Alrighty. With only one...crappy...review...

...I shall keep going. On to Phaedra!

Yes, Phaedra. I own nothing!

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Dormin's Speech

Sound Effects

Thinking

Chapter 5

The Horse

Only flits of conversation entered his exhausted mind.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. We're here, are we not?"

"Yes, but--"

"Sssh! Silence, fools! He's waking up..."

Wander stirred and Dormin exhaled. The felled statue of Gaius caught Wander's immediate attention, despite the fact that he couldn't even move from exhaustion. Dimly, he was aware that the Ancient's Sword clattered to a halt right next to him.

We were beginning to think thou would not awaken.

Wander sighed. Agro nudged him with his snout, and he clung to the horse as it slowly arched its neck to help him up. "L-L-Lord...Dormin..." he said, almost passing out.

Thine condition is severe. Had We not been the rulers of this land, We would not see that Gaius has most certainly taken his toll on thee. Thou shalt not go ANYWHERE until thine wounds have healed.

For once, Wander didn't argue. Exhausted, he lay his head down and was soon fast asleep.

MEANWHILE

Emon felt like some force of an unknown presence was pushing him back--he had to fight a gale wind to move on. "Forward!" he shouted.

SHRINE OF WORSHIP

Wander awoke to hear chuckling. He looked down to see Agro had grabbed him by the foot and was pulling him around the temple. He kicked the horse and got free, then stood as Dormin laughed, Their amusement evident. "Lord Dormin, what is the next Colossus?" he asked.

Phaedra. Art thou sure thy wounds have healed?

"Yes, my lord." Wander replied, glancing at Mono. "Give me the clue as to where Phaedra is."

Confident, aren't thee? Thy next foe is...in the land of vast green fields, rows of guarding graves...it is giant indeed but fearful, it is not.

Not able to make any sense of this, Wander shrugged it off and mounted Agro, riding out of the Shrine of Worship.

Halfway through the journey, Wander felt his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten in days. He took out his bow and arrow and, after several tries, speared a lizard and some fruits and ate those before continuing on. Eventually he got to a spot where there was no light to shine on the sword, and so he just kept moving and hoped for the best.

His hopes proved true as a great valley opened up. An abyss swallowed up the light before him, and beyond it he could see a vast field with several bunker-looking mounds sticking out. Riding Agro down he curiously approached one. He cupped his hand to his mouth and shouted "Hello!" and the sound carried on through the stone tunnels.

Immediatly getting the feeling that always came when a Colossus was near, he slowly went around the corner into a closed-off area of the field. Before him was a gargantuan stone statue of a horse, with moss growing on its back and an entirely stone structure. "Whoa, this thing is huge." Wander said quietly, not wanting to alert the Colossus in case it was nearby. "I wonder who sculpted it?" Perhaps there was an opening, for it looked more like an alter or a sanctuary than anything else.

It was neither.

Wander felt a pale blue glow hit his face, and he looked up to see the black eye sockets of the 'statue' fill with light. Then he realized the structure was moving.

With a quiet groan Phaedra looked down at its foe, then examined itself before pressing its stony jagged legs into the ground, rising slowly. Despairing, Wander saw that its legs were entirely encased in stone, as was its lower torso and its neck and head. How was he supposed to climb this thing?!

Phaedra steadied itself, then Wander turned and called for Agro before realizing the horse had retreated away to the other side of the field. Swearing, Wander ran to the middle of the bunkers, with Phaedra slowly following.

What art thou doing?! We expected thee to FIGHT Phaedra, not run from him!

"In case you haven't noticed, Lord Dormin," Wander panted. "Phaedra's legs are made of solid stone! Even if I WANTED to climb this thing I couldn't!"

Phaedra is indeed hard to scale, but he is a fool. Trick the Colossus to reach its back.

Before Wander could protest, Dormin's voice faded away. Swearing loudly, and knowing Dormin would most likely yell at him if he left, he dove into a bunker as it was the only thing in the field besides Agro--

Agro...

Getting an idea, Wander shot several arrows at Phaedra, who was calmly watching Agro try to run farther. It clearly saw Wander as no threat. The first two arrows clinked uselessly against the Colossus's stone legs, but the third collided solidly with its neck. Giving a loud whine, Phaedra immediatly turned, eyes glowing red, just in time to see Wander duck into a bunker.

Inside the stone tunnels of the structure, Wander heard Phaedra moving above and was suddenly very concerned. These tunnels seemed to be as old as the Shrine of Worship--what if they couldn't support Phaedra's weight and collapsed on him? Dust was flying with every step the Colossus took, after all.

Suddenly a giant stone leg thrust itself into the space in front of the opening, the vibrations knocking Wander to the entrance of the tunnel. It seemed Phaedra knew he was in there and wanted him to come out. Another stomp followed the first, but by then Wander was already out the opposite tunnel and turned to see Phaedra bent over the bunker he had just been in, peering into the tunnel.

Knowing that he would never be able to get over to the Colossus in time without it hearing him, he mounted Agro--who had fled towards him to get away from Phaedra--and ran towards it, flinging himself onto the stone 'tail' hanging down in front of him. It seemed the stone was not some sort of piece of flesh, for Phaedra didn't even know he was on top of it until he reached its back--stone was stone, after all.

It gave the closest thing to a whinny it was ever going to get and turned its head to look back at him. Staring the Colossus in the eye, he was suddenly aware of how old and big it was, and he felt young and small looking at it. Suddenly it looked back in front of it and its back shifted to the left. Wander was nearly knocked over as Phaedra swung its back side to side in an attempt to shake him off. All it achieved was throwing him onto its neck.

Trying to shake off his weariness, he noticed a faint hiss of the Colossus's blood coming out of the center of its neck. Either the Colossus was injured a long time ago or this was Dormin's way of saying 'stab here.' It was probably both.

Raising his sword, he hesitated as Phaedra twisted its head to look back at him. Was it right to harm a beast that had done him no ill will? Of course, he had killed Quadratus, but that colossus had tried to STEP on him. He hesitated for a split second; then he plunged his sword into Phaedra's neck.

The beast moaned and its neck swayed. Wander stabbed again and, as if responding to its master's command, it lowered its neck to reveal a straight path to its head. He ran over and almost fell off as Phaedra righted itself, then the Colossus stepped forward to balance itself. Wander stabbed its head and the horse-colossus whinnied again, then flung its head upward, nearly unseating him. With a few more stabs, Phaedra hissed as the cold blood hit Wander in the face.

Then the mighty beast was fighting to stand. With one more stab, it lost the fight and its legs gave in. Collapsing onto its side, Phaedra let out a final moan and moved no more.

Wander let go and slowly slid to the ground, watching the shadow cover Phaedra's body. The tendrils emerged and buried themselves into his chest once more, and all went black.

How'd ya like it? I'd like to know. Read and review please!