t he needed both paws to dress.  Eron immediately ran over to his mother, clinging to her leg.  The assault had to have been very traumatic for him.  Another reason to pay that Demoness back for everything she did.  He jerked on his new trousers, barely registering that his claw ripped them from the lower thigh down  He pulled on the vest without a shirt and flexed his paw briefly.  "The place where I found Faalken's Soultrap," he finally answered.  "I can find my way back there again."  He turned a powerful stare on Jenna.  "Is Amelyn still in the dungeon?"
	"Yes, but she's told us everything she knows."
	"I doubt that.  Take a Circle down there and drag everything out of her."
	"That may destroy her, Tarrin."
	Without batting an eye, without even so much as a shiver of warning, Tarrin's paw lunged out with blinding speed and grabbed a pawful of Jenna's dress.  He hauled her off the ground and brought her up to look him eye to eye, to stare into two green glowing pools of utterly ruthless determination.  "I did not say that you had a choice," he said in a seething hiss so cold, so brutal that it made Jenna pale.  He put her back on the ground so hard it made her teeth click, and his paw tore away part of the bodice of her dress as he recoiled it from her, threatening to expose her breasts.  What was revealed of them showed that each had a pair of bloody lines running down them, from the claws on his fingers.  He had not been gentle with her.
	At that moment, everyone in the room realized that in his present state, he would kill anyone who stood in his way.  Even a sister.
	With a brief snort, he smoothly seated himself right in the middle of the room, legs crossed.  He reached out a paw and set himself against the Weave, spinning out a strand that led back to the main Conduit that looped directly through him, then he crossed his arms, hunched his shoulders and bowed his head, then  wrapped his tail around his legs and closed his eyes.  "You can tell me what you found out when I get back," he told her in a tone that grew more and more distant as he spoke.
	"What is he doing?" Jesmind asked, a voice that grew further and further away as he pushed himself into the Weave.
	"Going out into the Weave," Jenna's voice replied, as if from half the world away.
	He hovered in his strand a moment, feeling the Heart tugging at him.  If he let himself go, that's where he would end up, but he held his position just aside from his body.  He could see into the real world from the strand, but everything was oddly discolored and wavering, like looking through the heat shimmer of the desert at a distant object.  Just as his eyes could see the Weave in a kind of background sense, so could he see into the real world from the Weave, though it was just as insubstantial as the Weave was from the real world.  He could feel every tiny bit of magic flowing around him, through him, the tiny eddies and currents within the strand, currents that had altered the currents in nearly every other strand around the Tower because of its creation.
	He had never done what he was trying to do, but he knew that he could do it.  His anger was not rage, it was that cold, focused anger of the Human, an anger that actually made him concentrate harder on the task at hand to complete it.  The anger swept out all the panic and worry of a parent, left behind nothing but a burning need to accomplish the task at hand, a task that his daughter's life depended on him succeeding.
	In a blur, Tarrin moved himself back to the desert, back to the ruins of Mala Myrr, back to the exact place where he'd started when he released Jegojah and Faalken from the Soultraps.  He sent his senses into the strands, seeking out the path he had taken so many months ago, hoping that there would be some trace of it remaining in the Weave.  Then, rather foolishly, he realized that all he had to do was send himself back to that dark, emotionless room where the Soultraps had been the same way he sent himself to Mala Myrr.  He didn't have to know how to get there; he just needed to know where he was going.  That was all.
	And he was.  Just wanting to go there was all it took.  He found himself looking out through the strand into that room, but it was a room that, even through the distortion, looked much different than it had before.  Tarrin wove a spell that opened a clear window between the Weave and the real world, an undistorted image of what was beyond the strand, and he was quite surprised to find that the room had been emptied of the furniture and the vials and the bottles and the books and strange objects that had been there before.  The room was empty.  Completely empty.
