Unrealized Scenarios 1

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Unrealized Possibilities

Kara looked around the hall apprehensively. She was not a callow child any longer, she was a hardened veteran of actions against the Aesani, she was a potent cleric of one of the Great Forbidden Gods, she was the owner of the mighty slave Goldenrod, she had money and vassals and respect in plenty, and yet she still felt so small and unsure of herself in these kinds of situations.

Not that she had been in many of these before....

The hall was large and impressive, not as large perhaps as the new Great Hall at Bitterheart, but very old and layered over and under with trophys and spoils of centuries of wealth and power. It was the Throne Hall of Flarecrown Fumarole, millenial home of the Gark family, wealthy and nobly bred scions of the sea trade. The Thane here was named Burstonk Gark, a warrior of some note whom her father, Sir Karman Vanes, had met in the field in the brutal mercenary trade.

The hall was lined on both sides with several dozen attentive guards, not at attention but standing quiet, scanning for threats. There were also several dozen other fire giants in the hall, supplicants and sycophants, hangers-on and seekers of favor.

The Thane was seated on his throne, arguing with her father. Kara was very angry at her father today, as the bastard had just tried to arrange her marriage to Thane Gark. While arranged marriages were very common, he was trying to put her with the ancient Burstonk, doubtless seeking a man who'd take her.

Kara was aware that the Vanes family wasn't held in very high regard among the Mastani nobility, for many reasons. They had been poor, until her mighty father slew a dragon and changed all of that overnight. Her mother, Vela Vanes, had been born a commoner, which was a larger sin. Perhaps most of all, her fathers eccentric views on how to treat his vassals placed him in the worst odor.

Marrying Kara to the well respected House Gark would go a long way to legitimize the Vanes, and her father seemed very interested in such things lately.

But still, it would be nice to even be ASKED first, not just bartered like a damned goat.

Kara eyed Thane Gark where he perched upon his throne. He was not particularly handsome or ugly, not especially tall or short, not especially muscular, thin, or fat, although it was difficult to tell in his heavy armor. His hair was an unremarkable muddy orange, his face clean-shaved and rather vague.

But he certainly seemed to be strong-willed, as he stood his ground like a mountain against her father's anger. Her father was an especially impressive man, if Kara did say so herself, and his presence was rather overwhelming. That Thane Gark did not wilt before his displeasure was a mark for him, she supposed.

Kara pulled herself out of her self-absorption enough to wonder what they were up there arguing about. After her father introduced her as "marriageable" she had quite lost track of the conversation, and here they were, suddenly near to blows. Was it over her?

Kara looked around. She was standing in a knot of vassals and slaves, notably the mighty Fomaori, Morg, who was watching the discussion with an intense frown. Kara could ask Morg what was going on, but she would be damned if she would. She had disliked Morg for years. He creeped her out, and was just despicable besides.

Leaving out Morg, that left the slaves, three huge Skaelai all kneeling respectfully in the Thanes presence. The first choice there would be Goldenrod, her pride and joy, the huge Skaelai stud who drew the eye of every female in the throneroom like a magnet. Kara's heart swelled with pride as she noted the lingering looks he drew and the jealous glances at her afterward.

Sadly, Goldenrod was looking resolutely at the floor, not paying attention. Kara knew he was intensely shy, and this must be an ordeal for him, and it was unlikely he was paying attention.

The next choice would be Morg's warrioress slave, Desilay. Desilay was older and very capable, and would be expected to be very interested in events. Sadly, as Kara glanced at her, she was stifling a yawn and judging by her heavy-lidded eyes, was barely awake. Kara supposed she could not blame the poor slave, Morg had apparently felt the urge to enjoy himself before entering Flarecrown Fumarole and the poor slave had been panting and moaning most of the night as she slaked the monsters lust. Judging from what Kara had heard, Morg's stamina was just as impressive as rumor purported.

That left Butterbunny. The slender little slave girl was along to serve as Daddy's camp girl, since Lady Vanes had gifted her to her husband months before. She was a pretty little thing, but seemed a bit vacant most of the time, but at least her huge pale eyes were alert and she seemed to be following the conversation. Kara shrugged to herself. Well, having no alternatives....

Kara edged over and murmured, "Hey, Bunny, I lost track, what all shouting about?"

