"Qayk. We must be on Qayk."

"Yes," Moonflame assured, "we are on Qayk. I must be careful here not to use any elemental magic. If Qayk himself knew I was here, I might not survive the day."

"Why, what is wrong?"

"Qayk was one of the elemental lords the Elderonians fought off our world. He has held a grudge against all of the old races since. I am the last Elderonian. He knows that, and has tried before to kill me. But his power on other worlds of the Carousel are weak. He is able to cause tremors, nothing more. But here, on his world, he is like unto one of the gods. We must get off-world as quickly as possible."

"But where is a bridge? If it's anything like the one we just crossed, it could take years just to find."

"True, it would take many years to locate in any conventional method, but you continue to forget about the power of the sword you carry. Pull it free, and tell it what you want."

I did as Moonflame said. I thought in my mind of a bridge to anywhere other than Muriel. Majestrix pulled free from my grasp and hovered in the air in front of us. It spun slowly at first, then faster, round and round. The very air turned a pale blue colour as the blade spun faster and faster.

"What is happening?" I yelled over the sound of the swiftly whirling blade.

"I do not know. I had thought that the blade would point the way to a bridge. It does not appear to be doing that."

The blade still spun, but the light reflected by it took on a new quality. It seemed to be turning golden.

"It's creating a bridge!" Ahmail yelled.

"Quickly, Hawk, think of one of the islands on the Carousel. Where do you want to go?"

I thought of home, of Karnelian. Then I thought of the Dark One and his lair on D'rk Ysle. I thought of the demondarc that killed Karnelian. I thought of revenge.

"We go to D'rk Ysle!" I yelled, in a frenzied anger rivaling Moonflame's own.

The sword slowed, and then stopped. I reached out my hand and took hold of its lethal and powerful beauty. I thought again of my late master. With new-found courage, I stepped onto the bridge. In a flash, Qayk was gone, and a new colour was formed from the gold and the blue. A mottled blue-black was created, as the bridge drew closer and closer to D'rk Ysle. I turned to see only Moonflame behind me. Then the colours cleared, and I was on almost solid ground. Moonflame stepped off beside me.

"Where are the others?"

"They were frightened by the aspect of travelling to this place. I forced you here. I followed out of loyalty, and guilt."

"Well, now that we are here, what do we do?"

"I think you know that as well as I. You brought us here."

"Then let us find the Dark One's castle and destroy him."

I walked off in the direction I was facing. Moonflame stammered a moment, then followed.

I said earlier that the ground was almost solid. It wasn't. Not completely. It seemed to be, well, shadowish, in look and feel. It was cold, not just physically, but psychically as well. I felt this through my own empathic abilities, but it was more pronounced when I brushed my hand against my sword. Moonflame seemed even more affected than I, though he said nothing to indicate that he thought we were in any danger, other than the fact that we were within mindgrasp of the Dark One.

The sun, if you could truly call it a sun for the shadows blocked out all but a little light, was low in the sky when we arrived, and it fell below the horizon soon after we set off. We continued through the darkness, though it was more of the same perpetual twilight of D'rk Ysle. We camped in the semi-protection of a shear rock face that rose into the sky. Both of us were too tired to stand watch, so we decided to let Fate do as She pleased, and prayed to Sharmayn that Fate wouldn't.

It must have been close to morning when I awoke. I had heard something in my sleep, and I felt someone tugging at me. I opened my eyes slowly, but saw no one near. I heard footsteps on the shale, and estimated fifty feet between them and me. Trying to look asleep, I reached for the hilt of Majestrix. I grabbed at the boltstone at its base, and saw three figures in twilight. They looked to be well-armed and weary.

I pulled away with Majestrix and in a single lightning-fast moment, I was on my feet with my sword in the air in front of me, shedding its electric glow on my adversaries.

The three yelled for a moment, then realized who I was.

"Master Hawklok!", cried Ahmahl.

"Yes." I sheathed Majestrix, and clasped my friends' shoulders. Moonflame had been awakened by the yelling.

"You fools! But I guess there is nothing to do against common reactions. Your yelling may have attracted the attention of the Dark One. But I am glad to see you."

"Why did you follow?" I asked.

"We had two reasons. First, we felt foolish for having left you on your own. Secondly, we had visitors soon after you left."

"What kind of visitors?" Moonflame queried.

"Elementals by the looks of them. Giants of earth and stone. They came at us with hammers and axes made of granite and steel. We accidentally fell into the bridge. When we got here, the bridge entrance closed in on itself. We followed what we thought were your tracks and found you here."

"And scared me to death."

