- Hey, where's my belly button?" -

It was not the end for us, though there are times when, for me at least, I wish it had been. We all awoke to a strange and horrible sight. The others tell me that they experienced things the same as I did.
My eyes were wide open, but my vision was obscured by a swirling, pale-green liquid. I was under water. My body was numb and would not respond to my commands. A faint gurgling noise filled my ears.
My lungs should have been bursting for lack of air. Strangely, they were not. All sensation was curiously muted. I was breathing. But I had no sense of taste. I could not feel the water on my skin, could not even tell if it was warm or cold.
Was this death? A watery limbo? It seemed unfair. I knew that I had not been the best of priests, but surely Torodin owed me better than this. I struggled to think. The last thing I remembered was a beach, three horrible hags... And Rhavin, fighting bravely.
But no. I could not be dead. My eyes blinked. I could hear the rush of bubbles in my ears.
Gradually, my vision cleared. I was in a glass tank of some sort. I could see the room beyond, but I could not turn my head. I strained my eyes to look down?
I was no more than a brain, suspended by wires in a jar of liquid. On the counter with me were six more brains in six glass jars. Their eyes turned to mine and widened in horror.
I stared at the room, unable to believe what I saw. We were in a laboratory, filled with strange devices. On a long, slab-like table were seven bodies -- ours. I looked down. The one in front of me was unmistakably my own corpse. The crown of the head was neatly cut away and there was only a hollow emptiness where once their was a living brain.
I tried to scream, but I could make no sound. Mercifully, I lost consciousness again.
The second awakening was even more unpleasant than the first. This time, it began with a bright flash of light and a surge of pain that wracked my body.
I could feel my body tossing violently as I gasped for air. My heart hammered at an impossible rate, and my skin felt as though it were on fire. Wisps of smoke rose from my mouth and nose.
I was lying down, strapped to a table in a round room filled with strange, buzzing equipment. Somewhere outside, thunder growled. Through the windows I could see arcs of lightning.
A gaunt man leaned over me with a large syringe in his hand. He plunged the needle into the quivering flesh of my arm and I experienced a sudden numbness. After a moment, I fell asleep again.
Once more, consciousness returned, but it was not pleasant. An aching pain filled my every limb, and my head felt like someone had peeled the top of my skull open with a dull knife. My skin pulled in agonizing twinges with each movement I tried to make.
Something was wrapped around my head, covering my eyes. I stood upright, held in position by straps around my wrists, ankles and chest. I heard footsteps coming towards me.
There was a tug at the material that covered my eyes. Someone was unwrapping the bandage. Suddenly, there was a dazzling blaze of light and the bandage fell.
Looking down at my body, I saw fresh sutures cirsscrossing my flesh, puckering into angry red lines. My limbs were mismatched and my torso was laced and covered with incisions. I seemed to have been cobbled together, bit by bit, but none of the body parts were my own. Looking around me , I could see that my friends had suffered a similar fate.
It was horrible beyond anything I had ever imagined. I screamed with rage and tried to tear free of my bonds. I would have killed our tormentor -- for that is how I viewed the strange man -- if I could have. Eventually the man, who introduced himself as Victor Mordenheim, came over and stabbed me with a needle, and I fell asleep.
This happened several times. The fourth time I awoke and began screaming, one of my friends (I couldn't tell who -- we all looked alike!) was standing beside me, crying and patting me clumsily on the shoulder. They were mumbling something which I eventually translated as, "Nika, it okay. You stiw bootiful inside. Pweese cawm down."
It could only be Rhavin. His presence calmed me somewhat, and Mordenheim released my constraints. I held Rhavin's hand while he examined each of us in turn, his shoulders jerking with nervous excitement as he viewed his latest "creations." He shone a light into our eyes, rested an ear against our chests to listen to the heartbeat, and carefully examined our sutures? "Excellent," he said, pacing back and forth before us. I glared at him when he came close, but Rhavin gripped my hand and gave me a warning look.
"I am Doctor Victor Mordenheim, and again I prove my detractors wrong! Every one of the operations was a success!"
"Success!" I spat. Or tried to. It came out sounding more like "Wukwew! You caw iw a wukwew!"
Somehow, Mordenheim understood me, or maybe my anger was just so obvious. He regarded me solemnly. "You might think to condemn me for what I have done. But consider this fact: without my skills, you would all be dead. Without my continued help, you have no chance of regaining your original form."
He had our attention now. We watched as Mordenheim strode over to a group of glass-lidded tubs. "Fortunately, I was able to recover your brains and prevent them from atrophying. I was also able to recover a tissue sample from each of you. Now, through the process of cellular regeneration, a process of my own invention, I am growing new bodies for you. They will be the same in form and function as your old bodies, but will contain certain... ah, improvements."
"What kind of improvements?" Rhavin asked suspiciously. But the doctor ignored him and bade us look inside the tubs. Each one contained a partially formed body. They were human in shape, but as yet had not skin or identifiable features. They were simply skeletons, filled with organs and overlaid with raw tissues and muscles. They pulsed with life. It was disgusting.
"That's wonderful," Max simpered. "You saved us and grew us new bodies. What a kind and wonderful thing to do."
We all stared at Max, amazed that she would kiss this mad-man's ass like this. He smiled at her, pleased by the flattery.
"The bodies will not reach maturation for several days," Mordenheim explained. "While you are waiting to have your brains transplanted back into them, I have a task for you."
We asked him what it was -- none of us trusted him -- but he evaded our questions, saying only that he had further preparations to make before he was ready to explain. He left. We were free of our restraints but locked in the laboratory. We got up and shuffled around a little. We were so clumsy and helpless.
It was a dark and terrible time. I had never known such despair. My beauty and grace, upon which I'd always relied to get by in the world, were gone, and I had only the word of a madman that I would ever get them back. I don't think the others understood how lost and frightened I felt. They had always had their strength or their spells to protect them. When I ran away from home at fifteen, all I had to keep me alive was my charm and appeal. (At the time I didn't fully understand how lucky I was to be taken in by someone as sweet and kind as Sal. I certainly do now.)
Our new bodies were amazingly strong, which pleased Max and Morallan immensely. The others dealt with things bravely (Except I think Canliss tried to kill himself once, but I am not sure and I never mentioned it to him.) Kariya was already trying to practice moving her clumsy fingers. I look back on that now and I am amazed at her courage. I have never told her this, but Kariya has been my role model for those times when I must endure that which I thought could not be endured. When the will to live escapes me, I picture her in that monstrous body in that terrible place, sitting on the bed and, with great determination, exercising her hands -- and I summon up the courage to go on living.
It's funny considering how short a time I've known them. Rhavin has become my reason for living, Kariya my example, and Canliss' ever-present cheerfulness is like a shelter in a storm. I thank Torodin every day for arranging our meeting -- no one will ever convince me that it happened by chance.
The next few days were nightmarish. We had to learn to walk and talk all over again. Sure, we were strong, we did not need sleep, and we did not feel the cold. But we were hideous and oafish and could barely talk. I gave into frequent fits of rage and despair, despite the encouragement of Kariya, Gil and Rhavin. At one point I even blamed Torodin for our condition, and I tossed my holy symbol off a balcony, wishing that I had never become a priestess. I spent a long night in prayer after that, and I know that Torodin forgave me. (Even Donar and Silvio were understanding, but I have a feeling that is largely because they do not believe what happened at Doctor Mordenheim's. They seem to think we were all delusional.)
All the while, of course, we were wondering exactly what this task was that the doctor had in mind for us. We didn't think he would have gone to all this trouble just to have us move some furniture. I wanted to ask, but everyone kept telling me to wait and be patient.
It was just after the sixth or seventh time I'd been told this when we heard a horrible scream coming from elsewhere in the house. We rushed towards the sound. That is, we tried to. Our new bodies were horribly sluggish and clumsy, and the stairs in Mordenheim's house were narrow and treacherous. Morallan and I immediately fell down the first flight, then Rhavin tripped over us and somersaulted down the stairs (though this really wasn't unusual for him). Eventually, we conceded to the need to walk slowly and carefully, and we stumbled into the dining room.
As we entered we saw a monster -- one not unlike ourselves. He was enormous, standing over seven feet tall. His powerful body was covered with large, raised scars, caused by stitches like ours. His skin was gray, pale and thin, and beneath this translucent covering, we could see muscles and arteries straining. A small group of smaller monsters stood listlessly around him. Off to one side, we saw a woman lying on a table.
The woman was a pitiful sight. Most of her body had been replaced with strange, mechanical devices, and pieces of grafted skin were stitched here and there. Tubes ran in and out of her, carrying various strange substances through her body. Her matted hair was white, and her eyes sunken hollows.
Morallan freaked out at the sight of the woman and began smashing things. He paid no attention to what followed.
Doctor Mordenheim was, of course, standing in the middle of all this. We watched in stunned silence as the huge monster attacked him. Every time he would hit the doctor, the monster reacted as if the blows were landed on himself instead. This didn't change the fact that the doctor's face was turning into a bloody pulp. I don't think any of us were terribly fond of Mordenheim, but we couldn't stand by and watch our only hope for salvation be beaten to death. We rushed to his aid.
During the several minutes that this took, the monster beat Doctor Mordenheim some more. Then, with a cry of rage, he picked the man up and began to strangle him. Strangely, both the man's and the monster's faces began to turn blue.
Finally, two of us (I think it was Rhavin and Kariya, but I was still having trouble telling everyone apart) grabbed the monster and pulled it away from the doctor, who slumped to the floor, unconscious.
With a cry of rage, the monster tossed both of my friends into the far wall. Then, he grabbed the woman and ran off. We tried to follow, but his speed was incredible, and we were too slow and too clumsy to keep up with him. Besides, his listless companions chose this moment to become interested in their surroundings and started to beat the shit out of us. We defended ourselves as best we could. Eventually, they seemed to tire of this sport and followed the bigger monster. They were not quite as fast as him, but we still had no hope of following. We were pathetic.
Igor, the doctor's shy and sweet-tempered, hunchbacked assistant chose this moment to show up. He was very upset by his master's condition. With all the tenderness of a mother with her newborn child, he carried Doctor Mordenheim upstairs and began nursing him back to health. We tried to ask Igor about what had just happened, but he did not seem to know anything.
We were all dying to know the meaning behind this strange kid-napping, but we couldn't interrogate the doctor until he regained consciousness. Normally, I would not have had a problem with waiting. But I wanted to be out of this horrid body as soon as possible. To keep myself occupied, I explored the doctor's house. I found and opened one secret door, behind which was another laboratory where I inadvertently learned that our monster bodies were immune to the magical lightning that coursed through much of the doctor's equipment. There was, however, one door that I could not open, and I could not stop wondering what the doctor was hiding behind it. I didn't trust him a bit.
At one point, Igor brought our belongings that had been found with our bodies. Most of our things were missing. The fighters had no weapons or armor, and the rest of us had no spell components. At Kariya's urging, we searched around the lab to scrounge up what we could. (Morallan had destroyed a great many useful things during his fit of rage, for which Kariya berated him at great length.) I know that I would not have bothered looking for anything without her insistence. I did not think that I would be able to speak well enough to cast any spells. But Kariya insisted that we could not give up, that we only had to survive until we could get our real bodies back. For the first time I felt a spark of hope, and I began to join her in her daily exercises. Then Rhavin took an interest and before long we were all doing calisthenics in the courtyard. It was quite an unforgettable sight.
