Disclaimer:  Since its development in 1983, the animated series Dungeons and Dragons has belonged to the following at some point:  Marvel Productions, TSR, Inc., Wizards of the Coast,  Saban Entertainment, (according to rumor) Disney, and possibly even others.  I guess my point is, it does not (nor has it ever) belonged to me.  Oh, well!  This story, however, does!  I hope you enjoy it!

Rating:  PG-13 for some language, violent elements, and theft (I shamelessly stole a terrific lyric from a Peter Gabriel song for use in this chapter.  If you're as big a fan as I am, you might just spot it! *VBG*)

Summary (in verse):
'Twas the night before the showdown and all through the Realm  
Each of the Young Ones was quite overwhelmed.
Anxious and waiting inside Tardos Keep, 
They're lucky to get just ten minutes of sleep.
While Venger wrestles with a dilemma or two,
Poor Teri just hopes that her dreams don't come true.
The Ranger tries to get his friends prepped in a hurry,
And Sheila, the Thief, continues to worry.
No one is sure when the threat will attack
And Bobby just knows Psycho-Witch will be back.
Ayesha looks up to her father and mother,
While Toby and John try not to fight with each other.
 As the dawn breaks, Doc Presto paces this way and that
Just wanting to pull something of use from his hat.
Varla, too, prays her weapon will (just once) work right
As the group's interest turns to the upcoming fight.
Out of nowhere (again!) the DM has gone missin'
And poor Eric and Di have no time left for kissin'.
Against peril unthinkable they must stand alone  
And wonder if this time they'll ever get home.
Of adventures, and dangers, and sights so uncanny
Those on Earth would never believe . . . except Eric's weird nanny.

Dedication:   This one is for my lovely, masochistic friend and beta, EQ, who actually said the "painful" parts weren't long enough.  Thank you, my friend, I'm glad it has passed inspection and is now excruciatingly drawn-out to your satisfaction!  Thanks also to Heidi for your extra help.  I can always count on you!

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Legacy

Chapter 14 – Easy is the Descent

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"Easy is the descent into Hell,
for the door to the dark Dis
stands open both day and night."

        ~ Virgil

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Teri was still breathing heavily as she made her way up the stone steps of the lower Keep and headed for the immense main doors of Tardos.  Since waking up, the Dreamer had felt as though the walls were closing in all around her and she needed to walk, needed to move, needed to get as far away from that dream as she possibly could. 

As she reached the door, she pressed her head against one of the cool plates of iron bolted around the perimeter of the massive entranceway.  Leaning there, she took a few slower, more deliberate breaths.  She could feel the tickle of several wayward strands of hair, plastered to her face from the beads of perspiration that had gathered on her forehead.  The chill metal of the door felt good beneath her clammy skin.  She remained where she was until she had begun to breathe more normally.  After a moment, Teri reached forward to push the door open.

"Where are you going?" a gentle voice said from behind.

Teri turned her head and saw a shimmery glow on the landing of the stairs, which quickly materialized into Sheila.  The Thief removed the hood that surrounded her head and settled it back behind her shoulders as she became visible once again.  Her face was a mask of concern.

The Dreamer smiled grimly.  "I tried not to wake anyone," she said.  "I'm sorry."

"I'm a light sleeper," Sheila replied.  "It's kind of a prerequisite for being a parent."  She laughed a bit and shook her head.  "Once, when Ayesha was very little, I got up in the middle of the night and walked to the other end of the house because I thought I heard her coughing in her sleep.  It turned out to be a local teenager passing by outside her window.  But when you're a mother you get tuned into those things."

The Dreamer chuckled half-heartedly.  "I suppose your time here in the Realm may have had something to do with it, too."  Teri then sobered and turned around fully as Sheila approached.  The younger girl inhaled deeply. 

"I had another one," she said.  "I thought if I could do something this time -- wait outside, watch for trouble -- maybe I could stop . . . ."  She shuddered as though someone had walked across her grave, then allowed her shoulders to slacken in despair.  "I just couldn't stay in there any more, Sheila.  I couldn't."

The Thief's face still bore a look of understanding worry as she reached the troubled girl.  "What was it?" she asked.

"Terrible," Teri muttered almost inwardly.  "Too terrible."  Her eyes met Sheila's and she trembled again.  "I can't take many more of them, Sheila."

Sheila was quiet as she studied Teri's drawn features.  What she saw there, alone, was cause for concern.  Her brother's girlfriend had always been pretty, even as a ten-year-old child whose face still clung tenaciously to vestiges of baby fat.  But it had always been more than that.  Teri was, quite simply, such a very nice person; fiercely loyal and unreservedly brave, and it was impossible not to like her, even though Bobby had, at first, clutched stubbornly to his opinion that any member of the fairer sex was in some way repellent.  (With Teri, however, that hadn't lasted long at all.  Less, in fact, than would be expected given the young Barbarian's constant insistence that he was disgusted by anything "gushy.")  The Dreamer had a kind of inner beauty that touched all those around her and, it seemed to Sheila, too abundant to be contained on the inside alone. 

She had been right.  Over the years, that inner beauty seemed to have burst, spilling outward and leaving behind a stunning raven-haired young woman, with large round eyes the color of blue, frost-misted glass, and an undeniably refined way of carrying herself (polished further by her semester spent in France a few years ago). 

Now, however, although her beauty was still technically unspoiled, the recent days spent in constant worry and struggle seemed to have taken their toll on her.  She was tired-looking and pale.  Her large eyes, though still bright, were bordered by rings of blue shading and waxy with an odd kind of weary sheen.  Her thick dark hair hung loosely in the band that held it off her face, the occasional tangled wisp stubbornly sweeping across her forehead or from behind her ear.  She looked as though she hadn't had a real night's sleep in days, but Sheila knew that even when the girl did sleep, she would hardly be able to rest.  She wished there was something she could do for her.

"Come on."  The Thief looped her arm through Teri's and squeezed tightly with an attempt at a cheerful smile.  "Let's get some fresh air.  If there's anything to see coming, we'll do it together."  She tried to convey with her eyes the same faith-filled look that she had often used to hearten her friends while in the Realm all those years ago.  That, combined with her maternal nature which was as strong as fire-tested gold, finally got the Dreamer to agree.

Teri grinned wanly and the two women pushed against the heavy door until it opened just enough for them to slip out into the chill morning air.

The dawn was as hazy and dark as had been the evening before.  A mantle of fog carpeted the earth at the feet of Sheila and Teri, forming a ribbon through the winding valley.  It lay heavily upon the ground like a sleeping dragon, unstirred from the lack of breeze to rifle the cold air.  The steel-colored clouds were as thick as blocks and collided with each other overhead as they seemed to sag down claustrophobically close to the earth.  It was almost as though the only thing keeping them from rolling all the way down were the cathedral-high rock walls of Tardos Valley. 

The air was uncharacteristically brisk, but still a welcome change from the mustiness of the Keep.  Teri drew in deep lungfulls of it, strangely comforted by the piercing needles of cold that worked their way down her windpipe as they awaked her senses and helped to clear her head.  The idea that it had not been this cold yesterday, however, immediately darkened her feeling of reassurance.  It was a reminder of what was approaching; the breathless quiet before a tempest that the Dreamer could feel pressing against them. 

Not wanting to venture too far, the two women sat on the first step that led down into the valley below, now obscured by the fog.  At once, Teri could feel the cold stone bite into her legs through the thin fabric of her caramel-brown tights, but she didn't care.  She sat beside Sheila for several long moments in the silence that filled the valley.

