THE WORLD OF VASCARIA

 

Created eons ago by the ancient Creators, Vascaria has lived through thousands of years. About the exact history of the world, legends are all that remain.

In a world that is ruled by the gods, people serve as entertainers for the gods who play the game of life.

And so it came that Tyf, the fair god of destiny, challenged the evil Ralbustan the Dark, demi-god of destruction,to bring all the evil he had to offer in one team of twelve. Long years ago Tyf had made his choice of three beings who would be his side and found ingenious ways to unite these three:

 

Adam - a man who is more than he seems to be. Looking like a human, Adam is in real a nine centuries young mandrake, child of dragon and woman.

As it is a mandrake's duty to gather information and put it to good use, Adam uses his vast knowledge to help his comrades and himself as good as possible. Having studied magic as the ultimate kind of knowledge, Adam has converted himself to an honourable Dragonknight, a knight in the order of Drachlich the Firstborn, but does not neglect his magic studies.

This makes him a young-looking sage of infinite knowledge and power, a man his friends can rely on.

Adam, the man of knowledge.

 

Bulldozer - a warrior since birth, taught how to fight from the moment he could walk. Trained in the art of fighting he has lived his life in combat, combat that brings glorious victories with it.

Fearless as he is, he had the guts to approach a dying dragon for parley and as a result of this the dragon gave him his scales. This gift is even more unique because the dragon, who happened to be Adam's father, had enchanted his own scales so that he was resistant to any kind of attacking magic. Which made the bold Bulldozer also immune to magic and since then his victories against wizards whose attacks could not affect him are countless and famous all over the world.

And if that was not enough, the scale holds more dark secrets that able him to use the magic fired at him to attack himself.

Fighting perfection is what he lives for, and he came close.

Bulldozer, the man of glory.

 

Cyber - one who lived his life as a prince, became a paladin and then felt the other side of life. Misery he found in being forgotten as a hero, pain he felt in losing ones he loved. Anger and the madness of being powerless he experienced as it came out that he was not the son of the king but a bastard son of the queen and the ancient wizard Taliesin. As fate struck again, he started training to become one of the world's rarest fighters: a battlemage, one who uses his very own life energy to attack by deep concentration.

Cyber is determined to find happiness after all, knowing full well that he had lived a sad life and burdened with the knowledge that one of them would die he expects nothing else than to be the one to die.

Though his deeds are great, there are few who know.

Cyber, the man of misery.

 

This threesome has been together for nine years, the time the gods had planned for them. Now is the time of the Battle, the battle against the evil the world has to offer.

If they can stand the heat is the question, but the determination in their eyes would tell any foe they are not dealt with easily.

 

        PROLOGUE

 

"Well come on, you don't have to do this if you don't want it!"

A raw voice yelled over the field, coming from the mouth of a broad man, dressed in red dragon scales.

In a large square a very young child was running.

The man remembered how he used to run, only a few years old, together with this two older brothers, guided by their father.

He remembered the long training sessions that started at the age of three.

Now his son was a good six years old but he was a different case.

The son's mother was an elf, and he was a half-elf.

And half-elves don't grow as fast as humans, the man knew. So he had waited till the boy was six and then started the training where he himself had started at three, a child who could barely walk.

Already the child remembered that term. If Bulldozer said that it was not needed if he didn't want it, he had better do it else there was a chance he would miss one of the things he liked best.

Kimbo Rockscale gritted his teeth and ran on but couldn't help slowing his pace ever so slightly. When he passed his father however, Bulldozer grabbed him by the wrist and stopped him. The boy was lifted in the giant arms and hurled in the air.

"You are a big boy Kimbo. Already you are extremely fast. Come on, let's see if mother is waiting with dinner."

"Aye Dad. I'm hungry and Mum promised to make us chicken broth and fresh deer tonight."

"Did she? Well she sure knows what we like best, doesn't she?" the big man smiled. He put the boy on his neck and started running towards home.

He re-entered the city of Pezar and the town guards greeted him as he ran by.

"Now who's doing the exercise, Bulldozer?" the senior guard laughed.

"One can never be fit enough they say! When your muscles are stiff you can never adventure with success and you are more likely to end up as a town guard." Bulldozer responded in a snicker. All guards laughed and shook their heads. They could take a joke from Bulldozer.

He was, after all, the town hero. The young man who had faced all kinds of perils all over the world, freed the world of its biggest threats, fought his way through many opponents of evil and was considered the best fighter in the world of Vascaria.

But beside that, he wore the one thing that made him a threat to those who would normally scoff at fighting skills, magic users: he wore the scale mail, the scales of a red dragon he had slain.

The scale mail made him totally resistant against magic.

This gift, given to him almost nine years ago, made him the hero he was now.

For wearing the mail he could withstand the most powerful spellweavers the world had, for they were little more than old men and women to him.

And the mail had more secrets.

He had always known the mail would make him even bigger and stronger. With the powers of the dragon the scales had once covered, he was literally tireless, as he could fight on for long hours with ferocity.

And the mail seemed to be impossible to break or to penetrate with the sharpest sword, as the magic still active in it held off all.

Not that he needed that much, because as one who was literally raised by the art of weaponry and swordsmanship he could defend himself very well.

And yet the mail held more dark secrets.

A few years back he had accidentally discovered that he could use magic as well. The magic seemed to come out of the brilliant two-handed sword with the diamond blade. With this blade he became not only a warrior to fear but also one who could wield magic at will.

And then on their last trip he had discovered that the magic did not come out of the sword but out of himself, out of the mail to be exact because he could not use magic when not wearing the mail.

Everybody knew now what power he held: the power of the sword, the power of magic and the power to withstand magic.

This made him the warrior his family had lived to forge:the perfect warrior.

 

The Rockscale family, a family with origins from the barbarian tribes of the Water Realm, somewhere near the immense Lake Su, had always been a family of fighters. From the moment the children could walk they were raised in the ancient and modern ways of fighting.

As soon as they could grasp a stick, they were taught how to use it as a weapon. They trained in speed and strength, combined with concentration.

They were trained how to use various types of sticks, staffs and clubs.

They were trained how to use any object they could grab as a weapon.

Later, they were trained in the sharp and pointed weapons.

They were trained in running, to increase speed and stamina.

They were taught the ways of shielding, of dodging, of parrying.

They were trained in unarmed combat, to use power, speed and techniques.

They were taught of ways of to distract their opponents,to use anything to their own advantages.

They were trained with melee weapons as well as range weapons.

All Rockscale fathers were fighting instructors to their children.

And they were not satisfied until the children mastered every weapon.

When they had worked out a lot with a weapon, the father would put the trainee to a test. Had he passed this test, which was not easy, he could put the weapon down for a while and the training with the next weapon began.

No Rockscale was to stop training until the ultimate test, the Test of the Two-Handed Sword. Had a pupil passed this test, he could choose to go out and build a life of adventure.

But most stayed for years, learning more.

Since the Rockscale family had settled in Pezar, capital of the Western Realm, they had been known for their fighting schools.

From all over the world, people came to be trained by a Rockscale.

And especially now, since one of the Rockscales who usually stayed in the town and taught his pupils everything he could in a unique style, was the hero himself.

Of course he was not always there.

A member of the Rockscale family was an adventurer. A Rockscale could not stay home while there was a job to do. Family tradition.

Therefore the Rockscales were known not to marry young. Would-be wives would only become upset when her husband was gone all the time.

Still Bulldozer was the exception. After a perilous adventure he had married the elfwoman he loved. She had also been an adventurer but that was soon over when the children came. Shortly after their marriage she became pregnant and their first child was born. And it was this child that he had on his neck right now, running home.

"Well it seems you were right big boy, I smell chicken broth!" Bulldozer said with a smile on his face when he entered the small yard in front of their house. The boy cheered and was put on the ground again.

At once Kimbo charged into the house and flung into his mother.

"You did not exhaust him totally today, good to see that." Inge smiled and kissed her husband. The elf still looked good, her long blond hair falling down her back, her slim figure with the large bosom covered by a plain yellow tunic. Her light blue slanted eyes looked in Bulldozer's deep blue eyes.

"I got a message from Numavost today. My mother is not feeling very well lately. They fear it is a serious disease she is suffering from. The shaman cannot help her, he can only ease her pain temporarily."

Bulldozer nodded slowly. Somehow, he could never stand talking about parents, since both his parents had died in the Second Crusade nine years back: his father in the battlefield, his mother in a brutal assault at his home while he was away. His little sister Diane, after whom he had named their second child who was only a few months old now, had also been killed and his two brothers had been taken away.

This had caused a rage inside Bulldozer and with the idea that his two brothers might still be in town he passed all the places in town where he knew evil people might be, followed by Inge, who was already quite a powerful magic user by then, and the young paladin Cyber who would become their best friend ever after that.

After a long night they had not found his brothers but they did find a surprising amount of captives they freed and when they were joined by his cousin Tormentor they went on again. This way no evil person in the town was safe for this foursome, which they called "the awesome foursome", and Pezar knew they had new heroes.

 

"So, we are going to Numavost?" Bulldozer asked. Inge looked away.

"Would you mind very much if I went alone?"

"Why?"

"I feel like going alone, it is not something I can explain to you in a minute... "

Bulldozer nodded understanding.

"First we are going to have some of your famous chicken soup and at night we will talk, all right?"

Inge sent him a warm smile and followed him to the table where young Kimbo was already sitting, eagerly looking at the metal bowl "It sure smells good and I'm very hungry, Mum." he said.

Inge laughed and sat down "Gods watch over this meal." Bulldozer said.

"Godswatch." said both Inge and Kimbo and the soup was served.

 

At night a half-elven cleric knocked at the door. His light brown hair waved in his face as the wind had become stronger. For a change the young half-elf did not wear his yellow headband. The door opened and the large warrior looked up.

"Hey Kimbo! You are finally going to relieve me of my burden?" he said with a smile. The cleric after whom Bulldozer's son was named smiled.

"We were just discussing the old times where our party wandered through the Lands of Fire. You remember that fire giant king when we promised him that load of gems?"

"Most certainly, my friend, we had a long time counting them for him but we were so extremely rich at that time during our plundering of the dragon's lair as well as the other buildings. It was certainly the easiest item we collected, that crystal. Where we expected a dangerous fight with hundreds of fire giants because the crystal we sought was in the king's crown we were escorted to the palace where we could simply buy the object. But I fear I have not much time, my friend. There are more duties waiting for me."

"One of which is standing right here. I will see you in a couple of hours."

Kimbo followed Kimbo to the temple where he would be educated.

The older Kimbo had first been a babysitter to young Kimbo when his parents were on some kind of adventure but lately he had helped raising the child, being rather affected to him, not in the least because he also was a half-elf and bore his name.

And the child was interested in learning the ways of the gods, he might become a warrior cleric later.

Old Kimbo was young by half-elven standards, he was only in his mid-fifties. But Bulldozer had dragged him into the life of adventure and young as he was, he had retired from adventure soon enough.

Kimbo had always been together with his friend Huyss, seeking power in fighting, in the ways of the gods and in magic. But after their great adventure with Bulldozer and Inge, Huyss was dead, slain by a spell of a dragon, and Kimbo concentrated on the church full-time.

 

"So why do you want to go alone?" Bulldozer asked. Kimbo was away and their infant daughter Diane was sleeping.

"It is difficult for me to travel right now. But I am not sure if Kimbo can come along. And Diane! She could hardly travel."

"We can use a wagon and all go to Numavost. And if Kimbo has to stay we can leave him with Kimbo. That should be no problem."

Slowly Inge nodded. She started to say something but Bulldozer interrupted her promptly.

"You know, if you want to go alone, if you don't want me around, then just say so. Hey, I have been places without you and you had to live with that. So I could live with it if you want to go somewhere alone."

Inge nodded silently "Or is it the elves you are concerned about? We were there the summer before last, and they welcomed me warmly. Or was that just from the outside? With the current situation I can understand not everybody is that happy with me being around. Is it because of that?"

"No, not at all. If somebody would mind you being my husband I would not care, as we are one and that is what counts for me. I don't bow for public opinion, as long as I know that I love you. And I know I am not the only one, not the only elf who is married to a human man. There are even human men living permanently in Numavost nowadays. Our marriage set the standards for a lot of couples who were in a forbidden love affair. Now they have seen it is possible, and during the years that we are married a lot of couples of elf and human have become married and I am proud of that. I do not fear the opposition of conservative, strict elves. As the old king died, it was shown where strictness has brought him, as he has no heir. So he had to appoint one. And he did not choose any member of his family: he chose my father. And my father is for reformation, for turning the old rules, or at least twisting them a bit. Renewal is the future."

Bulldozer could only agree with that.

"But I do appreciate it that you let me go alone, Mighty One. I really feel like going alone for reasons even I cannot explain myself."

"Then just go. You have to take Diane with you, of course. I will stay here with Kimbo. Or would he like to see grandpa again?"

"I don't know, as he is still young and I don't know if he will be able to decide. As much as he would like to join me to see his grandfather again, I think he will also want to train and nobody in Numavost will be able to train him as good as you can. Well, I will also take Kimbo with me, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, I would be helping Kiki after all in building her a house. She still lives with Tormentor, as two rangers together. But she's grown up as well and she needs a place of her own. Well, if she is here, that is. You know her ranger blood will keep her from settling down in one place."

Inge smiled "Your sister is much like yourself."

"Right, but I found the right woman and I settled down here. For a time, at least. Kiki just turned twenty four and all she had was the company of her family."

"You want her to find a man?" Inge asked with a slight smile on her lips.

"Well that's totally up to her. Rockscales usually don't marry young and though I was an exception I don't think she will."

"All right, then you go help your sister, you won't be bored."

"It takes a god for that." he said, referring to an early adventure.

 

Adam was leaning back in his chair.

In a corner of his room sat his brother, sitting in the air as always, in full armour.

"Dragonknight armour. I would never have thought that I would wear armour, let alone the armour of the order of Drachlich." he said grinning.

He wore bright breast-and shoulder plates, his thin arms were covered with metal bracelets, his hands were gauntleted. On his sword belt hang a knight's longsword, a beautiful sword of enchanted silver, hardened through magic to fight evil dragons. His shaved head was covered by a shining helmet that had two large points at the front, like a dragon's fangs.

His legs were covered in studded leggings while he wore heavy leather boots on his feet that had been bare for centuries.

"Do you regret joining the knighthood?" Adam inquired.

"Not at all. See, when you first started about the knighthood I thought it was some religious fighting order but now that I am here at Dragon Peak I see it is a large band of knights and dragons who fight evil together. You were right about the path of neutrality: what use does it have for us? Even though I have been neutral for well over a millennium I must say I never liked evil. Like the henchman that Bulldozer Rockscale killed in Viragras, Gave Ironclaw his name was. And of course the dragons. This time I do not live among elves anymore, secluded from the rest of the world. This time I do not see a dragon occasionally and have rare chances to talk to them, to share knowledge, wisdom and friendship. This time I am among them all the time, Xanthra has always been a very good friend of mine as we both know and now she's the dragon I ride in the order. It's wonderful."

"And your body is shaping up real fast as I see."

The older mandrake laughed soundlessly.

"Well this dragonsword is real heavy and it has taken me a lot of training just to be able to lift it. Of course, I could do the training sessions remarkably well for a man of my size but we both know that was because I had used spells of strength on myself. But I thought it was a shame to be a kind of fighter who has to rely on magic to be able to fight so I started training more rigorously to shape up so that I could lift the sword and wield it without needing spells. And now I can proudly say I am at least almost strong enough to perform the toughest moves with the sword without the help of the art. Yes, I have been enjoying my training, it is indeed the diversion one needs."

"And you see that I didn't lie about the peace and quiet you wanted."

"Oh no, not at all. When I want to be alone, I am alone. All I have to do is to be able to hear the trumpets in case of emergency, then we all must be mounted within a minute or so and ready for flight. But that is no problem, if needed I use a spell of speed in case I am preoccupied and my mind is always ready for a trumpet call. That is also why I was one of the first to answer the exercise trumpet call yesterday. I had been studying until the trumpet sounded and because you never know if it's just an exercise or real I helped myself with a little spell of speed and off I went, dressing up in a few seconds and running to Xanthra."

"I thought you did so. It's nothing special, I do it all the time. Indeed, your training is going quite well and you are accepted easily."

"Aye, I must admit I had expected more resistance. But I think that this had a lot to do with you, since I was the second mandrake and you were the first to join up with the knighthood. I bet you must have met much more resistance when you petitioned."

"Aye, I did. I met resistance from both sides when I climbed the mountain. The dragons talked to Kruntia about having a halfbreed on her back, the humans considered me a mere magic user who couldn't even hold a sword. And so you were, but now they know me and they know I am in quite a high position at the moment. Only a few know this is because of my species but fact is that I will be the next Dragonlord."

"I know. And by then I want to be a muscular knight because I don't want to be a skinny mandrake who has to look up to his younger brother." Admir said.

Both knights laughed.

 

"So here is where it all began a few years back." Soraya said when they came out on the other side of the portal.

"Aye. Welcome to Akrilonia." Cyber smiled.

"I still don't understand why we have to go here. You have already heard that you have a child here and we know that princess has grown up. You think she will be accepting you in the court again?"

"I don't know, but I certainly hope so. I long to see my son. And she was always very friendly to me, apart from my nightly visits, of course. That was something special. And now we are more relaxed, there is no assassin sneaking behind my back, there is no need to call for help. This is just a formal visit of old friends, it's nothing to worry about and certainly not something for you to be jealous at." The battlemage walked around in white robes with the ancient sign of a battlemage, a sign rarely seen and known almost only to other battlemages. It was the symbol of power of those who could wield their very life energy to attack and defend in perilous situations, of those who had the power to do impossible things by utter concentration and control of body and mind.

"I think you will have to change, the people here are not used to seeing elves, other than the local dryads, and they are definitely not used to seeing women in armour."

"You know this world better than me, I guess you are right. But where to find some decent clothing?"

"That store over there seems to sell the local attire." Cyber pointed.

Soraya entered the store and after a few minutes she came out in long green robes, a scarf covered her head and also her ears.

"I already thought you would prefer green." Cyber smiled.

"Of course. By the way, I had to pay in copper. These clothes are surely cheap. Don't I look too ordinary in them?"

"I think you look just fine, I just have not been here for some time so I don't know the latest fashions here. I can only remember that it was a fashion to be very fat as they worship only Roelof here."

Soraya laughed loudly "You mean they actually worship the demi-god of food? Then at least we won't have to worry about starving!"

"Oh, be sure of that. Now we'll take a carriage to the palace."

Many carriages rode through the streets, they all had a sign on the roof.

When the sign was green, it meant the carriage was empty and available for public service and when it was pink it was occupied. Cyber saw one with a green sign and rose his hand. To his surprise, the carriage rode on as if he had not seen the twosome.

"Strangers eh?" an old beggar laughed. He looked terrible, his clothes were ragged and he was plain ugly, with a ragged beard and a thin body.

"So how we take a carriage, fair man?" Cyber asked, holding a gold coin in his hand. The pauper looked eagerly at the valuable coin as if he couldn't believe he could earn a gold coin simply by answering one simple question, which he probably didn't.

"You stick out two fingers like this when it rides by." he answered.

"Okay, thank you. Go to a store and buy some decent clothes and have a good meal for this." Cyber instructed the man, handing him the gold coin.

"Thank you very much, noble master. If you ever need Kirth's help again, just look for me around here."

Then he hurried away with the coin.

"Why give him so much for one question?" Soraya criticized him.

"Well, the paladin in me will never die. Which is probably why I could still heal you when I needed to. And we don't have to worry about the money, I still have enough to last a few years if need be and still give all the beggars we face a gold coin. And I just remembered your clothes were so cheap because metal is more valuable here. They don't have platinum and they also don't use it as payment, gold is the highest currency here and they value it like we value platinum. Things are a bit different here but it doesn't matter much. There's another carriage. And available. So two

fingers and it would stop."

"If the pauper spoke true." Soraya said with doubt in her voice.

But the carriage indeed stopped and the driver asked them where they would want to go.

"The royal palace, please." Cyber said. The man opened the door of the carriage and closed it behind them, then rode them to their destination.

 

When they arrived at the palace, two guards stopped them.

"People do not carry weapons when arriving at the royal palace. Please state your business and surrender your arms." a guard stated.

Cyber and Soraya nodded, they had spent a lot of time in the royal palace of Catilae, which had been Cyber's home for eighteen years, and they knew the guards cared for the ones they protected.

They willingly handed over their weapons and Cyber told the guards he was here to see princess Catherine. The guards chuckled at that.

"You must have been away for a vast number of years, master. Queen Catherine it is now, Queen Catherine II of Akrilonia and Rodope."

"Is Rodope conquered? When I came here, many years ago indeed, I heard war would come to the cities."

"No master, when Queen Agatha died the new queen was still young and to avoid one of those many wars between our cities a marriage was set up between her and thane Osrick of Rodope, who is now also ruler of our beloved city be it that the citizens don't like him much, especially not since he is wearing a metal mask."

"Metal mask?"

"He claims he has a parallel in another world who wore one and that parallel got killed. Now the thane wears the mask in his honour, vowing to kill the one who killed his parallel."

Cyber chuckled "Gave Ironclaw?" Soraya asked.

"Probably, let's keep this a bit quiet. We don't want to anger the thane by telling him we know the one who killed Gave and that he has probably not a chance to ever get revenge on that person, who also happens to be a hero here because he saved his wife the queen when she was still a princess." he whispered.

"But you want an audience with the queen. Who can I say is there?"

"Cyber Castlestone of the house of Uiostac, prince of Catilae." Cyber spoke though his house nor his title were no longer valid.

"Never heard of that kingdom." the guard uttered while the other guard went away to pass on the message.

"We are from Vascaria."

"Ah, you are from Vascaria. I thought you were from somewhere else since there is something strange about you and about your woman, too, if I may say so."

Before Soraya could retort the other guard came back and said they could pass and that they were to be escorted to the royal audience room.

"My turn to walk now, Seyviun." the first guard said.

"Is your job so tiring that you move in turns?" Cyber asked with a smile.

The guard nodded "All we do is standing here all day, waiting for the nightshift. Not many visitors come here for the king and there are not many official audiences as the mayors and the councillors do all the work. But we don't care, we are well taken care of and we get good payments.

Though it was better when the thane was not there yet as the old and the new queen were a lot more clement. But if you excuse me, I am not to discuss matters like this with visitors."

Cyber nodded in amusement.

Then the guard exchanged signs and commands with other guards who opened two great gates to the throne room.

"Cyber!" came a voice at once and the queen rose from her throne to welcome the battlemage and the elfwoman.

"Queen Catherine, good to see you again." he said with a formal bow.

Then he bowed in respect to the one who occupied the other throne.

"Thane Osrick, I presume? I am honoured to meet you in person."

Thane Osrick was a short man in his forties, his queen was apparently too young for him. He seemed to be in pretty good condition but something in him told Cyber this would not be a man he liked. He was indeed wearing a plain metal mask that Cyber remembered very well as it looked much like the mask Gave Ironclaw had worn.

"So here we meet the father of Edward in person." came a stern voice from behind the mask.

"Aye. I was rather surprised when I heard of his existence almost two years ago, circumstances kept me from coming sooner. May I first introduce my companion, the lady Soraya, elfwoman of Greentown."

"Vascarian cities say little to us, nor does the fact that she's an elf mean anything to us." came the cold reply, using the royal 'we'.

"Osrick! You could be a little more polite to our guests!" the queen said in an agitated voice.

"These so-called guests are not welcome to our palace!" the thane yelled.

