Abigail

9 - Abigail Falls Down a Hole

They seemed to fall forever, and when they landed, they were in a maze of tunnels more tangled than Abigail's fourteen days unwashed hair. The only light was from a faint glow of giant glowworms, moving slowly through the dirt walls that lined the tunnels.

The giant rodents were long gone into the tunnels, and the trolls seemed sufficiently confused for now.

"Safe," Abigail sighed, stretching out the soreness in her back.

Laz walked around the circle they had landed into, out of which they could had six options of different tunnels they could take. "What now?" he said.

"Now we follow my feet," she said grimly, stepping up to a tunnel.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Laz grabbed her robe and pulled her back. "Are you kidding? Didn't we just try that?"

She blushed, glad of the darkness. "OK, listen. I already figured that out. You can trust my feet again."

His eyebrows raised clean to the dirt ceiling and glowworm above. "Really?" he said, voice dripping in sarcasm. "Are you crazy, Abby! Trolls? Trolls! The thing Xander told us was the worst thing to run into?"

"Yeah," Abigail said, pushing sweaty bangs out of her eyes and rubbing her forehead. "Yeah, that's exactly why I... my feet I mean... took us there."

"Explain," Laz demanded.

"It's also the one place Xander would never follow us," she said, pushing his hand off her robe and straddling forward into the tunnel.

"Really?" Laz said again. "You took us into TROLL LAND so we wouldn't be tracked by Xander? You expect me to believe that?"

"Not on purpose!" Abby said, blowing a frustrated stream of air through her lips. "Just.. my feet did. I think at least."

"So reassuring," Laz said, still disbelieving, but he fell into step beside her. "So where are you taking us now? A giant's mouth? Off the edge of a cliff? 'Xander won't follow us into death, Lazarus, this is perfectly reasonable.'"

"No," Abigail said grimly. "I'm taking us to the Prison of the Hopeless. It's time to get our dad and get back home."

* * *

They raced through the tunnels, following only the gut in her feet, until—finally—she stopped.

Her throat was so tight she could barely get the words out. "It's here," she whispered, looking up.

Laz stopped and followed her eyes. Was it possible they had reached the dungeons that had aimed toward for so long? "I could play?" Laz said, looking at the ceiling of dust and dirt.

Abigail wrung her hands. "Are you crazy?"

"A little?"

"Do it," she said. Her stomach churned within her.

He paused and then played thoughtfully. Abigail watched as the outline of a circle formed above them. Her brother grabbed her and pulled back. A small part of their ceiling, which was the prison floor, fell to the floor. It was just big enough to fit one of them. Lazarus made to reach for the opening, but it was Abigail's turn to pull him back. The boot of a prison guard was pausing overhead. The siblings leaned back into the shadows of the tunnels.

Laz climbed up first, and then helped lift her up.

This was it. They were in prison.

Abigail strode forward, Laz at her heels. "We need to hurry. We have no idea when the next shift might be coming, or if there are more guards in this area."

"You are already too late, girl," a voice sneered from above.

Looking up, Abigail found the most terrifying man in seven realms before her.

It was the first time she had laid eyes on him: The man who had imprisoned her father, killed her mother, stolen her country. She felt a seed of fury and a harvest of fear. Nefarious had broad shoulders, clocked with a cape of black and horns that stood out from his shoulder's like the dragons she had seen diving for food around the castle. His hood was up and his face was hidden in shadows. Black gloved hands held the grip of his sword, and he stood, surveying the scene with far too much confidence for comfort. A dozen guards trailed him, lanky, tall, and bearded, and dressed in red.

His eyes were on her, and he smirked to see her fear. "Welcome to the Prison of the Hopeless! I have planned your arrival for some time." She frowned in confusion, and he laughed. "Oh yes! I brought you here, like a pig to slaughter. I led you bit by bit by bit. Or did you think you had outsmarted me? I spread the rumor that the 40 still lived! I called my spies in the forests off! I gave the bards the words to say, and I separated you from that Phantom Fool Xander once you were close enough to make the way yourself!"

Abigail stumbled backwards as Nefarious climbed down the stairs to her level. "Run back, Laz, run back," she whispered, but Lazarus did not move. "Find help—or get father! Something!" she whispered, and finally, reluctantly, he ran through the prison.

"Someone finally broke, someone had to break—" he broke into hysterical laughter again. "Oh yes. Do you know what I do girl?"

Abigail let her anger burn in her eyes. "Kill. Destroy. Ruin."

He laughed. "Oh it's not all destroying and ruining!" There was a glint in his eyes. "After all, there's something in it for me. I consume knacks with every kill. Out of 300 knacks, I have all but one. But these Skafen idiots had knacks I already had consumed. I killed entire armies, after all," he said. He waved a hand a fire blazed out of it. He snapped his fingers and rocks fell like an avalanche. Abigail and Laz stumbled further backwards. "I had all the knacks except one, and thirty-nine men couldn't give me anything new... but they had children."

Abigail's chest was tight, and her heart beat frantically. He had led her here? But how? Why?

"Oh I tortured these men day after day. It took patience, you know. So much patience not to KILL THEM." He roared the last words and fire emitted from both his fists before disappearing again in an instant. "But I was patient. Oh yes, I was patient. Until finally Ethan the Strong who is Ethan the Weak, finally told me what I had been waiting to hear: that his daughter of all people had the final knack I was searching for." Behind Abigail, a deep groan sounded with a sadness that cannot be uttered. Father, Abigail realized, eyes widening. Nefarious smiled and his teeth showed like fangs.

"You," he said. "You are that girl. Now I will kill you and I will be POWER INCARNATE." He roared again and lightning flashed from eyes. Abigail winced back in pain, but she drew her blade, hands trembling.

Nefarious laughed. "You will fight me? I can do anything, girl. You have to come to fight an invincible force. I can be anything" His form changed. He looked just like Laz now, only bleeding, crying—dying. "Abigail," he said, and she knew it was Nefarious, but it sounded like Laz, just like her brother, and her heart broke. "Why did you do this to me? Why did you bring me with you?"

Was the fact that she was tempted—tempted to fall to her knees and sob already evidence that she was not strong enough to stand?

"You can't do everything!" she said, taunting. "You can't do what I can!"

Nefarious changed back to a hooded highness without a face. He sneered at her and lunged. But it didn't matter: the image of failing her brother was seared in her mind, and she knew she would fight with everything she had to save him from facing that fate.

She held her blade steady and let her feet step where they knew to step. Xander's words echoed in her mind. All defense and no offense is the longest way to lose.

Very well, she thought. Let me lose the long way.