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  had clearly been here for more than a few days, perhaps years.

  “You al must be hungry, let me get you something to eat,” he said as he rummaged through

  some sacks. “I have rice, some tasty fungus stew.” He swung around abruptly, “None of you are

  opposed to eating cave snake, are you? I’m afraid they are the best meat I can catch down here.”

  Sai looked to Von Wilding who shrugged. “What’s it like?”

  “Well, it’s like a snake but bigger and blind.”

  “I guess that’s all right,” answered Sai as she looked to the others for reassurance.

  “Have you helped many travelers down here?” Marie asked.

  “A few. Mostly I have monsters to keep off, but once in a while folk come down and I do what

  I can. I like to be helpful.”

  Sai wondered aloud, “Why do you cal this a dungeon? Are you sure there is no way out? After

  all, there is a way in.”

  “By the goddess, you’re right,” he proclaimed loudly. “Why didn’t I think of that. If there is a

  way in, there must be a way out. But I can’t find it you see, because every time I start something, I

  forget what I thought I was doing and then, here we are. What are your names again?”

  “I am Von Wilding, this is Marie of Stilt Town.”

  “And I am Sai.”

  “You’l have to excuse me, I forget everything in a very short span of time. I just remember

  some sporadic things from before the Drowning, don’t you know?”

  “The Drowning?” asked Von Wilding, very interested now.

  “Yes, the Drowning. I seem to remember trying to work out a method and then everything

  went crashing down. I nearly drowned.”

  “He is quite mad,” said Von Wilding. “It was too much to hope for that we could find Ikalos.”

  “Ikalos!” shouted the old Riftling. “That’s it! That was my name!”

  Sai was dubious and tested her hypothesis, “Are you sure you’re not Landros the Magnificent?”

  “That’s it! I’m Landros the magnificent! Now I remember.”

  Sai snorted, “Well, you’re right, he is mad. At least he was able to heal us of our bumps and

  bruises but now we ought to get going.” She paused, suddenly remembering Hatch in her satchel,

  yanking it open and fearing the worst. But there he was, rather unharmed.

  “Ribbit.”

  “What’s that?” asked the crazy old Riftling. “A frog? Can we put him in a stew?” He licked his

  lips in anticipation.

  “Absolutely not!” shouted Sai. “This is my friend who was cursed by a witch and turned into a

  miserable toad.”

  The old Riftling jolted backward and fell over a pile of his collection.

  “Wait,” said Sai. “You have healing powers, maybe you can restore him?”

  He shook his head. “I know how to heal, but I’m not a wizard, not anymore, not since the

  Drowning.”

  “What if,” said Marie, “What if he is Ikalos but during the Drowning, he was hurt, and it has

  affected his mind?”

  Von Wilding shook his head. “He would be thousands of years old by now. No one lives that

  long.”

  “No one knows how long Riftlings live,” said Sai. “I don’t even know how old I am.”

  “But you’re young,” said Von Wilding.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Sorry,” mumbled Von Wilding.

  She nodded in thanks and then turned toward the old Riftling. “Wil you try and heal my

  friend?” asked Sai, holding Hatch in her cupped hands out to him.

  The old man nodded, slapped his hands together, and started rubbing them swiftly. The blue

  glow returned, and the bal of light rose up and kissed the toad. Suddenly the toad looked very

  healthy and strong but stil a toad. “I’m sorry.”

  “Ribbit,” Hatch croaked.

  “If he can’t restore him, we should get back to the others. They’re probably worried sick by

  now,” said Marie.

  “If they haven’t left us already,” growled Sai.

  They stood and made their way toward a tunnel that forked in two directions.

  “Wait!” cried the old Riftling. “Don’t go that way. It is a secret shortcut that wil take you straight to Von Drakk’s Manor! And you don’t want to go sneaking into his back door, do you?”

  They al looked to each other in wonder.

  “Which way?” demanded Sai.

  Chapter 13: Von Drakk Manor

  The longer they walked through the tunnel system with the old Riftling, the more they began to

  believe he could be Ikalos. He knew arcane history from thousands of years ago but would forget

  what one of them said a minute ago and ask again and again.

  “Are we getting closer to the surface?” asked Marie.

  “We are, but because this leads to Von Drakk Manor, I never considered it an exit. That’s why I

  felt trapped here.”

  “A wizard as powerful as yourself and yet you’re afraid of Von Drakk?”

  Ikalos looked at them and said, “I may be old but I’m not daft. A vampire lord could sup upon

  my blood as easy anyone’s. My magic is for healing, not fighting.”

  “How long have we been down here? It’s disorienting,” said Marie.

  “It’s hard to tel ,” said Von Wilding. “But I would guess more than a day.”

  “Good,” said Sai, “that means that Chev and Esmerelda have gone back to Stilt Town where

  they can be safe.”

  “That is, if nothing else got them,” muttered Von Wilding.

  The old Riftling stopped short. “Why don’t we stop the whispering and just see what your

  friends are doing if you’re so concerned about them then?”

  “How?”

