No! I said, and spun around toward the door. Rumina, he is dead. I put my hand on the latch, shaking my head at the voice. Rumina, she has killed him. Destroy her now, while she sleeps, before she awakes and destroys us all. I put my hands to my ears, pressing hard to stop the voice, My name is Andromeda Rose Saville. My name is Andromeda Rose Turn, Rumina. Turn around and see me here. I lowered my hands and grabbed the latch to the door. Outside, the wind moaned. The building shook on its foundations, in spite of the great mass of its stone. Rumina, help me, your brother. Help me. Still gripping the latch, ready to run, I looked back over my shoulder, and saw what I hadnt notice before, a cage. Someone was inside it, staring out at me. Slowly I lowered my hands and said, Dont call me that. My name is Andromeda. Yes, Andromeda. Help me. The key to this prison is up there, on the dais. Bring it here and set me free. Then what will you do? I will do what you refuse to do. I will destroy her. I faced the dais and the beautiful shape of the woman lying there. So much like a fairytale, I thought, as if she waits for the kiss of a prince. And yet it is no prince she waits for, but for the winter storm, the winter wind called Rashida. I did not dare look again at the man in the cage and I wondered how a wizard so powerful in the canyon had become trapped and helpless in a simple iron cage. I walked toward the dais. Andromeda, he said softly as I passed him, she has killed him. Grieve for the man named Cory.
Shut up about Cory. Hes looking for me! I faced the man in the cage, furious with his lies. He stared back at me, eyes sad. He fought the Shabouh with great courage and killed many. They kept coming, more and more of them. Then came the Medruzz. The man was weakened and wounded, and although he fought the Medruzz, he could not win this time. Not this time. I dont believe you. You have been lying to me from the beginning. Stay in your cage. Rot in your cage. You are as monstrous as she is. I turned and ran toward the door. He shouted after me, Remember the young poet in the woods, and how he suffered under the Medruzz. Remember the man named Cory. The beast that killed them is up there on the stage. She murdered them, because of you. She laughed, watching them suffer, because she knew that you would also suffer. The Medruzz is hers, her child by the wind, and now it comes for you. It is out there now, running this way. Kill her and you kill it, too. Cory dead? I had been fighting that awful truth, and now it overwhelmed me. I turned away from the door and headed for the dais again, at first slowly, then faster, then running up the steps to the side of the glass casket. Cory dead? He had told me to run, but hadnt followed me. I remembered listening to the screaming frenzy of the creatures in a battle I couldnt see. My rage consumed me. I grabbed the lid of the casket and threw it open. She didnt move. Her arms were crossed protectively on her chest. She was beautiful, perfect in every way. And I wanted to kill her. Instinctively, I reached for my backpack and the knife, as I had done so many times before. My hand touched nothing. I had given the knife to Cory.
Andromeda, bring me the key. Its there beside you. I was past thinking for myself. In a daze, I looked around me, saw a twisted length of rusted iron lying near my foot, and picked it up. I carried it slowly over to Hugo. He reached through the bars and grabbed it from my limp fingers. I watched him shove it into the keyhole and turn it. The cage door swung open and he stepped free. What did you do with the knife? he said. I gave it to Cory. Then well have to go back and get it. He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the doors. I did not resist. She spoke from behind us, You are too late, my brother. I will not let you leave. We both turned to face her. She floated just above the floor in the middle of the room, a wraith of light and dust. We could see through her to the glass case on the other side. Her body was still in it. Hugo pushed me away from him. He said to her, You are not strong enough in that state to defend yourself, Hadrea." She smiled at Hugo and at me, a smile of confidence in her power, secure in her unchallenged control. She had no reason to be cautious, and nothing to fear, and so was unaware of the figure that walked silently up to the glass casket behind her. She did not see him lift the lid and lean his bloodied face close to her cold cheek, his eyes full of regret as he raised the knife and drove it down. And so she died, her wraith evaporating like a mist in front of our eyes as the body disintegrated into dust, destroyed by the knife in Corys hand. The wind continued to blow, the door to rattle in its frame, the sky to grow dark with night, all of it as it always had been. But the sorceress was dead.
Oh my GOODness! HOW will it all end? Will they get off the planet? Will Cory stay? Will Andy and Cory every realize that they were meant for each other? Enquiring minds want to KNOW!
Oh my gosh that was so SUSPENSEFUL! It was great, it was fantastic...and I can't wait for the next installment...
I finally got to catch up, and may I just say ... wow. Your gift for architecture alone deserves major kudos, even without this amazing story. I can't wait to find out what happens next! I hope Cory's injuries aren't too serious! I hope he did the right thing, killing Hadrea ... I'm still not sure Hugo's not the bad guy. And I really want those two to get together. I think Cory would be bored to death with Meara, unless she's as good at squabbling as Andy is ...