"You don't want to talk about it?" Sheila finally inquired of her friend, her voice breaking the fragile quiet like a crisp bell.

Teri shook her head, although she almost immediately began to reconsider, wanting to tell the Thief everything.  Every detail, every horror, every fear that she held within her heart about what might happen.  But the words ceased at her lips, and Teri couldn't bear the thought of releasing them -- not to the girl who had become like a sister to her.  She couldn't burden Sheila with this.

Why? she thought.  Why have this power if I can't use it to help us?  So far, all it's done is shown me all the terrible things that I couldn't stop from happening.  If only I could--

Suddenly Teri froze.  She recalled something that she had been told not long ago.  "You carry your greatest asset with you, Dreamer," Venger had said to her.  "It will provide aid when you need it the most."  Teri pursed her lips in staunch determination.  This dream wouldn't come true!  Not while she lived.  It was a glimpse of a possible future and nothing more. 

Her mind again registered the biting cold of the stone steps beneath her and she welcomed the stinging sensation upon her legs and thighs.  It meant she was still alive – they all were.  And if things were not yet over, it meant they could be fixed; could be changed.  This time, she would do something.  She had to.

"I'll be fine," she finally said to Sheila with peaceful reassurance and an encouraging nod.  "Let's get back to the others."

Sheila smiled and rose to her feet, brushing the dust from the back of her cape and taking a moment to graze the valley with her eyes before turning back to the Keep.  Teri reached her hand toward the Thief and Sheila accepted it.  The Dreamer gave a reassuring squeeze, as if to maintain that she was all right now, and, hand-in-hand, the two women made for the partially open door.

A noise. 

Sheila turned her head at the sound of a faint noise behind her.  It wasn't much more than a light rush of the wind, which had almost unnoticeably begun to rustle the air, or the hiss of air escaping a punctured tire, but it was enough to cause the Thief to turn her head.

The sight that met her eyes was that of a vine-like whip descending upon her.  Sheila only had time to catch her breath before the sinew wrapped around her waist and pinned the arm that was not holding onto Teri's hand to her side.

Sheila stopped short and Teri suddenly felt an abrupt tug on her arm.  Her fingers seemed to instinctively tighten around Sheila's hand before she even turned to see why her friend had stopped.  As Teri's head came around, a second, and more abrupt yank lifted her off her feet and dragged her backwards along the ground until she finally relinquished her hold on Sheila's hand.

It took a moment for the Dreamer to get her bearings, not understanding how she had come to be face-down in the dust.  When she finally lifted her eyes, it was to the sight of Sheila being dangled above her head, caught and struggling in the grip of a magical glowing chord.

"Sheila!" Teri called out as she scrambled to get to her feet.

"Teri!" Sheila cried in response, her free left arm remaining stretched in the direction of her friend on the ground as she was lifted higher into the air.  In an instant, the tether that bound her swiftly snaked down the length of her arm, encasing it entirely and drawing it tightly to her side.  The Thief kicked and struggled furiously as she continued her ascent into the air.

Teri, with helpless panic in her eyes, followed the chord to its source and found herself staring into the slitted serpent orbs of a dragon-like creature who wore, what she remembered to be, Venger's former robes.  He hovered overhead, encased in a magical sphere of blue energy, emitting the sinew that coiled around the Thief from the palm of his clawed hand.  Teri felt a shudder of fear rush through her. 

The beast's lips curled over his teeth in a mocking serpentine snarl as he glared down at Teri.  He then turned his attention to Sheila, still struggling in the tether that bound her.  Teri watched in terror as what looked to a bright surge of power sped down the length of the chord and surrounded Sheila with its electric energy.  The Thief screamed.

"No!  Sheila!" Teri cried as she took a step forward.

The Thief shakily lifted her head and consciously tried to rid herself of the sea of blackness that swelled in and out of her vision.  "Teri," she managed to return, her voice labored and strained as she focused on the Dreamer.  "Run!"

Fear widened Teri's eyes before a scowl of determination quickly took its place.  She creased her brow angrily at the creature above her and began running forward.  "Leave her alone!"

The dragon creature snarled at the approaching girl.  "Foolish sentimentality," he hissed as he raised his other hand.  A small dark hole opened in the center of his palm and out shot another magical vine, spearing toward the Dreamer like lightning.

Teri suddenly felt herself pulled to the ground.  An arm draped across her back and a loud clang rang in her ears, almost like the tip of a lance striking a sheet of metal.  "Come on, Teri!" she heard a voice shout and the Dreamer looked up into Eric's smirking face.  She saw that Bane's attack had bounced away after striking the Cavalier's shield.  Eric hoisted Teri to her feet and pushed her behind him, his weapon still raised.  The creature overhead recoiled his attacking 'whip' back into his palm with a snarl and readied another strike as he tightened his hold on Sheila with the other hand.

The dark-haired girl lost her bearings as the world sped up all around her and several things happened at once.  Suddenly a bright flash raced past the corner of her eye as a gilded dart of yellow flame flew toward the tether that held Sheila.  The glowing chord trapping the Thief dulled as the arrow sliced through it and severed the umbilical in two.  It vanished from around Sheila as she limply fell downward. 

In the next instant, Bobby was beneath her.  The Thief dropped into his arms and hung from his grip in only semi-alertness.  "I've got you, Sis," the Barbarian said in a gentle voice as he held her tightly and backed away from Bane.   Sheila managed a weak smile as he made for the door of Tardos.  Hank fired more arrows at the Dark Lord of the Plague to cover Bobby's retreat.  "Take her!" Bobby shouted to the remainder of the Young Ones who had come streaming out of the fortress door.

Toby and Ayesha rushed forward to support Sheila as she lowered her feet to the ground, regaining some of her strength and insisting that she was all right.  Bobby then retrieved his club from Varla and made a beeline back to Hank's side.  It all happened so quickly that it barely registered in the Dreamer's mind until it was all over -- until Eric began pushing her toward the safety of Tardos.  "Come on, Teri, let's move!"

They hadn't gone three feet before violent surges of energy began lighting the sky all around them.  A new threat, this one on the back of a demonic stallion, appeared in the air and added his attacks to Bane's.  Bobby paused to cast a scathing sneer in his direction as he recognized Mordreth.  Hank and the Barbarian were then forced to scatter and Eric tugged Teri back down to the earth, beneath the protection of his shield, as showers of magical bolts strafed the ground below.

"Your time has come, young fools!" Mordreth's deep voice boomed through the canyon around them as he sent a direct blast slamming onto Eric's shield.  The Cavalier's balance wavered, but he remained kneeling upright beside Teri as he got his bearings once more.  He glanced back toward the door of the Keep, scanning the people standing there.  There was one notable absence. 

"Just like the old Dungeon Master," he growled at the missing Venger.  "Never around when you really need him!"

"Come on!" Diana cried to Presto as she brandished her weapon, "We've gotta help!"

The Magician was grateful that he hadn't allowed Diana to bind his arm to his side when she set his ribs.  He yanked his hat off his head with one hand and began twiddling madly over the mouth of it with the other.

"Abracadabra!  Ala-ker-puff!
We're in a jam here,
So just DO YOUR STUFF!"