Finally, the doctor awoke, and Igor summoned us up to his sick room. There he told us a long, bizarre story. I confess I was too annoyed and impatient to listen closely, but Max (who hung on his every word) filled me in some what. This is his story as we pieced it together. (Donar and Silvio didn't believe it any more than I did.)
He began with the story of a cold and loveless childhood. I felt some sympathy for him at first, for I knew how lonely that could be. But young Victor was not beaten or abused, and even if he had been, it would not have excused the cruelty he began to demonstrate. He began to describe cruel experiments on animals in the name of what he termed "science." He was determined to master the secrets of life and death, as if such knowledge could ever be entrusted to a mortal. He was blind to his own arrogance, and when we mentioned the gods, he dismissed them as foolish superstition. How could a man be so vain? How could the gods of this place suffer him to live?
Despite his monstrous arrogance, Victor must have possessed some good qualities. He did not claim to have many friends, but apparently a kind and gentle woman named Elise fell in love with him, and they were married. I will never understand how those who are permitted to be married can fail to appreciate the value of what they have; but that is exactly what Victor, like so many men, did. He virtually ignored Elise while pursuing his precious science, and he was blind enough to believe that she did not mind. I don't understand why that poor woman didn't leave him.
Apparently, the gods were wiser than Victor Mordenheim gave them credit for, for they did not bless him (or curse the world) with a child. Undettered, Victor decided to create his own. He described at great length how he and his hired hands collected body parts from various corpses. Victor collected, tested and stored them -- he was ghastly in his detail, but I will not go into that here. It serves no purpose.
What god allowed Mordenheim to succeed in his grisly quest I do not know, but it can not have been one of the gentler deities. I will describe the rest of Victor's story, as best as I can recall, in his own words. Donar and Silvio may believe me delusional, but I know better. And the sheer audacity of Dr. Mordenheim is something which I would like to leave for posterity, in the hope that others may learn humility less painfully than I have done.
"As the individual pieces began to come to me, I would attach them... in the method that would let life flow from one to the other swiftly and ceaselessly. I added skin to skin, fused bone to bone, and muscle to muscle to make my creation more than a man. He would be a superman, whose existence would promise health and immortality to all men.
"Other, weaker men might have begun to pray at this point, but I had not come this far by the sweat of my own brow and the labor of my own mind to revert to superstition. Did any being other than myself guide the way? How could I believe such a thing?
"Soon, all was accomplished except for the head. In vain we searched for the perfect one, and ultimately I decided to construct one myself. The difficulty was extreme, but at length it was finished, and attached to the rest of the body. As I completed the surgery, a storm began to brew outside the castle, and the sun slowly sank into the sea. At long last I was ready to give my creation life.
"That night was perhaps the most vile this countryside has ever known. The mists parted just enough for the sky to spit down hard, pelting drops of rain, making the dirt leap wherever they struck. Vast peals of thunder shook the sky and earth. It was, I thought, the perfect night for my endeavors."
The mad doctor went on about how, in the mist of the storm, he set about giving life to his monstrosity. Just as he was about to activate his diabolical equipment and give the thing life, he dared to shout this at the heavens:
"Behold him! Arms stronger than Hercules'! Legs swifter than Hermes'! A face more handsome than Apollo's! This is a true god!"
Rhavin, Morallan and I exchanged angry glances at this point in the doctor's speech. We did not recognize the names of the gods he took in vain, but we were sure they deserved more respect than Mordenheim accorded them.
He described then, how his creature came to life and opened its eyes. He told of how the creature stood and walked. How he called it Adam and named it his son. He actually thought that Elise would be proud.
That sensible woman was, naturally, horrified at what her husband had done. But he was blind to her objections. He seemed to expect them all to be one big happy family (some of them being a bit bigger than others). He didn't realized the danger that Adam posed and took no steps to protect Elise. Worse, when Elise adopted an innocent little girl named Eva, the doctor actually strove to bring her in contact with his man-made monster.
I don't know why Mordenheim was surprised by what happened next. One stormy night, Adam killed the little girl and beat Elise almost beyond recognition. Doctor Mordenheim was able to keep Elise alive with his foul magics, and he was working on a way to restore her to a new body, much as he had done with us.
But now Adam had stolen Elise, sending all of the doctor's plans into chaos. He regarded us solemnly.
"The situation has changed," he said wearily. "I must get my beloved wife back. In a few days, your new bodies will have reached maturation, and I want you to retrieve Elise. Whether or not what I have done is right in your eyes, I have done it. If not for me, my talents and invention, you would be fodder for scavengers -- or worse. Only with my knowledge and skills have you any chance of ever regaining your former appearances. You will do this for me."
We were in much of a position to argue, but his story had angered us. When Rhavin politely asked the doctor why he disregarded the will of the gods by doing what he did, Doctor Mordenheim sneered at Rhavin and rudely said tha vt he had no time for that kind of foolish nonsense.
I was furious that the man could insult the gods so, and be rude to Rhavin. I slapped him.
I was appalled when the doctor flew back agains the wall and lay stunned for a moment. I had never hurt anyone before in my life. Angry as I was, I had not meant to injure the man.
"I sowwy," I wailed.
Max helped the doctor to his feet. Rather than being angry with me, Mordenheim expressed pleasure at my strength. What a weird man.
Rhavin said something I couldn't understand.
The doctor nodded. "I am sure Elise is still alive. Adam took her equipment with him, and that is what sustains her life. He would not have done this if he intended to kill her. As for her location, I will have to contact certain individuals to find out where Adam has taken her. In the mean-time, I have learned that some of your belongings are in town. It was recovered by sailors, who plan to auction it off. If these things are of use to you, you are free to collect them while I do my research."
I had already "collected" my pearl necklace from Elise's jewelry box. I still had a copy of the scroll, and I had nothing else worth going to a lot of trouble for. But the others sorely missed their weapons and armor, which would come in handy for protecting those nice, new bodies we'd be getting. Despite the risks, we decided to head into town the next evening.
You can well imagine our misgivings about this venture. In our former lives, if we had seen monsters like us marching into town we would have killed them without a second thought. We couldn't very well just go up to the villagers and ask for our things back. The panic that ensued would put Rhavin's speeches in Souragne to shame. They would try to kill us (and we all knew that Rhavin would not defend himself for fear of hurting them).
But we had no choice. Our brief encounter with Adam had shown us that taking Elise away from him would not be easy. We needed to get our weapons. And so, in the dead of night, we put on large, brown robes (a poor disguise at best) and sneaked into town. Well, sneak is a poor choice of words. It is not possible to sneak when you are seven feet tall, clumsy and ugly as sin. But we did the best we could.
We watched the town for a while until most of the people had gone to bed. There was still noise coming from the inn, so we crept toward the window and peered inside. There were some adventurers inside playing cards and drinking wine. The cozy scene reminded me so much of our happy times in Souragne that I almost cried.
We were just leaving the inn when a young man in the uniform of a town guardsman spotted us. I will never forget the sight of his face. He could not have been much older than me, and he had a kind, pleasant face. A wedding band sparkled on his left hand.
His brown eyes widened in horror at the sight of us. He opened his mouth to s cream. Max lunged at him. She grabbed for his mouth, intending to cover it and stop him from screaming. We all froze at the sudden snap of bone. The poor guard fell to the snowy ground, his head lolling on his broken neck. Max stared at him, horrified at what she had done.
We had no time to mourn. For some reason, Max slung the dead body of the guard over her shoulder, and we rushed towards the docks, as we'd been told by the doctor that it was a group of sailors who were auctioning off our belongings. We didn't get more than two blocks before we ran into another group of guardsmen.
"Oh my god!" One of them cried. "They got Charlie!"
Max dropped Charlie and we ran. Canliss got separated from us, and we did not see him again for a long time. He would not speak of it later, and I did not press for details; it was a pretty traumautic time.
With our improved hearing, we could hear the alarm sounding all over town. It wasn't long before we ran into a mob of villagers, led by two of the adventurers . We managed to run away, but two of us were shot, and I was hit by a nasty fireball cast by the wizard. The pain was awful, and unlike our other injuries it did not heal.
"This is awful!" someone, Kariya I think, yelled. "We're never going to make it to the docks like this."
"We need to convince them we're going somewhere else," I said. I was disappointed that my idea of pinning on notes saying "We mean you no harm," had not had any effect.
Another pack of villagers was approaching us when Rhavin suddenly raised his arms in the air and yelled, "GIVE US YOUR SHEEP!"
It was brilliant (and not, technically, a lie.) We heard someone yell, "To the farms! They're after the sheep."
After that the going was a bit easier. Until we reached the docks themselves. A mob had gathered by the boats, carrying torches and those strange weapons the doctor had shown us. They fired, and hit us a few times.
Speed seemed like our best option, so we charged them. Despite my poor speech, I managed to get off a dictation spell and ordered one of the gunmen to jump into the water.
We tried to charge down the middle without killing anyone. But Max, who was in the lead, accidentally killed two and knocked another into the water, where he drowned. Max tried to save him and failed, but she did fish out the one who had jumped in at my command. I know she felt terrible about this afterwards, and I think it is part of the reason she left us at the first opportunity -- too many bad memories. I don't blame her. I just feel bad that I did not get to say goodbye to her, or to Morallan. I miss them both.
We made it to the boat, where we were disappointed to find that most of our belongings, including all of our armor and weapons, were not there. We did manage to retrieve some useful things, but considering all the innocent people Max had killed, it hardly seemed worth the trip. With heavy hearts, we gathered up what we could. Rhavin insisted on leaving some paper money (A strange concept, I know -- who would want money th at can burn?) which he had bought from the doctor with our gold. Canliss and I were appalled at the idea of paying for things that belonged to us, but we didn't have time to argue about it.
We made it back to Schloss Mordenheim without further incident. This was probably thanks to the "sheep" diversion. There must have been a lot of farmers who stayed up all that night for no good reason.
Unfortunately, our bodies were not quite ready when we returned. We were forced to wait around several days and nights. At first, it seemed nothing was wrong with us other than a quite understandable anxiousness to be rid of these monstrous forms. We passed away the time as best we could. Rhavin organized Gil, Max, and Morallan into building a barricade on the road up to Schloss Mordenhiem -- thoughts of frightened villagers storming the place and killing the doctor before we got our bodies back were preying upon us all. Canliss and Kariya studied their spells, and I sat around watching Rhavin work.
But, gradua lly, things began to change. I suppose it was the stress of it all. Doctor Mordenheim said something about our brains rejecting our monster bodies, or something like that -- nobody understood much of anything he said. The result of it was that we started acting a little strange. Not Max and Kariya -- they alone remained quite themselves -- but the rest of us went a little crazy. Gil eventually wandered off and had to be restrained from trying to kill himself. Morallan also disappeared, and nobody would tell me exactly what it was he was up to, but it seemed to involve Elise's things. Canliss burned all his spells soaring around the keep and having a good time.
I am afraid that Rhavin and I both became very agitated. He was down by the barricade, complaining that everyone had abandoned the project. I can't excuse what happened next -- I was not myself. I said something cruel to Rhavin about his ordering everyone about, and he responded by calling me an ugly witch. Enraged beyond all reason, I st ruck Rhavin and knocked him down. Then I continued to beat and kick him until he lost consciousness. I probably would have killed him if Kariya and Max had not come and dragged me away. Crazy or not, I don't know how I could ever have done that to Rhavin. I am horrified by violence -- I would never hurt anyone. And to think that I abused Rhavin like that is just awful.
