The first people anyone would suspect were Gotland's traditional rivals in Criemus. In spite of the alliance that bound the Eight Kingdoms together, Criemians were still known to plot and maneuver to gain the upper hand over their neighbors. But it was not them. Looking at the grisly remains of the Queen's attendants, it could not be the work of the Criemians, or any other human for that matter.

The King did not know what took his beloved Adelheidis, where they took her, or even if she was still alive. Then Udo the Far-seer had a vision of a grey land, a heathen temple, and the Queen lying upon an altar. The Far-seer believed that the Queen still lived, that what he saw had yet to come to pass. If that were so, there was no time to waste.

The door to the throne room opened and in walked the King's Five Champions and their retinue. They were quick to answer his summons and seeing them together filled Amalric with hope. If anyone could save his Adelheidis, it was them.

There was brave Sir Burkhardt, Knight Champion of Gotland, and his promising squire, young Maus of Kohnen. The Court Sorcerer Tancred Half-Elven and his two apprentices, the hot-blooded Kolman and the gentle Loreley. Bishop Friedman and his aide, the doughty Father Morten, both warrior-priests devoted to God and King. Captain Hengist of the Horsemen and his wild young colt of a squire, Gerlach. And lastly, the Far-seer with his secondary, the child prodigy Gudrun. Together two generations of Gotland's finest, the Champions who had served King Amalric so well and the youngsters who were destined to take up the mantle when Amalric's own young successor would take the throne.

They dutifully knelt before the throne, but Amalric would have none of it.

Looking at the Champions' apprentices, the King said, "But leave the young ones. They are not fit for such a journey."

Maus was quick to protest, saying, "We can handle it, Your Majest—"

His words were cut short by a cuff upside the head by Sir Burkhardt. The young squire glared at his master only briefly, but Burkhardt's own glare was far stronger, prompting him to bow his head apologetically.

With a smile, Tancred saluted by placing his hand over his heart and said, "We shall stake our lives on it."

Despite being captured, the Champions continued to carry themselves proudly, while their apprentices followed their example to varying degrees of success. The cultists were quiet now, but they had been whipped into such a frenzy before that it seemed like the Champions' party would be torn limb from limb. Indeed, that was the fate that befell their attendants and their horses, who were not seen as being as useful to the witches. Some of the cultists carried grisly trophies as a reminder of the slaughter. For many of the others, being steeped in the blood of man and beast was enough.

Glaring at a cultist who had made a necklace with the severed ears of the young novice Brother Marcion, Bishop Friedman growled, "'Vengeance is mine,' saith the Lord. 'I will repay.'"

Of course, the Bishop clearly intended to take the Lord's work upon himself. The cultist forgot his discipline in his spite and cackled at what he thought to be empty words. He was then whipped by an overseer for disturbing the solemnity of the procession.

Before long they exited the forest and the temple from the Far-seer's vision came into view. It was constructed in the fashion of the Old Greeks, a relic of a forgotten age. Its former beauty was marred by the ravages of the harsh environs, and while no good man of the Faith would recognize its original claim of sanctity, there was no better word to describe the temple than 'desecrated'. Even those limited to their mundane senses could feel the corruption seeping from the blasted stones.

Inside the temple, two heaps of uncut stones had been fashioned into primitive altars in lieu of the temple's original altar, which lay broken before the remnants of the idol formerly worshipped in this place. The remaining witches and their cultists were there waiting for them. Many of them bore torches that burned with unnatural blue and green flames.

Between the two altars stood the high priestess of the witches' cult. She was taller than most men and when she threw back her hood, she revealed her aspect was not quite human. The Champions had heard the rumors and there were some who said she carried the blood of the Devil himself.

The Champions and their apprentices were made to kneel before the high priestess. The head of Sir Burkhardt's prized charger, along with the heads of the mounts of Master Tancred and Bishop Friedman were brought before the high priestess as an offering and laid at her feet.

The high priestess looked at the offering, then to the Champions, and said, "King Amalric esteems us lightly to send so few against us. Or is it that he has so little love for his queen?"

Tancred looked at the cultists gathered around them and said, "I am surprised your goddess has found so many followers."

Kreszentia gave the Bishop a mocking look and said, "You accuse me of blasphemy here? In this place, you are the blasphemer. But you need not fear. Our Lady is merciful. Cast aside your false gods and call on the name of our Lady. Join us in worship and not only will your lives be spared, but you will be magnified in our Lady's sight."

