The wise woman, however, is really a witch in disguise, and she has her own plans.  She tricks the king into holding a contest by which fate will decide who will rule the kingdom.  Following her instructions, the king goes off in the night and hides the crown in the Sleeping Wood.  The next day he proclaimed to the kingdom that he was sending his two children off to hunt for the prize, and that whoever was first to hold the crown above their head would be the next ruler of the kingdom.

What he did not know was that the witch had followed him out into the woods and noted where he had hidden the crown, and meant to go back the next day and win the title of queen for herself.  What she did not know, however, was that the young prince, who was aware of what she was doing, followed both the king and her into the woods, and then took up the crown and hid it in a different place that only he would know of.  But what none of them knew, was that young Rubel, a boy thief who often frequented the Wood saw all of this, and after they had all gone back, took the crown for himself and carried it off into the night.

The next day, the two children were sent off, and the princess, Katara, was booed, because the people foolishly believed that their prince was the better of the two.  So, feeling dejected, she didn't bother and just sat at the edge of the forest and felt miserable.  It wasn't long before the thief, Rubel discovered her there, and learned her story.  He happily produced the crown from his sack and offered it to her, but she gasped, for he held it high above his head, which  according to her father's rules, made him the next heir to the throne.  When she told him this, he was very unhappy.  "But I'm a thief!  I don't want to be a king!  Yuk!  What am I going to do?"

Between them, they came up with a solution, deciding that he would swear an oath of allegiance to her; a thief's oath which would bind him to her service, Now, Before, and Forevermore.  Thus, he had found the crown for her, and not for himself at all.  The princess cut for him a lock of her hair to seal the oath, and thus satisfied, they part ways.  She returned to the city with the crown and won the contest.  Her father was very pleased at having had a difficult decision made the way his heart wanted it without having to make it himself.  The witch, the prince and the people of the city, however, were very angry and swore this would not be the end of it.

The prologue ends, and the issue cuts to several years later, when Rubel, now 14, is returning home after a four year ocean voyage.

Upon reaching port, he is excited about seeing all his friends again, including the wizard, Quinton Zempfester, with whom he was close when small.  He discovers, however, that his captain, through a contractual finagle plans to hold him for ransom aboard the ship.  Rubel makes an escape and is quickly caught by guardsmen to whom he tells his story.  He is shocked to learn from them that his Grandfather, who was supposed to meet him at port, was likely drowned when the ship he was on went down.  In a show of pity, the first mate allows Rubel to go, warning him not to come back, or the captain would have him caught again and severely punished.

Rubel goes off to seek Quinton, and discovers the wizard's tower abandoned and Quinton himself missing.  One after the other, Rubel discovers that all his old friends have vanished or died, and that he is utterly alone.  At last, he travels from the city to the forbidden Sleeping Wood, where he seeks his last two friends; the Angel's tree, and Varkias, the Imp.  The tree he finds standing dead, and the imp has turned to metal up in the branches, and Rubel curls up into a ball and cries.  It is then that the Shadow Lady approaches.

The Shadow Lady is a beautiful, dark sorceress, and she offers him love and immortality, and she stalks around the tree, casting her spell upon him.  In this moment of weakness, Rubel reaches to take her hand and bind his heart to her, but at the last instant, the Angel's tree, which was not entirely dead, casts some of its magic into Varkias, waking the imp from his metal sleep.  The imp flies in the face of the sorceress, and warns Rubel that she is trying to trick him and not to take her hand.  Rubel comes back to himself and the Shadow Lady's spell is broken.

She draws two black swords, and Rubel swings a silver amulet Varkias had been guarding.  The Amulet, which we later learn contains the princess' lock of hair, represents a strong magic which drives the Sorceress back.  She flees and Rubel and Varkias are left alone, victorious.

Issue #2

This issue opens with a nightmare in which Rubel relives a night time storm aboard the trading vessel he served upon.  During this storm, he witnesses the captain issue abusive commands which end up destroying one of Rubel's crew mate's arms.  The dream also figures a spectral Shadow Lady, who offers Rubel one of her black swords which he takes and uses to kill the captain.  Rubel wakes in a sweat.

