The five of them stood there, stunned for a moment, before Xenia took a step forward and poked her head out the door of the Temple. There was nothing to be seen of the wraith, nor of any other creature. Presently, the other four adventurers came around as well, and brought themselves to their feet.

"Well," said Fiona. "I think we know where we'll be spending the night."

There were a few mute nods followed by a pause as everyone caught their breath. It was, of course, Idgie who broke the silence. "Did you find the secret entrance?" she asked, turning to Fiona.

The mage nodded. "Actually, Xenia found it. It's still open outside; the door was one of the slabs of marble on that side of the Temple. Now that I think of it, I think we should go out and close it again. I don't like the idea of anything crawling out to get us during the night – or of anything crawling in to wait for us once we go down." At this there was a general nodding and murmuring of agreement.

"So, then, when will we go down?" asked Karna. "Is anyone injured?"

Everyone shook his or her head no. "Miraculous," said Fiona. "Perhaps a bit too much so. How are we doing on spells? I've cast none."

"I've one left," said Karna. "But then again, I started with only two."

"Which spell?"

"Sleep," said Karna. "It turned out to be useless today. Do you think I should switch for tomorrow?"

"No, not at all," said Fiona. "It was an excellent choice of spells for the day."

"Well, actually, it could have been better," said Karna. "The sleep spell doesn't affect the undead, so I was out of ammunition once I cast my magic missile out there."

Fiona nodded, and considered this for a moment. "Mandi," she addressed the priestess. "Do you think it's likely that we'll meet more undead below the Temple?"

Mandi thought for a moment before answering. "I doubt it. You said that the Dwarves built the area we're going into, yes? And likely they were the ones who placed – or found – the guardians that we're supposed to find?"

"That's my hypothesis, yes. Then again, that wraith may have been a 'guardian'."

"Or those zombies might have been," added Idgie.

"Zombies?"

Idgie nodded, and the three who had gone to the cemetery told their story to Fiona and Xenia.

"But I don't think that those were the guardians," said Mandi. "They seemed to be interested in defending their resting-places, nothing more. I do not know what caused them to actually be, but I doubt that it was the Dwarves, and I also doubt that anyone who stuck to the Temple would have run into the creatures."

Fiona nodded. "Sound reasoning." She sighed, and considered things again for a minute. She then turned to Karna. "Keep that selection of spells. It's likely to be to our best benefit." Karna nodded in return.

"Mandi, how about you?" asked Fiona, turning to the priestess again. "What spells do you have?"

"I have what's called a standard combat mix in my church," answered the tallest member of the group. "Some healing-spells, some spells that enhance the combat abilities of the group. Plus a utility spell or two."

"Wow, that's a lot," said Idgie. "How come you can cast more spells that Fi?"

"I'll explain it some other time, Idgie," said Mandi, smiling. "It's much more complicated than we have time for." At this Idgie pouted a bit, but said nothing.

"So, I repeat my question," said Karna. "It seems that we are fine to progress. Shall we go down?"

"I want some eats first," said Idgie. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starved!" At this there was a general agreement, and the five of them sat down to an early lunch. As they ate, they looked all about themselves, and marveled at the beauty of the interior of the Temple. Although no one had been there in perhaps a century and a half, it looked like masses had been conducted there just recently, in that the upkeep of the Temple was so good. The candles were still new and fresh, and smelled faintly of honey. There were no carpets on the stone floor, but there were beautiful vestments on the altar and pedestals: a fine cloth of white-and-silver weave (they guessed that mithril was woven into it) with gold trim. There were iron and mithril religious implements of several sorts about, most of them holy symbols, or items whose function the party could not guess.

"Their ceremonies are very different from our own," said Mandi. "For example, because their deity is below them rather than above, they do not burn incense. However, beyond that I'm afraid my knowledge is rather limited."

After the meal, Fiona continued her inspection of the area. There was not a speck of dust in the entire place. The gray marble benches were smooth and polished, and there was a scent of beeswax, cedar, and spices. There were jeweled sconces on the walls, and there was a mithril symbol to Erda on the wall behind the main altar. Despite the fact that there was not a fire to be seen in the place, it was considerably warmer inside than out, and the group felt relaxed and comfortable. There was something elementally inviting about the place, and if it were not for the excitement waiting for them just below the Temple, the companions would have been tempted to stay there for a while, and perhaps spend the afternoon in idle chatter.

Fiona had not been the only one exploring the Church. "Hey, Fi, come have a look at this," called Idgie from the sanctuary around the altar.

"What is it?" Fiona and Mandi both came over to see what the group's youngest had found.

"I found this," replied Idgie, holding out a single sheet of parchment. It was a note, written in Common by a careful hand. Like everything else in the Temple, it too was surprisingly well preserved, especially considering the date given on it.

Fiona looked the note over, trying to see if it might contain some hidden message, but she could discern none. "Lovely," she said. "This is of no immediate use to us, I think – except to frighten us half out of our wits." She handed it back to Idgie. "We should bring this back to the Dwarves."

Idgie nodded. "Like the other stuff."

"What other stuff?"

Idgie took a minute to describe the holy symbols that they had found, and which Karna was still carrying. "Karna mentioned the 'museum question'."

Fiona understood the reference, and nodded, but meanwhile her mind raced on ahead. "I think I now know why Karna was able to open the Temple doors," she said, and then turned and called to the Elf.

"Hm? Yes?" Karna, who had been relating the encounters with the undead in greater detail to Xenia, stood up and came over at once.

"Just a quick question or two," said Fiona. "When you opened the Temple doors, did you sense anything unusual about it?"

"Unusual?"

"Did you feel aided in any way, or did you perhaps do something that was out of the ordinary?"

"Hmm," said Karna, his hand to his chin again. "I did notice some sort of magical effect coming from behind me."

"And where were you carrying the holy symbols that you found?" Fiona smiled, as a look of understanding came across Karna's face before she even finished her sentence.

"Ah," said Karna, and he smiled too. "Xenia had told me that she'd been unable to move the doors. I'd assumed that she'd loosened them, and I was only able to move them for that reason. But I believe that you've found a much more logical explanation."