The Bishop replied, "And I say to you, abandon your witchcraft and repent of your sins. Beg forgiveness of the Lord Most High and save yourself from the unquenching fires of Hell."

She then looked to the bodies of the two witches who were slain and said, "But first we must restore our numbers. The ritual calls for thirteen."

From the left and the right, a pair approached the fallen witches. Judging from their garments, one was a full-fledged witch bearing a stone knife while the other was an apprentice carrying a small bowl. For each pair, the full-fledged witch knelt at her fallen sister's left while the apprentice knelt at the right. The apprentice then held up the bowl as if in supplication while the living witch cut open the wrist of the dead one and drained the blood into the bowl. The witch then dipped her finger in the bowl and traced the mark of the pentacle on the forehead of the slain witch and after that, she made the same mark on the forehead of the apprentice. With that done, the apprentice then drank from the bowl. Lastly, the slain witches were stripped of their mantles, which were then placed on the apprentices.

Sir Burkhardt looked to Master Tancred and whispered, "Now?"

The cultists fell on their faces as a three-bodied idol was carried into the sanctum and set between the altars, so that one side faced each altar. The bearers of the idol prostrated themselves once the idol was in place and withdrew on hands and knees.

Next, two women were led to the altars. The younger of the two carried herself with proud solemnity. The older one less so, for she was not there of her own will. It was Queen Adelheidis, heavy with child, who struggled against the cultists as they dragged her along.

When she saw the Champions, she cried out, "Sir Burkhardt! Master Tancred!"

However, just as Tancred was about to break the enchantment on the ropes binding them, a voice boomed, "BE STILL!"

Even the Court Sorcerer found himself frozen for a moment before a swirling vortex of dark energy appeared beneath them and dozens of shriveled hands sprang up to hold them fast. Few of them could maintain their reserve amid such a hellish spectacle.

What Sir Burkhardt swore was not fit for repeating. Tancred, however, had his attention fixed on the source of this spell. A knight stepped forward whose helm was in the shape of a goat's head but was otherwise kitted in the antique Roman style. His arm was stretched out toward them and he held it as he set himself between the Champions and the witches' ritual. He was joined with what appeared to be a knight of lesser rank or squire and several men-at-arms who appeared far more formidable than the cultists in all their numbers.

The Queen was still crying out for the Champions, but she was gagged to muffle her screams. While the other woman lay upon the altar to Kreszentia's left of her own accord, Queen Adelheidis had to be lifted up by the cultists and laid out. For both the Queen and the other woman, cords were tied to their wrists and ankles, and also around their necks, that were held by the witches, five and five. The cords were drawn back, enough to hold the women in place in the form of the pentacle but not so taut as to strangle them.

Cultists carried several clay jugs that were taken up by the two remaining witches. First, each witch took a jug and dumped the contents on themselves. The jugs were filled with blood, whether of man or beast, who could say? Once the two witches were blooded, they then poured out other jugs to trace circles around each altar, then a larger circle around all three. Next they splashed the ten witches once each and Kreszentia three times. With that done, they then marked the two women on the altar with the sign of the pentacle on their foreheads, their hearts and their bellies.

The preparations complete, Kreszentia raised her arms to the idol and said in a loud voice, "Hecate Trimorphe, hear your servant's call! Through this sacrifice of blood, through this offering of flesh, rise up! Take on new flesh and walk among us once more! Rule over us! Over all that is upon the earth! All that is below it! And all that is above!"

When Kreszentia finished her invocation, the witch standing beside Queen Adelheidis drew a knife. She caressed the Queen's face for a moment, then turned to her belly.

Realizing what the witch meant to do, Sir Burkhardt shouted at Master Tancred, "For the love of God, man, do something!"

Not being attuned to the ways of magic, Sir Burkhardt did not realize that Tancred had been struggling against the goat-headed knight this entire time. Indeed, the struggle was so intense that tears of blood poured from his eyes as his voice rose. When his voice reached its peak, the goat-headed night faltered and his spell was shattered, swept away with a wave of light. Not only that, the bonds of the Champions and their apprentices were torn asunder.

Without a moment to lose, Sir Burkhardt charged at the altar, only for the goat-headed knight to throw himself bodily at the Knight Champion to hold him back. Maus, Kolman, Bishop Friedman and Father Morten hurried to his aid, only to be met by the squire of the goat-headed knight and his men-at-arms. While they were struggling against these men, the witch did her work.

