‘No. No. No. Why didn’t I get home?’ Maggie shouted.

She pounded on Peter’s chest then staggered back as he looked into Peter’s face.

‘Jupiter? What happened to you?’ Maggie’s voice faltered as confusion showed on her face.

‘Peter!’ said Sarah ‘The skyfort. We can’t stay here.’

The skyfort hit against the rock of the circular opening. Shards of wood skittered over the temple floor.

‘Maggie,’ said Peter. ‘It is me. Peter. Jupiter Drake.’

‘What happened to you. You’re older, and your clothes…’

‘It’s hard to explain. It’s been a long time.’

Maggie fell into his arms, her shoulders shuddered. ‘I want to go home.’

Peter hugged her back. ‘I thought I had lost you. I had to save you. I had to stop you.’

Maggie stepped back, her eyes shined with tears as they studied his face, then flicked to Sarah and back.’

‘What? You stopped me from going home. You’re the reason I’m still in this place?’

‘You died,’ said Peter. ‘I had to save you from that.’

‘Who is this girl?’ said Sarah. She came close and pulled at Peter’s arm. ‘There’s no time for this.’

‘There’s always time,’ said Peter. ‘Don’t you see? Maggie. When you returned to Earth you regretted ever leaving Eoth. I saw you die?’

‘How?’

‘You were an old woman. Bitter and miserable and wanting…’

‘I lived a long life? On Earth?’ Maggie shook her head. ‘How can that be?’

‘I had to stop you.’

‘How dare you? I returned home. I lived to an old age. And you’ve taken that away from me? I can’t ever return to Earth now. I had one chance…’

The manisaur zenvrikan priest approached them. ‘What have you done? What have you done?’

Bergwash Bamrushi pulled the angry priest back even as he struggled to keep hold of Zaj who moaned as the Air Lord’s skyfort struck again.

‘We must leave this place. We will draw the skyfort away and save the temple.’

Tamm pulled Zaj close and calmed her as Peter dragged the weeping Maggie across the watery floor. The moon reflection had shattered as the time of the lunar alignment passed.

‘Who is she Peter?’ shouted Sarah.

‘I told you,’ Peter said. ‘I knew her when I came before.’

Maggie pulled out of Peter’s grasp and staggered across the gleaming metal pattern on th erippling surface of the pool. Berg caught her as she slipped. The manisaur lifted her and carried her into the tunnel.

‘Maggie, she and I returned to Earth. Before.’

‘But you stopped her now? Why? Who is she to you??’

‘I knew her for a month, years ago. On Eoth. But they were special days. They made me.’

‘And who am I? You’ve known me for a month. Are these special days too?’

‘Sarah.’ Peter held her arm but Sarah pulled free and stormed into the tunnel.

Peter looked around. The skyfort had moved away. If the Air Lord chased Zaj, she had left. If he wanted the zharaqsa, Varuk’hat’s mount still carried it. The zharaqsa had not made it to the portal, though the imp had fallen through. But Walt and Tiz and Jan had made it home.

‘What have you done?’ the zenvrikan intoned again. ‘You have broken the symmetry.’

The rippling pool had stilled and now reflected a dark sky with no stars.

Peter turned into the tunnel and ran after the others.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘I heard what you said.’ Maggie glared at Jupiter. ‘You knew me for a month. Years ago. It that all this has been?’

They had gathered at the mouth of the tunnel. Peter had no idea what to do next. He had raced across the continent with a single goal in mind. And now he faced Maggie. Her face glowed white as the full bright moon slipped from behind a cloud.

I thought she died. She did die.

‘Maggie. No. It’s confusing.’

‘What? How it’s been years for you,’ said Maggie. ‘But no time for me? How you suddenly look older almost a man? How there’s another girl all of a sudden.’ Maggie stepped towards him. ‘Confusing is not even the beginning of what this is?’

The call of a mount echoed from the rocks.

‘What’s that?’ Maggie said and stepped closer to Peter.

‘My mount,’ said Sarah. ‘Peter. We’ve got to find her and get away. To the klaeds.’

‘And who is this savage?’ said Maggie her face contorted with scorn.

‘This savage is who got us to the temple in time to save you. And get the children home.’

Maggie turned away and walked towards Berg and Tamm.

‘Jupiter didn’t save me,’ Maggie said her back to Sarah and Peter. ‘He ruined my life, my future.’ Her face remained twisted with anger and frustration.

‘Maggie. It’s not…’

‘It is like that. I thought you cared. I thought you wanted me safe back home… I thought…’

A mount ran towards them and Maggie screamed. Berg and Tamm drew their weapons.

‘Peter,’ shouted Sarah. ‘That’s Varuk’hat’s mount, not mine.’

‘The zharaqsa,’ Peter said.

Imperial troops ran behind the mount forcing it on, but with nowhere to go, trapped against the rocks, it turned on the people trapped with it and screamed at them about to attack.

The imp ran into the tunnel entrance where the group had gathered.

