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been impossible to locate the city from above -- there was very little to see. The network of canyons would simply look like a network of canyons. You had to be down on the same level to realize that a thriving city lay within. The streets bustled with people -- but during the day they would be in shadow and practically invisible. It was evening now, and the streets were lit with torches. Delicious sugary smells wafted from grills; buskers played weird stringed instruments and wailed incomprehensible songs. There was a crystal rack near the entrance to the city and above it a sign read: no carpets to be flown beyond this point.

The amberly attendant scurried over and gave Nimby a disbelieving glance. "You can't park that carpet here unless it's been cleaned," he told Jahim. "Three silver pieces for the full treatment -- shampoo, triple-rinse, and a thorough brushing. Two silver pieces for the standard cold wash, or one silver piece for the budget beating. I wouldn't advise the budget in this instance. I can also do a quick repair job on the burnt fringe for just one silver piece extra, if you go for the deluxe wash."

Jahim handed over four silver pieces, and Nimby made a strangled sort of noise.

"He'll look like new," said the attendant.

"Hello, stranger," said a silky little rug. "My name's Hearthmat. You look as though you've had some pile-raising adventures."

"Nimblenap," said Nimby, cheering up. "And yes, I've had rather an exciting time, as it happens...."

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Betony grinned, and she, Felix, and Jahim went off to look for an inn. Sebeth was fascinating. The shops were so different. One of them only sold blue things, another red. There was one place entirely devoted to fragrances -- not just perfumes but cooking spices as well. There was a bathhouse and a musical instrument shop and a pottery store, as well as several inns. They wandered along, looking for one that took their fancy.

"Oh, look," said Felix. "A riddle shop."

you never know when you might meet leona, read the sign in the window, don't think it won't happen to you , because it just might. be prepared! we have all the latest riddles, and their solutions. come into doddal's riddle shop and browse.

"I think we'd better take a look," said Jahim.

They went inside. The shop was very big, with lots of caverns branching off in different directions. By the entrance to the third cave there was a huge placard with a linear design and some symbols on it.

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Next to this a notice read: twenty gold pieces for whoever can solve this key. leona's last puzzle has beaten the best riddling minds in sebeth. come up with the solution, and your fame will last forever.

"They're the same symbols that were etched into the stone at the entrance to the chasm," said Felix.

"It's as simple as stepping in a cuddyak pat," pronounced a familiar voice from the next cave.

"Ironclaw!" yelled Felix and Betony together, and they rushed through the doorway, flung themselves at the brazzle, and hugged him.

"Where in the name of Flintfeather did you two get to?" asked Thornbeak, stepping out from behind a bookcase.

"Oh, Thornbeak," said Betony, "we thought you were both dead." And with that, she burst into tears of relief.

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***

11

***

"Twenty gold pieces, I believe!" squawked Ironclaw, jumping up and down with excitement and rattling the objects on the shop shelves.

"Ironclaw," said Thornbeak severely, "we've got plans to make."

"First things first," said Ironclaw. "I want my reward, not to mention the everlasting fame that goes with it."

"Let's hear the answer then," said Doddal, the riddle shop owner, although it was clear he didn't think for one moment the brazzle had actually solved the puzzle. "That figure is the key to what Leona's been scratching on the rock face outside the city. Each symbol represents a letter, presumably."

"They're not letters," said Ironclaw. "They're numbers."

"Numbers?
How do you know?"

"Oh, it's obvious," said Ironclaw. "Five triangles, joined together like a pointy hat with flaps, and all of them right-angled. So we just use Bronzepinion's Rule."

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Doddal looked blank.

"Bronzepinion's Rule. The box of the tilty side is equal to the sum of the boxes on the other two sides."

"Oh," said Doddal.

"Then it's easy," said Ironclaw. "If we assume that the smallest triangle is a 3, 4, 5 triangle, as that's the only one where all three sides have single digits, we know the symbols for three of them."

Doddal raised his eyebrows. "A 3, 4, 5 triangle?"

"The tilty side is 5. The box of 5 is 25 -- five fives. Three threes are 9, four fours are 16, 16 plus 9 is 25."

"Oh, I
see,
" said Thornbeak.

Ironclaw cast her a disbelieving look. "So the 5 side must
also
be part of a 5, 12, 13 triangle," he went on. "We know that's a 3, so the other symbol must be 1. Therefore the number base is ten."

"I
do
see, actually," said Thornbeak. "The 12 side is part of a 9, 12, 15 triangle as well. And
they're
all multiples of 3, 4, and 5."

Ironclaw looked stunned.

"And the fifteen is part of an 8, 15, 17 triangle." Ironclaw looked even more stunned. "And the last triangle has to be a 6, 8, 10 triangle. And now you have all the digits, plus zero. Am I right?" Ironclaw nodded, speechless.

"I don't think that
can
be right," said Doddal. "The symbols on the rock are meant to be a message. And you're

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saying they're a line of numbers? I can't release the twenty gold pieces for something that doesn't make sense."

Ironclaw looked furious. "I know I'm right!" he screeched.

"Well, what have we got?" asked Felix reasonably.

Doddal handed him a sheet of paper with the five symbols on it:

[Image: Symbols.]

"Two, seven, one, four, zero," said Betony.

Ironclaw glared at Doddal. "You only said come up with the solution," he snapped. "You didn't say it had to be
used
for anything."

"Why are they grouped like that?" asked Thornbeak. "Couldn't it be twenty-seven, one, forty?"

