DEADLIER THAN THE MAIL

[the third in The Scorpion Chronicles]

by Nat Faul <pruesdoux@hotmail.com>

DISCLAIMER: (July 2000) This is not posted for any profit but to share creative ideas with other Charmed fans on this and other websites. The characters of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell, Leo Wyatt, and Darryl Morris are property of Warner Brothers Television. Other characters were created by this author. Any similarities to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental. The following account is strictly fiction. Its sole purpose is to entertain.

RATED: G -- Safe for all age groups.

Phoebe sat at a large bright white table, in the conservatory of Halliwell Manor. Surrounded by glass and green plants, she was in a well-lit, peaceful environment for studying. The Book of Shadows lie open before her. Studiously she went over each page, taking notes here and there.

Piper walked in. "Aha! So here’s where it went!"

Phoebe glanced up and gave her an inquisitive look.

"The Book of Shadows", Piper explained. "I noticed it missing from the attic and wondered where it was."

"Do you need it?"               

"No, I was just wondering."

"What were you doing in the attic?"

"Just putting something away." She looked over Phoebe’s shoulder. "Test for Warlocks. Who are you testing this time?"

"Derek."

"Why Derek?"

"That night we first met, he sensed two gunmen, in the dark, before they even did anything. I didn’t hear or see anything, yet, in the dark, Derek could."

"Lots of people can do that. Many soldiers, hunters, and others, with a lot of training and experience, develope heightened senses. It has nothing to do with magic."

"What about the time Brenda and I were trapped in the basement with the ghost? Brenda and I couldn’t open the door from the inside and a half dozen guys couldn’t open it from the outside. But Derek did it alone."

"He opened it just when the ghost was making another attack. It had to direct power away from holding the door to the attack itself."    

"And he keeps a secret potion for his ghost bomb."

"Many people keep secret formulas for different things without being warlocks."

"A secret formula that repels ghosts?"

"It contained salt. That alone is enough to repel most ghosts."

"Are you finished?"           

"If you are."

Then Prue walked in. "So there it is!"

Phoebe took a guess. "You were putting something away in the attic and just happen to notice The Book of Shadows missing."

"No, I was looking for something. What do you need it for?"

"She’s warlock-hunting," Piper informed. "She thinks Derek is a warlock."

"What?! We just met him! Isn’t that a little too soon for that suspicion?"

"Not for Phoebe."

"All right! All right!" Phoebe protested. "I came here for some quiet time alone...."

Her sisters took the hint and left. Piper murmured to Prue "Where does she get this warlock-behind-every-leaf-and-twig mentality?"

Phoebe called after them, "I can still hear you!"

This entire scene was being watched in a vision in a basin of water. The basin sat on a grey wooden table, amidst three burning candles, in a dark stone room. The observer was dressed in a black robe with a hood and sitting at the table. To his left sat a deck of cards. He cut the deck, drawing up the Nine of Swords. This pictured a woman, sitting up in bed, weeping, while nine swords lie suspended over her. The dark figure shook his head. He dipped his quill into an ink bottle, then, upon a leaf of paper before him, he began to write.

Phoebe got home from the university and started upstairs to her room, when Piper called her.

"Phoebe! Package for you!"

She came back downstairs and into the livingroom. There sat a wrapped box, about eight inches square, on the coffeetable. It was addressed to Phoebe but the return address was Gold Coast Confectionary. "Candy?"

She unwrapped and opened a box of assorted chocolates. Still confused, she held it out to Piper to offer her one.

"Thanks. More fat to add to my hips. So, who’s your admirer?"

"I don’t know. There’s no card or any kind of message. And I didn’t order this."

Prue entered. "Phoebe, there’s a package.... Oh! You got it."

Phoebe held it out to her to offer.    

"Thanks. What’s the occasion?"

"Don’t know. No card. No message. I didn’t order it."

"Did you win some kind of contest?"

"None that I remember entering."

Piper suggested "You just have a secret admirer."

"A little too secret. He won’t even give me a hint."

"Could it be Derek?"

Phoebe’s eyes widen, as she was chewing on one herself, then slowly nodded. "Could be! He could have arranged to have it sent before leaving for Australia. He’ll be back in four more days. I could ask him then. Funny he wouldn’t send a card or anything with it."

"Well, maybe you know who sent this." Piper held out an envelope to her. It was addressed to P. Halliwell in beautiful calligraphy, but without a return address.

"Why do you think it’s for me?"

"I don’t recognize the handwriting. Neither does Prue."

"Well, I don’t either."

