Never-Ending Story

[dreamer]

As they headed off toward the garden and its environs, dreamer suddenly remembered that Karenee and DantheMan weren't in period costume. "Quick, come into this little garden shed, you need to change out of your superhero clothes and put these costumes I found in here on. I'm sorry, but all I found were gardener outfits."

[karenee]

Karenee took the costume and looked it over. "You want me to dress up as a man?"

Dreamer shoved DantheMan into the shed and closed the door. "Is that a problem?"

After thinking for a moment, Karenee grinned. "Hah! It might be entertaining. I'll play the role, alright. Macho, tough, rough and brave, I'll out-man the men!"

DantheMan ducked back through the door, stuffing his superoutfit into the duffel. He laughed. "I'd like to see you try it!"

She hurried to change and ran back out of the shed. Together they headed toward the garden. Seeing something just inside the entrance, Dan pulled Dreamer forward. Karenee glanced to the side, thinking she saw someone in the shadows, but when she turned to tell Dreamer, she and Dan were nowhere to be seen! "What?" She looked around. "Where'd they go?"

Assuming they had stepped behind a bush, Karenee rushed through the entrance and almost crashed into Dan. "Oh!" she screamed. "I...HOW?...You just weren't here!"

Dreamer patted her shoulder. "Settle down. What are you talking about?"

[DanTheMan]

As the DanTheMan imposter contiued to baffle Dreamer and Karenee, the real DanTheMan had just landed on the Isle of Iona not far from the abbey and this is what he saw:

[karenee]

Meanwhile Dancer and Cree stood before Henry, their hands tightly tied.

"How did you kill him?" Henry leaned forward, along with the crowd of spectators and a rabid-looking clergyman who had been conducting the questioning to this point.

Dancer looked over at Cree. Why wouldn't these men believe her? "I didn't kill the man! I didn't even see him clearly."

"Witch!" The clergyman spit at her feet. "She has captured the man's poor soul for her own secret doings. Bring out the body!"

The crowd murmured, turning their heads to the door, as the rasping screech of poorly oiled wheels approached. Why would they bring in the body? Hadn't they buried it yet? Two men pulled in a long cart, where lay the body Cree had found, still on the piece of ground where it had fallen. They had cut nearly a foot of earth and lifted the whole onto the cart. Cree leaned forward. Was it really Tegid? The face was turned toward him and he gasped. If this were not Tegid, it was surely a twin, yet how could these men see him? And why had they not buried him?

The clergy grabbed Dancer and pulled her to the cart. "Look upon your work, Witch, and confess!"

"Hey!" Cree jumped forward, knocking the guard who had been stationed beside him to the ground. "Leave her alone!"

"Sir, your wife has deceived you." The cleric's eyes were wild. He grimaced, then grinned and muttered. "This battle against evil shall be won!" Pointing at Dreamer's white face, he chuckled. "I do not blame you. The toils of evil wrap men too easily, which is why I have vowed celibacy. It can't be denied. See? Her face betrays her. It is she who enspelled this man to death, wrapping him in an impenetrable shield to save the body for her nefarious goals."

Cree looked at Dancer again. She had just recognized Tegid as well, and looked near to fainting. He jumped forward to prevent her fall. Behind him, the cleric continued his blathering. "If we burn her, the spell will be broken and this man will receive the decent burial he deserves!"

Dancer whispered to Cree. "The man is crazy! How can I defend myself against such blind lunacy? We have no friends here, and telling them we are from another time will merely strengthen his fervor."

[DanTheMan]

As DanTheMan approached the abbey on Iona, he thought he heard voices coming from the abbey but they were weak as if from very far away.

[karenee]

Karenee sat down, staring at DantheMan as if he had grown two heads. Dreamer knelt next to her and finally figured out that she and Dan had suddenly appeared in front of her as she stepped through the gate, and they had not been there only moments before.

"But all we did was walk through, Karenee," Dreamer reminded her. "We did not step to the side for even a moment."

But Karenee was still staring at DantheMan with an odd look on her face. "What's wrong with Dan?"

Dreamer turned to see DantheMan twitching, oddly uncomfortable, and looking very furtive. "Dan? Do you know what's going on?"

[karenee]

Dreamer gasped as she noticed Dan's face slip down like it was melting. "Are you ok?"

DantheMan growled and put a hand to his face. When his fingers came in contact with the slipping visage, he grabbed it and ripped it off, revealing that he wasn't Dan at all. "Hah! Come with me, you two!"

Dreamer jumped and stared, but Karenee took her arm and led her forward, as FakeDan had taken a large and mean-looking deatomizer supergun from the duffle.

"Move it! I have a containment field around you already, so don't try any tricks!"

A hedge rolled silently to the side, revealing stairs descending into the earth. Dreamer and Karenee hurried down, pushed from behind by the FakeDan.

_______________

Dancer and Cree were led back to their prison.

"Cree?" Dancer glanced around. "Do you think they'll really burn me? I can't believe they think I'm a witch!"

