by Meredith Skye
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Slowly, Haley moved forward, followed by the young girl, Anya. Had Ehina really come this way? Surely they were no longer on Earth. Maybe Ehina had already found the portal and teleported to her own world of Arlunn. How would they know? They might be searching for the girl in vain.
Then, up ahead Haley saw movement. There, in the middle of the dark hall, she saw the shadowy form of a skeleton. She stopped. "Up ahead!" she whispered, wondering if skeletons indeed could see or if they only sensed movement as Anya had suggested.
She tightened her grip on her buckler and mace.
"What are you doing?" whispered Anya who looked at her like she was crazy.
"That's right, I'm going to attack," she whispered back.
"No way, that's crazy!" hissed Anya. "You don't know how to fight."
"Correction: I do. Admittedly, I don't do it. Come on, my father is a dungeon master and my mother is some kinda Amazon. Of course I learned!" "It's too dangerous!"
This kinda talk wasn't helping her. Haley took a deep breath. She'd fought in the practices before and even in a few tournaments before she decided it wasn't who she was. She really only did it to please her mom and dad and maybe to please Rian.
Relinquishing all her reason and all her fears, she ran forward. The skeleton detected her and moved to a fighting stance. Haley rushed it and got in one good blow with the mace. Not bad! Maybe she wasn't as bad a fighter as she thought.
She moved in for another blow, aiming for the chest, but this time the skeleton deflected it, pushing her back. She made a feint and then struck but somehow skeletons didn't get rattled by feinting because it easily parried.
They fought in the intersection of two halls. As Haley caught her breath, she looked down the side corridor and was dismayed to see a second skeleton ambling towards them.
"Haley!" screamed Anya.
"I see it!" But what could she do?
She glanced back and saw Anya pull out her sling shot and take aim at the other skeleton. The stone hit but the creature only glanced Anya's way and began lumbering towards her.
Now Haley felt a numbness from her head to her toes. This isn't happening! Maybe Anya was right! It was too dangerous—they should have turned back!
But there wasn't anything else to do now. Haley turned her attention back to the skeleton attempting a headshot and blocked it with her buckler.
That smarted! She almost worried that it had broken her arm. She should have practiced more in the backyard at the pell with her mom instead of sneaking off to watch tv with her friends! She'd always been jealous of the other girls whose moms forced them to do piano lessons.
Who would have ever thought that sword fighting would turn out to be practical! (Not that playing a piano was...).
Now Anya drew her dagger and ran to attack the second skeleton. Quickly Haley made a few attacks to her skeleton, but only one hit—and only on the leg. She heard a distinct crunching of bone and a low growl from the creature.
Good.
She stepped in and one-shotted the head, hitting it. But her grip was weak and the mace slipped a little so that it only glanced off. Still, it threw the thing off-balance enough that Haley ran over to assist Anya.
Before Haley could get there, Anya stabbed the skeleton and it hit her with its free hand, knocking her to the floor. Haley swooped in and stopped the sword attack, saving Anya. But now the skeleton was after her, chopping at her with a series of quick stabs that became increasingly hard to dodge.
"Haley!" shouted Anya.
After parrying a blow, Haley glanced back to see that the first skeleton now had a tight grip on Anya's arm. "Run! Down the hall! Find Ehina!"
And leave Anya? She couldn't! She turned back to fight the skeleton, but it had lunged at her, it knocked her back into the wall, stunning her.
Haley felt herself slipping into oblivion, but fought against it.
Can't pass out now!
They'd be killed! She managed to open her eyes. The thing grabbed her arm was walking down the hall with her. She heard Anya behind her.
"Let go of me!" said Anya, as if struggling.
Haley's heart beat rapidly. Her head ached from the blow and she felt a little dizzy. Hopefully it didn't do too much damage, though she had no chance to examine it.
The skeletons led them down the hall to the left, which went about 20' before intersecting with another narrow hall. This one had four small prison cells along it, each with iron bars.
Her heart sank. Haley didn't know whether or not to feel relieved at being captured alive. What would Molan turn them into? Haley did not want to become a zombie! A third skeleton guarded the doors. Great! Their chances of escaping were getting slimmer and slimmer.
The skeleton opened the cell and inside stood Ehina! Even worse! Now their chances of summoning the Arlunni and defeating Molan had dropped to practically zero.
The other skeleton dragged a flailing Anya up next to them and stopped. Anya suddenly pulled free from the skeleton's hold and lunged at him in a mad attack. Haley watched, astounded, as Anya punched him in the stomach then grappled him in an attempt to knock him over. What had gotten into her?
The skeleton grabbed Anya's arm and flung her hard against the wall, with the sickening sound of flesh hitting stone. Anya's body crumpled to the floor.
"No!" screamed Haley. Was she dead? It wasn't fair! Her heart went out to the strange little girl who had befriended her. Anya had very few friends. How many years had she been alone?
Haley's captor shoved her in the cell, where Ehina now stood watching. She looked bedraggled, her silver hair now in a tangle. She looked even more tired and pale than before.
Of course, her weapons were gone, as was her long cloak. She was dressed in a long slender, dark blue tunic with white and light blue trim. It looked like a uniform of some kind. On the right sleeve was a small insignia that looked like a sun with rays of light coming out from it.
Her foot was chained to the wall, so that she couldn't rush the guards, though she looked ready to do it, if they got closer to her.
They escorted Anya in and dropped her on the floor. Then Haley was sure she saw her move. Then, perhaps she wasn't dead! Haley felt immediate relief.
The two skeletons slammed the door shut.
Now Anya, pushed herself up to her knees. A little blood oozed from a cut on her forehead. She blinked her eyes, dazed.
Anger flooded Haley. "You stupid girl!" she shouted at Anya, hands on hips. "Just what did you think you were doing?" That creature nearly killed her just now!
Anya managed to open her eyes and blinked again, looking around at her two cell mates. Then she managed a wan smile and held up her hand. "Getting this," she said.
In her hands, Anya held a small iron ring with a single key on it.
Sneaky little thief! She'd stolen the skeleton's key! Haley grinned in approval. "Anya, I love you!"
Anya grinned. "I know."
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