She returned to the world in a storm of senses, a kaleidoscopic rush of helter-skelter burning in her veins.

　　Barnaby was kneeling over her. "She`s back!"

　　Elizabeth blinked several times as a harsh wind clawed at her face. A waxy moon peered from behind the cover of misty clouds. She realised very quickly that they were somehow at the top of the Darkstone Tower.

　　She also realised that they were still in quite a lot of trouble.

　　Much of this had to do with the unmistakable P-ZzzANG! of gunshot caroming off a nearby wall.

　　"Are you all right?" Barnaby asked.

　　Elizabeth blinked once more. Thoughts whirled about her head, fell still, and went whirling off again.

　　"I think so", she said. "What`s going on?"

　　More shots zipped by, threateningly close.

　　"Slight spot of bother. We managed to get away from those smoke things, but unfortunately we ran into a few Blackcoats along the way".

　　"Right", Elizabeth said, still feeling as if she was very much stuck in a daze.

　　She made a swift and more detailed appraisal of her surroundings. The top of the tower was a huge open expanse broken by a number of stocky turrets and an ornate stone structure that looked like a ceremonial circle. Giant spiked fortifications rose even higher above them as demonic-faced statues watched the firefight below.

　　Elizabeth and the others were sheltering behind a triangular bell tower, which to judge by their predicament was in imminent danger of being blown to smithereens.

　　Luella was fending off the Blackcoats as best she could, using several new pistols that she had somehow managed to get hold of in the time - however long it was - that Elizabeth had been missing. "I can see more of them coming", she yelled, as a hail of enemy musket fire tore into the wall.

　　"Aye, and Penelope will nae be far behind", growled Aelgren, catching his breath.

　　Elizabeth stumbled to her feet. "Penelope? Where?"

　　"Enjoying her headache with any luck. Whatever you did back there gave her a right good wallop. And it gave us just enough time to make a run for it".

　　Luella flashed several shots around the edge of the bell tower, tossing a gun to one side when she was through. "Nearly out of ammo . . . "

　　Elizabeth was starting to realise why everyone was looking so extremely worried. "So what`s the plan?"

　　Barnaby straightened up his glasses. "Um . . . we`re still working on that one".

　　"But if you have any ideas . . . " said Izzario.

　　Unfortunately she didn`t.

　　"Can you nae magic us all so we can fly?" Aelgren offered, helpfully.

　　"I don`t think that`s how it works", said Elizabeth, wishing very much that it was.

　　And anyway, whatever power she might have had appeared to have gone again.

　　Magic, Elizabeth concluded, was about as reliable as the number 10 bus.

　　Another spectacular barrage of gunshot shook the cold night air.

　　"In which case", declared Barnaby, "it looks as if we`re in trouble".

　　Elizabeth examined the situation from every possible angle she could think of. They were pinned down, outnumbered, hopelessly outgunned, and there was absolutely nothing that any of them could do about it.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

　　But just as this particular thought began to close around her like the jaws of a snarling beast, Elizabeth saw it coming.

　　"What in skull`s teeth is that?" yelled Barnaby.

　　All five faces turned to the heavens, where, moving across the sky towards them was a not-so-small white cloud. A cloud that in a matter of moments turned out to be not so much of a cloud at all, but a beating mass of wings.

　　Aelgren rubbed his eyes as though he couldn`t believe what they were seeing.

　　Luella cried: "It`s the Vo-Hallin!"

　　Elizabeth watched in magnificent wonder as the enormous white hawks that had patrolled the Caradeen forest swooped around the tower. There were so many of them that very soon it was the sky itself that seemed to be small, and it was filled with the shrieks and the shudders of their advance.

　　The Blackcoats turned their fire, but the Vo-Hallin fell upon them. The shrill thickening of the air, of savage talons alighting on their prey. It seemed to Elizabeth as if a storm of nightmares had landed in their midst.

　　A majestic bird came to rest at her side, lowering its neck and stretching out its wings.

　　Elizabeth looked to the others. "They want us to go with them", she said, sounding far more certain than she was.

　　Aelgren seemed less than convinced.

