It was the happiest day of Danno's life. Friends and neighbours crowded round as he walked across the sunlit grass to receive the Harvest Challenge trophy; smiling, laughing, patting him on the back. Bevil looked as if he was going to burst with pride, and Amie... Where was Amie?

Danno looked around. She should be here. She should be with Bevil and him. Where had she got to? Then he heard singing. Raucous, boozy, lecherous singing. And there she was, up on the town hall roof, waving a jug of rotgut and gyrating her hips as she chanted "I died before you! I died before you! I died befooore yooou!"

And then she leapt, swooped shrieking with laughter through the smoke and flame filled air, before crashing to earth with a sickening thud near Tarmas' house. A Githyanki nudged her head with his foot, making it roll horribly, then grinned at Danno with Bishop's grin.

"It was fine before I broke it." He sneered. "Surprisingly delicate."

Danno started struggling toward Amie, desperate to help her, trying to shout What did you break? What?, but his voice was silent, and the silent corpses of West Harbor closed around him, urging him toward the Harvest Field where Garius waited to give him his prize.

---

He woke to a corpse-pale glow. He struggled to sit up, fatigue weighing down his limbs, the half-remembered nightmare dragging at his spirits. He couldn't tell how long he'd been asleep; not very long, he thought. There was a little light now. Someone had thought to arrange their various magical items and weapons, those that produced light, around their prison. The dim glow, and what it revealed, did little to cheer him.

The space they were in was smaller than he'd realized, little more than a third of the original chamber. The rest was gone; shattered, tumbled stonework looming over their little party, the ill-balanced mess threatening to collapse further, crushing and burying them. What was left of the chamber roof above them was propped up by massive columns, but Danno didn't like the look of them. They seemed... ornamental. Designed to impress, and draw attention to the main feature of the chamber. Danno didn't think they were supposed to survive thousands of years of decay, hitting them and the roof above them in the space of a few seconds. He tried not to think of what would happen if they started to crumble.

Rubbing his face, trying to wake fully, Danno dragged himself upright, and looked to see how (and what) the others were doing. Zhjaeve, Sand and Ammon were still clustered around the portal that was framed by the fortuitous pillars. Dead, lifeless, tormenting in its promise, and their inability to unlock that promise. Zhjaeve was trying to explain (he thought) some esoteric point about planar travel. Sand was listening with barely concealed irritation, and Ammon looked openly scornful. It was clear that their 'discussion' had progressed no further since he himself had abandoned it in frustration and disgust. All three were simply repeating their own opinions, over and over, using somewhat different words each time, and none of them were hearing or accepting what the others had to say.

Khelgar was pacing worriedly, studying the rubble, the columns, the roof. Every so often he'd pause, staring intently at some particular block of fractured stonework, or he'd brush a hand lightly against a column, but each time he'd shake his head in frustrated helplessness, and go back to pacing.

Elanee and Grobnar were sitting together near the rubble; a good deal too near for Danno's liking. Grobnar was talking now, at least, his voice too low for Danno to make out what he was saying. When Danno had closed his eyes, Grobnar had been silent and unresponsive, mourning the loss of the golem. It had failed of course, along with everything else of Illefarn, when the King of Shadows was destroyed: but its last act, as its joints froze and its steps faltered, had been to reach up and hold a sagging lintel, buying them just enough time to bolt past it... and into this tomb. Danno had been angry at Grobnar. He had mourned Shandra's death, more than anyone else, if Danno was honest with himself. But to mourn a golem, a construct, more than he had mourned Shandra seemed to be a betrayal of her. Danno tried to suppress his anger, telling himself it was the terror of their flight through the collapsing ruins, the horror of their entrapment, and the shock of losing another friend so suddenly that had overwhelmed Grobnar. That the strange gnome counted the deadly machine as a friend (or a much loved pet) was undeniable, but for him to be thrown into silent despair at its destruction was worrying. When Danno had fallen asleep, Elanee had been talking to Grobnar, trying to cajole some response from him, and she had evidently succeeded.

Casavir was sitting quietly off by himself, meditating. Or perhaps sleeping, it was hard to tell. Danno was only too glad to let him get on with it. He was a courageous fighter, though sometimes far too reckless, but Danno found his obstinate determination to put the law higher than morality or practicality was deeply annoying. Except, that wasn't the right word. Not annoying; offensive. And his bloody, bloody death-wish; his habit of charging into impossible battles; his superior "Oh I've suffered so much and I'm so much holier than thou" attitude; his... Danno screwed shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and forced himself to unclench his fists. It wouldn't help anyone if he gave into temptation, walked over to Casavir, kicked him hard between the legs and shouted obscenities at him. Well, it might cheer Neeshka up.

