Beyond the Rabbit Hole

Yellowood Keep

The ground shook as she ran. She trampled the earth, and crashed through the brush, leaving mud and debris in her wake. The birds fled from the trembling canopies, and the deer didn't dare to move. And so, she ran, unhindered by the forest around her. Like a chain binding them together, Alyss followed where the suffocating sensation led her. An inconceivable light shined through the trees, and Alyss's eyes widened. Her borrowed cloak fluttered as her arms left her chest. Her bare feet snuffed out the black flames that scorched the earth beneath her, as her arms wrapped around the man standing inside the burning circle.

"Morgyn!" Alyss held him tight. Even as his eyes closed and his body went limp, she held him. "Morgyn? Morgyn! What's wrong? Wake up?!" her voice began to tremble with the weight of his body in her arms.

As the black flames died down, a man stood before them, short of breath and leaning on his sword. His eyes were half-way closed, and he spoke in a softer tone than before. "It appears that he's fainted." Rendhal said.

"Is he going to be okay?" Alyss fixed her gaze on Morgyn's face and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

Rendhal's gaze shifted from Morgyn's body in her arms, to Erickson's body, splattered against the tree. "I. . . don't know."

This. . . is Morgyn. I know it is. So, this is what he looks like. A slight smile crept across her face as she traced his cheek bones with her finger. She stopped, and her expression changed. In a sudden movement, she pulled Morgyn's unconscious body close to her chest and shifted her gaze to the old commander before her. Visions of the axe coming down on her neck played over and over again in her mind. Her gaze sharpened into a glare that could cut through steel like butter. "Who are you?"

Rendhal looked back at her, unperturbed by her glare. "Second Commander Rendhal of Yellowood Keep. My men and I were prepared to lay down our lives to protect him. It seems he didn't need it."

Alyss looked at the ghoul corpse beside her, then to the soldiers scattered across the field where running blood mixed with the dirt and rain. When her eyes met Tels, he blushed and looked away.

"I take it you're Alyss?" Rendhal sighed.

Alyss raised an eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"Morgyn was trying to find you when he ran into this." Rendhal gestured toward the ghoul with his sword.

"What is that thing?" Alice picked up Morgyn's body in her arms and stepped away from the monster.

"You don't know what it is either?" Rendhal narrowed his gaze.

Alyss stopped and looked him in the eyes for a moment before shaking her head.

"They're called ghouls." Rendhal looked back at the burnt corpse. "These monstrosities are only active at night, and become especially dangerous in the rain." He shifted his gaze to Erickson's lifeless body. "This one killed two of my men before Morgyn killed it with that lost art of his."

"He killed it?" Alyss's eyes widened as her gaze shifted back to his face.

"Wait!" Benard shouted. "He's alive. I think he's still breathing!"

Rendhal turned around and saw Benard kneeling down beside Maren's body. He quickly sheathed his sword and jogged over to kneel beside Benard. "Tels! Tels, come here now!" the life started to return to Rendhal's eyes. He turned Maren over on his back and lifted his head off the ground.

Tels ran over beside them.

"Help me help him up."

Tels nodded and put one of Maren's arms around his neck.