Epilogue: Monster Bash

Five ladies met in the girls' bedroom of Team Dan's villa. Bonnie and Zena were stepping out in their fighting costumes for the gala occasion. It was to prove fortuitous. Bonnie wore a white vest and arm sleeves over black skirt and leggings. Zena chose her low-cut red ensemble with matching sleeves and boots. From Khot came the wizardress Sisra in an elegant black dress with white piping. The petite sorceress Orchid wore her usual blue pinafore. Both were armed with magic maces.

Ardra chose her diamond sprinkled gown of midnight blue. She had the corner arm chair, since the bed was too crowded. "In gatherings like this, why do the sexes always separate?"

From the great room nearby, a man's voice said, "Boom!"

Bonnie thumped the wall next to the dresser mirror. "Boom!" A blonde head shake. "The fellas and their dumb board games."

Actually, Ardra found it interesting. One player had the American air force, while the other played all the planes in the Russian air force. There were vehicles called "tanks", which could be transported on big planes. "So, ladies, where are the men taking us?"

Zena rolled eyes. "A monster bash."

"A what?'

Sisra and Orchid tittered. The sorceress said, "We have lost enough money on the . . . the wager." The French girl was trying to master English without help of a translator stone.

"Wagering on monsters?" Ardra asked. "Zena, your husband should be taking you someplace romantic."

"Oh," Bonnie pouted, "it wasn't Moast's idea. The boys want to impress him, especially after that mission you guys just pulled off."

"Like I didn't even know!" Zena burst out. "He takes too many chances. Anyway, it's this world's version of a tractor pull."

"A what?" Ardra was still in the dark.

Sisra had hands clasped around a knee. "At the monstorium you create a monster from a menu of abilities. Then you pit him against another for money."

Bonnie fluffed hair in the mirror. "We girls might have the magic power, but it's still a man's world. Are we ready for our adoring public?"

The lower gaming district

Colorfully dressed islanders mingled with sailors, traders, even some Eolcans in togas. Team Dan created the usual media sensation, with reporters capturing them on their crystal scry globes. The group stopped at a food and drink kiosk, then wended their way through the noisy crowd toward a towering bank of obelisks. Obvious Tekniker relics, they blended science and the supernatural, featuring layered touch screens.

Ardra looked up at a bewildering array of rope bridges draped with multi-colored streamers.

"That's the consignatory," Ed said. "You go up there to hire a spell caster. The entrance to that spider's nest comes off the gaming district." He shouldered his way to rejoin the team, who debated which inputs each would make. When they were done, the screen displayed their gladiator: a ten foot tall, gray furred mass of muscle with the head of a demon.

An announcer said, "Team Dan versus Senator Sallust. Fight begins in ten minutes."

The group filed into the arena and were shown their VIP seats on the front row. Spectators in tiered seats roared approval when the monsters stomped out onto the sand from opposite ends. The opposing monster resembled a white "Sasquatch", in human terms. It quickly gained the upper hand in the slug fest. The fighters grunted and howled, circling to take measure. The long arms of the Sasquatch were landing telling blows.

Zena squirmed in her seat. "Dan, how much are we losing on this? You know how oily that Sallust is. He's probably cheating."

Dan pushed at his glasses. "Well . . . everything."

"Are you nuts?" Zena stood up. "We'll lose the villa. We'll lose the one Moast and I just bought!" With a resounding whack, the enemy clobbered Dan's monster, who crashed onto his back. TKO. Zena pulled her katana, leapt the rail, and charged into battle.

"Zena!" Moast jumped up and prepared to follow, but white strands enveloped him and pulled him back.

Dan led his team over the side. "How do we get into these things?"

Releasing the web spell, Sisra confronted Moast. "What they're doing is legal, but no one can interfere from the stands with magic or arrows. If you go out there, you'll only drag Zena away, weakening the team." She turned to Ardra. "You must let us handle this." A nod to Orchid. The sorceress conjured a blue animus about a hand, ready to launch an attack if needed.

Team Dan ducked and rolled. Their slashes against the hairy, scaly legs did little more than anger the beast. With the tall bro Pete on the ropes, Zena launched a fireball over his shoulder. He swatted at the singed fabric.

"Call your shots!"

"It's magic resistant, Pete!" Zena helped him scramble away. "I told you that Sallust was oily!"