Thank goodness, and thank you all. I'm always anxious after I post up a few chapters, wondering whether or not you will like them. By the way, you might be interested to know that I created this neighborhood only for the story. So pictures taken for the story are the only pictures in the storytelling folder for that neighborhood. Now, if I divide the total number of pictures in half (because of the thumbnail duplicates in the folder) the result is 1,704 pictures. Just think of all the pictures you haven't seen.
When Cory stood up from the casket and turned around, he held a large blue crystal in his hands. I recognized it immediately as the one from Amathaons temple, the crystal that had thrown us into this world. But I didnt care any more about the crystal, or Amathaons temple, only about the man who held it. I ran forward. Hugo yelled after me, STOP! Forget about him, said Cory. Theres a trapdoor behind the stage here. Leads back to the tunnels, and we can get back to the abandoned city that way. Lets go. He came down the steps carrying the crystal carefully in both hands. Thought you were dead, Andy. Gave me quite a turn when I heard that scream of yours on the other side of the wall. Good thing you did that, though, because it fixed the knife. You screamed, and boom, bright lights everywhere. Saved my life. Hugo shouted again, Rumina! Face me, your brother! Cory kept talking, as if the other man were not even there, You dont have to worry about the Medruzz anymore, either. He followed those other beasties into the room and ran around the edges for a while, working himself up, yelling ugly things about you, then attacked. Bad news for him that you picked that moment to scream. He fell back, right into the middle of those beasties. Ugh. I would have thought they were all pals. Not so. I left them to it, and ran. Cory, I caught up to him. I need to tell you something. Not a good time, kiddo. We need to get away from here. Rumina, said a voice in my ear, you cannot leave. Face me. I turned around, pulling my arm away from Hugos reach. My names Andromeda Rose Saville. Got that? And Im going home! Hugo backed away. I thought hed just given up, until the shimmering green shield rose up out of the floor, surrounding me. I heard Cory muttering, Complications. Always complications.
Hugo lifted his arms toward the ceiling for a moment, fists clenched, and shouted, “For Niichaad, I do this.” I had fought too hard and too long. I felt the rage building, pounding through my veins, boiling in my blood, the black blood of the mountain sorcerers. And I felt the power there, an exhilarating, intoxicating sense of my supremacy over this world. I was possessed, and did not know that I was possessed. I called out to that blood, and I broke Hugo’s shield. I knew that he had not cast it up to trap me, but to protect himself. I do not remember much of the battle that followed. It seemed that stars were born and died within the few seconds that it took place. It was a universe of time crushed into a moment. Cory told me later that it was a spectacular light show, especially the last bolt that struck behind him, a direct hit on the crystal. The next thing he remembers after that is being on the floor with me leaning over him, checking the pulse in his neck. And Hugo with the crystal in his hands. I remember that last bolt, too, thrown by Hugo at Cory. I only barely kept it from striking the man directly. I ran over to where Cory lay. He was breathing, only stunned. I looked up at Hugo. “Let him go!” I said. “I will not fight you any more.” Hugo picked up the crystal and spoke gibberish to the rafters, to his god, whichever one it was. I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t know whether he was fighting for Niichaad or for Makhist. Cory coughed, rolled to his side and started to get up. “Niichaad has spoken,” said Hugo. “Leave now, both of you. Leave fast. I will give you a little time, but not very long. Hadrea is dead, but not all of her children. They converge on this place. They will fight me. Go!”
Cory was on his feet but still unsteady. I took his arm and pulled him around behind the dais. I saw the opening and the ladder. Down, Cory. Show me the way. We climbed down the ladder into a small closet of space. One side of it was a door that led to a narrow corridor of the now familiar mudstone. As Cory recovered, we moved faster, until we were running. How much time would Hugo give us? And when that time was up, what would he do? Follow us? Send more of the beasts after us? And why had he changed his mind about letting me go? I didnt understand it. Did he really believe Niichaad was speaking to him? I also had a question for Cory. Why had he killed the sorceress? Chaos, I reminded myself. I would ask the questions. I might not be satisfied with the answers. The whole world heaved under our feet. A thunderous boom followed in an instant, and the walls started to collapse around us, the ceiling caving in. I screamed out Corys name and felt his arms close tightly around me. This is it, Andy, he whispered in my ear. He blew the mountain. I screamed again, fighting his arms and the horror of all that rock coming down on our heads. Cory wouldnt let me go. Illusion, he said. Its all illusion. Amathaons illusion. The earth shuddered and split wide, revealing its flaming core, and we fell into oblivion.
OK, my husband is getting annoyed, tapping his foot, waiting for me to go with him to his mother's for dinner.
