The Woodward Academy, Year 6

Chapter 11: April

"Wha... Where am I?  Oh, shit... this looks bad.  This looks worse than Haven."  The world before him was dark, and yet within the darkness were swirls of even deeper darkness, roiling and tumbling upon themselves like thunderclouds building in a cosmic storm.  Occasionally a red flash would be seen amidst the tumbling masses.  "Is this what happens when a demighost dies?"

"No," a voice said in response.

David would have turned, but to do so required a body, and he didn't currently possess one.  His consciousness directed itself to the voice, and he sensed - not really seeing, but his mind interpreted it as sight - Gabriel standing beside him.  He recognized, with some small sense of relief, the banshee that he had last seen at his battle with The Clan at the end of the previous school year.

"Demighosts do not die," Gabriel said.  "No matter what you do to yourself, your consciousness will forever live on.  If you were to somehow disintegrate your entire being, your consciousness would still exist, waiting here until your body could once again host it."

"Why don't I have a body?  I mean, even a ghost body?"

"The link between you and your 'self' has been temporarily severed.  Your chimpok is linked to your body.  Since it is your chimpok that controls your ghost self, and because you are no longer linked to it, you have no form at all.  That is why you are here."

"Where, exactly, is 'here'?"

"This place has no name.  It is the between world.  The only beings who have ever seen this place are the banshees, the havaghora... and you."

"What makes me so special?  How come other demighosts don't come here?"

"No other demighost has suffered such damage to their bodies that it couldn't be inhabited."

"What... um... what happened to my body?"

"It is missing a large fraction of its head," she replied.

"Ouch."

"Truly, you felt nothing.  You will feel nothing for several days to come.  When you are able to reinhabit your body and feel again... then you will most definitely say 'ouch'."

"Great.  Wonderful.  Joy of joys.  Did I at least keep the king from getting shot?"

"Yes.  The king is quite safe.  The men who were trying to assassinate him are now guests of the king's guard, and having a rather unpleasant time of it, or so I hear."

"Do they know why they want the king dead?"

"I don't know."

"Oh," David said, nodding a non-existent head in understanding.

"Why are you here?" David asked after a short pause.

"To keep you company.  To keep you calm.  Had you woken up here alone, chances are you would have panicked."

"Probably.  Certainly after a while I would have.  But don't you have other duties?  What of the dying?"

"I can afford a few days away."

"How long has it been?"

"Today is Saturday."

"I was shot on Wednesday, so... three days.  Where have I been for three days?"

"Right here.  Your essence was so utterly disrupted by the damage that you were incapable of thought."

"And you've been here that whole time, just waiting for me to wake up?"

"Yes."

"Um... thank you."

"You are part of my job," Gabriel replied.

"Oh.  So you're only here because you were told to be."

"You misunderstand.  You are part of my job."

"You're right.  I don't get what you're saying."

"Each demighost... each immortal, in fact, has a banshee assigned to them.  We don't interfere unless we have to, but occasionally it is necessary for us to take direct action either against, or in aid of, our assigned immortal."

"Can you destroy me?" David asked.

"No.  I can imprison you here, but I cannot destroy you."

"Wait... you can imprison a demighost?  Was it a banshee that cursed Jacob?"

"No.  That was a different process.  There is no spellcasting involved when we imprison a demighost.  We have the innate ability to hold you here, destroying your body and preventing it from reforming.  It could be considered the worst form of hell."

"Are you holding me here now?"

"No.  You came here naturally.  You will leave in a day or two, when your body has recovered enough to hold you once again.  Be aware that you will not be whole when that happens.  Your recovery will take weeks.  You won't be able to move, speak, or feel anything when you return to your body.  Those things will take two or three more days.  When that happens, the full weight of the trauma you've suffered will come to bear."

"That sounds... really bad."

"It will not be pleasant.  Do you regret your action?"

"Well... would the shot have killed the king if I hadn't been there?"

"Almost certainly.  It was aimed directly for his head."

"Then no, I don't regret it.  I did what I was trying to do."

Gabriel nodded.

"Where is my body now?"

"It has been returned to Woodward Academy, per healer's orders.  I dare say you might owe Healer Hall an apology."

"Oh?"

"She was the one who had to remove your helmet.  I'm told she vomited rather violently."

David frowned mentally.  "I didn't mean to do that to her.  She's just the only healer I trust."

"I understand your reasoning.  She's the one who knows you, knows what works.  She has a supply of your potion.  It makes sense for her to be your healer.  It is just somewhat unpleasant for her."

"I'll have to find a way to make it up to her."  After a few moments, he asked, "Do you know how my friends are doing?  Is Olissa dealing with this?"

"I don't have any specific information for you.  They have, of course, been informed.  The last I heard, Healer Hall was denying everyone entrance to your infirmary room, to prevent infection until she could find a way to protect your body."

"Yeah... big, gaping wound... I'll bet that's going to be a big concern."

"I'm sure she will handle it."

"I am, too.  That's why I asked for her."

"Of course."

"Do you know if Vrudena has had any reaction to their failed attempt?"

"How can you be sure it was them?"

"I can't, but the timing is too coincidental.  Someone tries to assassinate the king the day after Vrudena makes a huge diplomatic demand... I have trouble believing those are unrelated."

"You may be right.  I don't know.  I have been here, and I don't know if there's been any reaction at all."

After a lengthy pause, David asked, "So... what should we talk about?"

"Please keep your visits short.  I honestly don't even know if David is present in his body at the moment, but if he is, he won't be able to communicate with you."

"Is he going to recover?" Olissa asked.

"Yes, slowly.  Well, slowly for him.  I have had a helmet crafted for him, that he will wear until his..." Annie took a shaky breath and continued.  "Until his head regrows.  He cannot take it off.  It would expose him to the danger of serious infections that could keep him here for a lot longer.  And, truthfully, it is there to protect us from having to see what happened to him."

"Why are they here?" Gwen asked, motioning to the two rather burly men wearing royal uniforms who were standing out of the way in the room.

Annie looked at Gwen.  "To make sure he recovers without any retaliation.  They are here under king's orders to kill anyone who tries to harm him."

Sam asked, "When do you think he'll be able to talk with us?"

"Days.  Two, three, four... I'm not sure exactly.  I don't know if he's back inside his body yet."

"What do you mean, inside his body?" Prof. Phillips asked.

"David's body was so badly damaged that his... 'essence'... could not stay inside of it.  He has gone... 'away' someplace, to wait for his body to heal enough to contain him again.  His body has passed through several ghost cycles, during which he heals much faster, but I don't know if his body has healed enough to be able to host him yet.  After he does come back, it'll be another two days before he can communicate with us.  Another three before he'll be able to move around easily."

"How long before he'll be able to leave the infirmary?" Tanya wanted to know.

"I couldn't hazard a guess.  Well over a week.  Maybe more than two.  Even then, he will not be healed.  He will have to wear the helmet.  It is self-contained, so it won't hinder him, other than making him look somewhat monstrous."

"Is there anything we can do for him?" Prof. Blackstone asked.

"No.  There's not even anything I can do for him.  He just has to heal."

"Will you let us know when he wakes up?" Prof. Zoroaster asked.

"Of course.  I'll inform Dean Lengel.  She'll let everyone know, I'm sure.  If you wish to visit, I have no objection, but please, keep the numbers down, and keep your visits under a half-hour.  Anything more than that, and you'll make them-" she pointed to the guards, "-nervous."

Everyone except Olissa left.  There wasn't even the need to discuss who would take first watch with David.  Olissa asked, "Why wasn't Dean Lengel here for this report?"

"Dean Lengel gets a report on David's condition every few hours," Annie replied.

"Oh," Olissa said, embarrassed.

"Everyone cares about him, Olissa.  Don't worry."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?  I do know some healing..."

"No, not right now.  I'll let you know if there is.  I know you want him to get well quickly, but that's just not going to happen.  This time, he's going to be sick for a long time.  Well, a long time in his terms.  We're so used to him being up and out of the infirmary in just a few days.  That's not going to happen with this one.  If you had seen what I saw... Ugh, my stomach turns just remembering it."

"Don't tell David about that," Olissa pleaded.  "It'll make him feel very bad."

"Part of my job," Annie replied.

"He won't see it that way."

Annie paused for a long moment.  "You're right, he probably wouldn't.  I'll leave you with him.  Try not to move too suddenly.  Those two are wound up pretty tight.  I don't know quite what the king threatened them with, but it must have been bad."

Olissa nodded, and then Annie left her to go do other tasks.  She sat down next to David.

"I don't know if you can hear me yet, but I'm going to talk anyway," Olissa said.  "It's Monday now, and it's been five days since you were shot.  They caught the assholes who shot you.  The king is now in seclusion until his security detail can figure out how to protect him better.

"They didn't tell any of us what happened until Thursday afternoon.  I knew something was wrong when you didn't call me that night.  You promised not to do that to me, and I didn't think you'd break that promise without a good... no, I guess I should say without a bad reason.  Annie brought you back here on Thursday, which is when they told everyone what had happened.  They chose not to mirrorcast the king's speech... I guess just in case what happened... happened, so there wasn't any clue there, and I guess they clamped down on the news folks pretty hard.  I wish he'd have sent word about you to us, but... well, that's over with, so no point in worrying over it.

"Jailla's doing fine.  He knows you've been shot.  You know how he hates the infirmary, though, so he won't come in here.  I'm sure he'd send best wishes if I could understand him.

"The school is all talking about what happened to you.  They're calling you a hero.  Who'd have ever thought, back when we started going here, they'd be calling a demighost a hero?  Well, you are one.

"Still... did you have to get shot?  I hate seeing you like this.  I can't even touch you, see your face... look into your eyes.  I know... you were doing what you had to.  I'm very proud of you, Master," Olissa said quietly.  "But I don't like seeing you this way.

"I'm only allowed to stay here for a half-hour at a time.  We're going to take turns.  We'll each come in for a half-hour, with a half-hour break in-between.  That way Annie can get some work done when we're not here.

"Everyone sends their best.  Gwen and Jess have been by to see me.  Prof. Stott and Prof. Arpilla both stopped by, too.  Professors Phillips, Blackstone and Zoroaster have asked about you.  Of course Coach Hall has stopped in.  He gets special treatment, just because he's married to the healer," she said with a giggle.

"Tanya says the security department's doing okay.  They caught that thief, by the way.  The one that stole the flute and the potion?  She caught her trying to break into Hughes Hall, to get some kind of hyper-sensitive seeing crystal or something.  Anyway, it was a third-year who'd learned some tricks.  I'm not quite sure why she was doing it, I guess you'll have to ask Tanya about that.  They already packed her off to jail."

