"You'll forgive us if we don't all throw ourselves at your feet," said Hemingway Shaw. The burly fighter's eyes darted from N'Doki to Casey/Trisk and back again.

They appeared to be in stalemate... although it was hard to tell with so much magic involved.

Gallows still had his crossbow aimed at the back of Casey D'Arcy's head, while J'Hasp crouched menacingly nearby. Though Trisk was surrounded, enough power still crackled around the possessed child to incinerate them all... except perhaps for December and N'Doki, who stood quietly before him... islands of icy calm in the rising tension. Yexhill Thane had already declared his allegiance to the necromancer, and he appeared ready to back it up with as much violence as necessary. But Hemingway Shaw and the other members of the Night's Bloom were having none of the death-magician's tricks. If it came down to a fight, Hemingway would just as soon fight Gallows, J'Hasp, AND Yexhill than support the necromancer. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that... but the day was still young. Anything could happen.

"We may just be a bunch of thieves," said Hemingway. "but we aren't stupid."

"Yeah!" Emerson Shaw added. "I trust YOUR truth about as far as I can throw my big brother here! And that ain't very far!"

"Trust?" said N'Doki. "Dere are t'ings at stake dat transcend such petty concepts as trust!"

"Oh yeah?" Hars coughed. Hars lay on the ground, propped up on one elbow and clutching the bleeding wounds on his chest. "Name one."

"Somet'ing has returned!" N'Doki replied.

"Really?" said Emerson Shaw. "Ya think so? Well... judging from the fact that we're NECK-DEEP in ZOMBIES here, I'd say a LOT of 'tings' have returned!!! If you wanna be useful, how about tellin' us something we don't already know!"

"Dere is much dat you do not know," N'Doki replied. "But none of dat matters to you now... NOW, you either you wish to help dis town, or you do not. Which is it?"

"You?" said Jerimiah Trisk. "HELP?? I'll have none of YOUR help! All you want is to see this town torn apart!"

"If I wanted dis place destroyed, den it would be."

"If you-"

"Eaaasssy..." said Gallows. The archer tightened his grip on the miniature crossbow. "Trying to get the drop on an empath is always a losing game. How about you take that anger down a notch before I get nervous, eh?"

Casey D'Arcy's lips curled into a smile.

"If you think your toy can harm me, little man-"

"How about MY toy?" said Yexhill Thane. He took a step forward and began stroking his ring. "I can sling fire with the best of 'em, kid. Care to place a wager on who can get a shot off first?"

"My money's on the kid," said Emerson Shaw. "Sorry, Thane."

Casey chuckled.

"December, your minions amuse me."

"Minions?" said Emerson. "Who're you calling a minion!? Hey, can I change my bet?"

"Perhaps we would all be better served by listening to what N'Doki has to say," said December. December stepped between Trisk and N'Doki.

"Hmph," said Hemingway. "Typical."

"Very well." Trisk floated to the ground and folded his arms across his chest. The wavering aura of heat around him dissipated.

"Gallows, stand down."

Gallows stepped back let the crossbow hang at his side.

"J'Hasp..." December made a slight nod, and J'Hasp trotted away... but not before giving Trisk a final hiss of suspicion and warning.

"You're not going to order me down that easy-"

"Mr. Blackshear is in need of medical attention, Mr. Shaw. Tend to him... or continue to inject your comments where they are neither needed nor wanted. The choice is yours."

"Ooooo, he sure shut YOU up!" Emerson nudged his brother in the side. "That was a good one..."

Growling under his breath, Hemingway knelt beside Harrison Blackshear and started examining the man's wounds.

"Take off your shirt; I need bandages," he said to Emerson.

"But I LIKE this shirt..." Emerson complained. He pulled off the garment and started ripping it into strips. "Hars owes me a shirt!"

"So what does your lackey have to say for itself?" said Trisk.

"Ahh, but it is YOUR past dat holds de truth that we all must hear! Best dat YOU tell it... lest N'Doki be accused of manipulating de story to his own ends, mmm?"

"Do you know something of this creature, Trisk?" said December. "The creature that attacked this town... attacked ME?"

Jerimiah nodded.

"Well SPILL IT!" Thane shouted. "I'm tired of being bounced around like a chew-toy in this town! If you know something then lets all hear it!"

"What I know is of no use to you-"

"We shall be the judge of that," said December.

"The creature has expended much of its energy in this last attack," said Trisk. "But it is by no means finished. It WILL come at us again... soon. If my time is wasted telling tales-"

"Most of us have proven our willingness to assist," said December. "If you were capable of destroying the beast alone, then you would have done so at the first opportunity. You need help... our help... but you will not have it if we do not learn-"

"De truth," N'Doki finished.

"What is this thing, Trisk. Tell us, or we leave what remains of Bephal in your hands. Alone."

"Don't tempt me," said Trisk. Casey's features tried to fold themselves into an old man's scowl... but they failed. Trisk tapped his foot in the dirt and let his eyes wander for a moment as he thought. Finally, he aimed one of Casey's fingers at December. "YOU are a murderer," he said sharply.

"I am indeed," December replied with no more emotion than if Trisk had accused him of wearing pants.

"You've killed innocent people," Trisk continued. "But never without reason. You never do ANYTHING without a reason. So... why help me?"

"I am not helping you. I am helping the people of this town."

"Why?"

"Because I AM a murderer. Because I HAVE killed innocent people.... with good reasons."

Trisk thought for a few moments more.

"I don't trust HIM!" The tip of Casey's finger jerked toward N'Doki... who greeted it with a wide grin. "But you, December... I will trust your reasons."

"Then get on with it!" said Thane.

"The creature cannot be killed," said Trisk. "Not by your power. Not by mine."

"What is it, Trisk."

"A demon. Sentient... evil... and quite powerful. It cannot exist in its TRUE form on the physical realm, so it takes the form of a plant. A root. It begins as a seed, and when planted, the grows into something feeds on the living and the dead... gathering energy and growing powerful beneath the earth. Then, when it has had its fill of flesh, it acts. But it does not act through force. Not normally. No, this is a demon of corruption. It seeks out the seeds of evil that exist in all sentient things. It reaches out to those seeds and... fertilizes them."

"The madness," December said knowingly. "The venom causes drives men mad."

"No, it does not," said Trisk. "That was YOU. That was DECEMBER... the December who's own evil had come to fruit under the demon's nourishment. It did not drive you mad.... and it was not trying to control you. But it KNEW that if the darkness in your heart were released, you would drive YOURSELF mad and destroy this town. Fortunately, I stopped you."

"December stopped himself," N'Doki corrected... a comment which Trisk dismissed with a roll of Casey D'Arcy's eyes.

"But now you see how it works. It hides... sometimes underground, but not always... and reaches out to those it thinks are vulnerable, or useful. It corrupts them. It transforms good men into villains. And bad men into monsters. It had been at work in Bephal for decades before I discovered it. I was a member of the Town Guard, then. I was a good man, with two good men at my side. Berston Groad and Chester Fanning. We were the only real law this town had.... and I was the only real magic other than what occasionally drifted in from Montfort. Bephal kept us busy, and I always felt that there was something behind the constant flow of atrocities that plagued my city. Bephal is a small town, but it had more murderers than a city ten times its size. Good men went insane overnight. Fathers would wake up and hack their families to death for no reason. Mothers would drown their children in the nearest well... and then seek out OTHER children to drown, so that their own wouldn't be alone in death. Monsters like Filkus seemed to pop up every year..."

Casey started to look ill, as a mixture of anger and disgust nearly overwhelmed the spirit inhabiting the boy's body. Trisk took a few deep breaths, during which December and N'Doki waited patiently for him to continue.

