"Hello, hello!" a figure said as it sprang up before her. Myrmeen found herself looking into the delighted face of the wrinkled, white-skinned member of the Night Parade who had changed the floor into water. His features ran like candle wax.
The creature reached toward her with dripping hands. "Tell me how you want to be immortalized. Glass? Steel? Porcelain? I'm an artist, but I like to be accommodating." The wax-man giggled insanely.
Myrmeen knew that by the time she drew her sword, the creature would be upon her. She wondered if Lucius or Burke had survived the fall, and if her daughter had made it out alive.
Suddenly there was a groan from above and the pale man looked up in surprise. "No," he said, "it's spreading. It wasn't supposed to spread!"
His power was causing the wall beside them to disintegrate, along with the floor upon which Varina was trapped by the ten-tacled creature. As the wall beside them turned to liquid, Myrmeen saw that heavy support beams had been placed in the next room to help manage the tremendous weight of the monstrosity above. She could not help but wonder why they did not simply allow the creature to stay on the first floor. Then there was no more time for thought. The floor beneath the creature transmuted, sending Varina plunging into the darkness as her massive enemy sank like a weighty sponge. It made no sound as it was impaled on the many support beams, its body and tentacles writhing madly as it lashed out in pain, then surrendered to death.
Myrmeen had not stood by as a spectator. While the waxlike man had watched the scene in horror, Myrmeen had withdrawn her sword, scrambled back over the debris to put some distance between herself and the creature, and thrown her sword at the pale man's head. He threw his hands up in alarm, his body twitching as the sword pierced his skull, the weight dragging him down to lie on his side in convulsions.
She heard a moaning sound, then the pounding of sword hilts on glass from the first floor. Myrmeen looked around and saw something moving within the wreckage. A man.
"Lucius?" she called as she walked closer.
The figure rose unsteadily and turned to her. It was the second man who had leapt down from the collapsed floor of the attic. The man had long black hair, azure eyes, and a tremendously well-developed body. He was tall and handsome. His expensive clothing was cut to reveal his washboard stomach, thick arms, and powerful legs. Bright, bluish white energy crackling with green flames engulfed his hand.
She was unprepared for his speed as he grabbed her arm and yanked her toward him, pulling his hand behind him for an instant, then shoving it forward. The pain she had anticipated never arrived. She heard a scream behind her.
Looking over her shoulder, Myrmeen saw that the man's hand was buried deep in the chest of the man with the waxen face. There was no indication that her sword had ever touched him, though she had seen it buried in his skull. The creature writhed for a moment, then fell back in a heap and did not rise again.
"I am Erin Shandower," the man who'd grabbed her said. "I am human, like you." He held out his glowing hand, the talons of energy quickly fading. "This gauntlet is my weapon against them. With it, I can kill almost any-"
"My daughter," Myrmeen said. "Help me find her. She was up there when the floor gave out."
Shandower nodded, and together they began the search. Across the room, Myrmeen registered that the pounding at the window had stopped. She had assumed that it was Reisz and Ord, trying to get in and free them. Something had made them stop, and that frightened Myrmeen.
"I've found someone. A man," Shandower said.
Myrmeen went to his side and helped him to drag Lucius from the waterlogged wreckage. The mage was dazed, barely conscious. She heard the sloshing of footsteps and turned, worried that she would find another enemy. Varina walked past her, desperately plunging her gloved hands into the debris, trying to find her husband's body. The lithe blonde was frantic. She ignored the gaping cuts lining her legs and back.
The desperate search went on until Varina gave a single, grief-filled cry. She had found her husband. Miraculously, he was still alive. His eyes flickered open at her touch and he reached up to caress the side of her face. "So beautiful," he whispered hoarsely.
Varina lowered her face to his, kissing him gently.
Myrmeen raised another chunk of debris and realized with disgust that it was a severed wing from one of the dragonfly-children. She dropped it immediately. Krystin had not been trapped below the heavy wings. The tall, beautiful brunette tried to fight off her growing hysteria. She could not have come all this way to find her daughter, only to lose the girl so quickly.
"I have only one question," a voice called from the darkened corner of the room. " 'My daughter'?"
Myrmeen spun around in surprise. Straining her eyes, she was able to see Krystin sitting on a pile of wreckage a dozen feet away. She heard footsteps above. The sections of the floor that once had held the dining and kitchen area of Myrmeen's former dwelling were still intact. Something fell from the crumbling ledge above. Two lengths of rope.
Reisz and Ord leaned down over the edge. The older man gestured wildly. "Everyone out of there, quickly. There may be more of those things!"
"Why didn't you just break through the window on this floor?" Myrmeen asked as her daughter left her perch and joined the others.
"We couldn't. The walls, the glass, they've all been changed to steel. Something didn't want us getting in."
Myrmeen thought of the creature with the power of transmutation. It had nearly succeeded in trapping them.
Shandower grasped one of the ropes and tugged. The rope was secure. "I can take the tall one over my shoulder. Then I'll come back for the one who was hurt."
"Good plan," Reisz said. "Who was hurt and who in Cyric's hell are you?"
Ord suddenly noticed Burke's twisted body and screamed the man's name. The teenager grabbed one of the ropes and was about to slide down when Reisz threw his arms around the boy and held him back.
"Ord!" Bujrke shouted, somehow raising his hand in a fist.
"Listen."
The boy stopped fighting the older man long enough to shift his gaze back to the pit of wreckage below.
"I want you to prepare the horses for our escape," Burke said. "Now." ›
"I'll come down, I'll help you-"
"No. Go outside. I'll be along."
Desperation flashed in the boy's eyes. His true father had been horrible to him. Burke was the only man who had showed him kindness and discipline.
"Go on," Burke said. "I'll not have my only son disobeying my orders in front of all my friends."
For a brief instant, Myrmeen was certain that she saw a face looking in on them through the first floor window, which may have had the consistency of steel but was still translucent. Then the face was gone.
Above, Reisz clamped his hand on Ord's shoulder. "He'll be fine."
"Go, Ord," ^forina said, wiping away the tears that were suddenly streaming down her face. "We'll be with you soon."
Ord nodded sharply, then turned and vanished. They heard his footsteps recede and \forina said, "We'll be with you always."
Burke stared into her eyes. "You know, don't you?"
"I do," she said, her chest heaving with grief. Burke took her hand. He was not going to last much longer. His injuries were too severe.