'Hivaru?' Radulf demanded. The men were shorter than him, wearing only leggings and had dark curly hair. They seemed agitated by the arrival of Radulf and Miki.

'We are from Korphyria,' one of them replied.

'Where is Korphyria? I have never heard of it.' The man pointed out to sea.

'Long way in boat.'

'An island?'       

'Island, yes.'

'Can you take us there? Have you just come from there? Have you taken anyone else there recently?'

'White man, yes.'

'A white man! Did he tell you his name?'

'He was sick. He could not talk.'

'Was he a big man?'      

'Very big, yes. Very powerful. Very sick also.'

'Can you take us with you when you return to your island?'

'Oh yes, you come. Your arrival was foretold. White man and bronzed girl. You will be made most welcome on Korphyria.'

'When? When can you take us?'

'We are collecting fruit. When we finish collecting fruit, we leave for Korphyria.'       

'What are your names?'

'Laon.'

The second man pointed to himself and said: 'Sephy.' Finally the third declared his name to be 'Barrak.' Radulf introduced himself and Miki to them, and was relieved to find that they were apparently at last amongst friends. What was more, they had discovered the whereabouts of Marcellus. As they watched and waited for the three men to collect their cargo of f'oi, Radulf put his arm around Miki, drawing her to him and brushing her temple with his lips.

'Your dream,' he said.

'What of it?'

'Do you think you will find the herb, and the weapon on the island?'

'I had not given it any thought. It was probably only a dream.'

'It was complex,and involved. It must have great and significant meaning.'

'I do not know. I have never had such a dream before in my life.'

'Then you doubt its veracity and authenticity?'

'I have heard others in Warikeewa camp describing such experiences. Osatai, the medicine man when Angry Wolf first came to the camp, he had such dreams. Very detailed, vivid, almost real.'

'And did he dismiss them as just dreams?'

'No, he was convinced he was having wisdom given to him by his ancestors.'

'Did his dreams ever come true?'

'Regularly.'

'But you doubt yours?'

'I am not a medicine man, it is not even in my blood!'

'Even so.'

'I do not know. We will have to wait and see. If when we arrive at the island of Korphyria there is a herb which somehow finds its way into my hand, then we will know what to do.'

Radulf smiled and kissed her again.

'I believe you have discovered a rare and valuable gift which you did not know you had, Miki,' he said.

'To foretell the future? The end of the dream was a bit vague. I suppose it was meant to be Angry Wolf, and I suppose he did in fact survive.'

'Do not worry. We will do whatever we can to help him.'

'I am glad you are with me.'

'Rather than Kotsoteka?'

'I knew it would be you.'

'How could you know, when we drew straws for it?'

'I knew you would win.'

'How could you know?'

'You won, that is all that matters.'

'No, tell me how you knew?'

'I - I had a premonition that, of the two of you, it would be you who accompanied me to find Angry Wolf.'

'A premonition?'

'A premonition.'

'Not a dream?'

'Not a dream. More like a vision. I was awake. I was not dreaming. I saw you draw the correct straw.'

'Another example of your gift!' he cried, and hugged her happily. For her part, she was becoming increasingly anxious at the prospect of being able to foretell the future. By now the boat was fully laden with the soft red f'oi fruit, enough to feed an army. Laon, Sephy and Barrak were ready to embark. They led Radulf and Miki out into the cool, shallow water, warning them that the land beneath them dropped away sharply at about thirty feet out from the shore. From that point on they swam until they reached the boat, moored well out because of the rocks which were sometimes visible beneath the surface of the ocean waters.

Safe on board the boat, they watched the province of Ancyros recede into the distance and settled down to enjoy their trip. But the weather took an unexpected turn for the worse and a squall blew up out of nowhere, bringing with it torrential rain, lightning which seemed to split the very sky in two, and causing the boat to be tossed about on awesome waves which discharged their contents over the deck time after time, drenching the occupants and the precious cargo.