The force of what came out of the hat sent Presto stumbling back through the open doors of the Keep.  The surrounding Young Ones turned at a loud screech echoing from the inner hall and held onto each other as a ball of brown and white feathers bulleted past them into the open air.  

"All right!" Bobby shouted as he scrambled to his feet in time to leap away from another blast from above.  "A War Bird!  Way to go, Presto!  They attack evil!"  He shifted a confident sneer from Mordreth and Bane to Presto's manifestation as it uncurled itself -- an attitude that was quickly dashed as the creature revealed itself to be, not a War Bird of the Celestial Knights, but merely an oversized snake with eagle wings.

"Bird brain is more like it!" Eric grumbled with chagrin.  "Way to just slap something together, Dr. Frankenstein!" he called out to Presto as he eyed the chimera that hovered above them. 

"It'll do!" Diana shouted as she got a running start.  Extending her staff, she jammed one end swiftly into the ground and sent herself sailing through the air toward the strange beast.  She landed in a straddle upon its back and dug her heels in to spur it into action.  "Come on, big fella!" she coaxed, "Up!"  The Acrobat wobbled unsteadily as the creature took off higher into the sky and she quickly grabbed onto a tuft of feathers.  She tucked her javelin under her arm like a lance and held on tightly.

"I hope you can get that thing under control in time to join us down here!" Eric called after the Acrobat as she and the creature spiraled awkwardly into the air.  The Cavalier refocused his attention on another attack that came from above; one that nearly sent his shield flying off his arm.

"Dad!" John cried as he made a reflexive dash toward his father.

"John, wait!" Varla called after him and took off at his heels. 

The two youths stopped dead as Mordreth suddenly turned his bony head toward them.  A vicious growl sounded from the Dark Lord of Destruction, baring his skeletal teeth as he recognized the Squire.  Mordreth flashed his scarlet bulbs from deep within the crevices of his eyes and Varla's fingers dug into John's shoulder.  "We meet again, boy," the Archmage rumbled.  "But this time, I promise you, you will not be so fortunate."

The two children could hear both Eric and Presto shouting for them to move, to get out of there, but they were frozen to the spot, staring fearfully up at the dark creature above.  John tensed like a cornered dog, clenching his hands so tightly that they shook.  Varla grabbed two fistfuls of his tunic at his shoulder, her whole body quaking as she stared up into the sky.  Mordreth raised a glowing hand toward them and instantly released a surge of blue flame. 

John Montgomery's eyes widened.  He thrust a protective arm in front of Varla and wailed as loud as he could as the protective bell from his medallion surrounded them.  He emitted a frail squeak-of-a-noise when the energy splattered then dissipated upon his force field.  Indestructible or not, this was something that he would never get used to!

The Mystic began to tremble and sweat within the tight quarters of the protective bell beside John.  She managed to hold her ground, however, and looked up to see Mordreth still circling overhead.  He released another ball of energy that crashed uselessly upon the field and Varla, for as stifled and agitated as she felt within the confines of the bell, was just as grateful for its protection.

Violently frustrated, Mordreth turned his attention once again to Eric and Teri, who had tried to make another move for the doors of Tardos.  Out of the corner of his eye, Eric saw the Dark Lord launch a ball of azure fire toward them and he pushed Teri to the ground.  The flaming discharge collided with his shield, staggering him on top of her.

"We've gotta help them!" John shouted at Varla.

The Mystic uncurled one tight fist from the Squire's tunic and drew her wand.  She aimed it at the downed Cavalier and the Dreamer, pressing as hard as she could with a spell to move them out of harm's way.  "It's not working!" she gasped defeatedly as the wand trembled in her hand.

"Try harder!" John ordered in desperation.

"Let me out of this thing!" Varla shouted back.  "I can concentrate better!"

Reluctantly but quickly, John mentally lowered his field.  "Make it fast!" he said as he watched Mordreth draw his arm back once again.

The Mystic grit her teeth and squeezed the wand as tightly as she could, this time with both hands, causing it to glow intensely.  As the Dark Lord's attack spiraled to the valley floor, Eric and Teri could feel themselves literally dragged across the dirt and out of the way.  The flame crashed into the ground behind them, sending a shower of gravel and stones raining down upon Eric's shield. 

"Man, that's worse than carpet burn!" he groaned as he and Teri, granted a moment's reprieve, struggled to stand.  The knees of Teri's tights were torn from being dragged along the ground, but otherwise she was all right.  They both were.  Eric took a moment to flash a smile of thanks in the direction of his best friend's daughter.

Varla returned it wanly but looked up in alarm at the rumbling bray of the Nightmare above.  Mordreth circled in for another attack.

"Go, go, go!" John shouted at her, shoving the Mystic toward Tardos Keep and bracing himself for the fierce lightstream that crashed upon his back as his force field raised itself once more.  He looked over his shoulder to see Mordreth fire again, again, again . . . .

Eric got Teri to the safety of the Keep and immediately turned around again to grab Varla and swing her through the doors toward Presto.

Sheila, having regained most of her strength, cried out to those still remaining beyond the safety of the stone walls.  Hank had been trying to occupy Bane, firing arrow after arrow at the glowing sphere that encircled him, driving the Dark Lord down the stairs toward the valley floor.  The last thing they needed was for these two forces of evil to get together long enough to combine their attacks.  While the arrows failed to penetrate Bane's protective field, they at least kept he and Mordreth separated.

Bobby and his club were useless down on the ground, but he did manage to draw Bane's fire between the Ranger's assaults.  He also kept a close eye out, scanning the sky above.  One force of evil was, after all, still unaccounted for. 

And what about No-Name? he thought urgently.  Where is He?

"Hank!  Bobby!"

The Barbarian heard his sister over the din of the attacks all around them.  Looking back, he could see that most of his comrades had made it to the safety of the Keep.  Both he and Hank started to back up toward the doors as well.

Eric made a few running steps out into the open again.  "Eric, where are you going?" Presto cried as he tried unsuccessfully to reach forward and grab his friend.  His battered ribs prevented him from stretching out far enough to get hold of the Cavalier.

"I've gotta help him!" Eric called back as he took several more strides toward his son.  Upon seeing this, Mordreth shifted his aim, sending the Cavalier staggering back with a direct blow to the shield.  The Dark Lord distributed his blasts between father and son, forcing John to remain pinned where he was and causing Eric to stumble back two steps for every step forward that he managed to take.  Mordreth's fleshless face twisted into a malicious grin at their struggle.

Strangely, Eric longed for the awkwardness of the sword again.  One swipe of his own magic directed back at him'd have Bone-Brain laughing out the other side of his face!  But the Cavalier knew that he would have to get to his son before the silver blade could be of any use.  And their current situation was getting them nowhere fast.

"Fools," Mordreth snarled with satisfaction over the helplessness of their predicament.  "Did I not tell you that you are no match for us!"  His hand blazed forth in a bright ball of energy.

"Hey, Bright-Eyes!  Remember me?"

Mordreth glared up above him in the direction of the voice in time to see a flash of jade-green swipe across his line of vision.  A sudden impact struck his forearm, shifting his aim and changing the course of the spell that he released.  It exploded directly below him and caused his Nightmare to rear and shriek in midair from the shock of the detonation.

Twisting the reigns to get the beast under control and bringing his head around, Mordreth spied Diana changing course and soaring above him astride the creature that Presto had conjured with his hat.  Rage flashed like flames deep within his eyes and he opened fire on her.  The Acrobat veered away from him, tucking her javelin back under her arm and keeping her head low to the creature's back as she drew Mordreth's fire away from Eric and John.  The Archmage pursued her.

