As the three dreamwalkers watched from their hiding place, the boy who would one day be king walked forward with uncertain steps, before coming to a halt some twenty paces from the giant.

The Philistine warriors were by now roaring with laughter and hurling insults at the Israelites and their tiny champion. This other David, who was wearing nothing more than a simple white tunic and sandals, very much like Petra’s, was armed only with a sling that dangled from one hand. With the other he was fingering a small bag of stones. There was real reluctance about the way he stood there alone, exposed to both great danger and ridicule, but there was also defiance in the way he held his head. David felt instinctive sympathy toward him.

Goliath, who had been roaring with laughter with his men, suddenly held up his spear, and his army fell silent. Then he spoke.

These were the first clearly spoken words that David had heard in this ancient time, but if he’d hoped dreamwalking would somehow allow him to understand, he was disappointed. The words were rough in the mouth of the giant, and clearly hostile, but he could tell nothing more. There came a moment of silence, and then it was the boy’s turn to speak.

The young Israelite’s voice was extremely small compared to Goliath’s, but the words were clear and sounded brave. The Philistines roared back with derision, banged their shields, and threw back their heads in laughter.

Then something strange happened. Off to the side of the army, in the shade of some further ruins, a new figure emerged. David was astonished to see what appeared to be a man in a black city suit stroll out from behind a crooked tree. He even wore a trilby hat and carried a cane! David blinked in surprise … and then saw that he had been entirely mistaken. The man was just another soldier, dressed in the same light armor and carrying not a cane, but a spear.

The newcomer took up a position near his comrades, but while the great mass of fighters was focused on the two champions, this new man was looking elsewhere. He had a low helmet that almost covered his eyes, but David could have sworn he was staring straight up at the three dreamwalkers.

“A trick of the light?” David murmured aloud.

“What’s that?” said Dishita.

“Well, for a moment I thought I saw …” But David wasn’t sure what he’d seen, if anything, and neither of the girls seemed to have noticed this odd figure. He was about to say something more when the battle began.

Goliath stepped forward and started to circle his young opponent with a stooped, menacing movement. He stalked to the left and then doubled back, his shield and spear raised threateningly. David the Israelite hurriedly put a stone in his sling and began to twirl it. The laughter of the Philistine army grew so great that Goliath decided to change his approach. He turned to his men and gave an exaggerated shrug.

His audience cheered.

Then he thrust his great spear into the ground, leaned his shield against it, and hung his helmet on top. Goliath turned back to face the boy with his hands on his hips. The Philistines hooted with pleasure while the Israelites looked on in silence.

Then David raised his arm, gave his little sling a couple of final whirls and released the stone. It zipped across the space between him and Goliath and struck the mighty warrior on the forehead. Goliath instantly raised his hand to his head. The Philistines laughed hysterically.

David Utherwise looked back at the strange new warrior in the ruins and saw that he’d begun to move. He was now running straight toward them, and at great speed.

“What’s that man doing?” he asked, and the two girls turned to look.

“That’s strange,” said Petra. “This has never happened before.” Then she added, “Oh, no …”

“Adam!” cried Dishita. “He’s here!” And she rushed forward to meet the approaching warrior.

“No!” cried Petra.

The warrior leaped straight up the rocky slope — an impossible feat for a normal person — and hefted his spear in his right hand, clearly preparing to throw it. As he left the shade he became instantly translucent and spectral in the sunlight.

“Wait, Adam!” cried Dishita. “It’s me! We must talk.”

Adam pulled back his arm and flung his spear. It sped straight through the air and slammed into Dishita.

The girl disappeared instantly.

David stared, dumbfounded, into the space where she had been and then looked again at the warrior. Somehow the spear was back in his hand.

“We go!” cried Petra. “Now!” and David felt himself being pulled from behind. The world tipped, the shaft of a spear passed inches in front of his nose, and suddenly he found himself looking out into the desert from the other side of an open door.

He saw the terrible Goliath framed in the doorway. He saw the blood pouring from his head. He saw the mighty giant begin to fall.

The door slammed shut, and everything went black.

