CHAPTER V

     When I regained my senses, I found myself being bounced around over
someone's shoulder.  I looked down and saw scales.  Guess they'd recruited
Kiaphas to be a beast of burden.  He wasn't really paying much attention to
me, and I noticed that the only thing securing me to him was a couple of
cords.  I undid those, and slid off of him.  I don't think he noticed.
     "You're back with us, I see." Marse noted.  I nodded.
     "What happened?"  My recent memory was a little fuzzy.
     "We got ambushed by some Republican horsemen.  You killed them."
     "ALL of them?" I asked, increadulous.  I looked down at myself.  "Hey,
I'm... I'm me again!"  Fur, claws, oh gods, it was good to be me again.
     "Yes, you shifted after one of the horses kicked you."
     "Pain triggers your shifts, it would seem." Jolan commented from behind
Marse.
     "I'd noticed that." I replied.  Much as I liked my current form, I knew
it was going to present a problem, and not just in the event that we were
seen.  Whatever else might have changed, I was still going into heat.  I
could already feel myself getting snappish.  I'd have to watch that,
especially since the herbal remedy I'd been preparing was likely useless on
this form.  We resumed our march, and after a few short hours, Merri anounced
that we were out of Republican territory, and back in Cosan again.  We all
gave a brief cheer for that.  I noticed something... or rather, someone, who
had escaped my attention before.  "Merri?"
     "Yes?"
     "Are you aware that a panther is standing behind you?"
     "Yes."
     "Friend of yours?" She nodded.
     "My mate."  I blinked a couple of times, then decided not to say a thing.
Hells, who am I to judge?  "Jolan, I trust you can get us back to the tower
now?"
     "I'd rather wait until we're a little farther away from here.  I want
to make certain that we're outside the Republican dampening field."
     "Dampening field?" Merri asked.
     "Yes." He gave her a quizical look.  "Surely you realized that the only
way the Republicans could have pulled off their miraculous victory at
Hurshton was to generate a field that negated divine and magical energies?
That is how they prevented the mages and clerics from defending the city."
     "How is that possible?  I don't know much about magic, but even I can
see that casting such a wide-range spell would require an outrageous amount
of power."  Jolan nodded.
     "Indeed.  I suspect that the answer to that might well be the very Stone
that we are seeking.  If Lance has that Stone, as you say, and a few
competent mages, which we already know he has in plenty, then he could quite
easily spread a vast negation field over the city... or any other area."
     "That doesn't sound good for Cosan," I put in, "Our armies are trained
from the start to work with Clerics and Mages in the ranks.  Without thier
support, I'm afraid we don't stand much of a chance."
     "Then why haven't they already pushed deeper into Cosan?" Marse wondered.
"I mean, they've had plenty of time to consolidate their forces.  What are
they waiting for?"
     "I don't know." Jolan said, "Perhaps even the Stone of Darkness was
taxed by the power of the dampening field.  Maybe they have to give it time
to rest.  Who can say?"  That was the final word on the subject, and we kept
our thoughts to ourselves as we trudged along, putting as much distance as
we could between us and the Republic.
     "This should be far enough." Jolan anounced, a pair of blistered paws
later, "I can teleport us back to the tower from here."
     "Can I help? Please?" Palas asked.
     "I don't see why not." Jolan answered. "You feel it too, then?" Palas
nodded.
     "How could I not?"  I leaned toward Merri.
     "What are they talking about?" I asked, in a whisper.
     "They've been cut off from using their magic while in the Republic.
They're both a little eager to get reaquainted with the power."  I guessed
that made sense.  We gathered around the two of them, and they joined hands
and cast their spell.  The world faded out...
     And faded back in the tower's foyer.  Palas and Jolan had matching
blissful expressions, and I heard Merri sigh beside me, presumably picking
up on the feeling.
     "Feels nice, does it?" I asked.  She nodded.
     "It's like meeting an old lover again." She said, then remembered who
she was talking to, "Oh, Diana, I..."  I shook my head.
     "Don't worry about it.  Just help me find him."  She nodded.
     "After we all rest a while, Jolan and Palas can help you find him with
the scrying pool, while Marse and I see to Kiaphas."
     "What do you need Marse for?"
     "To make sure that I come back from the link eventually.  It's possible
I could get caught in Kiaphas's mind, and I'll need someone watching who can
help."
     "Marse can do that?" She nodded.
     "Clerics have a fairly good understanding of the esoteric." Merri
explained.  We went our separate ways to rest.
     Everything I'd been holding back hit me when I walked into our room
and Firemane wasn't there.  I threw myself on the bed and cried.  Gods, I
missed him.  I exhausted myself finally, and fell into a dark, dreamless
sleep.
