Her hand slipped to her other boot. There, she carefully slid out of another slot another small blade. However, where the other hadbeen crafted of metal, this one appeared to be of iridescent pearl.

"Gimmel's blood!" Grenda murmured. "But how did you hide that from your cousin?"

"He searched for weapons, seeking those made as one might expect. Rhonin crafted this for me, a simple but strong blade made from the bounty of the sea. There is no magic in it. Unless he knew to look for the blade in particular, the chances were small that he would find it, for his spell would simply think it part of the boot's crafting."

The Bronzebeard shook her head. "What wizards'll conjure up!"

"The suggestion was mine. The crafting his." A moistness escaped one eye. "Together we are stronger than each is separately." Steeling herself, she continued, "We must escape at the first opportunity—"

They were interrupted by another arrival...this time a drakonid. Vereesa studied the creature, but it was not Rask.

"Take one!" the drakonid ordered.

The skardyn unlocked the door. With whips they drove their cousins back, then cut off a lone warrior from the rest. Two skardyn dragged him out.

The moment the rest of the guards had retreated, the dwarves charged forward. Unfortunately, they were not able to keep the cell from being locked again, nor could they do anything for their comrade except shout angrily as he was taken away.

Skardyn began whipping at the bars. The dwarves finally fell back.

The drakonid laughed. "Your turns. They will come. All serve the mistress."

With that, the black beast followed after the others.

"What'll they do with Udin?" asked a younger dwarf.

"Torture 'lm to see if there's any of us still out there, most likely!" answered another fighter.

Grenda turned on the second dwarf. "Are you daft, Falwulf? Didn't you hear what that blood elf said before? They're not interested if one or two of us are still out there; they want to make us into slaves...."

An uneasy rumbling spread through the prisoners. Dwarves were fighters; give them an enemy with a weapon, and they woulddo battle even to their deaths. There was no honor in slavery.

Grenda looked to Vereesa. "If you've got an idea of how we can escape and escape fast, now would be a good time to start on it...."

The ranger's gaze went from her companion to the skardyn keeping watch. "It may cost some lives...."

"Better that than what we're lookin' forward to."

"As you wish, then." Vereesa hid the blade in her palm. She leaned back so as to not stir the guard's interest. "Get everyone prepared to act on my signal. We must all move together... even if only in the end we buy ourselves a quick death."

"Aye." Grenda casually turned to a comrade. As the high elf watched, the dwarf began to pass on word. There would be no hesitation from any of the Bronzebeards. As Grenda had indicated, what other choice did they have?

From beyond the chamber where their cells lay, there came a hideous cry. It was mercifully short, but the sound remained burned in all their minds.

"That was Udin",uttered the younger warrior who had asked about the other prisoner earlier.

Among the skardyn, there was rough, mocking laughter. One of them leaned close to the bars and, for the first time, spoke something intelligible.

"All fight gone from him. He good slave now..." The feral eyes surveyed the captives. "Who want to be next?"

The other skardyn laughed again.

The mageslayer towered over her. Iridi knew nothing of its kind save what she had gleaned from Krasus. By rights, she should have been fairly safe from its abilities, but this creature had been transformed into something more menacing.

She seized a rock and threw it. As the priestess expected, the missile flew through without pause.

The draenei had no choice. She summoned the staff even knowing that its power might be used against her.

The mageslayer moved in silence. That made it all the more unnerving. Iridi pointed the staff and focused.

A blue light erupted from the staff, striking the mageslayer—

And immediately after, flying back at the startled draenei.

Iridi was sent hurtling away. She released her grip on the staff, and quickly twisted in the air. A moment later, the priestess crashed into the ground.

Most would have been left unconscious or even dead, but the priestess's training enabled her to land rolling, then end up in a crouched position. Even then, though, Iridi was left disoriented. It took her a moment to locate the mageslayer, a moment she did not have.

A second burst of blue light almost crushed her into the floor. The draenei barely dodged out of the path. It did not seem right to her that the monster could send the staff's power back twice; that should have been an impossibility. She could only assume that this was another benefit of the transformation.

Skardyn in her vicinity ran off as if on fire. That none of these foul creatures—supposedly serving the same entity—desired to beanywhere near the mageslayer did not bode well.

Iridi suddenly noticed that the nether dragon sought her attention. The draenei summoned the staff back.

There...there... Zzeraku managed. That...

"That" was an altar whose base included what appeared to be carvings shaped like dragons. Resting on it was a cube of some bluish tint. There was something about the cube that made the draenei hesitant to draw near it.

The staff... the nether dragon struggled to continue. It might stir the cube... might begin the feeding...

Iridi had no idea what he meant by the last, only that the cube was possibly her only hope. She dismissed the staff again, then, as the mageslayer neared, performed an athletic leap over its very head.

What vaguely resembled a clawed appendage grabbed for her, barely missing. The mageslayer turned as the draenei landed. Its midsection had turned darker.

A black light shot out at her.

The priestess avoided being struck, but a skardyn seeking to flee from behind her moved too slow. The light enveloped it—and with a squeal, the skardyn went spinning into the nearest wall, striking so hard that Iridi could hear its bones crack. The dead skardyn slid in an ungainly lump to the floor.

Before the mageslayer could strike again, the draenei reached the altar. Praying that Zzeraku had not steered her terribly wrong. Iridi summoned the naaru staff.

The center of the mageslayer darkened again.

Iridi pointed the crystal at the cube.

Think... think of the creature... Zzeraku suddenly warned. Then use... the staff...

She did as told. Imagining the abomination in her mind.

The staff fed power into the cube. The cube flared bright—

An eerie, whistling sound filled the chamber. Iridi belatedly realized that it came from the mageslayer.

The monster lost all cohesion. As a swirling mass of energy, the mageslayer flew toward the draenei... then suddenly sank into the cube without a trace.

The priestess stood there disbelieving.

Beware! Zzeraku warned.

Some of the skardyn began recovering from their own surprise and fear enough to recall that there was still an intruder. They started for her.

She spun around. They were coming from all sides again. She raised the staff—

And suddenly there was a robed figure with red hair standing next to her. He wrapped his arms around the draenei before she could react.

"Damn it! You're not her!"

Before she could respond, the cavern chamber disappeared. Iridi cried out in frustration. "No!"

She was outside again. Outside the mount that she had so desperately tried to enter.