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I RETURNED TO THE CLEARING my eyes finding my comrades huddled in the centre of the room. Majority of the Bloombeasts had picked off; either my Barcius’s magic, judging by the charring of the corpses, or cut down by Tarasque’s greatsword. But Mitztail was the one that concerned me most, he was doubled over clawing at his own pointy ears, hissing and cackling at the top of his lungs. He hadn’t looked this bad even when he was fighting off Sehanine’s influence in the previous trial.
The remaining Bloombeasts yelped at the sight of the fire genasi returning and hurried off back down the tunnels they once came. My comrades stood, all except the tabaxi sheathing their weapons before aiding Mitztail. Tarasque tried shaking him, gently at first then rougher without killing him. Barcius leafed through his spellbook, joking to locate an enchantment to counteract the curse of the chromatic butterflies.
‘Perhaps I could be of assistance?’ I asked sheepishly, shuffling towards the group.
‘You’ve done enough,’ The fire genasi snapped, not daring to even look my way.
Barcius sighed and said, ‘Tarasque, she’s the only one who knows this realm.’ She shrugged, turning her back on both of us.
‘At least let me try.’
The tiefling moved out of the way and gestured towards Mitztail before returning his attention back to his spellbook. I knelt before the tabaxi, taking his face in my hands and looking deep into his golden eyes. His orbs were glazed over, the pupils were dilated almost as big as the iris’s themselves. Hysteria was settling in and fast.
Think, Saria, Think.
I searched within my mind, trying to locate the correct words in my ancestry tongue that could aid my comrades' plight. ‘Scoir gáire,’ I whispered softly into one of his pointed ears.
Mitztail looked up at me, and for the first time I saw fear in his eyes. He wept, as his tears fell I noted they were tainted with a rainbow hue. The residue of the chromatic butterfly magic leaving his body. His laughter soon calmed, returning him to the tabaxi we all knew. I threw my arms around him and hugged him close, feeling my own eyes welling up with tears.
‘Thank mew,’ he said softly. ‘I thought that might’ve been the end of me.’
I stood and glanced back at our other comrades. Tarasque scoffed, her arms folded across her chest, seemingly unwilling to forgive me still. Barcius on the other hand gave me a curious look.
‘How is it that you were able to open that gate and remove that charm without magic?’ he asked. ‘The language you’ve been speaking is foreign to me.’
I fiddled with a loose thread on the hem of my skirt, ‘The feywild might be a dangerous place, but you have to know how to converse with them.’ I explained, ‘I’ve been speaking in the tongue of my ancestors, sylvan.’
Barcius pushed his glasses up his nose, bobbing his head to agree, ‘Intriguing.’
I turned to Tarasque and asked, ‘Will you please let me examine your wound?’
The stubborn fire genasi shook her head to refuse, but I wasn’t backing down a second time. I puffed out my cheeks, and dug around in my satchel, producing a vial of silvery liquid. I grabbed her arm, and pulled the cork out with my teeth and soaked her wound in the contains.
‘What the hell?’ Tarasque bellowed at me. The liquid smothered the open cut, the crimson tears bubbling while the skin sewed itself back together. ‘I said I didn’t want your help.’ She pushed me away, knocking me onto my backside against the craggy ground.
‘Hey!’ Mitztail hissed, putting himself between us, ‘She was only trying to help.’
Just as I tried to get back up onto my hooves, an electric shock jolted through me, pinning me back onto the ground. The Darkling found me, its static screaming piercing through my ears. My thoughts were no longer my own. I balled my fists into my hair.
‘Oh little Satyr, I thought you wanted to play?’ it shrieked, ‘Did you not enjoy my little minions, the dream genies. Curious creatures aren’t they, yet you had one of my friends killed. Perhaps I should do the same to you, would that be fun?’
‘Stop this, please stop,’ I begged. I glanced up to see my comrades staring at me with worried expressions plastered across their faces. I couldn’t control my body, the twitches or the pain that was coursing through my veins. ‘Please.’
The next time the fiend spoke, its voice echoed throughout the clearing. ‘The little Satyr never told you three about me and how in this realm I came to be. The little lonely Seer, so desperate for a friend she tore a portal between realms,’ it explained. ‘But then she sent her brother to dispose of me when she realised what she had done. Tell me child, where is he now?’
‘Stop it,’ I screamed, tears streamed down my cheeks. ‘You know nothing.’
Its sinister laughter erupted through the tunnels, ‘Find me and I shall be silenced.’
