The Dreaming Land

Chapter 25: Dishonour

After searching the majority of the ruins, Imara was nowhere to be found. The palace turned out to be much bigger than they had anticipated. The atrium and pool chamber they'd found appeared be on the higher floors of the palace, and many more floors were bellow them. Quintir determined that these ruins were not alone in this place, and that an entire city might be beneath the dunes here.

Collapsed hallways and room made the palace more labyrinthine than it needed to be. Navigating it would have been easy, as the structuring was fairly straightforward, but the blocked off areas didn't make getting around very easy. It took two hours to explore just the eastern section of the ruins, only for them to find nothing. Fortunately, Orius had already mapped out the southern section, leaving only the north and the west wings to scour.

"Come one, she's around here somewhere." Orius said, leading them back to the atrium and conjoined the separate areas.

"I hope she's okay." Misha sighed.

"We wont know for sure until we find her." Quintir said.

"Well thanks for the good news." Misha rolled her eyes.

"I'm only being realistic," Quintir said, "but we should try to find her quickly."

"Come on, we'll check the northern wing first." Orius said.

Getting back to their camp in the atrium took more time than they'd have liked, as they had to wind their way back through the open corridors. Eventually they made it back, but found the room to be dimmer than they last left it. The fire that lit up the room above was starting to die out, leaving the edges of the room dark.

Immediately as they stepped into the room, Orius could feel eyes on them. He looked around carefully, trying not to give away that he could sense someone watching them. The corners of the room were impossible to see, their eyes still not having adjusted to the darkness yet. In one corner, he thought he saw something move in the shadows. It was brief, but he was certain. In one swift movement he unslung his crossbow and fired a bolt into the corner.

There was no usual thud of his bolt hitting a body, instead it hit the stones of the wall. He had hit something, though. The shadows in the corner visually shifted as the bolt passed through them, and this time even Misha and Quintir saw it. Orius watched for a moment, waiting to see if it would move anymore, but it didn't. He couldn't feel the eyes on him anymore, either.

"What the hell was that?" Misha asked.

"I've seen something like that before..." Quintir said ominously.

"What was it?" Orius said, still watching the darkened corner.

"A shade," Quintir explained, "a projection generated by a shard of Zazek. There is an assassin here."

"An assassin?" Misha's eyes went wide.

"Could it be another manhunter?" Orius asked, "There is a chance I missed someone before."

"It's possible." Quintir nodded, "Let's be careful. If their projection was here, then it's likely they were not. Still, they know we're onto him now. We aren't safe."

"Do you think that it got Imara...?" Misha asked.

"Not a chance." Orius said, sternly, "She wouldn't let herself get caught of guard like that."

"Okay..."

"Let us continue onward." Quintir said, moving towards the northern passage.

They moved into the hallway, Orius moving backwards with his crossbow readied just in case. He had dismissed Misha's concerns, but they were valid. Imara had been missing for at least five hours now, maybe more. It wasn't like her to be caught off guard, though. She was a trained ninja, and a more skilled fighter than any of the rest of them. If this assassin had gotten the better of her, then it wasn't likely they stood a chance. They had to keep hoping she was fine, he couldn't afford to let things fall apart right now.