	A little puzzled, Tarrin cast out his senses, looking for another strand that intersected with the building.  He found one, which wasn't very easy, given that the Weave was much thinner where he was than it was in the Tower.  He moved himself into that one, which required him to double all the way back to a major Conduit and then come all the way back, a journey that would have been a hundred leagues up and back had he had to travel it in the real world.  He changed his position instantly, moved into a strand that moved vertically through the building where the room was located, a strand that would let him see the inside of the place a little better.  He moved up and down floors, looking out into the real world using his window, but found the place empty.   Most of the furniture was still there, but all the small things were gone, and he found the place was devoid of occupants.  In some rooms, snow had piled up in corners, blown through open windows.  Rising up out of the building, he looked down on it from the strand from overhead and found himself looking down on a huge castle, more like a citadel, sitting on top of a huge grey mountain while snow and howling winds swirled around it.  In the distance, he could see a large body of water surrounded by rugged grayish peaks, but he couldn't see much beyond that because of the wind-driven snow.
	A little annoyed, Tarrin wove a projection of himself and pushed himself into it, which would allow him to move about in the real world.  He used it to explore the castle, every room of it.  He combed it level by level, chamber by chamber, even using Sorcery to ferret out every hidden room and secret passage and checking them as well.  There was no one there.  Not only was there no one there, they had left absolutely nothing behind to give him any clues or information.  They had abandoned this place, he realized, and in that evacuation they had been extremely thorough in removing any trace that they had been there.  Tarrin returned to the Weave in disappointment, and because the effort of projecting was going to tire him if he kept it up too long.  He may need to project again when he did find where Jasana was, and he didn't want to tire himself prematurely.
	There's nobody here, he said to himself, which became a Whisper in the Weave, since he had no body to make sound.  Now what?
	That is because you look in the wrong place.
	Tarrin was startled; that voice was a voice that he had not heard in many months.
	It was Spyder.
	Follow my thought, her voice commanded.  I will guide you to what you seek.
	He did so, following the sense of direction from which her voice emanated.  It led him back into the major Conduit, back into a Core Conduit, one of the seven of the greatest Conduits that depended on the sui'kun for their existence, and then out through a steadily shrinking series of strands, becoming smaller and weaker and thinner with each intersection or split, until he reached a place where all the strands seemed to have been turned, pushed back away from something that felt like it was as solid barrier.
	Come out.
	Without much thought about it, Tarrin pushed flows out of the strands at that strange location and wove them into a projection of himself.  Once the weave was formed, he pushed his consciousness into it, and then opened his spectral eyes.
	He was on a snow-choked plain.  There was nothing but snow as far as he could see in any direction, but there were mountains on the southern horizon, and directly ahead of him, about a league, the snow suddenly stopped to reveal a strange swath of grassland.
	Tarrin's ears laid back slightly when he saw a vast army of Goblinoids and humans camped in that grass, and they weren't bundled up against the bitter cold that he could sense plagued this area.  There was a sea of them, specks of dark breaking up the green of the grass, sitting around fires, training with weapons, sleeping or sitting in row upon row upon row of small tents that were erected in that grassy plain.  Standing directly beside him was Spyder, and he realized that she too was a projection.  She wasn't actually there.
	"Gora Umadar," she said in a distant voice, pulling that black cloak around her a little more.  "You are Ungardt.  You know the name."
	He did.  It was supposedly a cursed place far to the east and north of Ungardt, in the tundra north of the Petal Lakes.  Ungardt legend said that an ancient beast of evil was imprisoned within it, and it was bad luck to venture out of the Ice Mountains that separated the lands of Ungardt from the tundra holding the fell place on the other side.
	"That is where they hold Jasana," she told him in that same dead, sing-song voice.
	Tarrin tried to push out into that grassy plain, to try to sense Jasana, but it was like there was a wall holding him out. "Why can't I sense anything over there?" he asked.
	"Val's icon is there, Tarrin," she answered.  "He exerts a force that the Goddess cannot counter.  The restoration of the Weave has restored most of his power, and now he can wield it directly.  That is something that no god can counter without bringing his own icon here, and no god will risk that.  If Val and another god did battle through their icons, the results would be disastrous."
	"Why?" he asked.
	"Because they would be fighting directly," she answered, her eyes sweeping out over the snowless plain and the army it held.  "Should one god triumph over the other, his icon would be destroyed, and all his godly power contained within it would sweep out like a firestorm.  It would destroy the entire region.  For any other god, it would mean millenia of banishment from the world.  For Val, it would mean death."
	"Because he's trapped in his icon?"