Fiona smiled, quite pleased with herself. Mandi patted her on the back. Karna went back to chatting with Xenia, but Mandi, Idgie and Fiona stayed in the sanctuary. "What else have you found?" asked Fiona of Idgie.

"Not too much," said Idgie. She showed them a smallish collection of ornaments and vestments she'd found; the vestments were made of the same material as the cloths that were draped over the altar. There was nothing more to be found in the rooms in back of the sanctuary save a few more vestments and holy symbols. A moment's talk was all that was necessary for them to decide to pack all the findings together and return them to the Dwarves.

There was one last thing to worry about, however, as Xenia pointed out. "We'll have to leave the horses outside," she said. "Me and Karna should be able to lug all our stuff up the hill, but we'll still have to leave the animals outside the Temple." She was obviously displeased at the prospect of having to leave Samuel in a place where he and the other animals might be attacked or waylaid during the night.

"I don't think we have much of a choice," answered Fiona, with a tone that conveyed sympathy with Xenia's interests. "I'd appreciate it if you and Karna could go and gather our things, and just leave Samuel and the others to their own recognizance. Samuel's been fine in the past, and hopefully we can trust him to look after the others again."

Xenia nodded, that that was the end of her contributions to the day's discussions.

"Why does it always have to be me?" asked Idgie. She stood at the opening of the secret entrance at the side of them temple, staring unhappily down into the darkness at the bottom of the steep, narrow stairs. She had a rope harness tied about her torso, and Xenia stood perhaps seven feet away holding the other end of the rope.

"For the same reason that it's always Xenia who holds the other end of the rope," said Fiona. "You're the best qualified for this sort of thing."

"Oh, that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside," said Idgie. The few snowflakes that were drifting down from the partially cloudy sky made her statement especially ironic.

"I'm sure you'll get over it," said Fiona. In response, Idgie gave a sigh, and then started her way down the stairs, a lightstone in one hand, her drawn short sword in the other. Xenia slowly fed out rope so that it was just shy of being taut.

There was no word for several minutes. Then, with a characteristic bounce to her step, Idgie reappeared at the entrance, grinning. "C'mon!" she said eagerly. "The coast is clear, come have a look!" She turned to Fiona. "Just as you expected it to be, Fi. Squared-off walls, sheer and level floor, perfectly square tunnels about eight feet high."

Fiona nodded. "Standard Dwarven make, according to Kane." She then indicated that silence was called for, and gave the signal for the party to proceed down the stairs. Idgie went first, followed immediately by Xenia. Karna and Fiona walked side by side behind the Ranger, and Mandi took up the rear.

The tunnels were indeed square-cut and perfectly straight. There was no source of light, so Idgie, Fiona and Karna each held lightstones aloft. The floor was dry, and the air was surprisingly breathable: no hints of dustiness, and no scents that would hint that the place was inhabited: no smell of food (fresh or rotten), garbage, or waste. The tunnel proceeded straight ahead (west) for about fifty feet before it came to a four-way intersection. Ahead they could see that the tunnel continued west for another ten feet or so before ending in a door; the door itself was the exact size of the tunnel's cross-section, and it has six bands of steel barring it shut. They could not yet see north or south, for there was something in the intersection itself that caught their interest and drew them up short.

It was a statue, carved in marble, of a dwarf-warrior standing at attention, his axe at his side. Idgie started to move forward to investigate it, but Fiona said "Hold!" in a harsh whisper, drawing up the blonde woman about four feet short of the statue. Idgie turned to Fiona with a questioning look on her face.

"The statue may be animated," said Fiona, still whispering. "Be aware that it may attack you."

Idgie rolled her eyes, then nodded and proceeded forward. Her short sword was still in hand, so she reached forward with it, intending to prod the statue. But as soon as she came within a foot of the statue, it did indeed animate, but not in the way that she expected. Its hand did not move, nor did its weapon – instead, its lips animated, and it spoke to them in a thickly accented Common Tongue. Idgie had hit the ground and was rapidly rolling back out of the way when it first spoke, and so she heard most of the message from the floor about two yards away.

"Congratulations," it said. "You are a dwarf-friend to have found this place. Now show you have dwarven strength as well. Six doors, six guardians. Fare thee well!" At that, the animation came to an end, and it would not reanimate for the remainder of their stay in the tunnels.

There were a few moments of silence as Idgie hopped lightly back to her feet and the others waited in case the statue had something further to say or do. When it was apparent that no such thing was forthcoming, Karna spoke quietly. "Well, it seems that we now know what is meant by the guardians," he said.

Fiona nodded, also speaking quietly. Her voice still echoed disconcertingly in the stone hallways, much to her consternation. "More or less," she agreed. "I'd still like to know exactly what they are." Karna nodded in response, and the group instinctively went silent.

Idgie went to the door before them at the western terminus of the tunnel. Again, she tested the door with her sword first, and then, before laying her hands upon it, she began looking it over carefully, scanning it for details that she had learned about in her training at the Guild, looking for the telltale signs that there were traps set upon it. This had become standard operating procedure for the group, and Fiona and Xenia knew that it would take Idgie at least five or ten minutes before her search was over. Xenia took out a lightstone and instinctively went towards the southern tunnel to have a look down it. Fiona used hand gestures to signal Mandi to follow Xenia, while the two mages went toward the northern tunnel. Both Xenia and Fiona got out parchment and charcoal and began sketching maps of what they found, measuring off distances carefully by pacing and careful counting, working in silence all the while. The only noise that could be heard was the clinking of Mandi's armor. Fiona gritted her teeth about that matter, but decided that she'd rather have the defensive strength when and if it came down to fighting, so she said nothing about it.

Within about an hour they had mapped out the main tunnels of the complex, and Idgie reported that she could find no traps on the heavy steel door. "It's barred, though, with stronger stuff than we could ever break," she added in a whisper. As for the rest of the complex, it turned out that the tunnels running north and south from that first intersection were part of a ring of sorts, a single tunnel that ran in the shape of a perfect square; the statue was in the exact middle of the easternmost edge of the "square". The sides of the square were about a hundred feet in length, and the tunnels never wavered from being perfectly straight and square. There were two twenty-foot-long tunnels that led north from the northernmost side of the square, each of which ended in a single, unbarred door. Idgie gave each one her seal of approval as being untrapped. Similarly, there were two tunnels leading south from the southern side of the square, also ending in untrapped doors. From the center of the west side of the square were two short tunnels, perhaps only ten feet long each, one leading east and one leading west, each ending in an (untrapped) door. Six doors in all, besides the main steel door. Fiona signaled that she wanted to talk aloud, and the group followed her back up and outside.

