"Darius, wake up. We're almost there."
The words were almost lost on the wind whipping past his ears. He didn't remember falling asleep, but the welcoming darkness behind his eyes left him little doubt. They had been flying for what felt like hours, and if Darius had dozed off a little during the interminable flight who could blame him? Besides, the ivory cloak beneath his cheek was warm and soft and the Golden Guard's solid back a perfectly adequate headrest. He could feel the Golden Guard's muscles and armor shift beside him and realized that his arms were linked around the man's waist. Darius yawned, eyes still closed, and tightened his grip around the hard metal breastplate.
"Joke's on you, then. I'm not sleeping." His superior's only response was a tight, humorless chuckle and the sudden, gut-clenching feeling of rapid descent.
Starting immediately into total wakefulness, Darius opened his eyes and blinked, but the mist swirling before his eyes did not lift. All around him as far as the eye could see and obscuring the landscape was dense fog. They were sinking through an overwhelming sea of gray which brushed its tentacled fingers along his body as they went, leaving dewy traces behind on his clothes and skin. He shivered in the fog's enveloping wet embrace which left no clue to their whereabouts and no discernable trail in their wake.
The Golden Guard pulled up abruptly and landed with a slight jolt which elicited a surprised gasp from Darius. Tentatively he released his hold on the man, reaching out his legs for the ground which he could feel but barely see beneath his feet. It was loose and sandy and shifted uneasily beneath his
"Where are we?"
"We're in Ankle Valley." Well that explained why it took them so long to get here. They must have passed over the Knee while he was sleeping. He looked around them, trying to make out anything in the enveloping whiteness.
"Does the fog ever lift here?"
"Not really. The steam from the Boiling Sea backs up against the Knee as it rises and then falls into the valley. It's always either foggy or raining."
"Raining… Titan!" Darius licked his lips and looked up at the swirling clouds. "Do you think it'll start coming down on us anytime soon?"
"Hopefully not. With any luck we'll be on our way within a couple of hours so we won't have to stick around and find out." He hefted his pack higher on his shoulder. " Do you have your supplies?" Darius flashed what he hoped was a confident smile and patted the flask of abomination material he always wore on his hip.
"Oh trust me, I've got everything I need right here."
"That's good. Now be sure to stay close. You really don't want to get left behind or separated in this place."
The Golden Guard tilted his head and glanced about for a minute, as though he was getting his bearings, before setting off wordlessly into the fog with Darius scampering along to catch up.
How the Golden Guard had any idea where they were going eluded Darius, but he followed blindly trusting in the man's purposeful stride. The whiteness of the cloak before him billowed in the mist, fading in and out of cloudy vapor like the transparent visage of a ghost. He quickened his pace, anxious not to lose sight of the spectral figure which guided him through the gray oblivion. It felt like they were on an incline, though whether they were rising or falling he couldn't say. The ground became less sandy as they went and large dark shapes loomed out of the mist as they passed. Were those trees? Rocks?
The shapes grew closer and closer together until Darius could tell that they were walking through a dense forest. The air was completely still and silent, devoid of the normal bird and insect sounds, save for the slow crunch of their footsteps against the rocky soil. Here and there patches of crabapple grass stood out, their normally bright red muted and dull under a blanket of mist. The whole place exuded a smothering sense of mystery and isolation. It was ominous and unsettling.
Anything could happen to us here and no one would ever know.
With a sinking feeling of dread Darius realized that he hadn't told anyone back home where he was going or with whom. No one knew what he was doing, or when to worry if he didn't come back. He liked to think of himself as mature and capable, but now that he was here, really on a mission with potentially mortal consequences, he was beginning to regret his self-confidence and impulsivity.
I said I would be of help, but really, what can I do on my own if he gets into trouble? I'm not even in the Emperor's coven. Why did I agree to go on this wild giraffe hunt? I should have insisted he bring more people. Or maybe I could have told Leyna what he was up to and let her handle it.
The golden guard stopped so suddenly that Darius nearly collided with his back. He stepped around the man to see what made them halt so abruptly and came nearly face to face with a steep rocky bluff which rose towering over them. The Golden Guard placed one hand on Darius' shoulder.
"This is where I leave you. I want you to stay here and wait for me until I come out." Darius blinked.
"Out? Out of what?" The Golden Guard waved his hand through the mist and the mouth of a dark cavern yawned before them. It was completely black inside, like looking into the maw of a giant beast. Darius sucked in a deep breath as he felt his heart leap into his suddenly very dry mouth
"Oh, I see. I don't suppose there's any chance, sir, that you could tell me how long you'll be in there?" The Golden Guard shrugged noncommittally.
