Chapter 11

In The Cold Light Of Day

Diana slept late the next morning. The Realm's suns were already flooding her room with yellow light when she started to stir.

She didn't want to wake up. She felt warm and relaxed, and desperately wanting to sleep on and not wake up. There was no rush, no hurry. Deep down inside there was a tiny voice that just wouldn't let her stay content, now she was awake. But it was so tempting. She could imagine dark eyes, and dark hair, a handsome but arrogant face. She wanted to stay here.

She wanted to stay here… with Eric.

The thought jerked her awake as if she had been stabbed through the heart with an ice-cold knife.

For a few moments, she looked round the room, confused. This couldn't be there Realm; she was sleeping on a bed, a real, soft comfortable bed and though she felt tired, she still felt safe. That wasn't like the Realm she knew at all!

But this wasn't the same. Everything had gone wrong.

Was that right? Was it still the wrong Realm?

Somehow it seemed distant and out of focus after her sleep.

Eric, Hank… they weren't the same.

She knew she should be thinking about how to help them, and worrying about Presto, Bobby, Ray and Joseph, but all she could think about was Eric.

No matter how hard she tried, her mind drifted back to the stilted conversation in the Castle's halls, and the dark, dangerous presence that the Cavalier had shown.

Diana shivered.

Pushing herself upright she got out of bed and pulled on her clothes, tucking the collapsed Javelin into its familiar place. Her first priority must be to find the Sheila and Joseph. Diana smiled as she remembered the look of awe on Sheila's face as she'd walked off with Hank. And then there was Joseph and Venger… what had they talked about? She was dying to find out!

The mental fog from her sleep was starting to clear, and she was feeling more focused. She was smart enough to realise that this Realm was starting to grow on her. She was changing loyalties and her way of thinking. There was Joseph, and Eric, and Hank to consider.

And she knew instinctively that somehow, whatever they were going to do, they were going to have to do it soon. In the clear, cold light of morning, she sensed time running out.

It all seemed uncomplicated, here in this Castle; Venger and Kelek were caught in a destructive war to the death, while Zandora skulked in the shadows with weapons, trying in vain to bring balance back to the Realm, now Dungeonmaster was gone and virtually forgotten.

But then she tried to think back to the other Realm, and the details seemed fuzzy. Which one was Dekkion again? Was he the King or the Knight? Did Rhamoud have a daughter or a son? Who was Zinn again? And who was Lawrence? There was supposed to be some connection, wasn't there? And Kosar… he was familiar, and her heart seemed beat more quickly at the thought of his name, and her mind filled with light and overwhelming joy and unbearable sadness. But who was he again…?

Who?

Once more, there was a stabbing, cold chill that when through her as she forced herself to remember. Kosar. Child of Light. Turad. Syrith…

Tears formed in her eyes as she remembered looking up to the huge figure of the Child of Light in the Temple, seconds… no, only moments before he vanished forever. Kosar!

No! That wasn't right!

She couldn't have forgotten him. She could never forget Kosar!

A wave of panic rushed over her. She couldn't have forgotten so much. This place, it was playing tricks on her. They had to get out of here!

With a decisive step forward, Diana headed for the door. Whatever else she had forgotten, she knew she had to find Sheila and do something about it.

She yanked open the door.

And Orc Captain was standing there, on guard, with a large sword and a very cross look on its tusked face.

'You may not leave!' it told her.

'What!' Of all the things she expected to stand in her way, an Orcs wasn't one of them.

'You may not leave. Not safe.'

She couldn't quite decide if it meant it was dangerous for her or it was dangerous because of her. Either way, she didn't much care.
'I want to get past,' she told it.

'I got my orders,' it said, crossing its arms. 'Not safe!'

She could hardly believe she was standing there arguing with an Orc! She should just hit it with her Javelin! That's what she would have done… wasn't it…?

It was all getting confusing.

Fortunately, she was saved any trouble by the appearance of Joseph, from a room a little way down the hall. He was half dressed and looking bleary-eyed and angry.

She stared at him, at his long, muscular legs, his boxer shorts, his naked chest and broad shoulders. She kept on staring at him.

'Diana!' he said.

Instead of being shy, he put his hands on his hips and glared at her, the gesture reminding her so forcefully of the old Eric that she leaned back against the doorframe to steady herself.

'And when you two are quite finished posing…' said a voice from behind her, the other end of the hall. It was Sheila, a properly dressed Sheila, who was barely hiding the giggle in her voice.

Diana scowled.

'We need to talk.'

