In a cavern, deep inside Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, the MacArthur sat worriedly on his ornately carved throne. Archie, Jaikie and Hamish sat around him on divans while Arthur, their dragon, lay half-asleep beside them, his head resting on a cushion. The MacArthur stretched wearily, drawing his fur-lined cloak around him. Its deep red velvet was worn in places but it was comfortable and kept off the chill. Most of the day had been spent discussing the problem of Firestar and his mind was still going round in endless circles as he pondered the dangers of another attack.

Looking up as Arthur lifted his great head and exhaled a long breath of fire and smoke, the MacArthur straightened and rose to his feet. A magic carpet had just sailed into the Great Hall and he raised his eyebrows as he saw that it carried Sir James.

“Give over, Arthur,” Archie said excitedly as he sprang to his feet, waving away the clouds of smoke, “you don’t want to choke our visitor, do you?”

Sir James smiled as he looked round the Great Hall, his eyes taking in the huge, red dragon and a few clustered groups of MacArthurs who stared up at him as he swooped by. It was a comfortingly familiar sight and as breathtakingly magnificent as ever. He smiled at Hamish and Jaikie as they helped him off the carpet and walked over to the raised dais that held the MacArthur’s throne. Eyeing him shrewdly as he bowed low, he wondered what had happened to put the MacArthur out of temper. Or perhaps he’s been ill, he thought, for gleaming under the fur of his robe he glimpsed a heavy necklace of firestones; powerful, magic stones which protect their wearer from harm. So, he noticed were Archie, Hamish and Jaikie. Something must have happened, he decided, for despite their many hair-raising adventures, he had never seen the MacArthur look quite so drawn and haggard.

Hamish and Jaikie pulled up a divan for him and once Arthur had settled his great bulk comfortably, with Archie sitting cross-legged beside him, Sir James poured out his tale about the Cri’achan.

“The rest of the committee laughed it off,” he explained. “They just didn’t believe the crofter’s story. But I did. I remember Neil and Clara telling me how they were chased by the Old Man of the Mountains when they were on their way to Inveraray last year — and he was a stone giant, wasn’t he? Must have been, for Clara saw him.”

The MacArthur listened to Sir James carefully. “We heard that the Cri’achan are walking the mountains again,” he said worriedly, “but from what you say, it sounds as though they’re still very weak. They can grow a lot taller than a house, you know. But you’ve got one thing wrong, James; the stone giants aren’t causing the landslides, they are the landslides!”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you. The giants must still be weak. They have the strength to rise from the slopes of the mountains but from what you say, they can’t walk far before they collapse — and that’s your landslide.”

Sir James turned white for, unlike them, he had all the facts and figures at his fingertips. “But if that’s true,” he said slowly, “they must have intelligence of a sort. Look here,” he pointed at his map, “and here and here; all the landslides are in strategic positions that close the glens to traffic. They’ve covered roads, bridges and railway lines and they’re moving steadily eastwards. No one’s been hurt yet but …”

“No one will be hurt, Sir James,” the MacArthur assured him, “the stone giants aren’t vicious. They’re only dangerous because of their size. All they want is space to move around the mountains.”

“Well, they’re succeeding. People are having to leave their homes, you know. It’s no joke! The Highlands are being emptied.”

It was only when he looked closely at the positions of the landslides on the map, however, that the MacArthur’s face altered and he gave a hiss of alarm. Jaikie and Hamish looked puzzled until the MacArthur drew his finger towards Aberdeen.

“Morven,” Jaikie said in alarm. “You don’t think …”

“If the Cri’achan are heading for Morven then things could get out of hand,” the MacArthur said grimly, slapping his knee, “as if we didn’t have enough on our minds already!”

Sir James’s eyes flew from face to face as he sensed their concern. Things were obviously far more serious than he’d thought. “Something else has happened, hasn’t it?” he ventured.

Looking at Sir James’s worried face, the MacArthur nodded, wondering if it was fair to burden him with another, more serious, problem. He sighed and began his tale. By the time he had told him of Morven, the existence of Firestar and the dreadful attack that had almost killed them all, Sir James was sitting bolt upright. Now he knew why the MacArthur looked a couple of hundred years older than usual.

“When did all this happen?” he asked.

“About a month ago.”

“And you say the Rumblewhatsit, the hobgoblin, saw a man on the monitor?”

The MacArthur nodded. “What really worries us is that there could be another attack at any time. That’s why we’re wearing firestones. The danger is that if it lasts for longer, we … well, we just mightn’t be so lucky. It came out of the blue, you know. No warning at all!”

Arthur, with an eye on Archie, blew a very small cloud of smoke in agreement.

