With a final lurch, Cain's sorrel crested the final hill. Before him loomed what Ahamo had referred to as the 'Heavens Gate'. Cain sat for a moment and tried to determine why the ominous rock formation would be given such a name. Nearly 300 feet high, it was craggy and gray with a foreboding air about it. The ground around it was covered with fist-sized rocks that made even walking to it treacherous. From where he stood, Cain could see a small cave at the monolith's base.

He sighed tiredly. After the morning's brush with the angry villagers of Ruxton, he was feeling drained. You're getting too old for this, Cain. He chuckled softly and told himself to cowboy-up. He'd just need a breather after this trip, take some time to work on the family problems, and he'd be fine again.

Funny, that's what he had told himself after the last little cross-country jaunt he had volunteered for.

Behind him, Glitch and Azkadellia stopped. "So here we are." He said.

"Doesn't look very heavenly, does it?" Azkadellia took in the mammoth rock face. "Father said the locals gave it that name because just on the other side is some of the most beautiful country in the O.Z.."

Azkadellia dismounted and tethered her horse to a small tree that was stubbornly clinging to life in the rocky ground. "I don't see anyone."

Cain swung off of his horse. "Stay close."

Together, they picked their way up the incline that led to the base of Heavens Gate. As they went, Cain looked up. They couldn't be more on time. The two suns were spaced evenly across the zenith. The temperature dropped as they entered the monster's shadow.

Quietly, Cain looked into the cave. It was a tunnel actually. He could see the opening on the other side, not a hundred yards away.

He jumped at the hand on his back and growled when he realized it was Glitch. The man ignored him as he peered into the dim light. "Maybe we need to go through."

Cain turned to Azkadellia. "I don't suppose you could-"

She smiled, catching his drift. She held her hand in front of her, palm up. As Cain and Glitch watched, a tiny point of light appeared and floated above her hand.

"Cool." Glitch said appreciatively as the light gained strength.

Azkadellia smiled and came forward. Cain moved into the mouth of the tunnel and wasn't too far in when he noticed the symbols painted on the walls.

Glitch noticed, too. "The language of the Ancients."

"At least there's a connection to this place and our letter writer." Cain said as he looked around. The walls were covered with symbols. "There must be a whole story written here."

Suddenly, he noticed their path was no longer lit. Looking back, he saw Azkadellia still standing at the mouth of the cave, looking apprehensive. "Hey, what's up?"

Azkadellia didn't answer, but her cheek twitched and her hand clenched and unclenched reflexively. Then he got it. If anyone had a right to be afraid of dark enclosed spaces, it was the princess. "Don't worry. It's safe."

She still looked unsure. Cain said evenly. "I promise nothing is going to get you."

"Yeah, c'mon Highness." Glitch called encouragingly. "We won't let anything happen."

It was actually absurd for either of them to say those things. If anything supernatural was going to attack her, neither Cain nor Glitch was going to be able to do anything about it. Azkadellia knew it as well as they did, Cain was sure. Even still, she took a deep breath and followed them.

In the light that she brought, Glitch was able to read the symbols. He translated them haltingly. "The advancing winter was halted by the light that shines forever."

"Actually," Azkadellia pointed out, "it says 'the light undying'."

Cain couldn't help but grin. It was often anyone corrected Glitch on anything.

For his part, Glitch only studied the figures more closely. "So it does. Point for the princess."

"To protect the light undying." Cain repeated. "That's part of the Swearing Oath taken by a Tin Man once he completes the academy."

"It's also part of the Coronation Vow when a Gayle ascends the throne." Azkadellia said as she continued to study the script. "'To protect the Realm with a light undying.' I think that maybe this story has something to do with my family."

Azkadellia was frowning slightly as she continued to look at all of the language. Cain didn't doubt that there was one helluva tale up there. Symbols covered every wall in a twisting, spiraling manner.

Cain let her look just a bit longer before moving them on. "C'mon. Let's see if our mystery writer is on the other side."

Azkadellia followed reluctantly. Only when Cain put a little impatience in his look did she smarten her pace.

Glitch reached the other side of the mountain first. "Whoa."

The cavern opened up on a ledge, at the edge of which the other man now stood. After he had made sure there was no one else on the rock with them, Cain motioned Azkadellia out of the tunnel and joined Glitch to admire the view.

Cain was impressed. Far below them, green tree tops swayed in the breeze, the thick canopy giving way to lush green fields where the blue rivers wound their way through the valleys. To a settler, this had been paradise.

After a minute, Glitch turned to look behind him. "There's no one here."

"Very observant." Cain replied, wryly. "You better start watching your own back, or you're going to get shot."

Glitch ignored him. "I thought someone was going to be here."

"That was what we assumed from the letter." Cain reminded him. "Remember, our author is cryptic. All we can do is guess at his meaning."

"So maybe this wasn't supposed to be a meeting at all." Glitch replied.

"Or maybe we're just in the wrong place."

"No," Azkadellia had sat down on a large boulder, her voice breathy and low. "No, this is the right place."

The two men looked at each other before Cain said, "Talk to us, Princess."

