The five women were soaked and exhausted as they fought strong winds and stinging rain to scale the butte in the darkness. Their wet skirts clung to their legs as they struggled upwards. No moonlight shone through the thick, ominous clouds; only blinding flashes of lightning allowed them glimpses of their perilous path, which was littered with sharp crags that tore cloth and flesh alike.

"Where is he, Mohan! You said he would come! You said he would aid us!" the black-haired Ellarice shouted contemptuously at their leader.

"He will come!" Mohan yelled down through her matted blond hair.

Mohan reached the top first and helped the others, who each fell panting to the ground. "No rest," she commanded as she pulled the youngest of them, the red-haired Leisha, to her feet.

Ellarice raised herself on one arm and glared at her. "We must rest, Mohan, or you'll have accomplished Venger's task for him! Either we rest or we use our power�"

"We'll do neither!" Mohan said with finality. "Our magic marks us. Would you invite Venger to destroy all of us? Already we are too few!"

The dark-skinned Syanna stood over Ellarice. "Get up, or we leave you here for the Orcs or the Lizardmen � whichever find you first."

"No!" Their leader's voice was sharp and forceful, near desperate. "Drag her if you must! No one is left behind!"

Syanna made to lift Ellarice, but was pushed away. Instead, Ellarice rose on her own, shaking her hair from her eyes, and walked past her. She stopped to help the only one of them still on the ground, who looked ill from fatigue. "Up, Peia. If I must rise, so must you."

Peia lay supine, looking up at her. "So speaks the voice of reason?" she said weakly before being pulled to her feet. She wiped brown hair from her cheeks, and the two smiled at each other.

"There!" Syanna suddenly shouted.

Shielding their eyes from the wind and rain, they all raised hopeful faces to the glow emanating from the center of the butte's summit.

"The Dungeon Master! It must be! Come, sisters!" said Mohan.

With renewed strength, they quickly closed the distance to the guiding light.

"Hurry, my children!" the Dungeon Master called.

Mohan saw now that the light came from the bright sun of another world. A portal, she realized.

"Quickly!" he shouted with a gesture to the magical aperture.

As she reached him, Mohan threw out her arm, halting the others. "You said nothing of leaving the Realm!" she shouted accusingly over the storm.

"I can no longer protect you from Venger here."

"That much became obvious!" retorted Ellarice.

"Ella!" said Peia, looking aghast.

"But I don't want to leave the Realm," Leisha said worriedly.

Syanna placed a supportive arm around her shoulders. "Is there any other way, Dungeon Master?"

Dungeon Master and Mohan looked at each other for one brief but meaningful moment.

"No," said Mohan, resigning herself and delivering the answer in his stead. "This is the only way. We must leave the Realm," she told her following. "Go, my sisters. Do not look back." She stepped back so that she and the Dungeon Master stood on either side of the portal.

The fearless Syanna went first, followed by an indignant Ellarice and a reluctant Peia.

Leisha stopped at the threshold, keeping her tearful gaze ahead so as not to look back. "Will we ever see the Realm again? Can we ever come home?"

Dungeon Master hesitated. "Only time will tell, child."

"I'm afraid, Dungeon Master."

"Follow your heart, and you will have nothing to fear."

Leisha smiled, staring with glistening eyes into the strange new world, and then stepped through.

Dungeon Master and Mohan were now alone. Wiping her long golden hair from her face, she looked back at their ravaged home world. "My coven is destroyed. We five are all that remain . . . So few . . . Are we enough?"

The question went unanswered.

"I fear for our children," she added.

"As do I, Mohan."

The witch eyed him. "But the Realm must come first, above all else. We who serve the Realm understand this, and make our sacrifices willingly . . . I would not see our sacrifices made in vain."

"Nor would I. Your children shall be my pupils, and I shall guide them along their journey."

With nothing more to say, Mohan bowed to the keeper of the Realm, and then passed through the doorway to join her sisters in their new home.

one year later

I am of the Realm.

I have never had to remind myself of this until this day. As I held my newborn son in my arms, I did not want to think of his destiny, that he will one day confront Evil's Force in the Realm. And how am I to prepare him for such a fate when I am forbidden to tell him so much as my true name? Here, I am not Mohan, but "Hanna." None of our children shall know us � what we are and whence we have come. All we can do to aid our progeny is to love and protect them, to instill in them bravery and strength, and to nurture their gifts and talents. Will it be enough? The Dungeon Master is wise in all things, and believes it will be. I must hold to that.