Olissa continued to ramble, telling David all the things that had happened recently.  He heard her, as he had returned to his body a few hours before, but there was no way for him to signal to her that he was present.  It frustrated him that he could not reach out to her.  He could tell that there was something over his head.  He saw the ceiling through what was obviously a lens of clear crystal.  His hearing sounded tinny, as if every sound was coming through a bad speaker.  He couldn't yet breathe, but he had a feeling that would sound loud and resonant.

David closed his one eye.  He did not yet have his other one back.  He was thankful that he didn't yet feel anything at all.  He wasn't looking forward to the moment when the pain set in.

I hope this isn't actually worse than dying was.

David's body announced its reconnection to his mind rather forcefully, jolting him and causing his back to arch strongly enough that he actually bounced on the bed.

Tanya, who was sitting in with him at the time, called out, "Annie!  Something's happening!"

Annie was in the room in a flash, looking down into David's masked face.

"David, can you move?  Try to squeeze my hand," she said, reaching down and taking hold of his.

David nearly crushed her fingers.  "Ow!  I said squeeze it, not break it!" she told him with a grin.

David groaned for a second, worked his mouth slightly, and finally managed to say, "Sorry... I can't actually feel your hand."  His voice came out raspy and quiet, with a bit of an echo caused by the helmet encasing his head.

"Can you feel anything?" she asked.

"It feels... like my body's asleep.  You know that heavy sensation your arm or leg gets when it goes to sleep?  My entire body feels like that."

Annie nodded.  "That will probably fade over the next hours as your mind reestablishes its connection with your body."

"If it's going to hurt as much as I think it is, I'd just as soon stay numb, thanks," David said, trying to inject some humor into his voice.

"When the pain starts, we'll start giving you your Naproxen Ghostium.  There's a tube in the helmet that you can drink from.  Do you need some water?"

"Couldn't hurt," David replied.

Annie went and got a glass of water, then inserted a tube, which was clipped to David's helmet, into the glass.  She said, "Open your mouth."  She then pushed the other end of the tube forward, so that it would go between David's lips.

"Okay, it's just a straw, basically, so..."

"Mm-hmm," David said, and started to suck on it.  The water was cold, which was almost better than the fact that it was wet.  David felt very hot and uncomfortable.

"Other than the numbness, do you feel anything else?" Annie asked.

"I feel hot."

"Unfortunately, that's probably the helmet's fault.  It's designed to remove heat, but it probably can't get rid of it all.  Maybe..."

Annie took out her wand and pointed it toward the back of David's helmet.  "Tapamana tampada," she intoned.

"Whoo," David said with a sudden rush of pleasant sensation.  "That's nice."

"Your head is being bathed in antibiotics.  I cooled them down to help with the heat."

"Nice, I like that."

Annie smiled.  It was always good when she was able to help David with any of his injuries.

"How long have I been here?"

"It's Wednesday.  You've been gone a week.  You've been here almost all of that time."

"And how much longer will I be here?"

"I don't know."

"Ugh," David said.

"I'm sorry, David," Annie said.

"Not your fault.  It's just that lying here is about the most boring thing you can imagine."  David turned his head the other way.  "Hey, Tanya.  I hear you caught our thief."

"How did you hear that?" Tanya asked.  "That happened after your... uh..."

"Head was blown off?' David replied with a grin that they could hear, but could not see.

Tanya paled.

"I came back to my body a couple days ago.  Olissa told me.  What the hell was she after, anyway?  What was she going to do?"

"Sell them.  She didn't have some scary master plan after all.  She just wanted to make enough money to go live in Earth and not have to work the rest of her life."

David turned his head back.  "Stupid fool.  How'd you catch her?"

"Security spells and roving patrols every night."

"Good work," he told her.  She smiled at him.

"So... you've heard everything since Monday?" Annie asked.

"Well, probably not everything...  I did sleep occasionally.  I didn't have anything better to do."

"Of course.  But you were... present.  You were aware of your surroundings."

"Yeah."

"Where were you before that?" Tanya asked.  "Annie said you actually weren't here."

"How did you know that?" David asked Annie.

"Someone named Gabriel told me, right after we brought you back here.  I'm not exactly sure who she was."

"Gabriel's a banshee.  She was watching over me while I was completely out of my head," he replied.  The others grinned.  Turning to Tanya, he said, "The place I was has no name.  According to Gabriel, I'm the only one who's ever been there except for the banshees."

"So you really were.. gone gone, then.  It's not just that you were unresponsive, you really weren't here," Annie said.  Though Gabriel had been very forthright in her explanation, it was hard for Annie to fathom.

"Yeah.  Gabriel told me my body and I had temporarily parted company, until my body could heal a little bit."

"So is he repaired?" Tanya asked.  "Can he take off that helmet now?"

"I highly doubt it," Annie said.  "Do you feel repaired?" she asked David.

"I don't even have my left eye back yet," he said.  He saw Annie go pale.  "Speaking of, I'm very sorry you had to be the one who saw what was left of me.  I didn't think about that when I insisted on you being there."

"You know, then?" she asked.

"Gabriel told me."

"I was very honored when they told me you had absolutely insisted on me treating you," she told him.  "I will admit that I hope I never have another peek into your mind quite that way again."

David reached out with his hand.  It felt like moving a lead weight.  He watched carefully as he put his hand on her arm, and he tried mightily to squeeze very gently.  Annie put her hand on top of his.

"Anyway, I need to go let the dean know you're responsive now," Annie said.  "And I'm sure she will then notify everyone else."

David let his arm drop.  It thudded against the bed; he still didn't feel a thing.

"Hey, David," JoAnne said quietly.  "How you feeling?"

"I'm not, yet," he said.  "Can't feel a damned thing below the neck."

"Are you paralyzed?" she asked nervously.

"No, just numb.  Things are still reconnecting.  It's going to take a while."

"Oh.  Annie said you wanted to see me.  I was going to come visit when you were feeling just a bit better..."

"No need to wait.  It's not like I've got anything else to do.  But I did need to talk to you.  When is the Leadership League planning its next attempt?"

"We're not, at the moment.  We've failed twice so far.  The last time, two of us got seriously hurt."

"Were you hurt?"

"No, but it was close.  I ducked just in time.  Darryl... didn't."

David nodded.

"Why are you asking?" she asked.

"I talked to the Ministry of Education's Leadership League Rules Commission.  Apparently, I am allowed to help you, so long as I don't actually physically accompany you in the attempt.  So I can provide advice, do research, and give guidance."

"Well, that will help some, but what we really need is help on the actual attempt.  I suppose if we kept a mirror link open to tell you what's in front of us..."

"We can do one better than that," David said.  He raised his hand and motioned to the corner of the room.  Jailla was there, because David had needed to discuss this matter with him first, and since David couldn't leave the infirmary, Jailla had to come in.  "You can take Jailla with you."  David let his hand thump back down onto the bed.  "He can be my eyes."

"I don't understand," she said.

"Jailla and I have a connection.  I can see through his eyes at times.  Do you not get any magical benefits from your familiar?"

"Well, sure.  I just never thought of taking her with me on the attempt."

"You've got to use every resource available to you."

"Yeah, that makes sense.  So... We'd take Jailla, and you could then watch us through his eyes... then what?"

"Well, we'd still have to communicate by mirror.  But it would keep you from having to explain what you were facing."

"Yeah, that would sure help.  Can I ask, why the change of heart?  You said this wasn't your thing."

"Do I have anything else I can be doing while I'm lying here?" David asked.  "I won't be able to do any research, obviously, but at least I can go on what I already know."

"Sure."

"Do we know where in Madchen Hall they're keeping the trophy?"

"We're not sure.  I mean, we've faced defenses, which kind of implies we were near it, but..."

"Right.  They could be tricky, putting defenses where it's not to lead you in the wrong direction, while it is meanwhile stashed in some upperclassman's dorm room."

"Oh, that would be evil," JoAnne said.

"But perfectly within the rules," David told her.  "They can put it anywhere that's considered on school grounds."

"Okay.  Let me get the league together and talk to them about this.  We didn't have a plan for making another attempt, so this will have to be worked out."

David nodded slowly, the helmet throwing off his movements, as it was heavy.

"Thanks, David, if only for the offer."

After JoAnne left, Jailla said, "I don't like leaving you here without me."

"I'm not going anywhere," David said.  "Just keep yourself safe.  You get hurt doing this, and I'll never forgive myself."

"This is my choice, David.  As you said, you need something to do.  This is what I can do to help my wizard."

"Thanks, Jailla.  I need a nap," David said, yawning.  A minute later, he was asleep.

"Good afternoon, sir," Max said.  He was accompanied by Rick and Ben.  The three had come to visit David in the infirmary.

"Hey, guys.  How's it going?"

"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Rick asked.  "How are you feeling?"

"Frankly, not that great.  My head has started to burn."

"You're on fire in there?" Ben asked, alarmed.

"Not literally burn, but you know that feeling you get... like when you skin your knee or something.  My entire head feels like that.  And it itches like crazy."

"You want us to get the healer, sir?" Max asked.

David just shook his head.  "Nothing she can do about it.  She's already tried."

"That's awful," Max said.

"I feel lucky, for all that.  Yesterday was a lot worse.  At least today the burning is restricted to my head.  Yesterday I hurt everywhere."

"How come?" Rick asked.

"All the feeling came back into my body.  Apparently, my body was not enjoying itself yesterday."

The three chuckled at David's joke.

"So, how are things going for you three?  Classes all right?"

The three of them talked for a while, just trying to cheer up their Big Brother.  As Rick was relating a story about his Herbology class, David suddenly screamed and grabbed his head.

"I'll get the healer," Max said immediately.

"David?  David, what's wrong?" Ben asked.

David couldn't answer him.  The pain was so intense he couldn't even see straight out of his one good eye.  Everything was blurred and tinged with red.  His head throbbed, as if he could feel his heartbeat... except that he didn't have a heartbeat.

Annie was there in a flash.  "David, what is it?"

After a long moment, he was finally able to gasp out, "Pain."

Annie immediately turned to a cabinet and withdrew a vial.  She'd prepared it earlier for just this eventuality.

"Help him sit up," she instructed the others.  Rick and Ben sat him upright, so that Annie could get to the back of his helmet.  She disengaged one of the vials of antibiotics, and she replaced it with the vial of Naproxen Ghostium.  She started it flowing into the helmet.  She didn't know for sure if the potion would work with direct contact or not.  If not, she would make David swallow some.

David felt the pain ease quickly.  It was still present, but not so crippling.  He motioned to the others to let him go, and then he slowly lay back on the bed.

"Crap, that was nasty," he said.

"Are you okay now?" Annie inquired.

"Still hurts like hell, but it's a lot better than it was," he said.

"I can give you more..." she said.

David shook his head.  "I think we need to worry more about endurance than strength.  I can deal with the pain right now.  But this could go on for days, and NG is a pain in the ass to produce."

