Saito followed.

"Go!"

"Banzai!" and Shigeru disappeared into the light.

"Go!"

"Oh shit!" and Walker jumped through.

The line quickly moved forward, and soon Ikawa stepped up to the jumping-off point.

"Go!"

Taking a deep breath, Ikawa ran headlong into the light.

The world disappeared, and he felt a dropping away as if all gravity had been nullified. There was an eerie sensation of falling away into the heart of a sun, as if he was riding a comet that in an instant would traverse the entire galaxy.

Lights snapped past, like a shower of stars racing towards him, violet in color and soaring past to shift to the darkest red before disappearing. He felt godlike, soaring through the universe on wings of fire.

The cone of light bent and shifted, dropping away around him with yet more speed--a racing tremor of power pulsing into his very heart.Not even a god, he thought,could know such power, such limitless joy as this. A glowing barrier appeared, which stood like a cascading wall of fire. He snapped through it with a jolt, as if an invisible hand had stunned and slapped him.

Dimensional gate,he thought.

The falling away continued. He could now hear a distant shout ahead, like the delighted cries of a companion who in a boat farther ahead was already shooting the rapids.

More lights shot past the tunnel, twisting and turning, and then a darkness was before him. At first it was only a pinprick in his field of vision, racing up like the mouth of a tunnel.

He hit the ground hard, knocking the breath from him.

"Move out and away," a voice called.

Rolling over sharply, he tumbled out of the narrow confines of the portal onto a field of ice.

There was a thump behind him. Looking back he saw Mark standing in the narrow cone of light.

"Keep moving," Allic shouted.

Jumping high in the moon's low gravity, Mark landed beside Ikawa.

"Better than the Cyclone at Coney Island," Mark said, forcing a grin.

"That ride made me sick," Ikawa replied, remembering his student days in America. "This one was far better,"

Together they raced out for several dozen yards, their shields snapped to highest intensity, and crouching defensively they concentrated on farsearching, scanning the snow fields for the slightest sign of movement.

There was nothing but the icy darkness.

More and more came through the portal, until nearly a score of warriors stood in a circle facing outward.

"Respond if you sense anything," Allic called.

The group was silent.

"Maintain position once the portal's closed, and dampen your shields to avoid detection."

Ikawa spared a quick look over his shoulder.

Suddenly the Godchair appeared with Kochanski and Leti aboard, and under his skillful guidance it gently came to a stop an inch above the ground, then sharply veered off to one side. Behind them, Storm came through. Without hesitation she rose into the air and soared into the darkness, disappearing from view.

Allic extended his hands and then brought them together. The portal flashed down, lingered for a second, then disappeared.

Darkness returned to the frozen steppes of Uye. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Ikawa looked around.

He could barely see the skillfully camouflaged buildings set into the side of a frozen glacier.

"It was open for less than two minutes," Allic said, coming over to the chair and looking at Leti.

"You shielded it as soon as you got through?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, but they might have detected it when the portal first snapped open. We didn't have anyone on this side to shield it before I arrived."

"We knew the chances of that," she said evenly.

Allic looked around once more, as if to reassure himself.

"At least we timed it right. The planet is just rising." He pointed to the far horizon.

Far faster than any sun or moonrise on Earth, the vast green planet rolled above the horizon, a massive crescent. Its forested surface reflected the red light of the system's star with a ruby glow.

The sight was awe-inspiring, and for the moment the group's anxiety was washed away in silent admiration.

"If we survive this, I want to come back here," Saito whispered, coming to Ikawa's side.

"Worthy of a hundred Hykos," Ikawa replied.

"Hell, I'd pay fifty bucks for another ticket on the ride we just had," Walker said, approaching Mark.

The planet continued to rise before them, the group whispering to each other in awed tones, even as they tried to concentrate on scanning the ground and sky for danger. The glare from the planet now lit the snow field and cast shadows of lavender darkness.

Suddenly, at a ninety degree angle from where the planet was rising, a red shimmer filled the sky. For a moment it appeared as if a storm of fire was rolling across the horizon, and Ikawa prepared to leap into the freezing air, to gain altitude for a strike.

A long red band of light shimmered in the morning air, and, with dull flaming glow, a red, giant star broke the horizon.

"Look over there," Kochanski called, pointing to the planet. "On the darkside, near the equator and ten degrees in from the terminator line."

Straining his eyes, Ikawa scanned the planet's surface--and then he saw it.

A glow of fire pulsed and wavered.

"The last base is under attack," Allic said quietly. He looked at Kochanski and Leti in the Godchair.

"You know what to do. Get ready."

He turned back to the rest of his command.

"The last fortress is already under siege, and shielded by an enemy field. Getting in and out without detection will be almost impossible. I want the defensive perimeter of this base manned and ready; we can expect company before this day is out."

Chapter 7.

Pina glanced again at the report, before continuing to interrogate Imada.

"The medical diagnosis shows you've been through a lot, young man. You were given up for dead months ago."

"I never would have made it without Vena here," replied Imada, gesturing to the girl beside him.

"Yes, so you've told us," responded Pina dryly. "You seem to have had a very harrowing time of it."

