The
Virtual
Realm

Chapter 3

Look to the Lady

‘How long’s it been, Hank?’ demanded the Barbarian. He hated waiting.

‘Not too long, Bobby.’

It was the same reply every time. Why wouldn’t Hank give him a better answer?

The Barbarian went back to glowering at the doors of the Crypt. It seemed to him as if Sheila had been away for hours! Beside him, the unicorn nuzzled into his arm to show her sympathy, so he put his arm around her.

He could see that his friends were anxious too. Hank paced; Bobby hadn’t seen him like this for ages, maybe even since the Citadel of Shadow, and maybe not even then! Presto and Diana stood close together on the near side of the road, occasionally muttering something to one another. Even Mr-Tactless-Cavalier was troubled. He stood off to one side leaning again a wall with his Shield beside him, his arms crossed, and a frown on his face.

Their new friend Thom, was waiting alone even further down the street. He had found a high wall to sit on and was watching the Crypt door intently. He was a funny little creature; spindly legs and green skin, and a slight stoop that made him look like a teacher. Bobby didn’t like him much. He didn’t dislike him either, it was just that he had such a strange way of acting. He didn’t like to talk to them much; that was clear (except about thing he wanted to talk about, and then he just seemed to go on and on). Perhaps it was the fact that he’d been stuck in this creepy city for years that had made him go a little, funny.

They waited for a while, and Bobby’s anxiety grew with each passing minute. He watched Hank pace up and down the street, twelve steps away and twelve steps back; exactly the same every time.

The uncomfortable silence was broken, at last, by Eric. The only surprising thing was that he’d managed to keep his mouth shut for so long.

‘So, Hank,’ he said. ‘Do we have a plan B?’

Diana scowled at him but, though Eric noticed, he ignored her.

‘We don’t need a plan B, Eric,’ replied Hank, giving Bobby a reassuring smile. ‘Sheila will be fine!’

The Cavalier pushed himself off the wall, picking up the Shield and moving in front of Hank. The Ranger stopped pacing.

‘Don’t you think we should have a backup plan?’ asked Eric. ‘We don’t have all day.’ He looked around. ‘From dusk until dawn, remember.’

‘She’ll be fine!’

Bobby couldn’t tell who Hank was trying to reassure. He had confidence in his sister, and while he was worried, he wasn’t that worried! He wasn’t a baby that needed the truth hidden from him. He’d grown up a so much in the Realm, he knew Sheila had to do what she had to do, for the good of the group. He knew it was dangerous. He didn’t want, or need to be protected.

He was going to tell Hank so, when he noticed the look on the Ranger’s face. Hank was scared, but not in a way he’d ever seen him before. He remembered the looks Sheila and Hank had been giving each other over the past few days, the secret smiles when they’d thought no one was looking. Had they finally got together as an item? And was it such a surprise if they had? After all, Hank had been all Sheila could talk about that day, the day they came here. Bobby almost grinned; he’d teased her so much about that!

The Cavalier was about to add something else, when Diana interrupted.

‘There’s no way Sheila would let anything happen. Besides she’s got the Cloak.’

‘I’m not saying she’s in trouble! Ok!’ snapped Eric. ‘I’m just saying that we should have a backup plan, in case…’

‘“In case”…what?’ said Hank.

Much to Bobby’s surprise, this time Eric didn’t back down at the angry tone in Hank’s voice.

‘In case she needs our help.’

There was a pause while the two boys glared at each other.

‘I know!’ said Diana suddenly. ‘You could use the Shield to keep us safe as we all go in!’

‘Huh?’

‘When we’re attacked by those stone things, like Thom said, you can use the Shield as a barrier!’

‘That’s not really what I meant as a plan B!’ Eric replied shortly.

‘Not… scared…?’

‘Don’t be stupid! Of course I am! Standing underneath four tonnes of stone waiting to get squished isn’t my idea of sane behaviour! Why don’t you hold them off with your nice, green stick instead!’

‘Stop it!’ Hank said sharply. ‘Stop mucking around!’

Bobby was sure Eric muttered “who’s mucking!” as he crossed his arms again; but it wasn’t loud enough to get another response from the Ranger.

‘Sheila will be FINE!’ repeated Hank. ‘We don’t need to worry about her!’

There was a gasp from Presto, and the others turned to look the way he was pointing.

‘Let’s worry about ourselves!’ he said. ‘Look out!’