"Well," she said when they were outside again and gathered by the oak tree. "We have our six doors; now we have to beat the six guardians."

"So we apparently have to hack up six monsters, or so it would seem," said Karna, "One behind each door."

"Not necessarily," said Fiona. "The statue never said what we have to do about the guardians. They may be traps, or puzzles. We should assume as little as possible." Karna nodded in agreement.

They traced out their battle plans. For the first door, they would open it and then have a look at what was inside; if it was a threat, they would move immediately to attack it, otherwise, they would look to Fiona and Xenia for cues on an appropriate course of action.

The five of them descended the staircase again, turned right, and proceeded to the first door off the northern tunnel. There was no point wasting time about it, so they gritted their teeth, drew their weapons, and tensed themselves as Xenia flung the door open.

It turned out that Karna's guess was right. There was a bit of a popping noise when the door opened, and the group found themselves staring directly into the faces of a pair of snarling jet-black dogs, each the size of a small pony, standing in the middle of a circular room 30 feet in diameter. Their eyes were blood red and glowing, and blood seemed to drip off their sharp white teeth. The two creatures took one look at Xenia and pounced. However, Xenia, Karna and Mandi were all ready for them, and they counterattacked at once.

The battle was short and furious, and (to Fiona's tastes) unpleasantly bloody. By previous agreement, the three main fighters of the party all ganged up on one of the hounds, hacking mercilessly at it while they tried to avoid being injured themselves. Both hounds seemed particularly drawn to Mandi, and each attacked her viciously at every opportunity, even as Xenia and Karna chopped madly at them, doing grievous damage to the main object of their attack. Mandi swung her mace several times without any luck before turning her attention fully to defending herself. Karna and Xenia finished off one of the hounds about a minute or so into the fight, but before it died, it suddenly belched out flames, which bathed Mandi in a bloody, acrid spray, and she cried out in pain. Angered, Idgie now joined the fray, and she, Karna and Xenia quickly did enough damage to the other hound to finish it off as well, before it could breathe out its damaging flames, but not before it managed to bite Karna's left elbow. The battle had taken only a few minutes, and the only other damage taken was some scorching of Mandi, resulting in some second-degree burns across her left forearm. The three main combatants were covered in blood, and the two fresh carcasses lay on the ground before them stinking.

"I'll be all right," said Mandi, when Idgie questioned her about her burns. Mandi then chanted the same spell of healing that she had used in the Fishy Shoe several weeks back, and healed herself of the minor injury. In the meanwhile, Karna and Xenia took out rags and began cleaning themselves and their weapons; Karna bound his wounded elbow carefully, and it was decided that he could continue, and forego a healing-spell from Mandi for the moment. They wanted to save her spells for as long as possible.

It was just after Mandi had completed her spell when suddenly the carcasses of the dogs burst into flame, and within seconds they were reduced to ash. "Ptah's beard!" said Idgie, standing back from the conflagration. "What were those things?"

"They're commonly called Hellhounds," answered Mandi. "They're Quetzlcoatl's dogs of war. They normally appear in much greater numbers."

"How the heck did they get down here?" asked Idgie. "And how'd they wind up locked in a room?"

"They were placed here," answered Fiona. "Probably in some form of stasis. Remember the popping noise when we opened the door? That was likely the stasis being released. Look around – no droppings on the floor, no way for the hounds to get in or out, nothing that even looks like a food supply for them. They were placed here by someone."

"That means that the other guardians are also likely in some sort of stasis," continued Karna. "Which would also imply that they cannot hear us talking right now. Thus we can drop the shroud of silence, and talk freely." Fiona and Idgie both nodded at this.

"So, what do we do now," asked Idgie. "Try Door Number Two? Or rest and heal up?"

"I'd rather push on for the moment," answered Fiona. "There may be some sort of resetting device – meaning, if we do go back up to the temple to rest out the day, we may come back tomorrow to find that the hounds are back – or worse."

Idgie nodded, and then stopped as something caught her eye. "Hey – look at this," she said, pointing to the wall directly opposite the door. A switch of some sort had appeared on the wall, where they had not noticed anything before. "Think we should throw it?" A short discussion followed; there was general agreement that they should try the switch, and then proceed to the next room. Xenia threw the switch, and from the main tunnel there came a sound of metal grinding against rock. The group cautiously peered out into the tunnels, and then carefully made their way back to the first intersection with the statue.

"It appears as if we didn't open door number one, but rather door number five," said Fiona, pointing to the iron door. The fifth steel band from the top had vanished.

"Well, now that we know what we have to do," said Idgie, "let's go kick some more monster butt."

On their way to the second northern door (which Fiona correctly guessed was door number four), Fiona gave some thought to their situation. Her heart was racing, as it always did when it came time for battles, but as usual she was able to keep her emotions in check and think her way rationally through situations. She had not lifted a finger in the previous battle, and this bothered her for a moment. But that's not what is required of me, she thought. Like I told Idgie earlier, the best one for the job shall perform the task. She gathered her will again, sighed slightly, and then fixed herself for the next fight. For the moment, I must merely survive the fights we get into. But in the future, rest assured that I shall be one of the main forces in the combat.