"This is the man who seduced you and he should be punished for that. He even gave you an illegitimate child, and neglected his duties as a father which is prohibited in the cities of our kingdom. Not only did he leave a pregnant woman to her own devices but even a pregnant heir to the throne of Akrilonia. Guards, arrest this man and his woman. Put them in the cells and prepare for a hanging."

Cyber was shocked as he heard the pure hatred in the thane's voice.

"For one, I am not his woman!" Soraya yelled. But before she could continue a guard grabbed her from behind.

"Stop!" the queen suddenly yelled, "These guests are welcome in our palace, and nobody should harm them. There is no hanging coming for anybody, let alone for the one who rescued us from certain death years ago. We do not forget what this person has done for us and we hope he is well. And for the time he spends in our city we will personally make sure he is well."

The guards were confused. Though they were obliged to follow orders their king had given they were also obliged to follow orders from their queen as they had equal power. It normally never occurred that there was dispute in the royal family, at least not this open.

"Why are you now so stubborn, Osrick? I have told you before that Cyber would come back eventually. What problems do you have?"

"I will not tolerate your former lover in my court, especially not since he is an associate of he who killed my parallel. I have heard a lot about this man, who has committed many crimes in years gone by. He probably comes here to take his son with him, back to that strange world of his. And I will not let him do that."

"On the contrary, I have just come to see if everything is well here... " Cyber started but the thane cut him off.

"I don't expect any word of truth from you, scoundrel! What are you waiting for, guards? Chain him!"

"No!" the queen countered, "This is the man who gave me my sight, this is the man who gave me the power to study the magic I now posses to reign in peace."

"Reign in peace you will not as long as this man is alive!" the thane yelled and then stormed out of the throne room.

Cyber looked around, he could not understand anything of this.

"Guards, you are dismissed. See to it that our king does nothing stupid." the queen said, her voice still angry.

One of the guards could not suppress a chuckle, for they were not to believe that a king could actually do something stupid. And if he could they had never expected to hear this from his wife, the queen.

"And nobody is allowed to enter this room until we give him or her leave to. We want to talk with our guests in private."

The guards nodded and stomped out of the throne room.

"I guess we came at the wrong time." was all Soraya could say.

 

        Chapter One

 

"We beg your pardon for this strange situation, but a lot has happened since you came here last time." the queen explained.

"I thought as much. The guard told me some things, that your mother had passed away, that you had become queen and that you married thane Osrick only to establish peace between your towns. More we do not know." Cyber said.

"Aye. After you left last time, a lot happened as we said. Listening to your advice, we went to the housemage Simon who started teaching me the ways of magic. In the years past we learned more and more and we can say now we have some magical powers we can use to help our city. After the foul iron man Redeyes was eliminated by you and your friend Bulldozer we needed a lot of time to convince the people of Akrilonia it was not our fault that so many bad things had happened. Then we got our child and we named it Edward, and

this is your child. He is currently out but you will meet him soon. And then we hurried to the forest to apologize to the elves of the woods, the dryads that live there. Redeyes had sought to slay them all and they needed to know they were welcome again in our town and there was no danger for them. But they remain in their woods, as this is their natural habitat. And then things started to become worse quickly. Even before your arrival in Ternova there had been problems with the city of Rodope, this is a city traditionally the rival of Akrilonia, as it is the other big city in Ternova and we have had several conflicts in the past. And then our mother died of the green fever and we were left alone with a young child and only my councillors to aid us in a forthcoming war.

"After long discussions we decided it would be best to live in peace with Rodope and a marriage of land was being arranged. We have never loved our husband and king though we always respected him. The thane learned of our child and was livid about that. If it were up to him our child would have been drowned in the river but we would never let him do such a thing. He, however, declared that this child, though my eldest, would never have any rights to the throne when we would not have children. And children we have as a year ago we conceived two twin daughters. In the meantime our husband had heard all about what had happened here and told us he would indeed not tolerate former lovers of ours in either of our cities. Your appearance shocked him as much as it surprised us, though you said you would return once."

"And returned I have."

"So what has happened to you in the years past? Are Bulldozer and your twin sister Elizabeth still well?"

"Aye, Bulldozer is still alive and adventuring, my parallel has returned to her world and has spent some time with Soraya, leading the elves there to their new homelands. I myself have also adventured a bit and now I have been trained as a battlemage, one who fights with the magic from the body, mind and soul."

"We have never heard of this kind of magic before but so to hear it must be power of no small water."

"You bet."

They talked some more and the queen invited them to stay at the palace, where Cyber would be a guest, no matter what the  thane would say, and he would meet his son.

 

"Elflady Inge still here? No, this time it's not for you." An old elven messenger entered the house of Bulldozer and Inge. They knew the man very well as he had delivered various messages from people in need for the warrior.

"I'm still here. You have something for me, Ave?" Inge asked.

"Aye, it's from your father in Numavost. He says all is well and also with your mother. There is no need to come in a hurry, he just expects you there when summer comes."

"Just now I'm all packed and set to go?"

"Your father told me as much, so I came as fast as I could. A human cleric has healed your mother, she was able to do so with the help of a special amulet known as the Aurian Healstone."

"Aurian Healstone? Where have I heard that before?"

"From me, most likely." Bulldozer said, sitting down in his chair and chewing on something.

"Ave, how are you?"

"Fine, fine. The lady can stay home, her mother has been healed by the Aurian Healstone."

"Which belongs to our good friend Mistress." Bulldozer said cheerfully.

"Mistress? Has she healed my mother?"

"Aye. She happened to be around, though this was the first time she had been in Numavost, she said." Ave told.

"And I believe that, since she usually lives in Betris."

"So she must have been guided there, maybe by her goddess. So you can unpack again."

"I still don't understand. Something strange is going on here. First I hear my mother is dying and then Mistress comes and she's all fit again?"

"This sounds weird indeed. When Mistress appears, all diseases disappear. Maybe you should go there, after all. Some beer, Ave?"

"Oh, thank you. I had to deliver this under blood hurry, Biland said, and you know what that means."

"That means you had to ride all night long, without time to pause at an inn. Strange term, though. Does blood run so fast?"

"Maybe. He's been using the term ever since he opened his courier's office a good forty years ago. And he knows that my horse and I can take good blood hurry messages or items for some distance, that's why I always get the best ones."

"How many couriers does Biland have now?"

"Oh, some twenty-nine or thirty, I'm not sure if Rebion returned. Five have big wagons."

"It's a dangerous profession you have, Ave. Are you not getting too old for it?"

The old elf, his face sunburnt and his hair white, shook his head violently.

"I have been doing this for a great many years. It's my life, and when I can't do this anymore I will die. Ah, thank you. I was about to dive into the pool the stables use to water the horses when I arrived in town."

"You would really be able to do that." Bulldozer laughed.

"You bet."

"Where are you going after this?"

"I think I will go back to the office, so far my ring has not indicated that there is something new for me. I can stay in the courier's guild for a couple of days and then I will return to Numavost."

"I will come with you after all. I would go there in the summer anyway, and it won't harm to go some earlier. And if the healing was only temporary, I have to be there. After all, my mother is not young anymore."

Bulldozer nodded.

"But then I don't know if I can follow at once, there is a lot of work to be done, I was not joking about Kiki's house."

"You are right, but I won't leave at once. How about Kimbo's training when you are working?"

"He deserves a few days off. He's done nothing but running for a few days and I must say he is damn fast for his age. But then again, he's half-elven and elves are fast."

"How much running did he do?"

"Twenty rounds a day."

"Twenty rounds? How could you do that to him! The boy is only six years, and don't forget that he is half-elven indeed! He has been able to walk for only two years and now you let him run twenty rounds a day?"

"Oh, don't worry about my training methods, he is strong enough and you saw yourself he was still able to run inside when he smelled your soup."

Inge smiled shaking her head. "When it's about training the physique, I can safely leave it to you."

"Cyber is also said to have a great physique now. At least, that's what Soraya told. She said we would see them soon again, I wonder where they are now."

"I have a feeling you will find out soon."

 

Suddenly a horn was blown, announcing a visitor to the Peak.

Visitors were rare here, more common were the packed people who climbed the mountain without equipment who petitioned to become a knight of Drachlich.

Not everybody survived climbing the huge and dangerous mountain and those who did received hard and perilous tests. And then one of the dragons had to vouch for him and then he, one of at least a quarter human blood, would be allowed as a trainee. And most of the time, it still took years before the man would be allowed as a Dragonknight.

Visitors didn't need to climb, for they were taken to the Peak in a huge carriage flown by a dragon.

"Now who would that be?" Adam wondered, always interested. His brother descended to the ground and walked outside to follow Adam to the main square where the carriage landed.

"An elf." Adam saw.

"A messenger from the elven council." Admir knew. He had lived among the elves for well over two centuries and he knew what the messengers looked like. "He looks severe. Let's see what he wants."

Knights were there to guide the man to the tower of the lords. The two mandrakes had excellent hearing so they didn't need to be there. Curious as they were by nature - it is a mandrake's duty to gather knowledge - they overheard the conversation. Then a lord rose.

"Send for Adam Warlock."

"For me?" Adam repeated, raising his brows.

A knight arrived and Adam followed him to the tower.

"Ah, there you are already. Sit down Adam, and listen to what this man has to say."

It would sound rather rude if Adam told them what he had already heard so he merely listened.

"There is said to be a band of elves living down south, on the peninsula called the Prison Realm. As you may know, this is an area where there are many prisons in which the convicted people serve their time, but also a place for hermits and people who want to hide. What the elven council wants to know is who these elves are, what they want and why they are hiding there. We need some people to seek them out and talk to them."

"And why don't the elves go themselves?" Adam asked.

"The king declares there are some domestic problems that keep us from going ourselves. On top of that, our queen is very ill and we fear for her life. And you can understand we want to be there should anything happen to our beloved queen."

"I can understand that. So you need a flight of Dragonknights?"

"We would prefer if a knight went on foot, for dragons should only scare or at least upset the elves there."

The Dragonlords nodded, but Adam shook his head.

"Elves know they don't have to fear our dragons. Anyway, I will go see where they are and what they want. Do I have to go alone or can I take somebody with me?"

"Adam, your brother is in the middle of his training. He can't follow you now else it will take even longer to train him as a knight."

"Oh, my brother and I have all the time of the world. But I was not thinking of him, but of a friend of mine, and a friend of yours, too. I thought it would be good to be accompanied by Bulldozer Rockscale of Pezar."

"Ah, Bulldozer! Well, he's no knight but he certainly doesn't have to bow for one. Do the elves agree?"

"Oh, certainly. Of course Bulldozer is husband of the princess and if he would be willing to get involved with matters like these he would do the elven council a great favour and this will only make things better between himself and the elves of Numavost."

"Husband of the princess?" Adam asked sharply.

"Of course. With no disrespect, you miss many a thing when you spend all your time on this mountain. King Sevinaeus has passed away some years ago and he appointed Klarenyrius Aken as his heir."

"So Inge is now princess Ignastasias? Interesting. Well, then I'm sure he will follow me. I will send message that I will be seeing him."

"Then you are dismissed and assigned with the mission to help the elven council in investigating the situation in the Prison Realm. Report this to the duty clerk and then you are free to leave the Peak." a lord said.

Adam bowed courtly and saluted to the Dragonlords, then left the tower.

 

A cloaked man entered the secret portal no mortal knew the existence of.

Even for himself, he could not suppress a shudder when he stepped out and felt the cold chill of death. The two disembodied heads that were guarding the portal shrank back as they felt the aura of the man and let him pass.

Then the man saw the gate, as well as the two giant guardian monsters and the face of the god of the netherworld and he advanced carefully.

Then suddenly the godly face spoke.

"Ralbustan the Dark, I greet you."

"And I greet you, Thantor." the man spoke.

"I can see you have not given up your immortality to enter my plane. Then what is it that brings you here when the world of the living should be even below you?"

"You know what I have done for you, Thantor. And you know that I would only come here to ask you a favour."

The unblinking stare of the god's face caught Ralbustan's. 

"Name it."

"I need to take out two of your plane's inhabitants."

Still the unblinking face didn't move.

"Name them."

"One is Axel the Black Conqueror, the other is Nehmireth the female vampire."

"Axel!" boomed the voice of the dark god, "Axel has become a demon, a fiend of the darkness. Once has me escaped me and returned to Vascaria. Then he was exorcised by a mandrake and a human cleric. Would he return to Vascaria now I think he would not let go of the chance and run again. He has been confined to the Solitary Pit for a thousand years for his escape."

"I know full well the history of the demon, as I know full well who the mandrake is who sent him back. It is the destruction of this mandrake that I am after. And this is why I need Axel."

"I will consider this. As for Nehmireth, you are looking in the wrong place. Nehmireth returned to the surface two years ago, to find the human who killed Lilith, her sister. I could summon her if you wish, though."

"Do that. I have that man for her, I am sure she is willing to follow."

"What makes you combine the forces of Axel and Nehmireth to offer them a mandrake and a human, Ralbustan? And what makes you think I would fully cooperate in this?"

"Oh, sure you will cooperate by giving me the demon and the vampire. You see, the two people I mentioned are not alone. They are usually joined by a third. This third one is not only the one who has killed a giant boar in my service, but he is also the one responsible for the army you brought back in Vascaria four years ago." Ralbustan said, stroking his beard.

"The human Cyber!" the voice boomed so loud the giant guardian monsters backed down though they had taken no interest in the conversation.

"I give you the power you need, Ralbustan. Destroy this threesome! Just make sure Axel the Black Conqueror is returned to me after that. He still has eight hundred and eighty years to spend in the Solitary Pit."

Suddenly the vampire appeared after a command of Thantor.

"You have summoned me, master?"

"I have. Follow Ralbustan, and he will give you the human you are after."

"You give me Bulldozer Rockscale?" the vampire asked, licking her lips.

"I will, as soon as you help me destroy him and two other mortals."

"No problem."

"Free! I am free!" yelled a fourth voice suddenly. Then the black shape locked its fiery gaze on the god and shrank back.

"You are not free. You are to aid Ralbustan in his mission to destroy three mortals. One of the mortals is the mandrake who sent you back here over a century ago. Then you will return here."

"Then I will have revenge, I will sssstay in ssssatissssfaction." the demon spoke in a hissing voice. Then he regarded the demi-god and the vampire suspiciously.

"The two of you will follow me to the Hall of Shadows, where

you will be the last two of my force of twelve. Follow me now."

Without asking further questions, they followed Ralbustan through the portal.

 

"So you will go south to find some elves in the Prison Realm. Real strange. Would they let other elves to their own devices just because there are some domestic problems? It's hard to believe that." Admir said.

"Indeed. You know what? You find out some more about this case, listen in on the elven council if you must, and we'll be in touch."

"I will. I will contact you every time I need more and if you need more types of research, just contact me."

"I will. Now I will contact Bulldozer and after that I will fly to Pezar."

"Okay, the best of luck!"

 

After a minute of concentration Adam saw the image of Bulldozer in his mind.

"Hi Adam, how can I help you?"

"Well, there is a small mission I want you to help me with. Will you stay in Pezar?"

"I will wait for you."

"Good, then I will see you soon."

"Adam contacted you?" Inge asked. She was sitting in the living room, reading a book. The children were already asleep and Bulldozer was up late.

"Aye, he has a mission again. He will come tomorrow."

"It's been a long time I saw him last. Last time was when he was waiting for you to go to Riatoria."

"He's been busy helping his brother with his training, of course. I wonder how that tall, skinny mandrake will do among those muscled knights. Adam didn't look so bad when he joined."

"I though he would first spend time with a dragon?"

"Oh, that will be all-right, he knows some dragons so that will be no problem. And he needed some serious training of his body before he could lift a dragon sword without magic help. So Adam helps him a little. But now he has this mission and we are on the road again. I wonder what he's got in store for us."

 

Bulldozer, who lived near the western town gate, heard somebody yelling frantically.

"What's he yelling?"

"Dragon!"

"Ah, that will be Adam. I will calm down that man, he's not to be afraid of a silver dragon as he should know." Bulldozer said and stepped outside, expecting the silver dragon from Dragon Peak to land on the special landing platform he had built. But when he looked up he saw a blur of blue soaring overhead.

"A blue dragon. What's it doing here?"

Obviously to attack, he saw as a beam of dragon breath energy passed by.

"Time to play the hero again." Bulldozer muttered. Suddenly Inge stood by his side.

"What did you say?"

"That it's time to play the hero again."

"Go." she just said.

With a precisely timed teleport spell Bulldozer was on the back of the dragon, his legs around its neck. "Come on Mighty One, why not fight with magic from the ground?" Inge said softly with a smile on her face.

But none was more surprised that the dragon.

Bulldozer thumped it in the neck with his knee and asked it boldly what it thought it was doing here.

"That is none of your business, puny mortal."

"Mortal, me? If we try to kill each other you will see you are more mortal than me. So you'd better answer my question." Bulldozer said laconically, caressing a soft spot on the dragon's throat with his dagger, the one spot to kill a dragon almost instantly. The dragon realized that the human knew how to slay a dragon and that he was literally in the driver's seat.

At that moment a second dragon appeared.

"Hail Bulldozer! Who are you playing with this time? Is that your new friend?"

Over the years, Adam had learned to speak to Bulldozer in his own way.

"Aye, we are having a great time together. He came to pay the town a visit and I decided to give him a tour over the town. Look pal, there is my favourite pub. One breath on that and it will be your last."

The dragon snarled, infuriated. Meanwhile Adam drew his sword and Kruntia also prepared for battle but Bulldozer waved them away. Again Bulldozer went over the weak spot with his dagger and the dragon turned away from the silver one.

When it flew over the city walls Bulldozer urged it "to be a good dragon and go" and disappeared, only to reappear near his own landing platform.

The dragon took one more look back and flew away.

Adam dismounted rolling over from laughing and when Kruntia had transformed to her elven shape she was also laughing.

"Oh big guy you really never cease to amaze me. You were actually giving a blue dragon a tour over the town?"

"Well, somebody yelled that a dragon was coming and I thought it was you so I went outside and saw that one. So I teleported to its back and put my dagger to its throat, to the weak spot there. This was obviously some young dragon who wanted to have some fun wreaking havoc. He got some fun but none of what he liked. So that's when you came. I... " "Dragon!"

"Oh, naughty boy! There he is again."

They went outside again but Kruntia shook her head

"It's a brass, probably coming for me. So to see it's Kithkra. He will probably have a message from my sister." Indeed the brass landed on the platform and after a brief discussion with Kruntia she excused herself and left with the brass in a hurry.

 

"So, we are on a mission again. What is it?"

"Well, a band of elves seems to be living in the Prison Realm and I have been sent out in the name of the elven council to check out who they are. At the moment, there seem to be some domestic problems and Inge's mother also seems to be ill."

"No longer, she has been healed by a friend of ours and she's fine now." Inge interrupted.

"Good to hear that."

"But why don't the elves go? I have not heard of other domestic problems." Inge asked.

"That's because you have not been there for a year and a half." Bulldozer said.

"I don't know, I only know that the council sent a messenger to Dragon Peak and the lords sent me. And I thought it was best to take you with me."

"All-right, I will follow you. How is your brother going?"

"He's training a lot to muscle up, he's doing fine so far. He's getting stronger every day."

"He's not coming?"

"No, he needs all his time for his training and learning about the knighthood before he comes to the council for his final acceptance. There are not many easterners in the knighthood and of course his mother was from the east. Some people look strangely at him but they will get used to him, especially since he's my brother and I built up a good reputation on the Peak."

"Okay, I suppose we'll leave at dawn?"

"If you can go this soon, aye."

"There's nothing stopping me, except for one thing."

"Which is?"

"This mission stinks."

Adam frowned "What makes you say so?"

"The elves send humans, the knights, to find elves. For all the problems in Numavost, this is something I would never expect. You can't tell me that there is no elf willing to go to the Prison Realm to find these fellow elves. There are people like Kandin, Bolrick and even more who are brave enough to go there, even if they don't know what to expect. Then why doesn't the council send them? There is something about these elves, Adam. The elves don't want to go themselves, I tell you. They let the humans do the dirty work. Indeed, I think this is a dirty job. Are those elves afraid?"

"I'm not afraid." Inge said, "If Diane would not have needed my cares I would have joined you, for this is strange indeed. And what about you? You have been home for a few months only. We have two children now, when are you going to settle down and take some time off adventuring?"

"After this one I will be staying home for a couple of years, I guess. But you know what the young cleric said: a big battle has to be fought, and I think that particular battle cannot be far away now. My time has come, and I am ready. There is something to survive and then it's time to call it off for a while."

"That's what you said two years ago, but you used the time to go to Triptid and to plan the raid on the guild of the night-assassins."

Bulldozer looked her in the eyes.

"There is this one thing to do and I couldn't help going to Triptid, I was summoned by that fool mayor there. I have tried to stay home as much as I could but there are always people relying on me. I can't stay home."

Inge seemed to settle for it.

"I will help you packing. What do you need?"

"The normal stuff. Provisions and my weapons."

"Your dagger you have there, your sword is right over here as well as your bracers. I will make some provisions for you."

With that, she disappeared into the kitchen.

"She is not exactly glad you are going." Adam said carefully. He saw this was a delicate situation but decided to talk anyway.

""Well, she wants me to stay home. If that messenger would not have come she would be gone by now, to Numavost because her mother was not well. She's just jealous that she can't come along. We could leave Kimbo with the clerics if we wanted but she doesn't want to. She says now I'm a father I should quit adventuring and stay home for my wife and my children. She doesn't understand our family's lifestyle. We live for adventure. And so we go on. That I married very early does not mean I will retire very early. Hawkeye also has a girl and they want to get married but she also wants Hawk to quit adventuring them and he would not quit for the world. So they won't get married for a good while, if ever. As Raz has already lost a girl or two on that very same point.

"But don't worry, Inge will have her diversions. She has her spellbooks and our children. She won't mind much when I'm away."

"I'm not sure... "

"This must be enough for your trip. Some bread, cheese and water. Your rum bottle is also full. I think you can get fresh fruit when you are with the elves, and you can always hunt for fresh meat."

"Thank you, my dear." Bulldozer said, kissing her in the neck.

Adam soon retired into the guest room for his final preparations, Bulldozer stayed behind with Inge.

They had a long talk until Bulldozer was tired and went to bed. Inge sighed and joined him in the large bed.

"Somehow I think you are right, Mighty One." she suddenly said.

"About what?"

"This mission of yours. Indeed, why not send elves to the elves?"

"That's what I have been wondering all along."

"I'm afraid we are talking about dark elves back there." "Dark elves? That would explain why the Numavost elves would not go there. They don't want to deal with outcasts. But what would dark elves be doing in the Prison Realm? There is nothing to get there, except for solitude and rest. It's a possibility, though, and one I will discuss with Adam tomorrow. But now I'm tired, good night."

Bulldozer turned around and soon fell asleep.

 

        Chapter Two

 

Inge stood in the doorway the next morning watching the two horses leave town. She knew he would be gone for a long time again because just like some others, a mysterious ancient man had appeared from time to time to see how Bulldozer fared, and she had been forbidden to speak of it.

She knew that a great battle would take place soon and she knew Bulldozer had been one of the Chosen Ones to fight that battle. Yet now was he off to investigate a band of elves, probably dark elves. Would those elves participate in the battle, and on which side? Inge couldn't know.

Why would Adam call upon Bulldozer to investigate a band of hermit elves?

