With a certain amount of haste, and the customary one or two wrong turns - this time stumbling across a room containing a precisely arranged hat stand, desk, chair, lamp, notebook and cup of tea - Twitch made his way back to the courtyard, appearing alongside the Timesplitting Oak once again. Or he would have done, had he not been under the influence of his invisibility spell.

Taking a moment to examine the tree, Twitch noticed there were no longer the scurrying beetles that had plagued Sally Streater surrounding it. Presumably, he thought, that meant it had gathered up enough of whatever it had been gathering up. He would find out whether that was good or bad later, the parrot imagined, as would the rest of them. Right now, though, there was still the matter of whatever was attacking the castle to be dealt with.

"Okay, I'm back now, I brought the Old Worlds Society, and we're all invisible," he informed the group, hoping that last point wouldn't cause too much confusion, "Anyone want to tell me what the fighting's all about?"