NexLord: Dark Prophecies (56 page)

Katek jumped forward to engage the second
beast, with skill and speed. He got the first blow in, before
dancing under the Tog's return strike.

Lor stepped in front of Dono, with her
quarterstaff spinning in a windmill move that whipped the end
around to crack the Tog on the right side of its squat head. The
thick bone broke, as its skull caved in from the strike of her
staff, but even dying the Tog swept its massive sword
downwards.  With incredible agility, Lor
leaped
back, but Dono was behind her and they
collided. That impact kept her from completely escaping the
inevitable descent of the wicked blade.  The sword's tip cut
down into Lor's chest and she collapsed in a torrent of blood.

Dono was horrified, he regained his feet and
leaped
forward with a massive cry,
and cut deeply into the neck of the Tog that was pressing
Katek.  It
clouted
Dono
with its free hand, but the cut to its neck was fatal, and it fell
to the chamber floor, thrashing around and flinging its yellow
blood all over the chamber.

Behind them all, no one noticed when Enolive
stepped in front of Niler and locked gazes with the leader of the
council.  Niler looked into the dark eyes of his long
time colleague and fell into the evil pools of pure hatred that he
saw in the depths of those dark pits.  Enolive grinned
and then thrust a blade deep into Niler’s gut, angling up to pierce
his heart. The look of betrayal in Niler’s face was like applause
to a performer, and Enolive smiled as he gave the blade a last
twist, and then yanked it out.  Blood drained from the
councilman's face as the
life
drained from his soul, and he fell dead to the Chamber floor.

Moments later the battle was over, five
Bluecoats were still alive and three of Gandarel's Guardsmen. Niler
was presumed killed by the Togs.

Dono crawled from where he had fallen toward
Lor's bloody red body.

Aerin was momentarily disoriented as his head
went into the stone wall, but almost immediately he found himself
in a dark passage. It felt like he had stepped through a sheet of
thin ice.  He didn't know how, or when, he lost
Gandarel's hand, but his friend was there in the dark hallway a few
steps ahead. 

"Aerin!" Gandarel called.  He was
up against the
wall
as if the
solid rock would give Gandarel sanctuary.

"I'm here, are you all right?" Aerin
answered.

Gandarel swallowed.  "For the
moment, but where are we?  I thought we were going
into
solid stone, but this is some
sort of passage."

Aerin moved over near his
friend.  "It's strange, we don't have a torch, but we can
see."

Gandarel shrugged, "The place seems to
glow."

Aerin moved over to the wall, where they had
entered at the end of the hall; it was rough and solid to the
touch.

"What now?" Gandarel asked, "It doesn't seem
like we can get out and I don't know where we're supposed to
go.  Do you have any ideas?"

Aerin shook his head.  "I'm not
even supposed to be here."

Gandarel looked away from his friend in
anguish, he suddenly remembered the piece of the Dark Prophecy he
had read in Mara's room.  Now he knew what it meant. He
had doomed his friend, by dragging him into the
Wall.  His thoughts
leaped
to various possibilities.  What if only
he could leave?  What if Aerin was doomed to stay in the
Wall for eternity?  In anguish, and fear for his friend,
Gandarel turned and said, "I'm sorry, I... I was terrified,
Aerin... forgive me!"

"It will be all right, I think," Aerin
answered," but Mara's going to tan my hide for this," he noted, not
understanding the base or depth of Gandarel's fear.  He
thought his friend was just scared of the situation, he had no idea
Gandarel was afraid he had doomed his best friend to oblivion,
trapped forever in a dim hallway under a mountain of rock.

Gandarel tried pounding on the rough stone,
but it seemed solid rock now.  "What do you know about
this place, Aerin?  I've heard you say you studied this
stuff with your father."

"Not much, I'm afraid.  The actual
testing of a NexLord is a well-kept secret.  I have only
read about the exploits of NexLords, Ragol in particular, but as to
how he became one… you got me.  Can you remember what
those words said on the door?"

"Yeah, something about facing the sacrifice
of your life for the good of others, I think."

Aerin sighed, "We're a fine pair, all I keep
seeing is that bit about, '
can not
and will not survive.'"

