Avani turned and looked towards the eastern island. “We should head there next,” she mused. “But not tonight, I think. I don’t know about you two, but I’m all in. Let’s go home, get something to eat, and get a good night’s rest. We’ll return in the morning and tackle the next obstacle.”

“What about the guards? Not that I mind fighting them, but it’ll slow us down a lot if we have to go through a major fight every time we take the airship there,” Dylas said dubiously.

Avani shook her head. “I don’t think that will be a problem. We just wiped out a hefty percentage of their troops—they’ll be scrambling to replace them and won’t have the resources to mount aerial attacks on approaching ships. Maybe if we waited a few days, but overnight won’t given them enough time to be a problem. Even if they summon gates to call forth monsters, there’s still not enough time to get them in place by morning.”

“Sounds logical,” I commented. “We’ll find out in the morning if it holds true.”

Moments after we appeared in Avani’s rooms, Clorica came knocking on the door. I’d already shed my armor while Avani and Dylas were still struggling with theirs, so I answered it. She looked up at me, blushing a little at the sight of my bare chest, and said, “Oh! Excuse me, Mr. Leon, sir...”

“Just Leon is fine, Clorica. What’s up?”

“O-okay, Mr.—I mean, Leon. I wondered if you three would like something to eat? You see, I made a big pot of stew, in case you were hungry when you returned….”

“Did someone say stew?” Avani called, wriggling out of her mail shirt and bounding over eagerly, peering at Clorica from below my arm as I held the door open. “Clorica, you’re a godsend! I’m so hungry, I could eat a dragon, scales and all!”

Clorica giggled, replying, “Then please wait here, and I’ll be back shortly with some food for you. Oh, and if you would care to change out of your dirty things, I’ll see to it that they’re clean and dry by morning.” Then she turned and hurried happily away.

I looked down at Avani, who was nestled up against me and grinning so ecstatically at the thought of a hot meal, I couldn’t help but smile myself. I closed the door and we returned to where Dylas was removing his boots. We finished removing our armor, and following Clorica’s suggestion, we changed out of our dirty clothing and into pyjamas. Avani had purchased a few pairs of boxers and a robe similar in cut to the ones Dylas and I favored, only much smaller and a different color—Dylas’s were dark blue and mine were tan, but she’d had hers made in a bright blue-green color that complimented her pale green hair.

Dylas looked disparagingly at her choice of clothing, saying, “What happened to all your pretty nightgowns? You look like a boy in those!”

She looked at him, one eyebrow raised, saying somewhat disdainfully, “Oh, really? Like a boy? Funny, I would have thought my breasts were a dead giveaway.”

I laughed as Dylas turned crimson. “Don’t mind him, Avani,” I said, still chuckling. “You look adorable, as always.” Then it was her turn to blush, making me laugh again.

Just then, Clorica knocked on the door. She walked in bearing a large tray of food, and Vishnal followed with a second tray. There were three deep bowls of piping hot stew, plus a large tureen containing still more stew. A loaf of bread, a crock of butter, a large pitcher of foamy ale, and three slices of still-hot apple pie rounded out the meal.

The butlers gathered up our dirty clothing and left us to our meal, smiling in acknowledgment of our gratitude. I had to confess, it was far more delicious than I’d hoped. She was certainly a better cook than Vishnal—far better—perhaps almost as good as Dylas, judging from the samples before us.

A while later, Clorica returned to gather up the dishes. We thanked her wholeheartedly and complimented her cooking until her cheeks looked as if they might catch fire, they were so rosy. “I-I wanted to do something, anything, to help you, you know. And this is what I do best,” she replied shyly. As she departed, she let us know that our clothes was now drying before the great kitchen hearth, and that she’d have Vishnal bring them with him when he came to wake her.

"That reminds me," Dylas said, giving Avani a covetous look, "which one of us gets to stay with you tonight?" I narrowed my eyes at him fleetingly before carefully schooling my features back into my customary carefree expression.

Avani grabbed her hairbrush and began to brush out her long hair. “Oh gods, Dylas, I don’t care. You can both stay. Or go. Whatever. I’m much too exhausted to do anything except sleep anyway, so do as you like, as long as you just let me sleep.” She tossed the brush back onto her bedside table, hung up her robe and climbed wearily into her bed. She was asleep just a moment later.

I looked at Dylas, who glared back at me. I shrugged, saying, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not planning on sleeping alone tonight. Good night.” I hung my robe up, too, and climbed into bed next to her, spooning up to her and putting my arm around her. Even though she was already sound asleep, she smiled and snuggled against me. I could sense Dylas fuming behind me, and a moment later he climbed in on her other side. Glaring again at me, he curled up next to her, tucking his arm around  her below mine and resting his forehead against hers. Then I slipped into a deep, dreamless slumber.

