Richard Tuttle - Island of Darkness

With shouted war cries, the Sakovans charged into the canyon from the far end. The cloud dissipated, and the Omungans stared as they saw the enemy charging. HawkShadow, Ukaro, Goral, and StormSong led the charge. The Omungans suddenly realized that the battle had begun. Many of the Omungans chose to turn and retreat, but a few opted to attack. The rims of the canyon filled with Sakovan archers, and arrows flew into the Omungan column.

Amidst the hail of arrows, the Sakovan riders tore into the vanguard of the Omungan column. HawkShadow and StormSong slashed left and right as they surged into the Omungans. Goral swung his massive maul, instantly crushing whatever it touched, while Ukaro issued a stream of fireballs. The Omungans who had decided to attack had a sudden change of heart. They wheeled their horses and sped after the other retreating soldiers.

The Sakovans gave chase, but they kept their chokas slowed down to match the speed of the Omungan horses. The idea was to keep the Omungans running rather than engage them. Other Sakovans showed themselves along the path of retreat. They did not join the battle, but rather guided the retreating Omungans by appearing on small rises on each side of the path HawkShadow had chosen. The chase lasted until nightfall when HawkShadow called a halt to the pursuit. The Sakovans gathered and rallied around HawkShadow.

“That went rather well,” smiled StormSong. “Do you think they will stop for the night?”

“Not a chance,” grinned HawkShadow. “They will ride until they meet the larger army sometime tomorrow. I will send some riders out to shadow them. Any stragglers will be killed, but the rest will be allowed to flee.”

“Now we must prepare for the larger army,” interjected SkyDancer. “They will not be so easily routed.”

“One group at a time,” sighed HawkShadow. “We will need some new tricks for the next group.”

Ukaro joined the group, and HawkShadow grinned broadly at him.

“Must you go to Tanzaba?” asked HawkShadow. “I enjoy having you around. You are the perfect picture of what we have tried to portray in the tales spread to the Omungans.”

“I enjoyed being with you Sakovans as well,” Ukaro grinned back. “We work well together. I feel like a Chula Sakovan. It is as if I belong here.”

“We do indeed,” agreed the Sakovan assassin.

“I must do as I promised the Star of Sakova,” the Chula shaman continued, “but I have time to teach some of your mages how to cast the light disk. I think you would use it wisely.”

The four elves huddled in the small cave near the mine where Eltor was rescued. MistyTrail cast another healing spell on Caldal, and he opened his eyes and stared into MistyTrail’s face.

“Who are you?” Caldal asked with apprehension.

Eltor slid swiftly across the floor of the tiny cave until he was at Caldal’s side.

“She is a friend,” smiled Eltor as he reached out and grasped Caldal’s hand. “Her name is MistyTrail. We were afraid that you would not recover.”

“I have no right to recover,” groaned Caldal as he struggled to sit up. “How did you get me out of the Chamber of Horrors?”

“I assume that is what you call the place where you were held captive?” interjected Mistake as she moved closer to the wounded elf. “I am Mistake. The three of us snuck into the temple and rescued you.”

“I must be still dreaming,” Caldal said as he closed his eyes and reopened them. “Nobody returns from the Chamber of Horrors.”

“You are not nobody,” grinned Eltor. “I told Mistake and MistyTrail that I would not leave this island without you. They promised to rescue you, and here we are.”

“Just where are we?” asked Caldal as he tried to peer further into the darkness.

“We are in a small cave,” answered MistyTrail as she cast another healing spell. “It connects to a mine. That is how we found Eltor. We rescued him from the mine.”

“This makes no sense to me,” frowned Caldal. “How can you go around rescuing elves? Why are you not in the mines or the temple? How is it that you are free?”

“They are not from this island,” explained Eltor. “I know this is confusing to you as it was to me, but I will explain. Their ship crashed off the coast of the island. Somehow they managed to get ashore without being detected. They hid in this cave and accidentally discovered the mine that connects to it. When they saw me, they decided to rescue me. I demanded to rescue you before we fled this island.”

“Flee?” croaked Caldal. “We tried that once already. I will not dare it again. I will never return to the Chamber of Horrors. I would rather die in this cave.”

“That is the gratitude we get for risking our lives?” scowled Mistake. “We rescued you, and we are taking you away from here. I will not hear any more about this Chamber of Horrors. It didn’t seem like anything more than a prison to me.”

“A prison?” retorted Caldal. “You could not be further from the truth. You have no idea what goes on in that room.”

“Tell us,” MistyTrail said soothingly. “It would be good to get it out of your system. There is nothing worse than harboring your fears deep inside you. Tell us all about it.”

Mistake frowned, but Eltor nodded encouragingly. Caldal swallowed hard and nodded almost imperceptibly.

“I do not know if I can adequately describe what causes the fear,” Caldal said softly. “It was not any one thing, but a combination of things that tore your soul from its body. They did things in that room that are hideous and evil, things that man was never meant to witness, but we could not turn away from them.”

“What do you mean you could not turn away?” interrupted Eltor. “Surely you could have closed your eyes or turned away?”

“We could not,” Caldal shook his head. “By whatever magic they used, each of us was forced to watch. Our eyelids would not close, and our heads would not turn away.”

“What were you forced to watch?” MistyTrail prompted when Caldal’s eyes shut tightly and he stopped talking.

“They sacrifice people there,” Caldal replied after a moment of hesitation. “They do not just kill them. They devour them alive.”

“Alive?” gasped Mistake. “You can’t be serious.”

“I wish it were not true,” Caldal replied as tears welled up in his eyes. “I saw them eating a man’s heart. It was still in his chest and beating. When they bit into it, the blood spouted into the air. It was…”

Caldal shut his eyes again and began sobbing.

“Maybe this is not such a good idea,” Eltor said softly to MistyTrail. “It is bad enough to have endured such things, but to be forced to retell them is to relive them.”

“It will help him in the long run,” MistyTrail replied as she wrapped one arm around Caldal in a soothing fashion. “You will never have to return there,” she said to Caldal. “I will pledge my life on it. Get it out of your system.”

Caldal nodded slowly and opened his eyes. He smiled weakly at MistyTrail.

“There were other things that I did not understand,” Caldal continued unsteadily. “They summoned demons. They were hideous beasts, all black and foul smelling. They would bite into a victim’s throat and drink his blood. We could hear the cries of the victim grow fainter as his lifeblood drained away.”

“I apologize,” Mistake said softly. “I had no idea what you were forced to endure. I am sorry.”

“Perhaps the worst,” Caldal continued as if he was afraid he would never finish if he stopped talking, “were the kruls. They were allowed to fight over a chosen victim, perhaps merely for the entertainment value. Maybe as a treat for some good behavior. I just don’t know. The victims were literally torn apart limb from limb as the kruls squabbled for ownership. Sometimes the victims remained alive for half an hour as they tore him apart.”