The sorcerer helped the Wolverines escape, and they managed to take the instrumentalities back from the Sluagh. A portal was located in the ice palace's cellars, and the sorcerer guided the band to it. But as he prepared to send them to the orcs' dimension Jennesta arrived with her army. A magical battle with Arngrim and Sanara on one side and Jennesta on the other ended with Jennesta consigned to the portal's fearsome vortex. The sorcerer queen was either torn apart by its titanic energy or flung into a parallel dimension.

Jup, the dwarf member of the Wolverines, chose to stay in the world he knew rather than cross to his race's home dimension. He and Sanara went off in hope of escaping under cover of the anarchy that engulfed the ice palace. For his part, Tentarr Arngrim elected to stay in the crumbing fortress and hold the Sluagh at bay while the others got away. Thrusting the instrumentalities into Stryke's hands, he set the portal for the orcs' dimension.

And the Wolverines stepped into the vortex…

1

Bilkers were the second most dangerous species in Ceragan. They had teeth like knife blades and hides as tough as seasoned leather. The only thing greater than their fearsome strength was their aggression.

The bilker being stalked by two of the most dangerous of Ceragan's inhabitants reared on its massive hind legs. Its scabby head brushed the crest of a tree that a flick of its barbed tail would have been powerful enough to fell.

"Think we can take it alone?" Haskeer whispered.

Stryke nodded.

"Looks like a mob-handed job to me."

"Not if we're smart."

" Shit's smarter than a bilker."

"You should be all right then."

Haskeer shot him a mystified glance.

They were fine specimens of orc adulthood, with imposing shoulders, expansive chests and a muscular build. Their craggy faces bore proudly thrusting jaws, and there was flint in their eyes. Both had fading scars on their cheeks where the tattoos signifying their rank, the marks of enslavement, had been purged.