　　"Well you said you wanted to fly", Elizabeth pointed out, climbing aboard and nestling among the strong white feathers.

　　"Aye, but I didnae mean like this!"

　　Aelgren`s next words were lost to the sound of wings beating heavily against the swirl of the wind. And in the very next breath the Darkstone Tower was falling sharply away.

　　High on high they flew, sweeping off gracefully by the silver light of the moon, through an ocean sky without beginning or end. Over the forest wild, over far-flung trees that were little more than twigs, above the meandering curves of riverways searching for a sea, over bountiful rolls of deep green and golden fields where small forgotten hamlets hid amongst the nooks and crannies of the land.

　　Elizabeth scarcely dared to look but was afraid to close her eyes in case it should turn out that she had been dreaming.

　　The first few rays of morning sun were creeping over the horizon by the time she spotted the hilltops of Solace. Somehow the medley of orange and white made her feel immensely warmer, although she was still deep-chilled from spending all night in the clouds.

　　They came down gently in a long spiral of descent, landing atop the risen mound of the earthlump that Barnaby called home.

　　Already, demented clatterbuckets were making their first treacherous runs of the day.

　　One by one the great birds set to rest, lowering their necks to allow the riders to dismount.

　　"That was incredible!" said a tired-sounding Luella, sliding off a snowy wing to land on the balls of her feet.

　　Izzario, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground and breathing very slowly, did not seem inclined to agree.

　　"Nevertheless", considered Barnaby, setting the Omnaria down, "I think I`ll be sticking to good old-fashioned airships in future".

　　Elizabeth was stroking the neck feathers of the hawk that had rescued her from the tower. "Thank you", she said, gratefully.

　　The bird tipped its head and nodded, as if it seemed to understand.

　　And with that, it lifted its wings and took flight into the blue of the breaking dawn.

　　Elizabeth watched the rest of the birds depart. "The poor things must be exhausted".

　　"They`re not the only ones", said Barnaby, with a king-sized stretch of his legs. "I could murder a nice cup of . . . What are you doing with those?"

　　Elizabeth looked down at the three white feathers in her hand. Each one was as long as her forearm. She frowned, adding to the already vague expression on her face. "I`m not really sure", she said, absently. "The Vo-Hallin told me to take them".

　　"It told you to?" echoed Luella. "But why?"

　　Elizabeth shrugged. "I`ve no idea. It said that I would know what to do when the time was right".

　　"And what in skull`s teeth does that mean?"

　　Elizabeth shrugged again. If it wasn`t for the fact that she had already fallen into a parallel universe, learned that her father had come from a different world and discovered that she could (occasionally) command magical powers beyond her imagination, this event might have appeared somewhat stranger than it did. But as it was, with everything else that was going on, communicating telepathically with a bird the size of a minibus felt almost ordinary.

　　Barnaby put an arm around her shoulder. "Let`s go inside", he said. "I`ll put the kettle on".

　　They turned to leave . . . only to be confronted by the sight of a dozen Free Guards trooping wearily up the slope of the hill.

　　Elizabeth did not imagine that it was a welcoming party.

　　And she was right.

　　"You there!" shouted the man at the front of the line, whose helmet was slightly more decorative than the others. "Stay right where you are".

　　"Oh fogsnozzle", Barnaby muttered. "I was worried that something like this might happen".

　　They waited patiently for the guards to reach the top. Elizabeth stuffed the feathers into her dress.

　　"Barnaby Thimblewick?" queried the guard with the best helmet. He had tiny eyes and a line of sweat glistened on his upper lip.

　　"Yes, that`s me", Barnaby confirmed, in a voice that was flatter than pancakes.

　　"Then by order of the Wyse Council I am hereby placing you all under arrest".

　　"What for?" Luella demanded to know.

　　"For disobeying a direct command of the Council and for escaping from Parallion Jail without permission".

　　The guards drew their swords.

　　"Arraflax is very much looking forward to seeing you again", said the one in charge, and his eyes fell down to where the Omnaria was resting at Barnaby`s feet. "Oh", he added, "and we`ll be taking that as well".