For the best part of an hour the boat rose and plummeted through the waves, and as it began to subside, the nausea that had been building up in the two young guests of the Korphyrians threatened to take them over. Miki, her hair plastered around her face, felt the taste of bile welling up in her throat and fought to keep it down, but could not, and ended up retching over the side as the rain lashed her face and arms, stinging with its ferocity. Radulf, groaning and clutching his belly, managed to refrain from vomiting, but the rest of the day, as they approached early evening, with the sun already a distant memory, was spent in abject misery as his stomach heaved and tossed.

The following day, and the next, the wind dropped and the sea became calmer, and as a consequence both he and Miki were able to spend their time more comfortably, but of course, the boat was unable to proceed except at a very slow pace. By the end of the third day land was in sight, and the following morning they had anchored off the island of Korphyria.         

Before them the beach rose gradually to a line of trees, beyond which they could see a range of mountains topped with snow, far distant. It soon became evident that the island was large. The point at which they had embarked was a natural harbour, on either side of which there was evidence once more of the sheer granite cliffs that protected the north-eastern coast of Ancyros. The three Korphyrians made fast their little boat and Radulf was pressed into assisting with the unloading of the f'oi fruit, of which there was a considerable amount. They loaded the fruit onto a kind of raft which had been left on the beach for the purpose, and then pulled the raft up through the red sands to the trees. This they did several times until all of the cargo had been unloaded and stored.

Already the sun was hot, hotter than they remembered it for some time, and the fruit had to be stored beneath the giant fronds of the trees in order to keep it cool. This done, Laon, Barrak and Sephy started out through the trees with Miki and Radulf close behind. By midday they had still not emerged from the forest, and the heat was stifling.

'How far to your village?' Radulf asked. The Korphyrians looked at him, frowning, then burst out laughing.

'Not far now.'

'Why did you leave the fruit at the beach?'

'Many men are needed to transport the fruit,' Laon said.

Radulf nodded.

'Was the other white man brought this way, to your village?'

'Only one place on Korphyria where visitors are brought,' Laon explained.

'Will we be there soon?' Miki asked, the perspiration pouring off her like running water, as it was Radulf. The three natives seemed totally unaffected by the extraordinary heat.

'Cula da,' Laon said. 'Nearly there.' Radulf glanced at Miki with questioning eyes. 'Cula da' was not an Herakian            phrase, although it had some resemblance to the Herakian 'Cuelya dan'. Moreover, Laon had repeated the phrase in straight Herakian, as though he had known that they would not know what he had said.

'You have your own tongue?' Radulf asked.

'Oh yes! Speak Herakian too.'

'Cula da?' Radulf asked, to which Laon replied 'Cula da.'

'Teach us your language,' Miki said, and Radulf nodded.

'It is very similar to straight Herakian. It is only little different because we have been isolated from the mainland for many years.'

'But you go to the mainland to collect f'oi,' Radulf pointed out.

Laon paused and turned to face them.

'Korphyria is ancient island, ancient civilisation. Has been here many hundreds years. No visitors. We go to mainland to collect f'oi because f'oi do not grow well here. We do not encounter mainland peoples.'

'But you originally spoke straight Herakian?'

'All people of Heraklion speak straight Herakian in one form or another. Korphyrians have their own language, very little different. You speak Herakian, you will be understood. Besides, you special visitors. White man with bronzed girl!'

He beamed at them, then turned and started off through the rainforest again.

'Cuelya dan?' Radulf asked, after another few minutes.

'Cula da,' Laon said, and as he spoke they emerged from the forest to find themselves standing on the edge of an enormous plateau from which they looked out across a panorama so breathtaking that both Radulf and Miki sank to the ground in disbelief. The plateau on which they were standing was some fifteen hundred feet over the valley, green, lush, a paradise which stretched out away from them mile after mile after mile. And beyond the valley, dominating the landscape was the colossus of a mountain, the same mountain they had seen from the shore.

But what was most noticeable from their viewpoint was a series of buildings, shrouded in mist, pyramidal in shape, and enormously large. There were three of them, increasing in size until they gave way to an even larger structure, a stepped pyramid constructed on a square flat base probably a mile or so across. All of the structures were sand coloured, and Radulf imagined this to be because they were built from sandstone. Somewhere else on the island there would be an enormous quarry, he supposed. Laon finally persuaded them to come away from the edge of the plateau and led them to a steep path which would take them down into the valley and ultimately to their destination.