When Vishnal woke us in the morning, we were still in roughly the same positions as we'd fallen asleep, except that Avani had flipped sides so that Dylas was now snuggled up to her back and her head was tucked under my chin. She curled up into a drowsy little ball when Vishnal opened her curtains to let the brilliant spring sunlight in, then yelped a moment later. I looked down at her and found Dylas's hand had slipped down onto her breast and, still more than half asleep, he was giving it a few good squeezes. Turning bright red, she elbowed him hard, jolting him out of what were no doubt some very pleasant dreams. I tried without much success not to laugh at his bewildered expression—or at Vishnal's discomfiture when he turned and saw his beloved Princess naked from the waist up. "You know," I said with a chuckle, "you might want to consider a top of some sort to go with your new pyjamas. Otherwise, poor Vishnal might have a heart attack one of these mornings."

Our trip back to the floating fortress was quick and uneventful. It appeared that Avani’s assumptions had been correct, and they’d not had sufficient troops to mount an assault. We landed on the same platform as before, and headed over to the central island. “Let’s take on the eastern island next,” Avani said, looking back and forth at the two opposing bridges. “That’ll make maneuvering the airship that much safer, if we have both of the adjacent islands even partially cleared.”

“Sounds good to me,” I replied, pulling my spear out.

“Whatever,” Dylas muttered as he slung his rucksack over his shoulder. He was still out of sorts from his rude awakening, but I figured a few good fights and he’d be right as rain. Nothing like a good fight to put things into perspective.

Avani ignored his sulky mood as she unsheathed her dual swords. “Let’s get a move on then, shall we?” And once again we were off at a run.

The first platform of the eastern island was empty except for a series of seven columns, each a different color. They looked as though they had some significance other than mere decoration, but none of us could guess what. Continuing on, we found that this island was nearly as warm and humid as the other, but populated with some different plants and beasts, such as man-eating plants that would burst out of the dense groundcover unexpectedly, snapping toothily at our legs.

The monsters of the eastern island were primarily giant, blood-red panthers, huge trolls, and more of those aerial robots. Furthermore, the bridges between the platforms on this island were frequently blocked by colored pillars, forcing us to follow a predetermined path. Switches and levers hidden among the dense foliage of the platforms unlocked these pillars, opening up new areas as we traversed the island. It was slow, tedious progress that we made, involving a lot of backtracking and searching.

After fighting our way through what felt like miles of jungle paths, we reached a large, open platform that was populated with only one monster. But, oh what a monster! A giant troll, each leg dwarfing even Dylas, hefting a war hammer with a head as large as a warhorse. As we skidded to a stop on the slippery stones, it slowly turned around. Seeing us, it bellowed in rage and took a step towards us. Its footfall was so heavy, the platform shuddered from the impact.

We each dove in a different direction, working with an intuitive teamwork that only veteran comrades-in-arms can achieve. I rolled and sprang up partway behind it; Dylas and Avani flanked it, Dylas to its left and Avani to its right. I cast a flame wheel at it, then leveled my spear and charged at the back of its right knee. Dylas assailed its left leg, seeking to knock it out from underneath with his kicks and punches. Avani dashed in front of the monster, ducking beneath a swing of its mighty weapon. Although the giant was massive and powerful, it was slow and stupid. Avani darted around, dodging the pendulous swing of the hammer as she slashed and sliced at its legs. Dylas and I both backed away to give her space, instead casting spells—Dylas casting his electrical attack from the front left of the platform while I alternated between whirlwind wheel and flame wheel spells from the front and right of the giant.

All at once, as I glanced up after casting another whirlwind wheel, I saw the giant raise its hammer high in the air, preparing to smash it down on Avani's head as she again drove in, slashing at its knee. I shouted out a warning to her, but not quickly enough—the hammer crashed down on top of her with enough force that the platform shook. Dylas bellowed an ear-shattering cry such as I'd never heard before—that, despite all his protests, sounded like nothing so much as the scream of an enraged stallion.

“Avani!” I cried out as we leapt forward in unison. The giant slowly raised his hammer, scratching its head stupidly as it looked—and found nothing there. I stopped short, baffled and confused. Dylas likewise halted, looking completely at a loss, and then we spotted her, climbing onto the monster’s shoulder from its back as if scaling a wall. Reaching its shoulders, she planted her feet firmly and gripped the monster by its long, stringy hair to keep her balance as she began to belabor the beast around its head and neck, slashing at its heavy, leathery hide. Irritated rather than pained by her attack, the giant shook its head then slapped at her to dislodge her. Easily dodging its blows, she continued her assault until, finally, the beast growled in frustration and raised its hammer to strike at her. She leaped from its shoulders just as the blow fell, and the beast collapsed, knocked out by its own weapon. Simultaneously, I cast a water column wheel, Dylas cast his electrical attack, and Avani cast penetrate sonic at the fallen creature. Defeated, it vanished from sight, a shard of its splintered hammer and a splinter of one of its massive fingernails all that remained.

