Chapter 2

All-Seeing Eye

They descended the steps in single file, Diana first and Hank last.

There was almost complete silence, even when they moved the sounds seemed to be sucked out of the air. The street itself was dusty and the smell reminded the Ranger of the attic back at his house; it was a very distinctive, musty smell. It made him feel uneasy. The others didn't seem happy either, as they paused at the bottom of the steps, looking around nervously and no one moved very far.

'Smells like the Metropolitan Museum!' muttered Eric with a huff. 'Yuk!'

Diana regarded the Cavalier incredulously, but made no comment.

'Now we're here, what are we gonna do?' asked Bobby, turning to look at Hank.

Hank looked round, that question had been on his mind since they had heard about Kish from Dungeonmaster!

They were standing on a street with houses down one side. The street itself seemed to stretch all the way from one side of the valley to the other, but there was no way to be sure without walking to find out. And it seemed a very long way!

'We have to get through Kish,' he said, thinking out loud. 'There's no point in following this road to the mountains.'

He took another look around. The buildings close by were all similar in shape and size, and all seemed to be in various degrees in dereliction. He didn't fancy going in to any of them, not even to look around, as they had the look of something that was just standing by sheer luck rather than firm foundations.

None of the others wanted to look either.

'This place is creepy,' whispered Sheila. Next to her, Uni was standing quietly, looking very uncomfortable with being there. 'It feels like the walls are watching us.'

Hank waited for a moment, expecting a derisive and snide remark from Eric. But none came.

One by one the others turned to look at the Cavalier, who looked back in surprise.

'What?' he asked. 'What's wrong now?'

'What's happened to your mouth, Cavalier?' asked Diana pointedly. 'Can't think of a good comeback.'

'Look, Diana, just because I happen to agree with her this time doesn't mean you can all…'

'That's it!' said Hank loudly, turning round and pretending to look around wildly. 'We're gonna start walking right now! The moment Eric starts agreeing with people is the moment our luck officially runs out! Let's get moving!'

'Ha ha ha!' snapped Eric. 'Funny! Funniest thing I've heard all day!'

'Certainly better than anything you can come up with,' Diana said.

Eric screwed up his nose at her, and was about to reply when Hank cut in.

'Stop bickering and start walking!' he said, pointing to their left. 'This way!'

No one disagreed with him, and they all moved off down the street.

Hank wasn't sure quite what he'd expected in Kish. From what Dungeonmaster had said he was on edge and on his guard, but somehow the city did quite fit in with his expectations.

Certainly, at the start of their journey through the city, nothing happened. It was eerily quiet, their footsteps muffled by the thick layer of sand on the ground and the sandstone of the buildings. No one seemed inclined to talk, even the childish sniping of Diana and Eric petered out within a minute.

They walked for a long time, at least an hour straight through the City as the suns dipped below the tops of the buildings.

The road seemed to be descending, and they walked in deep shadow, even though it was still daylight and blue sky above them. It was a difficult walk, it was warm and quiet and they all seemed to get tired and thirsty very quickly.

They eventually stopped for a short rest near a crossroads, one of the few they had passed in Kish. The road they were on led straight onwards, though Hank couldn't exactly make out if it kept going straight, it was too dark to see. The other road cut across as an acute angle, and seemed to curve away round a corner not far ahead.

The seven of them rested uneasily.

'How far do you think we've come?' asked Diana at last.

'Not sure,' Hank replied. It had been difficult to judge distance in this place. On a good day they could do three miles in about an hour on this kind of ground, but three miles seemed like an awful lot today. He was sure it was less.

'Dungeonmaster said we had to be quick,' said Presto. 'I wonder how much further we have to go.'

'At least the same again,' said Hank, trying to be realistic.

There was a collective sigh from the group.

'And I hope we are going the right way,' added Sheila. 'What do you think Dungeonmaster meant?'

No one seemed to be able to answer her. Now they were actually in the city, Dungeonmaster's riddles didn't appear to make any more sense than they had earlier!

"You will know which way is right," Dungeonmaster had said. "And you must always choose." Choose? Choose what? He didn't understand.

Hank looked down the straight road as it stretched off into infinity with a frown on his face. There was something really odd about this place! To was magical, yes, but there was something more.

'I hate just sitting here,' said Diana. 'This place gives me the creeps.'

He had to agree with here, for all the rest they'd had, none of them looked any happier. The sooner they got out of Kish, the better.

'Ok,' he said. 'Lets go.'

The Acrobat was on her feet in an instant, and had already taken a couple of steps down the straight road when Hank called out to stop her.

'Why are you going that way?' he asked suddenly.

Diana, and all of the others turned to stare at him, confused.

'What?' she asked.

Hank hesitated. He wasn't that sure what he meant either, but it seemed to be important.

'Why that way?'

