I was unsure whether Em was going to approach me once she’d been filled-in by Timesnatcher and equipped with her own anti-enchantment pendant. When it became plain that she was heading towards me I thought ruefully that this action on its own would probably be enough to confirm her identity to those who’d been uncertain before. She came to stand by my side, carefully keeping her eyes on mine so that she wouldn’t catch Neverwish in her gaze – if she did, I could tell, she would rush over and burn him to a cinder on the spot. Her stare was cold, her lips were pressed together firmly, and I could almost sense the aura of dreadful anger emanating from her.

If I could almost sense it, I doubted any pendant designed to counter enchantments would prevent Neverwish from picking up what she was putting out there – unless the charms were far cleverer than I’d thought.

“I like the name,” I said, smiling brightly as she halted. “I’ll do my best to use it, but I had a soft spot for Stormchilde…”

“He says that you will start it.” She barely moved her lips, and her voice was dead, joyless even as she continued to use her Mundic accent. “Start it.”

“Do I not get a minute to say I’m glad to see you here?” In spite of the situation I found that I still wanted to gush about how she’d decided to take up the mantle of champion – but I didn’t want to rub her face in it, tell her ‘I told you so all along’, which was what that’d be like for her.

The smile that crossed her lips was nothing more than a brief twitch.

That’s a no, then.

I turned around, finding the purple-clad, stony-masked Neverwish with my eyes, still in the company of the dwarves by the cliff.

Brokenskull, the druid. Mountainslide, the wizard. Dimdweller, the diviner.

I’d been eavesdropping on the crowd’s varied conversations while I waited for Timesnatcher to finish discussing things with Em.

Show me the other enchanters, I thought at Zel.

Glancefall near the doors, with Voicenoise and Dancefire… Lovebright by the Ceryad-tree… Rosedawn beside Lightblind… Spiritwhisper and Wilderweird towards the rear of the chamber…

Any of them doing anything suspicious?

“I’m pretty sure that Rosedawn has her eyes on you. And Dimdweller’s told Neverwish something. Look how straight he’s standing. He’s mad… and nervous.”

I didn’t notice.

“Humans,” she sniffed.

They’re dwarves… It’s hard for me to notice the difference between four-five and four-six, Zel.

“Do it,” Em urged me.

“How much would be the fine for what he’s done?” I asked her quietly. “To commute his sentence?”

“Multiple counts of attempted subversion? At least two hundred platinum… and not enough.”

My eyebrows raised behind the mask. Two hundred…

The pressure of the moment was making me sweat. How was I supposed to talk in front of all these assembled champions, call out one of their own as my very first act?

He’d told me to be myself. How would I usually handle this…?

“Neverwish.” I proclaimed his name like a man calling a dog to heel. “Why aren’t you chasing up your money?”

The blond beard sticking out from beneath the grey mask was quivering with rage.

“I’ve got four platinum here for you.” I patted my pocket. “A neat little start for you. The way I figure it it’s, what, two percent of your total fine? I do hope you’ve been saving up?”

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“My fine?” Neverwish growled. “What is this nonsense? What’s happening, Timesnatcher? Why is everyone acting so strangely?”

He turned his face towards the arch-diviner, who merely shook his head.

“Did you think because we were new, we were fair game?” I called. “That you should make sure you get inside our heads before we pick up better protections against creeps like you?”

“What’s going on, Timesnatcher?” Dimdweller asked in a grizzly voice. I saw the dwarven diviner casting the odd questioning glance at his fellow dwarf, but the enchanter wasn’t meeting his eyes.

“Well I guess you aren’t getting one copper piece out of me,” I continued. “Your share can go towards Starsight’s care.”

“You and Star would be dead if it wasn’t for me!” Neverwish hissed.

“That’s a pretty shocking exaggeration, and even if you’re right, that doesn’t give you the right to go poking around in my head or those of my friends. Who knows if Starsight would even be your friend if you hadn’t been squatting in his skull?”

I noticed the questioning looks of Dimdweller had turned into a not-so-subtle backing away, while Neverwish bunched up his shoulders and clenched his gloved fists.

