Chapter 11

By sheer luck, divine intervention, or some combination of the two, the Cavalier was able to hold the collapse in check long enough for everyone to make it through in relative safety. Only when he was absolutely sure that everyone else was clear and he was definitely the last one out, Eric released the will flowing into his Shield and ran down the steps with a wild scream that echoed across the desert for miles. An angry swell of dust and debris pursued him as the walls of this once venerable building succumbed to their age and Venger's desire to crush his adversaries. But somehow he made it, though he did not stop running until he was safely behind Diana, who had paused just long enough to watch the collapse of the magnificent ruins before turning to more important matters.

Some of the Khadisians had been injured in the falling debris, or by the attacks of Venger or the slug creatures. Fortune had favored them, though: None of the wounds seemed to be life-threatening, and the Khadisian sages seemed more than capable of caring for their wounded. Terri had taken a blow to her shoulder from a falling shingle, but it was not bleeding and she did no more than rub it occasionally. Rob was taking care of her; she would be all right. This was not the important matter that worried everyone now.

That matter was being voiced loudly by Hank, who had waded through the crowd until he could find Masrur. Desperately grabbing the man by his open tunic, he demanded in a voice rising with panic, "What happened to Sheila? WHAT HAPPENED?"

Masrur did not answer right away; he was only semi-literate in Common and would have had a difficult time finding the right words under any circumstances, but with the one that the King called his eldest son shaking him and shouting in his face, he was only growing more flustered by the moment.

"And Caitlin?" Hank demanded even more fervently when the answers did not immediately come. "We heard them scream! What happened? Dammit, where are they?"

"We're ... uh ... right here," came a sheepish voice, followed by a soft violet glow behind a three-foot high, squared-off stone that was probably once part of a house's outer wall. Where a moment ago there had been nothing but the backdrop of ruins, Sheila suddenly appeared, unharmed, with Caitlin still held tight in her arms. "And we're both okay."

Hank immediately released Masrur's tunic, much to Masrur's visible relief, and ran to his wife and child, so overcome that he actually dropped his Bow as he threw his arms around them both. "My God, you're all right!" he almost sobbed. "You're both okay, thank God ..." he repeated, holding them tight and not caring who saw the tears of relief streaming down his face. "I thought something happened to you, but … but everything's all right!"

Against all the odds, and in the most unexpected way, everything had indeed turned out all right. In an inexplicable twist of fate, Venger had been defeated and, most importantly, Caitlin had safely returned to them. At the moment, nothing else mattered.

Diana had also rushed over when Sheila reappeared, and since it was clear that no one was going to be able to separate Hank and Sheila without a crowbar, she threw her arms around all of them, also unable to find words to say how thankful she was that everything was at last right once again. Before Hank could even register what had happened, he, Sheila, and Caitlin were in the middle of a massive group hug from all their friends.

Once every emotion they felt was expressed without anyone ever having to say a word, the hug released just enough for Diana to ask Sheila, "What the Hell just happened? We heard you scream when you ran out of the building. We thought sure you were a goner, like the slugs had got you and Caitlin or something. Venger even said they did!"

"Uh, well, that's all that's left of the slugs," Sheila said with an embarrassed grin, nodding around her to a few blobbish silhouettes lying motionless in the growing dusk. "I think Rahmoud's back-up soldiers finished off all the ones we injured before Caitlin and I got out the front door."

Diana's eyebrows knotted in mild confusion. "Well, then, why did you scream?"

Again, that sheepish smile. Then Sheila pointed to the small army of Khadisians, all still holding their scimitars, bows, and torches ready, not yet convinced that Venger was indeed gone from this place. "You try running headlong into three hundred of those guys, all looking really ticked off, when you're scared half to death to begin with, and see what kind of sound YOU make!"

"They scared me!" Caitlin added as if this had been a worse than the two days she'd spent locked in the dark cell in Venger's dungeon.