In the road behind, charging at them at high speed, were five or six rat-like creatures. They looked like a cross between men and rodents, with a human body shape but covered in short, brown fur. Their faces were rat-like, with pointy noses and whiskers and long, sharp front teeth. They were about six feet tall, dressed in light chainmail and armed with swords and maces.

And they were heading straight for the Young Ones.

‘Scatter!’ shouted Hank.

The rat-things had managed to creep up close before being noticed, and no one had a chance to scatter very far. The first rat made straight for Hank, who didn’t even have time to pull an arrow before it leaped at him, bringing its sword straight down with a howl of delight. Hank blocked it with the Bow, but was knocked to the ground by the force.

Eric was close enough to help, but he’d turned to protect Diana as two more rat-men leaped at her. One got a smack across the jaw with the Javelin, but the other would have made contact, had Eric not got himself between them and defected the strike.

Bobby raised the Club. Another rat was heading his way! The ground shook as he hit it, and the Ratmen all staggered. But his friends were all unbalanced by the earthquake too, and their attackers weren’t scared off.

Presto had pulled the Hat off his head and was starting to wave his hand over it. But another Rat-creature was charging at him with a sword, so Bobby ran forward to meet it.

With a wild swing, he sent it flying backwards against the wall. But even though it was dazed, it pushed itself back up, and came running back at them.

‘Do something, Presto!’ called Eric. ‘Quick!’

The Magician was already halfway through a spell.

‘By night and moon, or wind or rain, send these guys back down the drai…’

The last word was unfinished as another Rat-thing leaped up, tearing at the Hat with clawed hands. Presto managed to pull it away in time, but the spell was ruined.

Close by, Hank was trying to fend off the Rat that had attacked him. It seemed desperate to get the Bow away from him.

Eric was too busy holding off the other Ratman trying to attack Hank to notice yet another one creeping up behind him. Bobby saw it out of the corner of his eye, but hadn’t even opened his mouth to shout a warning when it lunged for the Cavalier’s neck with its sword.

Suddenly, there was a piercing scream from close by that took the Ratmen (and the Young Ones) by complete surprise. Hank recovered first, yanking his arm away from his attacker and quickly loosing a volley of arrows.

Energy arrows flew at the Ratmen and the sky exploded with light making the creatures shrieked in pain and cover their eyes.

‘More arrows!’ called Presto. ‘They hate light! More arrows!’

Hank sent about ten more up into the sky, bathing the ground in intense white light. Still howling, the Ratmen ran for cover back down the street. Diana and Bobby both ran a short way after them and, within less than twenty seconds, they had all gone.

‘Wow! That was lucky’ said Diana breathlessly, as she returned to their friends. ‘But where did that scream come from?’

‘Um… that would have been me!’ said a voice close by. ‘Sorry to scare you!’

‘Sheila!’ said Bobby, running forward to give his reappearing sister a hug. ‘Where did you come from!’

‘I found a secret entrance from the vault,’ she said. ‘A tunnel. We can all get in that way. Truthfully, I’d be glad of the company! It’s a creepy sort of place.’ She smiled at Bobby, then looked up to the Ranger. Bobby saw her smile widen.

Her expression suddenly changed.

‘Oh! Eric! Are you ok?’

The Cavalier was sitting on the ground at the back of the group, behind the Acrobat, his face screwed up with pain. He was holding his hand up to his neck.

‘Let me see,’ Sheila said, in the motherly way she usually reserved for Bobby alone. Eric let her move his hand. There was a slender, shallow cut on his neck that was bleeding and Sheila immediately started dabbing the blood away a handkerchief from her pocket.

‘Wow, it just missed you,’ said Diana quietly.

‘Stop poking it, Sheila! It stings!’ snapped the Cavalier.

‘Man, that was close,’ said Presto. ‘It almost took your head off, Eric.’

‘Yes, well, instead now I’ve got a literal pain in the neck!’ he said. ‘And stop doing that!’ He grabbed the tissue from the Thief. ‘Please! You’re just… making it worse!’

Sheila seemed to smile at the other boy, and held out her hand to help him up. While it was not like the Cavalier to shy away from attention, he was obviously embarrassed that the Ratman had sneaked past him, for all his boasting about the Shield.

‘Tell us what happened,’ said Hank to the Thief, after Eric was standing up again. ‘What did you find?’

The Thief told them about the Vault and the statues, and apologised for not being able to get any further on her own.

‘That’s ok,’ said Hank. ‘You’ve found a way for us all to get in! That’s probably even better!’

