After walking for what seemed like several hours, Sir Blaze reached the centre of the maze. He was standing on a large square of grass which was boxed in by hedges; there was no way in or out apart from the gap he had just walked through. A small stream ran across the grassy quadrangle, disappearing under the hedges on either side. On the other side of the stream, a creature with the body of a horse and the head and torso of a man was scraping at the ground with its hooves.

'You're a centaur,' Sir Blaze could not help but remark.

'And you are late,' said the centaur. 'I had begun to think that I'd be waiting for you forever, dragon knight.'

'I may not have taken the quickest or safest route to the centre of the maze, but I took the most reliable,' said Sir Blaze. 'I'm not aware of any particular time limit on this quest, after all - I want to win, no matter how long it takes me.'

'Well said, sir knight,' said the centaur. 'I see that patience is a virtue you possess in Spades - now let us see about your strength.'

'My strength?' said Sir Blaze.

'Will you fight me to prove yourself?' asked the centaur.

'Well… I'd rather not fight you,' said Sir Blaze. 'Not because I am afraid to, but because I see no good reason to - mindless violence is, after all, discouraged by the Code of the Square Table. But if I must fight you to save Camelhot, I'll do it.'

'You must prove your strength against mine,' said the centaur. 'I see no alternative to a good, old-fashioned fight. Do you?'

'Let me think for a moment,' said Sir Blaze. 'Ah, I know!'

He slipped his knapsack from his back and rummaged around inside. He withdrew a long coil of rope, unfurled it, and tossed one end across the stream to the centaur.

'Aha, a tug of war - a marvellous idea!' said the centaur. 'This way we can test our strength against each other without either of us getting hurt.'

'Except perhaps a little rope burn,' said Sir Blaze. 'The first to fall into the stream loses - what do you say?'

'I agree to your terms, dragon knight,' said the centaur. 'On my mark, then - three, two, one, pull!'

Sir Blaze found himself staggering towards the stream at an alarming speed. Forcing himself not to panic, he planted his feet as firmly as he could and began to haul on the rope; he heard the centaur's four hooves churning the grassy area into mud.

'You must win this tug of war, Sir Blaze,' said the cloaked figure, who had suddenly popped into the picture behind the centaur. 'If you do not prove your strength, Merle will claim victory and Camelhot will be lost!'

'I… know!' snorted Sir Blaze, squeezing his eyes shut as he strained against the centaur. 'But I can't… really talk about it… right now!'

Blaze opened his eyes and saw that the figure had disappeared again; clearly he felt that he had made as much of a contribution as he could to this particular trial. Blaze opened his mouth and let out a guttural roar, surprising himself by how deep it was, as he threw all his strength into hauling on the rope. The centaur let out a cry of surprise and stumbled forward; Sir Blaze was pleased and relieved to hear the creature's two front feet splashing into the stream.

'Well done, Sir Blaze,' said the centaur, shaking out his aching hands. 'You have proven your strength, and plenty more besides.'

'Thank you,' said Blaze, coiling up the rope and returning it to his knapsack. 'But where do I go from here?'

'I'm afraid that the only way out,' said the centaur, 'is to go down.'

Sir Blaze was forced to steady himself yet again as the ground began to move beneath his feet. There was the sound of gushing water, as though a bath was being emptied, and Sir Blaze found himself looking down into a wide fissure in the ground where the stream had been only moments before.

'You mean I have to go down there?' said Sir Blaze.

'To save Camelhot,' said the centaur, 'I fear you must.'

Sir Blaze nodded, spread his wings, and stepped into the fissure. He tried to catch the air currents as he fell, but his descent still seemed much too fast. At last he hit solid ground, and fell over in the darkness.

'So, you made it,' said an all too familiar voice. 'I told you we'd meet again for the endgame, didn't I? But I'm the one who's going to win… in the end.'

Sir Blaze blinked against the harsh light that suddenly filled his vision. He saw that he was in a small, dank cave; slime and moss clung to the walls, and the rock underfoot was noticeably damp. Merle was standing over him; Blaze quickly rectified this situation by scrambling to his feet, so that he was standing over her instead.