When the monster reached low at Pete, Ed took advantage to run up its massive thigh, aiming for the head. "Bonnie—dark spell!" Amid crowd roar, a black cloud formed around Ed's head instead, deflected by the beast's magic resistance. It flung him away, briefly confused.

Bonnie caused a plant seed to become a thick vine, which she directed to wrap around its head. Another command caused the vine to retract, yanking the monster off its feet. "Resist that!" The men fell upon it with swords. The crowd went wild with shouts of Team Dan! Team Dan! In the visitor box, Senator Sallust slapped the rail and stormed out with his aides.

When the team returned, Moast gripped Zena in a hug. "You did that on purpose, missy, just because I went on a mission without telling you."

"No I didn't! Ask the others—I'm a loose cannon!"

"That she is," Dan said. He chuckled, shaking her at the shoulder.

The group took their bows and exited to great fanfare. Their next stop was the Moog dinner and comedy club. A slender blonde in a tuxedo skirt did a corny standup act, singling out the Dans now and then. Ardra found the food an unexpected change of pace, and the skeletal waiter a riot. She decided a good end to the night would be hearing some of the team's exploits. Sisra and Orchid, not used to the late hours, headed back to Khot.

At the villa, Ardra perched on a coffee table facing the U-shaped sofa. "Pick a good one and thrill me, folks."

Straight across from her, Zena dispensed with the boots, and Moast set them behind the sofa. "I don't know, there are so many. Wait! There was the time Bonnie got turned into a vampire!"

"Groan," Bonnie said, sitting next to Pete on the right.

Dan laughed. "We tracked Count Rotbone's gang to a dive down there in the harbor. In all the fighting, we didn't know he had tagged her until she threw Pete through a wall. Ed and I tried to douse her with a curative, but she ducked, and we each got a face full. Then she flew out a window."

Bonnie endured the chuckles with a hand over her eyes.

"Anyway," Zena added, "being a lab person, she was too picky to bite just anybody. She'd collar some guy and ask him if he had night sweats, jaundice, or unprotected sex. She kept peppering him with questions while he ran away screaming."

Ed smirked. "She's just not cut out for it. That was causing her to get desperate."

Zena took her cue. "As a lab person myself, I was perfectly free from disease, which Bonnie knew. I woke up to find her staring down at me, and had to think fast. I said her hair was a mess. She went to look in the mirror, didn't see herself, and screamed. That's when I got the potion into her mouth."

"And the day was saved," Ardra concluded with satisfaction.

"Not quite," Bonnie said. "Being starved, I raided the kitchen, still looking a fright. The maid ran out in terror, and the boys got up to investigate. This time they were determined I wasn't going to fly away, so they tackled poor starving me! Zena had to come to the rescue."

Ardra dabbed at laughter tears. "Even I can't keep up with you people."

As Zena and Moast had heads together in an intimate way, Pete said, "Get a room."

"Oh yeah?" Zena stood. "I've got something for you, homey galomey." She padded to the CD player, which connected with magic-powered speakers. Ardra recognized the Goth rock as Collide's Only Human, a start-stop fusion of drums, razoring guitars, and the hypnotic crooning of the girl singer. Pete retreated to the corner with a scowl.

Ed pulled Bonnie to her feet. "He can only handle rap and oldies."

As Moast joined Zena, Dan took Ardra's hand. "Shall we, my lady? This is all in your honor for rescuing Moast."

Ardra followed Dan through more traditional dance moves, including her pirouette under his raised hand.

"Get a room," called the mischievous Pete.

Ardra enjoyed Dan's discomfiture. "Why, Daniel, you're as straight-laced as Picard."

"Well, let's say a demigoddess can be intimidating, is all."

As the tune faded out to murmurs and hollow drums, Ardra noted the ornate bottle on a chain at his neck. "I sense great power there."

He tucked his chin to view it. "I won that off Sallust for rescuing his son from the dark realms. Inside is a tower that can hold an army. What a caper that was!"

"How did you yourself get back if everyone else was inside?"

"I summoned a fairy elemental with my fairy ring. She flew me through the fairy realm, where I had to find something really official to say. You don't use an elemental as a taxi ride! We came close to being permanent guests there. In the end, she brought me up through the Well of Souls, just on the other peak east of here."

Ardra sat him next to her on the sofa. "That I must hear from the beginning."

"Well, it all started like this . . ."