"Hopefully in less than an hour. If I am not back in three, I want you to head back to the outpost near Saint Epiderm's. They'll be able to send word to the Emperor who will decide what to do. Whatever happens after that will no longer be your concern and you should head back to the castle." Darius frowned.
"Why would they need to contact the Emperor? He'd obviously want them to go after you, so why waste time waiting for his answer?" The Golden Guard was silent for a moment.
"If I had planned this better I would have grabbed you a spare staff from the Emperor's Coven. As it is, it will be rough going on the mountain without one and I can't lend you mine. Still, I've seen that you know how to get around pretty well with your abomination skills. The Epiderm students seem to manage and most of them don't have palismen or staves either, so it should be a piece of cake for you." Darius frowned and narrowed his eyes, unsure if the Golden Guard hadn't heard him or was just using flattery as an attempt to sidestep the question.
"With all due respect, sir, I think this is a bad idea. I don't like the look of his place, and I haven't forgotten what you looked like when you came out of it the first time. If you could please just let me go with you…"
"No."
"Just inside the cave?"
"No. Don't make me regret bringing you with me, Darius."
"I don't want you to get hurt!"
"I won't."
"Yeah right."
"I don't have either the time or the patience for your cheek, Darius. Do you really think that I could have become the Golden Guard without at least proving myself a little bit capable on the field? Do me a favor and grant me some small modicum of faith." Darius remembered what Lilith had said about the Golden Guard benefiting from his connections rather than his skill but shoved the nagging thought beneath his rising sense of foreboding.
"If you don't come back can I come in after you?"
"Absolutely not. Stick to the plan and it'll all be okay, trust me." Darius scowled and crossed his arms with a dissatisfied snort but made no further argument.
The Golden Guard reached up and affectionately ruffled Darius' ponytail. "Hey. Don't worry about it, kid. You'll be fine and I'll be back before you know it." Darius scowled and brushed the hand away.
"I'll worry as much as I want to, thank you very much. And don't call me kid." A faint chuckle escaped the unmoving mask.
"Right, sorry, I forgot. You're a big boy. Well then, I'll see you on the other side. Byeeeeee!" The wave the man flashed over his head as he descended into the darkness was as snarky as it was reassuring, but the sense of dread that knotted in Darius' stomach deepened like the black pit that swallowed up his last glimpse of a fluttering ivory cloak.
The mist lifted gradually as the mountainside shrugged off its heavy blanket of fog. As the cloud rose it condensed and darkened into an angry scowl across the face of the sky and a low rumble of thunder rolled down the steep slopes to echo in the valley below. Darius was completely oblivious to all the warning signs of the impending storm as he paced compulsively before the mouth of the cave, wearing a groove into the dirt under his feet. His brow was tightly furrowed, mirroring the distracted obsession of his thoughts.
The Golden Guard had been gone a while, right? Possibly an hour. It felt like more but was probably less. It was so hard to tell time when he couldn't see the sun through all those blasted clouds. How was he supposed to know when it had been too long? That jerk was probably going to get himself killed down there and he'd just be left waiting in a barren wasteland to rot. Get back over the mountain on his own without a staff? Sure. Easy as fairy pie. Darius yelped at a sudden stinging sensation that pierced the back of his neck, slapping a hand over the throbbing spot.
Wet. A raindrop.
His head snapped up, finally taking in the dark, ominous clouds and the roll of thunder which set the trees around him to trembling. He quickly glanced left and right, looking for anything that could serve as shelter before the storm could commence and boil him alive. He could use his abomination as a makeshift tent if necessary, but not for very long. A flash of lightning lit the borders of the looming sky and he turned desperately to the one space left to him.
The cave.
Darius hesitated. The Golden Guard had said not to go in, but he had also said he'd be back before it started raining. There's no way he could be expected to just stand there and let himself be boiled alive, right?
Another drop alighted on his forehead and he yelped, pulling the hood of his cloak up to cover his head.
It didn't matter what the Golden Guard had said. If he tried to stick to orders now he was going to end up scalded in his own skin. Rules were for losers anyway. Darius ducked inside the cave mouth just as the firmament opened and boiling rain poured from the sky in buckets, and he cursed as a few precipitous drops burned through the thin hood of his cloak.
Really wish I had that witch's wool right now.
