Part XIX -- Pillars
As soon as they were in a deserted stretch of tunnel, Metria set Vader down gently and assumed human form. Luke knelt at his side and grabbed the arrow's shaft.
"No, Luke, don't..." cautioned Chang.
With a yank he extracted the arrow. Blood welled up in the wound, and Luke ripped off a section of his sleeve and pressed the fabric to his chest to stop the flow.
"You were lucky," Chang told him. "Some arrows do more damage coming out than going in."
Hoofbeats rang through the tunnel, and Wara rounded the curve, carrying Jenny.
"No!" Jenny cried, sliding down the unicorn's side and running to her Player. "Lord Vader!"
"How badly is he hurt?" asked Wara, assuming human form.
"Very badly, I'm afraid," Chang replied gravely. "He appears to have suffered lung damage, and as his respiratory system was weak to begin with..."
"He's getting worse!" Luke cried. "I can't stop the bleeding!"
"The arrow must have pierced an artery," noted Metria. "I'd help you, but demons don't have healing powers."
"I can send Sammy after some elixir..." began Jenny.
"Darius doesn't keep healing elixir in storage," Wara cut off. "He believes if a soldier cannot recover from an injury on his own, he's not worth saving."
"Can the Force heal people?" asked Jenny pleadingly.
"I... I no longer have the Force," Luke moaned. "Darius... changed my magic."
"What?!" shrieked Metria. "No fair! If it weren't for the whole World Demon gamble, I'd turn dragon and chomp that fiend!"
Luke's vision blurred with tears. How could this happen? A matter of weeks ago, he would have given anything to see Vader killed. But not now, not when the fate of the entire galaxy rode on the two of them. Not when Luke needed him so desperately -- not simply Luke the Player, but Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin.
The memory of Bespin, of Vader taunting him, tempting him, of the searing agony of losing his hand, of betrayal and fury, ripped through his mind. How could he feel this way toward the man who had caused him so much pain? Who had caused the galaxy so much agony and grief? This man was a Sith, a mass murderer, a corrupt military leader, the second-in-command of a harsh and twisted totalitarian government...
But this man was also his father. There was no more denying it. Obi-wan may have lied to Luke, but that didn't change the truth that the Force had screamed at him. For years he'd looked for a man to call father... and found it behind a steel mask. His flesh and blood, his only family, lay dying here. And though the galaxy had long wished for the Dark Lord's death, it would be a vast tragedy in more ways than one.
His head fell to the armored chest. Sobs shook his body.
"You can't die," he whispered hoarsely. "I won't let you. I can't lose you. I'd do anything in my power to have you back."
"Luke?" Wara asked. "What are you doing?"
Wasn't that obvious? He was grieving...
"Luke, your hand!" exclaimed Metria.
He glanced up. The hand pressed against Vader's chest, holding the dressing down, was glowing with an eerie green light. Startled, he jerked back.
"What the stang?" he demanded.
The glow faded. What in the galaxy had that been? He carefully peeled the cloth from Vader's wound. The bleeding had stopped, and the edges of the gash had partially drawn together.
"Whatever you were doing, keep doing it!" Jenny encouraged. "It's helping him!"
"My talent," Luke realized. "Darius can't control what he changes my talent to. He can only alter it and hope for the worst. But it's become the talent of healing wounds!"
"Then heal your dad before he croaks!" Metria advised.
He pressed his hand to the injury, willing it to heal. The light returned, more intense than ever. Vader's breathing evened out and returned to normal, and he stirred with a deep groan.
"Luke?" he whispered.
He drew his hand away. The wound was gone, and his armor had closed over it as if there had never been an injury.
Vader struggled to sit up. Luke grabbed his arm to help him up, and the two of them stared at each other for a long time.
"Why did you do that?" Vader asked finally, stunned. "Why did you save me?"
Luke could think of a thousand reasons -- because he was his father. Because he couldn't go on alone. Because he wanted to know more about his family. Because the fate of Xanth and their galaxy depended on the two of them. But the words wouldn't come.
Vader chuckled softly. "Now you know a little how I felt at the river," he told him.
Luke put his arms around his father, letting that action convey what he couldn't say. Vader returned the embrace. He was hugging his father! How he wished he could have done this as a child. Even without the Force, they could feel the emotions flowing between them.
Metria ended it, naturally. "Oh, enough with the mush already! We have a deadline!"
Luke glared at the demoness. "You really need a soul, Metria."
She didn't comment.
"You're all right!" cried Jenny, throwing her arms around Vader's neck.
"I don't understand," Vader complained as Chang helped him stand. "I should have blocked that arrow. But the last thing I remember before it hit was a moment of vertigo."
"Darius changed our talents," Luke explained. "We can no longer use the Force."
"I suspect the Demon X(A/N)TH engineered this," Chang theorized. "He hoped Luke would forfeit the game upon Vader's death. But his plan backfired, seeing as Luke nearly killed Darius himself."
