5. The Roof of the World
Her family is leaving again, this time for real. Dungeon Master gives her a choice. She takes it.
The white sun low on the horizon did little to warm the landscape. The path got progressively steeper, and soon the sparse grass was replaced by rock and ice.
"These mountains are huge," said Eric, his breath steaming. "From here it looks like there's nothing on the other side."
"There isn't," said Bobby.
"Well, just because the mighty Barbarian never ventured…"
"This is Bam-i-Duniah, where earth meets sky. I told you this was the end of the world."
"You're joking."
Bobby looked at him, dead serious. "Legend says the god Douris got tired of holding the sky and let it crash, creating the mountains. That may or may not be true."
"Bobby, I know you never finished school, but these myths…"
"Really, Eric?" said Diana. "What does science have to say about us not freezing to death in these clothes, or anything else about this world?"
"Point taken. So what's on the other side?"
"Angels peeking through star-holes? Elephants standing on turtles? How should I know?"
"The wind is picking up," said Bobby. "We better find shelter for the night."
"I think I see a cave up ahead," said Diana.
The cave was large, extending deep into the mountain. Exhausted by the cold and the effort, they quickly fell asleep.
#
Eric was shaken awake.
"Have you seen Uni?" asked Bobby.
"Is it day already?"
"As much as it ever will be," said Diana, looking out at the grey morning. "At least the wind died down."
"Uni!" Bobby called into the cave.
Eric spotted a glint on the ground. "Hey, a gold coin! Looks like our luck is changing."
"It wasn't very lucky for its previous owner." Diana pointed to a skeleton in the corner, still grasping a rusty sword.
"Yikes. I say we leave before we find whatever found him."
"Not without Uni," said Bobby.
A glow appeared deep within the cave. It grew steadily until Uni could be seen galloping towards them, her horn lighting the way.
"Uni!"
The cave trembled with the massive footfall of her pursuer. As the creature neared the entrance, they could make out its white hair and blue skin. The frost giant let out an ice-shattering howl.
"Everybody out!" cried Bobby, hitting his club against the ground.
As Uni passed him he bashed the cave wall once, twice. The entrance collapsed, burying the giant.
"Nicely done!" said Eric.
"Let's move before he digs himself out," said Diana.
#
The going was easier without the wind, which is not to say easy. The softly falling snow covered their tracks.
"If Bobby's idea hadn't worked," said Eric, "I could have told you frost giants are vulnerable to fire."
"Great," said Diana, "you got a light?"
"Well, I was kind of hoping Presto would have showed up by now… At least that settles the encounter quota."
"Eric, there isn't any rule that…"
"I was right the last time, wasn't I?"
"I'm not sure the tree counts."
"It was a dryad. And I got hurt!"
"You pretty much did that on your own."
Bobby hushed them. "Don't move."
Eric looked around, then remembered to look up. "What is it?" he whispered.
"Can't see straight with this white-on-white," said Bobby. "But Uni feels it, I do too."
The party watched their surroundings. Beside them, an enormous blue eye blinked open.
"Fall back!" cried Bobby.
With a bone-chilling roar the white beast emerged from the snow, stretching its wings. They ran as fast as they could down the path.
Bobby stopped abruptly around a bend.
"Are you crazy?" cried Eric. "Oh."
The giant blocking the path grinned widely as it lifted its club.
"Dragon-food or giant-food?" said Eric.
"Just duck!" cried Diana.
The giant's club came smashing down on Eric's shield. The party sank into the snow under the impact.
"I don't know my arm can take another one," said Eric.
As he readied a second blow, the path was hit by a jet of frost. A thin layer of ice formed over the shield's protective bubble, but on the giant it seemed no more effective than a morning breeze. The dragon pounced, their struggle staining the snow a dark blue.
"Move it!" said Diana. "Before they trample us."
#
The party slowed its pace after a while, as the mountain and the weather became the more immediate challenge. Even Eric had to agree the sky looked different here, as if approaching the edge of a glass bottle. It was night when they reached a vast plateau.
"Big sky…" said Eric.
"How do you like them Newtonian apples?" said Diana.
Before them, ice spikes jutted against the horizon as frost on a window. What might best be described as cracks, iridescent auroras, branched up from the ground. Stars silhouetted a castle which seemed equal parts ice and sky.
The four approached in awe. As they neared the gate, the fog took the shape of a towering robed figure wrapped in bat-like wings.
"It's…" said Eric.
"It isn't," said Diana. "No horn."
"You sure Hank didn't cut it off? For symmetry?"
"Not funny," said Bobby.
The figure extended a menacing hand. "Be gone, brood of Tiamat! Or face your doom!"
"But we're not…" said Bobby, then louder, "we're not with the dragons, we're heroes! Or used to be."
The misty colossus knelt to examine them. "Indeed. You may pass." The figure dissolved. The castle gate opened, revealing the figure's original.
"Welcome to Aelian, young ones. Dungeon Master said you might come."
"Karena?" asked Diana. She had hardly aged.
"At your service, Acrobat. Is Sheila not among you? I had hoped you would be more."
"They had problems of their own," said Bobby.
"That does not bode well. Please, come in from the cold."
#
The interior was surprisingly warm and bright. Lights danced off glass surfaces as they walked.
"This is beautiful," said Bobby. "You made it yourself?"
