The Third Quest s Wednesday night drew near, Niles and Daphne experienced different emotions regarding the dreams they were unaware of sharing. Niles draped himself on the fainting couch in his paneled siting room, chewing over the strange nature of the dreams he'd been experiencing. Never in his life had he dreamt so vividly of such a strange departure from everyday reality. He was ashamed to admit that he hoped the story would continue tonight. But he also knew only too well the fickleness of the human subconscious. "Oh well. I couldn't win her in the 20th century. I doubt I'd have much more success in the 11th." He lay his head back on the arm of the couch, too depressed to haul himself upstairs to bed. His eyes fluttered closed. Daphne lay in an almost identical pose on the worn leather couch in Donny's apartment. She'd told Frasier she had so many things to do there that she'd just stay the night. It seemed strange to be there now while he was away. Of course, she'd have to get used to it. This would be her home as of next week and Donny wasn't going to be in it 24 hours a day. She put down the magazine she'd stared at for the last 10 minutes without taking in a word. Hopefully the strange dreams had passed. The whole thing made her so nervous. What was she doing ringing Roz at 4 am? Because she'd dreamt her friend was an evil sorceress who slept with her fiancé, then was turned into a spider and trod upon. When Roz called her back later that morning that she claimed not to remember a thing about it. Daphne drifted wearily between waking and sleep. Then in a breath they were both asleep, one wishing for an end to their dalliances and the other hoping for their return. How soon fate would show the roles reversed . . . little did Niles know the continued horrors their shared imaginations had in store for him. His heart pounding alarmingly as Niles dismounted the exhausted, sweat-soaked horse that had delivered him safely to Castle Douglas. His face and body were still caked with mud and guts. During the wild ride, the Crystal gouged lumps of flesh from his palm, and blood trickled freely down his wrist and arm. This time he made no pretense of mannerly behavior. He stalked directly to the great entrance of the sorcerers lair. Just as he reached his free hand to the huge brass knocker, the door swung open. The room looked deserted but his rage dissolved any apprehension. Niles stormed through the grand entrance hall and down the corridor he remembered led to the banqueting hall. The Prince, he was sure, would be famished by the night's unaccustomed labor and a bloated glutton such as he would make the dinning hall his first call upon his return. Sure enough, as he entered the dining hall he saw the Prince's flesh spilling over the sides of the straining chair. The disgusting sounds of tearing animal flesh and slurping of wine and the endless stream of small bones being hurled to the floor confirmed all his suspicions about the Prince's table manners. Without turning from his banquet to acknowledge Niles, the Prince spoke. "Been expecting you. Join me?" He mumbled around a Cornish hen he was apparently trying to swallow whole, as a snake swallows an egg. Donny's false courtesy barely masked his rage and contempt. Niles was so full of rage he felt he might burst. The Lady Daphne would not marry this man, should he have to give his life to save her. He stood beside the Prince and gathered his red-tinted wits to speak when the other's laughter stopped him dead. Donny roared, his mouth falling open and half chewed pieces of meat and vegetables mixed with red wine dribbled onto his tunic. "Sir, I appraise you have not seen water for bathing! Please, allow me to help" Donny waved a greasy hand. The soiled sack cloth disappeared, replaced by a full suit of clothes, simply cut and of the lowest quality, undyed fabric. Niles's face and hair were clean, the wounds in his hand closed without a scar, and the smell that had haunted him since his run-in with the spider was blessedly gone. "I trust you have the second Crystal?" That shallow smugness was the final straw. "Yes, I have it. But then you knew that already, didn't you? You are deplorable!" It was all Niles could do not to strike the bloated adulterer with the sharp-edged Crystal. "How could you be so despicably unfaithful to such a fair maiden? You do not deserve the favor of one so virtuous. Now take your Crystal and advise me of the nature of the third quest, and quickly. I have no desire to spend more time in your company than is necessary." Niles thrust the stone at the Prince, who took it without moving his eyes from Niles face. Their dark evil of them seemed to pierce straight to the depths of Niles' soul. For a split second, Niles felt the breath snatched from his body. He struggled to force air into his lungs, but the world in Donny's eyes was vast and black and airless. On the verge of passing out, he was released from the sorcerer's deadly gaze. He sucked in breath, resentfully. Donny had just reminded him quite explicitly who was truly in control here. he was merely a tool for Donny's convenience, or worse, a fool for his amusement. In a bland voice which gave no hint of his enjoyment of the power struggle which he'd just won, Prince Donny said, "The third quest involves the Snow Queen of the far west. You must go to her palace. Once there you'll be guided on the nature of the quest. This I tell you, Sir, though I would advise you give up at this stage. No man has left the palace of the Snow Queen with his mind and soul intact. Your foolish insistence of the Lady's imagined virtue will make this the sorriest day of your miserable life. The Lady is mine as sure as the sun rises. Concede now, and you