Chapter 2

Timothy finally regained his legs, a little shakily. He'd wasted half an hour staring at the thing, and he still had work to do. He needed to find out where it had come from, mostly. He had a suspicion, and he needed to do something anyway. Looking back into the mouth, he gingerly reached in and touched the white blood splatter on the roof of its mouth, then scratched at it.

While normally blood would have been just sticky, the drops in the moist roof of a mouth were completely dry, and extremely powdery. Wiping the dust on the scales on top of the thing's head, Timothy took out a knife again. Carving a circle into the scalp of the creature, wiping away the already dusting blood, he carefully inlaid the runes for fire.

Pouring in the mana, he quickly walked away as the fire quickly spread over the skin of the beast. Looking back only when he reached the doorway he'd entered through, he watched the red flame and black smoke leave their mark on the floor and ceiling. Socia sniffed at the air, growling lightly. Turning his back, he hoped he hadn't poisoned the air. Then he hoped that the fire he set wouldn't consume stone.

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Timothy crawled over the pile of rubble that had been impassible the day before, blue fire once again his light. The walls on either side seemed to have been pushed over, and the remaining rubble had a trench in the middle. Looking at the scales and white splotches he found, Timothy figured that the thing had literally shoved its mouth into the pile and opened its jaws, pushing stone and dirt into the holes in the walls.

The air was wetter, danker on the other side, and Timothy wiped what appeared to be moss from the walls when he touched them. The ceiling here was covered in scrapings, both old and new, seeming to spiral and spin around themselves. The walls here were beat down, and small plants grew on either side, in the rubble and dirt.

In the left room was something Timothy had expected, but hoped not to find.

A nest of large, leathery brown eggs.

Looking away, the marshal pulled a knife and did what he needed to, making sure none of the eggs ever hatched.

Pulling a clump of moss away from the wall, he cleaned his blade and sheathed it, refusing to look at his handiwork until a happy chirruping forced him to look at his shoulder. Socia was tensing her legs, but when she tried to jump into the nest Timothy caught her gently.

"No no, Socia. If you're hungry I'll feed you, but please don't eat... that."

Socia snarled angrily, but she didn't bite or claw at him, just crawled back up his sleeve. Timothy reached into a pocket and pulled out a large chunk of dried meat, putting it directly into the awaiting maw. He had to snatch his fingers away as angry teeth mashed the food quickly, and with a swallow, Socia was feigning sleep on his shoulder.

Sighing aloud, Timothy stepped out of the room and checked the other side, mercifully empty but for flora. Walking down the hall, Timothy dodging puddles and scat, looking into rooms and peeking around doors. At one point he came across a carcass that looked like a slightly larger version of his kill, and assumed it to be the father of the eggs.

After finding nothing out of order, he came across a set of large doors, an enchantment shining across the wood. Touching it lightly after tossing pebbles and small concentrations of mana at it, he laid his hand gently on the wood. It felt warm, as though it had been sitting in direct sunlight for the last four hours. The surface hummed slightly as he pressed on it, not audibly but physically. Leaning against it produced a larger vibration, and a soft smack nearly numbed his arm.

Leaving it for now, Timothy continued down the hall, coming quickly to a dead end, of sorts. It lead down a steep set of stairs, and all he could smell from the top was water and decay. Muttering a spell, he condensed the fire he was using as a torch into a glowing ball, and then tossed it down the stairs.

Leaving small splotches of flickering fire wherever it touched, the blue ball was out of sight quickly, and Timothy had plenty of time to summon another torch before he heard the hissing as the fire met water. Clapping a hand over his eyes, he shook his head and wondered what he was thinking before taking the first steps downstairs.

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He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, gazing at a copy of the same door that had stopped him earlier. He was two steps up from where the water started, gazing at the slightly darkened wood near the middle of the door, perfectly marking the shape of his hand. Looking into the water, Timothy stepped in and laid his hand on the door, covering the other print.

Once again the door burned, but Timothy pressed harder, gripping his other hand into a fist. Dipping it into the water, he cocked it back and concentrated on the wetness of his hand.

"Glacia," he muttered, then rocketed his fist forward and moved his palm. The water on his fist crystallized, and shattered when it met with the wood of the door. The wood seemed to groan, then opened, forcing the water onto a wave the crested on Timothy's knees before it was stopped by the wall. He massaged his chest for a second, before moving through the door.

The other side of the door was remarkably clean, but for the water covering the floor. Even it seemed clean, the clear liquid only marred when Timothy walked slowly into the hallway. Looking around, he noticed and walked over to a crease running along the wall. Peeking inside, he spied a row made of crystal, dotted every few meters with runes. Looking over the letters, he grinned and touched the fiery hand he was using for light to the nearest grouping.