The boy and Varkias spend the morning making plans to visit the princess.  Rubel believes she will grant him some horses and dogs and men to go looking for his lost friend, the Wizard Quinton.  He imagines grandly that he will kneel before the princess and tell her all the stories of his adventures over seas and that she will adore him.  Varkias argues that he is supposed to bring a princess treasure, and that stories are a poor substitute.  The pair debate this, and nothing is resolved, by which point they have journeyed into the heart of a busy market district.

Varkias suddenly becomes agitated, recalling that there was something he was supposed to remember; something from the night before when they were sleeping outside the city walls, but it is too late.  A little boy in the crowd sees Varkias and cries out that Rubel has a little man with bat's wings sitting upon his shoulder, and all the people gasp and stare in horror and amazement.

This issue touches upon the origins of the Sunken City, and the history of the East Road through the Sleeping Wood.  As well, this issue contains a collection of early comic strips from Oakley's post college days, which detail the adventures of Quinton Zempfester in the small borough of Millbrook, a series which later becomes integral to the main story.  As well, the inside back cover contains the first of the Desmond the Daring humorous space adventure cartoons.

Issue #3

Rubel and Varkias, in dramatic style, woo the audience with their presence, aptly saving themselves from what could have been a disastrous encounter.  The effect the pair has upon the common people is touched with a good and warm magic, and the people fall in love with him, and are impressed to hear that he serves the princess.  One asks, "How do you know where the princess is?"

Rubel, after the people feed him a free breakfast, leaves for the docks.  After the morning's argument over the value of stories v.s. treasure, he decides that he will present the princess with the special knife which figured in one of those stories.  The knife, however, is aboard very ship he escaped the day before.  Returning to the vessel, he causes a stir among the crew, and breaks into the captain's office.  He stops with a gasp when he sees standing before him, jabbed into the floor, is one of the Shadow Lady's black swords.  It has her signature black ribbon bow tied about its hilt.

He is interrupted from his stunned reverie by the voice of captain McGovern who has returned with two huge, armored guardsmen.  Just before Rubel is attacked, he spies standing far above in the masts the Shadow Lady watching him.  The two Iron Guards fire upon Rubel with massive spring lock guns, making it clear that they mean to kill him.

In a panic, he barricades himself in the captain's office with the sword.  The issue ends.

(This issue contains the origin of Varkias, and premonitions about the nature of the black knights which appear with the captain to hunt him.)

Issue #4

Rubel, barricaded in Captain McGovern's ship office, gazes at the ebony black sword standing before him and he must decide what to do in the moments before the Iron Knights smash in.  The sword is clearly magical and if he uses it, he could likely defeat the two knights with ease, but what else would it mean?  During his moment of indecision, he is struck by an old memory of a tapestry he once saw as a very young boy; a very old tapestry which depicted the city being overcome by a black citadel rising on the ocean, from which marched thousands of black, faceless knights of exactly the same sort as the two which battered at the door.

The Iron Knights smash through the door, and Rubel leaps away, and rescues the small shelly knife from his trunk, and then scampers past the lumbering giants, through the door.  With a battle cry, he lands on the captain whose gun did not fire when he pulled the trigger.  Rubel stabs and breaks the captain's shoulder.  Then he stands and declares out loud to all the sea men and docks men that he has destroyed the captain's shoulder in payment for Mr. Curry, a shipmate of Rubel's whose own shoulder was crippled by the captain.  He then bounds away, again triumphant, having solved the problem and without taking up the evil sword to do it.

He stops in a market place to replace his shirt, now spattered with blood, with a clean one.  He steals the shirt from a pair of serving girls who engage him in conversation.  When their mistress sees them talking to a wild boy, scolds them and demands to know who Rubel thinks he is, at which point Varkias, who had been hiding, pops out.  The girls and their mistress gasp in surprise, and Rubel laughs and tells them with a bow that he is the princess' thief, and that he is at their service should they ever need it.  Then he leaves them and runs through the market, meaning to head at once to palace to visit the princess Katara.

Before he can get very far, however, he runs into a large contingent of guardsmen led by mounted Iron Knights.  They appeared to all be looking specifically for him, and they attack.  Rubel escapes up and in through the window of a town house.  From below, Rubel hears the Lady of the house allow the guards in and tell them that she is a supporter of the Prince's and that her husband is with the guard.