'Is that the city?' Radulf asked, pointing to the stepped pyramid.

'No, those are buildings of an ancient people, before men from the west came to Korphyria,' Laon explained. 'Our city is behind.'

'At the foot of the mountain?'

'Yes.'

'What are the pyramids for? What was their purpose?'

'Nobody knows. When our ancestors escaped from Ancyros centuries ago and came to Korphyria, the people who already lived here hid in the pyramids, sealing them from within. No-one has ever found a way to get inside them.'

'Centuries ago?'

'Many centuries ago. We have been the sole inhabitants of Korphyria for five hundred milafiov.' Milafiov was the Herakian word for the time it took Heraklion to orbit its primary star, approximately four hundred days.

'And no attempt was made to get the people out of the pyramids?'

'No.'

Radulf shrugged his shoulders and they carried on down the path to the city. He wondered how long it had taken them to get here from the coast, remembering the f'oi they had stored beneath the trees, and that someone would have to journey back to retrieve the precious cargo of fruit.

At last, after a further hour or so, they reached the valley floor, and now they were able to see the full scale of the pyramidal structures before them. The track through the valley was wide and well-defined. On either side of them the trees towered to heights of more than fifty feet, with enormous leaves sweeping down across the path. Occasionally they saw small animals darting across in front of them but never close enough for them to see what manner of animals they were, although they were certain they had never seen such animals elsewhere.

For a further hour they trekked through the middle of this jungle until they arrived at the flat plain on which the pyramids had been built. As they approached the enormous structures they became aware of the sheer size of them and the effort that had gone into building them. Carved bricks of yellow sandstone, their surfaces as smooth as silk, slotted together in a seemingly impossible arrangement to produce a structure so perfectly symmetrical it was almost impossible to believe they had been made by men.

Radulf walked along the base of the smallest pyramid, several hundred feet tall at the apex, his mouth open in disbelief. Miki kept to the path, unwilling to approach any nearer than was absolutely necessary. The second pyramid was half as high again, and the third a towering five hundred feet tall at the apex, tall enough to blot out the mid-morning sun until they emerged from its shadow and stood before the awesome stepped pyramid.

'I cannot believe that nobody has ever tried to find the entrance to any of these buildings,' Radulf said.

'I can,' Miki said.

'Men have tried,' Laon said, 'but the buildings are cursed. Many men have entered the ketan'a, but all have died in a horrible manner.'

'That is nonsense!' Radulf said. Laon's eyes narrowed.

'Why would you say such a thing? You do not live on the island of Korphyria.'

'There is no such thing as a curse. It is not possible to curse something so that many hundreds of years afterwards people who explore it die horribly.'                      

'You speak from experience?'

'I speak from common sense!'

'You are not a Korphyrian. There are many things on the islands that do not conform to the ordinary physical laws of the remainder of Heraklion.'

'You are familiar with the remainder of Heraklion, then?'

'I have never been to the mainland, no,' Laon admitted. 'Only to collect the f'oi from the coast where you found us.'

'Then how do you know.....'

'Others have stumbled across our paths in the past. You are not the first visitor to Korphyria from the mainland.'

'No, you are holding our friend.....'

'The other white man. Yes, he is here.'

'Is he alive still?'

'Barely.'

'Then we must hurry.'

They began to walk past the stepped pyramid, and after a while emerged into a clearing in which a number of smaller buildings had been erected. There was no wall around them, but they were persuaded by Laon that this was the village of the inhabitants of Korphyria. In common with most communities on Heraklion, the village comprised a number of small dwelling places constructed around a complex of shared amenities, governmental buildings and the like. They were taken to the central government building and the three men went off to report to the village governors. After just a few minutes they were conducted into a large circular room, where sat one man, considerably older than Laon, Sephy and Barrak. That he was blind in one eye and disabled was plainly evident.

'Speak,' he said brusquely.        

'We came in search of our companion, from whom we were separated on Ancyros,' Radulf said, stepping forward.

'At the 'Killing Pool',' the old man said, nodding sagely. 'How do you know he survived?'