Oh yes. Neeshka. Let's leave the hardest until last, shall we? Let's try and bury the guilt, the shame, and the heartache under a pile of other concerns, hmm? Perhaps, if we ignore her for long enough, she'll go away, and we can stop feeling as if we've betrayed and abandoned everything that makes this shitty world worth living in.

She was off by herself, crouched down with her back to a wall, hugging her knees, her tail tucked away out of sight. She was awake, but not looking at any of the others. She was staring off into some horrible world of her own. Danno didn't know what was in that world with her, and didn't want to know. And he suddenly saw, with a dull sense of realisation, that the various glowing artefacts weren't arranged around the chamber. They were arranged around Neeshka. A feeble, fragile barrier against the darkness.

Danno sighed, struggled to his feet, and moved over to her. He was upsettingly close before she noticed him. Neeshka, who'd always known where everyone was, almost before they did, hadn't even seen him walking toward her. And when she did notice him, and look up... she cringed. It was very slight, almost too slight for him to see, but he did see, and it was unmistakable. He hesitated, and then sat down. Near, but (he hoped) not too near.

"Are you alright?"

A small shrug, and she went back to staring into nothingness. Danno took a deep breath. "I am so sorry. Please... I... we came as fast as we could. We didn't even know where you were. Can... can you forgive me?" That got a reaction. A sudden, startled look. Eyes wide. Then she glanced away, as if unable to look at him.

"It's ok. I knew you'd come. I knew you wouldn't leave me there. I mean, you promised, right? To protect me? And you keep your promises. Even crazy ones."

Danno honestly didn't know how to react. Her words said one thing, but her voice, her manner, said another. Then, in a sudden rush of words, horribly, all became clear.

"He looked like you. All the time he was torturing me. He made himself look like you. Trying to make me hate you. Even before the... the binding spell."

Danno truly thought, for a moment, that he'd vomit. He swallowed hard, swallowed acid. "He wasn't me, though. I'd never do that. Not to you, not to anyone."

A pause, and then, in a tiny voice, she said, "You killed Qara."

Danno realised that he had to choose his next words with absolute care. He didn't try protesting that it had been Khelgar and Casavir who'd actually done the deed, on the other side of an impenetrable barrier. He didn't try arguing that she deserved it. Instead, with all the sincerity he could muster, he said, "I didn't want to. I would have spared her, gladly, if only she'd stopped fighting. If only she'd stopped attacking us, even for a moment. But she didn't. She chose to join Garius freely, and she fought us as hard as she could. We... I couldn't let her kill us. I couldn't let her kill you. And I would never, never have tortured her. No matter what."

Neeshka didn't respond, but after a while, she edged a little closer to him. Then sighed. "We're going to die down here, aren't we?"

He looked across at the futile discussion over by the portal. Now it was Ammon's harsh, contemptuous voice that was going over old ground, punctuated by Sand's sharp little barbs of sarcastic agreement and praise.

"Oh, well now it's all so clear. Thank you so much for opening our eyes. I can't imagine how we didn't see it before. Unless it is, perhaps, that your theory is total nonsense. What you fail to realise is..." And now Sand was off, his whiny didactic tones wandering mosquito like through the air.

Danno sighed in turn. "Yes. Yes, I'm afraid we are. And if thirst and hunger don't get us, then Sand will annoy us to death."

A snort of, not quite laughter, but at least bitter humour.

"But at least we saved the world." Continued Danno. "No-one and nothing can take that away from us. Quite something to take into the afterlife. Not many heroes can say that."

"The whole world? D'ya reckon?"

"Oh, absolutely. No way the King of Shadows would have stopped with the Mere, or Neverwinter, or even Faerun. After all, anything that wasn't Illefarn, that wasn't his perfect ideal of Illefarn, was a threat. No, I reckon we can hold our heads high in any afterlife we go to, and know we're among the greatest of the greats."

Neeshka shifted, sitting up straighter, starting to look more alive. "But it was you really" she said. "I mean, we'd never've done it without you."

Danno could spot a hidden plea like that a mile off. Sometimes.

"It was us. All of us. I'd have died a thousand times over if it wasn't for all of you. And you... I have never seen such courage and strength. Never! When you defied Garius, when you fought the power of Illefarn to fight alongside us... You inspired me Neeshka. I think... I might have given up without you, without your strength and courage.