Rubel hurls pots and furniture down the stair well upon the guardsmen.  But just as he is about to push a huge ceiling height cabinet down, the captain of the guard races up the stairs and grabs his arm.  The issue ends.
 

(Also in this issue is a five page short story detailing Quinton and Heath in Millbrook.  In this piece, the wizard Quinton and the kids are trying to bury a stolen and cursed treasure in their backyard.  Heath learns that her cousin, the gardener and Quinton, have formed a secret society called the Monster Slayers, to defend the land against evil.  She is granted membership in the group, and asked if she would like to become Quinton's apprentice, to which she enthusiastically agrees.)

Issue #5

Rubel manages to slip from the guard captain's hold and, in doing so, sends a huge cabinet down upon the soldiers racing up the stairwell.  They chase him into a small room, and run around trying to catch him.  Rubel dives out a window to a rooftop and the guardsmen follow and chase him.  From below, foot soldiers and the Iron Guard fire up at him, and all the people surge into the streets to watch the spectacle.

Rubel nearly escapes, but finds his path ended when he runs out of rooftops to jump to.  The guardsmen come up puffing and take aim, but the captain with whom he was struggling calls for them to hold their fire.  He approaches Rubel himself, and appeals to him to give up.  It becomes clear from what he says that the guardsmen were warned of Rubel and Varkias in advance, and that they believe Rubel was sent by the princess Katara.

One of the other guardsmen jeers at Rubel, declaring the princess is insane and wicked.  He tells him that she eats live animals.  Rubel burns with indignation and tells the soldier that he should be ashamed for speaking of his sovereign with such disrespect.  The soldier barks at him in rage, and saying that he would kill her if he got the chance.  Rubel reacts with anger, slays the man, and runs down the rooftop and jumps into the crowd below.  He lands upon a soldier, and disarms two others.  Then standing with the gun, he pauses.  Varkias urges him to kill the two guards and then fight the others, but Rubel declines, saying "These men are just soldiers.  But they are the Prince's soldiers, and I know about the prince!  And if I find out that anything has happened to Katara, I won't spare a single one of you!  Not one!"

At that moment, the crowd, awed by Rubel, parts before galloping cavalry men who bear down upon him with swords drawn.

The issue ends.

Issue #6

Ducking and rolling Rubel avoids being killed, and accidentally unhorses one of the cavalry men.  Comparing the odds between himself and the soldiers and Iron Knights lined up before him, he leaps upon the riderless horse and gallops away.  After eventually losing his pursuers in the city, he rides for the palace.  He hopes to find the princess, and he hopes to find her well and sane, but he has many rising fears.  On the way to the palace, the story flashes back to a day long ago when Rubel was a very little boy on a visit to the castle.

During this visit, arranged by his grandfather, Rubel was taken by a delivery man to the servant's areas of the palace for an educational tour.  The serving staff were prepared to be annoyed by this incursion, but find themselves delighted by his presence, and by their chance to impress such an honest, bright and curious child as Rubel was at the age of five.  He was given a tour of the laundry rooms, the kitchens and the stables, each by their respective overseers.  He then asked if he could see the king's horse and stables, and an officer was consulted.  The officer was not amused at first, telling him that being an orphan wasn't anything particularly special.  Rubel countered by saying "It is if you were born in the forest.  I'm a thief."

The adults balked at this with amusement, but the officer asked with seriousness, "Oh you are, are you?  And you think the king would want a thief going over his horses, do you?  Knowing how to get in and out?  That's quite the education, I'll warrant young man!"

Rubel told him back with equal seriousness, "I wouldn't steal anything from the king.  Not unless he deserved it, and I like the king."

The officer thought for a long moment and then having decided that he is amused by the idea, took Rubel off on a tour of the upper levels of the palace, giving him a lesson as he went.  He described to Rubel the political process of being a king, and the various ways evil people could bend the process to their own ends, or even destroy it outright.  Rubel listened to all of this in quiet wonder, absorbing it all and then telling the officer that such things were very bad!  The officer laughed and, by that point enjoying the tour, took Rubel to the drawbridge and gave him a few hints at how one might really break in to see the king.  He then caught himself, realizing that his tongue had grown loose, and that he was compromising his position terribly by showing such things to anybody, regardless of age.