"I'll bet they did," Hank agreed, studying his daughter carefully. She seemed all right, maybe a little pale, but Venger had upheld his word and not harmed her. Then his eyes fell on the Gem of Shahvin, still clutched in her little hands. The other questions that he had about their unexpected reinforcements could wait. The fate of the Realm had been spared because Caitlin had managed to take the Gem from Venger at just the right moment. But she hadn't just taken the Gem. It was more like she had teleported the Gem from his hand into hers. And that was impossible. Wasn't it?

"Katie, honey," he began, at a complete loss as to how he should approach this. "Daddy has a question, okay?"

Caitlin looked up at him with wide eyes and a slightly guilty expression of feigned innocence, one of a child pretending she had done nothing wrong in order to keep herself out of trouble. "When you took the Gem - uh, I mean Mommy's keychain - from Venger, how did you do it?"

Here was the question that everyone was waiting to be answered. Even Rahmoud and those amongst the original group of Khadisians who had seen the inexplicable feat crowded forward to hear Caitlin's explanation.

"Um ..." Caitlin began after thinking so hard about her daddy's question that her face scrunched up in concentration. Finally she answered, "I dunno. I just did, 'cause he was mean and he stoled it!"

"You mean you don't know how you did it?" Sheila asked, so disappointed that she almost deflated. "Caitlin, I saw you. Or at least I saw the Gem – my keychain – disappear out of his hand and just appear in yours! Are you sure you don't know how you did it?"

"Nuh-uh," Caitlin answered honestly

"But Caitlin," Sheila persisted, still trying to get at least a hint from her daughter. They could piece the rest of it together later if Caitlin couldn't tell them everything. "How long have you been able to do that? Take things like that, I mean?"

Looking warily at everyone staring at her, Caitlin clearly didn't understand what the big deal was. "Um, since for always."

"But ..." Sheila began, but trailed off and looked helplessly at her husband when words failed her. Unfortunately, he and everyone else were as stumped as she.

Almost everyone else. Right then, to the startlement of almost everybody listening, Rahmoud began laughing. It was that same belly-laugh as when they had witnessed Caitlin take the Gem from Venger's dumbfounded hand in the first place. "There, you see!" he almost howled, finding something to be either very humorous or very ironic. "What did your old Rahmoud tell you?"

Surprised, Caitlin shrank down in her mother's arms, momentarily confused by this strange man's outburst. But as the torchlight flickered in the growing darkness, she was able to get a good look at Rahmoud's face as he laughed, and suddenly she brightened. "Grandpa!" she squealed, reaching out her arms in excitement.

"Ah, yes, my little Cait-a-lin!" Rahmoud exclaimed, taking the girl from her mother's arms, though after this evening's near-disasters, it was clear that Sheila was reluctant to let her go. "You would never forget your old Rahmoud, who told you silly stories and lavished you with treats when Mama and Papa were not looking! I had wondered often how it could come to pass that a little girl of but eighteen months was found playing with the great and bejeweled Crown of Silver Stars, worth a kingdom's ransom, even though it had been locked and sealed safely in its case and every servant swore upon the Holy Scrolls that no one had given this treasure to her! I see now, my little one, that you must have been dazzled by its beauty and so took it for yourself, did you not?"

Whatever incident Rahmoud was referring to, apparently it was a little too long ago for Caitlin to remember at all. "Um, I dunno," she answered as best she could.

"Whoa, Rahmoud, ol' pal," Eric interrupted, holding up his hand to get a word in. "Why am I always the last to get an explanation whenever you're around? Just what are you talking about, already?"

Eric frowned in frustration when Rahmoud gave that loud, heartfelt belly-laugh again, but before anyone could object to his unexplained mirth, the Desert King got hold of himself enough to explain, "What did I say but a night ago, my children? Did your Rahmoud not tell you that Dungeon Master's pupils were all possessed of some magic? I am a great fool that I never before saw such a possibility!"

