no chairs or bed. It looked like an empty storage room.
"First time back?" Garafyn asked Elaine.
She nodded. "Can't say I like what Morgen's done to the place."
"Can't say I like what Morgen did with my face, either…"
For the first time, Seren saw pity in Elaine's eyes as she looked at Garafyn. "I don't know," Elaine said charitably. "You look pretty good as far as gargoyles go."
"Yeah, right. I make a pass at you…"
"And I start chiseling off vital parts of your anatomy."
"Exactly."
Lifting the cowl of his black tunic, Blaise cracked open the door to look out into the hallway. "All right, children," he whispered over his shoulder. "Let's stay together and try to remain inconspicious."
Seren lifted the cowl to her cloak at the same time Elaine did. They made sure to keep their faces lowered and hidden by the hood.
They looked at Garafyn, who stared back unblinkingly. He'd dissolved his clothes so that now all he wore was a small gray loincloth. "What?"
"Are you going to walk around like that?" Elaine asked.
"Oh yeah, like a gargoyle in a cloak wouldn't stand out in this place. Trust me, no one's going to look at me. Hell, Morgen can't even tell us apart." As if to prove his point, he ambled out of the room first. "Besides, I'm not walking around in an ensign's Star Trek uniform. Those guys always get killed."
Shaking her head at the surly beast, Seren followed with Elaine and Blaise just behind her.
The castle was eerily quiet. No one was about. It was as if the entire place had been deserted for some reason.
"Is this normal?" Elaine asked.
Garafyn snorted. "The creepy factor, aye. The quiet part, no." He glanced about nervously. "Where is everyone?"
No sooner had he spoken than a loud roar went up at the end of the hallway.
"Something's happening in the great hall." Blaise led them toward the noise. When they reached the end of the hallway, he opened the large oak door a tiny degree before he squeezed through it.
One by one, they followed suit until they were all inside the great hall where they could see a large crowd, staring at the center of the room.
Seren couldn't see much due to her short height and the fact that she didn't dare lift her head for fear of losing her cowl. But as they made their way through the crowd, she realized that she could probably be naked and no one would notice her. Everyone's attention was focused on whatever was happening in the center area.
"What's going on?" she whispered to Blaise.
"I'm not sure." He continued to move through the mass that was busy shouting unintelligible words.
All of a sudden, Blaise stopped short. Seren collided with him. She looked up to see his face drained of color while he stared over the heads of the onlookers.
Standing up on her tiptoes, she turned to see what held him captivated and felt her own heart sink at what she saw.
At first she didn't recognize the body on the floor. Wearing only a pair of ragged and torn black breeches, the poor soul had been beaten and whipped until he barely appeared human. Swollen welts and bruises distorted every part of him. But as he lifted his head, she recognized Kerrigan even though both of his eyes appeared to be swollen shut.
Even Elaine cursed under her breath.
"Get up!" Morgen shouted at him before she kicked him in the ribs. "Fight, you worthless dog."
Seren saw red as her powers flowed through her. Infuriated, she pushed her way through the crowd, even though Blaise was trying to hold her back.
Unable to take it, she paused at the edge of the crowd with Blaise still attempting to pull her back out of sight. She shrugged off his grip and pushed him away.
Morgen shook her head at the sight of Kerrigan before she turned away from him and manifested a sword in her hand. "Masden?" she said to one of her demon knights. "Care to be the once and future king?"
With an evil laugh, he took the sword from Morgen's hand.
Kerrigan forced himself to his feet even though his arm was broken from Maddor's "gentle" touch. Every part of his body ached, but he refused to die on the ground like a beggar. Morgen might have returned him to the life of a slave, but he wasn't going to die like one.
He held his broken arm to his side as he faced the knight who'd once been human. Now there was no