"Through here," motioned Megrim.

Azrael looked towards the moongate shimmering dimly beside Megrim. There was no way to see through the moongate and the light around the temple seemed to be sinking into the portal. He squatted down next to the dying demon and pulled out the arrows embedded in its chest. Each arrow came out smoothly except for two which had caught on the demon's ribcage.

"What's on the other side?"

"The Golden Berserker," Megrim said with a sly smile and a low chuckle.

Gaheris rode in on a gray mare cleaning his scimitar on a scrap piece of cloth. "The Golden what?" he said. Behind him came Septura and Ghadfri each placing their gathered loot in their backpack. Septura was bleeding from a head wound and rode slightly slumped on his horse.

"The Golden Berserker," came from a light voice around the corner of the temple. Septura spun around in surprise and nearly tumbled to the ground had Ghadfri not steadied him. Li slowly came into view and looked at the group. "Nothing left here. What happened to him?" nodding towards Septura.

"The balron gave him a friendly tap on the head." Ghadfri said. "He'd probably be a head shorter if he hadn't ducked..." He reached into his pack, pulled out a healing potion and tossed it to Septura.

"Well, good work Criminals. You too Megrim," smiled Li. "Ready for a challenge?" She walked towards the moongate and calmly stepped through.

Azrael placed the retrieved arrows in his quiver and mounted his horse. He shouldered his bow and reached below his saddle to arm both war axe and shield.

One by one the Criminals followed Li through the portal. Megrim looked back at Azrael and bowed with a flourish towards the moongate. "After you..."

Taking a last look at the darkening sky and the carnage surrounding the temple, Azrael stepped through the shimmering light. He gripped down on his war axe steeling for the effect of the portal. As soon as his hand touched the surface of the moongate, it felt like it was being pulled through first by the skin. Then the muscles. Then the bones. It did not hurt but the feeling was something hard to get used to.

Coming through the other side, Azrael had to shade his eyes from the surprising brightness. Eyes settled, he briefly surveyed the area. The salty taste of the ocean was in the air and looking behind him confirmed his thoughts. To his right, Ghadfri was quietly stringing his bow. Sounds of metal on metal came from the left as Gaheris gave pointers to Septura on the advantages of using a cleaver.

"Save that for later," Megrim said as he stepped past the portal. "You won't be using that here."

"He's right," Li said walking towards the group. "Stick to your bows on this one." She motioned to a path leading through a cluster of trees. "The Berserker is just past those trees. Be careful guys."

Slowly, the party followed the path Li had shown them. As the trees cleared, Azrael's attention immediately went to the man several yards away. He didn't look too impressive. Golden armor might fetch a hefty sum of gold but other than that there was nothing to distinguish him from any other fighters that he'd seen before. He was seated next to a campfire that had died down to the embers.

Around the Berseker was a handful of lizard men armed with spears and maces. Each one looked competent enough but they were no match for anyone in the group in a one on one confrontation. Azrael's tension eased as he stood there ready for the oncoming battle. Six warriors against a few lizard men and one man would be over in a few minutes.

"Him?" said Gaheris. "He doesn't look like much." He drew his scimitar and checked his shield.

Li looked at Megrim knowingly and smiled. "Just be careful," Megrim said. He reached into his pack and started rummaging through, sorting out his reagents. Li started unbuckling her armor placing each component in her pack.

Before Azrael could ask any questions Ghadfri tapped his shoulder. "Looks like he's about to welcome us," pointing to the Golden Berserker. He was no longer seated but rather walking purposely towards their direction.

"I'll take care of the lizards," Gaheris said as he rode off. As the Berserker changed his direction to meet Gaheris, an arrow zipped past Azrael's shoulder striking the Berserker on the shoulder. The arrow snapped and splintered to the ground as if hitting a wall of stone.

"No use waiting for him to reach us," said Septura. He nocked another arrow on his bow and got ready to let loose another one. Azrael and Ghadfri followed suit and readied their bows and arrows. As the next arrow struck the Berserker, his attention shifted from Gaheris to Septura. He started towards the main party once again just as Azrael and Ghadfri released their shots. Both arrows struck him squarely on the chest but neither penetrated the golden armor.

