The portal spat them out in a barren wasteland.

Willow managed to land on her feet, almost trampling Trick. He was lying on his side, clutching his head and muttering curses.

"Don't worry, I'll fix you," the faery grinned and produced a tiny crystal bottle of silvery-green liquid.

"It looks like poison," Trick grumbled, eyeing the potion suspiciously.

"It's a Simple Healing Draught," Willow explained. "It heals minor injuries like cuts and bruises, although I'm not entirely sure what it's made of. I stole it from the healer."

"If I die, I'll kill you," the elf muttered but accepted a sip of the potion all the same and stowed the vial in the provisions bag.

Willow could practically see the potion taking effect. Trick's pained expression was replaced by one of relief, and he took his hand away from his head.

"Well, would you look at that," he said. "I'm alive."

Willow rolled her eyes and pulled him to his feet. "Now that you won't roll around in the dust and complain, can you work out where we are?"

He looked around. They were standing on parched, cracked earth that spread in all directions until it reached a distant grassland with tall trees in the north, what looked like clouds in the west and a gloomy smudge to the south. The east was hidden to them.

"Oh no," Trick moaned. "This is bad, this is really bad."

"What is it?" Willow pressed anxiously.

"We're in the desert, in the east of the realm. The Lesser Rift is where that dark haze on the horizon is. That's the fire kingdom."

"What?!" Willow cried. "We're pretty much right back where we started!"

Trick nodded and hung his head. "If I hadn't lost my temper, we wouldn't be in this mess. You would be home by now."

"It's fine," Willow said in an attempt to reassure him. "We can jump back through the portal and take out the guards!"

Trick cracked a small smile but said nothing. The loss of Ember was pressing on his heart again now that Willow was okay, and guilt had added its weight until he felt as if he were suffocating.

Willow shook his shoulders and they wordlessly started north-west, back towards the Forest.

***

The first stars were out by the time they reached the edge of the savannah above the desert, and they decided to go no further since the troll moors were some distance ahead and they didn't want to be travelling through such dangerous country at night.

"I'd better get to sleep fast," Willow murmured sleepily as she and Trick settled in a hollow between two great tree roots. They had long since stopped caring about anything that might attack them.

"What for?" Trick yawned back, pressing himself as close to the tree as he could and shuffling until he was comfortable.

"I met my father when I was unconscious. I must speak to him again tonight and tell him about our journey."

Trick didn't reply. He was already asleep.

***

The moon had already risen and it was beginning its slow descent towards the horizon again when Willow finished recounting her journey so far to her father. This time they were facing the bridge across the Greater Rift.

"Well, my child," he laughed when she finally fell silent. "You've been on quite an expedition, haven't you!"

"She really has been very brave," Indriel smiled, but there was a trace of something in her eyes that Willow couldn't quite place. Sadness, maybe? Regret?

"Well, I doubt there is anything else I must tell you," the King said as he stretched and sighed. "It is lovely to see you once more after so long a time, Willow. It is such a shame I cannot tell your mother that you are safe and well - indeed, that you nearly stepped inside the borders of our land before you jumped into the portal after your elf."

Willow felt her cheeks heat up but said nothing.

Indriel gave a sudden gasp at the mention of Trick. "Oh, I almost forgot! I know how to revive the fire sprite!"

"What?!" Willow cried. "I can bring Ember back to life?!" She couldn't believe that the older faery had forgotten.

"Yes, you can. Simply journey to the fire kingdom and find him. He'll come back with you."

"It's that simple?"

"Indeed. You have the Spirit Touch - you can journey into the spirit world and bring one creature back, but only if it wishes. However, you must touch it to bring it back with you, and it will wait for you in the place you touched it."

The moon was sinking lower and lower. It would soon be dawn in both worlds, which would wake Willow up almost immediately.

"I must go at once," she said as she embraced Indriel and kissed her father's cheek. "Farewell!"

She set off quickly, making sure no one was watching as she made a brief detour into the heart of the forest before setting off again.

The bridge was devoid of guards and she had no trouble with accessing the portal.

Instead of going north-west as she had done in the other world with Trick, she headed due south, towards the fire kingdom. It, too, was deserted. This struck Willow as a little odd, since the entire realm should be teeming with spirits.

A tiny flame on the horizon drew her attention. It grew steadily larger, a lone torch burning in the darkness, until it stopped right at her feet.

"Ember," Willow gasped and hugged the little sprite fiercely, tears like crystal droplets falling onto the ashy ground.

Ember reached his little arms around her as much as he could and closed his eyes, relishing the feeling of wholeness which spread throughout him, a flame within a flame.

"It's getting light, Ember," Willow whispered. "Will you come with me?"

The little fire sprite nodded and took her fading hand.

***

Trick was already awake when Willow stirred.

"You've been asleep for ages!" he groaned when she finally got up. "I was ready to accept that you were dead and eat the rest of the provisions."

"Please don't, I'm starving," Willow laughed. "I've been busy in my sleep."

Trick raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that we need to go back to the fire kingdom."

