Wayne Batson - The Door Within

It was quiet for a moment and Aidan had an idea. It was something, perhaps, but not all the pieces were there yet.

“Confirm something for me, young one…,” Falon said. “Was it the Paragor Knights who killed good Sir Valithor?”

Aidan nodded and stared at the ground. “Yes… they were trying to kill me, and Captain Valithor stepped in front of the arrow.

He saved my life.”

“It was a noble sacrifice,” Falon replied.

“I wish it had been me,” said Aidan, thinking of the Captain and his grandfather back home.

“Nonsense!” shouted Falon, slamming a clawed fist to the ground.

“Wishing yourself dead isn’t going to help the living! You said you have friends who were captured by the Knights of Paragory?”

“Yes, but-”

“And,” Falon interrupted, “you said you need to get to the other side of these caverns so that you can save your friends, right?”

“Yes, but-”

“Then, young one, I suggest we leave soon, for the sun has set.

When it rises again, the Paragor Knights will march toward their black kingdom.”

“I guess you’re right,” Aidan replied. “Though I still have no idea what I’m going to do once I get there. What good is one person against an army?”

“You are a servant of Alleble, aren’t you?” Falon asked, staring intently at Aidan.

“Yes, I am,” Aidan answered, the meaning of Falon’s question becoming clear. Fresh hope surged in his heart. “I am a servant of Alleble, and I am never alone!”

“That’s the spirit, young one!”

“Aidan, my name is Aidan.”

“Then, young Aidan, I shall hold Fury, and you climb onto my back,” Falon said, smiling and extending an arm like a ramp for Aidan. “It is a long journey to the Black Crescent… a journey full of winding caverns and hidden pitfalls. It will be faster and far safer for you to ride.”

Aidan carefully clambered up. He examined the creature a little differently now that he wasn’t afraid of being eaten. The morti-wraith was scaled in layers like a dragon, but each scale was different and beautiful in its own way. Some were deep purple or blue like the luminous stalactites from the cavern’s roof. Others were the dark green of the cavern floor. But all had embedded stones and precious gems. Aidan supposed the color and the gems had rubbed off as Falon traveled through the tunnels beneath the mountains.

As he climbed to her neck and sat down, he thought that Falon was a beautiful creature-though nevertheless fearsome in a pinch.

“Hold on to my hair, young Aidan,” warned Falon. “I know every twist and turn of these caverns, so I tend to navigate them rather swiftly!”

Aidan gripped a couple of the thick cords of the creature’s dark purple hair. He felt like he always did before a ride blasted off at the amusement park.

In moments, Falon began trotting along, increasing speed as she went. Aidan looked back and watched almost in a trance as Falon’s numerous legs rose and fell rhythmically like pistons all along her lengthy body. How many legs does she have? he wondered.

The eerie blue light continued wherever Falon turned, and Aidan saw the openings to innumerable tunnels and caverns. And he knew there was no way he’d have ever made it through without Falon.

Her speed increased more and more, until she began to make turns, banking hard left and right. Struggling for a better grip, Aidan held on to Falon’s ropelike locks for dear life as the air whipped by him. The muscles in Aidan’s forearms burned with pain, and he screamed when his entire body went airborne as Falon dove low into underground valleys. When Falon leveled out each time, Aidan slammed into the back of her neck.

Unlike any roller coaster Aidan had ever ridden, Falon’s ride seemed to last forever. Up, down, hard left, jerk right-all the while zooming at breakneck speed. He tried to look backward and sideways, but everything was now a blur of various shades of purple, blue, black, and green.

If this ride didn’t end soon, Aidan thought, he would surely fall off and be lost forever in these puzzling caverns.

Eventually, the air whistled a little less in Aidan’s ears, and he sensed that Falon was slowing down. When she finally came to an abrupt stop, Aidan slid off her neck, down one of her front legs, and plowed facefirst into the mossy tunnel floor. He sat up and clutched at his forearms-they burned as if thrust into a furnace.

“Well, young Aidan,” Falon said, breathing in heavy huffs and handing him Fury, “not bad for an old mortiwraith, hmmm?”

Aidan had to laugh in spite of the pain. “Yes, that was quite fast.” He chuckled. “You just about bounced me off three or four times!”

“Well, young Aidan, I am glad you survived, for I guess you have much to do,” said Falon, pointing with one clawed hand to the wide paths ahead. “Come this way, for these passages you see before you open into the caves of the Black Crescent.”

Aidan followed Falon up the middle path. He had to walk to the side of her never-ending body as she half slithered, half crawled up the path.

“Falon, how many sets of legs do you have, anyway?” he asked.

“Many…,” she replied with an amused snort. “Mortiwraiths grow a new pair of limbs every five years, and as you can see… I’ve been around for quite some time.”

The path wound onward and upward a short distance until, finally, the blue light of the caverns began to fade and was replaced by the subtle gray of night. The path ended, and an incredibly vast opening was before them. It was an opening to the plains of the Black Crescent. Aidan looked out, and he could see where the mountains got their name. The moonlit black peaks curled left and right before tapering off toward the horizon.

Inside the Crescent was an enormous plain dotted with hills and craggly trees. Aidan’s attention was drawn to the center of the plain, for there was an immense dark mass, dotted with the light of torches and campfires. It was the army of Paragory-they were still there!

Great! Aidan thought. Now all I have to do is sneak past a thousand heavily armed soldiers, release Gwenne and the other prisoners from Mithegard, and get back out without anyone noticing.

“I’ll be back in a second,” Aidan whispered to Falon, and he ventured out of the cave. He needed to get closer to the enemy camp if there was any hope of finding out where they were keeping their prisoners. Gwenne’s life depended on his coming up with a plan of rescue, and the odds of his success were stacked heavily against him.

There were patches of tall dead grass everywhere, and Aidan crouched down as he passed through it to avoid being seen. As he did, a few tiny glimmers of light sprang to life in the grass. LANTERN SPIDERS! Aidan realized immediately. He had jostled them awake as he walked through the tall grass. They seemed to be all over the place, for every step Aidan took, the spiders’ lights blinked on.

Aidan smiled, remembering early in the journey to Mithegard how terrified he had been, thinking that the lantern spiders were torch-bearing soldiers preparing an ambush.

Man, I need to catch some of these to take home, Aidan thought. If I ever get out of here!

He wandered through the tall grass as close as he dared to the Paragor Knights’ camp. Aidan suspected they would have numerous sentries, watching for the slightest hint of an intruder. Sure enough, there were soldiers moving around in the camp. They were marching back and forth near the many tents. Aidan guessed that Gwenne and the other prisoners must be somewhere in the center tents-much more difficult for them to escape, or be rescued, for that matter.

There’s no way I’m going in and out of there, unless, Aidan thought, unless I could somehow get some of the Paragor Knights’ armor