"Did you really?" Vader demanded.
"Don't look at me like I'm a criminal!" Luke shot back. "I wasn't thinking clearly. How can you expect someone to act rationally when they just saw someone they care for die?"
Vader looked tragically thoughtful. "I know the feeling, Luke," he replied quietly.
"But F(O/R)CE intervened as well," Wara pointed out. "He ensured that Luke's talent was that of healing, so he could heal Vader's wounds and they could go on to defeat Darius."
Luke considered. "I wonder... give me your hand."
Vader extended his hand. Luke took it in his and concentrated on the Sith, willing his damaged lungs to heal. Nothing happened.
He sighed. "Sorry." He dropped Vader's hand. "My talent only works on recent injuries, I guess."
"Unfortunate," Vader replied.
"What's Vader's new talent?" wondered Jenny.
"This could be interesting," Metria noted. "A wild talent. It could be anything from the power to make a colored dot on the wall to the power to alter the past to anything in between. The possibilities are virtually endless. He could summon animals, read minds, predict someone's death, purify water, turn creatures to stone, conjure plants..."
"We get the point, Metria," Chang interrupted.
"Try it on the wall there," Jenny suggested. "See if something happens. Focus on a spot."
Vader turned to face the tunnel wall. Almost immediately a patch on the wall began to glow scarlet, as if someone on the other side were trying to melt their way through with a plasma torch. Cracks snaked through the stone like jags of lightning. The red patch bulged -- and exploded. The blast left a deep crater in the stone and spit gravel at them.
"Wow!" exclaimed Jenny, awed.
"I'll say," Luke added.
"Hmph, not bad," grunted Metria.
"What exactly is it?" asked Wara.
"The talent of destruction," Chang replied. "This is quite unusual."
"What is?" asked Metria. "The fact that iron-face and Skydrummer have a paired talent? What's so unusual about that?"
"A paired talent?" Vader inquired.
"Sometimes two people -- most often siblings and especially twins, but occasionally a parent and child, or two lovers -- will have talents that go well together," explained Chang. "For example, one may be able to summon flying beasts, another swimming beasts. Or one can conjure fire and another water. You two have such a paired talent -- destruction and healing. They go together. But the fact that you were both randomly given those talents and weren't born with them makes this very unusual."
"Not randomly," Jenny replied. "Demon F(O/R)CE must have done it. Few things in Xanth are random."
"So our talents will help us win the game," Luke added.
"The question is how," Vader mused.
Sergeant Ressive entered the tunnel at that moment. He saluted.
"Walker of the Sky, we've captured or destroyed roughly half of the crossbreed army with minimum losses to our troops," he reported. "My men are in pursuit of the rest. We have yet to locate Darius, but we are reasonably sure he remains in the underground village. The audience chamber has been cleared out."
"Good work, Sergeant," Vader told him. "Let us inspect the audience chamber. It may hold a clue."
The chamber reeked of scorched rock and was covered in black blotches. Imp troops were busy recovering their dead or tending to injuries. Four squads of them were hauling away the body of the dead yak-diggle. Others patrolled the area.
Luke spotted Vader's lightsaber laying at the base of a pillar, and as he stooped to pick it up he saw letters carved into the pillar's surface. The script was ridiculously ornate, so it took him time to decipher it fully.
"Strength," he read. "A Pillar of Strength."
"Who'd write that on a pillar?" demanded Metria.
"They all have words written on them," Wara replied. She pointed to a second pillar. "The Pillar of Integrity."
"Pillar of Honor," Vader noted.
"Pillar of Compassion," added Jenny.
"Pillar of Loyalty," Chang observed.
"Pillar of Wisdom," Metria finished. "Six pillars with fancy letters on them. What of it?"
"What does this all mean?" Jenny wondered.
"Well, these are all things Darius isn't," Luke joked.
"Good point," Vader replied. "A true leader would be a pillar of strength, integrity, honor, compassion, loyalty, and wisdom to his people. He would uphold his kingdom by exhibiting these qualities. But Darius has none of these, being the twisted scheming being he is. Thus, he has artificial forms of these characteristics to support his kingdom."
Luke hadn't been serious, but there was merit in Vader's theory.
"Oh my stars," gasped Wara, hands going to her mouth. "We used to have cave-ins in these tunnels all the time. But a few months ago Darius sent the demon-centaur to Mount Parnassus to fetch something -- he wouldn't say what. When he got back, the cave-ins stopped. These pillars must be what he was sent to obtain!"
"And I seem to recall the Muses reporting a centaur thief to the elders of Centaur Isle around that time," Chang replied. "We never did find the thief among us, and now I see why. Darius stole these pillars from the temple of the Muses to keep his village from collapsing on itself."
"So if we remove or destroy these columns, we can bring down the entire fortress," Luke theorized.
"And where will WE be while the caves are coming down on our heads?" Metria demanded.
"Running like hell," Luke replied quite matter-of-factly.
