Tosh hefted the small ray pistol. He wasn’t good with them, since that training was for boys and not girls. He shook his head and took as careful a bead as he could and fired. The brilliant ruby lance of light struck the ropes holding the girl without burning her. Tosh smiled. Might be able to seal that deal after this. He turned as another roar echoed down the hall. “We might have an issue.”

Tosh turned to see a giant, four-armed, ape-like creature barreling toward him. He spun, firing the raygun at the creature. He fired again and again. His hands shook, and the rays kept hissing by the ape-thing, singeing the fur and hair. But Tosh never scored a hit. Behind the ape creature, Tosh thought he saw Bors charging down the corridor after the beast. Will he get here in time? Twice, the ruby lances skittered close to the large barbarian.

Tosh and the woman rushed to the door to try and swing it shut. At the last second, they closed it. The creature grabbed the door, and with a mighty scream of bestial fury, it tore the door from its hinges.

The creature roared as it neared Tosh. It reared up and swung down with all four arms. Bors travelled past the creature and slammed into Tosh, tackling him, driving them both away from the reach of the creature.

Bors drew back. “Are you okay, brother?”

Tosh shakily nodded. “Thank you.”

“Of course, brother.” Bors then turned and slammed his sword into the creature, taking one of its arms. It let out a squeal and slammed Bors aside. Its three remaining hands went for Ella and Tosh.

Tosh raised the raygun and fired again and again. There was a squeal and the smell of burnt fur. Tosh opened his eyes and was shocked to see he had killed the thing.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Bors said as he pushed himself up. Tosh hurried to his side, helping the large man up.

“No idea.” Tosh shook his head.

The woman smiled. “Please. I can help.”

“How?” Bors asked.

Ella snapped her fingers, and the five of them were outside of Tallinnn’s. Tessa looked dazed, and Nix shot into Tessa’s sleeve.

“How did you—”

Tosh stopped Tessa with a slash of his hand. “Talk later, we need to leave. Now!”

“Where do you need to go?” Ella asked. “I can—”

“You could have done that at any time?” Bors asked.

“Yes, and no,” Ella said. “Suffice to say that when Tosh freed me, I regained full access to my powers.”

Tosh looked at her. “The Drumgag.”

***

There was a flash of something familiar to Tosh, an indigo flash, and the five of them were back before the façade of the Drumgag, the dull muddy walls of the large dome that caused Toph to gag for a second, knowing the stench that he was about to deal with again. Ella wore a modest dress. Tosh wanted to ask how all of this had happened, but he chalked it up to the Master playing around more. Or the power of the Eye.

Without missing a beat, Tessa stepped up to Tosh. “I still require my payment.” She held her hand out for the cube.

Tosh dropped it into her hands. “By all means, a deal is a deal.” He then looked at Ella. “How are we going to—”

“What? You’re going to give me to that loathsome thing?”

“The Drumgag is going to want a jewel,” Bors said. “And we are not going to hand Ella over to them.”

“I’m sure he’ll take that bauble you have, Master Tosh,” Ella said, giving the small satchel at Tosh’s side a meaningful look.

Tosh pulled out a scintillating red and blue orb the size of an apple from his pocket, he did not realize he had been able to hold onto orb. After studying it for a moment, he nodded. “I’m sure the Drumgag will take it. Since no one knows what the Eye of—”

“Please stop using that title,” Ella said. “I hate it. Where did you get that?”

“Very well, Ella. And, I have—”

Bors laughed. “Saw him take it. he did a good job of it. What is it?”

“A child’s toy,” Ella said.

Tosh smirked, looking at it. “Perfect.”

* * *

The Drumgag stared at the jewel in Tosh’s hands. “Give!” he screamed, thrusting his pathetic, small flabby arm outward to get the gem from Tosh. The redhead at his side reached out to take it, but the Drumgag yanked on the chain, pulling the woman back against his corpulent body. “Mine, you sow!”

Tosh tossed him the gem. He didn’t watch as the Drumgag fought with his woman to grab the thing. He and Bors made for the exit with haste.

The Master shifted them; as they left the Drumgag’s chamber a tall, lanky form appeared before them. “Shall we?” He snapped his fingers, Tosh, Ella, and Bors appeared in The Master’s large chambers.

“I am so glad—"

Before he could finish, a visibly annoyed Ella stomped toward him, the glow coming off of her growing brighter and brighter and shredding her clothes. Tosh watched in shock as the tall lanky form of the Master grew smaller and smaller until he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the nearly nude Ella. She slapped him hard across the masked face.

The strike tore the mask from the silken shroud to reveal a chubby man with a small set of green-tinted Pince-nez glasses set askew by her strike. His eyes were a very human brown that regarded Ella like a puppy whose master had kicked it for pissing on the carpet. He gaped at her, bewildered.

“Husband! Why did you send these two for me? I was not done with my research.”

“You were taking soooooooo long. A millennium has passed. I missed you,” he said reaching out to touch her.

She pulled away. “You stupid pile of—” She reached back to slap him again but paused as he cowered before her, glaring at him a moment. Her visage went from hard and stony to softer and softer. “I have to say, I did miss you as well.”

“Really?”

“For a decade or two.”

“Lovie . . .” the Master said in a lovesick tone. It made the bile rise in Tosh’s throat.

Then Ella said, “Darling.”

The two embraced.

Bors and Tosh looked at each other, dumbstruck. “What are—Wife?” the pair both asked.

“Oh, yes. Thank you for your help. You two may leave,” Ella said.

Before either could say anything, Ella gestured, and they found themselves in a wine shop. Tosh guessed it was somewhere on Mars, judging by the shift in gravity and the suddenly dusty air.

“What just happened?” Bors asked, looking at Tosh with bulging eyes.

“I think we brought back a somewhat abusive wife to her codependent husband.”

Bors shrugged “They have great power. I don’t wish to get between those two.”

“Me either, but I think we both got what we wanted.”

“How so?” Bors asked.

The two ordered food and drink, finding their purses filled with coins that weren’t there a moment before. “Well, for one, we have full purses and empty bellies. I say we change one of those.”

As the meal came to them, Bors asked again, “How did we both get what we—”

“You still have your sword.”

Bors touched the baldric and nodded. “Yes, but you—”

“You consider me to be a brother of your tribe?”

“Yes,” Bors said, taking a long pull of his ale. “How else would I see you?”

“Then my boon has been given. I have coin to continue with the procedure, and I have a friend. Let’s get another round.”

In the back of Tosh’s mind, he knew the words were enough. Ella and the Grifter were together. He would drink to being free from them. He would be able to find another way to get what he wanted.

“What about Tessa?”

“I am sure the Guildie will be fine. She’s tougher than she looks,” Tosh said with a smile.

Bors smiled at that. The two clanked their tankards together and drank until the morning.

TO BE CONTINUED