___________________

Meanwhile, back in the room where Tegid's body lay, a shadowy figure hurried to the impenetrable shield surrounding him. Soon a low glow illuminated the body, as the mysterious stranger ran a device along the edge where Tegid's hand came closest to the surface. "Still alive!" The low whisper contained an element of relief. "Perfect! I have captured the strongest of them, now for the rest!"

He pushed Tegid, still trapped in the shield, onto an antigravity cart and pulled it out the door and to the garden, where they decended the stair Karenee and Dreamer had used earlier.

[dancer]

Dancer started to really feel a panic attack coming on. 'Cree, I think this super hero business is for the birds. We should pray. God can deliver us from this travesty. I mean was that really Tegid we saw? Is he dead? Where are Karenee and Dreamer? And why hasn't Dantheman saved us?" "What in the Wide World IS GOING ON?"

cree took a deep breath, closed his eyes and opened them calmly. "Dancer, you really have to focus. Don't panic on me, now is not the time. Now is the time to figure out how we are going to get out of this mess. I agree with you, we should pray. Something evil is afoot and God can reveal the lies with His truth and light."

They got on their knees, held hands and submitted their requests heavenward.

___________________________________________

In the heavenlies, a messenger rushed to take the message to the King. "Excuse me, (pushing his way through), coming through please, urgent request here, excuse me, pardon me please, coming through - GET OUT OF MY WAY! COMING THROUGH!"

[karenee]

Someone rattled the latch of their prison in the darkness. Dancer looked up and held her breath. The door opened and a cloaked figure entered. "I have come for you."

Silently, she and Cree followed. What on earth was going on? They came around the corner and found their guards asleep at their posts. Creeping past them, they headed down the road. "I think we're in the garden now," she whispered eventually.

Ahead, the hedge seemed to slide to the side and they found themselves descending a set of stairs into the earth. Cree looked around as a cavern opened around them, complete with electric lights and a gas fireplace. "Nifty hideout!"

But Dancer grabbed his arm and pointed to a shadowed corner. Dreamer and Karenee were tied together, back to back with a shimmering containment field over them. Off to the side, Tegid's body lay, still on its bed of grass. "This might not be the rescue we were hoping for."

[dancer]

cree looked to where Dancer was pointing and sagged his shoulders, "will we ever see the light of day again?" he thought to himself. Things were dark indeed for the would be heroes.

Is there hope? Will they be rescued? If so, by who and when? Who is behind this evil plot? What is their intent? Is Tegid completely dead or just mostly dead? And where is the real Dan The Man? Will he find them in time?

TUNE IN NEXT TIME! SAME BAT CHANNEL SAME BAT TIME! The Never Ending Story saga continues...

[karenee]

SPOILER: Click to show

*chuckle* Keep it up, Dancer!

Back on the island, Dan thought about what he had overheard. Was it possible that Dreamer really was in danger? He hadn't heard from her for a day, sure, but the men who had met so secretively seemed confident that they had her in their clutches. Turning his communicator back on, he called Kg00ds to ask him what was going on.

There was a long pause after he finished his question, and DantheMan was just about ready to check the battery when Kg00ds spoke. "Uh... you just went looking for Dancer and Cree with Karenee and Dreamer! What happened? You were with them a moment ago...wait...the whole team has vanished off my monitor, and now you're showing up on the Isle of Iona? What is going on?"

[dancer]

Dan The Man scratched his head as he contemplated the consequences of what was going on. How would he ever find everyone if they've now disappeared off the monitor Kgoods was looking at. How could this happen? Everything was moving along so well. Enjoying the scenery one moment, separated from Dreamer and Karenee in the blink of an eye.

Well, something had to be done. They had to be found. No question. Dan sat on a rock to wait on the answer. "I'll not be moved until I know what I need to do next!" Meanwhile a snake slithered up the other side of the rock to lay lazily in the sun. Or was that his purpose?

[DanTheMan]

"Oh, it's you, Tegid," DanTheMan calmly spoke, "Been travelling again? As for me, I am hearing noises and voices and seeing strange things, so perhaps I just need more vacation time." So DanTheMan walked around the abbey and did his best to be a tourist.

[karenee]

As Dan pondered his situation, Karenee, Dreamer, Dancer and Cree whispered together, trying to come up with a way of escape.

The man who had been wearing the DantheMan mask came into the room and glared at them. "No talking."

Dreamer glanced at Dancer, who she happened to be facing, and shrugged. "It's not like you could do much more to us," she said.

"Hahaha!" The man sauntered acrost the room and looked them over like they were up for sale. "I only need one more for my plan to succeed! DantheMan should join you shortly. I'll be invincible!"

Karenee twisted against the ropes to glare at him. "I seriously doubt it. Catching us doesn't make you invincible. There's only one Being who is invincible, and somehow I don't think He is on your side. What do you intend to do with us?"

[dreamer]

"Do with you? What else do I need to do with you?" said the figure in black. "My plan is almost complete and the world will soon be mine!!"