The cave wasn't as dark as he was expecting once his eyes adjusted to the low light. Ahead of him, in the cool light cast by the rainy sky he could see the tunnel diverging into two paths ahead of him, one tilting slightly upwards and one down. Which way had the Golden Guard gone? He bent down and studied the floor. Sure enough, a set of footprints led from the entrance of the cave into the tunnel leading down. He advanced a little further into the cavern until he came to the section which peeled off, marked by the solitary set of footprints. He stepped into the passage, peering into the depths of the tunnel as far as he could until even the little he could see was swallowed up by the gloom.
He regretted intensely being unable to perform a light spell. When he had been a child growing up, the light spell had been his first and his favorite. On dark nights when he found himself seized with the overwhelming fear that swells in the minds of impressionable children, trembling at strange sounds and shadows, he tucked his head under his covers and made a spell circle. The small, tremulous light which illuminated his blanketed sanctuary had comforted him back then. It would have been nice to see its warm glow against the encroaching darkness which surrounded him now. As it was now, with an abomination sigil branded into the pulse-point at his wrist, he would have to make due with the magic he still possessed.
Darius pulled out a portion of his abomination materials and formed it into a lantern with a dull green flame at its center. The light was cold and offered him little in the way of assurance, but at least he could see where he was going. Ahead of him the footprints marched resolutely onward in a straight and narrow path, beckoning him to follow down into the darkness.
It was tempting.
He took one step, and then a second.
If he was quiet and sneaky, maybe he could get close enough just to see what this was all about without getting caught. He'd take a quick look, make sure all was well and then get out. The Golden Guard would never know, and his burning curiosity would be sated. A win for everyone, right?
Another step, more assured this time, and then another before he suddenly froze. The walls around him rumbled gently, almost like a moan or a growl.
What was that?
As suddenly as it had started it stopped. Darius stood stock still. His heart-beat thrummed in his ears as he strained to listen in the echoes which died quickly away into silence. He couldn't tell where exactly the sound had originated. Had it come from the darkness before him or behind him? Maybe he should go back.
Darius stiffened as he heard it again. He could tell its direction now. There was something behind him in the tunnel; something big and coming his way. He didn't dare go back now. He looked left, right, anywhere that might offer him a place to hide. Nothing, and there was nowhere to go but down. Should he stay and wait to fight whatever it was or run? A louder growl reverberated in the cramped darkness and Darius turned and ran. He moved as quietly as he could manage over the dirt and rocks and roots along his path. He held one hand braced against the wall to guide him in the crushing darkness while the other held up the feeble light of the lantern before him. Down, down, he went, panting through his fear as he ran ahead of the nameless terror behind him.
His hand suddenly encountered empty space and he pitched sideways to fall on his knees with a grunt, the lantern dissolving as he fell and plunging him into darkness. Reaching out to feel with his hands, he felt a divot in the wall, just a slight depression, but it was enough for him. He stood and flattened himself into the hole, pulling his abomination goo out to form a smooth shell flush with the walls of the tunnel, hopefully blocking him from view. The creature came nearer and nearer to his hiding spot. Darius' heartbeat hammered in his ears as the growls grew louder, accompanied by a hissing noise and a musky stench that stung his eyes. With a squelching slither the creature passed, its huge, stinking girth pressing up against the walls of his hiding place.
A ratworm. It had to be a wild ratworm.
Darius' breaths caught in his chest as the huge shadow slithered past him, a low growl resonating against the walls of the cave. Darius had no idea how well Ratworms could see, probably not well given their underground nature, but the strength of their noses was legendary. Somehow it didn't seem to notice him but kept slithering on down the tunnel. When the last squelching echo had died away Darius let out a deep sigh of relief and pulled his abomination material back into his flask. He was safe for now, but…
The Golden Guard.
Somewhere down in the tunnel ahead of him the Golden Guard was all alone and unaware of the threat headed his way. He should follow along behind it, just to make sure that everything was okay.
"Don't make me regret bringing you with me, Darius."
Darius hesitated. His orders had been crystal clear. Stay out, and he had given his word that he would follow his teacher's orders. He had already broken that promise, and look where it had gotten him? Hiding in a grimy hole from a big lunking ratworm with dirt all down his clothes as compensation for his trouble. If he waited any longer, who knows what might happen to him? Still…
What if the Golden Guard was wrong? What if he couldn't handle everything on his own, already injured as he was? He kept saying that Darius was smart and capable. The least he could do was prove it and let him actually help for once. Sure, his orders had been to stay back at the mouth of the cave, but that ship had already sailed. Darius had gone too far to turn back now, especially when his superior's life and safety were at risk.