They threw the next door open and rushed into the room, hoping to catch their opponent by surprise. There was but one guardian in this room: a Minotaur of enormous size, wielding a giant axe. He was not surprised, however, and moved so quick as to strike Xenia to the ground with a single blow of his axe. The ranger was not seriously injured, but she was stunned for the moment. Karna and Mandi moved in on the creature, as did Idgie, while Xenia rolled out of the way. This fight did not appear to be going well: the two women engaging the beast with weapons could not seem to land a solid blow, and Karna was only able to manage a few glancing blows that did little if any damage. Meanwhile, the Minotaur swung its axe and also gored with its horns, catching Karna twice and Idgie once, opening deep wounds in each one. Xenia was now getting to her feet, but Fiona realized that she herself must now act to help her companions before the fight got completely out of hand. "Stand back!" she cried, and stepped forward to within the range of her spell, praying silently that it was outside of the Minotaur's immediate reach. The mage then reached into the rings within her mind and found the spell of her desire, and its playful colors danced off her tongue in marvelous musical patterns as she cast it. It was a short, easy spell, one that she had known for a long time, and it had been one of her favorites from the very beginning. The spell was completed quickly, and with a flick of her fingers, Fiona sent the color spray directly into the eyes of her enemy.

The creature had been paying too much attention to its wounded foes and not enough attention to Fiona, and he never saw her spell coming, It caught him squarely in the eyes, blinding him temporarily, and sending him reeling.

Karna knew his chance when he saw it, and immediately ran the beast through with his sword. Xenia joined the Elf even as Mandi and Idgie pulled back, the priest tending to the thief's wounds; the ranger's sword struck a great wound within the minotaur, and then her magical dagger sliced its guts wide open. She and Karna danced out of the way as the thing collapsed to the floor and died.

This time, there was little question as to what they must do next: Karna had an injury that needed attending to, and Idgie had taken enough damage that Mandi's last healing spell for the day wasn't sufficient to completely close the wound. They pulled the lever on the far wall, and noted on their way out of the tunnels that the fourth band on the door had vanished. They then shut the secret entrance, went into the Temple, and rested out the night there. The next day, Mandi prayed for only healing spells, and cast them to heal the rest of the wounds that the party had suffered. Idgie and Xenia then spent the rest of the day mending their armor, and Karna sharpened his sword. Fiona kept herself busy by cooking especially good meals for the party, trying not to worry too much about whether the monsters had been returned to their rooms (and whether the bands on the doors had been restored). They stayed in the temple that night again, and arose at dawn the next day. After Mandi had prayed for her spells again, they were ready to descend into the tunnels.

There was a collective sigh of relief when they found that the two bands on the iron door were still gone. They decided to have a look into the rooms anyway, just to be safe; the hellhounds were still missing, and the Minotaur's carcass had started to stink. Satisfied, they now went to the south passage of the square, and went to its first door.

This time, the fight went much more quickly, and the five of them made it through without a scratch. In the circular room had been a strange catlike creature, the size and approximate shape of a sleek black panther – except that it had a single long tentacle with a clawed tip protruding from each of its front shoulders. Fiona recognized it at once from her schooling at the Academy. "Displacer Beast!" she called. "Its coat bends light, so it appears to be a few feet from where it actually is, and its position changes all the time." It took Karna and Xenia several tries to find the creature, ignoring its illusory double and finding the actual beast with their biting blades. The creature's attacks were all but ineffectual, the barbed tentacles bouncing harmlessly off Xenia's armor even as the two warriors methodically sought their foe and hacked it to bits. The fight lasted perhaps two minutes, after which Fiona came over to investigate the corpse. "Drat," she murmured.

"What's the matter, Toots?" asked Idgie, while Fiona poked the dead creature with a stick, noting the large number of holes and tears in its pelt. "We won, didn't we?"

"Yes, and I suppose that's all that really matters," replied the mage. "I was hoping that we'd be lucky enough to salvage the pelt from this creature. They're worth quite a bit of money if you know who to sell them to – and I just happen to know someone who is indeed looking for such a pelt. But, unfortunately, this one is ruined." In response, Idgie nodded, and then the five of them continued on.

The fourth guardian that they encountered was a six-headed Hydra, a reptilian beast the size of a small hut, with six long necks, each of which ended in a hissing, snapping head. Karna and Fiona recognized these creatures too from their Academy lessons, and both called warnings that the creature might have heads that regenerated magically after being cut off, but this luckily proved not to be the case. The six heads fought viciously, hissing like a roomful of vipers, but after sustaining only a few bites of any import the three front-line members of the party subdued and slew the creature, cutting off each of its heads at the base of the neck. To be certain that there would be no trouble, Xenia lit a torch and used it to sear all six neck-stumps. "Just to be sure that they won't regrow," she said simply.

There was little enough damage done to the party to continue on once again. This door was the western one on the south wall, and behind it would be the guardian of the second steel band. Only the second and first now remained; the third through sixth had been activated, and they had retreated into the walls surrounding the great steel door. Xenia kicked the door open, and the group rushed in to find themselves faced with a most peculiar sight.

The creature behind the door was human in size and shape, but it was most certainly not human, nor was it of any sentient race that Fiona knew. It looked like a statue of a nude human female carved in pure crystal, and when it animated and began attacking them the entire group paused for a moment in wonder, despite Fiona's earlier warnings about the Dwarf-statue in the hall. The crystal golem immediately turned to Xenia and struck her full-force in the chest with its fists, sending the Ranger splaying across the room.

"Koh's nipples!" cried Idgie. "Let's get her!" And immediately Idgie, Karna and Mandi all flew to the attack. The fight did not go so well, however, even when Xenia got back to her feet and rejoined the group, who boxed the creature in on four sides and swung madly at it. The automaton turned to foe after foe, striking at him or her with its bare fists, its dead face staring unblinking at them one by one. Mandi's mace seemed to do damage, and Xenia's dagger nicked the creature on occasion, but Karna's sword was useless, bouncing harmlessly off the crystal, as did Idgie's short sword. The golem landed a hard blow to the side of Karna's head, knocking him senseless for a moment, and he tottered once before falling flat, stunned. In desperation, Fiona cast her color spray spell, but as she suspected it too had no effect. But Xenia and Mandi continued to chip away at the creature, and little by little the golem began to slow. Idgie dropped out of the melee to tend to Karna, correctly reasoning that her weapons could do no damage to the automaton. After some more time, Xenia and Mandi finally managed to destroy the creature, and it crumbled into crystal shards before them – but not before it had done some goodly damage to Xenia, and slightly less damage than that to Mandi. Karna came to quickly, but was still stunned from the blow to the head. They had won, and none of them had been killed, but they had taken a good amount of damage. They would have to retreat to the Temple's interior and rest for several days while Mandi tended to their wounds.

