<HTML> "The lutins have grugs on their side." whispered Desuka carefully.  "They are trying to break into the room with magic, but Blake says to me that the magic and the antimagic of the tower is moving and changing." "That's impossible." "But it happens now." "That explains why Jesse was able to blast through the lower wall.  It's almost time.  Get ready." A loud and sudden rumble shook the floor. "That's them!  Get ready!" * * A small, lime green, one-eyed lutin cried out to his captain in a whiny voice.  "Cap'n sir!  I hears diggin' under the ground!" "There ain't no diggin'." the captain replied.  "The ground is too cold for diggin'.  Now shut up." The lime colored one went back to his business.  A few minutes later, he came back.  "Captain, I'm sure I hears diggin!" "There ain't no diggin', you son of a motherless radish!  The ground is as hard as ice!" There was a loud rumble. "Now I know I heard that, Cap'n!" "That was thunder, you second wife of an ogre's dog!  There's a storm goin' on outside!" "But Sir, it don't thunder in December!" "It's a magic storm!  It can do whatever it wants!" Rolling echos of the thunder grew louder.  They also seemed to grow closer, coming right up to the spot where they had patched up the wall using debris and ice and the remains of their slain comrades.  The patch went flying every which way, having been displaced by an angry rhinoceros. In a sad, disappointed tone, the lime colored foot soldier said "That magic storm just dug right through our wall." As the lutins stared in amazement, the rhino withdrew and was replaced by a kangaroo.  "CHAH!" cried the kangaroo, letting a ball of light float from his paws.  A large otter tossed a rock into the air.  Both dove for cover. The instant the rock intercepted the ball of light, it burst into a million fragments, which lodged themselves firmly within the bodies of the lutins. Immediately, more lutins poured downward from the level above.  They surveyed their dead cohorts and the Keepers standing just beyond the breach in the wall.  As one, they rushed forward.  The keepers withdrew. "NOW!" shouted Oren. A rain of swords, spears and clubs came down out of the sky.  Lutins found themselves suddenly crushed, impaled or both.  The keepers, meanwhile, seized whatever weapons were in their reach and began hacking away at the miserable green devils. * * Desuka, Blake and Natalie congratulated each other for their part in the plan.  More than a fifth of the occupying force was now dead and dying, and more would quickly come.  Now all they had to do was defend the hole which they had created in the wall and wait for their allies to reach the seventh level of the tower. There was a resounding "thump" at the door. "That wasn't Shamgar." said Natalie. Blake folded her hands and smiled.  "Last rule of magic.  When all else fails, use brute force." "They are breaking door in!" exclaimed Desuka.  "You go, Natalie.  We defend this place." "But..." "GO!" Natalie hesitated, then made her way up to the roof, where she perched and waited. * * "EVIL! EVIL! SNOTBAGS!" screamed Oren as he swung a halberd in a wide arc, ending the lives of many lutins in one sweep.  "No one is EVER going to take my home away again!" The third and fourth level had been cleared of invaders, and he was working on the fifth.  Ever upward he pressed, his friends giving him a wide berth, frightened by the enraged monster he had become. It was on the sixth level that he met up with Desuka and Blake.  Desuka was as red as a red panda could be.  Blake was cackling like mad, whatever control she had displayed now completely gone.  Both were drenched in the blood of their enemies.  For a moment, everyone stopped, even the lutins, as the three crazed killers regarded one another.  No one knew what to expect. Oren turned to face his troops.  "Keep going." he said. Instantly, the battle resumed.  Desuka and Blake returned to fulfilling their bloodlust.  Oren, however, stood and silently looked down at the blood which clung to his fur and vest. Lutin blood. The blood of Vitra's people. He had killed dozens of lutins in the past few minutes.  In the line of duty of course. And he'd enjoyed it. He had been happy to take the lives of innocent beings, finding sheer delight in their death cries and joy in their final moments of suffering. He was a monster, just like Desuka and Blake had become. No... Worse.  Blake was insane, and Desuka was mindless.  Oren knew perfectly well what he was doing. ** Natalie had been concentrating on increasing her size.  She was grateful that the curse which changed her into a dragon had mingled with the spell which shrunk her, giving her some amount of control over how big she could be.   That ability proved invaluable, now.  As she approached a good ten feet tall, she could hear the lutins coming up from below. "Get back down there!" one was yelling.  "Stay at your post!" "I's not going back down there!  There's a demon raccoon, I tell you!  It ate one of the grugs!  Bit the thing's head right off!  I'm not facing that thing!" "You dare call yourself a lutin?" "RAAAAAHR!!!" "On second thought..." The two lutins emerged into the open air and leapt over the railing, clinging to the face of the wall in order to claw their way downward to safety. Natalie flew up beside them.  "Hey, I recognize you." she said.  "Tell me again who would be good eating?" "Uh...heh..." Seconds later, a pair of lutins hit the ground rather hard. Down over the edge of the tower lutins poured.  