Millicent stood in the great shadows of the castle and glared enviously at the large Lamya man who had returned to stand at Corrinus's side.

Oh yes Zev was there, just behind his old master, faithful as always. Helena was there too, though a thick chain around one of her ankles led to a rock the size of a bear, limiting how far she could distance herself from her captors.

Millicent switched her glare from Zev to Corrinus. The man had his back to her and didn't even attempt to include her in his musings with Zev. She bit her lip and turned her eyes front. One day, when she ruled the Kingdom, she'd have her very own personal guard too. Until then... she'd watch. And wait.

The two dragons, which had returned home just minutes earlier, swished their tails and fretted about anxiously in front of Corrinus and the sceptre. Both had their scales peeling all over and underneath the skin was red raw. The beasts were in obvious pain and snapped at each other in their discomfort. Helena flinched as one of the dragons hissed.

Corrinus chuckled and lifted his hood a little so that he could see his creatures. "Did they hurt you, my pets? Nasty Elani." He smiled wickedly and purred, "Don't worry, we'll get them next time, yes?"

He waved his arm and Zev turned to drag Helena forwards. She struggled, dreading what was in store for her at the hands of the mad man.

"Don't worry," Millicent hissed as she passed, "you won't be harmed."

Corrinus reached out with his pale hand and lifted her chin so she looked into his odd-coloured eyes. "You will work on my dragons. Heal them, that's what you do. Yes?"

Helena strained her eyes to look at the dragons and then pulled away from the Lamya leader's grip. "I don't like to see creatures in pain," she said. "No matter how evil they are."

Corrinus nodded and glanced at Zev. "Good," he said. "I thought you might say something like that. Now..."

Helena looked at the dragons and shuddered. Their cruel thin faces were just inches from her own. Their emerald eyes stared intently. She stepped forwards as far as her chain would allow and inspected their injuries tentatively, they were hot beneath her touch.

"I'll need my burn-heal salve," she said, turning to Corrinus. "It's in the kitchen, in a tub, you'll see the one I mean."

One of the dragons snapped at her unprotected back. She yelped and jumped forwards.

Corrinus simply raised the sceptre and smiled, calming his pets. "They won't harm you while I'm here," he said, his voice grating. "Millicent will get your salve."

Millicent narrowed her eyes and gave Corrinus a cold smile. "Yes, my lord," she said. "Straight away." And with that, she turned and glided back to the castle, her red skirts barely moving at her ankles.

Helena turned her attention back to the dragons and her eyes flicked to Corrinus's glowing sceptre. For once, she was glad he was there.

#

Little Cloud and the others had emerged after a long hard crawl through the tunnel into a huge underground cavern, the air chill and welcoming. As they spoke in whispers, their voices bounced back in echoes and when they were quiet Cloud could hear the drip, drip, drip of water falling from the stalactites hanging like icicles above their heads.

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Still pools of water were dotted here and there, some deep and dark and others shallow and inviting. Saoirse was the first to investigate these, and she announced the water was fresh, clean, and safe to drink.

"Where are we?" Cloud asked, speaking in a whisper as the cavern seemed too peaceful to disturb.

Jia, now the oldest there, stepped forward and looked up. Way, way above their heads light filtered through cracks in the roof and streamed down to reflect in the pools. She shrugged. "Probably somewhere still in Silence Gorge. Or underneath it, should I say."

"Well what do we do now?" asked Kirin.

Saoirse stood up from the pool she had been kneeling by and shook water from her hands. She smiled and said, "Bathe. We're all covered in muck and dust from that tunnel."

Cloud sighed as the others joined Saoirse by the pool. "I wonder if Leif and the others are okay. We should've made them come with us."

Malin, the only other there the same age as Cloud, shook his head and said, "I don't think you can make Leif do anything he doesn't want to, and besides it's like he said, they were all too big to fit down that tunnel. Even we had trouble!"

"Have faith in Leif, Cloud," Jia called. "Come wash the dust away like Saoirse said. Then we'll talk about moving on."

With a final sigh Cloud resigned himself to the pool side, where he washed his hands and face with the others, the cold water revitalising him. When he had finished, he gazed around at the cavern. "Mal!" he called. "Come have a look round with me. Jia, keep the others here. We won't be long."

When Malin joined him, they set off to explore their new surroundings.

#

Malin spotted it first - a huge boulder, unnaturally round and obviously obstructing the path to another smaller cavern. Cloud looked at it quizzically. At some point in time somebody must have put the boulder there on purpose, and on its face were a series of markings in a language neither he nor Malin were able to understand.

He ran his hand along the carved characters. "I think there's something behind here that Sorrel needs," he said, a strange feeling in his stomach. He shivered though he didn't feel cold.

Malin looked at him and then back at the boulder. "Really?" he said. "Shall I get the others?"

Cloud nodded and stepped back from the rock. "Quickly, Mal. I don't know what it is, but she needs it desperately!"

Malin did not doubt him for a moment. He turned and ran back to get the rest of the Elani.

Cloud didn't have to wait long before the others joined him and they all stood for a moment, studying the boulder.

"Well," Jia said. "I don't recognise any of the markings at all. I wonder who left them here?"

Saoirse folded her arms and nodded. "Lamya," she said.

The others looked at the escaped slave in surprise. She'd obviously seen the symbols before. Cloud waited patiently for her to explain.

Saoirse touched one of the marks. "See this one here, the horizontal line with the three longer vertical lines through it? It's ancient Lamya meaning 'Gate' or 'Block,' I saw several like that on the walls near the underground cells."

She smiled at the others and shrugged. "I asked one of the guards once and he told me happily enough. Said it was to keep stupid Elani from going where they shouldn't. Charming man."

Cloud touched the boulder. "Do you know any more?" he asked. "This one?"

Saoirse sighed and pointed to another. "This one here seems familiar but I can't place it. Sorry, Cloud."

"Please try!" he pressed. "Think hard!"

Saoirse stood gazing at the mark, shaking her head with a frown on her face. It was cut deep into the rock, two sharp diagonal lines, one a little longer than the other.

"Maybe if you remember where you saw it," Jia suggested. "That might help?"

"That's it!" Saoirse cried, laughing. "Conflict! It means conflict. A few older slavers have the mark on their swords. Yes!"

Cloud frowned. "So we have 'Gate' and 'Conflict,' neither helps us very much."

"Sorry." Saoirse's smile fell and was replaced with a look of utter frustration. "That's all I know."

"Maybe," said Kirin, "we could all just try to push the boulder together? It might roll."

Cloud smiled, despite his disappointment at not being able to decipher the code, and nodded. "We can try."

The Elani gathered on one side of the boulder and each placed their hands anywhere they could on the stone. Cloud braced himself, his face pressed up against the rock as the others crowded around him. "One, two, three, push!"

They shoved and struggled at the massive boulder, each one of them trying their hardest, their feet slipping beneath them.

The boulder would not budge. It simply stayed where it was.

Cloud, his arms aching, gave it a glare filled with accusation. "Just like Sorrel," he muttered. "She's stubborn too."