Section Six: A Slowly Dimming Star

            Falco leaned back in his saddle, staring up at the massive fortress that was Morningstar. By his estimate, the capital of the Phoenix kingdom could probably have fit inside, and quite comfortably. The entire stronghold seemed made of a pale blue stone, but it gleamed like glass, assembled by magic. A wide assortment of towers spiked up from the walls, and unlike most fortresses, there were a wide multitude of windows, all large and glassed over, even if they had arrow-proof shutters that could be closed over them. He could see people moving around inside, a few of which had already stopped curiously to look out at the party waiting at the gates.

            "Do they normally take their sweet time?" He finally asked, looking at Elgar.

            "Shift change for those on guard duty." Elgar replied honestly. "Speaking of such…"

            Instead of a portcullis standing between the world and the school, a faint golden glow prevented them from entering, and after a moment, the glow disappeared, and a slender black jackal strode out, dressed in what seemed to be ceremonial Egyptian wear, even if Morningstar was in the mountains. The cool air didn't seem to bother him any. "Adept Elgar! Thank gods you've returned, we were starting to worry."

            "We're fine." Elgar assured the jackal, then turned to the party. "This is…"

            "Anubis." Finished Alan for him. "Right?"

            The jackal huffed. "My mother had a sense of humor." Golden eyes skipped from party member to party member, finally fixing on Fox. "Glad you know you're successful. Well, come in, I'm sure the old SOB wants to talk to this lot." He gestured for the group to ride through the gates.

            "The old WHAT?" Katt asked. Falco was smothering hysteria.

            "Sorcerer Olicar Bendel. The Superintendent of the school." Anubis gave Katt an amused look, eyes mischievous. "But it's a bit much to say… when he's not around…"

            Slippy snickered. "I like this place already."

            Within the outer wall of the compound were actually a decent number of buildings. Instead of actually being a castle, the wall was more or less just that—a wall of huge, rambling, connected buildings of various appearances. Wood, stone, metal, and who-knows-what else had been used to define the buildings from each other, and after a moment the group realized that the different buildings were different specialties, though most of the buildings hugging the actual mountain seemed to be used for housing. The wall of buildings closed off a huge area, which was being used for a multitude of things. For one, the stable was there, along with what appeared to be a small city.

            "This place must house thousands." Peppy remarked, looking around as he dismounted. The students currently staffing the stable came out and collected the horses, not looking all that surprised by the hippogriff and Alan's grinning horse-gone-outsider, and Fox's unicorn was still under disguise.

            "The number changes, year to year." Elgar said. "And it's not only a school, it's a place of study."

            "Which we are quite proud of." A later-thirties snow leopard strolled up to the group, hands clasped behind his back, wearing a loose sorcerer's robe. The other students which had drifted over to eye the new arrivals gave him more then wide berth.

            "Superintendent Bendel." Elgar smiled a bit. "News travels fast."

            "Almost as fast as unfavorable nicknames." Bendel smiled a bit. Anubis seemed to want to shrink into the ground. "Glad you're back. Things aren't improving." He looked at the group. "Eleven? Hmm, I had heard your group numbered ten, Lord Siannodel."

            "Fox." He hastily corrected. "And if you really must address me by a title, use 'Sir.' And we did, on our last quest. Tempest recently joined us, I hope you don't mind."

            "Not at all." Bendel nodded once, as if approving of Fox. "I imagine everyone here has been filled in on our predicament, then. It's still spreading, though for the most part it's only those in Nomenclature that are being stricken." He looked at Elgar. "You and your apprentices may wish to leave here until this is solved."

            "No, better we stay."

            "As you will." He looked back to Fox. "And, more recently, our clerics have been having troubles as well, though not yet on the scale of our Nomenclature specialists."

            "We'll do all we can, though I'm honestly not sure if we will be able to help." Fox replied.

            "I suppose it's the thought that counts." He glanced at Alan, who was eyeing him curiously, chewing on the end of his quill. "And no, I'm not the age I appear to be."

            Alan grinned around the feather. "I didn't think so, sir, though it would have been entertaining if you were."

            "I imagine those around here would be even more scared of me if I was." Was the somewhat frank reply, then Bendel surveyed the entire group. "Well, let's see about getting you temporary lodging, and then I'll give you enough of a tour you won't get lost."

            The group nodded, and Elgar and his apprentices split off to another part of the complex.

            "Quite impressive actually." Slippy finally said, leaning on a windowsill and staring out. "Every traditional school of magic is represented, plus the other branches and specialties."

            "What else would you expect from a place like this?" Falco wanted to know, with the air of one a bit bored. He was perhaps the only one who couldn't gleam anything from Morningstar, due to the fact that he was completely null to magic.

            "True I suppose." Slippy looked to Fox. "Can we actually do anything about their problems though?"

            "We've come all this way. We're going to try."

            "Translation: we're not leaving until we can help or we can find someone who can." Falco said, keeping the bored tone.

            Bells started ringing in what counted for the town square, and doors started opening as students began moving about, some already sprinting for their next class, others ambling for the town square or toward housing. The group waiting in the hall was paid little mind, but they were content with crowd watching. Morningstar was a world cross section, with almost every intelligent race and culture represented in some way. Elves and humans were in abundance, but so were gnomes, Halflings, and everything else under the sun. Dress seemed pretty much up to the students, as long as they had a patch for their magical path somewhere on their person, so the hall was briefly a swirl of culture and color. Upper classmen and certain specialties did wear robes, but even those seemed to be subject to personal customization.

