Hyden felt himself being lashed and pummeled, but the blows were nothing compared to the pain in his abdomen. He was falling, and the blackness around him was absolute. He couldn’t tell which way was up, which way was down, or if he was conscious or not. Even after he became oriented to the cold stone floor under him, he was confused. For what might have been moments, but could have been days, all sensation, save for pain, stopped for him. His agonized state was eventually disturbed by an insistent scuffing sensation along his arm. When he swatted at it, it responded with an irritated meow. Hyden’s eyes blinked open to see that he was still in darkness. He reached out with his mind and felt the warm prickly lyna that was trying to wake him.
Hyden couldn’t see the creature, but he remembered it from when it had woken him on the dungeon floor.
He felt chilled, and his skin turned to goose flesh. Strangely, he noticed that his gut didn’t feel as if it were on fire anymore. Further investigation reminded him that his muscles and tendons, and maybe even his blood, were saturated with venom. His hair felt like icy needles prickling into his scalp, and he began to shudder. He was weak. His body felt as if it were melting into mush from the inside out. He knew he should have been hungry. He hadn’t eaten in days, the thought of food made him retch and he went into a coughing fit that lasted far too long. By the time he had his breath again, he found he could make out subtle shades in the blackness. He sat with his knees drawn up into his arms for a long time, trying to gather his thoughts. The lyna wiggled up against him, content to preen and purr. Eventually, Hyden cast the little ball of light into his palm. Its dull glow barely illuminated his face, and he soon began to feel like some sort of bait, so he extinguished it. He closed his eyes and sought out Talon but couldn’t find his familiar. He tried to find the hawkling’s vision with his eyes open, and though Talon didn’t connect with him, he found that his eyes focused into a crisp sort of clarity, even in the darkness. He found that he could see the edges of himself and the shape of the lyna lying beside him. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“We found the darkness, Spike,” he rasped to the creature. “Now it’s time to find the light. We have to hurry, though, the stuff inside me is going to melt me into a puddle.”
The fact that his voice didn’t reverberate reflected the vast emptiness he was in. As he stood, the lyna hunched and stretched. Hyden wanted to do the same, but was afraid he wouldn’t snap back into shape if he did. He slowly turned, peering into the emptiness, searching for a sign, or a glimmer of anything that might indicate which way he should go. As he looked, he wondered where his brother had gone and why he hadn’t killed him. He only vaguely remembered falling out of the garden yard and battling. He forced the thoughts out of his mind because he loved his brother fiercely. Thinking about him made him sad. He couldn’t afford to wallow in emotion. He could actually feel his body breaking down.
Spike saved him from having to choose a direction. The lyna raised his tail up high and, with a quick glance back, started off as if he knew exactly where he was going. Hyden shrugged and staggered after him. The direction was as good as any. The place, Hyden decided, was the definition of featureless.
They walked for a very long time. Hyden had to stop once due to another fit of coughing that had him spitting out coppery tasting chunks of phlegm. Then he leaned over and vomited out most of the liquid that was left in his body. After that he fell to a knee and vomited some more. His head spun so bad that, for a time, he forgot where he was. He recovered, though, and continued staggering after the lyna. Once, he heard something growling low, and far too near. He saw several pairs of ember eyes watching him from a distance, but he we was too ill to be afraid of them.
Suddenly, it seemed that the lyna was hovering over the smooth floor. Hyden looked on curiously until the sharp edges of a stairway defined themselves in his eyes. Spike was leading him upward. He hadn’t seen any sort of light down here so he gnashed his teeth together to bear the stress and started up after the lyna. The stairway circled ever upward and seemed to have no end. Hyden, drenched in his own fluids, and shivering with fever, climbed up them for what might have been forever.
Mikahl was somewhere over Westland riding on the back of his magical Pegasus when he spotted a big dark shape winging its way toward him. He was glad to see that Phen had found the dragon collar and was riding in the right direction. He reined the bright horse into a hover, and then let a wide crimson swath of magical energy burst up into the air as a beacon for the boy to see. The dragon banked and came toward him for a short time. Then suddenly it dove and sped away to the south. It was all Mikahl could do to keep up, much less gain on the sleek flying wyrm, but somehow the bright horse managed it. Mikahl saw that it wasn’t Phen on the dragon’s back. It was one of the red-robed priests he had seen gloating over him when he was incapacitated, and another rider. They were the ones who had set the trap for him and Princess Rosa. He decided that he didn’t want to miss the chance to eliminate such a formidable enemy. He urged the bright horse into a position above and slightly behind the powerful looking wyrm and then let loose a ripping streak of jagged yellow lightning at them. The crackling blast missed the riders, but tore a sizable hole in one of the dragon’s wings.
The wyrm roared out in pain and wheeled itself in a new direction. The priest sent a spiraling blue blast of energy back up at Mikahl, but Ironspike’s shields absorbed the attack. The bright horse might have been slightly faster than Vrot, but it wasn’t nearly as agile in the air. The young black dragon used his long sinuous body to turn and spin and sent a spewing blast of its sizzling acid breath over Mikahl. Once again the High King’s sword absorbed the attack, but the vapor of the corrosive stuff made his eyes fill with tears and took his breath away. By the time he could see again, the wyrm had carried the priest far to the south. Mikahl’s eyes were streaming and blurring. He knew that, even if he caught back up with it, the dragon could outmaneuver him. He could barely fight the pain in his lungs. He cursed as he was forced to circle his fiery steed down to the earth.
The bright horse was a magical extension of himself. It was manifested through Ironspike, but it wasn’t a real winged creature that could see, or act on its own accord. It couldn’t guide Mikahl if he couldn’t see. He didn’t have a choice, he told himself. Phen could remain invisible and hide awhile longer.