"And it was good, wasn't it? When Garius was grovelling on the floor, trying to stand up, and that golem just kept smashing him back down. And I tell you, I didn't think it was possible to put arrows where you did. In both his eyes. And his knees! That was just magnificent!"

Now Neeshka was sitting bolt upright, her eyes shining and her tail lashing with excitement as she re-lived the fight in her imagination, through Danno's eyes. Danno's heart rose, just seeing her looking like her old self. Until a shadow crossed her face, a look of doubt. She looked at him earnestly and said, "You will build it, won't you?"

"Build... build what?"

"A crypt. For me."

He stared at her, in horror. Oh gods. Oh by all the gods, she's gone insane. Then a memory, of a conversation that seemed to have taken place a thousand years before.

And if you were laid to rest, I would not want anybody robbing your crypt, Neeshka. Please understand.

You'd build me a crypt? Wow. Those tombs are so beautiful, that'd be a great place to sleep when I'm dead.

He took a deep breath.

"Of course I will. There's plenty of stone here, after all. And I promise, if someone does come in here looting, it'll be the rest of us they rob. Not you." Then, in a lighter tone, "I'll make sure Casavir has all the really crappy stuff. Maybe they'll break bits off in frustration."

Neeshka sniggered. Danno glanced over at the bad-tempered trio by the portal. Voices were being raised, and if he didn't do something they really might not have to wait for hunger or thirst to finish them off.

"Look, Neeshka, I think Sand's starting to panic. I'd better go over and let him be condescending at me, it always calms him down. Tell you what, why don't you tell Khelgar what sort of crypt you want?"

"Awww! Not Stumpy!"

"Well, he is a dwarf. If anybody can make a good crypt out of this rubble, it will be him. Unless you just want some pile of rocks."

Neeshka pouted and looked sulky, but perversely cheerful as well. Danno stood again, and headed for the portal. The argument was starting to sound serious, and the others were now staring openly. And casting nervous glances towards him. Of course, don't any of you bother trying to calm things down, just leave it all to yours truly, don't lift a finger yourselves.

Almost as if he'd heard Danno's petulant thought, Khelgar set his face in a determined expression and started toward the three. Casavir swore softly, possibly at the thought of the blunt and tactless dwarf trying to act as peacemaker, and Elanee scrambled hastily to her feet, moving to intercept Khelgar.

"Khelgar," Danno said quickly, "could I have a word with you?"

The dwarf hesitated. "Laddie," he said softly, "if one of them throws a fireball..." He glanced significantly up at the threatening stonework above.

Danno cleared his throat loudly, and clapped his hands briskly. It was enough to halt the escalating row, for the moment at least. To Khelgar, quietly, he said "Please talk to Neeshka. I'm worried about her. After what she's been through..."

Khelgar threw a quick, guilty glance her way.

"And humour her, please."

Khelgar sagged. "You're a hard man. That tiefling's a fine lass, but damned if she doesn't get on my nerves."

He trudged over to Neeshka as if he was going to his own execution, and Danno couldn't help a quick grin at the thought of how he'd react to her bizarre request. Perhaps a few sparks would help her forget what had been done to her... and with that thought Danno himself was cast back into gloom.

Elanee came forward, with Grobnar tagging along behind her. When she opened her mouth to speak, Danno gave her a quick, warning stare, and she subsided. Casavir, mercifully, said nothing, though he stood there looking sombre and portentous, which was irritating enough.

Danno sighed, and addressed himself to Sand, Zhjaeve and Ammon. "I'm sorry I fell asleep. But without all of your experience and study, I don't think I was contributing much anyway. Have you made any progress?" Sand, at least, had the decency to look slightly embarrassed and awkward.

"Well, no. Without the Tome of Iltkazar we have no way of forming our own portal..."

"And as I keep telling you, we don't need our own portal" Ammon interrupted. "This portal is intact. All we need to do is to provide it with power, and open it."

"And how do we do that?" Sand asked wearily. "Even if we knew the key to opening it, or" he hurried on, forestalling Ammon's retort "we could deduce it, how are we to power the portal? Bombard it with fireballs? Speaking for myself, I would rather leave that experiment until we are desperate."

"We have never needed to provide power to the portals before" Elanee commented quietly. "Is it truly so different now?"

Zhjaeve addressed herself to Elanee, turning away from Sand and Ammon, and Danno got the impression that she had decided that there was nothing to be gained from speaking to them.