            "You'd think there would be a dress code." Bill remarked.

            "Easier said then done, with this many students and three dozen main languages to translate rules to." Said a voice at about hip height.

            The group looked down as one, and blinked at what appeared to be an extremely oversized grey housecat. At first glance, the creature was normal, but then you noticed the black tattoos, the silver earrings, the generally emaciated body, and the wide, obnoxious grin.

            "The old SOB got caught up with a few of the other teachers." The cat announced, sitting down, tail joints rattling across the pseudo-stone floor. "So he sent me to tell you so."

            "Oh. Works for us, friend. And who might you be?" Alan asked.

            "No one in particular." The cat kicked a moth-bitten ear. "Sort of the school familiar. In other words, your friendly messenger service." The cat rolled his lantern-yellow eyes. "So you're the heroes, eh? This might be more entertaining then I thought, and this place could use a little entertaining every now and then."

            "And here we thought the school was going through a trauma." Falco drawled.

            The cat looked at him pointedly. "I look like a student of Nomenclature to you?"

            "I don't know, do students of Nomenclature normally resemble undead housecats?"

            "I'm not dead." The cat kicked its other ear. "You'd be hard-pressed to prove it, though."

            Anubis, standing nearby, snorted softly. "He started out as a necromantic familiar, but then some of the clerics got hold of him, and gods-only-know who else after that, so he's just kind of… here. The funny part is, he's one of about six creatures that run around that are in similar states, and no one claims ownership or blame for what happened to them, and they aren't saying."

            "I take more then enough from the likes of you." The cat scowled at Anubis. "At least I don't pretend to be a foreign deity."

            "And I don't walk around like I own the place."

            "Yes. You do."

            "Entertaining as this is." Fox interrupted. "When will Bendel be along?"

            "I'm here." Bendel said, waving away violet-tinged smoke from his appearance. "Worrisome chaps. They thought it would be dangerous to let you wander around here, but I hold it's more dangerous not to." He shrugged. "Would your entire group be needed, or could I just take a few on this part?"

            The group exchanged a look. "I'm leading, but that doesn't amount to much. I imagine we'll be discussing magic, so Katt and Slippy should be included, and so should Peppy and Rita, for the experience end of things." Fox said.

            "That's a much better group size." Bendel agreed, and looked at the others. "I trust you won't get lost?"

            "We should be fine." Said Fara.

            "All right then." Bendel wove a hand, and both he and the five disappeared in puff of green smoke.

            "Changes colors every time. Showoff." Grunted the cat.

            "This is the hospital wing of the school." Bendel explained as the group walked down a wide, airy corridor. "It's empty, most of the time, because we have so many clerics and other such healers. In fact, it hasn't been this full since the last time a foolish warlord decided to attack this place."

            "How long ago was that?" Peppy asked.

            "Eh, at least seventy-five years. I personally made sure I smacked the warlord in question when we finally captured him. We ended up taking him on as a student, for a short time…" Bendel trailed off, opening a set of double doors.

            A cleric walked up. "No change." She confirmed before Bendel asked.

            "For the better, I take it."

            "Or for the worst, really, but how you define such things is really up to toss." She sighed, and looked past him at the group. "Part of the so-called hero group that's supposed to save us all, I take it?"

            "Go back to your room and get some sleep." Bendel said gently. "You've obviously not had any for some time."

            She huffed out a sigh, nodded, and brushed past the group, mouth drawn down into grim, hopeless lines.

            "You have to pardon her. She's been here since this thing started." Bendel turned down another corridor, then paused to tap at a door. "Janice, are you awake?"

            "I don't sleep anymore." Was the tired, tired reply. "Come in, Superintendent…"

            Bendel opened the door and gestured for them to follow him in.

            Huddled on the wide windowsill of the main window was a lady gnome, middle-aged in appearance, face haggard with exhaustion, normally bushy squirrel tail somewhat moth-eaten and ignored, hanging limply off the windowsill. An insentient grey fox peered at the group from under the unused bed warily. She looked at Bendel and managed a very tired smile, then glanced past him, normally bright black eyes dull and flat. "Fox McCloud and partial company, I take it."

            "Things have gotten around, it would seem." Fox smiled a bit.

            "The very walls have ears in this place, and sometimes literally." Janice replied. "In case you're wondering, I'm one of this school's central teachers and adepts for Nomenclature… or, at least, I was…" She trailed off, looking at her small hands, working her fingers together. "I imagine you know the tale."

            "So we've heard." Rita moved forward, pausing a few feet away from the small woman. "Do you mind if…?"

            "Go ahead."

            Rita started a gentle check over of the gnome, finding pulse, looking at eyes, et cetera. The gnome ignored it, instead looking at the others.

            "We've been filled in, but perhaps you should do so from your perspective." Said Peppy. "Was it a gradual change, or sudden?"

            "For me, it was gradual. Took twelve days and seven hours." The thin shoulders shrugged. "I would almost rather it had been fast. It was like being drained of everything I was."

            "Explain that more."

            There was a pause. "My power was taken away. All of it. I'm a null now. I can't feel anything or control anything, not even the simple light spells of this room." She gestured to the mage lights. "I can't sleep, either. Everything seems dull and faded."

            "Did some of the others loose their power all at once?" Slippy asked.