Bobby smiled at her too, and Uni gave a short bray of agreement.

‘What about Thom?’ said the Ranger suddenly, looking around. The funny little creature was still sitting on the wall, exactly where he had been before the Ratmen appeared, looking down at what was going on with a blank expression.

For a second, Bobby wondered what he had been doing during the fight with the Ratmen; he couldn’t remember if he’d even seen the creature when the Rats attacked. Had he been attacked too, or was he too quick, or too high up for them to reach?

‘So, there is a secret entrance,’ said Thom, dropping lightly down from his seat. ‘Who would have guessed! Show me!’

Sheila hesitated, and looked to Hank for encouragement. He nodded, and Sheila led them back down the street they had come up, the opposite direction from where the Rat-things had run, to a small building that had probably been a shop at one time. In the back was a paved garden, and hidden at the back was an open grille. Sheila pointed down there.

‘There’s a tunnel that leads all the way inside,’ she said. ‘But it gets kinda narrow in places. I had to squeeze past.’

Bobby, and everyone else, glanced at the Cavalier, who was the least agile of them, being dressed in chainmail and plate armour, and who had a habit of getting stuck.

‘Fine, I’ll stay here,’ he said. ‘Knowing my luck I’ll get stuck down there permanently. The last thing I want is to have to stick around this place any longer than I have to!’

‘No, you’re not gonna stay!’ said Hank firmly. ‘I said before, we’re NOT gonna split up.’

‘Well, what…’

‘Take you’re armour off!’

At that statement, the Cavalier went quiet, and the Barbarian was sure the other boy turned red. He thought Eric would argue; and once he’d recovered from the surprise, Eric did. But not for nearly as long as Bobby expected! Eventually, resigned to his fate, the Cavalier carefully unclipped his breastplate, but insisted that he keep the chainmail shirt on.

‘You’re not shy? Are you?’ asked Diana playfully. ‘It’s not like we haven’t had to put up with you like this before! You love it!’

‘I do not!’ snapped Eric, blushing even more. ‘Name one time…’ He stopped. ‘Oh, don’t bother! I keep telling you, I didn’t know that skunk-chicken thing was gonna spray me.’

The girls both laughed, even Hank gave a small smile.

‘C’mon! Let’s get on with this!’ said Hank as the Cavalier continued to take his armour off. ‘You can go last if you like, Eric.’

Eric nodded, and so one by one they headed dropped down the holes and into the tunnel. Sheila was in the lead, followed by Hank; then Thom, Diana, Bobby, Uni and Presto, with Eric grumbling at the back, pulling his armour along behind.

The tunnel was long, dark and dusty, with lots of long straggly bits of cobweb; and very narrow in places. Hank, being the biggest, was almost stuck twice, but he managed to wriggle through. Eric with his full armour on would never have made it past the first bend!

It took them a while to get through, but they reached the end at last, and Bobby was helped up into the main Vault, and Uni was passed up to him by Presto.

The Barbarian looked around. It was just like Sheila had described. There was a lot of smooth white stone, with a few windows high up, two rows of columns and the Statues.

They seemed huge to him; the man with the crown and the wand, and the woman with the odd helmet and the giant shield. He stared up at them, the others doing the same (except Eric who insisted on putting his armour back on before he did anything else).

‘The man seems so sad,’ said Sheila. ‘Not like before, that other statue of him outside the library.’

Diana was staring up at the female statue. The woman also seemed sad, maybe even tired or in pain, as if holding her arm up in the air, or supporting the shield, were close to impossible.

‘I think it looks more like a gong than a shield,’ said Eric. ‘She’d never be able to use it like a shield anyway. It doesn’t even have anything for her to hold!’

‘I winder what that writing means?’ asked the Acrobat, pointing to the woman’s shield.

They looked at Thom, but the small creature had wandered off to examine something else on the wall, and he was completely ignoring the kids.

‘Hey Thom!’ called Hank. ‘Can you translate this?’

The creature turned slowly to face him, as if annoyed that he’d been disturbed from whatever he was looking at. He glanced up to the statues.

‘These are the effigies of the last king and queen,’ he said suddenly. ‘Mardich and Ishar. Ishar is supposed to be entombed in the Crypt, somewhere.’

‘Yes, but what does it say,’ said Eric. ‘We don’t want a history lesson!’

Thom glared at him, its yellow eyes suddenly gleaming. It was a look that reminded Bobby of someone, but he couldn’t remember who; Eric managed to annoy most people, after all!