David woke to a great commotion of sound. He reached up and pulled the mask from his eyes, and felt a throb in his head as the light of the Somnarium reached him. He sat up despite the ache and looked over to Dishita’s bed. Half a dozen people in white coats were standing over her, with a cart of high-tech equipment stationed on the side. The professor was there too, and Petra leaped from her bed and rushed over to join them.

David swung his legs over and stood up with an immense effort. He stumbled to Dishita’s bed.

“What happened?” he asked.

The scientists ignored him, but the professor looked up, his face ashen. He seemed to have forgotten all about David for a moment.

“Dishita has suffered psychosomatic shock,” he said. “There’s a possibility of personality damage. We have to get her to the hospital — this could be very serious, I’m afraid.”

“Nonsense,” said Petra, who appeared at David’s side. “Dishita is strong.”

As if to prove that statement, there came a low murmur from the bed, followed by a few faint words in Hindi. Dishita sat up and said, “Don’t fuss, I’m fine.”

David could see that she was far from fine. Her forehead was covered in sweat and she was sickly pale. But the atmosphere in the room grew less urgent, and several of the white coats stepped back, removing the instrument cart. Dishita was helped onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the Somnarium, still protesting.

“Adam was there,” said David. He suddenly felt very tired and irritable, despite having apparently just slept. “He attacked us …”

“I know, I know,” said Professor Feldrake. “But we didn’t pick him up on the Map until it was too late. I shouldn’t have let you dreamwalk so long — Adam’s always been difficult to detect, and there was always the risk the Haunting would detect you first. But I never expected him to act that fast.”

“Of course you didn’t,” said a voice, and everyone turned to find Roman standing in the doorway of the Somnarium. “But you should have done. Adam knows all our training sites. Naturally he would have the Haunting monitoring them. I hope you are not going to tell me you didn’t plan for this possibility, Professor.”

The professor sat on one of the beds and started cleaning his glasses on his tie. He seemed very old and frail.

“And I also hope you are not going to tell me that this chance to hit back at Adam was wasted,” Roman went on, turning his fierce eyes on Petra. “You fought him, yes? Adam was destroyed?”

Petra looked annoyed and flustered.

“It was all too fast. I had to get David clear …”

“Get David clear,” Roman repeated, incredulous. “Get David clear? David is nothing! You let Adam get away just to bring this useless boy home safely?”

“Commander, you know Petra stands no chance against Adam on her own,” said Professor Feldrake. “He’s the strongest dreamwalker we have ever known. We were caught off guard, that’s all.”

“Caught off guard? We are fighting for our survival against a rogue dreamwalker who wants to turn history on its head, and you were caught off guard?” Roman shook his head. “And now we have lost Dishita. Something is going to have to change here, Professor. This isn’t a research program anymore. How long before you realize that we are at war?”

The professor said nothing.

“I have a report to file,” Roman said, his voice a low growl. “Our political masters are expecting results. They will not be expecting this.” And with that he left the room.

“We’ve lost Dishita?” David cried. “What happened back there? What did Adam do to her?”

“They call it a mind pulse,” said Petra, still staring angrily at the place where Roman had been. “Free from the body, the mind is very powerful. If you concentrate hard enough you can even make an attack — an attack of pure mental energy. Adam was always very good at it. Adam was always good at everything. Poor Dishita. She’s good at it too, but she would never have believed Adam could attack her like that. She won’t let him do it again.”

“We’ve lost so many dreamwalkers in the last few days,” added the professor. “But we haven’t lost Dishita. She was lucky this time.”

“Was it really luck?” David was struck by a sudden realization. “Or was it just that Adam was after someone else?”

Both the old man and the girl looked at him.

“Me. It was me he really wanted to hit, wasn’t it?”

The professor got slowly to his feet.

“I told you earlier that you are our best chance of finding Eddie. And don’t forget, you have already saved him once from Adam. The Haunting can’t tolerate you helping us, David — you are probably now our only chance to defeat them. They will go to any lengths to eliminate you. Adam will kill you if he can.”

“You’re our David,” said Petra. “But he’s their Goliath.”