Sir Estil did most of the rowing. Having the old man do the majority of the work made Arai feel guilty, but Sir Estil didn't mind it, and his stamina was incredible; unlike Arai, he never seemed to get tired. It was a marvelous ability, and Arai found himself wondering, not for the first time, how and where the knight had acquired it.

It was a beautiful cloudless day, and the waters of Lake Tapyrus were still; if the circumstances had been different, Arai might have actually enjoyed this little jaunt. Under these circumstances, however, he was annoyed -- in a few minutes he was going to have to fight his way across an island of monsters, all because a scatterbrained potion vendor had mixed up a restorative with a love philtre. Lillandra's constant expressions of love had also stirred up some unwelcome and unwanted feelings, which he preferred not to confront; this was annoying, too. He wanted nothing more than to find this flower and get this over with, and to return Lillandra to her normal self.

It took them a little over an hour to find the island, which was flanked by two much smaller islands. It was a low, flat island, and covered with dense vegetation, which made it impossible to see very deeply into the interior. Fortunately the island was girded with sandy beaches; Arai didn't think they'd have any trouble making it to shore.

There didn't appear to be anything particularly ominous about the island. Pelicans floated offshore, while seagulls flew in the skies above it, and he couldn't make out any man-traps or snakevines among the foliage. He had taken Emi's warnings to heart, though, and he had no intention of being caught unawares here -- as soon as they landed on the island and finished dragging their rowboat up on the beach, Arai put his hand on the pommel of his sword, and kept it there.

After scouting the area for a few minutes, the two of them entered the forest. Arai, wary of magical threats, took the lead, while Sir Estil, who had donned his armor for the occasion, followed cautiously behind him. Arai was most worried about snakevines -- he had encountered a few of these in the forests of the Holy Empire, and he hated them. They were small monsters and not particularly dangerous, but they had a tendency to slither out of the underbrush, lightning-quick, and seize the ankles of the unwary; just knowing there were snakevines on this island was enough to make him jumpy.

They encountered no snakevines at all, however, as they made their way through the foliage. They did spot a man-trap at one point -- a huge, skeletal tree, draped with hanging moss, which was capable of moving its limbs and ripping to pieces anything that got close to it -- but man-traps were rooted to the earth, like ordinary trees, and it was no danger to them as long as they kept their distance.

Arai and Sir Estil both kept an eye out for Black Roses, but neither of them saw any flowers that fit the description Emi had given them.

"Perhaps there aren't any these flowers here after all," Sir Estil said. "Perhaps this young witch was mistaken."

"It's a pretty big island," Arai said. "Let's keep looking."

And so they continued exploring, avoiding the creeper-plants and keeping well away from the man-traps. The forest eventually began to thin out, giving way to clearings and grassy hillsides. They had just entered one of these clearings when Arai -- who was still on the lookout for snakevines -- suddenly felt Sir Estil clamp a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

He started to turn around, to ask the knight what was the matter...and that's when he saw the moss-man, standing in the middle of the clearing.

It was a huge, brutal-looking humanoid, twice as tall as Arai, its muscular body covered in tree bark and coated with moss. It might have had a face, but the moss hung over its features like long, stringy hair; all that Arai could see of it were dark hollows where its eyes ought to have been. And unlike the man-traps and other plant-monsters they had seen on the island, this one was ambulatory; it could move about on its massive, tree-trunk legs.

There was something else in the clearing as well -- a huge boulder that had been carved into the shape of a human head. It was a very ugly carving, with a leering face and two bulging eyes; it reminded him of the demon-fetishes they had found on the little island, before the Skirrish pirates had captured them.

The creature, which had been loitering around the statue, spotted them immediately; Arai barely had time to draw his sword before it started roaring at them. Sir Estil drew his sword as well, and began edging to Arai's right. "I think we've got a fight on our hands," he said, quite calmly.

"I think you're right," Arai said, though he was not nearly as calm. This monster was big.

It roared at them a second time, and then charged. The thing must have weighed thousands of pounds, because it seemed to shake the earth with every footfall; it may as well have been a Jek war-elephant charging them. They held their ground, though, and except for a twitch of his mustache, Sir Estil appeared totally unflappable.

The monster chose to attack Sir Estil first, barrelling forward, swinging one huge fist at the knight's head. Sir Estil ducked beneath the blow, rolled out of the way, and slashed at it as it went flying past him -- the knight's speed and accuracy were, as always, incredible -- but the slash did next to nothing, for the monster was armored over in that thick tree bark.