will at least escape with your life and your sanity." Donny peered up at the man outlined against the roaring fire, searching for the slightest waver in his willpower, the slightest hint of fear or self-doubt. There was none. Niles gave him back stare for stare with calm determination. When he spoke to the Prince, it was in the measured tones of a man prepared to face any horror for the sake of his conviction. "Is it perhaps you do not believe me equipped to complete the tasks so far, Sorcerer? Despite your best efforts, however, I am however still of this world. And you do have two crystals in your possession, as I promised. I have endured my greatest fear, and the squalid conditions of a slave. I will endure anything else you can throw at me, if by doing this I can free the Lady. Now, do you have a map of the route to the Palace of the Snow Queen?" Futile rage smouldered in Donny's eyes as he clenched his fist around a peach en route to his mouth. "No map is necessary. I will send you to your destination straightaway. It has been enjoyable sporting with you, Sir Niles. And believe me, when I take the Lady to my bed on our wedding night I hope your spirit has a better view of her pleasure than your person did of that of the Mistress Doyle this evening past." With an evil laugh Donny again waved his bloated, bejeweled hand. before Niles could react to his comment, the rooms around him seemed to dissolve away in a breath of mist. Sudden cold struck him like a dagger, and he found himself in the lobby of the eternally frozen Palace of the Snow Queen. The room was sculpted entirely of ice. Transparent pillars held up a room jagged with dripping, fanglike icicles. The floor below him was clear for several yards down, and the black roiling liquid below that gave him a crippling sensation of vertigo. He looked around but saw no one. He shivered uncontrollably as the subzero gust of air cut effortlessly through the thin material of the suit the Prince had provided. A hollow, oddly toneless voice echoed from the dark corners of the room. "Sir Niles, I have been expecting you." That voice had the effect of making the room seem even colder and more desolate. "You will have several tasks to complete each one requires that you show intelligence and logic and if you fail at any stage your life shall be the forfeit. To receive the third Crystal of the Moon you must complete all the tasks I set before you not only correctly but to my satisfaction. Shall we begin ?" His mind spun with the possibilities but he was haunted by the image of the vile Prince leading the Lady Daphne to his bed chamber. "Yes, your Highness. Let us begin," he told the empty room. "Very well." With a screeching crack, the floor fell away in front of his feet like a calving glacier, leaving only three narrow bridges to the far side of the hall. Over each bridge shimmered an image of the Lady Daphne. "Only one of these images leads to the next task. If your feelings for the Lady are as strong as you claim they are you will know which one it is. If, however, your heart is false, the bridge will crumble beneath you. And my evening's fun will end regrettably early." Niles moved slowly to the edge of the hole and carefully regarded the images. They appeared identical, shifting softly like images projected onto smoke. His head felt clogged and dried out in the punishing cold of the place. A voice, a woman's laughter, echoed, bounced back and doubled, transmuted into a dog's bark. Niles looked about wildly, but he was alone in the room. His brother's voice hissed harshly in his ear, telling him he was ridiculous and foolish. His father laughed merrily with Eddie. Concentrate, he told himself. This must be part of the test. But still the noise played on and on in his head, blurring and vibrating maddeningly. His thoughts skittered away like tadpoles in a puddle. He forced himself to focus on the there images, scanning them minutely for some difference. The cacophony doubled in intensity, deafening, shaking the walls so that tiny shards and flakes of ice showered him. Frost melted on his skin then instantly refroze. The images, the images, concentrate. Then he saw it: the eyes of the furthermost figures were light chestnut brown. Not merely lighter in color, but washed out, hollow and unseeing like the painted-on eyes of a doll. Only the cent re image's eyes glowed with the deep mahogany intensity of the Lady Daphne. He needed no further confirmation. A thousand voices singing, yelling, chanting, whispering, beat at him like an irresistible tide. He clawed at the sides os head reflexively as he made a dash for the central bridge. Despite what the Snow Queen said, the bridge looked as fragile as spun glass and he was sure even his slight weight would shatter it. Slipping and throwing his arms out for balance, he plunged across. The image of his love rippled and faded as he reached the far side, along with the noise. Still his ears buzzed dully and he felt as if his head were wrapped with cotton. He stood, panting and letting his hearing slowly return. Again, he was alone in the room. He sank to the floor. He tried to gather his scattered thoughts, but after just one task he felt drained. Unbeknownst to Niles, the room was not unoccupied. Behind a wall of pellucid ice, a tall figure watched him Only the slightest curve betrayed it as feminine. She seemed to rise from the ice, a pillar of condensed water rimed with frost. Her face was hidden by a smooth, silver mask. Laughing with soundless malevolence at the sight of Niles's crumpled figure, the Queen turned and drifted away in a swirl of sparkling snow. She settled before a glistening silver font, it's waters sluggish and only a few degrees above freezing. Gently