THE NINTH REALM CHRONICLES: OBLIVION

CHAPTER ONE: DAEDRONUS’S TALE

When the creature stepped into Daedronus’s sight, the great lord gave a long sigh and placed his forehead upon his palm. He shut his eyes for a brief moment before tilting his head to the side and glancing down at the beast. Perhaps he was no beast, but any human would certainly think him one.

“What is it now, Creed? I don’t think I can take anymore,” Daedronus stated, pairing his words with another long and dramatic sigh.

“The thief has taken it,” the gray-skinned creature with all the seeming of a man replied.

“No. He has not,” Daedronus replied as he finally lifted his face from his palm and shook the long mane of black hair adorning his head.

“Sire, the stone is gone,” Creed, with his black lips and crimson eyes answered gravely.

“No,” the lord replied, still shaking his head.

“And he opened a portal back to the mortal realm.”

“You’re lying to me,” Daedronus stated as a grin curled along his own black lips.

“And the thief has taken the stone back to the mortal realm,” Creed added as he bowed his raven-haired head and clasped his clawed hands together before him.

“This is a joke,” Daedronus muttered as his hands slowly curled into fists.

“It is no joke, Sire,” the creature responded as the jagged scar upon his left cheek shifted slightly upon his clenching jaw.

“No. Certainly not. I don’t mean the fact that a mortal human thief has entered into my kingdom, stolen one of my Divinity Stones, and has taken off back the mortal realm with it. That is no laughing matter. What I most certainly meant to say is that for all my servants, for all the Daedran, which I have created, all of you creatures above and beyond mortal prowess, and for all of my magic, for all of my power, for all of my divinity, and for all of my might, some mortal man of poor report managed to open a portal into my dimension, make it past all of my hellish servants, kill some of them, scale one my massive and foreboding towers, steal one of my most sacred possessions, and then make it back past all of my now swarming army of superhuman servants I created just for this purpose, and then, somehow, Creed, he managed to escape to the mortal realm and my general, which is you, Creed, is standing here informing me of all of this, as if I, divine lord of this realm, don’t already know. That’s the joke, Creed. That’s the joke. I’m the joke. You’re the joke. All of us here are, obviously, a joke. And not a very good one either. I’m not laughing. Are you laughing, Creed?” Daedronus demanded fiercely as he completed his spiel.

“No, Sire.”

“Creed, may I ask, is that armor you’re wearing?” Daedronus then demanded, his tone calming to that of one appropriate to casual conversation.

“Yes.”

“Pretty sturdy stuff, isn’t it? Made from Oblivion stone, yes? Tougher than anything they have in the mortal realm, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s a sword you’ve got, isn’t it? It looks pretty sharp. I mean, I know that I’m a god and all. I know I’m the lord of this realm and I’ve created everything in it and all, but it really just eludes me. Is that sword made of black steel? You know the stuff, the toughest metal in existence, the kind that you can only find right here in the Ninth Realm and not in any of the mortal realms? Is that what that sword is made from?”

“Yes, Sire.”

“And you are a Daedran, aren’t you? You are taller, stronger, faster, smarter, and in all ways superior to a mortal man, aren’t you, Creed?”

“Sire…” Creed began as he turned his head slightly to the side and looked up, only glancing at the demonic lord with his peripheral vision.

“And just to be clear, Creed, you command an army of creatures just like yourself, with just the same weapons, just the same armor, just the same feats of strength, and there was only one mortal. Is that correct? Did he bring little friends you’re not telling me about? I just want to be clear, Creed,” Daedronus said rather reasonably.

“You are correct in all your statements, my lord,” Creed responded as he lowered his head again, preparing for the onslaught.

“Now Creed, I know I do tend to be a bit dramatic,” Daedronus announced as he threw his hands up in the air, “but is it really too much to ask, Creed? Is it really too much to ask?”

“Please, Sire, don’t get up…” Creed began, but it was already too late.

“Oh, but I think I will!” the demon god cried as he rose up from his throne and began to dramatically pace the palace hall. “Every thousand or so years we do this same thing! Every thousand or so years! We all remember what happened last time when you let a mortal escape from here! And the time before that when one of your own men went down to the mortal realm and went wreaking havoc! And the time before that when one of my brother’s servants went down to my realm and started a war amongst the mortals! And the time before that when…”

“Your memory is impeccable, Sire,” Creed cut in as he raised his crimson eyes to glare at his lord.