The Cavalier ran for his son and grabbed the quaking youth by the back of the collar, dragging him in the direction of Tardos Keep and yelling for Hank and Bobby to follow them.

Diana heard him shouting and, as he neared the doors of the fortress, dodged yet another blast and headed in that direction herself, spurring the flying serpent faster.  Mordreth growled in fury and changed tactics, pulling his Nightmare to a halt and focusing his aim on the Acrobat.  He released his firebolt toward her and Diana jerked her mount to an abrupt stop as the blast exploded directly in front of her. 

A second attack, one she was not expecting, suddenly struck beneath the serpent that she was riding.  The creature shrieked as Mordreth's magic crashed upon its underbelly.  Diana felt her clutch on the serpent's wingfeathers slip as the animal bucked forward in a pained convulsion.  An involuntary yelp escaped her lips as her balance suddenly left her.  She toppled from the serpent's back as the beast spiraled, howling, into the sky and out of sight.

Eric turned his head at her cry and saw her falling through the air to the valley below.  "Diana!" he screamed.

Hank turned his attention from Bane without missing a beat and fired an arrow in Diana's direction.  The Acrobat felt herself get caught up by the bolt; the same type of arrow that had whisked both Bobby and Uni from beyond the reach of a metallic colossus years ago.  She flipped around to get a good grip on it as it sailed toward the canyon wall and embedded its tip there.  Diana then lifted herself on straight arms and swung over the arrow shaft like a dismount from the uneven bars, landing in a neat flip on the valley floor.  She risked a look back up at Mordreth before making a break for the stairs leading up to Tardos. 

When Hank and Bobby saw her running, they made for the doors as well, the Ranger turning to fire back at their enemies every couple of feet to prevent the two evil beings from using a combined attack against them as they retreated.  Shouts urging the three Young Ones to hurry mingled with the rhythm of their footfalls on the stairs. 

Ayesha pushed her way forward, desperate to see her father and her uncle safely out of harm's way.  What she saw was Bane launching yet another poisoned whip in their direction as they ran.  "No, you don't!" she snarled hotly and raised her sword.  The beam that it emitted sliced through the tether before it touched the Ranger or the Barbarian as both finally reached the confines of the Keep.  With a snarl, Bane hovered higher into the air and retracted what was left of his whip back into his hand to regenerate it.

Hank placed a hand on the side of his daughter's head.  "Good work, Honey," he uttered with breathless pride.

Self-satisfaction, however, was something that the Paladin would have to revel in later.  She turned her head like a shot back down toward the valley.  "Diana!" she said determinedly.

"On it!" Toby responded as the two stepped to the front.  The Acrobat had nearly made it up the stairs, but that hadn't stopped Mordreth from advancing behind her.  He prepared to strike one final blow as he closed the gap between them. 

"Now!" Ayesha cried as she released a discharge from her weapon that collided with Mordreth's fireball in midair.  The blow staggered Diana, but she continued her ascent up the long stairway.  She suddenly felt a sharp slap around her waist and looked down to see a thin chord of black braded leather encircling it.  Instinctively, she gripped it tightly and was pulled off her feet, up the remainder of the stairs, and through the open doors of the Keep.  Eric quickly stepped in front of her and caught her in his arms, halting her inertia-fed flight.  Toby snaked his whip away from her midriff and gave a sigh of relief. 

"Can't resist the opportunity to show off, can you?" Eric said smugly as Diana found her bearings and backed away from him, smiling almost bashfully.

"Well," she returned, winded, "I haven't met too many whatchamacallits in this crazy world that couldn't be saddle broken!"

Eric folded his arms around her again gratefully, catching sight of Hank out of the corner of his eye.  The Ranger was smiling softly . . . pretending not to notice.

The Young Ones scrambled to close the doors of Tardos and shut out any more attacks for the time being.  "What do we do now?" John asked, still trembling as he nervously fidgeted with the medallion around his neck.  "You don't think they'll just leave, do you?"

"No, Squire," a voice echoed from the shadows.  "That was merely the beginning."  Venger stepped smoothly into view with Uni at his side.

"Well," Eric mused in a mocking tone that had lost some of its reverence from the night before, "If it isn't our towering tour guide!  And just where the heck have you been?"

"I have been doing my part to help, Cavalier," the Mage replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh, really?" Eric countered.  "That's funny because I don't recall seeing you out there while we were nearly getting our butts blown off!  And if, by helping, you mean you were rooting for us, you sure make a lousy cheerleader 'cause I certainly didn't see you on the sidelines, either!  Do you have any idea what we just had to deal with?!"

Venger eyed the indignant Cavalier for a moment with little sign of emotion, then almost seemed to actually shrug off the accusations.  "Imagine how much worse it would have been, Cavalier, had the platoon of Orcs that was traveling with them also reached this place."

"There were Orcs, too?" Ayesha pressed.

"A whole platoon?" Presto added, turning to Eric with a raised eyebrow before looking back at the Dungeon Master.  "And you took care of them, huh, Venger?"

Eric grumbled something with a roll of his eyes.

"Let us just say, my friends, that it will take quite some time before they are able to march back here again from the Northern Territory of Keledroc," Venger replied as he cracked a smile.

Eric felt a throwback into a rush of unexplainable adolescent annoyance.  If that wasn't the same stupid condescending smile that the old Dungeon Master would always flash at them he would eat his shield!  Although it had never before been apparent, the Cavalier suddenly noted the family resemblance.  But he bit back any snide comment he had begun brewing.

"So, was that just a first wave, or what?" Bobby demanded as he shifted his glare from Venger to the closed doors of Tardos Keep.  "They've gotta be planning something because not all of them were even out there!"

"And No-Name has yet to put in an appearance," Eric added.

"Thank heavens for small favors!" Sheila insisted, profoundly grateful that they hadn't had to deal with the Nameless One, too.  At least not yet.

"I don't know, Sheila," Bobby said, reading his sister.  "I, for one, would rather know where my enemies are, instead of waiting around for them to pop out of who-knows-where!"

"My pupils, this is far from over," Venger responded.  "Even within the walls of this Keep we are not completely safe.  This fortress is not as impenetrable as it was in the past."

"Maybe we shouldn't wait around here for the second wave," Hank offered.  "Maybe we should do something first before they get the chance to--"

The Ranger never finished his idea.  His words were cut off as a sudden and violent pounding rang sharply against the main doors of Tardos Keep, echoing like a great bell through the main hall.  The Young Ones froze in their tracks, mannequin-like, as their eyes focused on the heavy doors, only imagining what could be happening on the other side.  Then, just as quickly as it had started, the pounding stopped.

They remained still for what felt like a very long moment, as though standing on dangerously thin ice that could give way beneath them at the slightest movement.  Bobby slowly turned his head to face Hank.  In the heavy silence that surrounded them, the Barbarian was convinced that he could hear every rapid beat of his own heart.  Hank nodded slowly and an understanding passed between the two men.  Whatever was outside could not be afforded the opportunity to get in here; to attack them within these closed quarters.  They needed to get out into the open, make their stand there . . . and let it end as it was meant to.

The Ranger and the Barbarian moved forward and made slow inching steps toward the door.  They hadn't gone far when, inexorably, the pounding began again.