'We do not know for sure. Your people said they had previously brought another white man to Korphyria within the past few days. We know of no other white man in this vicinity who would not be native of your province.'

'The man you seek is called, variously, 'Angry Wolf', and Marcellus of Barbessel. The woman with you is a plains bronzeskin.'

'Yes.'

'She is enemy to Korphyria.'

'No!' Miki protested, darting forward. 'I had no knowledge that such a place even existed!'

'The plains bronzeskins have traditionally been enemy to Korphyria for centuries,' the old man said. 'However, your youth supports your claim to an absence of knowledge between our peoples. You are free to come and go as you please within Korphyria. You,' he continued, directing his single eye at Radulf, 'are from Barbessel. We have no quarrel with you. You are also free to come and go wherever you please. If the two of you so desire, you will be assisted back to mainland Heraklion.'

'We came in search of our companion. He is the man you described,' Radulf said anxiously. 'Marcellus of Barbessel.'

'Angry Wolf,' murmured Miki.

'He is in a sorry state.'

'He is alive, though.'

'For the time being, yes.'

'You mean he is being kept alive?'

'We are waiting for him to regain consciousness.'

'And then you will let him go?'

'He will not leave Korphyria alive.'

'I do not understand.'

'This man you call your companion - he is an enemy of the state.'

'How can this be? He was never here!' Radulf protested.

'How long has this man been your companion?'

'Not long. A few days.'

'Years ago he came to Korphyria. He and his men plundered our village, took what they wanted, and departed.'

'That cannot be!'

'Do you know his complete history, then? He is some years older than you.'

'I know some of his history. He is a rebel, certainly, but he fights for just causes. He would not do what you have said!'

'And yet I tell you that he did. I have evidence that he did these things, and he will be punished. The punishment for his crimes is death.'

'He is already dying!'

'We are waiting for him to recover from his wounds.'

'And then you will kill him!'

'He will be executed as an enemy of Korphyria.'

'I swear to you that he meant you and your people no harm!'

The old man raised his hand, signifying that the audience was at an end. Reluctantly Radulf and Miki allowed themselves to be led out of the building.

'Were you here when Marcellus did what the old man says he did?' Radulf asked the three men.

'We were.'

'And do you recall these deeds?'

Laon shrugged his shoulders.

'It was a long time ago.'

'You do not remember.'

'Not really.'

'It is not true! Angry Wolf would not do such things!' Miki cried.

'Our leader remembers. That is enough for us,' Barrak said. 'We have to go now, to arrange for transportation of the f'oi.'

'Take us to Marcellus,' pleaded Radulf.

'You cannot escape from the island.'

'At least let us see him. From what you said, he is in no state to be moved anyway.'

'Very well. He is over there, in the prison complex.'

They entered the long, low building and were dismayed to see, immediately, Marcellus laid out on a couch. He was barely breathing, although there were no outward signs of serious injury. Miki knelt beside the couch and clasped Marcellus' hand. Radulf's face remained stony and impassive. He touched her lightly on the shoulder.

'Your dream, of the Grandfathers. Remember.'

'I remember. The stepped pyramid is the one in which I met and spoke with them in my dream. Somewhere on the island I will find the herb and the weapon.'

Laon stepped forward and pulled her away from the comatose Marcellus.

'Our leader said you were free to go wherever you please on the island. He can never leave. If he recovers from this state, he will be executed. There is nothing you can do to prevent it.'

Miki and Radulf allowed themselves to be led out of the prison building. Around them the people of the village were preparing for the collection of the f'oi from the forest store near the coast.

'How will you know the herb, Miki?' Radulf asked.

'I will know it,' she said, convinced within herself that some sign would be given to her. 'I believe we should start looking around the mountain.'

'The mountain region is dangerous,' Barrak said.

'Why is it dangerous?'

'Any who approach the mountain are warned away from it. The God Within the Mountain expresses his displeasure, spitting fire and flames into the air.'

Radulf shook his head in disbelief. He bent to whisper to Miki.

'It is a jhrkuyt!'

'What is a jhrkuyt?' Miki asked.

'The mountain is still burning inside from the heat within the centre of Heraklion. I have seen them elsewhere.'

'I do not know what you are talking about.'