With all his knowledge, Adam could handle them much better than Bulldozer for these were probably not elves from Numavost and all other elves had suspicions and prejudices against other races and this was obvious no job for the sword. Yet the warrior left with the spellweaving knight for New Iris, the city of a thousand portals where one could go to many places in the world through a magical portal. New Iris was also a large trade city.

Naturally horse trading was the biggest business in town, as it was impossible to teleport a horse through a portal. So everywhere you could see merchants who would buy your horse for a low price - you had to get rid of the horse anyway - and sell it again with a lot of profit.

And if you didn't want to sell, you could stall them in the many stables, where a lot was charged to care for the horse.

After all, New Iris was a route, not a destination.

But also the regular traders could be found at the many market squares.

You could buy exotic fruits, carpets, weaponry and all you could think of.

Many people remember the first time they step through a portal. You feel a strange sensation of being everywhere and yet nowhere, then you finish your step on the other side of the portal as if you step through an open door.

For the warrior and the knight, this was just a routine job, for they had stepped through more portals than they cared to remember.

When they arrived they saw they were right in the capital of the peninsula: Slade.

"At least one portal that is not misplaced." Bulldozer said. Most portals came out in a deserted place, planted just anywhere. But in Slade they had built the enormous citadel city around the portal.

"Good. Where do we go from here?"

"I guess you know where to find these elves." Bulldozer said. To his surprise, the mandrake shook his head.

"The council of Numavost knew they were in the Prison Realm, but not exactly where. We will have to find something who does."

"Then we'll see the Prison Master himself, he will remember me from the war and maybe even you. He was in Pezar all of the time, the easterners never cared for this peninsula and they never got this far west."

The Prison Realm was in the far southwest of the world, far from the rest of the world as the area north of it was the southern desert. The Prison Realm was connected to it by a small strip of land, heavily fortified against the power of the sea. Here lived the convicted criminals, forced into labour until they had served their time. But while those lived in the many enormous prisons - hence the name - there were more people living here.

Most of these people were those who came here for peace and quiet: hermits.

After the war Adam had seriously considered retreating to the realm himself but he had hooked up with the Dragonknights instead.

They walked to the palace and asked an audience with the lord of this realm, the Prison Master. When they stated their names, they were hurriedly led to the master who was surprised to see them.

"Welcome, my honourable guests. It's a long time since I last saw you. Tell me, what is it that brings you to my palace and how can I be of help to you?"

Of all the lords they had seen, this one cared the least about his status.

Not one sign of royalty was seen on him, no crown, no gown and no velvet.

The Prison Master was dressed in a tight-fitting, simple uniform and wore a jewelled hat instead of a crown. He denied any royalty and saw himself as his title suited him: a prison master, the highest warden.

"Well, there seems to be a band of elves here that we need to investigate."

"Elves? Of course there are elves here. Some elven hermits as well as a band of female elves who live four days riding from here. Though we expected trouble I assure you they never caused any trouble here if that's what you think. They are totally independent. They sometimes come here for trading on the market and they are even quite charming." "Can you tell us how to get there?"

"Of course, I will fetch you a detailed map. Meanwhile, will you join me for dinner?"

"Why not?" Bulldozer said and the Prison Master gave instructions to his servants. They went to the dining room and servants brought in the food.

"Sentenced guys?" Bulldozer informed.

"No, hired personnel. You don't think that I let convicted people bring in my food? Ha, they would poison it the second day only because they would know I would suspect it the first day.

"Everybody who is sentenced to spend time in labour here wants to escape. Well, most of them anyway. But as you know, the strip is well-guarded. And so is the portal. These are the only two exits on the peninsula, it is why it's the perfect place to send criminals. There are no boats allowed near the peninsula except for the harbour, and the harbour is also surrounded by walls and well-guarded. For the rest, the coastline is well-guarded as well to prevent boats from coming near. This way, the criminals have no hope of escaping. Care for some Gunletian wine?"

Nobody could refuse the best wine in the world.

"But how can other people enter or leave then?" Bulldozer wanted to know.

"Ink. Convicted criminals have stamps on their faces, just above the facial hair line. The special ink holds for the time the criminal has to spend here. Guards are instructed to kill any stamped man walking around free. They are under these rigid orders because nobody comes outside the walls of the prisons and so everybody who walks around with a stamp on his face must have escaped."

"It's a system that works. But with all these guards around the realm, is it not very expensive?"

"It's the way we live around here. The convicts do the labour and we sell the goods they produce, mostly harmless tools they can't use to attack the guards. With the money we pay the guards and the food of the prisoners."

"A handy system indeed."

A servant entered with the map the master had requested. "Will you be my guests for tonight? Then you can leave tomorrow."

"Thank you milord." Adam said with the dignity expected from a knight.

"Guest rooms with water and bread?" Bulldozer asked with a smile. All laughed.

"No, my private guest rooms are much better as you will see. Semina will see you to your rooms."

A woman entered and welcomed the twosome, then left after the master had told her to show the guests to their rooms in

about two hours.

"So, if I may ask, what is your interest in the band of elves?"

"Well, we were sent by the elven council to check them out. Somehow the elves don't want to do that themselves so they are sending humans. There is something weird about them and we want to find out what."

"That does not surprise me. We are talking about some thirty elves, all women, from Dark Numavost who came here well over a year ago. They asked my permission to build a village of their own. Ah, I will never forget the day they came here. It's good my wife Semina was there with me, for they are very charming, those women."

"What did I tell you? Dark elves!"

"Though they are obviously from Dark Numavost they are not evil, at least not that I think. They were very friendly and they know the position they are in. Somehow these ladies look... happy. Not like what you'd expect from dark elves."

"That is indeed weird, and that they are all women. Well, we will understand everything once we meet them."

"Indeed you will. I will have two fresh horses prepared for you tomorrow when you leave."

"That's very kind of you, milord. We will leave at dawn."

"Why that early?"

"That's been our habit ever since the Second Crusade."

 

The next day they were ready to leave, travelling light with two fresh horses. They followed the map they had received and saw the way the realm was built with its many wonders. Every now and then they would see huge citadels, the famous prisons. And then they would see small cabins, built of every possible material by the hermits, groups of nomads and finally, when they approached the Comfort Bay, they saw the village where the elves would live. To their surprise, they found no guards whatsoever at the gates and decided to ride in. Inside they saw stables where they decided to stable their horses. When they walked out again they faced a number of elfwomen. These were indeed from Dark Numavost, with their tanned skins, black hair and deep black eyes.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. Welcome to our small village Viasageloa, New Vias." the leading woman spoke. She was looking strong but attractive and suddenly Adam felt a wave coming over him. Magic, he thought by himself and did his best to resist it, then quietly worked on some protective magic.

Bulldozer's scale mail would help him, it made him immune to all kinds of attacking magic.

"My name is Tiulisa, may I invite you to some lunch and wine?"

"Well met... I am Bulldozer, and this is Sir Adam." Bulldozer said and suddenly Adam noticed the strange tone of voice Bulldozer was speaking in. He looked the warrior in the eye and suddenly saw the effects of some kind of charm spell in his eyes. And what about the scale mail?

So, these elves charmed people. No wonder the Prison Master thought they were charming, he thought by himself. He followed the woman called Tiulisa and together with Bulldozer he entered a large tent where all kinds of fruits and wine were stalled out.

"Please enjoy our hospitality, there is enough for everybody." Tiulisa said, pointing at the tables.

They relaxed and then Tiulisa was called for and Adam looked at Bulldozer, who looked perfectly normal again.

"How are you feeling, big guy?" Adam asked.

"I'm feeling terrific! I think these women are no threat to anybody whatsoever. They are very friendly, especially Tiulisa. And did you see that body? She can outwrestle a lot of men, I think. It's all very weird. You know, when I came here I was ready for action and now I lie here, eating strange types of fruit and drinking black wine." he said, stretching out on a rich sofa.

"You have black wine? It's also called Dragonblood, probably another reason why I don't like it. But I also dislike the stench of it."

"Smells good to me."

Tiulisa returned.

"Are our guests comfortable?" she asked.

"Never felt better." Bulldozer said with a smile.

"And you, Sir Knight?"

"I'm fine. Tell me, who are you and what are you doing here?"

Tiulisa seemed to have expected these questions, as she lay down on a third couch, revealing beautifully shaped yet strong thighs, and started telling her tale.

"Three years ago we were cast out of our realm. Our Numavost had become a place of evil, worse than it used to be. We, a band of elfwomen of good, were exposed as being good and thus were cast out, just like our ancestors were cast out of Western Numavost. But this time there was no place to go as we cannot possibly be accepted in Western Numavost due to our heritage. Now we call ourselves the Southern Elves, those cast from the darkness. We are here to fulfil the prophecy of the true warrior, to find the most powerful weapon in the world. So far we have only found part of it but we are determined to find the other part."

"The most powerful weapon in the world? Why, I have that right here." Bulldozer said, unsheathing his diamond sword. Tiulisa looked at it with the eyes of an expert and then shook her head.

"While this is surely a powerful sword, it is not the most powerful weapon in the world. Part of which I have here." she said, handing Bulldozer a golden stone.

"A stone?" Bulldozer asked, frowning.

"Indeed, a stone. A magical one at that." Adam said, "I know the prophecy indeed."

"You do? It's an ancient prophecy of the elves."

"I happen to know a lot about prophecies."

"I have not heard about it." Bulldozer said, "Tell me, how can a stone be more powerful than a sword? Okay, it still needs the arm to wield it but I have my dagger right here, which ends exactly where I want it to end."

"But if something is far away you can't reach it with your dagger." Tiulisa said and handed him a scroll.

"What is this?"

"The prophecy."

Bulldozer unrolled it and read it.

"And the god A'Than spoke:

'Here ya, most precious!

In the dire days ahead of us

There are frightening forces to beat

You will have to fight battles

For which you have to be equipped

So, most precious, I present you

The staff sling that is yours

As it has been for so long

But that is not enough!

Your staff sling will now be bound

By the Goldsone

Use your sling as much as you need

Use the Goldstone when in peril

For the Goldstone will ease your job

And kill the living upon sight

All for you

But remember:

Do not separate your weapon

Do not use the precious Goldstone

On an ordinary staff sling

Else the powers given to you

Will be lost

The precious Goldstone

Will be lost

And it will remain lost

Until another fighter stands up

And the blessed one will get the Goldstone

And face perils like yours

And he will fight with the Goldstone.'

And so the warrior was there

Standing there with the precious stone

And vowed to fight the evil he faced

With the help of the god."

"So I guess the Goldstone was used with something else and got lost till you recovered it." Bulldozer said.

"Indeed. We are now looking for the staff sling, to present it to the blessed one, the man of destiny."

"And who might that be?"

"I know who that is, big guy: it's you."

"Me, the man of destiny? Why that?"

"I have known for a long time you were destined for something. And now with all we have been going through for the last few years, along with all my knowledge concerning this, I see you are destined to fight something big. You are not here without a purpose, you are here to receive the Goldstone and to receive the staff sling. You will face the perils indeed and I will be there to help you fight them."

"Where to find this staff sling?"

"We tracked it down to somewhere south. Where we will find it is still unknown to us."

"What happened to it?"

"The legend tells us the following:

'But the chosen one was captured.

Bound and gagged there was nothing he could do.

When he was finally freed the marauders ran

And he found his staff sling missing.

In his rage, he grabbed the staff sling from one

Who had rescued him

And slung the Goldstone with all his might.

What happened then few can describe.

The stone flew out of range

And was lost.

The god A'Than appeared in front of him

In a blue cloud of mist.

'Alas my friend you lose the stone

Which means I lose the game

You abused my trust

The most powerful weapon in the world

You are not worthy of using

The staff sling will be a memory

The stone will be lost

Until I choose someone new

Who will be more worthy of my trust

The one raised in glory

Raised without fear

He who was born to win.

He will receive stone and sling

And learn what power is.'

'So let be written

So let be done'

The defeated warrior said.

'Hand my staff sling to the chosen one.

Let the stone wander towards him

Let him be what I should have been

Let the blessed on rise to power

When the time is due.'"

 

At the last line Bulldozer rose.

"You are right Adam. I know you are. When we returned from Riatoria the young half-elven cleric was talking about me as the blessed one. My time has come, he told me. He knew. He knew it all. But he's a cleric and as close to his god as one can be."

"Indeed. But when do you wake up from this trance?"

"Trance? I'm not in a trance."

"Then why do you look so strange?"

They were interrupted by an elfwoman who called for Tiulisa, who rose and excused herself, rising in an obvious hurry.

"Do I look strange? I feel normal. I feel good, but I always feel good when I'm relaxing."

With a sigh he watched Tiulisa leave the tent. "She is so beautiful." he said.

"What's going on big guy? Are you in love with her? Don't forget you are married!" "I know Adam. But I can't help it. She's so... naturally charming, you'll have to admit that." "I certainly do. She's very friendly to us strangers, especially since she knows that you are the chosen one her prophecy tells about. She's very attractive and kind but... there's a weird aura around her."

"Ah, you see weird auras around everyone who's nice to me. Did you see that girl who called Tiulisa? Also quite a charming girl."

"Charming! There is something with that word! You keep on using it, the Prison Master used it and I also thought they were trying to charm us when we first saw them but I felt a strange wave, though when I just analyzed it I saw it couldn't be magic. When I felt the wave coming over me I cast a protective spell around myself, quite a heavy one. Well, actually it was not a spell but a natural resistance people of my kind have. We call it dragon instinct."

"You need dragon instinct to protect yourself from the natural charm of these women?" Bulldozer asked with a laugh but Adam looked serious.

"Indeed I do. You see, I think these women are indeed charming but not in a natural way."

"You think they cast charm spells after all? That can't be, my scale mail would dispel it."

"It does seem to work. Maybe... maybe your mail doesn't dispel anymore?" Adam shot a small ray of fire at the mail but it disappeared. "Maybe it's vulnerable to charm spells? I feel normal now, you know how to cast a charm spell?"

"Of course. It's a spell for beginners." Adam snorted and started casting. But again nothing happened.

"This is very strange. Now what?"

"So it's natural after all. The wave you felt could be love at first sight." Bulldozer teased.

"Hey, you are a knight, why don't you confer with your god and just ask him where the staff sling is?"

"I'm not a Tyvian cleric. In the prophecy they talk about Tyf, who is called A'Than in elvish. I'm a knight of Drachlich the platinum dragon. Then again I don't think it's as simple as you suggest else some cleric would have asked him long ago. The search for the most powerful weapon in the world is a task given to the elves in general though I know the elves from both Numavost and Greentown have never really cared for the search."

"I think I'm going to lie down for a while, I'm pretty tired."

"Okay, then I go out and find out some more about these women." Adam walked out and found two elves who approached him. "Welcome to our small village, Sir Knight. Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"Well, I'm interested in this place and its friendly inhabitants." Adam started with knightly diplomacy. One of the women, who introduced herself as Tesnitika, told Adam what he knew already but then she told more.

"We asked the god A'Than to protect us in these dangerous lands where people could get aggressive against people they see for evil. We were afraid, most of us were trained in combat only ceremonially. We could not hold off the men with evil plans. We asked the god for safe passage and this he granted us."

"But not in the way we expected, to keep all men at bay. Instead he gave us a kind of charm to befriend the males we encounter. This makes it easier to befriend the people here and to love as well."

Adam nodded in thoughts. So the god had given them an enchantment of friendliness, that was the wave he had felt coming over himself. Apparently, this had gone further than mere friendship as it made people fall in love with the Southern Elves and even Bulldozer's scale mail couldn't save him from the power of the god. Only his dragon instinct had saved Adam from being in love as well.

Bulldozer's scale mail was resistant to all attacking magic, and one could hardly call this attacking.

The other woman, Chintalasa, told him more about the hunt for the staff sling. They had tracked it down to the south and so they had gone to the Prison Realm, after some fruitless searches in the Southern Realm. They hoped to find the staff sling here as they only knew it was way down south. The Goldstone they had found in the Water Realm as it had landed right in front of them. While they were searching for both the sling and the stone they were attacked by a barbarian tribe and the stone had been fired by a small catapult. Knowing the Goldstone would never kill unless it was used with the staff sling they waited for the stone to be launched and they picked it up when it fell on the ground harmlessly. South was where they would go, because all they knew is that the staff sling was somewhere south.

"Well, there is always Ternova, which lies south of Vascaria. It's a few days sailing." Adam told.

The elves had never heard of Ternova, and that didn't surprise Adam as most Vascarians had not heard of the small continent.

"Well, I don't believe it's there. But we have to be sure, of course. I will talk to Bulldozer when he is awake and then we will leave."

He walked in the tent where Bulldozer was still lying on one of the sofas. Tiulisa was with him, feeding his grapes and doing everything to make the big warrior comfortable.

"Big guy, we go to Ternova." Adam snapped, partially irritated by the view.

"Where? What for? We were supposed to be with these elves, and I'm not going to abandon them for nothing. Besides, I need to help them in finding that staff sling, we might need it."

"They told me they have to find the staff sling and it's somewhere in the south. And it doesn't seem to be in the Southern Realm and not here, either. Ternova is more to the south."

"You are right. What about the elves? They must know where to find me."

"Don't worry, I will come with you and I will bring the Goldstone with me." Tiulisa said and then Bulldozer agreed to go.

"Why?" Adam asked.

"I will come with you because there is indeed a chance the sling and the stone might be united there, and I will not leave my friend. I can be of help to you, I know all about the staff sling and I will accompany you in the search of this precious item."

"Why are you always so critical, Adam? Let the woman come along, we will enjoy her company and she surely looks strong enough."

"My skills with bow and sword cannot be doubted. We have always learned to defend ourselves, in the end even against our husbands." the woman said in a bitter voice.

Adam agreed and the next day they left for the Comfort Bay, the only place where boats were allowed.

"So we will have to find a boat that will sail us to Ternova."

"Else we buy one and sail ourselves, I know enough of the sea after our last adventure."

"Only remember not to attack and capture every other ship you see." Adam said with a smile.

 

"Sailing through the mists, are you?" an old captain who had been born and bred on the sea asked.

"We are. Could you guide us there?"

"You landlubbers don't know the danger of crossing the mists."

"I think I know enough about sailing, I have spent some time being a captain at sea and we are going to encounter many dangers once we are there so some dangers on the journey can't be too much of a problem."

"It's a dangerous plan warrior, to sail south too far. But if you have this much money to waste on it then I guess you have little choice. I will gather my men and we will leave as soon as possible."

Adam nodded and handed him a map.

"This map shows our destination."

"What? You mean there be land on the other side of the mists, and this much?"

"Aye, this is the continent of Ternova. And here is the city of Akrilonia, which is where we want to be."

"I sure hope there be a good harbour."

"I don't think so, but there will be a small one nonetheless, there was one the last time I came there."

That had been two hundred years ago, but Adam didn't want to mention it.

He kept his unique species as secret as possible, another reason he had joined the knighthood.

 

"Is this map detailed and precise?"

"As good as you are going to get."

"Then I know the course we will be following. If we get through the mists that should be no problem, though few ships have returned from trips through the mists."

"The mists can't be too much of a problem to blow away. I will cast some spells to lift the mists."

"You cast spells?"

"Aye, some anyway." With these words Adam spread out his hands to the mists in front of him and slowly the mists dissolved.

"This is only a temporary solution as magic created these mists. And so to see this is even the work of a dragon." Adam said after analyzing the strange, thick fog.

After a few hours of sailing Adam saw he was right. Some of the crew members ran around the deck, panicking.

"A dragon! It's going to attack, we are doomed!"

"Not where I am." Bulldozer said.

He pulled his diamond sword and aimed the tip of it at the dragon who flew high above them, although it was no longer necessary to guide the magic he possessed through his sword. A bolt of magical energy shot from the sword and hit the dragon it its belly, where the scales were weak.

The dragon howled in pain and anger and wanted to dive, but Bulldozer fired a second bolt and again it hit home. The dragon shrieked one more time and then turned around and fled, heading for the east.

The crew cheered and took their positions again to sail on quickly.

After a few days they saw they were there.

"Land ho!" the lookout yelled.

"That is indeed the city of Akrilonia." Adam said.

Tiulisa, who had been sick for the biggest part of the voyage, rose feebly and looked at the coastline. "Are there elves in Ternova?"

"As far as I know there are, that mage I had to kill there wanted to destroy them all."

"It's a good thing you stopped him."

They entered the harbour safely, and crowds gathered because this was a strange ship for them. All the people looked out to see who was coming off the ship that came from the north.

"Well if you don't mind I will leave as soon as you disembark. I will first have to buy some supplies." the captain said.

"No platinum, they don't have that here." Adam warned.

"No? They must be crazy. But I have most of my money in gold so I think I can get enough supplies for the journey back home. Have a good stay."

"Thank you." Then they saw two familiar faces.

"Ahoy’ Cyber! Ahoy’ Soraya!" Bulldozer yelled, raising his hand. The three walked straight to the young man and the elfwoman.

"Well, that's been some time for both of you! What are you doing here?" Bulldozer said cheerfully but found Cyber and Soraya looking at Adam.

"Adam, is that really you?"

"Of course, who else?"

"How does your brother sit on the ground?" Cyber asked.

"He never sits on the ground, he always sits in the air." Adam answered, a bit surprised.

"What kind of question is that? Ternovan habit?"

"We have had some trouble with a guy who pretended to be Adam. He couldn't answer a question like this and he revealed his true identity, an assassin. He ran before we could catch him."

"A fake Adam? Now who would do something like that?"

"One of the many questions we have but... who is this?"

"Oh, this is my friend Tiulisa. Tiulisa, meet Cyber and Soraya."

Soraya stepped back, seeing a dark elf, Cyber froze.

Bulldozer explained she was not a dark elf but a Southern Elf and told them everything.

"So you have been in the Prison Realm where you met this woman? I have been there for a while, too. A strange place, full of hermits."

"There's more than just hermits. We went to Slade and met the Prison Master there. He's more an officer than a lord but he's very friendly and helped us as much as he could." Bulldozer told.

"Hey Cyber, what happened to your chain mail? Where are all your weapons? You only have your sword now and you are even not wearing armour! You really look like somebody else now."

"I am somebody else now. I'm a battlemage now, one who uses his life energy to attack and who can do everything with his bare hands and only a sword. I have spent a lot of time in the Temple of Wajo, as you know, and I met the Matre Transcentral there. She taught me everything a battlemage should know and shortly after that, she died." He didn't say everything about the circumstances under which she died, it was not time to tell yet.

"She died?" Adam asked, not believing this.

"Follow us to the palace and we will tell you everything."

"The palace? Are you that famous here?"

"The story goes deeper than that. You remember Triptid? You told me there you had heard that I had a son. This appears to be true, as I met him here, just like I thought I would. That princess has become queen in the meantime and after I arrived things worsened quickly. To establish peace between the two major cities in Ternova, Akrilonia and Rodope, queen Catherine II married thane Osrick, the sovereign of Rodope. When I came here I expected just to see my son and get acquainted to the thane but he, a man much older than queen Catherine, never gave me the chance to be friendly to him as he gave me some harsh words as soon as I entered the palace. He wanted me to be arrested but the queen vetoed it, giving a complex situation for the guards who are ordered to obey both. Then the thane ran off and recently he has left the palace, divorced and went back to Rodope only to declare war on Akrilonia. We are gathering our armies as soon as possible but we don't know if we are in time to build a strong defence. We could certainly use your help there. To make things worse, the thane is also Gave Ironclaw's parallel and he knows you killed him so he has a grudge against you, too, and when he hears that you are here as well he will be out to get you."

"He won't catch me."

"There are dark rumours though about the armies he's gathering."

"Well, I suppose we have an army of our own?"