There was uncertainty on her face as she looked at each of them. "Something happened here. I can just feel it. It's like these rocks bore witness to something and they're trying to tell me."

Glitch stepped back towards her. "You mean, residual energy?"

"I think so."

"Woo Hoo!" Glitch danced around in a circle. It had been a while since his synapses had misfired.

Cain wondered how bad this fit was going to be. "What's residual energy?"

"It is," Glitch stopped with a flourish of his hand, "a theory that I have been working on for quite some time. I always wanted to experiment with residual energy and Queen Orianah's magical talent. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance, before-" he cut himself, realizing what he was going to say.

Azkadellia smiled grimly. "Before I had the brain removed from his head."

"That wasn't you." Glitch replied firmly, catching both Azkadellia and Cain off guard. "That was the Witch."

Azkadellia stared at him for a second and Cain wondered if she was going to tell Glitch what she had told him back at the river crossing. By all means, Glitch should know the whole truth, but now was not the time or the place.

He breathed a sigh of relief when she opted not to. Instead, she turned to Cain. "Residual energy is the power left behind after a large magical event. Much of it is dissipated, but some can be absorbed and stored in the environment."

"Or so the theory says." Glitch put in.

"People like me who have magical abilities can sense this energy." Azkadellia continued. "If it's strong enough, we can piece together much of what happened on a particular spot."

"What do you see? Or feel? Or-" Glitch seemed flustered with his excitement. "How do you experience this?"

Azkadellia shook her head. "You just know."

"What are you getting?" Cain asked.

"It was so long ago." Azkadellia was focused on the ground. "There's just shadows, whispers."

"Tell us." Cain said gently.

"It's so cold. I am. . . scared, but not for me. For my friends," Azkadellia closed her eyes. "And he's coming. He's terrible, evil and frigid. I have to do something."

Cain and Glitch both jumped back when an Azkadellia began to omit an ethereal light. She glowed as she continued. "I feel, light. . . life moving through me."

"Princess?" Glitch had ventured back towards her, even as the light grew brighter. "Princess. Azkadellia!"

Her eyes flew open and the light ceased. She looked in confusion at her companions.

Cain stepped back towards her. "Are you all right?"

She didn't answer, a strange look on her face. Then, she stood up and strode back towards the cavern. Giving Glitch a mystified look, Cain followed her.

By the time he had caught up, Azkadellia had conjured her light again and was holding it up to the wall. Wordlessly, Cain looked up as well. There was a large black drawing before them. In it, stood the Heavens Gate and a small, non-descript form, barely more than a stick figure, was holding up a hand. Lines emanated from the palm as if to represent the energy. Roaring over the mountain to descend upon this figure was a frightening form. A monstrously sharp face was framed by a set of talons, cold breath blew from its mouth.

"Dorothy was here. That's whose magic I was feeling." Azkadellia reached up to caress the plain form reverently. "She's fought these monsters before."

"She found her light to push back the winter." Glitch said softly from behind Cain.

Azkadellia turned pale. "We're not dealing with a single Ice Witch here, are we? It's a whole race."

"I think you might be right."

"It's all here!" Glitch had gone to the front of the cavern. "The whole story."

"Give me the condensed version, Glitch." Cain called up the cave.

"The Bringer of the Light," Glitch gestured to Azkadellia, "Dorothy, I guess, met the Ice Witches on this very mountain. Her friends were captured and she stood all alone against an entire army of winter soldiers."

"I can't imagine." Azkadellia shivered.

"It was here that she discovered her magic." Glitch continued. "With a great blast of light, she brought forth the sun and vanquished the enemy."

He stopped and Cain thought he was finished. Azkadellia, however, seemed to know better. "There's more, isn't there?"

Glitch swallowed and said softly. "Dorothy swore that the Ice Witches would never again claim the O.Z.. Not as long as her light existed to protect it."

Azkadellia wilted, leaning back against the wall. Cain put a steadying hand on her shoulder. "What is it? Something else?"

"Dorothy's Light has been missing from the O.Z for fifteen annuals." Azkadellia shut her eyes. "My mother gave her light to save DG and mine was controlled by the Witch. They had their chance and they took it."

Azkadellia opened her eyes, staring past Cain. "She was in league with them. I remember. . . "

What Glitch had said had triggered something. Whether it was just the words or the magic that the old rock was storing affecting Azkadellia, Cain didn't really care. Whatever it was had caused some long-lost memory that the Witch had tried to hide from her to surface. Cain could see that it was hurting her to relive it, but they needed the information. He guided her to a sitting position against the rough wall and crouched down beside her. "Tell me what you see."

"It's dark. The Witch is talking. 'I will hold up my end of the bargain. I cannot control the Eclipse. Stribog will have to wait.'"

"Who's Stribog?" Glitch asked before Cain waved him off.

"What else, Princess?"

"I hear another woman. 'Just remember what will happen should you fail. The Suket cannot wait forever.'" Azkadellia gasped. "I see her. It's the Ice Witch that stole DG's light. She's one of the Suket."

"What is she doing?" Cain asked.

"Leaving. And handing something . . . to Zero." Azkadellia looked at Cain. "A vial, of some sort."

