They were standing in a small cave, lit gently by the glowing golden orbs floating slowly just above the head level. The air felt stale and the walls were covered with thick dusty cobwebs, creating an impression that no living creature has visited this place in many, many years.

"Where are we?" Jacrose asked his cousin. "A secret place known only to those of the Great Siberian Clan, my boy," the familiar apparition answered cheerfully. "And you and your Cousin Daria have found it just in time."

Although Daria was still dazed from their trip between the worlds, she still noticed the subtle change in their mysterious guide: it was as if the otherworldly aura the stranger had had somehow lessened, and the robes he/she was wearing became somehow more tangible.

As if reading her mind, the stranger said: "As you've probably noticed, I exist somewhat differently in my own dimension. Something that your kind has found out as well when they were forced to flee their homeland and find refuge in Britannia. I have no doubt that you'll notice many changes within yourselves in the next few days, abilities that you haven't ever dreamed of... but I shall say no more about that. I imagine you have a lot of questions to ask me."

Tigre raised his hand and asked, "Wh-who are you, and what powers are you referring to?"

"Who am I? Let's say I am a native of this world and had the pleasure of knowing your clan for many, many years, long before your ancestors fled to Britannia. This," he waved his hand around, "is your true homeland, the world known as Casthellea, the land of dragons. I was lucky to see it in the days of Golden Age, when thousands of dragons danced in the skies and the land was ruled by the powerful families, your clan among them."

The stranger's voice hardened. "Then humans came, armed with powerful magic and led by the most cruel and devious creature ever spawned by that wretched race, a sorceress called Saihve, whose hatred for your kind could only be matched by her thirst for power. The dragons were eventually annihilated after years of war, and only a precious few managed to flee from Saihve's rage. Still she sent out her minions to raid the other worlds and destroy whatever was left of your race."

The stranger turns to Daria. "I was powerless against her, yet I managed to help your mother flee the mountains and convinced her to find refuge among humans, hard as it was for a dragon to live among the kind who was the cause of all her misery. All I could do for the rest of your family is to have a powerful spell cast on Jacrose that would leave his body unharmed but keep his mind in slumber for several decades."

"As for the powers that await you... well, if you thought you had magical abilities in Britannia, just wait and see."

/More powers yet to come?/ Jacrose thought to himself. /Perhaps more powerful than the ones I just learned I had?/

/Just wait and see, my little tiger cub,/ responded the guide. /Just wait and see.../
"WHOAH!" Jacrose shuddered, "What was that?"
"Telepathy, dear boy. It can be useful in a pinch, but you -do- need to be careful -where- you use it."

Suddenly, the mysterious stranger tensed. "We are being watched," he/she whispered, looking frantically around the cave.

A knock came, seemingly, from all directions. "Anyone at home?" asked a new voice. The guide motioned for all to be silent. Yet another knock. "I say," queried the voice, "is anyone at home?"

Minute later, a short, scrawny man walks into the room. He's got a happy, cheerful face of someone who thinks that nothing bad can ever happen to him. His clothes are dusty and worn, and there is an equally battered lute sticking from behind his back.

"I say, I say, I say, good folks," says the man in a chirpy manner, "would you be so kind as to give some shelter for the night to Erlimo, the greatest minstrel in the world?"

/Now why does that name seem familiar?/ Tigre asked himself, then said, "I have no problem with the arrangement, but you may want to talk to them first."

For some reason or another, Daria wasn't too pleased with her cousin just then. "I'm not sure we need any strangers in here," she mutters under her breath, glaring at Tigre. "I agree," replied their guide. "Many enemies await you in this world, and I wouldn't want to advertise our presence."

"Would anyone like some homemade bread? A good woman from the nearby village gave it to me this morning; it still fresh! Cheese is a bit off, but you can't go wrong with a good slice of bacon."

They turned around in surprise to see Erlimo sitting cross-legged on the floor, carefully spreading out the contents of his backpack on a piece of cloth in front of him. Obviously, it has never occurred to the man that his request for shelter might be refused. Completely unembarrassed, he gave the travellers a bright smile and waved his hand.

"Dinner's on me, folks! It's the least I can do to repay for your kindness. Please! Come and join the feast."

"Damn it... now it's next to impossible to kick him out peacefully," muttered the guide. "We have no choice but bear his presence... and keep our mouths shut. Which should be easy, as he seems to be a man in love with the sound of his own voice."