"We will never make it out of the tunnels in time," Chang pointed out. "We would kill ourselves destroying Darius."
"Not if we time it right," Luke replied. "If we destroy three or four pillars, the rest would hold up the ceiling for a little while, but eventually they would collapse and take the entire village with them."
An imp trooper on a swoop bike screamed into the cavern, pulling up even with Sergeant Ressive.
"Soldier, I told you to stay in the west passage unless there was an emergency!" Ressive snapped.
"Sir," the trooper informed him, "we've located Darius! He appears to have imbibed in some healing elixir and is heading this way with blood in his eyes!"
"No healing elixir in his store rooms, eh?" demanded Metria.
"But true to his self-serving nature," Vader noted, "he keeps some in his private quarters." He addressed Ressive. "We thank the army of Imp Ire for their aid. But the battle against Darius himself is ours alone. You may return to your homes. We have the situation under control."
Ressive didn't look convinced, but he pulled a comm unit off his belt. "Move out! All troops regroup at point oh-five near the lake!"
The remaining imps left the cavern. The sergeant went after them.
"You'd better hurry," Jenny advised. "I don't think Darius is going to be as easy on us a second time."
Vader turned to the nearest pillar, the one marked Wisdom. Scarlet cracks shot through the stone, and the entire pillar glowed eerily. Abruptly the ceiling above the column buckled and sagged.
"Not good!" shouted Wara, ducking as chunks of stone began to rain down.
"Luke, your talent!" shouted Metria.
Could his talent work on stone? It had repaired Vader's armor as well as healing his injuries. He focused on the ceiling, and the fallen stone flew back to its proper place. But as the pillar gave way the ceiling continued to crack and warp.
"The pillar!" Vader ordered.
Luke concentrated on the pillar. The red glow became green, and the stone fused back together.
"Destroying one pillar isn't an option either," Chang decided. "We need a means of destroying them all at once -- and from a distance."
"I have another idea," Luke countered. "Why don't we just damage the pillars? Weaken them, but not destroy them. They will continue to hold up the ceiling until we destroy one column. The other five won't be able to hold the ceiling up and will collapse slowly, giving us time to escape."
"That must be where both of your talents come in," Wara mused. "You have to cooperate to bring the cavern down."
"Then get started so we can get out of this pit already!" Metria grumbled.
They focused on the Pillar of Loyalty. Red light illuminated the stone, then green light mingled with the scarlet. The powers of destruction and healing infused the column as Vader's magic broke the stone apart and Luke's magic fused it back together, though not completely. It took some time before they were satisfied with the results.
"Hope that's enough," said Luke.
"But that took too long!" Metria exclaimed. "Darius is on his way! We don't have time for this site!"
"This what?" demanded Wara.
"Lot, property, plan, scheme..."
"Plot," Jenny offered.
"Whatever."
"Time," mused Vader. "Time." He faced Wara. "What does Darius keep in his store rooms?"
"Weapons and food, mostly," she replied. "There's also armor, tools, magic herbs, a few potions..."
"What sorts of herbs?"
"Not much," she confessed. "He does have a good supply of fresh and dried thyme..."
"Sammy," Vader ordered, "go to the nearest store room and bring back a sprig of dried thyme."
The cat bolted. He was back seconds later with a shriveled stalk in his mouth, which he set at Vader's feet with a pleased purr.
"I don't get it," Luke confessed.
"Jenny explained the properties of this plant to me at the beginning of the game," Vader replied.
Metria's form briefly fluctuated to that of a bald, fat, yellow-skinned man. "D'oh!"
"What?" asked Luke.
"I should have told you!" she snapped. "Thyme's a magic plant. Fresh, it speeds time up. Dried, it slows time down. So as long as that piece of thyme's in this cavern, a second to Darius will be like an hour to us."
Luke smiled. "So we have all the 'thyme' we need to rig the cave."
"For someone who professes not to like puns," Jenny said with a knowing grin, "you certainly know how to use them to your advantage, Lord Vader."
The two Players set to work. It took time to figure out just how much of each type of magic it took to sufficiently weaken each column, for each one was constructed differently. Twice Vader got carried away and made a pillar explode, and Luke had to act fast to keep that section of the ceiling from falling down on them. By the time they reached the last column, the Pillar of Honor, they were both covered with dust and exhausted from the continued use of their talents.
"We'll save this one for when Darius comes in," Luke stated.
Vader turned to the sprig of thyme, and it glowed red and crumbled to ash. "Jenny, Wara, Metria, Chang, and Sammy should wait outside."
"Take care," Metria told them. "Don't hurt yourself, or Grossclout'll mush me."
"And don't underestimate Darius," Wara cautioned. "I've seen him defeat five men at a time in battle."
They departed.
Luke and Vader waited together in the audience chamber. The silence hung thick in the air like the mists over the lake. Vader's respirator was the only sound, and it echoed hauntingly off the stone walls.
"We've come a long way, haven't we?" mused Luke at last.