Letting his mana course into the crystal, Timothy was delighted to see it seem to catch fire, mirrors reflecting the blue light into the hallway. He watched the line turn a corner and go up a specialized pillar, swirling around and flowing across several arches as Timothy slowly lit up the entire hallway.

Cutting off the mana when he felt that he'd put enough into it to have light for an hour or so at least, Timothy gazed around at his mostly plain surroundings, bathed in blue firelight. There also seemed to be a stabilizing element to the runes, as the light didn't flicker like flames normally would have. Striding slowly through the water, Timothy admired what appeared to be marble walls as he walked down the new path he'd been presented, not noticing when his old one was cut off.

Walking to the intersection the pillars stood at, he looked down the three ways he was presented, as well as up the walls. It really wasn't much of a choice, as two ways were completely identical to the one he had just walked down, closed door and all. Up was mostly a smooth marble, mostly the same as the walls, except for the slow leaking of water from a drain. The third seemed to be pulling the water towards it, and Timothy cautiously followed it.

Near another turn he came to two steps up, out of the water. There was a steel grate in the bottom step, and the water cascaded into some unknown depth. Stepping up, Timothy half expected something to reach out and grab him. The only thing that happened is that he was now a foot higher than before, and out of the water.

Walking slowly around the corner, he came to the first unsettling piece of this hallway, a pillar lying across the hallway. The light on the other side was noticeably dimmer, with an incorporeal line connecting the broken segments. Pausing to kindle the lights on the other side of the break, Timothy stopped to chew on some of his jerky and to pull out one of the cords that connected to the inside of his coat.

Sticking the tip of his index finger into the opening and connecting to the silver filaments inside of it, he ate the food and drew on the reserve of mana inside of himself, pouring it slowly into the tube. He stopped when he was done with the dried meat, tucking the cord back into his coat.

Climbing over the pillar, he continued down an increasingly dusty hallway until he reached what seemed to be a door, another of the set he'd walked through and seen at the ends of the other hallways. Slowly laying his hand against it, he found this one lukewarm at best, and it easily opened as he pushed on it.

Instead of the stairs he expected, the door opened on a black room, dark as a night without stars or moon. Looking over the walls, Timothy noticed a square of crystal, same as the trenches behind him. Pressing his palm to it, he slowly fed a little mana into it, lighting what seemed to be a dungeon. Instead of multiple cells, there was only one room, directly in front of him, covered by what seemed to be steel bars. While caked in dust, they were remarkably rust and gap free.

Timothy was walking into the room when something inside the cell moved. Freezing, he stopped breathing and slammed his eyes closed, reopening them into slits. The thing inside the cell shifted, then rasped rhythmically.

"I see you, hunter. You may as well open your eyes, to see me in what stands of my glory."

Timothy closed his eyes the rest of the way, turning and rummaging in his pockets. Opening his eyes fully, he pulled out a large mirror and held it up, looking into it at the cell. A slender figure looked back at him, most of it wrapped in rags, face slender and muzzled with black, startlingly expressive eyes. It’s hair was long and braided, a deep brown with red tint. It made the same rasping sound, and Timothy decided that it was laughing at him.

"Do you think I'm a gorgon? I would not be here if that were that true. Turn and face me, please, it has been five hundred and many-odd years since I saw another, and spoke tête-à-tête."

Tucking away the mirror, Timothy turned to the cage and walked slowly to it, stopping well away from it and keeping both hands on the ends of his knives.

"No worries for you, hunter. This cage of mine is mythril, and saps what powers I may have. Besides my life, I am nothing." Slowly, it reached forward, palm up and open. Its nails were long and jagged, but relatively clean. Tentatively, Timothy reached forward and touched his fingertips to theirs, feeling leather instead of skin. It shivered slightly and slowly reached forward, stroking the marshal's fingers. Slowly pulling away, Timothy let his hand fall once again to his knife.

"Who are you, and why are you in here?" he asked, noting the shiver that accompanied his voice.

"My name is Iso, a shortening of something I cannot remember. Isobel, maybe? I am two as one, a chimera, an abomination made by the dark one before her banishment. I think I was once spawn of a Dragon and a Human, but after this long? Only she knows."

Dark one, and she. Timothy could only imagine Nightmare moon, but he'd never heard of any... biological experiments.

"You said it had been five hundred years since your last visitor?" A nod, maybe what passed as a smile.
"Though there are some creatures, such as the one on your shoulder, who would visit me."

He looked over at Socia, whose eyes were open and staring at Iso. He patted her head gently, and Socia went back to feigning sleep. "Do you remember who it was, your last human visitor?"

"The same lady who had talked with me before, the Banisher." She tugged on the blanket currently draped over her. "She brought me blankets, and a spell for a hole that gives me food." She pointed to a wall, where a metal plate sat beneath a hole in a wall. "She used to bring it herself, lots at a time, but she told me she was busier and would send it like this from now on."