"I'm not worried about that," Annie said.

"But I am.  You have better things to do," he said.  There were actually two other patients in the infirmary, one from a prank, and one from a hazing incident.

"They'll be fine," she told him.  "I'm more worried about you."

"I appreciate that," he told her.  "But I'll manage."  Turning to the other three, he said, "Sorry guys, but I think I need some rest."

"Yes, sir," Max said.  "We'll come back and see you another time."

David nodded, then settled back against the pillow.  Soon, he was asleep.

"You sure you're gonna be up for this, David?" JoAnne asked over the mirror.  She and the Leadership League were in Erle, just outside Madchen Hall Academy.

David grimaced, but she couldn't see that.  He struggled to get the pain under control before he spoke.  Finally, he said, "I'll be fine.  All I have to do is lie here and think.  That's not too challenging."

"Alright, then.  We're going in."

"Good luck."

David watched the five team members through Jailla's eyes.  Jailla was sitting in a tree, watching them closely.  Tony was leading, followed by JoAnne.  Darryl was behind her, and then Shiana and Luke.  Jailla waited until they'd gotten far enough ahead, then flew to another tree, just ahead of them, to watch out for things.

The group moved as stealthily as possible, trying to keep low and out of sight.  It was nearing midnight, and the moon was not up yet, which gave them almost complete darkness as a cover.  The weather wasn't quite perfect; the sky was clear and the stars were bright.  They would have preferred clouds.

After several minutes, they came to a fenced-in compound within the school.  Standing on either side of the gate into the compound were guards wearing the badge of the Leadership League.  It was required that they be wearing them while performing League duties.  That way, innocent bystanders wouldn't get involved in League business.

The five members stopped behind a hedge to confer.  Jailla flew over the fence into the compound, to look around.  The paths inside the fence were all covered with canopies, so he couldn't see very much unless he wanted to fly down into the area, and he didn't want to do that, in case he set off some kind of alarm or trap.  Instead, he flew back to join the others.

"Well," Tony said, "We could just blast our way in.  There's only two of them, and five of us."

"Two of them now," JoAnne pointed out.  "You go around blasting things, there'll be all ten of them soon enough."

"Well, eight," Shiana corrected.  "The first two would be out of action."

"You hope," JoAnne shot back.

Shiana shrugged.

"Any thoughts?" Tony asked.

"We need to drive them away," Luke said.  "Maybe an illusion or something."

"They'd see through that.  I mean, we would, and we have to assume they're trained as well as we are."

"Right," Darryl said.  "This ain't Woodward, Tony."

"They stole the damned thing in the first place, Darryl," Tony replied in the same exact condescending tone that Darryl had used.  "This may not be Woodward, but they're no slouches."

JoAnne looked around, and saw no one coming up with ideas.  She looked down at her mirror.  "David?  You got any thoughts?"

Other than, 'holy shit this hurts'? he thought to himself.  Out loud, he said, "If you want to get them to go away without knowing you're there, you'll need to fool them, or confuse them, so that they don't understand what's going on.  Hell, your best bet, instead, might be to try to find a way to sneak past them."

"Can't.  They have to open the gate for us.  But... confuse them... what do you mean, exactly?"

"They're watching for League members.  Find a way to make them think you're not League members."

"We can't remove our badges," Darryl objected.

"No, but we can screw with their heads so they don't realize they're there," Luke offered.

"How?"

"Like he said, a confusion hex.  We just make them so stupid they won't know to stop us."

"Do you know a hex to do that?" Tony asked.

"Sure."

"Go for it, then."

Luke moved to the very edge of the hedge they were hiding behind.  He peeked his head out, so he could see the two guards.  They were silhouettes against the darkness.

Luke raised his hand in front of him, palm down and slightly forward.  He moved it from left to right and intoned, "Dezarn dadroys yorluk enfor."

The guard on the left tilted his head, but little more than that happened.

"It didn't work," Darryl said.

"Sure it did.  What did you expect to happen, that they'd run wildly into the night?  They're confused, not scared," Luke said.  "C'mon."

Luke stood up and led the group toward the two guards.  He stopped in front of them.

"We're here to inspect the obstacles.  Open the gate."

"Uh..." the one guard said.

The other said, "Here to inspect the obstacles?"

"That's right.  Open the gate," Luke insisted.

"Open the gate?" the first guard asked.

"Yes.  The gate.  That thing behind you."

"Uh... right.  Okay."

The guard turned and waved his hand at the gate.  The wooden entrance swung open.  The team immediately walked through, pushing it shut behind them.

"Well, that wasn't too bad," Tony said.

"What happens when the hex wears off, though?" Shiana asked.

"Thanks to the hex, they'll most likely have already forgotten about us," Luke said.  "So they won't do anything."

"Right.  Okay, well, let's see what's next, then."

The team walked slowly forward.  Jailla glided down to land on JoAnne's shoulder, so that he could let David see what was going on.

After the path took a sharp turn, they had to stop quickly.  Before them was a pit, at least twenty feet deep, and at least thirty feet wide.

"Even if we were all athletes, we haven't got the distance to get a running start."

"I'm not sure an Olympic long-jumper could make that leap, anyway," Luke said.  "But this should be child's play for you, shouldn't it, Tony?"

"Huh?  Oh, yeah, right."  Tony turned to the pit and raised his hands.  As he concentrated, dirt swept in from around and inside the pit, solidifying into a projection that started at the far side of the pit, and swiftly made its way across until it connected with the near side.  The structure settled as Tony lowered his arms.

"Let's cross quickly.  I don't know how long that will hold together," Tony said.  The team moved rapidly over the newly formed bridge and then gathered at the next corner.

"What do you think will be next?" JoAnne asked.

"I don't know.  Every time we come here, they've changed the obstacles.  There's no telling what's coming up," Tony said.

"Well, let's not just stand here," Shiana complained.  "Let's get on with it."

The group turned the corner to see a long, empty pathway.  It was covered, like the previous path.  This time, however, the walls were solid, rather than a fabric canopy material.

Tony held the group back for a long moment, just staring at the hallway.

"What are you doing?" Darryl asked.

"This can't be just a hallway.  I'm trying to tell if there's anything hiding here."

"At this rate, we'll be here all night," Darryl objected.  He stepped past Tony and began to walk down the hallway.

Just in time, Darryl jumped back with a loud yell.  He fell onto his butt and stared in dismay as a huge log swung across the hallway.  Had it hit Darryl, it very well might have killed him.

"Holy shit," Luke breathed.  He could see a dozen or more logs beyond the first one.  They were not swinging in unison, and he couldn't see any kind of pattern.  "How do we get past this?"

"They're swinging from the center of the ceiling... maybe if we can find a way to cling to the top of the wall?" Shiana offered

"How would we do that?" JoAnne asked.

"Um..."

"Hey, guys?" Darryl said.  "There's like six inches of space at the floor."

"I'm not quite that thin," Luke objected lightly.

"No, but you will be after I turn you into a rat," Shiana said.

"Why's it always gotta be rats with you?" Darryl complained.

"I like rats," Shiana sniffed.  "They're cute."

"Let's go, then," JoAnne said.  "Jailla, can you make it past those?"

In response, Jailla just winged off.  He flew near the ceiling, which allowed him to easily avoid the swinging logs.

Shiana started morphing her teammates, and then she morphed herself.  As rats, the five scurried beneath the logs.  They each felt nervous each time a log passed over them, worried that it might come crashing down and squish them.  Ultimately, they made it down the hallway without incident.

Once everyone was returned to their normal selves, Tony said, "Well, that wasn't so bad.  I wonder what's next."

"You would," Darryl said sourly.

At the end of the hallway was a door.  The door wasn't locked, so they opened it and went through.  They found themselves in another hallway, which ended in a staircase.  Moving carefully along the hall, they arrived at the bottom of the stairs unaccosted.

"Where do you figure these stairs go?" Luke asked.

"They go up," Tony replied.  He stepped up onto the first tread, and nothing happened.  The team slowly moved upward onto the staircase.

As Luke, the last member of the team, stepped onto the third tread, the stairs suddenly shifted, slanting downward so that what had been a stairway was now a slide.  The team tumbled backward and crashed down to the bottom of the staircase, which returned itself to normal once they were off of it.

"Anyone hurt?" JoAnne asked.

She was answered by several groans and grumbles, but no serious complaints.  She got to her feet and looked up the stairs.  Tony soon joined her.

"This is gonna be a tricky one," Tony said.

"Yeah," she agreed.  Pulling out her mirror, she asked, "David?  Any thoughts on this one?"

"Use a sticky spell on your feet," he said.

Tony nodded.  "Good idea.  That way it won't matter when it slants."

"Which one you want to use?" JoAnne asked.

"I only know one.  How many do you know?"

"Six or seven."

"Well, in that case, which one do you want to use?" Tony replied with a grin.

JoAnne smiled.  "I think the suction cup charm would be best.  Everyone onto the stairs, but only on the bottom two steps."

Once the team was there, JoAnne moved her hands in a circle that encompassed the entire group.  She then said, "Pagsipsip tasapa."  None of them felt anything different, however.

"You'll feel it when you move," JoAnne said, anticipating the looks on their faces.  "It'll be harder to lift your feet.  C'mon."

As soon as they started walking, they knew she was right.  Each one had to work to get their foot free of the stair surface.

Once again, when the last of them reached the third step, the stairway slanted.  Shiana screamed and started to fall backward, but Luke pushed her back upright.

"Thanks," she told him.  He nodded at her.

"Now you're going to need to hold on to the handrail and just... walk."

"Up a forty-five degree incline?" Darryl objected.

Tony looked up ahead of them.  The stairway had a pair of columns at the top, one on either side.  He pulled out his wand.  Pointing it, he incanted, "Reteni!"  A rope whipped out of his wand and wrapped around the column.  He kept hold of his wand, but reached up and grabbed the rope, pulling himself forward up the incline.

Each of the others, seeing what he'd done, performed the same spell.  Soon they were all climbing the slanted staircase as if it were a mountain.  In short order, they made it to the top, a little winded, but no worse off than that.  As soon as Luke stepped onto the landing at the top of the stairs, the staircase snapped back to its normal appearance as stairs.

JoAnne ended the suction cup charm, and then the team looked around.  The stairway had deposited them in a hallway, which went in both directions.

"Which way do we go?" Shiana asked.

Tony moved to one end of the hallway, and then the other.  "This way leads back downstairs," he said.

"Wait... there were no other stairs in that hallway," JoAnne objected.

"Yeah, it must go to some other room."

"What's at the other end?" Luke asked, motioning to the end Tony had looked at first.

"An empty room.  Or, at least, it looks like an empty room."

"So, the stairs?" Shiana asked.

