Zarathan immediately held up his free hand and surrendered between groans. Tarendil snapped her fingers and a pair of royal guards entered and seized the traitorous prince. They dragged him out through the doors of the chamber deliberately making him hit the hard stone steps.

Zesstra lowered her sword once Zarathan surrendered but kept her eyes on her opponent until he was dragged away.

The queen glanced at the paladin, "We need to find out if anyone else was affected by his foul magic, Zesstra."

Zesstra nodded in agreement, "Can I torture him for the information, my love? We Drow have ways of making people talk."

"No. Zesstra. That is not how we do things here." Tarendil said a matter of factly. "We are an honor bound society and ruthless violence against the offending party is dealt with through negotiation and trial by combat when the verdict has been given out."

"Oh-kay!" The Drowling returned her scimitar to its scabbard, "I'll play nice for now. But where do you think we should start looking for any of his accomplices? Mayhaps one of them was in the party of adventurers who arrived earlier today?"

Tarendil crossed her arms in frustration, "First, we have to find a way to bring that barrier down, two turn Arathorn back to himself, and three find out if there's anyone else in with my brother's schemes."

"Oh-kay! Oh-Kay!" Zesstra held up her hands, "I get it! First things first. While we cannot torture Zarathan, we should interrogate him. He is the only one who knows a clear way to bring down the barrier and the names of any co-conspirators that he might have. As for turn Arathorn back to himself goes, leave that to me."

Zesstra turned towards Arathorn, concentrated for a second and then spoke the words, "Dispel Magic!" Then she waited to see if her spell would have any effect.

The spell hit the wall of Force like a ball hitting a solid wall and fell to the floor unfazed. Arathorn flapped around the two of them frantically and chirping. Even he tried to fly through the wall of force was knocked back.

"Well, that didn't work." Zesstra deadpanned her disappointment.

Tarendil grumbled, "Ugh! Magic is not my specialty and I'm pretty sure it will take more than a simple dispel magic spell, Zesstra. Arathorn could make this disappear but can't because he's a bird at the moment. So, we need to find another master wizard here in the palace."

Zesstra muttered, "All we need to do is convince the caster to remove the Wall of Force. Tarendil, do you think you could convince your brother to remove the Wall of Force and rat out any accomplices he might have if you offered him a deal?"

Tarendil rolled her eyes, "Ah...not going to happen. I tried to be nice to him when we were siblings but our mother insisted that I was to be an underling, a second class citizen even though I was first born. She was the biggest hypocrite because in reality, she wanted the throne but my father saw through her schemes. Entitled to a fault and kept her in her place."

Zesstra took Tarendil's hands into her own and softly replied, "That's your mother, my love, that's not you. Though a throne ill suits you, I see before me a She-Elf who is loving and kind and merciful--when she wants to be. You are less like your mother and nothing like your brother. You can show mercy where they cannot! Knowing this about you, I will be more specific in my question: If you stripped him of his magic and offered him permanent exile, do you think your brother would drop the Wall of Force and sell-out his co-conspirators? Surely he would choose de-powerment and exile over life imprisonment, right?"

"I'm not capable of stripping of his magic Zesstra, not all of it. We share the same natural lineage, the same magic. You're more than welcome to talk with him, while I figure out who else is part of this coup."

"Fair enough! If you cannot strip him of all of it then some of it will have to do," Zesstra surmised, "For one so prideful as your brother, even being stripped of some of his magic would have to bruise his ego at the very least. Still, I will talk with him and see if he would be willing to strike a deal with us. But before I go--."

Zesstra seized Tarendil's waist, dipped her and planted a long hot kiss on her lips before she pulled the Sky Elf Queen back onto her feet, "I've gone too long without kissing you!"

******

Quake turned to Serna and Caliaphy, "We need to get to the palace, asap!"

Caliaphy stood once more, her wings flowing the breeze like Supergirl, "You're right! We must go!"

"There it is!" Serna recovered her shield and turned towards Quake, "Since you move faster than I do, can I catch a ride?"

Quake dipped her head down and picked up Serna carefully in her jaws to place her on her back. "I know I'm really smooth and hard to grip but maybe Caliaphy can help with that, eh."

The kurori wrinkled her nose as she fluttered up to the girl on the dragon's back. Pointing at the two of them, Serna felt herself become 'magnetized' to Quake's back. "There. You should be able to stick, I mean stay on her without falling off."

"Thanks, Caliaphy!" Serna nodded in agreement before she spoke to the Elemental, "Okay, Quake, let's go!"

In a short and very fast run to the palace, the three of them hit an invisible barrier. Quake barely had enough time to brace herself to keep from rolling over and crushing Serna.

The kurori placed both hands on the barrier, "Oh man. This is old magic. It's pretty powerful. I didn't know the avariel were capable of casting old magic. Even I can't through this. Ideas, anyone?"

"Why try and go through the barrier when we can go under it." Serna chimed in, "Quake, you're an Earth Elemental, right? Tunnel us under it so we can get to the palace."

Quake focused on the ground using her innate earthen ability and found a weak spot. "Well, I got some good news. I found a weak point. The bad news is that its where the bottom of the floating island meets the open air."

"If that's the case, then all you have to do is be mindful of how you dig," Serna replied, "If you dig a hole then come out on the other side, you can plant your feet on the ceiling--I mean the earth above you--and walk upside down until you can dig another hole that will take us upward beyond the barrier. What do you say?"

Quake's jaw dropped lower and lower at Serna's request. If she was in human form, she would of have felt sick to her stomach. So she swallowed, "Umm, you want me to do what now?"

"I want you to make like a worm and burrow your way through the earth and past the magical barrier by crossing beneath it." Serna repeated herself in plain English, "If you can magnetize yourself to the earth beneath you, then walking upside down on a turf of earth should be a piece of cake for you. Right?"

The elemental dragon visibly changes color and becomes a white marbled dragon. The kid had a point and as long as she was touching the ground, the idea might actually work. "Okay. Right. Here goes."

"You can do it, Quake!" Serna encouraged the Draconic Elemental, "I believe in you! And Caliaphy believes in you as well. Right, Caliaphy?"

Quake inhaled and disappeared into the ground. Everything about this idea was crazy and even more so that a human girl convinced her that it was a great idea.

The kurori gave Serna a thumbs up. "Sure."

"You can show a little more enthusiasm, Caliaphy," Serna placed her hands on her hips, "Quake is going to need all the support she can get to pull this one off."

Caliaphy pulled out her tiny triangle and played a little tune of inspiration that sounded like wind chimes. It gave off good vibrations boosting the elemental dragon's confidence.

"That's better!" Serna smiled from ear to ear, "Thanks, Caliaphy!" Looking down into the hole, the Shield Maiden cried out, "Good luck, Quake! You can do it!"