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   Kaleb’s and Shen’s worst fears have come true. The Dark Children have been released from their prison. Now, Shen has to find a way to delay their return to full power giving Kaleb time to recover the final Crystal. The Dark Children’s army of monsters stand in her way and the Spirit Island’s tricks of the mind stands in Kaleb’s way.

The fate of Trygor beckons.

Chapter 1

   Langard was terrified and excited at the same time. The muscles in his arms and legs felt as if they had lost all of their strength as he staggered through the empty thoroughfares on his way back to his home.
   There was no way he was going to be able to sleep for what remained of the night. His heart was still pumping and hadn’t let up since leaving the cave. There was so much to do yet his mind was a jumble and he had trouble solidifying any meaningful thought. The one thing that did remain in his mind was the image and sound of the Dark Children.
   It wasn’t an audible sound that they made, but a direct connection to Langard’s mind. One that he would never be able to explain to anyone and one that he would never forget.
   He collapsed on the chair next to a table that had a half finished bottle of wine sitting on it from when he left, what seemed like an age ago now, to begin the freeing process of the Dark Children.
   Ignoring the empty glass next to it he picked up the bottle, unsteadily, and gulped at the liquid as he poured it down his throat. He didn’t stop until it was empty. The effort was so taxing that he just dropped the bottle on the floor when he was finished and watched, without any feelings, the broken glass as it crashed down on the hard ground.
   As the effects of the wine began to kick in his mind began to relax and more images filled it. Particularly the sights of what happened to Marindol. There were many times he had planned the death of the hag, but now it had happened it almost...saddened him. Even she didn’t deserve what had happened.
   Langard caught himself. Had he developed some sort of...soft spot for her? He shuddered at the thought and pushed it as far back as he could in his mind, but it lingered there, tugging on what little conscience he had.
   Staggering to his feet, muscles having gained some sort of strength after the wine, he searched for another bottle. Thankfully he had stocked up recently and one was readily available. Ignoring the opener sitting next to them he smashed the neck on the edge of a protruding wall and poured the contents down his open mouth, again, until it was empty.
   Crashing back down onto his chair he tried to drown out the witch nagging him from the recesses of his mind with planning for what he was going to do next. He had it all set in his mind before he had witnessed the Dark Children. Now he couldn’t remember any of it and the voice of Marindol plagued him with ‘You fool Langard. Your mind is a rotting piece of meat not even fit for the lowest of the Humans.’
   He threw the bottle that had somehow clung to his hand at the wall to try to extinguish the witches‘ insults. He needed to start writing and get everything down in physical form rather than relying on his mind.
   Most of the night had gone now and he didn’t have much time left. He found himself suddenly humming a tune from his childhood. One his father used to hum while he worked on the legal documents for the Council. Marindol’s voice faded into the background to become nothing more than a mild annoyance. Now he had to set to work to get his plans solidified.

   “So that’s it? It’s over.”
   Sabina’s face filled with helplessness as the news sunk in. The efforts that had all been put in getting the Crystals seemed...wasted now.
   Her taste of defeat had been limited to when she was training as a young warrior and those were few and far between. Ever since her last defeat, what seemed like an age ago to her now, no one had bested her in a fight or a battle. This feeling seemed almost new to her.
   She looked to Kaleb and Shen for some hope that it could be ended and ended quickly because she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one bit.
   Kaleb looked resigned to the fact. His face mirrored Sabina’s. Shen was emotionless and impossible to read.
   ‘All is not lost yet,’ said Shen in Kaleb’s and Sabina’s minds. ‘The Dark Children have been inactive for a long time. Their powers will take time to return to their full effectiveness. If Kaleb can recover the final Crystal before that happens he will have a chance of returning them to their incarceration.’
   “How much time do we have?” asked Sabina.
   ‘It is hard to say. But I can sense that they are still in a weakened state. They will need to be engaged to prolong that state. I must bring together the remaining Changelings to keep them that way for as long as possible to give you both a chance to retrieve the last Crystal.’
   Kaleb’s heart sank. He looked at Shen, despair etched on his face.
   “You’re leaving us?”
   ‘If I do not we may never have the chance to defeat the Dark Children. You have Sabina and Grendal by your side. They are a match for anything that faces you in the Spirit Islands. And you have the Staff. You have formed a strong bond with it in such a short time that took Xandra a quarter of a lifetime to achieve.’
   “But he had another half of a lifetime with it before he faced the Dark Children. I don’t feel I am ready for such a task.”
   Shen did something that Kaleb had never seen before and even though she didn’t experience feelings the action brought a wave of emotion over Kaleb. She put an arm on his shoulder.
   ‘Allay your worries Kaleb. You have surpassed even Xandra at this point and I have no doubt you will be up to any task or battle that is put before you.’
   The action and words felt like a finite moment. A moment that made Kaleb wonder if they would ever see each other again.
   ‘Grendal will have reached the Spirit Islands now. I will contact Doranth and have him meet us there. He will take me to my next destination. We will use Sontereel‘ s magic to transport us and meet them both.’