Oh, if not for my sisters' presence, I could easily have lost myself in the praiseful words of my husband and his family as they held Hank. They speak of his bright future. If only they knew of the unspeakable darkness he must face.

Only "Elyse" was not here today. She complained of the physical strain of carrying her unborn son. She could have come, if she'd wished. Her burden is not so great. She needs not lift a finger in the house of the man she married. She is as pampered as a princess. But all the wealth to be had in this world and ours could not remove the jealousy she feels at my having birthed before her. I can only hope our sons will not suffer a similar rivalry.

"Leigh" cried often today, but would smile, just for me, through her tears. She is engaged, and will be married soon.

Syanna, now "Anna," wed an astronomer early in the year, and recently shared the news of her pregnancy. She will bear a daughter. I feel it.

And poor Peia . . . It was hard for her to be here today. It seems she feared I would scold her for not yet having found a suitable mate. Her love is in libraries. She has such a fascination for Earth's religions and mysticisms. She tells me my son is born under the sign of The Archer, Sagittarius. She is "Patience" now, and so I will have patience with her.

They all gave me their strength today, as I will give them mine when their children are born, but it has carried me as far as it can. Now, I must rest.

six years later

"Your garden is lovely, Elyse," said Mohan as she explored the greenhouse. She stooped to study a colorful variety of flowers she could not name.

"Well, I can't take credit for it. Gardeners, you know. And everyone's gone, Mohan. I would have you use my true name."

Mohan rose. "Where is Eric?"

Ellarice picked idly at a vine. "In his room."

"Won't he come down and play with his friends?" Mohan asked with an unmistakable hint of insistence.

"You have no�" But Mohan cut her off with a glance � a flash in her eyes as though polished blades had passed in front of them. Ellarice looked as though she swallowed something unsavory, and then quietly said, "Yes, I'm sure he'd like that. I'll bring him down."

Mohan followed her inside. "We'll await you out back . . . It is a beautiful day for play, is it not?"

Ellarice did not answer, but turned and disappeared upstairs. Mohan's eyes followed her up.

Slowly, Mohan made her way toward the doors, taking in the architecture of the mansion and the artwork adorning its halls. She knew she was not alone.

"She's afraid, Mohan."

"We all know fear, Peia."

"Yes, but Ella�"

"What must be done will be done," said Mohan with strict demeanor. Then her expression softened and she hung her head and sighed. "I know . . . I know. Come, let us not speak of it."

Peia smiled and allowed her elder to take her arm and lead her back outside. As she took her seat on the veranda, her bag fell over and two books slid out. She quickly reached for them, but Mohan was quicker.

"Do you go nowhere without books, child?" She looked at the titles � Puff the Magic Dragon and The Littlest Wizard � and cocked an eyebrow at Peia, who smiled meekly.

"I've not broken my vow. They're only children's fantasy. And when he asks of such things, I answer . . . contextually."

Mohan laughed. "Trust you to pick such a word. So, tell me," she said, holding up The Littlest Wizard, "has little Albert shown any signs of . . . ?"

Peia looked down. "No. Nothing like . . . But he does love the magic specials that come on television, though. Can't pull him away from them."

Mohan smiled and looked to Syanna. "What of Diana?"

Syanna laughed. "No magic, but she sure loves to climb and tumble! When she's not gazing at the stars through a telescope with her father, she's up a tree. Every day she sets a new record height. She's given me quite a few scares, but she's never fallen. Actually, I was seriously considering signing her up for gymnastics next week."

"Excellent. You should do so," Mohan said approvingly.

"What about Hank?" Syanna asked in return.

Mohan thought a moment. "A spark, perhaps. There was one night . . . I heard him in his room when he should have been sleeping. I went in to check on him. As soon as he heard me, his light went out. But he couldn't have reached the switch before I walked in, and the switch was off." She smiled. "He's never let me catch him at that again."

"A light-bearer, perhaps?" Peia suggested.

Mohan shrugged. "Possibly."

She turned toward Leisha when Eric suddenly bolted between them to join his friends. She paused to watch him run out to the others. "A fast runner. Ellarice, we were just discussing�"

"The answer's 'no,'" Ellarice spat as she made her way to a chair. "There's been nothing."

Mohan glared at her for a second, but then turned her attention to Leisha. "You're quiet, child. But I sense you have something to share."

Leisha looked up. "It's probably nothing, but . . ."

