sriel turned suddenly, and her grip on the knife weakened, which gave Courtney to hurry around the other side of the bed and pull the cord to the alarm bell.
"Who said that?" she demanded, looking around the mostly empty room.
"Why, I did," Raiz replied. "Would you feel better if I were bigger?"
Asriel focused on the kitten and her eyes widened.
"You!"
"Me," Raiz replied. "Would you like to go another round?"

It was at this point Queen Courtney fainted. Asriel immediately transformed into a raven and flew for the window. Raiz pounced, and what had been a kitten was now a jaguar, and what had been Asriel, was now rather squashed. Raiz picked up Asriel in her mouth, and slowly vanished. A few short moments later, 4 guards ran into the room, swords drawn. Upon seeing the Queen collapsed on the floor, they rushed to help her up. It was several more minutes before Courtney had regained her composure to speak. The guards, of course, searched the country-side for the would-be assassin, but she was never found.

***

Raiz materalised in her realm, still holding Asriel in her jaws. She moved over to the sorceress, and tilted her head.
Have you prepared the cage? Raiz asked telepathically.
Yes, it is over by the fountain, replied the sorceress.
Good. It is time for the imprisonment.
Raiz walked over to the gilded cage, and placed the slightly disheveled bird inside, then closed the door. The instant the cage locked, the raven transformed into a human. She screamed.
Are you certain the cage will hold her? asked Raiz
Yes, replied the sorceress, My magick is stronger than hers.
Good. Your task is complete. You may return to your realm. I must return to Kat.
How is she? asked the sorceress.
Well. She has undergone years of training, and is adept at all four elements, and akasha. She still has to perfect it, but she was close when I left. You should see her again soon. She has a couple of thousand years to go before it's perfect, but as you know, time passes differently in the other realm. Raiz paused. She misses Marc and Erick, you might want to tell them that.
Raiz shimmered and vanished, and the sorceress returned to the mortal realms.

***

As Erick and Marc watched, the sorceress slowly reappeared. She looked tired, but as soon as Daru touched her hand, the energy flowed between them and she appeared refreshed.
"It is done then?"
"Yes. Asriel has been imprisoned in the fourth realm."
Daru sighed.
"What a terrible fate."
"I know. I didn't like doing it... but... needs must. Raiz said Kat is doing well. She misses you two."
"Already? She only left yesterday, and she was not very happy with me when she did," replied Marc, looking confused.
Daru and the sorceress laughed.
"Marc, remember what happened in the upper realm? You gave Kat years of training."
"Yes?"
"And yet, you were only gone for 30 minutes at a time in this realm."
"Yes?"
"Well the realm that Kat is in at the moment, is even higher. She's been gone for a day, but in the upper realm, she has been gone for 25,000 years. I would say she has long forgotten whatever it was you did to upset her."
"Twenty-Five thousand years?" exclaimed Marc. "She won't even remember who I am when she comes back."
"I think it would be safe to say that she will. You two are intended. It is the way of the world. One interesting thing Raiz said... He said she only needed another couple of thousand years training... So I think it's a fairly safe bet that Kat will return to us some time tomorrow. Now, if you will excuse me, I think I need to sleep."
The sorceress moved over to her bed, lay down, and fell asleep. The others looked at each other, and followed suit.

***

All four awoke with dawn. Although it was still dark, they could all feel the charged atmosphere.
Something was happening.
A soft silver glow surrounded them, and then, a soft voice spoke.
"The time has come."
The glow vanished, as did the atmosphere, but everyone still felt on edge.

"What was that?"
"The elders in the mortal realm. They don't do it too often because it always has this effect. The time has come... but for what?"
The sorceress has barely finished speaking, when Kat appeared. She looked exactly the same as when she left, excepting that her eyes had changed from blue to violet, reflecting her years of studying akasha.
"The time has come," she spoke. "We must make plans."

"I don't know," Marc replied shaking his head. "I don't remember. It was.... Adrienne! The... The Elders destroyed her!"
Marc dropped to the floor in a storm of weeping.
"The Elders? But..."
The air beside them shimmered, and Kat materialised. Erick jumped, startled.
"Dammit, Kat, don't *do* that!"
She smiled. "Sorry. Marc... Adrienne was under the wizard's spell, and had been for so long that she had no hope of salvation. The elders cleansed her and she has moved on to a better place."
Marc's weeping didn't stop, but subsided a little.
"I'll look after him, Erick."
As Erick moved back towards the cave, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Kat sit by Marc and enfold him in her arms. He knew that Marc would be fine.

***

Daru, the sorceress, Erick, Marc and Kat gathered in the cave that evening.
"We know the wizard is planning domination of the world," Daru said, "but we still don't know *how* he's going to do it."
He sighed, in frustration.
"But Daru, dearest, we do know," Kat replied with a smile. "The elders taught me a great deal. He intends to do it with hate, and suspicion. He has been sending his demons out to subvert the people, poisoning their minds with stories and lies. When they revolt, which they will, eventually, he will step forward and take my home, and turn it into a gateway to hell. Once that is done, the evil will spill forth onto this world, and we will soon be over come."
Erick gaped. "How do you *know* all this?"
"A rather unfortunate side effect of being adept in Akasha. I get visions of the possible future.
And seeing as though I spent most of today in the wizard's castle, I got plenty."
"You did *what*?!?" Marc demanded.
"Calm down. He couldn't sense me. I rose up several planes of existence."
Noticing that she had lost them, Kat added, "It's another Akasha thing."
"Right," the sorceress said. "But even now that we know all that, how do we stop him?"
Kat sighed. "We must go to his castle and destroy the dark stone."

