Something wrapped around her waist as she ran and pulled her to the ground. Into the ground. The room disappeared. The ground shook all around her.
“Relax,” said Rayah. “I’ve got you.”
“Rakzar!” cried Urza.
“He’s still alive.”
A moment later they emerged from the ground on the opposite side of the room.
The minotaur who chased Urza still pounded the spot on the ground where she’d disappeared. Rakzar dodged and rolled from each attack, but Urza could see him slowing. They wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long.
Urza drew her knives. “We need a plan.”
“I think I know how we can end this,” said Rayah.
The minotaur who’d chased Urza had spotted her again and started galloping toward her and Rayah. “I’m listening.”
“We need to get them close so that they wind up attacking each other.”
“Do you think they’re that stupid?”
“No, but I’m certain that they can’t see in the dark. Once you two get them close, I’ll extinguish the torches around the room.”
“And how will Rakzar know to do that?”
“The same way I told you. Watch yourself. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
“Okay.”
Rayah dove into the dirt and disappeared. The minotaur had closed the distance and lunged forward, ax over its head.
Urza bolted.
Moments later, she spotted Rakzar talking with Rayah. He nodded. The plan had to work. Little time remained before one of them would make the wrong move or move too slow.
Rayah flew high. Rakzar ran toward her. “Round them up!” he screamed.
They circled. Dodged blow after blow.
The last one slammed right next to Urza’s head. Her ears rang.
One by one, the torches blew out around the room until only one remained. Rakzar and Urza headed straight for each other. The two minotaurs closed on them fast. The final torch went out, casting the room into total darkness. Urza looked back as she veered to her left. She hoped Rakzar had veered left as well.
A thunderous crash shook the room, followed by two might roars. Then another crash. Urza looked back. The two minotaurs had embedded their axes in the sides of each other and struggled to dislodge them.
She turned back and headed straight for the one closest to her. At the last possible moment, she leapt in the air.
Click-click!
Her knives dropped into her hands.
The minotaur must’ve sensed danger. It looked right at her.
But she had the upper hand. It wouldn’t react in time.
Another second and her knives would be buried in the minotaur’s neck.
Driven by confidence and rage, she hadn’t seen its hand moving to swat her from the air.
The blow caught her right in the ribs. She heard and felt several of them crack.
At that same moment, she’d let go of her knives and trusted them to find their mark.
The ground came hard. Knocked the wind from her. Cracked her ribs further.
Her vision blurred. Darkened. Then the room faded from her eyes.
† † †
Urza’s body hit the ground hard. When she didn’t move, Rayah panicked. Rayah flew out of the ground, but the room lay in darkness.
She couldn’t remember where the pyramid with the throne sat, but a gut instinct told her that she needed to reach it. Somehow, the minotaur head Normak wore kept the other two minotaurs alive. Maybe she should’ve kept one of the torches handy, but it made little difference now.
Grunts and thuds and moans and roars bombarded her. Dust and fluids peppered the air.
She reached one of the pyramids but didn’t know which one it was. She prayed it was the right one as she traversed the steps toward the top. Snorting and groaning clued her in to the fact that she’d found the correct one.
At the top, she found the throne.
But it sat empty.
Normak grabbed her by the throat. Choked her. She reached out, but he must’ve stood behind her.
Every breath tightened his grip further.
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
Alderan’s face flashed in her mind. She’d let him down.
Then, she remembered her knives. She needed nothing but her hands and mind to control them.
She relaxed and her knives flew into her hands. With her mind, she guided the blades up her body and across the length of Normak’s minotaur arms. Around to the back of his neck.
With an upward thrust, she willed the knife to slice the back of the minotaur’s head open. Once. Twice. Three times.
The hands fell from around her neck. She turned midair and zoomed forward. She reached around Normak’s head, dug her fingers into the gash at the back of his head, and pulled as hard as she could.
The head wouldn’t peel away. She bent her knees, placed her feet against Normak’s chest, and shoved off as she pulled on the head. A sickening pop met her ears and then the head pulled away from Normak, sending her backward and onto the throne. She tossed the head away and shook her hands. Sinewy cords of mucus clung to her fingers and arms and smelled of wet fur and vomit.
She heard Normak’s body drop to the ground and then the room fell silent.
No noise remained but her heavy breathing.
Then a pop and a crackle.
One of the torches on the outer wall of the room burst with flame. Then another. And another. Soon, the entire room filled with light once more.
Rayah wiped her hands on her trousers and climbed down from the throne. Normak lay face-down on blood-drenched steps. A deep gash on the back of his head bled and matted the hair around it. She reached down and touched the side of his neck. A faint pulse beat against her fingers.
Thank Ƨäʈūr!
Rayah assessed the carnage spread throughout the room. The two big minotaurs lay in the sand, one with two knives embedded in its throat and the other with an axe through the top of its skull. Blood pooled in the sand around them. To her left, at the base of the pyramid she stood upon, lay the minotaur head she’d cut off of Normak’s head. The flesh and fur had disintegrated, leaving only the skull and the two large horns protruding from the top of it.