Apparently, Max and Kariya had to round everyone up so that the doctor could sedate us and chain us to our beds. I woke up tied to a table, and all I could think of was the terrible thing I'd done to Rhavin. I cried and apologized for hours on end, until the doctor got annoyed and sedated me again.
The next time we awoke, we were in our new bodies. We were in our beds in the laboratory, but we were no longer chained up. The doctor was examining us. He seemed very pleased at the way we had turned out. I must admit that we were "improved," just as he had said. Canliss, Rhavin and I were more graceful. Gil and Morallan were stronger . There were some strange effects , as well. Canliss had six fingers on each hand -- it freaked the rest of us out, but Canliss did not seem to mind a bit. Kariya, it seemed, was now color blind, but she can see perfectly well in the dark, which I think is pretty cool.
Once we were pronounced fit, we were allowed to get up and have breakfast. The doctor warned us that we would be weak for a while, and it would take us some time to recover. We should take it easy for a few days.
Over breakfast, much to the amusement of Morallan and Gil, I apologized again for beating up Rhavin. He seemed uncomfortable, and barely acknowledged my words. I was heart-broken, thinking that Rhavin could not forgive me. I ran up to Elise's room, crying.
Eventually, Rhavin came up and explained that he didn't blame me at all. He just wished I would stop talking about it in front of Gil and Morallan, who found the whole thing amusing. I agreed to let the matter drop, and I kissed him. Rhavin blushed, as usual, and we went back downstairs.
Over the next few days, everyone got used to their improved bodies and made what preparations they could. I spend most of my time with the doctor, learning how to take care of Elise and her equipment once we found her. The others were either to squeamish or too annoyed with him to do it. Donar has taught me to be more practical than that. Strangely enough, I found myself taking an interest in the doctor's science. He seemed pleased to have an audience and surprised that, despite my belief in magic, I learned quickly. I almost regret not having more time to learn from him. The man knew a great deal about healing. (When I mentioned this to Rhavin, he showed me a note he had written with the Quill of Law, urging Mordenheim to use his talents to help the people of the village instead of conducting bizarre experiments. I hope it worked -- it would be one good deed for us to leave behind us.)
A few days later, Mordenheim had joined us at the breakfast table. He had something to t ell us. We assumed it was information regarding Elise, and he did provide us with some clues about going to a place called Schloss Aubrecker, and he gave us supplies and a map. But his next remarks astonished us all.
"So, you see, you are as good as new. Better, in fact. Of course, you must realize that I do not completely trust you. Oh, I know you all gave me your oaths, for whatever such things are worth, but I would be more than a fool if I expected you to keep them." He paused, looking at each of us in turn. "I took out a little insurance policy. You see, the hearts in those nice, new bodies, those hearts are not your own. Yours are here."
Mordenheim gestured dramatically to a shelf lined with jars. The jars were all connected with wires and tubes leading to a central box. In each jar was a pulsing, beating human heart.
For a moment, we all stared at the hearts in shock.
I heard Rhavin take a breath to calm himself. He frowned at the doctor. "What exactly have you done?"
"I have replaced your hearts with those of a more beastly nature. Wereboars, to be precise. They will beat strongly in your bodies for about two weeks -- then there will be some changes... In three weeks your bodies will reject the hearts and you will die a most unpleasant death."
I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. I looked down my shirt. A ragged scar crossed my chest.
"You mean we're going to have scars!" I cried in anguish. Sal wasn't going to like this.
The doctor shrugged. "It could not be helped."
"Yes it could! You didn't have to do this. We would have helped for Elise's sake." I examined myself further. "Hey, where's my belly button?"
Victor could not seem to understand why my lack of a belly button upset me so much. Consider what has been happening lately, it seems like a foolish concern even to me. But I didn't want to come home to Sal looking like some kind of freak, all because of this madman. I was very upset.
So was Rhavin, but for different reasons. "We gave you our oaths in the eyes of the gods that we would help you, and you have betrayed us. That was badly done."
Victor scowled at Rhavin. "What do I care for oaths to your false gods? You worship air and water and you believe in magic. I can not trust an oath from such as you."
"False gods!" Rhavin and I cried in unison. Morallan, I could see, was itching for his sword.
Canliss merely smirked at the doctor. "Don't believe in magic, do you? Then how do you explain this?"
He muttered the brief incantation before our cries of "Canliss, NO!" could reach his ears. His sleeping missiles shot out from his fingertips and hit the doctor, who immediately slumped over.
"Canliss," Kariya said in annoyance, what did you do that for?"
"Just trying to prove a point," he said smugly.
Rhavin and I stepped over to check on the doctor. He wasn't breathing. His heart did not beat.
"Gods, no!" I said. "He's dead."
Canliss' eyes widened in horror. "No, he can't be."
"He is," Rhavin said gravely.
"No," Canliss said again. "He's not dead."
I glared at Canliss. "He's not breathing, he has no pulse. I'm no great physician, but I call that pretty damn dead."
Canliss came over to see for himself. He shook his head in horror and disbelief. "I can't believe it. I can't believe we killed the doctor."
"We killed the doctor?" I snapped. (I regretted it later, but I was upset. "Oh, no. There's no we about it. You killed the doctor."
Canliss had nothing to say to that. I felt a little guilty about the hurt look on his face, but I was in full blown panic now. "I can't believe this," I said. "The only person who can save us from turning into wereboars, then dying, and you kill him with a spell that should have been completely harmless. Would somebody please tell me which god we offended to deserve all this?"
"Nikita," said Kariya, "calm down."
"How?"
Rhavin sighed. "Maybe we should just go plant some truffles."
Kariya glared at him. "Rhavin, you're not helping.
"Don't give up," said Max. "We don't know that he' s dead. I mean, I know he seems dead. But you saw what happened between him and Adam. I don't think the doctor can die as long as Adam is alive."
"He looks pretty dead," said Morallan.
I started sobbing. "I don't want to be a pig."
Morallan chuckled and patted me on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be a really cute pig."
"Oh no!" Max said suddenly. "What's Igor going to think?"
Conversation ceased as we suddenly remembered Igor, who'd gone out to buy supplies for the doctor. The same Igor who carried enormous pieces of equipment up the stairs with one hand.
"We've got to get out of here," said Rhavin.
"But what about the doctor?" asked Kariya. "We can't just leave him like this?"
"Why not?" asked Morallan. "He ain't been too good to us."
Rhavin picked Mordenheim up and carried him to bed. We tucked him in and stared at him, all of us hoping that he would start breathing again. He did not.
Max sighed. "I guess we should have asked for money for supplies earlier."
"Ask?" I pro tested. "Why should we ask? Let's just take what we need."
Rhavin glared at me.
"What? He took our hearts without asking."
The paladin shook his head. "Two wrongs don't make a right."
I pointed at the dead doctor. "He won't need money where he's going."
Max pulled out a pen and some paper. "Here's what we'll do. We'll borrow some of that paper money from the doctor, but we'll leave him a note saying that we'll pay for it later."
"Not later," said Rhavin. "We'll leave our gold behind."
I stared at them both as if they'd gone mad. "He's dead."
"He is not dead." Max began writing furiously. The note read something like this:Dr. Mordenheim, we are sorry that you were suddenly and inexplicably taken ill. We hope you are feeling better. We took som e of your money and left gold behind. We hope that this is a fair exchange. If not, you can let us know when we return. Sincerely, Max, Kariya, Canliss, Rhavin, Morallan, Nikita and Gil.
It was an awfully strange thing to do, but I guess Max meant well. We did as the note suggested, gathered what supplies we could find. Then, after studying the map to Schloss Aubrecker that we'd been given, we set off. Our mood, as you can probably imagine, was pretty grim. It had been a horrible situation to begin with. Now we were starting out with the knowledge that, even if we somehow managed to get Elise and escape with our lives, when we returned it might all be for nothing. Still, we had no choice but to hope for the best.
Mordenheim's country, which was c alled Lamordia, was quite a different experience in our human bodies. It was freezing cold, and everything was blanketed in snow. At first, I thought the snow was pretty, which it was. But I do not tolerate the cold well, and I soon found the weather oppressive. At times the wind would kick up, blinding us with flying snow and nearly sweeping me off my feet. I worried about what would happen when we got near the mountainous area where Schloss Aubrecker was located. It would be much tougher going then. The others, however, were confident that we could survive these hazards. Max and Kariya knew a lot about wildnerness survival, and on the way to the village they made a list of supplies that would help us survive. I don't think we would have made it without them.
Another change was, of course, that we were free to mingle with the townspeople, to buy supplies and gather information. Despite our current peril, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I was determined to enjoy what might be our last chance for happiness before we set off on this perilous adventure.
We split up to buy various supplies and spell components. I was the first done and went to the local tavern to wait for the others, as we'd planned. But they were long in coming. I began talking to the locals -- there was a group of handsome and amiable young men at the bar who were more than happy to chat with me. I was fascinated when they told me about a method of transportation called skiing. Apparently, they wo uld strap large pieces of wood to their feet and push themselves along the snow with poles. It didn't seem quite feasible to me. But then one of them, a striking blond named Franz, mentioned that they could achieve amazing speed with these skiis.
I must admit I had always cherished a great fondness for speed. When riding, I always prefer a gallop to a trot. The speed and power are true freedom to me -- something I've had very little of in my life. I know it was reckless of me, but when Franz offered to teach me how to ski I jumped at the chance. I left a note with the bartender for Rhavin, saying I would not be gone long.
Despite the cold, it was great fun for a while. My exceptional grace, improved even further by the doctor, made it easy for me to learn skiing. I was so thrilled, and I could not wait to tell my friends back at Strand's Shadows about this wonderful sport. (This was when I expected them to still be speaking to me when I returned.)
But Franz and I had not yet achieved the speed I l onged for. When I asked him, he mentioned that the skiis we were wearing were cross country skis, and they were not designed for down hill skiing. Though I have since recorded these details for posterity, at the time I did not believe Franz. I thought he was just trying to keep us moving slowly so that he would have more opportunities to kiss and hold me. It was flattering, but I was not in the mood for romance. With reckless abandon, I charged down the first steep hill we found.
I heard Franz crying my name in fear, but I ignored him, thinking that he was being overly cautious. At first, it was exhilarating. The wind whipped through my hair as I sailed down the mountainside with reckless abandon.
When I realized the tree was in my way, it was too late. I crashed into it. I heard something snap, and pain gripped me with claws of iron. I tried to get up. I could see my left leg tangled in the branches of the tree -- it was horribly twisted, and a bone poked through the skin below my knee. Blood pooled onto the once clean snow.
Franz rushed over to me, his eyes wide with horror. I can't remember what he said -- I was aware of little other than pain. He seemed frantic, at a complete loss for how to deal with this. To his credit, he did the best he could. When he moved my leg to set it in the broken skiis, I screamed and passed out.
I awoke a few moments later. Franz was carrying me. I begged him to take me to the tavern, where my friends would be waiting. He shook his head and said that his villa was closer. I was in no condition to protest. Franz carried me to his home and installed me in his bed. He gave me some schnapps, and said that he would heat some water, insisting that a sponge bath was just the thing for my leg.