Steeling his resolve, Darius reformed his lantern and held it aloft over his head with his left hand to illumine the path before him. With his right he constructed a dagger and held it tightly, anchoring it around his fist for good measure. Cautiously he crept forward. The footprints which had guided him before were now gone, wiped out by the gross slithering mass of the creature he was now pursuing. He reasoned that if he kept on going forward he should find what he was looking for eventually. Hopefully he would run into the Golden Guard first and not the ratworm.
He noticed as he went that the tunnel was becoming gradually wider and steeper. The way forward became less and less a walk and more and more of a slide as he descended into the bowls of the Titan. At some points he had to stop and clamber down sections which dropped suddenly away like miniature cliffs. On and on he went in the sickly green light without any indication that he was making any meaningful progress. It was infuriating and more than a little disheartening. Maybe this had been a bad idea. Maybe there was a turning he had missed somewhere and he was going the wrong way. The thought turned to ash within his mouth.
Was he going the wrong way? Was he lost?
He stood there, consumed by the horrible thought, when he suddenly noticed that he could see a dim light from ahead of him in the tunnel. He advanced, quickly but carefully, into the growing light until he stopped abruptly.
Darius gaped at the sight before him. He was standing on the edge of a steep drop-off, staring into a huge cavern even bigger than the emperor's great hall. It was filled with huge boulders and stalactites and stalagmites which jutted out like savage teeth from the floor and ceiling. Their shadows were long and stretched out towards him with long, greedy fingers, making him shiver with foreboding. Ahead of him, on the other side of the cave, he could see another narrowing tunnel which bent onward into further darkness. But how… He looked up and felt his heart clench at what he saw. Over his head, bobbing about like apples in a water trough, dozens of little light spells danced and flickered, sending their comforting glow into the dark crevices below. They touched his heart with their warmth and for a moment he forgot his fear. It was like being back in his blanket fort, mom just down the hall.
It's going to be okay.
He swallowed back the lump which he felt rising in his throat.
Everything's going to be okay. I'll find the Golden Guard, make sure he's safe, and then we'll get the hell out of here.
He dissolved his now unnecessary lantern and, using his abomination as a rappel line, descended the steep and jagged rock face of the cavern. He grunted as he landed a little harder than expected on the hard floor below and pulled his abomination back into his flask. Before he could continue on, however, a flash of brilliant blue at his feet seized his attention.
Was that… Titan's blood? He bent down, staring into the bright sheen of an indigo globe. He had read about there possibly being Titan's blood deep within the islands, in drying veins yet to be explored. This looked like huge droplets of the stuff had crystallized into shining globules as it coagulated and dried within the decaying body of its monstrous host.
It was beautiful.
He couldn't look away from the alluring azure swirls which turned and tumbled within their frozen prison. The way the light spells over his head reflected and danced within the glittering facade was mesmerizing. He pulled off one of his gloves and tentatively reached out a hand to slide his fingers gently over the cool, smooth surface. It felt fragile, like a paper-thin sheet of lacy ice covering a pool of water. Maybe there was liquid Titan's blood lying just below the tips of his hovering fingers.
What would happen if I pushed just a little harder…
A sudden shadow fell across him and he jerked his head up to see the ratworm from before, huge and menacing and angry. The ratworm reared up to its full height over Darius, towering over him with burning eyes and wide open mouth. It hissed, spraying stinging saliva like rain down upon his face. Darius yelled and stepped back, stumbling over the fragile baubles beneath his feet. He felt one of them give under his heel with a loud crack. At the sound the ratworm gave out a loud screech and charged. In an instant Darius drew his abomination goo from his flask in the shape of a spear and braced himself for the impact. Instead of the head-on assault he was expecting, however, the ratworm lunged to the side, knocking him to the ground as it made a mad dash for the tunnel entrance behind him. Darius stared after its fleeing form, dazed by the fall and bewildered by the sudden retreat.
What…
There was a dull rumble and the ground suddenly started to shake beneath him. He pulled himself onto his knees, using his hands to brace against the violent tremor which shook the cave. He staggered to his feet, lurching unsteadily as the rocky floor heaved beneath his feet.
"Darius!" The Golden Guard's hand was like a vice around his bicep. He yanked Darius around so they were face to face, shocked eyes to impenetrable metal streaked with mud and grime.