“My point, dear and faithful servant of mine, is that you’re all a bunch of idiots and I am too. What are we doing up here millennia after millennia? Letting mortal thieves run off with Divinity Stones, letting deceased mortal souls escape back to the mortal realm, letting crazed demons loose to wreak havoc, letting other crazed demons from other kingdoms into my mortal realm. Oh, and I suppose you remember the time one of my brother’s little brats came over here and took off with some of my mortals? Now that was a fiasco, certainly, but nothing compared to the fact that you LET A MORTAL RUN OFF WITH ONE OF MY DIVINITY STONES!” Daedronus roared as he came within inches of the unflinching servant.

“He was a sorcerer, and a well-prepared one at that,” Creed responded with a rather blank expression.

“Oh, I suppose you’re right. Nothing we could have done. He was a well-prepared sorcerer. Well preparation does make a difference,” Daedronus agreed thoughtfully.

“Would you rather continue with your tantrum, Sire, or would you prefer we did something to remedy the situation?” Creed inquired.

“Oh, well, if I have a choice, I’d much rather continue with my tantrum. Creed, how many Divinity stones do you think I possess? Do you think they’re like candy? Do you think we gods give them away at our annual family reunions? Hey, brother, I know you just invaded my kingdom and stole five hundred of my mortal souls, but would you like a Divinity Stone for your trouble? Unicus, how’s the wife and sons? Hey man, can I borrow a few Divinity Stones? No, yeah, I’ll totally pay you back. Oh, thanks, man! I have three of them, Creed. THREE! Do you know how many it takes to properly maintain a magical kingdom?” Daedronus then demanded.

“I suspect it’s three.”

“My goodness, what a bright one you are! I knew there was a reason I didn’t strike you from existence. It certainly wasn’t because of your ability to protect my Divinity Stones.”

“So, did you want me to open a portal and send some men out to retrieve it?” Creed then asked.

“That’s an excellent idea, Creed! Why didn’t I think of that? While you’re at it, why don’t you have me go to the Scrying Tower and use one of my remaining two Divinity Stones to scry the mortal and find the approximate location of the missing one? Do you think we should do that?” Daedronus suggested.

“It would be much more befitting of a demon god to do that before it would befit him to throw a tantrum in his main hall like a small child,” Creed responded.

“Well what else did you expect me to do? Did you think I’d strike you from existence?” Daedronus then asked.

“I thought it might at least cross your mind.”

“Creed, I’m hurt. Truly hurt. I may even cry. You’re my best friend. I would never strike you from existence. I’d only ever submit you to my arduous and overly dramatic rants,” the demon god replied. “I like you much more than I like any of my seven brothers and much more than I like any of their spawn. Strike you from existence. Do you really think so little of me?”

“So shall I give the word to open a portal?” Creed demanded.

“Certainly. How else are we going to get my stone back? Go tell the idiots that the first one to find it and bring it back to me gets your job, and the rest of them get to be tortured. No. That would just have them fighting among themselves. I know. Tell them that the one to bring the stone back to me gets your job and… wait. No. That wouldn’t do. Only you can do your job. Ah! Tell the idiots that the first one to bring me back my stone gets a promotion. The rest of them won’t die in a horrible and painful fashion. I think that one is a winner. Let me go scry for a bit. I’ll send word to you where to open the portal,” Daedronus responded as he turned on his heels and disappeared into thin air.

Creed let out a beastly snarl and marched from the hall in disgust. He hadn’t had a day quite this bad in about a thousand years.

Kristasia knew she had to escape that very night. She could take no more. Her master had become particularly abusive since the night the portal had opened. Hundreds of demons had poured out from the portal’s entrance and into the small village searching for something. Her master, the town’s governor, was having a stressful time managing the panic and the demon hordes currently occupying the town. It had been two days full of terror and dread and special beatings for Kristasia. The demons had finally captured the sorcerer they deemed responsible for stealing whatever it was that Lord Daedronus had lost, but the item had not been on him. Two Daedran had taken him back through the portal and the rest of the army had remained, blanketing the town.

“Krissy,” a soft voice called through the crooked wooden door of her room.

“Lonia, come in! Quickly,” Kristasia called to the beautiful little child who had been unfortunately born into this terrible life of slavery.