But at that point, he was taken by a strong force which compeled him to speak in words which were perhaps not his own.  He told Rubel some of the most important things about being a thief; about always following ones own rules, and of doing the right thing even when it flies in the face of the law and society, and of the dangers which come as a result.  The story returns to the present, with Rubel dismounting before the drawbridge.

There is nobody around at all; not even guardsmen, and then all at once the drawbridge opens up with a boom and lowers of its own accord, and the issue ends.

Issue #7

Rubel and Varkias make their way across the drawbridge and enter the palace.  They are chilled by the eerie stillness of the empty monolith, and Varkias warns Rubel that there is dark magic in the air.  Rubel warns that they should stay close to one another; that are stronger that way.

They make their way up to the king's bed chambers, and find the liege lying very sick in bed.  They have barely moments after making this discovery before Varkias is picked up by some magical force and flung out a window, which slams shut.  Rubel fights with the window, cannot open it, and turns to see the Shadow Lady emerge from a dark corner.

She greets him well the day, and moved toward him, speaking mesmerizing words, which quickly hypnotize him.  She hands him the bloody shirt he discarded and instructs him to put it on, which he does.  She also tells him that back on the ship, when his captain tried to fire his captain's gun at him, it really DID go off.  -And that it struck him in the stomach.  Rubel looks down and sees with horror that she is telling the truth.  There is a bloodied boltlock bolt stuck deep in his side.  Snapped from the trance, he collapses to the floor.

She tells him to be patient, that it wouldn't take too long, and that to avoid further hurting himself, he should try to refrain from moving about.  Rubel growls at her, and struggles to his feet.  He leaves the room, and discovers that the palace is suddenly back the way it was supposed to be; full of people.  The Royal guard, whose sole duty was to protect the king, are shocked to see Rubel walk out of the king's chamber.  They immediately detain him and check upon the king, but Rubel slips from their grasp and runs.  They chase, but Rubel stops up short, nearly running into the princes soldiers occupying the floor below.

It is made clear from the words that the two parties of guards exchange that they are both aware that Rubel is probably princess Katara's thief, and that each group is the enemy of the other.  Both parties want Rubel for their own reasons, and a battle breaks out.  Rubel is locked away in a small room, and the story focuses on the battle, which at first falls very much in the favor of the older, more experienced troops belonging to the king, but then turns when the Iron Guard enter the battle.  It is learned that the Iron Guard are indeed magical; undead soldiers armored in heavy iron and invested with inhuman strength.  The king's troops find themselves in a retreat, and Rubel hears their cries from where he sits curled up in a ball, bleeding.  The issue ends.

Issue #8

Rubel, from where he sits and hallucinates, sees a dark shadowy shape moving within and between the paintings on the wall.  It is the beast Jurid, but Rubel does not know how he recalls the name.  It watches him and would perhaps pass from the world of the paintings into the real world, were it not for the little image of Quinton, who holds it back and urges Rubel to escape.

The Royal Guard engage in furious battle with the undead knights, and using ancient techniques and powerful weapons, they manage to halt the advance for long enough to collect the king, burn their secrets and prepare a secret escape route.  During the battle, the story narrative describes princess Katara's disappearance, the prince Kangar's rise to power, and the king's descent into illness.

The issue ends with Rubel and the Royal Guard riding a huge, thunderous elevator disguised in the floor of the king's chamber, down deep into the heart of the mountain, and their blocking the route behind them.
 

(This issue also contains a short story about Quinton and young Heath in the Millbrook of 1000 years ago, in which Quinton takes a trip to the fishing pond.  He describes some of his past and promises to begin Heath's teaching in the ways of sorcery.  As well, Heath gets into a fight with a small boy, her relationship with her aunt and uncle is touched upon, and the question of Quinton's sanity is in no way resolved.  Eventually some fishing is even achieved.) [M'Oak's note: This short story, drawn entirely in a large, noisy arts & crafts tent at a two week long exhibition, is one of my favorite stories in Thieves & Kings.]