"From mortal foes to unlikely allies," Vader acknowledged.
"And we actually make a pretty good team," Luke grinned. "Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Who'd have thought?"
"We could continue to be a team, Luke," Vader suggested. "If we survive this battle, we could join forces. Together, we could be unstoppable -- a pair of shooting stars that nothing can stop."
Did he never give up? But then, Luke realized, this wasn't exactly an invitation to join the dark side. It was simply an offer to be partners. Perhaps, he thought, they could go off on their own and be a mercenary team, or explorers, or free-lance pilots. Perhaps they could form an entirely new Force-wielding Order, neither Jedi nor Sith. The possibilities were endless, and the offer was tempting.
"You and I both know that's impossible," Luke replied. "Despite all that's happened here, I'm still a Rebel and a Jedi, and you're still an Imperial and a Sith. And like it or not, I'm an idealist. As long as the Emperor continues his reign, I'm going to fight against him."
"I suspected you would answer along those lines," Vader replied. "And I'm beginning to think you and the Rebellion are not entirely wrong in your mission."
Luke's jaw dropped. Such words were practically blasphemy coming out of the mouth of the Emperor's right-hand man!
"How touching," came the silky, mocking voice of Darius as he entered the chamber, claws rasping on the floor. "A family moment. Enjoy it while you can, because I'm going to gut the two of you for making a fool out of me."
"You can't make a fool out of one who is already a fool," Vader retorted.
Darius smirked, and the spade-tip of his tail thrashed once, like a cat just before it pounced. "Who's the fool, Vader? I heard you talking to your son. And from what I've heard, you serve an Emperor who is far more tyrannical than I. And yet you condone his actions, whilst I am a threat that must be eliminated. Isn't that a bit hypocritical?"
Vader was silent, and Luke could see that Darius had touched on a sensitive issue. How indeed could one serve one tyrant and seek to overthrow another?
"I am not perfect, Darius," Vader said finally. "Far from it. I've made many mistakes. But you are not one to talk about perfection either. You call me a hypocrite while you, who preach the ideals of utopia and pretend to champion the oppressed, plot heinous crimes against the full-blooded creatures of Xanth. If you accuse me of hypocrisy, that makes you a hypocrite twice over."
Darius' gaze settled on Luke. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's an idealist. I can understand why you wish to oust the Emperor of your galaxy. But why are you so intent on destroying me? Xanth is not your world. Our affairs don't affect you. What difference does it make to you if a full-blood rules Xanth or I do?"
"Our worlds are not entirely separate, Darius," Luke replied. "Otherwise I would not be here. Xanth and our galaxy are connected through the Force -- what you call magic. The actions of those in one will have consequences on the other. And though it might not make much difference to you whether our galaxy prospers or destructs, I will not sit back idly and watch a madman destroy Xanth."
Darius looked at Vader, then at Luke. He had evidently hoped to talk one or both of them out of fighting him. But he made one last-ditch attempt to save his skin.
"You could join me," he offered. "Vader, you're a crossbreed of sorts -- man and machine. And Luke... you could take on a lover of another species. You can aid me in my quest, and your reward could be more wealth and power than you can imagine!"
Vader turned to Luke, who smiled back and slid something out of his sleeve -- the last piece of reverse wood, which had been snapped in half and the two pieces bound together with a strip of cloth to cancel each other's effects.
Vader nodded, pleased. "Shall we take him together?"
"Why not?"
The Dark Lord turned to Darius. "We decline the offer. Instead, we shall do the next being you meet a favor and ensure they never encounter you."
The dracotaur drew his sword, expecting a physical attack.
Luke let one piece of reverse wood drop, holding tightly to the other. He and Vader focused all their strength on the Pillar of Honor. The column exploded violently under their combined forces. Too late Darius saw the danger and tried to flee, but the resulting shower of rock overwhelmed him.
The Players were not around to see the centaur of their attention meet his doom. They ran into the nearest tunnel, intent on escape. Jenny had been waiting for them, Sammy in her arms, and she joined them in their flight.
Chang, Wara, and Metria emerged from a side passage to run alongside them, Wara in her unicorn form, Metria a smoky-gray hippogriff. Luke grabbed Metria's shoulders and hurled himself onto her back, clinging for dear life to her neck feathers. Vader grabbed Jenny by the waist and swiftly transferred her to Wara's back, then took a running leap onto Chang.
The ringing of hooves on stone was drowned out by the thunder of falling rock behind them. The end of the tunnel was visible as a pinprick of light, and the party charged onward, reassured by the sight of daylight. The imploding tunnel was at their heels, urging their desperate flight on.
Sunlight was never so welcome. They burst from the passage just as the mouth of the tunnel buckled and caved in with a flurry of dust.
There was no celebration among their party. They simply flopped down on the spot in exhaustion. Within seconds everyone was asleep.
A few minutes later, a black-and-brown dog trotted out of the mist and sat down near the tired group, keeping a watchful eye on them.