"I was born here," he said. "My parents were born here. This was my home, and yet when I returned from studying magic, I found a town that was CLEARLY not the same one that I had grown up in. Bephal was sick. It was as if the town itself had been... POISONED somehow. Groad, Fanning and I did what we could to stop it, but it only got worse. The good men who worked alongside us fell into corruption one by one. The men who were supposed to protect this town became the parasites that fed on its people. I knew it wasn't natural. I knew there was something behind it... I knew that we were merely fighting the SYMPTOMS, and not the disease itself. But no one would listen. I even dismissed it myself for years, but as Bephal continued to decay around me, I began to take my suspicions seriously. My limited magic was mostly elemental... and I knew that whatever was happening to my town was far beyond that. So I broadened my knowledge into necromancy and demonology. I studied. Experimented. Asked questions of some of the... darker... travelers who came here. I learned much."

"Knowledge that would serve you well when you turned against your people," said December.

Trisk could only nod.

"There had been signs all along," he continued. "Clues that I had thought were meaningless... but that instead pointed to something sinister infesting the soul of this town. It had started while I was away learning magic. Disappearances. Entire families vanished overnight, leaving only large holes in the floors of their homes. Women and children visiting the wells in the early morning hours would sometimes not return. Fresh corpses would be sucked out of their graves. This went on for several days... all beneath a massive gray cloud that blotted out the sky. No one knew what was happening. And when it all stopped, no one asked very many questions. No one talked about it... but those events proved to be the key to finding the source of the corruption. When I looked at the empty houses... the violated graves... the missing women at the wells... they formed an distinct pattern around the town. A pattern of magical significance, as if someone were tracing a rune on the map of Bephal. At the center of that rune was an old church... abandoned since before my parents were born. The town had moved on to different gods, but the old stone temple had been built well enough to withstand the years of abandonment. The history of that church is a story of its own, but its significance then was clear. Someone had used it as a place of summoning, and what they had summoned was secretly destroying Bephal.

It did not take much convincing to get Groad and Fanning to accompany me there. By then, the others were corrupted beyond hope. It was up to just the three of us. We went to the temple, not expecting to find anything... but READY for it, nonetheless. I was looking for evidence. More clues as to what, exactly, Bephal was dealing with. But instead, we found not only the thing itself, but the very evil that had summoned it.

She was an old, old woman... though we could not tell exactly how old. Her magic had withered her. She was a witch... a hag... powerful and quite mad. She'd summoned the thing to punish Bephal for some wrong that we knew nothing about. We spoke with her. PLEADED with her to banish the thing that was nesting beneath the church. And, for our efforts, she attacked us.

As I said, we were not expecting a fight, but we were more than willing to give her one. My magic could not compare to hers, but she was old and we were young. We outnumbered her, and, at the time, my friends and I fought on the side of righteousness. That gave us the strength we needed to subdue her.

Unfortunately, my young mind was not quite quick enough. I had glimpsed the thing she had summoned... but I did not RECOGNIZE it until it was too late. She called out to it as she fell. She was insane, yes... but IT was insane, too. I think perhaps it... no... no, that is too horrible to consider. Whatever the reason, the thing responded to her call and attacked us even as the hag lay dying. It took us by surprise and... overwhelmed us. Captured us. Later, we foolishly thought that we had ESCAPED its embrace, though more than likely it let us go. I then performed a ceremony to destroy the creature-"

"Wait," said Yexhill Thane. "YOU just said that this thing can't be destroyed-"

"Fool, I said it cannot be destroyed by MY power... or yours... or even December's. The only weakness this demon has is the blood of the one who summoned it. Only the witch's blood could TRULY destroy it. When we 'broke free', we had more than enough of the hag's blood to send the demon back to hell.... which we promptly did.

But it was too late for us.

While we slept in its tentacles, the creature had corrupted us as it had done to so many before. We did not FEEL any different, and so I thought that our luck or our righteousness had spared us that fate. I was wrong. You know what happened then. Bephal continued to fall... but WE were the source of the poison now. We became petty. Greedy. More corrupt than the very men we had despised before going into that church. Now those men worked for us. We turned against the town, and eventually against each other.

THAT was when the truth of the demon's embrace was revealed. The demon had not only fertilized our own evil, but it planted its OWN seeds as well. When the first of us died... by my hands... the demon's seeds germinated. The creature was physically reborn from the corpse of Berston Groad. Though weaker than the original, this new creature still followed the imperative of its predecessor. It would continue to corrupt and destroy the citizens of Bephal. Were I not lost in my own corruption, I would surely have seen...

...but I didn't. By then, I had established myself as the one TRUE ruler of the city. I was all powerful. My magic was the ONLY magic... mightier even than the hag we had fought years before. I was caught in a spiral of corruption that stopped only when an outside force intruded... and proved itself my superior. Barely."

Casey's eyes met December's gaze.

"You killed me," said Trisk. "I deserved much worse than that... and I would have gotten it had I not been prepared. My grasp of necromancy had strengthened since those early days. There are certain... arrangements..."

Now, Casey's eyes glanced toward N'Doki. Despite the obvious dislike, the two necromancers nodded knowingly at each other.

"...by which a properly prepared soul can return to the living world, often more powerful than it was in it's original life. You had killed me, December, but I had NO intention of staying dead. Unfortunately, I was not the only one with such intentions. Something happened. Some... upheaval... tore a hole into the netherworld by which something in THAT realm escaped into THIS one. Whatever it was, was powerful. So powerful that its mere passing swept up many things and carried them along in its wake. SOME of those things managed to escape death along with it.

One such creature was a demon. A demon that had been intentionally summoned to corrupt and destroy Bephal. The ORIGINAL creature... the one summoned by the hag, and destroyed by her blood... returned to Bephal to finish its task. It fed on its own offspring, consuming its energy within the first few seconds of its return. But that was not enough. It fed on the flesh of the living and the dead to strengthen its power... which was already greater than it was when I fought it. With this greater power, Bephal was surely doomed. And so I returned to stop it before my beloved town is destroyed."

"A very entertaining tale," said December. "And yet... I am not satisfied."

"What?"

"As Mr. Thane so aptly pointed out, you yourself said that the demon's power is beyond your own. Yet you come here alone to destroy it?"

"He's desperate," said Gallows.

"My own evil very nearly destroyed Bephal," said Trisk. "My OWN evil kept me from seeing that the creature's offspring still lurked beneath my town. I must atone for that... Surely YOU would understand-"

"Yet I would not rush headlong into a battle you cannot win," said December. "An act of such desperation does not befit me... or Jeremiah Trisk. You are hiding something. Tell me what it is. Tell me how you planned to destroy this thing that has returned."

"We can't," said Trisk. "The witch's blood is the only weakness it has... and we destroyed HER body along with what remained of the old church. Without HER... without the witch... the demon is immortal."

"And yet dis one comes to save de town?" said N'Doki. "KNOWING dat he can do no such t'ing? Den he accuses US of interfering? Perhaps dis makes sense to December or dese odders here.... but not to N'Doki."

"If I hadn't wasted so much energy fighting YOU!" Trisk spat. "-I'd have enough to at least WEAKEN the creature. Stun it... perhaps even force it into dormancy! I know what it is! I know what it does! With that knowledge, and my power, I could stop it whenever it strikes... prevent it from destroying Bephal!"

"A permanent stalemate," December said with unveiled distaste.

"One that would make HIM the savior of the town," said Yexhill. "Not just once... but over and over again, from now until... forever. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me, especially for someone so concerned about atonement. I just feel sorry for Bephal when this guy figures he's atoned enough and decides to move on."

"That will never happen!" said Trisk. "And your interference has allowed the creature to get the upper hand. Look around you! I could PREVENTED all of this destruction before it happened! But YOU-!"

Trisk pointed at N'Doki.

"YOU let all these people DIE!"

"Notice how dis one shifts de focus onto US... and away from himself... eh?"

"If you want to help," said Trisk. "Then help me defend this place until my own strength returns. The creature will not rest for long. It is reveling in its own power. Attacking directly, with undead, was a bold move... one that almost succeeded. Its next move will be BOLDER-"

"Help you defend Bephal?" December frowned. "I am sorry, Jerimiah..."

"But you said-!"

"I will not help you establish yourself as the god of this city."

