“Mercy, I said he won’t harm you. Come down.”
“I’m not coming down until it’s gone.”
Hayden stands for a moment looking up at me in his black armored suit, black robe and bone crown with the hound of hell at his side. I am utterly terrified. Finally, he relents.
“Cerberus, go.” He commands the thing in a casual voice, and it immediately responds, dropping two of the heads before turning with a slash of that whip-tail and bounding away.
I stay in the tree several moments longer watching and listening. Hayden’s eyes have never left me.
“Will you come down now?” He asks gently. “I forgot cats and dogs don’t mix.”
Relaxing my grip on the limbs, I slowly make my way down. The dress is ripped, and black smudges like soot are on my feet and thighs from my climb.
“I wouldn’t call that thing a dog.” I grumble once my feet touch the ground.
“I probably should have warned him you were coming.”
If that’s a joke, I’m not laughing. I feel like I’ll be sick from the residual panic and fear. “I want to go back to the castle.”
He sighs and holds a hand out in the direction we came. I walk quickly ahead of him the entire way. We don’t speak, and I know he’s watching me. My breath is fast, and the quick pace of my stride helps with my jumping nerves.
Only my mind can’t relax. All I can think of is Koa facing that thing, and what a fool I was to think Hayden wouldn’t have guards and creatures to protect him here.
Getting out of this place just got a million times harder.
Deep Magic
Koa
Time is passing. Every time I awake, my companion is with me speaking about things I don’t understand. He asks me each day if I remember why I’m here, and he’s always happy when I can’t recall who I am or why I’m in this hole. Rubbing my face, my beard is longer.
“How long have I been here?” I ask in the darkness.
“Time doesn’t exist here,” he rasps. “You’ve lost the grip of mortality.”
I’m losing my grip on sanity, but I struggle to hold on. “If we counted days, how long would you say?”
“I’ve been here forever, panther.”
A knot forms in my throat at his reply. “Are others here with us?”
“Others come, others go. I’m never alone for long.”
His non-answers make me insane. I’ve got to try a different approach. “What do you do for fun, Poppy?”
“Fun?” It’s a high rasp, almost a laugh. Then he mutters under his breath, his voice scratching in that way that makes me want to clear my throat. “No one’s ever asked me that before.”
“Before you came to this place, what were you? What did you do?”
“I told you. I’ve always been here.”
“In this cave?”
I feel movement around me, close by my head. It causes me to flinch. “A cave…” He seems to be pondering the words. “You think this is a cave?”
“What is it?”
“We’re in your mind.”