The flying carpet wobbled because it had reached the boundary where Darling's null was enough to overpower its buoyancy. The Taken turned away, falling outward, got far enough to recover complete control. "Pity it didn't come straight in," I said. "And come down like a rock."

"They're not stupid," Goblin said. "They're just scouting us now." He shook his head, shuddered. He knew something I did not. Probably something learned during his venture outside the Plain.

"Campaign heating up?" I asked.

"Yep. What're you doing, bat-breath?" he snapped at One-Eye. "Pay attention."

The little black man was ignoring the Taken. He stared at the wild wind-carved bluffs south of us.

"Our job is to stay alive," One-Eye said, so smug you knew he had something to get Goblin's goat. "That means don't get distracted by the first flashy show you see."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Means while the rest of you are eyeballing that clown up there another one sneaked up behind the bluffs and put somebody down."

Goblin and I glared at the red cliffs. We saw nothing.

"Too late," One-Eye said. "It's gone. But I reckon somebody should go collect the spy."

I believed One-Eye. "Elmo! Get over here." I explained.

"Beginning to move," he murmured. "Just when I was hoping they'd forgotten us."

"Oh, they haven't," Goblin said. "They most certainly haven't." Again I felt he had something on his mind.

Elmo scanned the ground between us and the bluffs. He knew it well. We all do. One day our lives may depend on our knowing it better than someone hunting us. "Okay," he told himself. "I see it. I'll take four men. After I see the Lieutenant."

The Lieutenant does not come up for alerts. He and two other men camp in the doorway to Darling's quarters. If ever the enemy reaches Darling, it will be over their bodies.