Mythigore | A Fablehaven and Dragonwatch Adventure |

Chapter Eleven - "Keys And Puzzles And Prison"

Seth froze. There was no way they bound him. Why would they? What was going on here? Nothing made sense! Everything that has happened over that past few days didn't adds up. Just when he let's himself accept the lack of understanding, something else gets thrown at him.

He held the sword out as a warning. Blood dripped from his wrist and fingers. This had to be a trick. He didn't even feel them do anything to him, unless... The knife in his wrist wasn't just to keep him from squirming around. "Why..." He muttered.

"Oh, Seth," Avalon sang. "I think the real question is: why not?" She took a step forward. "A young boy with the ability to free dark creatures from their prisons. A boy who just happens to have a similar reputation to Patton Burgess. A hero for all..." Avalon's voice dropped in pitch, becoming sinister. "Why not make you our hero, too?"

"What do you mean by what?" Seth kept a calm approach. He shifted his footing and let his eyes take in his surroundings. To his left, the dining table stood unattended to. And just behind that was the exit. He could make a run for it, and hide himself somewhere in the corridor. The only guard there was behind the witches, so no one was manning the doors. He just needed to get them wrapped up in their own talking.

"Well, young shadow healer," Sedona said. "It gets tiresome enduring an endless burden of captivity in out own home. To leave would be to die. It is painful having to wait around for the perfect moment to just waltz onto our doorstep. The right key. The right day," She paused for a moment and looked Seth intently in the eyes. "But why continue to wait when we can force the pieces right into our hands? Doing nothing when there is a chance to do something seems a bit anticlimactic, don't you think?"

"Sure," Seth said. "But why wait until now if you're so impatient?"

"Impatient?" Corvusa laughed. "Deary, we have been waiting thousands of years just to simply know who you are."

Seth exhaled through his nose. He didn't know how to respond to that. With his sword still held out, Seth took a small step toward the dining table, getting ready to run. I was clear these witches think Seth can somehow free them. At least, that's what he is getting from the way Sedona whined about their imprisonment. He could only half understand their longing. They were bound to, well, wherever they were, but the place was really nice for a dark, undead palace. The singing sisters would be envious if they didn't already know what Avalon, Sedona and Corvusa had.

"Obviously, you are a key piece to our little predicament," Avalon said, taking another step toward Seth. She raised her hand and the ground beneath him broke.

Seth yelped as he fell. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long before hitting the ground. With a hard thud, Seth landed on his side. His sword swung from his grip and clattered somewhere off to the side. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder from landing on broken stone. A gasp escaped his lips and he sucked in a bundle of both air and dust, only to cough the dust from his lungs. As dust and small pieces of the broken floor finished falling ground him, Seth looked up at to see all three of the witches looking down on him, grinning sinisterly down on him.

"Don't worry, Seth Sorenson," Avalon said, poison dripping from her lips. "You'll get used to your new life soon enough."

As if on cue, something cold wrapped around Seth's ankle and yanked him away from the break in the ceiling. He called out for his sister almost on instinct and immediately felt his chest tighten. Dragged mercilessly over sharp stone and loose metals, cuts and minor scrapes formed all over his body. Seth fought to be able to get a look at what was pulling him. Once he managed to dodge getting hit in the head by what looked like a pipe, he caught sight of a ghostly chain around his left ankle. He squirmed around and tried to reach for it, but the moment he lifted his head, gravity swung it back down as Seth was dragged down broken stairs at an alarming speed. His back and neck and head took most of the damage. But his left leg was starting to feel like it was getting pulled off.

Seth chided himself for not running when he had the chance. He had taken too long to take action. That wasn't like him. What had gotten into him? Seth knew there would be no way Kendra or anyone would be able to hear his cries, but for the sake of needing to scream, he called out her name as if there was a small chance she would randomly pop out of nowhere and help him. 

It got darker the deeper he was dragged. By the time he reached the bottom, he could barely see anything. He was dragged for another few minutes before the chain around his ankle threw him through a doorway. Seth's back smashed against the wall, causing the blood that was already gathered in his mouth to be coughed out. Before he could focus on anything other than the pain he was feeling, he heard an ear piecing laugh echo around him. His eyes shot forward as the heavy, metal door to the room was slammed closed, leaving him helplessly against the wall in a heap of blood and pain.

The laughing stopped and Seth was left with eerie silence, like what was left in Fablehaven. He took in the still space while his heart thumped in his ears. The room was stone from the ceiling to the ground. It was maybe the size of a bathroom and was empty. He was grateful there wasn't a random creature in the room with him.

Seth leaned his head back gingerly. He took in shuddered breaths, trying to calm his heart. Every time he blinked, stars formed in his vision. As the pain turned to numbness, fear began to fully set in. He had no idea where he was. He had no idea what the witches planned to do with him in order to escape their current setting. And he was alone, bleeding. A lot. He wasn't sure if it was enough to kill him. But he was becoming lightheaded. Why does everything have to go so wrong... So terrible wrong?