"Tommy?! You're alive!" Zak couldn't belive it, and wondered again just what his particular talent was, as a Gamer- healing? or perhaps he simply had many lives, like a video game character? That thought, along with her relief, made her laugh merrily. "Hurry! We're going back to Yarfell before Venger can regenerate!" She motioned him through the portal anxiously. "Bubbles will be happy to see you, she nearly attacked Sterling when you disappeared....""How soon do you think - never mind. I already know the answer: Too soon." Tommy nodded as Zaki motioned him towards the portal like a mother hen. "I'm going, I'm going. So, let's see what's behind Door Number O-" his voice was cut off as he stepped through the portal.
Once everyone was through, Zak hopped through herself, grabbing the portal behind her as she went. Once she landed in Yarfell, she opened her book and slid the page back into it. It glowed faintly as it healed itself.
She turned to those in the throneroom, expecting to see the crowd of people who'd just jumped through. Instead, guards siezed her arms and her book. Guards were also converging on Night Steel and Tommy, the last folks through the portal.
"Unhand me!" she shouted, annoyed. "Where is ...?"
Tommy raised his hands as the guards moved to grab him. "It wasn't me! I didn't do it! I wasn't even there! You can't prove anything!" He quickly saw this wasn't going over well with the guards. One of them began to shout "All Outworlders must be arrested!" just as Night Steel was surrounded by an exploding cloud of smoke. "Lookout! Venger's attacking!" Tommy actually laughed as a couple of the guards looked around in panic. "Swift..." he muttered under his breath. "Don't worry, guys. It was just our resident ninja showing group loyalty by heading for the hills at the first sign of trouble." He gestured towards the rapidly clearing cloud, which of course showed no signs of the ninja.
He glanced over at the guards hauling Zaki away. "Where do they *get* these guys?" he thought as he noticed one of them leering at the Lorekeeper.
"Look," he said, catching the eye of the most intelligent looking guard remaining. ((Not that that's saying too terribly much.)) "It's obvious you want to arrest me. Which is fine by me, as long as you can promise the castle isn't going to collapse around me like Venger's just did. I don't feel like going through that twice in one day." The guard looked at Tommy like he was obviously crazy. "You just come along quietly."
"Well, I won't resist, if that's what you mean."
One of the other guards looked closely at Tommy, and whispered to his companion. "Haffdan, didn't we lock that guy up earlier? I swear he was in that first group of Outworlders." Apparently Tommy heard him, as he replied "Nah, it was probably just someone who looked like me. There are a lot of red-headed Japanese guys in the Realm right now, didn't you know that?" He then fixed his eyes on the leader again. "So, do I get interrogated first, or are you going to toss me in a cell with the rats for a while?" The guard shrugged, deciding the best way to deal with him was just to ignore him. "Bring him to the dungeon. Lord Tolan can deal with him just like the others."
And with that the group merrily marched along as Tommy hummed a cheerful song about sunshine, sandy beaches, and being executed in the morning.