"Of course, the people will be prepared. By the way, there is something strange going on here. A band of elves, the dryads who dwell here, keep talking about the chosen one, the one they have been waiting for. They seem to have something for him."

The staff sling!" Tiulisa exclaimed, "Of course, it all makes sense! Elves will recover the most powerful weapon in the world but they will not use it! They will unite and present it together to the chosen one of the gods. We have been searching for both the stone and the sling and it's only logical that other elves have been searching as well and these elves have actually found the staff sling. And we have the Goldstone and we both present it to you. This means that there is no doubt that you are indeed the chosen one, beloved."

"Beloved?" Soraya repeated sharply.

"We are just good friends." Bulldozer said with a grin.

"And Inge?"

"She will now be in Numavost with the children. She kept nagging about me staying home for a while but first Adam comes and now we are here and I think this is no matter that will be resolved in a couple of hours. But don't worry, Tiulisa is one of the strongest women I have ever seen. You could see us as comrades in arms."

"Which is quite another term than beloved." Soraya said with a disapproving glare at the Southern Elf.

"So, you are staying with the queen now. How's your son?"

"He's only five years old but he takes a liking to his mother. He's smart, clever and very small. But I'm sure he will grow to do great deeds in his life. His name is Edward, and you will meet him in the royal palace."

"Long time since I was here last time. It was fun, fighting that metal golem and that druid you had after you while you had your way with that half-orc razorwarrior. Well, this doesn't look like a town on the verge of war."

"They have not heard the official declarations yet. But a few parties have come to join our army and I will see to it that you will also be our warlords."

"Of course we will help you with this. Ah, there's the palace. Let's see how this little princess became a queen. Is she already as fat as most of the locals here? Do the people here still only worship Roelof?"

"Even if the queen wanted she could not become fat. There are still some good cooks here who call themselves priests of Roelof but it's not as bad as some six years ago."

"Okay, we will see. First we have to find these elves as soon as possible."

 

        Chapter Three

 

As they entered the palace Bulldozer had trouble remembering what the palace had looked like six years ago. Cyber laughed and told him that little had changed but Bulldozer had only been in the palace for a short time and Cyber had been there some longer. He showed the balcony on which he had climbed time after time to talk to Catherine at night and how he could climb up there.

"I had to take a great risk because I could bear little arms and no armour. I couldn't climb that well in full armour then."

"You can now?"

"Of course. I have had much training, also in unarmed combat and I can tell you that I can be a challenge to you now when it comes to unarmed combat."

Bulldozer laughed: "Then you must have had terrific training indeed, to have not only the skill but also the guts to say it. I remember well your skills in unarmed combat."

"Yes, I was a slouch. But I learned that I can do well without weapons as well now. The eastern training worked well."

"Eastern training definitely works, it's very effective and when taught by a good teacher, the pupil cannot but succeed." Bulldozer nodded.

"Now here comes the queen." Cyber said.

Queen Catherine II entered the hall of the castle and the newcomers bowed deeply for the queen.

"Queen Catherine? Yeah I remember you. Last time I saw you, you were floating in the air because of that metal golem Redeyes."

"Welcome fearless warrior Bulldozer. Welcome to Akrilonia." the queen spoke in courtly manner, "But please do not remind us anymore of that terrible time. It was a bad time for us and we are glad you were there to help us. Be hereby be invited by us to spend your time at our castle as long as you wish for the gates will always be open for you."

"Well, thank you. We need a place to stay, anyway." Bulldozer answered some less courtly. But the queen was fully prepared for him and knew not to bother his speech.

"To introduce my friends to your highness:" Bulldozer continued in a way he used rarely, "Sir Adam Warlock, knight of Drachlich and Tiulisa, leader of the Southern Elves, the band of elves that has provided me with the Goldstone."

"Welcome, all of you, to Akrilonia. Mimi will show you to your rooms, if you follow her."

A fat woman entered the hall and motioned to the guests. She was the same councillor that they had met years ago, a former resident of Catilae and friend of Cyber's. Soraya also knew her still. The three new guests were large luxurious rooms, with large bath tubs, soft beds, a table, luxurious chairs and two large chests for their possessions. Here they also found local clothing.

"Forget it, I'm not wearing those stupid robes again. I'm a Vascarian and proud enough of it to show it. They will know anyway that we are here." Bulldozer said with a snort of derision.

The wide red robes that were there for him were making him look like a madman, so he said, and he was not willing to have a reputation like that.

Adam came back in long blue robes but his armour was underneath it.

Tiulisa was definitely happy in the new clothes instead of her travelling gear. A long pink dress - the queen's favourite colour - was held together by a broad white belt with silver embedded in it.

Her long black hair was coiled in thick braids and ornamented with gold while her face was powdered and small black lines accented her slanted eyes. Flowers were attached to her shoulders and in her hair and she looked like an eastern princess.

"Ma Tyf, you look terrific, Tiulisa." Bulldozer said. She sent him a happy smile and offered her left arm.

Cyber looked surprised when the three went to the dining hall for the banquet that was organized in their honour.

"Bulldozer, why have you not changed clothing? You look like a barbarian, especially in the company of Adam and Tiliusa."

"Tiulisa." Bulldozer corrected, "Well that's me. Are you seriously saying that I should don those robes again?"

"I am, there is a royal banquet for which you are invited and there are no battles to be fought. You are a guest of honour, so dress up for it."

"I hate this." Bulldozer groaned but turned around to come back with wide black leggings of fine velvet and long red robes that covered his body and his legs down to his knees but underneath it red dragon scales could be seen as well as a brown leather sword belt.

Cyber had to settle for this and accompanied by Soraya he followed the three to the dining hall.

They sat down and saw some nobles enter as well, giving the newcomers some strange looks. But finally the queen, accompanied by a little boy, entered and sat down at the head of the table. Some young woman took the boy away and brought him to another room. Bulldozer raised his eyebrows: this had to be Cyber's son. He could clearly see the black hair and the grey eyes of the small child, combined with the noble features of both his parents. He didn't know what Cyber had looked like when he was young, but this child surely was fragile and thin.

He noticed that Cyber's eyes were also following the boy but the boy was totally ignorant and followed the young woman.

Cyber knew. A royal child is then too young to attend banquets like these and was brought to his room, but not before he got the share of all the delicious food he wanted. How many times had Soraya been there, taking him first into the kitchen and then to his room?

Vivid memories returned and Soraya, who was sitting next to him, understood. But there was one thing she didn't understand: the situation with the dark elf who called herself Southern elf. But she knew she would find out everything she ever wanted to know about her.

Soraya admitted that she looked gorgeous and saw that many men were looking at her. Then she felt a little peculiar and looked around.

Some men were staring at the Southern elf with admiring looks and seemed to be totally unaware that their own wives were sitting next to them. She was sitting next to her and knew that this was a rare chance to talk. The banquet started and Soraya was surprised to see how much there was. But then she looked around and saw that most of the nobles were fat, as well as their wives. The cooks, who called themselves the priests of Roelof, came in with large platters of deer, boar, vegetables, fruits, bread and bowls of sauces.

The guests were attacking the food with a ferocity they would win any war with and started eating as fast as they could. Cyber was also eating as much as ever and he could compete well with the locals, be it that he never touched any kind of meat, as battlemages were not allowed to eat it. Bulldozer was also eating much and next to Soraya, Tiulisa also looked starved. In fact, Soraya and queen Catherine seemed to be the only ones who were not eating as much and as fast as they could.

She saw that Cyber and queen Catherine were chatting and Cyber was not paying any attention to Soraya at all, so she took the opportunity to talk to Tiulisa. In the Numavost elven language she asked a question hesitantly, but found out that the Southern elf could understand every word of it and spoke it as well, fluently though with a different accent. She told the story of their origins and the blessing of the god that resulted in the charming of mankind.

Soraya even started to like her but was worried about Bulldozer and Inge, should this Tiulisa try to work herself in between. So Soraya made no bones about it and told Tiulisa that Bulldozer was married and that he had two children.

"Of course, Mo'Tha has told me this. He and his elven wife Ignastasias are happy." she told Soraya, much to her surprise.

"Aye, I know it and I don't want you to be afraid that I will try to separate them. We have too much pride for things like that."

Soraya still was not convinced. "You called him 'beloved'."

"So I did, so I do. I love Mo'Tha, and he loves me. But that does not mean I will interfere with his marriage. We are just friends. He does not cheat on his wife, we are just together, that's all. And it is my destiny to follow him, he... "

"He does not love you. He simply falls for the charm given to you by A'Than. As soon as he's not with you, he forgets all his feelings for you."

"I wouldn't bet, that's not true." said a voice suddenly.

"I have been going around with those two for the past weeks and I know he has feelings for her but as she said, they don't forget his marriage." It was the telepathical voice of the Dragonknight that had spoken and Soraya looked surprised at the other end of the table, where Adam and Bulldozer were in deep discussion.

Soraya turned back to Tiulisa. "Okay, then he does love you. But he can't forget Ignastasias or else he will have me on his neck. Ignastasias, or Princess Ignastasias she is now that Klarenyrius Aken is king of Numavost, is a long-time friend of mine."

"What about Inge?" came suddenly the booming voice of Bulldozer's from the other side of the table.

"That she's also a princess now." Soraya said with a sweet smile.

"Yeah. Well, you know the situation. It's only logical." "Tell me about this, I don't know what has transpired there the past four years." Adam said.

"Well, the old king died and because his wife died only six months after their wedding, he had no heir. He was a strict elf who married for life and so he had no heir. When he was dying he pointed Klaren Aken as his heir, and so Klaren is now king of Numavost."

"You say elves marry for life. Elves marry the chosen one of their parents or marry not at all. But Inge killed her betrothed by accident and still you married her afterwards." "Yeah, she broke with the rules but it didn't matter since she broke the rules by marrying a human as well, so it doesn't matter."

"So if Klaren Aken dies Inge becomes queen of Numavost and you become king?"

"Husband of the queen. The elves have talked about this and decided of course that a human can't be king of Numavost. Well, I don't care. If Klaren will die a natural death I will die before he does."

"I wouldn't count on that." Adam said.

"But of course! I'm twenty-seven and have about fifty years to live when I'm lucky. Klaren is about 220 years old and has at least a century to live."

"You have longer to live, big guy. What I have noticed over the years: you don't age when wearing your scale mail. I have studied your body from the outside through time and you age as fast as I do."

"As fast as a... well, you know what?"

"Aye. Because of your scale mail you also get a longer lifespan which is that of a mandrake because you are a human with dragon scales."

"I thought the mail only dispelled magic."

"It doesn't even dispel magic." Adam said.

"Then what?"

"As we saw earlier, on Riatoria, you can wield your magic any way you like it and as much as you like. The energy that is the magic can't appear out of thin air, so to say. It must come from somewhere and it's not from you since you can't wield magic without your mail. But since the mail is only an extension of your body when you wear it, it absorbs the magic energy used against you and stores it in your body. When you take it off, there will remain magic in the mail itself but when there is too much stored it will be lost. But the capacity of the mail seems to be enormous. That's why I asked you to take your mail off last time, remember?" "Aye." "If the mail was full and you had magic left, it would have reacted and I could have sensed it. But when you put it back on it floated back into your body."

"So I have magical energy in my body and that's why I can wield it?" Bulldozer asked, not believing.

"Aye. You don't dispel magic, as you always thought, you absorb it. And you let it out again by wielding it. So there is a chance that someday your magic wielding won't work anymore. Then all that has to be happening is that somebody casts spells at you, to feed so to say. But you have had many, many stand-offs with mages, such as Black Akira, Samat and many other mages who casted many spells at you before you killed them, to show off. Only the blast of dragon magic that Black Akira fired at you allows you to cast a lightning bolt or twenty."

"Wow. And Inge had practised much magic with me, she fired much at me. So I stored all that as well?"

"You did."

Bulldozer nodded.

"Is this dangerous?"

"I don't know. Don't forget that this mail was forged by dragon magic. I don't know its limits, nor do I know of any dangers. The one who could tell you more about it has died, it is the woman Cyber talked about."

"So, we are just have to wait and to find out?"

"Sort of, aye."

"What do you think the dangers can possibly be?"

"I don't know, but I don't know if there's a limit to the amount of magic that can be stored in your body. Maybe too much can be dangerous."

Bulldozer took another bite of deer and then looked at a child which was peeking around a corner.

"Adam, do you know that child over there?"

"I have not come here after this kid was born so to see. Why? Wait... now that you say it... he looks familiar in a way."

"But that's impossible. Like you said, we have not been here for a while."

"I don't know, but he reminds me of someone. I didn't see his face well enough to say, but... something weird is going on." "We have to talk to Cyber."

"Not now. Ma Tyf, I can understand why everyone is so damn fat here. Look at the amounts the people are eating!"

"I have noticed. They all eat as much as possible. And the cooks even come with more."

"Still more? Damn, I'm stuffed."

"So am I."

"Already? You ate very little!"

"I don't need much."

"Not a dragon's stomach, as the saying goes, eh?"

"Definitely not."

They suddenly saw the queen rising. From somewhere, the sound of a bell came and the crowd silenced immediately.

"Friends of Akrilonia. We have just received a message from my former husband Thane Osrick of Rodope. He demands that we surrender our city to be once again under his reign else his gathered troops will attack our beloved city. Already his forces are gathering in Rodope to start a march against us."

The crowd looked alarmed and started to panic.

"Do not panic, dear citizens of Akrilonia. We have gathered enough soldiers to make a stand against Thane Osrick and his evil troops. What's more, we have gathered some excellent generals, heroes from the Western Realm of Vascaria, to aid us. May we introduce Bulldozer Rockscale from Pezar, hero of the Second Crusade, first class warrior. Sir Adam Warlock, knight of Drachlich from Dragon Peak. Soraya, elven

magewarrior. Cyber Castlestone of Uiostac, battlemage and Tiulisa, leader of the Southern Elves, warrior. Together we will fight off the threat. Gather your volunteers and mobilize them by morning. We need the aid of all those who can fight at our side."

The nobles nodded and started discussions again. But now most talks were talks of war.

"Rodope will have one distinct advantage over us. We will fight with an army of fatso's." Bulldozer snorted. Adam shook his head.

"The city of Rodope is not much different. There have been so many wars between this town that when Queen Agatha died and Catherine became queen, a marriage between her and Thane Osrick was arranged to unite the towns and enforce peace. Queen Catherine, who is also a magic user of some powers not to underestimate, gave the thane two twin daughters of which one is still here. But they are still infants. That much Cyber told me already."

"Something's gotta happen here. When will this banquet be over? We need to talk, the three of us."

"Aye, much so." Adam agreed, "But I fear this will go on for a while, the nobles don't seem to be finished yet and I still spot fresh boar and lamb being roasted in the kitchen."

"I have got enough of this." Bulldozer snorted.

He was no longer eating and waited till Cyber had finally finished eating. Cyber noticed this and when he was finished, he excused himself to the queen and rose.

"You coming?"

"Right away." Bulldozer said and rose from his seat, followed by Adam. They all went to Bulldozer's room where Adam started casting.

"What's that? A scrying spell?"

"No, one of the spells I have been able to cast ever since I joined the knighthood and which Cyber is also able to cast when he's still got his paladin clerical spells: a spell of silence. I have cast spells of silence on the walls so that nobody can eavesdrop on us. Outside they hear as much as if there was nobody in here."

"Okay, then that's arranged. So, what's going on? All I know is that we have to meet some elves for the staff sling that belongs to the stone which I have here, the Goldstone. The Southern Elves proclaimed I am the chosen one their prophecy talks about. And now I see a child which looks familiar somehow,and also to Adam, though we have not been here for some years, the last time Adam was here was half a century ago and this kid can't be over seven years or so."

"Which kid are you talking about?"

Adam casted a spell and brought the image of the kid to Cyber's mind.

"Now that kid also looks familiar to me. Though I can't seem to remember. Could you keep it up a little longer?"

"Memorize it yourself. Something in me tells me that we have to remember this kid very well. If I have seen it before, it's totally strange and there must be more to him than meets the eye."

"Can't you scry at the boy?" Bulldozer asked.

"I can't work magic to the outside unless I break the silence spell. So that will have to wait. Cyber, you told me briefly that you have become a battlemage and that the Matre Transcentral is dead. But how did you come there and what happened?"

Cyber started telling.

"This is important for all of us." Cyber said. He was pacing the room while Adam was sitting in a luxurious chair and Bulldozer was lying on his bed.

"The three of us have a strong bond of unison. Which is needed because there seems to be more than just this small war. Some people are trying to get at us and destroy us. As far as I have heard those are very powerful, though I have no clue who or what they are. Adam, you know so many prophecies, you know the one of the Three Dragons?" "The one of the Gold, the Silver and the Brass you mean?" "Aye, that one. The Matre was saying that it was about us. We all have our destiny in the games the gods play and somehow, the Matre was involved in this one. It was her destiny to train me as a battlemage while ours will determine the face of the world. The future of the world seems to be in our hands. I don't know why or how, but great evil seems to try to take over and we are here to stop them. This we have already done by defeating Black Akira, Samat, Redeyes, the Blue Temple, the Teutonic Revolution, the uniting of the elemental amulets and the defeating of the undead armies in the east."

"Ah, most of those victories are done by the two of you. I have been training as a knight in that time and have done little."

"Ah, but where would we have been without your knowledge? As the Matre pointed out, one of the main tasks of a mandrake is to gather and spread knowledge. She complimented you for doing your job very well for a 'youngster' like you. Aye, she called you that but she could, of course." Cyber smiled.

"The Three dragons, of course. I am the mandrake, born of dragon and human woman. Bulldozer wears the scale mail and seems to have a dragon's life span and you have developed the powers of the inner dragon and the dragon maw. That's how it all comes together. As Bulldozer said sometimes he felt a little like a dragon and that's when I started pondering about this prophecy but I couldn't find your place in it. But now all the pieces fall together."

Bulldozer looked up.

"What's this prophecy again? The last time we all hear about more and more prophecies we are to fulfil. It is that bad?"

"It is. As you know, most prophecies hang together on some bases. And we have fallen into a link of various prophecies that act like a puzzle which we need to solve one by one. This particular prophecy tells about three dragons which we are as I just said. The dragons fight the rest of the world and their success is doubted by many. But will they be successful, the golden dragon will go into glory, the silver dragon will retreat, the brass dragon will disappear."

"What does that mean? Does it mean one of us at least will die?"

"I don't know." Cyber said, "As it went during the Second Crusade, where many thought the prophecy was fulfilled, you took the glory, Adam became a knight, retreated so to say, and I was forgotten by many. Nobody knows if it will be the same this time, Matre said there were more of us but still the prophecy might already fulfilled."

"That could very well be the case." Adam said.

"But I don't want this glory-talk anymore." Bulldozer suddenly said.

"I am still young but Inge insists that it is me who retreats after this one, so I may be the silver dragon as well."

"So far I have always come out the worst, maybe it is finally time for the glory I deserve." Cyber added.

"Who knows? Maybe some higher power may call me to disappear and take the place of the Matre Transcentral now that she's gone. She had a high position, other than being herself in the Temple of Wajo. She was an important neutral party somewhere. She could not tell me where." Adam said after a moment of thought.

"By the way, what is the Southern Elf doing here? She has already given you the Goldstone and has now left her clan to follow you."

"I overheard part of her conversation with Soraya." Adam said.

"She wants to aid Bulldozer as much as she can. She loves him."

"Have you told her that you are married, Bulldozer?"

"Aye, she knows and so do I. But we are not having an affair or something like that, we are just good friends, that's all." Bulldozer defended himself.

"Well, her presence doesn't matter much. She might be a useful aid as is Soraya, whose powers can certainly be used."

"What powers does she have that you don't?" Bulldozer asked.

"None, but when I'm not there her powers come in handy."

"That's also true."

"By the way, do you know anything about nightmares?" Cyber asked.

"Nightmares? What about them?"

"Well, it started a while ago when I first entered the Temple of Wajo. I started getting some real weird nightmares. First I was fighting there, with you, Inge and all others with whom we had the adventure behind the magic wall, and everybody died. We were facing undead and in the end also you and Inge died and just as that dreadlord was approaching me I woke up." Cyber told and saw his words made impact.

"No, it was you who died last, you threw yourself into a beam of magic that was aimed at me!" Bulldozer said

"No way, you tried to protect me against the beam and your scale mail didn't work and you died because of the beam." Cyber protested.

"So your roles got changed a little so that each of you was the last one standing in your own nightmare. I myself saw the nightmare from a distance and you both died. Then the dreadlord Raika turned at me, while I had not been involved in the fighting. Just then I woke up."

"And you also were at that feast where Cyber grabbed Inge?" Bulldozer asked.

"I saw it all, aye."

"Then you know that Inge was kissing me back." Cyber said

"I did. And then Inge's face changed to Raika's."

"And I saw it back on Bulldozer's face." "Like I saw it on yours."

"This is totally weird. We all have the same nightmares from our own point of view with little adjustments while we don't see Adam. Real weird." Bulldozer said, stroking his chin in thoughts.

"Raika was the name indeed. Dreadlord Raika. I know all the dreadlords in Vascaria by name but I have never heard of somebody called Raika. The name also brings no position to me. The name sounds a little south-eastern. But you never know. It sounds like a human name to me."

"The face was so strange... absolutely not fitting in the heads we saw it in... too young."

"Young the face was, indeed."

"One more thing that we have to figure out. You think this Raika is a person who can control one's mind?"

"Control I wouldn't say. But a psychokinetic can bring these dreams via the dream realm. You remember how the half-elven harper Adler brought images to my mind, making me collapse. But this is one who goes into the dream realm and creates the dreams there and sends them."

"You think this Raika only wants to scare us with nightmares?" Bulldozer asked.

"You can't underestimate the power that can be behind a nightmare. The nightmare takes energy from you, because your spirit is fighting the nightmarish powers that take hold of you. That's why you wake up sweating. You don't rest when you have a nightmare so when you wake up you are not strengthened by rest but even weakened by the nightmare. While you have slept enough most of the time so that you can't catch sleep anymore. And you can be afraid to fall back asleep, afraid for another nightmare or the continuation of the one that woke you." Adam lectured.

"Probably. So this guy is trying to wear us down?"

"Maybe. Or maybe it is just a dabbler in art with special powers concerning dreams and he's just teasing us or experimenting."

"Let him choose someone else to experiment on. That nightmare with the spectre really scared me."

"Definitely. But they say that the dream is only the extension of your own fantasy. Then how can somebody create a dream and bring it to your mind?"

"That's very difficult but can be done through magic."

"But I also got a nightmare like this when I wore my scale mail. Is it not supposed to dispel the magic? Or absorb, I should say."

"So to see this goes through your mail." Cyber said.

"Remember that Redeyes could also drag you to the dream realm when we were here last time."

"Well, I have been back in the dream realm as I said and I studied a lot concerning this kind of magic to which I'm vulnerable. Now I have an amulet that will take me to the dream realm and back whenever I want to go. When somebody drags me there, it will cost him a lot of power and I can go back with ease."

"Where is that amulet?"

"This one."

"I believe I recognise this amulet. Where did you get it?"

"In the temple of Gwyniwhere in Carstol."

"Oh, there. The amulet is very valuable. Did you just get it?"

"The highpriest gave it to me. I know you will need it, he said. And a highpriest of the goddess of knowledge must have a lot of knowledge."

"The higher priests of Gwyniwhere are said to have foresight as well." Cyber added. Adam nodded.

"So you can't be taken by surprise anymore that way?"

"I can't. But I can now also, by magic wielding combined with this amulet, drag somebody into the dream realm myself where I will be the one who deals the cards."

