Alone in the Dark

Retreat

The explosion of magic nearly blinded Keana and it dazed him long enough that he found himself under the large body of the monster he had killed, even as he turned toward where Nerini had fallen into the darkness.

"Nerini!" Keana yelled and sprinted towards the gaping blackness that he had seen her thrown into.

He was forced to dive out of the way of falling debris and scramble backwards as the ground started collapsing in on itself.  From overhead, large chunks of stone and timber began to fall  and he was dodging the collapsing remnants of the ancient castle as his eyes searched the darkness desperately, looking to see where Nerini had gone. Keana hoped to see her climbing back upwards, his ears straining to pick up the sound of her voice.

He struggled to make his way towards the hole, finding himself stumbling backwards more than forwards as scrambled to avoid being buried himself.  Even as the whole yawned toward him and devoured the ruins, he tried to find a way to get to where he had last seen Nerini.

Keana knew that Nerini was out of reach or buried. Even so, he had to reach her. He had to get to her. His mind repeated that thought over and over again.

"Sir! Let's go!" Someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him back towards the stairs, barely registering Tomei's voice as he fought to resist being pulled away from where Nerini needed help.

"Let me go!" Keana yelled back as he struggled free of Tomei's arms and took a step forward, only to be caught by two more sets of arms and dragged back into the stairwell. Before his eyes, the roof completely gave way, burying the entire room.

As the world fell apart, they scrambled up the stairs, chased by falling rocks and stone. Chunks of the mortar pelted them as they ran, causing bruises and minor cuts where the fist sized chunks hit them.  Keana stumbled out into the daylight, turning around to pull the last of his team through the doorway as the stairwell exploded outwards in a shower of stone.

Above ground, everyone was scrambling away from the castle itself, the courtyard sinking where the underground supports had given way when the magic had turned them to dust. Keana cursed to himself as he followed the rest of the team in a mad dash for their lives.  He had killed the creature to save Nerini, had seen the magic move out from the thing in a wave of power and had not registered until that moment, that he had seen the power obliterate what was left of the dying ruins.

Keana barely had time to take in the scene of the battle, with the dead creatures and several of his own people scattered around as they sprinted through the crumbling, decrepit archway that once was the main castle gate.  Even as he ran past, fissures began to form, preventing anyone from stopping and retrieving the dead.

He could feel the ground tremble and shift as he ran, cursing to himself with every step. Only when he felt the ground solid beneath his feet did he stop and turn. He had expected to see a still growing black hole of emptiness behind him and frowned when he only saw a pile of rubble that had sunken a few feet beneath the ground.  Dust was clouding the air, but he forced his mind to assess the scene and frowned when he saw a few dark, gaping holes, looking like tunnels, leading away and further into the forest, to the North.

"Go get the horses." Keana rasped and took a couple steps back towards the ruins, watching his shadow stretch out towards it as the sun sank in the sky.

Out of those tunnels, or perhaps from the dark forests that stretched out around them, unnatural and angry howls began echoing through the air.  As darkness fell, a surreal silence swarmed toward them, punctuated by the noises of his team mounting up and the monsters coming for them.

Despite his orders and the sounds, Keana remained fixed in place, his eyes searching for movement, trying to will Nerini to appear from some unseen entrance. He held his breath, gripping his sword sheathes hard as he silently called out to her.  Despite the destruction, despite the fact that all that rock and half a castle had fallen in on where she was, he felt that she was still alive.  Cold logic tried to argue, but he ignored it as surely as he was ignoring the sounds of more of those shadowy creatures.

"Sir, we've gotta go." Tomei's voice broke his reverie, and he turned to see her giving him a cautious look.  She was covered in dust and had a bruise on her cheek, not to mention the split lip Keana thought he may have given her while he was fighting her.

She had saved his life.

Keana glanced to the castle, before nodding firmly to her. "Yeah. I'm sorry." He shook his head and reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. "You saved my life, thank you."

She smiled tiredly to him and shook his head. "No, I get it. But we gotta stick to the plan now, we'll come back once everyone else is safe."

Keana nodded and turned to his horse, pulling himself up into the saddle as a cold fury took him. A part of him wanted to see another of those monsters, wanted to rip the thing apart so that he could avenge the fact that his friend was now missing and alone.

His mare, sensing his anger, pawed at the ground and danced to the side as he found his seat. He looked to his group, who were mounting and helping the wounded mount as quickly as possible. Finally he glanced to Lord Kannein, who was hunched in front of one of his men on a large war charger. He could see the resemblance to Nerini, though the man looked near death and dazed.

Keana cursed, then spun one last time to the castle, muttering and shaking his head.  "You better hold on."

Then, on his command, the remainder of their party wheeled around and urged their horses into a wild flight, away from the nightmares that were pursuing them through the dark woods.