Bouncing the giggling Caitlin in his arms, he looked at his 'granddaughter' with a mixture of pride and awe before continuing, "If a child's mother is known to have some magic flowing in her veins," he nodded to Sheila, "and that child's father also has a spark of magic smoldering in his soul," he nodded to Hank, "then why should we not think their precious child would command magic of her own?"

The reasoning left everyone speechless, but what they'd witnessed could not be denied. Of course, none of them had truly realized they themselves possessed magic until their return to the Realm. But now that Rahmoud had said it, all the times that Caitlin had inexplicably turned up with items like Aladdin dolls and teachers' scarves and cookies - and lizard men's keys, had they known of the incident - suddenly made a great deal of sense.

"You mean ..." Sheila finally said slowly, taking her daughter back from Rahmoud. "Katie, sweetheart, if you could do this all along, how come you never let us know before?"

"Um ... 'cause it's stealing," Caitlin answered sheepishly. Biting her lower lip, she looked like she knew she was in trouble and was about to get grounded from video games for a week.

"Stealing?" Sheila repeated, looking at Hank in confusion. Hank only shrugged and glanced at Eric, who scratched his head and turned to Presto, who shook his head helplessly and looked to Diana, who waved her spread fingers, admitting she was stumped, and turned to Rob who threw up his hands in confusion and glanced at Terri, who looked like she was suddenly making sense out of a few dreamed memories but declined to comment.

Finally, the Thief reasoned, "Well, I guess ... maybe at some point ... maybe she must have, I don't know, taken something she wasn't supposed to have, and she must have gotten caught, and got punished and got a lecture about stealing. But it must have made a bigger impression on her than it did on me, because I sure don't remember what we could have said that made her hide it like this!"

"Well, maybe it doesn't really matter," Diana said philosophically. "I'm just as surprised as you guys, but what counts is that we know she can do it now. And, well, look around. We're sure in the right place to teach her how to use it properly, aren't we?"

"Use it properly?" Eric interrupted with an eager grin. His eyes were alight with the possibilities. "Just give me a shot here! Okay, kiddo," he addressed Caitlin, "it looks like if you just think about getting something you see that you really want, it disappears from where it is and turns up in your hand, right?"

Caitlin looked uncertainly from Eric to her mother, not certain if answering his question was going to get her in trouble or not. But eventually took a chance, based mostly on the fact that Uncle Eric had helped her wiggle out of a little naughtiness once or twice before. "Um, yeah," she decided to say. "Like when I saw that the mean man stoled Mommy's sparkly thing and I wanted to take it back so I took it!"

"Wow, that's great!" Eric told her. "That's so cool that you can do that! Okay, so the next time me and Uncle Presto take you to the movies, and we walk by the concession stand, you just think about how much you want a package of Milk Duds and Junior Mints and ..."

"ER-RIC!" his friends chorused in perfect unison.

"What?" Eric asked so innocently that anyone with a good imagination could see a little gold halo glowing over his head. "Can't blame a guy for trying, can you?"

Grabbing Eric's overtunic, Hank pulled him up until they were face to face and said in a mock-threatening tone, "I don't care if her mother is our resident Thief, we are not teaching my daughter to be a shoplifter, got it?"

"Hey, if you got it, flaunt it!" Eric responded with a grin.

O.O.O

While this exchange occurred, Terri slipped through the crowd to speak to Rahmoud. As she gently pushed past the Khadisian people, she noticed that many were on edge, as if they had no wish to remain here now that their work had been done. Judging by what Rahmoud had said earlier, Terri guessed, correctly, that most of them believed this place to be cursed.

"Excuse me," she said when she finally reached Rahmoud's side, "but can you explain something to me?"

"If the gods above grant me the knowledge and the words to answer your question," the King said with a bow, "then I shall ... how do you say ... give it my best shot?"