"That's interesting. But as long as we don't know who this Raika is or where we can find him, we can't do anything against him. Or can you just picture the face and send dreams his way?"

"I can't, I tried. But the nightmares kept coming."

"Somebody's coming our way." Adam heard.

"How can you hear? You have casted the silence yourself."

"I see that Tiulisa, Soraya and the queen are coming this way."

"Does the silence last?"

"It does, as long as I want. Why?" Adam asked. With a motion of his hand, Bulldozer locked the door from the inside. Also the locking went without a sound.

 

"They are not here, I don't hear anything and Bulldozer locked his door." Soraya said

"That is nothing for him." she continued and peeked through the keyhole.

"There is something blocking the keyhole." she said, disappointed.

"All keyholes are blocked in the palace." Catherine said.

"Drat, so we have to assume they are not here. But where are they, then?"

"We have not checked Adam's room."

But they also found that room locked.

"Strange, they left, locked up everything and never told us where they went. They all left the banquet in quite a hurry and they went upstairs to their rooms. We have not seen them come downstairs, neither have the guards. They must be up here." Catherine said.

"Well, it seems they had something to discuss in private. These three know how to work as a team and maybe they are discussing strategy right now for the war that is coming."

"Maybe. Many things have happened since they parted last time and they have many things on their minds. So maybe they just went somewhere where they could talk quietly. Remember all three of them can fly."

"Fly?" Tiulise asked.

"Adam can cast a levitation spell, Bulldozer can wield his magic with the same result and Cyber has his battlemagic in which levitation is also important." Soraya explained.

Tiulisa looked at the door "Yet I sense their presence around here."

"Well, maybe they are sitting on the roof or somewhere. Anyway, they do a good job hiding so they don't want to be found. Let's keep the peace and let them. When they want to be seen they will appear anyway. And you sense their presence so well so we know nothing has happened." Soraya added with a bit of sarcasm in her voice. Despite all, she still didn't like the woman from the Prison Realm.

"Let's go back downstairs, we'll see them when they are ready."

 

"So, you will receive the staff sling that you must combine with the Goldstone. How will you know it is the right staff sling?"

"If it's the wrong one, the Goldstone will be lost again." Bulldozer just said.

"Which would be the biggest waste I could imagine." Adam said dryly "So how are you going to see it?" "I must trust the elves. They have been searching for it for so long, they must know it is the right one. You see the Goldstone, you know it's the real one."

"I agree, but there must be thousands of staff slings and they all look the same and you, while you have not seen the right sling before, must recognise one out of several thousands."

"Ask those elves how they come to it that this is the right one." Bulldozer said.

"I think you also have a problem with Tiulisa." Cyber said, "I can tell you by her looks that Soraya still doesn't like her, she's only been interrogating her in a way that reminds me of studying the enemy."

"Stupid elf. Tiulisa is not the enemy. Nor is she a threat to my marriage. Why does she involve herself with this anyway? It's none of her business." Bulldozer said in a sharp voice. Cyber started to protest but Adam calmed him down.

"But it's not only Soraya. I have looked around a bit and she attracted all of the men in the room."

"Right, but she is very pretty and especially tonight, in that dress the queen prepared for her. She really looked like a young eastern princess. Even if she didn't have the god's charm, she would have attracted anyone's attention, she looked gorgeous tonight."

"I must admit that." Cyber said quietly. Adam snorted.

"Looks ain't everything."

"What's the matter with you, Adam? Don't mandrakes have feelings for human beauty? Do they see only beauty in dragons?" Bulldozer asked. Adam sent him an angry look.

"Of course I see the beauty of this eastern elf. And I know she means well for all of us. But this petty conversation is boring me. There is somebody trying to spy on us, from inside the castle, I can feel it. I feel other eyes watching us as well. We must take every step we take with great caution, and a romantic affair of love can disturb everything. So we must stay alert."

"Of course, Adam. When ain't I alert? Even Tiulisa, beautiful and charming as she is, wears a heavy sword. I bet you noticed the bright silver dagger tucked in her sleeve in case of emergency. She is as much a trained fighter as I am. And that's what I admire in her, not only her gorgeous body. She is damn strong,too."

"I did see her muscled arms and legs when she was in full armour." Cyber said.

"She is indeed strong. And that blade she wields must be heavy, too. As a comrade in arms she will certainly be useful. And queen Catherine accepted her as a guest of honour as easily as yourself and Adam. Have you actually seen her in action already?"

"I haven't. But the tales she told didn't lie: they even had to fight off their own kind when they took flight to the Prison Realm. She is used to dangerous circumstances and adventure."

"Well, time to go down again. The girls must be worried where we are."

"Right, Adam. And there are things to find out, let's go." Bulldozer said and rose from his bed.

"I must see Soraya." Cyber said.

"Everything that is said here will remain between us." Adam said.

The two others nodded and they left the door after Adam broke the spell of silence.

        Chapter Four

 

When they went down again they saw that the banquet had turned into a drinking feast. The guests had sent messages for the people to grab their weapons but meanwhile the lords were not that anxious to go to the field when there was a feast going on, this being against all their principles. The threesome was not ready to party and went back upstairs at once, to their rooms to be rested when battle came fast.

Suddenly Tiulisa went to Bulldozer's room. She found him in full armour, resting comfortably on his bed. She sensed something and sat down in the soft, deep chair which she had moved over to near his bed.

She was not surprised when she saw black webs wheel over his head as if somebody was moving them constantly. She started reciting ancient words. Slowly the black webs dissolved into thin air. Then they came back again, and again Tiulisa repeated the words, this time in a sharper tone.

"Nobody will disturb my beloved's sleep." she warned the unseen person who sent the black webs. Being well over a hundred years old, she had heard of the art of dreamweaving and by the colour of the webs she could see that somebody was trying to give Bulldozer a nightmare. But she could prevent it.

"Sleep well, beloved Mo'Tha. Tiulisa will guard your sleep."

When dawn broke, she left the room quietly and went back to her own room where she lay down restlessly.

 

When they met again in the royal mess, they shared experiences.

"I had another nightmare, I guess I don't have to tell you." Cyber complained. He looked tired. Adam nodded, even his ageless eyes were rimmed black.

"Well I slept very well. Yes I have dreamt, but I have had no nightmare at all." He brushed some soil from his shoulder.

"Hey, is that not sleep spell powder?" Cyber asked. Adam caught a bit of the dust and checked it.

"Not at all, the sand required for sleep spells is much lighter in colour. This is... just dust, that's all. Bulldozer could never be magicked to sleep wearing his mail. You did sleep in your mail as I advised, didn't you?"

"Aye. What's all the fuss about dust? There are always dusty places, maybe the bed I slept in had not been dusted for a while. So what?"

"It's on such a strange place. Your shoulder. As if some dusty hand has lain on your shoulder."

"What is that supposed to mean? I slept alone tonight, if that's what you mean." Bulldozer said, clearly offended.

"Well now how come that while we always have had all those weird nightmares together you slept peacefully?"

"Strange indeed. I don't see what this dust has got to do with that. This is plain, ordinary dust... no, it's not! It's shred black webbing of some kind. And this webbing is used for dreamweaving, black webbing for a nightmare!"

"So you say I had a nightmare after all?"

"The webbing usually floats over you when you are having a nightmare and a dreamweaver is controlling it. We must assume that this dreamweaver we are talking about is this so-called dreadlord Raika with his young face. But here the webbing let loose and fell on your shoulder. Which means somebody interrupted the weaving of your version of our nightmares and so you could sleep peacefully. Somebody has been watching you closely, somebody with some knowledge concerning dreamweaving. And this person interfered with Raika's plans."

"Who?" Bulldozer wondered, "As I said, I slept alone, I was alone when I went to bed. I studied the room, there was nobody. And I am a light sleeper, when somebody would enter he would awaken me, you know." "I don't say the person who helped you was in your room, but close to you. Which could mean anywhere in the castle. No, that's not true. To break off the dreamweaving you must first see the webbing. And to see those black webbing in the dark is something truly difficult. Yes, somebody must have entered your room tonight and saved you from the nightmare, Bulldozer." Adam concluded.

"But then who can enter without me noticing it? And who would do such a thing?"

"I have a vague idea it's your Southern Elf." Cyber said.

"Tiulisa? Why would she do that? She's not a mage, she's a fighter."

"Ah, but you have known her for but a small time and you don't know if she's got other powers than those in her arms."

"But I never told her about my nightmares. Come on, I'm a man, I won't complain to a woman about bad dreams."

"That's true for sure. But she seems to know."

"You suggest she knows about those dreams 'cause she knows who makes them? Is she in league with this Raika perhaps?"

"No, but something's not right. Somebody sends dreams after us, Tiulisa enters your room and fights off your nightmare. Why?"

"I don't believe she means ill to any of us, and especially not to Bulldozer. Maybe she wanted to talk to him, maybe even make love to him, and found him asleep already. So she waited, hoping he might wake up but not wanting to wake her up herself, and guarded his sleep. And when she saw the webbing coming she fought them off as you said. After all, all elves can see in the dark. Maybe she's spent the whole night in your room."

"Well, I couldn't tell the difference. Okay, now I hear that I am supposed to have shared a nightmare with the two of you, but I didn't sleep by magic, I feel normal, there is nothing she had done to harm me while she certainly has the power to do that when she can enter my room without me waking up."

"That is definitely true. Well, be glad she guarded your sleep, what you missed was terrible. And Raika, of course."

"It's what you could have expected." Adam said.

"Who said it was Tiulisa who entered my room anyway? You said yourself that we were spied on from within the castle, the queen herself is a powerful magic user, you felt other eyes watching you as well. Maybe it was one of those eyes who guarded my sleep."

"Which wouldn't explain why they only guarded your sleep and let the two of us suffer at Raika's hands." Adam remarked.

"True enough."

"Well, let's have breakfast and get informed about the situation with our and our enemy's troops."

"Good point. There must be plenty to eat and I'm getting hungry again." Cyber said and went for breakfast.

"That guy is always hungry." Bulldozer grinned and followed. Adam smiled and followed suit.

 

After a rich breakfast they went outside and saw that the nobles had made no bones about it: armoured men were everywhere, the forges were blazing with smoke, forging new blades. On a large field a row of archers was working out with their longbows.

"Where are the girls?" Bulldozer wanted to know.

"Now that you mention them, I haven't seen them. And I also haven't seen the queen this morning. We are left to our own devices."

"Well, scry them if you will." Bulldozer suggested. Adam nodded and started casting, waving his hands around.

"I found Tiulisa in the woods near the city. The queen is there as well and I believe to see Soraya. Yes, it is she. And there are lots of elves dressed in red robes. Dryads."

"Oh, I remember those dryads. There is a magic forest where the trees talk. Well, I guess it were the dryads inside the trees."

"Indeed. Tiulisa and one of the dryads are executing a ritual. As they said, they have the staff sling. The Goldstone lies in it. That's why she took it last night. They are praying, preparing to present the staff sling and the Goldstone together to the chosen one, you. Soraya is watching at a distance, as if she doesn't trust any of them. While they are all elves, the only human being present there is the queen. She amazes me, Soraya."

"Don't forget she's a Greentown elf, and those are dryads and one she still sees as a dark elf."

"By the way, we left in the first place to find these Southern Elves. Shouldn't we inform Klaren Aken about them as we were supposed to do?"

"No need, I have given Kruntia the message which she undoubtedly delivered to Klaren."

"But Inge will be worried."

"Well, when we are finished with this she will be there."

"Can you scry out the troops of Rodope?"

"I have already. Thane Osrick, who wears a metal mask, probably in honour of his parallel which you killed, plans a full-scale attack on Akrilonia. He is gathering his troops and they look ready to

fight. But these towns are like those on the border of the Western Realm and the Teutonic Realm: there are always attacks and they are always ready to fight."

"Let's get it over with and bring a death blow to Rodope. Then this war will be over again in a few days." Bulldozer suggested.

"That's a possibility. But somewhere I see great evil."

"What kind?"

"I can't see very clear here, there are protection spells everywhere."

 

Not far away, in a dark room, sat twelve figures in dark grey robes, grey hoods cast low over their faces, revealing little.

"Very well, we are together. Together to fight off the gruesome threesome that is called the ABC-warriors. Dragonknight Adam Warlock, Bulldozer Rockscale and Cyber Castlestone. We are twelve against three, and they will stand no chance. We all know we face quite formidable opponents but our forces will bring them on their knees. All of us hold a grudge against one or more of this threesome, and so the spirit to beat them will surely be there. I am Ralbustan, demi-god of destruction, and I have called you." boomed a voice coming from the figure at the head of the table.

"Gegner Thunderfist, elven anti-paladin of the Teutonic Realm. Your battles with Cyber are famous throughout Vascaria and it is a miracle that he actually escaped alive last time. This time you'll have your revenge."

"Bet on it." came the stern reply from the anti-paladin.

"Axel, demon from the abyss, your escape denied by Admiruytrior III, will finally be free and get rid of him and his allies."

"Yessss." came a hissing voice from underneath a hood. Some of the people looked up, surprised to have a demon in their company.

"He will ssssuffer from my handsss and his ssssoul will be mine."

"Thane Osrick of Rodope, you will get revenge on Cyber, who gave your wife a child before you were there and you will also get revenge on the one who killed your Riatorian parallel Gave Ironclaw."

"With my troops they will be utterly destroyed."

"Black Skull, head of the assassins, lost his best men, a druid and a razorwarrior half-orc, to Cyber and Bulldozer. But this will be more than they can have."

"Indeed. I have already sent my prime assassin after them to weaken them with nightmares. Then they will be ready to be destroyed."

"Leh Ridd, Riatorian prime wizard, saw all his troops defeated by this threesome." Ralbustan continued.

"Aye. Nobody knew I was the one behind Gave Ironclaw and the striped pirates. But they killed them all. They will pay for what has cost me years of my life."

"Nehmireth, vampire, will not forget the brutal death her sister suffered at the hands of Bulldozer."

"Not before I sink my teeth in him." came the sepulchral voice.

"Prime Acolyte Quaid of what has been the Blue Temple, which has been destroyed by Cyber and of which its revival was brought down by Bulldozer and Adam."

"But we keep coming back, and this time they cannot stop us."

"High Lordpriest of Dune Kurian failed to stop this threesome as they brought together the elemental amulets to stop the Beholder from being raised."

"But they will not stop us from destroying them in the name of the darkknight."

"Witch Saianthua is only one from her coven who survived the attack of Adam and the Black Cross Legion. He will pay."

"Oh he will."

"Hokol, battlemage, cries for revenge on the murderer of his tutor, Matre Transcentral: Cyber."

"So her neutral path was not good enough to be of use, but Cyber has gone too far in killing her after she taught him everything."

Ralbustan saw no need to tell the battlemage what had really transpired.

"And Warlord Mael of Kranak-Prisha, where all his plans were disturbed by Cyber and later in Riatoria by Adam and Cyber."

"This time I am ready to lead Thane Osrick's troops to victory."

"This is the Shadow Cabinet, the one team to defeat this threesome. From all parts of this world and from other worlds I have chosen you to aid me here by defeating them with your enormous powers."

Suddenly Prime Acolyte Quaid rose, pointing an accusing finger at Mael, casting his hood back.

 "You are the one who destroyed our temple in Kranak-Prisha, murdered all acolytes in search of the crystal!"

"I was only obeying orders from my emperor. Dig into the abyss and get the story on him!" Mael shrugged.

"I have the sssstory." came the hissing reply from the demon.

"You mortalssss are all the ssssame. Forget thessse petty arguementssss. We are here to ssspill blood, but not our own."

"He's right for one." the Dunite said, "But do you seriously ask me to work together with assassin scum?"

"Talking is a weak cleric who looks so powerful but could not raise the Beholder just when they needed him most." countered Black Skull.

"It is of no use to use magic against Bulldozer, I guess we all know?"

"Ah, but nobody mentioned the battle magic I posses. I bet he's not resistant to that. If so, he would be resistant to life itself and he would be but an empty, lifeless shell. Apart from that, Cyber can be of no threat. He's just a fledgling, I have been a battlemage for fifty long years." the battlemage told proudly.

"Bah, any threesome, no matter how great, can be beaten by a thousand soldiers." Thane Osrick spat.

"Not when we talk three skilled fighters of the sword who also have powerful art at hand and centuries of all kinds of knowledge." warned Ralbustan.

"And how can she even get to his neck? She will be torn to shreds like her sister before she can even close to Bulldozer." Leh Ridd scoffed.

"I am prepared. I will be successful."

"I am anxious to hear your plans." Ralbustan said expectantly.

"Let's go out and kill them."

"No, they are strong. But my assassin is weakening them every day, giving them no rest at all. When they are weak we can attack."

"And what if they find him and kill him?"

"Ah, they will never find him. You see, he's inside the castle and he looks very innocent. As he's possessed, nobody will find out about him. Mind controlled is this little boy, using my gift of dreamweaving and telepathic control. As a long-time student of the Black Druid, I have these powers to control."

"Great. Take control of those three."

"Alas, they are too strong just to control. They carry charms and spells of resistance. But this child is weak and innocent. At day he is just a boy in the royal palace, at night he is me, haunting them in their dreams. This is a way to bring them down."

"Sounds interesting. But do you really think you can kill those with a few bad dreams?" Gegner said sceptically.

"Save your sarcasm, Thunderfist. Why could you not kill only one of them when he was weak?"

"If it weren't for that cursed elfwoman... "

"Yes, I know the story. I also know how weakened you were yourself. And Cyber is now stronger."

"Though my plan will bring him down, and the others, too." Black Skull was convinced, "Your silly war is just a mere distraction."

"It is, but when we are lucky it will be a lethal distraction." Thane Osrick snickered.

"We will combine our forces and defeat those three!" Ralbustan yelled.

 

"Do you think they stand a chance when you see what Ralbustan has come up with? It's surely a dangerous lot."

High above the world sat the archmage Taliesin in a large room where another person was present. Now, with his evil antagonist gone, the mist he used to surround himself in was gone.

In the looks of an equally old man in blue robes the god looked down.

"You know, old friend, that evil will turn upon itself. Already the members of Ralbustan's Shadow Cabinet started bickering. They are not going to work very well as a team. And while they are definitely powerful, they are not ready to face this threesome one by one."

"Indeed, all the teamwork we have seen so far is that Warlord Mael will lead Thane Osrick's troops, and that's nothing special. Mael has excellent leading qualities but he himself is not that formidable. While Thane Osrick is a mere puppet who will indeed only distract with his troops. But our threesome will get the Goldstone that is rightfully theirs. Let the game begin!"

 

"I have a feeling you will get the staff sling soon." Adam said.

"The ceremony's done?"

"I guess so, a ritual like this doesn't take much time. Our troops look fine, they are ready to defend. Time for war."

"Yeah." They had been walking for hours, inspecting the troops.

Everywhere they saw people preparing or already fully prepared for a tough fight. Fighters were sparring, sharpening their weapons. There were a few magic users around, the housemages of the twelve councillors.

They were studying in silence, preparing to cast many spells.

They walked back to the castle where they saw Tiulisa.

"Tonight you and I will go to the woods, where you will be presented the staff sling combined with the Goldstone. As prescribed, the leading dryad and I will be there."

"I demand to be present representing the elves of Greentown." Soraya said sternly.

"The elves of Greentown have never even tried to search for the most powerful weapon in the world." Tiulisa said seriously. It was obvious that this had been discussed before, "Neither did the elves of Western Numavost. So they have no business in this ceremony and thus their presence is forbidden by elven law. And if I am correct, these same laws count in Greentown and Western Numavost."

"But this is totally crazy that the higher elves have no right to be present in a ceremony of dryads and dark elves!" Soraya yelled frantically.

"Southern elf." Bulldozer corrected.

"Higher elves?" Tiulisa repeated, now angry, "Who do you think you are? Do you think your elven blood is any purer than ours just because you are from Greentown?"

"The gods punished the Gretonisi scum, with your skin, your hair, your eyes that mark you for evil for the rest of your life."

"I carry the signs that mark me for coming from the Eastern Realm, it is what the gods gave us not to be so unlike the rest of the people there." Tiulisa retorted.

"Is that what you really... "

"Soraya, shut up!" came suddenly a booming voice. Bulldozer was standing between the elfwomen, keeping them from flying into each other.

"Tiulisa is right: what did you ever do to find the Goldstone and the staff sling? Nothing, I doubt if you even ever heard of it. These elves have spent long years in search of the components and they are glorious to have found them. They have good rights to be there and you don't. And that you'd be standing far above these elves is total crap. Elves is elves, you always say. Though you never mean it."

"You Greentown elves are the most arrogant of them all while the Numavost elves forced king Klaren Aken to send humans, I'm as far as that. The elven council voted unanimously against going themselves." Adam added. After all, this his brother had told him in one of his secret reports.

Cyber didn't know what to say: he knew his friends were right.

Soraya left the room angry and walked outside.

"I have to go after her." Cyber excused himself, "You go to the woods and get it over with."

"Go."

Cyber followed Soraya quickly while Bulldozer held Tiulisa, who was weeping, close.

"She... she's so... discriminating!" she cried.

"I know. She's not behaving like herself the past weeks. Gods know what happened there at that temple but she's changed. I wonder if she knows anything about this that we don't know." Bulldozer said, thinking.

"I don't understand. She says she sees dryads as lower casts. There are many dryads in Greentown and they are fully accepted as equal there."

"Maybe the Greentown dryads are different. She seemed to be infuriated when Tiulisa named the Numavost we know as Western Numavost, as do all who come from what we call Dark Numavost. Both see their own place as the real Numavost though I must give the... Western lands that that's the original Numavost where the Rendonisi were cast out, the Numavost Gretonisi like you have never seen."

Tiulisa nodded, wiping her tears away with her woollen sleeve.

"I know, but we always talk about Western Numavost."

"Something you will have to forget when you want to live in this society. Especially when you are among other elves."

"Are you ready to go, beloved?"

Bulldozer nodded and took her arm. In full armour and his diamond sword on his belt, he left for the woods. Adam sighed and went upstairs to cast some scrying spells to follow both his friends.

 

"Soraya, what are you up to? Tiulisa seems a friendly elfwoman to me, she has even saved us already one time. She means only well for all of us, especially for Bulldozer with whom she's fallen in love with. There is absolutely no reason to treat her like this!" Cyber reprimanded.

"Come on, she will always be an outcast."

"She has never been cast out of Numavost, you can't blame her for what her ancestors did!"

But Soraya was way beyond reason.

"You are also choosing her side! You are a man, charmed like the rest. Charmed by the curse she carries, the curse the gods put on her as a perverted version of their own wish for the gods wouldn't give outcasts like she what they wanted. Don't you understand? Now she's not here, now she has no charm over you. Now you can think, can't you see?"

"It is you who cannot see. It is you who is blinded. By jealousy, perhaps. Because she's so beautiful, attracting so much more attention than you, because she has established something terrific: she's found the Goldstone. You know that collecting of the Goldstone and the staff sling has been a task for elves, and that the elves here said it was far beneath their concern to look for something they had to present to humans. You were too arrogant to take it seriously, and these elves were devoted to their task and worked long years to do what the god asked of them. You have forsaken, they have picked up the gauntlet. No, she is right, it is for those elves to be there when the weapon is presented. You denied your part of the bargain, then you can't take it back when the job is done."

"On which side are you anyway?" Soraya screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Cyber. He slapped the finger away.

"I am for the truth. And I know the truth as I told it."

Soraya shook her head and walked away.

"Soraya, come back!" Cyber yelled.

