Shadow witness

CHAPTER NINE

Gale walked out of the armory, turned left, and headed back toward the short flight of stairs that led back up to the main hallway.

"We can't access the stairway to the basement from this level," Gale said over his shoulder. "Well have to go back up to the first floor. It's not far from there."

Not far at all. Where before they had walked out of the offices and turned right into the main hall to reach the armory, now they would go left to reach the stairway down to the basement.

Jak nodded and they continued on, wary.

After a few minutes, they reached the base of the stairs where Gale had killed Willen. The ghoul pack had reduced the corpse to a virtual skeleton. What little flesh remained hung from the twisted body in frayed ribbons. Everywhere purple blood stained the floor. Gale could only imagine the orgy of feeding that had occurred here. The odor made his eyes water. He swallowed bile and kept down the vomit by sheer force of will.

Willen's femur-nearly Jorn from his pelvis-stuck out at a grotesque angle and extended into the void in the wall. It vanished into nothingness just above the knee. With each pulse of the gate, a bit more of the body inched into the emptiness.

Lake the ghouls, the gate too seemed to be gulping down portions of the corpse. Thick streaks of light gray and dull white-the color of Willen's skin and bones- now swirled amidst the dark gray and pitch black whorls of the void.

After taking in the scene and no doubt having thoughts similar to Gale's, Jak began to heave. He covered his mouth to hold back the vomit, but quickly lost the battle and retched Matilda's chunky fish stew onto the planked floor. As with Willen's blood, the vomit began a slow migration across the floor toward the ever-hungry void.

Though the sight of it flowing for the gate disturbed him, Gale nevertheless welcomed the vomit's acrid smell, a human smell that overwhelmed the inhuman reek of rot and death. He waited while Jak emptied his stomach and finished retching.

After a few moments, Jak gathered himself. He stood bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard. He looked up at Gale through watering eyes and wiped his face sheepishly.

"Dark," he said. "Sorry, Gale. Ate too much, I guess."

"I guess," Gale said with a half-smile. Seen too much, more likely. Gale could sympathize. It had been an eventful day-and-a-half Hang on, little man, he thought.

Recovered now, Jak studied Willen's corpse and eyeballed the gate with an appraising gaze. "It's big-ges," he announced after a moment. "The gate… it's bigger."

Jak was right. The gate was bigger, marginally so, but definitely bigger. Gale had missed it. "How?" don't know," the little man said thoughtfully, and stroked his whiskers. He approached the gate and peered in, careful to avoid stepping on Willen's corpse.

"It drinks the life-force of the living," he said. "Like the shadow demon. Probably the more it eats, the more powerful it gets." He stepped back from the gate, shrugged, and looked over at Gale. "Maybe with each pulse, it consumes a little bit of our plane and thereby grows larger…"

Gale waited. The little man was still working it through.

*I don't know how it's occurring,1' Jak said at last, his mouth a grim line in a nest of red whiskers. "But I know that we better stop it. If it gets too big…"

Gale nodded once, firmly. "Let's go." Without another word, he turned and strode up the stairs. Jak followed.

Stopping periodically to listen for any sign of ghouls, they made their way up the short stairway and back into the main hall. It stretched before them, dark and threatening. They shared a look and continued on.

After jumping or sidestepping the few gates that stood in their way-all of them also slightly larger than before, Gale observed-they made it back to the door that opened onto the offices.

The hall continued on in the opposite direction, beyond the limits of the glow wand. The pulsing from the gates continued to beat in the rotten smelling air, but Gale had become accustomed to it and barely noticed. At a run, they could be back out on Ariness

Street in less than a minute. They could be out of the guildhouse and out of this insanity. They would be sa?e.

He turned to face Jak. He had to give the little man another chance to get out of here.

There will be more ghouls downstairs," he announced, and studied Jak's reaction. The little man nodded gravely, but gave no sign of fear. Gale went on, "Probably more warping too." He thought of the bleeding wall and the procession of ghouls and couldn't hide his grimace. "There will be more horrible sights."

Jak nodded again. "I understand."

"You can get out of here, Jak," Gale said. "The street's right out there." He pointed with his blade toward the offices, toward the door out. This will probably be the last chance either of us has to turn back. I won't mention it again."