Terri grinned at that. She was getting used to the way Rahmoud liked to sprinkle his conversation with colloquialisms he'd learned over the years, from her friends and apparently from a few other of Dungeon Master's pupils that he'd met in the past as well. He just picked some rather odd moments to throw in an Earth expression. But at least he wasn't as edgy as most of his people, and that put Terri at ease. "These guys," she said, with an all-encompassing gesture that included the whole of the Khadisian army, and their several hundred horses that milled about nervously, spooked by the sudden collapse of the building. "They were the ones following us all day, they were the ones kicking up that dust cloud that had us so worried, right? And ... you summoned them, didn't you? I can see it now." Tapping her temple significantly, she postulated, "When you sent those riders back to Khadish when we met up at that first oasis, you said you sent them back because fewer people could travel faster. But that's not what happened. You sent them back to get help."

"Indeed, O Wise One, beloved of my son Rrrrrrob!" Rahmoud nodded proudly, placing his hands on his hips and admitting with a toss of his turbaned head, "I am ... 'guilty as charged,' am I not?

"I guess so!" Terri laughed. "But why didn't you tell us? First you said it was a caravan. Then you and Bhujar had us convinced it was Venger. Then you tried to tell us it wasn't, and the way you were acting had us really freaking out there, when you knew the whole time that help was on the way!"

A slight frown creased Rahmoud's brow as he rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully. "If, by 'freaking out,' you mean that you were most terribly worried, then I offer my humble apologies. But it is to the sharp eyes of my good Bhujar that I attribute my reluctance to inform you of the truth, my child. For it was he who witnessed a shadow, a shadow that moved too swiftly to be cast by the suns, a shadow with eyes and fingers, but not cast by any human's body. My child, Venger's spy and servant the Shadow Demon followed us through much of this journey."

Terri jumped at this, looking nervously around in the darkness. The first time she'd laid eyes on Shadow Demon was today, inside the derelict palace, but she knew the reputation of Venger's insidious spy from her friends. If he had been following them all this time, was he here now, still spying on them to the end?

Rahmoud seemed less concerned by that possibility than Terri. With nothing at risk now, no plans to keep secret, everyone was free to speak. "Had I told you that help swiftly followed, then the Dark Lord would have thus known of it minutes after you did. No, my child, we needed that surprise. I have long suspected, and now confirmed, that neither that creature of shadow nor his Master speaks the tongue of my people, and so in that speech I made my plans. Knowing that my soldiers sought us in the vastness of the desert, we signaled our progress with fire and smoke, tarrying as long as we could to let their strong horses close the distance."

At that, Terri nodded. Now she was beginning to understand why the fire had been built so high and bright when they camped at the oasis, why they had waited longer than necessary before riding the next morning, and why the fire had been put out so smokily. It wasn't to guard against the nocturnal creatures of the desert at all. "That was really smart," she admitted, seeing how everything fit together. "So when whatshisname, Masrur, came running in shouting, none of us understood what he was saying, so we all thought something had happened to Sheila because of her scream. So did Venger, and that was the important part."

"Indeed," Rahmoud agreed, "the brave Masrur had been left to await my reinforcements and swiftly encourage them to put aside their superstitions of this place. At the moment of which you speak, he had entered to inform me that my soldiers had indeed arrived, that they were armed and ready to kick Venger's ... ah ... that they were very angry that Venger had stolen an innocent child and wished to bring about his immediate defeat."

Terri laughed at the obvious way Rahmoud danced around the Earth expression that he had decided it was better not to use. "Well, fair enough," she agreed.

Just then, one of the Khadisians who had appeared with the group of reinforcements approached hurriedly and bowed to one knee before his King. Terri, of course, did not understand a word he spoke, but whatever he said in his native language caused Rahmoud to glance over his shoulder in surprise. "Can this be so?" the King asked with a tone of awe.

"What?" Terri asked, wondering if she should be worried or not. Rahmoud didn't seem unduly concerned, if his expression was any indication. On the contrary, he looked rather amazed. "Is something happening?"

"I caught some of that," Presto's voice interrupted as the Wizard approached. His attention had been drawn by the urgent way the man had approached and spoken to Rahmoud. "I'm not exactly fluent any more, but I'm starting to remember, you know, bits and pieces. He said something about 'fresh water' and a 'fountain ...' or maybe it was 'oasis,' I can't remember which word's which. Are we out of water or something? Is he saying we should go find an oasis and stock up?"