"Sorry, Sir Hawk, but, considering where we are, we thought prudence and silence would be better than openness and shouting. Where exactly are we?"

"I believe we are some days from the Dark One's hold, but well within his mindgrasp. I have not felt its touch, not yet, but it shouldn't be long." Moonflame let this last remark trail as he turned to prepare for the journey.

Several hours later, the sun was still hidden by the infernal clouds that seemed ever present. The brothers, side by side, had been fidgety since we left camp. An hour before, a few stones had fallen from the cliffs that we were following, for no apparent reason. I pulled Majestrix out, and tried to see over the cliff, but could not. It seemed as though the clouds encompassed the magical planes as well as the physical one. Moonflame tried also, using some minor magic, and he too failed. Perhaps it was just a wind, a wind we could not feel.

Moonflame stopped suddenly. "Quiet!"

Up above us, some thirty feet, we could hear the scrambling of claws on shale. Nothing appeared over the edge of the cliff and almost immediately the sound stopped.

Ahmail started to shout something, then thought better of it. He unslung his small crossbow and pulled a bolt out of his leg quiver. Moonflame said nothing; he merely nodded. I unsheathed Majestrix, and pulled my cloak a little tighter around me. Ahmahl and Inhar brought forth their battle axes and stood ready. Ahmail aimed up, then Moonflame came over to him quickly, touched the bolt, spoke a few whispered words, and we saw a quick play of red and black sparks shoot between Moonflame's fingers and the bolt. Ahmail loosed the bolt and we watched as it flew upward in a normal path. But as soon as it had passed the cliff's edge, it veered sharply across and seemed to split into two. We heard two shrieks and two bodies fell over the edge. They landed at our feet, a crossbow bolt through the heart of each.

"I shot but one bolt!"

Moonflame chuckled.

"Well, I did have a little charm I thought would help rid us of some major trouble. Hurry, we've got to burn these before they have time to regenerate."

"What are they?" I asked.

"Shagfers. They are the scouts of the Dark One's armies. They are very silent, but these were careless, taking us for common folk who just happened to wander onto a bridge. We will have to run for quite a while once we light these bodies. The Dark One will want to know what became of his scouting force and will probably send flying shock troops. Here, each of you swallow a piece of this." Moonflame took from his pouch a sickly yellow bark-like slab about nine inches square. He broke it and gave us each a piece.

"This is to help your endurance. It might even speed you up a bit. Don't chew too much. Someone light a brand."

Inhar took out an arrow and lit it from his tender box and handed it to Moonflame. Moonflame whispered, the flame turned dark green, and then he threw it onto the bodies. They were instantly consumed. Moonflame turned, and started running along the cliff wall. We ran after him. I looked back as I ran at what was left of the shagfers. Thick, green smoke was lifting slowly from their bodies, then descending rapidly, spreading over the ground like oil on water. It seemed as if fingers reached for the bodies, but it could have been the smoke. I don't know. I turned and quickened my pace, for I had fallen behind.

We must have run for three hours, and none of us tired. Every now and then, Moonflame would look to the sky, searching for any sign of the Dark One's minions, but saw none. We camped after three and a half hours.

After we stopped running, we began to feel the real pressure we had been putting on our bodies through over the past three hours. Sleep came easy for us. We set a watch, but I know I did not keep mine, and I assume no one else kept theirs, save for Moonflame, who stayed awake all night.

We awoke late into the morning, though the light was the same grey twilight. Moonflame handed to us a little of the drug he had given us the day before, just to strengthen us. He mentioned nothing of the unkept watches, and seemed unbothered by the fact that he had remained awake now for close to two days.

We continued to follow the cliff face. We heard nothing following us, but, as Moonflame pointed out later in the day, the Dark One's minions need not make any sound at all. We were a bit more wary after this statement.

We must have travelled thirty miles that day. Just before we camped, we came in sight of the dark mansion. It lay in the distance ahead of us, black and foreboding. It seemed as though the very ground itself had died at the creation of such a structure. It rose, not majestically, some one hundred and fifty feet into the air, stretching a defiant finger into the skies, as if to say to the gods "I deny thee all that thou wouldst have. Come, if you will, and die if you do." We camped there, a day away from our goal.