"As long as we’re all here, we can open it and see."

Phoebe opened the envelope, unfolded the letter, and put on her glasses. On examining it, she pulled her head back with a surprised frown.

"It’s in a foreign language. French, I’d say. I’m not up on my French." She handed it to Piper.

Piper looked it over. "It’s been years since I studied French and I never used it. But I can understand ‘horror’, ‘tourment’, and ‘poison’, and I can tell you right now, I’m not going to like the translation." She passed it on to Prue.

Prue examined it. "You’re right. This doesn’t sound good. ‘Oh what horrible and unfortunate torment’ something something something. I’m not up on my French either."

As the three sat, staring at the letter and trying to remember their high school French lessons, Leo orbed in.

Piper announced "Just the man we need!"

Prue asked "Leo! How is your French?"

Leo answered cautiously "Enough to get by."

Piper handed him the letter. "Then get by this."

Leo read out loud:

"O que horrible et malheureux tourment,

Trois innocens qu’on viendra ‘a livrer:

Poison suspecte, mal garde, tradiment,

Mis en horreur par bourreaux envirez.

De Nostre Dame"

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: For those of you unfamiliar with French, here is my best pronunciation guide: (For those of you, who do know French, don’t look!) Oh kay o-ree-BLAY eh mawl-oo-RO tor-MON / Twah EEN-no-sawnz koo-ON vee-ON-drah ah lee-VRAY / Pwah-SOHN soos-PEKT, mawl gard, trah-dee-MON / Me on o-ROOR par bo-ROO on-vee-RAY. / day NO-stray Dom]

He asked them, with an air of seriousness, "Where did you get this?"

Piper answered "It came in the mail."

Phoebe added "Anonymously."

Prue asked "Can you translate it?"

He warned "You’re not going to like this."

Piper said "That’s what I said."

Leo went on:

"Oh to what horrible and unfortunate torments

Which three innocent ones will be delivered:

Poison suspected, badly guarded, betrayed,

Then handed over to horrors by drunken executioners.

Signed Nostradamus"

"Nostradamus!" Prue exclaimed. "Not the Nostradamus! ... I hope."

"Sound real cheerful," Piper chided. "He’d make a killing in the greeting card business. And I do mean killing. .... Hey! Wait a minute! .... Whoa! .... Three innocent ones? What three innocent ones? Three innocent who?"

"Why do you think it was sent to the three of us?" Phoebe brought out. "All three of us are P. Halliwell."

"Okay! I’m already ‘handed over to horrors’! I’m horrified! Is anyone else horrified? I hate to be horrified alone."

Phoebe put an arm around her. "Yes, we’re all horrified."

"Oh good."

Prue asked Leo, "Can you tell where it came from?"

"The paper is made of linen fiber, like the paper of the time of Nostradamus. And it appears to have been written by a quill pen."

"No. What I meant was, could you use your powers to see who sent this and where he is?"

Leo shook his head. "Wish I could. But my powers doesn’t include that."

"What about you, Phoebe?"

"I was the first to touch it, but I got nothing."

"Could you try again?"

Phoebe sat on the floor, cross-legged, eyes closed, and ran her fingers over every part of the letter. After awhile, she just sighed and shook her head. "Nothing." She packed the letter and envelope into her backpack. "I’ll take it to the American Psychic Society. Maybe someone there can pick up something."

"Wait a minute!" said Prue. "You trust someone there is have stronger powers than yours?"

"You can never tell. And it’s not that someone’s powers would be stronger, but just have a different angle."

It was late at night. There was little light on a narrow street, where most apartment buildings are boarded up. A lone figure, under a long coat and wide-brimmed hat, quietly moved along the sidewalk. A girl,in her teens, with long black hair and dark eyes, walked where no girl should be out at this time of night. But she was out to collect a reward and didn’t think of any risk.

At one building, she spotted a dim light glowing in a window on the third floor. She turned into the nearest alley, looked over the boarded basement windows, and went to the one marked with pentagrams. The boards came off easily, as arranged. She climbed into the basement, then from there, made her way to the third floor.

There was a light coming through a doorway. All the doors had been removed. She went in to find a candle, burning on a small table, in what was a diningroom. No one else was there, so she wandered through the other rooms. Finding no one in any of them, she went back to the candle. A man’s voice broke the silence.

"This better be useful."

The girl jumped with a gasp and quickly turned. The candlelight revealed his stone-cut face and piercing eyes.            

She responded, "Oh, it is!"

"Well?"

