Into the Abyss (The Nightslayer Trilogy, Part 2) - Chapter Three

Aylander watched as the black sword took shape in his hand. Even once it had fully solidified, inky tendrils continued to stream from it, swirling and curving away until being reabsorbed by the nothingness they had sprung from. Except they, and the sword they came from, hadn't sprung from nothingness, had they? No. What they'd sprung from had been the essence of the Abyss, itself, coaxed into their present, visible form by nothing more than Aylander's own will. There was nothing magical about what he'd done – he'd simply thought about what he had wanted, and it had appeared in his hand. A part of Aylander was disturbed by this – especially by about how easy it had been to do – but the rest of him found it exhilarating. He wondered what other powers the Abyss had bestowed on him, and also wondered if they would fade once he and Zoe had found their way out. My magic would never compare to this. Never!

“Where'd that sword come from?”

Startled, Aylander's concentration slipped and the sword vanished. He turned his head to look across the fire – conjured, just like the sword, from the essence of the Abyss by nothing but his will – at Zoe, whom Aylander hadn't expected to be awake for hours, yet. “What sword, my lady?” he asked.

Zoe frowned at him. “I swore I saw you holding a black sword in your hand, just now,” she said. “It had tendrils, like ink, coming off of it, and it felt wrong, somehow.”

Aylander smiled. “Doesn't everything in this place feel wrong, somehow? Isn't that why we're trying to find a way out?”

“It does,” Zoe said, “and it is. But that sword . . . I don't know, Aylander. It seemed worse than everything else, here. Couldn't you feel that? What would make you conjure something like that?”

Aylander didn't answer right away. What had made him conjure the sword? While it was true that he had been without a weapon since having his body restored to him, was that enough to make him conjure something that had felt so twisted, so evil? Only it hadn't felt twisted and evil to him while it had been in his hand, had it? In fact, hadn't it made him feel powerful? Powerful enough, even, to maybe take on Thaddeus? What am I thinking?

“Aylander?” Zoe said. “Are you all right?”

Aylander looked at her. “I'm not sure,” he said. “This place is seeming to have an effect on me. A terrifying, yet intoxicating effect.”

“You were a Twisted Sword Priest once, right? Like Novar?”

“I was.”

“And you saw what this place did to him?”

“Yes.”

“It's probably starting to have the same effect on you.”

Aylander looked away from her and into the fire. “You're probably right,” he said, dismayed that the cleansing – the scourging – Thaddeus's sword had given to his soul hadn't been able to entirely erase Atraxos's touch. Maybe it did erase it, though, he thought. Maybe my Eltaran heritage is enough for this place to have an effect on me. Maybe.

“Can you fight it, Aylander?” Zoe asked.

He looked back up at her. “All I can do is try, my lady.”

“Promise me you won't conjure the sword, again.”

I can't promise that, my lady. “I won't conjure it, again. You have my word.”

Zoe smiled. “Good. And enough with that bloody 'my lady' stuff, all right? I'm Zoe. Your sister-in-law.”

Aylander chuckled. “My sister-in-law, who also just happens to be a Sorceress, as well. But, very well. Zoe it is.”

“Don't you forget it, either.”

Aylander raised an eyebrow. “Now, that's highly unlikely, don't you think? If there's one thing in this life I'm liable to never forget, it's what your name is.” He grinned. “My lady.”

The flat look Zoe gave him lasted only for a moment before she was laughing. Aylander laughed with her and – for right then, at least – everything was all right. Aylander knew it wouldn't last, though. As long as they were here, in the Abyss, nothing could ever be all right for very long.

Some time later – trying to say exactly when was a meaningless exercise in this place – Aylander extinguished the fire and they set off, again, through the flat, gray nothingness that was the Abyss. Silence surrounded them on all sides – not even their footsteps made any sound as they touched the ground – and there was no breeze on which any smells could be carried. Because of the unvarying terrain over which Aylander and Zoe traveled, there was no way to tell how far they went, nor any sense of which direction it was they moved in. Neither of them spoke, which, Aylander found, soon began to add to the oppressiveness of the silence. That was what this place was supposed to be, though – oppressive in both its emptiness and in its silence – and so he did nothing to break the tension.

A glance at Zoe showed that she was feeling much the same way, though the strain and weariness showing on her face seemed greater than that which Aylander felt. In some distant, abstract way, Aylander knew he should have been feeling similar strain and weariness, but he didn't. In fact, it seemed, as more time passed for him in this place, he was growing more and more used to it. No longer did the wrongness of this place make Aylander feel physically ill, like it had when he'd first arrived. No longer did Aylander feel like he had to keep himself separate from this place, and he knew that, in time, this place would become as much a part of him as any other place ever had been. Would that be a bad thing when it finally happened? Though he wanted to say yes, he wasn't so certain, any longer.

There was no need for Aylander or Zoe to eat or drink while they were in the Abyss, and they stopped only for brief moments to rest. It was during one of these brief rests that Aylander first caught Zoe looking at him suspiciously. The look only lasted for a moment, but Aylander was certain he'd seen it. He said nothing about it, however – neither of them said anything about anything, continuing to hold their silence despite the fact that they were resting – and, after a while, they continued on, traversing the endless, flat, silent plane that was the Abyss.

Aylander's thoughts turned suddenly to Thaddeus. What would happen once he and Zoe were reunited with him? Certainly, it would be a happy reunion for Zoe, but what would it be for Aylander? Aylander wasn't the same as he had been before being pulled into the Abyss – the Abyss had made him powerful, and he sensed that that power was continuing to grow – and he was no longer certain he wanted to go back to the way he had been. Somehow, Aylander understood that, even if he left the Abyss, he wouldn't necessarily have to give up the power the Abyss had granted, but, if he didn't, what would that mean for him? Would he go back to being something Twisted, like he had been before being ensnared by Thaddeus's sword? And, even if he did, would that be such a bad thing? Twisted doesn't have to mean evil. And evil is such an abstract concept, anyway.

“All right, Aylander,” Zoe said, finally breaking the silence between them. “What's on your mind?”

Aylander looked at her. “Nothing of consequence,” he said.

“If the look on your face is any indication, I find that hard to believe.”

Aylander stopped and turned to face her. “What look would that be?”

Zoe hesitated before answering, and Aylander thought he saw a brief flash of fear in her eyes. For some reason, he found that brief flash pleasing. “You look like you're thinking about killing someone.”

Only my own, dear brother. “Not at all.” Aylander forced a smile. “It must be the oppressiveness of this place. Perhaps we should keep talking in order to keep ourselves distracted from it.”

“Maybe . . . maybe so.” Zoe looked around. “Gods Above, we need to get out of this place.”

A thunderous roar suddenly split the sky. It had come from a distance, but was still incredibly loud.

“Was that what I think it was?” Zoe asked, looking off into the distance ahead of them.

“A dragon?” Aylander said. “Yes, my lady, I'm afraid it was.”

A dark speck had appeared on the far horizon. As they watched, it grew closer, ceasing to be a speck as more and more of its features came into view. Winds, pushed ahead of it by the flapping its great, leathery wings, began to buffet them, and it roared, again, deafening them and nearly forcing them to the ground. Getting back to their feet, Aylander and Zoe started to run. Aylander knew it would do them no good, however. No one could outrun a dragon.