That night, I did not sleep. I seemed to hear a call in my mind, a droning, beckoning call. It seemed to be one of urgency, though I could not make out exactly what it was saying. Through the confusing reverberations, I could make out that it was a female voice, soft and scared. I sat up at one point and looked into the sky. I wished I could have seen the sky then, but the clouds forbade that. I saw a shadow move slowly at my right. I thought at first that it was Inhar, for the shadow had the same build. Then I looked at its eyes. They were burning a deep red, the color of volcanic fire. I reached for Majestrix, but it was not where I had left it. I yelled, hoping to wake the others. Then I looked around and saw that the rest of my party were gone, and more of the shadows were appearing where my friends should have been. My eyes searched in panic for Majestrix, but found nothing. I grabbed for my necklace, but it too was gone, as was my headband. I had lost all of the Boltstone Karnelian had given me.

I held out my hands in defiance to these shadow demons as they came nearer. In the midsts of them, I saw two small, blue eyes glowing softly. I knew then that my end was near. I shut my eyes, praying to any gods who would listen that my friends were safe.

The air around me grew cold, and I opened my eyes to see one of the demons just beyond my hand. I noticed that the blue eyes were still there, as if I were seeing through the demon. It finally dawned on me that I was looking at my ring. The truth whipped through my head as I concentrated on the stones. The glow brightened, and my hand felt as if it was on fire. I screamed in pain, and as I did, blue fire struck from my hand through the demon. It wailed in agony, its physical body being quickly destroyed by a magical blue flame of white-hot intensity. I turned to see the other shadows stop for a moment.

A deep, evil voice came out of the sky, "Kill the man-child. Now!"

The shadows advanced again, though it appeared more out of fear than courage. I concentrated again, and this time the pain was not as great and the fire more intense. But more of the demons rose from the burning shadows of their predecessors. I was tiring. The stones were not large and the constant fire they had to sustain was taking its toll on me. I opened a hole in their defenses and ran. Ten feet away, I fell with tiredness. They were upon me. The cold was terrible. I fought just to keep warm, but they were sucking my strength from me. Luckily, I fell unconscious moments later.

I felt ice cold water on my face. I heard my name called by the same evil voice I had heard earlier. I opened my eyes, then quickly closed them again. A bright light was fixed right in front of me. I opened them again, slowly this time, so that they could adjust to the light. I could see fuzzy silhouettes of my captors. Three were of the same form as the shadow demons I had fought, but the fourth was larger. No, he wasn't larger, but I could somehow sense that he was much more powerful than anything else I had ever come across. The effect of this power was staggering.

"Hawklok, are you awake, finally?"

I tried to speak, but no sound came from my parched throat. I wondered how long I had been there.

More water splashed into my face. My mouth caught some of it. It tasted foul. I spit it out.

"Ah, good. You are much harder to destroy than I thought. Now, come Master Hawklok, tell me where your friends are. I am willing to... negotiate, I believe that's the word. Yes, I can negotiate with you, whereas you are in a position to do nothing but agree, wouldn't you say?"

Some feeling had come back to my body, and I could feel intense heat. Also, something was biting into my wrists and ankles. I looked down at my feet to see metal claws clamped around both ankles. My arms were similarly held. I looked carefully at my chest, for I was naked. My chest was more or less scorched. Apparently, I had been roasting in this chamber for several days. My mouth went dry again.

"Water," was all I was able to croak out.

More of the same foul liquid filled my mouth. This time I swallowed it. Apparently it had a strength drug mixed with it for I grew noticeably stronger, though still weak.

"You got them, too, didn't you?"

"Ah, if only I had. Then you and the rest of your cursed party would be dead. When my demons arrived, only you were present. Maybe they weren't your friends after all, but left you there as an offering to me. That is an interesting thought, eh. But let's not speak of such things. I want to be your friend. Release his chains. Come, Hawklok, you are to be my guest."

The pressure on my wrists and ankles released and I sat up painfully. I noticed then that I was starving. I saw the three demons walking out, leaving the Dark One and myself.

"Come, now. Don't you trust me? I let you free."

"Give me back my sword and I'll decide then how much I trust you."

"Now, you and I both know I couldn't do that. That sword of yours has power everywhere, though in varying degrees. However, help me find your friends, and I will consider giving everything of yours back. That's fair enough, isn't it?"

I tried to hit him then. I missed and fell. I tried to get up, but some force was keeping me down.

"Not intelligent, mortal! I have the power to burn the very flesh off your bones. Do not cross me again. I will leave you to your misery."

I heard him leave. The pressure on my back was released, and I stood and looked at my prison.

The walls were black rock, as was the ceiling. The floor, however, was made of a metal grating. From it came heated air. The metal itself wasn't hot, but the air was scorching. I retreated to the relative safety of my stone table.

Where had Moonflame and the others gone? Why had they left me? What were they doing? Would they return for me? I didn't know. I laid down and tried to sleep.

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