Time for Take-off

Joan looked at Ecstasy a little dubiously. "Are your wings strong enough to bear us both aloft?" she asked. "I hope so. You don't look as though you weigh very much at all. Anyway, we will soon find out. I think getting into the air will be the difficult part, so I want to take off from an elevated spot. I suppose Uxton's window will be as good a point as any." Exton's chambers were high in the wall of the keep. Joan went over to look out of the window and gulped. The ground was at least thirty feet below.

Summoning up her courage, as Ecstasy crouched, Joan sat herself on the girl's lower back. She crossed her legs in front of Ecstasy and wrapped her arms about Ecstasy's neck, being careful not to impede the wings which emerged from her shoulders. "Try not to choke me," Ecstasy said, and Joan loosened her grip just a little.

Then, slowly and awkwardly under Joan's weight, Ecstasy ran across the room. Joan closed her eyes as they went through the open window. Then there was a sensation of falling, and at the same time she could hear Ecstasy's wings beating furiously.

The sensation of falling abruptly ceased as their descent was arrested. "Wheee!" Ecstasy cried. "This is fantastic!" Joan opened her eyes. They were spiralling slowly upwards, and very soon they were level with the highest point of the keep, some 150 feet up.

In one direction, perhaps a mile or two away, though it was hard to tell in the twilight, they could see a host of flickering lights. They could only be the camp fires of Arthema's army.

1. They make an aerial sweep of the camp.
2. They land just outside the area illuminated by the camp fires.
3. Joan realises that her hold isn't very secure, and she is starting to slip.

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