She awoke the next morning with the feelings lingering on, though it was Lana on watch, and not Tom. The young fox looked around nervously at the form of Sandra, the lidless eyes that stared around ceaselessly.

No wonder spiders have such a horrible reputation, Stacey thought. They are really a 'sleepless' menace.

She felt absurdly glad that Sandra had proven to be on their side, though tension remained with the group. Nothing she could do about that, she thought. It would be counter-productive: everyone would learn to trust Sandra or not. In the short term, it would keep them on alert in case she actually did try anything.

They broke camp and started the long slog up the mountain. The bright sunshine had driven all the rest of Cassandra's ilk to their cursed home, but the webs and deep tears in the dome had convinced them not to linger.

For several hours they followed the stream bed up towards the glistening peaks. They were balked only once by the sheer cliff face of a dry waterfall that, when it ran, hurled water a hundred feet or more to foaming pools at its base.

"We'll have to see if there are any paths around." Tom sighed wearily. "We could make it up, but I don't see any handholds for our friends."

Stacey studied the walls and saw he was right. She started to suggest that they scout around a bit to see if they could spot a place from the air that would be easier, when a blur out of the corner of her eyes blew past and hurled itself on the cliff face. It was Sandra, and she sped swiftly up the wall as if it were the New Jersey Boardwalk. Behind her, she threw down several silken ropes that dangled on the ground. In moments she'd made it to the top.

"Or we climb the ropes." Stacey said with a laugh. The others didn't look quite as sure, but Lana went to one of the ropes and started to climb easily. Mausi followed and both Tom and Stacey watched them closely. They cheered their efforts when they seemed tired, scolded them for wanting to rest, and otherwise begged or bullied them all the way up to top. There they rested for just minutes while Sandra pulled up the ropes and proceeded to eat the silk. Stacey thought it bizarre until she remembered that spiders recycled old webs thusly, to regain the nutrients used.

When the group had rested, they went on, the air getting colder around them. On the ground, the first white flecks of un-melting snow started to appear, growing steadily into patches that joined into greater and greater until they realized they'd passed the snowlines and were standing at the tail of the glacier.

"Well, we're here at last." His words were light hearted, but his voice and bearing were grim. His eyes glowed blue as he studied the magic surrounding the ice.

"Well, that's interesting." He muttered, almost to himself.

"What is?" Stacey asked him.

His concentration broken, he glanced her way.

"The magic? It's acting like a glass lid or shield; preventing any attack on it and stopping the water from pouring around the edges. Let's go forward a little and see if we can't finish penetrating the barrier."

They walked forward at a slow pace. Stacey could feel the magic buildup around her, and when she reached for her own magic she saw that the threads of magic were reacting to their presence; becoming stronger and more twisted. Tom seemed oblivious, looking about him with fascination. Stacey realized that it was the magic inside of them that had attracted the attention of the shield.

Like ringing the doorbell, she thought nervously.

She pointed that out to them. Tom looked around thoughtfully.

"You're right, Stacey. We've got to go dark, at least until we get inside the walls. Shouldn't be more than fifty paces, it looks like."

They immediately closed themselves off from magic. Just to be safe, they landed on Mausi and Lana's shoulders and clung on, not daring to flap their wings.

Bereft of power, they could only wait until they'd past the edge of the barriers set against them. Stacey could see, now that she had no magic, that two lines were drawn in the snow, fifty feet apart. Both were smooth and perfect, and in between no movement of the icepack stirred.

When the adventurers passed the last line, Tom floated into the air, studying the edges of the walls and the thick magic that surrounded them. Stacey felt the power flood her once more. She became aware of the magic that permeated the very air of the mountain, a living thing it seemed, but one that had set its will against them.

Stacey glanced at Tom; noting the clenched hands, stubborn lines of his jaw, the eyes dancing behind their lids; and guessed that he was sensing all the water on the mountain and where the magic had directed it.

"Mausi, Lana, Sandra," she called softly, so as not to distract him.

The three came over to her.

"What is it?" Mausi asked quietly.

"We are nearing the end of our goal, Tom is determining what will be needed to restore the water to its proper course. Yet this place is so full of evil magic that I fear it will be a herculean task. He may need my help, which means that we will both be vulnerable. Our enemies know this and are waiting for us to make our move. If they attack, it will be up to you to hold them off long enough for us to complete our mission."

Mausi looked around, pursing her lips thoughtfully as she looked at their own weapons and the terrain.

