"You need to go on without me and get out of here," the boy muttered to the girl who stood beside him. As he did, the pull of the all devouring vortex became even stronger, and he felt himself being pulled towards it along with the green mist that had settled around the castle. But he didn't let his terror consume him. The boy always wanted to be brave and he would risk his life to save those of his friends. "Maybe there's still a chance for him." He took labored steps towards the spiraling pit that was threatening to suck him away.
His terrified companion reached out to grasp his hand, halting his march which she knew would lead to certain death. The girl looked at him pleadingly and grasped onto a nearby pillar in order to stop them from being pulled away.
"No!" she screamed. Her voice was barely audible with the chaos that gyred around them. "You can't!"
The boy glanced back at her and was haunted by the dread in her face. She gripped his hand tighter and tried to pull him back to her, but the strength of the pit was too much for her. The boy wanted to smile at her, and tell her everything was going to be alright, but he didn't have the heart to lie to her. He tried to say something, anything that would calm that fearful face, but when he saw the pair of glowing red eyes looming behind her shoulder, he could only give her warning.
"Look out!" he yelled and the girl turned to see the skeletal face of the monster, a livid expression distorting his already cadaverous face. She tried to maneuver herself around to pillar, but the wicked king grabbed a hold of her hair with his claws and ripped her away. The girl screamed as he viscously ripped at her head, but she did not loosen the powerful hold on the boy's hand.
"You've interfered for the last time," the red-eyed demon growled maliciously. The girl was able to grasp a chain that was attached to the pillar with her free hand, but with the king clenching her hair, and the boy clasping her hand, she didn't know how much longer she could hold on. "And now you shall both die."
"No!" yelled the boy, launching himself at the king and grabbing him by the neck.
The creature had no choice but to release the girl as he struggled to throw the boy from him. The girl grasped the end of the chain as the pull became even stronger and brought them to their knees. With that, the boy was thrown off of the king and tumbled across the stone floor.
In an effort to rid himself of his annoyance, the corpse of a man grabbed the boy's ankle, and sunk his sharp nails deep into the flesh. The boy screamed in agony and tried to pull away, but the hold on his ankle was impossible to escape. As if sensing her friend was trapped, the girl reached up and grabbed the boy's hand, trying to pull him away from the claws of the king and the powerful suction of the black vortex. He clutched at her wrist desperately, but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep holding onto her.
Nor would she be able to hold onto the pillar.
"No, you will not escape!" the king roared as he gripped the boy's leg with his other hand and his calf was pierced by the claws. "You will satisfy it's hunger."
The boy looked into the malicious red eyes and his stomach twisted in terror.
In a moment he was thrown by the king, pulled along by the torrent that led to the centre of the pit.
However, despite his confidence the boy would not live a second more, the current of the pit began to drag the evil king as well.
A horrifying wail erupted from his lips, the thin body being thrown into the air as it twisted and turned like a card caught in the wind.
However, before the swirling pit claimed its victim, the king lashed out with one purposeful hand, seizing the boys leg as he was slowly drawn into the vortex.
The girl cried out in shock, but leapt after her dearest friend before he too was dragged into the pit, the king's mangled grip still around the boy's leg.
The disturbing wails which gurgled up from the King's throat were hideous, but his grip was unrelenting and refused to let his victim go.
The boy felt his body and hers being dragged across the surface, both destined for the roiling pit.
"I can't- I can't get away," the boy gasped out, the breath nearly stollen from his lungs.
There was a sickening snap and the boy screamed, his voice barely carrying out over the roar of the vortex.
The girl cringed in fear for him but she held tighter to his fingers, her own body hardly strong enough keep her own the ground which would not withstand the powerful gail for much longer.
Cowering in pain, the boy glanced at his left back leg as it was bent over the edge of the pit at an unnatural angle, the king's clawed hand still attached.
He knew then, that even if she could pull him from hands of the king and the vortex, there would be no way for them to both escape the castle coming down around them.
"You have to let go-" he gasped out trying to wring his hands from her grasp, but the girl only cried out before grabbing him tightly once more, forbidding him from it, "it's the only way one of us will escape alive."
"I won't leave you," she cried out against the pit's thunderous voice which was calling out for them.
His lips drew into a thin pale line before he leaned in towards her slowly. In a moment of desperation and sorrow, he pressed his lips upon hers, savoring in everything that 'might have been'.
It was soft and meaningful despite the crushing despair around them, she would look back and remember wishing that this kiss could have been under different, happier circumstances.
The wailing increased, the girls body now trembling against the wind's strength as they pulled apart. His normally happy and handsome face was rippled with fear and loss, but she could see the faintest smile on his lips, though they were touched by sadness.
"I'm so sorry Eilonwy," he whispered, but she was too late to stop him as the boy pushed off her hands and was pulled, along with the evil king, into the spinning black abyss.