Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
“All right, in you go!” Blynn said. “Come on, now!” She was
having trouble getting the fire mote back into the lantern, as it obviously
wanted to stay where there was ample fuel.
Hyren watched in amusement, while out of the corner of his
eye he made sure to observe where Terra was aiming her strikes during their
after-breakfast sparring, so he could respond with the appropriate blocks. Suddenly
she stopped and his attention was drawn back to her.
The girl was doubled over, clutching her stomach, and
Hyren’s antennae jerked back in alarm. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“My stomach hurts,” she said. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep
last night.”
“Nightmares?” Hyren asked. He worried that she’d overheard
his and Blynn’s conversation.
“No,” Terra said. She grimaced. “I—I get sick if I get too
stressed out.”
Hyren glanced over at Blynn, who gave him a knowing look.
This was what the Zafara was talking about last night. The commander stowed his
sword and put a hand on the human’s shoulder. “You’ll be okay,” he said. “Keep
drinking plenty of water, all right?”
Terra nodded and squeezed a gulp of water from her canteen. Thanks
to the ancient builders’ ingenuity, the little band of explorers had found a
few channels of running water in the vast complex, probably fed from local
reservoirs. It really was a marvel of engineering. One more story to add to Hyren’s
repertoire. Although he didn’t know if he’d ever again meet anyone willing to
listen to his stories.
“Gotcha!” Blynn said, using a piece of wood to scoop the
fire mote into the lantern and slamming the window shut. The little elemental
buzzed around its metal container for a moment, but finally settled down to
sulk and brood over the wood chip Blynn had left for it. “Okay,” the Zafara said,
“let’s head out.”
“We’re very close,” Hyren said as he ushered the girls down
the next passage. Terra still wasn’t looking too good, and Hyren decided he
should carry her.
Before that could happen, however, Blynn turned the corner
ahead of him and stopped. “Light!” she shouted, jumping up and down. “I see
light!”
Terra perked up, and Hyren followed her to see something he
felt like he’d nearly forgotten existed—cold blue daylight dimly reflected on
floor tiles.
“Let’s go!” Terra said, running forward.
“Be careful!” Hyren called after her, jogging to catch up.
“I don’t know what’s around that corner!” It had occurred to him from seeing
the cobwebs yesterday that the closer they got to the surface, the more likely
it was that other, larger things could be making these ruins their home.
Thankfully, his long legs quickly carried him to Terra’s and
Blynn’s position. They rounded the corner, and then another, and then—
“Whoa…” Terra said, craning her neck at the sight in front
of them.
The passageway terminated at a vast hall, comparable in size
to the throne room. On the opposite wall sat a series of lofty windows that let
down vast shafts of sunlight, blinding after how much time Hyren had spent with
firelight alone. He blinked, throwing up his arm to shade his eyes.
“Wow, that’s a lotta sand,” Blynn said, attaching the
lantern to her backpack.
When Hyren’s eyes had finished adjusting to the light, he
got a closer look at the room and realised the floor was covered entirely in
sand, gently rippled by the chill breeze whipping in through the windows that
made Terra hug her cloak tighter around her shoulders. The walls were covered
in frescoes, but the figures and scenes were strangely cut off halfway when
they hit the sand, and the three explorers stood at the top of a staircase that
seemed to descend straight into the dune-covered floor. There were no other
doorways visible.
“This room’s been half-filled with sand,” Hyren realised.
“Oh, man,” Terra said as she eyed the windows.
Hyren supposed they were built to be high off the floor to
begin with, but even with a portion of the room being filled in, the windows
were still out of reach. “We can probably climb up to them,” he said, pointing
to the elaborate stonework. “It’s a good thing these Neopets seemed to like
decoration. Come on!” With a wave of his arm he urged them forward, stepping
out onto the cold sand after them.
Terra perked up even more. “We’re… we’re gonna make it,” she
said, her pack jangling as her hiking boots pounded into the miniature dunes.
“We’re almost there!”
“Yahoooo!” Blynn’s yell echoed off the stone walls as she
bounded after her owner.
Hyren grinned as he tromped after them, although it faded
after a moment. Seeing them so happy just ground his own conflict deeper. He
was fighting to deny that he could never let anything happen to them. He found
himself caring less and less about his own standing in Sloth’s eyes. Was that
betrayal?
