‘But we want to help ambush Lamorak!’ Aglinda complained, as Alisander dragged her along to the apartments where they had been staying.

‘That’s not a good idea,’ I said. ‘You know that Lamorak is the knight who took Alisander to Caerleon, you saw him at the siege by the loch, and you know that he’s a very bad man.’

‘I do, but that’s even more reason for us to help.’

‘You’ve got to keep Christian safe for us.’

‘But that’s Norma’s job.’

I shook my head. ‘Norma needs to come with us. She wants to see how well you can look after him.’

‘I suppose,’ said the girl. ‘Can Bellina not do it though?’

‘I cannot,’ said Bellina, who was by Alisander’s side.

‘It’s just here,’ said Gaheris. The bard opened a door into a plainly furnished chamber, and guided Christian inside. He toddled ahead of her, towards a small pile of brightly painted wooden toys.

‘Go on,’ I said, and pushed the sulky Aglinda through the door ahead of me.

‘Will you make sure they stay, Bellina?’ I whispered.

She gave me a sour look and went to the nearest chair. ‘Lock the door behind you.’

‘Let’s get back then, chum,’ said Elia. ‘I’m looking forward to this. It should be fun.’

I turned, but stopped in my tracks when I saw what was hung on the wall behind the door. A colourful tapestry. A blood red sky. A black knight bleeding from his heart. The third by a cut to his core.

‘Oh yes,’ said Aglinda, noticing that the sight of Lady Bertilak’s gift had frozen me where I stood. ‘I found it washed up on the rocks. I thought that as you didn’t want it...’

* * *

I took my hiding place in the shadows next to Agravaine, high in the gallery of lot’s great hall. The others were spread all around, lying in wait. Queen Morgawse stood in front of her husband’s map table, her face tense. Epicene was hidden behind a screen near the queen. Our hope was that the spear would guide lamorak straight to the fire-sorcerer to revenge his burns, and that Norma and I would be able to attack him from behind.

‘Ma’s always hated Lamorak,’ Agravaine whispered to me. I nodded, but in truth I now knew far more about his mother’s distaste for Sir Lamorak than he did. ‘She’ll enjoy this, if it works, and so will I. He’s often here, smashing around, causing trouble for Ma and Da. It’s time that ended.’

I scanned the room. Opposite us on the gallery were John and Elia, both armed with bows, ready to shoot Lamorak if he turned violent. Melwas and Piers were directly below us, and opposite them were Gaheris and Norma, hiding in the darkness behind the pillars.

King Lot entered the room and went to Morgawse’s side. ‘He’s through the gates, wife. He’ll be here in a moment. Don’t look at me like that, my love. I don’t like this any more than you do.’

Queen Morgawse nodded, and turned back to face the door.

Silence filled the room, and continued to fill it. The moment stretched on for much longer than the time it took to reach the hall from the gates. And then the silence was broken by a commotion outside the door.

‘You can’t go that way, Sir Lamorak,’ said a soldier’s muffled voice. ‘You know that’s not the way.’

King Lot’s hand went to his sword.

‘Halt!’ Directly outside the door. Another guard. ‘I said halt!’

The king stepped forward, and when he heard the first clash of steel outside the chamber he ran towards the door. ‘Protect my queen!’ he shouted at us. Agravaine leapt to his feet, the archers did the same, notching arrows to their bows. Melwas and Piers ran forward to guard Queen Morgawse. Suddenly Epicene was behind the queen, standing quite still. Her white eyes followed the sounds outside the chamber.

King Lot tore open the great door, and a dead or dying soldier spilled through the gap, his belly a terrible red slash. There was the sound of running feet outside. King Lot disappeared from view, running towards the fighting.

‘He’s following that spear!’ a guard cried.

My heart began to pound. The heavy door onto the gallery was just behind me. ‘Agravaine, move away.’ The spear had detected Garnish’s magic back at the Lake, and Epicene and Norma were concealed by their harmony. ‘He’s coming for me through that door. He’s coming up this way! The spear has latched on to me!’ I shouted to the rest of the room.

Agravaine drew his sword. I turned to face the door. I held my hands in front of me a little way apart, and summoned up the beginnings of an icy projectile. The room flared with a new light, and I knew that Epicene was making a fireball, and Norma was creating whatever magic she had, though it occurred to me that I knew precisely the nature of her magic.

As the sounds from the main door became distant, the noises on the stairway that led to the gallery became louder. I heard screams, grunts, people falling, and then a horrible, guttural roar. Lamorak was fighting his way up the stairs, and he was winning.