Gale didn't really want Jak to leave, he desperately wanted him to stay, but felt obligated to make the offer. The madness would only get worse in the basement, and worse still in the shrine.

To his credit, Jak didn't even took toward the offices. He shook his head emphatically and gave Gale a hard smile. "We're hip-deep in a pile of dragon dung, Gate. I'm already as dirty as I can get. There ain't no going back."

Gale smiled and gratefully squeezed Jak's small shoulder. Thanks, my friend."

They started cautiously down the hall. Gale felt only mild surprise when he realized that his right hand was in his pocket, clutching the felt mask. There ain't no going back, he thought, echoing Jak. Had he already taken some first, hesitant steps toward Mask?

Fifteen paces down the hallway,'the floor grew spongy, like rotten wood. The first signs of increased warping. He held the glow wand close to the floor. With each puke of the gates, the wooden planks flickered between translucence and solidity.

• Paul S. Kemo

"Dark," Jak observed. This whole place is becoming one giant gate."

Gale nodded and they continued on. They gingerly trod the increasingly soft floor until they found their path blocked by another swirling hole of emptiness in the floor, this one bigger than any previous.

"I can't jump that, Gale. Too wide." know," Gale replied. The jump would be tough even for him, especially with the spongy floor. The sheer walls of the hallway would make climbing around it a difficult option.

"If I can get across and throw back a rope-"

"No need," Jak interjected. He sheathed his blades, plopped down on the floor, and removed his gloves and soft boots.

"What are you doing?"

"You jump over it," the little man said. "Ill climb around it."

That's a tough climb."

"Not to worry," Jak interrupted with a smile. "I've got a spell." He shot Gale a mirthful wink. "Nice to have spells at my disposal on a job, remember?"

Without hesitation, Jak pulled forth his holy symbol and began to chant. When he finished, a whitish paste seeped from the pores on his palms and feet. His feet sucked at the soft floor as he padded to the wall and placed his hands upon it.

"Wall is soft too," he observed. "Shouldn't be a problem though." He placed his feet against the wall"Wait, Jak," Gale ordered. He inched forward to the edge of the gate, blade held ready, and peered down into it. The seemingly endless void nauseated him but he fought it off and forced himself to search the vacancy for a pair of yellow eyes. He saw nothing. Satisfied, he eased back from the edge. "AH right."

Immediately, Jak ascended a few feet. Despite its softness, his hands adhered to the surface of the wall and he moved along easily. Spiderlike, he began to slide sidewise. Beneath him, the emptiness of Hie void beckoned.

Gale watched him nervously for a moment, but the spell seemed to be working. Now nearly hallway across, Jak showed no sign of problems. Gale now had to worry about getting himself across.

He sheathed his blade and backed off a bit. He would need running room to clear the gate. Jak's alarmed voice turned him around.

"Gale! It's bleeding." The little man's voice trembled with horror.

Gale hurried back to the edge of the gate and held the glow wand high-. -

"Dark," he breathed.

The little man hung suspended on the wall halfway across the gate. Where Jak had touched the warped wall, the pressure apparently had forced blood from the stone. With each pulse of the gates, a trickle of gore dripped from the wall where he had placed his hands and feet. A path of seeping wounds marked the route behind him.

It's warped more here," the little man said, his voice rising in sudden alarm. "It's sticking to me. Dark, Gale, my hands are starting to slip." He tried to continue Ms move across, but when he attempted to pull free from the wall, the surface adhered to his hand and came away in thick, fleshy strings. Gale caught a disgusting flash of pulsing blue veins and glistening red tissue beneath the warped wall surface before the new tear began to vomit forth a steady gout of blood.

"Burn me!" Caught in the fountain of blood, the little man cursed and tried to slide aside. His abrupt movement only tore open more holes in the wall. Streams of blood ran down to the floor, drained into the gate, and quickly turned its swirls crimson.

"Gale!" Jak peered over his shoulder, spattered with gore, "Help." His fearful eyes fell to the churning gate below. "Help," he said again.

Gale heard the beginnings of panic creeping into Jak's voice.