	"Because he is a child of the Firestaff," she corrected.  "He has never existed anywhere else but here, Tarrin.  That is the difference between him and the other gods.  That is why they cannot allow any more children of the Firestaff.  When I sealed him into his icon, I didn't draw the very essence of him out of where the gods are and imprison him in it.  That would be impossible for me to do.  I am only a mortal."  She looked at him.  "His essence was already here.  I sealed him into his icon to restrict his power, to force him to be physically present in order to use his godly powers, which restricts the range of his reach.  Nothing more.  And that I could do only because all ten Elder Gods united and gave me that power.  For the gods, an icon is a presence in this world.  For Val, it is him, just as your physical body is you.  Destroy it, and you destroy him, whether he is sealed in it or not."
	That filled Tarrin with a kind of grim excitement.  "Then I could destroy him," he said in a dreadful voice, his need to avenge himself against those who had abducted his daughter running hot in his mind.
	"You are a mortal, Tarrin," she told him pointedly.  "Had I had the power, I would have destroyed Val myself rather than seal him into his icon.  We, not even all the sui'kun together, have the power to destroy Val's icon, my brother.  We may seem godlike to mundanes, but we are as mundanes compared to the gods, and we are as nothing compared to Val, because of the circumstances of his existence."
	Tarrin wanted to growl in frustration at that.  Val had been the directing force behind everything that had happened to him over these years.  The idea that he couldn't avenge himself against him was like bitter medicine in his mouth.  Had he been rational and calm, he would have balked at the idea.  But in his current mental state, the need to punish was overriding his common sense.
	Calming down a little bit, he looked over at the army.  That army was going to make things difficult.  If Jasana really was being held inside it, then any attempt to get her out meant that he'd have to go through an army of Goblinoids, fight a god, somehow beat him, then fight his way back out through the army of Goblinoids he'd battled to get in.  And do it all inside a void that would rob him of his most powerful asset, his Sorcery.
	"Hold on.  The ki'zadun attacked the Tower to destroy the Goddess' icon.  You just said it's impossible."
	"It is impossible against Val, Tarrin.  You continue to forget that since Val exists in our world both spritually and physically, it allows him to bring more power to bear here than any other god, even Ayise herself."  She paused, clicking her tongue absently.  "A mortal would have a much better chance of destroying the icon of any god other than Val.  Only Val can exert his full and true power in our world, where all other gods are restricted.  Someone such as you or I could possibly destroy the icon of a god.  It would be exceedingly difficult, but it would be possible.  All the sui'kun acting together would have a respectable chance of success," she admitted.  "The ki'zadun used Demons in their assault on the Tower, and Demons would have a good chance of destroying an icon, because of their power.  But not Val's.  The power he can wield in our world makes him invulnerable to the attacks of a mortal, even invulnerable against the very Demons he summons.  It is part of the reason why he has no fear of them."
	Tarrin growled in his throat, a little angry with her that she could bring up a valid argument against everything he wanted to do, arguments he couldn't refute.  "Where exactly is Jasana?" he asked.
	"There is a structure at the center of the grass," she answered, raising her hand.  An Illusion appeared, that of a grim black stone pyramid sitting out in the middle of the grassy tundra.  "This.  This is where Val is holding Jasana, and where Val is himself.  He's also assembled the strongest of his servants among the ki'zadun, amassed this army, and has started summoning Demons to do his bidding."  She lowered her hand, sliding it back under her cloak, but the image remained.  "That is why I am involved," she told him grimly.  "He has broken the strictures and brought Demons into our world."
	"I thought they couldn't get in because you guard the gate."
	"They cannot, unless a Wizard Conjures them.  I cannot control that, because when a Wizard Conjures a Demon, they bring them here using the power of their magic, much the same way you have learned to Conjure using Druidic magic.  They do not have to use the gate to gain entry into the world.  I also cannot stop a god from doing the same thing.  Where a Wizard can only Conjure and keep control of one Demon at a time, Val can raise an army of them.  And that is what he is doing."
	Tarrin paled.  An army of Demons?  It was going to be another Blood War!