“Goddamn it all to hell!” Dylas spat vehemently, as he spun to face her, his expression thoroughly incensed. “What were you thinking? Are you insane? Next time, tell us before you pull a stunt like that!”

Avani and I stared at him, stunned, as he ranted at her. When he was finished, she scowled, looking pretty angry herself. “So, what, I’m supposed to just shout out everything I do before I do it? And warn our opponents of my every move, so they can counter my attacks more effectively? What kind of freaking genius strategy is that? Are you trying to get me killed?”

To her surprise—and mine—Dylas grabbed her and jerked her roughly to him. He glared down at her for a moment… then kissed her, wildly and passionately. After a moment, she pulled free and backed away a few steps. “What… what the hell? What is wrong with you? First you yell at me, now you act like you want to make love to me right here in the middle of enemy territory, in front of Leo even. What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” she berated him, confused by his actions.

He grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back to him and holding her tightly. “I… I thought I’d lost you,” he muttered in a strangled voice. “When I saw that monster’s hammer come down, I… I….”

She looked up at him in dismay as tears spilled out from the corners of his eyes, splashing onto her shoulder. “Dylas… I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean… I didn’t know….” She looked over at me, her eyes stricken. “And you? Did you…?”

I nodded, rubbing the back of my neck to smooth the fine hairs that had stood on end in that harrowing moment. "Yeah… well, I didn't see you get out of the way, either, so…. It was pretty heart-rending, to say the least."

She bowed her head for a moment, then putting one arm around Dylas, she held the other out for me. She held us tightly for a long moment, not saying anything. Then she released us, saying, “I’m sorry, so very sorry, for worrying you two like that. I-I don’t know what to say. But at the same time, please try to have a little faith in me, okay? I really can’t just go around warning you of my plans in advance. For one, doing so would give them away to the enemy, and for two, half the time I’m flying by the seat of my pants and don’t know quite what I’m going to do until I do it. I mean, when I see an opportunity, I take it. So I’m going to apologize in advance for any scares I put you through in the future—I’m sure there will be plenty of them. But you know, it kind of goes with the territory. As long as I’m fit to be a warrior and as long as I’m needed, I’m going to be out there risking my life from time to time. So I’m counting on the two of you for backup and to lend a hand if I ever do get badly injured. There’s no one in all the world that I trust to have my back as I do you two—no one.”

I looked down at her and smiled at her serious expression. “Just tell me when you plan to leave. Wherever you go, I will follow,” I said softly, stroking her cheek.

Dylas nodded, embarrassed now by his earlier outburst. “Sorry for, uhh, for getting so riled. It just scared me really bad. So… yeah. Just… just please take me with you whenever you go someplace dangerous, so I can be there to help you.”

After a brief rest, we continued on through the maze of bridges and platforms until at last we faced a bridge with a large ornate gate, similar to the one in the southern island that had led to the switch we sought there. We cautiously proceeded, and on the other side a massive unmanned vehicle—another tank of sorts—waited for us. It cast several large energy beams at us as it spun around to face us, causing us to leap out of the way, and battle was joined.

From the side, Dylas cast his energy strike at the tank. Lightning crackled all around it and confused it temporarily, causing it to spray volley after volley of projectiles in random directions. Then as he charged in, leaping on top of the turret, I cast earth wheel while Avani cast prism, bringing forth four globes of light energy that whirled around her, intercepting attacks and dealing damage to whatever came into contact with them. She ran towards the tank with her dual swords drawn and ready while Dylas rained blows down from the top and I cast another earth wheel. She leaped up and began to hack away at the gun with her swords. Her prism spell chipped away at both the hull and the gun, and Dylas, quickly discerning her plan, altered his attack to focus on the gun, as well.

Soon the gun barrel was battered and partially collapsed, and Avani and Dylas leaped away, dodging behind some crates for cover as they shouted to me to take cover. The tank spun towards their voices and advanced upon them. Then to my surprise, it exploded in a ball of fire. It had attempted to shoot its energy weapon at us, but with the barrel blocked, the attack backfired and blew the tank into shards.

Once the dust settled, we continued on, finding a lever on the next platform to the east. Avani threw the switch, and we again used the warp point near the bridge to return to the central island. We strode up to the north end to examine the bridge there, and we found that another barrier had disappeared.

Two down, one to go.