"No, my son," Rahmoud shook his head. "The worthy Yafra tells us that the oasis has perhaps come to us."

"Ooookayyyy, I give up," Presto shrugged. "What's that supposed to mean? I didn't see any water when we came through here earlier. This place is as dry as a ... er ... desert," he finished lamely.

"Verily, there was none," Rahmoud agreed. Then, he raised his voice, shouting to his people who quickly hushed to hear their King. He too used the words for 'fresh water' and 'oasis/fountain,' and even if none of the Outworlders understood fluently, the gist of it was good news, judging by the surprised, then pleased, and even relieved expressions that crossed the Khadisian faces. A buzz of whispers rippled through the crowd, and the tone of it was happy, even excited.

"Come, my children, come and see!" Rahmoud addressed the Outworlders in Common then. Indicating that his soldier lead the way, he explained, "What Yafra tells your old Rahmoud is that the crumbling fountains that quenched the thirst of this once-great city before running dry in the cataclysm that destroyed all life here, have begun to flow once more! The fresh waters must have begun to run but scarce minutes ago, and that, perhaps, was the moment of the closing of the Veil, no?"

Just a few blocks away from the ancient marble steps of the now-fallen palace lay the crumbled remains of the centerpiece of the grand, tiled public square. Long ago, this pile of worn rubble comprised a fountain vast in size and lavish in exquisite detail. That it was once a fountain was unmistakable, for in the torchlight, clear rivulets of fresh water bubbled up and glistened as they flowed into puddles around the broken base. The sight was almost unbelievable. Water, the symbol of life, had returned to the City of the Dead.

"Is no more!" Bhujar announced with a laugh, kneeling by the broken fountain and dipping his fingers in the water to taste it. It was pure and fresh as the water that sprayed from the great alabaster fountains in the center of Khadish. "Curse upon these ruins, is no more!"

"Then we have done more than we had come to do!" Rahmoud announced with a proud smile. The sense of dread they had encountered upon entering this city now washing away with every trickle of water that flowed over the rocks. "My friends, my children, in this blessed hour, we are-"

"Mommy! Look!" Caitlin suddenly squealed, blithely interrupting the speech of a King and never once considering that there might be something wrong with this. Tugging Sheila's hand, she pointed beyond the fountain, just at the very edge of the light of the torches. "Chicken lizards!"

The sudden attention caused a commotion as four curious creatures, lizards the size of small dogs, but with very definite beaks and feathers, squawked in surprise and scrambled into the darkness. What they had come to investigate was uncertain, but the shy creatures clearly did not like it when all eyes fell on them.

"Well, look at that," Hank mused. The creatures that his daughter had spotted were the first close-up they'd had of the Lloks they'd occasionally sighted while crossing the desert. "When we got here, this place was absolutely dead. Now all of the sudden, we've got animals showing up. They must have sensed it's safe to come here now."

"Indeed! Indeed they have!" Rahmoud agreed. "Come! We shall camp here this night! And my friends, do not be surprised if you see water lilies growing in the fountain tomorrow, for the City of the Dead has begun its resurrection!"

O.O.O

Later that evening, when the tents were pitched and a meal of flat bread and dried meat was served, Caitlin became the center of attention as she sat on her father's lap telling everyone about her harrowing adventures in Venger's prison. Sheila quietly moved between those who had been wounded in Venger's attack, trying her hand at her newfound 'healing magic' with growing success in each attempt, but she listened carefully to every word her daughter said and even laughed out loud when Caitlin described throwing the bucket of water at the 'pigface man' who tried to scare her.

Eventually, Caitlin talked herself out, and was soon drowsing in her father's arms. Hank, Sheila, and most of the others decided it was a good time to turn in for the night themselves, for they had a long ride ahead of them tomorrow.