Everyone seemed to agree, so Tony very carefully started down the stairway.  He held tightly to the railing, though falling from this direction wouldn't be quite so bad.

The stairway remained stable, and they made it down without a problem.  They found themselves in another long hallway, however.  At the end of the hall was a ladder attached to the wall that led up through an opening in the ceiling, which was some fifty feet above them.

Having reason to be wary, they moved slowly down the hallway, but nothing happened before they reached the ladder.

"So... we go up?" Darryl asked.

"I guess," Tony replied.  He put his hands on the ladder and started climbing.  JoAnne followed shortly after, then Darryl and Shiana.  Luke, fully aware this was not likely to be as easy as just climbing, waited for the others.  It took him a minute before he realized that the ladder itself was moving, but downward, against their travel.  The bottom rung would slide into the floor, and the other rungs slid down as the people climbed.

"Guys, you might as well stop," he told them.  "You're not getting anywhere."

Tony looked up, and then down, and realized that Luke was right.  "Okay, everyone back down."

The ladder didn't fight them as they climbed down it, and soon they were all back on the floor.

"It was doing a treadmill thing," Luke explained.  "Once you got to a certain height, you weren't moving at all."

"Damn.  How do we get past this?"

"JoAnne, can you start climbing it again?  I want to watch what happens, to see at what point you stop making progress," Tony said.

JoAnne nodded and started back up the ladder.  After her feet were seven rungs up, the ladder started to move on her.

"Well, hell, how did we all manage to get on the ladder, if she can only go that far up?" Shiana asked.

"Darryl, start climbing after her."

Darryl nodded and grabbed the ladder.  As his foot hit the first rung, the ladder stopped moving.  Once his feet hit the seventh rung, however, the ladder once again prevented them from going any higher.

"So it will stay still as long as people are trying to get on it," Shiana said.  "But the ladder's too long.  There's only five of us, and we can't stretch out over the entire length of the ladder.  Besides, even if we could, once the first person got off, the rest would be stuck."

"Darryl, start climbing back down.  JoAnne, keep going."

Darryl made his way down, but Tony stopped him while he was standing on the bottom rung.  They all looked up to see that JoAnne was making her way to the top.

"Only one of us has to be stuck," Tony said.  "Everyone else can climb up while someone stands on the bottom rung."

"Great, so who do we lose from the team?  We have no way to pull them up the ladder..."

"Darryl, move up a couple rungs," JoAnne called down from her spot at the top of the ladder.  Once he did, she said, "Jailla?  Can you come here?"

Jailla had been flying along the hallway, allowing David to see what was going on .  He now flew over to JoAnne's shoulder.

"Can you perch on the bottom rung for a minute?"

Jailla bobbed his head, and flew off.  Shiana offered her hand to him, and then set him down on the bottom rung.

"Now try," JoAnne told Darryl.

Darryl started climbing, and he quickly made it past the spot he'd been stuck at before.  Seeing that, the others climbed onto the ladder, carefully avoiding Jailla.  In short order, they had all made it to the top, and were standing in another hallway.  Jailla soon joined them, perching on Shiana's shoulder because there wasn't really room in this hallway for him to fly.

The narrow hallway led into the distance, with no other options forward, so the group began slowly moving forward.

"I don't like this," Shiana said, her voice sounding nervous and tense.

"This is some kind of trap," Darryl agreed.

Jailla fluttered his wings uncomfortably.  He wanted to leave, but there was nowhere to go except back the way they'd come.

All of them began to feel disquieted, and the sensation increased as they moved forward.  Finally, when they were all literally shaking in anticipatory terror, they had to back off.

As they reached the ladder again, they began to feel more like themselves.

"What the hell was that?" Luke demanded.

"Fear field," JoAnne finally said.

"How the hell do they know how to erect one of those?" Shiana growled.  "I don't even know how you start to create one."

"You're not a curses kind of girl," Tony told her.  "It's advanced, but I've seen it done before.  I've just never actually experienced it."  He shuddered, remembering the stark terror he'd felt right before they turned back.

"How do we get past it?" Darryl wanted to know.  "I ain't going in there again, so don't bother to say we just have to gut it out."

"I'm not sure you could make it on sheer willpower," JoAnne told him.  "I think your body'd shut down from the fear."

The team mulled it over for a long time before finally, JoAnne grabbed her mirror again.  "David, you have any clue how to get past a fear field?"

"Just the one that's in the book," he replied.

"There's a counter-curse actually in the textbook?" Tony asked in surprise.

"You can't break the field," David told them.  "You have to charm yourself into being able to deal with it."

"And how do you do that?" Darryl demanded.

"You fight one hormonal response with another one.  If you want to fight fear, induce euphoria."

"An endorphin rush," JoAnne said suddenly, nodding.  "It'll even out.  If you're just insanely happy, the fear field should just knock you back down to about normal."

"Just make sure you cast it strong enough," David warned.

"Darryl?  Charms are your thing."

Darryl motioned everyone to group together, then he moved his hands in a wide circle.  As he finished the circle, he said, "Shatet dairmen."

Suddenly, each of them became almost giddy.  Jailla was chirping merrily, and all the others were fighting off the giggles.  For a long moment, they just stood there, grinning at each other.

Finally, Tony said, "Come on, we've gotta get past this before the charm wears off."

"Let's go!" Shiana enthused.  Everyone walked forward merrily.

As they progressed, they grew less and less happy.  By the time they'd reached the point where they had previously turned back, they felt about normal.

"I hope this thing doesn't continue too much farther," JoAnne said worriedly.  "If it does, the charm won't be able to hold it back."

The group pushed on, and finally they came to a place where the floor and walls were different.  As soon as they stepped onto the new floor, the fear lifted from them, and the giddyness returned.  It was, however, quite reduced by their time within the field.

Darryl removed the charm, because such feelings could prevent them from taking the remaining challenges seriously.  Everyone settled, looking slightly embarrassed at their feelings.  This was a normal effect of removing the spell, however, and so no one worried over it.

The hallway ended in a door.  Tony opened it and stepped through, only to come up short.

In front of him was a pit at least twenty feet deep.  This one was made of metal, preventing any use of terramandy.  Sprinkled throughout the pit were pillars fifteen feet high.  On top of each pillar stood a pole that had a circular platform on top of it, about eight inches across.

"Aw, crap," Darryl said.

"Balance poles," Shiana said nervously.  "I hate these things."

"We've got to get across the room," Tony said.  "It's just an obstacle, there's no magic here.  All we have to do is be careful."

"And if you slip?  That's a twenty foot fall.  That's liable to kill you," Luke objected.

"Anyone have any ideas?" Tony asked.

"What we need," JoAnne said slowly, "Is a way to keep the poles from wobbling."

"Even with that, they're far enough apart that you can't just step from one to the other.  We're gonna have to stretch to reach." Shiana said.

"So we need two spells," Tony said.  "One to keep the poles from falling... and one to keep us from falling."

"A balance spell," Darryl said.  "I know one."

"Okay, what about keeping the poles in place?"

"I'm not sure what to use to do that," Darryl admitted.

David, who had been watching through Jailla's eyes, spoke up.  "Why not just remove the poles from the exercise?"

"What do you mean?" JoAnne asked.

"Shove them off the pillars, and just walk on the pillars."

The others looked at each other, feeling rather dumb that they hadn't thought of that themselves.

"If they can be removed.  They might have their bases stuck down, and just be really flexible," Darryl said.

"Let's find out," Tony said.  He sat down on the edge of the walkway they were on, and kicked at the first balance pole.  It bent well over, pivoting from its base, but did not leave the pillar.

"Guess that's out," Shiana said.

"No, this is even better," Luke told them.  "There's plenty of room on the pillar for us to stand, even with the balance pole there.  We can actually use the poles to help us.  We hold on to the poles as we go across.  Between that and the balance charm, it should be a piece of cake!"

They all nodded at that.  Darryl cast the charm, and then Tony climbed down onto the first pillar.  Holding onto the balance poles, he stretched his legs, moving from pillar to pillar.  When he'd gotten a few pillars ahead, JoAnne started after him.

In just a few minutes, the entire team had made it across the pit, climbing up the last balance pole until they could reach the lip of the walkway and pull themselves up.

"That wasn't so bad," Luke said, looking back.

"How'd you like me to push you in?" Shiana offered sourly.

"Come on, guys.  We've got to keep going," Tony said.

After a couple turns, the new hallway also ended in a door.  Tony was a bit more careful opening this one, but all he saw was an empty room, with a door on the other side.

"I wonder what this is about?" Shiana considered out loud.

"I don't see anything.  No openings in the walls for things to come out of, no glowing spots or anything like that.  I don't even get much of a sense of magic here.  Maybe it's just a room," Tony offered.

"Right," Darryl replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Keep alert," Tony said, then started to walk across the room.  As he took steps, however, it seemed as though the far door retreated away from him.  By the time he'd taken ten steps, the door was at least thirty steps further away from him.  Tony turned to look at the others, who had remained by the door, just in case.  He walked back to them, and as he approached, the room shrank back.  When he reached them, the room had returned to its original size.

"Could it be just an illusion?" Shiana asked.

"Maybe, but I doubt it."

"I noticed as you were walking that, though the room got longer, it didn't get wider," Darryl said.

"Not sure how that helps.  We have to get to the far wall, not the side wall."

Darryl shrugged.  "Just letting you know what I saw."

JoAnne walked along the wall to the corner, and then started toward the far wall.  It was clear very quickly, however, that the room was still getting longer.

"Nope, no good," Tony told her.

Joanne sighed and then started walking across the room to rejoin the team.

"Hey!" Shiana said.  "Stop!"

JoAnne stopped and stared at Shiana.  "What?"

"The room's already back to its normal size."

"Can't be.  I'm still ten feet away," JoAnne objected.

"No, I think she might be right.  Keep walking back toward us."

They all paid close attention to the far wall.  They all swore it wasn't moving as JoAnne finished her trip back to join them.

"Who knows a distance measuring spell?" Tony asked.

"I do," Luke said.

"Let's do some tests," Tony said.  "Keep measuring the distance to the far wall as I walk."

Tony started out walking directly toward the far wall.  He took twenty steps.  When he'd finished, he turned and called out, "How far to the wall?"

"The room expanded about a hundred fifty feet."

"Okay," Tony said, and then walked back to them.  "Now I'm going to try to walk on a forty-five degree angle.  You keep measuring."

Tony used a charm to show a square on the floor in front of him.  He kept walking from corner to corner of the square, assuring he was always moving at a forty-five degree angle.  He stopped when he'd counted twenty steps.

"How much did the room expand this time?"

"About seventy feet," Luke said.  "That's way less."

"Yeah, but wait a minute," Darryl said.  "He's moved forward a lot shorter distance, too!"