"He does seem familiar to me though, cousin," Tigre whispered , "But I am not sure where or when I remember him from."

The bard, after eating his fill of the provisions, brought from behind his back what looked like a staff or club. After removing the brass ball from the staff Erlimo places the other end into his mouth and plays a rather familiar tune to the cousins.

The food certainly did look inviting, but...

/Shall I trust what this gentleman says is true an eat? Or should I wait for my cousin and our guide?/ the young dragon thought to himself. Finally he decided to ask them both that important question: "Should we join in his feast, even though he has had his fill? Or shall we divide what rations we already have?"

"Let's not extend our trust beyond necessity," whispered the guide. "Thank you, dear sir, but we shall be fine with our own supplies," he said aloud, hoping that the bard would not take offence at the refusal.

"Suit yourself," said Erlimo cheerfully, then, putting the strange-looking staff aside, he reached for his lute. "If you're not tempted by my food, then I must repay for your kindness by my craft. Let me play you something I haven't played to anyone, for I have only learned this new tune this very day from a fellow bard who stayed in the same inn as I did. A rather strange fellow, but a generous one too, trading songs like that."

Jacrose, probably against his better judgment, goes over to the bard and picks up the staff. "A fipple flute if my memory serves me," he mused as he examined the piece carefully.

/The lad is very perceptive,/ Erlimo thinks to himself. /And he is right, he and his cousin -do- know me from somewhere.../

"Cousin," Tigre began, "didn't my father play a fipple flute?"

Looking over in her direction for the answer, Tigre notices that neither she or the guide are moving, at least from his point of view. /Did time stop?/ he mused to himself, then as he set down the flute, things became as they were before he picked it up before.

"Couldn't say, Tigre", replied Daria, unaware of the strange occurrence. "I never got to meet the rest of our family and Mother never talked about her relatives."

Meanwhile, unnoticed by anyone, Erlimo quickly reaches into his pocket and his hand comes out clutching some small shiny object which he swiftly slides inside the fipple flute. Then, with a broad smile, he offers it to Tigre:

"I see you've taken an interest in my flute," he says pleasantly. "Would you like to try it out? It's not as difficult as it looks."

"May I cousin?" Jacrose asks her pleadingly, "The flute does look rather interesting."
"And I am a rather good teacher too," the bard quipped. "My Lady. Good Sir. I assure you that I bear no ill will on the lad. Just a lesson or two on my famous fipple flute, and the young master will be a virtuoso in no time!"

"Er, sure," says Daria. "Go ahead. In fact, I'm quite interested in the flute myself, I've never seen anything like that before."

Some time later, Daria thought that it was with a touch of hastiness that Erlimo handed the flute to Tigre, but such suspicion never occurred to her in the moment. Still, what happened next as Tigre hesitantly brought the flute to his lips would not have come up to her in her wildest nightmare. Without a warning or even a sound, both Erlimo and Tigre disappeared into a thin air as if they had never been in the cave, leaving Daria and the guide sitting open-mouthed amid the remains of the supper.

Jacrose, playing a lost tune, doesn't notice that he isn't with his cousin or the guide anymore.. "Well done, young one, well done," the bard compliments slyly, "Now for a more complex tune..."

***

"We must find my cousin and that bard!" Daria announces frantically, "His life may be at stake, and it..."

Just before she has a time to complete the sentence, some heavy and bright-coloured object crashes on the ground, nearly squashing the guide's feet, and breaks into million pieces that scatter around the cave's floor. After recovering from the initial shock, the guide kneels down and inspects the fragments.

"I think I know what just happened," he muses aloud. "The flute must have had some sort of teleportation spell hidden inside, so that it allows you to change places with an object that might be hundreds or thousands miles away, and it doesn't even has to have the same shape or mass. By the looks of things, I think that your cousin and the bard have switched places with some very large and expensive vase."

He picks up the biggest piece, covered with colourful patterns so delicate and intricate that it's nearly impossible for an eye to trace them. "Amazing brushwork, really... and I think I know where it came from, too." He smiles wryly. "Our friend the bard is not the only one with the tricks up his sleeve."

***

Jacrose continues to play the complex melody on the flute, but notices something rather familiar about the place that he's now in, and stops.

"M-m-my F-f-f-father's s-s-store?" the young human asked the bard. /How could this be?/ he broadcast, accidentally, /I've not been here since../ "Oh No!"