The fighting stopped as the Gotlanders looked on in horror as the witch pulled the unborn child out of the Queen's body. The witch then delivered the child to Kreszentia, who held it up to the idol and said, "Take this life, Hecate Kourotrophos, and claim your new life!"

As she said these words, her apparent moment of triumph was cut short as an arrow cut through the air and pierced her breast. Her eyes widened as she looked down at the shaft sticking out of her chest, then traced it back to its source. Rather that charging at the altar blindly and unarmed, Sir Hengist had instead turned to spring upon the cultists carrying their weapons so that he could reclaim his trusty warbow. If only he had been a few moments quicker...

Kreszentia coughed up some blood and started to waver. As she was about to fall, someone ran at her to snatch up the child before it could fall from the high priestess' hands. It was Loreley, and the moment she took the child in her arms, a gust of wind swept through the temple, snuffing out all the torches held by the cultists.

A moment of silence and darkness passed before, one by one, the torches were relit. Loreley was standing over Kreszentia, cradling the Queen's child in her arms. Remarkably, in spite of the violence of its premature birth, the child lived and was gripping Loreley's finger in its tiny hand. Loreley smiled gently at the child, then looked up to face those around her. The way she slowly craned her neck, the cold look in her eyes, it was clear to those who knew her best that she was not herself.

She glanced at the dying Kreszentia at her feet and said, "You have done well, my servant."

Kreszentia reached out to her, struggling to speak.

The witches around the altars all fell down in worship. The woman on the lefthand altar, however, stood up and pulled off the cord around her neck.

With a flick of Loreley's finger, the woman's body seized up and she dropped to her knees. She struck the stone floor hard and cried out from the pain. Loreley looked as if she were considering additional pain to properly discipline her for her presumption.

Still recovering from the exertion of breaking the goat-headed knight's spell, Master Tancred rose to his feet and waved off young Gudrun, who had been left at his side when Loreley ran to Kreszentia.

Loreley, or rather Hecate, replied, "Do you have any idea how many years I have been trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead? Can you imagine how many times my followers have tried and failed to give me flesh once more? Now that I have such a perfect vessel, why would I give it up?"

The squire of the goat-headed knight, who had been grappling with Maus, fell to the floor dead. It would seem that Maus had gotten his hands on the rival squire's dagger and dealt a mortal wound in the struggle. Such was the commanding aura about Hecate that the squire's death went practically unnoticed.

Hecate did not give the proposal a second thought and countered it, saying, "I will make you a different offer. Kneel down and swear fealty to me. Not only will I grant you your lives, but I will make you great in my kingdom."

The Bishop held up his crucifix and shouted in a loud voice, "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, ego tibi praecipio, exi ab ea!"

Hecate swiped with her hand, sending the Bishop flying back. She waved her hand again to deflect an arrow from Hengist and with a snap of her fingers, the Horseman's warbow splintered. Then she pointed at Tancred, causing his body to freeze.

A bewildered Maus could only stand there staring longingly at the budding tyrant in Loreley's shape.

Hecate looked at him and smiled the smile of a siren luring a hapless sailor to a watery grave.

She extended her hand to him and said, "I will only ask you to kneel this once. After that, I will have you stand at my side. Come, my gallant, bow down."

Her voice could charm a mother bird to offer up her eggs to a serpent. Tancred knew Maus loved Loreley, but he would have never imagined that love could be a blade turned against them.

Sir Burkhardt joined in as well.

However, their pleas could not prevail on a lovesick boy whose heartstrings were being pulled by a puppetmaster who claimed to be no less than the goddess of all witchcraft. Maus dropped the dagger in his hand, approached Hecate and knelt before her.

Hecate smiled much as she did when she awakened with the Queen's child in her arms. She reached out to rest her hand on Maus' head.

Maus rose to his feet and turned to face his former comrades. Through Hecate's power, black armor in the style of the Old Greeks formed around him, along with a black sword in one hand and shield bearing the emblem of his patroness the triple goddess in the other. Just as Loreley was gone, taken by Hecate, now Maus was lost as well.

A knight clad all in black rode up to the bridge and dismounted, approaching the Court Sorcerer alone. Tancred smiled at the black knight.