"Yeah, that part stuck with me too," Gandarel
admitted.

Aerin started down the hallway, "Come on,
we're never going to get
out by
standing
around.  This hallway has to lead us
somewhere, probably to this 'test'."

"I don't like this," Gandarel said, and he
was trembling in fear, but he followed his friend.

Aerin looked back, "How bad can it be?"

Out of the dark ahead, an evil chuckle echoed
softly in the hall.

Gandarel shook in terror as he answered
Aerin's question, "It could be pretty bad."

Aerin advanced slowly, with Gandarel
shadowing his steps.  They had only gone about ten feet
when the voice spoke, "Two have come, yet only one can leave."

Gandarel grabbed Aerin's shoulder with his
hand from behind.

"Yah," Aerin yelped, jumping from the
touch, "don't DO that!"

"Gedin, only one of us can leave!" Gandarel
choked out, through a fear-laden voice.

Aerin's heart was beating from being startled
by Gandarel right after the creepy voice spoke, but he gathered his
emotions using Mara's teachings in the ways of controlling
fear.  "Relax, Gandarel, don't let fear rule
you.  This is a test, maybe that voice is lying to
us."

Instead of Gandarel answering Aerin's
question the voice spoke, though this time it seemed closer and off
to their right slightly.  "Oh no, my boy, you changed
things when you so foolishly ignored the warning.  Only
one may enter, only one can leave."

"Who are you?" Aerin called out into the
dark.  Aerin could feel Gandarel's hand shaking where he
was still holding onto his shoulder.

"Don't you know me, boy?” the voice rasped
and then laughed.

Aerin recognized the laugh; it was the same
one that had come out of the dark in the Chamber of Stone, the one
Yearl named 'Death'.

"Death," Gandarel said fatally, as he too
recognized the voice.

"And I've come for one of you, but who will
it be?"

Gandarel knew, he had known since the day he
read that prophecy. He had betrayed his friend and Death would take
him.  He shook with more fear.

Aerin advanced again, and Gandarel had no
choice but to follow or lose contact with his
shoulder.  The passage suddenly widened out, and they
could see that they had exited the caverns and had come out onto a
ledge overlooking a vast drop-off.  The sky was jet
black, without a single star, and the cliff seemed to fall
in
to
nothingness
below.  There was only the opening back into the hall,
the cliff
edge,
and
nothingness.

Aerin and Gandarel moved carefully to the
edge and looked down.  The craggy cliff fell forever into
darkness.

"Welcome to death, I am your guide," the
voice said from behind them. Both boys spun around, putting their
backs to the cliff. Somehow it had gotten behind them now.

A dark shape stood in the entrance to the
hallway.  It was cloaked and hooded, and where there
should have been a face there was only blackness.

"It is so rare that I get to come here, only
once before," Death noted, chuckling in some fond
remembrance.  "He was weak, and gave into his fears, so I
came and took him.  
This
time,
I get one of you, because only..."

"One may leave," Aerin finished for him,
"We've heard it."

"Don't piss him off, Aerin," Gandarel hissed
in a whisper.

"I'm not afraid of him," Aerin answered
aloud. "Show yourself Mr. Death, I'll look you in the eye."

Death glided forward and there was no sound
of footsteps, just utter silence.

"Look, then,
upon
your future," the dead voice said, and pulled down
its hood.  Aerin's
face,
rotted on one side and pasty white on the other with milky clouded
eyes,
looked at the two boys.

Gandarel moaned.

The face decomposed rapidly, before their
eyes, to a white grinning skull, the milky white eyes still sitting
in the sockets, without flesh to hold them.

"Pretty," Aerin noted.

The evil apparition lifted the long
black-sleeved arm on his right side, and a skeletal hand emerged,
reaching slowly for the two boys.

Gandarel yelled and shoved Aerin to the side
while he dove in the other direction.  "Don't let it
touch you, Aerin, it means death."

Aerin turned his fall into a roll, and came
back to his feet in a crouch, a dagger held low and to the
side.

Death stopped and chuckled.  "One
may leave and one must stay, the way is open."

From the hallway, a brighter glow
appeared.

"I'm not leaving without you, Aerin!"
Gandarel yelled.

