Aidan woke with a horrible headache. With a groan he sat up and put a hand to the side of his head where he'd been kicked. His fingers encountered a cloth bandage. He looked around, assessing his surroundings. He was in a prison cell. Of the dank, dark, dungeon variety. He shared the cell with two others. One was the goblin Seymore. The other was Brianna. But not the Brianna he knew. This woman shared her features, and her long dark hair, but she was wearing a dress, and though her build wasn't that different, she lacked the fighter's muscles of the Brianna Aidan knew.

He blinked at her for a while, trying to sort out what was going on. "Brianna?"

She looked over at him. "You're awake! I was afraid you might not wake up. Some people with head injuries don't. But... do I know you?"

Aidan shook his head. Then he wished he hadn't. "Ugh. No, you don't know me. But I know... well... er... I know somebody named Brianna who looks exactly like you. We came here from a different world, and I think that you and your people are alternate reality versions of my friends."

"That explains it then," said Brianna. "I thought I saw Lavasida with you, and Lon, but Lon was with me, and Lavasida escaped capture back at the monastery. It was very confusing!"

"Yeah." Aidan looked over at the goblin. "Seymore? You okay?"

"Me is fine," said Seymore. "Only hurt a little."

"Seymore?" Brianna looked confused all over again. "But Seymore isn't a goblin. He hates goblins."

"Me not always goblin either. Me thinks this place is not like our home. This place is very much different. Me see Lon fight, but me know Lon not fight. Me see Brianna not fight, and me know Brianna very much fighter. And me see me..." He trailed off. "It not like our home at all."

"I guess not," said Aidan. He rearranged his wings and leaned back against one stone wall.

"I'm confused now..." Aidan looked over at Brianna. This other Brianna was nothing at all like the decisive leader he knew. She seemed much... softer, more timid.

He smiled at her. "I'll try to explain," he said.

He told her about the quest, and about the shards, and about their world. When he was done, she looked a little wide-eyed.

"Your world is very different. You talk about Tara as a friend, and a good person, but here..." she shivered. "They call her the Tyrant Tara. She has oppressed this country for centuries. And there are a great many of us who want to be free of her. There is a war of sorts going on. It's quiet, and mostly we work in ways that her soldiers can't counter, but we have been preparing for a real attack. We finally have an ally who will allow us to fight her directly, a clerical mage whose powers are great enough to stand against the Tyrant Dragon. We were planning our attack when her soldiers raided our camp. He and the others drove them off, but not before they'd captured Seymore, and Lon, and myself. I was worried. Seymore is our leader. Radu may be our greatest power, but without Seymore..."

"Wait. You said... Radu?"

"Yes."

"He's a clerical mage?"

"Yes."

"Wow. The Radu in our world is the one who caused the whole mess we're in right now. He's a vampire, and a totally evil man. And a mage of great power, yes, but... wow. Very different."

"And what about me from your world? I saw someone with you who might have been... well, I'm not sure, and I didn't expect to see myself there. But is there another version of me in your world?"

"Yes," said Aidan. "She's our leader, and one of our greatest fighters as well. She's led the Queen's Own for many years."

"I don't think I could do that. I hate fighting. I really do. Every time my husband goes out to battle, I always worry that he won't come back, and being in the middle of a fight myself... it's very frightening."

"Heh. Yeah, it can be. I'm not really fond of it myself," said Aidan. He looked out through the bars and sighed. "Did anybody else get caught?"

"I don't think so," said Brianna.

"Me hear soldiers say they upset everyone else get away," said Seymore. "So we only ones."

Aidan touched his bandaged head again. It hurt, but it was nothing like the pain and disorientation he'd felt when he'd been concussed before, so he assumed it wasn't that serious. "Well, if it's just us..." He looked himself over. His obvious daggers were gone, and the boot dagger too. And they found the one down the back of my shirt, dang. But they missed both sets of picks, the other boot knife, and the knife in my belt. "Would you two like to get out of here?"

Seymore grinned. Brianna said "Yes, of course. But how?"

Aidan pulled a hidden lock pick out from the special pocket at the back of his belt. "Like this."

The lock was very sturdy, but it wasn't very complex, and Aidan had it open in only a few minutes. He swung the door carefully open and peered down the hall. This part of the dungeon seemed to be empty. Good. No doubt there will be guards somewhere, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. He motioned for the other two to follow, and silently crept down the hall. He was almost to the end when he heard the sounds of a door opening, voices, and footsteps. Ah crap!

His eyes darted around, but back the way he'd come there was nothing but a dead end, and ahead the footsteps were very close. There were lots of them, three or four people at least. With nowhere else to go, he shrugged and stepped openly around the corner. He found himself face to face with Queen Tara. The features were those he knew, the expression was not. It was haughty, and hard, but almost petulant as well. The expression of somebody who is utterly self-absorbed. She was wearing flowing, fur-trimmed robes, stiff with gold thread. Three soldiers stood behind her.

"Tisk. It seems somebody didn't search him well enough," she said. Then she reached out a hand and touched Aidan's chest. He flinched back from the touch, but it was too late. He felt blackness coming over him again, and he fell to the floor.