he could see why. The entire core of the city was a sea of flames. The drawbridges to the five bastion points were up, but two of them were in flames as well. Several miles out, they passed over a sinking ship with dozens of survivors clinging to its sides.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Shigeru cried.

"Not yet. It could still be a trap, and we've got to find out how bad the city is first. We'll send somebody back later."

Drawing closer, Mark was sickened by the horror of what he was seeing. Scores of boats dotted the water, dozens of them overturned, flame-scorched and sinking. Hundreds of people clung to wreckage, crying for help, raising their hands to the group which now passed overhead. An explosion shook the air, and ever so slowly the vast center core of the city started to settle down, like a wounded beast sinking into the sea.

Steam shot heavenward, filling the sky with a dirty mist that blended in with the rolling clouds of black smoke.

The city kept settling farther into the sea, and then, ever so slowly, the distant edge rose into the air.

"She's going down!" Leti cried.

Horrified, Mark watched as ant-sized people leaped into the sea, while others, caught in the flaming streets and collapsing buildings, screamed in terror.

Higher and higher the city rose, while the eastern end started to slide downward.

Mark cursed with impotent rage as the vast structure seemed to hover for a final moment before starting its long slide to the ocean floor. Huge sections broke away, crushing those unfortunate enough to be floundering in the dark waters below. Explosions rent the air as buildings crashed into each other. There was a last convulsive roar, and then, as if a hand had swept over the ocean, the fires went out. The only light in the wreath of smoke came from the now feeble-looking torches of the two burning bastions.

Flying with maddening speed, Mark winged into one of the three surviving bastions. Screams of panic cut the air at his approach, and a shower of arrows rose to greet him. Pulling up, he hovered in the air, the rest of his comrades forming around him.

"We're friends," Mark roared. "Stop shooting, we're friends!"

"Stop shooting," came a distant voice from below. "It's the offworlders."

Mark waited for a moment, then slowly began to lower himself, keeping his shield at full strength. There was the slim possibility that it could still be a trap--or the other chance, equally dangerous, that someone might have a red crystal affixed to an arrow, which, if it hit his shielding, would destroy him in a fiery detonation.

Several arrows still came up, which Mark and the others easily dodged. Cautiously, they settled atop one of the fighting towers to be greeted by a motley assortment of grim-faced fishermen with bows, women, children, and a single soldier.

"Thank the gods you're here," the soldier cried, trying to hold back tears of rage.

"What happened?" Leti asked, even as she bent over to help a badly burned woman who laid on the bastion floor in numbed shock.

"We picked up a brief warning from the next city westward that they were under attack by a dozen sorcerers," the soldier said quietly, his voice edged with shock. "That was it; we heard nothing more.

Oplin and Uyl, our two sorcerers, called the alarm. Before we were even half ready they came in low from the south, undetected."

"We didn't stand a chance," a woman cried angrily. "There were thirty of them, and a terrible one that suddenly appeared from the east shot bolts like the sun itself."

"Patrice." Leti whispered the name like a curse.

"They knew our weak points," the soldier continued, "went under the city, hitting the pontoons, knocking out the fire pumps. Oplin and Uyl were dead in the first minute, fighting with our wall crystal. They got two of them, at least, but once they were dead, we were defenseless. My comrades fought for the city; I was sent out here to organize the defense of this bastion."

"I can't believe I'm the only one left."

"We begged for quarter," the woman shrieked. "We begged them to let us at least go to the boats, but that woman--that woman told her followers to keep firing. Even some of them were sickened by the slaughter and drew back. I heard her scream that she wanted everything sunk before the offworlders got here."

"She wanted to deny us quick access back," Leti said, her voice cracking with rage. "Wipe out two jump points and we'd have to detour far to the north, adding days to our return."

"If you hadn't been coming here, this never would have happened. My husband wouldn't be dead!" The woman leaped at Mark, tearing at him, pounding him with her fists.

Mark didn't resist but let her vent her rage. Suddenly the woman dissolved into tears, and tenderly he put his arms around her.