"Phoebe was at the American Psychic Society, showing everyone a letter she got int the mail. It was in French and signed ‘Nostradamus’. She kept asking everyone to use their powers to trace the writer. So far, no one can."

"And how can I use this?"

"I can tell her I know ‘Nostradamus’ and can lead them to you."

He thought it over for a moment then nodded. "Yes. That could work. Wait until I contact you again and give the directions where to lead them. Meanwhile, don’t let the youngest one touch you. That could expose me."

"When do I get my powers?"

"After those three witches are delivered into my hands."

Phoebe joined her sisters at the P3.

Piper asked, "Find out anything?"

"No. No one else could pick up anything either. Now that’s strange!"

Prue asked, "Why strange?"

"A person goes through a lot of motivation and thought to write an important letter. This would leave, what the psychics call, a psychic residue, which can be picked up and read by a psychic receiver. But this letter has no residue. It’s as if it were written by a machine."

Piper added, "Or a warlock who can cover his tracks."

"That’s very likely," noted Prue. "But the important question is, Is the letter meant to intimidate us or warn us?"

Phoebe added, "Is this serious or a practical joke?"

"Is this meant to be taken literally or figuratively?"      

"Why don’t we wait until we’re in front of a drunken firing squad?" suggested Piper. "Then we can say ‘Oh! It was meant to be taken literally!’ Then what?!"

Prue assured, "I’m sure we’ll find out way before that."

"I’d feel a lot better if we knew now."

"And I did some research on the Gold Coast Confectionary," informed Phoebe. "But I couldn’t find it in the phone books, business directories, or the internet."

"Oh no! Has anyone else thought of this?" interjected Piper. "We got the letter and the chocolates on the same day! The letter warned us that we’d be poisoned! The chocolates could be poisoned!"

"The letter said poison would be suspected ... which is what you just did. So that fulfills part of the prophecy."

"Great! Now we can expect, any day now, drunken executioners to come kicking down our door!"

Prue said, "It’s not as simple as that."

"Oh no. We’ve got to go through torments first."

Phoebe leaned her head on her hand, with elbow on her knee, frowning towards Prue. "She’s such an optimist! How can we possibly be related to her?"

Piper frowned at her and twisted her lip. Prue laughed, then Phoebe. Piper just shifted her narrowed eyes between them.

In a dark stone chamber, bathed in red light, the man, who met with the girl in the empty apartment, sat on a throne of square cut slabs of black stone. Across from him, sat an older looking figure, in a red robe and hood, a long white beard, and eyes that glowered with all the malevolence of his soul.

"Your plan sounds too simple, Cruentius. Why do you need the help of mortal girl? Why not simply go to them directly and deceive them yourself?"

"The Charmed Ones have been very successful in overcoming warlocks, and even demons. With their experience, they would be able to see through my plans. So, Odisian, they would trust a mortal, who has been among them for quite some time, rather than a stranger. My appearance would put them on their guard, whereas a young mortal girl, with no power to harm the witches, would disarm them."

Odisian thought this over then nodded. "It is well thought out then. Let me know when you succeed. The Council will want to be present at this victory. It will be cause to celebrate."

Phoebe came home after another day of school and more inquiries at the APS. She went to the livingroom, then the kitchen, looking for her sisters. She looked in basement, to see if Prue was in her darkroom. But it appeared that neither were home. She decided to study a little as she waited for them. It wasn’t long until Prue and Piper came in carrying bags of groceries.                                Immediately Phoebe told them, "I got a lead on that letter."

Prue asked, "What letter?"

"The one from ‘Nostradamus’."       

"Oh! What did you find out?"

"I know someone at the APS who knows him."

"Who?"

"Remember Trini Martez?"

Piper asked, "You mean the one in our wiccan club?"

"The same. She says ‘Nostradamus’ (not his real name of course) is a family friend of hers."

Prue asked, "Did you meet him?"

"No. She says he fears for his life for helping us. So he’s in hiding."

Piper asked, "In fear of whom?"

"He won’t say. Not even Trini knows."

Prue asked, "But is there a way we can contact him?"

"Trini’s arranging that now. She’ll be back at the APS later tonight."

"Good. Let her know that we’ll protect him."

"I did."

Next day, Trini was leading the three sisters up the stairs of a dilapidated tenant hall. After a few flights, she led them to a door and knocked. There was no response for awhile, so Trini cautiously pushed the door open. They entered a sparsely furnished apartment, with dirty floors and peeling walls.

Phoebe wondered, "He lives here?"

"No. He’s just hiding out here." Trini responded. "He lives in a much better place. He can afford it."

