Deep in the heart of Ankh-Morpork there is an area which only the very brave or foolish tread…this area is known as the Shades for quite obvious reasons, no-one dares light anything in the Shades for fear of attracting unwelcome eyes…and blades, and crossbow bolts and other nasty endings.
Down Sweetheart Lane which lead into the Shades a small bright light suddenly came into existence approximately four foot above the ground, the light expanded vertically until it became a slit of light which stretched seven foot end to end, this slit then widened a bit and the light inside spilled out bringing the whole lane into sharp relief.
A figure was thrown out of the portal and into a small pile of boxes on the side of the street, two more figures then followed crashing onto the first.
The portal then slowly receded in size and brightness until it returned to a small light which then winked out of existence.
"Well…I don't remember the first ride being that rough." Said a voice from under the two genomes.
"Sorry Thu." Apologised Domino as she pulled herself off him.
"Yeah...sorry Thunderchild." Said Zidane as he stood up
"Are we in Ankh-Morpork?" asked Domino, but Zidane had a more pressing question which he had just noticed
"What the hell is that smell?" he said, quite disgusted by it. Domino was going a similar shade of green to Zidane now.
Thunderchild laughed
"Well…that answers your question Domino…Welcome to Ankh-Morpork." He said with a smile on his face
"Can't you…smell it!" asked Zidane
Thunderchild shook his head
"Nope…I've lived here for two years after that amount of time you kinda get used to the smell."
Zidane raised his eyebrows and had a coughing fit.
Thunderchild looked around him and did a double take at his surroundings.
"Oh shit." He cursed
Domino looked up at him, it wasn't often Thunderchild swore and when he did it was usually for a good reason.
"What's the matter?" she asked him
"We've only gone and landed in the middle of the bloody shades that's what!"
Domino shot him a puzzled look
"What's this 'shades'"
"The most dangerous part in the whole of Ankh-Morpork…we've got to go…NOW!"
He grabbed Domino and Zidane by their arms and pulled them with him along the street, as he ran he kept looking behind him as though he was expecting something.
When they got to the end of Sweetheart Lane and emerged into safety he looked around in amazement.
"Well…that wasn't dangerous." Commented Zidane
"I know…that's odd…I mean we should have been attacked at the very least five times before we got to this point," he said in shock "Something's very wrong here."
Thunderchild suddenly spotted movement in the shadows further up the lane and darted off into the shadows disappearing from view of Zidane and Domino.
"What's up with him?" asked Zidane
"He's come home and has found it in trouble…he's upset."
"He's not the only one…can you get over this smell?"
"Yeah…it's awful isn't it, and yet…I'm getting used to it."
Zidane nodded
"Me too, weird."
There was suddenly a commotion further up the lane with plenty of screaming and shouting, Zidane and Domino ran over to the source of the noise and found Thunderchild grabbing a hold of a man who looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
"It wasn't me I tell you!" he screamed "You have no evidence, I wasn't there at all!"
"Alright Rincewind…it's me Thunderchild."
At the mention of his name the man calmed down a lot but then he saw Domino and Zidane and screamed and tried to run away again.
"It's ok Rincewind…they're friends of mine, they're not going to hurt you."
"They're genomes! Jaras army…they'll kill you…they'll kill all of us!" he screamed
With that he finally managed to pull away from Thunderchild and run off.
A strange boxed shaped object smashed through the wall next to them, it was a luggage case on lots of tiny feet…
"Mimic!" shouted Zidane drawing his dagger
"NO! Don't attack it!" shouted Thunderchild smashing Zidanes blade out of his hand with his fist
The luggage box walked away up the street after Rincewind, only pausing to stamp on a passing rat or two.
"That…was Rincewinds luggage, no-one attacks the luggage ok? No-one at all, not even Jara could take on the luggage. So it's best not to make it unhappy."
Zidane and Domino just gave Thunderchild a very strange look.
"Ok…just remember what I said in Black Mage Village…things around here aren't always what they seem…ok?"
Zidane and Domino nodded.
"So what do we do now?" asked Domino
Thunderchild looked up and down the street.
"Well…now we head east…the Mended Drum is the best place for information. I just hope that isn't deserted either."
The sound of running feet suddenly filled the lane. Thunderchild felt a sudden urge to hide and pulled himself and Domino and Zidane back into the shadows.
Several people came running down the street in terror their faces were perfect masks of terror as they fled past the three. Behind the fleeing people came many genomes and Black mages with their weapons drawn, the look of murder was in their eyes as they stormed past them and disappeared again into the night.
"Ok…that was spooky." Said Zidane
"Yeah…Jara has control of this place…those people will be 'harvested' if the genomes catch up with them."
"Harvested?" asked Zidane
"Killed." Said Domino
Zidane raised his eyebrows.