Azkadellia's breath started to come in short, ragged gasps. It was some sort of panic attack. Cain grabbed her by the arm and nodded to Glitch to do the same. Together, they half-carried, half-dragged Azkadellia to the mouth of the cavern. "Hang on, Princess. We'll get you some fresh air."

They settled Azkadellia on the softest ground they could find. Glitch sat cross-legged beside her as she drew her knees up and rested her elbows on them, rubbing her forehead with a hand.

Cain stood near and gave her a few minutes. "How are you doing?"

"I feel like my head is going to explode." She answered, not looking up.

"There's some strong residual magic in there." Glitch said.

"No kidding." Azkadellia finally sat straight. "You know what all this means, don't you?"

"Yeah," Glitch tossed a couple of pebbles. "The Witch was in cahoots with these, whaddya-callems? The Suket."

"Cahoots?" Cain repeated before shaking his head.

"The Suket wanted the darkness." Azkadellia said. "They employed the Witch to get it. Why?"

"Because if Ice Witches are the same as the Suket, they're restricted by their environment, remember?" Glitch told her. "They thrive in harsh, cold climates. If they have to, they can move around in milder climes at night, but they have to find shelter during the day. Exposure to light saps their powers. Eventually, it can lead to a complete loss of magical ability, insanity, and death."

"That explains the Sun Seater." Cain said. "If the O.Z. was covered in darkness, then it would be easier for the Suket to take over."

"I always thought Zero was a little odd." Azkadellia said matter-of-factly.

"You think?" Glitch snorted.

"What are you talking about?" Cain asked.

"He's one of them, Mr. Cain." Azkadellia said. "You know him almost as well as I do. He preferred to travel by night."

Cain knew that. Among the Resistance, Zero had known as 'Nighthawk' or 'Vampire', since his favorite tactic was to attack his targets right before dawn. Cain hadn't given him that much credit, and, much to the amusement of his fellow Resistance fighters had always referred to Zero as 'The Fruit Bat'.

"And he's a nut." Glitch spoke up. "Look at how he obsesses after Cain."

"Thanks, Glitch."

"I wonder what was in that vial." Azkadellia looked thoughtful. "I'll bet it was something to sustain him. To keep him from degenerating too quickly.

"It's a good thought." Cain agreed. "The one thing I don't understand is why the Witch would have wanted to help the Suket. A world covered in darkness couldn't have benefited her any."

"On the contrary, it could have benefited her very much." Azkadellia replied. "Creatures of Dark Magic, like the Witch, feed off of the despair and suffering of other beings. A cold, dark world would have been just the thing for her."

The three digested the conversation. So many pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place, but there were still gaping holes. These were crucial gaps in their knowledge.

"So we know what we're dealing with-" Cain started.

"A colony of evil snow demons bent on covering the world with an eternal winter." Glitch put in.

Cain rolled his eyes. "But we don't know how to stop them or where they are."

"That's a pretty good summary." Azkadellia said. "What do we do now?"

Before Cain could answer, Glitch spoke. "Do you think you could go back in the cave one more time? There was something else I wanted to show you."

It was apparent that Azkadellia found the idea distasteful. "I guess."

Glitch held out a hand and helped her to her feet. "It wouldn't ask if I didn't think it was important."

Azkadellia smiled. "I know."

Cain half-smiled and followed the pair back towards the mouth of the cave. As they entered the cavern again, Cain positioned himself behind Azkadellia, just in case the magic in the cave triggered anymore memories.

Not too far in, Glitch pointed towards the floor. "Check it out."

Azkadellia knelt down to study the line of Ancient script that ran along the floor of the cavern. "That is odd, isn't it?"

"What's odd?"

"This line of text. It doesn't fit into the story anywhere." She looked over her shoulder at him. "And it's in a straight line."

"The Ancients revered the circle." Glitch told Cain. "Every example of their writing that I've ever seen is written in the shape of a circle."

"It represents the old belief that stories never end, they simply repeat themselves over time." Azkadellia leaned in closer to look at the text. "This isn't part of the original work. These characters were just painted on here in the last few months."

"What do they say?"

"'Step up to the gate and bid it open'"

Cain looked to each of the scholars. "Well?"

Glitch shrugged and Azkadellia gave him a helpless look. "I don't know."

Crouching down beside Azkadellia, Cain took a look at the mysterious message. With his fingers, he ran his hand along the characters. When he got to the last symbol, the one he figured meant "open", he could feel the rock rose beneath the paint. It was a perfect rectangle to match the symbol, far too perfect to be natural. Taking a deep breath and praying he wasn't about to set off some ancient booby trap, he pressed.

Glitch jumped back and Azkadellia squealed in surprise as a small door popped open above her and Cain, sending a spray of dirt and pebbles down on them.

Glitch coughed. "Good call."

Azkadellia was already peering inside the compartment. It was carved from the rock, but the door was actually wooden, cleverly crafted, painted, and set on slim, nearly invisible hinges to skillfully mimic the rock.

Inside lay a small roll of parchment identical to the one Jeb had first brought to Finaqua. "This guy must be a freakin' genius . . .or a certifiable brain experiment.