'Well,' she said slowly, 'it was the way we were going, and I just thought…'

Something clicked inside Hank's head, as he thought about Dungeonmaster's riddle: You must always choose!

'That's it!' he said. 'This place, it's like a maze, and it's magic. But there is no set way out!' He looked round excitedly at his friends. 'That's what the riddle means. We have to choose!'

'What?' said Eric. 'You mean we can just choose the way out! Well I choose an exit over there!'

The Cavalier pointed to one of the broken down buildings close beside them. Everyone turned to look, and see if anything had changed, but nothing had.

'I'm not so sure you're right,' said Diana, looking back to Hank.

'Wait a minute,' said Sheila, 'didn't Dungeonmaster say something about powerful magic changing the Realm at will?'

'Actually,' cut in Eric, 'he said "It is a place steeped in magic, where powerful forces bend the world to their will".'

Diana regarded the Cavalier in surprise.

'How do you know that!'

'I was listening!'

'Maybe,' interrupted Sheila, 'it just means we have to want to get out. We have to keep thinking about it, keep choosing our way rather than just following the road.'

She looked at Hank for approval, and he smiled.

'Yes,' he said.

Only Eric looked doubtful, but he didn't raise any objections.

'What have we got to loose,' said Sheila, facing the Cavalier.

Eric gave a grudging nod.

'Ok, then, if you're so convinced. But let's just get going, huh!' he said.

'So which way are we gonna go?' asked Presto.

Hank took a deep breath and pointed down the straight road.

'That way!'

Much to his relief, everyone followed his lead, and they all walked off again.

He hadn't expected much to happen, they were following a straight road, after all, but they had only been walking for a few minutes when the road started to curve off to the right.

Hank looked round at the others and smiled.

'Looks like you were right, Sheila,' he said. 'We're certainly going a different way now.'

They kept walking, and Hank kept on thinking about where they wanted to be, hoping that he had made the correct choice. Slowly, the style of the city changed as the bland, ramshackle buildings were replaced by more ornate ones that seemed to be in better condition.

The mood of the group lightened, and they all began to relax a little. Sheila fell into step beside him; Diana and Eric were back sniping at each other, and even Uni seemed happier, trotting ahead with Bobby and Presto.

They walked on.

The road kept descending, and soon they seemed to be deep underground, except with a blue sky. There was no sunlight down there, only dark and cold shadows.

At last, after another hour of walking, the road stopped at a wide square lined with tall, ornate buildings. This was lighter and less claustrophobic than the street, but there was still no direct sunlight. But in the centre was another statue.

The kids all stopped at looked at it, no one saying a word. It was obvious who it was, except that its head was missing. But they didn't need that to know that this was another statue of Venger.

'Whoever lived here were not great fans of ol' horn-head!' said Eric at last.

'I wonder what happened to his head,' said Presto.

'Maybe someone took it to give him a face lift,' suggested the Cavalier with a smirk.

Hank looked around the square. There was nothing much to see, apart from the statue and the surrounding buildings. There were three other roads that lead out; two of them seemed to curve off back towards the way they came. The other one was in the centre of the opposite wall, and it had a tall, carefully carved double archway over it.

He let them rest for a few minutes longer, but no one seemed comfortable in the shadow of the giant statue. Trying to rest with a headless Venger watching over you was not a good idea.

But there was something else that seemed to be bothering everyone.

So far, as they had travelled, everyone had been subdued, and much less talkative than usual. Hank had noticed it in himself; even when Sheila was walking next to him he didn't want to talk. He would have expected some petty arguing from Eric, or for someone to wander off and look around, but no one did.

The others must feel the same, as Hank knew that being in this city made him very uneasy.

Uni was standing next to Bobby, looking intently around, her ears pricked for any small noise. So far, they had heard nothing, but their own muffled footsteps.

As he sat, thinking, the Thief leaned towards him.

'This place is as quiet as a tomb,' Sheila whispered to him. He nodded.

'It is a necropolis,' he replied, matching her tone. 'Dungeonmaster said that many Heroes are buried here.'

'We haven't passed any graveyards,' she said. 'Which is good. I think.' There was a distinct, uncomfortable pause before Sheila spoke again.

'I don't like this place,' she said. 'But I don't know why.'

'I don't either.' Hank smiled at her, pleased that she was confident enough to share her worries with him.

'It just feels as if something is watching us all the time. Haven't you noticed it?'

Hank shook his head.

'I haven't felt anything like that,' he said. 'But this city makes my skin crawl. There's something unnatural about it.'

Sheila took hold of his arm.

'I know this sounds silly, but I think something bad is going to happen,' she said.

With their track record, something bad was bound to happen! He looked at Sheila, knowing she was thinking the same thing.

'Hey, everyone,' he said, standing up. 'It's time to go.'

The other kids all stood up too, even Eric.