The tiny blonde child slipped through the door and only barely cracked it as she did. The door was so little affected that it did not even creak.

“What is it, child?” Kristasia asked as she drew the child up onto the bed with her and wrapped the shivering girl in the ragged blankets.

“I have to tell you something, but I’m so scared,” the little girl wept, pressing her small palms to her watery blue eyes.

“What is it, sweet?” Kristasia asked as she ran slender fingers through the child’s soft, golden hair.

“The man they took away last night, he was at the bar when they came. He was drunk and lost a game. Another man took all his money and something else too. Then the demons came and the man was scared and he left it all there on the table and they ran. I took some of the money. And something else,” Lonia whispered as she pulled a glowing white stone from her pocket.

“Lonia!” Kristasia cried as she took the glowing stone and quickly hid it away in the pockets of her dress.

“It’s what they’re looking for, isn’t it?” Lonia whispered softly.

“We must leave here. Now. Tonight,” Kristasia said as she bolted up from the bed and grabbed the child’s hand.

“But Krissy, if we just give it back…” Lonia started.

“They’ll kill us and if they don’t, the master will. Let’s go. Now. Get a coat. Go,” Kristasia urged as she ushered the child to get ready.

They made it out into the hall and through the servant’s quarters and out into the garden before the imposing figure of their drunken master met them at the garden gates. He swayed, quite obviously having returned home from a night at the bar.

“Kristasia,” he called drunkenly. “Be rid of that brat and come to my quarters with me. You’re not so young as you used to be when I bought you. Come and serve me.”

“Go,” Kristasia whispered to the child as she pushed Lonia forward. “Go. Run.”

They took off together, running wildly through the town streets and fleeing the hands of demons who guarded the street corners menacingly. They made it out of the small town and just past its limits when the massive, fiery portal appeared before them with a camp of the demon soldiers at its base.

“Krissy, I’m scared!” Lonia cried as she wept against the older girl’s side.

“I promise I won’t let them hurt you,” Kristasia whispered as she hugged the child closely.

Baying dogs undoubtedly released from their master’s kennels came lunging towards them, but a gleaming black blade hacked the dogs away. Lonia screamed as a monstrous man moved to tower over them.

“What are you doing?” the man with a voice like thunder demanded sharply.

Before Kristasia could answer, another voice rang out.

“These are slaves of mine, sir demon. They’re escaping me. Kindly return them and I promise you’ll have no further distractions tonight,” the gravelly voice of their drunken master called as the short, stubby man came swaying up followed by several servants.

The demon man, standing at nearly seven feet and built like the trunk of a tree, dwarfed their master as a cat would dwarf a mouse. Black lips pulled back into a sneer as his crimson eyes settled on the man with disdain. Pointed teeth ground together between clenched jaws for a long moment before he responded.

“You don’t seem fit to be anyone’s master,” the demon spit as he continued to glare imposingly upon the drunken man.

“I assure you, sir, that I’ve paid good money for these slave girls. They are my property. When you first came you told me you had no intention of interrupting our way of life, only of finding the sorcerer man, who you found, and you still have not left us,” their master stated bravely, though the panic in his wide eyes was unmistakable.

“Please,” Kristasia begged the demon, though she doubted she would find mercy in his eyes. “Please, he’ll hurt us. Please, she’s just a little girl. I’ll do whatever you want, but please, don’t make us go back to him.”

“You have nothing I want,” the demon responded callously as he glared between the two slaves and their master.

“Yes we do!” Lonnia cried suddenly, her cheeks still wet with tears.

The demon’s head snapped rather suddenly to look at the little girl. His crimson eyes focused on her like a snake eyeing its prey.

“Don’t listen to them. They’ve disobeyed me and now they’re scared to receive their punishment. They’re nothing more than unruly slaves. Return them,” their master ordered, his voice taking on a tone that the demon man seemed to keenly disapprove of.

“You do not give me orders, you mortal scum,” the demon hissed as he took a step forward, his clawed hand resting on his sword hilt. “Say one more word and I will end you now.”

Their master took a large step back as his jaw went slack and his eyes widened into an expression of terror.

“What is it that you have?” the demon demanded as he turned back to the child.

