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.Slowly, he extended the hammer out over the pool's edge."Kern, don't!" Listle managed to cry out.Invisible bonds squeezed the elf brutally, silencing her."Do it, paladin!"Kern clenched his jaw, loosening his grip.Thunder split the air.Jagged chunks of stone crashed to the cavern's floor as a hole burst open in the ceiling above.Something crashed through with a deafening noise.A vast black dragon.Kern froze in astonishment, realizing it was the beast Trooper had called Dusk.The dragon circled menacingly."How have you forced me to return here, sorceress?" the dragon hissed.The half-fiend laughed shrilly."Just because you are guardian of the pool no longer—and I am guardian in your place—does not mean your pact with the pool is broken.When you accepted the power I granted you, you also accepted shackles that bind you to me.You cannot ignore my call, Dusk!""This cannot be!" the dragon shrieked.Brilliant silver sparks danced in his one good eye."I was on the verge of sending a thousand evil dragons against the cities of the Moonsea.The dragon-rage was about to begin!"Kern gasped as the beast whirled dangerously close to his friends.They bobbed up and down in the dragon's wake, like leaves buffeted by the wind."Your petty dragon-rage means nothing to me," Sirana's voice snapped."I have need of you here.These vile creatures intend to destroy the pool of twilight.Without its magic, you wouldn't have the power of a garden snake, Dusk.Now, obey my command.Kill these intruders for me." She pointed the staff directly at Kern."And start with this puppy-paladin.""I am not your slave," the dragon bellowed.His vast wings propelled his sinuous body toward the cavern's ceiling."As long as I am guardian of the pool, you must obey me, Dusk!"The dragon threw his head back, trumpeting his fury."Then you will die, sorceress, and command me no more!"Dusk barked a magical word.Suddenly a globe of impenetrable darkness sprang into being around the rock Sirana stood upon.Folding his wings back against his scaly body, the dragon dove toward the inky sphere.At the same time, brilliant silver-gray streaks of magic from Sirana's staff shattered the globe of darkness.Dusk accelerated his descent, extending his sicklelike claws.Sirana waved a hand frantically, and a shimmering haze appeared around her an instant before the dragon struck.His blow glanced off the magical shield in a spray of sparks.With a bellow, he winged back toward the cavern's ceiling.Sirana smiled smugly, but the force of the dragon's blow had managed to knock her off balance.She teetered on the edge of the rock, arms flailing.Then she tumbled backward into the pool.The Staff of Twilight flew from her hand.Kern watched in horror as the staff tumbled and rolled.It stopped less than a handspan from the edge.Daile gasped."We're sinking!" the ranger shouted.Kern looked up in horror.Sure enough, his six friends were all gradually descending toward the pool's surface."Can't one of you blasted spellcasters do something?" Trooper snapped."I've already had my bath this year!"Both Evaine and Listle were powerless.Kern swore.Somehow he had to get that staff.The waters of the pool frothed angrily.Something began to rise out of the depths, something huge.Gray foam ran from its sides as it lifted higher and higher, reaching toward the cavern's heights.Sirana.The gigantic, misshapen form of the half-fiend sorceress stood a full fifty feet high.Twilight-colored specks danced beneath her skin like stars gone mad.She reached out colossal arms."Fight me now, wyrm!"The dragon screamed and once again plummeted toward her.The companions could only watch in dread fascination as the two titans grappled with each other.They had their own troubles.Inch by inch, they continued to be lowered toward the surface of the pool.Dusk's claws raked Sirana's body, and searing magic crackled through the dragon.The reek of burned flesh filled the cavern.Dusk ignored the pain.The dragon's snapping jaws closed on Sirana's throat.At the same moment, a dozen spikes of brilliant magic punched through Dusk's body like white-hot spears.Neither monster dared to loose its hold on the other as they began to sink.Locked in a fatal embrace, dragon and gigantic sorceress disappeared into the pool of twilight.The torpid waters closed over them with a gurgling sound, silencing their inhuman screams.A ripple spread across the pool's surface.Then all was still.Kern shook his head in amazement.Evil really does destroy itself, he thought.Now, to free his friends, who hovered only a few inches above the surface of the pool.Quickly, he shed his armor and stood on the edge of the basin."Are you insane, lad?" Trooper growled."Maybe," Kern said with a grin."But there's only one way to find out."Ignoring the shouts of protest from his friends, he dove into the pool.The thick water closed about him, oily against his skin.He felt the pool's magic swirl around him, trying to penetrate his flesh, to absorb his essence into its own.Suddenly, Kern was buoyed to the pool's surface by a mass of sticky blue cobwebs.His unmagic did protect him! He began swimming for the spur of rock in the pool's center
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