"GOD!?! WHO said anything about-"

"I know you, Trisk. The source of your power... what made you dangerous... was never your magic. It was your ego. I trust your intentions, but not your motives. Given time, you will expect... and then demand... reward for your ceaseless efforts at defending Bephal and its people. However, if we will find a way to destroy-"

"There IS no way!" Trisk pleaded. "I've TOLD you, there IS no way-"

"He's..." Gallows began. The archer looked a serious as ever... but now slightly confused. "...not lying. But he's not telling the whole truth, either. There's more."

"AHA!" said Thane!

"I AM TELLING THE TRUTH!!"

"There's something else," said Gallows. "Something he doesn't want to say. No way I can tell what it is, but I can definitely read his reaction to it. I can read how it makes him feel. Hope is a pretty hard emotion to cover up, Trisk."

"You've got a plan, don't you?" said Thane. "An idea? Something you don't trust us with...?"

"There's only one way to destroy the demon," Trisk repeated. "One way... one weakness. That weakness doesn't exist any more..."

Casey's voice trailed off... to be replaced by a single word from December.

"....However?"

Trisk looked at him. At N'Doki and Thane. He even turned to fix Gallows in his examining stare.

"We're listening," said Thane. "But you ain't talking. So what'd you do... save a piece of the old woman in a jar or something?"

"Perhaps."

"Either you did, or you did not," said December.

"And if you DID," Added Thane. "Then let's go GET IT and put this thing to bed!"

"It's not that easy," said Trisk. "You don't know what you are suggesting. What it would involve. It may not even be possible..."

"What it would 'involve' is you trusting us," said Gallows. "You clearly don't want to do that. Not that WE have any reason to trust YOU...."

"You don't WANT to do what needs to be done," said Trisk. "You think you do now, but when you realize what it means-"

"Let us decide what we don't want do to, eh?" said Thane.

"Tell us of this plan, Trisk," December said sternly. "Before my patience ends."

"There is a possibility," said Trisk. "During the fight with the witch, she was injured. Groad cut her. Cut off her hand. When we escaped... or were released... we used her blood to destroy the demon. Then we burned her corpse. Except for the hand."

"So what'd you do with it?"

"Nothing," said Trisk. "We couldn't find it. We searched, but it wasn't there."

"Sooooo..." said Emerson Shaw. "Lemme get this right... Our only chance for killing this thing is some shriveled-up old hand that's been missing for... what... forty years? Yeah, I think you were right the first time: There's no way to kill it, so let's all just go home, eh? Who votes for goin' home?"

Emerson raised his hand. His was the only hand raised.

"There is more," said December. "Even a desperate man would not cling to so tenuous a hope. There is more yet that you are not telling us."

"I never thought it important enough to find out what happened to it," Trisk continued. "I doubt I COULD have, even if I tried. I suspect now that the bit of flesh we now require was... beyond my reach."

"In what way?" said December.

"Yeah, just tell us where the damned thing IS!" said Thane.

"The reason it was beyond my reach... the reason we could not find it THERE at the church... was because it is here."

"Here WHERE!?" Thane was becoming annoyed. "DAMMIT, stop talking in circles!"

"I don't KNOW where-"

"But you just said-"

"I said it was here, but you misunderstood! I believe it was TAKEN from the church just after our fight, and brought HERE-"

"There you go again-"

"To the present!"

"Okay, now I'm confused," said Emerson.

"De world of de dead does not obey de same illusions of time dat protect de world of de living," said N'Doki.

"Well THAT sure clears things up!"

"De past, de present, and de future are all de same to de spirits. Dey all exist togedder in a way dat would drive de living to madness. But once free of de physical world, a spirit can see all. It may not understand what it sees... but it DOES see."

"And I saw... something," said Trisk. "There was something else there, after our fight. I'm sure of it. I think it's possible that someone HERE went back in time to retrieve the witch's hand. That's why we never found it... because it wasn't THERE to be found."

"Someone here as in...?" said Thane.

"Us," December finished.

"OH!" said Emerson. "Is THAT all we have to do? Well, hell... lets just POP back there and get it right now!" Emerson snapped his fingers. Then looked down at his hand and frowned "Oh, DARN! My magical time-travelling powers seem to be on the blink. Oh well... the town is doomed... lets go home."

"Why US?" said Thane. "N'Doki said spirits can travel in time, so why don't YOU-"

"Spirits cannot travel in time," said Trisk. "They simply experience it differently."

"Well why don't you just EXPERIENCE yourself getting that hand and bringing it back here, eh?"

"Because that isn't what happened."

"What DID happen?"

"I'm not sure-"

Thane sighed.

"You know... if this was a SERIOUS conversation, I'd be getting angry right about now. But since were just standing around taking about bloody TIME TRAVEL, then I guess I'll just have a good laugh while this town gets dragged down to hell around me."

"What makes you think we are not serious, Mr. Thane?" said December.

"What? You TOO!? Heh... well, for ONE thing... we can't just SNAP OUR FINGERS and go back fifty years-"

Emerson snapped his fingers again.

"...still not working. Darn..."

"And for ANOTHER thing, how do you know a coyote didn't just walk up and EAT the damned thing after Trisk and his boys took a nap?"

"Mmmmm-Good!" said Emerson. "Pickled witch-hand! Yummy!"

"You're not helping, Emerson. And THEN-"

December raised his hand, and Thane fell silent.

"Is there any serious potential to this... plan, Jerimiah?" said December.

"No," N'Doki answered. "Dis one possesses de knowledge of what must be done... but not de power to do it."

"ESPECIALLY after I wasted so much of it on YOU!" Trisk snapped.

"Even at your strongest, such t'ings are far beyond you."

"See," said Thane. "That settles it. Can't be done... we've all just been wasting our time talking about nonsense."

"Are we going home now?" Emerson added.

"But dey are not beyond N'Doki."

Everyone slowly turned to the necromancer, who met their stares with a wide, sharp grin.

"N'Doki?" said December. "Are you saying..."

"De spirits of dis town are strong. If Trisk and I call on de dark magics, and de spirits of Bephal add dere power to ours, den perhaps it will be enough."

"Enough to...?"

"Send souls into de past."

"Ohhhh, I really wish he hadn't said that..." said Emerson.

"And you knew this all along," said December. "Both of you. You knew this could be done."

N'Doki smiled.

"It's the only way," said Trisk.

"How about we just evacuate the town," said Thane. "This thing wants Bephal, then lets just give it what it wants!"

"Bephal is home to hundreds of souls. None of them should be forced to leave because of something that happened before any of them were born. I will not allow-"

"So INSTEAD, you want strangers to go back in TIME for you!? Yeah, THAT makes sense..."

"I told you that you wouldn't do what needs to be done. I told you you wouldn't want to do it-"

"And dey are not yet aware of de risks," said N'Doki. "If dis magic is done, N'Doki will have de power to send souls back in time. Souls.... Not bodies."

"So what's that mean?" said Emerson.

"It means whoever goes has to be DEAD," said Thane. "Right?"

Both Trisk and N'Doki nodded.

"HA!" Emerson chortled. "That's a good one! For a second there, I thought the Amazing Skeleton-Man wanted one of us to DIE for a town that none of us really even GIVES a damn about! HA!"

"You need only be separated from your bodies," Trisk began.

"That means DEAD!" said Emerson.

"From YOUR point of view, yes. But to someone more... open-minded..."

"It STILL means DEAD!"

"Death need not be lasting," said N'Doki. "When de soul returns, N'Doki could restore it de body dat it left behind. De lasting effects will be minor."

"How 'minor'?" said Thane.

"Depends on how long de soul is away from de body. A day would leave de body too decayed to be of use. But a few minutes..."

"There would only be some loss of strength or flexibility..." Trisk finished.

"There are plenty of ghosts in this town," said Gallows. "Send one of them."

"Dis magic would require a living soul."

"But you just said-"

"He mean's someone who hasn't been to the other side yet," said Gallows. "A soul that still considers itself alive. Preferably someone who hasn't been dead very long. He needs ghosts, not spirits. There's a difference."