Hank glanced back at the others, who instantly knew to get their weapons ready.  Eric lifted his shield and stepped in front of Teri, nodding to Hank and Bobby as they reached the doors.  Placing their weight against it, they felt the rumbling pounding as it pulsed against the wood over and over.  Bobby felt his heart hammer right along with it as he and Hank braced themselves to push the doors open.

And again, the sound stopped.

A thick silence once again filled the air as the pounding ceased and the two men forced the creaking doors of Tardos open.  As the ancient wood swung wide, Hank and Bobby backed up closer to the others, weapons at the ready, and stared at the lone figure who stood, framed by the gaping entranceway – an alluring figure in a midnight corseted gown, as sheer and fine as if it had been spun from a spider's web – and nearly as brief in its coverage.  Her opaquely vermilion hair spilled upon her shoulders, red as blood though haloed strangely with a coppery glow as if from sunlight that wasn't there. 

She could have been angelic, but Bobby knew better. 

Slowly, she raised her head and met his stare with narrowly feline eyes.  "Greetings once again, Barbarian," Kadysse purred as she tossed her scarlet hair.

"I was wondering when you were gonna show," Bobby spat as he raised his club.

"Show caution, Barbarian," Venger warned from somewhere behind, but Bobby's anger had already won out over his rational mind, just as it had often done during his childhood.  He took a step away from Hank and toward the Mistress of War.

The woman in the doorway made no indication that she had heard Venger speak at all.  She raised a finely arched eyebrow at the Barbarian as she drew his gaze, as though she was goading him -- as a sultry devil might, from her perch upon one's shoulder, in trying to make even the greatest sin sound appealing. 

"It pleases me to know that you have been awaiting my arrival," Kadysse returned as her shapely lips curled into a wicked smile.  And she looked as though she meant it.  She looked pleased.  "Our time together was so rudely interrupted earlier."  She shifted her gaze to Ayesha, who narrowed her eyes at the evil woman.

"Oh, you want up close and personal?  You got it, lady!" Bobby announced gruffly as he began marching forward, swinging his club sharply from left to right.  He was unfazed by her charms now; sickened by them, in fact.  She wasn't even beautiful to him.  Not anymore.  That female creature to whom he had foolishly lowered his guard upon their first meeting was no more spellbinding to him now than Venger had been years ago.  And he had been anticipating this very opportunity, himself; the chance to show her how foolish she had been to mess with him.

Hank suddenly caught his arm.  "Not yet, pal!" the Ranger urged.  "We don't know if this is a trick."  His friend's voice was like a knife, cutting through the foggy gray anger in the Barbarian's mind.  But it was not enough.

"We need a way out into the open . . . ," Bobby began as he pulled away from Hank and strode steadily toward the open doors again.

"Bobby!  Think this through!  What if they're--?"

". . . I'll make a way out into the open!" the Barbarian concluded huskily, ignoring Hank's pleas completely.  "Right through her, if I have to."

Kadysse breathed deeply, her ivory-white chest swelling within the confines of her corset.  "So, you have decided to come to me this time, have you, Barbarian?" she hissed beguilingly.

Bobby stopped dead, bringing his weapon down into the palm of his hand with a hateful sneer.  "I think I'm gonna enjoy this," he growled before suddenly raising his club and charging through the doors with a thunderous battle cry.

Hank sprang into action and ran after him, shouting over his shoulder to the others.  "Come on, gang!  Cover him!!"

Bobby reached Kadysse and took a violent swing with his club, one with killing force, one that should have caught her directly in the ribs and reduced her to a crumpled heap on the other side of the canyon.  But when the Barbarian looked up from his swing, the Mistress of War was gone.  The sound of a wild stallion echoed from somewhere above.  Bobby glanced upward to see Kadysse, now astride her Nightmare, sneering down at him with contemptible satisfaction, one thin brow arching high above her amber eye.

"YEEEAAAAHHH!"

Bobby barreled toward her with a roar, racing down the stairs with his weapon aloft as Kadysse, on her Nightmare, shied and danced tauntingly above him.

Hank emerged on the landing outside Tardos Keep, his arrow nocked and ready as he searched the skies for their enemies.  His hunt was short-lived.  The instant the Young Ones left the fortress, Bane and Mordreth came at them from both sides. 

Bane raised his hands, sending a driving wind upon them, keeping them disoriented.  Hank squinted through the gale and took aim at Mordreth before the Lord of Destruction could unleash an attack toward them, too.  He loosed his arrow up into the air, but Mordreth deflected it easily, emitting a loathsome snarl.  Hank fired again, but continuously kept some of his attention on the valley below -- where Bobby had followed Kadysse.

At Hank's second attack, Mordreth wasn't quite so forgiving.  As he deflected the Ranger's arrow with one hand, he simultaneously rocketed his own blast toward the Young Ones on the ground.  Both Eric and John lifted their shields to cover as many people as they could.  What saved them, however, was a larger shield, a dome-like covering, raised when Venger stepped out into the open -- to join his Young Ones in the fray. 

"Venger!" Mordreth growled.  "You are fighting a losing battle.  As I have told you, you are all doomed!"

"As I have told you," the Dungeon Master returned with defiant fire in his crimson eyes, "You shall be defeated!"

Teri, not at all listening to this exchange, watched helplessly from behind Eric's shield; watched Bobby take after the Mistress of War all alone.  The wicked siren occasionally dove low enough to allow the Barbarian a swing, but would always climb higher as he reached for her with his club.  She kept him chasing her like a cat with a ball of string, never permitting him a clean shot.  At one point she turned and fired upon him.  The blast caught Bobby at the base of the feet, sending him flying back.  The blow wasn't serious, but it was enough to feed the Barbarian's fury as he scrambled to his feet and took off after her again.  Kadysse cackled at his advances and pressed onward, dancing mockingly across the angry pewter sky.

She's leading him away from us! Teri realized.  But why?  She froze in pure horror as she remembered her dream.  The chaos.  The vicious laughter.  The solitary figure laying motionless in the dust . . . .  Oh, my God!

In desperation, Teri clutched Eric's shoulder.  Someone had to get out there -- had to help Bobby!  "Eric!" she pleaded.  "Eric, we have to do something!"

Venger lowered his protective field long enough for Hank and Ayesha to attempt shots at the remaining two Dark Lords.  It was also long enough for one of Bane's strikes to infiltrate the group and crash upon Eric's shield, yanking his attention away from Teri's frantic pleas.

Down in the valley, another blast from the Mistress of War sent the Barbarian stumbling back.  Now, she almost seemed to be driving him back in the direction of the stairs.

"No!  Bobby!  Eric, you have to help him!" Teri screamed as she shook at his shoulders urgently from behind.

"Teri, take it easy," the Cavalier tried to calm her.  "Bobby will be okay."

"NO!" she screamed again.  "You don't understand!"  Memories of her dream flooded her head and the girl was in near-hysterics.

"Teri," Eric eased for a second time, while trying to keep his attention on his shield, making sure it was raised as Venger, again, lowered the protective dome.  "Bobby can take care of himself.  You just stay behind me."

Eric was focusing so much on the battle in front of him, that he never expected the shoving blow from behind.  Never expected to see the ground rise abruptly up to meet him.  And never expected to see the Dreamer hurdling his prone form as he lifted his face from the dirt, and make a beeline down the stairs toward Bobby.

"Teri!" Eric cried, "Stop!"