Issue #9

The Royal Guard with Rubel and the sick king in a stretcher, journey down through the secret ways of the mountain.  Rubel hallucinates and drifts, affected deeply by his wound and the poison with which it was covered.  He sees visions of the king, sitting upright, with a clear expression, beckoning him, but he blinks and the vision is gone.  He hears a voice drawing him away from the group, and he follows.

The voice turns out to be that of a cave troll who is holding a magical lantern which Rubel recognizes, but cannot remember where from.  The troll laughs and taunts him, and tries to lead Rubel to his doom, but the thief avoids the perils and attacks the troll.  They struggle, but Rubel wins and takes the lantern.  At this point the wall crashes, shattered through by a huge Iron Knight, several stories tall, which stands in his way.  Rubel leaps through the hole as the ceiling collapses, landing right in the middle of a battalion of the Prince's soldiers.  Rubel leads them on a mad chase through one of the lower chateaux on the mountain, and ends up hurtling over a balcony precipice, ending the issue on a cliffhanger.

This issue also tells the story of Ben and Sara Blue, the ghost of the sunken city;  how she became a ghost, how the city was sunk, and how she came to be the rightful owner of the magical lantern found by Rubel in this issue.

Issue #10

Rubel's fall was stopped at the last moment by catching the uniform straps of the guardsman, who also hangs perilously over the edge.  He cries out for his comrades to shoot Rubel from him, but too late.  A large soup pot disturbed from the chase rolls over the edge, and knocks the guard so that he and Rubel both fall.

Rubel, moving instinctively, barely manages to climb into the pot before it crashes through the mountain observation windows below.  In a burst of glass and disturbed pigeons, Rubel flies down the mountain side in the pot.  In a lucky twist of gravity, just before the pot reaches the bottom, it is launched into the air, safely depositing Rubel in a bell tower.  The boy, shaken and bleeding, makes his way into the streets of the lower city.

He is later discovered by Varkias, who finds him bleeding and half delirious.  After discussing the problem of what to do next, Rubel decides that he must pull the bolt from his side in a manner explained to him by Quinton.  Varkias advises him that doing it Quinton's way might make matters worse, or even kill him, but Rubel is confident, and proceeds to pull the bolt.  When he does so, the pain pitches Rubel into unconsciousness.

When he looks up again, he finds himself, fully healed kneeling beneath some shrubbery.  When he crawls out, he finds that he has been transported to an enormous, manicured garden, and that he wears an antiquated prince's suit of ruffles and silk and a fencing foil.  Before he can digest all of this, he discovers as well that he is not alone.

Issue #11

Upon finding himself in the mysterious garden, Rubel is confronted by the Shadow Lady.  Except, she is not the same.  She is wearing Rubel's clothes, and she bears his wound in her side, and she is not quite herself.  She gets up, changes her attire, and with much protesting on Rubel's part, the two set off on a journey through the garden to see the king, who is also imprisoned there.

The garden, she explains is the dream of a great Dragon named, Cespinarve Rogue, and that it is haunted by a beast she calls the Gorgon's Head, which comes out every day at noon to kill anybody who is not supposed to be there.  The only safe place is the Tea House, where the king is kept prisoner.  On their journey, Rubel accidentally enrages three of the garden's natural protectors; the plants, water and the insects.  He manages to survive the first two on his own, but the insects send him running, and Soracia destroys them with fire.

She explains to him something of her nature; that she is not always dark and evil.  She explains that she does not belong entirely to herself except in the garden, where the forces controlling her cannot enter, but that she can only stay in the garden for short times; only so long as she bears a fatal wound.  She speaks also of her relationship with Quinton, and how she is always at war with him.

It is then that their way is blocked by a giant wall.  Rubel discovers a note on the ground from Quinton, but cannot read it before she takes it from him.  The note tells how Rubel ought to get her to fly them both over the barricade, an action which would sap the remaining of her strength and leave him free of her influence.  Soracia grits her teeth in thought and then decides that they must travel another way.  She knows a passage under the wall.  With more protesting, Rubel allows her to lead him down.

Issue #12

This issue steps back in time 1000 years to Heath in Millbrook.

