Big Sword dropped down into the shaft and was much, much larger when he landed, drawing the two-hander. Phoenix Talon prepared to Dimension Door in for his attack—and Big Sword disappeared. He had Doored first, striking at Phoenix Talon with stunning speed.
     "Hello," the wolf snarled.
    "Clever," the monk muttered. Too clever by half; that had hurt.
    "I'm going to go upstairs and play with the rest of the pack," Scott told Thunderbolt casually, slithering past the battle just begun. Wouldn't do for too many of them to get away. The two gnolls with crossbows panicked at the sight of a giant silver snake sliding toward them, but their bolts stuck in the wall.
    Phoenix Talon yelled and counterattacked fiercely, forcing the daemon-wolf back a couple of steps and giving him a shallow cut on one arm. He recovered quickly and the battle swayed back in the other direction, but Talon dodged, flipped, and otherwise avoided the gnoll's sword and snapping jaws, landing a mocking kiss on the thing's snout.
    Thunderbolt brought forth a Flaming Sphere; it began as a pebble that he dropped, had grown to two feet in diameter when it edged around the battling pair, and then a ten-foot globe of fire engulfed the two gnolls as they tried frantically to flee and only got in each others' way. Burning fur, then burning flesh; one died almost immediately, the second flailed and screamed as it caught fire.
    Above, the gnolls surrounding the hole, trying to see what was going on. Scott exploded up into their midst. "Good morning boys! Aw, look at the little puppies, aren't they cute...." He identified Big Shot with a glance and pulped him with a blow. Blood ran over silver in the pre-dawn light.
    Below, the daemon-wolf snarled and pulled back to set himself for another attack. Phoenix Talon brought the sword around in a sweeping cut that removed a leg, then on the follow-up stroke took off the creature's head.
    Thunderbolt directed his sphere up the wall, out of the sinkhole.
    The usual rout followed. They let one live to inform their commander that the Revolution had been there.
    
    * * *
    
    "Yes?" Traveler said to one of his minions, listened for a moment. "I have been told that they are successfully routing the people up there. Go get the young woman; lead her out."
    "Yessir." Rue's orangutan form scampered through a series of tunnels to the chamber of mouths, looked around with some consternation. "She's not here." More loudly he said, "Sir? She's not here!"
    "I gave them my word. Find her! Lead her out!"
    "Okay... I'm fucked," the ape muttered dismally to himself. "I'm fucked. Shut up," he added to the drooling mouths. "She's down here all by herself...."
    
    * * *
    
    I hit the ground rather hard and was immediately seized by hairy hands, much smaller than the last set I'd encountered so I grabbed whatever it was and pitched it away. When I could see clearly I found that I was facing an agitated orangutan wearing a hat.
    "Sh!" it whispered. "We have to leave here now!"
    "I'm not going to argue with that."
    "Run! Would it be faster if I carried you?"
    "No." Well, maybe it would, but damned if I'd go through that mode of transport again. I brushed myself off and followed it. The tunnel here was nice, safe, mined-out rock, but I couldn't stop looking behind me. It seemed she hadn't followed. We passed through a couple of intersections and into an open shaft leading up; he began climbing. I unlimbered my wings and headed up with a sense of profound relief, not bothering to exchange any words with my guide.
    The sun was up. I flew a bit higher and looked around, spotted the others some ways away.
    "Where were you?" Scott asked, stretching over.
    "What happened to you guys?" They were covered in blood, but on second glance most of it looked like other people's. I pointed at the shaft. "That hole goes all the way down."
    "All the way down to where?"
    "Hell."
    "Let's not go there," the golem said. "I bet there's a cranky maralith."
    "Yes, there is." I shivered, and seemed to hear a hiss somewhere behind me. Of course, it was nothing. "Very cranky maralith, also a wall full of mouths, that's very, very not good. What've you guys been up to all night? A helpful orangutan helped me out." He seemed to have disappeared again.
    "Looking for you, beating up gnolls," Scott shrugged. "The usual."
    "What about the gorilla?"
    "Which one?"
    "At least the one that kidnapped me and threw me in the hole."
    "We made a deal with the master of gorillas," Talon said. "We took the heat off him in return for his bringing you back."
    "The master of gorillas?"
    "Yes. The master of gorillas and his pet orangutan, Ruthie. That was the name right?"
    "He gave us a nice map of the dragons' lair," Scott said.
    "Oh. That was very nice of him." I was still feeling a little shaky.
    They unrolled the map, which showed how the castle looked when cloaked in fog and without the mist, and the building's usual flight patterns. The man had been using it as a base for some time, though it seemed that he was not its creator; we could expect proportions suitable for giants. There was a fair amount of crabbed writing on the map, notes of various sorts. The place did appear to have a large landing area suitable for use by dragons.
    Wisely, the others did not tell me to whom they had been speaking until we were well away. I understood then why Tempest had been so emphatic in her expression of interest in the caves; we owe Traveler (see Issue 7).
    One of the notes proclaimed the castle to be the Fortress of the Bound Rainbow. This could be mere pretentiousness, or it could be a reference to a variety of extraordinarily potent spells that use rainbows.
    We figured we knew which one it was going to be.

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