'I might've known you'd be skulking around in a place like this, Merle,' said Blaze. 'I've passed all your tests - why don't you just accept defeat gracefully and renounce your claim on Camelhot?'

'Because I am Merle the Wizard!' Merle shrieked. 'Do you truly believe that it's just your precious castle I want? I want more than that - a great deal more - and Camelhot is going to help me get it! But first I am going to destroy you!'

'You're not planning to cheat, are you?' said Sir Blaze. 'I thought you wanted to do things by the book this time.'

'Who's cheating?' said Merle. 'I told you, dragon - we're playing by my rules! And my rules state that you have to defeat me in person if you are to complete my quest… and that is something you can never do!'

'Well, we'll just see about that,' said Sir Blaze, drawing his sword. 'Have at you, you loathsome old crone!'

Sir Blaze lunged forward, but Merle disappeared. She popped back into view behind him and unleashed a powerful stream of magic from her right palm; Sir Blaze turned around and threw himself to one side in one awkward - yet successful - motion.

'You cannot defeat me, you lily-livered fop!' Merle sneered. 'Do you really think that your king or your fellow knights see you as anything but a pathetic joke? Do you really think anyone does?'

'Yes!' Sir Blaze declared. 'I know who I am and I'm proud of it, and I know that the others have learned to respect me in spite of my slightly… outlandish ways. I am a Knight of the Square Table… and whatever else I am, I'd rather be anything than a revolting old crone like you! You are empty; hollow! You have nothing but evil inside you! You're disgusting; diseased; a loathsome, hideous disgrace!'

Merle screamed and blasted the floor of the cave; Sir Blaze leapt nimbly out of the way in a rather stylish manner.

'I think I won our little battle of insults, Merle, don't you?' said Blaze. 'I'd never normally speak that way to a lady, of course, but you did start it and… well, you're not exactly a lady, are you?'

'I've had enough of you, Sir Blaze!' Merle roared. 'I am going to finish this now!'

Merle threw up a blanket of black energy, but Sir Blaze leapt into the air and catapulted right over the magical assault, using his wings to guide him carefully back down to the ground. As Merle whirled around to face him, he unleashed a colossal sheet of fire at her; she screamed as black smoke began to issue from various parts of her body, but she disappeared before any real damage could be done.

'Are you ready to yield, witch?' said Sir Blaze, as Merle faded back into view on the opposite side of the cave.

'Never!' Merle snarled. 'Camelhot will be mine, and you will no longer stand in my way, little dragon!'

With that, Merle began to grow. When she was about twice as tall as Sir Blaze, she swept her right hand towards him in a gesture of power; his sword was wrenched from his grip and went flying across the cave.

'Now,' said Merle, 'I win!'

'Are you sure these are the rules?' said Sir Blaze.

'They've just been changed!'

Merle unleashed another round of black energy, this one much larger than the last. Sir Blaze did the only thing he could think of and held up his knapsack in front of him to try and deflect the worst of the blast, but the deadly magic never reached him; it was absorbed by the cloaked figure that had just appeared between the two combatants. Surprisingly, the spell had no effect on him whatsoever.

'No!' Merle roared. 'How can this be? Who are you? That blast should have killed you, as I meant it to kill the whelp!'

'Merle, you overestimate your abilities,' said the mysterious figure, 'for even you cannot kill someone who is already dead!'

With that, the figure threw his cloak aside. Sir Blaze suddenly realised why the triangular pointed tail had seemed so familiar; it was the spitting image of his own.

'Sir Herman the Near-Sighted!' Merle snarled. 'But how is this possible?'

'I knew my son would need a helping hand to win your game, witch,' said Sir Herman. 'After all, when has Merle the Wizard ever played by the rules? So, I decided to lend young Blaze a hand. He hardly needed my help, of course; I think the best I can claim to have given him is moral support. Until you decided to change your own rules, of course.'