In the livingroom, they found overturned furniture and broken articles scattered all over the floor.

Trini cried out, "They got him!" and began running through the other rooms, looking for him. Phoebe stood amidst the rubble, looking around carefully.

Prue asked her, "Picking up anything?"

Phoebe shook her head. "Not yet. .... Strange! .... A scene of violence is usually saturated with emotional vibrations. I should have picked up something right away."

Trini came back. "No sign of him!"

Phoebe asked her, "Who are they? You said they got him."

"He wouldn’t even tell me. He’d say things like they must find out what he’s doing and they won’t want him helping you. .... What’s that over there?"

She was pointing at a small bright red object near Phoebe’s feet. Phoebe picked it up. It was a curled dragon, carved in from a red stone, on a broken chain. Suddenly Phoebe received a vision of Osidian’s hideous face, laughing malevolently.

"What is it, Pheebs?" Piper asked. "What did you see?"

"A demon."

"Now we know who they are."

"But how did this get here?"

Trini suggested, "Maybe it came off in the struggle."

"Demons don’t have to struggle," Phoebe explained. "They can kill with just a wink of an eye. This may have been deliberately left here as a calling card."

Piper theorized, "Then they knew we were coming."

Trini countered, "Or maybe they couldn’t find him and it was torn off in anger while smashing up the place."

Phoebe asked, "You think he might not have been here?"

"There’s one way to find out. He arranged to meet at another hiding place in case something went wrong here."

"He has a second hideout?"

"A contingency plan. We’ve got to go and check it out."

"Where is it?"

"It’s on his property down the coast; about a half hour drive."

Phoebe turned to her sisters and said, "I’ll go with her. You ask around if anyone here has heard or seen anything."

Trini blurted, "Oh no! We all have to be there!"

"Why?"

"So he can tell your future ... for each individually as well as collectively."

"Can’t he just write it to us like he did before?"

"Yes, but this is an emergency! Whatever’s going to happen could happen today! .... Please! .... It’s very important! .... For your sake!"

"All right. We’re going."

Trini eagerly led the way out. Phoebe turned and traded puzzled looks with her sisters.

The ride south was mostly quiet. Although Phoebe tried to make conversation, Trini kept her responses short and ambiguous. By her directions, they turned off of the main highway, down a narrow unpaved road, and to a cabin in the dense woods. They got out of the car and stretched their legs.

Phoebe looked at the cabin and asked, "Is that it?"

"No, he’s not in there," said Trini. "He feels too ‘out in the open’, even in there. Down this trail is a cave." She pointed to a trail, disappearing into the shrubbery. "We’ll find him there."

"In a cave?!"

"It’s comfortable. Over time, he cut out several rooms in the rock, where he can live comfortably for days."

The ever-growing complexity of the situation drew in the sisters more and more, so they followed Trini down the trail.

But soon Prue brought out, "Wait a minute! We don’t need our purses. They can get in the way, get messed up, or even lost, while climbing through the cave. Let me take them back to the car and lock them up, while you go ahead. I’ll catch up with you quickly."

Piper and Phoebe thought this was a good idea, so gave her their purses. Trini worried as Prue disappeared up the trail, but ran out of ideas.

"Don’t worry," Phoebe told her. "We’ll wait for her outside the cave. She won’t be long."

But she was. So it seemed. When she finally came down the trail to the mouth of the cave, they had been sitting or pacing for some time.

"Sorry to take so long. I had trouble with the trunk lock. I’ve got to have a repairman look at that soon. Well! Let’s get on with it! I’m anxious to see who this ‘Nostradamus’ is and what he has to tell us!"

She went on into the cave, leaving Piper and Phoebe looking at each other. What’s gotten into Prue all of a sudden?

First, Trini overturned a specific stone and retrieved a flashlight, hidden there for her. With this, she led the sisters down the dark, winding passage. After awhile, the cave’s interior took the form of neat hallways of level floors, straight walls, and arched ceilings. At one point, Trini turned off the flashlight and they noticed a red light illuminating their surroundings.

Before any could ask, Trini volunteered the explanation. "It’s a phosphorescent fungus. At this level, they’re all over the place. So people can live down here without electricity."

She led them on to a doorway, which led to a good-sized room of smooth cut surfaces in the stone. Across the room was another doorway, but with an iron door with a small barred window.         "He’s through there," said Trini. "Wait here while I tell him you’ve arrived."

They waited, expecting her to be back soon. The ever-present blood-red glow didn’t set will with them; especially Piper who loathes the sight of blood. Soon the little window opened and a man’s face appeared.