"Dey would haf a stronger connection to the physical world."

"I can't believe we're standing around talking about this as if we were actually going to DO it!" said Thane.

"We are," said December. "I will go-"

"No!" N'Doki snapped.

"Is my soul not sufficient?"

"Quite," said N'Doki. "But de danger is too great-"

"There is no danger to me. Any damage to my body will regenerate in time-"

"Dat is not de danger of which I speak."

"It gets WORSE?!?" said Emerson.

"Yes. De past is very delicate, and de temptation to change it is strong. If you go, December, you will t'ink yourself wise enough to change history... but you are not. Given access to de past, you will yield to dat temptation and bring disaster to us all. Dis, de spirits have already foreseen."

"I have no desire to-"

"You have no desire because you do not yet haf de POWER," said N'Doki. "You must trust what N'Doki knows, December. De past is too dangerous for you. You must not go."

"I get the feeling that when all this talking is finished, you will be expecting one of US to volunteer," said Gallows.

"No thanks," said Emerson. "I've invested a lot of time and energy in NOT getting killed lately, and its been working out pretty good so far. I think I'll still with it.... but hey! Thanks for asking! I'm touched! Really!"

"I second that," said Thane. "You want a fighter, then I'm your man. But this? No... Can't do it."

"If this were any other place," said Hemingway. "...and involved trusting someone beside HIM-" he pointed to N'Doki. "Then I still wouldn't do it. You're crazy if you expect somebody to just lay down and die for this place... even if it is temporary."

"I expect not'ing," said N'Doki. "I merely perform de magics if dey are required. If dey are not, den I simply watch and enjoy de spectacle."

"W-what about that man?" Trisk said to Hemingway. "Is he-"

"Dead?" said Hars. "No. I'm not crazy, either."

"Then I'll do it."

Floyd D'Arcy and a small crowd of townspeople had gathered around the Night's Bloom. They had kept a respectable distance, but now Floyd stepped forward.

"Couldn't help but overhear what you're saying," said Floyd. "Something about somebody having to die to save the town. Well... I'm an old man and nobody'll miss me much."

"Father!" Francesca called from the crowd.

"Hush, girl. If this is what needs to happen, we can't expect these strangers to do it for us, can we? And if I come back a little stiffer than normal, heh, that'll be an improvement! Hell, an old man can look FORWARD to that! Just tell me what needs doin', and-"

"No," said another familiar voice. Grigory Roff was tired, bloody mess... but he had managed to survive the undead assault. Now he limped out of the crowd and joined Floyd D'Arcy. "Floyd, you've got family... I don't. Not any more. If somebody's got to do this, then... I'm your man."

"You're not the only one," said a third voice, this one unfamiliar. Another man stepped out of the crowd. "Send me."

"No. Me." A forth man came forward. "You're doin' this to kill this thing, right? I lost everything... everybody... nobody wants that thing dead more than me-"

"Except maybe for me," said a fifth man.

"-and if you send him, then you're gonna send ME too!" added a sixth.

"And me!"

"I'll go..."

"No, me!"

"Send ME!"

The murmur of the crowd rose as more and more men stepped forward. In seconds, December and the Night's Bloom were surrounded by men shouting... demanding... to be sent into the past. Some had only heard a portion of the plan... they had no idea that they would be coming BACK from the past and hopefully restored to life. It didn't matter. What mattered was that Jerimiah Trisk had brought them a faint hope, and that someone had to be sacrificed to make it a reality. Some men had already begun arguing and shoving each other around for the honor. Grigory Roff left the crowd behind and approached the Night's Bloom alone. For a moment he seemed unsure of who he needed to speak to, but he settled on December. Of all the men here who LOOKED like they were in charge, HE seemed most comfortable with the position.

"Send me," Roff whispered. He did not whisper softly, because the noise of the crowd had begun to rise. "Please. Just do it."

"You are aware-" Trisk began.

"I'm not aware of anything," Roff turned to the boy/man. "Other than that this town is in trouble. If you really ARE Jerimiah Trisk, then know you have the power to help us. If somebody has to... you know... to make that happen, then I want it to be me."

"You will be coming back," said Trisk. Roff's determined frown weakened slightly. "A one-way trip won't do us any good here."

"Then do it. How do we start...?"

"Hmmmm...." N'Doki stepped forward . His deep eyes traveling up and down Grigory Roff's thin shape like the eyes of a dragon judging the worthiness of its latest virgin sacrifice. "Dis one?" He frowned.

"You have some objection?" said December.

N'Doki thought for a moment... then, frowning, shook his head.

"He will do-"

"I think I've got a better idea," said Hars. Harrison Blackshear propped himself up on his elbows, wincing at the pain required to do so. He was shirtless, and his abdomen was wrapped in bloody bandages. He had taken several slashes to the chest and stomach during the fight. Serious infection was a certainty, but at least the bleeding had almost stopped. Hars looked dizzy... but resolute. When Hemingway tried to push him back down, he swatted the larger man's hand away and growled at him. "...I'll go."

"Now wait a minute-" Hemingway began. "Your wounds aren't THAT bad. With a bit of time-"

"It isn't about my wounds, Shaw. Come here. All of you."

Gallows, Thane, and the Shaw brothers gathered around their leader. On his command, they crouched down and listened.

"Maybe he's delirious," said Emerson.

"I'm not delirious, and I'm not trying to make a name for myself," said Hars. "I just think December learned himself a lesson here today... a lesson that wasn't meant for just him. He didn't have to help these people, but he did. Just like us. But when things got too rough... when the price got too high... he turned his back on 'em. He was gonna let these people die. Sure, he came around in the end, but look what that cost... There's plenty of folks dead right here on this street that'd be alive if he'd stayed in the fight all the way through. And now here we are doin' the same thing. We'll fight for these folks all right, but hell... we'll fight for anybody. That's what we do, and we're damned good at it. Even when the odds are bad, or when we ain't exactly fightin' on the right side, it's easy for us to go in and knock a few heads. But when things get hard... when we gotta do something we really don't wanna do... we stand back and start grumblin about goin' home. Well, lads, that's fine for most other folks. But that ain't what the Night's Bloom is about. Once we're in somethin', then, dammit, we're in it all the way."

"But earlier, you said-"

"We all said a lot of things earlier, Shaw. Like you... YOU were so eager to put all of our lives in danger for these folks a few hours ago. What's changed since then?"

"N'Doki," Hemingway said. "We can't trust him."

"We can't trust Trisk, either. None of you were here for the first half of this little tale, but Trisk is no better than N'Doki... just a little less powerful; that's all. And with those two at each other's throats, maybe there's a chance that this thing will work out as planned."

"Or not," said Thane.

"Then that's another good reason for me to do this."

"Yup," said Emerson. "Delirious."

"We all agree we can't trust him; I'm not arguin' that. He'll send the whole world ta hell if it means he gets one inch closer to what HE wants... or maybe he'll do it just for fun. He's not the best man for Bephal to be puttin' its faith in, but it sounds like this thing is really gonna happen... so ask yourselves this: If somebody is gonna risk their body and soul with this thing, do you want it to be one of these people? They have no idea what they're gettin' into with N'Doki. We do. These are good folks here. They got jobs and families. Us? WE work for December... WE make our livin' by hurtin' people like them and takin' their stuff. Now we're gonna let one of 'em run up against whatever nasty surprise N'Doki has in store for 'em? We're gonna let N'Doki have his way with some poor fool who thinks he's savin' his town... who doesn't even KNOW he's about to get screwed? No. No, that don't sit too well with me. You've all made your intentions clear about this, and I'm not askin ya ta change 'em. All I want is... when this goes bad, like it probably will... that you remember why I did it, and that you find a way to send that leather-skinned bastard to hell PERMANENTLY so I can get my hands around his throat. Got it?"

No one said anything. It was agreed in silence. The Night's Bloom backed away so that Hars could speak.

