Deciding it was worth the risk, Ella crouched down beside the lake and dipped her finger into the water of Lake Halapusa.

"Lord of Fire, what are you doing?" one of the desert warriors called out, leaping down from his horse and running towards her. "Stop, you'll be burned!"

Ella smiled and stood. Her finger smarted from where it had been scalded by the water. Yet it was just a minor burn.

"I'm fine," Ella said.

Ella continued her task, sinking the last five staves, and then Shani was in front of her, watching as Ella sank the fiftieth stave into the lake. As Ella finished activating the complex magic she had imbued the stave with, she looked up and saw Shani grinning.

"You need to work on the muscles in your arms," Shani said, pointing at the bicep of her own right arm. "You're struggling there."

"Perhaps you can do the big one then," Ella said.

Ella's escort merged with Shani's, and they rode along the lake until they came to the place at the lakeside where Torlac was at its closest, a small speck in the cleft of the crater high above.

Jehral and the prince stood holding the reins of their horses, with perhaps sixty desert warriors ranged behind them.

Shani looked up at Prince Ilathor. "Why so few?" she demanded.

Ella grabbed Shani's upper arm. "Look." She pointed.

"What?"

"The fissure in the crater's edge, in front of where Torlac is — see? It's much smaller than usual."

"I don't understand."

"The Hazarans have built an illusion around the cleft. Lord of the Sky, it's massive. I can't believe how many men must be hidden there."

"Every man I could spare," the prince said. "We will take the city quickly, so that the High Lord's men have little chance to react. My men have instructions to be swift, and to concentrate on those who lead the defences. The common people will be as safe from harm as I can make them without endangering my men."

Ella looked up at Prince Ilathor. "Thank you," she said. "Good luck today. Fight well."

He nodded, his dark eyes sending a familiar thrill through her. "Good luck to you also, Enchantress Ella. All of our hopes are with you."

"It's time," Ella said. "Bring it down!"

Ella turned back to the volcanic lake. In all directions she could see plumes rising from the hundred staves. She wondered what High Lord Haptut Alwar would make of them. She doubted he would expect what was to come.

Six men carried the huge, rune-covered stave down to the lake's edge. They hesitated as they reached the water — the pole was unwieldy, and none of them had any desire to see the flesh boiled from their ankles.

"It's fine," Ella said. They still looked fearful, so she stepped forward. "Watch."