Darkness (Part 2), Scene v1

Small squeaks and screeches echoed through the stony walls. Kismet wrapped Delphi with one of the blankets as Razelin ignited the last torch. The flame was unbearable to look at after seeing nothing but nothing for so long. The general held it high to light the way without hurting their eyes. “I suggest we get moving. I doubt any of us want to stay in here for another night. From the sounds of it, we’ll be running into some bats so make sure you keep yourselves covered so you don’t get bitten.”

Delphi trembled in Kismet’s arms as they continued forward, shuddering with every squeak from overhead. The walls seemed to close in around her whenever the torch flickered. Long shadows loomed over them from the bats that flew above. Delphi shrieked when one of the bats grazed the side of her face, sending the swarm into a panic. Her screams were drowned out by the screeches and flapping of wings.

For what felt like hours, they rushed through the swarm of bats as they bit at them and beat their wings. “I hate it here. I want to go home,” sobbed Delphi when the chaos had finally died down, and the bats were behind them.

“Don’t worry, it’s not much further. It looks like there’s light coming from up ahead,” announced Razelin. Sure enough, the young princess could make out the gloomy walls at the edge of the darkness, beyond the reach of the torchlight. She couldn’t wait to get out of the cave. The perpetual darkness made the torchlight hurt her eyes because it was so bright. The shadows cast by the flame looked like black claws lashing out at them, never giving her heart a moment’s rest.

Delphi clung to Kismet’s arm excitedly as they continued toward the light. Large roars of water carried into the cave. As they approached, she had to squint at the sun that poured in. The stony walls made a sharp bend to where the mouth must’ve been. Razelin left the torch on the floor behind them and came to a stop at the bend.

“Should I go scout?” asked Kismet. Razelin gave her a nod. The Catheran placed a hand on the princess’ shoulder with a reassuring smile. The three of them watched her step lightly, moving as silently as a cat. She peered left from the cave’s mouth, then right, and above. The ground on the right seemed to disappear into the pale-blue sky, patched with rolling dark clouds. Seeing nothing, Kismet continued walking out slowly, staying close to the rocky wall on the left, surveying the ridge above, and the path in front of her.

The long ridge gently curved out toward the sky. After venturing over fifty yards out, Kismet spun around, but it was too late. Four arrows cut through the air from above the mouth of the cave. One arrow pierced her left thigh, another her right shoulder, sending her staggering heavily against the wall away from the ledge. “Kismet!” cried Delphi, only to be quickly hushed by her father.

Pressing herself against the wall, the Catheran shifted her way as quickly as possible back toward the mouth of the cave, but she was too far out along the curve of the ridge. Another volley of arrows flew at her. She leapt to the side, but one of the arrows impaled her right foot. Unable to get back on her feet, Kismet placed her hands on the floor. She drew up the earth just in time to block the third volley of arrows.

“She’s hurt! We have to do something!”

Marcus placed his hands on Delphi shoulders. She never heard her father speak so gravely before. It frightened her. “We can’t, it’s too dangerous. There’s nothing we can do.”

Three more archers bounded around the ridge and took aim from her vulnerable side. “Stand up and put your hands in the air,” they ordered.

Kismet broke the arrow in her foot, pulled it out, and threw it aside. Struggling to her feet, she did as she was told. One of the archers tossed a rope in front of her. “Bind your feet.”

Slowly, she reached for the rope and tied her feet to each other, leaving enough slack to barely walk. “Turn around and lie face with your hands behind your back.”
The archer bound her hands tightly together, then linked them to the rope that bound her feet. He pulled her up to her feet then stood on the opposite side of his companions and took aim at her.

“Walk out slowly with your hands in the air,” called a man’s voice from above the mouth of the cave.

Delphi clung tightly to her father’s arm, her stomach twisting with anxiety and fear. A gust of wind wailed into the darkness behind them. The voice echoed through the walls again. “You have no where else to go, so come out before we have to make the Catheran suffer.”

Razelin turned to Marcus, who nodded at her solemnly. Marcus drew Delphi close and held her in his arms as they followed the general out into the light.




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