	"Exactly my fear," she nodded, somehow knowing what he was thinking.  "Val tried this once, and nearly destroyed the world.  Now he tries it again, either believing he can control his Demons this time, or not caring about what happens to the world he conquers.  He may be content to rule over a wasteland of blasted ash, so long as he does rule.  These are here for the same reason," she said, nodding towards the Goblinoids.  "Val raised his army believing that when the Firestaff releases him from his icon, he could use them to sweep out of the tundra and begin his conquest."
	"Why can't the gods stop him?" he asked.  "And why can't they just destroy him?"
	"Because he is a god, Tarrin," she said patiently.  "If they face him directly, they could destroy him, but in that battle would come the end of the world as we know it.  It is why the Goddess had you claim the Firestaff in the first place, my brother.  Think."
	She was right.  The Goddess told him that if someone used the Firestaff, the gods would have to rise up and destroy him, and the entire world may be destoyed in that confrontation.  Confronting Val would be no different.
	"Because Val is a child of the Firestaff, it means that all his power is here," she told him. "That gives him a great deal of power dealing with the other gods, whose power is in another dimension.  Where they have to work through an icon, he does not.  Where they can only devote a portion of their power to the battle, he does not.  It makes him as powerful as any Elder God on this world.  Perhaps even more so.  That is why even the Elder Gods would be wary of confronting him.  Even they run the risk of losing their icons.  And if that happens, then the world would be in chaos," she said grimly.  "The power guiding the forces of nature would be cut off, and the entire world's workings would run amok until the gods could form new icons and regain control.  Very little would survive that."
	Tarrin frowned.  She was being very careful to spell out for him what would happen if the gods started fighting.  But why?  And that caused him to ask a quesion that, though he had never even considered before, made him wonder why he had never asked it before.  "If Val's already a god, why does he want the Firestaff?"
	"Because if a god used it, it would cause the god to have his full power manifest in this world," she told him.  "A Younger God that used the Firestaff would have all of his power in that other dimension where his spirit resides, as well as an equal measure of power residing right here in this world, and it is a power that does not depend on the faith of the mortals who worship him.  It would make a Younger God something even greather than an Elder God, truly immortal and wielding a power that even the Elder Gods would fear.  For Val, who is already a child of the Firestaff, it would double the power he already possesses, and that power would make him unstoppable."  She looked at him.  "Do you know the story of Val, my brother?"
	"Some of it," he answered.
	"Then you know that he is a god without rules, without constraints.  Do you know why?"
	Tarrin mulled over that for a moment.  "Because he's a child of the Firestaff."
	"Yes.  He is not a child of Ayise.  His power was not granted by her, and it means that he did not have to accept the responsibilities and restrictions that came with that power.  He is truly a god without rules, a god that does not care about the Balance.  In fact, in his own way, he is a god seeking to destroy that Balance.  We call him Val, god of darkness and conquest.  The gods have another name for him."
	He looked at her.
	"They call him Entropy, the embodiment of the force that seeks to unmake all," she said, looking at him.  "They fear him more than they fear any other thing."  She looked at the army again.  "I brought you here to show you what stands between you and your daughter, Tarrin," she told him in a quiet voice.  "Now that you see what you have seen and heard what I have told you, do you understand why?"
	"To show me what I'm up against."
	"To show you that what you intend is impossible," she told him bluntly.  "There is no way you can get Jasana back without surrendering the Firestaff to Val.  He is a god, Tarrin, and he holds your daughter in the very center of his seat of power.  You cannot sneak in, you cannot trick him, and you cannot beat him with either magic or brute force.  He will sense you coming from a thousand longspans away, and he will hear every thought that passes through your mind.  Any bargain you try to make with him, he will not honor, seeking to kill you as quickly as he can to regain the Firestaff before the appointed day.  And if you do face him, he will crush you as if you are nothing and take the Firestaff from you, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it.  You intend to rescue Jasana, without thinking about the consequences.  And now you know what will happen if you do."
	You must be able to make the choices that must be made.
	No!  Not Jasana!  He had chosen his duty, and it had cost Faalken his life!  He had chosen his duty, and it had nearly killed Kimmie!  He would not make a choice that would kill his daughter.  He would not!  The entire world did not matter more than his precious child, because the world would not be worth continuing if Jasana was not there to share in it.
