They were some way behind the main crowd, most of the others having already reached the scythed grass and gardens of the teaching complex, and they were walking slowly, their arms around each other and talking softly as they enjoyed the balmy weather. The air was completely still. The yellow sun was warm on their hands and faces and the rest of the world seemed to just fade out of their minds as they strolled across the short, springy grass, preferring the soft feel of it under their feet to the hardness of the path walked by the others. Even Derrin's situation no longer seemed quite so important as they enjoyed what was left of the day, and they began to really believe that it was all going to be all right, that none of the problems they feared would actually arise.

     Thomas looked into his wife's eyes and saw nothing but satisfied contentment there, the anxieties over their son's future having receded to the back of her mind, for the time being at least. He put an arm around her shoulders to give her a gentle squeeze, and felt her relaxing against him, purring softly like a satisfied kitten. He smiled, and reflected for what seemed like the millionth time upon what an incredibly lucky man he was.

     So wrapped up were they in each other's happiness and contentment that they failed to realise for several moment that a commotion of some kind had broken out behind them, from the direction of the research complex. It was the shouts that finally brought them out of their reverie, and they looked round in surprise to see a man in the black robes of an unspecialised wizard running away from the research buildings towards the open grasslands. Towards them. "What in the name of..." began Thomas in surprise. "What's going on?"

     "They're chasing him," replied Lirenna, staring at the small group of figures behind the fugitive. "What's he done?"

     Thomas had no answer to that, and so they only stared as the wizard closed the distance between them, glancing anxiously over his shoulder. They heard the chanting of spells, but the fugitive seemed unaffected by them and ran on until he and Thomas were close enough to see each other's faces. Thomas gasped in astonishment, and instinctively placed himself in front of Lirenna, shielding her with his body as he brought the words of a defensive spell to the front of his mind. The wizard recognised him at the exact same moment, and with a gasp of annoyance he broke off to the left, heading now for the fields to the north that were bounded only by the mountains that ringed the valley.

     "It's him!" cried Thomas as he set off in pursuit, yelling over his shoulder as he ran. "The saboteur!"

     It was the same man he'd seen in Pondar's laboratory, smashing up his equipment. He must have been taking advantage of the enrolment ceremony, getting up to some devious act of sabotage while virtually every wizard in the valley was busy elsewhere. He must have been intending to be safely finished and out of the way before they returned, but maybe he'd lost track of the time. It didn't matter, they'd learn all the details later. What was important now was that they finally had a real chance to catch him! These terrible acts of sabotage could be put to an end once and for all!

     The important thing was to catch him before he reached the grove of trees that stood a few hundred yards ahead of them, Thomas realised. They'd caught him once before, and had him cornered a couple of times as well, but each time he'd somehow vanished as soon as he was out of everyone's sight. Whatever trick he used to vanish, he couldn't use it while he was out in the middle of an open field, in sight of dozens of people, but if he managed to reach those trees... He knew that Pondar half blamed him for the attack on his lab, feeling that the young wizard should have done more to stop the intruder (as if getting knocked down and half stunned by a blow to the jaw wasn't enough, he thought bitterly), but now he finally had the chance to redeem himself. He didn't intend to miss a chance like this, so he ignored Lirenna's frantic cries behind him and ran as fast as he could after the fleeing saboteur, not thinking of what might happen if he actually caught him.

     After only a couple of seconds, though, he knew it was hopeless. He had never been a fast runner (unlike his son who could run like the wind), and the saboteur had a fifty yard headstart on him and gaining all the time. He thought of giving up and returning to Lirenna, but some instinct prompted him to carry on, to pursue him for as long as he could. Besides, when the time came when he had to give a statement to the proctors he'd want to be able to say that he'd done all that he could. Not that that had done him much good last time.

     When the saboteur was only twenty yards from the nearest tree, though, with Thomas a good hundred yards ahead of the nearest other wizards behind him, the saboteur surprised him by suddenly stopping and turning to face him. Thomas slowed to a walk, suddenly wary, suddenly aware of what his hasty actions might have gotten him into, and the saboteur grinned evilly, beckoning him on. Thomas wondered whether he was about to receive another stunning blow to the jaw, or maybe something worse this time.

     The fear grew, but then he remembered that he was a wizard and that they were no longer in the research buildings, surrounded by sensitive experiments. He was free to use all the spells he knew. He'd killed a Shadowsoldier once in a magical duel. One against one, face to face. He could take a single mundane. A single spell ought to do it. Unless, of course, the saboteur was also a wizard. It was possible that he was entitled to the robes he was wearing, that they weren't just a disguise...

     Now that the saboteur was standing still, Thomas got his first glimpse at what he was wearing on his feet. He saw the tops of sturdy leather boots rising above the shin high grass, done up with black laces almost up to his knees. Boots like that must take ages to put on and take off, and he sensed that that was important, although he had no idea why. He could now also see that he was wearing a full set of clothes under his robes. Shirt, waistcoat, breeches, etc.

