"The Dawnstone!" one of her knights cried. "The Dawnstone rises again, to strike at Nightmare!"
Hissing, Loor slammed his blade down. Moonmist screamed and parried the blow, sending sparks that lit the night. Pain shot through her arm, and she raised the blade again, parrying another swing of Tearfall. As monsters and knights clashed and screamed around them, the blades rang and thundered and sparkled in the darkness.
"You will die now, Loor," she screamed as tears and blood ran down her face.
She did not know for how long they fought. With what strength she held back Loor, she did not know. Perhaps he was toying with her, like a cat toys with a mouse before killing it. Perhaps it was for the memory of Tam. Or perhaps it was the Dawnstone that gave her strength, or the courage of her men.
Whatever the reason, she refused to die.
She fought.
By night, bodies of men and monsters lay strewn upon the mountainside, and they continued to fight in the darkness. The monsters' eyes burned with red fire. Every few seconds, lightning flashed, blinding.
Moonmist's muscles ached as she slashed at demons, and blood dripped down her thigh where monster claws had found it. It was not until dawn that she and her men drove Loor back into the caves.
With milky light pouring over the clouds, Moonmist fell to her knees upon the stone. Her armor clanked, and she clutched her Dreamblade to her breast. Black monster blood encrusted the blade.
"Defend the entrance!" she called. "Do not let him out."
Twenty knights blocked the cave, keeping the monsters inside with thrusts of swords, until Loor and his monsters retreated into the darkness.
Moonmist tossed off her helmet. It clanked against the ground, and she took deep breaths. Air. Finally fresh air.
"Is it over?" she asked her lieutenant, her voice shaky. "Is he retreated?"
The answer came from the cave. With howls, the monsters attacked again, crashing against the knights, who fought back with blade and shield. One man fell dead, and another sprang forward to replace him.
All day, Loor's monsters fought to leave the cave, and Moonmist's knights held them back. With night, the monsters seemed more brazen and attacked with more fervor, and more knights fell dead, torn apart by claw and fang.
By the third day, five hundred of Moonmist's knights had died. Half her force. A hundred monsters had been slain.
Five hundred lives, they followed me, they are gone. Guilt and horror tore at Moonmist. Her wounds bandaged, her armor grimy and bloody, she gazed into the west. Where was Niv? Where were the ten thousand?
The monsters launched a new wave of attacks, pounding against the knights, and fifty creatures broke free from the caves and ran down the mountainside. Moonmist led two hundred men, hunted them down, and slew them upon slopes of cyclamens. At the cave's entrance, more knights died.
By the seventh day, only fifty knights and fifty monsters lived.
The Elorians guarded the cave twenty-five in turn. The monsters never rested, never slept, never weakened, and every hour another knight died, rent apart. The bodies lay in puddles of blood.
"You will not take Dream!" Moonmist shouted to Loor, when he himself killed three knights. "I will not let you enter this land."
On the thirteenth day, forty monsters remained, and thirty men. For the first time they were outnumbered, and Loor broke out onto the mountainside again.
They fought upon the slope, Moonmist screaming as she slashed the Dawnstone. Two demons leapt at her, leering, eyes dripping blood. They slashed their claws, and one rent her arm, and she screamed. Her blood bespattered the rocks. In anguish, she lashed the Dawnstone against the monsters, tearing into their scales, tearing them apart, hacking at them again and again as they laughed, until finally they lay dead.
"Niv!" she cried, tears streaming down her face, for she knew her strength was waning. "Niv, where are you?"
On the dawn of the fourteenth day, Loor and twenty monsters slew the last of Moonmist's men.
Alone, trembling, wounded, the Dawnstone in hand, the princess of the Begemmed City stood and faced them.
"I'm sorry, Niv," she whispered as the monsters approached. "I'm sorry I failed you."
She raised her Dreamblade before her, stared at Loor, and prepared to die.
* * * * *
The creature of Nightmare howled above Cade. Its jaw creaked as it stretched its maw wide, wider than Cade's height. Strings of saliva quivered between its great teeth. Flames burst from its seven eyes and its claws sprayed pus.
