"But Enlil–!"

"Enlil can look after himself." Mommu towed her along. "We will be nothing but a hindrance to him; look for him once we are safe – come!"

She followed him down the winding tower steps, deeper and deeper into the heart of the royal palace. She was lost; the darkness swallowed everything in front of her eyes and she had nothing to guide her except for the steady, light tap-tap-tap of Mommu's boots against the marble stairs. As they wound round and round, deeper and deeper, she lost all sense of orientation. They were probably somewhere beneath the Singing tower of the palace, where Wind messages are sent and received.

Mommu didn't light a candle in case their movements could be seen by the assailants. As though treading on thin glass, they made their way to the bottommost level.

Footsteps reached their ears. They both stopped; Tia strained her ears, attempting to locate the sound.

It was several storeys above, but it was getting closer to the top of the staircase.

"Run!"

They raced down the corridor, their footsteps echoing against the marble walls. She couldn't think: the faces of all those poisoned or killed up in the dining hall danced through her mind. The smiles and laughs of the trainees she had known rang in her ears and flashes of memories of her interaction with them came unrelentingly.

Ki's infuriated face as she shouted at Enlil for his presumptuousness.

Kingu reprimanding Master Enki as the flamboyant Caster made melodramatic gestures.

Sin watching stonily on as Nintu pranked Nisroch.

Tia's breaths came in quick gasps as she squeezed her eyes shut. To her sensitive ears, the sound bounced back even louder. She knew the invaders were getting closer to their escape route. Her muscles ached, crying for rest. Mommu pulled on her wrist but she couldn't run any faster.

She felt the collision before she heard him; his footsteps were nearly silent. For the second time that night, a hand clamped on her mouth as she screamed; but it didn't come quick enough. Her shrill voice echoed down the corridor.

"They would have heard that." She immediately recognised the deep voice, which was agitated; her heart skipped a beat.

"Master!"

"I am sorry, Master!" Tia blurted out, mortified.

"That matters not now. Listen to me, Tiamat, Mommu."

They fell silent. Blood still drummed in Tia's ears. She could hear the footsteps, still moving several storeys above them but getting closer. Master Anu must also be aware, for there was a new urgency in his voice.

"You two must flee Capital at once. Dernexes will fall tonight, and any Windcaster found left in the city will be slain."

"But our army... They are still in Gwent!"

Tia could hear the grimace in the Caster's voie.

"I will Sing to them as soon as I can. If I am quick, I can get to the palace tower before the Mawlinese."

"But why is Mawlin invading Dernexes? I thought it was Gwent that–"

"There is no time to explain, my child, but take this."

He pressed something thick and heavy into her hands.

"What is this?" Tia ran her hand over the object. It was leather-bound and smooth; she could feel the old, worn pages between her fingers.

"This is the Book of Wind, a tome passed to every head Windcaster in this country since the beginning of Wind magic." Master Anu paused. Tia could hear the voices of Mawlinese soldiers, now. "It contains sacred information about the Wind and high level Wind magic. It is of utmost importance to the survival of this world that the book remains in the hands of a responsible Windcaster." He coughed, breathing heavily before recovering somewhat. "The secrets inside should never be known by normal humans, and should never be abused."

"Why us?" Tia gripped the tome. She didn't know what he was trying to say. "Why not you?"

"I am not coming, my dear." He coughed again; this time it sounded like he hacked something up.

"Master..." Mommu sounded worried.

"No! Can you not Sing once we are out of Capital?"

"My role is here," the old man replied, gentle, "defending the kingdom."

"But you will die!" Her voice cracked.

Tia felt a wrinkled hand pat her cheek; she hadn't realised tears had begun to fall down her face.

"My duties are not only to myself, Tiamat; they are to the people of Dernexes too."

"Even if you are killed?!"

"It is the only reason that I remain in the king's Casters." His tone was soft. "But not you two. Go, my children. Live to fight another day. You two are Windcasters now. I hope you find Enlil. Grace be with you."

"But you will join us? Soon?"

"Have faith in your Master, Tiamat," he said. Despite the circumstances, he chuckled, barely concealing another cough. "I am not the head Windcaster of Dernexes for nothing."

She couldn't help but smile at that.

"Grace be with you, then, Master. We shall see you soon."

"It has been a pleasure, my dears. I cannot express how proud I am of you two. You will make fine Windcasters one day."

"Grace, Master," Mommu said in a strained voice. He took Tia's elbow and pulled her along; she couldn't help but notice his hands were trembling and sweaty. He pulled, perhaps harder than necessary; Tia stumbled, holding her staff in one hand and the tome in the other.

She understood the urgency of the situation; nevertheless, she wished she could stay and help Master Anu, even though she had absolute confidence in his abilities. She couldn't wait to meet up with him, properly, after such a long time. She wanted to show him all that she had learned in Ptarmigan Fortress and how much she had grown, both in Casting and as a person.

