Quest of the Dark Lands

Chapter Eleven

'now listen.' The queen hissed 'you surrender peacefully, as it is the wise choice, or...'

'are you deaf?!' seleina demanded

A scraping of nails again, orders called out, some gears turning, a lot of 'yes your majesty's .

'hello?' Evangeline called

At last, the commotion stopped 'there is no need to say any more mortals.' The queen's voice was layered with pleasure 'you are dead!' her laughter shook the room. It was high and tinkering, 'dead! Yes!'

'how can we be dead,'seleina said 'we...'her voice choked, something was spreading over her, like a mass of darkness, so powerful that her tongue couldn't make a sound. Her vision became blurry, her eyes weld up with tears for no good reason. She stumbled back.

The queen laughed again, wicked laughter. 'it is already taken an effect on you. The powder. Grinded freshly of the fire-breathing Humpent dragon's skull found only, in a dessert of the neighboring land.'she said between cackles. 'it will take less than a minute for the victim to die once this deadly powder enter your veins and your blood. So, say good bye.'

Seleina's head throbbed 'I'm not going to say good bye.'she choked, every word was pain in her mouth, her body felt weightless.

'well then.' The queen said silently 'die, Seleina Veris.'

Seleina went numb, how did the queen know about her name. she staggered around, her eyes almost blinded. She felt around, and sensed a gap in the floor. The trap door.

She climbed down shakily, not knowing what to do, or how she could do it. She reached the bottom. Seleina didn't know what made her, but she closed the trap door behind her. Wise act.

She sensed along the walls, and got to the end of the corridor, it felt like a year walking there.

She stared up, but all she could see was whiteness, with dark shadows etched in. she could feel the waters of the Midoleam rise and churn. The sea breeze felt cool and clear. This would be the last time near water, she thought bitterly.

Evangeline was also infected. She felt that every strand of her waist-length hair was weighing her down. Her lungs were tied up into knots 'what are you doing.' She managed to splutter.

'you make rope, send down, I climb up.'Seleina said 'only chance of survival.'

Evangeline obliged. She rushed over to the toolkit, stumbling a couple of times. She yanked the lid off, and rummaged inside. No rope.

What was she going to do? Spare your voice. Her guts told her. Find another way. Evangeline thought back, trying to dig up anything from the past which would be helpful. Her mind wasn't thinking as her usual one did, but she could still faintly remember flashes of the past. Instantaneous snapshots. Seleina with her laptop in her bunk at night, her desperate plan, the tree code, fairyland, their first encounter with the queen and king, in the court, prison, breaking out from prison, stranded on the food supply chain, seleina surprising the queen and prudentam with...

With what? That memory was vague, but Evangeline had the sensation that it was important, no, more than important, live-saving. She racked her brains, trying to remember.

'trying to think of a way?'the queen sneered 'in 20 more seconds you shall die.' Mad laughter rang out again. The sirens were still blaring, Evangeline shook her head 'shut up.' She whispered

She looked around wildly, trying to see something that might trigger her lost memories. Nothing. Evangeline was hopeless.

Tears trickled down, they would die, no one would know what had happened and no one would care. She lifted her sleeve to mop the tear away, leaving a wet spot on the fabric.