"You seemed kinda reluctant about that Roff fella," Hars said to N'Doki. "So how about me?"

N'Doki smiled. That width and intensity of that smile would have given pause to the bravest of men... but instead, something else happened.

"And me..." Hemingway Shaw spoke boldly.

"Shaw-" Hars barked.

"Isn't that what you taught us?" said Hemingway. "Always watch each other's backs. Never leave anyone behind. I'm going with you."

"In it to the end-" said Yexhill Thane. "Just like you said. If this is our last ride, then there's no way in hell you're leaving me out."

"Just leave my name out of any future tellings of this story," said Gallows. "I'd rather it be known that I just vanished... it'll keep my enemies awake at night."

One by one, the Night's Bloom turned... to Emerson Shaw.

"What?" said the little man. "I'M NOT- OOOOF!"

Hemingway gently 'nudged' his little brother in the chest with his massive elbow.

"Oh, yeah," said Emerson, "I'm with them. If Hars gets screwed, we ALL get screwed! Wait... maybe I should rephrase that..."

"Splendid," said N'Doki.

"You don't have to do this," Grigory Roff began. "This isn't-"

"Our town?" said Hars. "No, it ain't. Our fight? Well... we all got the scars to prove ya wrong there."

"Then it's settled," said Gallows. "We die today. I can make it painless for-"

"That will not be necessary," said December. "Trisk, move these people back. As far back as possible..."

"AWAY!" Casey D'Arcy rose into the air and shouted at the crowd. "BACK! Everyone move BACK!"

The crowd responded... first in awe at yet another show of Trisk's power. And then in unquestioning obedience to his authority. They moved back, scattering before their flaming savior.

December saw this, and his eyes narrowed.

"Lord Jerimiah Trisk," N'Doki whispered into his ear. "If he does dis, he will be more powerful dan he ever was in life... and I do not speak of magic."

"Agreed," said December. "Something will have to be done. But now is not the time."

"Now is the perfect-"

"Now is NOT the time, N'Doki. Gather your magics. I will speak with the Hars and his men."

N'Doki backed away... still smiling.

"I am impressed, Mister Blackshear," December said. "You and your men-"

"Aren't doing this for you," said Hars. "You couldn't have ordered us to do this. I want you to know that."

"So what nasty bit of betrayal does your grinning friend have in store for us this time?" said Hemingway. "He gonna send us all straight to hell?"

"Doubtful," December replied. "While his concern for Bephal is laughable, his intentions are true. There is apparently some... lesson... in all of this that I have yet to learn."

"Can he do it?" said Thane. "Can he really do this?"

"Send souls into the past? I do not know," December replied. "He has never spoken of such power. But I have learned that a great many things are possible in the spiritual realm, and N'Doki wields much power there."

"And bringing us back?" said Gallows.

"That he HAS done," December answered. "He does indeed have the power to restore you-"

"Yeah, as zombies!" said Emerson.

"As amusing as that would be in your case, Mr. Shaw... I assure you what I will make every effort to restore you with no ill effects. A zombified Night's Bloom is of no use to me."

"That isn't what HE said," said Hars.

"N'Doki speaks for his own power. Not for mine."

"What can YOU do?" said Thane.

"Since we cannot foresee the exact duration of your absence, your physical selves must be protected indefinitely from decomposition. N'Doki could achieve this with magic, however his magic is... chaotic. When applied to living flesh, the results can be unpleasant. There is a better option."

"Option?" said Thane. "What kind of option?"

"He's going to freeze us," said Hemingway Shaw.

"WHAT!?"

"A sufficiently low temperature would preserve your bodies indefinitely. And when you return-"

"We'll be FROZEN!" Emerson squeaked. "We'll be Bloom-cicles!!"

".. merely reduced to a temperature low enough to retard decomposition. When you return, resuscitation would be a simple matter of raising your temperature and restoring your souls to their proper places. Trisk may be able to perform both of those actions on his own..."

"Simple..." said Gallows. "There's nothing 'simple' about any of that."

"I don't like it," said Thane.

"Then you risk either returning to semi-decomposed corpses, or take your chances being mummified by N'Doki."

"Mummified!!?!"

"That sounds painful."

"You HAVE done this before, right?" said Hemingway

"Yes."

"Did it work?"

"There was a degree of success."

"DEGREE!?!?"

"Do it," said Hars. "The less we involve N'Doki, the better. Arguing about the details just wastes time."

With the crowd now at a safe distance, Jerimiah Trisk returned to the ground.

"Are we prepared?"

"Gather de dead!" said N'Doki.

And the dead were gathered.

N'Doki began chanting in a deep, guttural tongue. The shadows around him thickened... tendrils of darkness reached up and swayed back in forth in some ethereal breeze. A swampy stench filled the air around him as power from somewhere else began to flow...

Jerimiah Trisk raised one hand skyward, fingers curled upward toward the gray clouds. He shouted:

"I call upon the spirits of Bephal, who have accompanied me from the land of the dead!"

A single, glowing figure... white and nearly transparent... appeared in the air above him. The spirit circled Trisk's outstretched hand. Another cloudy shape joined the first... and then another. Dozens of white shapes swirled above Casey D'arcy's head as still more spirits answered Trisk's call. The air came alive with their whispers. More and more of them came, and soon the souls of Bephal's past were chasing themselves around Jerimiah like a whirlwind.

"Bankita!" N'Doki called out the spirits of warriors and the murdered dead, over whom he had dominion. They came to him as dark shades that circled him closely, just as the glowing white spirits enveloped Jerimiah. N'Doki called again... this time to the spirits of his ancestors, "Mizimu! Bakulu!"

New, more ominous shapes... visible only as shadowy distortions in the air... rose up around N'Doki. They did not dance or swirl, they only stood and watched.

N'Doki nodded at December.

"Gather around me and lay down," December ordered.

Silently the Night's Bloom lay on their backs around December. They formed a circle around him, with one man's head almost touching the adjacent man's feet.

Then December sat down.

"Close your eyes and breathe deeply," said December. He followed his own instructions... his blue eyes closed, and he inhaled deep into his abdomen. He let his power flow outward from him. The air began to cool.

"HEY, THAT'S C-COLD!" Emerson blurted. His words puffed out in a thick cloud over his face.

"Hush and l-let the man c-concentrate," said Hemingway.

The air grew colder. Tendrils of frost began to snake outward from beneath December as he released more of his heat-devouring energies.

Yexhill Thane began to shiver.

Hemingway Shaw's teeth chattered... a sound that was soon echoed by his brother... and then all of the others.

"I-I-Is it t-t-t-too l-late t-t-t-o ch-ch-change m-my..." Emerson Shaw didn't finish his question. His teeth were chattering uncontrollably. He was too cold to talk.

December opened his eyes.

N'Doki was watching him. When he saw December's nod of readiness, the necromancer began chanting again. At N'Doki's first words, Trisk began casting his own magics. He made wild, slashing gestures with one hand, as if tracing symbols onto the air. After a single, shouted word, Casey's index finger began to glow. The fiery fingertip left trails of sparks in its wake... and now he actually WAS drawing symbols. Glowing streams of magic and hellfire formed a series of sparkling runes in front of him. The arcane alphabet spelled out words of power. As he completed each word, Trisk shouted it aloud... causing the runes to explode into fiery sparks, filling the air around him with smoke and power.

N'Doki chanted louder. Faster.

Other voices joined him.

The ancestors... the Mizimu and the Bakulu, spirits of men who had wielded the necromancer's power before him.... began hissing their dark spells. Their words were almost soundless, but the power they summoned was tangible. N'Doki and the spirits seemed to pull away from the world... seeming for an instant to be a thousand miles away, yet still visible. Then they snapped back from that great distance, bringing an incredible chunk of that other place's power with them.

Darkness blossomed around them like a flower.

The spirits continued to chant. N'Doki pointed at Trisk-

And Trisk pointed at N'Doki.

The spirits of Bephal... whom Trisk would not call his servants, even though they were... streamed away from him, throwing themselves at the dark necromancer in an arc of shrieking souls.