"Hello, Charmed Ones!"    

With that, they heard a loud rumble and thud behind them. Across the doorway, by which they entered, a slab of stone had slid across, sealing them in.

"Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the flies."

Piper shot, "How original!"

Prue ventured, "I take it you’re not really ‘Nostradamus’."

"I am Cruentius."

Piper spat contemptuously, "A warlock!"

"Exactly"

Phoebe asked, "What do you want with us?"

"You know what I want with you. For the past three years, the three of you have interfered with our plans in San Francisco. You have killed several of our best warlocks and de-activated some of our highest demons. Now with you out of the way, there will be no stopping our conquest of the American West Coast.

"The Council of Evil has even placed a bounty on you. My reward, for handing you over to them, will be the opportunity to move up the rank of demons. And your little friend, who helped me out in this matter, will take my place as a powerful warlock.

"Meanwhile, don’t bother wasting your powers on anyone. We’re all immune to your magic down here. Now, I must prepare the Council to receive you. You’ll be dying to meet them." He shut the window and walked off maliciously laughing.

Piper shouted after him, "Do you know how incredibly trite that is?"

They milled around in their prison cell, looking everything over. Prue tried her powers on the stone slab, with no results.

Piper sighed. "Now what? Do we just wait for the drunken executioners?"

Prue said, "We find a way out."

"How? He said we can’t use our powers on anyone."

"But maybe we can use their powers," said Phoebe, as she pulled from her pocket the demon’s red stone pendant, she had found in the empty apartment. "Our powers may not have any effect, but what about their own powers?"

"Do you know how to use it?" Piper asked. "Are you sure it has any power?"

"It has power all right. I can feel it. And it shouldn’t take me long to figure out how to work it."

She ran her fingers over the stone, probing for its secrets. Suddenly the sisters felt hands seizing them. Out of the walls and floor came long stoney arms and hands, grabbing their arms, legs, and hair. The women struggled and screamed but all in vain. Their assailants were rock hard and irresistible. In her struggle, Phoebe dropped the pendant. One of the hands picked it up and pulled it down into the floor. With that, all the other rock limbs retreated back into the surrounding surfaces. Phoebe went down on the floor and examined the space where she saw the pendant go down. She felt around and knocked on it, but found only solid rock.

"Well, so much for that idea."

The three huddled together in a corner, nursing their aches and pains.   

"I can’t believe this!" Piper groaned. "We just walked right into this with eyes wide open. Despite the warning we were given, none of us had an inkling that this could be a trap."

"I did," said Prue. Phoebe and Piper shot her a surprised look.

"You did?" Piper bellowed. "And you didn’t bother telling us?"

"I wanted to see this through."

"Oh we’re seeing this through all right! All the way to our execution!"

"We can get out. We have before."

"How? We’re surrounded by warlocks and demons ... and a traitor! We can’t use our powers on any of them! We’re miles underground! And nobody knows we’re here!"

"Darryl knows we’re here." Again Piper and Phoebe are surprised. "I took our purses back to the car so I could call him on my cell phone without Trini knowing it. And before rejoining you, I set up little stones to form an arrow pointing down the trail to this cave."

"But that’s a half hour drive. That could be too late."

"He’s not coming himself. We’re outside his jurisdiction. He’s calling the local sheriff and giving him our position."

"What can he do against demons and warlocks."

"We need all the help we can get. And exposing this place to the outside could force them to shut down operations here. But if we can get out ourselves, we can spare the sherriff any risks."

"How? How? If the demons and warlocks are immuned to our powers, what can we do?"

"Maybe we don’t have any power over them, but what about the things around them? When we’re taken out, just keep your eyes and minds open on what we can manipulate around them."

"Like what?"

"Well, I could still move things, like stones, ... furniture, ... weapons. You could freeze something they need, ... Uh ... Phoebe could get a prediction on how we get out of here. We just need to open to anything."

"So much of that prophecy has come true. I suspected we were poisoned. We were betrayed. And were badly guarded by letting out guard down and walking right into a trap. Now we’re going to be executed. How do we go against prophecy?"

"The prophecy didn’t say we will actually be executed. It just says we’ll be handed over to executioners."

"That’s right!" said Phoebe, coming to the same realization. "If we just meet our executioners, that will be enough to fulfill the prophecy! Escaping afterwards won’t go against it!"

This brought them some hope. Soon they heard "Psst! Psst! Phoebe!" coming from the door. Phoebe went to the door and saw Trini peering through the bars. She was in tears and her voice fluttered with sorrow.