That Franz would try to seduce a girl in my condition rather lessened my opinion of him. I drank the entire bottle of schnapps, hoping to pass out and escape the pain.
I was halfway through the bottle when I heard Rhavin shouting my name from downstairs. It was the sweetest sound I'd ever heard.
"Rhavin!" I called. "I'm up here."
I heard footsteps running up the stairs. Downstairs, some woman began yelling at Franz, who vainly tried to make excuses. (Really, if I'd known he was spoken for I wouldn't have gone with him.)
"I'm sorry, Rhavin," I said as soon as he walked in the door. "I tried to get Franz to take me to the inn, but he wouldn't."
"Oh, Nikita." Rhavin sat down on the bed and looked at my leg. Despite the alcohol, I gasped in pain when he touched me, and Rhavin winced. Then I felt the sensation of his healing magic, and some of the pain eased. But it was not enough to heal the damage completely, and I would suffer for some time with it. I suppose I deserved it.
"I'm sorry, Rhavin, " I said as he lifted me into his arms. "I was just trying to have some fun."
He smiled. "I know. I don't blame you."
"Really?"
He nodded. "We could be wereboars in a few weeks. Might as well make the most of the time we have left."
I was dying to know exactly what he meant by that, but I passed out from all the schnapps before I had the chance to ask. Rhavin took me over to the inn, where we were forced to spend the night. The others were not nearly as forgiving as Rhavin. Gil yelled at me for going off with Franz without telling anyone, and Kariya was upset because I'd been goofing around when so much was at stake, and now I'd be slowing everyone down because I was limping.
I felt terrible. I hadn't meant to inconvenience the others, and there seemed to be no way I could make up for it. I resolved to endure the pain without complaint and keep up as best I could.
It was very difficult. Franz had not set my leg very well, and the pain was still pretty bad. Once we got farther from the village, the snow became deeper and the ground steep. Gil, Rhavin, Morallan and Max took turns clearing a path for us. It took a great deal of their energy, but they did not fail to notice that I was falling down rather a lot. Much to my embarrasment, they stopped and built a sled to pull me along. Kariya lectured me again about how I was slowing everyone down. All I could do was apologize. Sometimes I wonder why they didn't leave me behind.

- It started with the dancing mice. -

We traveled for many days in these treacherous conditions, and I do not think we would have survived without Kariya's Leomund's Tiny Hut spell. But the weather was not our only peril. There were two others we encountered -- both quite inexplicable to us. The first happened one night while we were just getting ready to make camp. We heard laughter coming from the below us. When we stepped closer to the edge of the hill to look, we saw a man sitting out on the eyes. Despite the freezing wind, he appeared to be fishing calmly.
"What the hell?" said Max.
"Hey, come up here and share our fire!" I yelled. The man did not answer; I thought he could not hear me over the wind. "He's going to freeze to death down there. I'm going to go get him."
I struggled down the hill despite Rhavin's protests. Canliss followed me, while the others watched apprehensively from the hill top. I did not understand what they thought we had to fear from one lone fisherman.
We soon found out. The fisherman ignored my pleas to come share the warmth of our fire, and began telling us all sorts of fishing stories. Despite the incredible boredom, Canliss and I both found ourselves compelled to stay and listen. I quickly fell asleep, my face pressed against the cold ice.
Rhavin immediately charged down the hill to fetch me. He had just reached down to pick me up when he too fell prey to the strange man's spell. He sat down next to Canliss and began listening to the stories.
Meanwhile, up on the hill top, Kariya quickly devised a plan. The others stuffed their ears, came down the hill, and dragged the rest of us away after we fell asleep. They told us that the man's laughter continued through out the night, and their sleep was poor and restless despite their muffled hearing.
This happened night after night, and we were forced to use spells to avoi d falling victim to the man's peculiar magic. Otherwise, we could easily have all died on that frozen river.
The second peril happened a few days later. We were marching along when I spotted movement in the trees around us. Suddenly, were set upon by a group of men on skiis. All of them carried rifles like the guardsmen in the village, and some had other weapons as well. Using their speed and the cover of the trees, not to mention our lack of weapons except for some knives and sticks, they soon had us at a terrible disadvantage.
We fought back as well as we could. Kariya and Canliss, I think, saved us. There were walls of ice and walls of falls flying everywhere -- it was the only cover we had. Then, between her magic missiles and his sleeping missiles, they took out many of our deadly attackers. I managed to take care of a few with my dictation spell. But it was still a terrible battle. At one point, their leader clubbed Rhavin, who turned around and wanted to surrender. I couldn't believe wha t I was seeing. Neither could Morallan, who jumped the man from behind and began beating on him. Morallan took the worst of that fight, but the leader and his remaining men soon saw that they were outmatched, and they fled.
"What the hell was that all about?" demanded Kariya. The attack was completely unprovoked, and we did not understand it.
I looked at Rhavin. "Rhavin, why were you trying to surrender?"
"They had the authority to arrest us."
"Whose authority?"
He seemed confused. "I - I don't know."
"That was obviously some kind of magic club you were hit with," said Kariya.
Morallan chuckled. "Maybe he just got hit in the head too hard."
We didn't have time to try to figure out the motives behind the strange attack. We only had two weeks before we started turning into wereboars, and the journey was already taking more time that we'd thought. So we moved on, albeit more warily.
No amount of caution could have prepared us for the gruesome sight we encountered late the following day. We h ad found a road to follow up the mountainside to Schloss Aubrecker, though the road was snowed over and our passage was by no means easy. We had just reached a bend in the road. Above us, veiled by falling snowflakes, loomed the dark bulk of the baron's castle. Just ahead of us, we could see that the snow had blanketed a large object. One side of the snow bank was stained a faint pink. To the left of the stain, a large dark hole led to the center of the mound.
We carefully moved up to investigate. Beneath the snow we found an overturned sleigh. Harnessed to the sleigh was a horse, its body frozen by the cold. One of its hind legs was broken, and its belly had been eaten away by something with sharp claws and teeth.
Inside the sleigh was the body of a young man who had been frozen in a sitting position. The reins were still in his hands. instead of being dressed warmly for this horrid weather, he was wearing only a thin night shirt, monogrammed in gold thread with the initials HVA. His face was a gruesome shade of blue and his mouth was frozen in a wide rictus grin.
It was a hideous sight. Rhavin managed to pry the poor boy's fingers from the reins and pull his frozen body from the sleigh. Inside the boys' pocket we found a note that read:
Captain Furschten, I beg you, bring your men with all haste to the castle. Bring whatever aid is available; rat catchers and priests would be most appropriate. A plague of strange creatures besieges us. It started with the dancing mice. (I saw Morallan pale when Rhavin read this part, and I felt guilty. How could I have predicted that my innocent prank would lead to an unreasonable fear of rodents?) Now my hound has a gleeful look in his eye and a great grin on his lips. I caught him smoking my best pipe the other night, and now he is wearing my waistcoat! There is something dark at work here. All measure to stop it prove futile. Yet I laugh! I laugh. I tell you, it all seems so jolly somehow. The carrier pigeons fly in circles, or hang from the eav es like bats. I have no way of knowing if my previous epistles ever reached you. I pray that my osn Hendrik can make it through the winter's icy grip. Remember, beware the mice, lest they steal your swords! Yours, Baron Wilhelm Von Aubrecker.
After we explained to Max what an epistle was, I looked sadly at poor Hendrik. How were we going to break this to his father?
"This is not good," said Kariya. "The Baron is supposed to help us. What the heck is going on here?"
"He must be crazy," I said.
She frowned at me. "No, really?"
"Uh guys," Max said nervously. "There's something moving inside that hole. I think --"
She didn't get a chance to finish. A giant wolverine crawled out of the hole, snarling. Before we could react, it turned, lifted its tail, and sprayed us all with its horrible musk. Gil was the only one who managed to get out of the way.
The musk stank and stung our eyes. Max and I were completely blinded. All of us were instantly weak and slow. It was horrible. I sat there on my sled, not knowing what was happening, while my companions fought off the horrible beast. I flinched every time one of them cried out in pain. There was nothing I could do to help them.
Finally, they managed to kill the beast. Max, who was very annoyed at being blind, joined me on the sled (they made us hold Hendrik -- it was disgusting) and we made our way up to Schloss Aubrecker.
The baron's home was a sumptuous estate built of masonry and heavy timbers. The interior resembled a hunting lodge, with dark wooden ceiling beams, whitewashed walls, and heavy wrought-iron chandeleiers. The exterior was trimmed with decorative turrets and crenelations to give the overall effect of a castle. Now, however, it had fallen into disrepair. As we walked nervously inside, shutters banged in the wind, and the place smelled like a barnyard. Snow had drifted inside the front door. Max and I, along with the frozen corpse of Hendrik, were left to sit at a big table just inside the front door. Gil stayed with us. H e found some water to bathe our eyes with, but it didn't help.
Meanwhile, the others moved cautiously down the hallway to explore. I heard Morallan begin to relate his story about being repeatedly bitten by a mouse on our journey over here. I didn't say a word.
They hadn't gotten far before I heard Kariya gasp and scream something about bears. They turned out to be two stuffed bears at the end of the hallway. The others began teasing, but suddenly someone screamed and their were sounds of battle. Gil told us to stay put and ran to help them. Eventually, they came back and said they'd fought some bizarre creatures that appeared to be mixed parts human and animal -- more of Doctor Mordenheim's horrendous experiments. The strange part was, Rhavin and Morallan seemed to find the whole thing very funny. They kept making jokes about turtle boy, and Rhavin began laughing and dancing with Max, which annoyed her immensely.
He calmed down after a second. It was unnerving. We decided that it was too dange rous to explore the castle right now -- Max and I were still blind, and many of the others had been injured in the fight with Mordenheim's creatures. We holed up in the bathroom, an uncomfortable spot at best, and slept fitfully through the night.
In the morning, Max and I could see again, which was a great relief to us. We readied ourselves and left the bathroom. The first thing we saw was the mice. They were walking on hind legs and carrying little knives.
My companions' reaction was startling. Kariya and Canliss immediately let loose a volley of missles that squashed the poor creatures into a bloody smear on the carpet. I stared in horror, and realized that it would be a long time before I could risk turning into a mouse in front of my friends.
The madness we encountered grew worse and worse. At one point, a cat came up to us, barking holding a slipper in its mouth. Inside the slipper was a bloody foot. It was disgusting. Rhavin and the others were nearly killed when the furniture in one room came to life and attacked them. In another room were dogs drinking beer and playing poker.
The worst part was, though, that the madness was beginning to infect us. Most of us, especially Rhavin, were giving in to fits of hysterical laughter and dancing. Normally, I would have rejoiced to see Rhavin so happy and carefree, but this irrational behavior from the person I counted on most frightened me. I resolved to find out what we needed to know as quickly as possible, before we all went mad.
It was shortly after making this vow that we encountered the most horrible thing in the estate. We walked into the dining room and stopped in horror at what we found there. Slumped in the chiars that surrounded the long talbe were the corpses of six men. Each was heavily muscled and bore the marks of violence. The head of one was reduced to a blood-crusted pulp, while another was pierced by crossbow bolts. Broken limbs were bent at odd angles. The splintered shaft of a spear protruded from one man's chest. The corpses were crusted with dirt and ice. Their skin was bone white, and they stank. Clearly they had been dead for some time.