Her large blue eyes were wide with panic and wet with more tears as she studied the demon man. She eyed his gray skin tinted purple by the veins of blood pulsing just beneath the surface, his mess of black hair that fell around his head like a draping of feathers and his pointed ears that peaked up from beneath it, his crimson irises glaring out through narrowed slits, the long jagged scar that cut his left cheek down to his jaw, the black claws that still gripped his sword hilt, and his entirely imposing figure.

“Child, what is it that you have?” the demon repeated, softening his voice as he took a step closer to Kristasia and Lonia.

Kristasia eyed their master, then the demon, and then their surroundings. Snarling dogs still stood by her master’s heel, waiting for her to run. The fiery red portal was just before them. A camp full of demons who had come out to watch surrounded them. They had but one chance at escape, and that chance was entirely unsettling. She didn’t know what was beyond the portal, only that it was a place containing creatures like the ones before her. Still, she decided that she might find more mercy at their hands than at the hands of the disgusting pig behind her. Before the demon could come any closer, Kristasia grabbed up the child and dashed towards the portal.

“Wait!” the demon cried out from behind them, but it was too late.

Kristasia and Lonia passed through the portal and into a world like nothing they’d ever seen before. The ground was of red dust, iron ore, and black rock. Towering walls of sheer cliffs and rock rose up all around them. It appeared that they were in a canyon of some sort. No plants, trees, or water could be see, but off to their left, where the cliffs parted, was a river of molten lava. The stink of sulfur pervaded their senses and Lonia began to cough. There was but one path ahead of them that wound around the corner of the jagged cliffs. Kristasia grabbed the child’s hand and they took off down it, not bothering to wait for the demons to find them.

“What is this place?” Lonia asked as they carried on a steady pace.

“I don’t know,” Kristasia whispered, looking around warily as their voices echoed off the canyon walls eerily.

“Krissy, the sky!” Lonia exclaimed as she pointed upwards.

“Keep your voice down!” Kristasia whispered urgently. “I don’t know what sort of beasts live here, but it’s likely you and I don’t want to encounter them.”

Still, Kristasia could not help but peer up at the sky above them as she hurried the child along. The sky itself was red and coated in purple storm clouds. Above them flashes of orange lightening cut the darkening sky.

“It looks like it will rain,” Lonia stated, her eyes still glued to the strange sky.

“Child, come, unless you want to get caught in it. I don’t know what sort of rain they have here, but I doubt it’s going to be made of water,” Kristasia warned as a lump rose up in her throat. This dry land looks as though it hadn’t seen water in centuries or longer.

As they made their way steadily through the twisting canyon, Kristasia realized that each turn raised their elevation. She could not quite see above the canyon walls, but they were certainly traveling ever upward. The farther along they went, the shallower the canyon walls became, and though she knew that this place was hopeless at best, she at least hoped they could find some sort of shelter if they emerged from the canyon.

“Krissy, listen,” Lonia said suddenly.

Kristasia froze. Voices.

“They’ve been here,” a rough male voice called. “I can smell their fear.”

“They’re close. Keep searching!” another called.

“They’re coming!” Lonia squeaked in terror as she hugged Kristasia’s waist.

The older girl glanced around quickly, praying for a miracle, and as rewarded with one. A tiny, dark fissure in the canyon’s walls. She grabbed the child and yanked her into the dark crevice. Her hands blindly traversed the walls of the cave as she pulled the child in until they were surrounded by nothing but inky blackness.

“Listen to me, Lonia. You heard them. They can smell fear. I need you to not be afraid, baby. Just think about something happy. No matter what you hear outside. Think about something else, something happy. Think about… think about when we go home. To our real home,” Kristasia prompted, trying to mask the panic in her voice for the child’s benefit.

“I’ve never seen it, Krissy!” the child sobbed, muffling her own cries in the fabric of Kristasia’s dress.

“I know, sweet, but remember what I told you of it. Remember the mountains, cast violet on the evening indigo sky. Remember how I told you of the mountains at dusk? Remember how I told you about the leaves that change color and the crisp air and the sweet smelling flowers? We talked of how I would take you into the valley and we would play in the flower fields and the soft grass? It will be just us, no masters. No cruel men to hurt us. Just us and our farm with all the animals,” Kristasia whispered as she heard the demon men approaching.