"Hold still." Without another word, Gale backed off, sprinted forward, and leaped the gate. He hit the spongy floor in a ready crouch.

"Don't move," he again said to Jak.

"I'm not moving." Jak clung desperately to the warped wall, kept his face down to shield his eyes and mouth from the crimson fall. Gore-soaked, his cloak hung heavily from his small body.

"Don't look into the gate" Gale said. He set down the glow wand, shook free of his pack, and pulled out a coil of silk rope.

"Godsdammit, Gale," Jak snapped, "I'm not moving and I'm not looking! Hurry up. This is disgusting."

Gale smiled despite himself-the having kept his sense of humor even when terrified.

Deftly, Gale tied a slipknot into one end of the thin but strong line. He opened some play ia the loop; gathered it in, and prepared to toss it to Jak.

"Catch this."

"Catch it!" Jak eyed him incredulously over his shoulder. "How?"

*Let go with one of your hands."

"But-Dark and empty!" he said, and nodded in resignation. "All right." He gingerly pulled his left hand free of the wall. Despite his care, the wall's skin stuck to his hand and tore loose. Blood spurted from the rip. He hung on the wall with only two sticky feet and a sticky hand.

"Throw itf

Gale stood at the edge of the gate, let eight or so feet of line play out, and swung itup toward Jak. The little man caught it on the first try. He stuck his arm through the loop, draped it over his neck, and tried again to get a grip on the wall. Slippery with gore, his hand no longer stuck.

"Blast," he oathed. "It won't stick." Before Cale could say anything, the little man reared back and slammed his fist into the wall, wrist deep. "Ugh," he exclaimed in disgust.

Quick thinking, Cale thought. "Get the rope around your torso," he said. "IH give it a jerk at the same time you jump toward me. Ifs only about eight feet. You'll make it."

"I know what the plan is," Jak muttered irritably. "Easier said than done, though. I don't know if this hand," he indicated with his head the hand buried in the wall, "will hold me if I let go with the other."

Cale made no reply. He waited for Jak to come to terms. They had nothing else, and Jak had to know it. The fleshy, bloody wall offered no handgrips. Jak was stuck, and if he tried to move farther, he would certainly fall into the gate.

"Let's do it now. With the rope tike this."

Cale shook his head. "Can't. I think it'll slip right over your head and off when I pull. Won't work"

"Dark," Jak sighed. "All right, let's do it. But if my hand won't hold and I start to fall, you pull right away. Try to, at least." He glanced down into the bloody gate. "I don't want to go wherever that leads."

Cale nodded, braced himself, and pulled the rope as taut as he dared. He had to leave some play so Jak could get his other arm through, yet he had to be ready to give it a sharp pull if the little man started to fall.

"Ready," he said.

"Here goes." Jak jerked his hand free. Blood spurted from the wall and poured past him into the gate. Cale tensed. Jak dangled dangerously but didn't fall. His

•I,a other hand held! Quickly, the little man threaded his free arm through the loop. He turned and shot Cale a grin.

"All right, Cale-" The little man's green eyes fell on the gate and went wide. "Pull, Cale! Now! Now!"

Cale jerked at the same moment that Jak jumped free of the wall.

The snap of the rope pulled the breath from the little man in a whoosh. He flew through the air, just cleared the edge of the gate, and landed in a heap on the spongy floor beside Cale. He leaped to his feet.

"The shadow demon! I saw it looking out at me from the gate!"

Cale dropped the rope and had his blade out in an instant. Without hesitation, he stepped to the edge of the gate and looked down. From deep within the void, two hate-filled yellow sparks looked out at him and narrowed balefully. The eyes of the demon that had nearly killed Thazienne.j; =

"Bastard!" He reversed his grip on the long sword, dropped to one knee, and drove the blade hilt-deep into the void, directly between those demonic ye^ew eyes. The stuff of the gate gave way before the iron Eke water. A distortion rippled across its bloody surface. When it cleared, the eyes had disappeared. Cale snarled and pulled the weapon free. He didn't know if he had hit the demon or not.

Jak approached and stood beside him, blades bare.

"It's gone?" he asked.

"Itfsgone."