They men wore strange clothing. Some had on children's bonnets, while others had torn remnants of doll clothing pulled onto their arms or up over their pant legs. Tiny plates and utensils sit on the table in front of each corpse. Delicate tea cups had been forced into their frozen hands.
As we stared in horror, a door opened through it skipped a charming little girl about twelve years old, a tea tray in her hands. The front of her white dress was covered with blood stains. She gasped when she saw us in the room, but quickly regained her composure. Smiling brightly, she nodded toward the corpses.
"Hello," she said. "I was just about to serve my dollies some tea? Do you want to play with me?"
"No way," said Canliss and backed towards the corner of the room. He was shaking in fear.
Rhavin pointed to the nearest corpse, whose mouth was opened in a frozen scream. "These are your dollies?"
"Yes," she said. She frowned and stamped her foot with such strength that the stone tile cracked. "Play with me!"
Her show of strength, combined with the strange tableau, terrified us into submission. We all sat down next to the corpses except for Canliss, who was cowering in the corner. The girl poured us and her "dollies" tea. We watched in horror as she bent arms stiff with rigomortis into the proper shapes, ignoring the crunch of bone.
When everyone had their tea, the girl sat down at the head of the table. She helped the "dolly" nearest her to drink his tea, seeming not to notice as it flowed back out of his open mouth and onto the table.
"What's your name?" asked Rhavin, the first of us to recover enough to speak to the girl.
"Greta," she said. "What's yours?"
Rhavin introduced each of us. "Is this your house, Greta?"
"This is my daddy's house."
In between drinking tea and eating stale biscuits, we finally managed to learn that Baron Von Aubrecker was Greta's father . Hendrick had been her brother. We tried to find out more about what was going on here, but Greta was only interested in playing. She took a great fancy to Morallan, encouraging him to skip about with her. But then Morallan made the mistake of touching one of her "dollies."
"Don't take my dollies!" She cried. She began screaming and stamping her feet. We heard footsteps pounding down the hall. The door flew open, and a man with graying hair and a wild look in his eyes burst into the room. He was dressed in expensive clothing that was dirty and torn, and his hair was a mess. He held a mouse trap in either hand.
"Greta!" he yelled as he ran into the room. "What's wrong? Are the mice trying to carry your dolls away again?"
He skidded to a halt as he saw us. He began to tremble and his eyes filled with fear. A mouse trap sprang shut on his fingers, but he ignored it.
"Please," he said. "Leave us alone. I'll destroy the map Klaus drew if you spare our lives. The location of the monastery will remain a secret. I won't even speak of it to my dearest friends. As you can clearly see, Klaus is dead. He won't be mentioning it either."
The man dropped to his knees and extended his arms in supplication. "Please, he begged, "haven't you done enough evil to this household already? Won't you let us be?"
We were appalled by the man's pathetic speech. Rhavin and Max tried to calm him, to reassure him that we meant no harm. I asked about the map, but he ignored me. Eventually, Rhavin managed to get through to him. We helped him to lie down in a nearby bedroom. Between fits of laughter and sobbing, he told us about the horrible madness. But he made little sense and the details were unclear. It was obvious we were not going to learn the location of the map from him by talking about it.
"We have to go search for the map," said Kariya.
"We don't have time," I said. "By the time we find it, we'll all be mad, and we won't want to leave here. Rhavin, he seems to trust you. Can you encourage him to go to sleep? Then I can find out what we need to know."
They did not ask me for details, and I was grateful for that. I knew I was about to risk madness myself, but I thought better me than all of us. As soon as the baron had fallen asleep, I cast a spell to read his memories.
What I saw was a nightmare. I experienced the gradual slide into madness of the baron and his entire household exactly as he had, with the same intensity and the same emotions. I experienced the horror when a traveling troupe flung themselves off the cliff, thinking they were birds. I watched the guards, his dear friends whose names and personalities I now cherished as well, set upon one another and kill every last man. Through it all, I watched the baron succumb to the laughing madness, all the while knowing that he was crazy, but unable to help himself.
It was awful. By the time I had finished, I was mad myself, and the spell had exhausted me. But, between fits of laughter, I managed to tell my friends what I had learned. Klaus, one of the guards who now shared tea with Greta, had seen strange figures in brown robes watching the castle shortly before all this had happened. Klaus had followed them one day and found a hidden monastery. He had recorded a map to it before he succumbed to the madness, and I knew exactly where it was.
We rushed upstairs, where we ran into the dogs playing poker. They became angry at the interruption, drew their swords, and attacked us. In the middle of all this, Morallan started shouting something about manticores and attacked Rhavin. It took both Gil and Max to pull him away. It was awful, and I laughed through the whole thing, even when Morallan got webbed to the wall.
We did find the map though. With it was a note written by Klaus. It read, Doctor Mordenheim, I write in reference to the carriage I spotted -- the one bearing the corpse you seek. It has only just occurred to me what its destination must have been. Ten miles to the south of the Aubrecker estate, near the headwaters of one of the tributaries of the Musarde River, lies an abandoned monastery. The carriage driver must have sheltered there -- the winter snows began the day after I spotted the coach and he would never have made it through the mountains. I must warn you, however, that the monastery is filled with ghastly creatures whose limbs are out of proportion and whose bodies are covered with a crisscross of horrid scars. They shamble about inside it, chanting in a horrible mockery of priestly ritual. When they leave it, they hide their deformities under voluminous brown robes. While observing the monastery, I heard horrible screams from within. Thank whatever gods you worhisp that the woman you seek is already dead. Your servant, K.
We were all horrified by the last line. If we did not bring Elise back alive, the doctor, assuming he was not really dead, would not give us our hearts back. Max reassured us by pointing out that Elise would have looked quite dead from a distance, and Klaus was probably wrong.
The others were still trying to figure out a way to get the raving Morallan out of the webs safely when Greta came along, clamoring for someone to play with her. I felt bad for the child, and I didn't see any harm in obliging her. I followed her into her room.
Greta's current form of play horrified me and pushed me even further along the path of madness. Taking me by the hand, she pulled me into her bedroom. It was like I imagined any normal little girl's room would be. The bed was made with lacy, pink covers, and toys littered the shelves behind it. But I was horrified when Greta began playing with her dolls. Each of them was missing at least one limb. Some had no heads. And all were covered with blood. As I watched, Greta picked up a large knife and stabbed one of them into the stomach. Blood poured from the wound and onto Greta's hands.
She turned to me with an innocent smile and held out the dripping knife. "Wanna play?"
Shaking my head, I backed out of the room. I ran to the others, who were jus t finishing up with the webs. "Greta," I cried, "she's in there. Stabbing her dolls. It's awful. There's blood everywhere. Where's the blood coming from? It's awful."
Everyone stared at me for a second. They were stuck all over with remnants of webs and had very real wounds of their own. Kariya scowled at me.
"If it's so awful, then don't look at it."
"But you don't understand." I grabbed Gil's hand and pulled him into Greta's room. "See," I said, pointing. "Look what she's doing. It's not natural."
"You ain't freaking kidding," Gil said. "But I really don't care. We have other problems."
But I couldn't stop talking about it. I followed Gil back out of the room, still babbling about Greta and her dolls. Finally, Gil couldn't take it any longer (It was the madness; Gil in his right mind would never have hurt me.) and he turned around and slapped me hard.
"Would you shut up?" he yelled.
I stared at him in astonishment for a second. It had been a long time since anyone had hit me. My trus t in Gil was, for the moment, completely destroyed.
Then the madness reasserted itself and I started babbling about Greta again. Gil raised his hand to strike me again, but his arm was suddenly pulled back by a very angry Rhavin.
"You do not hit her," Rhavin said.
Gil frowned. "Well, make her shut up about the damn dolls, then. I don't want to hear about it any more."
Disgusted, Gil walked away. I looked sadly at Rhavin. "He hit me," I said sadly.
Rhavin sighed. "I know."
Morallan had finally been freed from the webs and calmed down. Kariya came over to Rhavin.
"Can we get out of here now?"
"That's an excellent idea."
We immediately collected our things and left. We had to get to the monastery. The going proved to be very slow. Not because of snow this time, but because of the madness that infected all of us. Everyone kept giving in to frequent fits of laughter. Even Kariya eventually started acting like a lunatic. At one point, our limited progress stopped completely when everyone p retty much flipped out all at once, except for poor Rhavin and Canliss. Morallan, who had taken off most of his clothing despite the freezing weather, accused Max of being a manticore and attacked her. Gil freaked out and attacked Kariya, who was laughing so hard she didn't seem to care that her sergeant was trying to throttle her. Eventually the fit of madness passed, leaving everyone very much embarrassed. I was, however, personally quite relieved to see that Gil's violent outbursts were sparked by the same mental illness the rest of us shared; he was not to blame for hitting me.
It wasn't until a couple of days later that we finally realized what was causing the madness. Max had taken point and we tried be very cautious. Rhavin walked beside me, and he kept asking me to keep an eye out to see if I noticed anything. Unfortunately, all I wanted to do was babble about Greta and the dolls. The obsession had gotten so bad that I had neither eaten nor slept since we left Schloss Aubrecker. Rhavin bore it all with stoic patience; never once did he complain or lose his temper. In fact, he seemed increasingly worried about me, and seldom left my side. He was wonderful.
My madness was not complete, however, and eventually I did notice something odd -- yellow eyes watching us from behind the trees. Unfortunately, the only other person who saw them was Morallan, who'd also been seeing manticores where there were none.
Canliss shook his head. "And you believe them?" he said to Rhavin. "They're not exactly the most reliable of witnesses."
I frowned at Canliss. I have noticed that people have tendency to talk about crazy people right in front of them, as if they didn't even exist. It's very rude, and it often hurt my feelings.
Rhavin was struggling for something diplomatic to say when they attacked us. They were giant lynx, huge clawed and furry. I didn't see much of the fight -- I was instantly pounced on by one of the creatures, which dug its claws into my side. Rhavin pulled it off of me and stabbed it. Around us, the others were fighting as best they could with what limited weapons we had. Canliss was flinging his sleeping death missiles around, and Kariya was slinging magic missiles on top of those.
Finally, the last of the lynx was dead. Max set about skinning the beasts while Rhavin, Morallan and I healed everyone. We were about to get going again when some of us noticed how terribly itchy we were. I started scratching myself so hard I was drawing blood. Appalled, Rhavin grabbed me and pinned my a rms to my sides. I squirmed in his grasp. Then I looked down my shirt and saw little insects crawling.
"Oh no!" I cried, appalled at the indignity of it. "I've got fleas!" I started crying and laughing at the same time. The madness was a terribly humilating thing.
Somehow, it was decided that the fleas must be the cause of the madness. Rhavin immediately cast a cure disease on me, and the laughing madness I had acquired from the baron ceased. Rhavin could cure one more person, and at everyone's urging he cured himself. We depended on him.
We moved on, though we did not make much more progress that day. I found myself clinging to Rhavin; he was the only one who didn't get annoyed at my constant babbling about Greta and the dolls. I kept it up all day and all night, too. His patience was amazing.
