Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

it. If we get that far. It could be a place or a person, or even an object. It's a gateway, a part of Reality through which the Unreal can enter from Outside. Rather like a Sanctuary in reverse. It could be anything, anywhere. We just keep looking until we find it. And then we do something about it.'
    'Like what?' said Jordan.
    'I haven't worked that out yet,' said Sir Gawaine.
    'Great,' said Jordan. 'Just great.'
    Gawaine grinned at him suddenly. 'Sorry you came?'
    'Damned right!' said Jordan, smiling in return. 'What do you think I am - crazy?'
    They continued down the corridor, trying to look in every direction at once. Jordan gripped his sword tightly until his fingers ached. The passage was ominously quiet. The light blazed up through the holes in the floor. It waxed and waned and flickered unsteadily, as the colour changed from a sickly purple to a dark crimson that reminded Jordan inescapably of blood. The harsh garish light made Gawaine look like a walking corpse. The comparison disturbed Jordan, and he looked away. He paused briefly to look down into one of the holes, careful to keep a safe distance between him and the edge. Far below, something dark and indistinct swam listlessly in a sea of blazing magma. It was too far away to tell how big the thing was, but the slow ponderousness of its movements suggested something unthinkably huge.
    Jordan looked quickly away, and hurried to catch up with Sir Gawaine.
    'The gateway can't be too far away,' muttered the knight, as much to himself as to Jordan. 'The Unreal hasn't had time to spread far.'
    'How does a gateway come about anyway?' said Jordan. 'They must be pretty rare.'
    'They are,' said Sir Gawaine. 'I did some research on the history of the Unreal when I first came to Castle Midnight. I like to know what I might be up against. As far as I can tell, there have only ever been
    four major gateways, and they were all the result of High Magic gone bad.'
    'High Magic . . .' Jordan scowled unhappily. 'There aren't many people in the Castle with that kind of power. There's the Steward, of course, but I think we can count her out. There's Roderik, but I don't see what he could hope to gain by it. And there's Count William, but I think we can count him out for the same reason. No, Gawaine, there's only one person in this Castle with High Magic who's crazy enough to do something like this, and that's Dominic.'
    'I was wondering how long it would take you to work that out,' said Sir Gawaine. 'That's why we're going in this direction. Prince Dominic has a set of spare apartments down this way. I'm betting that's where we'll find him and his gateway.'
    A low rumbling began in the gloom at the end of the long corridor. It was quiet at first, like a roll of faraway thunder, but it grew steadily louder as it drew nearer. Jordan and Gawaine stopped where they were, and listened. The noise changed from thunder to something that might have been the growling of a huge beast, and Jordan stirred uneasily. But the sound rumbled on, always gaining in volume, roaring and churning and splash-ing, and Jordan gradually realised what he was hearing. He looked at Gawaine in horror, and saw his own shocked understanding in the knight's face. They looked back at the corridor, and the great wave of water came boiling down the passage towards them. Dominic had used his water magic to call up a tsunami, a gigantic tidal wave.
    'Run!' screamed Jordan, but Gawaine grabbed him by the arm.
    'There isn't time!' he yelled, over the roar of the approaching water. 'Get behind me!'
    He planted his feet firmly and held his axe out before him, using both hands to hold it steady. The runes of the blade glowed brighter than the sun. Jordan crouched behind Gawaine, and wondered how long it took to die by drowning. He'd only seen the ocean a few times in his life, and he'd never bothered to learn to swim. He clung forlornly to his sword, and wished he could have made a better showing as Viktor. Now he'd never know what kind of Prince he'd have made. The great wall of frothing water came surging down the corridor and slammed against Sir Gawaine, only to break apart as it hit his glowing axe, and split into two lesser waves that roared by on either side of him. Enough spray and rough water broke free to drench Gawaine and Jordan to the skin, but they were still able to snatch gulps of air and hold their ground. The water thundered on and on, breaking around them and beating against the corridor walls. And