The Dorston Fall [Book I in the Dorston Legacy]

Chapter 25 - No Light, No Light

Katelyn was running. Who to, who from, she didn't know. She was too terrified to find out. Her feet led her down a narrow and deserted passage. The walls, she felt were carved out of dense rock, were cold and damp to the touch. Her breath formed a mist in front of her, her whole body shivered and shook. Her only heat came from her chest, and her frantically beating heart. She turned down another passage. A dead end.

Gasping, Katelyn leaned across the jagged wall and exclaimed in anger; the sound travelled down into the darkness in which she came. Gritting her teeth, she ran back again; turning left, turning right.

End, after dead end she arrived; her anxiety growing by the second.

Where am I? I don't know where I am, I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM!

End, after dead end she arrived. She retreated back onto herself, tears threatening to break free. This is just an exercise, she tried to convince herself. It's all a trick, a sick and evil trick.

Whichever way she turned, Katelyn saw no light, no end. Just the same old darkness threatening to engulf her. This was no exercise, she soon accepted with dread. It's a maze. A maze without an end or beginning.

It was then, she lost a handle on her sanity and focus.

Katelyn turned on her heel, her hands to her pounding head. She couldn't think. She couldn't see. A shrill of white noise bombarded her senses. She slammed her eyes shut, taking in the deepest and coldest breaths she could. She sunk to the ground, a small cry of despair escaping her lips. Small stones dug into her flesh. The pain did nothing to draw her back.

"Please," she whimpered. "Please, I want to go home. Please."

She hadn't realised the truth of her words, until they left her mouth. Truth be told, she hadn't given Sella or her mother much thought, since beginning the long journey to the mountains. Between fighting for her life and protecting both herself and Sammy, she simply didn't have the time or chance. But, as the cold and white noise subsided, Katelyn took the moment to think, and to worry. Picturing her mother, alone and overwhelmed with worry and responsibility, broke her heart. How isolated she must be. And her father, was he feeling forgotten? Had he resigned himself to an early death?

"No!" she growled into her hands. That wasn't the man she knew and loved. Her father was stronger than that. He would endure. He must, or her journey was all for not.

Then, an eerie creak down one of the corridors pulled her from her thoughts. She looked up slowly, expecting a figure to be looming over her. Instead, there was a lit torch ahead. Could it be a way out? There was only one way for her to find out.

Brushing the tears and haze away, Katelyn scrambled onto her feet and ran; the sound travelling through the cave. When she arrived, she almost cried out at the seer pleasure of the warmth against her skin, the light to her darkness. Taking the torch from its preach, she turned; noticing an open door to the left. Katelyn hesitated.

Every instinct told her to flee. The room was dark, hiding whatever dangers that lie within. She had no way of defending herself. A torch wasn't much use against a sword or a mace. As she stood, trying to make up her mind, a deep moan urged her inside. Why she did, Gods only knew. If someone needed help, it was her duty to serve them. Wasn't it?

Katelyn raised the torch higher, the orange glow reached every corner and soon fell upon the mass of flesh and bone in the farthest corner. She shuddered, her hold on the torch waning quickly.

"No," she whimpered desperately; taking in every ounce of the skeleton man before her. He was chained by his hands and feet, his shirt was ripped and bloodied, his long ragged hair hid his elderly face. Slumped against the wall, he was deathly still.