I felt its hold release me, able to move my body freely once more. I gasped for breath, rolling onto my back and sobbed. A soft purr pulled me out of my nightmare. I looked up seeing Mitztail knelt beside me, holding my hand.
‘It’s going to be okay, trust me,’ he said, giving me a weak smile. Even he didn’t believe the words that escaped his lips, yet I appreciated his attempt to make me feel better.
‘We need to locate this fiend now,’ Tarasque snapped. Her fingers were already twitching against the hilt of her greatsword. She was itching for another battle.
‘Right,’ I said and with my comrades' help, got back onto my hooves. The tabaxi held my hand for a moment longer, but I gave him a smile, ‘I’ll be okay.’ He released me. I took my crook in my hands and drove it into the craggy earth. ‘Melora, guide my call. Help me locate those innocent souls.’ I closed my eyes and listened.
My crook acted as a light, nulling the Darkling’s influence. I waited, waited until I heard soft quiet voices call out to me. Some whispered prayers in the hope to be saved, others simply wished to see their families again, and others hummed lullabies to calm themselves. I pushed further, trying to focus on visualising the scene. The firbolg children were locked in gilded cages, much like those that house birds. None of their limbs looked bound, but their faces were tired and dirty. The Darkling was draped upon a throne built of branches and ivy. The room around it was brighter; sage-coloured stained glass windows stood behind the fiend, stretching from floor to ceiling. Light poured into the throne room, the patterns tracing on the marble floor. The Darkling appeared bored, resting its claws against its cheeks and slummed in the throne. It’d been waiting, but for how long exactly I wasn’t sure. Images flashed through my mind, like I was locating the route only moving backwards through the cavern.
‘I’ve found them,’ I squealed, coming back to my senses too quickly I almost fell over.
‘Found who,’ Tarasque said with haste, gripping the hilt of her blade.
‘The missing children and the Darkling,’ I replied. ‘Its held up in the throne room, but the firbolgs, they’re all in cages, suspended from the ceiling. It’ll be difficult to remove them without first dealing with the fiend.’
‘Can you show us the way?’ she asked with furrowed brows.
I nodded to agree, ‘Just follow me.’
We ventured from the clearing up to the north east tunnel where the luminous mushrooms guided our path. Craggy ground beneath my hooves, winding bends and the threat that more stalactites would fall, hastened our steps.
Continuing on further and we reached a fork in the path, unsure of which way to turn I listened for those innocent voices, but instead my ears filled with the sound of gentle yet eerie humming. A strange lullaby the tribe elders would sing to coo the little satyr’s to sleep. A soft lullaby passed down from my ancestors who escaped the feywild. But the tone was more eerie, nothing like a childs. As I followed the humming I realised who the voice belonged to.
I stood in an arched doorway looking up at the creature that had plagued my dreams for months. The Darkling. There it sat, much like I’d envisioned, slumped over its branch-built throne. His form wasn’t the one I recalled from my nightmares, the dragon-like face and sharp claws replaced with a tiefling-like masculine face and golden eyes, almost human-like in design. Behind him, towering stained glass windows traced patterns on his ruddy tanned skin.
The Darkling stood, a cape trailed behind him as he cascaded the steps. His focus was fixed on me, his arms opened up wide and his pearly teeth grinned at me. ‘Hello again, little one,’ he said, a gentle purr in his tone.
Every fibre of my being was instructing me to run.
I can’t face him, not again. Not after the last time.
My body shook like a leaf and I clutched onto my crook for comfort. I closed my eyes, I was back where I was months ago; on the edge of the lake reaching out to what I thought was a friend, only to have been tricked by the archfey’s minion. The Darkling was no friend of mine, he was a fiend that stole innocent children from their beds, all to lure me here.
‘Found our missing firbolg children,’ Barcius whispered behind me.
I glanced back at him then followed his index finger pointing upwards. My eyes were drawn upwards, noting the sheer number of gilded cages suspended from the ceiling. Each one with multiple firbolgs inside. Their long limbs dangling from the bars, and their sleepy heads lolling to one side.
Tarasque grit her teeth, withdrawing her greatsword and Tempest’s shield, ‘How dare you!’ she bellowed, running towards the Darkling. ‘Innocent lives and for what?’
He looked at the fire genasi and grinned, his smile menacing.
As much as I tried I couldn’t keep my eyes off the fiend, watching his every movement, yet my body refused to move on its own. This time I wasn’t due to being paralysed by the Darkling influence like the sleep paralysis, instead it was due to my own childish fear.
Barcius moved past me, calling out to our comrades, ‘Mitztail, you work on freeing the children, I’ll assist Tarasque.’