Chapter 2

   Dango sat bolt upright. He was dragged from his sleep with a wrench on his mind like he had never felt before. Without thinking he staggered out of his bed, his mind trying to make sense of it.
   A sense of exhilaration filled his body with an over-arcing dread and fear. But what of?
   “The Staff!” he cried out as its image filled his mind.
   Scrambling to get his clothes on he desperately wanted to send out a message to the guards guarding the Staff, but the forge was too far away to be able to communicate effectively. Besides, he needed to see the Staff for himself. Something in his mind told him there was something wrong.
   He was out in the streets as soon as he was dressed. The formal dress of the Psychic Assassins was what he preferred and what was needed. After all he was engaging with his own. Authority at all times required the appropriate attire.
   The long flowing, deep hooded outfit had all of the markings expected of the leader of the Psychic Assassins. Deep red in colour with gold trimmings and the eye, the symbol of the Assassins, on the back. It billowed at the bottom with every long stride he made.
   The journey seemed to take an age with the worry he had in his mind. He saw the deep black sky turn to a dark blue as the morning began to emerge and he reached the entrance to the forge desperate to find out there was nothing to be worried about. The guards were waiting for him there after he sent a message ahead of him.
   ‘Has anyone been in or near the forge throughout the night?’
   The two Assassins that met him at the large wooden door were similarly clothed to Dango, but in a more understated colour and trimmings. They greeted him in the traditional way which he ignored.
   ‘No,’ replied one of them.
   ‘Take me to the Staff now. I fear there may be a problem. Summon one of the forgers to meet us there.’
   One of the guards scurried away to get a forger, the other one led Dango through the corridors and down the stairs to the first of the psychically locked doors. He was a little nervous in front of the Assassins leader and took so much time to unlock the psychic bindings that Dango was getting visibly annoyed.
   They were finally through and moving towards the next door that was shrouded in the mind lock. Again the guard took longer than Dango liked and his annoyed mumblings delayed the guard even longer from getting the door freed from its psychic shackles.
   Just as they were about to move through the doorway the second guard appeared with one of the forgers in tow. He was a filth encrusted specimen and Dango could smell the familiar stench of someone who spent the majority of his life in the presence of sooty furnaces.
   They all moved on to the final door and the guard began to remove the lock, but Dango's dread was becoming a reality. He was unable to see with his mind through the thick walls of the building, but now he was just a wooden door away from the Staff he could sense what the true nature of his dread was.
   His heart sank and before the door was opened he said in a low husky voice,
   “It’s gone!”
   Everyone except Dango walked into the room as soon as the door was opened. The burning torch that the forger carried lit up the stands that lined the room in rows and cast their shadows on the walls.
   He moved in deeper towards the cradle that once held the replica Staff and shone the torch on the empty space. The two guards and the forger stood there in shock.
   ‘How…?’ was all one of the guards could say.
   Dango’s mind filled with rage and the first suspect that he thought of was Langard.
   ‘Assemble all of the guards. Meet me at Langard’s home. I’m going to tear his mind apart to find out where the Staff is.’
   Dango spun around on his heels and left the guards to organise his request. He was going to make Langard pay for what he had done.
   A sudden thought nagged on his mind as he made his way through the damp streets. What if Langard had found a way to release the Dark Children already!
   No! That was impossible. There had to be someone with strong psychic abilities to be able to bring forth their new masters, like himself.
   But what if he had found someone? The thought froze Dango's very core for a brief moment until he forced it from his mind.

