Plan's were made at last to rescue Fortan. For days, Willis, Dorran, Sentira, and Milo combed the caves where Milo had been imprisoned by the stranger, Joseph the Traveler. All assumed that Joseph was really the man they had known as the imposter Fortan. Apparently he was in league with Mildrede, the Sorceress who had assisted in his escape from the palace. No sign of Fortan was left in the caves. However, citizens reported seeing Mildrede out and about in the Dark Forest.

With nothing more to go on, the party decided to search the Dark Forest. Willis said his farewells to the queen as he planned to go visit Northsee, but he decided to accompany the party in the rescue before he started his new journey. A patch of soft earth barely covered an entrance to some dark, dank caves. Inside, guard bats warned those approaching to turn back. The path was twisted and hard to follow, and from the sides of the cave strange tapping could be heard. The party at last found themselves in a magnificent crystal cave which apparently was in use by the Sorceress.

Sorceress' Workshop

From some of the side passages and caverns tapping could be heard ... and a strange voice was calling out. The party followed the sounds until they came upon a locked door hidden behind the rocks. Finding a loose rock, the party knocked down the wall and found Fortan ... changed into a great beast! Fortan begged the party to find a way to undo the transformation spell that the Sorceress had used upon him. He speech was slow and slurred .. he was turning more and more into the beast. Time was of the essence! Fortan knew that in a transformation spell, some article of his own would be required. So, he passed one of his hairs found in the bottom of the cage to the members of the party.

After much searching, the recipe for transformation was found in the Sorceress' workshop. The party quickly found the ingredients, produced the transformation potion, and eventually Fortan was restored to his former state. He quickly changed Milo back into a human instead of a mouse, as well.

The queen was overjoyed at the restoration of her good friend and advisor, Fortan. But who had the imposter been? Fortan explained that he now recognized that the traveler Joseph must have been his twin brother. The brother had posed as Fortan, but in truth, his name was Fortuno. Fortan lamented that his brother was more than likely in league with other evil entities in the Kingdom. The Queen was surprised that she had never seen this brother, but Fortan warned that he may well have been in the kingdom but was probably often disguised as Fortan to carry out his own plans. He vowed to find Fortuno and but a stop to his meddling.

But Fortan had one more bit of information. While he was imprisoned, he overheard the Sorceress and Gast planning a meeting. Fortan made it possible for the royal party to secretly visit the Sorceress' Lair and overhear the meeting.

Meeting in Sorceress' Lair

At first the evil ones only bickered among themselves, each blaming the others for the failure of their plan to put Willis on the throne as a puppet ruler. Sorceress blamed her sleepy guards, Gast reminded her that it was his money that paid for her new lair and he expected something in return. She blamed Fortuno for his ineptitude, but he reminded her that without him her powers would not be restored. She reminded Fortuno, that without her, he would be in the Kingdom dungeon by now.

It seemed they might come to blows, when Fortuno made a curious announcement. He said that he regretted that he had lost the real heir!!! Gast, Sorceress and Walganus seemed surprised at this fact, as were all of the royal party who listened. What could this possibly mean? Wasn't the queen childless? And what did Fortuno mean when he said ... "even the queen does not remember ... even my brother does not know?"

We listened intently for more, but just then Sorceress heard noises in the cavern. She immediately secured the complex and we were all removed from the premises.

What explanation could there be for these revelations?