The snowpack did not offer much in the way of fortifications; the ice sheet formed a shallow bowl whose edges crawled up the sides of the peaks on either side, before dipping miles away back down towards whatever lands lay on the far side. Their "weapons" consisted of two small branches shorn of limb and leaf but not yet a spear, and a few small pebbles collected perchance on the snow.

"We need more." She realized out loud.

Stacey wondered if her scepter would do them any good here. She reached out her hand to call it but found herself balked; some dark force bent its will against hers. She struggled with it quite a while, the sweat beading her brow, her muscles trembling with exertion as if she were trying to move a parked semi-truck with puny human strength.

The forces snapped like the parting of a cable under too much tension. The resulting force popped and snapped in the air like fireworks, startling everyone.

The cool weight of the scepter filled her hand, the green gem on top glowing brightly as she held it. With such power in her hands she felt capable of facing anything and she waved it confidently about her almost giddily.

Mausi and Lana had been busy while she'd striven; Stacey noticed when she became aware of what had been happening around her. They'd started work on a set of trenches in the snow, scooping out handfuls at a frenzied pace. Sandra was nowhere to be seen.

Stacey went to help, but her size made it nearly impossible for her to do much good and snow wasn't like living forest; it fell under Tom's domain, not hers.

Sandra returned in little under an hour, bearing a bundle of sticks and several deep cuts and wounds on her side. She deposited the stuff and hurried off to get more without waiting for aid.

Mausi and Lana took the sticks and set aside six. The rest they planted in the first trench with what sharp ends they could find pointed out. The six had any defect removed rapidly with Mausi's belt knife. While she worked, Lana knapped out spear tips for them, using rocks from the base of the ice pack.

The sun had started its downward journey when Sandra made it back and laid out several more sticks. She paused a while to help attach the spearheads to the shafts with her tough webbing, giving them a near-unbreakable fastening.

The spears were ready, and not a moment too soon, for Sandra gave a report from her second trip while Stacey set to work on healing her wounds as best she could.

"The foressst isss alive with ssspidersss!" she hissed. "They are coming thisss way, and ssslavess and goblinsss come asss well."" And when she said "goblinsss" she hissed so angrily that spittle flew from her mouth and froze on the snow.

"They've come to attack." Stacey said with a calmness she didn't feel. Inside her belly felt full of twisting snakes.

"They won't get by us." Mausi assured her.

"I'm counting on that." Stacey admitted. "I will do what I can, but most of my time now will be spent with--"

"Stacey! Stacey! Now!" Tom called suddenly.

"Perfect timing." Stacey muttered. Louder, she cried, "Coming!" Then, to the others; "Stand ready! They will come the moment we engage! Best of luck to you all!"

She flew to where Tom hovered some fifty feet above, spinning slowly with his palm straight out in front of him like an ancient pharaoh commanding his troops.

Slipping her hand into his, she felt the power rip out of her body and into his; an unpleasant feeling similar to that of what being an outlet in her apartment must have felt. Yet she could see that their threads were tiny compared to that of the enemies devices. She thrust her scepter in the direction Tom had chosen to attack, amplifying her power tenfold. Light blinded her, the colors oscillating between green and blue as together they strove to defeat the barrier around them.

How long they stayed like that, Stacey wasn't sure. It seemed like a life-age of the earth. Time held no meaning for her in the savage grip of the forces they had unleased. Surely, the world would incinerate with what they used?

The magic netting began contracting, as if it had been a balloon that the air had gone out of. As it shrank, Tom's muttering got stronger as he focused all of his energy into the shield. It reached a point where it stopped shrinking, and actually began to expand again; however, where the individual threads had once been red and black, they were now turning blue-green.

The transformation of the shield to their own devices seemed so slow! But as the last thread changed color and their magic was released, they heard the ring of steel and hoarse shouts from below.

While they'd been aloft, a great host had marched out of the forest and up the broad rocky face to the glacier. Mausi and Lana and Sandra had chosen to fight them where the snow made a slight dip towards the rock, increasing the climb of the soldiers facing them and giving the defenders a desperately needed edge, but the fact remained that there were far too many to face.

The three had given their best efforts, however; many bodies were cast down in the snow, and those that came in did so warily, trying to evade the stabbing spears that threatened to disembowel them.

A large spider with a goblin sorcerer riding her like a demented knight, charged into the defenders, scattering Lana and Mausi and pinning Sandra beneath her larger sister. A brief stab downward with two great legs shattered Sandra's body; her legs already curling up beneath her in the death.