Urza still lay on the ground to Rayah’s far right where she’d left her. Urza faced the opposite direction, but Rayah saw her ribcage slowly rise and fall.
Two still alive.
She looked around but couldn’t locate Rakzar. Her pulse rose. “Rakzar!” she cried.
When he didn’t answer, she zoomed around the room but didn’t find him. Where could he have gone? Had he not made it? The thought sickened and overwhelmed her, and she thought she might retch. A deep breath only made the feeling worsen.
Rayah bent over and clutched her stomach. She needed to be strong for Urza and Normak. Their survival rested on her shoulders.
Unless we’re already dead.
She shook the thought away as it served no purpose but to destroy her.
From the corner of her eye, Rayah thought she saw movement underneath the minotaur with the axe in its skull. Fear and hope tightened her chest and crushed her lungs. She held her breath and watched the sand for more than a minute, but all remained still. Hope dwindled within her once again.
Rayah closed her eyes and prayed. Ƨäʈūr, save him.
How far she’d come from that day on the beach. Thinking back on it, she hardly recognized the hateful, spiteful girl she’d been. She’d proclaimed herself a devout follower of Ƨäʈūr, the one true God, but she’d shown no love or mercy for Rakzar. She’d begged for his death and would’ve choked it out of him given the chance. Now, she thought of him as a friend, his loss devastating.
Shifting sand buried Rayah’s feet. Her eyes sprang open. The two minotaurs had been reduced to a heaping pile of sand. Furthermore, a furry red paw rose out of the middle of the sandpile.
Rayah dove i
nto the sandpile, located Rakzar, and pulled him to the surface. But he didn’t breathe or respond. She turned him on his side and beat his back with her palm.
“Breathe, damn you!” she yelled, frantic.
Rakzar convulsed, coughed, and then spat sand from his mouth.
“Thank Ƨäʈūr you’re alive!” She hugged his neck and kissed the side of his snout.
He tensed and growled deep in his throat. Rayah pulled back to give him some breathing room. That’s when she noticed all the blood. It congealed around a large, circular puncture wound in his left shoulder and matted his fur down the side of his chest and down his arm to his elbow. One of the minotaurs must’ve skewered him at some point during the fight.
“Are you okay?” Fear crept into her voice and shook it.
Rakzar coughed and spat sand from his mouth several more times before sitting up. “I’m alive because of you.”
“Gods, what happened?” Normak rolled over and sat up on the lower pyramid step. “Me head’s throbbin’ somethin’ fierce.“ He reached behind his head and his fingers returned bloodied.
Urza stirred as well. She managed to rise on all fours and joined Rayah and Rakzar. “We should all be dead. What happened?”
Rakzar tried to move his left arm and winced. His eyes turned glassy with tears. “Rayah. She did what we couldn’t.”
Embarrassment rose in Rayah’s cheeks. “No… this took effort from all of us.”
“Don’ remember doin’ anythin’.” Normak stood, stumbled a few steps toward the three of them, and bent over, his hands on his knees. “Kinda blacked out after puttin’ on that minotaur ‘ead.”
“Someone had to do it,” said Rayah. “I’m just glad it didn’t kill you.”
Normak nodded. “Aye.”
The four of them looked toward the second pyramid and the pedestal. Even from two hundred yards away Rayah could see that the glass enclosure around the crystal had cracked. She stood.
Urza must’ve sensed what she was about to do and grabbed onto her leg. “We need to think this through.”
Rayah looked back at Urza and frowned. “What’s there to think through? We’ve defeated the minotaurs and now we can take the crystal.”
“Look around, Rayah. We’re still trapped inside this room.” Urza groaned when Rayah shrugged. “I think we need a plan before we do anything else.”
“You don’t think an exit will present itself when we take the crystal?” asked Rakzar.
Urza paced. “I don’t know, but what if it doesn’t?”
“We’ve no choice,” said Normak. He blurred from sight.
Glass shattered.
Normak returned, the crystal secured under his arm.
The room groaned and shook and then the two pyramids collapsed into piles of sand.
“What the gods—”
A thunderous boom cut Urza off. A large chunk of the ceiling broke away and crashed to the ground, bursting into sand upon impact.
Rakzar grabbed Normak with his good arm and lifted the dwarf off the ground. “You’ve damned us all, you little bastard!”
“The doorway!” yelled Urza.
The sandstone boulder blocking the exit had disintegrated. Rakzar dropped Normak, and the four of them raced toward it. Another chunk of the ceiling came crashing down, narrowly missing Rakzar and Urza. But it drove Rayah straight into the ground.
† † †
Rakzar tripped at the top of the stairs and landed on his bad shoulder. Pain blinded him as he skidded across the temple floor. Normak and Urza helped him to his feet.
The temple shook to its foundation.
The walls liquefied and began pouring onto the floor.
Sand rained from the ceiling.
Rakzar looked back. The altar disintegrated and fell into the collapsing stairway.
Panic ripped through him. “Where’s Rayah?”
Urza and Normak looked back. “Gods…” they both said.
Rakzar pulled away from Urza’s grip. “I’m going back!”
“Don’t be a fool!” She grabbed his bad arm. Pain flared like never before. He knew she did it on purpose. “There’s nothing to be done. We’ve got to go!”
