I'm not sure exactly when this story takes place. I've finally read the final two books, so knowing things from that it can't really take place after them. Whatever. It's just a fan fiction anyway, so who cares? Anyway, Driskoll's stuck with Serilynne, poor boy. Let's see what they find.

CHAPTER 8

Driskoll sighed with annoyance as he strode down the hall with Serilynne by his side. He hadn't really wanted to come to this creepy castle at night, but the fact that Serilynne and Alexandra followed them there made it worse. He didn't like either of them, and he had imagined himself exploring with Kellach and Moyra like always. If they had to split up, he had wished he could've gone with Moyra so he could have a friend to talk to. But no, he was stuck with this girl.

He glanced down at the tiny girl as she skipped along, completely unaware of the danger that could be around them. Driskoll looked up again, trying to ignore her off-key humming, and stared down the long hallway.

It was sort of odd; most of the hallways in the castle had a bunch of rooms branching off of them, but this hallway just seemed to go on forever. Aside from a few paintings on the wall and the occasional side table, there was really nothing else of interest.

Driskoll considered turning around and heading back, but then he caught sight of an odd painting. It was a small portrait of someone, but Driskoll couldn't see who it was, so he walked over to it while Serilynne stood, waiting. He studied the painting closely. It was of a young woman who looked to be quite beautiful, but something about her was familiar. She also seemed to have a dark look in her eyes, despite the fact that she was smiling. Driskoll cocked his head to one side and leaned in to get a better look.

As he tried to place the face, he heard a sound behind him and turned to look. Serilynne was standing next to a small side table, poking at an expensive looking vase. Driskoll sighed and turned back to the painting.

"Don't touch anything, Serilynne," he called to her, "You might break something."

Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening and a yelp of fear from Serilynne. Driskoll quickly whipped around and saw that where the girl had been standing before, there was now a trap door in the floor. He walked over to it and peered down. Serilynne was lying on her back a few feet down, looking dazed. Driskoll blinked at her.

"Good job, Serilynne," he praised, "You found a hidden door!"

"Yay!" she moaned from where she lay on the floor.

Driskoll lowered himself into the door and gently landed on the floor beneath right next to Serilynne. He looked around the room they found themselves in. It seemed to be a basement of some sort. The walls and floor were all made of stone and there was nothing but a lone torch lighting the room. A stone door was at the end of the room, almost hidden in shadows.

Driskoll helped Serilynne to her feet, then took the torch off the wall and walked over to the door. He briefly looked back to make sure the girl was following him. With great effort, he pulled the stone door open, which made aloud groaning and grating sound as it slid across the floor. Then he waved the torch in front of them so they could see.

The next room they entered was much worse than the first. It seemed to be a sort of dungeon or torture chamber. Two cells lined one wall, bars running across the length of the room, and Driskoll could easily see many pairs of shackles chained to the wall. He shivered at the sight. The rest of the room wasn't much better. Weapons and torture devices of all kind were scattered around the room. Driskoll couldn't imagine why a castle rented solely for a festival of lovey-dovey stuff would need a torture chamber. He glanced down at Serilynne and was surprised to see that she didn't seem disturbed by any of this at all.

"What an exciting place!" she exclaimed, "Look at all of this amazing stuff! Isn't it neat?"

"Those aren't even sort of the words I would use to describe this place," Driskoll muttered, "Anyway, be careful. All of these instruments are dangerous. They-"

"Instruments?" Serilynne repeated, cutting him off, "Can I play a song with them?" She grabbed the nearest weapon, which happened to be some sort of lance crossed with a sword, and started to put it to her lips.

Driskoll quickly ran over and smacked it out of her hands. "No, you idiot!" he growled, "That's a dangerous weapon! Didn't you hear me say be careful?"

Serilynne put her hands behind her back and looked down sadly. "I'm sorry," she told him, her voice full of sadness.

Driskoll sighed and rubbed his temples. Was this what Kellach had felt like when they were younger and had to keep him out of trouble? Maybe now whenever his older brother got annoyed with him, he would have a point of reference. He looked down at the girl.

"It's ok," he said calmly, "Just don't let it happen again, all right?"

Serilynne brightened instantly. "Ok!" she replied happily.

Sighing again, Driskoll turned to look at the rest of the room. He was quite surprised when he saw the beast of shadows halfway out of the floor. It stared at him, as if it hadn't expected him to turn around in that instant. They stared at each other for a moment more before Driskoll slowly backed away, putting himself between the shadow and Serilynne. The beast quickly recovered from its shock and continued coming out of the floor.

"Serilynne," Driskoll said quietly to the girl behind him, "I'm going to distract it. When I do, you run for those stairs over there behind it and try to find the others."

"But what about you?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"Don't worry about me," he hissed, "Just go find the others."

As soon as the shadow lunged, Driskoll pulled his sword out and countered it, the steel meeting its claws with a loud clang! Serilynne quickly raced out from behind Driskoll and ran for the stairs. The beast hissed and started to turn, but Driskoll slashed at it with his sword.