Hank looked up at the Cavalier's shout and saw Teri racing down the stone steps.  "Scatter, everyone!" he ordered.  He fired an arrow toward Mordreth and the Dark Lord banked away from the blast.  "And keep them apart!" he added.

Eric scrambled to his feet and cast a scathing look at Hank as the Young Ones dispersed in all directions.  "You want us to do what?" he yelled over the din of explosions that had begun to echo all around them.

"Don't let them get together!" Diana called back.  "Or do you want a combined attack in your face?"  She vaulted purposely far to the left, trying to get Mordreth's attention away from where Bane had begun advancing upon the other half of her friends.  In the process she shouted something to Toby, who joined her.

John gripped Varla's arm and pulled her back from the edge of the staircase, ready to raise his barrier to cover them both if needed.  The Mystic clutched her wand fiercely with both hands, praying that it would work correctly when the need arose.  She aimed it brusquely in several different directions in a desperate attempt to decide how to best use the weapon.

Sheila, almost instinctively, yanked her hood up and headed straight after Teri, in the direction of her brother.

Eric, torn between racing after the Dreamer, himself, or staying behind to shield those who remained, stood frozen for a moment amidst the fray.  His first instinct was to follow where his son had gone, but the boy did have a protective barrier of his own. 

His mind was almost instantly made up for him as a sudden jarring shock rammed into his partially raised weapon, refocusing his attention on the battle going on around him.  A blinding hail of yellow fire streamed through his peripheral line of vision and toward the attacking Mage as Hank and Ayesha did their best to draw the creature's fire.  Presto ducked within their small huddle and Eric backed up to shield them all as the Ranger and the Paladin continued launching numerous shots toward the Dark Lord of the Plague. 

"Scatter?" Eric snapped as a sickly green projectile, a flaming toxin, splattered against his weapon.  The remnants of Bane's attack dispersed through the air like poison dissolving through water.  "Separated.  Yes, we are definitely in a better position now that we're separated!  I'll tell you, Ranger, you must have written the book on spontaneous-decision-making-in-an-emergency!"

The Ranger took aim around Eric's shoulder and loosed another arrow, the flame of which reflecting like a flash in his eyes; eyes that had gone dark with concentration.  He turned them upon Eric as the Cavalier deflected another strike against his shield.  It had been years since his raven-haired friend had questioned one of his decisions.  "Look, if we stay separated, they stay separated!  We have to keep them away from each other!" Hank called out.  "Three times worse than Venger, remember?  If we let them combine an attack on us, that'll be it!  I'm sorry if you thought it was a stupid idea!"

Eric ran around to Hank's other side to ward off another blow as Bane changed his position in the air.  Ayesha took her turn, then.  She locked her elbows and fired, hitting head-on the protective orb in which Bane had sealed himself to keep return fire at bay.  His lips twisted into a reptilian grin, observed as her blast dissipated against it, sizzling out like a torch thrust into a murky fountain.  She scrunched up her face in a fierce aspect of frustration, her freckles standing out shockingly against her lividly pale skin, and ducked down as Eric readied his shield for Bane's fiery response.

"I didn't say it was stupid," Eric grunted, holding his ground under the blast and retorting as though this was the most natural conversation to be having at a time like this.  Then again, this was only one of many conversations they had often had at times like this.  "Just unoriginal.  Stripping Presto to his boxers and charging a fee for them to watch while he danced like a dervish!  Now, that would have been—"

"That would have been stupid!" the Magician finished for him from behind the Paladin, scandalized as he looked around for his daughter who was, thankfully, well out of earshot.

Eric smirked at him a split second before the next attack hit his shield.  "But it would have been original!"

*          *          *

Teri hadn't imagined herself capable of running so fast.  Bobby, he was the athlete.  But by the time the echoes of magical blasts began resounding through the valley, she had already made it halfway down the long staircase.

She skidded to a halt briefly amidst a shower of gravel caused by one of the explosions, her arms crossing over her face to shield it.  She felt a sharp pain sear across the space below her right eye and she reached up to touch it, coming away with reddened fingers.  Some flying debris had cut her cheek.  Under the hail of dust and grit swirling around her, Teri had nearly tripped backwards over the stairs on which she stood.  She managed to hold her ground and direct her vision back to the valley floor until her eyes found Bobby again.

He was still pressing onward, after his enemy.

The charred clouds overhead swelled and rolled like waves on a frenzied ocean.  The wind that hand been absent not long ago had picked up and was now steadily churning the violent opaque pall into a mixture of black and silver.  It swirled as if a whirlpool of molten steel above the valley.  Just ahead, reveling in that chaos, was the Mistress of War, easily spotted by her flaming red hair which billowed up and outward and resembled a splash of blood against the coal-darkness of the sky.

"Bobby!"

The Dreamer tried to call to him from where she stood.  If he would follow her back up the stairs, they could join the others at the top.  Perhaps the safety that numbers provide would be enough to halt the event of her dream.  Perhaps just getting him away from Kadysse would do it.  But try as she might, he didn't seem to hear her.

Keep going!

In a violent and vivid burst within her head, Teri caught another flash of the dream.  The destruction, the prone figure, the laughter . . . .

Help him!

She cried out again.  But, again, the wind seemed to steal her voice, carrying it instead into the lofty spiral above her to add to the tumult of the churning heavens.

Run!

She didn't try calling to him again. 

Instead, she ran.

*          *          *

Kadysse had pushed Bobby to the base of the stairs, her eyes flashing maliciously.  The Barbarian grew more and more enraged by his inability to reach the woman, to make her pay for everything she and her companions had done, for being the reason that they were all brought back here in the first place, the reason that Teri was forced to—

"Bobby!"

Bobby saw Kadysse's vision shift to an area behind him at the sound of the voice.  He quickly spun around to see Teri swiftly nearing the bottom of the stairs.  Another sound, a surge of power from above, caused him to turn back in Kadysse's direction, impulsively raising his club.  The blast that was instantly upon him ripped the weapon from his hands and drove him to the ground.

"Bobby!" Teri screamed again as she reached him, falling to her knees and clutching at the leather straps at his shoulder, trying to move him.  The Barbarian groaned, seeming stunned and disoriented but not terribly hurt.  His hand groped in front of him for his club.

Teri's head shot around, casting a look over her shoulder at the demonic woman whose hand glowed with violent fury.  The crackle of the flaming magic danced insanely in Kadysse's eyes. 

"I made you a promise when last we met, Barbarian," she said, her voice low and foreboding.  "Be it for me, or against me -- you die." 

Teri's eyes grew wider and wider as she jerked back toward Bobby, shaking his shoulder in panic-stricken urgency, trying to get him to move.  The Barbarian managed to lift himself onto his forearms and shake his head to rid himself of the cloudy daze that filled it.

"The time has come to fulfill my vow," Kadysse sneered.  "Farewell, . . . my brave one!"  She curled a corner of her mouth upward, and released.

"NOOOO!"

The scream seemed to resound through the canyon, bouncing off the high rock walls of Tardos Valley and quite possibly reaching the ears of Heaven with the anguish that it carried.  Bobby froze, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when he no longer felt Teri at his side.  He abandoned his search for the club and quickly turned in the direction of the tortured cry.

Teri was standing above him, her back to him, bravely facing Kadysse.  Bobby managed to scramble to his knees and turn himself around.  "Teri!" he shouted, "Get—"

But Bobby noticed something . . . something strange . . . something that made a tremor rush through him.  Kadysse . . . she was just hovering there . . . and smiling.

