Part 17

See Dr. McIntyre, to get your LITHium injection.

     Without warning, Orcs came suring round the corner.  In a flurry of 
movement, Ace, Maxx, and Kalador lunged to the attack.  Ace wielded her 
bat, Maxx thrust with his claws, and Kalador swung his great sword.

     It was a flurry of action to swift for even the Doctor to follow, 
and when it was over, all but one Orc was dead, the rest fled.

     "Well, that's overrrr," trilled the Doctor.  "Onward and upward--"

     "Doctor," said Joel, not sounding at all silly.  The Doctor turned, 
and saw why; Kalador was sitting against the wall of the Labyrinth, 
bleeding profusely from several wounds.

     He opened his eyes and looked at them.  "Do not grieve," he 
managed.  "I have always known I would die in battle.  But never in so 
strange a place as thi--" he was interrupted by a bout of bloody 
coughing.  When it was over, his eyes were closed.  The Doctor felt for 
a pulse, knowing that it was already too late.

     "Can't you do anything for him?" asked Joel.

     The Doctor couldn't answer, so Ace did it for him.  "Not with the 
stuff we've got 'ere," she said sadly.

     The Doctor's shoulders slumped as another death was laid on his 
consicence.  Then he straighened up.  "We can't even bury him.  But we 
can defeat those who killed him.  Come on, let's go."

     The Toymaker smiled.  "There, you see?  The first has fallen."

     "But they are danerously near to contacting the other human," Gone 
pointed out.

     "Then let's move him around a little," grinned the Toymaker, eyes 
glittering.  He gestured with his hand.

     Mike experienced a flash, and then landed in the middle of an 
American football field.  From both ends, players were charging him with 
helmets down.

     The Doctor's troupe came to a strange room, that seemed empty.

     "There is no challenge here," said Maxx scornfully.

     "Possibly not," said the Doctor warily.  "Move cautiously, all the 
same."

     They inched along the floor of the room, which was made of rickety 
wood.  The Maxx's weight was too much, and the floor cracked open 
beneath him, revealing a gaping hole.  He began to fall...