Mitztail gave a nod in agreement and removed the lute from his back. As he strummed a few chords, a purple haze surrounded him and from it grew several arms. One by one they launched themselves to the ceiling, taking hold of the chains that held up the gilded cages. The firbolg children squealed, snapping out of their dreamlike state.
The Darkling’s grin widened, ‘I think not, little stray,’ he shrieked, taking one hand and morphing it into a scythe. He swiped at the tabaxi, knocking the lute from his paws and him flying.
Mitztail hissed in pain but he didn’t stop fighting, he pulled the harp from his pack and continued to play his song. His mage hands worked on the gilded cages, unlocking the doors and scooping the children carefully from their prisons.
‘Get them to safety,’ Tarasque called. She was going toe to toe with the fiend. He fought back using his scythe arm, grinning like a maniac like he was enjoying the dance.
‘For years I’ve waited for this moment,’ he said, before glancing back at me, ‘What a good little girl you are, bringing me more delicious souls to devour.’ His tone pierced through my ears and brought me to my knees.
I dropped my crook to the ground and covered my ears with my hands. I couldn’t break through his influence no matter how hard I tried. I was still that scared little girl from all those months ago. I didn’t want to lose my comrades, like I almost lost my brother.
‘Saria!’ Tarasque bellowed.
I snapped out of my trance, looking up at my comrade helplessly. The fire genasi was pinned against the Darkling’s scythe, with neither side willing to give in to the other.
‘A little help would be nice,’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘Right,’ I muttered under my breath, dropping my hands from my ears. I looked down at my hands before me, it was impossible to keep myself from shaking. I scrambled forwards and placed my hands on the marble tiles, trying to locate a thread from the earth. But no one heard my plea.
‘Saria!’
‘I’m trying,’ I whimpered, my voice coming out as shaky as my body. I picked up my crook and tried getting back onto my hooves, but my legs refused to work. I gave up on the idea to move and instead concentrated on the air around me, I threw up my hand into a sweeping motion. A slight gust of wind knocked the Darkling of balance, granting my comrade the upper hand.
Tarasque pushed against his scythe, roundhouse kicking him in the stomach. The fiend stumbled backwards, seemingly unphased by the both attacks.
Barcius stood before me, his spellbook suspended in the air while he concentrated his magic, two fingers held out, his arms criss crossed as a familiar electric energy surged through his body. He launched two eldritch blasts at the fiend. The first bolt missed, striking the ground where Mitztail stood. He hissed, slightly losing concentration of his own mage hand. The second morphed into a spear and embedded itself in the Darkling’s chest. It should have knocked him off his game, but the fiend just stood there and cackled.
I stared up at him in horror. All of us did.
Will nothing work against him?
The Darkling pulled the electric spear from his chest and snapped it within his hands, ‘You underestimate me, míolra.’ He spat.
Mitztail was close to collecting all of the firbolg children, yet the fiend didn’t seem to care about their rescue. He was too focused on me, grinning like a maniac. In his eyes he had his prize. Just as the tabaxi hurried the innocent souls down the exit tunnel, a few of them clutching onto his dancing lights, the fiend drew him away from his duty. The firbolgs screamed, terrified that they would be next, but Mitztail just smiled and tipped his hardee. His work was done.
‘No you don’t,’ Tarasque launched herself at the Darkling, her greatsword held behind her and poised ready to strike. But the fiend was too quick, even for her agility, snaring her with another elongated limb. The fire genasi grunted, thrashing against its grip, but it squeezed, tighter and tighter until the greatsword clanged to the ground. ‘Saria,’ she said, begging me with her last breath.
I was still rooted to the marble floor paralysed with fear, looking up at the fiend. Tears clustered in my eyes.
There’s no way I can beat him. I wasn’t strong enough then, and I’m not strong enough now. I’m nothing but a failure.
Barcius appeared beside me hauling up off the ground, ‘The others need you,’ he said sternly. ‘Pull yourself together and help us-’ his words were cut off by a gilded cage falling from the ceiling and knocking him unconscious.
I cursed under my breath. Every fibre of my body screaming out, begging me to run. But I couldn’t leave my comrades, not like this. After everything they’d done for me I wouldn’t desert them. Although my body was shaking like a leaf, I still stood, rooted in the place the tiefling had helped me into.
‘Oh, the leanbh has finally found her fight,’ the Darkling bellowed. His grin widened as he discarded my comrades to one side. His focus was drawn to me only.
‘Let’s finish this how we started. Together.’
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