But as they were all heading for their tents, Eric paused to look into the darkness at the shadowy rubble where the palace had collapsed. Frowning, he scratched his head as if he was giving something heavy consideration. He was silently counting off a mental list on his fingers when Presto approached.

"Something the matter?" the Wizard asked curiously. Nothing seemed to be bothering the Cavalier, per se, but it wasn't always wise to leave Eric to figure out something on his own.

"Yeah," Eric answered thoughtfully. "How long were we in there altogether? Best guess?"

"Uh, well," Presto mused. It probably hadn't been nearly as long as it seemed. "It took us like five minutes to deal with the slugs, and I guess like about ten to deal with Venger, plus a little of our usual wandering around aimlessly until we figured out what to do, so I'd say no more than twenty minutes tops. Why?"

"That's gotta be some kind of record for us," Eric answered. A crooked grin spread across his features as he explained, "Twenty minutes. I mean, last time we were here it seems like every third building we went into ended up either collapsing or exploding, but I don't think we've ever brought one down in less than a half hour from the time we stepped inside!"

"Hey, not our fault this time!" Presto countered, responding to the humor in Eric's observation. "Venger pulled it down, not us!"

"Yeah, but the reputation's going to follow us, not him!" Eric laughed. "We're getting faster as we go!"

"Oh, but this is not so!" interrupted a voice, and a smiling Rahmoud walked up behind them to throw his arms around their shoulders. "My children, did you not destroy the clock tower of the Nightwalker in one minute? One very long minute?"

All three of them laughed heartily. "Huh! When you put it that way, I guess we did!" Eric agreed.

"Come, my children," Rahmoud continued. "The night grows dark, and we must rest well for the journey tomorrow! In two days, we shall return to our beautiful Khadish! My Aiyesha has missed you and spoken often of you in your absence. She no doubt will enjoy hearing your stories of how quickly you destroyed this old palace. Will she not, eh, Master Eric?" he asked with a nudge and a wink in Eric's direction.

"Wha ..?" Eric stammered after a dumbfounded pause and a vaguely embarrassed glance in Presto's direction. "I ... uh ... yeah, I guess so."

"Eric!" Presto teased, staring over his glasses at his friend when he heard the Cavalier's verbal stumbling. "Are you blushing?"

"No, dummy, I just have a sunburn after all this riding in the desert."

"You are too blushing! Look, Rahmoud," Presto felt compelled to point out, "his face is so red, I can see it glowing in the dark!"

"It is not!"

"Verily, it is so!" Rahmoud laughed.

"Well, hey, Eric," Presto mused in mock-thoughtfulness, "I had no idea there was anything between you two, but at least you know she's not after your wallet like Little Miss Michelle van Waaah!"

"Shut up, you dork! Aiyesha's not … she … I mean I didn't ...I just ... used to make her laugh, is all!"

"Then how come you're blushing?" Presto asked seriously.

"That's 'cause you're an embarrassment to be around!" Eric snapped, marching away with his head held high. "So I'm taking my sunburn and going to bed! Good night!"

As soon as the Cavalier was out of sight, Presto and Rahmoud burst out laughing. "Okay, that was just funny!" Presto snickered. "Mean, but funny. And don't think I never noticed all the times you tried to set those two up before."

"Ah, but it is true," Rahmoud answered, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes. "Whatever Master Eric may or may not think of what I do not admit to implying, my Aiyesha has missed you all and does speak of you fondly. How pleased she will be to see your faces once more! But please, you must tell me one thing, Master Presto."

"Sure," Presto answered, wondering about the sudden seriousness in Rahmoud's voice. "Anything you want to know. Just ask."

For a moment, Rahmoud looked in the direction that Eric had stalked off, mild confusion clearly readable in his dark eyes. Then he looked back to Presto and asked, "What is this word, 'dork'?"

Presto laughed out loud again, causing his glasses to slip down his nose once more. Pushing them back up, he said with a smile, "You know what, Rahmoud, I never thought I'd say this, but it's good to be home!"