The Bankita... slaves of the N'Doki.... ended their swirling dance and launched toward Jerimiah Trisk. The two streams of souls collided with a boom of anti-thunder... an awesome shock of silence that could be felt as well as heard. Figures of light and darkness grappled with each other, wrestling in the air as more and more spirits shoved into the chaotic mass of souls.

When the last of the spirits was in place, Trisk and N'Doki gestured again-

Flames sprayed from Trisk's fingertips, and arcs of orange lightning crackled from N'Doki's. The necromancers hurled the power they had gathered into the roiling cluster of human souls. The souls absorbed the power, growing brighter and darker until the contrast became too painful to behold.

December averted his eyes as the magicians cast still MORE magic... new spells to command the ball of power and souls that they had created between them.

The spirits that chanted beside N'Doki turned now to the shivering figures gathered around December. While N'Doki concentrated on matching his power to Trisk's, the spirits began a separate series of incantations aimed at the Night's Bloom. December felt the air around him thicken, and a faint hint of... something unpleasant... reached his nose.

He released more of his power... pushing the temperature lower still. The layer frost on the ground now reached beyond where the Night's Bloom lay-

"S-so when do w-w-we get to the d-d-d-dying part?" said Emerson.

"We already have," said Gallows.

"That's n-n-n-not ff-f-funny-"

"You can stop stuttering now. You're dead; you can't feel the cold."

"No I'm not," Emerson sat up and opened his eyes. Then he screamed.

He was, in fact, dead.

His body was still flat on the ground, but HE was sitting up... looking down at himself.

"We're all dead." Gallows was standing over him.... AND laying perfectly still on the other side of December. "Get up."

Hars, Thane, and Hemingway were wandering around December, looking at their own bodies in eerie silence. Emerson had apparently be the last one to 'pass.' Hars' serious wounds were gone... as were the cuts on Hemingway's face and the bandages on Thane's feet. They all looked... perfect.

"He killed us!" Emerson pointed at December, who was looking off in the distance, paying them no attention whatsoever. "You killed us!"

"That WAS the idea," said Thane. "And he can't hear you. Doesn't even know we're here."

"I don't think it was the cold that did it," said Hemingway. "Some of kind of spell probably. Pulled us out of our bodies..."

"This place sure does look different," said Thane. He was right. The Bephal of the dead was much eerier than the one their bodies still occupied. The sky was pitch black, with no stars or clouds. Yet there was an odd light that seemed to permeate everything.

Some small portion of that light was coming from December. He had a flickering blue haze around him that none of the other living onlookers seemed to share.

Both N'Doki and Jerimiah Trisk were pillars of otherworldly luminescence. Trisk's was a fiery red. N'Doki's was a deep, angry orange. Between the two necromancers was-

-something both amazing and horrible. One the physical world, the spirits that the necromancers commanded were ephemeral shadows, but here... they were solid. Hovering in the air halfway between N'Doki and Jerimiah Trisk was what looked like a small, compact sun. At its heart was a writhing mass of human bodies... over a hundred... wrestling and pulling at each other. None of the bodies seemed to notice that they were all on fire. In fact, they seemed to be BATHING in the unnatural flames. The fire was making them stronger.... and soon it became clear that they were not fighting with each OTHER, but with the fire that bound them. They were grasping it... shaping it... pulling it into long strands, and then weaving those strands together into some complex, unintelligible shape. Lighting from N'Doki's hands electrified the strands as the souls wove them... fusing them in place while the souls moved on to weave more fire.

Gallows watched it all in silent fascination.

The other members of the Night's Bloom were too disturbed by it to look for more than a few seconds. Instead, they turned their attention to the town itself.

N'Doki had been right; time worked differently here. The past, present, and future seemed to be fighting to occupy the same bit of space. Buildings faded in and out. There was rain... and sunlight... and even snow, all at once. Blurred figures buzzed around them. The figures occasionally snapping into focus, revealing people and events that had occupied this physical space in the past. There were several flashes of the monstrous battle with the undead that had just transpired. But there were also glimpses of things further back... Different versions of Bephal, including one that was just an untouched forest. Or flashes of things not-so-far ahead. Everything seemed to be happening at once. Everything WAS happening at once... not in a rapid succession or series, but AT THE SAME TIME.

"This could drive a man mad," said Hemingway. "Trying to figure all this out. Trying to understand..."

"Don't try," Gallows warned. "I can feel your mind bending from here."

"You're still empathic?"

"Yes. Is your brother still annoying?"

"HEY! I resent th-"

"Looks that way."

"Who and what we are hasn't changed," said Gallows. "Don't look around. Focus on each other... or on something that isn't changing much. You'll stay sane that way."

"Everybody gather 'round," said Hars. "We don't want anybody wandering off in the middle of this."

"No," said Gallows. "We don't. I think they're almost done..."

Something had taken shape between N'Doki and Trisk. It was an arch.... or a SERIES of arches. There were five of them, yet they were... somehow... all positioned at right angles to one another. The impossible structure was made out of solid fire that had been welded together with a kind of liquid lightning that still arced from the joints and sharp edges. The spirits that had constructed the piece of insane architecture were now moving away. They weren't flying as they had done on the physical world, but just walking. Straight up.... as if the air had grown solid. Some seemed to be walking up a massive spiraling staircase. Others along ascending or descending ramps. A few just stood for a moment and then... without warning... receded along some random vector and vanished.

"Yikes!" Emerson yelped. "Can WE do that?"

"I wouldn't try it," said Gallows.

"You seem to know your way around this place pretty good," said Hars. "Been dead before?"

"No. But I've been insane before. Its remarkably similar."

"Ah," said Emerson. "Remind me not to ask you about that."

Gallows nodded.

N'Doki was in front of them.

He didn't walk over to them. He just... appeared.

Strangely enough, he was ALSO some distance away, inspecting the arch that he and Trisk had created... along with six or seven Jerimiah Trisks.

"AAAAA!" Emerson gasped when he looked up and saw N'Doki before him.

The necromancer had been in his human 'priest' disguise on the physical world, but here he was wearing his true flesh.... with some disturbing enhancements. Dark leathery skin hung from his sharp bones like a set of clothes that he could just take off any time he got ready. Tiny black shapes crawled in the crevices of that skin. They were neither worms nor insects... they were something else. Something that nobody wanted to look too closely at. His eyes glowed bright orange, yet they seemed empty... as if they were merely holes in his skull through which the light... light from somewhere ELSE... could shine through. Then there were his teeth. Instead of merely being sharpened into points, here they were full-fledged fangs jutting several inches from his blackened gums.

N'Doki looked like murder incarnate.

"HE'S UGLIER THAN BEFORE!" Emerson cried. "AND... AND THERE'S TWO OF HIM!" He pointed to the second N'Doki over by the arch.

"Dis one is confused," said N'Doki, smiling. The smile was literally impossible. If he had had such a mouth in the physical world, and had tried to smile with it, his face would immediately shred itself... taking the majority of his head with it. "N'Doki WAS dere.... now he is here, speaking to you. Try to focus on de present, yes?"

Everyone focused. The second N'Doki vanished. Most of the other Jerimiah Trisks did, too. Then-

-blink-

"-is here, speaking to you. Try to focus on de present, yes?"

"You just said that!"

"I know," said N'Doki. "Dis is why time exists. It is an illusion to keep men sane. De dead haf no need of it."

"Oh-"

-blink-

"-to keep men sane. de dead haf no need of it."

"STOP THAT!"

"You're not focussing, Emerson," said Gallows. "Pay attention and it'll stop happening."

"You must not stay here long. You risk your sanity... and de attention of dose who hunt wayward souls. You must go now. Dis arch will return you to de physical realm, but it will be de realm as it was in de past. N'Doki's power will give your souls presence dere, so dat you can interact wit de world. Be warned... touch not'ing... say not'ing... go only to DIS place-"

N'Doki pointed.

