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this matter.’ He cleared his throat, stood, and paced the room, hands clasped behind. ‘Rei is just a stepping stone to what you must face, Samuel, but she is a challenge nonetheless. In defeating her, you might gain the strength to better Poltamir without resorting to the forces inside you.’
    He sighed with concern before continuing. ‘I do not recall events ever coming to such a head. If you vanquish Rei and Poltamir then, perhaps, you will overcome your son, the Demon King. He will be weary and famished upon his return, and that will be the time to strike. I will not ask how you intend to do that. I assume you have a plan.’
    The magician looked to Leopold, taking a moment to assess his worth, and then back to his father. ‘I do. And with your help, Edmond, I shall return to Cintar, challenge Rei, and finish what I began.’
     
    ****
     
    Mother made dinner and they gathered at the table. The magician did not eat. He sat in silence while the old man and the boy went at their plates like ravenous wolves.
    ‘Do you never feed them, Samuel?’ Leopold’s mother asked with disbelief.
    ‘I sometimes forget such things,’ was his answer.
    She shook her head. ‘Then given that it is dark and I’m sure they are in desperate need of a rest, stay here the night before setting out. You probably forget they need sleep as well.’
    The magician nodded; a man of few words.
     
    ****
     
    With the meal finished, Leopold followed his father into the night air, summoned by a subtle gesture. They walked between the moonlit trees, with the sigh and thump of the waves sounding from the sea.
    ‘There is much I have never told you, son,’ the man disclosed, ‘many things you may never learn, or may learn to your dismay, but I only want you to know that everything I ever did was for you and your mother.’
    ‘I know, Father,’ Leopold returned.
    ‘I have tried to be a good man, but it was not always so. We all do things we are not proud of, son, so I want you to know that I was not altogether kind in my past life. Only here, on this little island have I lived truly and become the man I imagined as a youth, so long ago.’
    ‘But why must I go with him, Father? Why must I leave?’
    ‘Because I love you. Because your mother loves you, and as you will discover when you have your own children, we will do anything for you. You will go with Samuel,’ he told Leopold firmly, ‘and you will do as he says. Only once his business is finished can you return here. There can be no debate.’
    ‘But I don’t want to go, Father,’ Leopold stated, stubbornly voicing his objections.
    His father smiled. ‘Don’t worry, my son. Wherever you may go, I will be by your side.’
    They climbed upon rough cliffs that overlooked the sea and sat quietly. Leopold had countless things to say, but his father sat with composure and watched the stars glittering above the ocean. Leopold was reluctant to break that calm.
    Much later, his father stirred, and they strolled home.
    The old man and the boy had been put into another room and the magician was sitting on Mother’s rocking chair in the corner, eyes glinting in the fire light.
    Father disappeared into his room and reluctantly, Leopold went off to bed, closing his door securely behind him.
     
    ****
     
    Leopold stumbled from his room in the middle of the night. He had need to pass water, and went out into the night air, his mind still entwined in the happenings of his dreams, thoughts of the magician and his companions forgotten.
    On returning, Leopold stopped, unsteady on his feet. Something large and black loomed in the middle of the room. Its side flickered orange and yellow, reflecting stove light. It took Leopold a few heavy breaths to realise what it was, as his thoughts were trawled from the back of his mind, dragged to the surface through a morass of semi-consciousness. It was the box from the magician’s boat, now in the middle of their living room.
    Leopold gazed at the front