Not very far away at all a red cloaked figure stood at the top of the Crystal Palace and watched the city of Ankh-Morpork at night.
So…you still pursue me Yissan she thought Despite all the warnings I gave you…it saddens me to see you blunder into your worst nightmare.
She spread her arms open to the heavens and summoned forth a power to her hands.
She summoned forth the power of change…
A blue light flashed across the heavens lighting up the whole of Ankh-Morpork in a soft blue glow which lit up the features of Domino, Thunderchild and Zidane as they stood near the river Ankh.
"What the hell?" asked Thunderchild
"It looks like it's coming from the Crystal Palace." Said Domino
"It's so beautiful…" said Zidane
Thunderchild looked over at Zidane who seemed to be entranced by the light, his eyes had glazed over and he began to walk slowly towards its point of origin.
"Hey…hey Zidane! Zidane? Snap out of it!" shouted Thunderchild
He then noticed with an increasing alarm that Domino was reacting in the same way as Zidane, her feet moved without her control of them, it was as though a hidden force was pulling them forward.
"Oh no…." said Thunderchild as he began to realise just what was happening.
It was coming true…his nightmare vision of Domino turning against him was slowly but surely coming true.
"Domino, don't listen to it! Ignore it! It's Jara…she's calling the genome in you."
He tried to pull Domino away from the light but she turned and pushed him out of the way, he stood powerless to stop her or Zidane as they walked away down the street to the light. He ran after Zidane and picked up a plank of wood, he smashed it over Zidanes head in an attempt to knock him out and stop the terrifying control process but it had no affect over than to make Zidane turn around and punch Thunderchild in the face with a blow that knocked him out.
As Thunderchild collapsed into the gutter the first drops of rain began to fall on the forms of Zidane and Domino who slowly walked away to the light.
A short while later Thunderchild began to come around, lying face down in a gutter in Ankh-Morpork with the pouring rain falling around him…it was so familiar. What had happened? Was everything with Domino a dream? Had it really happened or was it another one of his alcoholic induced fantasies?
He looked down at the ring on his finger and was reminded that it wasn't a dream or a fantasy it was real…he had gone to Gaia, he had met and married Domino…and now she was gone, taken by Jara.
He slowly pulled himself up out of the gutter and straightened out his armour and clothing.
Domino is gone he thought
He looked around him to get his bearings and began to walk in the direction that he knew would take him to the Mended Drum.
Domino is gone! he thought
It had happened…his worst nightmare, she had been taken away from him and was now under the control of Jara…as was Zidane. He didn't really care much for Zidane, ok the genome was his friend but it was Domino who he really worried for.
DOMINO IS GONE! He thought
Walking through the streets he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings and so landed up walking straight into a bunch of genomes carrying swords.
"It's him! Don't let him get away!" shouted their leader
Thunderchild looked up at the genomes approaching him and uttered a curse
"I don't have time for this." He muttered
With a wave of his hand he created a psychic shock field which made all the genomes collapse to the ground, they'd awaken within half an hour he knew which was plenty of time for him to get pass.
He had barely gone half a street when he ran into trouble again, this time it was a team of Black Mages who when they saw him raised their arms and started walking towards him.
"KILL!" they shouted
Thunderchild sighed and generated another psychic shock field which was promptly ignored by the Mages.
"What the…?" he asked
As the Mages got closer and some of them began preparing for their main attack Thunderchild knelt down and placed his hand on the cobbles on the street and closed his eyes.
Suddenly a large group of tree roots burst out of the cobbles and wrapped themselves around the Black mages trapping them on the spot and dispersing any spell they were working on. Thunderchild then carried on walking past them.
The Mended Drum has always seen better days, the victim of near constant bar fights the owner had given up trying to repair the place and so just propped up the walls with tables, etc and every now and then had to have the whole place rebuilt.
Things had improved somewhat since Detritus had become the splatter (like a bouncer but more forceful) at the door of the Mended Drum, fewer people wanted to fight if there was a chance Detritus, who was an eight foot troll, would get involved.
At the moment Detritus was nowhere to be seen but that didn't matter much as no-one wanted to fight, not now, not while Jara had control over the city.
Proeliator, Nagy, and Beowolf sat in the bar…there were a few other people around but these three were the most imposing of them all.
"Well…we can't just sit here and let this mad woman kill us all off." Said Nagy
Proeliator nodded and took another swig of his whisky
"Yeah…it's only a matter of time before her forces come to the Drum and then we'll be sitting ducks. I don't think I've seen anyone who's been able to stand up to her army and survive."
Beowolf was thoughtful
"Maybe we could organise an army or something."
Proeliator shook his head
"Nah…none of us have that kinda experience…well, one of us did…"
He never ended his sentence but all three knew who he meant
"I wonder what happened to Thunderchild" said Nagy
Proeliator shrugged
"I can only presume those Mages captured him. In which case, he's most likely dead by now."
