The Shards (5 page)

“I cannot, sister!” Angeline shouted as if she had guessed what her friend was contemplating. “You would have to blindfold me and knock me out before I could get even as close to the edge of that as you are now!”

“What choice have we, sister?” she asked as she paced the perimeter carefully. “I would rather take my chances down below than up here. Whatever that is…” she said, pointing to the approaching darkness, “…it is surely coming our way. And I have a very bad feeling about it!”

“Sister, I am petrified! I cannot do this,” Angeline replied. “Is there no other option?”

“None that I can see,” Tamara responded, searching all the while for the best place to begin their descent.

“You must help me then,” Angeline said, struggling to reconcile herself to the idea. “I am embarrassed that I am behaving this way sister, but truly I would not be if I could help it. Heights are my greatest weakness,” she confessed abjectly and solemn.

“No one of us is perfect, sister. I have so many weaknesses that I could not even claim one to be my greatest,” Tamara replied humbly. “Now come to me and do not look down. I think that I have found a place where we can safely step,” she said reaching out her hand in support.

Angeline moved carefully toward her and clasped her friend’s outstretched fingers firmly. Together they approached the precipice.

“Look! Over here, as I suspected. The surface is soft where the vegetation grows and I can dig my boot into it. We can also use the branches to hold on to. They seem securely anchored in the earth,” Tamara said as she tugged upon the protruding twigs with her free hand. “I will go first, but you must not resist when I call you. Wait though until I am certain that the ground will hold me. If it can sustain my weight, you have nothing to fear,” she said smiling, despite the circumstances.

Angeline took a deep breath and then reluctantly released Tamara’s hand. The sky had darkened considerably in the last few minutes, and both women were sure that they could hear a buzzing sound in the air though it did not sound exactly like any insects they recognized. The noise chilled them both to the bone, and that made it easier for Angeline to gather the courage to confront her fear. There was something so menacing in the air that she could practically reach out and touch it. By now, she had no doubt that this horror was coming for them, and the chasm before her suddenly loomed quite clearly as the better of the two alternatives.

“There seem to be many crevices down here into which we can step. It is far better than I hoped!” Tamara shouted from just below the surface. “Come now. Use the same places that I used. They are no longer slippery and your feet are smaller than mine. You should have no problem,” she encouraged.

Angeline slowly but surely inched her way toward the edge. She crouched down and used both her hands to stabilize herself as she backed one leg over the side. Tamara’s strong hands grabbed her foot and placed it securely onto the first footing, wedging it deep into the soft but solid soil.

“The next one is just below to the left a bit. You can do it, Angeline! It really is not as difficult as it seems. Just don’t look down,” she said.

“I am alright, sister,” Angeline replied. “If you could see what I see now, I think you would understand that down here is where I would rather be!” she said, as a heavy and unnatural darkness quickly enveloped the entire area, shutting what was left of the sunlight off almost completely. “We must hurry now, sister. The noise up here is almost unbearable!”

Tamara needed no further prodding in order to increase her pace. Quickly, she reached with her leg for the next crevice and stepped firmly upon it, and Angeline followed as deftly as a mountain goat, surprising herself and her friend as well. The two maidens disappeared into the depths of the hole, obscured by both the safety of the darkness reaching out to them from below as well as by the blackness that menacingly descended upon them from above.

“Step lively Tamara,” Angeline urged as the more sprightly maiden scurried down the sheer wall of the pit almost on to the head of her friend.

“You seem to have regained your nerve, sister,” Tamara replied, while at the same moment she searched the wall for another place to insert her toe.

“The darkness is both a boon as well as a fearful enemy, sister. The dread of it propels me downward while it conceals the precipice that initiated my concern.”

“Do not be too thankful, Angeline. The noise grows louder. Even in this gloom we may not be able to evade what hunts us down,” she said balefully.

In fact, the buzzing sound was increasing in volume although it was impossible to see or feel anything other than the cool air wafting upon them from below. There was no question that the noise was descending faster than they were, and at their current pace whatever was causing it would soon be upon them.