'Yes… yes, and according to the rules, you've just lost the game for your precious son!' Merle declared delightedly. 'He was to complete this quest on his own - no outside help whatsoever was to be allowed! And now…'

'He has done exactly that,' said Sir Herman. 'I am only here because Blaze is here; he is my son, and so - wherever he goes and whatever he does - he always carries a part of me with him.'

'Oh, Father,' said Sir Blaze, 'is that really true?'

'Of course it is, my son,' said Sir Herman. 'The bond of love that exists between parent and child cannot ever be broken, even by death. You and I loved each other in life, Blaze, and so we shall always love each other. All that I had, all that I learned, everything I felt... all this - and more - I bequeathed to you. And so, my son, you carry me inside you, all the days of your life.'

Sir Blaze did not know what to say, but he was not too disappointed about this because he thought his voice might waver a little if he tried to speak.

'No!' Merle fumed. 'It's still cheating - Blaze hasn't won! I shall destroy you - I shall destroy you both!'

Again and again Merle fired her black magic, and again and again Sir Herman intercepted it. She screamed in rage and frustration, gradually shrinking back to her former size as she spent her energy.

'The game is over, Merle!' said Sir Herman. 'Leave this place now, and nevermore darken Camelhot's doorstep, just as you agreed!'

'You cannot… defeat me!' Merle snarled, struggling for breath. 'Do you really think… it is so easy… to defeat… evil?'

'But we have defeated evil, Merle,' said Sir Blaze. 'We've done it with the only thing that can defeat it - love!'

Merle screamed, and then seemed to explode in a shower of sparks. Her echoing roars gradually died away, along with the magic light she had conjured. Once more, the cave was bathed in darkness.

Sir Blaze withdrew a wooden torch from his knapsack and ignited it with his breath, bathing the cave in flickering orange light. He had been very much afraid that his father would have disappeared but, much to his surprise and delight, Sir Herman the Near-Sighted was still there.

'I… thank you, Father,' said Sir Blaze.

'Don't mention it,' said Sir Herman. 'Ah, Blaze, how proud I have been to see you grow and mature into such a fine young dragon knight.'

'Have you really seen it all?' said Sir Blaze.

'Of course,' said Sir Herman. 'Everything that you have seen, I have also seen. I was there when you were knighted - I couldn't have been more proud! I was there when you cleared my name, the time Merle was casting aspersions against the nobility of my birth. I was there when you… well, I've always been there, basically.'

'My time on the Isle of Dwight made me feel closer to you than ever before,' said Blaze. 'When I discovered that you'd won the giant over by talking to him and helping him rather than fighting him, I felt extremely pleased and proud because… well, because I thought - or rather, I hoped - that it was what I would have done too.'

'Yes, I did always feel rather proud of myself for getting to the bottom of that situation with words and kindness,' said Sir Herman. 'If only more people would stop and talk - and, perhaps more importantly, listen - instead of fighting all the time, the world would be a far better place than it is now, I'm sure. Oh, not that I want to sound smug about it, of course. But Blaze, you proved today - amongst so many other things - that my course of action for dealing with Dwight would indeed have been yours also. Do you not remember the centaur? When you said you didn't want to fight him for no good reason, and you came up with a much safer and less brutal form of competition, that spoke volumes about who you really are… and I'm prouder than ever today to be able to say that you are my son.'

'Thank you, Father,' said Sir Blaze, smiling broadly. 'I must admit, I'm feeling rather proud of myself right now. Have I really saved Camelhot for good? Will Merle keep her word and leave us alone from now on?'

'Who can say?' said Sir Herman. 'But the important thing is that you beat her, Blaze - you took her on and you won, by her own rules no less. Whatever she does or doesn't do in the future, that gives you - and Camelhot - a certain advantage over Merle; an advantage that she may not anticipate, but that she won't be able to overcome.'

'Oh, well, that sounds useful,' said Sir Blaze. 'Hey, what's going on? Why has everything suddenly gone all blurry?'

'Merle's magic is deserting this place; you are going back to Camelhot,' said Herman.

'Oh, I see,' said Blaze. 'Father, will I ever see you again?'

'See me? Perhaps not. But I'll always be there, my son; wherever you are, I will always be there too.'