***

"I will never get used to this!" Trick screeched as he looked at the land laid out before them. Wind streamed through his hair and filled his ears, almost drowning out the sound of Willow's steady wingbeats.

Willow laughed. "This is only your second time! You'll get used to it."

"I really won't. Please don't drop me."

"Then don't look down!"

"Where else would I look?"

"I don't know... Up, maybe? You might even see a dragon if you're lucky."

Trick quickly got bored of gazing at the clouds and stared at Willow instead. Her brown waves were flying out behind her and had long since become tangled. Her green eyes remained vibrant, the closest thing the fire-elf could get to the forest.

Trick felt calmed by the fresh scent of pine-needles. He was surprised her tattered dress didn't smell like grass, or earth, or charred fabric after all she had been through.

"We're almost here," she said, turning and catching him staring.

"I, uh... Ok." His cheeks were burning, he could feel it.

Willow smirked and dropped him.

She laughed as she folded her wings and dived, following his trailing screams as he plummeted towards the ground.

"You're fine." She caught him easily and floated the rest of the way down, landing gently.

"Why the hell did you do that?" he gasped, glaring daggers at her.

"I land faster without your weight."

"I'm beginning to think you're crazy."

"You're probably thinking right." Willow peered over the Lesser Rift, searching for Ember. She had already asked Trick during the flight if he wanted to land in the fire kingdom, but he had refused for reasons he kept to himself.

"Stay there," she told Trick and fluttered over to the other side of the Rift.

Just as before, Willow saw the light in the distance, and flew towards it.

Ember jumped up and took her hands as she skimmed over him. She hugged him tightly.

"Trick!" she called. "I have a gift for you."

The fire-elf, who had memories of Ember flowing through his head as he saw the fire kingdom again, looked up and raised his eyebrows.

"I don't particularly like gifts."

"You'll like this one."

"What have you brought me?"

Willow landed behind him, a good distance from the gaping chasm, and knelt down.

"I brought you Ember."

***

Willow peered down into the Rift, smiling as she heard the tearful reunion behind her. Trick, she knew, would be whole again, his fiery heart filled with his fire sprite. She was giving them some time alone to let them cry and hug it out.

A faint roar suddenly echoed round the chasm and Willow jumped. Something big was down there.

The roar came again, this time with a desperate note.

Willow thought quickly. Something big was down there, and it needed help.

With a last glance back, she did the rashest thing she could and jumped into the chasm.

Trick saw her disappear over the edge but Ember put out a restraining hand, telling him that whatever she was doing, she wanted to do it alone.

"Well, this was a stupid idea," Willow muttered to herself as she shot down the Rift like thread through the eye of a needle.

A shower of stones pelted her from a ledge on her left. She peered into the gloom and could dimly make out a huge yellow-feathered creature, holding down what looked like a feebly struggling serpent.

Willow hovered, torn between helping and getting out of there as fast as she could. This was clearly out of her control; she couldn't battle a basilisk.

The creature in its grip cried out feebly. It was no longer struggling.

Willow made up her mind. She conjured up some leaves and stuffed them in her ears before rushing at the basilisk, her thorn blades springing from her wristbands, and latching onto its neck.

The creature on the ground gave a hoarse cry and struggled to its feet.

Willow grappled with the basilisk as it made lunge after lunge, screeching its deadly song and trying to throw her off. It finally succeeded, catching her with its hooked tail as she let go, and she went plummeting down into the abyss.

***

Trick could hear the roars reverberating around the Rift as he sat anxiously on the ground with Ember on his knee. When he heard a scream, he knew he couldn't wait any longer.

"Willow, I'm coming!" he yelled, setting Ember on his shoulder and running towards the chasm.

The fire sprite slid down his arm and hung there, slowing him down.

"Ember, stop! I need to help her!"

But the little creature gripped on obstinately, swinging back and forth like a pendulum.

Trick was forced to give in. He trusted Ember and knew that if something was wrong, the sprite would know.

He reluctantly stopped running. No sooner had he done so than there was a great updraft of air from the abyss in front of him and a young wyvern erupted into the air like smoke from a volcano, beating its clawed wings fiercely.

Ember pointed at its back, where a tiny figure was seated.

"Is that Willow?!" Trick said incredulously. "Honestly, she never fails to amaze me. Or scare the hell out of me, for that matter."

The wyvern circled down slowly. The sunlight glanced off its silvery-blue scales and made the golden underbelly shine.

Willow, seated high above Trick at the base of the creature's neck, struck him as some sort of warrior goddess riding into battle. Her wild hair flowed about her like a halo, and her green eyes blazed. She had never looked so alive - or so beautiful.

"Do you want a ride?" she laughed as the wyvern arrowed past and she flicked out a thorny shoot, wrapping it around Trick and pulling him onto the wyvern's smooth back. Ember clung on, trailing sparks like a comet.

"What the hell happened down there?" Trick shouted, clinging to her waist to avoid being blown off as the wyvern rose higher. "I saw you jump into the Rift, and come out again riding this!"

"The wyvern was being attacked by a basilisk, so I helped it," Willow said with a shrug.

"You're crazy and I love it," Trick said, and kissed her.