Except for occasional burts of madness, the rest of our journey to the monastery was not eventful. It took the better part of a week, what with the deep snows and all. During all that time I did not sleep or eat, and I often caught Rhavin watching me with concern. Some part of me realized that I was not feeling well; most days I was so tired I could not even pray for my spells. Now instead of clinging to Rhavin I went as far as leaning on him while we walked. I was getting very weak. The sad part was, I was so obsessed with the sight of Greta stabbing those dolls that I really didn't care how sick I was getting. I'm afraid I was of very little use to my friends, but they must have been getting used to that by now. I was often more trouble than I was worth.
It was the end of a very long and exhausting day when we caught side of the monastery. It was well hidden in a deep cleft in the mountains and protected by sheer cliffs that rose behind it. The only access was by way of a wooden bridge that spanned a hundred-deep foot chasm. Two wooden platforms extended outward from either side of the chasm, but there was a large gap between them. There was no guard in sight, but then there didn't seem to be a need for one. How were we going to get into the place?
Since we were cold and weary, and storm clouds threatened overhead, we decided to camp early. Kariya cast her hut spell, and we gathered inside to plan. There was a lot of arguing from all sides -- except for Canliss, who calmly boasted that he had a way to get across the chasm and didn't care to contribute anything else. No one could seem to agree on any one plan.
During all this, it began to storm terribly outside. We could hear the wind howling. Big soft flakes of snow twirled about in the air; it was quickly turning into a blizzard. I was alarmed when Morallan suddenly opened the door and walked outside.
"Rhavin," I said. "Morallan's leaving." But Rhavin was discussing the range of a longbow with Kariya and Gil, and he didn't pay any attention to me.
I was worried about Morallan, so I followed him outside. "Morallan," I called to him. "What are you doing? Come back inside where it's warm."
He turned around. Seeing me, his face twisted into a look of fury. "Manticore!" he cried. He charged me and knocked me to the ground. Helpless, I looked up as he drew his sword (we had to give one of our only blades to him, didn't we?)
"Morallan," I cried. "It's me -- Nikita."
He couldn't seem to hear me. I screamed in horror as his blade swooped towards my neck. Morallan was going to kill me.
Suddenly, he was knocked away from me by the charging form of Max. Rhavin, Gil and the others charged after her, and they quickly pinned Morallan down. He soon came to himself, and he seemed quite embarrassed.
Kariya sighed. "Rhavin, when you're able to cure disease again tomorrow, I think Morallan should be your first target."
"Amen to that," said Max.
Rhavin nodded and helped me to my feet. "Nikita, why can't you be more careful? You shouldn't have come out here without telling anyone."
"But I did --"
"She's as bad as Canliss," Kariya complained.
"Hey," said Canliss. "What did I do?"
"Can we go inside?" said Max. "I'm cold."
We all followed her inside. I tried to explain that I'd only been worried about Morallan, but nobody listened to me. Kariya insisted we resume our plan to attack the monastery so we could all get some sleep. After much arguing, it was decided that Kariya would cast fire and darkness spells on Gil's arrows, which he would shoot into the monastery, while Rhavin covered them. Meanwhile, I would get Max and Morallan inside with my etherealness spell. (I didn't admit to them how dangerous it was -- Donar and Silvio are furious with me for how recklessly I used my astral spells, and I'm not allowed to use them until I "learn a little more discipline." Not that it matters any more.) Canliss repeated that he had a spell that would allow him to glide across the chasm. He refused to tell us what he planned to do after that, except to brag that no one would see him doing it.

- "Don't tell Canliss about the Diamonds" -

It was a long night. As I stayed awake, watching the snow fall outside and babbling to whomever was on watch about Greta and the dolls, I noticed the others toss fitfully in their sleep from time to time, nervous about the day to come. In the time that we were together, I spent many nights watching my friends sleep. Max and Morallan both snored terribly, and Morallan usually got tangled in his blankets. Canliss often smiles in his sleep, which I think is adorable. I wonder what he dreams about -- fat diamonds, no doubt. Kariya tends to frown and mutter softly in her sleep, but I usually could not make out what she was saying. When I did manage to read her lips, it was always something that made no sense, like "That pink cover is horrible and why is there a hole in the middle." I never asked her about it, because I didn't want her to know I was eavesdropping. She might have been embarrassed. Gil always sleeps with his face buried in his pillow -- sometimes I would check on him to make sure he was still breathing. Rhavin would always sleep still and peacefully. He is beautiful when he's sleeping, even more so than in the day. I always loved watching him sleep.
When dawn came, we found that Kariya's hut had been buried by several feet of snow, and we had to dig our way out. What a way to start the morning. Rhavin cured Gil and Morallan of the madness as soon as he was done praying. Despite my exhaustion, I was able to learn my spells. My voice was getting a little hoarse, and I hoped I would not mess them up. I wanted to be useful for a change.
Fortunately, I was able to get the spell off without a problem. Now, as Donar has been rather angrily explaining for several hours, the ethereal plane is a deadly place. It was full of horrible creatures, like demons, gorgons, and medusae, all of which I have been forced to read about at great length. (The veins on Donar's neck stood out when I told him about the conversation I had with the medusa I tried to summon at the duke's. I'd never seen him so angry.) But all I told Max and Morallan, after the spell was already cast, was that it was a little dangerous and we'd better hurry. It was terrible of me to mislead them like that.
Luckily, we made it into the monastery without incident. Two of the golems were standing just inside the door, where they were watching the archery battle going on outside. From our position we could not see the havok that the arrows of darkness were causing, but we could see that Rhavin was rapidly turning into a human pincushion. I guess attacking a fortress with arrows was not a very good plan.
Since we had no physical substance while in the ethereal plan, I suggested to Morallan and Max that we could become corporeal at any time -- while their swords were already in the backs of the golems seemed pretty good. They were a little squeamish about it, but that is what we did, and it worked very well. It was pretty gruesome though, and the only thing that spared me from feeling guilty was my assumption, which I realize now may have been wrong, that these creatures were as evil and violent as Adam was. (Unlike Max, who kept debating the point, I never had any doubt in my mind that Adam had beaten Elise and killed little Eva. Much as we disliked Doctor Mordenheim, I was convinced that he had not lied to us.)
Our plan, such as it was, did not go very well. Our side took the worst of the archery battle and was forced to retreat into the woods. Max and Morallan, meanwhile, raced upstairs to look for the golem archers, hoping to even up the odds. After I opened the front door (I can't remember what the purpose of that was, but it had been part of the plan.), I tried to hobble after them. I hadn't gotten very far when I saw two enormous golems running down the hall towards me. One of them shot me with a crossbow. There was nothing I could do except cower against the wall and wonder why Max and Morallan had left me all alone. One of the horrible creatures grabbed me. I screamed in terror, but eventually the monster got tired of that and covered my mouth with his smelly hand. I thought he was going to kill me. For several hours, I was left alone with the monster and my own terror-stricken imagination. I had no idea what was going on.
Fortunately for me, Canliss had been having better luck on his own than all the rest of us put together. Still quite invisible, he had turned the entire top floor into a blazing inferno. Fire was the one thing these monsters feared. It was also probably the only reason they were willing to take me as a hostage instead of kill me outright -- they needed something to bargain with.
While I was being held prisoner. Max and Morallan surrendered themselves, and Max appointed Rhavin as our spokesperson. Rhavin bargained with two things: 1) Canliss would not set any more of them on fire, and 2) Rhavin would give them information about creating life that we had learned from Doctor Mordenheim (which wasn't really that much, but apparently these creatures were desperate for any knowledge.) During the tail end of these discussions, the creature holding me, who apparently knew no more than I did, dragged me over to the front door. From there, we could see several of the other creatures talking to Rhavin, Gil and Kariya.
"What should I do with this single?" the thing holding me called out. "Should we use it for spare parts?"
I'm embarrassed to admit that I started crying at this point. I didn't want to be dismembered. The other creatures called back that they had worked out a deal. Max and I would be released, and Rhavin would come inside to record something in the library. I am not sure what that was all about -- like Max said, there was a whole sub-culture going on there that we just didn't get.
Next thing I knew, the creature holding me jumped across the gap to where the others waited, then they all jumped back with Rhavin. Kariya asked me if I was okay, but I was shaking so badly I couldn't speak. Gil held me for a moment to calm me down. Then Gil turned to the three of us and asked what our plan to rescue Rhavin was.
"Well, I don't know," said Max. "I don't think we should interfere with the negotations."
"Bullshit," said Gil. "We can't trust them. They'll kill him and Morallan."
"I agree that we should rescue Rhavin," said Kariya.
"Okay," said Gil. "So what's the plan?"
Everyone looked at me. I am not sure at what point it happened, but every time a plan is needed the others tended to look to me first. I suppose I should have been flattered and, as Donar has told me repeatedly, it was my duty as a priestess of Torodin to offer guidance.
Unfortunately, lack of sleep was begninning to affect my judgement. I couldn't think of any plan at all. Finally, I decided to cast a spell to get an idea -- it took me several tries just to remember the right incantations. The best idea I got was for us to impersonate Adam.
Now, I know it was stupid. But I was tired and half-crazy. I don't know what the others' excuses were. But impersonate Adam is exactly what we tried to do. I used make up and some robes we'd gotten from the baron's castle and, perched on Max's shoulders, I pretended to be Adam. I yelled across the bridge, demanding the release of the singles.
I think we might have fooled them for the better part of a minute. Mostly, all we got was confused looks. Then Rhavin came out -- he seemed amused -- and told us to back into the woods and wait.
We waited for a long time. All the while we grew more and more worried about Rhavin, and Morallan too, of course. What were we going to do if the monsters didn't let them go? And we still had no idea where Canliss was.
Finally, Max and Morallan came down and said that everything was okay. I apologized for our stupid plan and blamed it on Gil. Rhavin was very understanding. He asked if anyone had seen Canliss.
"Not usually," said Max. "Seems like he's always invisible."
We all stared at her.
"Right," said Rhavin. "Nikita, can you find Canliss for us?"
I thought about it. Locate object would not work -- too little range. Then it occurred to me that I knew the names of some of the herbs Canliss carried around with him. A locate plant spell would be just the thing.
"I'll try," I said. It took me a very long time to get the spell off right. I kept stumbling over the words, or forgetting the incantation. The others waited patiently, and finally I got it off. The spell led us back inside the monastery, to a locked gate. Some of the creatures had followed us inside. The stood by the gate with us, watching us nervously.
"Where does this gate lead to?" Rhavin asked.
"To the Sleeping Beast Mountain," one of the creatures said fearfully. Apparently, legend had it that some sort of monster had been sleeping inside the mountain for centuries. We learned that the creatures had built a diamond mine inside the mountain.
Rhavin leaned close to us. "Don't anyone tell Canliss about the diamonds," he whispered. "We'll never get him out of here."
The golems seemed very confused at how Canliss had gotten inside the gate in the first place. They hadn't seen anyone go in.
"He has a way of not beeing seen," Rhavin said sagely. "Do you mind if we yell for him?"
The golems had no objection, and we began yelling Canliss' name. Finally, he answered from the other side of the gate.
"What do you want?" he asked, sounding rather bored.
"We want to leave," snapped Kariya. "Come out of there."
"Can't," he said. "I used a knock spell to get in here, and I have to sleep through the night to get another one."
"Well, that's just great," she said. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Wait," said Canliss. "Besides, we don't want to leave. From what I've overheard, Elise is in these mines somewhere."