Heath, after finding Quinton the next morning, asks when he will start teaching her magic as promised.  When he seems not to recall making that promise, Heath prepares to get angry with him, but they are interrupted by somebody else's argument.  They come upon Finnly and the group of kids helping to build Quinton's latest monster trap, an affair of ropes and pulleys and an anvil and a huge, overturned wine press bucket.

One of the older boys has taken Finnly's hat, and is teasing him with it.  Quinton puts a stop to this and sets them back to their tasks.  The children are clearly making fun of Quinton, but he seems not to notice.  He remembers something he forgot and drags Finnly off to help him see to it, leaving Heath with the bullying kids.  Seeking a new target, they turn on her, and she defends Quinton in his absence, and scolds them for trying to get him in trouble.  (The wine press bucket is stolen from one of their neighbors, and knowing that Quinton will eventually get caught, they are all waiting to see it happen.)  Heath is furious, and punches the boy, and runs off to warn Quinton, but she is unable to find him.

Eventually, she gives up, and settles down beneath a tree and falls asleep.  Dreaming, she enters the Dragon's dream garden, deep in the caves through which Rubel and the Shadow Lady are making their dangerous journey.  Upon meeting one another, something strange happens.

Heath is invested with a very powerful magic, and countless spirits of heroes and kings and gods emerge through the darkness, all watching her and the Shadow Lady.  Heath finds herself speaking words of power, challenging the Shadow Lady to battle, but Soracia refuses to fight, shattering the spell and sending Heath back up into the waking world, but not before Heath and Rubel see each other's eyes for the first time.  Heath wakes up, gasping, believing that this was her first magic lesson, and that Quinton had planned everything.

Rubel and Soracia race from the catacombs and back into the sunlight.  They race for the Tea House even as the Gorgon's Head awakes.

Issue #13

This issue opens up with a narrative about the nature of the mystical land of Nove and the Dragons which populate its remote edges, describing the balance of nature between the two.  It  describes how Cespinarve Rogue was the smallest of the Dragons, and how he was jeered at and mistreated by his peers for the fact.  Cespinarve Rogue eventually left the Dragon lands, and terrorized the rest of Nove, eating cities and consuming forests and fields.

The intrepid thief, McGi decided to put a stop to it, and did so, telling Rogue to stop what he was doing, or he'd be sorry!  And Rogue, knowing something of the mighty McGi, did as he was told and slunk off and fell asleep.  His dreams were corroded by the poison he had tasted from a battle long ago, and which still swam in his veins.  He created in his dream the garden through which Soracia and Rubel then raced.

The Gorgon's Head smashed right through the wall and bore down upon the pair, who found themselves locked out of the Tea House Tower.  Kings Grinrum and Fularo, of the Northern Plains and the Eastern Vales respectively, refused the sorceress and the thief entry on grounds that thieves were forbidden by Dragon's Rule.  The Shadow Lady, refusing to let Rubel be killed, caught hold of him and flew into the air.  Catching the Gorgon's Head in her cloaks, she flung it far into the sky, gaining themselves a few moments.  Landing in the Tea House, the kings abiding there rushed out at the commotion.  King Uerol of the Southern Islands, dressed mysteriously in rags, quickly took charge and carried the flagging sorceress inside.  The others barred the windows against the Gorgon's head, which returned in a fury, rattling the foundations of the House before eventually leaving.

Rubel, kneeling at Soracia's side, asks if she will live.  She tells him no, but assures him that she will return to life in the waking world, and has some moments to still speak with him here.  She tells him how difficult she finds immortality; how lonely she is.  And she tells him that she loves him, and that her actions in the waking world are tainted, and must not be the only things he judges her by.  She also warns him that Quinton is not to be trusted; that he is more a force of nature than a person; that he has killed friends.  She tells him: "We are not like him.  We are not like Quinton.  No matter how hard we try, or how strong we become, we will always be mortal inside.  That's why it's so important for us to be for each other.  Nobody else cares!  Nobody.  If we don't take care of each other, then we're just inviting them to use us up again.  And they will!  They always do."

Shortly after, she dies, turning to dust.  Rubel stands:  "My Shadow Lady has told me that King Rillion of Oceansend is here.  Take me to him.  Take me to him now!"