Butterbunny turned her sweet face to Kara, those remarkable greensilver eyes concerned and said, "Thane Gark is asking a favor. He claims he has some Sachani staying nearby who have been causing problems, and he wants Sir Vanes to help him kill them. Sir Vanes is not interested, and Thane Gark is invoking a debt of honor. Sir Vanes is protesting, aying this oversteps the bounds of propriety."

Kara blinked. She would not have believed Butterbunny knew what most of those words meant, if she had not heard the girl rattle them off herself.

Kara said, "Thank you."

Butterbunny said, "Mistress, may I please ask you a question?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"If the rumors are correct and the Sachani have returned, isn't that a very big problem?"

Kara opened her mouth, but before she could think of what to say, her father's voice rose to a full shout and cut her off.

Sir Karman Vanes roared, "Are you mad? They coming here? Now? I not agreed to anything!"

Thane Gark said, "I care not what you agree to. The fiends here, now. You fight? Or break oath?"

Sir Vanes subsided, his gleaming bald head red with anger. He ground out, "I not break oath, damn you. But this the end between us, Berthonk. I not like this."

Thane Gark growled back, "Fine, then! If that what take to end this, hell with you. Just stand ready, Dragonslayer, as the fiends are brought in, and be quick when the fight breaks out."

Kara gulped. What the hell was going on? Her father stalked back to the center of the hall, his steel eyes slits of rage. His hand on the grip of his gigantic two handed sword Hellhammer was white-knuckled with the strength of his grip.

With a curt wave, he shooed them all to the side of the hall among the attendants and sycophants. As they settled back down, he beckoned them together, around the kneeling slaves. Kara and Morg lurked close, Morg shrunk to a mere ten feet. Desilay yawned once more, but seemed to be catching on, while Goldenrod was palpably relieved to be out of the center of the room. Butterbunny seemed alert and apprehensive, her huge pale eyes roving restlessly about the room as the various guards subtly shifted their stances and casually readied weapons and lavaballs for throwing.

Kara said, "Father! What the hell!"

Sir Vanes grated, "Fucking treacherous bastard has me caught on oath. Not only he ask me kill that fucker Rageheart this little "come visit me" trip, now he calling in old favor to fight goddamn Sachani."

Morg rumbled urgently, "Sir Vanes, this is not smart. I remember the Sachani. If they are like they once were, we do not want to draw their anger."

Kara said, "So, guess the rumors true, huh?"

Sir Vanes looked at her, his steely eyes softening a bit, and he growled, "Ah, sorry, my daughter. I would not mix you up, but here we all are." He sighed, glancing around, and said, "Yes, daughter, is true. Sachani back, and very strong. Thane Council trying think what do, but Gark, idiot, has a whole team of them here for months, has conned them to kill Aesani off for him. Not bad plan, but now Sachani want land, he not gonna give it."

Morg rumbled, "That's stupid. Give them some land, be done with it."

"Yeah, Gark not gonna. He call me here and make me fight his fight. I kill that fucker for this, you wait."

Morg rumbled, "Sir Vanes, these are Sachani. Do we know how strong they are?"

"No. But they been killing Aisani for weeks now. Damn Berstonk and his clever damn plans!"

A herald cried out at the great doors, announcing, "The party of honored strangers" as having arrived.

Sir Vanes was all business, as he stated, "Kara, stay out fight, bless me, Morg, now, cast healing if we need. Morg, change, now, but stay turned away until fight start. We attack spellcasters first, both at once, until it die, then on to next, together. You hear?"

Morg rumbled, "Yes." He closed his eyes and with a weird series of liquid crunches began to change shape, sprouting claws, his arms growing larger while his torso shrank, his huge right arm splitting into two arms with a series of wet pops, his head sinking into his neck while his jaws grew huge, and his skin grew covered with scales worthy of a giant crocodile.

As this happened, Kara drew forth her holy symbol and quickly made several incantations, casting spells upon Sir vanes and Morg to strengthen them for the coming battle.

Sir Vanes drew Hellhammer and grounded it tip-first before him, so the sword was hidden by his body as he stood facing away from the center of the hall. He and Morg moved so that they were both facing away from the hall, as if in a hushed conversation with Kara and the three kneeling slaves.

Desilay whispered urgently to Morg, "Master! May I fight?"

