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!"

For a minute, Tarendil enjoyed the kiss and then reminded the Paladin, "Zesstra. Focus. Play later."

"Right!" Zesstra regained her composure and walked by Tarendil, "I'm off to talk to your brother. Wish me luck!" As she left, the Paladin gave The Queen a playful swat on her rump and skipped away. "Love that cute High Elven butt!"

Heading down one of the corridors, the Paladin spied a guard and asked, "You there, good sir, do you know where Zarathan is being held? And if you do can you take me to him?"

The royal looked at the other when the guard commander stepped into view, "It is only by the wish of our queen and that you are her current consort that you are permitted to question, Zarathan."

"That's good to know!" Zesstra smiled from ear to ear, "So, can you please take me to him? Her majesty's palace is quite big and fear that I might get lost along the way."

******

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!"

Quake felt like a dwarf having to excavate under a place that she wasn't quite familiar with. Finding the right spot wasn't hard except for the fact that magic of this nature wasn't her area of expertise. ~ All right. Find the weak point. Check. Begin working on a way to undermine it....no. Wait, bad idea. Very bad idea. Oh...hello what do we have here.~ She spied a strange glowing rock.

Serna looked down into the hole that Quake had recently dug, "How's it going Quake? Are you there yet?"

Caliaphy wrinkled her nose and sat down after playing for five minutes, "Ah, Serna. We should worry about them and let Quake work, yeah."

"Worry about who?" Serna turned back to Caliaphy.

The kurori pointed to the strange looking identical copies of the two of them. "Eew! That's gross. There's only one of me, never two."

The Shield Maiden followed the direction to which Caliaphy was pointing and shook her head in disbelief, "What in The Realm?! Caliaphy, is this some fairy magic glamour thing you just whipped up to entertain yourself? Because if it is, it's not funny."