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Then again
Doria screamed, shattering the thick silence.
*HUMANS.* A roar shook the cavern, sending light-bearing crystals tinkling to
the floor, knocking Karl off his feet.
Slowly, ponderously, the head lifted and turned, the man-high eyelids
retracting.
"Over here
," Aristobulus shouted, his voice breaking. "The eyes, Karl, the eyes "
Karl bounced to his feet, the scimitar held in his right hand. "I know.
I'll..." His voice caught in his throat as the head turned, two immense liquid
eyes staring directly at him.
Behind Karl, Aristobulus' voice murmured harsh syllables, spoken and then
gone, while over at the entrance, Ahira threw Doria's struggling body over his
shoulder and broke into a sprint.
The Dragon's mouth opened. *BURN.* Its eyes gleamed
"And done!" Aristobulus clapped his hands together.
and shone, brighter and brighter until they flared with the light of a
thousand suns.
Ari's light spell The Dragon was blinded!
Karl ducked to one side as a gout of flame scoured the stone where he had
stood. Aristobulus hiked up his robes and wordlessly sprinted up the ramp, not
slowing as he reached the top, dived through the Gate, and was gone.
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A heavy, limp mass knocked Karl off his feet. Doria!
"Over here! Burn me
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, you son of a pig-" Ahira shouted, his battleaxe drawn. He raced away from
the
Gate. The Dragon's head following him. "Gel through take her.
Move
."
Karl snatched up Doria as though she were a piece of fluff and ran with her up
the ramp, to the Gate. A
quick one-handed throw, and she was gone.
He turned. Ahira ducked a flamebreath, and dashed for the tunnel's opening.
Like a felled tree. The
Dragon's tail slammed down in front of the hole, the impact on the floor of
the cavern knocking Ahira over.
"
Over here, now
," Karl shouted. "We'll take turns with your attention, Dragon."
The light in The Dragon's eyes was already beginning to dim; Aristobulus'
light spell was wearing off. A
few seconds more, and Karl and Ahira would be trapped in the cavern, The
Dragon's sight restored.
*YOU WILL BURN.*
Ahira ran toward Karl, The Dragon's head following him.
Karl hesitated in front of the Gate. Ahira couldn't run fast enough; it didn't
seem to take The Dragon long between fiamebreaths, and the gaping mouth was
coming to bear on the dwarf.
"
Not him
!" Karl shouted. "Try and burn me
, Dragon."
At the base of the ramp, the dwarf stumbled, and started scrabbling up it on
all fours. "Karl, ."
go
A rush of flame caught Ahira. The force of the gout of fire slid the dwarf up
the ramp as he crackled and screamed in the flame, his arms waving aimlessly.
Karl turned and dived for the Gale, his legs burning behind him. A searing
mass struck him in the back...
... and the world dissolved into a white-hot nightmare that faded only slowly
into utter black.
PART FIVE:
And Beyond
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
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The Way Back
It is easy to go down into Hell;
night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
but to climb back up again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air there's
the rub, the task
.
Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil)
Walter Slovotsky's huge hand shook him, while the damp night grass pressed
against his shirt and bare feet.
"Karl, we're back." The big man wept almost silently. "We're back."
Bare feet? That made sense; they had left their sandals behind. But why did
his back hurt so? As if he'd been sunburned. Worse.
"Easy, now." Her hand at the back of his neck, Andy-Andy propped him up to a
sitting position.
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Karl opened his eyes, moonlight off the water in front of him hitting him like
a slap. Moonlight? "We did it."
Lou Riccetti knelt in front of him, barefoot in now-tattered workshirt and
jeans. "Not quite." His voice was somber, his round cheeks were wet. "We don't
even have Jason's body with us. and..."
"And what, dammit
?" Karl peeled back the right leg of his jeans. No wonder it ached so; it was
covered with blisters.
"Look over there." Riccetti pointed. Doria lay curled on the grass, her eyes
wide and unblinking, her chest barely moving. "She's gone, Karl. Catatonic."
Karl shook himself. And it was himself; smaller, skinnier.
Barak?
Help me
?
Nothing. No answer, not even the feeling of the presence of his other persona.
Then I'll do without
.
"Where's Ahi James?"
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"Later," Andy-Andy breathed. "Just take a moment. You need "
"Show him." Riccetti's voice was firm.
She caught a breath, and held it for longer than Karl would have thought
possible. "Look to your right."
Walter Slovotsky knelt weeping over the dead body of James Michael Finnegan.
The third-degree burns that had killed James Michael still smoldered, sending
up light traces of mist and smoke.
Ohgod
. "He didn't change enough."
Walter wept unashamedly, his huge hands reaching out as though to shake little
James Michael Finnegan awake, then drawing back.
Just think for a minute
. Mirror Lake spread out in front of him in the moonlight, the Commons all
around. "We're on campus." A chill wind blew across the lake, sending a rush
of leaves tumbling around him. "How long?"
Riccetti shook his head. "Deighton didn't lie about the different time rates.
I snuck into a dorm; we've been gone just about eight hours it's four in the
morning. Jase is... gone, James Michael is dead, Doria is "
Karl backhanded him across the face. "Shut ." Shaking off Andy-Andy's helping
hands, he got to his up feet, ignoring the shooting pains from the blisters on
his soles. "We've got to get moving."
"And do what
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