            "Some of us, yes, usually at the end of longer spells or rituals." She stared off into the distance. "They're mad, now."

            "What were the first warnings?"

            "Minor things, really. Premonitions from those in that specialty, routine spells going awry, generally strange signs, but in a place like this you tend to ignore the small things, so we did, until one by one, we adepts started loosing contact with our power." She shrugged. "Nomenclature is one of the smaller branch schools in this place. Less then one hundred people, mostly adepts with a few apprentices and those doing select studies. The trouble actually started with the apprentices, or that's how I understand it, but it wasn't taken into consideration that we may be in serious trouble until we lost about a dozen adepts."

            "A DOZEN?" Katt blanched.

            Janice gave her a look. "This is a big school, Sorceress. We burn out. We get tired. We all have our off days. It wasn't until the first twelve found each other here that we started talking to Bendel about it, and by the time we put someone out to talk to you, we were down by half. Now it's all of us."

            "This is definitely a little more serious then we thought. And now the clerics are having trouble?"

            She nodded. "And some of the other houses too, if I hear things right. It's like the entire place is being shunned by the gods, and we are feeling it stronger with each day."

            There was a long silence, during which Rita stepped back, shaking her head. "Besides exhaustion and some minor malnutrition, everything is how it should be."

            "The worst illnesses are those that are a mystery." Janice replied. "I wish you luck with this, I really do. But I've spent many sleepless hours, and I can't figure out why."

            "Perhaps we'll have better luck." Said Peppy.

            "You're going to need it, friend."

            "All right, to recap, it only seems to be here that it's happening, and it's everyone here for Nomenclature." Said Katt, rubbing her eyes. "With the exception of you and your apprentices, Elgar."

            "Which would generally lead one to believe that whatever the problem is, it's based on location, not on school of magic." Said Fox. "Have you told anyone else about this problem?"

            "First rule to not getting attacked is to never admit weakness." Said Bendel dryly, picking up a goblet of wine.

            "Which I take to mean you haven't talked to Mezobarlin, either."

            "No, and even if I tried, I highly doubt they would take our calls."

            There was a long silence as the group looked at each other for a moment, then Falco lost it. "How in all hell can a school of wise magic users have such poor common sense?" He demanded.

            "Look, human, I highly suggest you do NOT take that tone of voice with me." Bendel said in a severe tone. "Mezobarlin is against Morningstar, and we've been at war before. If we came forward and admitted that an entire class sector had been lost, they wouldn't delay, they'd start hitting us immediately. Or they would turn around and sell the information to those that wanted it."

            "So it's more of a trust issue then a common sense issue." Peppy sighed. "Bendel, do us a favor and contact them. Tonight. Because to be quite frank, if they've been against you this long, why couldn't they have done this to your school?"

            Bendel was silent for a long, long moment. "The teachers and I have been considering that as a possibility for a long time." He admitted. "So call them and request a truce, then."

            "Right.  Thank you, Bendel." Said Fox. "In the mean time, let's just try and figure out how it's being done." He spread a map of the school out on the table absently. "As said, we can assume it's all based on location, based around the school. A by-location enchantment, then?"

            "That'd be magic on a major scale." Said Slippy. "But it's doable if whoever cast it is powerful enough."

            Bendel nodded agreement. "We've got trip alarms on the school, though. Our own can cast spells on our school, but any outside enchantments sets off a screeching noise that could deafen a harpy."

            "Suppose you could get around that, though?" Bill asked. "There are holes in every defense."

            "All right, let's say it's been done. How would you find that particular enchantment?" The Superintendent spread his hands. "I'm the seventh leader of this school. It's been here almost a millennia, though it hasn't always looked the same. There are layers and layers of enchantments, spells, and rituals binding this place together. The very concourse was constructed by and is held together by magic. Different magic classes have different enchantments on their buildings, a glut of regional enchantments have been cast, and the gods-only-know what else. You can't exactly leaf through spell layers by date."

            "Wouldn't it just be the uppermost layer then?" Peppy asked, trying to piece together a mental image.

            "Logically, but not much of this place is logical anymore." Bendel admitted. "Sooner or later we'll have to shut down and sort everything out. Rip out all the enchantments and start over."

            "Leave that until later." Rita advised. "Since as near as I can tell the enchantments happen to hold this place together, in more ways then one."

            "It'll probably be another century. That way all of the partying idiots can have their millennia anniversary." Bendel chewed on a claw absently, noticed he was, and scowled at his hands. "Five hundred years and I still can't break that habit…"

            "So it would be impossible to find the enchantment, if it was one?" Tempest broke in, having been silently listening.

            "Not impossible, nothing is. Just very unlikely."  He frowned. "Being logical again, whatever enchantment this bastard thing is would have to be extremely specialized, and my best guess is that it would be a customized null-magic spell. Very customized, to slip through all the nets here…"

            "But there are null-magic zones here." Slippy remarked. "Housing."

            "Specialized null-magic. No one except teachers and adepts can cast in the housing units, since we figure the students are a bit more apt to set the place on fire. Of course that's been proved otherwise more then once." He managed a half-smile. "One teacher in particular is banned from casting anywhere but in his class building, because he set the library on fire. We still aren't sure why, or why, for that matter, the fire was pink."

            "Pink?" Falco asked, and was ignored.

            "We're leaving something out, though. There would be multiple enchantments on this place, and one would be extremely large scale." Said Fox. "This place has been cut off from the gods, has it not?"