***

Back in the cave, the guide locks his eyes on a small piece of broken vase and concentrates. Harsh, indecipherable words of magic flow from his mouth and curl around him like a white mist, until Daria feels as if she's standing in the middle of a cloud. There's a slight pulling sensation in her body, and then the whiteness starts to fade away.

"If I'm correct, then we should arrive at the exact spot that vase came from," says the guide with a touch of self-congratulation in his voice, "and our friend the bard owes us some explanations. Poor Jacrose must have got quite a shock when..." He stops in the middle of the sentence, and Daria realises that the fading mist must have revealed a place the guide did not expect to see.

It looked as if they stood in the middle of a room with no visible doors or windows. The only source of light is the gentle reddish glow coming from the walls and the ceiling, which are also red in colour. This glow has a strange effect on Daria: she suddenly feels as if it penetrates her entire body, sapping away all of her energy and strength. By the look of the guide, he must be experiencing the same as his knees suddenly buckle and he barely manages not to fall on the floor in a heap.

"It's a trap, Daria," he manages to croak. "The teleportation spell that accursed son of a bitch used must have been a lot more complicated. I have heard of such places. The walls of this room are made from a mineral... that sap away your magic. I can't get us out of here. I have managed to contact Jacrose's mind for a split second, but I'm not sure whether he even heard me or if he has, whether he can help us at all..."

Young Jacrose heard the message, but doesn't really know what to do about the situation. "My Mistress is very interested in you, boy!" the bard said menacingly. "And she's going to reward me handsomely for capturing you! MWA! HA!HA!HA!"

Jacrose picks up the fipple flute, puts it in his mouth, and plays a tune that even surprises the bard! "The 'Tune of Summon Friends'?! How did you learn that?"

The bard frantically tried to silence the young dragon, but failed when a shimmering silver nimbus glowed about Jacrose. In a ring of pots, halfway across the room, a silver portal opens and two figures step out. One rushes over to Jacrose just in time to catch him as he collapses from the difficult spell.

"Excellent job, my boy," says the guide, his voice still hoarse and shaky. "I knew you wouldn't lose your head."

"That may be, mister Gatekeeper, but you and the girl will certainly lose yours," says Erlimo's honey-sweet voice from behind their backs. "Your little dragon's quick wits have only helped my plan."

Daria and the guide realise with horror that Erlimo picked up the fipple flute that had fallen from Jacrose's weakened grip. Meanwhile, the pretend bard continued: "May I draw your attention to fact that you two are quite drained of magic for a considerable amount of time, and your young friend is in no better shape. My mistress' interest lies exclusively with the boy... but her dungeons and her torturers welcome everyone with open arms... and tentacles, hah, hah. Indeed, you shall regret leaving the red room, my frie..."

Erlimo's expression suddenly changes to sheer terror as suddenly, a hissing ball of black fur drops onto his head. Daria looks away as terrible screams fill the room, mixed with Blackthorne's furious growling, until they die away along, it seems, with the unlucky Erlimo. When she dares to open her eyes again, Blackthorne has already disappeared along with the fipple flute, leaving quite a mess behind.

"All I can say is, thank whatever Gods you worship that you didn't have that flute on you when Blackie arrived," she says to Tigre in a near-hysterical voice. "No one can really force him to do anything, but he hates it whenever there's even an attempt to summon him."

She is silenced by the sudden noise from outside the room, and nearly jumps out of her skin when there's a loud knock on the door. "Oh no, please let it not be the guards," she groans.

The loud knocking continued along with a voice calling, "You called for some assistance, Master?"

Daria, still a little shaken, looks at her cousin and wonders, /did he also summon others with that ancient tune?/

"Master?" the voice calls again, this time opening the door. "What happened here? What happened to the Master?"

"He rests at the moment," the Guide explained. "He's had a busy day."

The summoned help wonders what to do. "Mistress, Sir, may we be of service to thee until Master awakens?"

***

Elsewhere... "So Erlimo has failed me." an ominous voice says. "He got the punishment he deserved then. No matter.." the form turns from the scrying device and glances around the room. "Raz M. A. Taz, your time to flourish has come!" "Yes, my queen!" and he disappears from her sight.

***

Waiting not for the answer, Tigre's new-found servants come, or rather float, into the room. To Daria, they look like nothing more than two empty cloaks that suddenly took on a life of their own, until the strange entities turn towards the party, revealing two burning dots inside their cowls that look like fiery eyes. To her surprise, the guide visibly relaxes at the sight of the visitors, and points towards Erlimo's remains.