“It won’t work, Neverwish,” Lovebright said suddenly.

I cast about, finding her still in her place by the tree, the hem of her robe skirting the surface of the water in which she stood. Her love-heart mask was centred on the dwarf, and I could make out the corners of her mouth and her cheeks: she was frowning in anger. Her white arm was raised, her yellow-gold sleeve drawn back – and she was touching a single finger to the crystalline branch that extended over her head.

The Stone of Amplification… She’s touching it?

“What won’t work?” Neverwish panted.

“I can feel what you’re trying, Neverwish,” Glancefall interjected, his Rivertown-accent rolling out from beneath his jester’s mask, his mop of fake gold-hued hair.

“I… I do too,” Rosedawn said – the other enchanters were murmuring their agreement.

I saw out of the corner of my eye as Winterprince slowly extended a blade of ice from his hand.

“I’m not trying anything!” the dwarf snarled. “It’s her! It’s always been her!”

He pointed a trembling finger at Lovebright.

“I see your future more clearly than ever before,” Timesnatcher said, blurring forwards. “You are delusional, Neverwish, to think you would get away with this.”

“I’ve had my eye on her for months, Timesnatcher, I swear.” Neverwish’s voice was shaking. “Fine! I did go into their heads – but you should know why! To protect them, against her! I didn’t know how to bring it to your –“

“I foresaw her power before she found it!” the arch-diviner retorted, scowling.

“Let me touch the Stone, then,” the dwarf said. “Let me see what they all say when I have the power.”

There were two, three heartbeats of utter stillness in the cavern, broken only by the gushing of the waters from the ceiling, and then –

Lovebright laughed. “You think we can trust you, Neverwish? You think I’m so full of myself I’d vouchsafe every ward I’ve placed on our amulets, if you tapped the Ceryad?”

Timesnatcher was looking over his shoulder at her.

“I foresee no danger, Lovebright,” he said. “There’s enough of you here to keep an eye on what he’s doing, and he couldn’t possibly take all of you at once. Step aside. Give the dwarf his chance.”

Lovebright slowly lowered her hand, and shuffled a few paces away, her back turned to the diviner – Neverwish stomped over, pulling off the grey glove of his right hand.

He waded into the pool about the great glassy tree, placing his palm directly onto its trunk.

I looked around at the other enchanters. They were all staring at Neverwish, their masks making their features unreadable, their body language already tense from the anticipation.

What do you think?

“I think he looks guilty.”

“It still won’t work,” Lovebright said softly, sorrowfully, her face still turned aside.

The other enchanters were nodding, many with their arms folded across their chests in resolve.

“What?” Neverwish asked, panting again. “What’s – no, wait –“

Everyone looked at each other, as if to see who would make the first move.

Dimdweller did it, flickering to Neverwish’s side, raising a big dwarven fist to smash into the side of his comrade’s head –

“Not there!” Lovebright cried, flinging up an arm to point –

Zel turned on my brownish illusion-piercing vision, seeing right through the Neverwish standing by the tree. I blinked the magical vision into my left eye so that I could keep an eye on the fake as well as the real.

Even Timesnatcher was following Lovebright’s finger, lips set in a concerned line. I did the same and spotted Neverwish, invisible and sprinting for the doorway, just as Timesnatcher also seemed to find his prey –

Just as the doors swung open, and a champion appeared in the entranceway, flinging a big heavy net into the empty space containing the dwarf.

The newcomer was robed in a clash of orange, pink and green fabrics, a thin-lipped, frowning mask fully covering the face –

“Hi, everyone,” she called over the roars of the invisible enchanter whom I could see struggling in his bindings. As Neverwish started aimlessly throwing fists – a course of action that served only to further entangle him – she darted forwards, blurring, and half-kicked, half-stomped him down to the ground. “I’m Killstop. Pleased to make your acquaintances.” Still with one foot atop the moaning, thrashing dwarf, she gave the room a little wave. “I know, you all love the name almost as much as you love the robe. No need to swamp me with compliments – I was born with these refined tastes.”

Groans and chuckles echoed around the room, deflating some of the tension.

I was one of the ones groaning, but I smiled all the same.