            "We aren't sure yet. The clerics think so. They're having some trouble, in fact, it's anyone who uses divine arts." Said Elgar, after glancing at Bendel. "Which I suppose is an expansion of the enchantment on those practicing Nomenclature, since it is technically a divine art."

            "Depends how you look at it, and that would explain why Rita and myself have no contact with our gods." He replied after a long moment of thought. "Alan?"

            "Uh-huh." Was the response from under the table.

            "Would cutting off divine arts cut you off from magic?"

            There was a pause, then magical lights exploded through the room. "I'm ok, boss. But I sorta lost contact to Olidammara, and we're usually pretty chatty if he feels bored."

            Bendel leaned over in his chair to look at the bard. "There's a bit more to you then you let on."

            "Why would I admit to anything?" Alan wanted to know.

            Bendel grinned as he straightened up, then sobered. "Well, we more specifically have the focus of this thing, then. I suppose the next step would be trying to find the enchantment, then?"

            "If possible." Said Rita.

            He stood. "I'll gather a group of teachers and adepts I trust that will be willing to work with all of you and get them started on preparing. It's a bit late in the day to start, but we could start first thing tomorrow, which may be best so everyone is refreshed. I'll also try to contact Mezobarlin and the other magic schools and see if they're having similar problems. Do you think you can all find this meeting room tomorrow morning?"

            "With any luck." Bill said.

            "All right then. At first bell tomorrow then." Nodding to everyone, Bendel disappeared, the smoke tinged red this round.

            Night fell slowly, with several members of the group retreating to Morningstar's main library. Originally it had only been Slippy and Katt, but Peppy and Rita also joined them in their research, leaving the smaller group to wander the grounds and speculate on what was going on, or if solving it was even possible.

            "We're fighters, not magic consultants." Falco grouched out loud to the others. "Wouldn't it have been easier to call in other magic users then haul all of us cross country?"

            "That all depends on who is behind this." Said Fox quietly, looking out across the 'town square' of the school, watching as the final rays of light slipped behind the walls, and softly glowing lamps started lighting up the area. Almost at the same time, some of the school buildings came to life with light. "This isn't just a simple disenchantment we have to go through, Falco. Something massive is moving behind this…"

            "You're sure about that?" Falco glanced at him.

            "To be honest, I'm wondering if this is a side effect of the turmoil in the divine courts." He rubbed his chin. "There's another war coming…"

            Tempest startled, looking at Fox. "You're serious."

            "Quite." Fox said dryly. "It's been escalating to that for the last three or four decades, according to what Heironeous remarked on to me, but it's coming to a head now. The thing is, I'm not sure if it's simply a divine war. There's something else." He rubbed his eyes. "Of all the times to be cut off from my god."

            "Hey, at least they talk to you." Falco reasoned.

            "I'm inclined to agree. Do you know how many in the divine arts go their entire lives without hearing a voice?" Anubis asked, leaning on his staff absently. "Count yourself as lucky, Fox."

            "I count him as highly taken advantage of." Fara replied. "And had you seen some of the events of our last quest, you'd probably agree."

            "Such is the way of the gods." Anubis shrugged.

            Alan, watching those moving around the town square, suddenly perked up and left the group, striking a conversation with a crowd of elves, or what the group took to be elves until they looked closer.

            "Drow?" Tempest looked at Anubis. "Drow attend here?"

            "Yes, though they're a minority, and all in night classes. We don't get all that many since Morningstar doesn't allow the teachings of Lolth." Anubis shrugged. "Mezobarlin does to some degree, so they have more Drow there then this place does. What we get is mainly nontraditionals, those fed up with the whole culture they were born into."

            "For someone who supposedly hasn't been here very long, you're fairly knowledgeable about this place." Julian remarked.

            Anubis grinned at him, teeth bright white against his fur. "I listen."

            Alan eventually wandered back. "That was interesting." Was his only comment, voice cheerful.

            "How so?" Tempest asked.

            "Apparently this school houses vampires, too."

            Those standing there looked at Anubis, who shrugged and offered no explanation.

            Tempest sighed, leaning on the windowsill of the dorm room he was using and staring out the school. Dawn was just breaking, filling the horizon with dim light but leaving the school courtyard still dark with early morning. Morningstar was already waking up, the dining hall and other central buildings aglow with light.

            "So."

            He shot a foot in the air and looked over his shoulder. "Gods, Fox, don't scare me like that."

            "Sorry." Fox replied, coming fully into the room and leaning against a table.

            "Any reason for such an early visit?"

            "Just wondering why you never retired." Was the even reply. When Tempest offered no explanations, he continued. "If you don't mind me guessing, is this something to do with your general loathing of the Drow?"

            Tempest looked at him for a long moment, then sighed, turning back to the window. "You don't miss much."

            "Your body language made it fairly obvious. If you won't want to tell me, that's fine, but I wouldn't mind an explanation."

            There was a long silence, then Tempest sighed again, shrugging out of his tunic and turning around.

            Fox was silent, then said, "Those scars are from near-mortal wounds."

            "They should have been." He replied. "I know you come from a rather high-standing Elven line. Did you hear what happened to an Elven family known as the Galanodels?" Seeing Fox's manner change, he nodded. "I was born to that family and trained as Kensai since I was able to hold a sword. One of my fellows betrayed the entire village. I'm all that's left, and I really should have died." He pulled his tunic back on. "Hence why I have such a severe dislike of the Drow. They destroyed everything that mattered to me."

