Story 6 Overview
Volume 6, "Death Gate Cycle"
**INTO THE LABYRINTH**
by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
published by Bantam Spectra
cover art by Keith Parkinson, designed by Jamie Youll

A Twist of Fate, Into the Labyrinth...

The dragon-snakes, foul and evil, are loose upon the worlds.
Utilizing Death's Gate to the fullest, these creatures breed
chaos wherever they go and feed upon the strong dark emotions
of their victims. The leader of the dragon-snakes, Sang-drax, has
convinced the Lord of the Nexus, Xar, that the dragon-snakes
support his mission for the Patryn's dominance over the four realms.

Shapeshifting into various forms, Sang-drax strives to keep the
worlds embroiled in fear that he and his kind would grow stronger.
Xar's mission, however, is not as clear to him now as it was
when Haplo began the journey to the four sundered realms. The
dragon-snakes make him, naturally, very cautious, and the one
person he thought he understood, his servant, Haplo, has seemingly
turned his back on Xar. Now, Xar is obsessed with finding that
gateway of ultimate Sartan power, the Seventh Gate, where the Sartan
Council long ago sundered the world and cast the Patryns into the
Labyrinth. He would find that magical place and from there ascend
to rule all the Death Gate Universe for himself and his people, the Patryns.
Xar will go to any lengths to achieve this goal, no matter who he
hurts in the process. He calls upon someone from Haplo's painful past
as his agent...someone who can slip by Haplo's defenses and ferret out
the information the Lord of the Nexus needs to locate the Seventh Gate.
Xar's most trusted servant is now his enemy and must pay the price
for his defection.

Haplo and Alfred, meanwhile, are already paying a price of sorts.
Both find themselves in the prison maze known as the Labyrinth, facing
its horrendous, deadly magic that constantly strives to kill the living
beings trapped within its boundaries. For the Sartan, it is an eye-opening
lesson to see exactly what has become of the Great Reformation Plan
intended to "civilize" the Patryns. For the Patryn, it is a grim reminder
of the earlier struggle to survive and escape the killer maze.

On the four worlds, the Sartan's massive machinery is made ready for
animation. The Kicksey Winsey on Arianus is almost repaired; the star
chambers of Pryan are nearly ready to shine again; and the Colossus
awaits its healing. As great forces do battle in the Labyrinth, the Mensch
mechanics do their own magic throughout the realms, and anticipation
builds of spectacular events yet to come.