Halls of Darkness

Chapter Five

It snarled at her with clenched teeth, lifting its body off from the surface of the log, revealing its barbed, rippling underbelly. Tendrils draped invisibly over the sides of the log now lifted into the air, threatening to strike her.

"AAGH!" Aliya threw herself backwards off the log and splashed back into the stew of moss. She struggled to paddle until she found solid ground to stand on.

The opposite shore of this marshland was hidden from her; she could be navigating this for hours.

It was beginning to look like she didn't have hours to spend. The moss clung to her body, slowing each stride and weighed down on her as if trying to submerge her and drown her. Each stride of her arms and legs required more effort, and each time she had less strength to draw herself forward.

She found a little extra might within herself upon hearing something large plop into the water behind her. The last thing she needed was to be pursued by that horror on the log.

Whatever made that sound was now on her heels. With her head briefly turned back to see what it was, she caught it slicing through the water toward her from the log. And the log was bare.

She paddled fiercely but did not get any further. In front of her, a large patch of moss rose as a mass from within the depths emerged.

The creature behind her stopped splashing and vanished. Perhaps it knew better than to hunt while this new behemoth was awake and active.

"To your right, your Highness! To your right!" came a voice from nowhere. It almost sounded like a man, but it gurgled and hissed like it came from beneath the surface.

Aliya felt something long and scaly slide against her legs, and she screamed and threw herself over the opposite side the voice told her.

Meanwhile, the beast continued to rise and moan, filling the wilderness with its war cry.

And the slithering entity from beneath her burst out from the water in the path of the giant creature.

"Princess, to your right! To your right!" Its backside was turned to her, its tendrils flailing about defensively against the colossal mass before them.

Was this another one of the Mages?

"I can't help you, if you won't listen to me—go to your right!"

Aliya obeyed and swam as far in that direction as she could. She was shocked to discover that a solid patch of ground lay within reach, camouflaged by the moss which layered over top the rocky surface.

It was when she drew herself upon the rock that it happened. The behemoth shook itself loose from the debris that covered its true form and poised itself with a threatening gesture.

It was armored in spine-riddled, salmon-colored plates. Multiple jagged limbs propped its mass above the surface of the marsh. Its reptilian face flared down at the smaller thing which stood to protect Aliya while she stood off to the side.

The giant's maw parted, revealing rotted animal bits as well as human ribs wedged between its yellowing fangs. Two claws extended from its neck, snapping like the hands of a crustacean.

Aliya did not know if her new ally was a Mage or not. The fact remained; he did not appear equipped to face this opponent.

"There are more patches of ground like it. If you follow them, they'll lead you out of the forest.

"Then you'll come to two cave entrances. Take the one on the left—do not take the one on the right!"

Aliya did not move. Images flashed through her mind of her fallen subjects. The knights who were killed in the storm. The dragon who died attempting to rescue her from the witch. The half-man who did the same. Each time, she had been powerless to help them. What was the point of dying for her, if she contributed nothing to saving lives herself?"