"Tikka's knockers, what the hell was that thing?" said Idgie, out of breath and supporting Karna on one shoulder.

"It looked to be a golem of some sort," said Fiona, as she helped Mandi tend to Xenia. "A magical construct, usually made out of a single material, normally impervious to most weapons and to nearly all magic. We were very, very lucky to have survived it, to have been able to damage it with what weapons we had." She sighed. "This must have been a weaker version of the normal classes of golem. Dwarves are not known to make such constructs. This one was probably made by them, and it was certainly inferior to the standard ones, which only very powerful wizards or priests have the skill and potency to make. Had it been one of the more common constructs, it would have certainly killed us all. We've not the strength to battle even the least of the 'true' golems."

"How lovely," said Idgie, as Karna began to take his weight off her. "Leave it to you to make us all bright and happy, Fi."

But Idgie knew that Fiona was being dead serious in her oration, and that it was a necessary thing, and Fiona was aware that Idgie knew this, and so the mage said no more of it. Meanwhile, the group retreated to the main Temple.

Mandi spent her spells healing Xenia first, as was the decision of the group as a whole. After the Ranger was back to full health, she and Idgie spent time each day tending to Samuel and the other horses in the woods, while the other three stayed in the Temple, studying, resting, and praying. Luckily, the horses had been left unmolested, and Xenia and Idgie reported no extraneous encounters in their errands. Another day or two passed before Mandi and then Karna were brought back to full health, and they slept one last night so that Mandi could again pray for spells, and each person in the group could be at his or her maximum potential for the next day.

"Well, Fi," said Idgie as they bedded down for the night. "Looks like tomorrow is the big day. Five down, one left."

"I'm tired, Idgie," said Fiona. "I'd prefer not to think about it tonight." She turned over and covered up her lightstone. "I'm confident that we'll do well. We'll worry about it tomorrow morning."

Dawn came soon enough, clear and cold, and the five were doubly anxious to get down to the tunnels, as it was markedly warmer there than on the exposed side of the mountain. It was the twenty-fourth of October, and the early winter was blowing in with all due speed.

They turned down to the south stretch of the corridor, and stood there before the last door. Xenia nodded to Karna, and then kicked the door in. What she saw was the first thing the ranger had ever encountered that made her pull up from an immediate attack.

Before them in the room there stood a white dragon.

The room it was in was decidedly larger than the other rooms, perhaps fifty feet in diameter, and the dragon took up a decent amount of that space. The wyrm was nearly thirty-five feet long itself, and its scales were a pearly white, the color of fresh snow. It took one look at the party, and reared back its head in a great intake of air.

"Mordred-kin!" shouted Xenia. "My Enemy! Slay it!"

Fiona had almost no time to be stunned by the sudden display of fury in Xenia – never before, not even when Drabo's henchman had poisoned her, had she reacted so fiercely, so uncharacteristically emotionally – because Xenia had barely taken a step towards the dragon when it parted its jaws and loosed its breath upon the party. Now, some people believe, like Idgie did before that very moment, that all dragons breathe fire. However, this is far from the case: each dragon has its own unique breath weapon, and among the dragons of Kali, only the red are fire-breathers. The green, as Xenia could have told them, breathe toxic vapors, the black spit streams of acid, and the blue expel lightning bolts. But the white breathe cones of pure cold.

Fiona had never felt so unpleasant a chill blast in her entire life; it washed over her and through her, and she lost all her concentration towards her spells in an effort to resist the numbing cold that poured through her. The rest of the party tried hard to resist as well, but of the group, only Xenia, Karna and Fiona seemed to be able to fully withstand the attack. Idgie gave a gasp and fell to the ground, and Mandi dropped to one knee, shaking off the effects of the blast. Karna hesitated for a moment, a tad too surprised to act, and Fiona was caught for just an instant in the terrifying thought that her closest friend in the group might be dead on the ground next to her, before the mage shook her mind free of terror and concentrated on the matter at hand.

But even then, Fiona was not the first of the group to act. Xenia had paused not for even an instant once she had shouted the command to attack, and even as the dragon loosed its breath upon the group, she was upon it, her sword and dagger flashing, and a look of unmitigated fury upon her face. Fiona ran through her rings, searching for an appropriate spell, but even then she watched Xenia in her attack. Now, Fiona had seen Xenia in proud moments before, and she had seen the huntress exhibit moves and skills in fighting that had left the young mage happily awed at the skills of her larger companion. But compared to this moment, all else she had done was nothing. Xenia adopted a battle-stance that Fiona had never seen her use before, both blades pointed in an odd direction, her feet placed on the floor at strange angles. Xenia approached the dragon with care, not attacking for the moment. Karna, though he was ready to loose a magic missile at first chance, stopped and watched in awe. This is what Xenia had been training to do all her life, and watching her first battle against a wyrm was like watching a work of art in progress, like watching a star athlete perform at the very peak of his or her game.

The dragon seemed little more than annoyed at first, and lunged forward, claws extended and teeth flashing. Fiona heard Karna and Mandi each give a slight gasp at this, fearing the worst for Xenia. But the Ranger was ready. At the last moment, she suddenly sprang towards the dragon to meet the attack, her blades positioned perfectly to catch the charge of the beast. The steel of Xenia's sword bit into the dragon's neck, and her dagger slashed a deep wound across its belly, sending shards of white dragon-scales all about the room. The dragon turned to try to counter Xenia's sudden onslaught, but it was to no avail. Xenia knew this beast as well as she knew herself, even though she had never met it before. She knew its strengths and its weaknesses; she knew where its armor was thinnest and what stroke was best for cutting past the scales; she knew its instinctual methods of attack, and knew how to position herself to take maximum advantage in a counterattack. So it had been on the first pass of the dragon, and so it was when the dragon turned to her again. Once more the wyrm bit at Xenia, unable to bring its claws to bear upon the Ranger, but she danced out of the way of the clumsy attack and slashed at the creature's head, chopping off several horns and opening a good-sized wound beneath its left eye. The creature tried backing off, but Xenia stayed with it, close enough to slash at it, too close for its claws to be fully effective in return, yet too far from it for it to use its bulk against her. Fiona had brought a spell to the ready, but held it and simply watched in sheer admiration.