Panic flowed through Cade and sweat soaked him. He turned to flee, but the monster--twenty feet tall--leapt over him and landed before him, howling. It brought its maw close, and Cade screamed and slashed his Dreamblade. The monster howled, tossed back its head, and roared.
"Cade!" Tasha cried. "Look, behind it. The hole in the ground."
Cade looked. He saw it. A hole, three feet wide. The creature's toilet?
The monster dived down again. Cade raised his shield, blocking the teeth. He fell to the ground as the creature snapped at his shield, nearly breaking Cade's arm.
Tasha leapt onto the shield. The mouse scurried right into the monster's mouth, fit her teeth around a fold of the monster's tongue, and bit hard. The monster screamed and threw back its head. Tasha leapt back onto Cade's shoulder.
"Now, Cade!"
Cade ran, leapt, rolled between the monster's legs, and reached the hole.
He jumped in just as the monster lashed down again. He felt the stench of its breath against him, and then he was falling, tumbling through the blackness, until he hit soft ground below.
Tasha and he lay for long moments, breathing.
"I thought we were done for," Cade finally said, trembling.
Tasha nodded. "We nearly were."
Cade took a deep, shaky breath. "You saved my life, Tasha. What you did there... that was amazing. Thank you."
They still heard the monster roar above, but its roar was distant. Many moments passed before Cade and Tasha calmed their nerves enough to sit up. They were in a tunnel, its walls soft and fleshy, as if they sat inside the veins of a giant. The landscapes of Nightmare live.
They opened the breadbox to find more dried bread. It tasted awful, but it was good to taste anything, to be alive, to breathe, even if they could breathe only the stench of Nightmare.
They slept for a few hours and awoke shivering in the cold.
"I think it's night in Nightmare," Cade said. "It seems even darker now, and colder, though it's hard to say what's night and day here. Maybe there is no night and day, really."
"I want to leave this place," Tasha said miserably. "Let's keep going. Let's get this quest over with and get back home."
If we can find our way home, Cade thought but said nothing. Could they truly defeat Phobetor? It seemed impossible. Would they just die here? That seemed more likely to Cade, and it filled his stomach with sickness.
"Yes," he said with a deep, weary sigh. "Let's keep going." What else could he do? He had come so far, and dared not turn back now, not after all the evil he had seen. We have to defeat Nightmare. Somehow we must. He thought of his sister, and he thought of Princess Moonmist, and he kept moving. I won't give up. I'll keep fighting until the end, even if the end is my death.
He pulled the enchanted bottle from his pocket. He turned it from side to side, admiring it in the gems' glow. Gilded and sparkling, it was so small, he could hide it in his palm. It was hard to believe the fate of the world hung upon it, that such a tiny thing could truly trap the terrible god of nightmares. With a sigh, Cade put the bottle back in his pocket.
He crawled through the dark tunnel, only the gems lighting his way. The floor and walls were soft and sticky, and they quivered whenever he poked them with his Dreamblade. He felt like a fetus in a demon womb.
Soon he heard a sound ahead, too faint to make out clearly. As he kept crawling, he moved closer to the sound and soon recognized it--a woman crying.
He c
ontinued moving toward the weeping, and soon saw light ahead. The tunnel widened and he found himself facing a cavern lit with torches. A young woman knelt in the chamber, weeping.
Cade approached the woman. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with chestnut hair and the figure of Venus. He had never imagined such perfection. She wore a collar, which was chained to the floor, and her tears flowed down her face. She cowered when she saw Cade beside her.
"Please, no more, don't hurt me," she pleaded, eyes welling up with fresh tears.
Cade knelt beside her, struck by her beauty. He couldn't bear seeing such an innocent creature cry.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "Are you hurt?"
She breathed out a shaky breath of relief. "I thought you were one of them."
"One of who?"
She shivered. Cade could barely keep his eyes off her scantily-clad flesh. "Of Phobetor's creatures," she said. "They caught me in the Fox Fort many days ago... it might be years by now. They've kept me here since."
Tasha shifted on Cade's shoulder. "Cade," the mouse whispered into his ear. "She doesn't smell like Dream. She smells, well, like the rest of this place and every monster in it."
