-18-

"Ryll. Amaryllis." Ryll awoke with a start to the sound of her name. She opened her eyes but could only see the vague outline of whomever it was standing above her. She felt a hand shake her shoulder.

"Alright, I'm awake," she mumbled, thrusting the blanket off of herself and instantly regretting it. The air was bitterly cold in the pre-dawn morning. She pulled her cloak closer to her to fend off the dampness.

It was Arthur who had woken her. He set to packing supplies while Merlin fed and watered the horses. Morgana was sitting on the log where Arthur and Ryll had sat the night before. Her long black hair was drawn back into a braid. She looked up at Ryll.

"We should reach the citadel by noon," she told Ryll. Something haunted lingered in her eyes. Ryll sat down beside her.

"Are you frightened?" she asked.

Morgana shook her head. "Not of fighting off this creature. It's just a feeling I've had…." she trailed off either unwilling to share more or afraid to.

"What kind of feeling?"

"Something ominous. I've been having nightmares," she admitted.

"I know that you suffer from nightmares. We all do at times."

"You don't understand. Sometimes what I dream comes true," Morgana whispered. "I haven't told anyone because I'm not sure what it means."

"I won't tell anyone, I promise. What did you dream of, Morgana?"

"I dreamt of the citadel. Before I even overheard Arthur speaking with Uther of it. I knew it had to be the same one because of the creature I saw. I've never seen a wraith before, but I can't think of what else it could have been."

"What happened?"

"I wandered around the citadel until I found you. You were fighting off the wraith. But then… then it seemed to become you."

Ryll felt a jolt of fear. "What do you mean 'become me'?" she asked.

"It seemed to melt into you and I saw it behind your eyes. You have to be careful, Ryll." Morgana looked genuinely frightened, and Ryll decided not to question the validity of her dream. If she said she'd had a dream about the citadel then she had. What worried Ryll was the possibility of the wraith possessing her.

"Well now that we know what happens, we can be prepared," she told Morgana, forcing her voice to be cheerful. "I won't ever let such a beast take over me."

Morgana nodded, smiling slightly. "You're right. I'm sure you're right."

"Or maybe it was just a nightmare. Not all of your dreams come true, do they?" Ryll reasoned.

"No, they don't. You're probably right." Ryll could tell Morgana wanted to be reassured. She wanted someone to tell her that she wasn't going mad, that she wasn't seeing the future. Ryll didn't know what to believe. Growing up on the run, she'd learned to fend for herself, doubting everything around her unless it offered indelible proof of its validity. But since she had discovered the power of her ring… the concept of a nightmare coming true no longer seemed so strange to her. She only hoped in this case it was just a nightmare.

"Come on, we should get ready to leave," Ryll told Morgana.

…

The forest grew progressively darker though the day grew lighter. It seemed as if everything grew darker as they rode closer to the citadel of Scarath. The Dimwall Forest grew dense but instead of showing signs of life, the trees seemed lifeless. Bark peeled from the sick trunks of trees and the leaves were turning yellow despite the early year.

"Nothing can survive for long around a wraith," Merlin said aloud. "They suck the life out of everything eventually. Who knows how long this one has been around." He glanced at Ryll.

No one spoke after this. It seemed that to break the silence was some sort of taboo. It was so utterly quiet without the sound of birds or the rustle of squirrels in the tree branches. Nothing moved. There was no wind. The very air seemed stiff and difficult to breath as if they were climbing a mountain where the air was thin. Ryll tried to keep herself calm by remembering a lullaby her mother used to sing her before her untimely death.

Listen to the silence of the morning,

Before the bluebirds start to sing their songs;

Can't you hear the whisper of the willows

As they sing of a wind long gone;

Close your eyes dear child

And think of me today,

As you listen to the silence of the morning,

Until the bluebirds come to stay.

Only this silence wasn't normal and she doubted any bluebirds lived in this forest and her mother wasn't waiting at home to calm her. She was alone. Well, not alone. She glanced at her three companions. It dawned on her that they would stay by her side through anything and that she would do the same for them. Perhaps she had no family waiting for her at home, but the most family she had right now was riding along side her. That gave her hope.

…

It was hard to tell whether it really was noon when they reached the base of the mountain and first set eyes on the citadel of Scarath. The sky was still dim, almost hazy, and the sunlight didn't penetrate this far. The citadel itself was hard to make out through the haze, but as they began their ascent up the winding pathway leading to its gates, the stone building became clearer. It was a harsh, unwelcoming place just as Ryll had expected. But it did not look as if it were built to chase away visitors. On the contrary, the citadel, though not large, appeared large enough to perhaps once have been home to a small group of people. She was no expert on castles, but there were some signs of care that had long been forgotten. A long dead ivy plant wound its way up the stone wall that surrounded the exterior of the citadel. Flower beds lined the pathway up to the gate though it had been a long time since flowers had grown there. As they reached the gates, Ryll could see a stone courtyard beyond with a dry fountain at its center.