Those who managed to keep their grip were politely helped to freedom by the angry dragon.  She made sure every one of them found their way to the ground. ** Dan's first sensation was heat. A beautiful radiant warmth that was infusing into his body. Unfortunately the joy of the heat was quickly joined by pain. As he regained his senses, a throbbing headache developed. This was quickly overshadowed as the pain started to flow through the rest of his body. His brain, once again conscious, began to take in world around him. He could feel a softness around him. A quick examination revealed it to be a heavy fur draped over him, and a sleeping palette under him. A bright flickering light to his left revealed itself to be the fire in a large hearth, the source of the heat. Pushing himself up onto his elbows, Dan looked around. As he had begun to suspected, he was in a shelter. Around him were a cross section of Metamor's population, everyone from common laborers to minor nobles, huddled together in a cellar for protection. The dark room was crowded with people, split off into little groups. The room was quiet except for the sobbing of a child. Though still feeling weak, Dan struggled to rise to a sitting position. As he tried to roll over onto his back, a helping hand appeared, pulling him to his feet. The grasshopper found himself leaning against Christoff. The solider lead him over to a bench by the fire and helped to sit down. "Feeling better?" asked the soldier as he draped a robe around the unclothed insect's shoulders. "Feeling like shit." mumbled Dan. "What happened?" "Cold shock," replied Christoff. "Near as I can tell. Only  seen it once before. Used to have a cold-blooder in my unit, a skinkmorph. You expended way too much energy out there. Your body couldn't take it." Christoff dipped a mug into a steaming kettle sitting in the coals of the hearth. Dan accepted the mug, sipping the hot tea, the liquid spreading a comforting warmth deep in his body as he sipped. "How did it go?" he asked, dreading the answer. "Two dead; Jace and Francine. Other then that, only a few minor injuries. A lot of frostbite." answered Christoff solemnly. "Dead?" Christoff nodded. "I'm sorry." "It happens. I've lost men before. I know it will happen again. It is an unfortunate danger of the job." "And Laracin?" "We got him in here." answered the solider. " He's in an unheated storeroom. Someone suggested that would keep him from waking up." "I want to see him." said Dan, struggling to rise to his feet. "Rest a bit first. Get your strength back." "No, I want to see him." With a sigh, the captain once again helped Dan to his feet.  Draping a thin, chitinous arm across his shoulder, Dan let Christoff lead him the short distance to an adjoining room. The room was long and narrow. Shelves lined each side of the room, piled high with supplies. The room was uncomfortably chill to Dan, still sensitive to the low temperature. In the middle of the floor lay Laracin, branches still bound in the heavy ropes. Dan just stared at his friend. Wounds were obvious, the green-yellow wood showing through the dark gray-green of the bark. Cracked roots, broken branches, and skinned bark were all in evidence. Each and every one Dan saw pulled at his heart. Each was one more reason his friend might never again wake. "Was it really worth it?" Dan asked softly. Christoff, looking over the damage as well, took a moment before he replied. "Are those wounds going to kill him?" "I don't know." "Then it was worth it. He has a chance at life, as opposed to the certain death he faced outside." Dan nodded, though he really didn't believe what the soldier's words. "Besides," continued Christoff, leading Dan back into the main room of the cellar, "This was a victory over Nasoj. Maybe only a small one, but still a victory. One of our first. From what I hear, things are not going all that well for us." "A victory?" replied Dan, with a dry chuckle. "You call that a victory? We may have saved a life, but it cost us two!" Christoff stopped, letting Dan settle back down on the bench by the fire. "Do you know what happens now?" he asked. "No." "Now we organize. We fight back. We kill those seeking to kill us. We rally around our small victories, and push the enemy from our home." ** At last, it was all over.  The Hipocci minutemen and their friends stood in the top level of the tower, almost oblivious to the wind and snow.  Despite his disappointment with himself, Oren was proud.  His people, both Hipocci and keepers, had come through without a single fatality, while the enemy had been severely crushed. But there was one more thing to do. Onto a pile of lutin clothing and weapon handles, Jesse tossed a handful of dry bark. "Light it." Oren commanded. With a mighty heave, Natalie summoned forth a fiery blast which turned the pile of garbage into a blazing beacon. In the sanctuary of the followers, Gornul was the first to see the light.   Joyfully, he called everyone's attention toward the casement to see.  The tower had been reclaimed.  There was hope! In the palace of the Duke, they saw the light, and felt that hope. In the assembly of the Lightbringers, they joyed in that light of hope. In the Long house, the scouts' hearts swelled with the hope. We weren't out of the woods yet.  Not by a long shot.  But for many, that was the turning point of the battle.  That was when they knew that they could win. ***  End part 23</HTML>