The dragon was now clearly desperate. It again reared its head back as if to strike, but Fiona suddenly realized that it was not going to bite at Xenia: it was going to breathe on her again. A moment of terror as instantly quelled in a stern rebuke directed at herself, as Fiona realized how foolish she herself had been: she had done nothing to extract herself, Mandi and Idgie from harm's way, and should the dragon happen to breathe in her direction… Fiona pushed all such thoughts from her mind and braced herself.

Luckily, neither Karna nor Xenia was idle. At the very moment that the dragon's head reached its apex before initiating its breath attack, Karna fired his magic missile spell at the creature, striking it full in the head. The beast paused in its attack for just a moment, reeling slightly. In that instant, Xenia dropped her sword and took her magical dagger in both hand; and with all her might she plunged it into the exposed neck of the dragon before her, burying it in the bare spot she had carved out in her previous attacks. The dragon shuddered and gasped. Xenia, a grim look of determination on her face, gave the dagger a quick twist and heave, and slit the dragon's neck from its breastbone to its chin. The wyrm gave a hiss, spouted blue blood, and then collapsed, dead.

Fiona nearly cheered with glee, despite continuing to berate herself mentally for the slip. Karna stepped forward to meet Xenia, but the dark look was still on her face, and she motioned him back. She set the dagger aside for a moment, picked back up her sword, and with three or four stroked hewed off the creature's head. Then she nodded and dropped to one knee. "Good," she said, panting. "It's dead now."

"Congratulations!" said Karna. "That was most splendid!" He continued his adulation while he went over to check on the Ranger. Meanwhile, Fiona turned to her two other companions to check on their injuries, fearing the worst for Idgie. Mandi had shaken off her stunned state, and could now coherently act, and she too turned to the young thief. Fiona restrained herself from interfering with the priestess, but was very relieved to see that Idgie was quite clearly still breathing.

In fact, Idgie was quite a bit better than she appeared to be at first. "Ow! Hands off!" she suddenly said as Mandi lay a hand on Idgie's shoulder. Idgie then sat up of her own accord. The four others quickly gathered around her to check on her. "No, I'm okay, I'm okay," she said, despite the fact that she was quite clearly very badly injured. "I played possum for a while. Dammit, I hurt like fucking hell."

They retreated once again to the main Temple, not yet pulling the last lever to release the final band. All of them were injured, some badly, some not; it would again take a few days for Mandi to heal their wounds with her magics. Fiona found several patches of skin that were raw and exposed from the cold, and she ached as if completely frostbitten, but it was decided that she should be healed first, and so she (and Idgie, who was also healed of most of her wounds that day) was brought back to almost full health by a spell from Mandi. The next three days were again spent recuperating, and Mandi nursed the lot of them back to health.

There was one conversation of particular note that took place during that time of waiting. At dinner on the first night after the fight, Karna said (between mouthfuls of a savory stew Fiona had prepared), "Xenia, I must say, that was perhaps the most impressive display of fighting I have ever seen." The three other women besides Xenia all nodded in earnest agreement.

"Thanks," replied the Ranger matter-of-factly. "I'm just glad it was a baby we ran into, or else we'd have been goners."

"A baby?" half-gasped Idgie. "You gotta be kidding me! That thing was three times the size of an ox!"

Xenia nodded, still very matter-of-fact, not betraying any more emotion than if she'd have been discussing the advantages of indoor pelt-curing facilities. "Yes, Idgie, they get a lot bigger than that. Judging from its size, I'd have to say that it was, oh, about three years old."

"Uh, how does that compare to an adult dragon?"

"Oh, dragons of all species reach adulthood at about a century or so. By then a white is about double or triple the size of the one we fought today." Fiona was very impressed by Xenia's choice of the word 'we' instead of 'I' in that sentence. "By the time it gets about five hundred years old, triple that again. They get even bigger if they manage to live for a millennium – they get almost as big as their distant forefathers. Oh – and also, the whites are the smallest of the five, by far."

In response to that, they could do nothing but shake their heads in awe.

It was now the twenty-ninth of October. The group had been fully healed and rested, and had spent the past few days recuperating in the Temple. They had kept themselves busy in study and in prayer, in chores and in hunting. It was now just past dawn, and they once again stood at the top of the stairs to the tunnels beneath the Temple. It had been decided the night before that this would be the day that they would go and throw the final lever, and see what lay past the steel door. Fiona had barely been able to sleep the night before. This adventure was nearing its end, and the hope of some reward was tremendously exciting to all five of them. They drew out their lightstones and marched slowly down the stairs one last time.

They were met with a bit of a surprise when they came back to the dragon-room: the corpse of the beast had vanished. "Don't pull the lever yet," said Fiona. "Let's check the other rooms. They did, and it turned out that each one was utterly empty. Yet the levers remained in place, and the steel door near the main intersection still had a single band left across the front of it. They returned to the dragon room, and as usual it was Idgie who pulled the lever. There again was a grinding noise from the hallway. Anxiously, barely able to contain their eagerness, the five of them edged around the corner at the main intersection of halls, and they saw that the last band of steel had slid back from the door. With a nod from Karna, Xenia stepped up to the door, took hold of its lone handle, and pulled.

The door slid easily open to reveal another room that was all but identical to the other rooms in the complex: it was perfectly round room thirty feet in diameter, but unlike the other rooms, its walls were lined with sconces, each of which held a torch that burned magically, giving off light but neither heat nor smoke. In the center of the room an immense stone block was embedded in the floor. The block was a darker gray than the stone of the walls and main floor, and it rose perhaps two inches above the rest of the floor. Twelve levers of some sort were placed around the rim of the stone block, equally spaced in a circle. Each lever was a yard high and pointed nearly straight upwards. On the tip of each lever was a rune, and Fiona recognized each one at once: they were numerals, the Dwarven runes for the numbers one through twelve. Despite her promise to Kane to not learn the language, it had been impossible for Fiona not to learn the numerals drawn in the puzzle on the back of the map.