     Merri came and woke me eventually.  The others had worried when I hadn't
come down for dinner.  She took one look at my puffy eyes, and nodded.
     "You've been crying." She said.
     "Brilliant deduction." I snarled. "Your telepathy has given you an
astonishing grasp of the obvious!"  She put her hands up and backed off.  I
went downstairs and had some leftovers from dinner, then joined Palas and
Jolan in the basement.
     "Ah, Diana, there you are." Jolan said when he saw me.
     "We were worried about you." Palas added.
     "Have you found him yet?" I asked.  I didn't want to engage in idle
conversation.  From what my body was telling me, I really didn't have too
much time left before my condition became unbearable.  Jolan shook his head.
     "We need you to help us focus on him."
     "What do I do?"
     "Just put your hands on the surface of the pool." I looked at the pool
distrustfully.  Oily substances floated there, and it bubbled and steamed at
the edges.  "I assure you, it won't hurt you."  I gingerly extended a paw to
the surface of the pool, then jerked it back in surprise as my hand met solid
resistance.  Feeling the mages watching me... "Kitchen Witch", indeed... I
put my paws back on the surface of the pool, and left them there.  It was
like touching a mirror, hard and smooth.  "Now, focus on Firemane..." That
wasn't hard.  I could barely keep from thinking of him.  I closed my eyes
and called his image to mind, seeing him laughing, remembering our journey
together through the grasslands, our escape from Shalloc, his fight with
R'rall.  I'd never told him, but I'd thought he was magnificent that day,
standing triumphant over the lycanthrope, giving vent to that savage roar of
his.  I thought of feeling his hands touching me, feeling his face brush up
against mine...  "Um, Diana... That's not quite what I meant." Jolan said.
I cracked an eye and saw that my rememberance was showing within the depths
of the pool.  "That's... all right, Diana, just try to concentrate a little
more."  I put my attention back on Firemane... on my desparate need to find
him.  "That's it!  We've got him!"  I opened my eyes.  The pool showed a
view of the ocean, from a great height.
     "He's over the ocean?"  Palas nodded.
     "From his path, I'd say he's on his way to Ombal.  What could he be
after there?"  Jolan's eyes widened.
     "I think I know what he's after!" He exclaimed, "He's going to absorb
the residual energy from the Weather Control spell."
     "He can do that?" Palas asked.
     "I wouldn't doubt it.  This is Firemane's old personality... it has all
of his powers, and knows how to use them."
     "Then how do we get MY Firemane back?" I asked.  Jolan shook his head.
     "I don't know.  But now that we know where he's going, we can catch
him, at least."
     "But..." I began, before he shook his head.
     "I just don't know, Diana.  I'm sorry.  At least this is a start."  He
had a point.

     Meanwhile, Merri was beginning her efforts with Kiaphas.  She closed her
eyes and sent a gentle probe toward the Draconian.  When this didn't raise a
response, she pushed slowly deeper, cautious, watching for any defenses his
mind might have.  Finally, she was completely inside his mind, and she opened
her mental vision.
     The mindscape around here was a torn and chaotic tangle.  She stood on
an outcropping of rock, black rock, she noticed, that jutted out of a
swirling ocean of blood.  As her mind adapted to the draconian patterns, the
images around her began to clear up.  The world around her was bleak and
desolate, awash in blood.  Kiaphas's mind wasn't being terribly subtle about
his feelings of guilt.  Merri's first task was to find Kiaphas's self-image.
She looked around, and knew that it wasn't going to be easy.
     She set off in a random direction, lifting herself into the air and
floating effortlessly above the dream-ground.  She let herself drift over the
ocean of blood for time untold, then looked back and saw that the outcropping
was still right behind her.  With a sigh, she returned to the rock, and set
off again in another direction, with the same result.  When she'd exhausted
every lateral direction, she tried soaring upward, only to find that the
distant clouds never came any closer.  That left only one possibility.
     She executed a perfect dive, slicing into the ocean of blood with
barely a splash.  She could feel the thick fluid around her, but knew that it
was impossible to drown.  At least, it was if she kept reminding herself of
that fact.  It was also possible to see, because she willed it to be so.
She looked back and saw with satisfaction that the mountain of rock behind
her was fading away.
     She settled to the gritty floor of the ocean, and began her search.
No fish swam in this ocean, no undersea-plants swayed in the current.  The
ocean was just as lifeless as the the world above.  That didn't bode well.
It was possible that Kiaphas's self had simply been destroyed, leaving his
body alive, but completely empty of will or thought.  Merri dearly hoped that
it wasn't so, that her companion was still in there, hidden.
     She searched the ocean floor far and wide, propelling herself through
the water at unreal speeds.  She found a chasm, the only mark on an otherwise
featureless desert.  Once again, she had no other options.  She swam down
into the chasm.  It was an effort of will for her to retain her sight.  She
took that as a good sign.  If his mind could give her resistance, it showed
that there was still something there to be salvaged.