            "I'm sorry I asked."

            "Don't worry about it. I've heard you've had your encounters with the Drow as well."

            "On the last quest, yes, and it was one of our closer scrapes." Fox looked at the window, then started for the door. "The first bell will sound in a bit less then an hour, so I have to pry everyone else out of bed." He remarked over his shoulder. "See you at breakfast."

            "All right, settle down, to business." Bendel said, walking to the end of the table. The decent-sized group that had been assembled all sat and waited. "First thing, you all know I made calls to every magic school I'm able to, and interestingly enough, we are not the only school having these problems, however, the others are mainly small institutions dedicated to teaching clerics and thus forth. Also, Mezobarlin refused my call."

            This caused a quiet stir.

            "That doesn't mean we can blame them, however, I can say we more then have room to suspect." Bendel continued grimly. "But we are not going to make any moves right now. The first order of business is diagnosing the type of enchantments that are on this school and finding a way to remove them." He leaned into the table. "Does anyone have a way to do this that won't take a several-day ritual?"

            Everyone started talking at once. Katt, who had been one of the first, quickly got annoyed and filled the air with firework illusions until the council settled down.

            "Some of my comrades and I spent most of the night in this school's library, and we came across the fact that every teacher or adept that casts a localized enchantment has to have permission, and a list is kept." She rattled her claws on the table. "I suggest we start there. Go through the list, enchantment by enchantment, for the time period that you've been having trouble and a month before. From there, if all is as it should be, we can look for enchantments that aren't supposed to be there."

            "Are you suggesting one of our own betrayed us?" Snarled a dwarf, hackles rising.

            "Calm down. It's a good idea." Said Bendel. "Cat, are you here?"

            The perpetually-grinning former necromantic familiar faded into existence. "The list?" He asked.

            "Right."

            The school familiar faded back out.

            "Why not do both tasks at once?" Asked a pixie, wings beating nervously. "Split this council into two groups, and have one focus on the planned enchantments, and the other can start looking for things that should not be."

            This got nods all around, and Bendel sized everyone there up and quickly split the group into two teams, keeping Fox's group separate.

            "I imagine you'll want the ability to jump into conversations as needed." He remarked to Fox's group even as the grinning cat faded back in, currently not grinning because it held a rather large leather-bound book in its mouth. "Thank you." Bendel took the book and began flipping through by month. "Going back to a month before the troubles were declared… that's still over a hundred listed enchantments, and most maintenance." He shook his head. "Still this would probably be the best way to do things." He passed the book off to the correct party. "You know, if anything, your group being around will keep all of us honest. We're a bunch of ego-tripping braggarts, at best." He said to Fox.

            "At least you admit it." Falco said with a grin, not even wincing when Katt's elbow went into his ribs. He was used to bruises.

            The day wore on very slowly, with multiple frustrations arising. By noon, tempers were short, but sheer stubbornness kept the entire group there. Even Fox shook his head at the level of disdain the Morningstar adepts and teachers had for Mezobarlin, and just the idea that their rival school might have caused the problem kept the group working.

            "We've got something." Called a lady elf, and attention rippled toward the group going through the listed enchantments. "About a week before the major problems really started, a bunch of the maintenance enchantments were renewed…" She scowled at the book she held. "We skipped over these the first time we went over this list, just hitting the more likely candidates, but that got us nothing so we decided to check these, and this one isn't behaving right."

            Slippy, who was assisting in checking over the listed enchantments, nodded, poking at invisible magic spider webs that floated in front of him. "This is supposed to be a basic empowerment spell, maintaining the lights and thus forth, but it's too complex."

            "Who cast it?" Bendel asked, also peering at the invisible spider web. Seeing Alan braiding stray strands, he smacked the bard's hands away absently.

            "Terrance Adkins, one of our instructors for Conjuration." Replied the Elf.

            Rita walked over and contemplated the invisible strands. "Know what this here resembles?" She finally said, circling a hand in midair. Falco peered over her shoulder and didn't see a damn thing, and backed off, mumbling something about 'berserk magic users.' "Null magic field. It's a lot like the one you use for the dorms."

            "It is that." Bendel said, staring closer. "That's exactly what that is." He flashed his hands in the air, and a simpler version of the spider web came up beside the first one. "There's the empowerment spell. Think we can swap these two without too many problems?"

            Those not involved watched with some interest as fully a dozen magic users removed the misbehaving enchantment and replaced it with the new one, the lights only flickering twice in that time period. The misbehaving enchantment was bound so it could be experimented on.

            "Can I try something?"

            Bendel looked at Alan. "As long as you don't damage anything."

            "Katt, cast those lights again." Alan instructed, and when she did, he darted a hand forward and activated the enchantment.

            The lights dissipated, sucked into the enchantment, nulling out.

            There was a long silence, then Bendel looked around until he found the school familiar. "Cat, find Adkins. Bring him here now, and I don't care if it interrupts a class. He has some explaining to do."

            Adkins looked around at the gathered group, twitching a bit every now and then. He was a human of reptilian descent, somewhat tall and slender, with gold eyes. He wore the robes of his station, and had tucked his hands into the sleeves as he waited for someone to start talking.

            "I imagine you know of the problems the school has been having." Bendel finally said, frowning at the teacher. "We went through and double-checked all of the listed enchantments, and we ran across one of the ones you cast as part of maintenance. The thing is, you used a spell that is nonstandard, and so we wanted to ask you about it."

