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‘Show yourselves!’ Tallus shouted, shaking his fist. ‘I know you are there!’

The door on the other side of the room flew open and the Warden rushed in, his pale eyes bulging, his scanty hair flopped limply over his forehead.

‘What is the meaning of this uproar?’ he demanded. ‘I am only a trifle late for our meeting, Master Tallus. There is no need to shout!’

‘Aha!’ cried Tallus, swinging round to confront him. ‘So, you have set spies on me, have you, Warden? I might have known!’

‘S-spies?’ spluttered the Warden. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Someone came in!’ Tallus roared. ‘I saw that door over there open and close! And then I heard a voice! Someone is hiding in here!’

He glared around the room. The Warden eyed him nervously, clearly wondering if soldiers should be called to subdue this madman. Rye, Dirk and Sonia stood stock still, not daring to move.

‘Well, what does it matter?’ snapped Tallus. ‘The more people who hear what I have to say, the better! Warden, I have developed an important theory regarding the skimmers. You must listen to me!’

‘Yes, well, I am listening, Master Tallus,’ the Warden said peevishly. ‘But I am very pressed for time this morning, so—’

He broke off as Tallus held up a bony finger.

‘I have been blind,’ the healer announced. ‘Blind—ha, that is a good one! But a few days ago I saw it all in a flash.’

‘Did you, indeed?’ the Warden muttered.

Tallus nodded. ‘I was examining a skimmer—a very fresh specimen, the best I have ever had. A young friend had called by just before I began. He wanted my advice about … about something that need not concern us here.’

Rye felt a little jolt. Tallus was talking about him! For an instant he was back in the healer’s workroom. He was back with the steam and the smell. He could see the dead skimmer lying on the table, its goat-sized body covered in pale, velvety fuzz, its leathery wings outspread, its rat-like snout snarling …

He shivered. He felt Dirk and Sonia glance at him curiously, but did not look at them.

‘The boy mentioned the specimen’s eyes,’ Tallus went on. ‘He had never seen a dead skimmer’s eyes in such good condition before. The eyes are fragile and usually bleed you know, when—’

The Warden shuddered. ‘Spare me the details, if you please,’ he said. ‘I have just had breakfast.’

Tallus snorted. ‘The point is, when my young friend had left, I looked at my specimen’s eyes more closely. In all our researches my apprentice and I have paid little attention to the eyes—’

‘Well, of course not!’ the Warden broke in impatiently. ‘Skimmers are as good as blind, as I understand it.’

‘In daylight they are,’ said Tallus. ‘It has long been my theory, and my apprentice agrees with me, that skimmers live and breed in the dark—in a cavern underground, perhaps, where sight is not important.’

Or in some foul place where the only light is dull red, thought Rye, feeling cold inside as he remembered his dream.

‘They emerge at night to hunt,’ Tallus continued. ‘And why?’

The Warden stared at him. ‘Because they are hungry, of course! Really, Master Tallus, you must get to the—’

‘No!’ Tallus cried, his voice cracking. ‘Skimmers hunt at night because they cannot hunt during the day! Because daylight renders them helpless! It is their one weakness. When I looked closely at the specimen’s eyes I saw clearly that this must be so. The eyes were totally without protection. Almost transparent!’

‘Yes, well, that is all very interesting,’ the Warden mumbled, looking queasy. ‘But—’

‘And it suddenly came to me!’ Tallus exclaimed. ‘It is so obvious, once you have seen it! Ever since the skimmer invasions began, Warden, we have been blanketing Weld in darkness at night. But we should have been doing the exact opposite!’

‘The—?’

‘We should have been repelling the beasts by using their one weakness against them! We should have been defending ourselves with light!’

‘Light?’ the Warden repeated, frowning. ‘Are you mad, Master Tallus? Light attracts the skimmers. How many of our more careless citizens, poor souls, have perished because—’

‘Because a chink of light in a pool of darkness creates a target, and one small lantern is no real threat!’ cried Tallus. ‘I am not talking about leaving a few house lights burning, Warden! My plan is to make the sky of Weld blaze, so night is as bright as day!’

The Warden’s mouth fell open.

Tallus pulled a folded paper from one of his many pockets and shook it open. It was covered with diagrams and notes.

‘I have worked it all out,’ he said, flattening the paper on the polished table and beckoning impatiently for the Warden to come and look. ‘Tall columns, higher than the rooftops, must be built all over the city—’

‘Columns?’ murmured the Warden, staring vacantly at the paper.

‘At the top of each column we place a large lantern,’ Tallus rattled on, stabbing his finger at one of the diagrams. ‘We can use the Keep lanterns—they are the biggest we have, and you must have thousands of them here.’

‘The Keep lanterns?’ the Warden repeated faintly.

Tallus nodded. ‘Each lantern will be surrounded by mirrors so that the light is spread and reflected upward. The Keep can supply the mirrors as well. Every soldier has his own mirror, I hear, and there are many kept in stock.’

‘Yes, well, it is very important that the soldiers are always neatly—’

‘Between them, the lanterns and mirrors should make enough light to repel the skimmers and force them to go elsewhere to feed,’ Tallus finished, slapping the paper triumphantly. ‘You see?’

He glanced at the Warden expectantly. The Warden frowned and rubbed his chin.

‘Yes,’ he said slowly. ‘Well, Master Tallus, I will certainly give your suggestion some thought …’

Sonia groaned. Rye stiffened, but luckily neither Tallus nor the Warden seemed to have heard her.

‘Some thought?’ Tallus yelled.

The Warden straightened his plump shoulders. ‘Possibly your idea has some merit, Master Tallus,’ he said carefully. ‘But before we clutter our tidy streets with ugly columns—not to mention removing vital equipment from the Keep—we must discuss the whole matter thoroughly. One thing you have not considered, for example, is who is going to build all these columns.’

Tallus goggled at him. ‘But—obviously—the best people for the task would be the Wall workers! They would raise the columns in a matter of—’

‘Out of the question!’ the Warden exclaimed. ‘We cannot spare men from the Wall! The work is behind as it is!’

‘But—’ Tallus snatched off his hat in frustration, releasing his floss of wild, white hair. ‘But Warden, what is the point in using most of our workforce to strengthen the Wall when our attackers are flying over it?’

The Warden’s face became almost pitying. ‘The Wall has been Weld’s defence for a thousand years, since the time of its founder, the sorcerer Dann, Master Tallus,’ he murmured, as if instructing a small and rather stupid child. ‘It is my sacred trust, as it was my father’s trust, and my grandfather’s, and that of all of my family who came before them. Whatever else happens, our labours on the Wall must not be halted—not for a single working day.’

‘Then use the Keep soldiers to build the columns!’ roared Tallus, tearing at his hair. ‘Bless the Wall, what else do they have to do but prance about practising their marching and putting up signs?’

The Warden drew himself up. ‘You go too far, Master Tallus!’ he said coldly. ‘This interview is at an end. Good morning!’