The Night's Bloom followed his long, claw-tipped finger. The buildings seemed to... no, they DID... shrug themselves aside so that they could see the small stone church on the other side of town.

"Whoah..." said Emerson. "You just moved the town!"

Then, N'Doki grabbed the church... which was now the size of a birdhouse... and dragged it toward them so that they could see it up close.

Even Gallows was stunned. The assassin gasped so hard that he almost choked.

"Go HERE, and nowhere else," N'Doki warned. He reached out and put the church back where it was. The church sprang back to full size, and the rest of the buildings shuffled quickly back into place.

"Uhhh.... how..." said Thane. "How'd you do that?"

"Almost everything you see here is an illusion," said Jerimiah Trisk. He... one of him... was approaching them now. Trisk was an old man now, but his face seemed in a constant flux between that of Casey D'Arcy and that of the aging wizard that had possessed him. "And almost everything you DON'T see is real. But none of that matters to you now; you must go."

"Through that thing," said Hars, pointing at the arch. "Then we get the hand and come back. Right?"

"Not exactly," said Trisk. "If it were possible for you to bring a physical object through the portal, then we could have sent your physical bodies. No, you must find a place to hide it. A place where it won't be found until we need it in the present."

"How are WE supposed to know what will and what won't be disturbed," said Hemingway.

"De spirits will guide you," said N'Doki.

"Which spirits are those, eh?" said Emerson. "Yours or his?" N'Doki didn't answer. Instead he pointed at Emerson. A tiny orange spark leapt from the necromancer's fingertip to Emerson's chest. "Hey! What was that!"

"A spell. To preserve de flesh."

"I thought December was gonna-"

"Not YOUR flesh," Trisk snapped.

"But-"

"We have no time to explain. Time still flows in the physical world."

"How long is that arch thing gonna last?" said Hars.

Trisk and N'Doki gave him the same graveyard stare.

"Just be quick," said Trisk. "Go. Now."

"Let's get this over with," Hars ordered. "Follow me, lads."

The Night's Bloom marched toward the cluster of flaming arches.

"I've changed my mind! I want to go back!"

"Too late for that, Emerson," said Hemingway. "We're already dead."

"Yeah, but the closer I get to THAT thing-" Emerson pointed at the arch. "-the more I want to stay right here. I mean, how do we know where that thing REALLY goes? We're trusting N'Doki and a guy that December killed YEARS ago. That doesn't really strike me as... well.... smart."

By now, the arch was looming over them... although its size kept changing as they approached. In one instant it stretched upward beyond the black sky. In the other, it was barely large enough for Hemingway to walk through without ducking his head. One thing did not change, however. At the center of the arch... where all the sub-arches met... was a huge, black egg. It was the portal. Instead of a flat, two-dimensional surface, the portal extended into more dimensions than even Hemingway Shaw could count. To their eyes, it looked like a tear drop of perfectly black liquid suspended in the air. The black egg swallowed the light from the flames, and as the Night's Bloom got closer, it seemed to pull hungrily at them as well.

And it was cold.

It wasn't the kind of cold that they felt in December's presence. This was different. This was something they felt in their souls instead of their bodies.

"Don't stop walkin', lads," said Hars. He headed straight for the portal without slowing down, intending to march straight through it.

"I'd give real money to know how this thing works," said Hemingway.

"I'd give real money NOT to know," said his brother.

"A bit of advice-" N'Doki suddenly appeared beside Emerson Shaw, causing the little man to yelp in surprise.

"STOP doing that!"

"-Dis place extends beyond de world dat you know. As you travel t'rough it, you will see t'ings dat are not meant for your eyes. Odder places... odder times... odder worlds... If you value your sanity, you will ignore what you may hear, and keep your eyes closed until you feel de past beneat' your feet."

"You heard the man, lads," said Hars. He stopped before the floating egg. The air around them was eerily quiet, and so 'cold' that it was almost painful. The 'pull' of the egg was stronger here.

It was trying to suck them in.

"Eyes closed when ya go through. And if you screw with us, N'Doki, we'll come for you. Even if we gotta bust outta hell to do it."

"And that goes double for me," said Hemingway.

"This is why you saved me before, isn't it," said Thane. "So I could do this. Your 'spirits' told you that WE were the ones that were gonna do this, didn't they?"

"De spirits do not see de future... only de past. To dem, all of dis has already happn'd."

"So do they say that we make it back?" said Thane.

N'Doki shrugged.

"Liar," said Hemingway. "He knows. He just isn't saying."

"Does that mean we DON'T make it back?" Emerson gasped.

"You waste time," said N'Doki.

Hars turned to the others and jerked his head toward the black egg.

"I'm first. Then Gallows, Thane, and Emerson and Hemingway. As soon as the person in front of you disappears, you start running. No hesitation; we don't want to get separated. Any last thoughts?"

"I gotta pee." said Emerson.

"Me too," said Hars. Then he closed his eyes and took a running leap into the portal.

It swallowed him without a sound.

As soon as he was gone, Gallows followed. Then the other members of the Night's Bloom did the same... throwing themselves willingly into the black oblivion while N'Doki stood grinning.

"Why are you doing this?" said Jerimiah Trisk. He addressed N'Doki from behind. The necromancer did not turn to face him. "Do you hear me? Why are you helping me? I know you don't want to..."

N'Doki's head turned not to Jerimiah, but December.

"He must see," N'Doki said calmly. "Or we all die."

"We've both died before-"

"Not like dis," said N'Doki. "Not like what comes if he does not learn. From dat, dere will be no return."

"The thing that broke free from the netherworld. The thing that opened the door for the demon seed's return. It was for HIM, wasn't it. It came for December."

"Yes. And everyt'ing I do, I do to prepare him."

"So this is all his fault. His, and yours."

"Your sight is limited," said N'Doki. "As is December's. You both look, but do not see."

"I will admit... your spirits see farther than I had imagined."

"Yes."

"So why didn't you tell them?"

"Tell dem what?"

"When they asked, why didn't you tell them what was going to happen?"

"Ahh," said N'Doki. "Perhaps dey will enjoy de surprise... almost as much as you."

N'Doki spun. Twin beams of orange light erupted from his eyes, striking the shocked Jerimiah Trisk squarely in the chest. The purely spiritual assault would have been meaningless on the physical world, but here, the necromancer's burning attack sliced across Trisk's torso...

...and tore him in half.

Screaming in agony, Jerimiah Trisk fell one way-

-while Casey D'Arcy dropped back onto the physical realm and instantly started crying for his mother. Trisk's disembodied... but still solid.... soul hit the ground, then dove back toward D'Arcy-

N'Doki's lightning bolt caught the mage across the shoulders-

"AARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!!" Trisk screamed as his spiritual 'flesh' began to wither. He burst into flames... not from N'Doki's attack, but from his own magic. Hellfire erupted around him-

Another blast send him hurtling skyward, flipping end over end as lightning crackled around him.... stabbing him through the fading cloud of hellfire.

Trisk screamed in agony as he fell to the ground once more. He landed in a smoking heap. Tendrils of N'Doki's energy crawled across his still-sizzling flesh... digging deeper every time he tried to move.

"Surprised?" said N'Doki.

Trisk could only hiss at him. He tried to summon his own magic, but it was too late. The necromancer had caught him... again.

"BANKITA!" N'Doki shouted.

Dark slaves began to crowd onto the street... arriving from every direction to surround their master and his newest plaything.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!" Trisk demanded.

N'Doki pointed at the arch that had sent the Night's Bloom into the past, and was now their only hope of return.

Then he smiled.

"Destroy It!"

---

"We can't trust him."

Hemingway winced as more of his words flew back at him from the darkness. It was dark because his eyes were closed, but he could guess what he would see if he decided to risk opening them.

"He's going to freeze us..."

More of the past brushed past him. They were moving. Fast. He could feel it... but it wasn't like falling. Falling would imply a direction, but there clearly was none. Not here. Here, the concept of direction didn't exist. He was clearly moving... being pulled along by some intangible force... but he couldn't tell WHERE he was going. Maybe if he opened his eyes-

No.