stroking the white, finely furred spider resting on her arm, the snow Queen gazed at the ripple-distorted image of the Prince. "He has completed the first test," she whispered. "But have no fear, My Lord. Even this simple challenge has left him whimpering in a state of metal exhaustion. He has not the fortitude to face my further tasks. I do believe victory is yours." "Good, good," the clotted voice rumbled from the depths of the water. "He can never say I did not offer him the option of surrender." The Prince's shockingly brutish laugh sent even the arachnid scurrying up the arm of the queen. "Now, my patience fades. Go, set him the second task and finish him." "As you wish," the Queen turned her head stiffly, directing the featureless expanse of silver at the pitiful heap pulling itself upright. He was on his feet but she sensed he had little reserve left. "Sir Niles, I congratulate. You have completed the first task. It is obvious the Lady does indeed mean a great deal to you." The voice was like a slap in the face. As Niles whirled, trying futilely to pinpoint her location, the ice around him suddenly liquified, spurting up in fountains. He was completely surrounded. Just as quickly, the fountains solidified into four staircases, hemming him in. Again he heard sweet peals of feminine laughter, and steeled himself against the expected onslaught of noise. The Queen's bodiless voice reverberated uncannily in the small space. "Quite simple. Choose the correct stair case and you'll be delivered safely to the final task. Choose wrongly and you are aware of the consequences." Niles turned in place, gazing deeply into each stair. the ice of them was tinted subtly, one blue, one red, one green and one purple. A pale light flickered in them, them suddenly sprang to life, a moving picture. On the blue stair case the monstrous spider he killed waved it's legs and clacked it's fiendish mandibles. On the red stair case Mistress Doyle, clad in layers of floating silks and strings of beads, beckoned to him gently. On the green stair, Lady Daphne stood demurely, hands clasped to her bosom in a pleading gesture. On the purple stair was an image that struck fear into his heart. Lady Daphne, in full wedding finery, escorted by the sorcerer through the corridors of Castle Douglas toward his bed chamber. Niles fought down the temptation to run up that stair case in an attempt to stop an event he knew was not happening. "Think, man," he told himself. There must be some logic here. It came to him, a flash of insight. It was all in the colors. The images, recalling the previous test, were a ruse to tempt him into acting without thought in his haste to prevent the union of the Lady and the Prince. The colors of the ice stairs were also the colors of the Crystals of the Moon. He'd retrieved the blue and the red, so they were obviously not the correct choice. The infuriating purple stairs were a red herring. His quest at present was for the green Crystal, so naturally he must take the green staircase. He ran as fast he could up the uncarpeted, narrow steps. Upon reaching the top without mishap, Niles found himself facing down a long, narrow corridor. The light reflected from it's glassy walls and silver fittings near blinded him. The Queen's voice chimed, "Well, Sir Niles, it seems I underestimated you. You have done well to get this far. Now look along the corridor. You will see three doors. Behind each one is one of your greatest fears. A fear that lurks in the unlit crannies of your mind, leaping out to gnaw at your waking thoughts with fangs of pure terror. The fears that deaden a man's soul and rip from him his sanity, his very self. You will be allowed a single glance into each room. Then you must enter the room containing your greatest fear, and conquer it. I would wish you luck, but no man can see into his shadow-self without going utterly mad. Farewell, Sir Niles . . . " her voice melted away like a drift of smoke. Niles turned the handle on the nearest door, reminding himself to take but a single glance. The door opened impossibly onto the rose garden at the Court of Crane. He saw himself, sitting on a marble bench beside the Lady Daphne. He was clasping her hands and saying something to her with an earnest expression. The door wrenched away from his fingers and slammed shut. Puzzled, Niles went to the next door. That was no so bad. What was there to fear in sharing a conversation with the lady? Behind the second door he saw his family gathered around a small burial plot. His father and his brother were dressed in mourning robes, and he himself was nowhere to be seen. Niles was discomforted by the scene, but while all mean fear death, few can picture it with sufficient detail to truly feel fear about it. Niles let the door swing shut and moved to the third and final door. Behind it was an image that made his blood boil: the same as on the purple staircase. His love being taken abed by his tormentor. He slammed the door and stepped back a few pace to consider carefully. Once again he was tempted to go through the third door and attempt to prevent the union of Daphne and the Prince. What could be more unbearable? His own death would be acceptable if it saved the Lady from marriage to an unholy monster. And surely to he would be able to tell her how he felt about her after his quests were completed. The prevention of that dread union was the purpose of his quest, after all. He reached for the handle of the third door. Then stopped, his fingertips lightly brushing the metal of the handle. With a flash of insight, he turned to the first door and stepped in. For as he contemplated the future he realized that his greatest mortal fear was that in that moment of confession