"Oh no you don't!" he growled, "Your quarrel is with me!"

The shadow beast turned back to him. "True," it sneered, "Too true. Your brother may have been able to fight me off momentarily, but you have no magic. You cannot defeat me!"

Driskoll ignored the beast's words and slashed at it again. He was satisfied when he sliced its arm and it cried out with pain. The shadow leaped back away from Driskoll's sword.

"Fool!" it hissed, "You think you can win? I may not be at my full strength yet, but that doesn't mean I can't utterly destroy you!"

"Go ahead and try!" Driskoll taunted the beast. He stepped forward, and the shadow, looking a little uncertain, took a step back.

"I may let you live for now," it said, "I'll use your emotions to grow stronger. Then I'll destroy you from the inside out! You can't hide from me! I'll be with you everywhere you go!" The shadow suddenly slithered forward, its featureless face inches from Driskoll's own. "I know all of your secrets, Driskoll," it scowled, "Your feelings towards your brother. Your feelings for her. All of them. And when you reveal your secrets, I'll be there to absorb the power your words bring. You can't stop me!"

At the sound of running footsteps charging down the stairs, the beast of shadows quickly retreated into the shadows and rushed out the door where Driskoll and Serilynne had fallen through. Breathing hard, Driskoll turned to the stairs and saw Kellach and the others racing down towards him.

"Are you ok, Driskoll?" Kellach asked when he reached him, "Serilynne said you were fighting the shadow by yourself!"

"I'm fine," Driskoll replied, trying his best to shrug casually, "It said it wasn't at full power, so I was able to fight it off pretty easily."

"I bet you were very brave," Moyra complimented. Driskoll turned away so she couldn't see him blush.

Alexandra, standing a few feet away, looked around the room. "Where are we?" she asked, "Why are all of these weapons here?"

"My guess is that this is a torture chamber where whoever originally owned this castle could place prisoners," Kellach replied. Driskoll looked at him, and he shrugged. "You don't think those wizards actually built this castle do you? Maybe they did, but when the Festival of Emotions comes around they teleport it in from where ever it usually sits. Because no one actually lives here, they rent it out to cities all across the land for their own festivals and parties."

"Huh," Driskoll grunted, "I didn't know that." He thought for a moment. "I bet that stupid looking guy goes around telling people something like that but leaves out really important information. As usual."

"Can we get out of here?" Moyra interrupted, "I think we've gathered enough information for now, and this place is giving me the creeps. Plus I'm starting to get really tired."

"I think maybe that's best idea right now," Kellach agreed, "We should head home."

…

After saying a quick farewell to Serilynne and Alexandra, Driskoll was glad to be rid of them. He wanted to discuss with Kellach and Moyra what they had found, and he didn't want to talk in front the two girls he hated. They snuck into the house, glad that it seemed neither Royma nor Torin had woken and found them gone. They went upstairs to the boys' room and quietly shut the door.

"So did either of you find out anything useful?" Driskoll asked as Moyra settled into Kellach's bed and his brother sat down on the floor.

"Possibly," Kellach replied, "We encountered the beast of shadows as well."

"Yeah, it said you managed to fight it off," Driskoll said. He didn't mention how he wondered how he had been able to do that. He guessed that Kellach was going to tell him, plus he wasn't really supposed to know that Kellach was terrified of the beast.

"The thing is," Kellach started, "I don't think I should have been able to fight it off. I feel like I shouldn't have been able to do anything at all." He turned away from Driskoll, and Driskoll guessed that he couldn't face the shame of showing weakness in the face of such terrible evil. Driskoll wanted to tell him that he didn't think any less of him, but he knew the comment would not be welcome.

"But the beast was going straight for Moyra," Kellach continued, "And when I saw her in danger, I knew I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, so I casted a spell at it."

Driskoll looked over at Moyra, who hadn't said anything yet. She was simply sitting in the bed, staring straight in front of her, with a blank sort of look in her eyes.

"So you were able to fight back when you saw a friend in danger," Driskoll summed up, "That may be something. Maybe we should tell Zendric tomorrow."

"Did you find anything, Driskoll?" Moyra asked, speaking for the first time.

"Besides the torture chamber and the trap door that led to it, not really," he admitted, "I'm still wondering why, even if it had always been there, they didn't get rid of such a horrible place."

"Maybe the wizards didn't know it existed," Moyra suggested.

"Perhaps," Driskoll muttered. The conversation ended, and they all lay down to sleep.

As Driskoll tried to fall asleep, he thought back to what the beast of shadows had said to him. How it knew all of his secrets, his darkest feelings, how it would be with him everywhere he went. Even now, as he closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.

This chapter is obviously a lot shorter than the past few chapters, but I mostly didn't have many ideas for it. The next chapter will be with Kellach, and then after that it will be Moyra again.

I know how I want this fanfiction to go. I have all the major plot points thought out, I just have to fill in all the gaps so it doesn't move too fast for logic. Next chapter is one of those gaps.