"Go on," Syanna encouraged.

"Yes, tell us," urged Peia.

"I think . . . I mean . . . I saw Sheila talking to birds. It could have been my imagination, but . . . they seemed to be listening to her. And . . . and then she would speak as if answering them."

Mohan looked intensely interested. "Wonderful, Leisha! You must cast aside your doubt and encourage this."

Leisha's face brightened and she nodded. "I will."

And with that, silence descended. Understanding one another's thoughts, they contented themselves to watch the children at play.

three years later

Crimson darkness. Pain. Mohan struggled to hold something in her hand, something hard, wooden perhaps. It was slipping from her grip, but she could hold it no tighter. So weak.

Hold on.

Mohan awoke with her head aching and her mind in turmoil. She didn't know where she was at first, but then it all came rushing back. She had been driving home from the store when another car hit hers. It had happened so fast. The ambulance, the people surrounding her, the sirens . . . and then the decision she'd had to make.

It had been only the day before that she discovered she was pregnant. And when she had come to at the touch of an officer's hand, she knew that the life in her womb was fading. Numbing herself to her physical pain, she'd held on to him, willing her body to concentrate its healing to all that would keep her child alive. But it wasn't enough. She was too old. She knew she could not carry him. Her only hope was that one of her sisters would take him, for this was not something one could force on another. One would have to willingly do it.

Such a strain it had been to keep up with the paramedics, to not allow them to discover her pregnancy, the impending miscarriage she fought to prevent. Their machines could not be deceived, but their minds could. It was an easy thing to trick a hurried mind, eyes flashing over read-outs, but she'd had to trick two at once. Not so simple in her condition at the time, and even more difficult once she'd reached the hospital. She had only broken with her working when it was determined that she was in no danger and was left alone to rest. She had then refocused her efforts, called to her sisters, and fell into a healing sleep.

Now she was awake. She turned her head to the figure at the window and her eyes widened in gladdened surprise to see the red hair, brightened by the rays of the setting sun.

"Leigh."

Leisha spun around. "Mohan!" Her hand came halfway to her mouth as she remembered herself. "Hanna, you're awake!" Tears formed in her eyes as she took the seat beside her elder and grasped her hand.

"Anna's on her way here now," began Leisha.

"Leigh," Mohan interrupted.

"Patience isn't at home, probably at the library."

"Leigh."

"And Elyse � oh, her butler is maddening! � she isn't expected home for another hour but he said he would�"

"Leisha!" Mohan said as loud as she dared.

Leisha went abashedly silent and looked expectantly at Mohan.

"I must ask something of you, child," Mohan began.

"A transference!" Peia said in whispered amazement.

The four had gathered inside Ellarice's limo as soon as she had arrived with Peia, having found her at the library. The privacy wall was already up.

"We'll need all of us," Syanna stated.

Ellarice was looking at them as if disbelieving. "Personally, I can't believe Mohan would ask such a thing of you. It's too dangerous. And you and your husband are doing well to support the one you have. If I were you, I'd�"

"Well, you're not me! And I've already agreed," said Leisha.

"You don't have to do it! We have our five, and she said it would be enough," argued Ellarice.

"She said this one will go to the Realm with the others. She said he's meant to."

"Well, if he's meant to, then he should survive with her!"

Syanna broke in. "But this isn't our world. She cannot draw from the power of the Realm. We must aid her. Do you forsake your sacred vows, Ellarice? We do this for the Realm!"

Ellarice crossed her arms and looked out the darkly tinted window.

"He'll be so young still . . . when it's time," muttered Peia, hugging an armload of library books.

A second later, Ellarice looked at her with a curious expression. "But not too young."

"We're running out of time!" Leisha said.

"Then we must hurry," Ellarice said as she opened her door.

The rest quickly followed.

"I'm sorry. Visiting hours are over," said the lady at the desk.

The four turned around to face her.

"But we have to see her now," Leisha said pleadingly.

"I'm sorry. You'll have to come back tomorrow, I can't�"

"We will be allowed all the time we require," said Ellarice as she walked up to the desk.

The lady's face went blank. "Yes . . . of course. Go right ahead."

"And see that no one disturbs us," the witch added.

The lady nodded. "No one," she echoed.

Ellarice turned to Leisha with a smile and a gesture. "Lead on."