"Know that the power of Illefarn is exhausted. The King of Shadows had turned most of his strength toward trying to sustain all the magics of Illefarn against the depredations of time. Had he not done so, I fear we would never have bested him. Now that he is gone, all that Illefarn made fails. Including the portals."

There was a sombre silence among them, disturbed by the sound of Neeshka saying, excitedly "... and Devas, with carved wings..."

"Lass, how d'ye suppose I would carve Devas' wings? With me fingernails? Argh, why am I even talkin' about this? It's madness!"

"But Danno promised!"

"Alright, alright, calm down. Alright, Devas then..."

Elanee frowned. "What is the horned one speaking of?"

"She has a name" Danno said flatly. "Please use it. And she is telling Khelgar what sort of tomb she wants."

"Oh how very practical" said Sand. "In the circumstances. Do you think Khelgar is taking commissions, maybe? I think I would quite like something in pale lilac, myself." Danno honestly couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic.

Ammon let out a hard bark of laughter. "So that's it, is it? We abandon any attempt at actually escaping this tomb, and spend our last hours building yet more tombs. Well hear me, Knight Captain. I haven't fought so hard or lived so long to just give up and die now!"

"Perhaps it is our destiny to end here." Casavir spoke as if pondering out loud. "Surely it is the fate of animals to fight to the bitter end against their deaths, while only thinking creatures can prepare themselves to die with dignity."

Ammon bristled, but it was Elanee who abruptly turned on Casavir. "And have you learned nothing during our travels!? Do you still imagine that the beasts have no dignity, no grace in the face of death? How can you be so arrogant! I was sorely misled when I thought that paladins were supposed to be humble."

It was one of those rare occasions when Danno wanted to hug Elanee, and cheer her on. Instead he settled for a grin, and a friendly touch on her arm.

"I agree with Ammon" he said. "We can't, and won't, give up. But let's fight the problem, not each other." Then, in a quieter voice, "Neeshka is coping as best she can. She's been through worse than any of us. Far worse. Just give her a little time." He looked around at them, one at a time, willing them to relax.

After a few moments Casavir turned to Elanee and said "I apologise. I only thought to cool tempers, and perhaps bring a measure of calm to troubled hearts. It seems I erred. Will you forgive my foolish words?"

"I... of course. Perhaps I did over-react. A little."

Ammon made a sound of irritable disgust, and Grobnar, uncharacteristically quiet until now, beamed delightedly.

"Oh how wonderful! I always think there's nothing better than friends making up after an argument. Unless it's friends not having an argument in the first place, but that almost never happens, so it's hardly worth considering."

"Well, judging by this little group, friends rarely do anything but argue" Danno commented wryly.

"Oh, but of course" Grobnar said happily. "Why my cousin Wimble and his wife Dotty loved each other so much, they never stopped arguing at all. Even when they were haunting the florists after that dreadful daffodil disaster, they kept on arguing. After all, if you don't care what someone thinks, then why would you argue with them? And who cares more than friends? Except for family, of course. And pets. And sometimes rampaging Ogres, but that's another story."

The party quietly absorbed this little pearl of Gnomehands family history.

"Know that there is much truth in what you say" murmured Zhjaeve.

"And delivered so cogently, with hardly any insane rambling at all."

Grobnar looked at Sand with surprise. "Oh, really? Well, I do pride myself on having a knack for choosing just the right words. It's why I became a bard in the first place. It's rather an amusing story, actually. You see..."

"But perhaps a story for another time" Danno interrupted, as Sand buried his face in his hands. "For now, I think we should concentrate on trying to open this song portal."

Grobnar fell silent, then turned and hurried away. Damn, thought Danno. I just can't put a foot right, can I? He shrugged, making a mental note to try and make it up to Grobnar later, and turned to Sand and Zhjaeve.

"I know, we might not be able to do anything with the portal. We probably won't. But at least there's something already there for us to try and work with. Making our own portal is a non-starter, I think you'll agree, Sand. Zhjaeve, I really don't think that any of us can learn to planeswalk, not in the time we have. And you can't create a portal or gate that we can all use?"

Zhjaeve shook her head. "Know that to travel the planes requires much strength, even for one. For many to travel, all must be planeswalkers, or must use an artefact of great power."

"Which we don't have" Danno hazarded.

"We do not."

"And you can't leave here and get help?"

For the first time that Danno could remember, Zhjaeve seemed to hesitate. Sand sighed, and Ammon scowled, but to Danno's great relief neither interrupted.

