James Ward - Pool of Twilight

"Can't one of you blasted spellcasters do something?" Trooper snapped. "I've already had my bath this year!"

Both Evaine and Listle were powerless. Kern swore. Somehow he had to get that staff.

The waters of the pool frothed angrily. Something began to rise out of the depths, something huge. Gray foam ran from its sides as it lifted higher and higher, reaching toward the cavern's heights.

Sirana.

The gigantic, misshapen form of the half-fiend sorceress stood a full fifty feet high. Twilight-colored specks danced beneath her skin like stars gone mad. She reached out colossal arms.

"Fight me now, wyrm!"

The dragon screamed and once again plummeted toward her. The companions could only watch in dread fascination as the two titans grappled with each other. They had their own troubles. Inch by inch, they continued to be lowered toward the surface of the pool.

Dusk's claws raked Sirana's body, and searing magic crackled through the dragon. The reek of burned flesh filled the cavern. Dusk ignored the pain. The dragon's snapping jaws closed on Sirana's throat. At the same moment, a dozen spikes of brilliant magic punched through Dusk's body like white-hot spears. Neither monster dared to loose its hold on the other as they began to sink.

Locked in a fatal embrace, dragon and gigantic sorceress disappeared into the pool of twilight.

The torpid waters closed over them with a gurgling sound, silencing their inhuman screams. A ripple spread across the pool's surface. Then all was still.

Kern shook his head in amazement. Evil really does destroy itself, he thought.

Now, to free his friends, who hovered only a few inches above the surface of the pool. Quickly, he shed his armor and stood on the edge of the basin.

"Are you insane, lad?" Trooper growled.

"Maybe," Kern said with a grin. "But there's only one way to find out."

Ignoring the shouts of protest from his friends, he dove into the pool.

The thick water closed about him, oily against his skin. He felt the pool's magic swirl around him, trying to penetrate his flesh, to absorb his essence into its own.

Suddenly, Kern was buoyed to the pool's surface by a mass of sticky blue cobwebs. His unmagic did protect him! He began swimming for the spur of rock in the pool's center. In truth, it was more like dragging himself through molasses than swimming. After several minutes of laborious effort, he made it to the rock. He pulled himself out of the pool, shaking off as many of the blue cobwebs as he could. Then, carefully, he picked up the Staff of Twilight

He realized then that he had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

"Er, does any one know how to work one of these things?" he asked sheepishly.

"I don't really think we have time for lessons for beginners," Trooper commented acidly. He and the others were no more than a handspan above the silvery waters.

"You can do it, Kern," Evaine said calmly. "I'll help you."

He nodded jerkily.

"Now, grip the staff tightly and concentrate on me," the sorceress instructed. "Close your eyes and envision a thread running from my waist right to the staff. Now, begin reeling it in."

"Like a fishing rod?" he asked tentatively.

"Exactly."

Kern tried to do as she advised. His heart pounded in his chest. He knew he didn't have much time. He clenched his eyes tightly, concentrating…

Something bumped into him. He windmilled his arms wildly to keep from falling off the rock. He opened his eyes to see Evaine standing near him at the edge of the pool.

"A little shaky, Kern, but not bad," she said with a smile. "However, why don't you let me handle the others?"

He relinquished the staff only too gladly.

Minutes later, transported by Evaine and the Staff of Twilight, the adventurers stood together on solid ground. Kern had managed to scrape off most of the cobweb residue, but putting his armor back on was a sticky business.

"It is time to cast your spell, Evaine," Miltiades said gravely. "You must destroy the pool."

The sorceress was already preparing her incantation. She lit a fire in her small copper brazier, sprinkling a handful of dried herbs and unusual powders over the flame. Multicolored sparks crackled into the air. She sat cross-legged before the brazier, drawing out an oval crystal. She set it carefully in the fire's center. Immediately the gem began to pulsate in rhythm with the flickering flames.

"I'm not certain how long this will take," Evaine explained to the others. "I've never encountered a pool quite like this one before. The other pools I've destroyed have all been either purely dark or light in nature." As she talked, the sorceress deftly twisted her long hair into a knot to keep it out of the fire. "But this pool is different. Its essence is-" she struggled for the right words-" primal… chaotic. Its source lies in a magic far older than that of the other pools, a magic that comes from the time before light and dark were separate, and all the universe dwelt in twilight."

"Will you be able to destroy it, Evaine?" Kern asked solemnly.

She laughed grimly. "There's just one way to find out." She held her hands above the brazier and gem, chanting arcane words. Suddenly her voice fell silent, and her green eyes stared blankly into space. The sorceress sat as if hewn of stone.

"She will be like this for some time," Gamaliel said, standing protectively behind Evaine. "She cannot be disturbed. Should anything wake her from her spell before it is complete, the gem will break, and she will die." By the fierce gleam in his eye, it was clear the barbarian man did not intend to allow such a mishap to occur.

There was nothing to do then but wait. Kern sat down on a rock.

Daile sighed, wandering a short distance from the others. She felt strangely let down. She had vowed to avenge her father's death, but Sirana was dead, slain by the dragon, and the young ranger's arrows had played no part in it. The fire of revenge still smoldered in her heart. What of her oath now? she asked herself. How could she keep her word to her father? She rested her hands against the smooth wood of her magical bow.

"How much longer?" Trooper asked Gamaliel with a scowl. The older paladin paced fretfully.

The stone-faced barbarian shrugged. "I am no sorcerer. I cannot say."

"What is it, Trooper?" Listle asked in concern.

The old man shook his head. "I'm not certain. It's just that there's something about this place that bothers-"

A gurgling sound emanated from the pool, cutting off the old paladin.

All turned to see the surface of the pool begin bubbling furiously.

In a spray of foam, something began to lift from the roiling waters. A gigantic creature uncurled itself from the depths of the pool to tower above the companions.

"By Tyr above!" Trooper whispered.

For a scant moment, Kern wondered how Sirana and Dusk could still live. Quickly he realized the truth. They were dead enough. But the magic of the pool had fused their gigantic corpses into a hideous new undead form.

The dragon's tattered wings sprouted from the back of the gigantic half-fiend, and her hands ended in his claws. Dusk's neck sprouted from the center of Sirana's chest, his fanged maw snapping mindlessly. The creature took a lumbering step forward, wading through the pool. Its sinuous dragon tail snapped behind it like a huge, deadly whip. Sirana's dead eyes stared with blank malice. The pool of twilight finally possessed a guardian that it could utterly control.

The dragon's maw opened wide.

"Beware dragonbreath!" Trooper shouted.

Hastily, Kern, Listle, and Daile dove out of the way. Gamaliel crouched protectively before Evaine, still deep in her spell, but a heartbeat later Miltiades stepped between the barbarian and the creature of the pool.