“Rayah knew the risks,” confirmed Normak. He stormed through the red curtains and they burst into sand.
Urza dragged him out of the temple just before the entire thing collapsed in on itself. A concussive wave knocked them off their feet. The glass road creaked and cracked underneath them like cubes of ice exposed to warm water. Sculptures all around collapsed into piles of dust. Buildings groaned, shook, and fell.
They were trapped in a collapsing city, but that was only the start of their problems. How long did they have before the entire desert crashed down on top of them and buried them alive? Suddenly, drowning sounded much better to Rakzar.
The entire city floor quaked and then dropped at least thirty feet in a matter of seconds, leaving Rakzar, Urza, and Normak airborne for several seconds. They had no time to react before meeting the ground once more. The impact jarred Rakzar and ripped the breath from his lungs. But that wasn’t what scared the life out of him.
Far above, fissures developed in the roof of the cavern. Sand poured down from them like rain.
A beam of light shone through, turning the falling sand into a beautiful display of refracted light.
This is the end.
“What now?” asked Urza.
Rakzar reached over and took her hand. “We die together.”
“Been an adventure,” said Normak.
Sand began to pile up around them.
“Funny story,” said Amicus. “I remember the day I met Eshtak.”
“Let me die in peace,” growled Rakzar.
“Fair enough,” said Normak. “I be at peace with meself.”
Amicus continued, “Down in the dungeons below Castle Portador Tempestade. Strangest little man I’ve ever met. Biggest heart too.”
Rakzar slammed his fist into the ground. “What’s your point?”
“Everything fit into that bag of his.” Amicus chuckled. “Surprised me to no end. Thought it was mezhik, and it certainly was a form of it, but not like I’d thought. More like a gateway to a secret location.”
Rakzar sat up. “Amicus, you’re a genius. That’s it!”
Normak cocked his head. “Who be Amicus?”
“What’s it?” asked Urza.
Rakzar pulled Eshtak’s bag from underneath his breastplate and held it up. “This.”
“A bag?” questioned Normak. “What good be that?”
Rakzar ripped the top open and peered into it. “We go now.” He looked at Normak. “You first.”
“Aye—”
The entire ceiling caved in above them, creating an avalanche of sand. They had seconds before they’d be buried alive. Normak dove into the open bag.
“Go!” growled Rakzar when Urza just sat there.
She hesitated a second longer and then dove into the bag.
Rakzar got the bag pulled over his head just as the entire weight of the desert crushed and buried him. Pain drove all thoughts from his mind as it pulled him into the darkness.
† † †
Urza panicked when Rakzar didn’t come all the way through the bag. The top half of Rakzar’s body hung limp from the cave ceiling. Sand seeped into the cave from around him. Urza and Normak worked at pulling him the rest of the way into the bag but the weight of the sand on his legs proved too great for them to overcome.
Normak collapsed back against the cave wall and slid to the floor. “What now?”
“We wait until he comes around.” Urza joined him on the floor. Every muscle in her body ached and she knew it wasn’t just from fatigue. “I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”
Normak reached back and held the back of his head. “Did I miss somethin’, or was ‘e talkin’ to ‘imself?”
Urza had noticed the phenomenon se
veral times over the last week. Rakzar excused it away each time, but something was definitely going on with him. “Not sure. He’s… been under a lot of stress the last few weeks.” She almost told Normak about the spell and curse but thought better of it. She had no idea how he might react to the fact that all of them were headed toward death.
But I’d want to know.
She decided to change the subject. “Maybe you should map out this cave. See where we’re at and if there’s a way out.”
Normak sighed heavily. His lips vibrated and buzzed. “S’pose ya be right. Sittin’ ‘ere ain’t gonna save us.” He pulled himself to his feet and walked off.
Finally alone, Urza allowed herself to let go. Tears filled her eyes, and she wept for Rayah.
† † †
A loud squeak roused Rayah from death. She hadn’t actually died, but the weight of the world still lay on her chest. Or at least the weight of the desert did. The piece of falling ceiling must’ve struck her in the head and knocked her out before she had a chance to sink all the way down into the dirt.
The densely packed sand proved hard to see through. She guesstimated she could see about ten feet in each direction, but it didn’t help orient her one bit. For all she knew, she could be facing down. The thought terrified her. She only had so much strength, and just breathing in the sand sapped it pretty quick.
Ƨäʈūr, where am I?
From where she sat or lay, she couldn’t see any of her friends. She prayed they’d made it out of the temple before it collapsed.
If they didn’t, then they’re probably… No!
She refused to allow herself to even think about it, but her stomach grumbled with unease, nonetheless.
I must find them.
But where would she start? The wrong direction would spell her end. There must be a way to orient herself. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind. Which way had she drilled into the dirt? Did it even matter? The passage might’ve collapsed along with everything else.
Think, Rayah.
Something cold and wet tickled her ear. Nibbled on it but didn’t bite down. She flinched back and reached for her knives as she turned her head. Beady, little, red eyes stared at her. Her little desert rat friend had returned.
Rended Souls Page 36