DOWN IN THE RUINED CITY, Courtney and the simulacrum fought the manticore. Even though only a few minutes had passed since Anwen and Tyler had left, Courtney felt hot and tired. Both she and the simulacrum used spears to ward off the creature's blows, but the Fallen had the obvious advantage.
With the long scorpion tail, the beast tried to swipe the mage off her feet, then moved to stab at her with its deadly stinger. Thankfully, the dust warrior blocked the strike and Courtney was able to regain her footing. But before she could gain proper balance, the creature turned to gnash yellow fangs at her head. Ducking quickly, she was able to avoid the attack.
As the manticore moved to recover, it crashed into several of the stone pillars, sending them crashing to the ground. More dust filled the arena, causing the blond mage to cough. She moved to cover her nose and mouth with one hand and was almost backhanded by a clawed foot. She narrowly managed to miss being crushed.
"Come on!" she yelled as she threw her spear, hoping to hit something.
The throw was bad though, and only glanced off the lean flank of the lion’s tough hide. She ran to retrieve the weapon.
Her dusty companion moved in for her own throw, producing a more satisfying roar of rage from the Fallen.
The manticore whirled around. It moved to sting Courtney in the neck but was stopped by the simulacrum's sudden intervention.
The dust girl momentarily scattered from the blow, but came back together as Courtney retrieved her weapon.
Just as Courtney made ready for another throw, the ground shook underneath them. Brilliant blue light filled the sky as thunder sounded through the cloudless air.
“They did it,” Courtney whispered as she turned to throw her spear once more. "Now to defeat this thing."
Anwen got to her feet, her head reeling. She groaned and looked up. The giant stone gates hung open, a dark maw waiting inside. Turning to locate Tyler, she saw him several yards behind her, lying on his back. She ran to his side. “Tyler!”
Tyler sat up, shaking the stars from his vision. “Wasn't expecting that,” he admitted as he looked up at the open doors. “Everyone in the village must have felt that,” he theorized. “We should get inside.”
Not waiting for more of an invitation, Anwen thrust forward, stuffing the key in her pocket. She stopped as she broke into the darkness, unable to see anything.
Light flared up behind her as Tyler conjured a light orb.
A vast hall stretched ahead of them, the ceiling at least three stories tall, with matching columns to hold up the massive roof. The columns appeared bare of any decoration. They didn't even have capstones. It was almost as if they were thrust down through the ceiling and into the floor like stone bars.
“What is this place?” Anwen asked, staring at the large space before them. She couldn't even make out the far end of the chamber.
“Front gallery,” Tyler answered, moving further in. “Think of it as a kind of foyer or entryway.”
Footsteps echoing, Anwen hurried to catch up with him. “You're saying this is just the front door?” Her eyes grew wider. “Just how big is this place?”
“Big,” Tyler responded. He continued directly ahead.
It took them five minutes to reach the far side of the large gallery. Once there, five massive archways met them.
Each archway had a different set of carvings that made no sense to Anwen. They looked like mythical creatures and scaled tails.
Tyler didn't pause, heading towards the doorway on the far left. “This way,” he directed.
Anwen continued to follow him down the rather large corridor. Now that she could examine it, the stone was reddish brown in color, she noticed, even though the hall was still quite grand in size. “Guess it's big enough for a dragon to walk down,” she commented to herself.
“Exactly,” Tyler confirmed. “Some are quite large.”
“I'll take your word for it.” Anwen shivered a little. She noticed several other passageways leading off the main branch. All were dark. “What's down those?”
Tyler didn't even bother looking, choosing to focus straight ahead. “Just different parts of the main entrance. It was designed to keep invaders from making their way to the heart of the Mountain. To be completely accurate, this is all part of Tarragon, but the actual city lies further in.”
“Oh.” Anwen refrained from asking any more questions. They passed several other empty corridors on either side as they continued forward. Some exuded a faint breeze. Others were just empty holes in space.
Further ahead, Tyler caught the faint hint of something glowing. He slowed; putting a warning hand out so Anwen would do the same. “That light shouldn't be there,” he said, eyes intent. “All the dragons should be asleep, and I’m certain we're the only ones who've entered since this place was sealed.”
Tyler put out his light orb. The faint glow continued in the darkness ahead, throwing a pool of golden light from what looked like another side corridor much further down. “That definitely should not be there.”
Turning to Anwen, he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Stay here while I go investigate.”
Before Anwen could protest, he was moving away from her. She put out a hand to stop him but to no avail. “Tyler!” she hissed. She wasn't even sure where he was. Unlike her own, his footsteps were silent as he melted into the shadows.
Growling a bit in frustration, she took a moment to try and calm her racing heart. Everything had been pell-mell for the past few days. Waiting probably wasn't a bad thing. At least that's what she tried to tell herself. But not knowing how long Tyler was gone didn't help. She fidgeted.
A cool breeze came from one of the openings near her, sending prickles down her spine. A faint wailing sound came from the one to Anwen's left. “Tyler?” She turned towards the sound, heart pounding. She knew he hadn't gone that direction. “Tyler?” she called out again, louder this time.
“Over here.” It was Tyler's voice, but coming from another direction, on the right. Maybe he'd already finished checking out the disturbance and had returned.
Feeling relieved, Anwen moved towards the voice. “I'm coming,” she breathed as she moved towards the darker void.
She didn't pause to realize the faint glow further down had been disturbed. Instead, she blindly followed the coaxing voice, moving into one of the many side tunnels. She didn't notice the walls shifting to seal the path behind her.
Down the main path, Tyler spun around, hearing someone using his voice. Looking back, he realized he'd been tricked. “Anwen!” He raced racing back towards the way he'd come.
Ahead, there was an audible click as something slid into place. Conjuring another light orb, he flung it ahead of him, hoping his other senses were lying.
The sphere flew forward, almost rolling as it slowed down. No longer moving, it began to float, but the area around it was empty. Anwen was gone.
twenty-TWO