Issue #14

The strong arm of the law arrives in the night at the Jay household to take Quinton away.  Mr. Jay opposes the officers at the door, but is knocked down, and they rush in and grapple with Quinton.  Mrs. Jay raises up her husband's bolt lock gun and tells Quinton to escape as planned.  (It is evident that they knew this was coming for some time.)  But Quinton refuses on the grounds that it would incite violence, and he allows himself to be taken away.  Heath is very upset by this, but Quinton promises that everything will be fine.  She is not convinced.

The next day, she and her cousin and Finnly meet to discuss the turn of events, and Heath describes the situation from a sorcerer's perspective.  She describes the game between Quinton and Locumire as she sees it.  It is then that a small finch flies to them and speaks a message from Quinton.  They are amazed by this phenomenon, and Davin tries to catch the bird and keep it, but only manages to scare it away before it had given its full message.  Heath stomps around in annoyance before deciding that they must travel to town to find Quinton at once.  She is interrupted, however, by a young lady they quickly determine to be a witch.

The witch is cruel and mean and she taunts them and tricks them into giving her more information than they probably would have done normally.  Then, turning to leave, she tells them that the chest of treasure Quinton had stolen and buried in their backyard had been retrieved by their forces.  The issue ends.
 

(Also, this issue, there is a short Desmond the Daring short story.)

Issue #15

Moments after the witch leaves the scene, Jurid, the Dawn Swallower, attacks.  It means to slay Heath, but the girl is quick on her feet and manages to dart away.  Luckily, the beast is not nearly so strong as it was in ages past, and the woods are bright and friendly; elements which hamper the shadow.  But the monster is more than capable of killing Heath, and they both know it, so the chase is deadly serious.

It is a piece of luck that Heath comes upon Quinton's shadow trap, half constructed in a clearing.  It is another piece of luck that Heath manages to activate it and capture the monster.  Her friends run up, panting, and find her safe with the shadow trapped beneath the overturned wine press bucket.

The shadow beast roars and demands to be freed, but the Monster Slayers refuse tricking it instead into rushing from the spigot on the barrel and into a bottle which they seal up and bury.  Heath and the boys take a trip into town in order to find Quinton and perhaps free him, but in doing so, nearly run into Locumire and the Shadow Lady herself.

The ending scenes follow the Shadow Lady and the witch, and the reader learns something of the uneasy relationship between the two.

[M'Oak's note: This issue and the one before it are two of my favorites.]

Issue #16

Heath finds the window to Quinton's prison cell, and is able to talk to him through the bars.  They are delighted to see one another, but the pall of danger overshadows the reunion.  She tells him how she captured Jurid, and he tells her how he had planted the Dream Tree she'd fallen asleep under yesterday, sending her into the dream she'd had about the Shadow Lady and Rubel.

He tells her that it is too dangerous for her to continue living here, and that she must leave Millbrook.  Heath is understandably upset by this.  He also tells her that the Shadow Lady is her sister, and that she is the reincarnation of a very old sorceress, who has lived many lives and that this current life Heath is living is the latest.  He tells her that Soracia has only lived one life all this time, and that this has made her bitter.  Quinton makes Heath promise not to enter into battle with Soracia under any circumstances, but cannot remember exactly why it would be bad.  (His memory isn't entirely reliable.)

After telling her all this new and disturbing news, Quinton instructs Heath to dive down into the water barrel sitting outside the cell window, and that it will lead down into the Dragon's dream garden.  He tells her that she must find Rubel there, and that he will be her paladin.  Heath hasn't even enough time to say goodbye before Soracia swoops upon her, brandishing swords.  Heath makes the dive, narrowly escaping her dark sister, and swims through the enchanted waters and arrives in the dream garden.  The issue ends.

(Also this issue, there is a three page short story entitled, "Skin Deep Tattoos", which was originally published in Michael Cohen's Mythography.  Issue #16 also contains a nine page preview of Tara Jenkin's science fiction drama, Galaxion.)

Issue #17
Not posted yet. 
Issue #18
Not posted yet. 
Issue #19
Not posted yet. 
Issue #20
Not posted yet. 
Issue #21
Not posted yet. 
Issue #22
Not posted yet. 
Issue #23
Not posted yet.
Issue #24
Not posted yet.
Issue #25
Not posted yet.