The Barbarian rushed instantly forward, driven by something unknown to him, an awareness beyond conscious thought, and shot to his feet beside the Dreamer.  She was still staring straight ahead -- up to where Kadysse looked back with a strangely pleased expression -- but she didn't acknowledge his presence.  For the first time, Bobby noticed a thin line of blood beading from the fresh cut high up on her right cheek.

"Teri?" he asked in a whispered voice that sounded as though it had dried up in his throat.  His stare fixed unblinkingly to her profile.  But her face never turned to look at him, her demeanor never giving any indication that she had heard him speak.  The strong wind had died down to a light current and was now merely ruffling the wispy flyaway strands of black hair that framed the sides of her head.  There was something strange and distant about her aspect.  Teri's face was set in glowering defiance, but her eyes—

They were completely languid.  Glassy.  And nearly a shade darker than Bobby knew them to be.  He said her name again, this time reaching out to touch her.

And this time, she moved.

But there was no glance in his direction, no sign of relief that they were both still in one piece.  She didn't speak to him and she didn't return his touch.  She did, however, take a small, staggering step back.  Bobby stood ready to steady her, but was considerably less prepared for what met his eyes when he did. 

As Teri stumbled, Bobby's touch on her right shoulder caused her to turn flaccidly toward him.  And the young man felt as if a set of frozen iron bands had clamped tightly around his heart.  Below her left shoulder was a mark, a rapidly widening mark.  One that was lividly crimson.  One that caused the color in her shirt to darken against the increasing paleness of her skin.  As it spread, it seemed to take her power to stand with it.  The Dreamer hovered for a moment in that grim, slow pocket of time between standing and collapsing, then suddenly stumbled against Bobby's chest.  He instinctively shifted his weight to catch her and gathered her close. 

Close to where he could now see the extent of what had happened. 

The lancing-point of the blast looked as though it had driven straight into her upper chest, as swiftly and cleanly as a bolt of lightning might pierce a thundercloud.  The consequent peripheral energy, however, had left scorches along the entire area of her left shoulder, where the clothing was now torn and blackened, and had seared upward to her neck, leaving burning claw-like marks raked across the girl's white skin.

Furthermore, although it went unnoticed, her heart-shaped pendent . . . was gone.

Bobby never blinked, barely even breathed as he pulled her closer into his arms to support her wilting boneless form, as if this could pause time; hold her together.  Her head lolled back slightly into his hand and the Barbarian's fingers instinctively tangled themselves into the disheveled ebony hair. 

And in this closeness, this proximity that could have been an embrace, but wasn't, their eyes finally met.

It was there that Bobby finally saw something.  Though her body continued to slacken in his grip, her arms drawn in limply between his chest and hers, the dark liquefied torpor in Teri's eyes suddenly sparked with cognition.  Whether or not she knew what had happened was unclear, but as Bobby's huge unblinking eyes searched hers, he could see them widen with telltale signs of fear and pain.  He stared back into her face in hopeless and breathless horror as her glassy orbs shuddered with trace hints of panic – for both herself and for him.  A frail whimper escaped her throat as her right hand moved weakly to latch onto one of his leather chest straps and began to tighten in a fitful spasm. 

The two remained locked that way for a frozen eternity, until finally, and without preamble, without even a word, Teri's grip loosened and the blue eyes before Bobby slowly flickered and shut.

No.

The Barbarian sensed an icy rush spreading through his chest and into his stomach.  He felt dazed, nauseous, and dizzy as he was dragged leadenly back down to the ground, not from Teri's weight, which was strangely paper-light and hollow, but from his own.  He sank to his knees.  It was against his own volition, but his legs had simply given way beneath him.  His power to stand was gone. 

Teri?

He tried to whisper her name, but found himself unable.  He couldn't speak, he couldn't even scream.  Any sound he might have made had long since shriveled into a dried rasp in the back of his throat.

Teri?

Bobby trembled wordlessly for what seemed like an eternal moment, cradling the girl in his arms.  There was a moistness on his hands that he immediately knew to be the blood running out from under her body.  The air smelled metallic as the thick red liquid merged with the dust on the valley floor and the Barbarian could taste a bitter copper in his mouth, where he had unknowingly bitten his lip.  He reached up and touched Teri's face, trying to coax warmth back into her skin through his fingertips.  All he succeeded in doing, however, was leaving flecks of blood upon the pallid skin where he touched her.

Bobby's heart jolted and he began to convulse violently as he tried to, finally, force words out, his voice weak and small. 

"Oh, God! . . . Jesus! . . . Somebody . . . somebody, help me!" 

He never even noticed Kadysse retreat higher into the air and turn back to watch from a distance with perverse satisfaction.

The sound of running feet slowed considerably as it neared him, but Bobby was still oblivious, consumed by shock.  A gentle voice whispered from somewhere overhead.  ". . . Teri . . . ."

The Barbarian raised his head, his body still a fitful tremor and his eyes like dark pools of faraway water.  In front of him, a soft shimmer of silver light appeared as Sheila slowly removed her hood and fell to her knees across from her brother.  Her hand reached forward and hovered a breath away from Teri's face.  She then clasped it tightly across her mouth as tears began filling her eyes. 

"Oh, God."

*          *          *

When the Young Ones had scattered to escape the attacks of Bane and Mordreth, they had done their best to hold their ground while keeping the evil forces divided.  When the wind unexplainably changed and died down, some of them found themselves separated further, driven toward the stairs by the magical bolts that continued to rain upon them from above.  It was they who found Bobby and Sheila, first.

Hank made for his wife the instant he saw her sink to the ground.  It wasn't until he reached her that he realized why.  She looked up at him with a tear-stained face, her eyes pleading -- as if he could do something -- as though he had some magic that could fix this.  Bobby was struck dumb, wordlessly hunched over like a waxen statue, colorless and motionless.  Hank reached down and found his wife's hand.  Then he, the one who Sheila believed would always help them make it through anything, could only manage a whispered and unbelieving, "Oh, no."

Diana and Toby ducked away from a blast that exploded beside them, nearly running straight into the midst of the huddled group.  Presto stumbled close behind and almost bumped into Diana's back as all three stopped dead at the morbid sight before them.  After a brief moment of shock, Diana fell to her hands and knees and scrambled over to Teri's side.  "Oh, my God.  Teri?  Teri, can you hear me?"  She placed her hand gently on the Dreamer's uninjured shoulder.  This finally succeeded at snapping Bobby back into alertness.

"Presto!" he said, almost like a command as he glared up at the Magician, his eyes like the lambent flickering of a dull flame.  "You've got to do something!"

Presto searched for words.  He wasn't sure if anything could be done.  "Bobby, I--"

The Barbarian's eyes were suddenly alight with rage, the dull glint exploding into a rampant blaze.  He started to stand and Sheila and Diana reached forward gently to hold onto the limp Dreamer when he did.  "Don't give me that!" Bobby growled as he marched around Sheila toward Presto.  "Don't you dare!  You're a doctor, damn you!"  He made a grab for the collar of the Magician's robes, yanking the older man toward him.  He lowered his face inches away from Presto's, his voice low and dangerous.  "Now you do something, or so help me . . . !"

"All right!" Presto replied as he pried himself loose, raising his hands in defensive alarm and taking a step back.  "Okay, Bobby, I'll try!"  He turned his head down to Diana.  "Help me get her inside."

