Walker turned with a wild scream and lifted back into the air. As he reached out, his hand seemed to touch the demon. There was an explosive flash and the creature plummeted into the circle of sorcerers surrounding the Heart.

"Up, get up!" Leti screamed.

The beleaguered group rose and started forward. The sky above them was dark with the enemy. But the wall was still a half mile off, and to Ikawa it seemed a nightmarish eternity away.

Shigeru looked around wildly, unable to fight with Mark in his arms, ignoring Mark's commands to put him down.

A stunning blow hit Ikawa from behind, and he fell to earth. He could feel the icy-hot talons tearing into his flesh.

"Captain!"

Kicking and clawing, Ikawa rolled away and got to his knees, then slammed a bolt into the demon's face. The creature's head disappeared. Frantically, Ikawa looked around. The group had pushed another hundred yards ahead. Saito was above him, shouting, "Come on, Captain!"

Ikawa flew back into the air. Cutting and slashing with their bolts, the two pushed forward. Smoldering bodies littered the ground in a bloody trail, and wounded sorcerers crawled away from the inferno of combat. Horrified, Ikawa saw one of Storm's retainers struggling on the ground, his legs gone. A demon alighted beside him and with a slash of razor-sharp talons decapitated the man. Holding the head aloft, the demon soared into the air, roaring with delight. In their killing frenzy, the demons had lost all control and were firing without care, striking enemies and allies alike.

The warriors cut their way back into the decimated group.

"Again!" Leti screamed.

They surged upward and forward, but a virtual wall of demons opposed them. The formation started to disintegrate into a confused melee of individual combats. Nearly half the sorcerers carrying the Heart were down, unable to effectively defend themselves. A knot of demons cut straight through the party, and suddenly the Heart tumbled out of the net and crashed to the ground.

Leti alighted beside it and looked around wildly.

"Almost there," she screamed. "Just a bit further!"

Ikawa landed beside her, and Boreas fought his way through to join them. Wildly, Ikawa looked around. Shigeru, still carrying Mark, and his escort--Saito and Walker--landed to join them. From over the wall Ikawa saw the sky darken further as several hundred more demons seemed to explode outward.

"More coming!" he cried.

"It's as far as we're getting!" Boreas shouted.

But the wall was still several hundred yards away, and the palace a quarter mile beyond it.

"I only hope we're close enough!" Leti reached into the pouch and held the red crystal high.

Despairing, Ikawa knew that it was not close enough. All they could hope for was to take as many with them as possible, and perhaps weaken Gorgon for Jartan, if he should ever return.

"Everyone clear out of here!" she screamed.

A demon exploded into the middle of the group, slamming Leti with a bolt that sent her staggering, so that she dropped the red crystal.

With a wild scream, Ikawa dove, scrambling for the gem. The demon set up a wild undulating roar and his comrades, hearing his warning, swarmed in.

Ikawa snatched the red crystal from the ground. Before him a demon rose up. The demon staggered and fell, the back of his head gone. Through the confusion Ikawa saw Mark, his broken arm up and his battle crystal glowing hot, Shigeru on the ground by his side.

"For God's sake, do it!" Mark screamed.

For an instant Ikawa saw Leti looking up at him, her eyes wide with pain and grief. Then he staggered forward to the Heart.

They had ignored him. Imada watched the struggle between his deceiver and the one who had deceived her in turn, and though he felt that it should fill his heart with joy, he was left instead with an infinite sadness. He had wanted to believe better of Haven, that one could love with innocence and truthfulness and that somehow it would be returned.

If that was possible, he would never know it.

A detached smile crossed his lips as he reached into his tunic and pulled the object out. With his thumb he pushed back a section of the clay to reveal the sharp glimmer of red underneath.

He walked forward into the circle of flame. With his shield down the fire leaped to his body, his hair curling, his flesh screaming in protest as it started to smoke and peel away. It was curious, but he felt no pain.

He came up to the large portal crystal, which was still glowing brightly, and felt as if he was looking straight into the heart of the sun.

"Patrice! Gorgon!"

Locked in their loathsome struggle, the two paused and looked back at him, even as the fire swirled about his body.

He held the great red crystal up high.

"No!" Gorgon screamed.

Even as his eyes burned away, he could see her face, the one who had destroyed his life. It was strange, he realized; there was no rage, no horror. In Patrice's tormented eyes he saw only relief.

Imada brought Jartan's great red crystal down, striking it hard against the crystal of Horat.

There was no pain, just a final flash of thought, the sense that the real Vena, the one that must have truly existed and been killed, was waiting for him after all. And then there was silence, and peace.

An explosion filled the sky, first flashing white-hot, changing in an instant to a boiling black cloud that raced straight up to the heavens. The sun seemed to be blotted from the sky. Stunned, Ikawa looked up.

The palace had disappeared, and for a wild moment he thought he had actually hit the Heart and he was seeing the results from beyond the realm of the living. And then the shock wave hit him, slamming him backward to the ground.

It felt as if the earth was being torn asunder. The piercing shrieks of the demons counterpointed the explosion. A swirling maelstrom seemed to fill the entire world.

"He's come through!" Saito cried. "The Heart--destroy the Heart."

Ikawa tried to regain his feet.

"Wait," Leti cried, and her voice was filled with hope. "Look, look what's happening!"

The demons that had swarmed over the group twisted and writhed in agony. As if suddenly weightless, they were pulled back into the conflagration. The sky was filled with their forms, their agonized cries audible even above the roaring inferno.

The demons burst into flames as they were pulled inexorably into the storm. The sky was awash with their fire as they tumbled end over end into the heart of the storm, trailing plumes of oily smoke.

"The portal's gone!" Boreas cried. "The bastards are finished!"

