The Thanaton Syndrome

Chapter Fourteen

Spencer roused them all far too soon, and after a meager breakfast (they had to ration strictly now), they began the long trek through the never-ending tunnels.

They entered the next tunnel, where the ceiling sank and the sides closed in, so some needed to duck in order to walk and they could barely walk more than single file.

Seth thought the cavern they'd slept in was bad. Now he wanted to return to it, and get out of the dirty, claustrophobic space. At least before he could fully stretch his arms out without touching the muddy walls of the tunnel.

They all generally avoided touching the walls to the tunnel. Mud slimed over pretty well every surface, and they'd already found countless bugs and centipedes lurking there.

To add to the claustrophobia and disgustingness, they continued to trudge through mud the whole way through. Sometimes they could walk over it and it wouldn't even go over their toes, but other times it reached their knees.

During the first stretch, Seth helped Jeremiah limp along. They moved slow, edging along with the rest of the group. Seth did his best to keep the dark thoughts at bay, thinking of Lydia every time the panic threatened to kick in.

They stopped for lunch, and then went on again. Someone else helped Jeremiah this time, and Seth traveled next to Christian.

"How have you been, Outlander?" Christian said as they walked.

Seth shrugged. "Fine," he said.

Christian smiled. "Good, because I think we've only scraped the surface of danger so far."

Seth suppressed a groan. He usually tried to expect the worst, but at that moment, it was hard to believe anything could get much worse. "What else will we run into, then?"

"Oh, I don't know really, but we haven't seen anything from King Morphew yet. It'll get rough when he starts to get involved."

"Who is he, exactly?"

Christian frowned. "King of Fangalia," he said. "The Paramount Palace rules all of Alaisia except Fangalia, which Morphew took over about five or six years ago. No one knows where he came from, but somehow, he has immense power. Just a year after we heard of him taking over Fangalia, he attacked the palace." Christian shook his head at the memory. "He had a huge army, and we only barely beat him. I can't imagine how he got so powerful so fast."

"And he's just stayed away since then?"

"Yes, strangely. Still, no one dares go to Fangalia now. We avoided the land as much as possible even before-- that place is so foul. I hope to get in and out before I can even come to terms we arrived."

"You've never tried to attack him?" Seth said.

"Nah. Like I said, we never cared for Fangalia, so no point in taking it back. And then, he never does much to us, so we leave him alone. All his main servants have pretty much disappeared without a word. The Red Warrior, for instance, disappeared after the Battle of Kingdoms, that battle I just told you about. We'd heard of him before, torturing peasants and villagers, attacking in the shadows and then leaving. We discovered he was in league with King Morphew at the battle, then never saw him again... Until, I suppose, a few days ago."

"A few days ago?"

"Yeah, that guy who chased you and your sister through the portal was the Red Warrior."

"The one that escaped." Seth vaguely remembered the name, but everything from that first day swirled up in his mind and he could only remember key points.

Christian looked slightly uncomfortable. "Yeah, that one. I can't say how he escaped, but then, we managed to capture him pretty easily considering the many years before of endless failed hunts."