Chapter 3

   Sabina was very wary of the magic that Shen had suggested they used to travel to the Spirit Islands. In her experience nothing good ever came from magic. It got to the point that she almost refused to be involved in any of it.
   It may be that the world was in danger with the release of the Dark Children and it may be that Kaleb was the only true hope they had of ever returning them to their prisons, but what sort of life would she lead after being tainted by magic?
   Would she turn into a follower of the very entity they were fighting? Would she turn against any morals that she held now? Observing how the monster they had just defeated behaved, would she ever be able to stop herself from turning into such a creature once the magic touched her.
   She had never been so conflicted in her life.
   It was Kaleb who finally convinced her. With words and the soothing touch of the Staff which seemed to explain away all of her fears. She didn’t know how and it didn’t remove the unease that she felt about magic, but that moment in time the Staff allowed her to become more accepting. Enough to allow Shen to perform the task that whisked them away to the edges of the Spirit Islands and right into the camp that Grendal had set up.
   That task involved a number of objects that were set into the wall around where the Crystal had resided. It also involved a journey that Sabina could not comprehend in her mind and she never successfully recalled it ever again in her life.
   The experience was disorienting for both Kaleb and Sabina and it took them part of the morning to recover fully. Shen put them in a state of sleep that aided their recovery while she watched over them. At the same time, she explained to Grendal what had happened in the caverns and how the Dark Children were now free.
   The giant’s face took on a look of resignation on hearing the news. He absently poked at the fire he had quickly thrown together on the arrival of the Humans for any of their cooking requirements. The dancing flames provided some comfort amongst the helplessness he now felt inside, but it was small.
   ‘I feel your worries, but all is not lost yet. My kind will battle the Dark Children to delay them reaching their full power. We will try to give Kaleb enough time to retrieve the last Crystal and gain the power to return them to their incarceration. Doranth is on his way to us now to take me to where the Dark Children are.’
   Grendal looked over at Shen as she watched over Kaleb and Sabina. They were set down on the soft, blue downy floor covering that permeated the area where he decided to set up camp.
   He chose the place because of its location. A short walk through the low hills and they would be at the crossing to the first island. The one and only entrance to the two land masses.
   The camp itself was at the base of the tallest hill, though that only rose to three times Grendal's height. It was a little off track. Something that he had done on purpose.
   The rocky ground that he had travelled on was just about visible in the distance, framed by a tall mountain range in the background. It had been slowly replaced by the soft vegetation that was now underfoot and stretched for as far as he could see to his left and to his right.
   The ground wasn’t the only thing that had improved. The sun was high in the sky and a warmth enveloped his skin like a fur-lined jacket. The openness of the area made him miss the comfort of the Forests of Koreen and the cosseting branches that used to surround him.
   “Doranth and I have our disagreements, but on this we do agree. We find it hard to believe this Human could emulate Xandra and bring the Dark Children under control. I fear we may soon be overrun with the servants of the Dark Children and suffer under their rule again.”
   ‘I do not share your misgivings. The union between Kaleb and the Staff has come such a long way in such a short time. I believe Kaleb can match Xandra for if I did not then I would give up now and accept that things will return to the evil ways of the Dark Children. Are you going to do such a thing?’
   Grendal was surprised by the tone in his mind from Shen. He’d never felt such an almost aggressive response from any Changeling in his long life. Or did he just imagine it. Either way it unsettled him and all he could say was,
   “No."
   There was an awkward silence until Kaleb and Sabina came round a little while later. They fed themselves on some of the supplies that Grendal had picked up along his journey and replenished their water containers from the stream that ran along the foot of the hills. They then rested some more as they waited for Doranth.