“And this ball of energy that you call Firestar? I mean … is it all right now?”

The MacArthur nodded. “Yes,” he answered. “The hobgoblins were worried about it at first but they can sense its moods and thoughts and they’d know if it had been injured. We’d all know,” he added frankly, “for Firestar is reflected in all of us.”

“What about the Sultan?” Sir James asked. “Was he affected? And Lord Rothlan? Prince Casimir? And your daughter, Lady Ellan?”

“They all felt it,” the MacArthur said gravely.

“Have you talked about it with them?”

“We had a meeting in Morven with the Lords of the North,” the MacArthur said gravely. “A few decided not to come — Lord Jezail declined and quite frankly he wasn’t missed.

“Lord Jezail?” queried Sir James. “I don’t think I’ve heard you mention him before?”

The MacArthur pursed his lips disapprovingly. “To tell you the truth,” he said frankly, “very few people like the man. He lives in Ashgar.”

“Ashgar? Where on earth’s that?”

The MacArthur raised his eyebrows. “Haven’t you heard of it? It’s one of those small principalities tucked away in Central Europe …”

Sir James shook his head. “My geography of Central Europe isn’t all that brilliant,” he confessed.

“It’s on the fringes of Asia and quite close to Turkey. I’ve never been there but Prince Casimir and Prince Kalman used to stop over in Ashgar on their way to Turkey to buy magic carpets.”

“In the days before the Sultan’s crown was stolen,” Archie added.

“Ah, yes! The Sultan! Did he come?”

“He came by magic mirror,” the MacArthur nodded, “and ended up chairing the meeting. He’s a forceful character and … well, the Lords of the North are very old and a bit dithery nowadays. They were quite happy to hand the meeting over to him. Lord Rothlan and Prince Casimir were there, of course and we talked for hours but in the end, nothing was resolved. We couldn’t find out what the force was but we think it may have come from the sky — like a bolt of lightning or something. The only thing we know for sure is that it wasn’t an attack by a stray magician. It was a man that Rumblegudgeon saw on the screen.”

“I presume you’ve put a protective shield round Morven?”

“It was the first thing we did,” nodded the MacArthur.

Sir James sat back. “This is serious,” he muttered, “but there are some clues. You should have told me about this before, you know. If the hobgoblin saw a man on the screen and you think the attack came from the sky, then the chances are that maybe some sort of spacecraft is involved.” He saw their blank looks. “You know,” he gestured vaguely, “… spaceships, satellites and the like … Machines in space that circle the earth and transmit data about all sorts of things. Lots of countries have them — America, Russia and France to name but a few.”

There was a silence.

“America?” Hamish looked at Jaikie, his eyes startled.

Jaikie sighed. “You’d better tell Sir James about the Americans at Morven Castle, MacArthur.”

“Morven Castle?” Sir James repeated.

“It’s in Glenmorven,” Hamish explained, “and quite close to the mountain.”

“There are four or five of them,” the MacArthur admitted. “Young chaps, all of them. They leased the castle from Lord Robertson not long after Firestar was attacked and since they arrived they’ve done nothing but climb all over the mountain. They must know that there’s something odd about it for they’ve taken rock samples and gone over it with some sort of machine as well.”

“They have, have they?” said Sir James interestedly.

“They haven’t found Firestar, though,” Hamish said. “They arrived after we’d put a protective shield round the mountain.”

“I’ll try and find out who they are and what they’re up to, if you like,” Sir James offered. “I’ve a friend in Aberdeen who might be able to help.”

Jaikie grinned, despite the gravity of the situation. “No need for that, Sir James. We’ve got spies in the castle already!”

“Ghosts,” nodded the MacArthur.

“Ghosts?” repeated Sir James, looking taken aback.

“Red Rory MacGregor and the Black MacTavish,” the MacArthur said, smiling at his expression. “Fearsome fighters, the pair of them. They’ve haunted the castle for years. They never bother Lord Robertson, of course,” he added, “but these Americans have really put their noses out of joint. Apparently, they suspected from the start that something strange was going on and when they heard them talking about how to get into the mountain — well, they passed the message on to the Lords of the North.”

“They were talking about blowing a hole in it with explosives,” Hamish said disapprovingly.

“How on earth do you know all this?” Sir James asked in amazement.

“The Lords of the North have given them a crystal ball,” the MacArthur said reassuringly, “and they keep us up to date on what’s going on.”

“They’re trying to scare the Americans out of the castle at the moment but so far they haven’t had much success,” Archie added, smiling mischievously. “The trouble is that they’re invisible, of course, so their scope, at the moment, is a bit limited. They reckon they might have to materialize if they’re going to get any results.”