But Soraya acted as if she didn't hear and walked on.

 

"And so, in the name of A'Than, we present to the chosen one the most powerful weapon in the world: the staff sling and the Goldstone.

We must warn the chosen one to use the Goldstone to kill only, as it will kill upon use. And we must also warn the chosen one not to use the Goldstone on any other staff sling, catapult or sling, or the Goldstone will be lost again and the search continues though it won't be found until a new chosen one is found." the dryad spoke. Bulldozer nodded.

"Representing the dryads of Ternova, I present hereby to Bulldozer Rockscale of Pezar the staff sling, as A'Than is my witness."

The dryad stepped forward and presented the staff sling to Bulldozer, who took it. How little it weighed! Then Tiulisa stepped forward.

"Representing the Southern Elves of Vascaria, I present hereby to Bulldozer Rockscale of Pezar the Goldstone, as A'Than is my witness."

Bulldozer also received the Goldstone again. He put the stone in the sling and the Goldstone started to shine a bright Golden radiance.

"As the god foretold, the staff sling and the Goldstone are back together! Pray A'Than, the time of evil has ended. The chosen one has risen." the elves proclaimed. Bulldozer stood there, proud with the weapon.

 

"This is great. Cyber is alone now, sitting underneath a tree. His elfmaid has left him, and he is sitting in thoughts. I say we get him." Leh Ridd said, conjuring up a view on Cyber.

"This is my best part. I will finish him now." Gegner snarled.

"No way! I will get him, I have got something for him!" Prime Acolyte Quaid yelled.

"The man's a battlemage. And a battlemage can only be defeated by a better battlemage." Hokol said.

"The lover of Catherine of Akrilonia will not escape from me." Thane Osrick said.

"Kill him, any way you like. We must not forget to combine our powers. Attack him double, triple, quadruple or any way you want."

"No way, he's mine and I will get him alone."

"Mine. Mine alone."

"I have the biggest reason for revenge."

"Think so? No sir!"

"When I wassss alive... we usssed sssstrawsss." the demon hissed.

"He's right for one. This is a toss-up. Shortest straw goes." the Dunite said. And Mael, Thane Osrick, Hokol and Gegner pulled one.

"Hey, you broke that one off an inch! You are cheating!"

"I ain't. I got the shortest one." Gegner said. Angry, Warlord Mael crumbled his straw.

"And now I have the shortest one, two can play that game."

The rest of the company had to separate the two brawling members with all their force.

"Gegner Thunderfist did not cheat. There is no reason to bicker, he won his right fair and square." the High Lordpriest of Dune said calmly. "Sure?"

"Sure, I watch everything."

Gegner nodded satisfied and rose.

"I will bring you there, that goes faster. He cannot escape now." Leh Ridd said and started casting.

 

Cyber sat down in the darkness of the tree, the darkness he had learnt to be one with. Nobody seemed to notice him, he was either barely visible or the citizens were too occupied with war in their minds.

Gegner seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Now here somewhere he should be. But where? Has that fool wizard planted me somewhere else? Never liked him in the first place. Ah, there I see something."

Suddenly a loud whistle sounded and Cyber looked up. Immediately he saw a big man standing, looking around.

"Well well, we meet again." Gegner said loudly. Cyber already stood on his feet.

"You came off too easy last time when I was already tired. This time it won't help you, Gegner. This time you are going down."

"We'll see about that." Gegner replied as he drew his black blade. Cyber drew his dwarvensword, the only weapon he still carried, and saw that Gegner's blade was nearly invisible through the dark night. "So, where are all your weapons now, noble paladin?" Gegner asked with a cruel smile.

"I don't need them anymore. I'm not a paladin anymore, I'm a full-fledged battlemage."

"Which means?"

"Which means that you are no longer a match for me at all."

"I must see that!"

Gegner charged but all his blows were parried without effort.

"See, mister Thunderfist? How easy it is to parry and dodge all your silly attacks. You are no match at all."

Gegner, who was definitely one of the fastest of his kind, was surprised to see Cyber standing a few feet back all of a sudden, his sword Tilarids was standing in the ground in front of him. "Are you crazy?" Gegner asked. "How 'bout it?" came the reply.

"How about tearing you to shreds?" Gegner roared and attacked. With a fluid move, Cyber blocked the wrist and with another quick move he had Gegner's sword in his hands. He also planted it in the ground, next to his own sword.

"How 'bout it?" he repeated. Gegner saw he had to fight with his bare hands. "Now you'll see some speed." he grunted and closed in.

 

"This guy's crazy." Bulldozer said, sitting comfortably on a roof close to where the two were fighting.

"It's what you have always been doing."

"Gegner's not a guy the slouch I knew could beat without weapons."

"A battlemage can. Watch." Adam, who sat next to him, said.

Seeing Gegner, he had immediately alerted Bulldozer and together they had teleported close to Cyber.

"Ah, it's his man. Let's watch." Bulldozer said.

"He doesn't see him. He may not be surprised." Adam warned.

As an answer, Bulldozer whistled loudly on his fingers and they saw Cyber look up.

"Now he's spotted him." Bulldozer had said.

"Now let's see who's the better one now."

Gegner was fast, but not fast enough to avoid a series of jabs on his jaw from Cyber, who rolled away when Gegner tried to counter. Then he was back again, delivering a front kick that threw Gegner backwards.

Staggering, Gegner suddenly drew a wand and sent a beam of light to Cyber. Cyber jumped over the beam and heard that the beam of energy only had a short range.

"Hey, you are cheating!" he yelled.

"It's also a way to win, Fancy Moves."

"I guess it is." Cyber said and suddenly put his palms together and forth came a beam that caught the surprised Gegner. When Gegner rose he was hit by a second beam.

"Now what's that?"

"A way to win." Cyber smiled and followed up with a kick that sent the anti-paladin flying.

He followed up with a fierce chinlock and Gegner had to struggle not to have himself strangled. With his free hand he grabbed a dagger and stabbed on a place where Cyber's arm was. But suddenly the arm was gone and he stabbed himself in his throat.

"Ah, naughty boy. We fight weapons again? Fine with me."

Suddenly Cyber had his sword again and gave the choking Gegner his. Then he jumped away not to be surprised.

"Now it's you with the hole in your throat. Now you are mine."

 

"The fool's ruining everything! I told him he couldn't beat him!"

"Get him back here!" Warlord Mael grunted. Leh Ridd nodded.

"He won't stand a chance, I must get him back."

 

"Magic's coming this way."

"Dispel it then quickly!" Bulldozer said.

Adam was already casting and suddenly the magic was gone.

"I don't know what that was, but it was coming at Cyber and Gegner, not at us."

"The dark elf's got some magic help."

"Afraid so, I will continue to dispel every magic around them."

"Good, go on."

 

"Where is he now?"

"The magic was... blocked."

"Blocked?"

"Try again!" Thane Osrick urged him on.

"I must... " But again nothing happened when Leh Ridd finished casting. "Somebody's blocking my work."

"How can that be?"

"That knight! He must be around somewhere!"

"Then you go there! Finish them all!"

"I can't work magic to that area anymore, there are spells of dragonkind at work."

"Dragon magic?"

"No dragon magic, the man's only half-dragon. But his kind has special protective spells through which I can't go."

"So he's lost?"

"Unless he can save himself."

"Not with the mandrake around. That means that the warrior also can't be far."

"Then we can all attack! They can't possibly survive that!"

"No, they are alerted now. We must find a better opportunity."

"It's too late to save the elf. Ah, he was a weakling after all." Mael said scornfully.

 

"You know what you are?" Cyber said, closing in on his fallen foe, "You are lost!"

Gegner struggled and rose but Cyber was on the spot and kicked his feet away. Clutching his sword, Gegner suddenly rolled away and rose, his sword raised. He was bleeding from several severe wounds and standing by spirit alone.

"It ain't over till its over, Cyber. Else you would have been dead for quite a long time."

"Yeah, and now you will be dead, forever."

Gegner slashed but Cyber made the same move and as the swords clashed, Cyber quickly slid down with the edge, cut through Gegner's sword's crossbar and made a hard cut on the hand. Gegner screamed and dropped the sword. And then Cyber moved in and his sword circled in a wide arc.

"Farewell Gegner, you were a worthy opponent."

"The rest of the Shadow Cabinet will get you." were Gegner's last words before his head fell on the ground. With a deep sigh, Cyber sat down on the ground and picked up the black sword. He rose it in final salute to the dead and then saw Bulldozer and Adam coming at him.

"Well, it's been about ten years now but you finally got him." Bulldozer said.

"Aye. So many nights I have dreamt about this victory. And now it's mine. And with my newfound skills it was not half as difficult a victory as I always thought. Especially not after he slaughtered me last time in the north. This is my first major battle ever since my training. I'm satisfied."

"I can understand that. Man, you acted like myself, daring him to fight with his bare hands like that and giving him no chance." Bulldozer said with respect. Cyber nodded.

"Did you hear his last words? The rest of the Shadow Cabinet will get you, he said."

"I heard so. We must go back to the palace, we must talk."

"Yeah, let's go."

 

"That's one down, your eminence." Taliesin said, "I knew he could finally beat Gegner. Now he is fully trained, now he can face the world." Taliesin said proudly.

"Now he's finally got the confidence he needs."

"You have chosen wisely, Taliesin. As one of yourself, he has grown into a good young man. You can positively be proud of him."

"I am, my eminence, I am."

 

"I lost mental contact with Gegner. He's dead." Prime Acolyte Quaid said after a moment of horror in the shadowy room where the Prime Acolyte of the Blue Temple had rolled over the floor in pain, feeling Gegner's pain in order to know his status.

"I warned him, the fool." Hokol said, "Where are they now?"

"Back in the palace where they are safe. As lord Ralbustan said, today is not a good day to attack."

"Dunite, is there anything you can do for Gegner?"

"Were he a man? Aye. But he's elven, and once dead, there is nothing I can do for him, alas. The abyss be his final destination."

"That'sss what you thhhink."

"Okay, not in your case. But for a dark elf, aye. A demon elf is out of order."

"Too bad you are right." Ralbustan said.

"One hundred and twenty yearsss have I sssought to sssslay the mandrake who locked me in the abyssss. Now issss my time."

"The fool has even spoken too much before he died. They know the name of the Shadow Cabinet. They know we are here." Prime Acolyte Quaid said, cursing the bones of the dead anti-paladin.

"They will know soon enough anyway. Let them bathe in fear, I say."

"I wonder if this is enough to let them bathe in fear, Warlord Mael. They are all fearless fighters."

"Let's see how fearless they are when they face such a large army."

 

"The special forces have reported that the army is going to march. They have set the traps you have supplied."

"Good. Do our forces know where to stand?"

"They do. They will challenge."

"I learned this type of trap a good while ago and it still works. I remember when he used it against the easterners. Man where they blown away! Anyway, it's good that you also know how to make bombs like that, Cyber."

"Learned something in the Blue Temple about it."

"You have learned in the Blue Temple?" Bulldozer asked, not believing what Cyber just said.

"Aye, when the temple was just built it was really good. They invented new and dangerous weapons and things that could help society. But the Prime Acolytes perverted the goals and twisted it into a dangerous group with plans to conquer the world with this science they posses. That was when I left and started a campaign against them, one that succeeded gloriously but few ever knew I was responsible."

"We knew it. That's why we were there as well when they came back with power."

The queen left the hall and the threesome was left alone.

"The rest of the Shadow Cabinet will get you." Adam repeated.

"Did you see that grey tunic he wore? It bore a symbol. He has never worn that tunic before, I'm sure." Cyber said.

"I'm afraid that we will face a group of evil foes who seek to slay us. As I thought already, they have bundled their forces to put up against the three of us. Maybe this war is not the great trial we must face, maybe the confrontation with that Shadow Cabinet is."

"Well, we lead by one."

"Aye, but our game is over with three down, and who knows their number?"

"Right. But we don't go down easily."

"We don't know what we face."

"Do you think this dreamweaver is a member?"

"Probably. Which means that there is a great danger high powers are at work."

"I almost don't dare to fall asleep, knowing they are here."

"We don't know where they are. They have an advantage over us there. Gegner came in teleported. I think that those are the eyes watching us. Because when you wounded him severely, magic was coming at the two of you. Maybe to harm you, but when I dispelled it I saw it was directed at Gegner and not at you, because you were already a few feet from him and the beam of magic energy was pointed straight at Gegner. So I think they tried to teleport him back. And so I worked special magic to prevent the entrance of magic within an area where you were fighting. Magic tried again and again, but then it stopped and then you killed him. Who knows where they are?"

"From what distance can one teleport?"

"That can be quite some distance. But they must be here, in Ternova. Maybe this war comes together with the attack, which means Thane Osrick is a member. After all, he holds you responsible for the divorce, and the big guy killed his parallel."

"Right. What can we do?"

"We must kill Thane Osrick."

"Great. Where is he and how do we kill him? Ah, never mind, he will ride in the battle."

Bulldozer leaned back in the chair.

"That kid. Found out something about him?"

"Something I forgot all about. But he's a kid in the court, we will find out soon enough."

"Still I'm tired, we'll talk in the morning. And let's hope there are no bad dreams this night."

"Would be the first time that two came in two nights."

"Right, but maybe that attack will be intensified as well."

"I'm not going to sleep, I will stay awake and watch over you." Adam said.

The three went to their rooms where Bulldozer and Cyber immediately went to bed while Adam stayed up, studied a little, and observed his comrades to see if nothing happened. But it was a peaceful night in Ternova, standing on the verge of war.

 

 

         Chapter Five

 

"The troops have started marching against us, generals." reported a soldier in the army of Akrilonia.

"Are they going into the trap?"

"Marching straight to it, sir."

"Good. Set the archers and the footmen in position."

"In position, sir."

"Good. Is the area scried of magic?"

"Scried and clear, sir."

"Are our mages ready for action?"

"Concentrated and ready to cast, sir."

"Are the fat nobles in the front lines?"

"Euh... not so, sir. Should I order..."

Bulldozer smiled. "Never mind, just a joke. So, everything's set. How much time before they are in the trap?"

"We expect them in four sunbeams."

"Which is?"

"Why, four sunbeams."

"Seven hours." Adam translated.

"Seven hours. Strange indication of time they have here."

"Many things are different here. It is strange for us Vascarians. But they are not used to anything else. Prepare everything and see to it that nothing strange happens. If anything unusual happens report to us."

"Yes, sir. Good day, sir." The man walked out of the room with big steps and the threesome laughed.

"Saw his face when I asked if the nobles were all in the front line?" Bulldozer laughed.

"Ah, well. So within seven hours the battle will begin if they survive the trap."

"I think it's quite a good trap. They will see it, try it and think nothing happens. And then they will cross the invisible trap and up they go."

"Which takes quite a large field with it. And they will see that we are not afraid of them while we have certain powers. They will see." Cyber said.

"Indeed they will. Well, what do we do? Wait and see?"

"I see nothing else we can do."

They waited and when the time was there they went to the field of battle as they saw the enemy approach. The Akrilonian army was waiting for the hostile troops in a straight line, with the trapped field in between.

As they expected, the enemy chose the shortest way.

"Trap one sprung."

"Retreat, all of you! Give way, give way!" Bulldozer yelled.

As the Akrilonians retreated, the excited soldiers followed excitedly.

"Trap two will spring in a few seconds."

The Rodopians attacked en bloc and so a large rectangle of soldiers was approaching fast.

"Here goes." Adam said in anticipation when the first row of soldiers sprung the second trap. A series of explosions followed in which the rows of soldiers were blown up for a hundred yards, which wiped out the biggest part of the army. Surprised, the army didn't know what to do and now the Akrilonians charged and overwhelmed the soldiers with ease when suddenly a fiery red and black shape appeared to the horror of many.

The demon started to slay the helpless Akrilonians at will, scaring them with his deadly growls, when suddenly a bright red light filled the sky. Thane Osrick and Warlord Mael had already retreated when Adam appeared in the sky, facing the demon.

"Ah, foul wizard. I have come for you!" the demon spoke in its unholy voice. Hearing that voice alone could kill. Adam, though, used a spell to guard not only his own hearing, but that of the people below, too.

"Back to the pit, demon." Adam said and a beam of light shot from his hands.

"No, that'sss the sssame trick you did one hundred and twenty yearssss ago. Thissss time I'm prepared.Yessss, it'ssss me again."

Adam's face twisted into a grin of horror.

"I can sssstand thisss light now."

"Adam, focus it over here!" Bulldozer said, suddenly floating next to him.

He produced his diamond sword and as the sword reflected the light the air shone with a blinding brilliance. A horrible scream sounded and then it was quiet.

"We beat him Adam, he's back to the pit."

"Not so, he got out of here in time. Good idea to reflect the light off the diamond of the sword, Bulldozer."

"Well, else I would have used the Goldstone on it."

"No, don't! The Goldstone is to slay the living, but it has no effects on the dead. No, there are a few ways to exorcize demons, but this one seems to be prepared for the light. As he said, I chased him back to the pit a good century ago. Seems he's coming for revenge on me."

"And wearing the same grey clothes as Gegner."

"Shadow Cabinet. What kind of team could feature a dark elven anti-paladin from the Teutonic Realm and a demon?"

"Cyber's arch-enemy, an old enemy of yours... so to see it's enemies we made and didn't finish off."

"Which can be quite some. This demon, who was known as Axel the Black Conqueror in his living time some five centuries ago, could not accept death. Years and years he waited near the gate of the abyss, claiming he was only watching with interest who were coming in. The dreadguards were afraid he might escape since he was extremely mad when nobody raised him back on the face of the world. But he gained their trust when he watched for long years, and centuries later he finally got his chance when the guards left him alone at the gates. In a black shape he escaped back to the world where I, then a magic user in the Eastern Realm, crossed his path and together with a powerful human neutral cleric - his name was brother Florian if I recall correctly - I banished him from this plane and enraged he was sent back to the abyss where the guards caught him. I was very proud of myself then, being just a young mandrake about the compared age as you when you first joined the war."

"I can imagine that."

"Look, two more in grey right there."

"That must be Thane Osrick. And that bearded man looks familiar to me."

"Not to me. Let's first grab Osrick." Bulldozer said. From his hand shot a bolt of lightning which hit the Thane in the back.

"Don't kill him, try to grab him so that we can hold him for interrogation. We must know what this Shadow Cabinet is. And he certainly seems to be the weak link."

But before they could get at the thane and his companion, both men were gone.

"Hey, this is no fun anymore, just as I want them they disappear!" Bulldozer yelled.

"Somebody's keeping an eye on them. I could detect no means of teleportation on them, so somebody must have an eye on them to see when to call them back. Axel took flight, but these two were teleported to some place. Just like somebody tried to teleport Gegner back."

Cyber joined them again.

"Easy victory. Tell me, when did you learn about a trap like this?"

"Ah, I learned this in the Black Cross Legion some twenty years ago. Then the magic users laid spells on a field this big and waited till the enemy was in the field. Then they released the spells they had prepared and in one giant explosion the enemies were wiped out. The Legion was definitely one of the most interesting groups I have been in. They are all so special and so intelligent, they know many good ways to survive in battle. Even the minotaurs were interesting. They have quite different habits, ways of social life and they remind me of your family in the ways of living in competition for sports and fights. You know they are excellent wrestlers, seeing this as a combination of sports and combat, the two things they live for. But just like that they work hard in the forges of the Legion and they are so terribly strong."

 

"No, I wanna go back in there!" yelled Thane Osrick, "We have all been fooled by Akrilonia and this threesome, we can't let them walk over us just like that! Before we could even get at them we were defeated!"

"So they outsmarted you. Should have thought about that when getting hostile at that Cyber at once before you ran back to Rodope and declared war. You could have fooled him as well and strike just as he trusts you. You ruined everything for yourself, man." the High Lordpriest said.

"Oh yeah, you are the smartest man in Vascaria huh? Then you tell me how to defeat them. You said you were prepared, now back up for your strong talk." Thane Osrick challenged.

"I will use my minions to defeat them."

"Oh great. They were already responsible for the destruction of the undead army, the revived New Order of Bane and the Beholder not to forget. Then how can these minions take them?"

"Well, I hoped for some telepathic assistance. But now I see that I have a bigger help here in this Shadow Cabinet. You, Black Skull, terrorize them with nightmares tonight. And just as they wake up, they see their own nightmares come true. Because then I will send my minions to the castle and unprepared they will fall easy prey."

"You mean that Raika will be used for your goals?" Black Skull said sceptically, "you said that you didn't want to work with assassin scum."

"As you said, your assassin is to weaken them. And from what you told us, he might be discovered. Let Raika weaken them, I will deal the death blow. That way our goal is reached, and that is why we are here."

"He is right." Ralbustan said, "This is the key to victory. Assist him with anything he wants." he commanded.

 

That night, they went to bed early and even Adam went to sleep.

But somewhere in the palace, prince Edward could not sleep.

As Cyber's son, he wandered restlessly through his large room. He peeked around the corner and tiptoed through the hall and entered a room.

"Hey psst! Raika! You awake?" A small candle was burning and next to it, Edward saw the boy sitting on his bed, concentrating.

"Hey Eddie! Of course I'm awake. I slept early tonight, remember? What are you doing at this hour?" The boy called Raika looked at the prince with a playful young face some others in the palace remembered very well.

"I'm not sleepy. You have any games to play?"

"Oh yes, I do. You know the game of webbing?"

"What is that?"

"It's a trick I found out a while ago. I have found this strange webbing on some day. I was playing with it, thinking what I could do with it and then I saw images. Close your eyes and I will show you."

Prince Edward closed his eyes and suddenly saw Raika on the neck of a minotaur, pulling on the horns while the minotaur was running and jumping, all to entertain Raika. Then the face of Raika suddenly was visible in the face of the minotaur and Edward was sitting on the horned head. And the minotaur was dancing wildly and Edward had trouble to hold on. Then he opened his eyes and the images disappeared.

"Hey, that is cool!" Edward whispered excited.

"What do you use it for?"

"For fun."

"Yeah, great. How do you project it on someone?"

"Oh, you think of your victim and of what you want him or her to see and it all happens, beyond your wildest dreams."

"Cool. Can I play?"

"I don't know if you can do it, I mean, when I first used it I saw an image who told me only I can do it. I have the gift, he said. It was a big man with a black skin. You ever saw a man with a black skin?"

"Never. Must be some kind of wizard."

"I bet."

Suddenly the door opened and a chamberlain looked into the room.

"Prince Edward, what are you doing here? It's way past tensuns, you should be in bed by now!" The little son could protest for a long time but the big, fat chamberlain took him to his room. Raika was left alone and smiled.

 

Bulldozer was sleeping and again Tiulisa was there. And again the black webbing started to surround his head. Tiulisa knew what she had to do and once again got rid of them. Concerned, she shook Bulldozer's sleeping body.

"Beloved, wake up. You are in danger!"

Bulldozer opened his eyes slowly.

"Tiu... what... what are you doing here?"

"You were going to have a nightmare and I took it away. But your friends are in danger, too. We must save them."

Bulldozer rose slowly and grabbed his sword. He saw Tiulisa also wore her armour and sword. They woke up Cyber and Adam.

"Huh? Wha's going on?" Cyber asked sleepy when he saw Tiulisa near his bed.

"Quick, wake up, there is danger."

"You know you broke off a nightmare?" he asked.

She nodded shortly.

"Where's Bulldozer?"

"Waking up the Dragonknight."

Shortly afterwards they were all in Adam's room. Adam had cast spells of protection around it and spells of silence.

"You say there is danger. Meanwhile you save the big guy from a nightmare. Again, I assume. Tell me Tiulisa, what do you know that we don't know?"

