"Hank!" Cole alerted the Ranger to the tower stairwell collapsing above them. Instinctively, Hank fired a volley of arrows that formed an energy net, preventing the eleven evacuees from being buried beneath the falling masonry.
As they hurried down the steps to the second floor of the fortress, the strength of the arrows gave way to the several tons of stone and mortar. Glitter and Cole, bringing up the rear of the group, narrowly avoided being crushed as they joined the rest of the group on the second floor. They were greeted to a mass of confusion, the fortress guard scattered for safety and rainbow encircled disks hovered near them as the structure was coming apart.
Through the nearest portal Cole saw Iris, Kimmy, and a pair of familiar faces he didn't expect to see. "Yo, Silverstreak," Cole called out to the Minstrel on the other side of the portal, "we have the girl, did you guys manage to find Ingeld's wings and the Orb? Where are Rose, EO and Bubbles?"