"So we need to get in there where you are," Max concluded. She has a firm grasp of the obvious.
"Either way," said Rhavin, "it looks like we're camping here for the night. We might as well get comfortable. You don't mind if we sleep here?" he asked the golems.
The golems did not, but two of their number stayed to watch over us. We were not quite trusted. I found a spot in the corner and prepared myself for another long and sleepless night. Then Rhavin came over and sat down beside me.
"Nikita, will you read this for me?" He handed me a note.
The note was written by the Quill of Law. It read, "You will forget about the horror you have witnessed."
Now, as Donar has explained to me, forgetting about Greta and the dolls was something I could not do. My inablity to obey the Quill's compulsion caused my mind to shatter, splitting into eleven different personalities. Some of them had things in common with my real self, but others were nothing like me; rather they were compilations of personalities I had known or witnessed, or maybe just imagined.
(Donar and Silvio were very angry with Rhavin for this, but I know he was only trying to help me. I was getting very ill, and he was worried. I don't blame Rhavin a bit.)
The only immediately noticeable effect of the Quill was a feeling of complete worthlessness that suddenly overcame me. I walked over to the golems and offered myself up for spare parts. One picked me up and started down the hall with me.
"Hey," Rhavin yelled, "where are you taking her? "
The golem explained. My friends looked horrified.
"Nikita, what would you do that for?"
I was sobbing. "I can't forget," I cried. "I'm sorry Rhavin. I can't."
Rhavin was the only one who understood what I was talking about. He looked very frustrated. He pulled the golems aside and whispered something to it.
"You're right," it said. "We can't use her for parts."
I began sobbing harder. "I'm not even good enough for parts," I cried.
Rhavin took me aside and tried to make me feel better, but nothing that he said helped. It was a long night.
Donar and Silvio said that I should write down everything I remember about the different personalities. I don't want to. I am so horrified by what happened to me, and ashamed of so many of the things I did. But I suppose I have disobeyed too many of their orders at it is; I will at least try to cooperate a little with this one. The funny thing is, I don't have a lot of details to give. The personalities were all very shallow. There was Rowena, who never emerged to introduce herself to the others. She was a noblewoman with a powerful enemy, and Rhavin was escorting her to her father in Geston. Rowena was very nice. There was an assassin named Nightfall who called himself Bob. He had orders to kill another of my personalities named Tina, but claimed that she was his sister and he was just trying to find her. Tina was a very gloomy and talkative teenager who always saw the worst in every situation, and she lived in terror that Nightfall would find and kill her. Greta was another of my personalities, which was appropropriate; they were all obsessed with her. There was Nikodemus, and old former gladiator who'd been hired by the church of Estereal to train Rhavin in combat. Galahad was a former Paragon who'd turned evil and become a pirate; much to my horror, he was determined to kill Rhavin, and he pretended that he was still a paladin. Hyskosa, the cruel and hard-hearted author of the scroll prophecy, was at least determined to protect Rhavin at any cost. Helga was a rude and over-bearing old woman, but she was harmless. Bertha never introduced herself either -- she was a thug who worked for the Organization. Finally there was Carmen, a prostitute from Istur who wanted Rhavin desperately, but didn't love him at all.
For the moment at least, I was still myself. When the others awoke in the morning. Canliss opened the door and we entered the mine. It was a frightening place. The walls and tunnels through which we walked were shored up with rotting planks, and the ceilings creaked and groaned under the weight of the earth above them. The floors were strewn with mining equipment; apparently the golems were not concerned that the whole place was about to cave in.
Not far past the gate we found the equipment used to lower workers into the mine. It consisted of large, wooden platforms with a low wall around the outside edge. Rusted chains were attached to each corner; these led to a central cable that ran up to a pulley, fastened directly over the center of the shaft. The platforms were raised and lowered by means of hand cranks.
Nervously, we all piled on. The platform swayed and creaked under our weight. We looked down into the shaft beneath us; it was a long way down.
"I don't know about this," Kariya said.
"Does anyone have a spell to save us if this thing crashes?" asked Max.
All of us spell-casters thought about it. "No," we said in unison.
"Well, that's nice to know."
It took Rhavin, Morallan and Gil combined to turn the rusty crank. Slowly, we sank into the depths of the mine. I looked above us, watching the last of the light slowly disappear. It was like descending into hell.
We lit some torches and slowly began exploring the tunnels. Creaks and groans sounded all around us. Then, in the distance, we heard what sounded like the roaring of some great beast.
"What the hell was that?" asked Max. We stood, listening. The roar sounded again, and the ground trembled. Sand and dirt rained down around us.
"Let's not find out," I suggested. We moved a little more quickly down the tunnels. The shaking of the ground and the distant cries continued.
We came to a junction that had caved in. There was a small hole in the rubble that a small person just might be able to squeeze through. Rhavin boosted me up into the hole, and I listened carefully. I heard a soft thrumming, much like the noises in Mordenheim's laboratory.
"This is it," I said, and started digging. As soon as the hole was big enough, Rhavin and Gil moved in to help me. Periodically, dirt would rain down on our heads, and we were very much aware that another cave-in could happen any time. We worked as quickly as we could.
Finally, we had a hole big enough that everyone could get through, even our big warriors. Before I could go through to check things out, Rhavin pulled me back out by my feet. He set me down, dusted me off, and very firmly said that he and Morallan would go first to make sure it was safe.
It was not long before the rest of us were allowed to follow them. There we found Elise. She lay on an elaborate four-poster bed (that Adam had gotten the thing down here was absolutely amazing) with a comfortable mattress. A curtain of cloth, draped around the bed like a mosquito net, protected her from the occasional drops of water that fell from the ceiling. Her life support equipment, which I checked immediately, was intact. The bed was surrounded by brightly burning torches and braziers that both illuminated and warmed the area?
We did not waste any time. After I explained to the others which of the equipment was absolutely necessary, we packed up Elise and her things. Canliss created a Tenser's floating disk, onto which we piled everything. Then we left. Between the distant screaming and rumbling, which were growing less and less distant by the minute, and the fear that Adam could return at any minute, we were all quite anxious to get out of there.
We had gotten halfway down the tunnel towards the main shaft when Adam suddenly appeared. His face twisted in rage when he saw us with Elise.
"Get away from her!" he roared. Adam leaped towards us. With one move he knocked Gil out of the way and grabbed Elise.
"What are you doing?" I screamed. "You're going to pull out the tubes."
"I know how to take care of her," he snapped. "You will do her no harm. Leave now."
"We weren't going to hurt her," Max explained.
Adam sneers. "You were taking her back to Mordenheim. He will only continue to torment her. She is better off here with me. I would never hurt her."
"Oh, really?" I said snidely. I didn't believe Adam for a minute. If he cared so much for Elise, then why had he beaten her in the first place?
Adam glared at me, his yellow eyes narrowing. The sudden rumbling, accompanied by a very close scream of some hellish beast, ended our discussion. We all turned in astonishment as the wall behind us suddenly exploded in a shower of stone and dirt. The flying debris cut us, and threw many of us against the wall. Through the cloud of dust that arose, I could see Adam hunched over Elise, trying to protect her.
The behemoth that emerged from the hold in the wall was a horror. From the waist up it appeared as a lovely woman with six arms. From the waist down it was a coiled serpent. The thing was enormous at least thirty feet long. Each arm held a nasty-looking weapon. Her eyes glinted as she spotted us, and she screamed again, a long cry of rage and hatred that chilled me to the bone. (Donar and Silvio explained that the monster was a type of demon called a marilith, and that it could easily have killed us all, and about a hundred others just like us. They also pointed out that this is one of the monsters that dwells in the ethereal plane one of the less dangerous ones.)
"Okay," Rhavin said to Adam. "Take Elise. We're outta here."
We tried to turn and run. But Morallan was running in the wrong direction. His sword was out, and there was a look of glee in his eyes.
"Stop him!" I yelled to Rhavin. "He's going to get himself killed."
The maralith batted Morallan out of the way, and Kariya seized the opportunity to separate them with a wall of ice. It didn't take long for the creature to smash through, but it was enough time for Rhavin to order Morallan to rejoin is. Then the maralith shattered the ice and turned to attack Adam, who was forced to put Elise down to defend himself. The superhuman speed and strength of the two combatants made their battle a terrifying thing to behold?
Not that we stayed around to watch. As soon as Adam dropped Elise, we snatched up her and her equipment and ran. As we fled, the sounds of the battle and the shaking of the mines continued behind us. We held our breath as we winched the platform up out of the shaft, all the while watching the dirt rain down upon us and praying that the place would not cave in on our heads.

- On the Road Again -

After what seemed like a life-time, we finally made it outside. A fierce wind whipped our faces, and the cold had deepened to level that made our teetch chatter. We didn't mind it a bit. Breathing a sigh of relief, we all sat down while I checked Elise's equipment. The feeding tube had broken and I needed to replace it. This kept me busy for several minutes, and I missed a great deal of the discussion that started among my companions.
I had just finished double-checking the respirator when I stood up and heard Canliss say, "But we can't just leave them. That mine was their only source of income. What are the poor golems going to do without it?"
"Poor golems?" I snapped. "They tried to kill me."
"No," Canliss said. "They could have killed you, but they didn't. They didn't hurt any of us."
"They filled Rhavin full of arrows!"
Rhavin sighed. "I appreciate your feelings," he said to Canliss. "But I think we have more pressing concerns right now. We have to get Elise back to Doctor Mordenheims so that he can help her. And, in case you've forgotten, we're in danger of turning into were-beasts before long."
"I haven't forgotten," Canliss said. "The rest of you go on. I'll take care of things in the monastery and catch up to you."
I stared at Rhavin in horror as he agreed to this. The stress of watching Canliss walk back towards what I thought was certain death caused my mind to lose its fragile hold on reality and the first of my personalities, Nikodemus, emerged.
After my sanity was restored by one whose identity I would risk death to record here, I was able to recall all of what had happened while my other personalities were in control. (Much as I wish otherwise.) I recall with perfect clarity the astonished look on Rhavin's face when Nikodemus abruptly walked up to him and asked him if he'd finished making those wooden swords.
Rhavin stared at me/Nikodemus. The pack he'd picked up slipped from nerveless fingers.
"What did you say?"
"What's wrong, sonny? I'm supposed to be the one who's hard of hearing. I said have you finished those practice swords? I can't train ya if we haven't got any weapons."
"No," said Rhavin, "I can see where that would be difficult."
"What the hell?" said Max. The others quickly shushed her. For some reason, whenever one of my alter egos emerged, my friends carefully played along.
"We'll make the swords later," Rhavin promised. "Right now we have to get moving. There's a very angry monster chasing us."
Nikodemus was amenable to that, and we started moving. Before long, the storm kicked up into a blizzard, and our progress was measured in inches as we leaned against the buffeting wind. My friends began having trouble with Elise's equipment. The temperature gauges had been knocked out of place and the liquids that sustained her were beginning to freeze. Unfortunately, Nikodemus did not know how to correct this, and they were forced to use a great many spells to keep Elise alive.
Eventually, moving through the blizzard became impossible. Kariya cast her hut spell, and we took shelter there. My friends slept through the night, while Nikodemus discussed Greta and battle training with whomever was on watch.
