"Have you seen Xanth?" Felix asked Magda that night at dinner.
She frowned. "Not since this afternoon at the lake. Rook's gone upstairs to see if he's in his room. Xanth's probably up there."
At that moment, Rook returned. He sat down heavily on the bench. "He's not here? Damn, he's not in his room either." He gasped suddenly. "I have to go check the skycraft corral. What if he's left us?" Rook dashed out the door and towards the Corral. Magda got up to follow him, but was pulled back down by Noah.
"What are you doing?" she asked angrily, "Xanth is my friend and I'm going to go help look for him!"
"Why? Aren't I good enough for you?"
"Don't ask me that, you know the answer. I chose you, didn't I? Now let me go!"
"No."
Magda's anger overpowered her. Turning, she punched Noah on the nose. He sputtered and fell back, letting go of her wrist. She dashed out of the door before he could stop her.
Noah heaved himself back up onto his seat, blood pouring out of his nose. Felix looked at him sympathetically.
"I'm telling you, mate, celibacy's the way to go."
Magda caught up with Rook at the Skycraft Corral. He was staring at all the rows of delicate skycraft and looked quite lost.
"This way," she shouted, running to the place where her skycraft was kept. The slot next to hers, usually occupied by the Ratbird was empty. Without hesitating, she jumped on the Woodmoth. and began untying the tethering cord. Before she could fly off, Rook grabbed the rope.
"Where are you going?" he shouted.
"I have to find Xanth. I have something important to tell him."
Rook nodded slowly and released the tethering rope. The little craft streaked across the sky like burning ironwood. In a minute it was swallowed by the distance and the obscurity. Rook took a deep breath and returned to the dining hall. He couldn't follow and he knew that he wouldn't be wanted there anyway.
Magda let her sixth sense guide her towards Xanth. She steered due south, going as fast as her skycraft would go. Through the night she sailed, and in the morning when the sun began to rise, she was speeding across the mire.
By mid-morning, the ruins of Old Undertown were looming before her. When she reached the ruins, she slowed slightly and scanned the rubble for any signs of Xanth. On and on she flew, until she was amid the dead stones in the Stone Gardens. Peering ahead, she saw the Ratbird tethered to a protruding stone. Next to it, at the very edge of the Edge, stood Xanth Filatine.
"Xanth!" she screamed. He didn't turn around, and when she reached him, she jumped off the Woodmoth and grabbed Xanth's arm.
"Why are you here," he said dully, "I want to end it all."
"NO!" she shouted, "Xanth, wake up. Look at me." He did. She was beautiful, her hair windswept and her cheeks rosy from the cold wind. His heart ached with yearning and sadness.
"Magda, I…" he began
"No, Xanth," she whispered, drawing closer to him, "Don't tell me. Show me."
He wrapped her in his arms a hugged her against his strong chest. They stood like this on the Edge amid the ruins of the Stone Gardens for a long time. Xanth let her go suddenly and looked her in the eyes.
"What about Noah?" he asked.
"Noah is not you. I can't love him."
"Then that afternoon by the lake…you lied?"
"Yes."
"You love me?"
"Yes."
Xanth grabbed her around the waist and tilted her face up towards his. Their lips met, and they kissed there under the afternoon sun and both of them felt completely happy.
Xanth and Magda walked hand in hand back towards their skycraft, radiating happiness. Climbing on the skycraft, they sailed due north, sometimes speeding up, sometimes slowing down, sometimes swooping in close for a kiss or a touch.
On and on they traveled for three days until they began to recognize the dense woods below them. They were nearing the Freeglades.
Xanth and Magda were only a few miles away from home when they stopped for the night. They wanted to savor their last night together, huddled under one blanket.
In the middle of the night, Xanth was stirred from a deep sleep by the sound of countless marching feet. Peering into the darkness below him, he could just make out the dim forms of rows and rows of marching goblins. Their sharp spears and curved swords glinted under the pale moonlight. He roused Magda and dressed quickly.
Both of them were ready in minutes and sped off grimly towards the Freeglades.
It was deepest night when they arrived. They quickly set up their plans, and with a parting kiss Xanth went towards Lake Landing and Magda sped towards the Lufwood Tower and the Ironwood Stands.
Dashing into the main foyer of the librarian academy, Xanth began running up and down stairs, waking librarians and urging them to arm and be ready. To his sorrow and shock, most of them refused to get up. His reputation for drunkenness was far from being forgotten.
In the end, he managed to muster a scant fifty librarians. All the rest refused to stir from their warm beds. Noah was among them, and Xanth carefully avoided his eye. He led them swiftly to the Skycraft Corrals, where Magda was waiting for him. She had been more successful; most of the policemen from the Lufwood Tower were behind her, with Rook and the Freeglade Lancers next to her.
It took only a short time to explain the plan of attack to the bleary-eyed fighters, and then they were off.
An aura of unease hung over the marching columns of goblins. Some of them went so far as to emit soft whimpers or grunts, for which they were immediately flayed by the overseers.
The army was still five miles from the Freeglades when the first silent volley of leadwood bolts shot out of nowhere, killing a fair number of goblins. Simultaneously, an enormous wall of flames surrounded the army, preventing them from advancing but also cutting off their retreat.
Bolts and arrows kept coming, thick as rain. While Pandemonium reigned in the ring of flames, fifty policemen climbed down into the clearing with their ropes and distributed silent death before quickly retreating back into the tree tops.
Suddenly a giant burning lufwood shot up into the air, leaving an enormous hole in the ring. All of the remaining goblins charged through the gap, coming into the middle of a band of librarian knights. They killed a good number of them before the Lancers could intervene.
A large group of goblins suddenly burst through the trees and threw themselves upon the Freeglade Lancers. The Lancers, startled, lost many men before they could regroup and counterattack with the librarian knights.
By the time the sun's first rays were peeping over the horizon, the area of the woods was nothing more than a smouldering circle with scattered bodies from both sides of the conflict. The survivors were busy either hunting down remnants of the goblin army or searching the dead for anyone they could recognize.
Xanth, who was in charge of the situation, was picking his way through the bodies, searching desperately for Magda. He stepped over the body of an enormous hammerhead goblin when he saw a pale hand protruding from beneath.
Swallowing the knot in his throat, he heaved the goblin off of the other body and found himself looking into Noah's dead face. Behind him, there was a movement. Something – someone was crawling towards Xanth, looking more dead than alive. She had burns all over her body, her clothes were torn, and she was bleeding from numerous places. It was Magda.
She placed a trembling hand on Xanth's shoulder. He turned towards her, attempting at the same time to hide the identity of the body he held in his arms. But it was already too late.
A raw, rasping scream went up from her throat as she wailed her loss, rocking Noah's head in her arms. Suddenly Magda felt a pair of arms around her. Xanth was trembling from emotion, weariness, and injuries, but his embrace provided a sense of comfort to Magda and she fell asleep there, the sound of Xanth's heartbeat gently rocking her to sleep.
A while later, Rook came across the three of them. He did not at first realize that he was seeing two of his dearest friends. Xanth and Magda were asleep or unconcious and the Noah was dead. He signaled to two of his lancers to take them back to the Freeglades and have their injuries treated