***

The wizard paced his chambers in frustration. Asriel had been imprisoned, and he knew that there was no way she could ever escape. Adrienne had been "saved". Half of his upper demons had been destroyed, to say nothing of the countless other lesser demons whom had been banished back to hell.

He needed to be at the center of the land. Once there, he knew he could open the gates to hell wide enough to gather enough demons and tortured souls to take over the world. The opening in his castle was inadequate for such an undertaking. He needed more - many more - but the strength it took for him to open the portal was too great at his current level of strength.

He needed to take the castle.

Knowing it would leave him weakened and drained, and therefore susceptible to an attack, the wizard began chanting his summoning spell. The portal to hell opened, and demons began to enter his castle.

***

"He is moving," said Marc.
"Then it is time for us to move," replied Erick, moving to his point in the pentagram etched into the floor.
"Remember," said Kat. "Together, we can do anything."
They joined hands, and translocated to the courtyard in the wizard's castle.

***

"He has opened a portal!" cried the sorceress in dismay, noting the lesser demons that now lines the walls.
"Then we must banish them," replied Daru.
He lifted his hands, chanted under his breath, pointed, and a single demon vanished. Another instantly took it's place. The sorceress also started chanting as Daru restarted his chant, and two more demons vanished as they pointed.
Kat shook her head. "Together!" she shouted, over the growing roars of the demons, chafing at their bonds by which the wizard controlled them.
Marc grabbed Daru's right hand and Erick took his left, and the sorceress' right. Marc smiled at Kat as she took his hand, and the sorceress completed the circle. Together, they chanted the banishment ritual, and the roar died down to silence. Once the ritual was completed, the sorceress was astonished to see that not one demon remained in the courtyard.
Nor was there, as they moved further into the castle, any in the halls.
"That was some ritual," breathed Daru as they walked down some stone stairs.
"I told you," Kat replied. "Together, we can do anything."

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the castle. It shook the walls, and dust settled around them.
"I'd say the wizard just found out what we did," murmured Kat. "We'd better hurry."

Taking Marc's hand, she hurried down the steps.

Two weeks later, things had settled back down throughout the country. With the closure of the gates of hell, the country regained its usual peaceful state. The King had addressed the issues the wizard had stirred up, and the people had settled back down to their old ways happily. Queen Courtney was overjoyed to have her daughter returned to her, and spent a great deal of time in her company. One thing she had noticed however, was the change in her daughter's attitude. Kat had grown up a lot over the few weeks she'd been away, and had also learned more than the Queen thought possible. Queen Courtney was extremely proud of the way her daughter had matured, and was quite happy to let her visit the sorceress for lessons in natural healing and other various things, for which she seemed to have developed a knack.

Lord Marc asked King Darren for his daughter's hand in marriage, and the two were betrothed, the wedding set for the next spring. It seemed the year passed with surprising speed, and the eve before the wedding, Kat sat in her room with the sorceress.
"Are you ready?"
"I have waited 25,000 years for this day. Of course I'm ready."
"Marc is nervous."
"I'll calm him down," suggested Kat with a wicked grin.
The sorceress laughed.
"For some reason I don't think anything you would do would have a calming effect."
"Sure it would... after a while..."
"One more night isn't going to make a difference in 25,000 years," replied the sorceress with a smile.
"True."
Kat leaned back and looked down at her hands.
"I certainly don't look 25,000 years old."
"You don't. Nor will you. Never did quite work out if that was a blessing or a curse."
Kat smiled. "You and Daru will be happy."
"I know. I'm sorry to be giving it up, but it will be nice to have a few thousand years to ourselves."
"I'll take care of everyone."
"I know you will."
The two smiled at each other.
"Think you'll be Ok?"
"If you can learn how to hide your magick with herbs in two weeks, I can learn to fly."
For a few seconds, Kat tried to suppress her laughter, but then it burst out. The sorceress joined in, and the two laughed until tears ran down their faces.
"I suppose there is a slight difference," admitted the sorceress finally.
"Just a slight one," Kat replied, glancing out the window at the position of the moon.
The sorceress followed her gaze, and smiled.
"Time to go. Wish me luck?"
"Luck," replied Kat, as the sorceress settled her hood back around her youthful face. "See you in 5,000 years or so."
The two women hugged, and the sorceress left.

The day of the wedding dawned bright and sunny. The flowers had all bloomed over night, and everyone was in their best clothes, and all agreed it was the most perfect wedding the country had ever seen. The princess Kat looked radiant in her white gown, and the Lord Marc didn't faint once during the ceremony.

In the years following the wedding, the country prospered, the King remained in good health, as did the Queen, and an heir to the throne was produced. With the King still in such good health, Kat pressured the King into skipping her in the line of succession, and passing the crown straight to her and Marc's son. Kat and Marc moved into their own manor, next door to the royal palace, where Kat took over the sorceress' line of work, and Marc helped her father with business matters. Two daughters and another son ensured the succession of the throne, and the royal grandchildren soon had the hearts of every person in the country.

And during all those years, people talked about the point in the wedding, where two love birds had swooped down out of the sky, and flown in a circle around Lord Marc and Lady Kat, before flying away again. Kat had laughed and waved at them. People had taken it then as an omen of good things and times to come.

And they had been right.