In the morning , I woke up as Greta. Canliss was still missing. My friends were rather disturbed when Greta decided that Elise was one of her dolls and tried to play with her. I'm afraid that Greta was rather difficult to handle; she missed her dollies, and no one had time to play with her. In addition to the enormous challenge of keeping Elise alive in the bitter cold, we had another blizzard on our hands. After mere hours of travel, we were forced to take shelter in Kariya's hut until the blizzard passed. It was at this point that Galahad emerged, offering to help Rhavin gather wood for the fire. Poor Rhavin was rather astonished when Galahad tried to push him under a falling tree. I'm so ashamed; I just don't understand how any of my personalities could try to hurt Rhavin. Galahad, of course, pretended that it was an accident; Rhavin, not quite sure what to believe, didn't mention it to the others when we went back inside.
That night, the laughing fisherman appeared again. He was even more difficult to resist than he'd been before, but my friends were almost grateful for his presence when I finally went to sleep. Unfortunately, a few hours later, the monitors on Elise's equipment detected an oxygen deficiency (those gauges needed to be reset periodically, but my friends didn't know that), and the alarm went off. With great reluctance, and praying that I would be myself, they woke me. I quickly made the needed adjustments and everything returned to normal. At this point, Rhavin and Kariya realized that they could no longer rely on me, and they had me teach them how to take care of Elise and her equipment. I was very tired, but I explained things as well as I could. Unaware of my personality shifts, I was pleased and surprised to see them taking an interest. While his experiments were awful, I have to admit that, when I was not directly involved, I found Victor Mordenheim's science rather fascinating. The equipment that kept Elise alive was, in many ways, as impressive as magic. I would have like to talk to the priests of Soltana about some of Mordeheim's methods they may have found them useful in their infirmary but Donar and Silvio will not let me speak with them.
After we had Elise settled, the rest of the night passed uneventfully. In the morning I became Hyskosa and insisted on talking to Rhavin about the scroll as we made our way through the snow. Rhavin listened patiently. Meanwhile, the others kept looking over their shoulders, both in fear of Adam and in concern for Canliss, who still had not rejoined us. In the middle of the day, we heard a vast rumbling from the direction of the monastery, and we felt the ground tremble beneath us. Everyone stopped for a moment, wondering what this meant for Canliss. Was he still alive? There was, unfortunately, no way for us to go back for him. We just had to keep trudging along and hope for the best.
That evening, as we were setting up in the hut, Canliss rejoined us, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The others were very annoyed (Tina was merely confused), and repayed Canliss by acting as if they had not been concerned about his welfare. Nothing was said about the earthquake, or what had happened in the monastery, and I never did find out. Donar seemed rather surprised when I told him I am not the slightest bit curious; he can ask Canliss about it himself if he wants to know.
The next day, we were getting close to Schloss Aubrecker when we saw smoke rising into the air. Concerned that the mad baron and his daughter might have set the place on fire, we hurried closer. We saw many armed men camped in tents outside the castle; they were filling the keep with smoke, obviously to get rid of the fleas. After our last unfortunate encounter, we would have liked to avoid these dangerous men, but they were blocking the only way down the mountain.
"All right," said Rhavin, "you stay here with Elise. I'll go talk to these people and persuade them to let us pass through."
"What?" said Kariya.
Hyskosa glared at Rhavin. "You can not risk yourself," she insisted. She did not really care about Rhavin, but felt he was vital to the prophecy. "Send one of these others. They are expendable."
"Thanks," said Canliss.
"It's the best way," Rhavin insisted. "If I fail, the rest of you will still be free to act. Whatever happens, don't let them see Elise."
Rhavin turned and strode purposefully toward the camp.
"I'm going with him," said Canliss, and promptly turned invisible.
"This is just wonderful," said Kariya.
Morallan chuckled. Hyskosa tried to go after Rhavin, but Gil restrained her. The others ignored her pleas that Rhavin could not be allowed to risk himself while they tensely watched the paladin walk into the camp.
The guards at the perimiter seemed surprised. They pointed their weapons at Rhavin while he spoke to them. We couldn't tell that anything was wrong until they tied his hands behind his back and led him into one of the tents.
"That doesn't look good," said Max.
We didn't know what to do. We could see people pointing into our direction, and it looked like the soldiers on skiis were getting ready to search the woods for us. That's when all chaos (also known as Canliss) broke loose. We heard shouting, and the soldiers began running all over the place. Periodically, some of them would drop over (courtesy of Canliss' sleeping death missiles). When the chaos was at its worse, we saw Rhavin break free of the tent he'd been kept in and charge into another, bigger one. Unfortunately, things were catching on fire, which I think had something to do with melf's minute meteors. With all the smoke and confusion, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on.
We could easily tell, however, that the tent Rhavin had just run into caught on fire minutes after he entered it. Furious, Hyskosa broke free of Gil's hold and charged into the tent after him. She found Rhavin inside the tent with an older man in an officer's uniform. The man was unconscious, and there was a desk on top of him. The walls of the tent were rapidly catching fire.
"Come on," Hyskosa yelled. "You have to get out of here."
But Rhavin would not leave the unconscious man to burn to death. Grudgingly, Hyskosa helped him free the man. While Rhavin healed him, she stole his wallet full of paper money.
With the whole camp in chaos, we fled. The sleigh sitting behind the main tent was a gods-send. We stole it, loading Elise and her things on, and took off. But, despite the confusion Canliss had caused, it was not long before the skiing soldiers organized a pursuit. We could not outdistance them for long in our sleigh. So, as soon as we lost sight of them, Kariya cast a camoflauged version of her hut spell. While the rest of us hid inside, Gil and Morallan ran ahead to lead the pursuit away from us. They barely managed to evade capture by hiding in a snow drift.
We caught up to our chilly companions and moved on. We avoided the village, stopping at a farm house where we bought supplies with the money Hyskosa had stolen. Other than my ever-changing personalities, nothing unusual happened until we reached the road leading to Doctor Mordenheim's. Initially, our spirits rose at the sight. We were near the time when unpleasant changes to our bodies were predicted, my health was very poor, and we were all quite exhausted.
The mob blocking the cross-roads put quite a damper on things. Wielding shovels and pitch-forks and such, a group of villagers had gathered. The adventurers we'd seen earlier were there, and one charismatic young man was rallying the angry crowd.
"We've had enough of his monsters and his evil ways. It is time to put an end to Victor Mordenheim!"
The crowd cheered at this.
"Uh, guys," said Kariya. "I think we'd best put a stop to this."
We moved the sled closer. "Who are you?" asked the leader of the adventurers. "Have you come to help us rid the world of Mordenheim and his vile experiments."
"I resent that," Canliss muttered under his breath. "We are not vile."
"No," Rhavin said. "You're making a big mistake. Move on. Let us deal with Mordenheim."
The rabble-rouser pointed at us. "They must be working for the madman!"
A heated argument ensued. It was broken up by a sudden scream (courtesy of Canliss) coming from the direction of the village.
"You fools!" I called (I was myself for a change). "They're the ones working for Mordenheim. While they lured you here, his monsters are attacking your families."
A few of the villagers looked very nervous at that.
"Don't believe them!" called rabble-rouser. "They're using their foul magics to deceive you. See!"
Morallan abruptly glowed with a green faerie fire. The crowd gasped in astonishment (they were so gullible).
Morallan's response was brilliant. Screaming, he fell to the ground and began thrashing about. "Help!" he cried. "They're burning me with their magic fire."
Another fake scream sounded from the village. The crowd had had enough. They were all for a little violence and pillaging as long as the only opposition was a weak scientist, but all this magic flying around they lost their nerve. They turned and ran back to the village to save their families. With no more crowd to rally, the other adventurers decided to join them.
We rode on up to the gate, where Max removed the Quill of Law written sign reading "There is nothing to see here. Go back to the village." Then we rode up to the front door.
Mordenheim rushed out, overjoyed to see Elise. He ignored us completely as he checked Elise's pulse and her equipment. He called for Igor and they transported her inside.
Leaving Igor to deal with the horses whenever he got around to it, we trudged inside and sat down. Eventually, the doctor emerged. His eyes gleaming, he led us into his laboratory and flung open the door, ushering us inside. He moved straight to the shelves containing our hearts.
"Aren't your bodies magnificent?" Victor looked at us with obvious pride. "At last, I have perfected the technique of cellular reproduction. My first few attempts were always flawed: the subjects, when they reached maturity, still bore the injuries and imperfections of the original body. But no longer! Do you know what that means!"
"Why don't you tell us?" asked Rhavin without enthusiasm.
"It means that, at long last, I can regenerate a new body for my beloved Elise! I can have her back again."
He paused. "If only..." He stood for a moment, wringing his hands. "If only my associates from the academy were here to witness my accomplishment." Then he shook his head, muttering, "No matter, no matter."
Victor let his eyes wander over us. "Which of you will be the first to undergo the operation that will restore your heart to the magnificent new body I have given you?"
Khariya looked at me. "Can you do something for Nikita first? She's very ill. She hasn't been eating and --"
"Oh my," said the doctor, peering at me with concern. "This is very bad. I can't operate on her like this. She'll never survive."
Rhavin winced. "Can you help her?"
"Yes, yes, bring her in here."
Fortunately, I had passed out by the time the doctor strapped me to a table and connected me to tubes filled with fluids that would restore my strength. Then, two at a time, he began the slow process of restoring our hearts. By the time he got to Rhavin and me, our features were beginning to turn piggish, but thankfully these changes quickly reversed.
Canliss, the first of us to be operated on, was only just beginning to stagger about when the last of the operations were completed four days later. The surgery left us weak and dizzy, and it took some time to recover. While we did, Victor poked and prodded at us to make sure that we were healthy. He seemed amused when Helga emerged and complained about his treatment, and he offered to send me to an asylum where I could be treated. My companions, against their own best interests, refused his offer.
Once satisfied that we were all well, Victor transplanted Elise's brain into her new body. Sadly, the woman was quite mad and tried to kill herself. Victor was forced to tie her up so that she could do herself no harm. We all felt terrible, but there had not been any other choice. Victor vowed that he would find a cure for her madness just as he had "cured" death. For Elise's sake, I hope that he succeeds.
During the last few days of our recovery, Victor had Igor fetch us what supplies we needed. At my companions' request, he made some liquid nutrients and sleeping potions for me. He also got us a boat, climbing equipment and assorted other things.
Rhavin also gave Victor the note he had written with the Quill of Law, telling Victor that he would freely provide the villagers with any healing services they required, and that he would dedicate the rest of his life to helping them. I hope that it worked but, though I would never disappoint Rhavin by telling him this, I doubt it very much. Victor's enormous ego allowed him to justify anything, and I have a feeling that he believed his experiments were to the benefit of everyone, including the villagers. I don't think that anything could have changed him.
After we had recovered and gotten our supplies (Helga asked for and received a pipe, which I still have.), we happily bid our goodbyes to Doctor Mordenheim and left that terrible place. We had been told that a gate to our world might be found on the Isle of Agony. We had some suspicion, or maybe it was just paranoia, that this was the same island where the sea hags lived, and we were not anxious to go back there. But, if it was the only way home, we had no choice. We took the map Victor had provided and, piling our heavier belongings into a boat which Max and Gil pulled along, we set out across the frozen waters towards the island. We could not risk casting Kariya's hut, as it would have melted the ice. Fortunately, we only had to spend one night out in the open; it took slightly less than two days to cross.

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