            "What, do you think that I am causing the problems?" Adkins wanted to know, looking caught between extreme worry and the impulse to laugh.

            "This is the first thing we've run across that isn't as it should be, so we decided to ask you about it." Bendel hooked a thumb at the still-bound misbehaving enchantment, which Slippy had been experimenting with. "Why would a light spell have a section dedicated to null?"

            Adkins walked forward, lifting his hands and prodding at his spell, only glancing at Slippy, who was sitting on midair. "I cast it as standard." He finally said. "I am not sure what this is…"

            "It wasn't altered. This is as-cast." Said Slippy. "That I am sure of. So unless someone swapped spells out after you cast the original, you did this."

            Alan, still braiding stray strands absently, nodded. At this point, he had macraméd an invisible curtain. "Yeah, this magic is too solid to be altered."

            Adkins frowned at Alan, then at Slippy, then turned to Bendel and spread his hands. "I plead innocence, Bendel. I didn't do this."

            "Why don't I believe you?"

            Bendel turned and looked at Fox, who was standing with his arms crossed, looking oddly uneasy. As he started asking a question, the doors to the room opened with a boom, and a panting cleric straggled in, falling to his knees in front of the group, eyes wild with panic. Bendel leapt forward and knelt beside the cleric, setting a hand on the young man's shoulder. "What's happened?"

            "The adepts… the adepts that are staying at the infirmary…" The cleric panted. "Something's happening… they've all gone stark raving mad, all of them… last twenty minutes or so… they're practically uncontrollable… Janice won't stop screaming, and it's not even a coherent language… we've lost three in the last ten minutes…" The cleric trailed off, going limp in exhaustion.

            Katt made her way forward and set a hand on his neck, looking at Bendel. "Magic burnout?"

            He nodded grimly. "Yes. Defensive spells, I think… And where are you going, Adkins?"

            "Well if there's a problem, shouldn't we be going to help?" Asked the flustered conjurer, stopping where he had been edging toward the still-open doors.

            Bendel glanced around, and the greater portion of the magic users teleported out, on their way to the infirmary. "The rest of us will go there shortly. You, however, still haven't been declared innocent, so you aren't going anywhere."

            "Bendel, this is unnecessary." Adkins frowned furiously, tail lashing and eyes blazing. "I didn't do it."

            Bendel looked at Fox, who shook his head, then at the rest of the Fox's group, who agreed with their leader. Then he looked back. "Well. They don't believe you, and frankly, neither do I."

            "Why should you believe them?" Adkins shouted at the top of his lungs.

            "Why are you flaring with evil?" Rita replied.

            There was a moment of frozen silence, then Adkins lunged for the window. Falco lunged almost simultaneously, tripping the conjurer and bringing his elbow down on the back of the conjurer's neck. Adkins tumbled forward to his hands and knees, then threw back his head and let out a long, pulsing, inhuman scream. Then Falco was thrown back as Adkins surged to his feet, ripping out of the robe as fully a dozen grotesque snakes exploded out of a seam in his torso.

            Bendel started shouting, but before he was finished the alarm spell activated in another part of the school, the deafening harpy-like scream assaulting everyone's ears as the group leapt back from Adkins, pulling weapons and preparing spells.

Then the cat arrived, yelling one thing. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

            "You're a bit late on that!" Falco snapped, sword drawn and deflecting away one of the striking snakes.

            "He isn't your problem!" The cat snarled, and was punctuated by a thunderous roar from the courtyard. "THAT is!"

            The roar having distracted even the most focused of the group, Adkins shouted a spell and would have disappeared into thin air if he hadn't suddenly found himself wearing Alan's macraméd magic curtain. That surprised him enough, even more so when he found out he was caught in the center of a version of his own null spell, combined with a binding spell.

            Alan yanked one of the cords, and Adkins crumbled to the ground, snakes bound in strange ways around his torso, looking thoroughly had. "Now, just to check my own sanity, this fellow is a gorgon, am I right?" He asked, yanking on the cord again just out of spite.

            "That would be my guess." Bendel said, looking amused, then furious when the roar sounded again, followed by frantic screaming. He turned to Fox. "Could you handle that until I assemble the school?"

            Fox nodded, then Julian spoke up from the window. "We'll do all we can Bendel, but I hope you won't take to long. Unless I am mistaken… that is a hydra, and there's a bunch of lower gorgons running around as well."

            "All the more reason to hurry then." Bendel disappeared into a puff of purple smoke, leaving Fox's group to sprint out to the courtyard. Alan, however, stayed behind, keeping an eye on the tied-up Adkins.

            The courtyard of the school was in utter chaos, the protective magic bubble of the school shattered, the gates open and being mobbed by lower gorgons. Fights were all over the place as frantic students gathered in packs for safety, casting what magic they knew, and those that were more combat-ready used more solid weaponry. Thick smoke made the chaos even worse; the stable was slowly burning down. Even as Fox looked he saw that Fara's hippogriff and Alan's horse were herding the more normal steeds out. His unicorn was doing battle with the main danger, which was in the form of a huge hydra. Half of the town that the courtyard had housed had been utterly destroyed, and those fleeing were finding themselves mobbed by the gorgons.