"Aye, again. With the ancient elven spell of dispelling, I could free him from the nightmare in peace. The other way, waking you up, is somewhat more dangerous but there is no time. An attack is coming, right to the castle. Right to your rooms. And so I had to warn you."

"How do you know?"

"I have told you about us Southern Elves, how we begged the god. But he also gave us a sixth sense for danger. As soon as there is danger, we feel it. And so I felt a danger coming to Bulldozer two nights from here, and I saw it was a nightmare. But this time I felt a much bigger danger, an attack. And so I have come to warn you."

"Hmmm... now that you say it, I feel the same. Be alert, all of you."

And so they were not surprised when the undead armies broke through the door.

"Big guy, your light. Everybody close your eyes or be blinded!" Adam yelled. They closed their eyes and Bulldozer let the room bathe in a most brilliant light. The undead shrieked and fell to dust at once.

"You can stop now, Bulldozer." Adam said. Immediately the light that was so bright they were blinded even though they had shut their eyes, dimmed and for a moment they didn't see anything.

"I'm blind! Water!"

"No, a minute. Then your eyes will get used to the darkness again. I lit a candle. See it burning? Okay, your vision will come back by itself." Adam said, knowing.

"The bones attack." Bulldozer grunted. In the war, he had learned to call the undead warriors merely 'bones'.

"Through your magic protection field."

"I could not lie protection on the door, else everybody who wanted in would be electrified and that's not what you want."

"Tiulisa, you all-right?" Bulldozer asked, grabbing the fallen elfwoman who couldn't move. Adam patted his big arm.

"She's just shocked. If there's one thing the life-revering elves can't stand it's the undead. She will come over it. Put her in the chair."

A moment later she came to.

"So... horrible... " was all she could utter.

"Yeah, bones look pretty horrible. But they were gone in a few seconds. They are gone now, never mind." Bulldozer said gently, patting her wrist and holding her hand.

"I would have expected more movements in the palace after all these noises." Cyber remarked.

"Not with the silence spell. I only need a new door."

"So, we got an army, an anti-paladin, another man in grey at least, a demon and the undead. The undead wore no grey robes, though."

"Of course they didn't, Bulldozer." Cyber said, "It's not the undead minions who are in the Shadow Cabinet, it's the Dunite who's probably behind this attack."

"Not just the undead, these were the minions of the High Lordpriest of Dune." Adam said.

 "How can you tell?"

"Because of the small insignia on their skulls."

"Well, at least we know one foe. Pretty dangerous one at that."

"And we know another one. That second guy in grey was the man who attacked the amazon town in Riatoria."

"Warlord Mael!" Cyber exclaimed.

"Aye, Mael was his name. And Thane Osrick, of course. Gegner's dead. And Axel, the demon. Who knows what's more in store for us?"

"Raika."

"Of course, Raika. Never saw him in grey, though."

"I didn't get a chance to see him at all in this nightmare, Tiulisa broke it off just in time. I suspect one of the vultures would get his face soon enough."

"That's twice in three days, Raika must be pretty close. We must find out, his attacks are intensifying."

"Right."

 

The next morning they sat in the breakfast room together with the queen, the young prince and the infant princess.

"Oh mammie Rinsa was so hard on me last night!" Edward complained.

"Hard on you? Why, were you doing anything that you are not supposed to do?" the queen asked gently.

"No, I was only not sleepy last night and so I went to Raika and see if he was still up and then she dragged me back to my room and locked the door!"

The threesome stiffened at the name, but the queen didn't seem to notice.

"You should not go out that late, and I bet Raika was already sleeping. People don't like to be woken up, not even by a prince."

"He was not! He was playing with nice webbing with which he can give me cool images of sitting on a minotaur with his face!"

The queen frowned, "Minotaur with his face? Images with webbing?"

"Oh yes he says he found it some day and then he saw a man with black skin who told him he could use it. Can you imagine, mum? A man with black skin!"

"They... live where your father lives, Edward."

"Is that right daddy? Do you see men with black skins?"

It was not until then that the queen and Edward saw the strange looks on the companions' faces.

"Gentlemen, what's going on?"

"This Raika... who is he?"

"Oh,  just Edward's playmate, a six years old boy. Edward insists that he lives in the court and that's fine with me since he's a lonely orphan."

"Six years old?"

"The young face."

"The boy we saw at the banquet."

"Get him here!"

"But I don't know if he's awake, if he sleeps that late."

"Please get him here, my queen. It is very important to all of us." Adam said some friendlier than Bulldozer's command. The queen walked out and Adam looked at Bulldozer.

"When will you ever learn that you don't command a queen, especially in her own court?" Adam reprimanded. Bulldozer could only shrug. "She's getting him all-right. What does it matter anyway?"

Ten minutes later the chamberlain came in with the young boy. All three men recognized the young face that had haunted their dreams.

"Ah, whazzamatter? I'm sleepy, I wanna go back to bed." the child complained.

"Not until you tell me why you give us those nightmares." Bulldozer said in a stern voice. Now Raika looked up.

"You? Nightmares? No! I only use the webbing for funny pictures!" Raika protested.

"What do you call funny pictures? Nightmares of killing, blood, dreadlords, rapes?"

"Hey, watch your mouth against a little boy!" the chamberlain warned but nobody payed any attention to her.

"No, I only make funny pictures with flying, riding on horses with wings and minotaurs with big horns!"

Adam started casting.

Verification spell, Cyber knew. To his surprise, he saw Adam look away.

"This is strange. Totally strange. We must talk in private." he said.

"Can I go?" Raika asked.

"Yeah." Bulldozer just said.

"Oh no, wait a second." Adam started casting and after that, he touched the boy on its forehead. Then the boy ran away and the threesome looked around.

"There is nobody else here who can listen, we have our breakfast room in private silence all the time." the queen said.

"Why do you think it is Raika who gives you nightmares? We know something of dreamweaving and from what we have heard Raika has no evil mind to produce nightmares like the one Cyber has described to us. And your verification spell was positive as well. What was that last spell you cast when you touched his forehead?"

"As you said, my queen, this boy has no mind evil enough to produce these nightmares but yet he does, as all signs point to it that he is the one who gives us the nightmares as he shows his face in every one of them before he kills us. The nightmares always end with ourselves dead or wounded, at least one of us. Once I had a nightmare that my dragon Kruntia attacked me, tore me to shreds and then she transformed, sword in hand, and suddenly carried his face. It is practically impossible that this child knows anything about my friend dragon whom I ride in the order. That's why I set this mind view spell on him. I'm afraid Raika is possessed."

"Possessed? By whom?" "By this man with the black skin. From the way Edward talked about him, there are no black-skinned Ternovans. And that man ordered him to give us dreams of defeat. And he possibly filled some with the knowledge he bears about us."

"Notice that Raika wore grey pyjamas."

"He always wears his grey pyjamas the past weeks." the queen told.

"I don't understand anything of it. He's totally innocent yet totally guilty. I must find out more about that black-skinned man."

"Maybe I can help." Edward suddenly said.

"How?" Cyber asked.

"You know, I often talk to Raika. Maybe he will tell me more about that man."

"Excellent idea." Cyber said, patting the boy fondly on the head.

"You go to him tonight and ask him to describe that man."

Edward nodded, feeling himself very important. He left soon and promised to tell Cyber when he knew more.

"Smart kid." Cyber said proudly.

"Was expected knowing his parents." Adam said with a smile. Tiulisa entered the room.

"I'm glad she came with us." Adam told the queen, "Without her we would have been taken by surprise waking up after a terrible nightmare. Thanks to her quick actions we were fully prepared when the undead troops attacked."

"She told me she senses danger as it approaches. Do you know where the other elfwoman, Soraya, is?"

"Nope. She left the night before last after that discussion about the ceremony. As you know, I followed her and tried to talk to her but she was beyond reason. I have no clue where she is now or what she's doing." Cyber told.

"Adam, you have a way to sense magic. Could you try to search the area around Rodope where some great magic user can be? Because there is a good mage in that Cabinet, the one who teleports everyone when he's in danger."

"They are teleported somewhere, we have to know. And because the thane is in the Shadow Cabinet they must be around Rodope."

"That needn't be if the thane can always be teleported to Rodope and back." Adam mentioned, "But I don't believe so, I think you are right. I will try to find out where this Shadow Cabinet resides."

"I will lift the blocking spells around here." the queen said and with a few sharp commands and a gesture the protection was gone.

Adam started casting and then he murmured slowly, seeming to feel around with his outstretched arms. Then he suddenly withdrew his arms and shut his mouth, breaking off the chant.

"What's up?" Bulldozer asked, grabbing the shaking knight.

"In a small place near Rodope I had to stop sensing. I felt not only great magic, but also great clerical powers, powers from the Abyss - the demon, probably - and other powers. I could swear I sort of tasted some of the Blue Temple."

"The Blue Temple? Come on, that's nothing nowadays. Only Prime Acolyte Quaid and a few followers. They have no power."

"Maybe not, but they may never be underestimated."

 

"So Gegner failed and died, the demon almost got sent back, the dreams were once again interrupted, the Dunite failed, the army failed. When are you finally going to see that the way of the Blue Temple is the one that works?" Prime Acolyte Quaid asked in the Hall of Shadows.

"So a banished, undercover acolyte of the destroyed order of the Blue Temple will do what the High Lordpriest of Dune can't?" the Dunite said with dripping sarcasm.

"Of course. You failed, I can't do worse!"

"I wouldn't have failed if it weren't for that elf traitor!"

"Of course, that's what Gegner said. If it weren't. If they weren't alive we wouldn't sit here."

"That's why we probably all wish them dead." Warlord Mael uttered under his beard.

"Well you go ahead, come up with your plan."

"You listen. Though our temples are destroyed, the knowledge within it is not forgotten. We still have some artifacts that are in one piece, ready for action. One of the items is... "

 

"A wyrm!" Bulldozer shouted, pointing in the air.

"This is no dragon, nor is it a natural wyrm. This is a genetically altered combination between, I say, a hybernod and a lemern."

"Anyway, that means it's poisonous and it's coming straight at us!"

"Now learn one thing about these creatures. I told you, never underestimate the Blue Temple. There happens to be one thing that these creatures can't stand very well: ice."

"Oh, say that then at once!" Bulldozer said and the next moment cones of ice stormed straight to the creature. While the crowd below was panicking, Bulldozer and Adam combined their forces to freeze the creature. Finally, the creature crashed on the ground on a deserted field. It was already cold in Akrilonia, and the ground was frozen solid. The creature crashed into pieces.

"Careful, the pieces might live. Burn them." Cyber warned. Now the two sent fire to the pieces of the creature until it was completely burned up. Satisfied they looked at the small fire when a quake rumbled behind them. When they looked up they saw a metal monster fly through the air.

"This might be one of the things that Imm told about. Remember his tale, Adam? Built to battle dragons."

"So there must be somebody inside it."

"Aye. It's flying to the hills."

"No, it's flying towards us!"

"Well, another attack from the Blue Temple."

"Well, let's make it crash."

"How?"

At the same moment, the creature flew over them and dropped something. Quickly they jumped away and the explosion did no harm.

The golem turned around again and from the bottom shot two beams of fire. Again they had to jump away.

"Heh heh heh. See how scared they are? This will finish them!" Quaid laughed in an object.

"Finish them, then. It's nice but they are still standing!" came the gruff reply from Thane Osrick. Bulldozer now shot a ray of fire but this had no effect on the monster. Ice didn't work, either.

And when they saw that even lightning seemed to do no damage, they all wondered what to do.

"This may be dangerous, but I must try. Stand back." Cyber ordered.

As the golem flew by, Cyber shouted and released a large beam of bright blue energy. It connected hard and threw both Cyber and the golem backward.

But as Cyber rose, he had to jump from a heat ray that scorched the grass and saw his action had done no damage.

"Now that's something you should know with all your training in unarmed combat, Cyber." Bulldozer said.

"What do you mean?"

"Listen. It took the blow all-right, but it could regain its balance. Now what do you do to nail somebody who pushes you? Which way do you move?"

"The way you are being pushed, to use his own strength against him." "Right."

 "I see what you mean. Thank you for your good advice."

The next time the golem flew over , Cyber let out the same roar and sent the energy to the back of the golem. Suddenly a second beam shot forward and hit the golem in the back. This sent the golem forward with such a great speed that Prime Acolyte Quaid couldn't control it anymore and they watched with satisfaction as the golem crashed into the hillside of rock.

"So far for number two." Bulldozer said with a grin, "How many left?"

 

"Ten left, we lost the Prime Acolyte." Ralbustan said with a sour face.

"This has gone too far. We must try to act a little smarter, for a change." Leh Ridd said.

"What do you mean? Try to surprise them in their sleep again? That didn't work."

"No, I mean: let them surrender."

This resulted in some mocking laughter.

"Oh, you just give them a hint of your presence and they will willingly surrender." Hokol grinned.

"No, you battlefool! We all know the love Cyber holds for the elfwoman that has run away. What would he say if he would hear that we have her?"

"Great. Go tell him."

"Of course not, first we must get her. Which is not very difficult to do since she's walking outside, on her own."

"I forbid you this." came a sudden voice, "With Matre gone, she is with me the referee in this game, the neutral party."

"An elf the neutral party? We made no agreements on this, Taliesin!" Ralbustan shouted, "I play fair or I play not, and since she is a weak link in Cyber's defense and we made no agreements I will do with her whatever I like. That you agreed to something with her are your business with which I am not concerned at all as one forbidden thing is your interference, remember that?"

"I remember that." the voice said and died.

"So go on, capture her."

"Who was that?" Leh Ridd asked, surprised.

"Taliesin, the greatest neutral wizard who ever lived. I'm sure you heard of him. He's kind of keeping an eye on everything, striving to maintain the balance."

"But he won't bother us?"

"The last thing he may do is interfere, as I said. And he knows. Now he wanted to convince me not to do this, but he had no rights to do that. He is not my equal! Go capture the elfwoman!"

 

"Soraya might well be in danger." Tiulisa said suddenly. They were sitting near the fire, the cold walls of the building of the royal palace didn't do much against the cold that ruled outside.

"Your senses?"

"I feel something coming her way."

"Which way is that? We must find her before it's too late!"

"Alas, I can only sense it to a person, not to a location. I have no idea where she is right now. Maybe you can help, Sir Knight, since I understand that you also posses great magic powers."

"Indeed I do. I must scry for her." Adam started casting and waved around again.

"She's in the woods, near the place where you performed the ceremony."

"How do you know where we held the ceremony? You were not allowed to be there."

"Ah, but was there anything said about watching from a two miles distance?"

"You have been watching it from the palace?"

"I had to. I also had to watch Cyber since he also went out after Soraya and there was no place for me to go. Until Bulldozer was back and Cyber was attacked by the anti-paladin."

"Well you only sat on the roof and watched the show." Cyber added with a dry smile.

"Oh yeah? Only sit did we eh? Then where would you have been if it wasn't for my whistle?" Bulldozer asked.

"Right. But you didn't interfere with the fight. But you know that's what I want when I fight somebody."

"I know the warrior's code."

"I know, too. But we face opponents so formidable we might have to forget about rules and codes and struggle for survival." Adam said.

"Which means?"

"Whoever there are in that Shadow Cabinet, they all attack us alone. We stand the best chance against them when we work together as a team, not fight one on one."

"You are right. This is the battle of destiny: we versus the Shadow Cabinet, all the evil the world has to offer."

"Unfortunately not all of it, not the endless corruption in some big towns. But the most dangerous evil persons seem to be here."

Edward stormed into the room.

"Daddy! Master Bulldozer! Sir Adam!"

"Hi Edward. Can you tell us anything about the black-skinned man?"

"Well, he couldn't tell much, Raika couldn't. He found it difficult to describe such a strange man. He didn't see if the man had hair, his head was covered by a big black skull. A bare skull, of a dead man. All black. That's all he could tell."

"Well that's more than enough. Thank you, Edward." Adam said gently.

"At your service, Sir Knight. Tell me, are dragons really that big?"

"Well, you know the big dining hall?"

"A room that big? Wow."

"Kruntia, my silver dragon, would barely fit in it."

"Wow. Then how can all those dragons ever fit in Dragon Peak citadel?"

"You have no idea how big that place is. It is bigger than Akrilonia. And sometimes, when there is not enough space somewhere, the dragons cast a spell and then they look like an elf."

"An elf? Just like mistress Soraya or mistress Tiulisa?"

"Most like Soraya. But then more like when they are in dragon's shape. You will see a transformed brass dragon with auburn hair, a silver dragon with silvery hair, a bronze dragon with deep brown hair and a golden dragon with bright blond hair."

"Wow. I would really like to see a dragon."

Shortly afterwards Edward left.

"More than enough?"

"Aye. We are talking about a man named Black Skull, and he's the total ruler of the assassins in the Western Realm."

"I remember Black Skull! He was the one who sent that druid and half-orc razorwarrior after you, Cyber, when we were here last time!"

"I remember. So, he's in, too?"

"Probably."

"But let's not forget Soraya, we must go to the woods."

"Ready for some teleporting?"

"Always in the mood." Bulldozer smiled.

 

When they arrived at the spot they didn't see Soraya. They looked around and suddenly Bulldozer found something.

"Guess we are too late. There's been a struggle, here's a part of her belt. Ah, there's the rest of it."

"You think she's..." "Kidnapped, I think. Not dead. There's been a struggle but there's no blood. Damn, we spent too much time talking!”

"Kidnapped? By the Shadow Cabinet?"

"I guess so. Maybe the dryads can tell us more."

"Did you call, chosen one?" came a voice. Suddenly four dryads appeared.

"Yeah. Can you tell what happened to Soraya?"

"Alas, she wanted us to leave her alone. When we came to the scene, we saw her disappear in a mist with a woman with black hair. Her voice sounded hollow and... we are not sure if this was a living woman."

"An undead female?"

"A vampire." Adam nodded with a frown on his face.

"Vampires. Who of you has bad experiences with vampires?"

"Killed one once, in the Southern Realm when I was younger. Those two half-elves were there, one of them, the one who died in the quest behind the magic wall, Huyss, had been captured while Kimbo had gone adventuring with a party to rescue him. I happened to be at the spot earlier and I knew those people could never deal with that vampire. Lilith, her name was, and she terrorized a city there. I had received an emergency call from the mage Guldan, who was also captured by her. He's an old hermit there and an old friend of mine." Bulldozer told.

"I hope they take her to their hide-out, Because then we have got them."

"How?"

"Because we can follow her. I have made a link with her when I first scried her."

"Okay. But we can't possibly attack a place where there is the High Lordpriest of Dune, Warlord Mael, the demon, this vampire and who knows who else?"

"We must do something to rescue her."

"Right, Cyber. But how? Let's first wait and see."

"Wait? How could we wait until something happens to her?"

"She sought danger, she found it. There is nothing we can do now."

Cyber nodded.

"I know you are right, Adam. But I can't have peace with it. We have got to fight and defeat this Shadow Cabinet, not just let them attack and get away when we counter."

"And let's not forget Raika tonight. I will stay up."

"So will I."

"Let's go back to the palace.

Chapter Six

 

When it was night, Black Skull concentrated on the body he possessed.

He had terrible schemes in his head for the next nightmare he would inspire Raika to. But as Bulldozer and Cyber went to bed, Adam stayed up and activated the mind view he had put on the little boy.

And so he saw Black Skull's face appear in the boy's mind. Slowly he took over the mind and was not aware of the fact that his face was also shown in the mind of Adam, who showed it to Cyber and Bulldozer in return.

Then, suddenly, it was Black Skull who fell asleep, together with Raika.

"Now I have had it with you, man!" boomed the voice of Bulldozer over the child Raika. The big warrior seemed to have grown while the child seemed to have shrunk to infant-size. The long brown locks were threateningly flowing in a wind that wasn’t there.

"You have been playing, not knowing I know the playground."

"What do you mean?" Raika asked. It was a dream, all-right, but something was terribly wrong: this what not at all what he had meant to send to the threesome.

"I mean that you have been teasing us with these nightmares for no obvious reason. And now you are quitting it."

"You can't command me. Your dreams are my slaves."

"Aye, you can think so. But there is one thing you don't know. Well, you will know but then it's too late."

Suddenly Raika summoned great monsters, giant hulks, spiders, and even a white dragon.

"There you go. Kill him!"

"Now here's something funny." Bulldozer said, not at all scared.

With one commanding gesture, the monsters turned around, looked at the small child and saw a much easier prey there. Raika screamed in sheer terror as they advanced, their unholy eyes staring at him.

"My dreams are not your slaves, Raika. Yours are mine." Bulldozer spoke with an evil grin, "Just like you. You are mine! Mine! Mine!"

With a shock Black Skull rose. No, this can't be! Raika was too weak.

Again he worked his powers and again he fell down.

"So, Black Skull, you have come yourself." came the mocking voice.

Bulldozer was standing, sword in hand, over the body of the child.

"Yes, he's dead. Quite dead, as you see. He tried something too hard."

"Well, maybe you could beat him but you can never beat me. Here I am master. This is the Dream Realm, where I rule." Black Skull spoke.

"Erm... I wouldn't bet the house on it. You see, Blacky, I have been here more than once. I know what's transpiring here, I know the possibilities here."

"You can't know, the knowledge is secret and forbidden."

"Probably, to the ones the priests of Gwyniwhere fear evil of. But not to the hero of the Western Realm. Not to me. I know everything. And you are my slave."

"Never!" bellowed the head of the assassins. He drew a dagger. Suddenly the dagger tried to stab him. He couldn't control it anymore. As he looked in horror, the dagger became a snake which twisted around his wrist, going for the vein with sharp teeth. Black Skull could grab the head just in time but just then it became a dagger again and he cut himself on the razor-sharp edges. With a scream he let go of the dagger.

"Drawing steel against me? Tsk tsk, you should have known better."

Suddenly the head assassin found a large rock and he threw it in one fluid motion. Even as he threw he saw that it would miss Bulldozer by a mile. And then suddenly the rock became a boomerang which rallied back to Black Skull who ducked in a reflex.

"Nice try, Thick Skull." Bulldozer teased.

"Now it's time for a trick of mine. Watch."

Because Black Skull's spirit was still in Raika's room, he was still separated from his body. Now Adam started casting and there was nothing Black Skull could do as his body was automatically attracted by his spirit. His body floated through the air, finally coming together with his spirit. And so Black Skull lay motionless in Raika's room. Then Cyber entered this room. In the world of dreams, Black Skull looked desperate as he saw Cyber draw his sword.

"There is nothing more you can do, Black Skull." came Bulldozer's voice, "It is time to die."

Cyber plunged his blade in the heart of the man in grey and the head of the assassins of the Western Realm was no more. Bulldozer transported himself back to the real world.

"That was an excellent plan, Bulldozer. Capture his spirit, bring his body to his spirit and finish him off." Adam said.

"Still I would like to interrogate somebody." Bulldozer said.

"Did I kill him too early?" Cyber asked, looking up.

"No way, the last thing an assassin will do is talk when he knows he will die after all."

"You are right. Then who?"

"Well, that thane seems a weak link. We must get him. Where did you drag that body from, Adam?"

"From an underground room near Rodope, as you expected. I suspect this is where the members of the Shadow Cabinet reside."

"And where Soraya is?"

"Possibly."

"Then we must check it out. It's risky but sleeping is also risky."

"Not as risky as it used to be anyway. We'll see."

 

"Where's the assassin scum gone to?" High Lordpriest Kurian asked.

"He's gone. I don't know where he's gone."

"Can you scry him?"