'Which way now, Hank?' asked Bobby.

The Ranger pointed to the road with the arch.

'That seemed to be the only road that leads in the direction we want to go.'

It was clearly a relief to everyone to be away from the headless statue and moving again.

Hank lead the way out of the square, with Sheila on one side and Bobby and Uni on the other. Together they walked out of the square, under one of the arches and back into the shadows of the dark street. Hank shivered.

Now he thought about it, there was an odd sort of feeling. He wouldn't have described it as being watched, but more like being part of something larger, something alive.

He turned to say as much to the Thief, but as he turned, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Or rather, he didn't!

He stopped instantly and whirled round.

The three other Young Ones, Diana, Presto and Eric: They weren't there!

'They've gone!' said Diana. She stared down the empty street in amazement and shock. Hank, Sheila and Bobby and Uni weren't there. That wasn't possible!

'That is a disappearing act worthy of Dungeonmaster!' said Eric.

'Where have they gone!' said Presto. 'I don't get it, they were there a moment ago!'

The Magician, the Acrobat and the Cavalier had all stopped just underneath an arch. The others were nowhere to be seen, there weren't even any footprints in the sand. Diana took a glance round at Presto and Eric, to reassure herself that they were still there and she wasn't just imagining this.

'They stepped through just in front of us,' said Diana, looking back down the empty street. 'They wouldn't have gone into a building, would they?'

'No,' said Presto. 'We need to get outta here as fast as we can! And besides, there wasn't enough time. They were just a few steps ahead of us! They were out of our line of sight for less than two seconds!'

'What's going on!' said Eric angrily. 'Hey Hank! Sheila! Quit messing around!'

His voice echoed down the street, but there was no answer.

'Hank!' called Presto. 'Bobby?'

The three of them stood for a moment, hoping that there would be an answer. When there wasn't, the Magician said:

'Well, what are we gonna do now?'

'You could try the Hat,' suggested Diana. 'You know, a summoning spell, a spell that would take us to them, or them to us.'

Presto took the Hat off his head without much enthusiasm, but didn't start a spell.

'What's wrong?' asked Eric.

'I don't think the Hat's gonna help,' he said with a sigh. 'Remember what Dungeonmaster said. This whole city is full of powerful magic, and it must have split us up for a reason. It's not going to let one little spell from me change it back!'

'You sure?' asked Eric. 'You have been getting better with it.'

Presto nodded.

'I'm certain. I've learned enough recently to know when to quit while I'm still standing!'

Eric nodded, and gave Presto a warm grin, possibly trying to reassure the Magician.

'That still leaves us with the problem of what to do now,' added Presto.

He looked round at Eric expecting an answer, and Diana did the same. It was odd that now, Eric seemed to have taken on the mantle of second in command without actually realising it, or anyone speaking about it. It had just happened. There had been a time when the though of putting the Cavalier in charge of anything more complicated than breakfast scared her more than Tiamat or Venger. But not any more.

As she looked at him that day in Kish, at that moment she realised she trusted him to do the right thing, and to get them safely through the danger.

She continued to stare at him, her mouth slightly open as if the sudden insight had paralysed her. Then she saw that Presto and Eric were looking right back at her.

'Um, sorry,' she muttered, her cheeks burning in embarrassment. 'But what are we gonna do now?'

She looked up at Eric, and thankfully he took the cue and brought his attention back to the matter of their disappearing friends.

'Well, we're gonna have to find them,' he said, a slightly sarcastic tone to his voice. 'But this place seems to be playing tricks on us!'

Eric pointed down the street in front of them

'They've vanished into thin air with no evidence that they have every been here!' he said. 'And we've gotta assume that they are standing around somewhere thinking exactly the same about us!'

'We should look for them,' said Presto 'They'll be looking for us. I hope!'

'But they're not here,' insisted Eric, sounding much more anxious than he looked. 'If we stay to look around, we might lose the chance to get out. Remember what that crazy old man said, we've gotta stay on the safe path!'

'What about the others.'

'Hank will be saying exactly the same thing.'

There was short silence, then Diana forced herself to ask the next, obvious question, even though the Cavalier would certainly not appreciate it.

'But what if we're wrong? What if they are somewhere close by, needing our help?'

The Cavalier stared at her, then looked to the ground. He didn't answer immediately, but was quite for well over a minute. Diana didn't push him for an answer, and signalled to Presto to wait as well.

'I don't know what to say, Diana,' the Cavalier said at last. 'I don't know if this is the right call, or the right thing to do. I just don't know. But we have to do something, we can't just stand here and wait for everything to sort itself out. We could look around, hoping to find them but…'

The Cavalier didn't continue. Instead, he took a deep breath.

'We can look after ourselves,' he said firmly. 'And we've gotta believe that Hank and the others can do the same.'