With a sneer at the Orc, Diana marched past it, towards Joseph. Sheila followed her example.

'Hey!' called the Orc. 'Not safe! I got my orders!'

She whirled round at it.

'I'm not going far. I'll be in there!' She pointed.

'But…' Diana blocked out the rest of the Orc's objections and kept on going towards Joseph's room. Once inside, she shut the door with a satisfying bang.

'I don't see why I was the one that needed the Orc guard!' she said indignantly. 'That's insulting!'

'Calm down, Diana,' said Sheila. 'At least it's outside and not in here too.'

The Acrobat nodded.

Joseph's room was decorated in exactly the same way as hers, and she presumed Sheila's was similar too. She settled down at the end of the crumpled bed, flicking the end of the sheet with her thumb.

Joseph pulled on his undershirt, but left the rest of his armour off. Diana still stared at his legs as he sat next to her.

'I'm glad to see you both,' said Sheila. 'It's all been so… confusing.'

Diana almost replied, when she noticed Sheila licking her lips in a nervous fashion, and she wondered what exactly had happened between Hank and Sheila last night. But she wasn't going to pry at the moment, she would have to ask later.

It turned out that they each had learned the same thing; that Kelek and Venger were locked in a war to the death.

Sheila reported a similar experience to Diana, she was shown the Realm from the ramparts and told about what had happened. Joseph seemed to sulk when Diana told them the basic details about her evening with Eric, and she was glad she had decided to leave out the part about emotional reaction to the Cavalier. Getting Joseph jealous was to going to help the situation.

Joseph's evening appeared to be the least interesting, even if he had spent it with Venger. He was hazy about the specifics, as there had been a huge amount of information to take in, but he had been given the (very slow) grand tour of the castle until while Venger had lectured him long into the night about the history of the Realm, telling him in too much dull detail about all the intricate plots. Diana was surprised she hadn't thought Venger would be so uninteresting, but Joseph seemed to be unperturbed about the whole experience, saying it was no more "difficult" than history at school.

After they had swapped storied came the next problem.

'But what are we going to do next?' said Sheila, looking at the Acrobat.

Diana frowned. It had seemed so simple and straightforward yesterday.

'We've got to find the Crystal,' she replied. 'The we need to get Eric and Hank to it, and get through.'

'That's not much of a plan,' said Joseph. 'And it's no different from yesterday's plan either! Look what happened there!'

Diana scowled at him.

'You're not helping.'

'And we have to find Bobby,' insisted Sheila. She frowned.

'And Presto and Ray,' added Diana.

Sheila's face grew more dark and unhappy.

'This place,' the Thief said. 'It's so strange, it's so different. So much has changed. There's so much more that I thought there would be, they have lives here. They had a sister, did you know that? Hank told me. Here he had a family.'

'Sister?' said Diana incredulously.

'And Venger had a wife,' said Joseph.

Diana looked in surprise, but the Paladin nodded.

'He keeps pictures of them both in his halls,' continued Joseph. 'He said it reminds him.'

'You saw them? Venger's daughter? Venger's wife!'

Joseph shrugged, as if to say "do you think I'm making this up!"

For some reason this new bit of information made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Neither Hank nor Eric had any siblings back in the "real" Realm, not like her and Sheila. It felt like this new piece of information should make a difference.

'What happened to them?' she asked.

'They vanished the night this Kelek attacked,' said Joseph.

Diana frowned, wondering why Eric hadn't seen fit to mention that little fact to her. It felt like he had been keeping secrets from her and that hurt her pride. She knew that this was the wrong reaction to have, but she couldn't help it.

'Well, that's even more reason to act,' she said. 'We're going to have to do something, and quickly. It's all getting too… complicated! We've got to get Eric and Hank, find the Crystal of Kronos wherever it is, and get the heck out of Dodge!'

'But it's here,' said Joseph.

For a moment Diana was confused, but then it dawned on her what he meant. The Crystal… it was here in this Castle!

'How do you know?' asked Sheila.

'How do you think I know?' retorted Joseph sounding annoyed.

Diana wasn't listening. The Crystal was here! Of course it was!

Where else would Venger keep such a precious and dangerous object in time of war?

It was here in this Castle!

A plan started to form in her mind, but then the sudden elation vanished as she remembered where she was. This was Venger's Castle, full of Orcs and lizardmen and who knew what else. This was his Keep that had been breached once before and she could be sure he had learned from the mistakes of the past.

She took a deep breath, suddenly afraid.

The Crystal might be here, but the trick was going to be getting to it!