"Oh, Phoebe! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know!"

"Didn’t know what?"

"That they planned to kill you! I wouldn’t have done this if I had known! They just told me they’d take away your powers. That’s all."

"Why did you do this?"

"They promised me power. All my life, I’ve been under the power of other people; other people using and abusing me. I just wanted to break free of that."

"Oh Trini! You didn’t need power. You just needed to wait until you’re a legal adult and out on your own. In one more year you’ll be 18 and under your own power."

"My mother was an adult and my father had power over her."

"You wiccan sisters can teach you how to avoid mistakes in relationships like that. That’s what friends are for."

"I don’t know what to do anymore. I really made a mess of everything."

"Can you help us get out?"

"I’m sorry. I don’t have the key."

"But do you know the way out? I know we can’t go out the way we came in."

"How will you get away to get out?"

"Leave that to us. Just tell me which way to go to get back to the surface."

"I can draw you a map!"

Phoebe waited, listening to Trini’s pen scribbling on paper. It wasn’t long till she heard paper being torn from a notebook. Trini handed it to her through the bars.

"The ‘x’ is where you are now. The circle is where they’ll take you to meet the Council. The arrows show where you can go from either place. You’ll reach a place which branches out into several tunnels. Just keep to the right and you’ll loop around to where we came in. I’ll leave a flashlight at the junction to point out the right way to you. You’ll need it to get out."

"Thanks. This will come in handy."

"I wish I could do more. Would it help if I stalled the Council in coming to see you?"

"It might. But don’t take any risks."

"Don’t worry. I got you into this; I’ll get you out." With that, she quickly left.

Phoebe went back to her sisters.

Piper wondered, "Are you trusting her again?"

"Yes, I’ve know her long enough to believe she wasn’t told they plan to kill us."

"She led us into one trap. Are you going to let her lead us into another?"

"We’re already trapped! Why would she need to lead us into another?"

"They probably heard us planning an escape and want us to walk into another trap if we do!"

"All right, both of you!" Prue demanded. "We’re not getting anywhere fighting each other! There’s one way to settle this." She snatched Trini’s map from Phoebe and looked it over. "I can astrally project to several of these points and see if this is for real." She heaved a heavy sigh and went into a trance.

Piper and Phoebe waited ... and waited ... and waited. Finally, Prue took in a deep breath, raised her head, and opened her eyes. "It checks out. It’s all clear."

"See?" said Phoebe triumphantly. "I knew we could trust her."

"Sure, it’s clear now," Piper countered. "But what about later when we need it?"

"Do you always have to be such a wet blanket?"

"I don’t find dying a joyous occasion!"

"Well, sitting around, doing nothing....!"

"All right, both of you!" Prue cut in once more. "Let’s not go through this again!"

Suddenly their attention was caught by a commotion down the hall from their door. At first, an indistinguishable cacophony of noise, they could make out roars, grunts, and laughter, as it drew closer. Then, without warning, the door burst open and slammed loudly against the wall. In staggered six miscreants.

They were short and burley, with broad shoulders, and thick arms and hands. Their faces were covered with white hair and pointed, like a mountain goat or musk ox. On top of their head were a set of two curled horns like a ram’s. They wore black leather with metal studs and iron boots. They staggered around, roaring belching, and laughing, flashing their yellow fangs.

Piper panicked. "Oh! Oh! The drunken executioners! This is it! Here come the horrors!"

When these demon-trolls saw the three women, they remembered their task and went to business. Piper tried using her powers against them but it had no effect. Then Prue tried but couldn’t even slow them down. The three huddled in a cornor as the monstrosities moved in on them. Prue stood in the forefront with arms out at her side, defiantly shielding her sisters. But it was to no avail. Each demon-troll seized an arm and dragged the sisters out of the cell. The women grimaced at their touch and smell.

Along the way, Piper complained, "Oh God! They stink!" She turned to one of them. "What have you been drinking?" It simply laughed into her face, blowing more of its reek up her nostrils. She turned away feeling nauseous. "This must be the ‘horrible and misfortunate torment’."                They were conducted to a large round cavern, cut to a smooth dome. The constant red light revealed all its details. A river ran straight throught the giant chamber. On the other side, several black thrones of square cut stone were set up.

Prue observed, "This is where the Council is suppose to ‘meet’ with us."

On their side of the river, in front of the thrones, were set three wooden blocks, on which rested three large axes.

Piper commented, "That’s not for cutting firewood."