"Good armor," said Azrael. He stuck several arrows on the ground for quick retrieval and examined the current situation. Gaheris had reached one of the lizard men already and was slowly killing it with quick strokes of his scimitar. Septura was releasing arrow after arrow which the Berserker seemed to be shrugging off as mere annoyances. Behind him Megrim and Li were busy gathering the reagents necessary for their spells.

Suddenly, a chill went through Azrael's body as he felt a summoning take place behind him. A hideous roar came from over his shoulder momentarily taking his attention away from the Berserker. With a great flap of wings, a daemon flew past Septura towards the Berserker.

Taken by surprise, Septura stumbled to get out of the daemon's way. "Holy..", Septura cursed. He let loose an arrow at the daemon as he scrambled back from it.

"Don't piss it off," Megrim gritted. "It's hard enough to control it as it is." Megrim commanded the daemon on towards the Golden Berserker. The Berserker taking notice of the daemon, screamed a battle cry and rushed on to meet the daemon. The two met in a thunderous clash as the daemon quickly slashed at the Berserker. He sidestepped the slash and struck a deep gash on the daemon's side.

As the last lizard man fell from Gaheris's sword, he turned his mount and rushed towards the melee with his sword raised. Seeing that hand-to-hand combat was about to ensue, Ghadfri shouldered his bow. Azrael did the same and reached for his war axe. "Time to get our hands dirty," he said.

Gaheris reached the fight between the losing daemon and the Berserker and delivered an overhand blow to the back of the Berserker. With a negligent swing of his arm, the Berserker sent Gaheris reeling back a few steps. After shaking off the blow, he raised his sword to attack again only to realize that the sword had shattered in half when he had struck the armor of the Berserker.

"Er, maybe we should stick to the arrows," Azrael suggested.

Ghadfri nodded. "Ah, that's probably a good idea."

Megrim gave a shout of pain as his summoned daemon vanished in a puff of smoke. Gaheris reached the party and retrieved his bow from his pack. "Nothing seems to be making a mark on this guy," he said. The Berserker had started towards them again with a slight grin on his face.

Suddenly, Azrael heard a voice in his mind. "Just keep weakening his armor guys. I'll take him on." He shook his head thinking it an illusion but he noticed that the others had the same look of confusion on their faces. A large shadow passed over them moving towards the oncoming enemy.

The shadow turned out to be a dragon which started to engage the Golden Berserker. The arrows temporarily stopped as each of them stood in wonder at the sight. "Guys? A little help with the arrows to distract this guy would help," the voice came again to their heads.

"That's Li," Megrim said as he started chanting again to summon another daemon.

Snapping out of it, Septura, Ghadfri and Gaheris rained down arrows on the Berserker. The Berserker no longer had on the grin and danced from side to side avoiding the dragon's attacks. As he backed off a bit, he slipped in a cut to the dragon's side. Li grunted as the wound opened up. "Somebody heal me please," Li said.

"In Vas Mani," Azrael chanted as he held the reagents for the spell. The wound on Li's side began to close up as the spell started to have it's effect.

Another daemon suddenly appeared behind the Berserker raking his back with it's claws. The momentary distraction allow Li to deliver a hard slash on the Berserker's chest. Blood appeared on his shoulder as the onslaught of the two beasts slowly started weakening him.

Lightning suddenly crashed down on the Berserker as Ghadfri threw bolt after bolt of it. An arrow penetrated the Berserker on the shoulder causing him to grunt in pain. Visibly in pain, he was still able to deliver a deadly blow to the daemon causing it to vanish as it died.

With the Berserker stumbling around fighting off Li's attacks, more and more lightning struck him as both Megrim and Ghadfri continued their spells.

"He's about done," Megrim shouted over the noise of the lightning. "Keep at it guys."

Suddenly, the dragon shimmered and blurred as it changed back into Li. She backed away from the Berserker as three lightning bolts simultaneously hit him. With a cry of defeat, the Golden Berserker fell to the ground.

Li stood and looked at the dead warrior at her feet. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she slowly turned around to the group only to find them staring at her with open mouths. It was only then that Li remembered that she was still without the majority of her clothes as she had taken them off during her transformation to the dragon.

Even with her dark skin, a noticible blush appeared. "Guys...."