"Good," Jak said. "Close one, Cale. I wouldn't have wanted to fall in there with that thing, at least not without you." The little man stripped off his bloody cloak and threw it into the gate. "Here," he said to the gate, "you get this instead."

The bloody cloak swirled into oblivion and vanished.

Jak took an extra cloak from his pack and wiped himself as dean as he could. "Disgusting," he muttered as he worked. He threw the newly soiled cloak into the gate as well. "That's better," he said afterward. "I feel like a new man. We moving?"

Gale nodded and turned reluctantly from the gate. "We're moving," he affirmed.

"What's in your hand?" Jak asked.

"Huh?"

Surprised, Gale realized that he held the felt mask in his hand, H amp;must have pulled it out of his pocket after jerking his blade out of the gate. Or had he done it before?

"What is that?" Jak asked again, and gently gripped Gale's hand by the wrist.

"It's a mask," Gale said. He shook free of Jak's grip and stuffed it back into his pocket. "I picked it up in the armory. You overlooked it in the strongbox."

Jak looked skeptical at that. "I didn't overlook it," he said thoughtfully. "A mask? Gale…"

"I know."

Jak smiled and patted Gale's forearm. "Seems the Shadowlord wants an answer sooner rather than later."

Gale dared not reply to that. He thought some part of him might have already given his answer. Without another word, he knelt and retrieved the glow wand. "Let's keep moving. The stairs to the basement are just ahead."

With Gale holding the glow wand high to best illuminate the darkness and Jak keeping a watchful eye behind for the shadow demon, they moved warily through the narrow halls. The floor solidified as they distanced themselves from the gate, the warping seemingly localized around the void. Still, the whole guildhouse fairly reeked of wrongness.

With only the dim glow wand for light, Gale relied more on his hearing than his vision to warn him of danger. He was alert to any sound, but heard nothing-nothing but the dull, thudding pulses emitted from the gates as they grew larger and ate away at the world.

He wondered briefly whether proximity to the gates would somehow change he and Jak, warp them into unspeakable horrors tike the ghouls. Uncomfortable with the thought, he dismissed it as useless speculation. He reached into his pocket and felt the comforting touch of the felt mask.

I'm already changed, he admitted to himself. He was finding comfort in a god. Only time would tell if he also had been warped.

Doors dotted the hallway as they moved. The gates had warped some into saggy slabs of wood with the consistency of candle wax, while others seemed normal. Where the doors stood closed and solid, Gale left them closed. Where ajar, he kicked them open and stalked into the room, blade ready. Always the rooms beyond stood empty but for the occasional gate, broken furnishings, torn paintings, and of course, the smell. They moved forward, cautiously alert.

Jak's hand suddenly closed over Gale's wrist and pulled him to a stop. "There's something behind us," the little man whispered. "I can feel it."

Gale didn't feel it, but Jak's words caused the hairs on his nape to rise. He nodded and set the glow wand on the floor. "Well wait for it here," he whispered into Jak's ear. It could only be the shadow demon. He had cleared the previous rooms to make sure that no ghouls could attack from behind.

The little man nodded and both took positions along opposite sides of the wall. Gale held the enchanted long sword in a two-handed grip. Jak held his short sword and dagger in trembling hands. They stood just outside the blue light of the glow wand and peered back into the darkness, ready, waiting. Gale's heart thudded in time to the unholy pulses of the gates.

Nothing happened. They stood there for twenty heartbeats, still nothing.

Trickster's toes, Cale. I felt something."

Gale didn't doubt it He felt sure that the shadow demon was lurking somewhere nearby. Even if he hod wounded it back at the gate, he certainly hadn't killed it. He picked up the glow wand. "We keep moving. Stay close, and keep your eyes and ears alert behind.''

Jak nodded agreement. Gale saw that in his dagger hand, the little man held both blade and holy symbol. Cale fought off the urge to draw forth the felt mask from his pocket.

I don't have a holy symbol, he inwardly averred. Cale didn't know if he believed himself.

They trekked on. Ahead, the hall branched into a T-shaped intersection. Moving forward in a ready crouch, wary for an ambush, Cale turned right. Illuminated by the glow wand, the door to the main stairwell came into view.