Sir Blaze saw a flash of light and felt a lurching sensation. He stumbled forwards, blinked several times, and found himself looking up at the towering front wall of Camelhot. He reached out and pressed the bell, and the drawbridge came down.

'Hooray, I'm back!' said Sir Blaze. 'And I saved Camelhot! Mumsey… King Allfire… everyone - I saved Camelhot!'

From his bed, King Allfire squinted through the thick fog of airborne talcum powder at the indistinct shape of his wife, who was standing somewhere on the other side of the room.

'Griddle, do come to bed,' said King Allfire. 'Surely you've put on enough of that stuff, haven't you?'

'I suppose so,' said Queen Griddle, emerging from the dusty cloud. 'Oh dear, I did get rather carried away, didn't I? It's just that I've been thinking…'

'What about, my dear?' asked Allfire.

'About my obnoxious nephew, Sir Agraflame,' said Griddle. 'It seems to me that now he's out of the way, and seeing as Sir Gasflame is no longer with us, there's no one left to take over from my former brother-in-law King Hot except young Charash.'

'That's all you managed to pick up from the story of Sir Blaze's adventure, is it?' said Allfire. 'That Sir Agraflame now exists in a state of limbo between life and death, so Sir Charash is heir to the throne of Toasting-Forkney.'

'It's not all I managed to pick up!' said Griddle. 'But it is, nevertheless, one of the things I picked up. I'm immensely proud of everything Blaze has achieved today, and if he really has rid us of that foul little witch forever then he truly is the greatest knight in Camelhot, but I still can't help thinking about the future, Allfire! Your throne is not secure - imagine if you died in your sleep tonight… God knows, that's the last thing I'd want to happen, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility… and Flame woke up tomorrow morning to find that she was Queen! Without a husband and - perhaps more importantly - without an heir, she would be in a very weak position as a monarch and Camelhot could be seen as easy pickings for some unscrupulous usurper… your evil nephew Scorchred, for example!'

'My dear, we can't live our lives on the assumption that we might be dead in the morning,' said Allfire. 'The security of my lineage is always on my mind, and Flame's future safety and happiness are my top priority, but I still don't think we'd have anything to gain by trying to force her to marry Sir Charash! In fact, I rather suspect that we would be in severe danger of losing a great deal… maybe everything.'

'But Charash is coming back to join us very soon, isn't he?' said Griddle. 'I'm sure Griselda will make a fuss of him and his newly bestowed knighthood for as long as she can, but then… well, seeing as he's going to be here anyway, it would be so easy just to give him and Flame a little push in the right direction.'

'No, Griddle,' said Allfire, 'we're not going to do that.'

'You've read that letter from King Spark that came this afternoon, have you?' said Griddle, sliding into bed beside her husband.

'Oh, yes!' said Allfire. 'Such wonderful news - a healthy, bouncing baby boy for Princess Solder and Sir Wick, hatched in the early hours of the morning in the presence of his parents and his grandfather. I'm going to announce the good news at breakfast tomorrow - it should lift everyone's spirits, especially now that Merle's threat is no longer hanging over us.'

'King Spark has been extremely sensible, in my opinion,' said Griddle. 'He has no male heir and no wife, so he marries off his daughter to a sensible suitor and the pair of them have a nice strong boy to continue Spark's line!'

'He didn't marry Solder off, Griddle,' said Allfire. 'He gave his blessing for Solder to marry the dragon she loves… and I shall do the same thing for Flame, when the time is right.'

'But she'll never get married off her own bat!' said Griddle.

'Have a little patience, my dear,' said Allfire. 'Flame does want to get married… but these things mustn't be rushed. That is not to say, of course, that I am not well aware of the importance of securing a strong future for any monarch's lineage. Griddle, I… I didn't inherit Camelhot myself - I won it, in battle.'

