Muldran turned over to one side as he slept. His arm fell out of the bed and thumped to the floor. He took in a great, hitching breath, held it for a moment, then snored, sonerously.

The woman sitting at his desk briefly looked over at him, and sighed. She made a little inscription on the slate she carried, and then continued reading the book she had removed from the Library.

"...impossible...thirty seven...said the bishop to the actress...cataclysm..." mumbled the comatose mage.

The woman threw him an irritated glance and flicked her wrist towards the wall. Staring at the mirror there, she said, quite clearly, "Subject has entered the recovery phase, and will soon synchronise." She paused for a moment, head tilted to one side, and then said, "Yes, but they believe he was acting 'odd' as 'normal'." Another brief pause, "Yes, I know it's an oxymoron, but what can you expect from these primatives?"

The mirror seemed to sparkle for a moment, and dulled. The woman stood up, and stretched, her spine giving out an ominous cracking noise. How she hated this disguise! Looking over to Muldran, she tapped a finger on her lips, and said, "But what are you dreaming about now, old man?"

Muldran opened one eye, looked directly at her in a sleep dazed way and said, "Thirty-seven." His eye closed, and he fell back asleep.


...standing in the market square in Trinsic, Muldran felt slightly disassociated. Hadn't he already been through this? It was like the time when Roxanne and the others were trying hard to... to... No, it was gone again. He remembered turning to Cherry and saying something very important, but all she said was, "Thirty-seven?" in response. Why was everyone saying that to him?


He looked back to the line of people around, and jumped slightly. Callum was directly in front of him, gripping him by the collar. He could see Decardo striding forwards, holding a hand out to Callum to push him back. "Why don't you do something, Muldran!" Callum was shouting directly in his face. Muldran shook. He tried to look past Callum at the lines of people getting ready to execute Shaex's.... No, it was Shaex, yes, this was Shaex. Muldran looked helplessly at Callum and said, "I can't do..."

Callum released him in disgust and turned around, marching over to stand beside Jade, who was clutching a container that seemed to glow. Muldran stared at it. She wasn't... Yes, she was. "Ah!" he thought to himself, "That'll explain how Shaex's..." the thought trailed off again as something chimed and tolled in Muldran's mind. He put his hand to his head, and murmured, "I can't... I can't watch this..." Somewhere inside his mind, he added the word "Again..."

And then it happened. The line of archers...

It was a blur after that. He remembered an argument, he remembered standing beside Irvyn saying something, but the Duke hardly noticed him (was he dreaming that bit as well?) , and he remembered wanting to go home. He looked down at the corpse still burning before him, and heard the bell again...