"There," he said over his shoulder, and pointed with his blade at the door. Jak mouthed the words, Let's do it, and they stalked ahead.

After assuring himself that it wasn't warped, Gale knelt at the door and listened. Though he heard nothing, he did not assume the landing beyond unoccupied. He hadn't heard the ghouls outside the armory, either, and had nearly died as a result. He turned to face Jak. The little man was staring into the darkness behind them, alert. Cale snapped his fingers to get his attention, and signaled in hand cant, Ready yourself.

Jak turned toward the door and moved in close behind Cale. When he felt ready, he gave Cale a nod.

Cale slowly turned the handle, dick. He shared a glance with Jak then jerked the door opea and jumped back, enchanted blade before him.

There was nothing there. Only the upper landing of the stairs.

He didn't allow himself the luxury of a relieved sigh. He knew that from this point onward, there would be no rest. Yrsillar must know that they were in the guildhouse. Since the demon hadn't set up an ambush here, Cale figured he had marshaled his forces in the basement.

"Get's ug|y from now on," he said to Jak.

"It's been ugly since the day we met," Jak joked, and gave him a friendly shove in the shoulder. "Why change now?"

Cale couldn't bring himself to smile. "The first flight descends ten feet or so, leads to a second landing, then to a second flight of stairs." He paused, then added, "Those go down about another fifteen feet and open into the basement."

Jak's face remained emotionless. "You lead."

Placing his right hand on the iron banister, Cale started down the narrow stone stairway. The smell of rancid meat and rotting corpses wafted up from the depths of the guildhouse as though from the bowels of the Abyss. Cale steeled himself and walked on, prodding each stair with his blade before putting his full weight upon it. He rounded the first curve in the stairway and stopped cold.

Before him, the stairs shimmered in the light of the glow wand like shallow water in moonlight. Each dull pulse of the gates sent a distortion wave rippling along them. Below, the entire landing had been transformed into a gate, a hole that led to nothingness. Leaping over it would be impossible,

"I›ammit," Gate muttered.

"Dark," Jak echoed.

He turned around to face Jak. "We can turn around, go out of the guildhouse, and try to come back in through the sewers." He paused for a moment, then added, "Or we can climb around it."

At that, the little man's expression fell-Jak had apparently had enough of climbing around gates-but he rallied himself quickly. "We climb," he said. "WeVe come too far to turn back now. Besides, the sewer entrance could be blocked too."

He turned away from Gale and tapped along the wall with his short sword. "Wall seems unaffected this time, if not the floor. It's a good tiling too, because I don't have another spell to help me get across. Seems the Lady is still with us."

Gale nodded absently and studied the walls for himself. Like everything in the guildhouse, they had been built sturdy and sound, but without regard for cosmetics. Their rough, unfinished, and unwarped surface provided plenty of handholds. The real problem, however, wasnt the absence or presence of handholds, it was that he and Jak would have to elide not just sideways along the wall, but sideways and down, a difficult maneuver under the best of circumstances. Thankfully, the ceiling provided plenty of clearance. They wouldn't have to climb with the gate mere inches below their feet.

We can do this, he thought, and believed it.

Jak had already sheathed his blades. Gale did the same.

"Same side or different?" asked the little man.

Gale considered. Even if they did follow each other along the same side of the wall, they wouldn't be able to help one another if either ran into difficulty. "Different," he said. "If only one side proves impassable, we don't both want to have to double back. This way, when

"Itp oae of us gets across safely, he can throw a rope to the other to help him across."

Jak gave a nod, turned, and started to feel the wall for handholds. Gale stuck the glow wand in his belt and did the same. He quickly found a likely route.

With a soft grunt, he began to climb. Behind him across the stairwell, he could hear Jak's breathing as he struggled to move his hands and feet over the stone. Gale ascended five or six feet vertically.

"You all right?" he asked Jak. He had to contort his neck so that he could turn far enough around to see the little man.

Jak had climbed to about the same height as Gale. His short arms and legs stuck out at all angles as he gripped the available protrusions. I'm all right," he said. "You?"