"I TOLD you to STAY OUT!" The voice behind the mask was a furious roar. Darius stared into the eye slits, shame dropping into his belly like a leaden weight.
"I…I'm sorry,… I thought…"
The ground shook again, the earth groaning beneath their feet. Darius and the Golden Guard clutched at one another, instinctually grappling for a stable perch in the rumbling rock around them. Darius felt something hard against his elbow and looked down to see a small, narrow flask filled with a shining blue liquid. He gaped at it.
"Is that…" Another quake sent them staggering. The Golden Guard practically threw him towards the tunnels where the ratworm had fled just moments before.
"Run, Darius! Run! This whole place is coming down." Over their heads Darius heard a loud cracking as dirt and rocks began to rain down upon them. The ground was shaking wildly but he forced himself onward towards the exit. His feet pounded beneath him as he ran, forming an abomination shield above his head to protect himself from a barrage of falling debris. Rocks the size of his skull smashed into the ground barely missing the two running figures as they sprang through the collapsing vein. Darius gave a sudden squawk of pain and staggered as something collided with the back of his leg. He went down hard, hands flinging his abomination in front of him just in time to break his fall. He felt a yank on his elbow pulling him upright. There was another thudding impact behind them, accompanied by a loud snap, and he heard his superior give a pained gasp. Then he was stumbling forward as the Golden Guard shoved him in the back.
"Keep going!" Darius staggered a few paces before glancing behind him. The Golden Guard was on his knees, a bright red stain spreading rapidly across his right shoulder. He was holding the shattered remains of his staff limply with his injured arm, the other clutching the small vial of Titan's blood to his chest. The mask lay beneath him where it had fallen in the dirt and the fiery eyes that raised to catch Darius in their burning gaze were wide with pain and panic.
"I said go! Get out of here!"
Darius took one step towards the prone figure, all coherent rebuttals dying on his lips, before the ground opened up beneath him and he was falling…
Falling…
Falling…
His abomination shot out extended from either arm, anchoring him against the walls of the rift with a sudden, heart-stopping jolt. He let a startled yell escape him, his voice strangled by his shock and fear. He looked down to see nothing below him, legs dangling into a yawning darkness which stretched forth its teeth to swallow him whole.
Oh my Titan. This is it. I'm going to die down here. I'm dead and no one will ever find my body.
"Darius! Grab my hand!" Darius looked up, blinking through the shower of rock and dirt that rained down on his head. The Golden Guard's pale, naked face peered down at him over the shuddering edge of the chasm, arm outstretched towards him. Darius flailed about with his legs, trying to brace himself against something to free up a hand, but the crack he had fallen into was too wide. He couldn't reach. Darius choked back a sob of terror.
"I…I can't!"
The ground shook and one section of rock he had been bracing himself against gave way. He cried out in panic and scrambled for purchase against the crumbling walls. He stared down into the darkness below him and felt a sob grip his lungs like a vice. This was it. He was staring down into the face of his own death. He'd die here, a complete and utter failure who got himself killed by his own stupidity.
"I said REACH, you idiot!"
The voice was close, too close, and Darius looked up in astonishment at the feet dangling suddenly only a foot away from his face.
The Golden Guard was inside the fissure with him, dangling down the side, reaching for him. His good hand was latched in a death grip around the remains of his staff which Darius could see plunged into the earth around the rim of the hole. His injured right arm stretched out towards Darius.
"Darius…" The Golden Guard's breast heaved with labored breaths as he held on for dear life to the broken shaft. "Grab onto my legs,... or my hand. Just…try to reach for me. It's going to be okay, I promise, but I need you to let go and reach for me."
Darius gaped, hardly believing his eyes. The Golden Guard must have hit his head or something because this was insane. The man had deliberately thrown himself over the side of a quaking chasm and somehow expected Darius to use his body as a ladder when he was already trembling under the pain and stress of holding up his own injured limbs.
"There… there's no way! What are you doing?"
"Please, Darius, there's no time!" The voice was broken in pain. "Reach for me!"
And Darius tried. He really did. He let go, pushing off the wall with his left arm and flinging up his abomination like a whip with every last ounce of strength left in his shaking limbs.
But as he did, the ground gave a violent shudder and everything fell apart. The walls crumbled, his abomination limbs grasped at empty air and above him there came another sharp snap. And then he was falling again into the darkness and the roaring of the wind and the earth in his ears drowned out the sound of his own scream.