Tiara wandered the dark passages of the elaborate dungeon in human form, holding the torch she had found high and watching her surroundings closely, for she was wary of further encounters with the inhabitants of the castle. She peered into doorways as she passed them, wondering to herself about the emptiness of the place. Where was everyone?

She started at the distant echoes of an unintelligible shout and a crash, and began walking more quickly in the direction from which it had come. The doors set in the walls were no longer metal with small, barred windows, but an ancient-looking wood that was mouldering away in the damp dankness of the place, and they were fewer and futher between than the others. The stones also had a more aged look about them; she knew she had to be in the oldest part of the dungeon.

Tiara grimaced slightly as she stepped into a cold pool of water. This place was truly the epitome of the classic dungeon, by any standards. It was only lacking one thing: guards. Besides the disgusting man whom she had encountered during her escape, she had come across no one. There weren't even any signs of life, beyond the fungal variety. She shivered slightly in the chill air and chill memories of other dungeons, and kept looking.

Hanpan kept gnawing at the ropes, his annoyance at Alissa growing. She had been struggling and trying different spells ever since she had awakened, which felt like hours ago. He had succeeded in freeing her left leg, but his jaw was getting more and more tired, his teeth ached, he was working with no light whatsoever, and with her constant motion he was getting nowhere. He knew he couldn't keep chewing the ropes forever, and he hadn't been able to change into human form, for some strange reason.

"Alissa, if you'd just settle down I wouldn't have to keep avoiding being squished by a flailing limb and I might get you out of here sooner!"

"Let me try this one more spell; if this one doesn't work then I'll give up!" she replied as she began chanting ancient words.

Hanpan looked toward the door. What was going on out there? It had been complete silence and black, but now the faintest glow had started, and a rhythmic sound, almost like footsteps, could be heard.

"Alissa!" he whispered urgently. "Hush! I think someone's coming!"

The light in the hall grew stronger and stronger as the person approached. Alissa stopped reciting the spell and turned her head toward the door. "If it's one of those who are responsible for this," she whispered back, indicating the rack with a nod of her head, "they will be sorry."

They both stared silently at the doorway for interminable space of time, until they saw a familiar figure pass by, glance once into their dark room and then back the way it had come, and then continue on.

"TIARA!" they shouted in unison, calling her back.

Tiara walked the passageway, respectful of the ominous silence. She came to an intersection in the passage, where one tunnel met the one she had been following. Since the one she had been walking didn't seem to be leading anywhere but into older, less-used parts of the castle, she turned and entered this new tunnel.

She passed room after room, each containing a large, rectangular table in the center with bonds at each corner. She presumed the ropes, wheels, and levers that were near the table indicated that this was not a hall full of smallish dining rooms but a corridor of racks. She shuddered, walking the passage more quickly, only glancing into each room to see if anything changed.

She had just gotten to the point where she could no longer see the intersection where she had taken up this path when she heard two very familiar voices shouting her name.

"TIARA!" they shouted in unison, calling her back.

She turned abruptly, almost slipping on the slimy stones that paved the floor, and started looking in the doors she had just passed. In the third room she found an amusing sight: Alissa strapped to the rack, watching her with a hopeful expression on her dirt-smudged face, her disheveled hair giving her the appearance of a madwoman, and Hanpan, frozen in place beside her right leg with a mouthful of rope.

Tiara burst out laughing at the odd sight.

Alissa frowned. "Don't just stand there laughing! Help me!"

Tiara regained her composure and walked to Alissa's side. "I see you are having problems? Anything I can do?"

"YES! UNTIE ME!" Alissa shouted in exasperation.

Tiara chuckled as she set the torch in a holder along the wall and set to unbinding Alissa. Hanpan scurried back to the pouch he had previously occupied, grumbling something about ingratitude and physical suffering and mortal danger on the behalf of others.

As the last bond was loosed, Alissa sat up, swung her feet to the side, and hopped off the rack. She sighed in relief. "I hope I never have to be in one of those again!"

Tiara chuckled again and then started for the torch. "Come on, we need to find Aenea and those responsible for this and then get out of this place."

Alissa smoothed her rumpled hair and clothing and brushed off har face. "You're right; let's go."

They walked out of the room and continued down the corridor.

Aenea was struggling to keep from jostling Auri too much and to keep pace with Glabdegook, who was rushing at breakneck speed down the passages, navigating in the dim torchlight with an eerie accuracy. How did he know this place so well?

They had been hurrying throught the halls for quite some time now, and Aenea was glad she had her powers back, else she would not have been able to follow the maddened centaur through the confusing passages. He would have lost her long ago with all the turns he had been taking.

Suddenly, he stopped before an ancient-looking locked door. She started to ask him what he was doing, but he held up a hand to indicate the need for silence. He pressed an ear to the door, listened carefully, and then examined the lock carefully.

"I could not open this withot busting down the door, and that would attract too much attention. I don't suppose you have some way of taking care of such matters, do you?"

Aenea smiled. "Please, allow me," she whispered back. She reached down and touched the latch of the door, and a slight shifting was heard.

"Thank you," he replied, as he opened the door.

As the slight creaks and groans that resulted from the movement of the old, rusty hinges echoed into nothingness down the passage, they cautiously examined the hall beyond the door. It seemed to be part of the main castle, with a few small tapestries and better lighting. The thing that they had most expected, thought, was absent; there were no guards, nor any persons of any sort in the passage. It was as deserted as the dungeon they had formerly occupied.