  Ikalos produced a crystal bal the size of an ostrich’s egg from beneath his ragged robes and it lit

  up like the full moon. Shadows twisted and swirled until scenes of Chev and Esmerelda came into

  focus. They were on the skiff, still waiting for their friends’ return. Chev was cooking eggs for

  breakfast.

  “At least they’re all right. I wish we could talk to them,” said Marie.

  “You can. Just tap the globe and direct your thoughts,” said Ikalos.

  Sai took hold of the globe, tapped and spoke, “Chev, Esmerelda, can you hear me?”

  Both of them, who had been eating their breakfast, suddenly looked up and around themselves

  trying to see where the voice had come from.

  “I don’t think you can see me, but I see you and wanted to let you know that we are al right

  and are on our way to Von Drakk Manor. Please go back to Stilt Town.”

  “No, you’re supposed to come back to us,” cried Esmerelda.

  Chev interrupted, “Sorry, cap’n, there’s only so much I can do. I expect I’l be sailing on down the Dragon Breath and see ye near the Manor then?”

  “No, Chev. Go home.”

  “Afraid I can’t be doing that; the little lady won’t let me. We’l see ye there soon enough.”

  With that the globe’s light faded away.

  Sai snarled, “Why did it end?”

  “Because they ended the communication. It is a two-way street you know,” said Ikalos.

  “Why didn’t you let us know you had that before?”

  “You didn’t ask. How am I to know al the little things you don’t know? Enough to fil a book

  I’m sure.”

  They tramped on for some time until they stopped for a break. “We’re almost out of water,”

  said Marie.

  Sai asked Ikalos. “How much of a short cut is this way you’re taking us?”

  “I don
’t know that,” said Ikalos. “I just know that this goes straight to the Manor.

  “So it could be hundreds of miles of tunnel?”

  “No,” said Ikalos, shaking his head. “Not much farther. Just around this next bend I think.”

  Sai furrowed her brow at him in disgust and walked around the short bend in the tunnel. Right

  there was a massive oaken door banded with iron. “We’re right here, and you stop for a break not

  fifty feet from the end?”

  “You didn’t ask,” he retorted. “Besides I already told you I can’t open the door!”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I made it a long time ago!” he shouted. “By the goddess, I just remembered. I am

  Ikalos. I am.” He started feeling his own body with his hands. “How did I get so old?”

  “You remember now?”

  “Remember what?”

  Sai raged.

  Von Wilding came forward. “Let’s see about getting this open. I’ve had enough of the dark to

  last a lifetime.” He pushed at the door, but it did not budge. Sai and Marie helped push, but stil the door did not move.

  Sai stopped. “I know how this works. I just have to ask the right stupid question. Ikalos, how

  do I open this door?”

  “I can’t remember.”

  “Is it magical?” asked Marie.

  “No, I don’t think so,” said Ikalos. “It is a door.”

  “Then why won’t it open?”

  “Because when I had it made I wanted to either keep something in or something out. And I

  know that Von Drakk Manor is on the other side, so maybe I wanted to keep him out.”

  “So it doesn’t open either way?”

  “That’s it!” he shrieked with joy.

  “What’s it?”

  “It has to be opened either way.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means someone has to be on the other side opening it while we open it on this side.”

  Marie shook her head. “He is mad. That’s not how doors work, you lunatic.”

  Ikalos was taken aback. “They don’t? Well, this one does.”

  Sai rubbed her hands over her face in frustration. She tried to calculate how long of a walk it

  would be back to Ikalos’ home in the rocks where at least they could get some water. She was so

  thirsty now.

  Ikalos thrummed his fingers through his beard, muttering to himself as much as to the others.

  “You don’t believe me, but I remember. Someone pushes from this side, someone pushes from the

  other side. It was the only way I could be sure that the door was secure because only friends could

  open it.”

  Von Wilding looked to Sai. “Only you can do this,” he said, looking hopeful.

  “I don’t port to where I can’t see. I might get stuck inside of something and kill myself. I killed

  that Shamble Priest by porting him into a tree. And I don’t know what is on the other side of that

  door.”

  “Von Drakk Manor,” answered Ikalos.

  Von Wilding continued, “It’s the only way. This one is magical y blocked, and he stil thinks it’s

  the only way out.

  “It could kill me,” argued Sai.

  “It’s the only way I can see,” he said. “If it was me, I’d do it.”

  “But it’s not you, its me.”

  Marie asked Ikalos, “How thick is the door?”

  “One foot,” he answered, holding his hands two feet apart.

  Marie continued, “Presumably, the door can’t be more than two feet thick and there must be space for it to swing open, so if you port to the other side and keep within the parameters, you

  should be fine.”

  “But I don’t know,” grumbled Sai. She thought of Hatch, the mission, Esmerelda, and the

  others. If they were really trapped, she was the only one who could get them out. She went and

  touched the door, trying to get a sense of how thick it was. “I’m going, but if the door won’t open in a minute you’ll know that I’m dead.”

  “Thank you,” said Von Wilding, taking her hand in his and squeezing.

  Sai blinked out.