As soon as they were in a deserted stretch of tunnel, Metria set Vader down gently and assumed human form. Luke knelt at his side and grabbed the arrow's shaft.
"No, Luke, don't..." cautioned Chang.
With a yank he extracted the arrow. Blood welled up in the wound, and Luke ripped off a section of his sleeve and pressed the fabric to his chest to stop the flow.
"You were lucky," Chang told him. "Some arrows do more damage coming out than going in."
Hoofbeats rang through the tunnel, and Wara rounded the curve, carrying Jenny.
"No!" Jenny cried, sliding down the unicorn's side and running to her Player. "Lord Vader!"
"How badly is he hurt?" asked Wara, assuming human form.
"Very badly, I'm afraid," Chang replied gravely. "He appears to have suffered lung damage, and as his respiratory system was weak to begin with..."
"He's getting worse!" Luke cried. "I can't stop the bleeding!"
"The arrow must have pierced an artery," noted Metria. "I'd help you, but demons don't have healing powers."
"I can send Sammy after some elixir..." began Jenny.
"Darius doesn't keep healing elixir in storage," Wara cut off. "He believes if a soldier cannot recover from an injury on his own, he's not worth saving."
"Can the Force heal people?" asked Jenny pleadingly.
"I... I no longer have the Force," Luke moaned. "Darius... changed my magic."
"What?!" shrieked Metria. "No fair! If it weren't for the whole World Demon gamble, I'd turn dragon and chomp that fiend!"
Luke's vision blurred with tears. How could this happen? A matter of weeks ago, he would have given anything to see Vader killed. But not now, not when the fate of the entire galaxy rode on the two of them. Not when Luke needed him so desperately -- not simply Luke the Player, but Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin.
The memory of Bespin, of Vader taunting him, tempting him, of the searing agony of losing his hand, of betrayal and fury, ripped through his mind. How could he feel this way toward the man who had caused him so much pain? Who had caused the galaxy so much agony and grief? This man was a Sith, a mass murderer, a corrupt military leader, the second-in-command of a harsh and twisted totalitarian government...
But this man was also his father. There was no more denying it. Obi-wan may have lied to Luke, but that didn't change the truth that the Force had screamed at him. For years he'd looked for a man to call father... and found it behind a steel mask. His flesh and blood, his only family, lay dying here. And though the galaxy had long wished for the Dark Lord's death, it would be a vast tragedy in more ways than one.
His head fell to the armored chest. Sobs shook his body.
"You can't die," he whispered hoarsely. "I won't let you. I can't lose you. I'd do anything in my power to have you back."
"Luke?" Wara asked. "What are you doing?"
Wasn't that obvious? He was grieving...
"Luke, your hand!" exclaimed Metria.
He glanced up. The hand pressed against Vader's chest, holding the dressing down, was glowing with an eerie green light. Startled, he jerked back.
"What the stang?" he demanded.
The glow faded. What in the galaxy had that been? He carefully peeled the cloth from Vader's wound. The bleeding had stopped, and the edges of the gash had partially drawn together.
"Whatever you were doing, keep doing it!" Jenny encouraged. "It's helping him!"
"My talent," Luke realized. "Darius can't control what he changes my talent to. He can only alter it and hope for the worst. But it's become the talent of healing wounds!"
"Then heal your dad before he croaks!" Metria advised.
He pressed his hand to the injury, willing it to heal. The light returned, more intense than ever. Vader's breathing evened out and returned to normal, and he stirred with a deep groan.
"Luke?" he whispered.
He drew his hand away. The wound was gone, and his armor had closed over it as if there had never been an injury.
Vader struggled to sit up. Luke grabbed his arm to help him up, and the two of them stared at each other for a long time.
"Why did you do that?" Vader asked finally, stunned. "Why did you save me?"
Luke could think of a thousand reasons -- because he was his father. Because he couldn't go on alone. Because he wanted to know more about his family. Because the fate of Xanth and their galaxy depended on the two of them. But the words wouldn't come.
Vader chuckled softly. "Now you know a little how I felt at the river," he told him.
Luke put his arms around his father, letting that action convey what he couldn't say. Vader returned the embrace. He was hugging his father! How he wished he could have done this as a child. Even without the Force, they could feel the emotions flowing between them.
Metria ended it, naturally. "Oh, enough with the mush already! We have a deadline!"
Luke glared at the demoness. "You really need a soul, Metria."
She didn't comment.
"You're all right!" cried Jenny, throwing her arms around Vader's neck.
"I don't understand," Vader complained as Chang helped him stand. "I should have blocked that arrow. But the last thing I remember before it hit was a moment of vertigo."
"Darius changed our talents," Luke explained. "We can no longer use the Force."
"I suspect the Demon X(A/N)TH engineered this," Chang theorized. "He hoped Luke would forfeit the game upon Vader's death. But his plan backfired, seeing as Luke nearly killed Darius himself."
"Did you really?" Vader demanded.