They started down the way, enjoying the comforts of more heat and better lighting, while still watching for the hostiles they knew had to be present.

"Where are we going?" Aenea asked Glabdegook quietly.

"I am assuming that the person who took over this castle set up their headquarters in the king's chambers and the throne room, so I am working my way there through back passages."

"How do you know this place so well?"

"This is part of my woods, I know everything in them well. This castle has been abandoned for many years now, and I keep it looking the way it did when its inhabitants left it so long ago. It is my tribute to the last people to reside in my forest; they always respected my authority and my decisions, and I was sad to see them go."

Aenea kept stride beside him in a thoughtful silence.

Alissa, Hanpan, and Tiara, after much wandering down dank corridors and much guesswork as to which way was the correct one for them to pick, came to the door that Aenea and Glabdegook had passed through a short while ago.

"What do you think, Alissa, Hanpan, should we go through?" Tiara asked, examining the door and what little bit of the hall beyond it they could see.

"What have we got to loose? We've been wandering this place forever! We're bound to find a way out sometime," Alissa replied.

Hanpan merely poked his head out of his pouch and nodded sagely. "Looks good to me."

"Alright then," Tiara said, easing the door open a little further so they could pass. It creaked and groaned under the strain of movement but didn't give them much trouble.

As the echoes died, they listened to a sound they had began to associate with this castle: silence.

"Where do you suppose everyone is?" Alissa asked thoughtfully.

Tiara shrugged. "I have no idea. You'd think there would be guards or at least some thugs to keep watch on us, but I haven't seen a single person, other than you two, since my run-in with that...." she shuddered. "That man, I guess you would call him."

"You saw somebody? What happened?" Alissa said, stopping half-way through the door.

She looked at Alissa and frowned. "When I awoke in shackles in the room into which I was imprisoned, there was a disgusting creature with a torch there, taunting me." Her face showed her distaste for the memory.

"He planned to kill me, and he repeatedly insulted me. I got tired of it, changed form, and that was the end of that," she said, leaving to their imagination the manner in which she had disposed of him.

Hanpan peeked out again and looked at Alissa. "Remind me to never cross her, okay?" he said with a nervous laugh.

Tiara chuckled. "I think you'll be fine, Hanpan. Come on, let's get going."

They followed the trail of torches and tapestries, unwittingly tracing the path that Aenea and Glabdegook had followed just a short time ago.

When they came across the first dining hall full of an abandoned, cold feast, Aenea raised an eyebrow, and Auri mewed. As they came across more and more evidence that the castle had been utterly abandoned, she wasn't sure what to think and he continued to express his hunger.

"What happened here, Glabdegook? Why did everyone leave?"

"I don't know." He shook his head. "Come, there is a room a few doors down with chairs and tables for resting and conversing. Let us make use of them."

Aenea nodded absent-mindedly, following him, lost in thought.

Tiara held out a hand, stopping Alissa in her tracks. "Listen!" she whispered urgently. "Voices!"

Alissa halted and listened carefully. "I don-- wait, no, you're right. I do hear something." She walked forward silently, stopping every few steps to catch the murmurings floating down the corridor to them.

Tiara shrugged. "It doesn't sound like many people, and a few we can take easily. Let's not just creep about," she grinned, "let's see what's up."

They walked down the hall with the same even strides they had been employing since they had left the room in which Alissa and Hanpan had been. The voices crescendoed until they could tell they were right upon them.

Alissa frowned in concentration. "That voice.....listen, doesn't that sound familiar? I know that person's voice from somewhere." She thought for a moment, and then laughed. "Come on, Tiara, it's Aenea!"

Grinning broadly, they entered the room, earning surprised looks from both Aenea and Glabdegook, with the centaur's glance being tinged with suspicion. Aenea smiled at them, obviously pleased to see them alive and well, and her look of pleasure eased the horse-man's worry.

"Allow me to introduce my friends, Glabdegook." She motioned to Tiara.

"Tiara de'Tokiet of Corin." Tiara smiled and curtsied slightly. "Tiara, this is Glabdegook; Glabdegook, this is Tiara."

Aenea then motioned to Alissa and Hanpan, whose head was poking out of the pouch at Alissa's side, "Alissa Windsyra and Hans Pandsire." The corners of Alissa's mouth turned up a little as she curtsied, and Hanpan just nodded. "Alissa and Hanpan, this is Glabdegook; Glabdegook, Alissa and Hanpan."

"Now that we all know each other, have either of you discovered what it is that is going on here?" Tiara asked Aenea and the Centaur.

Aenea shook her head. "No. I was hoping you knew, but I guess not." She sighed a little, and then brightened. "Tell me your stories! What kind of rooms were you in? Have you seen any of the inhabitants of the castle?"

They all traded their stories, rested a bit, and then set out for the throne room.

The throne room did nothing to lessen the mystery of it all. There were piles of things that could have been the belongings of wood elves, or any other elves. Around the throne, which had seen better days, were piles of booty and clothing to fit a human man of large size. The Pipes of Glabdegook were found, but no mysteries were solved. The three bid a fond farewell to the Centaur, and he promised his help, should anything happen to them on their journey through the rest of the forest; all they need do was call his name. They then set out to regain the path and get on their way to Xiatriz, hoping to find a spot to camp for the night somewhere along the way.

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