  ***

  She found herself on the other side of the door, beside what looked like a great crumbling

  mausoleum covered in gothic architecture. She tried to step away, but realized her foot was caught.

  The very tip of her boot had merged with the marble stone and she had to cut it away to free herself.

  Turning around, she took in her surroundings. She was in a vast ivy-strewn graveyard. Monuments

  and tombstones went as far as she could see to her left and right. The names were almost unreadable

  on some of them, and besides Von Drakk, there were Von Holokin, Von Maal, Von Pel ier, Von

  Daanen, and Von Siedrir. She didn’t know the names but was intrigued by the variety in the Von

  Drakk graveyard. Directly in front of her, through a wide stand of gloomy trees, less than a quarter

  mile away, stood Von Drakk Manor.

  She had spent so long getting here, and now she could not pull her gaze from the evil place.

  Towers and vines jutted out from above the trees like rotted teeth. Black windows along a long gray

  wal were dusty and blank, but stil they seemed to leer at her, daring the adventure to continue. She saw no movement, no sign of either life or the undead, but the irrepressible feeling of being watched

  made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Birds suddenly lifted up from the balustrades and

  circled one of the lonely turrets and swirled in a circle about the moon.

  No, those weren’t birds, they were bats.

  A scream broke the stil ness and Sai remembered what she had come here to do.

  Chapter 14: And Then There Were None

  Sai pushed on the mausoleum’s door and it easily swung open. The most curious thing to her

  was that Von Wilding had also swung the door open on his side, but there were two doors, each

  going in opposite directions. It was a dizzying trick of glamour, but what else could explain such a

  bizarre thing other than that Ikalos’s magics had done it?

  Marie stepped forward, “Is this it?”

  “It is,” said Sai somberly.

  Only Ikalos remained within the tunnel. He glanced out hesitantly.

  Sai asked, “Are you going back to your hole in the rock, or wil you come with us and do some

  good in the world again?”

  Ikalos gingerly stepped to the threshold of the door. “Perhaps I should wait here, in case you

  need assistance later?”

  “What kind of assistance?” asked Von Wilding.

  “Perhaps if you get hurt and need more healing. It won’t do for us al to be captured and

  tortured and bitten by the vampire.”

  “Thanks a lot,” grumbled Sai. “If that happens, I think it wil be too late.”

  “You never know,” Ikalos offered.

  “So you will wait here?”

  “Yes.”

  A sudden sound made al of them jump as someone came around the corner of the mausoleum.

  It was Chev and Esmerelda. “We found you!” she cried.

  “Little cap’n here, wouldn’t take no for an answer. Said she knew ye were close by,” said Chev.

  “We won’t be separated again. Promise me,” said Esmerelda, latching herself around Sai’s leg.

  “I can’t promise that; besides, this is dangerous, you should wait here with Ikalos.”

  The little girl went wide-eyed at that revelation and cast a cruel glare at the old Riftling. “It’s

  your fault that the Drowning happened and life is like this here!”

  “What?” he choked.

  “You did this. You unleashed terrible
forces and changed the Downs into the Moor and now

  the Nether has sway here stronger than anywhere but the Midnight Tower,” she accused.

  Ikalos shrunk back from her words.

  “How can you ever make things right again?” Esmerelda asked.

  “I don’t know. I chose to forget rather than dwel on my mistakes,” he sobbed.

  Von Wilding broke in, “What’s the Midnight Tower?”

  “That’s my question,” Sai said.

  Esmerelda looked perplexed. “That’s where the Midnight Queen lives, of course.”

  Von Wilding shook his head. “That’s not our concern right now. We should go. I need to find

  Princess Citrine, not lament over the past.”

  Sai agreed. “Chev, stay here with her.”

  “I’m coming with you. I won’t be separated again,” said Esmerelda, her tone as sharp as a

  sword stroke.

  Marie relented, “Come on then, but you need to be ready to run if I say so. Did you learn any

  offensive spel s while training to become a witch?”

  “I learned how to curdle milk.”

  “That’ll do it,” chuckled Von Wilding.

  “Wel I watched them do a purple lighting blast. I think I could try and do it too,” Esmerelda

  said.

  “Just don’t experiment on any of us,” joked Von Wilding.

  “Chev. How about you?” asked Sai.

  Chev nodded and picked up a crossbow. “Reckon, I’m coming along too then, won’t do to be

  left here all alone.”

  “Well, I’m staying,” said Ikalos, still in the doorway.

  “Good,” muttered Sai, over her shoulder. “But if you really want to make a difference, you’ll

  come up with a spel to remember what you have forgotten, so we can fix things.”

  “I’l think about it,” he said as he sat down. Then he leapt up. “Wait! I just remembered.”

  “What?” Sai asked.

  “This. It wil help protect you from the undead and wicked mind spel s that vampires are fond

  of using on their victims,” Ikalos said. He held out a necklace with a small blue crystal. Sai frowned but let him put it around her neck. But she didn’t want it wagging around while she would be

  moving, so she tucked it between her shirt and vest.

  Ikalos continued, “It is the talisman of life. If anyone is using a mind spel against you, just

  touch it and it wil break the enchantment.”