     She found him at last, there at the bottom of the chasm, in a landscape
of terrifying, boiling blood.  His self-image screamed, and flickered rapidly
between forms.  One moment he was a wyvern, then he was humaniod, and then a
second later he was the Fire Serpent.
     "Kiaphas!"  The Serpent looked toward her and hissed angrily, then melted
to become humanoid.
     "Merri?  What are you doing here?"
     "Trying to save you." The draconian shook his head wearily.
     "I'm beyond salvation.  I killed them all."
     "No, that was an illusion.  You didn't kill anyone."
     "Of course not." Kiaphas agreed, "None of it is real... nothing is
real."  Then a moment later, "Everything is real.  Everything.  And I'm
guilty of murdering my friends."
     "But..."
     "Why?  Why Father?  I have done your will, Father.  Where are you now?
I have been the obedient son!  I have done your bidding, and slain all of
those who are dear to me.  Where are you now?"
     "Kiaphas!" Merri grabbed the draconian's hand.  "Kiaphas, you must
listen to me.  You have to come back to us.  Do you understand?" He shook his
head.
     "There is no way back.  Go away Merri, before I kill you too.  There is
no salvation."  With that, he shifted into his Serpent form.  Merri saw the
hating look in those glowing red embers, and fled his mind before it could
close its jaws around her.
     "Merri!" Marse exclaimed, shaking her.  "Merri, are you alright?"
     "I will be as soon as you stop that." She answered calmly.
     "You started shaking like you were having a fit." Marse explained, "I
was worried that some evil had befallen you."
     "No, I'm fine.  I found Kiaphas, but he won't come out.  He's caught in
his own guilt.  I think I got to him, though.  We'll have to give him some
time to see if it helped."
     "So what do we do now?"
     "Now?" She repeated, "Now, I'm going to bed."
     "Bed?  But you only sat there for ten minutes!"
     "Ten minutes to you.  Days to me.  Go see how the others are doing."
     They rose to leave.  As Merri turned away, she felt a warm, scaled
hand at her elbow.  She looked back, and saw Kiaphas looking at her... not
through her, but actually focused on her.  Then the hand fell away, and the
moment passed.  It wasn't much, gods knew, but it was a start.
     When she didn't come back down, we decided to let her sleep, and then
went to our own beds.  I, for one, didn't get much sleep.  My lonliness was
a knife twisting in my chest, and I spent most of the night curled in a ball,
either crying or trying not to cry.  Needless to say, this didn't improve
my mood the next morning.  It must have shown on my face, because everyone
gave me plenty of space, which was probably the wisest thing they could have
done.
     "So, how did it go with Kiaphas?" Jolan asked.
     "About as well as could be expected." Merri answered, "He's still
trapped inside his own guilt, but I think he's actually trying to escape
now.  I'll try again later."
     "When do we go after Firemane?" I asked.
     "Well... I'd rather finish with Kiaphas first." Merri said.  Then she
looked up and saw my face.  "...But I'll bet you don't like that idea."
     "It isn't just that, Merri." Jolan put in, "This Stormsinger
personality that's taken over Firemane could be terribly dangerous.  From
what Firemane told us in Kanda and what you described in Hurshton, we're
dealing with an elemental force, one that cares for nothing but its own
preservation.  What if he decided that we're a threat?  Or even worse.  He
can access Firemane's mind.  What if he wants the Stones for himself?  I'd
hate to imagine what he could do with just one, much less the five we
possess."
     "Do you really think he could take them from us?  That he could beat
all of us together?"  Jolan shook his head, but it wasn't a denial.
     "I don't know.  This is a unique entity, like nothing this world has
ever seen.  He has the full use of the powers inherent in Firemane's body.
He has twice the vitality of a normal person, plus a range of mental powers
to match yours... AND a magical strength that I know I wouldn't want to face.
Besides that... I hate to say it, but we're all running a little ragged these
days."
     "If he's that strong, then what difference will it make?  Could we stop
him even if we left now?"
     "He's our responsibility, so we'll have to face him sooner or later."
Jolan said, "And I'd much rather face him now, when he's vulnerable.  If we
give him time to gather his strength... Gods help us all."  Merri considered
that.
     "I guess Kiaphas will just have to wait."
     "The next question, then," Palas said, "How do we stop him?  We don't
want to hurt Firemane's body... but I doubt Stormsinger will show as much
concern for us."
     "We have to hope to drive Stormsinger's influence out of Firemane's
body.  The only way we can do that is if Firemane helps us from the inside.
I've been thinking about this ever since we left Hurshton." She looked around
at us.  "I have an idea..."