Mikahl was glad when he saw that he was coming down over the marshlands south of Westland. There was plenty of water there. All he could think about by the time he had his feet on not-so-solid ground was washing his stinging orbs. It was with great relief that he knelt along the spongy shoreline and finally splashed water onto his face. Luckily for him he still had Ironspike in his hand, because an explosion of water and teeth came lunging up at him and took him by suprise.
The winding stairway finally ended and another smooth expanse of blackness spread out in all directions. Another coughing session racked Hyden to the core, until he felt like he’d spat up half of his insides. He had to spend some time lying on the cold floor.
Soon the lyna was moving purposefully away again. Hyden struggled to follow and found confidence that at least Spike was going where he wanted to.
Hyden just wanted to lie down and die. All the moving and sweating was doing nothing for his body except spreading the venom deeper and deeper into him. He was glad that Mikahl, Phen and the Princess were all right. He’d seen Mikahl cleave Shaella’s head, and he’d felt the rage surge through the thing that used to be Gerard after it happened. How he’d survived the monster’s wrath was beyond him. As best as he could figure, he had been so out of it that Gerard probably thought he was dead. Or maybe, a tiny bit of him hoped, some inner part of Gerard had fought through to protect him. He’d seen his brother’s eyes when they first recognized him. The thing had even spoken his name. A shiver ran through Hyden and he started to cough again. He fell to his knees, leaned forward, and hacked for a very long while.
For a time, he thought that this was it. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t focus. It was over. Thick drool ran from his mouth. It tasted strongly of blood and was full of tiny granules of his dissolving body. After a while, where all he could do was gasp for air with deep rasping heaves, he leaned his head back and said a prayer to the White Goddess.
It was a short prayer, and not very polite. Why she would send him so far into hell just to die in a puddle of his own fluids was beyond him. He longed to be with Talon just one more time, to fly through the heavens and feel the air rushing past him, or maybe to climb to the heights of the nesting cliff, where Gerard had found the hawkling for him, so long ago. He coughed again and nearly heaved when he had to spit small bits of rotten flesh from his mouth. Tilting his head back to draw breath, something registered in his brain.
“Light.”
Hyden cocked his head. Had he heard that? Or was he just losing his mind as well as his innards? He looked around. The lyna was a few feet away walking in a curious circle. Hyden wiped his sweat drenched face with his shirt sleeve and tried to stand.
“Light.”
He heard it that time, but knew that he hadn’t heard with his ears. He looked at Spike. The lyna stopped and returned his gaze. He could barely see the little cat-like creature, but he knew it was what had spoken to him.
“Light, follow,” Spike said and started off again.
Hyden stumbled after the creature. He finally caught his pace so that he was walking more than falling. After a short exhausting jaunt, the lyna stopped.
“Light,” it said simply.
Hyden looked ahead of them. There it was, like a single star shining in the sky-a speck of light. It was impossible to judge how far away it was. A thousand yards maybe? A league? Who could say? Hyden didn’t care. He had to get to it before he collapsed into a fit. He knew he couldn’t survive another one.
The light grew as he approached. Was it a doorway? A lantern? He couldn’t tell. After a few hundred more steps his heart sank. It hadn’t grown at all. It was still just as far away. To make things worse, he began to hear a scraping, grunting sound coming from behind him. Deep heavy breathing accompanied the noise. He wasn’t the only thing attracted to the light. He hurried his pace as best he could without falling down. He was sweating so profusely that he was leaving a trail of wet footprints. A glance back revealed a huge spidery shape with several legs. It was dragging something laboriously as it came, but it was coming nonetheless.
“Hurry, light,” said Spike.
“I’m falling apart,” Hyden replied out loud, thinking that the lyna didn’t understand, or care. Spike’s response surprised him.
“The light can save you.”
“Aye,” Hyden grunted, remembering the White Goddess saying something similar to him. In a rush of determination he focused his gaze on the illumination and pushed his pace. What the glowing speck in the distance was, he had no idea, but he told himself he would get there before the thing behind him caught up, or he would die trying.
The long grueling hours of practice that Mikahl pushed himself through every morning paid off in one quick instant. He was on his knees at the edge of the water in grass that was as tall as his shoulders. The waterline was completely hidden, for the grass grew out of the water, as well as on the muddy bank. Mikahl was splashing handfuls of cool liquid up into his burning eyes. He didn’t see the wide swath of grass parting as an ancient snapper slithered toward him. His splashing masked any noise it might have made, except the exploding roar as it shot its huge bulk up out of the water at him.
Mikahl’s lightning quick reflexes and brute strength allowed him to use the snout of the huge beast as it came down at him. He pushed himself just out of the snapping jaws and rolled away through the muck as fast as he could. For once he was glad not to have his chain mail on. If he had been wearing it, the marsh monster’s teeth would have surely caught in it.
He could barely see as the low-bodied gator ran at him across drier ground. Its mouth was a gaping pink smear against a darker background. It was huge. He could tell that it was big enough to bite him in half if it got a hold of him. He jabbed Ironspike at the thing and the sharp blade dug into the roof of the creature’s mouth. It stopped its charge then and backed away hissing. Mikahl could barely see it, but he took advantage of the snapper’s hesitance and charged. He waved Ironspike around menacingly until the big creature turned and slithered back into the water in search of an easier meal.
It took a long while for Mikahl’s thundering heart to slow down. It took even longer before he felt that he could see well enough to chance the bright horse again. By the time he made it back to Lakeside Castle to look for Phen, the sun had long since sunk beyond the ocean. It came as no surprise to find that Phen was nowhere to be seen.