	In a flash, an instant, a plan formed in his mind.  It was a simple plan, an elegant plan, yet a plan carrying flavors of nuance and subtlety that would make Keritanima proud.  It was a plan that addressed all the problems of rescuing Jasana without getting her killed, and after going through it in that instant, he realized that it was a plan that would work, no matter if it was a god that would be the one trying to defeat it or not.  The simplicity of it made it almost infallible.
	He had to be able to make the choices that must be made.  In that instant, he made his choice, and that choice was Jasana.
	Quickly, he buried the plan in the deepest parts of his mind, submerging it into the Cat, the one place where no one, not even the Goddess, could dig it out.  He knew that if she knew what he intended, she would not allow it.  She would stop him, and he would not be denied.
	If Val wanted the Firestaff, Tarrin would give it to him.  It was not worth the life of his daughter.
	"If there's one thing that you should have learned about me by now, Spyder," he said in a voice that held absolutely no emotion, "is that the world does not matter to me."  He looked at her.  "Val has my daughter, and I'm going to get her out of there alive.  That's all that matters to me.  The world can go to the Nine Hells for all I care."
	"Then your daughter will grow up in a blasted wasteland."
	"As long as she grows up, I don't give a damn about where it happens to be," he said, looking over the army one more time.
	"You are foolish to say that to me," she said, drawing herself up.  "I will not permit you to decide the fate of us all, Tarrin."
	He felt her power build up, felt the terrible might of it even though both of them were working through projections.  But he ignored her, keeping his back to her.  "I'm not going to go out and intentionally destroy the world, fool woman," he said with a snort.  "But I won't abandon my daughter.  If it would have been anything else, anyone else, I would have let it go.  But not Jasana.  Not one of my children.  I'll find a way to get her back.  I'll do my best to keep the Firestaff away from Val.  But if it comes down to it, I'll hand it over to him without hesitation."
	"Then you doom us all."
	"Then we all die," he said grimly.  "That doesn't matter to me in the slightest."
	"Then you leave me little choice, my brother," she said with terrible finality.  He felt her power immediately build up to its peak, felt her half a world away, probably doing the same thing he was doing, sitting somewhere in a small room in a nice comfortable chair, projecting herself out across the vast distance between them.
	"Go ahead," he told her without emotion.  "Let's just get it all out of the way now, woman.  It doesn't matter to me anymore.  Nothing matters to me anymore except my daughter," he said in a dead tone.  "Strike at me, Spyder, and I'll tear the Weave.  I know how it's done.  Try to stop me, and I'll cause another Breaking.  You won't have to worry about Val destroying the world."  He turned on her, and there was awful burning fanaticism in his eyes that took her aback.  "If you deny me the chance to save my daughter, I'll destroy the world myself!"
	There was a shocked silence from Spyder, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.  "Mother!" she gasped in consternation.  "This cannot be!"
	I cannot interfere, the voice of the Goddess touched them both, a very subdued, serious voice, nothing like the voice he was so accustomed to hearing.  You understand the rules, daughter.  I cannot directly interfere.  I cannot demand.  I can only ask.  If Tarrin decides to defy me, I can do nothing but deny him his powers.  And he does not need Sorcery to tear the Weave, daughter.  He's a strong enough Druid to do it.  It will kill him, but he can do it.
	"What must I do, Mother?"she asked in confusion.  That was something he never thought he'd see.  Spyder was at a loss as to what to do.
	I suggest you withdraw your threat and release your power, she replied dryly.  If my kitten is this determined, then I say give him his chance.  He has proven again and again that he can find ways to accomplish his goals.  We must all have faith that this time will be no different.
	"I do not like it, Mother.  It takes an awful risk."
	I don't like it either, she said with a rueful chuckle.  But if there's one thing I've learned about my kitten, Spyder, it's that once he truly sets his mind to accomplishing a goal, he finds a way to succeed.  Just as he has faith in me, now I must show faith in him.  I won't interfere, kitten, she told him directly.  I disagree with what you're doing, you must know that.  I love Jasana too, but I can think of no way to safely get her out.  But I'm going to trust you on this, Tarrin.  If you believe with all your heart that you can get her back without giving the Firestaff to Val, then I'll support you, and I'll do everything in my power to make it happen.