She did. Behind them, Syanna and Peia looked at each other with bewildered expressions as they followed toward Mohan's room.

over eight years later

Mohan sat alone at the dining room table, looking through the envelope of pictures Leisha had given her of Bobby's eighth birthday party. Bobby blowing out candles, Bobby opening presents, Bobby eating cake, Bobby smiling. The blond hair, the blue eyes . . . . Her son, yet not her son.

She looked up suddenly, face expressionless, eyes unfocused. A familiar presence was approaching.

Hank.

She straightened the pictures, tucked them back inside their envelope, and rose. Hank had just turned the corner at the end of their block. She unhurriedly placed the envelope in a desk drawer, and waited, watching at the window. When he came into view, her heart lurched.

"So few days left to us," she whispered. Then her brow creased. "What troubles you, my son?"

She pretended to busy herself in the kitchen as he walked in.

"Hi."

"Hi, Mom."

"Long day?"

Hank sighed. "I guess so."

She waited quietly, letting him speak when he would.

"Mom?"

"Mmm-hmm?" she intoned as she rinsed potatoes.

"Could I borrow your car Sunday?"

Mohan was glad her back was to him so that the alarm on her face was hidden from his sight. Quickly recovering, she said, "Sunday? I thought Eric was having you all chauffeured to the amusement park."

"He can't go. His mom's made other plans for Sunday."

She turned to face him. "But you've all had this planned for weeks. And I've heard there's going to be at least one new ride this year. Shame for him to miss it."

"I know! We were all free for Sunday, and it was great that we were all gonna go together . . . . But you know how Eric's mom can be."

She looked down with a slight smirk. Yes, I do.

"Well, I was planning on being out Sunday myself . . . but I'll see what I can arrange," she finished with a smile.

Hank smiled, too. "Thanks, Mom." He grabbed a granola bar, kissed her on the cheek, and headed for the door.

"Gone again?"

"Yeah. Presto has a new game he wants to show me."

"Have fun."

"I will. And I'll be back before supper. I promise."

Mohan watched as he crossed the street. "So will I."

The mansion was silent. All the staff slept at Mohan's command. She crossed the foyer and entered the library, as her craft directed her. It would have appeared empty to all but an old witch's wary eye.

Camouflage. How droll.

Mohan spoke to the leather bindings of the "E" and "F" encyclopedia as they rested on the bookshelf on the far wall. "Is this how you survived the slaughter of our coven, Ellarice?" She stepped forward. "Were you the whole time watching, cowering right before the murderers' eyes, as your sisters were massacred?" She moved closer still. "I was a fool to ever think I could make something of you." She was upon her now, inches away. "You sicken me with these games, child," she snarled.

Ellarice yelled and lashed out, but struck nothing but air. She lost her balance and fell to the floor. Shocked, she flung her head up, searching for Mohan, and found her standing in the doorway. She hadn't moved.

When their eyes met, the elder witch smiled with a shrug. "Child's play."

A visible Ellarice brought herself to stand and glared at Mohan.

"You know why I'm here," said Mohan.

Through clenched teeth Ellarice answered. "To take my son."

"No," said Mohan quickly and sternly. "I am here to remind you who you are and what you serve. Your son you will give willingly."

"Nothing you say will change me! Years ago you told us all that five would be enough! There are now six, and you have said that young Bobby will go! You don't need Eric! He's mine! I only helped Leisha take your son so that mine could remain! With me! He's all I�" She choked back a sob. "He's all I have that I claim as my own."

Mohan bowed her head and sighed. She slowly walked around the room, gazing around at the collection of books and paintings. "We have all been long from our home. Too long. How could I expect every one of us never to forget . . . to forget what it is to be what we are?"

Ellarice threw her hands to her head. "Don't! Just stop it! Leave me!"

"Child," Mohan began with care.

"I'm not a child!" She whirled around and banged a fist against her own head. "Oh! I feel so old!"

"Nonsense, Ella. Please, calm yourself. Such behavior�"

"Just shut up! Shut up!" Her shoulder hit the wall behind her and she broke into uncontrollable sobs. Then she stopped abruptly, and cut her eyes to the elder. "I'll fight you. Yes. I will. I'll fight you. You'll have to kill me to get to him!"

Mohan moved forward, slowly, shaking her head as she reached out toward her, but then withdrew her hand. "How I have failed you," she whispered. "When the Realm spoke of your coming to us, my heart rejoiced. The Dungeon Master urged caution with you, but I dismissed his warnings. My faith lay in the choice the Realm had made: you, Ellarice." She reached to touch her cheek.