"How much less?"

Rather than trying to figure out the math, Luke moved over and measured the distance to Tony.  "You've only gone about thirty-five feet toward the wall."

"Okay, let's try something then."

Tony came back, and then said, "I'm gonna walk straight at the wall.  You tell me when I get to thirty-five feet."

Luke watched the numbers that were floating in air, and called out when they got to thirty-five feet.

"Okay," Tony said.  "Now, how far away is the far wall?"

Luke refocused, and then said in astonishment, "It's an extra hundred and five feet, not seventy!"

"The angle makes a difference," Tony said as he walked back to them.  "Let's see if an even shallower angle will keep the room from expanding at all."

Through trial and error, the team discovered how to walk across the room.  They had to zig zag from one side wall to another eight times in order to keep the room from expanding out of control.  In the end, however, they made it to the far door.

"Shit, that sucked," Darryl said as they left the room.  "What's next?"

"Do you really want to know?" JoAnne asked.

"No," Darryl admitted.

The group moved forward down a hallway.  As they walked, they suddenly passed through an illusion.  What had appeared to be an extension of the hallway turned out to be a small room.

In the small room were two dire wolves.  As soon as the team was past the illusion, the wolves snarled and leapt at the team.

Tony stepped forward, raised his hands and shouted, "Prostativo!"  A shield of energy immediately appeared, glittering and sparkling in front of them.  The dire wolves hit the shield and were thrown backward.  They whined for a few seconds, then turned on the team and began snarling again.  They didn't attack, but snapped their jaws and gazed hungrily.

"Remember not to look them in the eyes," Luke said.  "You'll get paralyzed."

JoAnne stepped up next to Tony.  She held her hand out and closed her eyes, trying to reach out to the dire wolves.  She tried to force them to back down, but it wasn't working.  She couldn't control both of them at the same time.  Rethinking her tactics, she decided to focus on just one of them.  She pushed that wolf to attack the other.  After a minute, the wolf on the left turned and leapt at the wolf on the right, snapping his jaws and clawing.  The wolf on the right, now incensed, fought back hard.

"Come on, while they're distracted.  We keep the shield up, and move past them." JoAnne said.

The team stayed behind Tony, who moved forward, pivoting to always keep himself facing the two wolves.  His shield was flat, and if they got to his sides, they could get around it.

There was a hallway on the far side of the room, and once they were in the hall, Tony's shield completely blocked out the wolves, who were still fighting with each other in any case.  The team moved slowly, with Tony continuing to face backward, keeping the shield in place.

The team finally came to a door, and they quickly went through it, allowing Tony to collapse his shield and rest.

They all turned to see what was in front of them.  It was a dark hallway, with only a single light at the other end of it, illuminating the door which led out of the hall.

"I don't like this darkness.  It seems unnatural," Shiana said.

"You're probably right, but what choice do we have now?  It's either go down this hallway, or face the dire wolves again."

"You're right.  The hallway is fine," Shiana said immediately.  The others chuckled.

"We need to send just two of us at first," Luke offered.

"Why two?"

"So they can help each other if there's something bad in there."

"Right."

"I'll go," JoAnne said.

"I'll go with you," Luke offered.  She nodded at him.

JoAnne used lux to light their way, and they walked forward resolutely.  As they did, the others watched them go.  Soon, JoAnne's light started to grow dim.

"JoAnne!  Something's happening!" Tony said.  "You need to stop and come back!"

JoAnne started to turn, but as she did, her light went out entirely.  The team couldn't see her anymore.

"What the hell is this?" Shiana asked worriedly.

"Did she seem to be turning slowly to you?" Darryl asked Tony.

"You don't think..."

"Time dilation field."

"Shit.  How do you break a time dilation field?"

"I haven't got a fucking clue," Darryl said.  "Shiana?"

Shiana just shook her head, shivering.

Tony picked up his own mirror and called David.  "David?  We're looking at a time dilation field, we think.  Any idea how you break one of those?"

"The countercurse for a time dilation field is a lot of work," David said.  "I don't remember what it is, but I remember Prof. Phillips telling us it was damn near impossible for anyone other than a level one spellcaster."

"Shit.  Well, is there any other way through one?"

"Let me think," David said.  He closed his eye, trying to fight through the burning and the pain.  Finally he came up with something.  "You can use a time compression tunnel."

"I don't know how to do that," Tony objected.

David explained it to him in detail.  Tony nodded, and then said, "Hang on a second, let me see if I can make this work."

Tony tucked his mirror into his pocket, took out his wand and made a very complex series of moves.  Halfway through them, he called out, "Cucurbita tempus!"  As he finished the wand motions, a spinning circle of light appeared before him.  It moved away from him, down the hallway, expanding into a long tube.

As the tube of light reached JoAnne and Luke, JoAnne's lux spell reignited.  She looked startled, and Luke looked downright fearful.

"Come on," Tony said to the others.  They all ran down the hallway before the tunnel collapsed.

In no time, they were standing at the door.  Tony resolutely turned the knob and opened it, stepping into...

... an empty room.  The only thing in the room was a note tacked on one wall, and what appeared to be a rock lift in the corner.

JoAnne went over and read the note to the others.

"Dear Leadership League members:  We're sorry to have put you through so much trouble, but there is no trophy in this compound.  Your only reward for surviving our obstacle course is that we won't make you go back through it to get out.  The rock lift in the corner will carry you out of the compound.  Congratulations on your success... such as it was.  Sincerely, the Madchen Hall Leadership League."

"Those motherfucking assholes," Darryl snarled.  "All that fucking work for nothing!"

"Maybe David was right," JoAnne said.

"About?" Tony asked.

"He said there was the possibility that they'd create some setup like this one, and then end up hiding the trophy in some upperclassman's dorm room."

"They can't do that!" Shiana demanded.

"There's nothing in the rules against it," JoAnne said.  "I checked."

"Well, now what the fuck do we do?" Darryl demanded.  "How do we find the stupid thing if it can be anywhere on campus?"

"Any ideas, David?" JoAnne asked him through her mirror.

David lay back and thought, then got an idea.  He was glad he kept it in his Conjuring Room.  He pulled the Dalmajak Cynosure out of his CR, and then he conjured it into JoAnne's hand.  This caused him a bit of a headache, but he was in so much pain already that he hardly noticed.

"Ask it where the trophy is," He said to her, grimacing at a sudden wave of pain.

JoAnne squeezed the ball and said, "Where is the Melancon Trophy?"

The cynosure's rings spun wildly for several seconds, but then they evaporated back into the mist inside the ball.

"Well, what's that mean?" Shiana asked.

David said, "It means that the trophy isn't within a half-mile of where you're standing.  It means," he said, pausing for effect, "That Madchen Hall does not have the trophy."

"What the fuck?" Tony replied.  "They said they had it!"

David recalled the cynosure to his hand.  The pain was getting truly nasty now, so hoped he was almost done.  He squeezed the cynosure and inquired, "Where is the Melancon Trophy?"

The cynosure's rings spun wildly once more, but this time, they settled down onto a direction.  They were pointing to a place within the mountain.

"Guys... the trophy is still here someplace."

"No way!  They're not allowed to hide it on our campus!"

David shrugged.  "I can only tell you what the cynosure says.  In any case, I'd suggest you go ahead and leave there, and get back here."

"We'll be back at school tomorrow night.  We'll look for the trophy the day after."

David nodded.  He said, "If you don't mind, I really need some medicine, and some rest.  Tell Jailla I said great job.  The rest of you, too."

"Will do, David.  Get some sleep.  We'll talk to you later."

JoAnne fogged off, and David set down his mirror.  He returned the cynosure to his Conjuring Room, and then he laid his head back, closed his eye, and was immediately asleep.

"You can't possibly think you're ready for this," Annie objected fervently.

"I'm being accompanied by five of the best students at the school.  I'm not leaving the mountain, and I promise, I'll come right back when we're done, Mom."

The Leadership League chuckled, and Annie blushed.  "I don't like it, but okay.  But take some Naproxen Ghostium before you go, just to keep things in check."

David agreed, and Annie inserted a vial into his helmet.  David sighed at the reduction in pain, and then he reached out to JoAnne, who helped him off the bed.

David donned his coat, then reached in and grabbed his staff.  He extended that and set it on the ground.

"You expecting trouble?" Tony asked.

"Walking stick," David corrected.  "My balance is still a little funky.  Probably comes from having only one inner ear at the moment."

The group moved out of the infirmary, walking slowly so as not to tax David's abilities too much.  Once outside, he pulled out the cynosure and asked it for the direction to the trophy.  It was clearly pointing down into the depths of the mountain.

They took a rock lift down to the terrace level, but the arrow was still pointing well below horizontal.

"The only way I know to get into the depths of the mountain is through the entrance rock lift, and I don't know if those testing area passwords work unless they're doing testing," David said.  This wasn't completely truthful, but he'd promised not to talk about faculty housing.

"There's a passageway underneath Santana Hall," Shiana said.

"What?" David inquired in shock.

"Yeah.  It leads back from the orchestra pit.  I found it a few years ago.  I didn't explore too far, because I didn't want to get lost inside the mountain, but it's easy to get to, if you know it's there.  They did a pretty good job of hiding it."

"Then how did you find it?" Luke asked.

"By accident.  I was carrying my cello and tripped.  I grabbed at a little decoration that was on the wall to keep myself from falling.  The little decoration turned, and a passage opened up."

David shook his head at the weird ways things got discovered.  "Well, let's try that, then," he said.

"Can you walk that far?" JoAnne asked.

"Don't have much choice," David replied.  "I'll be okay.  It's not my leg he shot."

The group entered Santana Hall, and went down into the orchestra pit.  Shiana walked along, trying to turn every decoration until she found the right one.  The cynosure still pointed downward, but they knew that the inside of the mountain had all sorts of passages.

Once they entered the mountain's interior, they did their best to follow the cynosure's arrow.  It took them two hours, but they finally came to a small room with a locked door.

"Avata," David said, tapping the lock with his wand.  The door clicked, and he pulled it open.

Inside, sitting on a table, was the Melancon Trophy, and another note.

JoAnne picked up this note, as well, and read it to the group.  "Dear Woodward Academy:  So sorry to have moved your precious trophy.  We imagine you will have wasted an awful lot of time trying to steal it back from us.  Perhaps you should have paid a little closer attention to the League notifications.  We realize this was kind of petty, but then, so is the competition, isn't it?  Signed, The Madchen Hall Marauders."

"What fucking jerks," Darryl growled.

David shook his head.  "I see what they're doing."

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"Don't you see?  They knew they couldn't compete for any length of time.  Not just with us, but with three or four other schools.  Sooner or later, they'd have lost the trophy.

"So, what they're trying to do is prove how pointless the trophy is, instead.  They want to get rid of it as a benchmark for excellence."