The child quieted in her arms and Kristasia herself began to lose her fears in the soothing memories of her childhood in the quiet mountain villages of the northland where she had lived before the raiders came. She and her older sister had been taken and sold together at a slave fair. Her sister, the most beautiful woman Kristasia had ever known, had been happily married only two months when the men came, and eight months later she had born little Lonia before passing from the world. The grief of losing her childhood lover, of being turned a slave and raped by their new master had broken her spirit and when the childbirth had been hard upon her, she had had no will to live. She knew not whether the child would be that of her lost love or that of her vicious attacker, and neither one did she think she could bear.

The demon men passed them by and Kristasia let out a soft sigh of relief. She slowly pulled Lonia from their dark hiding place and peered out into the empty canyon. Then she pulled the child out behind, her glad to be gone from that dark place.

“Clever little mortals, aren’t you?” a strangely high-pitched, though decidedly male voice called out from behind them.

Kristasia turned on her heels, dragging Lonia behind her and turned back to the crevice in which they’d hidden. A strange creature with a predominately spider-like form emerged from the crevice to stand before them. Kristasia let out a shocked gasp and barely had time to cover Lonia’s mouth before the child let out a scream.

“Oh, don’t be frightened, little ones,” the creature soothed in a decidedly calming tone. “I mean you no harm.”

“I don’t believe that,” Kristasia said, shaking her head as she took a step back.

“No harm at all, I promise you. I rarely see mortals this far from the towers. What are you doing here?” the creature asked as it tilted its strange head to study them with all of its eight eyes.

The creature, though having the shape of a man, was entirely inhuman. Upon its humanoid face it had two large humanoid eyes that glowed with golden irises and long black slits. Three smaller eyes stared out from above, and three more from below. Its nose was composed of two narrow slits below the three bottom eyes and its black lips were curved into an overly large smile that literally ran from one side of its jaw to the other. It had the upper torso of a man, its pale white skin bare and revealing two sets of muscled human arms. Its lower body, however, was that of a spider’s abdomen, supported on four spider-like legs and coated in coarse, black hair.

“We’re just passing through,” Kristasia answered the creature finally as she took another step back.

“You look tired,” the creature stated as it tilted its head, as if to get a better look at them with its many eyes. “You look hungry. Come into my den. Eat. Rest. You may finish passing through in the morning. Come.”

“I think we’re fine,” Kristasia answered curtly.

“Don’t be silly. I know you’re hiding from the Daedran. They’ll find you out here. Come into my nest. I’ll hide you away, keep you safe, and provide for you. Even the child. Those beasts will kill you, and her too.”

“What is this awful place?” Lonia sobbed as she looked up at Kristasia, refusing to lay eyes on the horrifying creature before them.

“This is the kingdom of Oblivion in the Ninth Realm. Silly mortal, are you lost?” the spider creature teased. “This is the kingdom of Lord Daedronus, God of the Sixth Realm.”

“Is this hell?” Kristasia asked softly as she looked briefly around at the world surrounding them.

“I suppose that, for a mortal, it would be. This is where mortal souls go when they die. Death is but a transition of realms, as is life. They know they’ve gone too far. They’re coming back. You can hear them. Come with me,” the creature said as it lifted one of its human hands to motion towards the dark crevice. “If you don’t, they’ll kill you. Or take you to Lord Daedronus, which would surely be much worse. He has little patience for mortals right now.”

Caught, once again, between the frying pan and the fire, Kristasia took Lonia’s hand and together they followed the strange creature into the darkness.

“We can’t see,” Kristasia whispered once they were swallowed whole by the blackness.

“Of course,” the creature replied.

Suddenly there was light. The spider held out a lantern filled with a glowing blue stone that illuminated the sticky, dark passageway. An impending sense of dread set in on Kristasia as they followed the spider through the dark tunnel as the walls became increasingly coated in a sticky white film which she assumed could have only been spider webbing. Then tunnel split off several times in different directions and as they ventured deeper, Kristasia had the sudden feeling that they would never find their way out.

“Here we are, pretties,” the spider announced as they came into a large room coated in webs from the ceiling to the floor.

In one corner of the room, a pile of bones were stacked ominously and in the adjacent corner, a strange bundle of webbing bulged up suspiciously from the floor. In the third corner was a mass of webbing that looked similar to a nest and in the fourth was a table set with four chairs. As Kristasia eyed the table, she suddenly wondered what use it could have been to the spider man. He couldn’t sit in a chair, could he?