On the stone itself was an inscription, and much to the surprise of the group it was written in the Common Tongue, with the usual letters. "I, Bartholomew, put this stone here with the aid of the mage Loge," said the inscription. "If you have the key, progress from its center through its pieces in order, and out to the edges, and the answer shall be spelt out for you.

"For those foolish enough to try without the key, know that the wrong answer means certain death."

"Delightful," said Karna. "In all the stories my parents told me as a lad, such writings were always a sign of certain doom to the unworthy – or else they were mere ruses designed to keep the unschooled away."

"So, which one do you think it is?" asked Idgie.

"The former," replied the Elf. "Especially since our best guess is that Bartholomew never existed."

"I agree," said Fiona. "But, of course, that's all a moot point, since we do have the key, and we have solved its riddle." With that, she nodded to Xenia. "Will you do the honors, please?"

The ranger came forth and looked at the levers. "Which is which?"

"That's number One," said Fiona, pointing. "And Two, Three, and so on, out to twelve, like the face of a clock."

Xenia nodded, and then strode over to the second lever while the others stood well back (Idgie even stood in the hallway outside to make sure she'd be safe). She took hold of the lever, and pulled it effortlessly. "These move easily enough for any one of use to move them."

Fiona nodded. "Nevertheless, I'd prefer that you do it for us." At this, Mandi smiled, but Xenia merely nodded and walked to the sixth lever. Xenia pulled this one, too, and then finally went over to the eleventh lever and pulled it into place. She then stepped back a few feet, out of the way of the stone.

Nothing happened for perhaps three seconds, and then the group was met with the noise of rock grinding against rock, coming from all about them. Alarmed, they stepped back and drew their weapons, ready for an attack should any be forthcoming. Then, after another moment of the grinding, the stone slab in the middle of the floor began rising slowly. All five of the group stood by the doorway and watched in awe. No one spoke a word, but no word could be heard over the grinding in any event. In a few moments, it could be seen that the stone slab was only about a foot and a half thick, and that it was being pushed up from the ground by four supporting columns of steel. The stone rose until there was six feet of clearance under its undersurface, and when it finally stopped moving, they saw that a stone slab had risen up from the hole underneath the first slab, and this second slab was now parallel to the floor, set perhaps five inches below the floor level. Inside the shallow hold could be seen one thing alone, and at its sight the entire group gave a gasp of joy.

It was treasure. Stacks and stacks of gold coin it was, glittering and clean, and among the currency was a few extra items. In their usual display of caution, the group first ran through several tests to make sure that the treasure was not further trapped, and Mandi cast a spell that told them that there was no curse on any of the objects. They did not bother to count up the coins, but Fiona noted that there were of Andirian mint from perhaps two hundred years ago. The currency was still good, although they would have to exchange it for more modern currency at one of the moneychangers' stalls in Sarakkhis. Also in among the treasure were a fine cloak (which Fiona guessed to be magical), a pair of bracers, two scroll-cases, and a small wooden box containing six potions.

"Goodies! Cool beans!" cried Idgie. "Let's have a look at them!"

"No, not now," said Fiona. "Save them for when we get home."

"Like I'm always saying, you're no fun at all, Fi." Idgie pouted.

"I have to agree with Fiona," said Karna. "If we don't test these under carefully guarded conditions, we could easily loose a horrid curse that Mandi's spell could have missed, or we could end up trying to deal with some other maleficent effect of some inimical device. I must insist that we wait."

Idgie stuck out her tongue at Karna, and scowled. "There's something to be said for spontaneity," she said in half-pretended annoyance. Used to these false displays, the group ignored her, heaping the coins into sacks, and carefully stowing away the items that they had all discovered, hoping that each one held some beneficial magic for them. The slab of stone remained in place the entire time, despite the fact that the group kept very close watch of it while they worked at claiming their hand-won prizes.

They spent the night in the Temple again, and arose well before the Sun the next morning. It was another briskly windy day, and Samuel and the other horses seemed none too pleased to be out in the weather on the side of the hill when Xenia came trotting up with them. Within the hour the animals were all set to leave, and they turned to go.

"Y'know, Fi," said Idgie, just before the Temple dropped behind the rise of the hill behind them, as they rode in good spirits down the main road of the city. "I'm gonna kinda miss this place."

"Really?" said the mage. "I myself am just dying to get home. I am so desperately looking forward to a nice hot bath and a good meal that I don't have to cook myself."

"Yeah, you're starting to really reek," said Idgie with a spark in her eye, but she danced her way back to her original subject before Fiona could react. "But anyway, what I mean is that this is the first place where we really had any success, where we really accomplished what we set out to do. And it kinda, well, seems like the place really doesn't want us to leave. It's like the buildings want to be fixed up and have Dwarves living in them again."

Fiona nodded. "Actually, our task here is barely started. We have so many things that we still have to do…"

"I know," said Idgie, not allowing Fiona to completely stop the younger woman's exuberance in the moment. "Like exploring these other buildings."

"We've no time for that."

"Hey!" Idgie drew up her horse, a half-serious scowl on her face. "You promised that we'd go poking around in the buildings after we were done with the Temple."

Fiona nodded reluctantly. "However," she said, "I never specified when after we finished the Temple that we'd come back. It may be several years yet." She paused just long enough for Idgie to start the wind-up for her resulting tirade, but Fiona snipped her off before she could begin. The mage smiled inwardly at having turned the tables for this once. "All right, all right," she said. "We'll have a look at one building, and that's it. We really have to get back to the city before winter sets in."

"Okay, okay," said Idgie. "But I get to pick which building."

Fiona rolled her eyes. "Fine. Which one?"

Fiona should have known better, for she knew Idgie's response before it even came. They were just now entering the center square of the city, and the building that was Idgie's obvious choice came into view just to the south of the main road. "That one!" said the thief, pointing gleefully towards the building. It came as no surprise to any of the group that Idgie had chosen the largest building left standing in the entire city.

However, the exploration of the building proved to be less than exciting. On the ground lay rubble and little else; the roof was stable and had not yet caved in, and there were no creatures save a few mice that dwelt in the place. The five of them had the interior mapped out within an hour, and it seemed that every nook and cranny of it had been clearly delineated on the map that Karna had carefully drawn for them. "Well," said Karna. "It seems like this place had little to offer. Shall we be leaving?"