Kara and Sir Vanes opened their mouths in shock, but Morg said simply, "Yes, to defend Kara only." As he spoke, the Fomaori plucked free a pair of the clubs that dotted his harness with a suddenly scaled and taloned paw and handed them to her.

Kara whispered, "MORG! You can't give weapon to slave, you mad?"

Morg looked at her, his dark eyes slits in his armored face and rumbled, "Be silent, girl. These are Sachani. If they are weak, this will be over quickly. If they are strong, run away. Desilay will protect you. They won't kill slaves on purpose, but they will kill you in an instant."

The room grew hushed at that moment as the "honored strangers" entered through the open door. Kara and the slaves craned their heads to see them, while Morg and Sir Vanes resolutely faced away and tried to stand casually. Kara was disappointed. They were so small, and rather...plain. It seemed remarkable that such dingy little people were the object of such ridiculous precautions.

There were seven of them, and they entered the room in a disiplined, but relaxed, knot. In the lead was a slender male, pale brownish pink, with dull brown hair. He was dressed in nondescript black leather and carried only a pair of tiny swords, as well as various packs and bags and bottles upon his person. He was barely six feet tall, coming only above Kara's waist.

Following him came a slightly larger, considerably taller, and younger one. The tall young one was wearing a cloak or cape or blanket in dingy white, although the thing was hard to look at, as it seemed to shift as if in a warped mirror. He carried a huge whip on a long handle, liberally studded with blades, and he too was muddy pink with dingy blonde hair. That one's gaze prowled hungrily around the room, and Kara got a bit of a shiver when his eyes clicked onto her like magnets, then drifted on, before stopping dead on the kneeling forms of the three slaves. A frown crossed his face, and he spoke quietly to the one beside him.

That one was dressed in a white robe that fairly glowed it was so bright, and was heavily beribboned in every bright, riotous color of the rainbow. Her hair was a remarkable golden blonde, flowing down to her tiny shoulders, and her tiny face was quite lovely and seemed perpetually in the midst of a laugh. She was even smaller than the rest, barely five feet, and her eyes, when they looked at the kneeling slaves, were sad. She made a tiny moue of distaste at the slaves, and looked away quickly.

Behind those two walked two males, widely seperated. One was almost as small as the female, very thin, dressed in a sensible black robe with a skullcap and staff. His face was the usual muddy pink and he looked around the room as if assessing a roomful of hanging meat, to see if it was worth buying, or should be destroyed as spoilage. His demeanor practically screamed danger, but he never seemed to take his attention from the one accompanying him.

That one was a little larger, also dressed in black and brown, with a short robe over a pair of sensible leather pants. His expression was utterly neutral and he did not seem to be looking at anything in particular, but every time Kara looked at him, he was looking back at her already, as if he knew when she was about to glance his way. It was very un-nerving, as was the palpable shimmer of heated air that seemed to boil off his shaved skull.

In the rear came two more, a male and a female. They were both large for Sachani, and the male was wearing an incredible suit of armor that seemed made of solid metal and made him seem even bigger. He might even be as much as eight feet tall, huge compared to the others. He carried a massive axe across his back, made of some glistening alloy that seemed almost greased.

Beside him walked a big female in a simple grey blouse and skirt, strapped and decorated with leather and beads and feathers. Her long hair was elaborately braided, and framed a lovely face set in stern but caring lines. She seemed unafraid, and her gaze never wavered as she gazed up at the big metal-shod man beside her, obviously instructing him in something as he nodded to her.

Sir Vanes said quietly, "What you see, Kara?"

She found her voice and said, "Is that all they are? They so little!"

Morg murmured in his earthquake growl, "Yes, they are small until they start killing you."

Kara shot him a glare, then said, "There are seven of them, five men and two woman, dressed mostly in plain clothes.

One large man has on a suit of heavy armor and a large axe. The men all seem armed except two, and one big woman is armed as well. The small woman is not armed."

Sir Vanes said, "Okay, unarmed men first, then unarmed woman, then drop the weapon users. Simple, short. Okay? Everybody stay calm, we make this fast and we go home."

Kara said, "Daddy? Why? We not even know these people!"

Sir Vanes sighed and said, "Because I made promise, and I keep promises, even if very, very stupid. I will make this idiocy right, though."

As they were speaking, the party of Sachani had walked up to present themselves before Thane Gark.

