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Look, what’s the worst that could happen?  So a few people see us vanish, so what?  In a hundred years, who’s going to care?’
    ‘You of all people should know better. Look what Askphrit’s time travelling antics nearly did to you .’ 
    ‘But that was deliberate. He’s trying to kill me.’
    ‘Okay, suppose one of those people is an ancestor of yours.  They see us vanish and end up in a lunatic asylum, never get married and have children, ergo you never exist.’
    ‘Oh, I see.’
      ‘And that could happen to anyone. It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s your ancestor. That’s just an example.  All these people are the ancestors of somebody . We don’t have the right.  One of these people could be the ancestor of De Gaulle for all we know.  But anyway, it doesn’t matter, even if you never have an impact on history, that doesn’t make it all right for someone to mess around with your life.’
    ‘Okay, okay, I agree, I just hadn’t thought it through.’
    There was a silence.
    ‘The thing is,’ said Denny, eventually, ‘what are we going to do?  If everything you just said is right, then we can’t leave Askphrit running around in history doing God knows what!’ 
    ‘I know, I know, I’ll think of something, we’ve been in worse jams than this.  But I’m not going to do what he would do.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.’
    ‘Don’t spout cliché’s at me. I’ll think you’ve lost your edge.  When they come for us, we’ll just have to fight, and make sure we don’t kill anyone.’
    ‘Agreed.’ 
    ‘Or, if they leave us here, maybe we could escape at night.’
    ‘They won’t leave us, without a guard.’
    ‘I suppose not.’ 
    A burly guard smacked Denny across the head.  ‘Shut up,’ he was told.  ‘You’ll have your chance to talk later, at the trial.’
    ‘Trial?’  Denny hissed at Tamar.
    ‘Coals of fire,’ said Tamar, ‘coals of fire.’
    ‘Gulp.’
     ‘No, we’ll be fine.  We have a magic assist, remember?  Besides, it’ll never get that far.’
    ‘So, you have a plan?’
    ‘Yeah, just leave it to me.’ 
    ‘Why am I not surprised to hear you say that?’
    * * *
    ‘Thanks!’ breathed Stiles, ‘I’m not ready to be made into kebabs just yet,’ He tried to grin.
    ‘Hmm,’ Hecate was gazing thoughtfully at the stranger, now sleeping peacefully on the floor, having been hurriedly picked up and slammed heavily against the wall, thus bumping his head a little in the process. ‘Where do you suppose he came from?’
    Stiles shrugged. ‘History by the looks of him. Why isn’t he frozen like everyone else?’
    Hecate shook her head. ‘The historical files …’ she mused. ‘This man has been thrown clear of the file that Tamar and Denny have entered – that is clear enough, but why…?’
    ‘Well, if you don’t know…’ Stiles left this sentence hanging.
    ‘We must find a way to send him back,’ said Hecate effectively resolving all redundant speculation into one easy problem. Well one very difficult problem actually, but at least it was one they could get to grips with. Theoretically anyway.
    * * *
    They were left chained up all night.  Around midnight, they had hoped that the man guarding them was about to fall asleep, he was definitely nodding, but then another guard, who was as fresh as a daisy, relieved him.
    ‘I’ve been thinking,’ said Denny.  ‘How will we know when we’ve found Askphrit?  I mean he could be here, for all we know.’
    ‘He isn’t.’
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘I just know.’
    ‘Like you knew how to get in and out of the files?  How do you know all this stuff all of a sudden?’
    ‘I don’t know, I just do.’  She thought about it.  ‘It’s weird, now you come to mention it, it’s like I’m being told, and then it’s as if I always knew, but I know I didn’t. I think we’re being – helped.’
    ‘Helped?  By who?’
    ‘Or what.  Maybe it’s …’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Nothing – I