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Miko holds aloft the brilliantly shining Star which is keeping several shadows at bay while fending off a warrior priest with his sword. The shadows had appeared shortly after Ozgirath’s dagger disappeared in the dome. The light of the Stair is preventing them from coming close. When they do, smoke seems to rise from them as if the Star’s light burns them.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

Brother Willim’s staff quickly strikes the warrior priest engaging Miko three times in quick succession but fails to yield any results.

Bam!

One of the warrior priests blasts a dozen Little Brothers from him and then lays about with his sword before more attach themselves to him once again. They grip the armor and use their hands, feet, and at times teeth, on any exposed flesh within their reach. Two of his fellows are already completely encased in a mass of wriggling bodies. The fourth lies still upon the ground, the armor now holding nothing more than a grisly piece of ripped flesh. That it had been a man is no longer apparent.

Ozgirath unleashes a massive surge of magic toward James which grips him in absolute agony. Every nerve ending on his body flares pain, his muscles begin to twist beneath his skin. A cry of pain is ripped from him as he drops to his knees. Responding with magic of his own, he thrusts the invading magic from him and the pain diminishes.

Grinning, Ozgirath raises his hand and blackness surrounds it. A blackness so total that is seems as if the light around it is being drawn within. Before he’s able to complete the spell, a knife is thrust to the hilt in his back.

Ignoring the blade, he launches the blackness toward James then turns his attention to Jiron who is striking him with his other knife. Fool! Ozgirath says to Jiron. Lashing out with his arm, he connects with Jiron and sends him flying toward the dome. Striking it, he disappears.

“Jiron!” yells James when he sees him vanish. Unable to dwell more upon the fate of his friend due to the approaching bulbous cloud of black, he strikes the cloud with a wave of magic and shatters it.

“Ahhhh!”

Suddenly Miko cries out in pain. James turns in time to see the light of the Star diminish greatly as the sword from a warrior priest severs the arm holding it. Blood spurts out from the stump as he staggers backward.

Brother Willim moves in with his staff to engage the warrior priest, allowing Miko a chance to withdraw. “Get the Star!” he hollers to James.

Then a wave of darkness seems to roll over them all as Ozgirath stands there with arms upraised. James moves toward the Star and is almost upon it when he sees Miko’s blood on the ground. It’s moving across the ground as if of its own volition, and it’s heading for the dome.

Unable to worry about the ramifications of that, he reaches where the Star is lying on the ground. Then he stands there in indecision. He knows it’s his death for him to lay hands upon it, even to save it from the minions of Dmon-Li.

Brother Willim notices his hesitation and yells, “The shadows! Get the Star or all is lost!”

James turns and sees the shadows that had been held at bay by the Star moving quickly toward them. Then out of the corner of his eye, he sees Tinok where he is still encased within the barrier he put around him. “That’s it!” he cries.

Casting a spell he’s cast hundreds of times before, he encases the Star in one of his barriers. Bending over he picks it up. He hesitates only a fraction of a second once it’s in his hand before raising it high. “Morcyth, lend me your aid!” he hollers and the Star bursts to life.

As the light of the Star blazes forth, screams rip their way through his mind as the light burns the shadows. The pain from the screams forces him to close his eyes. When he reopens them, the shadows are once again a good distance away.

He then turns to Miko and sees him on the floor awash in his own blood as he holds his severed arm to the stump. A glow forms where the two ends meet as the power of Morcyth works to reattach the