Ironclaw shrugged. He was clearly sulking.

"Hang on," said Thornbeak. "How many people has Leona killed?"

"Twenty-seven," said Doddal, suddenly looking a lot more interested.

Thornbeak laughed. "That's why there are so many crossings-out. It's a tally. If you say it out loud you get: Twenty-seven won for tea. She's won twenty-seven riddles and eaten the losers for tea."

"Well,
riddle me ragged,"
said Doddal.

"Brilliant," said Felix.

"Ten gold pieces each, then," said Doddal. "Seeing as you solved it together."

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Ironclaw looked miffed, but Thornbeak simply said, "Dinner's on us" and led the way out.

Felix introduced Jahim to the brazzles. Betony told Thornbeak how they'd bought a magic carpet, and Thornbeak explained how she and Ironclaw had hauled themselves out of the wadi. As they had been swept along, Ironclaw had calculated the probability of hitting each promontory he saw ahead of them until a reasonable chance presented itself. He had then used Thornbeak as a landing stage, by climbing over her and hooking his beak into the mud. She had hung on to his tail, and he'd pulled her out.

Betony grinned. "Doesn't sound like a bundle of fun."

"It wasn't," said Thornbeak. "It's the only time I've let Ironclaw walk all over me, and it won't happen again in a hurry."

After a few inquiries the little party found a restaurant that catered to raptors. The triple-head had cleaned the kitchen out of rump steak before it flew back to Andria, but there were plenty of other things to choose from.

"I'm surprised the triple-head came this far," said Felix.

"Oh, we're very up-to-date here these days," said the waiter, filling a trough for Thornbeak. "Heard all about that new president, Snakeweed, and Harshak."

Betony helped herself to some peribott sauce. "What exactly have you heard about Snakeweed and Harshak?" she asked.

"Snakeweed found his pebble in the library and got rid of him," said the waiter. "He's frightfully popular as a result of it."

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"Got rid of him? How?"

"There are a few of today's newspapers on the tables," said the waiter. "I'll get you one."

"I wonder how the triple-head found its way here?" mused Felix. "We had enough problems ourselves. Come to think of it, how did you two get here?"

"Followed the road, of course," said Ironclaw.

"It does help having magnifying vision," Thornbeak pointed out.

Then the newspaper arrived and they all tried to pore over it, although there wasn't really enough room. Ironclaw's wings kept getting in the way.

"Here we are," said Thornbeak. "There's a long report about it. I'll read it out loud:

By Inkhorn, our correspondent in Andria.

As the sun sank behind the trees there was an air of expectancy outside the palace. There was a slight breeze, just enough to lift the occasional feather off the grass, which had been grazed to perfection by a team of cuddyaks earlier in the day. Snakeweed was standing on the stage with his hands in his pockets.

There was a flurry of activity on the road, and a moment later Harshak appeared, traveling at an easy lope. There were gasps from the crowd -- I don't think anyone realized quite how big this sinistrom was going to be.

Snakeweed showed the crowd a pebble he had in his hand;

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then he started rubbing it against his trousers, nice fluid action, with Harshak getting closer all the time. By the time the sinistrom entered the arena, everyone had moved out of the way. Harshak started to slow down; he was resisting. Snakeweed's face was a picture of concentration: he was rubbing that pebble for all he was worth and reciting a shadow-spell at the same time. Harshak stiffened his legs and dug his claws into the grass, but you could see the force that was dragging him forward. It was an astonishing feat of sorcery, quite extraordinary. Once the sinistrom was onstage he started to shimmer, his outline getting a bit blurry, and the crowd went mad. He grew smaller, then completely shapeless. Finally he shrank to a speck of light, which shot straight into the sinistrom stone. The applause was deafening.

Snakeweed raised his hand for silence and beckoned to a lickit, who brought him a glass of fertle-juice. Snakeweed held up the pebble for everyone to see, and then he dropped it smack-dab in the center of the juice. The pebble turned to molasses, and the crowd went berserk again. I could see a japegrin with tears in his eyes ... two wise-hoofs hugging each other ... what a triumph.

And that's it," Thornbeak finished. "The ultimate publicity stunt."

"So that's the end of Harshak," said Felix.

"Good riddance," said Ironclaw. "He was known as the

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Nastiest of the Nasty, I believe. And he killed a brazzle in single combat. Have you two finished your dinner?"

"Certainly not," said Betony, pushing her plate away and picking up the pudding menu. "Oh,
yes,"
she enthused. "Got to have a slice of sparkle-meringue. Why don't you have the glitter-bomb, Felix, then we can fizz together."

This sounded like fun. When the puddings arrived, they looked delicious -- frothy and creamy with a crust of caramelized sugar on the top. Betony grinned. "You first," she said.

Felix took a spoonful and tasted it. The flavor was a bit like vanilla, but as he removed the spoon from his mouth a shower of silver speckles exploded around him, and he yelped with surprise.

Betony had hysterics. Then she started on the sparkle-meringue, and a glittery starburst of pink enveloped her head. "It's lickit cooking," she said. "Magical recipes. I haven't had one of these since I was little."

They shoveled the puddings into their mouths as fast as possible, giggling as the silver and the pink collided, producing flecks of other colors, which shot off at angles and then disappeared like sparks burning out.

"I think we'll head off to the perching rocks," said Ironclaw, bored. "See you in the morning."

Felix and Betony finished their puddings and left with Jahim. They found a very nice inn and arranged to have their

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