Otto and the princesses ascended the winding stairs, fighting tooth and nail for every step until the kodeads were taken care of and the still-living kobolds took their place. These were easier to defeat, as they only needed to be killed once.
Otto heard a click above him, and his mind still twitching with paranoia, he looked up to see Tower Arbalists above them, aiming their crossbows down at the princesses from a mezzanine.
“Everyone get down!” Otto yelled. They all dropped to the floor.
Before the elves could fire, Otto dropped his sword and grabbed a dead kobold, hauling the body over his shoulder. He then spun to stand over the princesses, using it to shield them from the arrows. When the last arrow struck, he caught Princess Emerald’s gaze below him. She winked at him, and he moved aside. As soon as he did, Princess Emerald lifted her rifle and shot the three Arbalists. They dropped from the balcony overhead, screaming as they plummeted.
“Whew, that was a close one!” Princess Emerald shouted.
Princesses Citrine and Sapphire rose to their feet and ran up the stairs. The two sisters immediately began fighting through a throng of kobolds on the next floor. Otto dropped the body, grabbed his sword, and breathed out heavily.
Princess Emerald patted him on the back. “Good work, Otto.”
Otto’s eyes widened when he heard his real name from her.
She gave him a confused look. “What?”
He shook his head and moved up the stairs to back up the princesses. “Nothing.”
When they arrived at the next floor, they suddenly saw where all the kobolds were coming from. At the back of the room, behind a large spiral of stairs, a kobold wearing a long cloak and wielding a scepter was conjuring a rift.
“A Shadow Priest. No wonder there are so many of them,” Princess Citrine said.
“And behind him is the final staircase leading up to what Aelyph called the Moon Gallery,” Princess Sapphire added. “Once we get through it, we should gain access to the top of the tower.”
The rift began to glow, and dark smoke began to swirl around it. More kobolds appeared, waiting for the right moment to strike.
“Emerald, quick! Shoot him before more can get through!” Princess Sapphire called, moving out of the way as Princess Emerald raised her rifle.
The same dark glow from the rift burst from the Shadow Priest’s scepter, and Princess Emerald froze before she could fire. They watched as her hands began to tremble and her mouth pulled back in horror.
“Emerald, what’s wrong?” Princess Citrine asked.
Otto ground his teeth. “It’s the Tower again. The Shadow Priest is harnessing the Tower’s madness to stun her.”
“Ruby?” Tears welled up in Princess Emerald’s eyes and she gasped, “NO! I will not let you!”
Hands trembling, she raised her rifle toward the Shadow Priest. Another burst of magic exploded from the scepter toward Princess Emerald, reinforcing his dark influence over her. Otto went to charge at the kobold mage. He found that his feet were covered in thick spiderwebs, and he watched as the Spider Speaker escaped into the shadows behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see that the others were stuck as well.
“Emerald, we can’t move!” Princess Citrine yelled.
“You have to shoot!”
“No!” Princess Emerald’s horror-struck expression became one of anger and she closed her eyes. “I won’t let you take them as well!”
Princess Emerald pulled the trigger, blasting back the Shadow Priest. Princesses Citrine and Sapphire pulled free of their webs and began attacking the remaining kobolds. Otto freed himself and ran to Princess Emerald’s side as she dropped to the floor.
“Princess, are you all right?”
“Help . . . my sisters.” Otto nodded and charged in to help finish off the kobolds. The remaining monsters ran off, and they returned to where Princess Emerald sat.
“What happened?” Princess Sapphire asked as she and Princess Citrine came to her side. “What did that thing do to you?”
“It showed me Ruby’s death.” Princess Emerald broke down, tears streaming down her face. “And then it showed you two dying as well!”
Princess Sapphire hugged Princess Emerald, while Princess Citrine held her sister’s hand.
“We’re right here, Emerald!” Princess Citrine said, her eyes filling with tears. “No more splitting up.”
Princess Sapphire nodded. “We’re not going anywhere. And if we do, it will be together.”
Otto watched as the three sisters huddled together. If they were defeated, it was on his head that their quest was a failure. The weight of this thought was a heavy thing to bear, but he had to face it. He clenched his fists and marched toward the winding steps leading to the Moon Gallery.
It’s on me now. I have to take out the Midnight Queen.
He went to take the first step and felt a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t try to take the lead, Sir Paladin. Not while I’m still breathing.”
He turned to see Princess Sapphire grinning at him. Behind her, Princess Citrine smirked and Princess Emerald nodded, eyes still red.
Otto swallowed. “If you go up there, there’s a chance we might all be lost. There might be some spell, some monster, something that will break us.”
Princess Sapphire rolled her eyes and climbed the stairs ahead of him. “There was always that risk.”
“I followed a portal into the Nether on the chance it meant I could see one of my sisters again. I wanted to save Amethyst. That’s how I wound up here.” Princess Citrine shook her head. “Do you really think I’m afraid of going up there after all of that?”
Princess Emerald followed Princess Citrine, leaving him behind. “If one of us goes, we all go. You can follow us if you want.”
Otto smiled and bowed to their wisdom. “I made my decision to come here long before the king told me to.”
He climbed the steps behind the princesses. The winding staircase crawled up and up and up. The farther they climbed, the closer the wide ceiling became, wider than any balcony or floor. As they emerged through a gap in the ceiling of the massive hall, it suddenly made sense to him why it was called a gallery. Moonlight shone through hundreds of large windows in the high walls. The Gallery was first built as a spot to view the moon’s journey across the sky each night of the year, but it was altered, rearranged, redecorated, reengineered, and repurposed no less than twenty-seven times before the war against the Dark Consul. Otto recalled these details from his lessons. He had read so much about this place, and now he was finally seeing it for himself.
In the center of moonlit room, standing next to the golem and holding her scythe, was the Midnight Queen.