Chapter 7

"It's Complicated"

That voice. He knew that voice!

He could hear her voice again. Such a beautiful voice. She was whispering his name in his ear. Magician, Magician, wake up, wake up… but that wasn't his name, was it.. she shouldn't be calling him that?

Varla!

He opened his eyes abruptly, to see Varla kneeling by his side, looking warily at him. The knife was glinting in the light from the outside of the cave, and still pointing at him. He touched his forehead gently. His head ached and he was sure there was going to be a big bruise on his temple. What had happened?

Beside her, kneeling at his side were Bobby and Ray, with the baby Dragon off in one corner. The Sage was sitting, rubbing his jaw and looking uncomfortable, and the Barbarian was just frowning like a thunderstorm. This didn't look good!

'W-what happened?' asked Presto. He didn't really remember anything after seeing Varla run towards him.

'We lost,' said Ray sheepishly. 'Our first fight and I get beaten up by a girl! That's just embarrassing!'

'We lost?' replied Presto slowly. He looked at Varla as she sat beside him, coiled like a snake ready to strike. Somehow, though he knew he should have been, he wasn't surprised.

'I sorta surrendered,' said Ray with a tiny, nervous glance at Bobby. 'Once she had knocked you over, I thought it would be better to try and talk to her. Y'know, be the voice of reason! Took a while though.'

Bobby gave the sage a baleful glare, and clearly thought that he would have been more than capable of taking on this girl. But Presto breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

'Thanks, Ray.'

'Don't mention it! Ever again. I have a reputation!'

Presto nodded once more, and stifled a smile. Ray's bruised ego amused him more than he thought it would. It seemed so incongruous for a Sage!

Varla had been watching this exchange with interest, but now Presto turned to look at her, he found his heart suddenly thudding. There was no recognition in her eyes, as if everything that they had experienced together had just bee a dream. His dream.

'You are Zandora's Pupils?' she said.

'Yes,' replied Presto, after a moments hesitation. He wasn't that sure that they could all be called pupils of Zandora, but now was probably not a good time to start arguing about the specifics!

'I knew it,' hissed Varla. 'That old witch is still after me!'

'What?' Presto said. Why did this all have to be so confusing, especially when he had a sore head.

'She sent you to stop me, didn't she?' asked Varla. 'I should have known she would try this!'

'No!' said Presto. 'No, we're not here to…'

Varla wasn't listening.

'It's my life, and it's my duty!' Varla said angrily. 'I have to do it! I must!'

She looked up directly into Presto's eyes.

The surge of magic that he sensed took him completely by surprise. Whatever the differences in the Realm, and everything else, this was still Varla! He knew her; he loved her more than anything else.

'Zandora didn't tell us anything,' said Ray. 'Well, not about you, anyway! We seem to be sorta just stuck in this place.'

Presto hardly heard him speak. He was too busy staring at Varla. Something was wrong… really really really wrong here! This was Varla like he had never imagined, so full of hate and anger and self-righteousness.

'What happened?' he said, his voice filled with the same dread that was suffocating his heart. Everyone fell silent and look at him. 'Tell me. Who are you? What are you going to do?'

Varla tilted her head up proudly.

'I am an Assassin,' she said. 'And I'm going to kill Venger's Sons!'

Presto looked at her in horror, unable to believe that she was capable of such an act of violence. Varla saw the look and a vicious scowl disfigured her face.

'You do not know what he did! My parents, and my village were wiped out by Venger's army. I was the only one to survive.'

Presto was silent for a moment, in his mind thinking about Jerle and Marinda, and their pain at the loss of their daughter, and their kindness. Bu that didn't change the fact that killing in revenge was wrong!

'I'm sorry about your parents,' he said at last. 'They were good, kind people.'

Varla bowed her head.

'I am sworn to vengeance,' she said, her proud voice never shaking. 'Venger must suffer as I have suffered. Nothing less than the loss of his two Beloved Sons will satisfy me!'