‘I can translate,’ said Thom.

‘Plea-ssse, will you tell us, then,’ said Eric. ‘So we can blow this place and go home!’

Thom shrugged.

‘It only says “Song, not Silence”.

‘That’s all?’ replied the Cavalier. In response, Thom moved off to look at the walls again, seeming to have lost interest. ‘Any suggestions?’

‘We could sing?’ ventured Sheila.

‘Yeah,’ said Eric with a sneer. ‘I bet the acoustics in here would be wonderful! I meant any suggestions for finding the Key!’

‘I’m not sure,’ said Hank. ‘Let’s look around some more. Keep your eyes open.’

With varying degrees of enthusiasm, they started to look around again, but all the time Bobby’s attention was drawn back to the Statues. The more he looked, the more uneasy he felt. Song, not silence, what did it mean? He had the odd feeling they already knew.

They searched again, but only quickly, they were all conscious of the passing time.

‘I give up!’ said Eric suddenly. ‘This isn’t right! This isn’t gonna work!’

‘Not if you keep giving up, it won’t,’ replied Diana. ‘It’s gotta be around here somewhere. There has to be a clue.’

‘Why?’ demanded Eric. ‘Why does there have to be a clue? The Key isn’t supposed to be found! At least not easily! And not by us! It’s not like we can just push a button and everything opens up!’

‘Why not!’ said Presto suddenly. ‘Maybe not push a button, but why not ring the bell? Or the gong, like you said, Eric! “Song”, not “silence”, remember!’

Eric pulled a face.

‘Oh, come on! I only said it looked like a gong. That’s never gonna work!’

‘That shield is made of metal, you know,’ said the Magician. ‘What’s the point in making it metal, anyway?’ Eric’s mouth opened but he couldn’t think of an answer. ‘And maybe she’s supposed to be holding a hammer in that hand.’

They all looked up.

‘Well, I suppose it might be,’ conceded Eric. ‘And even if you were right, which you’re probably not, how are we gonna ring it!’

‘I can ring it!’ said Bobby suddenly. ‘I can use this!’

He lifted the Club, happy at the prospect of being useful, rather than just standing around.

‘Oh, please!’ said Eric, covering his eyes with a hand. ‘That’s the last thing we need!’

Everyone else looked round at Hank, even Thom who seemed suddenly seemed to take an interest.

‘I don’t know of anything else we can do at this stage,’ said Hank slowly. ‘I think you should give it a try!’

They all stepped back as Bobby tapped the Club lightly on the ground, feeling it hum with power. Then he swung at the gong with all his strength.

There was the most deafening boom as the Club sent vibrations through the gong. The sound was deep, rounded, and a pure note, much like the sound from the Rocks of Resonance only much deeper; and it reverberated through the whole room. He could feel it shake his insides. It was almost painful.

But just ahead, behind the two Statues, one of the stones in the wall was moving back.

‘Alright!’ said Diana, having to shout above the noise. ‘It worked! It worked! See!’

The Cavalier gave a grudging nod. ‘Yeah, it worked, there’s a hole in the wall! That’s just what we need!’

As the noise and the vibrations died down, the kids moved forward to investigate the new opening.

‘I think we can fit in,’ said Hank, carefully sticking his head through and looking around. He turned back to them, and grinned. ‘Looks like you were right, Presto! Well done!’

‘I hate to rain on your parade, Mr Ranger, Sir!’ said Eric. ‘But there could be anything behind there!’

‘Stop being so negative, Cavalier,’ said Diana. ‘You wanna get home don’t you?’

‘I seem to remember a mention of “traps and magic and deadly creatures”. Crypt things; remember that? Giant rats? Living Walls? Lurkers? Wights? Wraiths? Sound familiar?’

It wasn’t like Eric to be so negative. Yes, he usually the last to want to do anything, but he seemed really down about the whole idea all of a sudden.

‘What’s gotten into you?’ demanded Diana.

‘Yeah, why you so scared all of a sudden?’ added Bobby.

‘I’m not scared!’ snapped Eric. ‘It just seems… oh, I don’t know!.’

The Cavalier gave a frown, but didn’t add anything.

‘Well, let’s get going,’ said Hank, looking round at the others. ‘We’ve got a Key to find!’

Eric scowled more deeply, and muttered something disagreeable, then crawled into the hole first, as if to show them all he wasn’t afraid.

There was a few seconds of silence after he vanished.