"This used to be an actual city," Arthur said quietly, confirming her thoughts. "I'm not sure what happened to the people though. They just suddenly vanished."

"Do you suppose the gate's locked?" Merlin asked.

"Why don't you go and find out?" Arthur suggested.

"I'll go," Ryll interrupted, dismounting and walking cautiously toward the iron gate. She pressed her hands against it and found that it swung open easily, creaking lowly from disuse. They left their horses outside the gate, tied to a dying tree whose branches veered off in odd angles. They walked in, their footsteps echoing in the desolate courtyard.

"Hard to picture people living here," Merlin said.

"No one has lived here in a very long time," Ryll said softly. Arthur and Merlin turned to look at her.

"Why do you suppose they just vanished?" They stared at her blankly. "The wraith took their lives. That's how it's managed to stay dormant for so long."

"That's awful," Merlin said.

"That's why we need to stop this from happening again," Arthur said. "Come on." He headed further into the courtyard, stopping when he found that there were three passages that veered off in different directions.

"I think we should split up," he told them. "We'll meet back here. If you find the wraith then call out as loudly as you can. This city is so empty it should echo. Merlin, you take the left, Ryll and Morgana, you take the center, and I'll take the right."

"How do we know when an hour is up?" Ryll asked, looking up at the sun that she couldn't see through the haze.

"Just guess."

They took off in opposite directions. Morgana and Ryll stuck close to each other, swords drawn. The passageway wound upwards, clearly taking them to the top level of the citadel. Ryll had a feeling that they would find what they were looking for here. Why would the necromancer be hiding in some dark corner or passageway when he was the king of this fortress? Shoulders brushing, the two girls reached the top of the citadel, standing close, swords ready should anything present itself. They were standing in another courtyard. Ahead of them was a set of doors leading into what looked like a cathedral. Dark stained glass served as windows though Ryll doubted any light penetrated them.

"It's in there," Ryll said.

"How do you know?"

"I can feel it." She didn't know how. She just could. It was like it was calling her. She could feel the darkness stirring from beyond the door.

"I think this is something I have to do on my own," she said, turning to Morgana. "Will you go find Arthur and Merlin?"

"What? No, you can't go in there alone, I'm coming with you," Morgana said.

"Please. I just know that I need to do this."

Morgana looked at her for a moment, her eyes showing her confliction. "I'll get Arthur and Merlin," she said. "Be careful." She hugged Ryll before running back in the direction they had come from.

Ryll turned back to the cathedral doors. She took a deep breath. And entered.

…

Merlin found that the left corridor led him to a section of the city that must have once housed the residents of the city. The houses lined the streets, two story stone buildings that ran together in an endless grey line as far as he could see. There were remnants of the life the city used to hold here and there like a broken doll laying next to a doorway or a set of cracked teacups set out on a table just inside an empty window frame. The houses were still furnished though the furniture was dusty and falling apart. It was as if the people had just vanished. But then perhaps they did. They must have all fallen ill and died just like Ryll's village. He shuddered at the thought. It made the citadel feel even more empty and abandoned knowing what fate had befallen the townspeople. He moved on, working his way up the narrow stone street. The houses ended with another courtyard. This one was surrounded by storefronts. It seemed that the citadel had once been a self-sufficient society. Had the necromancer been their leader or had he moved in after the wraith had taken out the people? There was an overall gloom that filled each little crevice of the city, filling in the gaps between fallen stones and broken glass.

The sooner they left the better.

It seemed that he had found a dead end. A narrow alleyway led away between one of the stores. It didn't seem to lead to any main street, but Merlin took it anyway, not wanting to backtrack. The alleyway led deeper into the citadel but he found himself going down, not up. He started walking faster until he found the end of the alley and found himself standing on a small plot of land shadowed by weeping willows. Black iron gates stood open and led into what Merlin decided was proof of what had happened in the city. A mass grave. Cracked stone crosses lay haphazardly, half buried within the moss-covered ground. He stood for a moment, shocked by his find. It was horrible and sad all at once. This could be Camelot, he found himself thinking. This has to stop. He turned and backtracked, this time at a run. He had to find Ryll, Arthur and Morgana. They weren't safe alone. He didn't stop running until he reached the courtyard. He had no idea if an hour had passed. He paced anxiously in front of the dry fountain. He was about to go after either Arthur or Morgana and Ryll when someone touched his shoulder. He jumped, turning to find Morgana. Her eyes were wide and she was alone.

