Melock granted Redwing his request for seclusion in the south tower of the Stone Mountain Castle and stayed away entirely for 7 years. When he appeared in the main hall with a young girl at his side, Redwing's teleportation alarm failed to go off. Therefore, he continued working away in his study at the top of his tower. 

The prepubescent girl was dressed in layered black and purple garments that floated behind her when she walked. Her long jet black hair did the same as she followed Melock out of the hall and across the courtyard to the tower. 

Melock stopped at the door and looked down at the girl. 

"Why don't you try your hand at getting us in?"

"Ok," she said in a high pitched child's voice. 

She examined the door for a long time. Her eyes were two different colors and though the pale blue one remained in its natural state her purple eye gave off an unnatural glow. She was able to read the invisible runes written on the door. 

"Knock three times to enter. And pass three floors to be welcomed. This goes double for you, father," read the girl aloud. "He is your boy, isn't he?" 

"That he is, I'm afraid," smiled Melock with a hint of pride.

"Should we knock six times then?" 

Melock's grin went to full pride. The girl rapped six times and the door opened. They walked into an empty room with a black stone obelisk at its center. The raw stone walls at the foundation level of the tower were as bare as the floor. The stairwell to the next level was opposite the entrance. They walked over and stood on either side of the monolithic pyramid. 

"I suspect he knows we're here now," said the girl.

"Indeed. Do you know what this is?" asked Melock. 

She looked at the object, walked around it, and placed her left open palm on it for a moment. 

"It's a power source of some kind?"

"It's called a Stone of Defense and it protects the tower from magical attacks and even physical bombardments." 

"Useful. Like a shield for a building?" she asked. 

"Exactly. Shall we proceed."

They walked over to the staircase and the girl stopped at the base of the steps.

"Walk only on the odd steps. There is a different trap on every other even one."

"Very astute. Anything we should be particularly aware of?"

"Yes. The poison darts on every prime numbered step." Melock hadn't even taught her that. 

"Excellent. After you."

They both bounded two steps at a time up to the next level. Like the last, it was empty but this time there were three stairwells on the other side. They walked across the circular bare stone space and Melock, again, looked to his new apprentice. 

"What do you think?" 

The girl lifted her hand to the central stairwell. All three staircases went up in direction. 

"The center one feels coldest. I say we start with the left. Avis-aviary-avy." 

She flapped her long flowing sleeves and turned into a slick feathered raven with one purple eye. The bird crowed and flew up the left stairwell. A moment later the bird flew out of the right stairwell. It flew around the room a few times, shot up the right stairs, and a minute later flew out of the left. The bird hovered for a moment next to Melock then transformed back into the girl. 

"I guess we go the cold way." 

Up the chilly stone steps, they came to a frost-covered door at the top of the landing. Melock challenged his new student and stood to the side. The girl reached for the handle but it was frozen shut. Her hands began to glow, steam rose off the handle, the icy metal groaned; she pulled the lever down and the latch opened with a crack. The sound of ice cracking filled the hall as she pulled the metal hinged wooden door open. A gust of unseasonably freezing air hit them in the face. 

The inside of the door was covered in ice as was the entire next room. Standing in the middle of the third-floor freezer stood a frozen hooded man. He faced two glowing blue dimensional doorways. They walked in and around the figure on opposite sides. His skin was gray and he'd clearly been dead for a long while.

"What do we have here?" Melock rolled his toes on the ice-covered floor. 

"He was a thief by trade. Look at his boots, his cloak, the daggers, the hook and climbing ropes. The eye patch is a nice touch. Do you think Redwing caught him trying to break into the castle?" 

"What do you think?"

The girl put her hands together folding her middle two fingers together and pressing her thumbs, index, and pinky fingers together. Her purple eye took on a strong glow in the dark frozen room. 

The door closed behind them on its own locking them in. 

"Redwing hired him," she said closing her eyes tight. "He'd known him since he was young. He empathized with the loss of a dog and an old teacher." She opened her eyes. "He died here trying to figure out how to get to the next floor."

She walked over to the identical pale blue portals. 

"They're loops just like downstairs." 

Melock walked up to the first one, stepped through it, and instantly reappeared out of the other one with ice hanging off his beard and eyebrows, noticeably shivering.

"They're what's generating the cold," he said through chattering teeth. "What do you think?' 

He stomped his feet on the floor. 

The girl squinted at the portals and the man. 

"One plus one equals one. Combine." 

The two blue doorways moved towards each other and as they touched they reddened until they were completely overlapped and became maroon in color. Melock nodded approval of her solution. 

"Excellent work. After you." He gestured her through and after she vanished into the portal he followed. 

The girl appeared at the top of a stairwell in a hallway with a door on each side and a stairwell going up again across from her. Standing on its hind legs in the middle of the hall was a three-meter tall brindle werewolf. She looked the creature over as it inspected her.

"You're not exactly the big bad wolf are you?" 

"And you're no little red riding hood," the wolf said back in a husky female voice. "Go on up, he was expecting Melock but you can explain yourself to him." 

The wolf stepped aside to let the girl pass. She went up the next set of stairs and felt a sense of gloom coming on in the flickering of the candlelit stairwell. 

On the next level, there was a fireplace casting a comforting glow with two easy chairs in front of it. There was an intricately woven rug on the floor which she identified immediately as having magical properties. Standing in the center of the rug was a tall bald man with intense eyes, black finely made garments, and an aquiline nose. He put his hands behind himself. 

"And who might you be?"

"I'm Melock's apprentice, Toven Hex." 

"Hex? Of the western wood? Any relation to the witch of the same name?" 

"She was my mother. She died last year." 

"I too lost my mother at a young age." 

"I'm sorry. It's not easy, is it?" 

"No. Melock will be along shortly I'm sure." 

"I suspect he has three more levels to clear. Is this a flying carpet?" asked the girl.

"You're a bright one, I see why he chose you." 

Toven walked over to the rug and stood on it next to him. 

"How does it work?" She looked down at the elaborate paisley design. "Hover."

The rug lifted them both three feet off the floor. Redwing gave the girl a devious smirk and raised a hand to the latched window. It opened to a whispy cloud-filled sky of blue. 

"Let's go for a ride," he suggested. 

Melock reached the top of the steps as the two flew out the window, accelerating across the sky. He watched them circle over the mountains at a tremendous speed in a wide curving arc. 

"Children have such lust for life."