"It is certain that after much meditation I could travel elsewhere. However, It is not possible for me to know what would await me at this precise location in any other plane."

"Ah. So you could end up in the middle of a battle. Or solid rock."

"Know that I have more skill than to make such an elementary error as that." Zhjaeve said, with some asperity. "But I may be much delayed by circumstances. And there is a more immediate danger in my travelling from here."

"The danger of being instantly crushed by falling rubble" Ammon growled.

"The sorcerer speaks truly" Zhjaeve almost sighed. "Know that to open such a gateway I must draw not only on my own power, but also on the power of my surroundings. There are some places which have such power that gateways may open even without the will of a planeswalker. And places from which it would tax the strongest to travel. And, with the King of Shadows gone, there is little power left here."

"Yes, quite" Sand broke in. "And I'm sure that even our glorious leader will have noticed what happened to the rest of this dungeon when the power keeping it intact was drained away."

Danno shuddered. "So we work on this portal, then. Ammon, Sand, I want you two to work on figuring out the key. Zhjaeve, Elanee and I will work out how to power it. Gently," Danno said to Sand, "I assure you."

"Oh, really, I'm sure all this is quite unnecessary!"

Danno turned slowly and stared at Grobnar. Who was looking... very strange indeed. Almost as if he'd had a religious revelation. And who seemed to be holding – nothing.

"Please, no" Sand almost moaned.

"What do you mean, Grobnar?" Danno dreaded hearing what he was sure Grobnar was going to say, but he couldn't help asking. It was like watching a horrible disaster unfolding. You didn't want to, but couldn't stop yourself.

"Why, the Wendersnaven's instrument, of course! Surely they gave us such a wonderful gift for exactly this moment. To open an ancient song portal! It's so obvious, I can't imagine why I didn't think of it earlier." And beaming happily, Grobnar lifted his hands and began making a most distressing, nasal humming.

"Please stop him" Sand pleaded, suddenly looking wild-eyed. "Or let me. I'm sure I still have a fireball or two I can cast, it's really no trouble to..."

Danno couldn't trust himself to speak. He just lifted a hand sharply, gesturing Sand to shut up. The horrible humming went on. Danno closed his eyes and breathed slowly and deeply, trying to unclench his jaw, and speak civilly to Grobnar, to ask him perhaps, if he would be so kind, to just SHUT THE HELLS UP... no, keep calm Danno, remember that we're trying not to turn on each other murderously, not here, not yet...

He was sure that everyone was staring at him. At their leader. Waiting to see how he'd handle this. But, he couldn't think what to do, what to say. He was starting to feel light-headed, swaying, as if he was being bawled out by Tarmas for some idiotic mistake in his lessons, and he just had to stand there looking straight ahead while wishing the ground would open up under him, and the sound of Grobnar's hum seemed to be coming from a long way away, and Danno could almost hear a choir of giggling voices joining in...

A sudden shriek pierced the air. Danno's eyes snapped open. He saw Neeshka, eyes wide, hurling herself at the shimmering curtain in the portal.

"Tiefling, dammit, wait!"

Khelgar charged after her. A stone, as large as Danno, dropped from above and struck the ground with a horrible thud, narrowly missing Sand. Everyone started shouting and running, Casavir was trying to gather up packs, pieces were flaking off the crumbling pillars, dust showered from the roof and turned the air to a choking fog, and then one bellowing voice roared above the chaos...

"CASSAVIR! YOUR MACE! DUMP THE REST! ELANEE, ZHJAEVE, THE STRONGEST SUMMONS YOU'VE GOT LEFT! EVEYBODY THROUGH NOW!!!"

Danno was distantly surprised to find that it was his voice. I can't shout that loudly. I won't be able to speak for days, now. He realised that Grobnar was still humming, standing quite still as everyone else shoved and stumbled through the impossibly open portal. His eyes were wide as the chamber emptied, and more stones fell, larger, faster... Danno bent down to croak in his ear, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright, I won't leave you. We'll go through together."

He began urging Grobnar forward, skirting blocks of masonry, why haven't we been crushed yet?, trying to see the portal through the growing clouds of dust, seeing the others just vanishing, a wolf a dire badger and one mage shield is that all we had left?, looking down at Grobnar with his eyes bulging and face purple, dammit he hasn't even taken a breath, still hearing, somehow, the horrible sound he was making, even over the thudding and crashing of falling masonry, stepping through the portal...

To blazing sunlight, green fields, and grazing sheep.