A deep rumble beneath the commander made him pause and look
down at his own feet. The sand shifted back and forth like it lay on the surface
of water. Hyren’s eyes widened and he glanced up at the girls, who had also
stopped and were looking around uneasily.
“Go! Now!” Hyren
roared. Two immense mandibles breached the sand below him, carrying him into
the air and holding him fast.
Hyren managed to
twist around enough to see a gigantic, golden brown, many-segmented body,
terminating in large blue eyes and the jaws that held him. The commander
struggled in their grip, trying to grab his sword as the creature arced downward.
“Hyren!” Terra yelled, drawing her own blade and running
toward the beast.
“That’s the biggest Lyins I’ve ever seen!” Blynn said,
nocking a piece of ammo in her slingshot and taking aim for the Petpet’s head.
The sandy floor between her and Terra erupted with a second
giant Lyins. It hissed as it drew up in front of the Zafara, its legs
undulating as its jagged mandibles clicked together. Blynn let out a yelp and
then a cloud of sand obscured her from Hyren’s sight.
“Terra, go back!” Hyren barked, finally able to grasp the
hilt of his blade. Due to the awkward angle at which the Lyins had him around
the waist, he was having difficulty pulling it out of the sheath.
“No!” she said, swinging her sword at the Petpet.
Her weak blows glanced off of its carapace, but it let out a
shriek of annoyance and flinched back. Hyren felt its grip on him loosen. He
pulled out his sword and struck, and it screeched and dropped him. The Grundo
rolled to the floor and popped back up in one fluid motion, blinking away
dizziness to see the Lyins eye Terra angrily. The girl edged away from it with
her sword thrust in front of her, coughing on aerated sand.
With a yell, Hyren charged the Petpet, bringing his sword
down in a sweeping stroke that connected solidly. The Lyins hissed and
recoiled, curling past him and diving back into the sand. Hyren grabbed Terra’s
shoulders, looking her over to make sure she was unharmed. “It’ll be back,” he
said. “Go! Move! Blynn, where are you?!”
Another ear-piercing screech filled the hall, and the second
Lyins rose up in front of them, bucking and writhing as it tried to rid itself
of the Zafara clinging to its back. “I—don’t—like—this—ride—!” Blynn said.
“Jump!” Terra said, sheathing her sword and stretching out
her arms toward her Neopet as the Lyins curved backwards. Blynn pushed off with
her hind feet and launched herself at her owner. Her impact sent the girl
staggering back, clutching her Zafara safely.
They turned to the hallway, but one of the Lyins breached
the sand between them and the passage. “Get to the window!” Hyren said, pushing
them toward the far side of the hall. If he’d had more firepower, the Lyins
would be no problem, but the three motley travelers were no match for two
humongous beasts.
Terra and Blynn stumbled on the unsteady footing as they
scrambled toward the windows. Hyren struggled behind them as the two desert
Petpets churned up their domain in an attempt to trap their prey. Terra reached
the wall first and began to climb, finding easy handholds on the elaborately
worked stone. Thankfully, it looked like her adrenaline had overridden her
stomachache for now.
One of the Lyins breached and rammed the wall with its head.
Terra stopped and cringed as bits of the stone crumbled and broke off. Hyren
held his breath as she seemed about to fall, but she managed to hold on, and
she let go with one hand to draw her sword. With a hoarse shout, she struck at
the Lyins as it grazed past, pushing it back from Blynn who was starting her ascent.
Hyren had to whack away the other Lyins before he reached
the wall himself. Terra swung her leg over the windowsill and stretched a hand
down to Blynn, who scrambled nimbly up the rock face. Chips of stone that she
kicked loose rained onto the visor of Hyren’s helmet as he hoisted himself up.
The room shook, sand flew, and the Lyins shrieked behind him,
but Hyren felt that they were going to make it. One more foothold up, and his hand
could reach the rim. Just as he took hold of it, a violent tremor rocked the entire
wall. Hyren was flung backward onto one of the Lyins, right between its eyes.
It rose in preparation for another dive into the sands.
“Hyren!” Blynn shouted, taking aim with her slingshot.
“Heads up!”
