Silver Hooves in the Darkness

Chapter Eighteen

Two loud booms from opening portals awakened Paola and sent her scrambling to her feet. As she held her unsteady ground, two huge streams of light poured laterally from parallel Runs. They collided with a thundering force, and agonized screams echoed throughout the Maze.

It took several moments for the light to dissipate and for Paola's eyes to adjust to the wild changes in luminescence. She walked cautiously forward toward two glowing points she knew to be the gems bound to the fallen Couriers, who had slammed into each other. One light grew weaker, and as she reached the two figures, it died out.

From the faint light of her own gem, she beheld clearly the true form of one of her race, her heart breaking for the fallen beauty. Extra flesh sported between the back legs marked this one as male. The equino's body was mostly black, yet his four long legs were tipped with white. His feet did not end in toes; each one terminated in a single, solid, hard brown mass shod with silver. He had a white mane and tail, cheerfully braided with boast ribbons from several domes. His expanded bandoliers wrapped around his long, wide body, his pouch tucked safely under his belly.

She guessed that he was old enough to be a stallion, for he seemed more muscled than a yearling. His facial features matched the silvery image of her dream. Yet this visage belonged on this body. She felt not fear, but fascination and pride in her assessment, for he bore no human taint as had the monster drawn in her dream. The high-placed eye on the left side of his head was a silvery green, but devoid of the awareness of a living being. His pale tongue lolled from his mouth, his long jaws open wide to display large flat teeth. His head angled unnaturally back. The gem held in the recesses of his fleshy neck was shattered and darkened forever.

She could do nothing for him, so she turned her attention to the other felled equino, who had returned to his humanoid form. She knelt beside him and gasped. Under the glow of their gems, she looked upon the face of Cappello.

She bent forward and lightly touched his arm. She whispered in his ear, "Please, awaken! Please!" She gave his arm a gentle shake and was rewarded with a soft moan. Cappello opened his sky blue eyes, but his gaze wandered in confusion.

Although he was taller than she, he was light and yearling slender. She wanted to get him to his feet as quickly as possible. She had no doubt that Cenere would soon come to devour the dead equino. "Try, Cappello. Please, try to rise. Cenere will kill us too if you don't get to your feet!"

"Paola?" he said questioningly and hope rose in her heart. "What..what...happened?"

"No time to explain, you must rise Cappello. Rise now!" she commanded.

And with her help, he did. But he caught sight of the dead equino, threw back his head and sent out a howl of terror that froze her blood. "What happened!"

He pushed her away, but she grabbed his arm, yelling, "No Cappello! We stay together! Please!"

He resisted, each movement sending searing pain along her injured torso, but she held onto him tightly. In surrender, he pulled her toward him, and together, they leaned against one smooth wall and slid to the floor.

"We cannot wait here!" she kept on pleading. "My gem is not working properly, I need you to take me to Dome Erba, or I too will die here in the Maze!"

Her words finally sank into his mind and registered. "You must believe me, Paola, my gem gave me no warning to change my Run."

"Such a disaster has rarely happened, Cappello. Perhaps, this equino did not heed the warning from his gem, or his gem stopped working like mine, and he panicked. Mine gives off some light but cannot guide me, and I do not know why!" Yet the why was obvious. Someone had wanted her dead and Gemma's mission ended.

Cappello gestured toward the fallen equino. "His gem has darkened forever. Without a signal, Patrollers will never be able to find him or retrieve his Carry before Cenere comes. We must take his pouch to Dome Erba."

"And his ribbons. It will show to the Keeper of the Accounts where he has traveled. He will be able to use that information too."

"He...he will not be forgotten!"

"Let us do it then," Paola agreed and began to stand up.

Cappello gave her a slight smile, but did not move.

Paola straightened. "You rest while I attend to this," she said, keeping the fear at bay that when she finished, she would discover that he had also died.

"I feel like such a rogue," he joked weakly, "allowing a filly to do all the work."

Her heart warmed with a depth of feeling that was endless. Her world would be barren without Cappello. "When we get to Dome Elba, you can get me a boast ribbon," she suggested to lighten his spirits.

"Paola Equina, you are a fine...filly," he said, his voice trailing. He closed his eyes, his breathing becoming irregular.

Resisting the urge to shake him once more, Paola turned away from her friend and set to her task on the dead equino. She tugged the ribbons free of his fine white mane. Using his clips for added reinforcement, she attached his Carry pouch to her own. She had not looked inside the dead equino's bag as it was forbidden, but whatever he had carried was light. And when she had transferred it her body, the contents within it gave off the rustling sound of paper.

"Done," she said. She turned away from the dead equino and braced herself to face her worst fear, but she found that it was not realized. Cappello had gotten to his feet and leaned against the wall of the Run.

"You work quickly and efficiency," he praised.

She looped her left arm around his right. "We need to go."

"But we can only walk, my friend," he said, his voice cracking with the pain from injuries that she could not see.

Leaning on each other they looked over at their fallen colleague. "May your spirit find its way to Dome Pasture to dwell and run forever," they said softly in unison. They stayed silent for a final moment before Paola insisted, "Which way to Dome Erba, Cappello?"

The equino pointed down the Run. As they walked, the ground beneath them began to vibrate. A faint red glow in the distance grew larger and approached at a terrifying speed.

The carnelians wrapped in Paola's mane blazed with white light.

"Cenere!" they both shouted.

"Quick! Another Run, Cappello!" Paola cried 

"Begone!" the colt shouted, as they both struggled to escape the Death Bringer.

Cenere's stirring cry of victory filled the Run. The tall dark figure waved his arm over the dead equino. The fallen Courier rose up as if he weighed nothing, a floating corpse. The head she had seen in her dreams, haloed in scarlet, twisted on its mismatched humanoid body and considered her. Its red eyes glowed and its tail violently cut the air. Its black kirtle patterned with intersecting spirals of gold rippled. Not yet, Paola Equina. Not yet, Cenere taunted her mind.

Cappello flung himself against the wall of the Run, opening a new portal and dragging them both onto another path. He repeated this move across several portals as his gem flashed different tones and colors guiding them toward Dome Erba and away from the monster that stalked the Maze. With each move away from Cenere, Paola's carnelians lost their luminosity until they reached their normal state.

Soon, the botanical symbol for Dome Erba appeared before them. Together, they crossed the portal and fell against the stones at the edge of the dome.

"I cannot believe we made it!" Paola cried.

But Cappello did not answer.