His glance fell on Vena, who stood a little behind Imada, her head slightly lowered, obviously unused to being in a palace and addressing such high ranking sorcerers. Even as he watched, Imada reached out to grasp her hand in a gesture of reassurance.

Pina carefully kept his face blank, but inside he smiled. How long had it been since his first case of puppy love?

Still, the story was almost too pat, and he was responsible for the realm during Allic's absence. Making a decision, he turned his glance to Valdez, who was standing over to the side. "I'd like you to escort these two young lovers back to the healers for a more complete check."

Valdez nodded approvingly.

Imada started to look a little flustered, as if unsure what to say, so Valdez said diplomatically, "There is no way you can join your friends at present. They are on a mission for Jartan. So, we have the time to make sure you are totally fit before we restore you to duty." He motioned for them to follow him and walked out of Pina's office.

"My daughter is about your age and has heard of your arrival and adventures. She pointed out that with all the outlanders gone, you two wouldn't really know anyone here, and has asked if you would care to join us for dinner."

Imada hesitated, but Vena said smoothly, "Thank you. It would be nice to have another girl to talk to right now. I'd never dreamed that I would ever be in a palace, and even with Imada's support I feel almost lost." Valdez nodded absently, letting her prattle on.

"You're doing fine, Kochanski, just fine," Leti said.

He smiled and gave her what he hoped was a confident wink.

At least this approach was much easier. Before, he had traveled to places he could not see, guided by symbolic logic, or wherever his imagination might take him. Now Kochanski could clearly see where he was going. The forest world seemed to fill the entire sky; and since there was no sensation of movement, the vast planet appeared to be racing up to smash them.

It was strange, he thought. He knew space was a vacuum. Yet there was no sensation of the absolute cold. He still found himself breathing and even hearing Leti as she spoke softly, giving him directions.

Of course, only their spirits were riding the Godchair toward the planet. When they had departed, he had even looked back to his "real" self, who sat as if lost in a deep slumber, with Saito and Shigeru standing to either side of the chair as guards. He knew that if any harm came to his body, or to the actual physical presence of the chair still resting on Uye, then he would be forever doomed to be a wandering spirit. There was also the risk that his spirit could be injured by forces unseen. At that moment his real body would simply cease to breathe.

"The battle's reached its climax," Leti whispered.

Directly below, Kochanski could see what appeared to be a wall of fire encasing an inner shield which was glowing white hot.

"Let's speed this up a bit," Leti suggested.

Nodding, Kochanski let the directions pass through his mind. Their speed instantly doubled. The world came racing up, the lit crescent marking the approaching dawn shifting to the edge of the globe and disappearing over the horizon.

The vast red orb of the star shifted over the horizon as well, passing in an instant through a spectacular sunset that sparkled through the upper bands of the planet's atmosphere.

The pair dropped through the upper atmosphere, Kochanski slowing the chair as they swept in toward the planet's surface.

"Shift us over behind the mountain range north of the base," Leti said, pointing to the high peaks about ten miles away from the battle.

Kochanski spared a quick look down at the fighting, a hundred miles below. Bright flashes illuminated the dark sky, the shield snapping white hot with each impact, so that it seemed like brittle glass about to burst under the strain. There was a blinding flash. For a brief moment the shield went dark, then came back up, smaller than before, and obviously weaker.

Kochanski knew there were people dying down there, sorcerers of Jartan's that he had most likely never met, but comrades all the same. His fear was gone, burned away by the grim determination to finish the recon as quickly as possible so that a relief force could be dropped in before all was lost.

Turning his thoughts from the battle, Kochanski guided the chair toward the towering mountains silhouetted with the lavender glow of the approaching dawn.

"Between those two peaks, a bit off to our right," Leti whispered. Kochanski propelled the chair forward--but felt the slightest of tremors, a vague uneasiness as if someone were standing behind him and looking.

"You felt it?" Leti murmured.

Kochanski nodded.

"Get us behind those peaks." Her voice held a controlled urgency.

The mountains now filled their view: Peaks sheathed with mantles of ice, carved by the ceaseless winds into a wild cathedral of fluted columns, soaring arches, and high vaulted caverns illuminated by the crystalline red of dawn.

Kochanski focused on a narrow cavern near the summit of the mountain, and soon the icy walls embraced them into their protective folds. With a sigh of relief, Kochanski brought the chair to a halt and settled it down on the cavern floor.

"Did they see us?" he finally asked.

"Something out there swept us," Leti said, and Kochanski realized that even this demigoddess had known a moment of fear. "It didn't lock onto us, though, so I think we got through without any problem."

The two smiled at each other with relief. Then Leti said, "Let's take another look," and Kochanski slid the chair forward to the edge of the cavern.

Far below, in the distant valley, the battle continued to rage. From a hundred different points, sheets of fire and energy bolts slammed into the shimmering defensive shielding.

"Can they hold out?" Kochanski asked.

Even as he spoke, a blinding hot flash snapped across the field.

Leti was silent, grim-faced.

"Over there," she whispered finally, and Kochanski looked to where she was pointing. A thin point of white light, tinged in red, was pulsing and glowing inside the fold of a crevice that flanked the main battlefield.

"Their portal jump point?" Kochanski asked.