Presto's heart, already sinking slowly as Varla had spoken, dropped sharply. He didn't even have to ask, he just knew, it was obvious!

Two Beloved Sons: Venger's Sons were Hank and Eric. That was the only explanation.

Ray noticed the change in his expression.

'Presto. Are you alright? You've gone white. Presto?'

He had to be sure. He could hardly form the words, but he had to be sure.

'V-Venger's Sons. W-what are their names?'

Varla's expression changed to one of anger, an expression that didn't seem to fit properly on her beautiful face.

'Together they are named the Dark Brothers, but their given names are Hank and Eric.'

His fears confirmed, Presto could only say a quiet "oh" in reply. Bobby's expression changed to a look of confusion. But he didn't interrupt, for which Presto was extremely grateful.

'Do you have a grievance with the Brethren as well?' she asked.

'It's not really a grievance,' said Presto slowly. 'Hank and Eric are… are… um…'

What was he going to say? How was he going to explain? Varla waited patiently for an answer, and he knew he had to find something to tell her.

'My goal is to rid this Realm of Hank and Eric,' he said at long last, choosing his words very carefully and not looking at either of his two companions, for fear of what they might say. Varla nodded in agreement.

'That is what they deserve! Once the Realm is rid of the Brothers, I shall have my revenge and be at peace.'

He didn't like the way she said that! He knew this was dangerous territory, and he was playing a very dangerous game by trying to deceive her like this. And he hated it!! He didn't want to do this, he wanted to tell her the truth.

Varla looked at him, and he suddenly realised he was staring at her.

'The way you look at me, Magician,' she said softly. 'You are not like the others, and you are strong in Magic, I can sense it. Do you know me?'

She was so forthright, so confident, with steel just under the surface. He looked at her, seeing the face of the girl he loved so much, knowing that though she looked the same, she was a different person thanks to the death of her parents and her village. Then he nodded.

'I do know you,' he said. 'You're an Illusionist,'

Varla's eyes grew wide in surprise.

'How do you know this?'

This was his chance! He could explain… but…

But now it came down to the moment, he couldn't find the right words to start the explanation. Was she going to think that he was mad? Or that he was just making fun of her? The knife was still in her hand, and she clearly had much faster reactions than he did! If this went wrong, he wasn't going to get another opportunity!

'Magician?' she said. 'Explain!'

He had gotten himself into this! He was going to have to get himself out.

Taking a deep breath, Presto just started talking, not worrying about order or trying to convince anyone of anything.

'To explain, I'm going to have to tell you a very long story,' he said. 'A true story, but a very confusing one…'

He let himself talk; about arriving in the Realm, the first time round; about Hank and Eric as Ranger and Cavalier; about the places they'd seen, and the people they'd met, Zandora, Rhamoud, Terri, Kosar; and the adventures they'd had trying to get home including rescuing Varla herself from Venger's Forbidden Tower.

Then he told them about how they had ended up here, again, in this strange Realm where everything was topsy-turvy, and how Dungeonmaster had used the very last of his powers and the Crystals of Kronos to send them through to this Realm to try to undo what had been done.

He spoke for well over an hour, and both Varla and Ray hung on his every word.

At last he ground to a halt, suddenly unsure, and worried that he had said too much. How could he be sure that he could trust her? But this was Varla, he had to trust her. He loved her… and besides, it was too late now!

The Illusionist looked stunned, that was the only way to describe it. Beside her, Ray was looking shell-shocked as well, hearing the stories for the first time. If he had any doubts, surely this would have dispelled them.

But Varla recovered first. She looked shrewdly at the Magician.

'You wish to rid the Realm of the Brothers? But you did not mean to kill them, but to take them back with you? To this different Realm?'

He didn't like the scorn in her tone, but Presto nodded, unable to deny it. It was a relief to him to tell her the truth. He hated lying to her.

'That is wrong, Magician,' she said, her voice filling with fear. 'Those two are evil, as is their Father! No change in Realm will undo that.'