"Don't look at me like I'm a criminal!" Luke shot back. "I wasn't thinking clearly. How can you expect someone to act rationally when they just saw someone they care for die?"
Vader looked tragically thoughtful. "I know the feeling, Luke," he replied quietly.
"But F(O/R)CE intervened as well," Wara pointed out. "He ensured that Luke's talent was that of healing, so he could heal Vader's wounds and they could go on to defeat Darius."
Luke considered. "I wonder... give me your hand."
Vader extended his hand. Luke took it in his and concentrated on the Sith, willing his damaged lungs to heal. Nothing happened.
He sighed. "Sorry." He dropped Vader's hand. "My talent only works on recent injuries, I guess."
"Unfortunate," Vader replied.
"What's Vader's new talent?" wondered Jenny.
"This could be interesting," Metria noted. "A wild talent. It could be anything from the power to make a colored dot on the wall to the power to alter the past to anything in between. The possibilities are virtually endless. He could summon animals, read minds, predict someone's death, purify water, turn creatures to stone, conjure plants..."
"We get the point, Metria," Chang interrupted.
"Try it on the wall there," Jenny suggested. "See if something happens. Focus on a spot."
Vader turned to face the tunnel wall. Almost immediately a patch on the wall began to glow scarlet, as if someone on the other side were trying to melt their way through with a plasma torch. Cracks snaked through the stone like jags of lightning. The red patch bulged -- and exploded. The blast left a deep crater in the stone and spit gravel at them.
"Wow!" exclaimed Jenny, awed.
"I'll say," Luke added.
"Hmph, not bad," grunted Metria.
"What exactly is it?" asked Wara.
"The talent of destruction," Chang replied. "This is quite unusual."
"What is?" asked Metria. "The fact that iron-face and Skydrummer have a paired talent? What's so unusual about that?"
"A paired talent?" Vader inquired.
"Sometimes two people -- most often siblings and especially twins, but occasionally a parent and child, or two lovers -- will have talents that go well together," explained Chang. "For example, one may be able to summon flying beasts, another swimming beasts. Or one can conjure fire and another water. You two have such a paired talent -- destruction and healing. They go together. But the fact that you were both randomly given those talents and weren't born with them makes this very unusual."
"Not randomly," Jenny replied. "Demon F(O/R)CE must have done it. Few things in Xanth are random."
"So our talents will help us win the game," Luke added.
"The question is how," Vader mused.
Sergeant Ressive entered the tunnel at that moment. He saluted.
"Walker of the Sky, we've captured or destroyed roughly half of the crossbreed army with minimum losses to our troops," he reported. "My men are in pursuit of the rest. We have yet to locate Darius, but we are reasonably sure he remains in the underground village. The audience chamber has been cleared out."
"Good work, Sergeant," Vader told him. "Let us inspect the audience chamber. It may hold a clue."
The chamber reeked of scorched rock and was covered in black blotches. Imp troops were busy recovering their dead or tending to injuries. Four squads of them were hauling away the body of the dead yak-diggle. Others patrolled the area.
Luke spotted Vader's lightsaber laying at the base of a pillar, and as he stooped to pick it up he saw letters carved into the pillar's surface. The script was ridiculously ornate, so it took him time to decipher it fully.
"Strength," he read. "A Pillar of Strength."
"Who'd write that on a pillar?" demanded Metria.
"They all have words written on them," Wara replied. She pointed to a second pillar. "The Pillar of Integrity."
"Pillar of Honor," Vader noted.
"Pillar of Compassion," added Jenny.
"Pillar of Loyalty," Chang observed.
"Pillar of Wisdom," Metria finished. "Six pillars with fancy letters on them. What of it?"
"What does this all mean?" Jenny wondered.
"Well, these are all things Darius isn't," Luke joked.
"Good point," Vader replied. "A true leader would be a pillar of strength, integrity, honor, compassion, loyalty, and wisdom to his people. He would uphold his kingdom by exhibiting these qualities. But Darius has none of these, being the twisted scheming being he is. Thus, he has artificial forms of these characteristics to support his kingdom."
Luke hadn't been serious, but there was merit in Vader's theory.
"Oh my stars," gasped Wara, hands going to her mouth. "We used to have cave-ins in these tunnels all the time. But a few months ago Darius sent the demon-centaur to Mount Parnassus to fetch something -- he wouldn't say what. When he got back, the cave-ins stopped. These pillars must be what he was sent to obtain!"
"And I seem to recall the Muses reporting a centaur thief to the elders of Centaur Isle around that time," Chang replied. "We never did find the thief among us, and now I see why. Darius stole these pillars from the temple of the Muses to keep his village from collapsing on itself."
"So if we remove or destroy these columns, we can bring down the entire fortress," Luke theorized.
"And where will WE be while the caves are coming down on our heads?" Metria demanded.
"Running like hell," Luke replied quite matter-of-factly.