It was too far to really hear them, their tiny little voices did not carry well, but the black-clad one bowed politely and spoke at some length, apparently giving Thane Gark a gift or message. Thane Gark heard the Sachani man out, then spoke, saying, "I hear you, but the answer is no. I do not care for you, or your Emperor. I am tired of you." Thane Gark stood up, and howled, "Now, DIE!"

Even though Kara was looking right at the action, she still almost missed it. As Thane Gark spoke, he snatched up his sword and swung at the black-clad Sachani man, but that tiny individual simply vanished. The sword hissed through air. At the same moment, half the guards hurled lavaballs at the group of Sachani, while the other half of the guards charged into the fight, massive swords drawn red-hot from the lava urns.

At the same moment, Morg and Sir Vanes wheeled and dashed with incredible, flickering speed into the fight. Morg was a mass of scaly clawed limbs topped by a crocodile maw of fangs, while Sir Vanes ignited Hellhammer with a brittle crackle and rush of burning air.

The six Sachani were battered by the lavaballs, but the tall one with the huge whip unfurled his weapon and sprinted at the line of guards, his weapon making an eerie shearing, chiming sound as he swung it with great speed. The big one in the metal armor stepped forward and then charged with good speed directly at Morg, swinging his axe off his shoulder. Kara expected the brute Morg to flatten the smaller, metal clad form, but as she watched the metal Sachani whipped his axe over his tiny head and swung it directly forward with invisible speed. Morg started to dodge, but the speed and power of the strike was unbelieveable for one so small, and the axe head smashed into and through Morg's chest with a sound like a hammer smashing a bundle of sticks. One of Morg's arms came off and spun across the room, and the mighty Morg groaned and fell to a knee from the power of the strike.

Kara, eyes bulging in shock, started casting her most powerful healing enchantment. That was unbelieveable! Morg had never shown any sign of distress in any fight ever before, and this tiny Sachani had driven the behemoth to his knees with a single swing!

Karman, in the meantime, swept past the fight Morg was in and found himself between the two unarmed and unarmored males. Sir Vanes wheeled Hellhammer around his head and chopped mightily at the larger, leather-clad one. It took even Sir Karman three swings, but he cut that one down in his tracks, his eyes glowing and words of hideous power sizzling from his lips, incomplete.

The smaller of the two uttered an incantation and vanished even as Sir Vanes wheeled on him, Hellhammer raised and flaming brightly.

Morg gathered himself and reached out for the metal-clad Sachani with his three remaining arms, and caught the smaller creature in his massive clawed hands. Groaning, blood pouring from the hideous gash where his arm and a good chunk of his chest used to be Morg stood with the Sachani, twisting the little fiend's arms and legs. Incredibly, the Sachani resisted, exhibiting mind-boggling strength for one so small, as Morg had to grow in size by a good thirty feet, all the way to ceiling height, and hunch over the ferociously struggling Sachani.

Meanwhile, the large grey-clad woman started casting a healing spell. Kara recognized it as her own spell went off and the blessing flowed into the blood-spurting Morg, and she shouted, "FATHER! SHE'S A HEALER!"

Sir Vanes wheeled with amazing grace and chopped at the woman with Hellhammer, and with two hard strikes dropped her in a gory welter of blood.

The small woman had not yet moved. She had cast a small incantation early, and was surrounded by a filmy glowing bubble. She stood inside, her tiny, beautiful face smiling and radiant, and she was glowing brighter and brighter. Sir Vanes stabbed hard at the filmy bubble with Hellhammer, and the tip of the blade skittered off as if the bubble was made of steel.

Kara felt a bit nervous. Morg was healed, but the metal-clad Sachani was proving incredibly difficult to kill, and as she watched, the little beast snapped three fingers on one of Morg's hands, one after another, like breadsticks, as Morg retaliated by breaking one of his small legs with a wet snap. Neither of those two seemed incapacitated by their wounds, but Kara had expected Morg to be mowing the tiny ones down like wheat, not stalled on a single one. Sir Vanes was uninjured, and two of the horrible Sachani were dead already. Kara took a glance around the hall, and discovered a slaughter.

The guards arrayed around the room were not throwing lavaballs, and those who had charged were not helping the savage melee in the center of the room, because they were busy. The tall Sachani with the huge whip was moving through the guards like a liquid blur of razors, the huge whip snapping and ringing and shearing off limbs and heads with every step. Kara could see at least three of the guards down and dead already. Three!

