Mailee had just finished the small strawberry moose came when she eyes rose up to stare at the tapestry. Blocked by the giant chest of drawers, the tapestry still rippled in a phantom breeze. She got up from her chair.
Mailee grunted as she pushed the chest to the side and folded the tapestry back from the wall. After placing Nooroo on her shoulder, Mailee covered the passage entry with the tapestry, wedged a book in the doorway to keep from getting locked in, and carried a candlestick and her enchanted chalk in her pocket.
Down and down she went, her breath thick in the frigid air. Water dropped somewhere, and Mailee looked longingly at the middle archway as she approached the crossroads. Mailee studied the left-and right-side passages. The one to her left only lead to Soveliss. But the one on the right...that was passage she'd taken to Mira. There she'd seen countless other passageways leading to unknown places.
She stepped closer to Soveliss' archway and froze when a small tiny went off in her head. Someone creeping down through the passages. Mailee clutched her candlestick tighter, and pulled one of her daggers out of her pockets. Step after step, she began her descent down the right stairwell.
Soon, she could no longer see the top landing, and the bottom never came any closer. But then whispers filled the corridor, slithering off the walls. She quieted her steps and shielded her candle as she neared. It wasn't the idle chat of servants, but someone speaking rapidly, almost chanting.
Not a man. A woman.
A landing approached below, opening into a room to her left. A purple light seeped out of it onto the stones of the stairwell, which continued on past the landing and into darkness. The hair on her arms rose as the voice became clearer. It didn't speak any tongue that she recognized; it was guttural and harsh, and grated against her ears, as if it sucked the very warmth from her bones.
The woman panted as she spoke, like the words burned her throat, and finally she gasped for air. Silence fell. Setting down her candle, Mailee crept toward the landing and peered inside the room. The oaken door had been thrown open, a giant key turned in its rusting lock. Inside the small chamber, kneeling before a darkness so black that it seemed poised to devour the world, was Hattie.
Mailee suddenly felt pain flared up and every muscle in her body tensed up. Straining to keep standing she waited for the pain to subside. She felt pain in her chest, she felt pain in her arms and she felt pain in her mind. Mailee took a deep breath, then another and then another. She felt thirsty and tired and sweat stains were clearly visible now.
The realization of something may be wrong caused a moment of panic. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, or at least gather enough of herself to think a little clearer.
"Something's wrong, something frighteningly wrong." Cold shivers shot through her body and both her hands and legs were trembling at this point. It became harder and harder to swallow the pain. "There must be an answer to this pain, there must be a way to make it stop." Mailee gritted her teeth and let our a short quiet grunt. "Focus. Just focus."
Mailee watched Hattie drag a hand across the floor before the darkness, and purple-ish lights sprung up from where her fingers passed before sucked into the void like wraiths on the wind. One of Hattie's hands was bleeding.
Mailee didn't dare to breathe as something stirred in the darkness. There was a click of a claw on stone, and a hiss like an extinguished flame. And then, stepping towards Hattie on knees that bent the wrong way-- like an animal's hind legs-- the Daalwal emerged.
It was something out of an ancient god's nightmares. Its hairless gray skin was stretched tightly across its misshapen head, displaying a gaping mouth filled with black fangs. Fangs that has ripped out and eaten the Mélamars' internal organs; fangs that had feast on their brains.
Its vaguely human body sank into its haunches, and it slid its long front arms across the stone floor. The stones whined under the claws. Hattie raised her head and stood slowly as the creature knelt before her and lowered its dark eyes. Submission.
YOU ARE READING
The Mirror Guardian
Random((Book One of The Guardian Series.)) She was the Flame of Light craving peace... They say she is powerful. They say she is the Flame of Life. They say she instill fear into the hearts of many. It is even said that the Devil himself is afraid of her...