"We will never make it out of the tunnels in time," Chang pointed out. "We would kill ourselves destroying Darius."
"Not if we time it right," Luke replied. "If we destroy three or four pillars, the rest would hold up the ceiling for a little while, but eventually they would collapse and take the entire village with them."
An imp trooper on a swoop bike screamed into the cavern, pulling up even with Sergeant Ressive.
"Soldier, I told you to stay in the west passage unless there was an emergency!" Ressive snapped.
"Sir," the trooper informed him, "we've located Darius! He appears to have imbibed in some healing elixir and is heading this way with blood in his eyes!"
"No healing elixir in his store rooms, eh?" demanded Metria.
"But true to his self-serving nature," Vader noted, "he keeps some in his private quarters." He addressed Ressive. "We thank the army of Imp Ire for their aid. But the battle against Darius himself is ours alone. You may return to your homes. We have the situation under control."
Ressive didn't look convinced, but he pulled a comm unit off his belt. "Move out! All troops regroup at point oh-five near the lake!"
The remaining imps left the cavern. The sergeant went after them.
"You'd better hurry," Jenny advised. "I don't think Darius is going to be as easy on us a second time."
Vader turned to the nearest pillar, the one marked Wisdom. Scarlet cracks shot through the stone, and the entire pillar glowed eerily. Abruptly the ceiling above the column buckled and sagged.
"Not good!" shouted Wara, ducking as chunks of stone began to rain down.
"Luke, your talent!" shouted Metria.
Could his talent work on stone? It had repaired Vader's armor as well as healing his injuries. He focused on the ceiling, and the fallen stone flew back to its proper place. But as the pillar gave way the ceiling continued to crack and warp.
"The pillar!" Vader ordered.
Luke concentrated on the pillar. The red glow became green, and the stone fused back together.
"Destroying one pillar isn't an option either," Chang decided. "We need a means of destroying them all at once -- and from a distance."
"I have another idea," Luke countered. "Why don't we just damage the pillars? Weaken them, but not destroy them. They will continue to hold up the ceiling until we destroy one column. The other five won't be able to hold the ceiling up and will collapse slowly, giving us time to escape."
"That must be where both of your talents come in," Wara mused. "You have to cooperate to bring the cavern down."
"Then get started so we can get out of this pit already!" Metria grumbled.
They focused on the Pillar of Loyalty. Red light illuminated the stone, then green light mingled with the scarlet. The powers of destruction and healing infused the column as Vader's magic broke the stone apart and Luke's magic fused it back together, though not completely. It took some time before they were satisfied with the results.
"Hope that's enough," said Luke.
"But that took too long!" Metria exclaimed. "Darius is on his way! We don't have time for this site!"
"This what?" demanded Wara.
"Lot, property, plan, scheme..."
"Plot," Jenny offered.
"Whatever."
"Time," mused Vader. "Time." He faced Wara. "What does Darius keep in his store rooms?"
"Weapons and food, mostly," she replied. "There's also armor, tools, magic herbs, a few potions..."
"What sorts of herbs?"
"Not much," she confessed. "He does have a good supply of fresh and dried thyme..."
"Sammy," Vader ordered, "go to the nearest store room and bring back a sprig of dried thyme."
The cat bolted. He was back seconds later with a shriveled stalk in his mouth, which he set at Vader's feet with a pleased purr.
"I don't get it," Luke confessed.
"Jenny explained the properties of this plant to me at the beginning of the game," Vader replied.
Metria's form briefly fluctuated to that of a bald, fat, yellow-skinned man. "D'oh!"
"What?" asked Luke.
"I should have told you!" she snapped. "Thyme's a magic plant. Fresh, it speeds time up. Dried, it slows time down. So as long as that piece of thyme's in this cavern, a second to Darius will be like an hour to us."
Luke smiled. "So we have all the 'thyme' we need to rig the cave."
"For someone who professes not to like puns," Jenny said with a knowing grin, "you certainly know how to use them to your advantage, Lord Vader."
The two Players set to work. It took time to figure out just how much of each type of magic it took to sufficiently weaken each column, for each one was constructed differently. Twice Vader got carried away and made a pillar explode, and Luke had to act fast to keep that section of the ceiling from falling down on them. By the time they reached the last column, the Pillar of Honor, they were both covered with dust and exhausted from the continued use of their talents.
"We'll save this one for when Darius comes in," Luke stated.
Vader turned to the sprig of thyme, and it glowed red and crumbled to ash. "Jenny, Wara, Metria, Chang, and Sammy should wait outside."
"Take care," Metria told them. "Don't hurt yourself, or Grossclout'll mush me."
"And don't underestimate Darius," Wara cautioned. "I've seen him defeat five men at a time in battle."
They departed.
Luke and Vader waited together in the audience chamber. The silence hung thick in the air like the mists over the lake. Vader's respirator was the only sound, and it echoed hauntingly off the stone walls.
"We've come a long way, haven't we?" mused Luke at last.