Thane Gark, in the meantime, was locked in savage combat with something invisible. As Kara watched, Thane Gark went to a knee, stabbed repeatedly through the inner thighs, his great arteries open to the air and pouring his heartblood like a river, as the black-clad Sachani materialized behind him like smoke, out of thin air. Thane Gark was wildeyed with rage, and as the Sachani appeared, speared him though the belly with his sword and pulled the tiny fiend close, balling up a spiked fist.

Kara gave a shudder, and hastily started a new spell, but suddenly the room lit up as if the sun had arrived, and Kara found herself staggering to a knee, her robes smoking, her spell forgotten. The small Sachani male had reappeared, flying! He had cast some fell and terrible spell and struck her so hard that her ears rang and her eyes crossed, and a large burn seared over her neck.

Marun looked up from his crouch. Karnia surged to her feet and dashed at the tiny hovering man, clubs in hand. He had chosen a height to hover that was above the easy reach of the squat Mastani, but Karnia, using a club in both hands, reached him easily and batted him like a hummingbird, to tumble head over heels to the ground where he landed in a graceless heap, and then vanished. Desilay turned toward Sir Vanes, then dashed to help Thane Gark as he and the lead Sachani mauled one another on the throne.

Marun stood up, and without thinking about it, shrugged off his chains, snapping them without effort. He took a moment to snap loose his heavy black iron shackles as well, and then snapped off his waist chain, leaving only his collar.

Inside the filmy bubble, the small female Sachani was glowing white, her eyes snarling balls of lighting, her hair a huge mane of electrical bolts that sizzled and snarled against the inner surface of the ball. As Marun watched with amazed eyes, seven glowing swords of light slowly extruded themselves like some glorious crown of death from her shining head.

Then, with a faint pop, she stepped out through the bubble, seven swords of gleaming light surrounding her.

Sir Vanes, no fool, leapt at the shining woman, Hellhammer upraised, but the seven swords flew at him like birds, and he was suddenly in a fight for his life as all seven of then chopped and cut at him like stalwart champions. The shining woman, her face like the sun, laughed lightly as Morg finally snapped the metal Sachani's back and tossed him away, his huge hands broken and bleeding.

The tiny shining Sachani woman, beautiful and terrible, lifted a hand and a bolt of shimmering un-light shot from her hand and touched Morg, in the chest, and blew a six foot diameter hole straight through the center of the monster's body. There was no blood, and no spray of gore and meat, instead his flesh simply...evaporated. Morg howled and fell to a knee with a crash.

Marun took two steps forward and seized the smoking Kara with one hand around her waist, tucking her carefully under one arm. He then turned back and scooped up Gorta, who was sitting, staring at the glowing Sachani woman with rapt eyes, apparently oblivious that the tall one with the whip was cutting his bloody way through the few remaining guards toward her.

Marun turned his back on the raging battle and ran at the huge, locked throneroom doors. He felt amazingly calm, given the miracles and horrors the Sachani were unleashing behind him.

Cradling the women carefully in his arms, Marun ran up to the doors, planted his left foot, and using the momentum of his run raised his right foot and stamped upon the doors, right in the center, as hard as he could.

The huge doors slammed open, the heavy bar snapped, and smashed into the outside walls so hard that they broke off their hinges and slid to the floor. But Marun was already through them and gone, as if the hounds of hell were on his heels.

And judging from the whistling, shearing sounds of that huge whip, the wet splashing of blood, and the flat, hammering sounds of the unleashed magics, maybe they were.

Marun raced through the corridors of the fumarole, finding them to be full of Mastani racing around in weapons and armor, most of them heading for the throne room. Marun quickly realized he had no idea where he was. He found a quiet office and stepped in, closing the door behind him.

He set Gorta and Kara down, then hefted a desk to block the door. Kara shakily began an incantation.

Gorta said, her tiny face calm and solemn, "Goldenrod, please break my chains off, will you?"

Marun blinked, but then knelt to do as she asked, pinching each of her black iron shackles between the tip of thumb and forefinger and tearing them carefully in half, so as to avoid bruising her golden skin. Kara, her spell finished and almost fully healed already, looked at this with fearful eyes, but said nothing.