Silus would be more effective, and in fact Arai was already rushing forward, hoping to cut the monster down with a few quick strokes. The moss-man was faster than he expected, however, and it turned on him as soon as Sir Estil rolled out of its path, trying to backhand him with one huge, muscular limb. Arai couldn't duck beneath it, so he scrambled away from it instead -- but that was a mistake, because now he was off-balance, and the monster was coming for him, ready to tackle him to the ground. He tried to maneuver his sword around, so that the moss-man would impale itself on the blade as it fell upon him, but he wasn't fast enough, and in any case the creature managed to slap the sword out of his hands.

He looked up, and found himself face-to-face with the monster, looking into the empty, skull-like sockets were its eyes should have been. He heard Sir Estil yelling something.

The monster bellowed and drew back a huge fist, aimed right at his face. That was the last thing he remembered; there was nothing after that but oblivion.

* * *

He awoke in a strange place. He was in a warm, soft, comfortable bed, covered with a big, fluffy quilt...and when he pulled the quilt away from his face, he found himself looking up at a plastered ceiling. Sunlight was pouring in through a window to his right, just above the bed, filling the room with glittering dust particles. It appeared to be morning.

He sat up, confused. He touched his face, expecting to find some injury there, but he felt nothing amiss. He was wearing nightclothes -- evidently someone had stripped him of his armor and traveling gear -- and he was alone; neither Sir Estil, nor Shell, nor Lillandra, were anywhere to be seen. He didn't see Silus anywhere, either.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

There was something very familiar about the room, and the longer he looked at it, the more familiar it became. The bed, the window, the desk in the corner...

And then, all at once, it hit him. This was his room. This was his home, the little cottage his father had built for them on the banks of the Tuv.

But that was impossible. How could he be here? He had burned this house to the ground, just before setting out on his quest to find Silus. And how could he be in Velon? He had been in Galleus just a moment ago, with Sir Estil, fighting a...

He stopped, frowning. What had he been fighting? And who was Sir Estil?

A voice suddenly called out to him from the other side of his bedroom door: "Arai?"

The door opened. Arai stared. "Maya?"

"You're finally awake," she said, coming over to the bed. She lifted his chin and kissed him on the lips. "You were sleeping so peacefully I didn't want to wake you, but it's getting a little late now, don't you think?"

"Maya?" He was so perplexed that he didn't even think to object to this unexpected kiss. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I live here, silly." She laughed. "Come on, get dressed. Odo will be here in a few minutes."

"Odo?"

"He was coming over to help you cut firewood this morning, remember?"

He blinked. "I...yes, yes, I remember."

"Good." She patted him on the knee. "Breakfast will ready soon."

"All right," he said, throwing the quilt off. "Except..." There was something bothering him about all this, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. How could Maya be here? And why wasn't she wearing her Selestrian robes? She was dressed in ordinary, homespun clothing, her long, blonde hair tied back in a bun; she looked like a young housewife. She was also quite obviously pregnant. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"You probably just had another one of those funny dreams," she said. "Get dressed! We've got a long day ahead of us."

"Yes," he said, dismissing the strange feelings. Maya was right; he was probably just remembering something from a dream. He went to the closet, got dressed, and went into the kitchen, where he ate a nice breakfast with Maya. She doted on him.

After breakfast he went outside, where he found Odo already hard at work, chopping down trees near the riverbank. The Tuv was almost half a mile wide here, and churning with summer ice melt; Arai could hear its roaring from far away.

Odo saw him coming and stopped for a moment, leaning against his enormous axe. "Finally," he said. "Where have you been? I thought you wanted to get an early start." And then he frowned, because Arai was staring at him. "What's the matter?"

"It's just...I feel like I haven't seen you in a long time."

The big man grinned. "Sure, sure. Let's get to work, eh?"

And they spent the rest of the morning cutting down the dead trees adjacent to the riverbank and sawing them up. Odo was his usual jovial self, cracking jokes and cracking wise, and slapping Arai on the back and telling him to work harder whenever he started to slow down.

The morning went by quickly. Arai was satisfied with the amount of work they managed to get done, but there was still something bothering him, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. "Thanks for your help," he told Odo when they finally stopped to take a break.

"Don't thank me," he said. "Thank Maya. She was the one who suggested I come out to help you this morning." He gave Arai another slap on the back. "You know what your problem is, kid? You have a hard time admitting when you need help."

"Really?"

"But it's okay." He grinned. "I've got your back."

"Arai!" Maya called out from the house. "It's time for lunch!"