"Where's Ryll?" he asked at once.

"She's going into this cathedral we found at the top of the citadel. She thinks the wraith is in there. She's going to face it alone. We have to help her."

Merlin was already running up the center path. "Find Arthur!" he yelled back at Morgana. He didn't stop running until he reached the cathedral doors. With a sickening feeling, he put his hands on the doors and pushed.

…

There was a certain finality as Ryll walked down the aisle of the cathedral toward the shadowy figure that stood at the pulpit. She realized that there was a great chance of her dying, but somehow that didn't scare her now that she was moments away from facing her greatest fear and the thing that had haunted her all her life. Whatever happened, this needed to be finished. It was a chapter of her life she wanted to put away, fold over and never look back.

She stopped a few feet from the wraith. "Where is your master?" she asked aloud, surprised to find her voice steady. The shadow turned to face her but did not speak. Perhaps it couldn't.

"Ah, you've brought me back my trinket." Another voice penetrated the dark shadows of the cathedral, soft yet ragged as if little used. A man stepped into the faint light that came through the stained glass windows. She could not make out his face from under the cowl of his hood and he did not move to push it back.

"Your trinket? You mean the ring?" Ryll asked, fingering it. "It belonged to my mother."

"Your mother stole something of mine."

"To protect her daughter," Ryll nearly spat. "But you and your wraith killed her. And everyone else."

"I remember you that day," the necromancer said, his voice like snakes crawling up Ryll's arms. She bit back a shiver. "You were so young, so scared…. I had control of the wraith. I didn't need any trinket to do so, but your mother bound the wraith to that ring of hers. Because of its healing abilities the wraith was trapped within it with you as its guardian. As long as you wore it, the wraith could not escape its trap. But you took it off. You set it free."

"I didn't know. I never would have taken it off had I known that." Ryll refused to feel guilty. It was the necromancer who had caused all this pain and death.

"You really don't know what you're capable of, do you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

He laughed hollowly. "I'll let you figure that out for yourself."

"You said my mother had magic. Does that mean I do too?" Ryll asked.

The necromancer studied her for a moment. "Perhaps."

Ryll felt a surge of frustration. "You don't know or you won't tell me?" she questioned angrily.

"I owe you nothing."

"You owe me everything!" Ryll was yelling now. "You killed my family and you burned the only home I'd ever known and now that I've found somewhere else to love, you're ruining that too!"

"I'm not doing anything. I'm not in control of the wraith anymore. You are."

"Me? You think I'd let it kill innocent people?" Ryll was sickened at the thought.

"You let it loose from its tether. You control it now. Give the ring back to me, and you will be rid of that burden."

Ryll laughed. "And let you kill everyone I know? I don't think so." She took a step back. The wraith's shadowy face followed her every move. "If the wraith is bound to the ring, then I've no use for it anymore." She pulled the ring from its chain around her neck and placed it on the ground, driving the edge of her sword into it. She expected the ring to skitter away across the cracked stone floor, but it stayed still, the sword cracking the jewel. She drove the sword into it again, cracking the stone further.

The necromancer was shouting something at her while the wraith stood deadly still. With one final thrust of the sword, the ring lay in ruins.

"You stupid girl, what have you done?" the necromancer hissed. "You just destroyed any protection you had from the wraith."

Ryll felt a tremor of fear as the wraith took a silky step toward her. "Now no one controls it. It can kill whomever it wishes." She looked straight at the necromancer. "Perhaps the one who conjured it and bound it in the first place."

The wraith seemed to mull over this suggestion before turning to gaze down the necromancer. The dark sorcerer showed fear for the first time, tripping back over his robes. The wraith was faster though, swooping down on his one-time master, devouring his life force. Ryll watched, glued to the ground in horror. Then the wraith turned to her.

"I set you free," she said quietly, her voice trembling. The wraith came at her still until all she could see was the blackness of its form. Then she felt a tug and a light-headedness. The last thing she saw was blackness swirling before her eyes before she fell to the floor. The last thing she felt was the pain of a million souls trapped forever within the wraith. It was pure and uncontainable agony. She heard herself scream like death itself, her body rising up with the force of the souls now trapped within her. Whatever it was the wraith was trying to do, it was consuming her, filling her with the deepest black until she wished that she would die.

Then she felt a release, a whoosh of something above her head. She fell back to the ground, the weight of a million dead souls gone from her body. She opened her eyes a crack to see what was happening. A set of bright blue eyes met hers and then she blacked out.