"From mortal foes to unlikely allies," Vader acknowledged.
"And we actually make a pretty good team," Luke grinned. "Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Who'd have thought?"
"We could continue to be a team, Luke," Vader suggested. "If we survive this battle, we could join forces. Together, we could be unstoppable -- a pair of shooting stars that nothing can stop."
Did he never give up? But then, Luke realized, this wasn't exactly an invitation to join the dark side. It was simply an offer to be partners. Perhaps, he thought, they could go off on their own and be a mercenary team, or explorers, or free-lance pilots. Perhaps they could form an entirely new Force-wielding Order, neither Jedi nor Sith. The possibilities were endless, and the offer was tempting.
"You and I both know that's impossible," Luke replied. "Despite all that's happened here, I'm still a Rebel and a Jedi, and you're still an Imperial and a Sith. And like it or not, I'm an idealist. As long as the Emperor continues his reign, I'm going to fight against him."
"I suspected you would answer along those lines," Vader replied. "And I'm beginning to think you and the Rebellion are not entirely wrong in your mission."
Luke's jaw dropped. Such words were practically blasphemy coming out of the mouth of the Emperor's right-hand man!
"How touching," came the silky, mocking voice of Darius as he entered the chamber, claws rasping on the floor. "A family moment. Enjoy it while you can, because I'm going to gut the two of you for making a fool out of me."
"You can't make a fool out of one who is already a fool," Vader retorted.
Darius smirked, and the spade-tip of his tail thrashed once, like a cat just before it pounced. "Who's the fool, Vader? I heard you talking to your son. And from what I've heard, you serve an Emperor who is far more tyrannical than I. And yet you condone his actions, whilst I am a threat that must be eliminated. Isn't that a bit hypocritical?"
Vader was silent, and Luke could see that Darius had touched on a sensitive issue. How indeed could one serve one tyrant and seek to overthrow another?
"I am not perfect, Darius," Vader said finally. "Far from it. I've made many mistakes. But you are not one to talk about perfection either. You call me a hypocrite while you, who preach the ideals of utopia and pretend to champion the oppressed, plot heinous crimes against the full-blooded creatures of Xanth. If you accuse me of hypocrisy, that makes you a hypocrite twice over."
Darius' gaze settled on Luke. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's an idealist. I can understand why you wish to oust the Emperor of your galaxy. But why are you so intent on destroying me? Xanth is not your world. Our affairs don't affect you. What difference does it make to you if a full-blood rules Xanth or I do?"
"Our worlds are not entirely separate, Darius," Luke replied. "Otherwise I would not be here. Xanth and our galaxy are connected through the Force -- what you call magic. The actions of those in one will have consequences on the other. And though it might not make much difference to you whether our galaxy prospers or destructs, I will not sit back idly and watch a madman destroy Xanth."
Darius looked at Vader, then at Luke. He had evidently hoped to talk one or both of them out of fighting him. But he made one last-ditch attempt to save his skin.
"You could join me," he offered. "Vader, you're a crossbreed of sorts -- man and machine. And Luke... you could take on a lover of another species. You can aid me in my quest, and your reward could be more wealth and power than you can imagine!"
Vader turned to Luke, who smiled back and slid something out of his sleeve -- the last piece of reverse wood, which had been snapped in half and the two pieces bound together with a strip of cloth to cancel each other's effects.
Vader nodded, pleased. "Shall we take him together?"
"Why not?"
The Dark Lord turned to Darius. "We decline the offer. Instead, we shall do the next being you meet a favor and ensure they never encounter you."
The dracotaur drew his sword, expecting a physical attack.
Luke let one piece of reverse wood drop, holding tightly to the other. He and Vader focused all their strength on the Pillar of Honor. The column exploded violently under their combined forces. Too late Darius saw the danger and tried to flee, but the resulting shower of rock overwhelmed him.
The Players were not around to see the centaur of their attention meet his doom. They ran into the nearest tunnel, intent on escape. Jenny had been waiting for them, Sammy in her arms, and she joined them in their flight.
Chang, Wara, and Metria emerged from a side passage to run alongside them, Wara in her unicorn form, Metria a smoky-gray hippogriff. Luke grabbed Metria's shoulders and hurled himself onto her back, clinging for dear life to her neck feathers. Vader grabbed Jenny by the waist and swiftly transferred her to Wara's back, then took a running leap onto Chang.
The ringing of hooves on stone was drowned out by the thunder of falling rock behind them. The end of the tunnel was visible as a pinprick of light, and the party charged onward, reassured by the sight of daylight. The imploding tunnel was at their heels, urging their desperate flight on.
Sunlight was never so welcome. They burst from the passage just as the mouth of the tunnel buckled and caved in with a flurry of dust.
There was no celebration among their party. They simply flopped down on the spot in exhaustion. Within seconds everyone was asleep.
A few minutes later, a black-and-brown dog trotted out of the mist and sat down near the tired group, keeping a watchful eye on them.