Tamara continued to step as quickly as she could without even thinking about where this drop might ultimately lead them. It was their only option and she chose it willingly. Now though, it occurred to her that the darkness that cloaked them coupled with their enemy’s pursuit might be more than they had bargained for. She could see nothing whatsoever either above her or below her, and the only sound she could decipher in the gloom was the incessant droning of the enemy.

A shudder coursed through her body unbidden, and Tamara suddenly grew terribly worried.

“Are you with me still, sister?” she called up to Angeline. Her call was greeted by silence. “Angeline? Can you hear me?” she asked again, hesitating in mid stride this time, but only the sound of buzzing reached her ears in response.

Tamara frantically began to claw her way back up in search of her companion.

“Where are you? You must be here or I would have felt you pass me by. What is it that prevents you from answering me?” she cried.

She heard a scraping sound just above her head and she stretched out to touch it believing that it must be her friend’s foot, but her hand came in to contact with something thoroughly repulsive, something totally unexpected, and she withdrew it in fear and disgust. Her hand felt as if it was on fire. As she retracted her arm, an abominable odor reached her nostrils causing her to wretch momentarily in response, and she could feel her fingers sticking together, coated by a slimy substance that would not yield to her pressure when she attempted to separate them. Panic began to grip her and she forced herself to breathe deeply and relax, though her heart was beating twice as fast as normal. She held on to the wall precariously with her free hand and she dug her feet deeper into the crevices in the wall.

Tamara knew how important the scroll that she carried was, and for a fleeting moment she hesitated before reaching out again. She could suddenly feel the parchment against her body, and it struck her instantly that her awareness of it was generated by the object itself as if it had a mind and spirit of its own. But in her heart, nothing was more important than life after all, and she could not sacrifice her friend even for this. Tamara fought the impulse to protect the map, and she refused even to reach her hand inside her tunic to touch it, though it seemed to beckon so saliently. She climbed up another notch and held fast to the wall with her clean hand. She then turned her concentration inward. Using the same power that she used to conjure a glowing orb out of the surrounding air, she caused a great heat to rise in her fingers, though it neither hurt nor burned her skin. Within seconds the slime that had adhered to her fingers began to sizzle and fall away in liquid-like droplets. The instant her fingers were clean, she turned this energy into light rather than heat, and her hand glowed as if it was illuminated from within, and it cast a cleansing radiance upon the entire area. She was unconcerned at this point if she revealed her own position. Angeline’s welfare was at stake!

She squinted in the semi-darkness, hoping to avoid the temporary blindness that she feared would accompany this blaze of light, and what she saw through her half opened eyes horrified her. Angeline was coated from head to toe by a seedling cloak of muck that oozed and churned all over her. It glistened as her light reflected off of its iridescent surface, and it seemed to withdraw from the touch of the light as if it was being attacked by it. The surface area closest to her glowing hand thinned considerably as she watched aghast, though Angeline’s skin remained coated nonetheless.

Tamara could see that her friend was breathing beneath this repulsive cocoon, and she was grateful for that at least, though it provided her with only a moment of comfort. Frantically, she considered what she could possibly do, and the frustration that she encountered as she realized just how limited her experience was in this regard almost paralyzed her completely. When Angeline’s eyes locked upon her own and she saw the fear and the plea for help in them, all of her thoughts receded and her instinct took over.

With the fury of a Moulant protecting its own, Tamara allowed the light to fade abruptly. She no longer needed it in order to see what was before her. Suddenly she became conspicuously aware of the soil that she clung to with her other hand, as if the life within it was calling out to her. She manipulated the organic matter in ways she did not even understand, and it coalesced at her mind’s touch. Changing shape and structure at her command, the particles realigned themselves and formed a sheathe of a coarse though giving substance that draped the sheer wall directly in front of her. This fabric-like matter beckoned to her senses, and she responded as if she had done this a thousand times before, instantly recognizing an affinity that now seemed to have been there all along.