"Get rid of the body, you two. The Master shall not require your services after you've finished."

"As you wish, Sir," the spectral help bowed, and helped his companion with the removal of the bard's remains and shut the door behind them. Something was left behind though when the summoned help left: the fipple flute!

Daria quickly went over to the flute and checked it for anything that may give a clue as to how the teleportation spell that brought her cousin here worked, but only found an empty bag.

***

In another part of that world... A carnival was going on...

"Raz M. A. Taz, report!" ordered a voice only he could hear.
"No sign of the cousins or their guide, my Queen," he replies the same way. "However, there is a black cat roaming around, as if searching for something. "
"The cat means nothing to you." Raz's Queen replies, "keep doing your job there until the cousins arrive, then inform me when they do."
"This time they won't escape!"

***

"We shall need a safe place to stay for the night," says the guide to Daria and Jacrose, who still hasn't quite recovered from the draining spell. "This shop shall do just fine... ah, but I know what you're going to say," he chuckles slightly. "Do not worry about Saihve's minions: I doubt that even you, Jacrose, could know about the little trick your father built into this shop. Just watch..."

The guide quietly intones a word of power, and suddenly the stone walls disappear around them, leaving the group standing in a small cosy room with thick carpet on the floor and three comfortable-looking beds.

"Where are we?" gasps Tigre. "Still inside the shop, my boy," replies the guide. "It's just that, to those who know its secret, it's a much bigger place on the inside than it looks on the outside. There are many other rooms in here, but I thought that this one was more appropriate for weary travellers."

"Saihve... is she the sorceress you've mentioned before?" says Daria, who suddenly realises, for all her tiredness, that the guide has left a few mysteries unanswered.

"Yes, a sorceress that now is a Queen of this entire world and has been for some time. Her personal powers are not as strong as they used to be, yet she remains almost invincible as long as she keeps the Dragon Stone. I don't know how much of the dragon lore has survived in your world of Britannia, but you probably know that the stone was the single greatest possession of the Dragons in this world, and a source of immense power that Saihve somehow managed to steal at the very early start of the war that almost destroyed your kind. I doubt that she considers you two a serious threat to her, for she's as arrogant as she is powerful, yet for some unknown reason she seems interested in you, Jacrose. Erlimo is but the first one of her servants she'll throw at us..."

***

In the early morning, Daria is still asleep when Tigre shakes her from her slumber. "Whatzaaamatter?" she says, drowsy and annoyed. "The guide is gone!" Tigre says, pointing at the empty bed next to them. "I looked everywhere, and I even tried mind-touch, but I can't locate him in any way! This is the only trace of him that I could find," he says, handing Daria a piece of white paper with something scribbled on it.

"This looks like a spell, cousin", she says, frowning. "He obviously left it for us... I wonder what he wanted us to use it for."

"I guess he wants me to try it out on the flute," Jacrose told Daria. "You may want to hold on to me, just in case this spell is supposed to take us somewhere." Daria quickly grabs hold of her cousins shoulders, and says, "play when ready, Tigre."

Her cousin nods, places the flute to his lips and plays the new tune in his lap... The shop surroundings disappear!

/Blue Portal. Silver Portal. What next?/

Amethyst Portal naturally, my dear,/ the Guide answered merrily. Jacrose continued to play the fipple flute, not so much as to cast a spell, but to play a song he remembers from long ago...

As he plays a mist forms in the room and Daria wonders, "what is going on?"

"So it has begun," the guide says cryptically, and they both watch the pageant of spirits reenacting some of their better moments in this room. Four of the ghosts head toward Tigre, who seems to be oblivious to the events around him.

"JACROSE!" his cousin cries out, in an attempt to get to him, but the Guide restrains her... "Do you not recognize those four spirits, my dear?" he asked. "Notice how loving they are toward your cousin."

Two of the ghosts venture closer to Daria herself...

***

About 3 minutes before..

'So that is our young nephew that you were going to bring to us...' one of the specters said appreciatively. 'He plays that flute rather well, for a rookie. Hee ha ha!'

'You were no better at his age,' said another ghost. 'Besides, he seems to have done more than what you could have in just twenty-four hours!' Then two spooks chased each other towards Daria..

***

"Daria," the Guide whispered, "these two have traveled a long long way just to see you, and their nephew. Please be courteous and say something to them."

"Ah, don't be hard on the young lady, old friend," says one of the apparitions, in a voice that sounds strangely earthy coming from a ghost. "You're far too fond of playing your little games of mysteries and puzzles, when it would have been easier for everyone involved if you just told them what's coming."