Ikawa let the red crystal fall, and walked over to stand beside Leti.

Stunned, he watched as the maelstrom swirled and seemed to fall in upon itself. Suddenly there was only silence, though black smoke seemed to fill the very heavens.

"We've won," Leti sighed. "Gorgon has been destroyed, and the portal is closed."

"How in the name of all the gods?" Boreas whispered.

"It was Imada," Walker whispered.

A thin smile crossed Ikawa's features. He looked over at Shigeru and Saito, their sad smiles matching his.

"A good death," Shigeru sighed. "Good-bye, my little friend."

"Perhaps the real Vena waits for him on the other side," Leti said softly, slipping her hand around Ikawa's waist.

Her gaze held his for a moment, and for the first time since their swim in the lake long ago, Ikawa felt as if his old lover was truly back again.

"We better get into the city," Leti finally announced.

"I think the fight's over," she continued, raising her voice, "but a lot of people in there are going to need help." Patrice's surviving sorcerers, who had been staring at the ruined city in stunned disbelief, looked over at Leti. A sorcerer stepped forward and tore the offensive crystals from her right wrist, dropping them by Leti's feet.

"She betrayed us, too. We had no idea, even to the end, what this was truly about."

"She betrayed all of us," Leti told her.

"My family's back there," the sorcerer said, fighting to control her emotions.

"I'll take your parole later," Leti said soothingly, touching the woman on the shoulder. "Go save them.

Pass the word that the fighting is over. We'll come in shortly to help with the injured."

The sorcerer bowed low, lifted into the air, and streaked toward the city. The other sorcerers came up before Leti, so that within a moment there was a pile of offensive crystals at her feet.

"Boreas, will you stay with the Heart? I'll take anyone who's still fit and go into the city."

"Gladly. I've had enough for one day," Boreas said, his voice full of exhaustion and infinite sadness.

"Say, what in hell is that?" Kraut called, pointing toward a lone figure flying naked above the city.

"It's him. I'll be damned, it's him!" Shigeru cried, his voice near breaking with delight.

For a demigod whom Ikawa thought was cold and devoid of all emotions, Boreas suddenly appeared as if he had returned to life. For the first time since meeting Boreas, Ikawa saw a grin cross his features.

"Tulana!"

The prince swung in and alighted. He was covered from head to foot with blood and a slimy coating of gore, his great mane of hair and flowing beard were streaked white, and matted to his body.

Boreas rushed forward and the two giants roared with delight, slapping each other on the back, tears streaming down their faces.

"By the hairy asses of all the gods," Tulana bellowed, pointing back to the inferno raging in the city, "just what the hell did you bastards do?"

"Never mind that," Shigeru cried, coming up to give Tulana a slap that sent the prince staggering. "We saw you get swallowed. How did you ever come back?"

"I gave that Cresus the worst bellyache of its life, I did." Throwing his head back, he howled with laughter.

Ikawa grinned, watching the exuberant exchange. For a second, Tulana caught his gaze, and in that moment Ikawa could sense that beneath the bravado, the terror of what he had been through had left the prince shaken. Then, grinning, Tulana looked away.

"Long I fell into the darkness. In the buffeting I lost my defensive crystals," he said, "and then I knew I was in the pit of his stomach. And by my hairy jewels, the stench was worse than the vomit of my grandfather here. I felt the burning, and I thought I was cooked."

"And then I thought, not me, not Tulana coming out as nothing but bones from that big beast's fat ass. So I pointed and started to cut with my crystal. And by Jartan's teeth, you should have felt that thing kick and squirm. Never did he have a meal like me!"

"So I'd cut with the crystal, and then slash with my dagger, and then cut and slash, cut and slash. I thought I'd drown in his blood in that darkness. And all the time his stomach juices are burning my clothes off, so that I finally tore off the shreds."

"And then what happened?" Shigeru asked, drawing back slightly from the stench which hung around his friend.

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" Tulana yelled. "And somewhere out there is a Cresus with a hole in his side, off to tell old Naga he better stand clear of me from now on. Hell, I'm not going to breach that old bastard next time I see him, I'm going to let him swallow me whole!"

Boreas roared with delight again and hugged his grandson in a bearlike embrace.

Mark got slowly to his feet and went to Ikawa to mutter, "He's just amazing."

Ikawa, smiling, looked at Mark. And in the clarity of that moment, he knew that if a gateway to Earth could ever be opened, the men would cross back through as friends, and remain that way, no matter what madness their old world was still creating.

"So we won!" Tulana shouted happily. "I could sure use a drink!"

"I think we all could," Ikawa laughed. Tulana's words had certainly summed it all up. They were alive, and their precious world of Haven would survive.

With his left hand, Mark rumbled in his tunic and pulled out a silver flask.

"Allic's," he said. "He left it behind the night he left. I've been keeping it for him."

Clumsily Mark uncorked it, and offered the first drink to Ikawa. Then they passed it on to their circle of comrades, who stood laughing with joy and exhausted relief.

"We have survived again," Ikawa whispered. Looking over at Leti, he smiled.

Chapter 18.

"So there was Tulana, as naked as the day he was born, and he actually sneaked up on Leti and hugged her. I thought she was going to lose her last meal." Mark laughed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"And you should have seen Ikawa's face," Kraut interjected. "It looked like he was going to kill him."

Ikawa forced a smile and shook his head as he looked over at the drawn features of his old friend and lord.

Allic smiled to show that he was interested in the conversation, but his exhaustion was evident.

Jartan and the attack contingent had returned that morning. The reunion had been a painful one as both sides, now fully aware of what had happened, eagerly sought the faces of loved ones, and in more than one case had retreated to a private room to hide their grief at the terrible price that had been paid.