"Ah, where would you all be without my magic powers?" Leh Ridd asked with a grin. When he was finished, he shook his head.

"He's lying dead in the royal palace. As far as I can dig, he's fallen asleep and dragged from here to the palace where they killed him."

"This is impossible."

"It is not. As he told us, he possessed a kid in the palace. Which means he has to split his mind from his body. They captured the mind and forced the body to come. Which is quite easy when the mind is under your control. Then they killed him by the sword. Seems his plan to control a mind backfired."

"I don't believe it. We are actually three down and we have not had a serious chance to get them! And now we do have the elfwoman and still nothing happens!"

"Something will happen when they will know more about us, that we have the elfwoman here. If they are stupid enough to come here we have them."

"Still, why don't we all attack at once?"

"That makes no sense. We would only bother each other in our ways, disrupt each other's spells and spoil each other's actions by our own." "He's right. Still there must be a way."

 

The next day they disposed of the body of Black Skull. With a spell of Adam's, the body disintegrated to prevent it from being raised.

"Well, let's go find Soraya." Cyber said.

"It is too dangerous to go there. We can't help her as long as she's held there. There are so many great powers there, it's impossible to do something as long as she's there." Adam said. Cyber remained silent for a while.

"Right, we will undoubtedly walk into a trap. We know where they are now, as they know where we are. And we can't go there."

"Which means they will have no use for Soraya as long as they hold her there. We won't come. We can't." Bulldozer said.

 

"Damn, who could have thought of that? They are not coming! They know it is too dangerous. They know we will finish them should they come here!"

"Which means that as they say, the elfwoman is of no use to us."

"Indeed. They are just a little smarter than we thought."

"I say we kill the elfwoman." Hokol said.

"She can be of use to us yet. We'll let her go."

"Let her go? All this trouble for nothing? You are outta yer mind, wizard!"

"She can be of use to us, with the vampire in her shadow."

The female vampire looked up.

"Indeed, this trick will exterminate them. I will do it, come on."

 

All of a sudden they saw the elfwoman again. She came running towards them and Cyber ran, too.

"Soraya!" he yelled. She fell in his strong arms and cried.

"It was so terrible." she whispered, tears running down her face.

"Tell us exactly what happened." Adam said. Back in the palace, Soraya sat down on a chair and started to tell her story.

"And then there was a big man with a beard, I don't know who he is. I also saw a magic user and a Dunite. And then that undead creature... a vampire she was. So horrible. I fainted, and a real faint it was. And when I came to I was in a strange room. There were no candles or other sources of light but yet there was light, which seemed to come from everywhere. On the other hand, this meant there were shadows everywhere. The hall of Shadows, they called it. That vampire was looking at me all the time, as if she were ready to drink my blood. She looked so horrible, with her black hair, dead pale white skin and those big, hollow eyes with a spark of red in it. And then there was another undead creature, a demon he was. I couldn't bear the sight of him, he's so horrible... and there were more. There was a man with a beard, who shone a certain radiance. Old he was. A bearded human was there, the one who kidnapped me. Warlord Mael he called himself. And Thane Osrick of Rodope was there, too. The High Lordpriest of Dune himself was present, as well as a magic user who is dressed like a Riatorian mage. You know I have spent time there, I know he's from there. But he's extremely powerful as I could feel his powers. There was also another man, an eastern man with long black-grey hair he was. He was called battlefool. I'm not sure, but he looks like you, Cyber: a battlemage."

"Battlemage?" Cyber repeated.

"Who else were there?"

"I saw a thin woman in deep purple and black. I think she is a witch."

"Which is of course a nice one for a Warlock or one who calls himself thus." Bulldozer joked. But Adam looked serious.

"I do remember a witch who escaped after we destroyed the Coven of the Eye. In a battle with the Black Cross Legion they were defeated and killed but one escaped. Two of the members have become ill and they fear it's the witch's curse which has befallen them. The witch must be destroyed else they might die. They have sufferred for almost a decade now but once their bodies will fail them."

"Well, I guess we know all, except that bearded man of which you told he had a certain radiance about himself."

"Aye, he looked like he was the leader of the pack. There was something frightening about him. He cast a few side glances at me... he looks familiar in a way, like I have seen him before. But I can't place the view."

"Could you give me a description or an image?" Adam asked.

Soraya nodded and started casting. But Adam shook his head when a perverted image of a boar came to his mind.

"That's not the man, this looks more like a wereboar."

"I'm sorry, but I can't seem to get a proper vision of him again. I don't know where this boar came from but that's all I can conjure up." "Weird."

Suddenly Tiulisa entered the room. They had wondered how the elves would react when they met again. But to their amazement,Soraya rose and held her hands open to embrace Tiulisa.

"Dear Tiulisa, I want to make apologies for my behaviour last time. I am sorry and it won't happen again, sister."

If the three men weren't prepared for this reaction, they definitely weren't for Tiulisa's. She backed off hurriedly, making signs to ward off evil.

"Go away, creature of the darkness! Go away, and let this elfwoman alone!"

"What are you talking about?" Cyber asked. Bulldozer cast a quick glance at Adam who nodded and started casting to detect evil. But Soraya was still paying full attention to Tiulisa.

"You can't mean this, my dear. I am not a creature of the darkness, I am Soraya, remember? And I saw you were right, elves will be elves."

"This has no use, creature. Show yourself and leave Soraya!" Tiulisa said with a voice filled with horror. Suddenly another creature filled the room, leaving the shell of Soraya's body in which it had been hiding.

Soraya collapsed and the vampire attacked, reaching out with her unliving arms, shrieking her horrible shriek of death. As Cyber stood paralysed, Adam held up his arm and a medallion.

"In the name of Drachlich, go back to the pit where you belong, dwelling in eternal darkness!" but this had no effect.

"Hey, you look familiar in a way." Bulldozer said. Now the vampire turned around.

"Familiar do I look? Your memory serves you well when it's too late, warrior. Now you remember my sister which you sent to the pit! And now I will send you to her, how do you like that, warrior?"

"Well, not too bad. She didn't look bad for a vampire after all. She was damn pretty, especially for a dead one."

Suddenly Adam inhaled deeply and a beam of fire shot from his mouth, straight into the vampire.

"Turn to dust, I say." Bulldozer said.

Which was exactly what the vampire did, fire being the one thing she could not stand. Adam inhaled and exhaled again and this time she was totally gone.

"Nice breathing, Adam."

"I couldn't release a fireball in a room this small. Cyber, see to Soraya. She can be in danger. I must work some magic."

"Soraya, in danger?"

"She has been shadowed by a vampire. This can be dangerous, especially for elves, who are sensitive for things like this. You'd better bring her to her room and let her rest."

As Cyber took Soraya in his arms and carried her away, Bulldozer caught Tiulisa.

"I am so glad you have this sense that warns for danger." he said to the shaking elf.

"I could not see her face... I could only see that terrible face of the vampire." she told.

"Beloved, when will this attack of the dead be gone? This is becoming too much for me."

 

"Damn, how could she make that blunder?" Leh Ridd said in disgust.

"What blunder?" Mael asked.

"She listened to that fool warrior, talked to him instead of surprising him and finishing him off. And then the mandrake breathed fire and she's gone."

"Damn vampire, she should have ignored him and attacked at once. She had the power to destroy at least one of them. If she would have waited till Soraya was alone with Cyber she could have finished him off at least with ease."

"She was out for revenge on Bulldozer, and forgot about the rest. And of course that damn elfwoman with her sense for danger. She warned them again."

"We must undertake some action now, else we are all lost."

"I still have armies left, I think a second attack is useful. This time, however, we will surprise the Akrilonians. Then they won't be prepared and unable to set traps like the ones we fell in last time."

"I have a better idea. I have something they will never be able to prepare for. I will summon monsters which will attack Akrilonia instead." Saianthua declared.

"You summon monsters?" Leh Ridd asked, frowning.

"Oh yes, I have made some deals in the past with some friends who still owe me a favour. And some are always in for slaughtering helpless fools."

"We are not dealing with helpless fools now, we are dealing with the ABC warriors." Ralbustan remarked.

"I'm talking about those citizens. Then that threesome will come out and then they will get the biggest blast of all." the witch snickered.

"It might be a good idea. Get your help arranged." the demi-god said with a slight nod. The witch retreated for concentration with a cruel smile.

 

After Soraya had regained consciousness she rose from her bed.Cyber was watching over her.

"Are you all-right?" he asked.

"Sure, nothing was wrong with me. Then that dark elf started talking to me and I felt a little peculiar, there was an urge in me to explode and disappear from sight. Then that vampire came out of me and I fainted. Is she gone?"

"Gone for good, Adam used his dragonbreath to destroy her."

"Good. I have got to go and see those dryads, there is something important. Tiulisa made sense, they are elves just like me. Which means I must discuss something with them."

"I will go with you."

Soraya sat up and looked Cyber in the eyes.

"You won't. I must make it to the woods again, and it's very important that there are no humans present."

Cyber looked up.

"What's the matter?"

"It's a serious meeting for elves. Trust me."

Cyber nodded slowly and watched Soraya as she walked away. Then he went to his friends.

"Soraya's gone again. Said she had a very important meeting with the dryads." he reported.

"Strange. Well, she's got a will of her own." Adam said, seemingly uninterested.

"Adam, since you beat that vampire with dragonbreath, I have a question for you. You always told me that you couldn't shift your shape to that of a dragon. Matre Transcentral could, and she was a mandrake, just like you. Is that due to her skills or can you also transform?"

"I will tell you. I spoke true, I can't become a dragon. But that is for us mandrakes a matter of time. When I reach total dragon-adulthood, which is about two centuries from now, I will be able to transform."

Cyber nodded slowly. Then he looked up as Adam ran to the window.

"What's up?" Bulldozer asked.

"The noise. Don't you hear it?"

"Your hearing outclasses ours by hundreds. What do you hear?"

"Some scraping sound in the air. Something is approaching us and I fear it's something we can't fight."

"What?"

"This sound I have heard only once in my whole life and I am glad so because I  never wanted to hear it again. Aye, the undead fight one more time. A bone dragon is approaching."

"Bone dragon?"

"A bone dragon, resistant to magic, with all the powers of a living dragon, but with even more years of unlife experience. I fear the

bone dragon, I fear it as the one threat we face."

"Bone dragon. So, they are resistant to the spells you cast and I wield?"

"Aye, all of them. Well, I don't know if your magic works. Though it's not the rare and famous spellfire, raw magical energy that is fired as a flame by those few who have possessed it, raw energy is what is stored in you. You should try."

"But what if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll have to fight it with whatever we can."

"Bones never looked good to me, your father the dragon said when he talked to me." Bulldozer recited old quotes of the dead dragon whose scales he wore.

"But what about my magic?" Cyber asked.

"Is a bone dragon resistant to battle magic? After all, my dragon's maw is a beam of energy just like spellfire."

"I don't know. I will have to consult with an old friend of mine: the sage Taliesin."

Cyber shuddered at the sound of the name of the ancient wizard who was said to be his father.

Suddenly the image of the sage appeared.

"I fear I cannot help you here, Admiruytrior III. I have sworn not to interfere in this matter. You must fight alone. I can only tell you to use your brains and your brawn."

Then the image disappeared again.

"Well, you know now who's also watching us." Bulldozer said, tossing up his Goldstone and catching it again.

"Don't use that one, it's to kill the living and will be lost if used on the dead, such as a bone dragon."

"You told me already so. I didn't forget. If there are any living members of that Shadow Cabinet I will kill them using the Goldstone."

"Good. Well, what do we do?"

"We have got to get out at once."

They hurried out of the palace and soon they saw the awesome bone dragon.

Rizhagstaun, the bone dragon, had finally come out of its lair in the Eastern Realm, ordered by the witch, who was sitting on his back.

Leaving his lair and worshippers behind to destroy a town far away.

Chagrined it had to obey the order but let know clearly that it was not happy being ordered by a witch. He remembered the favour she had done him many years back as well as the oath to pay her any way she wanted.

"Destroy I will, destroy I will. But because I want that, remember." he snarled sometimes. The witch only smiled and pointed.

"There is the foul city, oh Rizhagstaun the Great. Frighten the citizens and watch out if you see a human in red dragon scale mail, a battlemage and a mandrake. A young one, but a mandrake nonetheless."

"They have no power over me." the undead dragon hissed and dove, sending bolts of lightning down. The people panicked and scattered.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning fired back. But the dragon was resistant to the spell and blocked everything out for the witch on its back.

On the ground, a man in red dragon's scales was standing, firing a second lightning bolt. Rizhagstaun breathed and set the hill on which the young man was standing ablaze with his lightning breath. He was surprised to see the man was still standing, untouched by the electricity.

"What is this?"

"He's resistant to magic and has erected a force field to protect himself from your breath."

"Destroy the forcefield." the dragon commanded. The witch started casting but was rudely interrupted as a bolt of energy crackled through the air and hit the dragon full.

This the dragon felt and fell back. From a distance they saw Cyber and he turned around in fury. And nobody payed attention to the mandrake who worked his magic and with precise timing he hit the witch

full in the head with a cone of cold. He repeated his spell and from Bulldozer came a bolt of lightning. But the dragon did not pay attention to what happened to its rider who fell off with a scream.

"The witch is down."

"The dragon not. Cyber would be exhausted if he had to down it with his very life energy. He would die trying."

"Watch out, it attacks!" Bulldozer yelled back. Adam hurriedly re-erected his own forcefield and suddenly Bulldozer rocketed up into the air.

Fighting the dragonfear, he heaved his diamond sword and slashed through the air. The diamond hit the dragon in the skull but then Bulldozer had to retreat not to be hit. Then he fired a fireball.

"Your magic can't hurt him." Adam warned. Suddenly Bulldozer nodded.

"Aye. But like good old Black Akira said when he was undead, stones can hurt you and I can hurt stones."

"What do you mean? Not the Goldstone!"

"But that huge rock over there must be enough."

With a gesture, Bulldozer focused his attention on a large rock almost as huge as the dragon itself. And when the dragon swooped over, suddenly the rock flew through the air and connected with the monster in mid-air.

The sound of splintering bones was gigantic and nothing but splattered bones rained down on Akrilonia. The unlife of the dragon had been ended.

 

And then suddenly the demon flew over again, coming at great speed to Adam. Bulldozer reacted instantly and heaved his diamond sword. The demon was stopped by the magic and hang suspended in the air, not able to do a thing. Then Adam focused light on the sword and a beam of bright light shot to the demon. With a low moan the demon disappeared.

"Well, that's two in one hit!" Bulldozer said excited as Cyber rejoined them.

"My battle magic works against the dragon. It just was not enough, I don't posses enough energy yet. I must rest now."

"I can understand that. We all must rest."

"Definitely."

Back in the palace they were welcomed by the queen.

"I must thank you for saving our city of the bone beast. Only few have been killed during the attack and without you, I fear that none would have survived."

Bulldozer shrugged.

"If we wouldn't have been here the dragon wouldn't have been here at all. It came for us, commanded by the witch on it."

"That is true, but you fought them off valiantly."

"Had to. Do or die, they say."

"If you will follow me, dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"Well, I got a little hungry after all." Cyber smiled.

 

"I just don't get it. They defeat a bone dragon and the witch and only seconds later the demon? Now where are our unbeatable powers?" Thane Osrick shouted in frustration.

"All these fancy tricks and still they stand. I think a good old fight of the sword will do it." Warlord Mael grunted. Hokol snorted.

"You think that after the powers of a bone dragon have been broken they will defeated by an old warlord and his sword? Give me a break!"

"What, you think your fancy battlemagic stuff will do then?"

"Of course, I have said that from the start. Let me handle Cyber. He is my minor by far and doesn't stand a chance."

"Right. But there are two more. What about them?"

"I will get Cyber alone, then we can count him out and then we have only two more foes."

"This is ridiculous. I will get that warrior and I will get him now." Mael grunted.

"I will come with you." the thane said.

"We will get that second attack I planned and they will fall. The troops are ready."

"I know. Let's get them and do something about this."

"You fools. I will get Cyber."

Mere minutes later Ralbustan was left with the High Lordpriest of Dune and Leh Ridd.

"I have faith in the battlemage. As he said, there is no such thing as a chance for Cyber. I don't believe that the troops of Thane Osrick and Warlord Mael will work, but they can distract."

"Right. And while they distract, I will get my ace out of my sleeve." the Dunite said, snickering.

"What do you mean? More undead?"

"More living."

 

"Don't get me wrong, my queen. The food is delicious but I'm really stuffed for now. I must rest and get some sleep, the days have been tiring." Adam said, bowing to the queen. Tiulisa sat next to her with Bulldozer at her side and Cyber was on the queen's left side.

Suddenly Soraya entered the room and made a small gesture. Cyber rose, excused himself to the queen and left the dining room.

"Must be of some importance if he leaves a full plate for it." Bulldozer remarked grinning.

The elf and the battlemage walked outside where they sat down.

 

"I have talked with the dryads for a long time. They have been in times of war, times of bloodshed, times of fearing for their lives. They want to leave, Cyber. And they named me the person to lead them, just as the

Riatorian elves named me the person to lead them. I have a feeling that I owe this to Miriant, my dead parallel. I will lead them away."

"Where? To Numavost?"

"No, I wish only well for these elves. I will lead them to Greentown."

"To Greentown? How are you going to get there?"

"You know elves can find it. We will leave through the portal through which we came and take a ship from Renothar to Greentown. And there we will stay and live our lives."

"What about you?"

"As I said, Cyber. I will stay there as well. I have enough of the times of fighting. Elves were not born for fighting, even though I have been doing it for a good century. But I'm still young. I can build a new home in my hometown. It's been a while since I last stayed with my parents. I am going to leave you forever, Cyber."

"You can't... just leave me like that! After so many years I found you again, Soraya. I don't want to let you go!"

"Each to his own destiny, Cyber. You are right now working on yours, a mere toy in the hands of the gods as are we all. I want to work on mine."

"I am destined to lead. I led the elves there, I will lead them here. Together the elves will re-unite in peace and live far from the trouble in Vascaria, in the good heart of Greentown."

"Soraya I... I will follow you."

"My dear Cyber, you know as well as I do that humans are not allowed to enter Greentown, let alone live there. If I would bring a human into Greentown, you would be killed and I would be banished forever. And you know that I can't do that. Oh, I would do anything for you, for the sake of love, but I won't do that. It's the impossible you ask of me, dear Cyber."

"Don't call me dear Cyber when you are leaving me forever!" Cyber shouted.

"I can't help this, Cyber. I have this mission, and this one is longer than your adventures. I will need to install these elves, get them used to the different Greentown dryads, and make them true Greentown elves, true elves. And I think that will take at least forty years, and then you are too old. Were you only elven, but alas! This is where things end, Cyber. Have a good, long life and may the gods be with you."

Suddenly Soraya was gone, leaving Cyber in tears.

After five minutes, he swallowed them and headed back to the palace.

 

To his amazement, he found everybody alert and armed, soldiers were running, shouting orders.

"A new attack?" he asked a bypassing soldier.

"Rodopians have returned, general."

"Where are the other generals?"

"In the war room, sir. This way please, sir."

The soldier led him to a room where he found the queen, Bulldozer, Adam and Tiulisa.

"We spotted troops approaching fast. There will be another battle. And, and that's most important, they spotted men in light red and purple robes."

"Which means?"

"Dunites."

"The High Lordpriest and his followers. I feared as much."

"We must hit the field. They will attack at night."

"Where's Soraya?"

"No time to explain now, I will tell you later. She's gone back to Greentown, along with all the dryads from the woods."

"All the elves except Tiulisa. The arrogant elfwoman still doesn't want her around." Bulldozer grunted.

He drew his sword and stepped outside, quickly ordering horses to get to the battlefield. The threesome rode and took their positions as the Rodopians, much smaller in number than the last time, charged.

Many hesitated, fearing another trap. But this time they were led by the thane and his warlord.

"Hey, two more Shadowfaces there." Bulldozer said.

"Blast them." Cyber said.

"It's Mael. He won't escape now."

"Watch it, the Dunites are there! We must get them first before their clerical spells hit us!"

Cyber grabbed Bulldozer's hand and together they teleported away, followed by Adam, who could go himself.

They found themselves in the middle of a crowd of red robes and started attacking with their swords right away before Dune’s priests knew what was going on. Adam also fought with his sword. Suddenly the High Lordpriest started casting and the ground started shaking.

Concentrated in his spell, his lips in triumph, he never saw the knight who stormed at him with blazing speed, using a spell of speed and charging at the High Lordpriest with his longsword. The sword, made of special heavy and strong silver to be of use when fighting dragons, bit through robes and flesh and the High Lordpriest staggered, then casted a final spell, hatred in his eyes. Adam screamed as he was hurt terribly and Cyber looked up.

"Bulldozer! Grab Adam and leave! He's down!"

"Damn Cyber we need you, too. I've got him. Now shut your ears!"

Cyber, who was trained to follow orders, covered his ears tightly and ran away, not wanting to hear Bulldozer who was about to use one of his most dangerous magic powers. He slowly rose his hand and pointed at the priests.

Then he spoke one word: "Die!"

Cyber looked back and saw that the Dunites had fallen prey to the word of power Bulldozer had used.

He grabbed Adam and Bulldozer and Bulldozer used a teleportation spell to bring them back to the castle. They covered Adam in Bulldozer's black cloak.

"Cyber, you still got your clerical spells and paladin's powers?"

"I do. Though I'm a battlemage now, the paladin in me will never die. Why?"

"Why? We have a dying, terribly wounded, blind and ill mandrake lying here and you ask me why?" Bulldozer raged.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you are right."

He examined the wounds and casted some spells.

"I can't help him with my spells. I must use my god's gift."

"Then use 'em, damn it." Bulldozer cursed.

"Easy." Cyber said, moving over Adam's shaking body with his hands.

Adam's body was torn open and bruised all over. His face was red with a disease and his eyes unseeing. He was bleeding from many wounds and groaning in agony.

 

"We lost the Dunite but we also got one down finally." Leh Ridd said with satisfaction.

"The mandrake took the great spell of harming. He's dying now and it can't be reversed. Since the paladin turned battlemage, there are no healers but himself. And he can't work healing now. He will die."

"Good. Who knows what those other three can do out there." Ralbustan said.

They were left alone in the Hall of Shadows. Hokol, Mael and Osrick were fighting, the rest had died.

"Five against two it makes, Leh Ridd. The mandrake found his destiny in death at the hands of Dune. Of all three of them, I expected him to die last."

"Cyber will die soon as well, as Hokol will get him. Then it's the five of us against Bulldozer."

"Bah, count those two lame-brained fighters out. I always thought they were wrong choices, oh Ralbustan."

"They have their forces and so long, they are the only ones who worked together. This game had a false start since everybody tried everything on their own, and they lost. Now four work together and though one fell, we made a score as well."

"Though we lost too many already. The Blue Temple has fallen forever, as has the power of witchcraft. The demon is sent back to the Abyss, like the vampire. And a bone dragon for Dune's sake! Gegner was no threat anymore to the battlemage Cyber, Black Skull got outsmarted. And now the High Lordpriest of Dune himself fell. It has not been good until now, but now we have the final edge to destroy them utterly and we will triumph."

 

"Well, I wouldn't bet too hard on that." Taliesin also looked down on the

scene.

"Did Cyber lose his clerical powers then? Did you pull them back because he turned a battlemage? That was against our deal!"

"Of course I did not, that's only what they think. Adam will be cured and healed and ready to fight on. But Cyber's biggest test is coming right now, and he's weakened after the loss of Soraya."