They picked up the pace again. Tia struggled behind, her stamina running low; every breath tore at her throat and her lungs were burning. Her muscles screamed to rest, but she forced them to keep pounding. Blood drummed so loudly in her ears she was incapable of hearing anything.

Which was why she was completely disorientated when Mommu suddenly stopped at a junction and she crashed straight into him.

"What—!" she squealed . He shushed her at once, but it was too late.

"Who's there?" shouted a voice in a clipped accent. Her blood went cold. "Show yourself!"

"Mommu–" She found herself shoved down the other corridor.

"Go!" She could see candlelight fast approaching and at least four sets of footsteps coming down the first corridor. "Flee south! I shall find you!"

"But–"

"Go!" She stopped, stunned into silence by the fierceness in his voice. "Go! The book must survive – you go, now!"

She hesitated. At another shove from Mommu, she started running down the junction, stopping as she heard the men near. The boy gave a shout, luring them towards him, and then footsteps thundered past in pursuit. She stayed hidden in total darkness as the light from the oil lamp in the Mawlinese guards' hands disappeared from sight.

With a sigh of relief, and a fresh load of worry on her mind, she turned and kept running in the opposite direction to her friend, stumbling in the darkness, one arm clutching the Book of Wind for dear life and her staff clamped under her armpit, and the other feeling along the marble walls, guiding her way. She felt more alone than ever.

Several minutes later, she reached a dead end. She coughed, climbing the rungs and then lifting up the heavy stone slab that covered the hole in the ceiling, and climbed out. Screwing her eyes against the billowing sand, she tried to orientate herself. She swivelled around. Tall white-bricked walls stood several storeys high in front of her.

She was just outside the thick, Capital walls. It seemed the path she took was a secret escape route to ensure the safety of the royal family, should Capital ever fall. She grimaced; at least the paranoia of the king came in useful, for once.

The bodies of guards littered the ground. Red stained the sand. The silence in the air was deafening. The heavy gates were at the other end of the supposedly impenetrable wall. Swallowing, Tia shuffled to the guards' stables, where several carriers were tied to their posts, eating dry grass and ignorant of the massacre that was still going on, on the other side of the high stone barrier.

She dawdled again; how long should she wait for Mommu? How long did she have? Did he get away?

She bit her lip. He must have survived. Mommu couldn't have been caught – or worse, killed. Could he?

She glanced at the carrier she had borrowed from Ptarmigan Fortress, a sleek-haired dark thing swishing its tail in the moonlight. She clutched the book closer to her chest with one arm and tucked her staff to her side with the other.

It is of utmost importance to the survival of this world that the book remains in the hands of a responsible Windcaster. The Master's deep voice echoed in her mind.

Flee south, Mommu had said, I will find you.

The Capital was shrinking into the darkness behind her. Stars blinked down, oblivious to the slaughter that had occurred that night. The cold wind streamed through her hair, making her green eyes water and her cheeks flush. The travelling cloak that she had stolen from the fence was thick and warm, albeit well-worn. The carrier thumped its hooves on the ground, increasing the distance between her and the Mawlinese men more and more.

Master Anu's Singing voice sailed over her head she urged the carrier faster. The whistle of the Wind dampened what she could hear, but the message was loud and clear.

King Ea is dead. The Capital has fallen to Mawlin invasion. To all Windcasters and troops: please return with haste and be prepared for a full war.

The reality was beginning to settle in. Her disbelief was ebbing away with each note of the song.

War is upon us. This is Master Anu, Censor of Mooncliffe.

This was war. Dernexes was falling. The king was dead. Many Windcasters were dead. The country was brought to its knees.

Instead of the music easing gently back into the Wind and ending, it was cut short without warning.

Tia's head jerked up.

"No..." she whispered in horror. Her face went numb and her throat thickened. The realisation set in. "No... no-no-no!" The words ended in a scream.

The carrier appeared to canter and bob its head in slow-motion. The dark, dry, sandy surroundings passed by in a slow blur. She couldn't see very much in front of her – not that it mattered. The cold night air no longer felt cold, not when compared to the frozen core that had been her heart.

How? How? Her head cried, whilst her heart wept blood.  Disbelief crashed, hard, with the apparent reality. With every jolt of the animal, a flash of memory streaked across her mind's eye. All the feelings she had in the past ten years flooded her: the excitement, the tantrums, the joy, the surprises, the arguments, and the pride jostled together. His voice and the sound of his laughter echoed across the landscape, reminding her how much she had loved the man who had raised her as his own.

The man who had promised to meet up with her again.

The night was long and miserable. Drowning in grief, Tia lost track of time. She let the carrier guide her as it sprinted into the night, further and further away from where her beloved Master Anu lay.