‘Breeze’ said Maggie. ‘You escaped.’

‘Yes… Air Lord… Jumped,’ Breeze said.

The mount screamed again, but turned to face the arriving imperial troops.

‘There’s no way out through the temple,’ said Peter.

‘We will have to fight them here,’ said Tamm. He had stepped close to Peter. ‘Jupiter. You will have to explain how you are taller and wider than me in the space of minutes.’

‘Later Tamm. It’s good to see you again.’ Peter bumped shoulders with his friend the sejrat’sha — turned blade.

‘Though the circumstances are unprecendented. And dire.’ Berg stood close on Peter’s other side. ‘I saw you enter the portal, and then enter from behind me again.’

‘Later, Berg.’

Breeze bounced up and down in front of Peter.

‘I… Know… I… Remember…’

‘Breeze…’

The imp reached up and took hold of the pounamy pendent.

‘Give me the webbing. You have it? You do.’ Breeze said.

The mount stumbled against the tunnel entrance, then it leapt forward to attack the imperials.

Peter looked the imp in his strange bat-bird face. The liquid eyes held an intelligence and awareness he had seen in Varuk’hat’s.

‘Yeah.’ He reached into his fur-feather coat and pulled the tangled webbing from an inner pouch. The cap fell to the ground.

Without taking his hand from the pendent Breeze picked the glittering cap and settled it into his fur-feathered head. He began to untangle the webbing but stopped and looked confused.

Peter took hold of his hand and put it onto the pounamu once more.

‘Let me help you.’ And Peter twisted the webbing open and Breeze wriggled into the complex bands and belts.

‘Thank you friend… Jupiter,’ said Breeze. His hand no longer on the pounamu. ‘I have wanted this without knowing.’

‘Breeze?’ said Maggie. ‘What happened.’

‘Varuk’hat?’ said Sarah.

The imp ran from the tunnel towards the mount and scrambled up onto the mount’s shoulders. Then together they paced towards the imperial troops with renewed purpose. Tamm and Berg flanked the mount and Sarah drew her blade and stood alongside them.

‘The Jupiter is close by. We can escape,’ said Tamm.

‘But with how many?’ said Peter. ‘There are six of us.’

‘We have done it before,’ said Berg.

‘I guess you’re right. It’s been a while,’ said Peter. ‘Where is she?’

‘Up to the left. Higher on the slope. To catch the wind above the trees.’

‘Good thinking. You always were a good sailor.’ Peter said but Tamm had already joined Sarah again.

The mount struck then and scattered the Imperials who retreated. Sarah and Tamm chased off a pair who tried to flank the beast and get at them.

‘We have to get Zaj away from here,’ said Berg.

‘We have to get the zharaqsa clear. The Air Lord wants the catalyst.’

‘He wants Zaj,’ said Berg.

‘Both probably,’ Peter said. He noticed then that Maggie had slipped away. She climbed the webbing after Breeze.

‘What is that great best?’ said Berg.

‘It is a mount from the southern lands.’

‘And your friend, the woman. She is from the Southern Snows too?’

‘As am I.’ Peter grinned.

The mount made a run for it, and headed up the slope towards the way it had entered the hanging valley, the imperials gave chase.

‘After them. Or they’ll captuer The Jupiter,’ said Tamm.

Berg and Tamm pulled Zaj along with them in the wake of the mount and the Imperials.

‘They want the zharaqsa,’ said Peter.

‘We will escape with Zaj while they are distracted,’ said Berg.

‘We need to save both.’ And Peter sprinted to keep up with Tamm who had angled off the trail.

Then The Jupiter came into sight, and Peter stumbled in surprise. He remembered her.

‘But it’s been so long.’

‘Quick. Spin up the kheel,’ said Tamm.

Peter began the spin while Tamm raised the sail. Berg kept Zaj subdued. The imprinting seemed to have diminished and the young manisaur female had become more docile, but confused.

‘I lost them,’ said Sarah. ‘The mount ran too fast and I had to fight off Imperials.’

She tumbled into the outrigger as three Imperials ran up to The Jupiter but stopped in surprise as the craft’s sail cracked once in the wind and slid down the hill. It left the ground as Peter spun the kheel, the other hand on the tiller as Tamm sheeted the sail in close hauled on the wind.

The outrigger dodged and wove through the beech trees as shouts and cries rose from gathered Imperial troops. Away over the lake the Air Lord’s skyfort hung like a heavy dark cloud. A lone gharumal on a long line struggled to bring the skyfort to shore.

The mount screamed defiance in the distance as it struck again at the remaining troops. And they they saw it free of attackers as it made its way up the pass.

‘It must be nearly dead after all this action,’ said Peter.

‘A stout beast. Varuk’hat rides her well.’

‘What do you mean. That was Breeze. I saw Varuk’hat fall into the portal.’

‘Only Varuk’hat is imprinted to the mount. Of course that was Varuk’hat.’

‘Breeze is Varuk’hat?’ Peter sat stunned. ‘How is that possible?’