'No,' said Presto firmly. 'You're wrong. They're not like that! Not in our Realm! In my Realm, Hank and Eric aren't evil, they're good. And they're my friends. I have to help!'

'Taking them back through a portal will not change their natures!'

'She's right, you know, Presto,' chipped in Ray. 'Taking them back through isn't gonna change anything.'

'We're not going through just any portal,' said Presto. 'After we find Hank and Eric…'

'And Sheila,' added Bobby suddenly.

'And Joseph. And Diana,' said Ray.

'Yes!' snapped Presto, suddenly feeling completely out of his depth. 'After we find Hank and Eric, and Sheila, and Diana and Joseph, we have to find the Crystal of Kronus and go back through.'

Ray looked at him doubtfully.

'And that's gonna help?'

Presto nodded.

'You're sure?'

Presto nodded again, but this time with less confidence.

'Seems to me you should be going back further and stopping Venger from taking the two boys in the first place!' said Ray. 'That's what I would do! That seems far more logical!'

'Dungeonmaster told us to get them back through, and that's what I'm going to do!' said Presto firmly.

The Sage gave him a doubtful look, but didn't say anything else. Varla looked doubtful as well.

'You will have very great difficultly in persuading the Brothers to go through the Crystal,' she said. 'And you'll have no less difficulty getting to it.'

'Don't tell me,' replied Presto with a heavy sigh. 'It's buried under a mountain, or it's been destroyed by an earthquake, or guarded by Tiamat!'

Confusion flitted across Varla's face, and she shook her head.

'No, it is in Venger's Castle,' she said, pointing to the great, black monstrosity in the valley. 'But only Venger may approach. It is forbidden for any others, even his Sons, upon pain of death!'

'That's not going to stop us!' said Presto, hoping he sounded a lot more confident than he felt.

'They will never disobey their Father's command. Not for any price! They are evil, and they are loyal only to Venger. If they are truly your friends, it would be better to kill them.'

Presto didn't have a good reply to that statement, and he looked hopefully round to Ray and Bobby. Ray shrugged, but Bobby didn't seem to be listening.

The Barbarian was looking wistfully out over the valley, staring at the horizon with a blank, almost glazed look. He almost seemed on the verge of tears. The Magician couldn't understand it, of course the boy was worried about his sister and getting Hank and Eric back safely, but that didn't seem quite enough to bring on this level of melancholy in the brash, young Barbarian.

There was a movement from close by as the small Bronze Dragon that had attacked itself to them scratched one of its ears.

And suddenly Presto understood what was wrong. It was so easy! So simple! So glaringly obvious! Why hadn't he seen it before!

He understood why Bobby had been to keen to get back to the Realm…Uni!

Of course Bobby would be missing his beloved pet, and he would be aching to find out what had happened to her in this new Realm, but he would rather have died than admit it, it seemed.

A smile almost began on Presto's lips when a much more unpleasant thought occurred to him. What if Uni wasn't here? What if Uni had been changed as well? Or what if Uni had been killed! There was no telling where she would be.

Presto glanced at the Illusionist, wondering if she knew anything about the Unicorn. But now wasn't a good time to ask! Varla looked back at him, and Presto shivered.

At that moment he wondered if telling her all of this had been such a good idea! Apart from the fact that this was Varla, there was no guarantee that she would give up her quest for vengeance, for him or for anything else.

They stared at each other for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, Presto could see Ray looking worried.

At last, Varla spoke.

'I will help you,' said the Illusionist. 'But if you do not persuade the Brothers, I must kill them? Do you understand?'

Feeling sick again, Presto nodded. What else could he do? Even though this was Varla, he couldn't help feeling like he'd just made a deal with the Devil!

'Magician,' said Varla. 'I do have one other question.'

As the Illusionist paused, Presto braced himself. Was this never going to end?

'What is it?' he asked.

'Who is this Tiamat?'