the pool of water. Suddenly the shadowy figure rose, shape-changed into the form of a human man wearing armor and wielding a sword, and dived into the water, disappearing completely from sight.
'It's times like this when I really miss Holly,' Jas whispered. 'With her paladin ability to detect evil, she could warn us whether or not we should get any closer to that creature, whatever it is.'
'In a place like this where everything is evil, Holly would have a ringing headache by now,' Joel countered.
Seemingly unconcerned with the possible dangers, Emilo walked into the cave and approached the pool of water.
'Emilo,' Jas called out in a warning tone.
'I can see him,' the kender said excitedly. 'This pool must be a portal to another place. He's in another room, fighting another man.' The kender gave a little gasp. 'No, wait. He's fighting himself.'
Joel and Jas moved deeper into the cave. The limestone ceiling and walls glistened with water, and tiny crystals glittered all along the floor, crunching under their boots. Jas and Joel found they could stand up, though Joel's head brushed the cave roof in spots. Farther back in the shadows, they could see about twenty small, furry bats hanging from the ceiling.
Joel and Jas joined Emilo beside the pool of water. On the opposite side of the water's surface were two identical men, dressed in identical armor, fighting with identical swords. The adventurers couldn't hear the combat, but they could see that one man was gaining the upper hand in the duel. The room surrounding the men was a gaudily decorated bedroom. Joel would have guessed it was a visitor's room in a festhall, but where in all the worlds the room was, he had no way of knowing.
The bard knew what it was he was seeing, however. 'A fetch,' he whispered.
'A what?' Jas asked.
'It's an evil creature that dwells in the Abyss,' the bard explained. 'There's a creepy Turmish song about fetch that explains why Turmish law prohibits large mirrors. Fetch attack through portals that lead to mirrors in the Prime Material Plane, taking on the forms of their intended victims. Their attacks drain the life energy from their victims. Then the victim is dragged back to the Abyss, where he becomes another fetch. There's one thing that bothers me, though. Fetch are supposed to be invisible to all but their victims.'
'Perhaps we can see him because we're on his home plane,' Jas suggested.
'That could be,' Joel agreed. He pulled out the finder's stone to illuminate the rest of the cave. The cavern didn't appear to extend back into the mountainside more than ten yards. Joel saw no evidence of passages that went any deeper. Sirrion's 'passage' was a dead end.
The bard glanced back into pool. On the opposite side of the portal, four more armed men came running through a door into the room where the two fetch fought. Although they couldn't see the fetch, the armed men surrounded the fetch's victim, presumably their companion, with a circle of swords.
Joel whirled around. 'We've got to get out of here before the fetch flees back through the portal,' the bard insisted.
Joel's warning came in time for Jas and Emilo to retreat to the entrance, but the fetch reared out of the watery portal and splashed to the shore between Joel and his avenue of escape.
Upon spying the bard, the monster smiled coldly. Suddenly Joel found he was looking at himself. The fetch had assumed the bard's form and raised a sword identical to the one Finder had given to Joel. He retreated back several steps and drew his own weapon. It was unnerving enough knowing the fetch would be draining his life energy if it struck him; having to attack his twin made it worse. On top of all that, fetch were said to be excellent fighters.
The fetch had received some injuries from his last opponent. He was bleeding from a slash on his leg and a superficial stab in his gut. It wasn't enough of a handicap as far as Joel was concerned. The bard took a completely defensive stance, blocking the first strike with his sword and retreating from the second. He was now cornered in the back of the cave.
It was Jas who dealt the first blow to the creature, a deep cut to the shoulder. She followed it up quickly with a slice to the creature's ribs. The fetch whirled and hissed. This time it didn't bother to shapeshift again, but targeted the winged woman still wearing Joel's form. Its first blow glanced off Jas's shoulder guard, but the second drew blood, slicing through her leather wrist guard and penetrating the flesh beneath.
Jas reeled backward. The wound wasn't too serious, but it opened the mystical pathway by which the fetch could drain her life energy.
Joel charged at the creature and stabbed his sword deep into its back. Emilo hit the creature's leg with his sword.
The fetch turned again on Joel, but Jas blocked the creature's blade with her own. The fetch struck Jas across her ribs, slicing through her leather tunic, shirt, and skin. Jas's sword cut halfway through the fetch's neck.
The fetch fell to the ground, and Jas collapsed beside it.
'Make sure it's dead,' the winged woman gasped to Emilo. 'Make damn sure.'
The kender stabbed at the fetch's throat with his sword, but it did not stir. The monster was dead.
Joel shuddered at the sight. The creature remained in the bard's form, though its skin was as pale as a corpse. That's how I'll look when I'm dead, the bard thought. He knelt beside Jas and hummed a prayer to heal her wounds. The skin at her wrist and ribs knit easily, but she remained leaning against Joel.
'Gods, I feel weak,' the winged woman murmured.
'I can't restore your life energy,' Joel said. 'It may take years before you recover what's been drained from you. You didn't have to make yourself its only target.'
'Better me than you,' Jas said. 'If it hit you, you wouldn't be able to cast the spells we might need.'
Emilo, who had been looking about the cave, said, 'I don't understand. This is a dead end. Why would Sirrion send us to a dead end?'
Joel sighed. 'Perhaps he wanted us to kill the fetch. I think we'd better keep moving,' he added.
Outside the cave, the finder's stone sent out a weak beam of light pointed back up the slope. 'This way,' Joel said with a nod of his head.
'But Sirrion said the finder's stone would lead us into danger,' Emilo objected.
'Emilo, you can't still believe it was Sirrion you spoke with,' Jas growled. 'Someone impersonated Sirrion to lead us into a trap.'
Emilo shook his head. 'I just can't believe it. I was so sure,' he murmured. Uncharacteristically, he remained silent for some time after that, lost in private musing.
The three heroes resumed the long trek upward. Farther up the slope, they spied the first sign of a true path, which had been cleared of all loose stones. The path weaved its way back and forth up the mountainside.
It was while they were taking their second rest that Emilo spotted three winged creatures circling overhead. They looked like giant vultures, but they had human arms and hands in which they carried spears. The three adventurers huddled behind a large boulder beside the trail and waited until the creatures flew off.
Unfortunately the light from the finder's stone indicated that they needed to proceed in the same direction as the vulture creatures. They proceeded along the trail more cautiously, with one eye to the sky at all times.
Jas seemed to linger behind, watching for the creatures. Joel was struck with an uneasy suspicion.
'You aren't planning on making yourself a target again just to keep me and Emilo safe, are you?' he murmured to the winged woman. 'Because if you are, forget it.'
'Why?' Jas asked. 'Think about it, Joel. As long as I have the dark stalker in me, I may as well take risks. Dying is the only way I'm going to cheat Iyachtu Xvim. On the other hand, you're young. You have a lot to live for.'
'Jas you're only six years older than I am. This fatalism is ridiculous,' Joel declared.
'Is it? I killed that fetch. If the priests of Iyachtu Xvim were telling the truth, I've already sealed my fate. The only reason I don't look like a dark stalker is that Finder transformed me with magic.'
'Do you feel like a dark stalker?' Joel asked. 'Do you sense the power of your prey like they told you you would?'
'It's hard to say,' Jas admitted. 'With so much of my life energy drained, I can't be sure what I'm feeling.'