There was suddenly a thunderous knocking at the locked door.
Everyone in the pub fell silent and many of them drew their blades.
Nagy walked up to the door and listened to what was outside, there was another heavy round of knocking at the door and Nagy heard a Klatchian curse being uttered outside.
"Hey…err…guys…I think it might be Thu…" he began but never got the chance to finish his sentence as the door exploded inwards and knocked him flying to the other side of the bar.
Thunderchild walked in to be greeted by a circle of swords.
"Oh…that's a nice greeting." He muttered bitterly
"Thunderchild?" asked Beowolf and Proeliator in unison
"In the flesh" replied the man in question
"I thought you were dead." Said Proeliator
"Not yet."
Nagy picked himself up out of the wreckage of the door and brushed himself down.
"Nice entrance…although it would have been better if I hadn't been standing behind the door at the time."
Thunderchild looked embarrassed
"Sorry Nagy." He apologised
Other members of the bar gathered round now sheathing their swords, Xola an Uberwaldian vampyre walked over to Thunderchild
"And where the hell have you been…we've been getting worried." She said
Thunderchild laughed and grinned
"Well…it's a helluva long story…" he began but Xola had noticed something else
"Is that a wedding ring?" she asked incredulously, Beowolf, Nagy and Proeliator all looked very surprised as they looked down at Thunderchilds hand
"As I said…a long story." He replied as he sat down at the bar and poured himself a strong drink.
Proeliator and Nagy sat down either side of their friend and watched him intently waiting for a response but none came…after Thunderchild had taken several swigs of the drink he placed his head in his hands and sighed.
"Well…?" asked Nagy
"Well what!" snapped Thunderchild back at him
Nagy recoiled from Thunderchild sensing his grief and anger at something, Nagy looked closely at his friends eyes which seemed to be clouded with rage, Nagy wasn't sure what this rage was focused at but he was sure it had something to do with this Jara woman.
"Well…where have you been all this time?" asked Proeliator
Thunderchild sighed again and leaned back on his bar stool
"Finding something and someone I lost many years ago."
"And…?" prompted Proeliator
"Well," said Thunderchild "Let me begin this story by telling you that I don't actually come from the disc…"
"WHAT!" exclaimed Nagy
"Well, where do you come from then?" asked Xola
Thunderchild looked up at the ceiling as though it was invisible and he could see the stars.
"I come from a destroyed world called Terra…my life on the Disc has been a lie…but now I have found my life again…" he said and then proceeded to tell them the story so far.
When he finished everyone in the bar just stared at him.
"What," he asked "It's perfectly true!"
"And…your wife is a genome?" asked Proeliator
"Yeah!"
"A genome…killing machine, like the genomes which are terrorising this city?"
"Yes…I mean No! She is a genome, yes, but she doesn't have that killing urge…well, she didn't, I dunno now."
"Why? What's happened?" asked Nagy
"Jara got her…and Zidane. Not long ago she activated something and…Domino and Zidane left me for her."
"Aw crap." Muttered Beowolf
Thunderchild nodded sadly
"Aye…and…and I don't know what to do."
"What do you mean, you don't know what to do…if you love her you've gotta save her!" shouted Proeliator
Thunderchild stood up and grabbed Proeliator by his trench coat and shouted at him
"IF IT WAS THAT BLOODY EASY I ALREADY WOULD HAVE YOU IDIOT!"
With that Thunderchild pushed Proeliator away and sat back down to his drink his shoulders hunched up, a broken man.
"Well…err…here's timing." Said Beowolf nodding at Nagy
Nagy gave Beowolf a strange look but when Beowolf mouthed 'army' to Nagy he quickly twigged what he meant.
"Yeah…err…Thu, Before you arrived we were talking about raising an army to fight Jara."
Thunderchild just laughed
"And how would you do that then? Magic it out of the air?" he laughed again
"Well….there's the brotherhood…" suggested Nagy
"Hell…everyone's pissed off with Jara, if I put the word around we could get half the city up in arms…maybe more." Said Proeliator
Thunderchild looked up from his drink
"You're actually serious aren't you? You're really planning to take on Jara Gedyen!"
All three of them nodded, Thunderchild gave a low whistle
"Well…I would estimate the chances of survival would be very low." He said
Proeliator nodded
"Naturally."
"And her army is bigger than the biggest army this disc has seen." Said Thunderchild
"You ain't kiddin'" said Nagy who had seen the army up close while they were taking Ankh-Morpork by force
"Her magic gets stronger by the day…and she has Domino…," Thunderchilds voice faded into a whisper "She has…Domino."
"We know the risks but we're prepared to fight for what we believe in…and we believe in freedom." Said Beowolf
Thunderchild nodded slowly
"Very well…," he said "When do we start?"