"Fine," Gale replied. Bracing himself with his feet and left hand, he reached out sidewise for a grip. After finding one, he shifted his weight and probed the wall with his right foot for another step. He found one and slid a foot or two sidewise.. We can do this, he mentally reiterated.. Gale was breathing hard now. Sweat poured down his back, trickled down his brow and pooled in his eyebrows. Behind him, Jak's breathing had also grown loud and raspy. With his short limbs and fingers, Jak would find the climb even more difficult than Gale.

But hell make it, Gale affirmed hopefully. He called over his shotdder, "How's it going?"

"It'd be going better if you'd stop distracting me," Jak retorted. Gale could hear the smile in the little man's voice.

Gale smiled and continued the slow sidewise climb. For the next few minutes, he focused only on the wall, his weight, and his next movement. Reach, feel for a protrusion, grip, extend his leg, plant his toe, delicately shift his weight. He made steady progress.

From the sounds of his breathing, Cale could tell that Jak lagged a bit behind him. Shorter % half, the little man could not move as quickly as Cale across the wall. Nevertheless, Jak made steady progress.

Hallway across, Cale spared a glance dawn between his feet at the gate. Emptiness opened beneath him. He seemed not to be climbing a wall only four feet above the surface of the stairs, but instead clinging to acliff face that overlooked a fall into infinity.

Dizsdness sent his head reeling. Gasping, he snapped his head up, clenched his eyes closed, pressed his cheek into the cool stone of the wall, and held on to let the dizziness pass. Jak must have heard his distress.

"You all right, Cale?" the Uttfe man asked, concern in his voice. "Gale?"

I'm all right," he managed at last, eyes still closed. "Just a little dizzy." He felt like the wall he hung on was spinning. "Just don't look down."

Jak chuckled, a laugh that gave way to a grunt as he climbed another step. "Dark, Cale, that's the first ru-"

The hairs on Gale's neck rose and a wave of cold like an icy wind sent shudders through his body. An otherworldly moan of hate rose from within the gate to fill the stairwell. Though he could not turn to see it, he knew the shadow demon had burst from the void like a black arrow shot. He could feel its evil presence behind him, could feel its unearthly cold radiating into his flesh, could feel its malice-filled, yellow eyes burning holes into his back. He and Jak were helpless on the wall. They were dead men.

"Cale!" Jak shouted, "Watch out!" Cale could hear the terror in the little man's voice. Theshhk of a drawn blade sounded. Jak had somehow drawn a weapon.

Cale struggled to fight off the dizziness. Hang on, Jak, he thought urgently. Hang on.

"Cale Dark, Cale!"

Despite the dizziness, the fear in Jak's voice pulled his head around. Careful not to look down, he opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. The cold from the demon hit his face like a gust of Hammer wind. The creature hovered gracefully over the center of the gate, facing Jak. Its great wings-which beat only rarely-stuck out behind it and hung in the air so close to Cale that he could almost reach out and touch them. Though it seemed composed of nothingness, the nothingness somehow had substance. Cale could see the sleek muscles that rippled beneath its skin, vicious claws at the end of its long, graceful arms. Streamers of darkness, empty ribbons of shadow, floated about its being like a black mist.

The little man had drawn his short sword and hung precariously by his feet and one hand. Looking over his shoulder with wide green eyes, he tried to wave the blade defensively to keep the demon at bay. The pathetic effort did nothing to deter the dark horror. It flitted back and forth around the little man, outside the reach of the blade. Playfully, it threatened again and again with its claws. Cale could sense its hunger building as it whetted its appetite on Jak's fear.

Cale could not dear his damn head!

"Cale," Jak cried. He frantically waved tfie short sword as the demon feinted an attack. The swing unbalanced him and his hold slipped. Desperately, he twisted back to the wall and tried to save himself with his blade hand. The short sword clanged into the stone, fell from his fingers as he clutched the wall, and dropped into the oblivion of the gate.

Dark," Cale heard Jak mutter into the wall.

The demon hissed in triumph, an otherworldly sound that Cale felt more than heard, a shriek of pure hate that sounded as though it had originated from deep within the earth.

Jak dung to the wall, helpless and trembling. "Gale, help," he cried.