     He only goes around almost naked when he thinks he might be disturbed, he realised. Today, though, everyone had been in graduation field and he’d thought he could do whatever it was he was doing without being interrupted. He decided to risk a full set of clothes, therefore, so that anyone who did happen to be about wouldn't see anything odd in his appearance, but the ceremony had ended earlier than he'd expected. Perhaps one of the wizards returning to the research buildings had recognised him from one of his earlier attacks. But why be naked when he thinks there's a good chance of his being interrupted? Perhaps he can turn his body invisible, his body but not his clothes, and a robe can be discarded in an instant.

      He remembered that the storeroom into which he'd vanished after smashing Pondar's laboratory had contained a coat rack, on which several lab coats had been hung, and he was suddenly certain that one of them had been the one the saboteur had been wearing. But no, an invisible man would have been spotted instantly by the searching proctors for whom invisibility was an old and completely redundant trick. No, he had to have some other way of escaping, something that required him to be able to strip naked in an instant. He sensed that the answer was within his grasp, that all he had to do was empty his mind and wait for it to come...

     But the saboteur was striding back towards him, and Thomas had to give him all his attention. "Do yourself a favour, wizard," the man said coldly. "Get lost. I don't want to have to hurt you, I just want to get away."

     Thomas ignored the advice and took a pinch of sand from an inner pouch, holding it out towards him and speaking the words of a sleep spell. The sand vanished, consumed by the magic force flowing through his body and shaping it into a form that would render unconscious any person standing in its way, but the saboteur only flinched, as if hit in the face by a blast of cold air.

     Thomas's eyes widened in sudden fear and the saboteur leapt forward, his fists swinging. Thomas ducked and twisted his body, dodging the blow and staggering to the side, anxious to put some distance between them in order to try another spell, but the man caught him by the shoulder and pulled him back. He pulled his fist back, trying for another blow, but Thomas was struggling like a madman, raining ineffectual blows on the larger man's body and the saboteur was unable to get a solid punch in. Instead, they ended up wrestling in the knee high grass, Thomas’s only thought that maybe he could hold the saboteur here until the other wizards arrived. They couldn't be that far behind him, he thought madly. Where in the name of hell had they gotten to? Exactly how much time had passed since he and Lirenna had seen him running ahead of a mob of pursuing wizards?

     "I haven't got time for this," muttered the saboteur angrily, throwing Thomas away from him. The wizard landed on his back in the soft grass, and for one terrifying moment he expected to receive a kick in the side, breaking ribs and perhaps rupturing internal organs, but instead the saboteur turned and ran towards the trees, making another bid for freedom.

     Thomas, scratched and bruised, jumped back to his feet and hurriedly cast another spell. A ball of sticky glue leapt from his pointing finger, separating out into a web of tangled threads as it sped through the air after the fleeing man. The web spell was supposed to bind and hold its victim for several minutes, giving the caster time to apply more conventional bonds of rope or chain, but the moment the webs came within three feet of the man's back they shriveled and vanished, leaving no trace that they'd ever existed. Thomas gaped in horrified astonishment. The man was carrying some kind of protection against magic!

     Another spell flashed past his ear, dispelling itself harmlessly on the saboteur's anti-magic shield, and Thomas spun around to see Lirenna standing just behind him, her chest heaving as she panted for breath. Behind her, the other wizards were following hesitantly, followed in turn by a crowd of curious students. "I told you to stay back!" snapped Thomas angrily.

     "No you didn't," pointed out the demi shae with an impish grin. "Come on, he's getting away!" She ran after the fleeing saboteur and Thomas hurried after her, afraid for her safety if she caught him.

     The saboteur had reached the trees but was still visible between the smooth, sandy grey trunks. Only deeper in were the trees and undergrowth dense enough to hide a man, but with so many people now so close behind him there was no longer any real chance that he could elude them. Not if he had to remain out of sight long enough to remove all his clothes, as Thomas suspected. In the open countryside, perhaps, but not in the confines of Lexandria valley, surrounded, as it was, by impassable mountains on all sides. His capture was inevitable, and he seemed to recognise this as he hurried through the densest part of the small wood without stopping and continued on up the rocky slope that was the lowest reach of the Eyeburg, one of the mountains of the northern range.

     More spells were cast, few of the pursuing wizards apparently having seen how ineffective Thomas and Lirenna's attempts against his anti-magic shield had been. Many of the wizards were considerably older and more experienced in magical warfare than Thomas, though, and knew tricks he'd never thought of. Instead of aiming their spells at the saboteur himself, therefore, they aimed them at the surrounding trees and rocks where they functioned perfectly and ensnared the saboteur in their secondary effects.

     A patch of stony soil ahead of him turned into a quagmire of sucking mud, into which the saboteur would sink and drown unless the wizards pulled him out. The saboteur spotted it, though, and leapt over it with a skill and agility that would have impressed a professional athlete. Another spell turned a tree into a living thing, reaching out with gnarled, grasping branches that wrapped themselves around his arms and upper body. The saboteur didn't waste any time struggling in their grasp, which would have been completely futile, but instead produced a dagger which he thrust up to the hilt into the moss and lichen covered branch. The whole tree shuddered as if in pain and the smaller branches released him, wrapping themselves around the wound from which a thick, green ichor was oozing.