1: The Light of No Tomorrow

Malchor sighed deeply.

"There was an assault on a sacred site while the Vistani were attacked and you all rescued these two. It's your friend, Diana. The League of Malevolence have Kosar."

"You. What're you grinning about?!" Bobby looms over the prisoner.

"Those fuckers ate a unicorn," Bobby growls. "Is Kelek collecting unicorn horns again?" The barbarian seems to not have heard Malchor mention Kosar.

Diana's face goes blank in shock at Malchor's statment about Kosar. She continues to stand motionless as Bobby and the orc-halfling begin yelling. She barely hears them. Tension grows in Diana's body, driven by a mix of fear, pain, anger, and loss. She feels her muscles tighten. Her grip on the Staff becomes like iron. There's a moment where a long buried part of her reaches out, reminds her how good it feels to embrace the rage. Then she hears Kosar's voice in a memory. "You're too attached to your anger," he said. And of course, he was right. Later her Buddhist teacher would tell her she was too attached to Kosar, which was also true, in a way. Diana takes a deep breath and wills her muscles to relax.

"I don't understand," Diana says to Malchor, her voice quivering only slightly. "I thought Kosar had moved beyond the physical realm. How do you capture someone like that?" Even as she asks it, she recognizes that the answer is obvious: magic. "Scratch that. It doesn't matter. How do we get him back?"

"Some celestial beings have cycles just like the cosmos itself, waxing and waning. Today seems to have been one such incredibly rare day for Kosar. In his human form, largely cut off from his ascended nature, he was overwhelmed and taken. A number of diversionary assaults against those close to Kosar and his sanctuary occurred to coincide with the kidnapping. The League no doubt wanted to be sure no help came if any cries of distress got out."

The wizard turned to the force cage.

"What else does that thing know?"

"This is getting very personal. The League is coming after those that we hold near and dear. Keep pressing him for information Bobby."

Presto moves around to the far side of the force cage and pulls a small footstool close to where the little halfling née orc is cowering. He speaks quietly, with no emotion, purely facts. His voice is, if anything, gentle. Pleading.

"You are safe inside this magical cage. For now. But I can't extend the protection once the spell has completed. I think you may have twenty or thirty minutes left before the protection fades, and then the big one over there can reach you. You have to understand, he's not methodical, so whatever happens will not be as quick or clean as at the fortress. And when he's done, we'll clean up, take a night's rest, and I'll summon you back from Eternity and we'll start over. Maybe you'll be a gnome next, or a human. Perhaps you'll return as an orc. We can try as many times as it takes."

Presto takes a long breath and sighs it out. He doesn't like this. It's brutal, but worse, it's messy. The world should be more orderly than this is turning out to be. "The alternative is that you tell us everything you know, we calm down our friend, and you walk out the door. I'll even give you some clothes and food, and you can start your life over as an enterprising halfling. But you ought to hurry. The clock is ticking, and I really can't be sure of how much time the cage has left."

"Valley of dead unicorns? That doesn't sound good. Still though, let's go."

"Valley of the what?" The answer stopped Hank in his tracks. The six friends had been to the Lost Valley of the Unicorns before, but Hank hadn't heard about its mirror opposite.

Presto shakes his head. "That's a start. But there's more, I know there is. They attack the tower and take our friends, just to distract us from taking another close friend? I don't know...It seems like there's more going on. I'd bet that we're being distracted from the main goal. Or maybe they're just waiting for us to get there so they can take someone else, always keeping us on our toes."

He turns to the halfling in the box. "What else have you got? I could have found Kelek's location without your help, the same way we found you. Why did they take Kosar? We need more information about what's going on, and why."

"Well, if there's a pattern, they are still one step ahead of us. We still have to chase them down one by one to get to our friends." Hank ruminated for a bit more. "If we are thinking to be one step ahead, then, well, here goes," Hank looked at his five other friends, "the connection with Varla is Presto, Lorne with Eric, Kosar with Diana. That means we ought to scry for the three others most special to Sheila, Bobby, and myself, to check on their safety. That would be Terri, and Karena." Hank referenced Bobby and Sheila, but kept mum about himself.

"You don't think they'd be able to grab Terri in New Orleans?!"

"Or Kellie and my kids?!"

"The League would be as powerless as you are on Earth," the wizaard stated, "but an orc is still an orc and an assassin is still an assassin."

Malchor paused, read the room, and added, "I doubt they would be crossing dimensions for such kidnapping attempts. What say you, runt?"