“I don’t spend much time here, so I do apologize for the mess,” the spider claimed as he set the lantern down on the table. “These catacombs span most of the underground and let out very near the towers. I spend most of my time in them hunting.”

“Hunting what?” Kristasia asked cautiously as her eyes fell again on the grotesque pile of blackening bones.

“Dinner,” the spider replied with a shrug.

“Why are you sheltering us here? What do you want?” Kristasia demanded immediately as she began to realize that they may have been safer with the demons outsider.

“Want? What anyone wants?” he asked softly before he ever so suddenly ripped Lonia away from Kristasia and pricked her arm with a sharp stinger that had appeared on one of his spider feet.

“Lonia!” Kristasia cried as she rushed the spider, trying to grab the limp child back from him.

“Hush. I’ve only put her to sleep,” the spider said as he held the child out of her reach. “Stay where you are. I won’t hurt her.”

He laid Lonia gently upon the webbed floor, a bit too close to the unmoving bundle of webbing that sat suspiciously against the wall.

“Why did you do that?” Kristasia demanded, her panic becoming nearly unbearable. They had to get out of this beast’s lair. This had been a huge mistake fueled only by terror and desperation.

“She is a child, yes? Some things are not for the ears or eyes of children. She will sleep for an hour or two and will wake just as well. You asked what I wanted. I shall show you,” the spider man stated as he advanced on her.

“Don’t touch me,” Kristasia warned as she back up further and found herself pressing into one sticky wall.

“That’s what I want,” the creature replied as it advanced on her, its human torso pressing her further into the wall.

“What do you mean?” she demanded as she struggled to free herself from the thick webbing even while the creature’s body pressed her back into it.

“Don’t fight, little one. You’ll only tangle yourself up worse,” he said as he gently separated her from the webbing.

“Tell me what you want,” Kristasia demanded, a shiver running down her spine as the webs stuck to her skin.

“I am a strange creature cast with the wants of a man and of a spider. A spider’s life is simple. He thinks very little. He waits. He catches prey. He eats. He waits. Eventually he finds a female and mates. Then he dies. A man’s mind is more complex. He thinks more. He is bored. Lonely. Hopeful. He yearns. My tunnel connects to the world above more closely to the mortal communities of this land than that of other spiders. I watch them. I see them do awful things to each other and themselves, but occasionally, I see something appealing. Companionship. Love. Families,” the spider stated. “Our kind mates, and if the female doesn’t kill her mate, the male moves on to mate again. She raises the children until they come of age, and then chases them away or eats them. That’s a very awful life, don’t you think? But your kind, they stay together, they love, they raise children. I am a dreamer, I suppose. I dream of more.”

“And what do your dreams have to do with me?” she asked, though she knew the answer would only further terrify her.

“I will take you as a mate instead of a spider. You’ll stay with me. You won’t try to eat me. You’ll love me. We’ll have children. We’ll raise them and we won’t try to eat them. I won’t be alone anymore. That’s what I want,” he said as he looked her over with all eight monstrous eyes that never seemed to blink.

“While I do appreciate the offer, I really think we’ll have to pass,” Kristasia replied quickly, and having been separated from the webbing on the wall, she twisted away from him and dashed out of his reach.

“I hoped you wouldn’t say that,” the spider stated darkly as he dashed towards her with inhuman speed and grabbed her up in his arms.

With all four of his powerful arms wrapped around her and her back pressed against his chest, Kristasia was powerless to move, despite all her struggles.

“I know I must not attract you. I am not your kind. I am enough of it, though, that you attract me. I want you. I promise I shall be a better lover than any human male. I will do my best to please you, and with four hands, I think I should do a better job,” he whispered into her ear.

“Please, just let us go,” Kristasia pleaded back.

“If you deny me, I’ll eat you and wait until the child comes of age,” the spider threatened darkly.

Kristasia summoned all of her courage and swallowed the hard lump in her throat.

“Alright,” she said softly. “You were kind in sheltering us from the demons. But I am scared. I’ve never been with a man, let alone… whatever it is that you are. If you wish me to love you, I shall, but will you release me now and let me come to you on my own?”

The spider paused, as if considering her words. Slowly, his hands released their grip on her. She stepped quickly from his grasp and turned to face the monstrous creature illuminated by the eerie blue light of the lantern.

THE END OF CHAPTER ONE