            "We're going to have to split up before more get wounded or die." Fox ordered. "Peppy, take Julian, Slippy, Katt, and Fara and focus on the gorgons. Rita, go with them, tend the injured." They nodded and broke away from the main group, sprinting away. "Everyone else, we're going to have to see about both distracting and dispatching the hydra." They nodded, pulling weapons, and the entire group moved forward toward the hydra. "This won't be like fighting a dragon. Any ideas?" Fox asked even as they walked, holding both of his swords.

            "It's a pyrohydra, a firebreather." Said Tempest. "That much is obvious…"

            "Wait." Falco ordered, and the group paused, watching as a wizard wound up a spell and cast. Blades formed in midair and plunged into the hydra, severing three of the twelve heads, but six sprung from the bloody stumps, and the blades deflected away from the main body. "That, my friends, is a Lernaean hydra. Immune to almost all attacks and grows back two heads for every one lost." He said grimly. "We're as good as dragon food."

            "You must be worried, to botch and say that thing is a dragon." Bill snorted. "Your sword burns, right?"

            "So does mine." Fox said as Falco nodded.

            "Better pray that's enough, because it just saw us." Tempest said.

            Fox's unicorn dodged away as the hydra turned to face the four fighters, and at Fox's thoughts left the area, charging at and dispatching gorgons instead. Two of the heads watched the unicorn leave, then all fifteen focused on the four fighters, rearing back to striking positions, some of the mouths leaking smoke.

            "… How long do we have to hold this thing off, now?" Bill asked, holding his two short swords and not looking too sure of his odds.

            "I'd honestly say if I knew." Fox replied, eyes tracking as many heads at once as possible, then the group scattered as five of the heads lunged forward, another's mouth opening in a jet of smoky fire as the four fighters separated and went on the defensive, dodging and deflecting the tooth-filled maws away. Even with the knowledge that the heads grew back double, within minutes the number of smoke-snorting heads facing them had climbed to twenty, only one of the originals severed for good by Falco, and it was fairly clear that had been mostly luck.

            "Defense! Back off!" Fox shouted, and the group started backing up, gathering back together in a group. Even as they stood ready, he continued speaking. "This isn't working. It's clear Falco's sword does the most damage. Falco if we were able to hold a distraction well enough, could you get in close and deal more damage?"

            "Without getting my feathers burned off?" Falco demanded. "How can you flank something with twenty heads?"

            "Answer me. Could you deal more damage?"

            "I could certainly try."

            "We'll go with that then. Sound good?"

            "Do we have a choice?" Bill asked, having lost one of his swords. The hydra had eaten it.

            The group plunged back into combat, and as Falco managed to strike at close to the base of one of the necks, a flurry of arrows plunged into the one next to him, letting off frozen blue puffs as they landed. Recognizing Peppy's glyphs on the shafts, he smiled grimly and put all of his weight into the slashes.

            They had taken the number of heads down by half when the hydra stiffened, then with a weak cry collapsed to its side, going still.

            "I think this is yours." Tempest remarked to Bill, holding out an ichor-covered blade as the four regrouped.

            "Thanks so much." Bill made a face, but took the sword back anyway.

            "So sorry that took so long." Bendel walked up, hands clasped behind his back. Even as he spoke, the alarm scream dimmed as the magic shield around the school came back to life. "Well, that was quite the sortie…"

            Falco just growled at him, then said in a voice meant as indignant but coming out as grouchy, "I didn't see you helping."

            "Well, there aren't any gorgons left either." Was the dignified reply. "And the few at the infirmary that survived their rants are slowly calming as well." Now sorrow marked his voice. "We don't seem to have incurred any losses, but I attribute that to a good number of revival spells. The school seems secure."

            "I suppose the next step would be beating the truth out of Adkins, then." Bill said, wiping his sword on a corner of his tunic.

            "We are most certainly going to try." Said Bendel grimly.

            "Nothing, not for the last six hours." Peppy shook his head. "I'm willing to bet nothing for the next six as well."

            "Perhaps the more obvious questions should be asked, then." Fara proposed. "For example, what would a Gorgon want with the Morningstar school, and want it badly enough that he'd be willing to teach for five solid years, waiting for his cue?"

            "That isn't very long of a time period, for a covert soldier of any sort." Tempest remarked.

            "Regardless though, the question stands. What would he want with Morningstar?"

            "You're being specific, but I think you're following the wrong train of thought. Gorgons serve only Mormo, and what do all servants of Mormo want?"

            Everyone turned to Rita, who had been standing silently at window for some time now.

            "They want to resurrect their fallen patron. Bring Mormo herself back to life." She said in a grim voice. "Everything that attacked today was either a creature of Mormo or could be considered one indirectly."

            "What would they gain by trying to hurt clerics and Nomenclature adepts, though?" Falco wanted to know.

            "It all depends on who they consider their enemy." Elgar replied, having joined the group in the room they were waiting. "And the rest of Adkins' spell was rooted up. The part we found was only a small section of it. It's immense and must have taken fully two months of careful casting. It looks like it was meant to slowly cripple and eat away at Morningstar, hurt everyone here."

            "Again, what would the followers of Mormo gain by hurting this school?"

            "My best guess, considering the effort put into this, is a lot." Elgar said in a dry voice.

            Anubis came in. "Well, they searched his quarters, and after taking apart his bed found correspondence records." He flopped in a chair. "It's official. Mezobarlin is against us. He's been in contact with them since before this started."

            "Has anyone tried to contact them?"

            "Bendel is busy trying to scare information out of Adkins, and he's the one that would have to make the call." Anubis yawned. "Things have been more interesting since all of you arrived, but now, hell is breaking loose."