"You know that there are rules, Alveah," says the Guide, slightly irritated. "We had to know whether Jacrose was advanced enough to be ready."

"Ready for what?" asks Daria, who is growing rather impatient.

"Why, your proper training, my dear," says the ghost. "Surely you must know by now that you need some in order to survive in this world?"

The two specters near Tigre just floated in awe an wonder at what they had produced, before the apocalypse...

"It looks like Jacrose turned out to be a fine boy, didn't he, Marion?"
"Yes," came the reply, "Who would have thought that the 'Tigre/Cat Morph Ability' would breed true into him."

Tigre, not stopping, looked up at his parents, nodded lovingly, and began to cry silently. The tune he played barely even wavered during his renewed sadness, but he knew that this spell could not be played forever....

"Sis!" yelled Jacrose's father, "hurry with the message to Daria. Our time here is almost up!"
"Be well, my little tiger cub," Marion, the other spirit, said lovingly, and disappeared...

"Know this," his father began, "your training is far from over. Listen to both your cousin and Altheus, your guide, they will help you to become one of the best Dracomages of all time." As he finished this, Tigre's father began to fade, then followed his wife back to where they belonged.

The remaining two ghosts moved still closer to Daria. "I haven't got much time, so Reaulth and I shall be quick," says the one called Alveah. "Look well after your cousin, dear, and have a patience to put up with the boring old Altheus," she grins at the Guide who frowns slightly. "You're destined for great things, both of you, but remember that until the Dragon Stone remains in the possession of the enemy, none of you shall reach your full potential."

Alveah's words turned into fading whisper just as the old ghost finished the sentence and disappeared, leaving behind the silent and motionless form of the one she referred to as Reaulth. A slight chill went through Daria's body as she somehow sensed that the spirit floating in front of her must have possessed great power in the world of the living.

"A gift... for you..." the words appeared in her mind even as the ghost remained silent, and the next minute, a warm glow enveloped Daria's entire being as she felt a surge of power flowing through her veins and crackling up her spine. "Use it... wisely..."

Daria too had a renewed grief resurfacing. "Be well, and thank you." she said to the departed spirits, and wept silently for a little while. Jacrose, feeling his own grief full force now, drops the fipple flute and sobs like never before...

/This is no way for the last of the Great Siberian Clan to act!/ The cousins heard in their minds, which made them stop crying very quickly. Altheus sighs and continues out loud, "The dark queen still has the stone and if you are going to get it back you'll need to practice your new abilities. You especially, Daria, for your cousin almost has his down pat."

***

Meanwhile, at the carnival, Raz Matheus A. Taz was taking his deserved break when...

/RAZ M.!/

/MY QUEEN!/

/Any sign of those brats or that meddling old fool Altheus?/

/No sign of any of them, My Queen, but that cat is still prowling the area. What should I do?/

/Leave the cat alone for the moment. It may give its charges away at any time now. Mwa ha ha ha!/

/As you wish, My Queen./

***

"Well, what abilities -do- I have?" asks Daria. "An ability to get ourselves back into the world of living, for a start," replies the Guide. "Look within yourself. Can't you feel the power within you just waiting to burst through?"

Daria closes her eyes and tries to search for any changes within herself that may have been caused by Reaulth's mysterious gift. Nothing happens at first, and then she is suddenly aware of a slight stinging sensation in her palms. She opens her eyes to find the Guide and Tigre standing on their spots as if frozen, and the world around her full of frightening stillness. She looks down at her hands and gasps as a blue glow suddenly starts to spread from the tips of the fingers down to the wrists.

After a while, Daria can discern that myriads of multi-coloured rays of light are streaming from her fingers and disappear into the thin air, and as she tries to feel each individual thread, images of people and places flood her mind until she is almost ready to scream from the strain of being pulled into millions of directions at once. For a brief moment, her fingers find a fine silver thread that that brings about an image of Tigre, and next to it is a thicker one that she somehow knows to belong to the Guide. Finally, her fingers find a thread that she knows to be connected to the most evil and selfish being in the known universe. Almost sweating from concentration, she closes her eyes and wills herself and her companions to follow the direction of the thread.

"Well done," says the Guide's voice, as Daria opens her eyes and finds herself standing in the middle of the shop they know well by now. Blackthorne the cat, not in the least disturbed by their sudden appearance, yawns and goes back to sleep on the couch in the corner.