when he finally told the Lady of his love for her, she would dismiss him. Upon entering the room a second time, he found himself part of the scene. Helplessly he felt himself bound forward to kneel before the gently smiling Lady. Seized by some force he could not name, he bared his heart to her. In the most sincere way he knew, he told her simply of his love for her these past years, how he desired her favor over his own life. And watched as the emotions flitted across her face - disbelief, contempt, dismissal, and finally, her features crinkled into a laugh. She laughed and laughed as his heart was torn asunder. Emerging from the room, Niles felt as though his mind had been torn apart by ungentle hands then haphazardly tossed back together again. He waited, arms dangling at his sides, for the arrival of the Crystal. Nothing happened. he heard no frosty reprimand from the Queen and saw no sign of the Crystal. As he scanned the corridor, his eye was caught by a door he had not seen before. He had not been told anything of a fourth door, but seeing as how the Queen had fallen uncharacteristically silent, he decided to open it. The door creaked and stuck as though it's hinges were rusted with long disuse. In the chamber was a fantastic array of cogs and gears, pistons, crankshafts, chains and toggles. In the midst of these was a twisted, mouse-grey dwarf of an old woman, struggling with what looked like a silver-faced mannikin in a pale dress. The rubbery-limbed hag swore and yanked something from the back of the giant puppet, looked at the component with disgust, and tossed it over her shoulder. Niles ducked out of the way. With a screech of dismay, the old woman turned and saw Niles. She tried to yank the mannikin upright and hide behind it at the same time. Niles's heart raced as the realization struck him that this was the regal, domineering Queen, so feared from legend and folklore. "How, how dare you enter a room you were not instructed to!" The old woman dropped the mannikin of the 'Queen' and shook a knobby fist in the man's face. Niles felt his lips curl in a sneer. This, then, was the true form of the formidable Snow Queen? She was but an ancient hag, squat, broader than she was tall, knotted up with arthritis and dried out by the cold, her hair mere cobwebby wisps. "I want the Crystal, and I want it now," he said with all the determination his drained mind could muster. "No!" she shrieked. "You have completed the tasks, and for that I spare your life. But you broke the rules by entering this room! The Crystal will remain here with me." "I think not, madam. Your name is one that strikes terror into even the bravest of warriors. We have all heard the stories told in hushed voices of the terrible Snow Queen, how she can crush a man's mind like an egg, leaving his soul howling forever in the desolate plains of eldritch horror. I see that being lost to you should they discover your true appearance, that your powers are merely illusion, smoke and glints on ice. Now," he said smoothly, "I think if I am to be expected to take such a delightfully amusing secret to my grave I am entitled to the Crystal I have toiled so hard for." Niles knew he was taking a risk. That she was in truth a withered crone whose powers affected the mind and not the physical body did not diminish her ability to destroy a man. But he would leave the palace with the Crystal or not at all. Impotent anger burned in her eyes. With a toothless snarl, she plunged her hand into the reflecting pool and withdrew the shimmering green Crystal. She spat a gob into his open palm, the slapped the Crystal into it. Niles choked back his disgust. The hag wiped her mouth with the back of her flabby, wrinkled arm. "Be warned! If you speak a word of what you have seen here this night, I will reap my revenge not only on you but your entire court!" She scooped up a double handful of water from the font and tossed it at him. Niles flinched, half-expecting it to burn him like acid. The last breath he inhaled in the Snow Queen's Palace was expelled as thick steam into the heated air of Castle Douglas. Checking to make sure the green Crystal was still clamped firmly in his numb fingers, Niles gathered himself together mentally and physically. With trudging step, he once more entered the sorcerer's detestable lair. Niles woke up with a cry of anguish torn from the core of his soul. Unable to stop shivering, he curled up on the fainting couch, hugging his knees up under his chin. In all his years of being bullied by other children, led around on a leash by Maris, belittled by his family, and unknowingly ignored by Daphne, he'd never felt so psychologically tormented. He stared at the wall and preyed that he would never see the Dark Ages again. He'd had enough of evil, even in dreams. He forced himself to stand up and go to the bedroom. He doubted he would get any more sleep tonight, but he changed his sweaty clothes for silk pajamas and turned on his ocean machine anyway. After a moment, he turned up the heater, flicked on all the lights in the room, and grabbed an extra quilt, too. Daphne opened her eyes, upset and disorientated. It took long moments before she recognized Donny's apartment. For a moment she thought she was in a small, stone walled chamber lit with torches. It must be some sort of psychic residue of the dream, she comforted herself. Suddenly, her stomach cramped with gripping fear of the sort that she only felt when something very important would soon happen. Something about the dreams. She wasn't quite so anxious for them to end now. With an effort, she cleared her mind. It will happen when it's ready. She headed into the bed room for some proper rest. The room that would soon be hers for good.