‘Um, Eric? Eric are you still there?’ asked Hank.

There was no answer.

‘Eric?’

The Cavalier suddenly poked his head back through.

‘What are you doing standing around?’ he asked. ‘If we’re gonna go, let’s go!’

‘Who are we to argue!’ said Hank, sighing and taking a glance at the ceiling in mock despair. ‘Let’s go!’

He waved the Barbarian forward.

= = =

The Arch-Mage had watched them standing in the street awaiting the Thief with increasing amusement. He had seen them talk; he had seen them stand, or pace; and he could feel their growing sense of helplessness. The Ranger in particular had seemed ill at ease from the moment the Thief had raised her hood and vanished.

It had been a most entertaining time, for not only did he had a chance to observe his young enemies as they were at ease, he also had the opportunity to observe them in battle.

Venger had been aware of the presence of the Wererats for some minutes before the creatures had finally decided to attack. It had amused him greatly to watch the brief struggle when the children were taken by surprise. The Ranger had obviously been too distracted by the absence of the Thief to give proper consideration to their situation; and to setting a lookout!

Again, it was another that had paid the price for their leader’s inattentiveness. Those creatures would only attack those they though easy prey; which those accursed children were without a proper guard.

Observing the battle, the Arch-Mage saw the Wererat lunge at the Cavalier, but had hesitated only momentarily before acting. It had only taken an insignificant amount of magic to deflect the blow a fraction, an amount hardly detectable to anything nearby.

Though it came as a surprise, it was an easy decision.

After all, he had wanted them to know he was back, and that he had outwitted them. He wanted them to be locked within Ur for the rest of their lives. And, more to the point perhaps, death at the hand of a Wererat was too easy for that insolent, disdainful child; the one who had masqueraded as the Dungeonmaster and defeated him at Darkhaven!

Yes, it was an easy decision.

Though he was surprised at the reappearance of their Thief, he had still followed at a discrete distance as she had led them to the secret entrance. One by one, the group had disappeared.

The tunnel was narrow; too narrow for him to fit in his current form, but that was not going to prevent him from continuing his quest. Again, it required only a minute amount of his power. He returned to the main entrance, murmuring the words of an ancient spell, and the gargoyles on the outer walls ignored him as he approached the doors.

Quietly, he opened the doors and slipped inside.

There was a dark alcove close to the doorway and he waited there as the children and their companion searched the rest of the Vault. No one even came close to where he was hidden, and he could observe their actions with impunity.

He watched them search fruitlessly for the entrance to the Inner Vault with a cold smile. Perhaps he had underestimated them. Perhaps their luck had finally run out! Perhaps they were not as clever as he had thought they were! But in due course they discovered the secret of the Statue, even though the creature had mistranslated the inscription, for it said "Sound, not Silence".

Venger watched with mild distain as the child amongst children, the diminutive Barbarian, struck the opening note.

That one was just as annoying and insolent as his sister! The Arch-Mage had not forgotten the cause of the destruction of his Prison of Agony. It had taken him years to create that place; decades of hard work and planning had gone into it, until it was perfect.

Then all it had taken was one day! He had held those accursed children for less than one day, then it was all gone!

The mountain was destroyed, along with his beautiful fortress and prison, the prisoners all escaped. Some of them had taken years to catch. And even now, that insolent knight, Strongheart, still evaded recapture.

But, worst of all, was that the imbecilic giant Karox was free to rule his kingdom in peace thanks to that amulet from the Barbarian. He couldn’t even exact any revenge on him!

Watching the child made Venger frown, the burning desire for revenge growing within his chest. How simple it would be to send a short burst of magic at the young boy; perhaps change to gong from metal to glass so it shattered on contact with the Club, maybe even making the gong disappear completely; or perhaps destroy that unicorn he loved so much.

An evil smile spread across his face at that thought. Before the Dragon’s Graveyard, he had taken great pleasure in hurting the beast. Perhaps now it was time to do it again.

Perhaps.

But no.

Though the destruction of the unicorn would undoubtedly give him a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction, it would all be for nothing if the children still endured.

They had to know it was he, Venger, that had defeated them; they had to see him victorious with their own eyes!

So instead of acting at that instant, he waited as the group left the Vault through the new exit in the wall, soothing his anger with thoughts of the delicious revenge. There would be opportunities later, to settle the score with the Young Ones!

Only when there was silence did he leave the alcove and follow them.

= = =

Chapter 2

Chapter 4

The Point of No Return

= = =