Gulping in breaths, the commander tensed himself in preparation
to leap for the window. His injured leg gave a sudden twinge of pain and
slipped out from under him, and he fell flat on the Petpet’s carapace just as
Blynn fired. The potsherd hurtled through the air, but to Hyren’s surprise, it
somehow exploded in front of the Lyins’ face in a bright display of fireworks.
The beast let out a scream, its entire body convulsing and
throwing Hyren forward. He took advantage of the momentum to aim himself so he
landed gripping the windowsill. His ribs hurt like crazy, but his armour absorbed
the brunt of the impact. Looking over his shoulder, he saw both Lyins sway as
they lifted themselves up to his level, their mandibles snapping.
Two pairs of hands wrapped around his wrists and he glanced
up.
“We’ve got you,” Terra said as she and Blynn pulled with all
their might.
Utilising their meager strength, Hyren ran his feet the rest
of the way up the wall. Where he had been dangling a moment previous, a Lyins
headbutted, splintering the stone. The world outside was blinding, and Hyren had
to will his eyes to stay open as he leaned against the windowsill and tried to
get his bearings.
“Down the rocks!” Blynn said, leading him and Terra to a
pile of rubble that had built up against the outside rim.
Terra paused halfway down. “Phew… looks like… they can’t get
to us,” she panted. The Lyins, unable to fit through the windows, rammed
against the walls in vain.
“Good,” Hyren said. The Petpets sunk out of sight and their
frustrated screeches gradually faded.
The three of them had emerged on a mountainside, Hyren realised
as he carefully picked his way around boulders and jagged shards of granite.
This was a much different place than where they had come in. Far from the
sunbaked Lost Desert, it was cold and desolate grey stone completely unlike the
red rock of the sand-bordered cliffs. As he looked up at the stark mountain
face, he saw numerous openings hewn directly into the slopes, undoubtedly other
passages and rooms in a subterranean city complex he hadn’t quite fathomed the
expanse of. To either side reached a massive range of craggy peaks much like
the one they were stood on.
“We must have gone right through the mountains,” Terra said
as she wiped sweat from her brow and looked up at the distant summit, shrouded
in snow. “No wonder it took so long to get out.”
“And that explains why we were able to reach an exit by
descending through the caves,” Hyren said, his hands on his knees as he caught
his breath. “Those cliffs in the Lost Desert must be at a higher elevation than
where we came out. Are you feeling better?”
Terra put a hand to her stomach and smiled faintly. “A
little,” she said. “Thanks.”
Hyren paused. “You could easily have left me behind,” he
said. “That’s three times now you’ve saved my life.”
“We don’t believe in leaving people behind,” Blynn said.
“And,” Terra said, “you’re our friend.”
Hyren swallowed hard, unable to believe how much compassion
they had for him. It was making his thought processes really difficult lately,
that was for sure.
Blynn turned around and said, “I wonder where we are now.”
Hyren and Terra followed suit, and Hyren found himself staring
out at numberless hills and valleys carpeted with a thick, dark forest,
stretching into a thin mist that obscured the horizon and seemed to cling to
the treetops like filmy Spyderwebs. A chill wind blew up from the foothills,
carrying with it the heavy scent of pine and old growth, as well as smells
Hyren couldn’t quite place but unnerved him somehow.
“The Haunted Woods,” Terra said.
“You’ve been here before?” Hyren asked.
“We don’t go here often,” Terra said.
“Why not?” Hyren asked.
“Because it’s haunted?”
Blynn said, looking up at Hyren like he was thick in the head.
“Well, the dossiers said witches and ghosts live there,”
Hyren said with a bit of a scoff, “but it’s all just for show, isn’t it? I
mean, the witch in the tower gives you candy,
for crying out loud.”
“Other stuff lives there too,” the Zafara said, returning
her gaze to the dark forest. “Stuff you don’t wanna run into.”
Terra sighed, turning her face to the sky. “At least… at
least we’re finally out of there,” she said.
“Yeah,” Blynn said, absently adjusting the straps of her
pack. An awkward silence followed, interrupted only by the howling mountain
winds.
Finally, the Neopet and owner shifted around on the steep
slope and looked up at Hyren. “You—” Terra said haltingly. “You aren’t really
gonna take us to Sloth, are you?”