Epicene raised her voice: ‘Now!’ I shifted my iceball forward, so it was hovering by the door. It was immediately joined by a stream of fire, and, as I had feared, a jet of boiling water. The three magics held before the door, growing in size and power, flashing red and yellow and white and blue. The globe smelled of steam and sulphur. The surface of the magical bomb fizzed in a lightning-fast cycle of freezing and boiling.

The door bulged, and on the second blow collapsed towards me, its hinges splinters. And there was Sir Lamorak, bloodied and sweating down the unburnt side of his face, illuminated by our weapon.

‘Now!’ I screamed, and flicked my hands towards him, releasing my part of the weapon, knowing that Epicene and Norma would be doing the same.

Lamorak’s one good eye widened in fear as he took in the thing that was shooting towards him. I was convinced that it had worked. For a long moment the giant knight was encased within our weapon. It burned and roared and seethed and froze around him. I could see his huge form inside – the thing creaked and crackled – he was trapped within the killing power of three natural magicians, there was no way he could survive.

The room fell silent. Our projectile disappeared. My ears rang with the noise of the weapon, and my eyes flared with the afterimage of its light. I blinked, and slowly the colours stopped floating before my eyes.

Lamorak was standing in front of me, the Spear of Longius in his left hand, his sword in his right. He was completely unharmed. I saw the remains of our combined magics dripping from the spear’s point like shining sludge. The miraculous weapon had saved him from our attack.

I staggered back to the rail of the gallery, and frantically summoned another iceball. I released it, and it shattered against the spear as if it were the softest snowball. Agravaine bellowed a war cry and charged the knight. The brute’s sword-hand struck him a deadening blow to the face, and the son of Orkney crumpled unconscious to the floor. The burnt knight kicked a massive leg behind him, and sent a guard tumbling back down the stairs. I saw the red face of King Lot as he struggled to get the winded man out of his way.

Lamorak turned back to me, an uncomprehending look in his good eye. He had assumed that the spear was seeking Epicene’s magic, not mine. Then he saw her down below.

The shadows on Lamorak’s face shifted, the room became massively brighter, and another of Epicene’s fireballs flew over my shoulder. As the pupil of Lamorak’s one good eye shrank in response to the light, the fear in it increased.

But just as the spear had dealt with my attack it snuffed out Epicene’s weapon, like a candle in a jar when you close the lid.

The beast roared in rage. He dropped his sword, grabbed me by the throat, and leapt over the side of the gallery. He threw me from him, and I came crashing down, smashing my knee against the hard floor.

I saw the next things that happened through a haze of pain. Lamorak’s leap took him all the way to Piers and Melwas. The butt of the spear came down in the middle of the farmer’s chest, and he staggered backwards. Melwas stabbed at the knight with a carefully timed killing-blow, but the point of her sword simply glanced off Lamorak’s unarmoured neck. He kicked out, and landed a heavy blow in the Gaul’s belly. She fell back against King Lot’s map table.

Lamorak gave another inhuman roar. His eye was fixed on Epicene, but Queen Morgawse was standing between him and the fire-sorcerer. ‘Stop, Lamorak!’ ordered the queen. ‘If you ever loved me, stop there!’

Sir Lamorak turned the spear in one smooth motion, and thrust its sharp point through Queen Morgawse’s chest. She raised her hands to protect herself only after the killing blow was struck.

I heard King Lot cry ‘Morgawse!’ from the gallery. The world swam around me, and I caught a sight of the numbed look on Gaheris’ face.

From my position on the floor I saw the red point of the spear, fresh with new blood, emerge from the queen’s back, and drive itself through the fabric of Epicene’s gown. The fire-sorcerer’s arms flew apart as the Spear of Longius pierced her skin and drained the magic out of her. A great white light appeared at the other end of the spear, and shot out of the open doors.

The knight dragged the spear back through Queen Morgawse’s body, and she and Epicene fell to the ground, the queen on top of the sorcerer. Lamorak gave an unholy cry of triumph and, following the guidance of the spear, turned to me. I struggled to get up.

I could sense something new in the room. Now that her magic had ceased to harmonise with Epicene’s, I could feel Norma. Her magic was familiar, cool and liquid. Still you failed to see, my mother had said.

I tried to get to my feet, but my injured knee gave out on me, and I fell backwards. Lamorak was almost upon me. There was movement behind him. It was Norma, moving faster than I had ever seen her, than she had any right to move at her age. Lamorak drove the sword towards my chest, but the nursemaid reached out her hand and touched the burnt monster on the back of his neck.

And the knight turned to water. The Spear of Longius fell harmlessly through his liquid hand and clattered to the floor. In front of me was a water statue of Sir Lamorak, perfect in every detail. It held for a moment, just a moment, and splashed down.

And the woman who had pretended to be Norma was connected to me through the collapsing water statue. And I saw – I SAW –