Cade examined the woman. She gazed back with huge moist eyes. God, she's beautiful.
"She's been here for a long time," he told his sister, still unable to remove his eyes from the beauty before him. "The smell of Nightmare has covered her by now, that's all."
Tasha tapped her foot nervously.
"But Cade--"
"Please, sir!" the girl interrupted. "They'll be back soon. Free me, and I can show you how to escape. I know all the secret ways of Nightmare." She grabbed his hand.
Cade drew Sunclaw. His blood stirred at the sight of the woman, at the touch of her hand. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her intoxicating beauty, from her bare flesh that swirled his head.
"Cade," Tasha said, "I really think that--"
"Please, sir, hurry!"
Cade raised Sunclaw above the woman's chain, prepared to swing down and free her.
Tasha leapt onto his hand and bit hard. The Dreamblade clattered against the floor.
"Tash--" Cade began in anger when the beautiful girl's eyes burst into flame. Her mouth opened a foot wide, roaring in fury, revealing hundreds of teeth.
Cade leapt back.
"You will die here, mortal!" the devil-woman shrieked, breaking loose from her chains. She grabbed Sunclaw from the ground and shattered it in her claws into a million shards.
Cade and Tasha ran for their lives, the demon howling behind. They raced through the tunnels for what seemed an eternity until they lost the demon in the dark labyrinths of Nightmare.
They fell panting to the ground.
"What the hell was that?" Cade said. He looked at his sister. "Thanks, Tash. You saved my life yet again. I don't know what came over me."
"In Nightmare," Tasha said quietly, "things are not always what they seem. I trust my nose!"
"It's never let us down," Cade agreed. "I'm sorry that I doubted you. It was like she had some spell on me."
Tasha nodded. "When I was at school, there was a boy I liked. He was handsome, and I loved him... until I learned he was spreading rumors about me." The mouse shrugged. "It's easy to hate evil when it's ugly. A bit harder when it's got a pretty face and lips that drip sugar."
Cade sighed. "She broke my Dreamblade. Just in the place where we need it most."
"But we still have the bottle. That's what counts."
Cade patted the bottle in his pocket, the magic bottle that could imprison Phobetor. "Yes. So let's go get the bastard so we can get the hell out of here."
"And go home," Tasha agreed.
* * * * *
Moonmist stood alone, the Dawnstone in hand, covered in dirt, sweat, blood, and ash. Black clouds swirled above her, and the bodies of her men, her knights, her people lay strewn around her. Thus stood Moonmist of the Begemmed City, and in her heart burned fear and courage, and as the cold wind blew the feathers back from her face, her fingers tightened around the hilt of her Dreamblade.
"My name is Princess Moonmist, Daughter of Yarel, of the Begemmed City," she spoke through cracked lips. "Here do I stand. Here do I stay. Thus have I lived, and here shall I fall."
As the creatures of Nightmare stepped toward her, the princess raised her voice and called out words as clear as the streams of her homeland. "Yoa na: thalanden fan ayendey ta lom fala. Na ley ta, Eloria. Gala ayende."
Hear me: I speak farewell to the white walls and to jewels. I love thee, Dream. Goodbye.
The words of death. Forever had her ancestors uttered them before leaving Dream and entering the Afterworld.
Loor nodded. "Well spoken," the dark god said softly, and for an instant, respect filled his eyes. "Well spoken, princess." He bowed his head. "You have fought well. You have defended your king and people bravely."
He raised his Dreamblade then, to strike her down, to end her last stand and fill Dream with his rot and wilt. I will not let him capture me, she swore. I will die now, and die fighting. She raised her Dreamblade, and the Dawnstone and Tearfall clanged. Let the Dreamblades ring one last time upon the mountain.
Sparks rose from the blades, shooting into the sky, mingling with the lightning, a pillar of light and power, lighting the mountain...
...and from the west, trumpets answered the clang of blades.
The light spread across the firmaments, and Moonmist looked into the west, and there she saw Niv, the Half-Elk, Daughter of Yor, leading ten thousand men in armor under the sky.
"A princess they brought into Dream, and they named her Niv," Moonmist whispered from the Dreamsong, tears in her eyes.