"Why?" Luke asked.

"Madchen Hall is the newest college in Callamandia.  They know that to raise a really first-rate team is going to take decades, because they're going to have to build up their reputation slowly.  But they don't want to wait fifty years to be considered one of the best.  If they destroy the old system, their name will be down as the school that forced a new methodology on the kingdom."

"But... their team is pretty damned good.  I mean, they kept us from getting past them twice.  We probably wouldn't have gotten past them the third time without your help."

David shrugged.  "Insecurity breeds bad actions.  They assumed they weren't as good as you are.  Their plan proceeded from that assumption.  I'm sure Marcus Savolar helped them find and move the trophy in the first place, which really added to their inferiority complex; they'd needed the help of a former Woodward student to get their hands on the trophy in the first place."

"This has got to be a serious violation of the rules," Tony said.  "I'm going to file a formal complaint."

"You'd better check the rules closely before you do," JoAnne said.  "If we complain, and they are within the rules of the competition, then it makes things look even worse."

Tony nodded.

"In any case," David said, "Let's find a way out of here.  I'm getting rather tired."  Pulling out the cynosure again, he squeezed it and said, "The quickest way to the terrace."

The rings spun, and the arrow pointed, and the group followed.

"You mean, this crap is legal?" Tony asked incredulously.

David said, "According to the League officials, what they did is perfectly legal... because they didn't actually do anything."

"What?" Darryl demanded.

"You remember the line in that note they left that said you should have paid closer attention to the League notifications?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, here they are, from last summer.  Notification one: Madchen Hall announces their intent to attempt to gain the trophy.  Notification two: Woodward Academy acknowledges the loss of the trophy.  Notification three: Woodward Academy announces their intent to attempt to regain the trophy from Madchen Hall.  Notice something missing?"

"Not really," Tony admitted.

Shiana suddenly jumped up.  "They never said they had the trophy!"

"Right," David said.  "Madchen Hall never claimed to have taken the trophy.  They never once acknowledged a success in stealing the trophy from Woodward Academy.  This is, of course, accurate, because they never took the trophy off our campus.  They didn't do anything, except try to steal the trophy.  Since they didn't do anything, their actions cannot be outside the rules."

"But... they did steal the trophy.  They just... uh... gave it back in a weird way," Luke objected.

"The rules state that until the school actually gets the trophy back to their own campus, they haven't successfully taken it.  They never took it off Woodward Academy grounds, so they never successfully took the trophy.  According to the rules, Woodward actually lied when we said that we'd lost the trophy, because it was still here."

"But we didn't know that," Tony objected.

"Right, which is why the League isn't coming down on us for it, but they also cannot do anything to Madchen Hall.  As underhanded as their tactics seem, they were well within the rules of the competition.  The League never contemplated a school that would simply try to discredit the competition itself."

"So... now what?" JoAnne asked.

"Now nothing," David replied.  "Put the trophy in a good hiding place and go on with your lives.  I'd suggest you find a place to put it that no one knows about."

"Well, shit.  Anyway, thanks, David, for all your help," Tony said.  He shook David's hand and then he, and most of the rest, left.  JoAnne stayed behind.

"Thanks for what you did.  And for loaning us Jailla.  He helped in ways that even having you on the mirror couldn't do."

David nodded.  "Say, I have a question."

"Sure."

"I thought each League team was supposed to be ten people.  How come there are only five of you?"

"Six, including you.  The other four are purely defensive in nature, according to the rules.  Ten people can act as defenders, but you can only send up to six people on offense."

"Oh.  Makes sense, I suppose... somehow..."

JoAnne grinned.  "To someone."

David nodded, and stifled a yawn.  "Anyway, at least the trophy's back, and people can stop worrying about Woodward's reputation."

"Yeah," JoAnne said.  "I'd give you a kiss to thank you, but I don't want to kiss a helmet."

David chuckled.  "I'll take a rain check."

"You got it.  Get some rest."

JoAnne headed off, and David lay back on the bed.  His head still burned, and the pain was still awful.  He'd started to feel a new pain earlier, and he thought that perhaps his left eye had grown back, and was trying to reconnect itself.  There was nothing for him to do about it except wait for it.  He'd already taken as much Naproxen Ghostium as he dared.

His mind mulled over the recent events with the Leadership League, along with all of the other things that had happened to him in the last several months.  He wasn't happy with things.  He'd have to find a way to improve the situation.

Before he came up with anything at all, he was asleep.

"I don't know that I like you leaving just yet," Annie told David.

"Annie, c'mon.  There's nothing more you can do.  I can come in once a day to have you change the antibiotics tube and the NG tube.  The chance that something serious is going to happen to me is almost nil.  And, frankly, I'm about to go out of my mind just lying here.  I need something to do.  It's much easier to bring me to my work than to bring my work to me."

"But how will you know when to remove the helmet?"

"How will you know?" David replied, a tone of challenge in his voice.

Annie just kind of stared at him.  "I hadn't actually figured that out yet."

David chuckled.  "I figured it out days ago."

"Oh?"

"When I can fade voluntarily again, I can remove the helmet.  Right now, I can't fade except at sunset and sunrise.  When the pain is gone and I've healed, I'll be able to fade again, and then I can take off this damnable helmet."

"I'm sorry.  I know it's uncomfortable," she said.

"No, Annie.  I'm sorry I forced you to witness what happened so closely.  I should have just told them to immediately bring me back to the school.  Then one of the king's healers would have had the initial shock."

Annie put her hands on his arms.  "I'm proud to be the one who treated you, David.  I just wasn't quite prepared for the... well, the mess."

David snorted.  "That's one way to put it.  In any case, I'm still sorry you had to see it, and I'm very grateful for all your help.  But I can't stay in here until I'm healed.  I'll go batty.  And you don't need to have someone tying up your infirmary needlessly."

"Okay, okay.  I just don't like letting patients go until they're fixed."

"Well, I'll stick to campus until I'm better.  Is that good enough?"

"I'd feel better," she admitted.

"It's a deal."

Annie gave him a hug, then he headed out the door.  He was using a cane because his balance hadn't yet corrected itself.

Jailla immediately joined him as David stepped outside.  "Is this a short walk, or are we going somewhere?" Jailla asked.

"I'm going back to the office.  There's no point in me sitting in there all day."

Jailla bobbed his head in agreement.

"Besides, I'm sure Sheila's got twenty pounds of paperwork waiting for me."

Jailla twittered in amusement.

"David?" Tanya called from the outer office.

David rose, happily setting aside the paperwork he'd been doing all afternoon.

"What's up?" he asked, annoyed at how his voice sounded from within the helmet.

"We've got a report of a fight going on.  Sounds like gang activity.  How do you want to handle it?"

David was immediately angry that this problem was still plaguing them.  "Dammit, I've had it with this shit.  Okay, let's make use of my deformity."

"Huh?"

David walked back into his office, pulled his wand, and morphed his coat into a cape.  It darkened from its deep blue color to full black.  Next, he looked in the mirror, and morphed his clothing, including the helmet, so that they, too, were all black.

As he donned his cape, he looked at Tanya.  "I'm not tall enough, really, to pull off Darth Vader, but we'll give it a shot."

"I wouldn't want to mess with you," she said, looking at him.

"Good.  Bring everyone, and let's go."

The group walked out of Fensterman Hall and across the terrace, marching in step.  The fight was in front of Byron Hall, so they didn't have that far to go.  They could see the fight happening, and it was clear that the rest of the team wanted to run to the scene, but were forcing themselves to stay behind David, who continued his march.

When David was about a hundred feet away, he picked a clear spot in the middle of the fighting, pulled his wand, and shouted, "Valk tohuto!"

A lightning bolt bright enough to light up the entire area leapt from David's wand and arced across the sky.  It impacted the ground among the fighters, and the thunderclap it caused threw all of them off their feet.  The closest ones to the blast felt the tingles of the electricity that had just passed by them.

David had not stopped marching as he cast the spell, and so he was upon the fighters long before any of them had a chance to rise.

"Surround them," David ordered his team.  The security troops immediately encircled the entire lot of them.

"What the fuck are you supposed to-" one of the fighters, obviously a Clan member, started to remark snidely.

"Silence," David said in a tone that warned of immediate serious injury if the order was not followed.  The guy stopped talking.

"You will rise, and separate into your factions," David said.  "Now.  You can stay where you are," he said to the one unconscious fighter.  His security team chuckled.

"All of you, roll up your sleeves," David demanded.

The people on one side of the fight did so immediately.  None of them had Clan tattoos.

On the other side, the obvious leader said, "What if we don't?"

David turned his gaze on him.  Because of the helmet, David's gaze was less menacing, but more impenetrable, than before.  He said, in a voice that echoed darkly, "Then you will no longer have arms inside the sleeves.  I am no longer toying with you Clan types.  You can do what you're told, or you can suffer severe consequences.  It's your choice."

"You can't threaten us like that!" another person said, meanwhile rolling up his sleeves.

"Would you prefer I have you arrested and sent to Barnard Hill for the next two to four years?  You are a member of The Clan," he said, pointing to the tattoo on the man's arm, "And have committed a violent act.  That is an imprisonable offense.  Now shut your trap before I have all of you jailed, instead of just expelled."

The Clan members sensed that this time, it was different, that it was not in their best interests to talk back.  They all remained silent.

David turned to the other group, recognizing several of them.  "Who were you supposedly protecting this time?" he demanded.

"The entire school," the apparent leader said.  "We're not going to let these bastards ruin our school again."

"You're not going to let?" David said coldly.  "Who gave you any authority to allow or deny anything?  You are students.  You do not have the right to tell others what to do."

"But-" the guy tried to say.

"Shut your mouth," David snapped.

The guy stopped talking quickly.

"You have all been put in detention several times over this.  You don't seem to be getting the message.  You are just another gang.  You claim to be serving the school, but violence on school grounds doesn't serve anyone.  Now, you will all go before the Board of Discipline.  I'm considering whether to ask for your expulsion."

"You can't do that!" One of them said.  "We were trying to help!"

"No, you were trying to feel important.  If you had been trying to help, you would have petitioned to join the DIRT Auxiliary.  But you didn't want to have to abide by any actual rules.  You just wanted to go and beat up people you disagree with.  That is exactly what they're doing."

The group before him mumbled and murmured, but no one offered a rebuttal.  They were afraid of making David angrier.

David turned to Tanya.  "Mirror Dean Lengel.  Ask her to bring the Board of Discipline down here.  There are simply too many here even to fit into the conference room in Beckett Hall."

Tanya nodded, and stepped away to make the call.

"Collect their wands," David told two of his officers.  Wands were surrendered quite unwillingly on both sides, but no one dared challenge the entire security team with David in the mood he was clearly in.