Again, the demon-troll, on one side, laughed, blowing its stench into her face. In irritation, Piper snapped, "Oh shut up!"

Prue concentrated on the blocks and axes and sent them tumbling into the river. Piper then understood what she meant by seeking opportunities to use their powers on things around their enemies. The demon-trolls looked at each other. They released hold on the sisters and pushed them together in a huddle. Four stood around them while two went into the river to retrieve their instruments of death.

Piper noticed on guard standing by a stack of casks and flagons. This must be their liquor supply. As it picked up a flagon and raised it to its mouth, Piper got an idea and let her power fly. When nothing came out of the bottle, the demon-troll looked up inside and saw the fluid suspended. Confused, it began shaking it with complaining grunts and murmurs. Another noticed and went over, looked up into the flagon, then went over to examine the casks. The other two, curious over their actions, went over to them. Soon, all four were shaking and pounding on the containers, wondering why the wine wouldn’t flow.

Piper turned to her sisters and whispered, "This is it! Let’s go!"

Quickly and quietly, they bounded away. When they reached the door, by which they entered, they broke into a full run. They backtracked to their former prison and came to a stop past the iron door.      

Prue turned to Phoebe. "Where does the map say we go from here?"

Phoebe pulled the map from her pocket, unfolded it, then led the way. Their path made a long turn and led to a smaller dome-shaped room. This one had five other doorways in all different directions. In the middle of the one on the extreme right, lie Trini’s flashlight. When Phoebe picked it up, they noticed a noise coming down the corridor behind them. It was the sound of roaring and metal boots slamming the hard rock floor. They took off up the designated corridor. When rounding the first bend, Prue stopped.

"You keep going! I’ve got an idea!"

Piper called back, "What are you doing?"

"Just go!"

So insistent was her command, that, despite their concerns, they continued. Prue leaned against the wall, summoned up all her breath and will, and went into a trance.

The demon-trolls reached the junction of corridors and looked over the other doorways for any trace of the witches. Suddenly a few noticed Prue, running up one of the tunnels to the left and led the chase. After rounding the first bend, she faded away and returned to her body in the right corridor. Revived, she continued the flight.

After a little while more, the red-lit, smooth-cut hallways gave way to a dark, stoney passage. There, Piper and Phoebe waited for her.

"I told you to keep going!"

Phoebe countered, "You’ll need a light to get through the rest of the way."

Prue saw no time or reason for arguments. "All right. Let go."

They made their way upwards, over and around boulders, and through twisted paths. Eventually, they came to a fork in the passage which looked familiar.

"Here’s where we came in," Phoebe observed. "We couldn’t see this other passage because Trini kept pointing the flashlight straight ahead."

When they turned to continue upward, they heard a loud crack overhead. The ceiling began crumbling in on them. With her power, Piper froze the rockfall.

"They know we’ve escaped! They’re trying to bury us!"

Once again, they started to run. After a few steps, the ceiling nearly exploded, sending down a shower of stones. Piper froze that and they carefully ducked under it. After this, Prue took the flashlight from Phoebe and led the way, using her powers to move stones of all sizes out of their way, giving them a clearer running path. Piper drew up the rear, freezing every rockslide let loose on them. And a few times, Phoebe had predictions of when the next would be and pointed them out to Piper, so she could freeze them before they happened.

It seemed like such a long time ‘till they saw a light up ahead. They were approaching the opening of the cave, when it began shaking with all the fury of the demons. Stones began raining down on them. Prue dropped the flashlight. The uphill climb was now all the more difficult. Prue put her arms around her sisters and pulled them along. They combined their strengths and helped one another in this upward struggle.

The light was getting closer and closer with every few painful steps. Suddenly they heard a very loud crack overhead. Quickly Prue concentrated her power on the ground at their feet, propelling herself upward while holding onto her sisters. They burst out into the light and faced a barrage of armed sherrif deputies.

One of them asked, "Are you Halliwell?"

"Yes!," Prue responded. "We’ve got to get away from here! The whole thing is coming down!"       

Saying that, a loud rumble came from the cave, followed by a powerful gust which swept everyone off their feet. Behind them sat a rockpile spewing clouds of dust.

Phoebe looked back in horror. "Trini’s still down there!"

The head deputy came forward. "How many people are down there?"

"We don’t’ know," said Prue. "We saw ... a few ... but heard that there are some others."

Phoebe added, "One of them is our friend!"

"We’ll call Rescue," the deputy informed. "Meanwhile, we need a statement from each of you."