The ten thousand flowed up the mountain, Niv at their lead like a pillar of fire, clad in gilded armor, brilliant in the sunrays that pierced the clouds. Moonmist laughed as soldiers flowed around her. She laughed as she had laughed in her childhood, laughing between the waves at sea, laughing as she laughed when tugging her father's beard. As swords clanged and monsters fled, Moonmist of the Begemmed City laughed and tears streamed down her face.
"Moonmist!" Goddess Niv called, lifting the girl from the ground. She had fallen to her knees and not noticed, so joyous she was, overcome with felicity.
They drove Loor back into the caves that day, and slew all his monsters, and reclaimed the mountain.
With Loor sealed in the cave, guarded and shielded from Dream, Moonmist fell to the ground and slept for many hours.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Factories of Nightmare
Cade walked slowly across black plains, feet aching, muscles cramping. Ash covered the ground, and the sky swirled with smoke. Fumes filled the air, stinging his eyes, filling his lungs, making him dizzy.
"Tasha, are you all right?" he asked hoarsely.
Tasha could barely talk. She just nodded weakly, lying on her stomach upon Cade's shoulder. Ash covered her fur.
Hundreds of chimneys rose around them, spewing black, gray, and red smoke. Factories clanged and growled as wheels spun, tracks moved, and hammers fell. Around them, the industries of Nightmare worked, covered with barbed wire and soot.
"What do you think they're making, Tash?" he asked.
The mouse coughed. "I don't know. I don't care. Whatever it is, it must be disgusting."
Cade nodded. Lakes covered the landscape, pale and foamy. They smelled like ammonia. Bridges of rusty iron connected islands of black, lifeless rock. Whenever Cade crossed a bridge, the stench of the lake nearly overpowered him, and he feared he would pass out. His head ached, and he could barely see, his eyes were so sore.
He pulled his shirt over his mouth, but it made breathing scarcely easier. The chimneys continued to pump their fumes, and as Cade climbed across one scraggly island, a low chimney belched fumes right onto him. He fell to his knees, coughing, and dragged himself forward out of the fog.
"Maybe," Tasha whispered, "we should turn back, find another
way."
Cade shook his head, coughing. "The compass points this way. We must continue."
"If we keep going, we'll suffocate."
Cade coughed and his eyes stung so badly, for a moment he was blind. He rubbed his eyes and thought he could make out the entrance to a factory. Pale figures moved behind its thin windows.
"Let's go in there," he managed to say. "I saw living things inside. We can catch our breath."
Living things would be monsters, he knew, but Tasha was right. They would suffocate out here in this land of poison. On his hands and knees, Cade dragged himself toward the factory. He pushed the door open and collapsed onto the floor inside.
With his foot, he pushed the door shut. The air inside the building smelled just as foul, but at least the smog was gone, and for long moments Cade lay breathing deeply. Finally he pushed himself up and looked around. The room was bare, built of gray bricks, and slimy footprints covered the floor. A stairwell led into a basement. A window looked into a second room, where a wheel spun in a pool, churning black liquid.
"I don't like this place," Tasha said. "Let's leave."
"We can, soon," Cade said, wishing he had something to wipe the soot off with. "Let's explore first. Maybe the factory basements are connected, and we can travel in here instead of outside. Maybe we'll find food and water too."
Tasha shuddered. "Did you see the creatures in the windows? Monsters live here."
"Exactly. Things are alive inside. Nothing lived outdoors. Outside is deadly."
Did the Incubi--Phobetor's scouts into Dream--find the flowers, leaves, and streams of Eloria as foul as Cade found Nightmare? Cade recalled the Crunge, who stood between pines; was the monster disgusted by Dream's pristine landscapes? Cade remembered the scent of pines, the nettles that covered the crumbly earth, the small purple flowers that grew between stones, the birds and squirrels that nested in leafy branches. He missed Dream so deeply, he ached with the memory.
Tasha sighed. "All right, Cade. But I don't like this."
Cade began to step down the stairwell. Darkness soon enveloped them, and Cade pulled out the glowing gems. The sound of hammers and saws and fires came from below, interspersed with grunts and shrill banshee cries. The air smelled like metal and oil.
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