"I am old, Barbarian, but not that old. One story says Douris took a last piss before leaving, and this is where it froze. Who knows?"
"Can you help us defeat Tiamat?" asked Eric.
"Ah, the Cavalier," said Karena, looking at him closely. She turned back to the hallway. "Perhaps. Tiamat has grown strong. A direct assault would be folly."
"Presto said we need to find another way," said Diana.
"The Mage is correct. But even with my ring we would need the other Weapons of Power, and more. Always more. This is dangerous, hungry magic."
They came to a study lined with tomes and scrolls. A central pool was glowing.
Karena sprinkled some silver dust. "We have company."
"Remind me to tell you about glitter," said Eric.
The surfaced shimmered and showed Sheila running towards the castle. Dragons approached from the air.
"Quick, open the gate!" said Bobby.
"No, Barbarian," said Karena.
"What do you mean, no? There's still time!"
The familiar guardian coalesced. "Be gone, brood of Tiamat!"
"Help me!" cried Sheila.
A black dragon landed beside her and roared.
"Do something!" cried Bobby.
"You underestimate the lady of the castle, dragon."
The dragon encircled Sheila with its neck. She patted it affectionately, her eyes glowing coals.
"We'll do it the hard way, witch." She grew into a mass of red scales greater than the black dragon. Hydra heads sprouted spewing poison and acid, frost and fire, and lightening. Other dragons arrived, green and blue and red. The whites blended into the blizzard. The castle shook with the onslaught.
#
"She must have followed us," said Diana.
"I am the one she seeks," said Karena. "Had she known your importance, she would have acted sooner."
"Will the walls hold?" asked Bobby.
"Few walls are impenetrable. They merely buy time. In this case, for your escape."
A disc of white light opened into the study.
"That was some quick casting," said Eric.
"It was not I," said Karena.
"Someone call the cavalry?" said Presto, stepping out of the light. "I knew all that portal work would come in handy. Sorry it took me so long. I brought friends." Hank crossed into the study, followed by Sheila.
"Thanks for… thanks, Eric," said Hank. "Karena, what can we do?"
"Stand around the pool with your weapons."
The attack suddenly stopped.
"Has she given up?" asked Eric.
"She knows what we are attempting," said Karena. "Aelian's wards will take too long."
"So what is she going to do, nuke us?"
A terrible sound of breaking glass came from all around the castle. Rainbow-tinted flashes filled the windows at each strike.
"She will bring the sky down on our heads and throw us into the void."
"Oh."
"Can you help me with the portal, Presto?"
"Sure, where to?"
"Half a Realm away. And twenty-five years ago."
"Whoa, easy there," said Eric. "We sure we want to bring time-travel into the mix? Doesn't the fact that we're still here mean the mission already failed?"
"Eric," said Diana, "they're trying to concentrate. Need I point out that a five-headed dragon is trying to make the sky fall?"
"Fine, I won't argue the physics. But what about strategy? Why not go back and stop Tiamat's egg from hatching? Or Venger from falling from grace? Or us from coming here in the first place?"
"This is a place of power, Cavalier," said Karena, "and even so it may not be enough. To go back any farther would be suicide."
"The moral argument, then. We may not like how our lives turned out, but other people might. What right do we have to take that away from them, to interfere with history? I'm surprised Sheila isn't the one saying this."
Sheila held Hank's hand. "Actually, Eric, I'd rather live in a world in which Edward never was than one in which he was gone. Everything else pales in comparison."
"What if history intended for us to go back?" said Bobby. "Wouldn't not going be interfering?"
"Semantics aside," said Eric, "that's still too much power in the hands of the time-traveler."
"What I'm trying to say is… do you remember Terri?"
"Your childhood crush, sure."
"She's not my… She gave me her necklace. I have dreams, sometimes. Of what could have been, maybe what should have been. About all of us. If there's a chance we could…"
"The spell is almost ready," said Karena. "It requires a sacrifice, someone who will disappear both in our own crumbling timeline and in the new one being created."
"I'll go," said Hank. "I have much to atone."
"No, I'll go," said Eric. "It was my selfishness that sent you off the deep end. I also have much to pay for."
"Men," said Karena. "You both have baggage, cry me a river. You also have other roles to play. We already have a volunteer. Do we not, Holthaus?"
There was no one else in the study. Eric was about to speak when his shadow flickered and detached itself, taking the shape of a bat-winged genie.
"Not so fast, Peter Pan," said Eric, "how long have you been following us?"
"In the forest," said Bobby, "you tied up those orcs. Why?"
The shade turned to Hank. "I offer a bargain, Ranger. Your word will be enough. Save my Master, and I will help you save your world."
Hank exchanged a hard look with the others. "We have a deal, Shadow Demon."
"My thanks, Ranger. We live to serve." He flew into the pool, which turned oily black.
Crashes were heard as the uppermost levels crumbled. With a thunderclap the entire castle heaved. The windows showed only the darkest night. Tiamat roared triumphantly.
"It is done," said Karena. "We do not have much time."
"I will stop myself no matter what," said Hank.
"That is not where this portal leads, Ranger. It crosses the portal Eric used to return home."
"Guess I'm up," said Eric. "I'll be the jerk that tells the other jerk to turn around."
He looked at his friends. "It was nice seeing you again. See you soon." He stepped into the pool.
#
They are finally going home, yet he hesitates. He says his goodbyes. He is already home.