            "Not yet." Rita said, and didn't bother elaborating.

            "All right, if we're really going to analyze this, let's take it one step at a time." Said Fox in a deathly quiet voice. He was sitting against a wall, fingers pressed together and hair draped over his face, generally looking dangerous. His entire group recognized the tone and immediately shut up. Once this was accomplished, he stood very calmly, tying his hair back. "As a brief summation, Adkins is a Gorgon and under questioning. He was in contact with Mezobarlin with intent to harm this school, which he has succeeded in doing. All Gorgons are followers of Mormo, and all of their acts go toward resurrecting their fallen leader. Have I missed anything?"

            Mute headshakes.

            "All right then." He rubbed his chin. "So have we then concluded that Adkins was, in some odd way, trying to assist in the goal of his race?"

            "That could be assumed, I suppose." Peppy said, seeing where Fox was going with this.

            "And he was in contact with Mezobarlin." Fox stated. "Which means that Mezobarlin is trying to resurrect Mormo… or, at least, people there are trying to." He looked to Rita. "Just to make sure we all have the same information, could you give us a brush-up on Mormo?"

            "Mormo was one of the Titans of years past. She is the patron of witches and hags, and the mother of all serpentine races. Her body now lies strewn across the lands, always tainting what is near it."

            "Like the Hornsaw forests." Tempest inserted. No one argued; everyone had heard of the evil forest and its debased, carnivorous unicorns.

            "Exactly."

            "So she'd be considered an evil god." Said Julian.

            "No." Rita shook her head. "She was a Titan, not a god. The children of the Titans were gods."

            "And almost all of the Titans are dead. One still exists, I think, and that's Denev." Said Peppy. "The only Titan to side with the Gods in the Titans War."

            "That's correct." Rita looked at Fox. "And you've been saying that a holy war is on the way. Could this be one of the keys, perhaps? One of the main issues?"

            "Perhaps Hextor is looking for power players." Alan said with a straight face before Fox could answer, ignoring his leader's look. "Because I've been trying to think this through, and if I tallied the Parthenon of Gods correctly, Hextor and his allies are outnumbered two to one."

            Fox nodded agreement. "So, perhaps Hextor has struck a bargain of sorts: that if he can help resurrect her, she'll help him."

            "Do we really have enough information to blame this on an upcoming Holy War?" Slippy wanted to know, sitting on the ground with six books open around him. "Though it is true that the Gorgons wish their patroness resurrected, they're deeply engrained into human society. Perhaps Adkins got himself too deeply into something else for his own good?"

            "It's possible, but we won't know until we can get more information." Peppy spread his hands. "And regardless, something is going on in the Parthenon of Heaven, and it's not something minor."

            The cat faded in, minus the usual grin. "Bendel will be here in a few minutes. He thought you might like to know." And then, the cat faded out again.

            "Guess we'll know soon enough, if Bendel and the other high-rankers have been fortunate enough to get information from Adkins." Said Elgar. "Though, from the way cat was acting, I'd guess it wasn't an easy battle to do so."

            "Considering what I know about Gorgons, I am not surprised." Bill grumbled.

            Ten or so minutes later, Bendel puffed into existence in the middle of the room, a combination of anger and annoyance flashing over his face. He also looked extremely thoughtful.

            "Any luck?" Falco finally asked.

            Bendel startled, then came back in touch with reality, finding an empty chair and flopping down. "Surprisingly, yes. Sit down, all of you. This might take a while…"

            "It took us a while to get him to talk, but once we hit the right spot he crumbled like a house of cards. Unfortunately he seems to have lost most of his mind in the process, but it didn't hamper him spilling quite a bit of information.

            It would seem Adkins has been around longer then we thought. He's been through several identities, each one dedicated to some part of a large, convoluted plot to revive his fallen patroness Mormo. That's not surprising as he is a Gorgon, but he was taking what could be equated to brush-up courses at Mezobarlin when they approached him with the idea of being a plant here. The reasons were simple: he's got an honest face, and he plays a normal human very damn well. He accepted, of course, though he was a bit untrusting at first as Mezobarlin had just gotten involved with the plan to revive Mormo. They've proved as loyal an ally as the Gorgons have, if anything…

            It would seem that they targeted my school for one reason: Morningstar is a house of good and lawfulness. We stand for these ideas because we fight the stigmas put on magic users as being evil and cruel, so we teach that there are better ways. Mezobarlin doesn't agree of course, and never has ever since it was created. Every light has an accompanying darkness, but of recent we seem to have become seats in the debates of the gods, so it seemed natural to some of the more unfriendly ones to target my school for slow, decaying destruction. They were expecting us to notice, but they were not expecting us to find out so fast what was happening… or to track it back to its source.

            It doesn't seem that there are any more attacks planned against my school… or at least, direct attacks. The problem is this situation is degrading at a hideous rate, and it's going to keep hurting my school, even with the spell removed. A holy war is good for nobody.

            We brought you in, and I'm very aware that all of you are mortal, but is there anything that can be done about this? I am at my wit's end. 500 years of living has not prepared me for anything like this, and if my school comes to harm again, I'm fully planning on going after one of the gods themselves and giving them a talking to. That wouldn't be the best idea, so do you have any better?"

            There was a long moment of silence, then the entire group stared when Fox leaned back in his chair and laughed bitterly.

            "Blessed be. I hate being right."