Instead, she said, "We got go back, I need help Daddy."

Marun stood up. His slavebag was remarkably unharmed, but he seemed eerily naked anyway without his heavy black chains. He clenched his huge fists and said, "Yes, Mistress, but your Father said to run if it did not go well. I'm no warrior, but that sure didn't look 'well' to me."

Kara shook her head stubbornly, and said in her deep contralto, "I seen lot of fights. I know how tough Morg and Daddy are. We need go back, help, all those other giants dying not the main fight."

Marun looked dubious, but Gorta spoke up in her tiny voice and said, "Goldenrod, she's right. Also, go help Desilay. You're strong, we need to help!"

Marun took a deep breath, then said, "Okay, let's go, then."

Marun turned, picked up the desk to unblock the door....

With a quiet hiss, the door dissolved in its jam, leaving only a drifting mote of dust.

In the hallway outside stood the tall, lean Sachani with the whip, his eerie cloak shifting around him like the fabric was made of mirrors. The whip was covered in blood, and the Sachani stood in a pool of that sanquine liquid, and several dead guards decorated the hallway. His tiny face bore a wild-eyed grin, under the blood. It seemed impossible that anything could bear the wounds that he did and still move, much less fight, but the Sachani was still terribly, vitally alive.

Hovering above him was the shining girl, her eyes still balls of lightning, but her hair had faded until it was merely her own hair again. Her retinue of swords were nowhere to be seen, thankfully, and her outstretched hand was still smoking from the emission of horribly pure un-light which had destroyed the door in a stroke. Her smiling face registered a look of surprise to see Marun standing there, holding the vast desk.

Marun did not move for an instant, then in a quick, unthinking motion, he tossed the huge desk underhand at the hovering woman, batting her from the air. As the huge desk fell to the ground with a crash, the woman was pinned beneath it with bone-splintering force.

Moving as if he had no bones, or even flesh, the grinning Sachani scampered through the door like a sharp-edged ghost, flicking his whip at Marun several times as he went.

Marun felt the whip tearing at his flesh, the heavy tip punching into his arm, leg and stomach, opening up unbelieveably huge holes. Oddly, it barely hurt, merely inducing a sort of deep, grinding ache, not the bright agony he feared.

The Sachani seemed to be attacking him almost absently, his gore-soaked eyes seeking and finding Kara and locking on like the eyes of a killer wolf. He started toward her.

Kara began casting a frantic spell, and even little Gorta, always so insightful and brave, gathered up her broken chains with both hands and whipped them flailingly at the tiny advancing killer. Amazingly, Gorta's wild swing slammed home, the broken ends of the shackles punishing the tiny Sachani, but he seemed to accept the heavy blow and let it flow over him and through him, his only concession to the pain he must be feeling a single deep, liquid cough.

Kara's spell went off. But rather than turning to mist, or engulfing the Sachani in flames, Marun felt his pain vanish as the wounds he had received closed up invisibly.

Startled, the tiny killer cast a glance at Marun, and then turned back to focus on Kara, dismissing Marun as inconsequential until after he had slain the spellcaster.

Marun was not about to let that happen. The office they were in was furnished with the desk, but also had a massive stone plinth, easily eight feet tall and wide, upon which a gigantic ledger sat. As the Sachani drew close enough to carve Kara to ribbons, Marun turned, took two steps, and hefted the gigantic block of stone over his head with one sudden convulsive heave. He turned back to find the Sachani winding up his huge, glittering whip to swing at Kara. With a grunt, Marun smashed the stone down on top of the glimmering little monster so hard the plinth smashed to fragments and the floor actually cracked.

The Sachani lay still under the tons of rubble.

Kara gasped out, "Good work, Goldenrod! Gods, that was close!"

Gorta said, "There should be only two left, now."

Marun went to the door and peeked out gingerly. He could hear the tiny Sachani woman struggling beneath the massive timbered weight of the smashed desk, but she seemed pinned and harmless. He squeezed out, past the wreckage of the desk, beckoning Kara and Gorta to follow.

The chaos outside had, if anything, increased. As Marun walked back to the great hall, the huge room suddenly flared with blazing white-blue light, and the sound of a million raging lightning bolts filled the air, punctuated by dozens of screams. Marun hesitantly peeked in.