Ellarice knocked her hand away. "Don't touch me! You can't have him! He's not ready! He'll die if he goes! I know it! I know it!"

"Not even the Dungeon Master can know such things, Ella. Be strong against the fears your mind creates."

"I�I can't. I'm his mother! The fears are real to me, more real than this house, more real than you!" She sank to the floor, quiet, tears still streaming down her face.

Mohan could only watch. Words would not come. Ellarice had always pushed everyone away. And, so, Mohan had given her room. Now, she saw that Ellarice had been the one needing the most attention. She wished she had realized this sooner.

"I never told you," Ellarice spoke. "I never told any of you. After I heard the Realm's calling . . . I never heard it again."

Mohan knelt to be nearer as she listened to this revelation.

"The rest of you . . . always so confident in your knowing. The Realm spoke to you, it didn't speak to me! I heard it once, felt it once. Only once!

"I begged! Begged, Mohan, for it to speak to me again, like it always spoke to you!

"But there was nothing. Nothing! I felt so alone! So unloved!" She paused and looked Mohan in the eye. "And I was so jealous! I hated all of you! I hated the Realm! Why did it call to me only to be silent ever after?"

Ellarice buried her head in her knees for a moment before lifting it to speak again. "I've forgotten what it felt like, now, to be touched by such . . . by such a thing. The Realm abandoned me! I want to forget! I want to forget it all." Her voice had become softer. "Because I can't hear. I can't hear. I can't hear." Ellarice rocked herself back and forth, still repeating her last words and staring blindly at the floor.

Mohan silently wept at her side. She understood now. She could not imagine such abandonment, for the Realm had spoken to her even here. Across time and space, that familiar and unheard voice had reached her in those moments when she needed it most. So faint it had been, such a whisper that she could not bring herself to share those fleeting moments with her coven. Even she had questioned whether or not she had imagined it. But she knew she had not. And she wondered if her words had reached the Realm, and believed they had.

She watched Ellarice as she shook and rocked, still chanting. She didn't seem aware of Mohan, or of anything anymore. And Mohan realized she was losing Ellarice. Right before her eyes, she was slipping away.

"No," Mohan said, shaking her head. And with all her being she reached, and reached, and reached.

She needs you.

"Can't hear, can't hear, can't hear," Ellarice whispered on.

Mohan took Ellarice in her arms, placed her hand against Ellarice's forehead. Then she leaned to her ear and whispered, "Hear it now."

Suddenly, Ellarice went rigid and gasped, eyes wide as she gazed upward. And Mohan held her as she held open the way between worlds.

It was a sunny day, and the amusement park with alive with excited faces. The five witches gathered as near as they dared to the portal they knew would soon be opened to their children. They blended into the crowd with common features and plain clothes.

"If only we could have told them. If only we could have said our goodbyes," said Leisha, her face downcast.

Mohan went to her and lifted her face in her hands. "Have faith, child," she said with a sympathetic smile, which the other returned.

"Hey, look! The Dungeons & Dragons ride!" Bobby suddenly yelled.

They all froze, sharing the lightning bolt of shock that pierced them all at once. They watched their children running to catch up with Bobby.

Peia sighed. "It had to be their first ride, didn't it?"

"Let us take this as a good omen, sisters," said Mohan.

The five moved to stand in a line and held hands. Syanna and Leisha to their elder's left; Ellarice and Peia to her right. They could only watch as their children were swallowed whole, all six at once, by the mechanical dragon. An eldritch light flared in its unseeing eyes, causing Mohan's breath to catch in her throat and her skin to prickle.

She waited, wondering when it would happen, if she would know it when it did. And then she felt it: a tightness enveloping her, tugging like a needy child, bringing tears to pool in her eyes. With one last heart-rending surge, it was gone.

They were gone.

She heard Leisha gasp and sob, and then Syanna's soothing words murmured to quiet her. To Mohan's right was Ellarice, as still as stone as Peia leaned her head on her shoulder.

Mohan raised her eyes to the hulking, metal monstrosity. For a world that had never known true dragons, its people had a gift for bringing them to life with terrible veracity, she thought. Electric light had returned to flash in the sightless eyes. A simple, unassuming amusement park ride.

Had any dragon ever been such a size? she wondered. Perhaps, she thought in answer, in the ages of the Realm before Man had come to wage their war upon them. And now their sons and daughters had just entered their ancestral home.

How long for them? she wondered. Who would survive? Which would return? There was no way to know.