Quest (OLD: the new version MIGHT be posted shortly)

Chapter 9-Sage

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I was in the Hole. I could tell by the smell of rotting flesh and the sound of screaming. I pounded my fist against the wall of my cell. I tried to break through the bars of the door, screaming for my friends.

“Heather! Pete! Help! Jae! Dad! I’m trapped! I’m not supposed to be here!” I screamed.

“Shut up!” a gravelly voice ordered. My hands froze and my throat seized up. The guard with pale green eyes stood outside my door. “Oh, you’re back, are you? Come along, girl. You know what to do.” He opened my cell and grabbed my hair. I followed behind him to the torture room.

“NO! I escaped! I’m not supposed to be here!” I tried to fight, to pull away, but he just pushed me down to my knees. I closed my eyes and cowered, not moving. He shoved me again and I stood up, but I was already in the torture room. “NO!” The pale-green-eyed guard hit me across my face, tearing my cheek against my teeth. As soon as his soulless eyes came into view again, I spat at him. The red of my blood stuck to his broad, thick face.

“You filthy mage,” he growled. He tore off my travelling clothes to show only my old red tank that I had been captured in and took pushed me to the Dunk. He held my head under while pushing me against the hard, cold metal tank. I couldn’t breathe. I tried to keep my eyes open, but black clouded my vision. Tried to push back, to breathe, but it wouldn’t work. He was there, right behind me, holding me in. Just before I passed out he pulled me out. I gasped.

“Who’s in charge here?” he asked me, shaking me. I sobbed, but didn’t answer. He shook me harder. I hit him.

“Stop,” I sobbed. “Just kill me.”

“Tell me,” he ordered. His had closed over my throat. I gasped, unable to breathe again. I clawed at the hand, tearing at the skin. He was going to kill me.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t hurt me anymore.

“You can’t do this,” I said clearly. I pushed him away and he fell down the chute that led to the pit of dead. “I am free.”

I opened my eyes and saw the lit tunnel. It had all been a dream, just a dream. I sat up and saw a few other people awake. Jae, Michal, Austin and Argus were sitting in a small circle. Jae noticed me first and came over to me. He had a bandage around his arm.

“Hold still,” he said quietly. He picked something out of my hair. “Do you know what this is?”

“A spider?” I asked. My voice came out hoarse. I felt my neck and winced. There was a large bruise the size of a hand around it. Jae looked at my throat and grimaced.

“Everybody is getting injuries,” he told me, helping me stand up. He tossed the spider down and stomped on it. “May I ask what your dream was about?”

“The Hole,” I replied. “It was my worst nightmare.”

“I suppose that was everybody’s,” Argus commented. He pointed his wand at me slowly, showing that he meant no harm, and my throat healed. “I dreamt o’ my pa. He died when I was young, and in the dream…” Argus shuddered. “Well, it wasn’t a good dream.”

One by one everybody woke up and Jae killed the spider-creatures on their heads. When Landon woke up he told us that they were called Jorogumo. He could tell by the markings. Emily was the last to wake up, and when she did she was screaming. Jae led her over to the circle. I scooted to make room. She sat down between me and Pete. Jae sat down next to me.

“Are you okay?” I asked quietly.

 “No, not really,” Emily chuckled sadly. “I don’t know why I’m so… so watery, but I didn’t like that.”

“Whatever you saw, it wasn’t real,” Peter said gently. “It wasn’t real.”

“How did the magic know, Sage?” Heather asked suddenly. “You do Stage magic and it is nothing like that. This kind got into my head and showed me…” Her voice died away, unable to finish the sentence.

“There are forms of Stage magic that get into your head. People use it to show what you want to see, or to scare you by showing you your worst nightmare,” I explained.

“It was very realistic,” Emily muttered into the silence.

“Why’d you come, Emily?” I asked.

“Wha-, oh, well, my sister, Amber, was captured a… a month ago. I… I think that this… this wish is the only way to get her back,” Emily sobbed. I put my arm around her and rubbed her shoulder, trying to comfort her. It was awkward for me, but she seemed to relax.

“It will be okay. I… promise.” I hated how my  voice wavered slightly. “Talisman will grant our wish. He must. And then your sister and my father and everyone in the wretched, forsaken mouth of Hell will be free.”

“Is it, I mean, can you tell us what it’s like in there?” Everyone had gotten quiet after the question, wanting to hear what the Hole was like. I tried to think of a reason to not say anything.

 “No,” was all I could say.

“But, is Amber going to be okay?”

I didn’t answer; I couldn’t answer honestly. Instead I tried to get everybody to get ready to walk again. Soon we were packed and moving, and it hardly took fifteen minutes to see the sun again. I didn’t talk to anyone else and we left the mountain behind us. I tried to push away the dream I had, and the image of the guard. He seemed seared into my head and I started to feel nauseous. We made camp early and I set up the tent, not taking the food that Emily had made. I went to sleep quickly and easily, the stress of the dream weighing my eyes down.