"Fine by me," Aerin said and took a side step
toward the open hallway.

Death glided forward, and Aerin could not
avoid him, so he thrust his dagger into its chest.  Aerin
felt only the resistance of the outer
cloth
and heard the edge of his blade scraping along the
bone
.

Death's fetid breath made Aerin choke, as it
laughed right in his face.  A hard knobby hand struck him
and he was thrown to the edge of the cliff, where he slid over the
precipice.  Aerin caught himself just as he slipped over
the edge, hanging above the endless drop.

Death came over and stood above him. Aerin's
hold was precarious, and he was helpless before the horrid
creature’s milky white gaze.

"I have not come for you, Aerin, but for your
friend," it chuckled, and then turned just as Gandarel arrived from
behind with a yell.

Gandarel was terrified, but he
couldn't bear to live with the thought that he caused the death of
his friend.  Even his own death was
preferable.  He ran at Death, with the last of his
strength.

The skeletal arm swung, and Death backhanded
Gandarel across the mouth. Gandarel was thrown away to land in a
crumpled heap.  
This
time,
the fight was out of Gandarel, and terror kept him
shaking on the ground, he knew Death was coming for him.

Death turned toward Gandarel, and Aerin made
a grab that cost him his hold on the edge of the cliff, but he got
hold of the black robe, and as he fell back he pulled Death with
him; together they fell over the edge.

Gandarel cried out with
terrible
loss
and he crawled toward the edge where his friend had
disappeared.

Aerin landed hard on a smaller ledge, ten
feet below, and managed to keep from falling off.  He
scrambled to his feet and
leaped
for a handhold above.  Quickly, he
ascended
and was only three feet from the top
when he felt the icy touch of Death's skeletal hand around his
ankle.

Death laughed, as he started pulling himself
up Aerin's body, his sharp
boney
fingers gripping so hard he bruised Aerin with each grasp.

Gandarel looked over the edge and into
Aerin's pain filled eyes.

Death was crawling up Aerin's body, with its
large toothy maw grinning evilly at Gandarel, as it came to take
his life.

Gandarel backed away from the edge in a half
crawl, and terror ruled his heart. It was so great he could no
longer even think and his mind was consumed with fear.

Aerin gritted his teeth and kicked Death in
the chest with his free leg.  The evil thing lost its
grip and fell back to the ledge below.

Aerin climbed with all his strength for the
top of the cliff.  His head just crested the edge in time
to see Gandarel fleeing for the glowing end of the hallway, and
then Aerin felt the painful touch of Death latching onto his
leg.

"He will not escape me," Death laughed.

And Aerin knew what he had to do, if Death
got past him, it would go after his friend, and he could not allow
that. Gandarel was afraid, and that fear tore at Aerin’s heart. So
he calmly let loose of the cliff edge, so that Death could not
climb up his body.  As he did so he pushed off from the
cliff, so that they passed the ledge and arched out over the
endless drop. As Aerin fell into the abyss with Death, he wasn’t
afraid, he had saved his friend.

Gandarel fled toward the light at the end of
the hall to save his life, but as he neared the glowing stone at a
dead run, he remembered his friend. Aerin had always been there for
him. He knew beyond a doubt, in one flash, that Aerin would never
leave him to die; he would face even a creature as horrible as
Death. Gandarel remembered Death’s words, ‘one could leave, but one
must stay’. Suddenly he knew what he had to do; he would give
himself to Death, so Aerin could live. His decision made, he tried
to stop running toward the glowing wall, but when he tried to
reverse his course his feet slipped on the gravelly surface of the
passage, and his momentum took him through the wall of light.

Three new Togs
leaped
into the Chamber of Stone, and the weary defenders
fought for their lives.  Wounded from the previous
battles, the remaining Bluecoats tried to
run
but were pulled down by one of the
Togs.  They tried to stab at the creature, as it hacked
them to pieces.  The three remaining Guardsmen jumped to
their aid and fought the Togs bravely. They killed
two
before the last man succumbed to a vicious
blow that nearly cleaved him in two.  The snarling Tog
yanked its sword free of the Guardsman’s corpse and then
leaped
toward Dono, where he knelt
at Lor's side.