	"I can do it, Mother," he said confidently.  "I swear it."
	Then that is good enough for me, she said simply.  All you need to do is ask, Tarrin, and I will help you as much as I'm allowed.  Because of what Val is doing, he is forcing us to directly interfere anyway, so I'll be able to help you alot more than usual.
	"What is he doing?"
	"The Demons, Tarrin," Spyder said.  "He is Conjuring Demons by the dozens every day.  He already has a force of nearly a thousand, and they grow by the hour.  The gods themselves must take steps now to prevent another Blood War.  It is why I am here.  It's why I've shown you what's before us.  I am the Guardian, and now I am summoned to execute my duties.  To defend our world against incursion from hostile extra-dimensional invaders.  That is my purpose."
	The weight of that was not lost on him, no matter how adamant he was about rescuing his daughter.  The possibility of Val getting the Firestaff was only one of the dangers presented in this very delicate situation.  If Val raised enough Demons, he could threaten the entire world whether he was freed or not.  And now that the Weave was restored, he would bet that the same lack of magic that kept the dragons trapped in the form of drakes was keeping Val's icon rooted to his spot.  The Goddess was animating her icon now, moving it around.  Val couldn't move it around the way she did, but he could move.  He'd be at least as mobile now as any other living thing with arms and legs.
	Even if they kept the Firestaff away from Val, they were going to have to deal with him and the army he had amassed.
	"You already have a force at hand to deal with Val," Tarrin told them both absently.  "I think the battle at Suld showed how effective it is to bring the Wikuni, Ungardt, Knights, Selani, and Arakites together.  Assemble them again in greater numbers, and you'll have an army that even Val is going to fear."
	I already realized that, kitten.  I'm already starting to make some arrangements with their gods.  The Younger Gods have a stake in this too, and they'll help.  They rule as patrons of the mortals, so it is through them that we must act.  Karas, Dallstad, Kikkalli, and Fara'Nae have already pledged their children to the cause.  I'm even asking Neme for her Amazons and for the outworlder god that commands the Wizards to release them to my charge.  Every Elder and Younger God both are going to be devoting a block of their priesthood to the cause to serve as magical assistance along with my Children and the Wizards.  We may even get assistance from the Druids and Fae-da'Nar, this is so serious.  I've yet to approach Shiika over her Legions, though.  Because the Arakites really have no one god that could force such a large empire to mobilize, it forces me to deal with their Demon Empress.  Tarrin could sense the intense distaste present in her voice.
	"Shiika's actually not bad for a Demon," he said in defense of her.
	"Truth be told, I have an odd fondness for her," Spyder admitted.  "At least she is old enough to understand me."
	I hate Demons, the Goddess said with a shudder in her choral voice.  I still say it was a mistake for us to allow her to remain on Sennadar.
	"You know, I remember Allia and Camara Tal saying the same thing about Jula," Tarrin said pointedly.
	There was a startled silence, then the Goddess laughed, a symphony of silvery bells.  Point taken, kitten, she said.  We should break this up.  Were I not shielding us, Val would be hearing every word we say with us so close to him.  I think it's time for us to withdraw and start making plans for what's to come, outside of his earshot.  As it is, he knows we're here, and you can bet that he knows that we didn't come just for the view.
	"As you say, mother.  I will come visit you in Suld presently, my brother," she told him.  "What comes requires my direct intervention.  When the army marches, I will march at its head."
	"I'm looking forward to seeing you," he said in a grim tone.  "And Mother, thank you for your confidence in me."
	Ayise and the other Elder Gods are going to thrash me over it, but it was long ago decided that in this particular area, my word is absolute.  I accepted responsibility for this, and it also allows me to act with absolute authority.  Not even my parents can gainsay my decisions.  So don't worry about Ayise or Shellar coming along behind me and unmaking my decision for me, kitten.
	"Thank you," he said again.  He felt much calmer now.  He needed to think about what had to be done, and the need to destroy that army would change his plan around a little bit, but everything was still more than workable.
	He was glad they were going to help, but he didn't need it.  He had been deadly serious when he threatened to destroy the world.  He would do it to get Jasana back.  He would sacrfice anything to recover his daughter, his precious child, and nothing was going to stop him from his goal of