That sounded good. Arai rose to his feet, and turned to ask Odo if he wanted to join them, but the big man had vanished.

Confused, he walked back to the house. Maya was there, standing in the doorway...only it wasn't Maya anymore; it was Lillandra, and there was a small boy standing next to her, a serious-looking boy with dark hair and dark eyes. He looked up at Arai, his expression grave.

"It's lunchtime," Lillandra said.

* * *

He was standing in a snowy field outside of Hammersvik. The Nightfall, the great cylindrical tower in which the Night Queen had ensconced herself, rose above the plain, dark and terrible. Her dragon, Catalyus, was circling the tower, daring them to come near it.

Vex was standing next to him. The young sorcerer was a boyishly handsome lad, with hair the color of straw, and with green eyes, flecked with gold. He was gazing up at Catalyus, too. "That dragon is going to be a problem," he muttered.

"I think you're right."

"Are you ready for this? How are you feeling?"

Arai furrowed his brow. How was he feeling? "I don't know."

"It's a lot to take in, I suppose," Vex said. "How long have we been fighting? But it's almost over now. Victory is finally within our grasp. We're going to defeat the Night Queen; we're going to take the Nightfall. By tomorrow morning the witch will be dead, and the tower will belong to us. And then..." He turned to Arai, grinning a strange, wolfish grin.

"And then?"

"And then I'll finish what she started."

* * *

Night had fallen, but the battle continued to rage. Below the battlements, the Steelmen were fighting the Night Queen's soldiers; above, the Ice Wyrm, trailing snow and sleet and sailing through the air like a great comet, was freezing the harpies, rock-men, and other monsters that had come to Lillandra's aid.

Arai himself was standing atop Fort Drakness, looking into the eyes of Lord Pierce, who was looking back at him, defiant. Fights were breaking out all around them, but Arai paid no attention to these; Lord Pierce was the only one who mattered. He was a tall, gaunt man, extremely pale, whose gray eyes gave no indication of what he might be thinking. He wore a black cape over his shoulders and carried a slender fighting-sword in his hand. He motioned for Arai to come forward.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

He tightened his grip on Silus. "It's exactly what I wanted." And he attacked with the Crashing Waves, striking the man again and again. Lord Pierce was not known to be a skilled swordsman, but he more than held his own against Arai; in fact Arai was having trouble even touching him. The man was incredibly fast.

The Lord Protector taunted him: "I'm right in front of you," he said. "Strike me, if you can."

Arai attempted to do just that, but the man kept evading him. There was something strange about all this -- why wasn't the Lord Protector fighting back? He seemed content to avoid Arai's blows, to dodge and duck and roll out of the way.

This whole battle was strange, in fact. What was he doing here? Why was he fighting up here all alone? What had happened to his allies, to Odo and Maya and and Grizz and Vex and Lillandra?

He stopped himself. Lillandra? Lillandra wasn't his ally; she was the enemy.

Wasn't she?

For several seconds he simply stood there, confused and distracted. Lord Pierce could have easily taken advantage of his distraction, but he didn't; he, too, simply stood there, watching and waiting. All around them, soldiers were fighting and dying; above, harpies were screaming, and below, fires were raging, for Catalyus had just incinerated the Steelmen's wooden siege engines with dragonfire. He was surrounded by chaos.

He couldn't let himself be distracted. He had to fight, he had to move--

Arai.

He stopped when he heard the voice. It was a familiar voice, and it seemed to be coming from inside his own head. It said his name, and then it said it again.

Arai.

The voice had a calming effect on him. He took a deep breath and relaxed his grip on Silus, allowing the sword to fall to his side. Lord Pierce, who had been standing in front of him, vanished, and then everything else began to vanish, too -- the soldiers, the monsters, even the fort itself. For a moment he felt himself floating in white nothingness.

Slowly but surely, a new world began to take shape around him, a world of ice and snow. He was standing in front of the crystalline shrine of Illu Matté.

"I was starting to worry," the voice said.

He turned, and found himself looking down at a small, elfin sort of man, with a shiny bald head and a huge red beard. He was wearing a smith's apron, and holding a hammer in one hand.

Arai had seen this man before, in a vision. "Illu Matté."

The sorcerer-smith nodded. "Let's have a look at that sword," he said.

Arai held it up for him. The smith examined it, nodded again, and said, "I see...yes, I see." He looked up, his eyes twinkling. "Do you remember what I told you, when I gave you this sword?"

"You...you told me to go forth and fight evil."

He smiled. "It's time to wake up." He touched Arai's forehead with his index finger...and once again, the world faded away.