Tamara kneaded it with the fingers of her free hand, not knowing entirely why, and it began to elongate and thin out like the dough of a bread. She could barely see anything in the darkness, but within her head she was certain that the image she focused upon was as accurate as any visual impression could possibly have been. Having only the use of one hand, since the other held her fast to the wall and prevented her from plummeting into the depths below, she was growing impatient and anxious, not to mention fatigued. Fortunately, the material that was coagulating before her was surprisingly receptive to her touch and incredibly buoyant. She spun it around as if it was a child’s toy top, using her fingers to bat at it and thus increase its velocity. It began to spin and spin, faster and faster. Within seconds, it started to fan out in a funnel shape, narrower at the bottom while it grew wider at the top, and swiftly it rose upward, first covering Angeline’s slime encased feet and then inching its way deliberately toward her head.

As soon as the spinning matter came in to contact with the foreign substance that had enveloped Angeline, the buzzing sound increased exponentially, and Tamara squinted her eyes and scrunched up her face in the blackness, trying to shut her eardrums without the benefit of a muffler of any kind. The sound was deafening and she had no means of protecting her ears from it. But, her discomfort was soon mitigated by what was unfolding before her. Everywhere that this new matter encountered the old, a reddish glow resulted and the immediate area surrounding her captive friend began to gleam brightly. The enemy churned and seethed in response to her magic. For the first time, she could clearly see just how thoroughly encased in this abhorrent wrapper her friend was, but she also saw that Angeline was still breathing even though her entire body, from head to toe, was enveloped. Tamara looked on in relief as the gooey mass began to dissolve into great gelatinous gobs and fall in heavy, viscous drops from Angeline’s legs to the gloom below.

She craned her neck in order to look upon her sister’s face once again, and she blinked her eyes quickly, certain that what loomed before her was merely an illusion. Even though what she had created was having a greater effect upon their attacker than she could have dreamed, she was shocked by what confronted her now.

I should not be so surprised. Evil is as evil does
, she thought quickly as the particles surrounding Angeline coagulated and reformed.

The image of that odious woman whom she had encountered in the woods on the way to visit Liam and Oleander was staring down at her, imbedded in the web that encircled Angeline. It was three dimensional and as real as could be. This was no mere phantasm! Margot’s long black fingernails reached out menacingly toward her and the grimace upon her sharp features was one of sheer fury and unbridled rage. From her precarious position, the sister could do nothing but gape. Fortunately, the manifestation began to fade as quickly as it personified itself before her, succumbing to the power brought to bear against it. Tamara knew in her heart that this would not be the last she would see of the venomous Lady Margot. Twice thwarted, she would be deadlier the next time. Tamara could virtually feel the malevolence in the air as the smothering mass that Colton’s loathsome crony had unleashed upon them was quickly overcome by her own unseasoned efforts. Much to her relief, her friend’s body was almost completely cleansed of the abominable slime by this time.

Tamara’s foot slipped, but she was reluctant to look down and risk losing her concentration. With her toe, she sought out a crevice in which to insert it once again, but the wall of the pit was swiftly becoming coated by the slippery liquid that showered down upon everything from above. She jabbed her foot into the wall repeatedly but to no avail, and then she felt herself losing her grip. At the same moment, a large droplet of slime fell upon her forehead and adhered to her skin. It immediately began to burn painfully. The feeling was so revolting to her that her hand went instinctively to her face in order to brush it off as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, having already lost her grip with one leg, the abrupt movement coupled with the slick coating caused her other toe to slide from its foothold as well, and she began to fall backward and away from the wall. She reached out for something to grasp, but alas there was nothing there to take hold of, and her descent accelerated.

Angeline’s face was fully exposed now, and the last thing Tamara heard was her friend’s anguished gasp. Angeline’s features rapidly faded from view as Tamara careened uncontrollably down into the gaping jaws of the dark and forbidding pit.