It took fifteen minutes for the dean to show up with the Board.

"Who are... David?" she asked the black-clad, helmeted figure before her.

"Madame Dean," he said, bowing slightly to her in respect.  She could hear the iron control in his voice, and knew that he was pissed off, but trying to be polite.

"What happened here, Chief Stroud?" she asked.  She used his title to aid him in keeping control of his anger, knowing that reminding him of his position would also remind him of the limits he was supposed to operate within.

"A gang war, Madame Dean," he replied.  "The Clan and The Vigilantes have apparently declared open warfare on each other.  This time, there wasn't even a victim to be ostensibly protecting."

"How did the fight start?" she asked.

"We don't know.  We were contacted by a student about a fight in progress.  When we arrived, they were fully engaged."

"And why do they all look a bit as if they've just seen a ghost - no offense?"

David smirked at that, but she, of course, could not see it.  He replied.  "Valk tohuto settled them down, but I fear it may have frizzed some hairdos."

Dean Lengel couldn't hide the giggle that elicited.  "I see.  Were any of your officers injured?"

"No.  There was no combat between us.  They had not recovered from the lightning strike before we had them surrounded, and they were smart enough not to test my self-control."

"Uh-huh," she said.  "Do we have witnesses to who started the fight?" she asked, raising her voice to the students who were present, watching the goings-on.

Several students stepped forward, giving their account of the confrontation, which turned out to be a mutually hostile action.

"Does the Board need to confer?" Dean Lengel asked.

Prof. Edgards, who was head of the Board at this point, looked to the others, who all whispered to him.  He turned back to her, and in his creepy monotonous voice, replied, "No, Madame Dean.  They are all guilty of violence toward other students.  We leave punishment in your hands."

"Chief Stroud?  Your recommendations?"

"Everyone from this group must be expelled, according to current policy.  They all either have Clan tattoos, or were fighting on the side of the Clan, making them implicit gang members."

"Agreed.  Each of you will pack your bags and be off school grounds within the hour.  I will know if you're not."

"Escort them to their dorms," David said, indicating six security officers.  They nodded, and led The Clan members away.

"Now, as for The Vigilantes," David said, "they have become a gang in their own right.  This fight puts them squarely in organized gang territory."

"I would have to agree," Dean Lengel said.  "But, though they went about it in completely the wrong way, they were at least attempting to aid the school, rather than harm it..."

"Yes, though rather stupidly," David agreed.

"So... any suggestions?"

"Send them home."

"You want to expel them, too?"

David shook his head.  "I didn't say expel them.  I said send them home.  There are only a few more weeks in the school year.  Detention won't teach them anything, as it obviously hasn't gotten through to them before.  Perhaps their parents will be able to communicate a bit more... directly... than we can what is and isn't appropriate behavior."

"So... you would allow them to return in the fall?"

"Yes."

"But, hey!" one of them objected loudly.  "We'd miss exams and stuff!"

"Yes, you will," David replied.  "Including, for many of you, your licensing exam.  You will also fail all of your classes for this semester.  Perhaps the extra year of schooling might help you understand that there is a right way and a wrong way to go about trying to help."

Dean Lengel considered for a long moment.  Finally she said, "It's unorthodox, but I like it.  Very well, I will contact each of your parents to have you transported home.  Until then, you will be held in detention housing."

David motioned the rest of the team to escort them off to the detention house.  This left Dean Lengel and David alone, as the Board of Discipline left quickly.

"You seem upset," she said.

"I'm sick and tired of this Clan shit.  And The Vigilantes were only making it worse."

Dean Lengel nodded.  "And... what's with the outfit?"

"An outward expression of my inner annoyance," he replied after a moment's thought.  Dean Lengel chuckled.  "I'm stuck wearing this helmet.  I figured I'd use it to my advantage.  I'd say it worked fairly well; it's the first time they've not challenged us more obstinately."

"This could be because you remind people of the Grim Reaper," she said.

"And yet I'm the same person inside this damn thing as I am outside it."

Dean Lengel shrugged.  "People react more... viscerally to things they see."

"I guess.  In any case, unless you need me for something else, I still have about three days of paperwork to catch up on."

"Only three days?"

"I was talking about how long it's going to take me to get it done," he said.

Dean Lengel laughed.  "Okay, I'll let you get back to your paperwork.  Good job dealing with this one, David.  Only one real injury, and that one's not serious.  You did well controlling your anger.  I could hear how upset you were when I arrived."

"Thank you for helping me calm down," he said.

Dean Lengel nodded.  "That's what friends are for.  Have a good day."

"You too."

"Here for your daily treatment?" Annie asked as David entered the infirmary.  She was currently treating a second-year who had been caught in a potion eruption.

"I can wait until you're done," he said, leaning against a nearby bed.

Annie continued what she was doing until the young lady on the bed was healed up.  "Okay, it's going to itch for a day or so.  Try not to scratch it.  It won't make the potion worse, but it'll damage your skin.  Here's some anti-itch potion that should help."

"Thanks, Healer Hall," the girl said.  Annie nodded, then helped her up off the bed.

As the girl left, Annie turned to David.  "So, do you need Naproxen Ghostium today?  You've been going without it on occasions."

"Before we go with treatment, I want to try to fade," he said.

"Okay," she replied, nodding.

David closed his eyes - both of them were functioning normally now - and crossed his arms over his chest.  He exhaled sharply.

A huge wave of crushing pain washed over David.  He cried out as he fell to the floor.  Annie shouted in alarm and rushed to his side, but there was nothing she could do for him.

As David opened his eyes, he looked down at himself.  He was, once more, see-through.  He had been able to fade.

"Holy shit," he gasped.  "Fading after an injury usually hurts a bit more, but damn."

David reached out, and Annie held out her hand.  He gripped it and pulled himself upright, then sat on the bed.  Closing his eyes once more, he faded back to solid form.  The discomfort was still greater than normal.

"Do you have some kind of bandage ready, just in case this isn't one hundred percent healed?" David asked.

"I have the usual things I would use on a normal student," she confirmed.

"Okay.  Then let's get this damned thing off me."

"You sure?"

"I'm pretty sure that if it's not healed, it's close enough," he said.  "I haven't been dizzy in days, I can use both eyes, and it hasn't hurt at all today until now.  Now I have a splitting headache."

Annie nodded.  She ran her wand along the helmet, starting on the left side of his neck, going up and over the top of his head, and then back down to the right side of his neck.  This unsealed the seam of the helmet, which was built in two parts.

"Can you hold up the front half?  I want to release the back part first.  That will show me if you're healed."

David grunted, then put his hands up to the face of the helmet.  Annie slipped her fingers under the back edge of the helmet, and lifted upward.  There was a very slight hiss as the pressure inside the helmet let loose.  The helmet was hinged at the very top, so she pivoted the back clear of David's head.

"Well?" David asked.

"You're not completely healed, but what's here just needs to be covered with a bandage."

"Good.  Get this thing off me."

Annie pulled forward now, and the helmet pulled free of David's head.  As Annie went and set the helmet on a table, David pulled out his mirror and looked at what was left.

I wonder...

David faded himself back to ghost form.  It hurt like hell.  He stayed that way and watched the wound on his head.  He could actually see the healing progress as he watched.

Annie, likewise, saw what he was doing.  She watched in awe as the damage to his head just disappeared, until his hair was grown back, just as before, and it looked as though he'd never had an injury.

Once that process was finished, David faded back to solid form.  "Ugh.  Now, that was roughly a normal post-injury fade."

"So what happened earlier..." Annie started.

David finished for her.  "Was that I wasn't ready to fade yet.  Apparently what must happen with demighosts is, the more injured we are, the more difficult and painful it is for us to fade by force, until, at some point, it's so difficult, or maybe just so outright painful, that we can't do it at all."

"So, are you back to normal now?" she asked.

David faded back and forth a few times.  "Yep, seems to be all better."

Annie sighed.  "Good.  I didn't like seeing you that way.  You've spent enough time in here over the years."

David smiled at her, then reached out and gave her a hug.  "Thanks for fixing me up, Annie."

"My pleasure."

"You know what I want now?" he asked.

"What?"

"A cheeseburger.  I haven't been able to eat anything for weeks!"

Annie laughed as David made his way out of the infirmary and stright to the cafeteria.  It was dinner time.

"Are you ready?" the page asked him.

"Do I look it?" David replied with nervousness.

"No, sir," the page replied with a grin.

"Damn.  Well, guess you have to open the doors anyway."

"Yes, sir."  The page motioned to the two guards at the door.  They grabbed the door handles and stepped aside, opening the doors wide and clearing the way for David to enter the throne room.

Jailla immediately left David's shoulder to find a suitable perch from which to watch the spectacle.  David looked down and examined himself once more, surrpetitiously making sure his zipper was closed.  His uniform was spotless and his Rimohr badge gleamed, the brownies had shined it so well.  With more than a little trepidation, David stepped into the room.

"Ten-hut!" a voice bellowed.  In front of David, on either edge of the red carpet, a row of infrantry wizards suddenly snapped to attention.

"Render colors!" the voice bellowed.  The wizards lifted their wands to horizontal, and suddenly, lines of crimson light connected them in a diamond pattern.  Once the wands were all connected, the voice yelled, "Salute!"  The wizards raised their wands to vertical, right in front of their faces.  The pattern of lines now arced, forming a red tunnel along the carpet.

"Please proceed," a voice said quietly to David.  The voice was the same that had seconds before been bellowing orders.

David could not help but march down the red carpet.  He paused for a second at the near end of the tunnel, but then continued through it.  The room remained utterly silent as he walked, though there were, he estimated, two to three hundred people present in the throne room.  Off to the side with the windows, he saw familiar faces.

The first face he saw was Dean Lengel.  He wasn't surprised she was here, nor did Sam's presence shock him.  None of the other teachers had come, but then, it was a class day, so it would have been difficult for them to make it.

Olissa, Flo, Gwen and Jess were all standing next to Dean Lengel, and he was happy they were there to support him through this ordeal.  The ceremony might have been in David's honor, but he would just as happily have done without it.

Standing on the other side of his school friends, David saw Garibaldi and Vivian, as well as Commandant Lasard, from the Rimohr Academy, the Bolmont District Chief, and Commissioner Hirsch.

Separated from the humans by a short distance stood others, who he assumed were dignitaries of some kind.  They represented each race governed within Callamandia.  There was a contingent from the centaurs, the dwarves, the lamias, and several people who looked human, but who apparently weren't.  Later he'd find out these represented the weres, the vampires, and a few other human-looking races.  There was also a large contingent of fairies.

As David arrived at the king, he stopped.  He had been ordered by the director of protocol not to kneel, so he instead bowed his head to his king.