Remembering N'Doki's warning, he squeezed his eyes tighter.

"Even a desperate man would not cling to so tenuous a hope. There is more yet that you are not telling us."

December's voice this time. Hemingway wondered... if he opened his eyes, would he actually SEE-

"So what does your lackey have to say for itself?"

Trisk. And then-

"We can't FIGHT these things out in the open!"

His own voice again. He was moving faster now. Into the past. He couldn't hear the others, but he could somehow SENSE them nearby. He hoped they had their eyes closed because-


"...blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, blood..."


What was THAT!? WHEN was that?!


"So tell me who I have the pleasure of killing this day!?"


The attack on the caravan. Now they were REALLY moving. The force pulling them veered gently to one side-


"Despite your loss, you should be proud. After all, you could never have defeated me. A good show is the best you could have accomplished... and that, you have done!"

A voice that Hemingway didn't know. There was a soft jolt as he bounced off of something-


"Perhaps you should have begged Drya to reinstate her curse... it would have saved you so much pain..."


...huh? what was-

Another jolt. Moving faster again... much faster....


"I fought the Tower Guard. If anyone knows what kind of a chance you have... its me. And you have no chance."

...faster...


"Strength of the heart, Zade!..." someone shouted above the roar of rushing water. "Strength of the heart!"
"NO!"

...the water was replaced by heat. More voices...

"I'M COMING DOWN FOR YOU!"
"NO! THE WALLS ARE UNSTABLE! YOU CAN'T CLIMB THEM!"
"I'm not LEAVING YOU!"
"SUTTON, TAKE THE GIRL AND GET OUT OF HEEEERRREE!"
"Oh, no ya don't!"
"I have to go down and get him!"
"If you could climb down there then he can climb up here on his own! You can't help him!"
"Yes I can!"
"No you CAN'T! He's already GONE! Look!"
"NOOOO, PLEASE NOOO!"

Who WAS that? What was HAPPENING? It sounded like someone was in trouble. Maybe, if he could slow down, he could-

Too late. He had already moved on-

"I'll take that blade and shove it hilt-deep up your arse,"

Eric Hood! Now someone was DEFINITELY in trouble!

"Eh?....Oh, this is the part where we try to reason with the evil villain? Well that never works so let's just skip it!"

Another unfamiliar voice. How far back WAS he now?

"When you get to hell, tell 'em Zade sent ya... you'll get the volume discount."


Obviously not THAT far back. How much longer was he going to-


"That same trick again? I told you... enchanted metal. And enchanted metal Doesn't Freeze!"
"That is where you are wrong, Chain... EVERYTHING FREEZES!!!!!"

December again. But who was Chain? Was that the person Hars was telling them about-

"Don't go YET! ... Not without this ASS-KICKING I've been saving for ya!"

That voice again? He'd heard it a few seconds ago... who WAS that?

"You're HURT!"
"I have survived worse."
"What are you doing! Why didn't you leave with your men?"
"Left unchecked, this beast will destroy the city."
"What do YOU care?!?"
"I am not finished with Montfort. I will not see it destroyed... yet."
"DOWN!"

December and Zade. Talking about destroying the city? What-

"BEHOLD THE SIEGE!"

THAT didn't sound good. Whatever it was came and went in an instant... replaced by December and... Jerimiah Trisk?

"Use your magic, Old Man! Incinerate her! Destroy her so that you may live to fight another day!"
"I cannot kill my daughter!"
"Do it and live."
"No! You've won, December!"
"Release her from her misery! Destroy Her!"
"Please, stop this! You have won!... DECEMBER, PLEASE!!!..... PLEASE!!!"
"Too late, old man."

Shaw was on the verge of opening his eyes when the words reeled away from him. The steadily increasing pull that had been dragging him through the ether suddenly went... wrong. The gentle veering from side to side became a powerful yank... not left, right, up, or down... but in some OTHER direction-

"How long has he been like that?"
"A few hours. We were on the path and saw some strange vines. They had flowers... like this... White and yellow. All over the forest..."
"Thurmond get a whiff of one?... Then what happened?"
"While we were trying to wake him up the horses got into another patch of those flowers. They must have eaten them."
"They're irresistible to animals. And usually fatal."
"After the flower... Did you leave Thurmond alone for any length of time?"
"He was with us. Why-"


The world reeled away from the strange conversation and spun in another unknown direction-


"...Needless to say, you'll find getting OUT a great deal more difficult that getting IN. And don't worry about testing the fire escape... Tomas took the liberty of weakening the supports. If you decide to try it, you'll find yourself descending quite a bit faster than you had planned.... Well, I've got business to attend to elsewhere, Mr. Brooks. Do enjoy the next few minutes... I doubt you'll be in a position to enjoy very much afterward..."

Hemingway recoiled as if he'd struck something solid. He didn't feel any impact, just a sudden, violent change in direction. He felt himself spinning out of control, racing faster and faster past the increasingly chaotic sounds and sensations. Others places and times exploded around him in a maddening bombardment that would not stop... but only grew more intense-

"HEY UGLY!... YOUR PASSPORT HAS EXPIRED.... TIME FOR YOU TO GO BACK TO HELL!"

-and then-

"You're dead, boy... suck it up and come on."

-and-

"You're... you're supposed to be dead... I blew you up! I blew you ALL up!"

-and-

"Explain what? That we killed about twenty cops out here? Ain't no way to explain that..."


After that, the sounds and voices were too fast for even Hemingway's mind to separate from one another. Everything bled together into buzzing growl that filled his ears, growing louder and louder until wanted to scream...

What had happened? What was going on? Was it SUPPOSED to be like this? N'Doki had tried to warn them before they stepped through the portal, but-

The growl became a howl... and then a SHRIEK that tore at Hemingway's sanity. He felt for certain that his ears were bleeding, and that if the sound didn't stop then his HEAD would explode! What WAS it!? What as MAKING that abominable NOISE!?!

He didn't want to... he didn't MEAN to... but the agony in his head wrenched Hemingway Shaw's eyelids apart, exposing his mortal eyes to the burning flash of-

Fire and daylight.

He was somewhere else... somewhere that was NOT Bephal, and was quite likely not on Iffrean at all. Certainly the things he had HEARD were strange enough... but to actually SEE-

There was a stone walkway beneath his feet, stretching in two directions as far as he could see. Men and women surrounded him... some running terrified in random directions, other's merely watching, eyes cast skyward. Screams... screams everywhere. There were two towers before him... both so tall that they were frightening to behold. What insane magic could ever build something like THAT!? One of the towers was on fire, smoke billowing from a fiery black wound on its side. Tiny shapes threw themselves from the glittering windows as.... as a colored dragon streaked across the sky and hurled itself head-first with the second tower. The monster's slender, motionless wings tore free of its torso as the beast's fire consumed both itself AND the top half of the doomed tower-

Suddenly, the flaming towers receded into the unimaginable distance.... becoming at first a single glimmer of light in a sea of blackness, and then nothing. He was moving again... faster than before, and still accelerating. This time, Hemingway welcomed the reeling turmoil... anything to get him away from that scene of burning towers and surreal, suicidal dragons. N'Doki had been right... it was clearly beyond his capacity to understand, and if he had seen a seen another second of it he surely would have gone mad-

There was a brilliant flash of color and sound as another scene shot past him. Thankfully it was too fast for him to decipher. There came another flash... and another...

Other times and other worlds streamed past him like falling stars. Dozens of them... then hundreds... then millions...

Too many. Too fast!

The darkness came alive with screaming lights that whirled past him almost too fast to see... and then instantly lost themselves in the darkness. It was like looking up at a field of stars... only the stars were RACING past from him at an incomprehensible speed... as if the entire sky was being snatched away-

-and then they were gone. The last of the stars zoomed past even as Hemingway felt himself going still FASTER. The final star vanished, leaving him alone in the void with nothing but darkness around him.

-and then, the darkness was gone, too.

[To Be Continued]