"NO!" Stacey cried aloud in grief! How could it have happened so fast? Now Mausi seemed to be the next target, as the spider advanced on her slowly, drool dripping from its jaws as she trembled beneath its malevolent gaze and the laughing face of its rider.

Stacey grasped her scepter, intending to fly down and strike the foul things in the head, when a memory filled her for just a second; a flash of inspiration in a rapidly losing battle.

Tom cursed next to her and drew out his magic sword, intending the same thing when he was stopped by Stacey's hand in front of him.

"They don't need force of arms, but magic." She said firmly.

He looked at her like she was crazy, then a look of understanding dawned on his face.

Together they faced the onrushing hordes. A jet of water burst from the snow and blasted the spider above Mausi, hurling it and its rider two hundred feet where they landed in a crumbled heap.

While Tom used dozens of blasts to clear a path for Lana and Mausi to hurry back to them, grabbing more spears along the way, Stacey gathered as much strength as she mustered. Like she did in the clearing with the spider queen, she cast a summons to the forest, begging for help as loud as she could.

Far, far away she could see the tree line start to stir, but little other sign that she'd been heard. Well, she thought to herself, the trees will come or not, but the monsters won''t wait nicely.

A glance to her right showed Tom with his eyes closed, seemingly wrestling with some great problem. She briefly wondered what he was going to do, but for now he had to be on his own.

She hurled herself at the enemy, green fire shooting from her scepter, burning spiders and goblins alike, smashing aside bodies as if some invisible warrior were on the battlefield.

The spiders and goblins screamed in baffled rage and fear, while the Fallen moaned and shrank back. Driven forward by the rage of their dark masters, the poor slaves lunged forward to come to grips with the irritating brissons in front of them and the horrifying fairy that protected them.

The women's spears darted past the basic clubs and even bare claws of the Fallen, striking home with sickening thuds and gargled cries of pain. The corpses began forming a wall of dead right in front of them, but they were getting deadly tired, and it wouldn't be long before they were overwhelmed and killed.

A blast of fire narrowly missed Mausi and singed the very tips of Lana's hair. She screamed in fright, ducking involuntarily. A club thumped her shoulder and now her cries became filled with pain. The sorcerer that had thrown the magic looked smug as he stood behind the front ranks. Stacey flicked a ball of green flame into the Fallen standing above Lana, readying the killing blow.

Glaring at the goblin, Stacey whispered, "Kill him."

With snow and dirt exploding upwards like a volcano, the battle came to a halt as everyone stared at the great brown roots that were twisting like snakes in the cold air. They seized the goblin priest and proceeded to pull him apart with a scream of agony. In the silence that followed the sound of four small things hitting the ground could be heard.

The enemy host turned back to them, the same look on every muzzle or face that looked on them, Stacey thought.

There came a roaring cry in the back, and then the soldiers raced over the snow, desperate to come to grips with them. Stacey dipped low next to Mausi, calling out strike after strike of her roots as the forest finished closing the distance to the rear of the enemy. Spears flashed harshly from Mausi and Lana, but they were being driven back as surely as the sun rose in the west.

Crrrraaaaack-Boooooom!

Stacey shook her ringing head, wondering what on Earth had just happened; it had sounded like the whole mountainside had collapsed. Or perhaps another nuclear bomb had gone off next to them again...but wait, there weren't any nukes left, not anymore.

Her vision stabilized, bringing everything back into focus and what she saw stunned her clean through her toes!

It seemed the entire ice sheet had melted all at once, becoming a towering wave of water nearly a hundred feet high. The crest seemed to brush a low-hanging cloud passing by on business of its own.

Tom hovered in the air, a shining blue sapphire in a cold white land, the great wave rising behind him.

Without a word of command, Tom pointed, and the wave rushed forward like stallions held in the stall too long and eager to run when their door opens.

The water split around the companions, becoming a muddy, brown wall that blocked their vision and sealed their world in a brown box. Stacey flew up to see what she could see.

Above the rushing waters, she saw the waters rushing down the mountain, ignoring the forest in its race along the old riverbed. In its strong embrace, she could see thousands of evil creatures tumbling helplessly along as they were swept away. Those that plunged into the forest would also never emerge, as the tops of the trees shook violently and dim screams of pain and shock echoed out from under their leafy limbs.

The battle was over, she realized numbly. They'd lost Sandra, but were otherwise whole. They would mourn later, she knew. Despite being a creature of shadow, she'd proven that there weren't always clear-cut distinctions between good and bad. Stacey wondered how that would affect the future.