The king, who had risen from his throne as soon as David had entered the crimson tunnel, now walked down the steps to be even with David.  Once there, he reached out his hand.

David, staring in befuddlement, reached out and shook the hand of the king.  Once that had been done, the king took David gently by the arm, and walked him up to stand on the dais beside the king.  The queen, whom David had never met before, was sitting on her throne, as well.  She smiled at him before he turned to face the crowd.

"Assembled guests," the king intoned.  His voice filled the room magically, making sure that no word went unheard.  "We are here today to honor a man who, without regard for his own personal safety, has served our kingdom bravely, boldly, and substantially.

"Some might say it is only to be expected.  After all, this man is a Rimohr.  But let us not forget that Rimohrs are not Callamandian officers.  His job imposes on him no duty to protect Callamandia specifically, nor its king.

"Yet this man is a Callamandian citizen, and when made aware that there was an imminent threat to my life, he did not hesitate to offer his service in my defense."

Like hell I didn't hesitate, David thought to himself.

"When faced with an attack the likes of which our usual magical protections were unable to prevent, David Stroud stepped forward, presented a plan, and carried it out.  In so doing, he saved my life, at the expense of weeks of pain and suffering on his part.  He is only able to stand here before us at all because this man, more courageous than many, and more resolved than most... is also more than a man.  He is a demighost.

"Yes, a demighost," the king said to the gasps from those in the crowd who didn't already know this.  "David Stroud stands before us as absolute proof that no group of people as a whole is evil.  No group as a whole can be written off.  It is thanks to this man that our friends the lamias, long a pariah race in Callamandia, can stand here among us as equals and citizens.  It is thanks to this man that vampires, a wrongly maligned race, need not feed on blood nearly so often.  And it is because of this man, this demighost, that I am able to stand here before you today.

"It is only right and fitting that the crown should be thankful for any service rendered to it, especially if that service is personal.  But how does one show their gratitude when the service rendered is so vital?

"Firstly, for his acts in saving the king of Callamandia, the kingdom awards David Stroud a chevron.  This will be his third in recognition of service to his country.

"Second, from the queen and I, David Stroud will be awarded one crescent, for personal services to the king, in keeping my head where it belongs."

There were chuckles from the crowd at that.

"Finally, in consultation with the royal military and the palace guards, let it be decreed that David Stroud has been bestowed the honorary title of Royal Paladin.  May we all aspire to his bravery, commitment, integrity, and service."

The military officer in the back now bellowed, "Full salute!"

The wizards forming the tunnel all shoved their wands upward, toward the ceiling.  The crimson light lines flared, and then burst, filling the room with brilliant light.  The crowd applauded strongly, and there were cheers from those who knew David personally.

The king turned to David.  "Thank you."

"My honor, Your Majesty," David said.  It had not, after all, been his "pleasure" to get shot in the head.

The queen finally rose from her throne and approached David.  "Thank you from me, as well," she said.  She took his hand gently, and then leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Just doing my duty, Your Majesty.  A pleasure to finally meet you."

The queen nodded at him, then moved off.  A page suddenly appeared at David's side.

"I'm here to escort you to the reception."

David rolled his eyes, but followed the boy along the dais to a side door, then down a hallway and into a large ballroom.  The others, who had to leave the throne room through the public entrance, were just now beginning to trickle in.  David grabbed some punch.  His throat was dry from nervousness.

Jailla suddenly thumped down onto David's shoulder.  "You are certainly collecting titles," Jailla told him with an amused chirp.

"Hush, you," David said good naturedly.

Olissa was the first to make her way over to him.  Flo and Gwen were close behind.

"Congratulations, sir," she said quietly, then wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss.  David enjoyed it, but they kept it brief, since they were in public.

"Three chevrons and a crescent," Gwen said.  "Not bad.  You've nearly matched Lord Woodward, and you haven't even had a war to fight in!"

"Yet," David muttered.

"Huh?" Gwen asked, not having heard him.

"Nothing, don't worry about it.  Aren't you guys missing class?"

"They have a note from the dean," Emile said, appearing suddenly.  She gave David a hug.  "We're all very proud of you, and I couldn't deny them the right to come down here and see you get recognized."

Sam said, "And Royal Paladin, wow.  I've never known nobility before."

"Nobility?" David asked.

"Paladin is a bit like a British knighthood," Olissa explained.  "No real power behind it, but it is a highly respected position.  A lot harder to get than the current knighthood, however."

"Hmph.  Last thing I want to be is Sir David."

They all chuckled at that.

"Excuse me, I think someone's waiting to talk to me," David said.  He excused himself from his school friends, to greet Kiorin, the lamia whose daughter he'd slept with.

"Kiorin, how are you?  I hardly expected to see you here."

Kiorin hugged him and gave him a brief kiss.  "The king wanted every race represented.  Larentis is our leader.  Technically, I'm her second in line... though there's so little governing in the lamia clan that I don't actually do anything."

"Well, I'm glad to see you again.  How are things?  How is Kielin?"

"Pregnant, finally."

"It took this long?"

"She's been sustaining herself with sterile men.  It took this long to find a willing partner."

"Are you sure she was 'sustaining' herself, and that she didn't just like having sex?"

Kiorin grinned widely.  "No, I'm not at all sure of that."

David chuckled.

"I don't want to keep you from the others," Kiorin said.  "I did want to congratulate you, though.  You have much to be proud of."

"Thank you."

As Kiorin moved off, the Rimohr contingent approached.  Joe said, "Nice work, sport.  You planning to get back to work now?"

"Nice.  I get shot in the head, and he doesn't even come to visit, then badgers me to get back to work," David said to Vivian, obviously teasing him.

"Well, somebody had to do all that work you normally do.  Took him three times as long, too," she said, extending the prod.  Vivian had visited David several times during his recovery.

"Great.  Is this what I'm in for when you get back?" Joe grumped.

"You bet.  I have three weeks' worth of harassing you to catch up on."

"I think I need a vacation," Joe said, to general laughter.

David turned to one of the others.  "Commissioner, nice to meet you, sir."

The Commissioner shook David's hand.  "Good work, Stroud.  You're doing the agency proud."

"Thank you, sir."  He shared similar useless pleasantries with his district chief and the commandant, as well.

After the Rimohr brass had left, Zyla, who had come with Joe, stepped up.  She gave David a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"The hug is from Grace," she explained with a smile.

"What, no hug from you?" David said, feigning distress.

Zyla grinned, and hugged him again.

"How are things going?" David asked semi-seriously.

"Things are fine.  Grace is growing like a weed, and the healer says she's perfectly healthy. There've been no problems lately."

"That's good."

David continued to chat on and off with his friends, as well as other guests who dropped by mainly in the hopes that he would remember that they dropped by, he was sure.

After the reception had been going on for about an hour, a page appeared at David's elbow.

"The king would like to speak to you briefly," he said.

David excused himself from chatting with the centaur leader, and followed the page out of the ballroom, across the hall into an office.  It was the first working room in the castle that David could really relate to.  The king was sitting behind a large, ornate desk.

"Paladin Stroud, as you requested, Your Majesty," the page announced.

"David, please have a seat.  Thank you, Jonathan, you can go."

David sat down uncomfortably.  This was a highly unusual situation for him to be in, sitting one-on-one with the king of Callamandia, no guards, no other personnel.

"I know, from hearing about your history, plus some overheard comments in the reception, that the decorations and title don't really mean much to you."

"I'm quite honored, Your Majesty, I assure you," David objected.

The king waved his hand.  "I didn't say you didn't appreciate the gesture, just that you don't care that much about them.  Personally, I think that speaks well of you.  You didn't do what you did to be recognized."

"I did it because it had to be done, sir," David replied.

"Right.  And that, as I said, speaks well of you.  So.  I also know you have absolutely no need of monetary reward.  You're probably richer than I am," the king joked.  "So what can I do to say thank you for what you did in a way that would actually matter to you?"

"Sir, you don't have to-"

The king cut him off.  "I know I don't have to.  I didn't have to do anything we did out there, either.  But it's important to me that I reward people who serve me and the kingdom beyond what is normally expected of them.  So.  What can I do?"

David sat for a long moment, thinking.  Finally, he said, "Your Majesty, with the looming threat from the north, my primary concern is for the safety of my home and family, both of which reside on Mt. Woodward.  Anything you could do to protect them from what we believe is coming...  I don't want to turn the school into a military post, but..."

"I think I know just the thing," the king said immediately.  "Something that can aid in the school's defense, and won't even really look out of place."

"That would be more than thanks enough for me, sir."

"You love that school, don't you?" the king asked, not derisively.

"It's my home," David said simply.

"I was under the impression you had several houses, including a very large estate in Bolmont."

"Those are my houses, Your Majesty.  Woodward is my home."

The king nodded seriously.  "We will do what we can to protect it.  The new security will be there the day after you return."

David nodded in understanding.  "Thank you, Your Majesty.  I couldn't ask for anything more than that."

The king reached across, and they shook hands again.  With that, David returned to the reception.

David had been informed through a mirror call that the new security that he'd requested would be arriving at Woodward Castle shortly.  David invited Tanya and Dean Lengel to accompany him up to the castle.  They climbed all the way to the top of the south tower, where they found Lord Woodward gazing out over the land.

"Good afternoon, Paladin," Lord Woodward said.  "Madame Dean, Miss."

"Good afternoon, Lord Woodward," David said.  "We're expecting... something... soon."

"Yes, I know.  I got the word from one of the ghosts who haunts the royal clerk's office."

"Do you know what's coming?" Dean Lengel asked.

"Yes.  And so do you, now," Lord Woodward said, gesturing to the south.

In the south, flying toward them, were several creatures which they could not identify.

"Are those dragons?" Tanya asked.

"I doubt it," David replied.  The three watched as the beings got closer.  The first of them arrived and landed on the outer wall of the castle, crouching down on top of the parapets and seemingly turning to stone, they sat so rigidly.

Others of them landed on the castle roof, taking up similar posts.  The four remaining flew, two each, to the towers.  The largest of them landed on the edge of the tower and looked at the people standing there.

"Paladin Stroud?" the gargoyle asked.

"That's me," David said uncomfortably.

"My name is Goliath.  We are gargoyles.  We are here to protect Mt. Woodward.  We stand guard.  If the castle is attacked, we will defend it.  Until that time... we will watch."

"Thank you," David told him.  With that, the gargoyle turned, faced out over the land, crouched down on top of the parapet he was standing on, and silently turned to stone.

"He sent us gargoyles?" Dean Lengel asked.  "These are some of the fiercest fighters in the land.

"I asked him to protect my home," David said.  "I guess he took me seriously."

"Why do we need this kind of protection, David?  What do you know?" Tanya asked.

With a look at Dean Lengel, David said to Tanya, "What I know is very little.  What I'm worried about is a whole other issue."