"Not yet," answered Idgie.

Karna rolled his eyes this time, clearly eager to get home as well as Fiona was. "Why not? What's left?"

"Safes," said Idgie. "Little safeboxes hidden around someplace, maybe under floorboards or behind loose bricks in the fireplace, like at Drabo's. C'mon, let's have a look!"

The five of them all pitched in, and sure enough, someone eventually found something. "Look here," said Mandi. She stood near the back wall of the building, where she had drawn a curtain aside to expose something of interest. On the wall itself seemed to be a circular stone set in the wall, much like the circular stone slabs had been set in the floor of the treasure room under the Temple. The circle was perhaps a foot in diameter. On the leftmost and rightmost edges of the circle were small holes, each perhaps three quarters of an inch in diameter, drilled into the wall, right in the middle of the seam between the embedded slab and the stone wall.

"Thumb safe," said Karna when they gathered around to have a look at Mandi's discovery.

"What's that?" asked Mandi.

"It's another thing I learned from Kane in that course a number of years back," replied the Elf. "Dwarves use a number of security devices for storing important things, and this is one of the few that can be found by anyone less than an expert in Dwarven stonemasonry. The idea is that one puts one's thumbs in the two holes and somehow throws some switches with sheer hand strength. The Dwarves were confident that only their best warriors – who always were their leaders – would be able to open the safe easily."

The group said nothing more, and Xenia wordlessly came to the forefront to give the safe a try. She waited for a moment for Idgie to inspect the device for traps, and after getting the thief's seal of approval, Xenia stuck one thumb in each hole. She felt about for a moment before suddenly stopping. "I think I've got it," she said, and she squeezed. Her face contorted with the effort, but eventually there came the now-familiar sound of stone moving against stone, followed by an audible click. Xenia's face eased in expression as she drew the embedded stone out of the wall, exposing a small hollow behind it. Idgie stepped forward again to inspect the new compartment for traps, and finding none she reached in and took out the three items hidden therein.

The first two of the items were red leather-bound books, which Idgie immediately handed over to Fiona, who only noted that each was filled with Dwarven runes before putting them both in Karna's backpack. The third item, however, was of much greater interest to Idgie. She reached in and drew it out. It was made of mithril, as was the holy symbol that Karna still carried; it seemed to be another holy symbol in and of itself.

"Huh," Idgie said. She turned the item over and over again in her hands; there was something about it that seemed to be lurking in the back of her mind, and she creased her brow in concentration, as Fiona often did, trying to identify what the elusive idea was. The relic itself was disc-shaped, perhaps five inches in diameter and a quarter inch thick, and it weighed little more than a loaf of bread. It was laced with intricate designs, which at first made no sense; but the more Idgie looked the item over, the more she seemed to understand that it was trying to tell her something. She gave it more and more thought, and did not resist when ideas came unbidden to her mind, emanating from the relic. Suddenly, after having handled the object for about thirty seconds, the message became utterly clear to her. It was trying to teach her how to read some hidden message within the design! The odd sensation of it all, from the understanding to the message itself, made Idgie a tad dizzy, but she fought it off and strove to understand what the relic was trying to tell her. And almost in the instant that she made up her mind to do so, the relic's presence overwhelmed her, and she immediately knew what the message was. It was a single word.

"Korzyk", said Idgie, before anyone realized exactly what was going on. Half of the group had been paying more attention to the books than the relic, but now all eyes turned to the youngest member of the party. The relic in her hands flashed a gentle blue light, and after that Idgie herself glowed for a moment. She nearly dropped the relic in surprise. The relic had wakened something within her mind, something she did not understand at all but something she found oddly comforting. But she had very little time to contemplate the change before she was swarmed with questions.

"What was that?" "Are you all right?" "What was that word again?"

"I'm fine," she answered, shaking her head a little. "I'll be fine in a second." She paused, and then pondered the other questions asked of her. "I have no idea what that was. What word?"

"Um, you spoke a word of some sort, sounded Dwarvish," said Karna carefully. "Don't you remember?"

"No." Idgie creased her brow. "I did what? Said something? No, I don't remember it." Truthfully, she had no recollection of the previous minute or so; but she knew that something had happened to change her slightly but significantly, and it had something to do with the relic. She determined to find out some day exactly what it was that had changed, but it would be several months before she would become privy to that information.

In the meanwhile, Mandi had taken up the relic. And just like had happened to Idgie, while the priest examined the item for symbols or words that she recognized, she to became overwhelmed with the knowledge of the secret of the relic. "Korzyk," she said. And as before, both she and the relic flashed with a gentle blue light, and some change happened within Mandi. But while Idgie could not put a finger on what had happened to her, Mandi had a very definite knowledge of what had happened to her: she now felt quicker, nimbler, with a bit more spring to her step.

It was quickly decided that the item was beneficial, and so it was passed around the group. Karna held it next, and found that the relic made him feel fitter, healthier, better able to resist the cold and the world around him. Then came Fiona, for whom the relic also granted something she could not describe, but ever after she felt herself ever so slightly more at ease in social situations, more charming with words, and more glib when perforce she must lie. Finally, the relic was passed to Xenia, who spoke not for several minutes after the glow had subsided.

"Well?" said Idgie.

"Well what?" Xenia snapped out of whatever trance the relic might have put on her for the moment.

"Well, what did the relic give to you?"

Xenia pondered this for a moment. "I don't know," she replied. "I think that maybe it made me stronger." She reached down to the floor and picked up the heavy stone slab she had taken down before. The slab weighed nearly ninety pounds, and while she had not found it difficult to move, it had nonetheless taken a bit of effort to move around. But now she could hold the rock in one hand and toss it gently to herself in that manner that one might toss an apple about in one hand. "Yup, I'm stronger," she said.

Karna and Mandi could only stare at one another, slack-jawed. Fiona's mind reeled as she contemplated what this change in Xenia could possibly mean. It was a few seconds before anyone said anything, and when she spoke, Idgie put the entire group's thoughts into perfect words.

"Oh, my," said the thief. "My, my, my, my, my."

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