Diana stared at him in surprise. The statement had the unmistakeable ring of sincerity, and the Cavalier clearly believed what he was say. Such a statement, from Eric, would have been unthinkable even a few months ago. When had Eric grown up? How had she missed that!

Even though she didn't completely agree with everything he had said, he clearly needed her support, as this couldn't have been an easy decision to make. Forcing him into an argument was not going to help anybody. It was his decision.

'Ok. So what now?'

Eric nodded slowly, then pointed down the street.

'We'll have to keep going this way.'

'And just hope we'll run into them?' asked Diana.

Eric didn't answer.

'That doesn't sound like good idea to me,' muttered Sheila. 'They've got to be around here somewhere!'

The Thief looked up at Hank with a worried expression on her face. He didn't like seeing her like that, but he was rapidly running out of ideas.

'We can't risk going to look. Remember what Dungeonmaster said, we'll be safe as long as we stay on the correct path. And I bet the three of them are standing somewhere saying exactly the same things.'

'Yes, but is this the correct path?' she said. 'I refuse to believe that we are just going to keep on walking and hope that we bump into the others!'

Hank shrugged. That was a pretty crude way of saying it, but it also summed up his plan. He didn't like it; he didn't like it one little bit but there seemed to be no other option. Magic had caused this somehow; they had only been out of the others' sight for a few seconds at most. It had to be magic. It had to be.

And it if was magic, then they had to keep going and get out of the city as fast as possible. Eric, Diana and Presto would hopefully do exactly the same!

'This city is controlling this, somehow,' he reminded her. 'It's playing games with us, just as Dungeonmaster warned us about. It's magic. I'm sure the others can look after themselves.'

Sheila looked extremely doubtful, but gave a grudging nod.

'Either way, I don't like this,' said the Thief. 'If the city itself is doing it, it must have a reason for splitting us up like this.'

Hank had thought of that as well, and the idea hadn't filled him with confidence. He shrugged again.

'Regardless of what's going on, we've gotta keep moving.'

'Do you think that's what the other three will do?' asked Bobby suddenly.

Hank paused for a moment, trying to guess what Eric and the others would be doing.

'I think…' he said, hoping that what he was going to say was right. 'I think they would just keep going.'

'This doesn't seem to be working, Eric,' said Presto.

Diana looked round to the Cavalier and saw an uneasy expression on his face, he clearly agreed with Presto's comment, but didn't have any reply. They had been walking down the narrow street for a good number of minutes, and nothing had happened, and there was no sign or clue to where the others were. Nothing at all, it was as if they had vanished into thin air.

'Are you still not willing to try the Hat?' the Cavalier asked.

'It's not going to work,' said Presto firmly.

'Well, then we don't have a lotta choice!'

'I've been wondering,' said Diana. 'Why?'

'Why? What why?' asked Eric.

'Why split us up?' she said. 'I mean, it doesn't really make much sense.'

'We're in the Realm,' said Eric with a sigh. 'When does anything we do make sense!'

While he did have a point, Diana didn't give up.

'Assuming that it is Kish itself that's doing this to us, it has to have a reason.'

'Diana, you're talking about a city! Cities don't reason!'

The Acrobat suddenly stopped.

'Remember what Dungeonmaster said.'

'How I wish I didn't!' replied Eric.

'I'm being serious,' snapped Diana. 'He said there was something evil here. Something that scared away the Rocs.'

'I hadn't forgotten about that, y'know,' said Eric pointedly.

'I don't like the way this is going!' said Presto.

'But Dungeonmaster didn't know what it was,' said Eric.

Diana nodded, the idea of what she was trying to explain suddenly crystallising in her mind.

'No, but what if Kish wants help to get rid of it!'

'But, Hank, you're still talking about a City!' insisted Sheila.

'I know, but…'

'Cities don't want anything!'

'But it makes sense!' insisted Hank. 'If it wants us to help it, what better way than to split us up and force us to look for our friends!'

'But we're not looking!' said Sheila. 'We're just standing around here arguing!'

There was a moment of tension between them, then suddenly Hank smiled. It was a crazy conversation!

'I don't know any more than you do,' he said. 'But there has to be some sort of reason this is happening.'

Sheila nodded slowly, as did Bobby. Even Uni joined in with the general agreement. But then the smile on Sheila's face faded.

'Assuming you're right,' she said. 'And Kish wants us to help… Do you think we have a choice?'

Always choose; that's what Dungeonmaster had told them. They always had a choice. He nodded.

'Then, whadda we choose?' asked the Barbarian. 'To help, or to find our friends?'

'Maybe both,' said Hank. 'If it is the city's doing, then they would both be the same thing.'

'Ok, then,' said the Thief. 'Let's get looking for them!'

Hank agreed, confident that they were on the right path.

Of course, the thought that there might be some other explanation, and some other force at work, didn't strike him until much later, when it was too late.