The small Sachani male, in the black and brown, was still flying, but higher now, out of the reach of the floor. The entire inside of the great hall seemed coated in gore, char, or dead giants. The carnage was incredible. As Marun watched, the door to the Thane's hall, which he had kicked off their hinges, flared with eerie magical light, and shortly after the taller Sachani man in black and brown suddenly appeared there, facing back into the room. The fact that he had been dead only a few moments before did not seem to be bothering him very much. His eyes were glowing and he was flaring with hideous power as he chanted some dire charm. As he finished, bolts of rippling force hissed from his hands, and several giants deeper in the Thane's throne room convulsed as he struck them. He then stamped determinedly back into the Thanes throne room, leaving tiny smoking footprints melted into the stone floor.

As the smoking Sachani hurled his eldritch power, Marun distinctly heard Karnia's voice scream in agony, inside the throneroom.

Without thinking, Marun found himself running across the main hall to the throneroom door, directly beneath the hovering Sachani wizard, and found a scene of horror inside. Thane Gark's corpse lay smoking, burned, disemboweled, and partially disarticulated on his shattered throne. The Thane's bodyguards were reduced to a mere handful, who clustered around Sir Vanes and Morg where they stood in the center of the room. The glowing swords summoned by the smallest female Sachani hacked tirelessly at Sir Vanes, and he was coated by a dozen or more bleeding gashes. He seemed to have assumed some defensive stance, and was fending off the glowing swords, but it seemed to be the only thing he could do against them. A deep burn smoked on his shoulder.

Morg had shrunk to only 20 feet tall, but had somehow regrown his arm and seemed fairly unhurt, except for a deep burn in the center of his back, which issued a thin wisp of smoke. He faced the thin Sachani in the black, who held his swords with casual skill, and as Marun watched, the lithe little fiend faded from sight like dissolving smoke.

Karnia lay in a smoking heap. Whatever had burned Thane Gark, Sir Vanes, and Morg had also burned her down.

To one side, the large Sachani female with the furs and leathers knelt above the large male dressed in shimmering metal. As Marun watched, she finished a spell of mind-boggling power, the creeping wash of the magic chilling the room, and the metal-clad warrior stirred, groped for his gigantic axe, and rose to his feet, suddenly unharmed and very much alive.

Marun did not think. He scooped up one of the doors he had kicked free earlier, and with a backhanded flick, tossed it on top of the larger man in brown and black, the tons of weight crushing him to the ground and pinning him. Marun dashed to Karnia and quickly scooped her up into his arms as if she were weightless, then he turned and dashed out of the door.

In the main hall, the Sachani wizard hovering near the ceiling finished an incantation, and with a loud sizzle, a ball of lightning ten feet in diameter appeared below him, then rolled deliberately toward a door spilling roaring Mastani guards into the nightmarish charnel-house.

Marun dashed across the main hall carrying Karnia and laid her gently down next to Kara. Kara immediately began casting a healing spell. Sir Vanes boomed, "Okay, this isn't working, out!" Marun startled and looked up, to find the doughty warrior right behind him. Sir Vanes must have followed him when he dashed in and seized the girl giant. As Marun watched, the metal-clad Sachani, his massive axe skittering along the ground behind him, came running out of the Thane's throne room, bearing directly at Sir Vanes. Sir Vanes roared, "GET OUT NOW!" The hovering wizard started a fresh incantation, while the ball of lightning rolled into the mass of Mastani guards in the far doorway and began electrocuting them all to death in a huge sizzling display.

Marun scooped up Karnia and tossed her over his shoulders, then seized Gorta and Kara, one in each hand, and ran as fast as he could. Behind him, a ten foot square section of the solid rock floor dissolved, and the tiny gleaming white figure of the Sachani woman flew out. She was no longer smiling. As Marun raced to the massive, sealed doors, a glimmering beam of horrifically pure light seared past his ear, barely missing him, and with a quiet hiss, snapped a fifteen foot square hole right through the main hall's door to the outside world, just in time for him to duck through it, with his burdens.

Behind him, Morg suddenly charged at the gleaming white Sachani sorceress, and Sir Vanes was locked in a savage duel with the metal-clad Sachani, while bedeviled by the flickering there-not-there figure of the one in black. Marun cared not for this. He ran as hard as he could go, stright off the road and up a stream bed, as close to directly away from the keep at Flare Crown as he could manage.