The sisters slowly made their way back to the cabin. Battered and exhausted, they leaned on the car to rest a bit. Phoebe leaned her head on Piper’s shoulder.

"I’m sorry I yelled at you back there. You’re not ... always a wet blanket."

Piper leaned her head on Phoebe’s. "I’m sorry I yelled too. I should learn to trust your instincts and judgements a lot more."

Back at home, Prue and Piper sat on the livingroom sofa, relating the day’s events to Leo. "I can’t believe how easy it was to get away," Piper was saying. "Dumb executioners, which could easily be distracted, and the backdoor left unguarded."

"Well, the prophecy did say we’d be badly guarded," Prue reminded. "That was one part in our favor."

The telephone rang and Prue went out into the hallway to answer it.

"Prue, It’s Darryl."

"Hi! Did they get in?"

"Yes. They broke through the cave-in an hour ago. They found the neatly carved halls and rooms you described but no red lights. They had to bring a lot of their own lighting to look around."

"So, there was no phosphorescent fungus."

"Magic?"

"Definitely. Any sign of Trini?"

"They ... found her body."

"Oh my God!"

"I’m sorry. She had been ... decapitated. They still can’t find her head."

"Oh my God!"

Prue felt cut deep inside. Trini was a young impressionable girl, easily swayed into making a mistake. She didn’t deserve this. A life so young lost. It was so unfair. But Morris had to get down to business.

"What can you tell me about her?"

"She was a member of the wiccan group, which Piper and Phoebe attend. Actually, I hardly knew her at all. Phoebe was the one closest to her."

"Could you have Phoebe call me?"

"No!"

"Excuse me?"

"I don’t want her to know!"

"She’s going to know sooner or later."

"I’d rather it be later. We’ve been through so much today. She doesn’t need to know another friend is dead because of us."

"Prue! You can’t hold yourself responsible for this!"

"They died because of us! Andy, ... Sam, Aunt Gail, ... and now Trini."

"It wasn’t your decision! You had no control over those situations! Now, I knew Andy very well. I know he wouldn’t blame you for what happened to him. And I’m certain Trini wouldn’t either."

"Just don’t tell Phoebe yet. Or Piper either."

"All right. I’ll go to the Psychic Society and ask her wiccan friends."

"Thanks."

Prue took awhile to compose herself. She wiped the tears from her eyes, put on a smile, and went back into the livingroom.

"Well, they finally got into the cave. They found all the rooms and hallways we saw, but no red lights. So it was demon power which lit up the place, not fungus."

Piper asked, "Did they find anyone in there?"

Prue chose her words tactfully. "Not a living soul."

"That figures. As you said, if outsiders discovered the place they’d close up shop."

Prue changed the subject, so the conversation wouldn’t come around to Trini. "I wonder who our ‘Nostradamus’ is. I’m sure it wasn’t Cruentius."

"Hey! I did some research on that!" Leo stated. "That verse, sent to you, was actually written by Nostradamus; the real one. It’s in the 68th verse of the first chapter of this prophecies."

Piper commented, "But it’s not really about us, is it?"

"And why not?"

"Because his prophecies deal with world important events."

"To put it in words of the warlock, with you out of the way, the forces of evil can go on to conquer the entire west coast of America. That’s not world important?"

Piper and Prue looked at each other and thought it over. "Hmmmm!" But then they shook their heads. "Naaaa!"

Phoebe came home and joined them. "Well, I finally found out who sent the chocolates."

"Who?" Prue and Piper asked together.

"Gail."

"Our Gail?" asked Piper. "Our wicca Gail?"

Phoebe nodded.

Prue asked, "Why did she send you chocolates?"

"She thought it was my birthday."

"And why did she think it was your birthday?"

"Because she had asked me when my birthday is, I told her, and she wrote it down on the wrong page of her planner."

"Why was their no card?"

"A mistake at the factory."

"Why couldn’t you find the company listed anywhere?"

"It’s a subsidiary of a larger enterprise. It’s listed under Williams & Crawford, LTD."

"So what will you do now?"

"I’ll put them away and wait until my birthday to open it again."

"Aw, too bad!" said Piper. "I’m in the mood for some right now."

This whole scene was being viewed in a vision in a basin of water, on a grey wooden table, amidst three burning candles, in a dark stone room. The observer, in a black robe and hood, sat at the table. He cut the deck of cards, at his left, and drew up the Tower. This pictured a high tower, being struck by lightening, sending a man and woman down in flames. The dark figure shook his head and, once again, began to write.

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                [Next Episode: Opening day for the American Psychic Society]