'Did you really?' said Griddle. 'Goodness me, and I'd never even thought to ask! I'd always just assumed…'

'Yes, I rather gathered that you had,' said Allfire. 'Don't get the wrong idea - I didn't steal the castle from someone who had a stronger claim on it than I did. I just… well, I didn't inherit it, in the strictest sense of the word. But I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that - when the time comes - Flame will be able to inherit Camelhot, and that she has an heir of her own to inherit the place from her in the distant future… or that she has a decent chance of being able to acquire one, anyway. Now, let's hear no more about this until I make my announcement on the matter.'

'You mean you've decided something already?' Griddle asked keenly.

'Well, perhaps,' said Allfire. 'I'm too tired to think about it at the moment, though - let's go to sleep.'

King Allfire blew out the candle; silence filled the darkened room for several moments.

'Have Princess Solder and Sir Wick named their son yet?' Queen Griddle's voice emerged from the darkness. 'I didn't read all the way to the end of the page.'

'Yes, they have,' said King Allfire. 'He is to be called Ignatio.'

'Prince Ignatio,' said Queen Griddle. 'Yes, I like that - a fine, strong, commanding name for an heir apparent, which he doubtless will be eventually.'

'Yes, I agree,' said King Allfire. 'He won't technically be a prince until his mother becomes Queen, of course, seeing as he is descended from the current monarch through the female line, not the male.'

'That rule is very sexist, really, isn't it?' said Queen Griddle.

'Yes… yes, it is. Goodnight, my dear.'

'Goodnight, Allfire.'

Flicker was just about to climb into bed when he heard a scrabbling sound at his window. As he looked across the room, he saw Flame hauling herself over the sill.

'Give me a hand, will you?' she said. 'Your window is too narrow!'

Flicker hurried over to Flame and helped her to climb into the room. As she smoothed down her rumpled dress, he found himself unable to do anything but stare at her.

'What's the matter, Flicker?' said Flame. 'You look like you've never seen me before in your life!'

'Well… I haven't ever seen you climbing through my window in the middle of the night before,' said Flicker. 'I really don't think you should be here, Flame.'

He cast an anxious look over his shoulder at the door, but she grabbed his snout and turned his head back to face her.

'I just had to come and talk to you,' said Flame. 'Don't worry - nobody saw me.'

'I hope you're right about that,' said Flicker. 'What do you want to talk about?'

'I want to talk to you about all sorts of things,' said Flame. 'I'm tired of snatching surreptitious snippets of conversation when you're serving at the dinner table - I want to talk to you properly again!'

'I want that too, Flame,' said Flicker. 'And we will, just as soon as your father -'

'My end-of-next-week deadline still stands!' said Flame. 'Merle is gone, possibly forever, so Daddy has no excuse for not devoting his time to his decision about you! But that's not what I came here to say. When we were all in danger of falling into Merle's clutches, and probably ending up as imprisoned thralls like Sir Agraflame, it really got me thinking… and I realised that I'd just have to say something before the end came - something that I really should have said a long time ago.'

'But you don't have to say it now, do you?' said Flicker. 'Sir Blaze won; the end isn't coming after all… not today, at any rate.'

'I know,' said Flame, 'but I still want to say it.'

'I see,' said Flicker. 'And just whom do you want to say this something to?'

'I want to say it to the attractive young stable boy that I accidentally bumped into on my fourteenth birthday,' said Flame.

'Oh, right,' said Flicker. 'Well, if he was here, what would you want to tell him?'

'I'd want to tell him that I cherish the time we spent together… and that even if I only saw him for a few moments, it always made me happy,' said Flame. 'And I'd want to tell him that I love him and that I'll always love him, and that no matter what happened to Camelhot, I know he always tried his best to help us.'

'Well,' said Flicker, 'I know that if he could hear you say that, he'd be grateful.'

'Yes, I'm sure he would,' said Flame. 'Well, that was all I wanted to say, really… for now, anyway. Goodnight, Flicker.'

'Goodnight, Flame.'

Flame turned to leave, but when she was almost at the window she turned around and ran back to Flicker. She placed the softest of kisses on his cheek, then dashed back to the window and threw herself out into the night. Flicker came to stand by the sill; he watched Flame gliding down into the moonlit courtyard, and sighed to himself.