It tore Gale up inside to do nothing, but if he moved, he would surely lose his balance and fall into the gate.

With Jak defenseless and terrified, Gale sensed the demon's hunger rise until it reached a crescendo, felt its desire to feed radiate in palpable waves from its being.

Jak, desperate now, reached into his pocket and searched for his holy symbol-whether for comfort or for spellcasting, Gale could not tell. The little man released one hand from the wall and twisted his head so that he could see the demon. The black horror reared back with one of its claws, slowly, teasingly, prolonging the inevitable. Jak's eyes looked past it and met Gale's.

"I can't go like the Soargyls, Erevis," he announced. "I can't."

With those words, he let go his hold on the wall. Staring at Gale the while, he fell soundlessly into the emptiness of the gate and vanished into the void.

"No!" Gale shouted, and nearly leaped in after him. "No! Jak!" The dizziness gave way-before a wave of grief and anger. "No, godsdammit!''

With its meal now gone the demon howled in frustration. It faced down toward the void and began to dart into the gate after the little man but it stopped cold in mid-air, seeming suddenly to remember Gale. Its head turned slowly upward and its baleful yellow eyes narrowed to sparks.

Gale looked down over his shoulder and met that gaze unflinchingly. Anger fed his courage. He no longer feared this demon.

"Do you remember me, you black son of a whore?" he snarled. Though he nearly fell as a result, he freed one- of his hands to awkwardly draw his long sword. "I'm the one that cut you before, remember?1'

'' Its eyes widened and it cocked its head thoughtfully.

*Tfou do remember, don't you?" He waved the enchanted blade in challenge, tried to find a way to plant his feet so that he could somehow fight, somehow avenge Jak. He realized immediately that it was impossible. His gaze fell to the void below him to the emptiness that had swallowed his best friend.

A voice in his mind screamed accusations. Jak was only here because of me. He was only here because of me!

Though the little man's final glance had held no blame, Gale couldn't help but berate himself. Once again his selfishness had led someone he loved to be harmed. First Thazienne and now Jak.

All because of me…

The demon drifted nearer, a mere armslength away. Gale ignored the cold that radiated from it. His rage lent him warmth, his self-loathing insulated him and made the demon's malice for him seem paltry by comparison. He sensed its hungry anticipation but gave it no terror to feed upon. It flapped its wings once and screamed hate into his face.

He stared back into its malice filled yellow eyes and made the only decision he could. He had to go after Jak. The little man had always stood with him, come what may. Gate could not desert him now, not if there was any chance he still lived.

"But first you, you bastard," he angrily muttered.

The demon hovered directly behind him. It flitted.about him and tried to make him afraid. Gale no longer felt fear, only hate. Hate for what had happened to his friend Jak.

Without another thought, he summoned his strength and leaped backwards off the wall. Spinning around in mid-air, he dexterously reversed his grip on the long sword and held it before him in a two-fisted grip, a unicorn horn of enchanted steel.

Startled, the demon's eyes flashed with surprise. Gale sensed it hiss. Lightning quick, it lashed out with a claw. Cale didn't know if it hit him. He flew into the demon and lashed out with a terrible strength fueled by rage. Even as he Yell toward the void, he drove the enchanted iron between the demon's eyes and pierced its head. The long sword bit deep into the demon's shadowstuff. Black mist exploded from the wound. Its scream resounded in Gale's ears like the cries of slaughtered cattle. He kept his grip on the long sword's hilt as he plummeted toward the gate. The enchanted iron split the demon from head to groin, the tension similar to cutting a bed sheet in twain. A cloud of shadowstuff exploded around Gale, the stench overwhelming. The demon's scream of agony sounded loud in his ears-a death scream for certain.

He felt satisfaction for only a fraction of a heartbeat before he and the remains of the demon fell into the gate. When he hit the surface, he felt a brief tension followed by sudden give, as though he had jumped through the skin of one of Brilla's day-old soups. A charge raced through his body and he felt like he was swimming in syrup. A weight pressed against his chest. He gasped for breath but his constricted throat could draw in only the reeking stink of the dead demon's shadowstuff. His body went numb and he passed out.