"It''s near here, I feel it," Reckless said.

    Bon looked over at her. She was scanning the side of the road intently, looking for the magical barrier to Banesville the Hag had told them about the previous evening.

    After the witch''s revelations, Lady Nothing, Bon and their guards had camped overnight in the grounds near the house. Then they''d made an early start back north, looking to catch up with Urt.

    Bon''s musings were interrupted by the sound of galloping hooves. He looked ahead again, to see his scout approaching at speed.

    "Trouble," he said.

    The guard gave a brief salute to Lady Nothing as he pulled up in a cloud of dust in front of Bon.

    "Sir," he said, without waiting to be asked. "There''s a group of city soldiers approaching. They''re led by the mage that attacked the Lady in the city, as well as some fat fug in black robes. Looks like another mage to me."

    "Trouble indeed," Bon said. "Did they see you? Never mind," he carried on, as he saw another group of men approaching over a slight rise in the road. "Battle stations!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Take them out!"

    His orders were not needed. The mercenaries were well trained, and knew what to do. Bon pulled to one side as they unslung bows and other weapons.

    "My Lady, we must get you out of here," he said. "There are two mages this time."

    "I''m not running," Lady Nothing said. "If I do our men will be open to magical attack. You''re not strong enough to defend against one of them, let alone two. I''ll try and shield the men, you support."

    "Yes my Lady," Bon replied, dismayed at her answer, but not surprised. The young woman was no coward. He doubted he would be able to contribute much though, he thought, as he prepared his defensive runes. He was a trained mage to be sure, but a relatively minor power, no match for Bethany the Blue alone, let alone whomever she had brought along for support. Whilst his magical ability was sometimes useful, he''d long ago realised his strengths lay more along the lines of administration, something he enjoyed and, it turned out, was good at.

    Still, he thought, rolling up his sleeves and watching as several of his men loosed arrows at the approaching enemy with admirable calm, what he had, he would use.

    The opposing forces could be seen more clearly now. There were already several enemy horses running free, a testament to the arrow fire from his side. However, two figures stood out immediately.

    The first was the familiar form of the councilwoman, Bethany the Blue, on her warhorse. The other, trotting along beside her in an ungainly fashion on some kind of giant farm horse, was a fat figure in black robes. A shiver ran up Bon''s spine. He had a bad feeling about the man.

    A ball of blue fire erupted from Bethany. It headed straight towards their front line, and for a moment Bon worried it would hit. Then Lady Reckless made a gesture, and it exploded in the air, dissipating harmlessly.

    Still, it wasn''t the only magical attack. A line of black fire leapt out from the fat man. Before anyone could react it struck a soldier square in the middle of his ?h?st. The unfortunate fighter immediately exploded in dark flame. Bon threw a nullification spell, but it was too late. The charred remains of the mercenary crumbled to ash in front of them. Some of the other men swore loudly, but they held their ground.

    That was it for the preliminary ?ssaults though, as the armoured fighters on both sides came together with a loud crash. Screams rose up over the sound of metal on metal, and horses neighing in distress.

    As far as Bon could see their small line had held, but the two enemy wizards were soon back in play, and he was forced to use the full extent of his limited magical ability to try and fend off the merciless attacks that rained down upon them.

    Bethany the Blue threw pale green fire, most of that went awry from her intended target, which was Lady Nothing, who didn''t even seem to notice. On the other hand the dark wizard threw a variety of lethal death spells which Lady Reckless had to actively try and divert. Bon helped where he could, but the man was simply out of their league. He could feel the power of his magic, and knew fear. This was a Master Mage they were up against. He didn''t know if even Lady Nothing could counter such.

    Then there was an explosion and he found himself hitting the ground hard. For a second all he could do was lay there, stunned. He could hear shouts from the battle, but they seemed to be coming from a long way away.

    Forcing himself to roll over, he shook his head and tried to stand, only managing to come to a kneeling position with difficulty. When he looked up the battle-lines had moved. His men had been pushed back, and were desperately fighting for their lives. He tried to focus, and managed to locate Lady Nothing, who was also retreating under the combined onslaught of both enemy mages. It was obvious she would not be able to hold them off for much longer.

    He had no real chance of getting through the other wizards'' wards he knew, and both Bethany and her horse would also be protected, but the mount the fat one was riding might have just been bought for him to use here, and he gambled they''d not had chance to protect it.

    When he was as close as he dared get, he cast his spell, putting all of his remaining power into it.

    A bright spark leapt from his fingers and hit the large shire horse in the rump. The results could not have gone better had Bon planned it.

    The horse shrieked and crumpled, just as the dark mage was throwing some kind of energy bolt at Lady Reckless. The bolt went wide, hitting Bethany the Blue in the side, blowing the councillor off her own horse and throwing her into the woodland besides the road.

    The dark wizard''s mount collapsed, taking its rider with it. Both hit hard, with the horse landing on the mage, trapping his leg under its body. The fat magic user screamed in pain and anger as Bon pulled his short sword from its sheath and lurched forward, clumsily slicing down, desperately trying to finish his work.

    The blade twisted at the last second, no doubt hitting defensive magics, and sliced into the wizard''s shoulder instead of the neck.

    The mage roared in anger, and said a Word.

    Bon was suddenly flying thought he air again, thrown clean back across the road. For a strange, long, moment he felt at peace, and then, with a sickening crunch, he was thrown against something.

    It was a tree, he vaguely realised through muddied thoughts, as he proceeded to slide down the trunk, bouncing off branches as he did so, each impact a sharp shock of pain, until he finally hit the ground, landing in a ludicrously absurd sitting position at the base of the tree, as if he''d just decided to take a five minute rest.

    Finally there was a gigantic explosion of light and noise which turned his world white, and then, slowly, the light faded, to be replaced with the eternal night of death.