The Acrobat nodded affirmatively, looking up at her nephew.  "Toby!  I need you!"

The boy remained standing back from the group, his stare fixated on Teri's face; the bloody fingerprints that stained it, the brutal injury to her shoulder, the increasing circumference of liquid crimson that soaked her once-blue tunic.  His own face was as ghostly pale as his dark complexion would allow.  Toby's head snapped up when Diana called his name again, his mouth dry and his head spinning.  "A-Aunt Di," he muttered weakly, his hands raised in a helpless gesture, "I--I don't think I ca--"

"Now, Tobias!!"

Without another argument, Toby scrambled to Teri's side and shakily helped Diana lift her off the valley floor.  He struggled to keep his knees from buckling at the sight and smell of the blood as the two made for the steps leading to Tardos, Presto quickly following behind.  The Magician paused for a moment after climbing two or three stairs and looked back at Bobby – then at the bloodied coil upon the neckline of his robes where the young man had grabbed him and violently wrenched the fabric. 

Dr. Preston Myers was not certain he could do anything for Teri, but he was strangely convinced that the Barbarian would have choked the life out of him if he hadn't agreed to try.

*          *          *

The tumultuous fury of the heavens had altogether ceased.  The wind had died to a steady, cold breath.  A cool blanket wrapped the earth, the kind that can make a person's flesh crawl as their body chilled to the bone.  The great waves of clouds still consumed the skies like a frozen swirl of black and silver paint, but they no longer churned and collided violently together in a blustery gale.  It would have seemed that the storm was over, but it had only just begun.  For the storm was no longer in the skies.

The current turmoil was now in Tardos Valley, itself. 

And with this new tempest, it went unnoticed when both Bane and Mordreth abruptly ceased their onslaught and ascended higher into the sky, coming to rest on either side of Kadysse . . . watching.

*          *          *

Toby and Diana had made it to the first landing in the stairway when Ayesha met them.  The teen's eyes widened in horror as she struggled to run alongside of them.  "Teri!  Teri?  Toby, is she okay?" 

The Fighter didn't answer.  He didn't exactly ignore her, but he could only focus on making sure he didn't lose it right now . . . even if he had known what to say.  He simply shot a quick, haunted glance at the young Paladin as she jogged to keep up.

When they reached the top of the stairs and headed for the open doors of the Keep, Eric quickly rushed over to them.  "Good Lord!" he breathed suddenly as they passed, his eyes huge with dread.  The Cavalier had seen them carrying someone's inert form up the steps, and noticed that that someone had appeared hurt, but Eric had never imagined it being quite so bad. 

And Teri . . . .  Good God, she had been right behind him.  Why didn't she stay behind him?  Behind the protection of his shield?  And why hadn't he followed her immediately when she ran?  The Cavalier felt ill.

"What can I do?" he called after them, his voice hoarse.

Diana paused momentarily to look at him, then at the valley floor.  Her eyes were dull embers.  "Get down there," she said flatly.  "I think they're going to need you."  And she turned and vanished, with Toby, Presto, and Ayesha, through the doors of the Keep.

*          *          *

Bobby turned his head to the evil trio in the sky, bent down to pick up his club, and began marching steadily toward them.  Hank grabbed the young man's arm.  "Don't, pal," he warned.  "Getting yourself killed won't help."

Bobby fixed a scorching glare on the Ranger as he wrenched his arm free of his friend's grip.  He suddenly felt unmitigated contempt for his leader's petty reasoning and his eyes darkened with rage.  "Don't try to stop me, Hank," he snarled, his voice as thick and cold as a glacier of ice.  The young man was visibly a taut bowstring, looking as though he might snap at any moment.  He turned away again and made a few more deliberate steps forward. 

The Barbarian again felt a hand on his shoulder.  This time, there was no warning.  He spun on his heel, striking out like a cornered animal and releasing his fury all at once as he sent his club sailing through the air.  Hank could only emit a surprised strangled cry as he felt himself being sharply tugged back by the belt of his tunic, the Barbarian's club soaring just an inch past his face. 

The Ranger tumbled backward and Sheila grunted as he landed on top of her.  Her head snapped back from the jolt of pulling Hank to the ground and, as she looked up, her eyes met the smoldering fire within those of her brother.  She stared, horrified.  They were dark, vacuous, empty -- almost as though he suddenly didn't recognize her . . . or Hank. 

"Bobby!" she pleaded.  "Please, Bobby!  It's us!"

"Keep away from me," the Barbarian warned in a voice lower and more dangerous than she had ever heard before.  His normally crystal-blue eyes were nearly black in color now and he glared down at his family as one might an enemy.  Pressure like a shriek of panic pounded within Sheila's head. 

"Keep away from me," he repeated, "Or I swear to God, . . . I'll kill you." 

That cut Sheila deeper than any sword.  Her hand closed spasmodically on Hank's shoulder, her fingers digging in.  What was happening to him?  The Thief was utterly terrified.

Another appearance from behind got Bobby's attention.  He turned his head to catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye, then swiftly struck out again, whirling his club over his head with a thunderous cry and bringing it down hard.  This time, the weapon made contact, but luckily Eric's shield had been raised -- although the Cavalier could swear that he felt his teeth rattle from the force of Bobby's blow.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Eric demanded, startled and trembling, not sure if it was from fear or from the bone-jarring aftereffects of the Barbarian's attack.  Perhaps it was both.  "We're just trying to help you, Bobby!"

Bobby sneered.  He actually sneered . . . wickedly . . . at Eric's words. 

"You!" he spat.  "Where were you, oh, valiant protector, when she needed help?  Huh?!?"  Eric backed away quickly as the Barbarian swung at him a second time.

"Dad!"

Eric turned his head at his son's cry to see John, Varla, and even Uni running toward them.  He kept his shield raised against Bobby as he lifted a hand to stop them in their tracks.  "STAY BACK!" he shouted.  The children froze and Eric turned his attention back to the Barbarian.  The unicorn whinnied desperately to get the attention of her friend; once, her closest companion.  But the young man ignored her as though she wasn't even there.

"You know, if she dies," he continued, taking another threatening stride in Eric's direction, "If she dies, it'll be because of you!  And I'm going to enjoy making you suffer!"

Eric swallowed hard to moisten his dry throat as he stared into the eyes of the child he once knew; the eyes of the tow-headed boy to whom he had often entrusted his life while in the Realm; eyes that had been dulled by pain, filled with violent rage through loss, and drained to emptiness by . . . something else . . . something dark. 

"You're crazy," Eric murmured, scarcely in a breath.

The Barbarian raised an eyebrow with a vicious grin.  "Care to see just how much?"

*          *          *

In the sky above, the evil triad watched with an air of triumph.

"Well done, Kadysse," Bane hissed as the Mistress of War lifted her chin with pride and glared exultantly at her handiwork.

"Agreed," Mordreth said.  "The young Barbarian will finish our Master's enemies for us."

Kadysse emitted a dusky laugh.  "I knew he would be mine," she said, her amber eyes scanning the scene below with satisfaction.  "It was merely a matter of finding the proper . . . incentive!"

*          *          *

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To be continued…

Author's Notes:  The opening epigraph is adapted from Book VI of The Aeneid by Virgil.  Lines 191-194 of the actual poem read:

The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.

Unfortunately, as appropriate as both versions are for this chapter, I cannot claim ownership of either.  They are both attributed to Virgil, himself.