"Wow-wee, Daria!" Tigre exclaimed, "how in the world did you do that?"

"I..I don't know for sure, Jacrose," she replied, "but it may be one of my new abilities that our guide, Altheus, was telling us about earlier."

/They are catching on, old friends,/ the Guide broadcast to the departed foursome, and the cousins heard it.

"Your mastery over the Fipple Flute Magiks, so far, have been very impressive, Jacrose," Altheus told him, "however, you must learn more complex spells not only on it, but also the family magics that you and your cousin have yet to discover together."

"Didn't I already gain some of it, Altheus?" Tiara's cousin asked.
"Only a very special part of it. But there is more to come.."

"So, what was it that I did, Altheus?" asks Daria.

"Threads magic on its most basic level," replied the Guide. "An ancient craft that is fairly rare among your kind, it is simply an ability to trace any living being anywhere in the universe. As of now, you're limited to small parts of this world and perhaps Britannia, and it's only humans and magical creatures that you can trace. I am not sure how strong this ability is in you, but Alveah hinted on a huge potential that only has to be unlocked."

"However, this is not a good place for us to stay anymore. The secret room may have given us protection for a while, but unfortunately it was only a short-lived spell that may not be stable. We must move on."

"Oh, why must you be in such a hurry?" purrs somebody's voice seemingly from nowhere. "Aren't you young things just dying to show me what you've learned?"

/Now where have I heard -that- voice before?/ Tigre thought to himself, then he asked in cat, "Was that you just now, Blackthorne? I thought I remembered you."

"Now that was unexpected." Altheus muttered to himself.

"What was?" Daria asked.
"Your Cousin being able to talk in feline." came the bewildered reply. "It shouldn't be."
"Why's that?" "One of his talent's is to transform into a cat, any type of cat. OOPS!"

They watch in amazement as Tigre suddenly shrinks in size, while his shape undergoes a transformation which shouldn't really be seen on a full stomach by anyone. The next minute, a medium-sized black cat plops unto the floor, looking rather confused.

"What just happened?" Tigre asked, but to the others it sounded like he was meowing. "Oh Ho!" the elder cat in the room exclaimed, "so this is what my pet meant!" Blackthorne studied Jacrose's new form and announced: "So far, Altheus and Daria, this one seems 'purrfect' for the task ahead of him. Just don't slip up again," he growled.

Tigre walked toward his cousin and his guide but soon found that he was trapped!

"Hmm, it seems you're quite easy to control in a shape of a common cat," purred Blackthorne's voice in Tigre's mind. "I wouldn't use it ever again if I were you..."

Having lost interest in Tigre as suddenly as he has acquired it, Blackthorne yawned, then walked straight through the nearby wall in search of something more interesting to play with. He found it straight away in a form of a menacing-looking man who was busy casting a complicated paralyzing spell and didn't notice Blackthorne right up until the point when steely claws sank into his back.

The spell went off, but with a slight hitch to it. You see, the paralyzing spell that Raz M. was casting was so complicated that complete concentration was needed to do so...

"YEEEOWCH! WHAT THE FRELL?!"

The only thing that got fully paralyzed in the end was Raz M. himself! Blackthorne was able to get out of the way shortly before the spell took full effect, but he too got caught, at least partially. Tigre, seeing that his 'cat mentor' was in trouble, morphed into a more suitable cat form for a softer landing, on Blackthorn's part.

"Blackthorne!" Daria cried as her cousin brought him over to her, "Altheus, can his paws be saved from this?"
"Only time can tell now, my dear." the old friend of the family replied, "time, practice on your skills, and the safe return of the Dragon Gem."

In actual fact, there was no reason for the cousins to worry, as a second later, a slightly dazed Blackthorne wrestled out of Tigre's grip and bolted out of the room with a malevolent hiss.

Daria sighed in relief. "I knew that no spells could have hurt him, but this looked like a very close one. It must have been an incredibly powerful spell to have affected Blackie, even if it was for a short while."

"Indeed," mused Altheus, as he looked over the unlucky spellcaster, whose face was now a frozen mask of surprise. "This looks like the work of one of the Queen's henchmen. In fact, I think I've seen this spell before..."

He stopped himself as he realised with horror that there was indeed a second act to this capture spell that has been delayed so far. Before he can utter anything, a flash of intense blue light illluminates the room, and the teleportation spell whisks away the cousins, the Guide and their would-be captor out of the room and into unknown direction...

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