Hyren swallowed the massive lump in his throat and it seemed
to plunge straight to his stomach. This was it. He could either put himself
first, or save the only two beings he’d ever started to consider friends. His
heart felt like it was threatening to pound right out of his chest, and he was
trying with all his might to disguise his anxiety, not willing to betray either
of them to the turmoil inside. But he also knew he had to answer soon.
“No,”
he finally said, and he felt as though something had released in his soul and
he could breathe again. “I could never do that to you two.”
To his surprise, they hugged him, Terra throwing her arms
around his waist while Blynn clung to his leg. “Thank you,” Terra said.
“I knew you were a good guy,” Blynn said, although she had a
look in her eye like she was challenging him to live up to that.
Sloth would definitely be pleased with the faerie weapons
Hyren had found, the commander knew. That was more than enough compensation.
The overlord already had more than enough test subjects.
Terra finally pulled away from him, and asked “Can I adopt
you?”
Hyren felt his jaw fall slack, and his antennae twitched for
a moment before he shook his head. “I appreciate the sentiment,” he said,
patting her head, “but I’m an independent pet. I can’t be tied down to one planet
like this. I belong out there, among the stars.”
“Are you going back to Sloth?” Blynn asked with a frown.
“Gonna go invade more worlds?”
Hyren paused and suddenly found it difficult to breathe
again. If he was perfectly honest with himself, he liked the idea of Terra
adopting him. Someone had to keep her and Blynn safe on their adventures, after
all. The thought gave him a warm feeling inside.
But he definitely had to get back to Sloth, the commander
reminded himself. There was no way Hyren would desert the man he had pledged
loyalty to.
“Of course not,” he lied with a smile, hoping nothing in his
expression would give him away. “But I would like to get to the Space Station
so I can take the next starship out of here. Can you help me get up there?”
Terra’s shoulders slumped, but she nodded. “Yeah—okay,” she
said. “It—it was a fun adventure.”
“Yes, it was,” Hyren said warmly. “I’ll always remember it.”
Inwardly, he praised himself for successfully pulling the wool over their eyes.
But why did he feel even sicker inside now? It was the cold air, he decided.
“The spaceport’s in Neopia Central,” Blynn said. “Fastest
way to get there is to head south, to the more populated part of the Woods, and
rent an Eyrie cab.” She shot the commander another suspicious look.
Hyren tried to ignore it along with his sudden sense of
unease. “Are you kids up for more walking?” he asked. “We should at least try
to make it down the mountain before nightfall. It probably gets even colder up
here at night.”
“Blynn, what are the rules for exploring the Haunted Woods?”
Terra asked as they began to move again.
“Never stray from the campfire at night, never leave anyone
alone,” the Zafara said, counting off the rules on her paws, “and… don’t follow
the lights!”
“Good!” Terra said. “I’m sure we’ll be extra safe since we
have Hyren with us.”
The look she gave him made his heart sink, but he tried to
stay focused on putting together a good speech for when he got back to Sloth. Why
had it been so hard to lie to them? After all, they were out of danger. Was it
just that he hated deceiving them that much? Or was it also that he might not
want to go back to Sloth?
All of these thoughts were running rampant in Hyren’s mind
and he needed a distraction, so as he carefully tromped down a spill of loose
gravel he said, “Blynn, where’d you get those explosives?”
“What?” the Zafara asked.
“Back there, with those… Lyins, you called them?” Hyren
said. “Those were some great pyrotechnics.”
“What are you talking about?” Blynn asked. “That was a
regular piece of pottery I shot.”
“No it wasn’t,” Hyren said. “I saw it explode.”
“I think I know explosives when I see ‘em,” Blynn said.
“It was the faerie magic,” Terra said. “I bet that’s what it
was. Hyren said your slingshot probably had special properties.”
Blynn pulled out the weapon and turned it over in her paws.
“Wicked,” she said. “Let’s see more fireworks!” Grabbing a handful of ammo, she
shot into the air ahead. The terracotta remnants clattered onto the
mountainside unceremoniously. “I don’t get it…” the Zafara said. “How’d it explode
before?”
“Maybe because you were in combat?” Terra said. “It probably
senses a great need and that activates the magic. Or something like that.
Right?”
She looked up at Hyren, who nodded even though he knew very
little of faerie magic except that it was potent. “Sounds good to me,” he said.
“Well, I’m running low,” Blynn said, stooping over to grab
handfuls of gravel. “I hope this stuff explodes too.”
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
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