"Is there a reason she wouldn't let you out of this cage?" Timothy said, looking over the cage. Iso's arm had scraped some of the dust away from the bars, and the glittering silver beneath told him that she wasn't lying about the materials of the cage. Mythril was extremely rare in the best of circumstances, and the bars of the cage were thick enough to raise his eyebrows. Taking a knee, he started moving the dirt and dust away from the base of the bars.

"The runes are on my side. I think they're why no one's opened the door yet." She scraped some dirt away from the door, and he saw a line of runes linked in a line. Reading over them, he realized they had made the bars as well as immovable, and also had it so the bars soaked up magic. Scratching his head, he looked over the runes once more, and then looked over to the wall.

"Are there runes all over the room? Next to the walls, for instance?"

"Uhm, just here, I think? Let me check..." She scuffled over to a wall and scratched at the floor, then looked back at me and shook her head.

Unsheathing Terrus, he looked over to Iso. "Swear to me you mean no harm, to me or any other thing on this earth?"

Looking somberly up at Timothy, Iso seemed to think it over and nodded. He looked hard into her eyes, and shrugged to himself.

"Mollis," he said, pushing his blade deep into the stone and cutting through it, a small hole at first. Seeing and hearing nothing, he cut a hole large enough to wriggle through, moving into the separate room on the other side. It was completely empty except for a metal desk and a few ferns, and the only exit was through a steel door. Moving over, he tapped on the wall.

"Anything in the way here?" he called through to the other room.

"No," was her reply, and Timothy went back to cutting through the stone. Soon enough there was a large hole in the wall, and Iso standing on the opposite side. Reaching his hand forward, he beckoned her forward. Slowly, she reached forward and grasped his hand, feeling like a large butterfly had landed on his palm.

"I cannot remember... I cannot remember the last time I left here." She moved closer to the hole, tightly gripping his hand. "If I leave... there has been a thing around my cage, large and loud... I do not think I can leave..."

Timothy shivered at the recent memory. "Tons of eyes, six legs, too many teeth the wrong way?"

"Yes, another of the dark one's musings. A mixture of some poor creature and darkness."

"Well, you don't need to worry about it any longer. Unless there are more?"

"Only the one on your shoulder," Iso said, pointing at Socia.

Shivering, Timothy looked over to Socia, who opened her mouth and hissed lightly, licking the side of his head. "Socia is the same as that... That thing I killed?"

"Oh, no... Well, yes... It is the same in that it is a construct, albeit many generations along. There shouldn't be any more of those big ones around. That... sideways one, it was the last of the biggest ones." Taking a deep breath, she picked up a leg and moved it over the hole, baring what appeared to be dark brown scales along a slender calf and most of a thigh, a large clawed foot at the end. Sighing, she bowed her head and ducked the rest of the way through the opening to her cage, standing tall on the other side of her wall.

Timothy saw her knees buckle, and he pulled her to him as she fell, letting her lean on him. She would have leaned heavily on him, were she not so light. She was hyperventilating, and he helped her slowly sit on the floor, her back to the wall. Sitting across from her, he slung his backpack around to his lap and started pulling items from it.

"Here," he said, holding out an open canteen. "I assume you can drink water?"

Nodding, Iso took it and drank, sipping lightly before handing it back. "Sorry, I guess this is bigger than I thought... First time out of the room and all..." She took the food he offered, one of his last four pieces, and chewed on it slowly, seeming to savor the salty beef. A few chews and swallows later, she lifted herself slowly and walked over to the door, peering out of the grate on the top.

"There's a lot of green out there." Peeking out, Timothy saw part the castle he was familiar with. It was one of the more dilapidated parts, with a diagonal pillar the only way in and out of the hole they were in. Timothy hadn't wanted to break the iron door before, with only a bare room and desk on the other side, but he remembered wondering what the room was for.

Kicking it solidly, he nodded when the stones around the hinges gave a bit. "We're leaving that way, it's much nearer to the room I'm staying in," he said, giving the door another kick. This one had the top hinges off, and he was able to push the door the rest of the way open.

Walking over the rugged floor, Iso looked up the pillar, gripping it experimentally. "I don't know, hunter. I don't think my arms..."

She stopped when Timothy walked over, and stared at the back of his head when he crouched next to her. "What are you doing?" she asked nervously. He had kept his pack around his front, and she made a quiet "eep" noise when he backed into her and picked her up, her arms coming around to lock around his chest automatically.

"Hold tight," was the only warning she received, before Timothy jumped up the pillar, running up the slope for a second before hopping up the floor. She "eep"ed again when the floor started to crumble, but Timothy had already jumped closer to the doorway, and he sped out of the room before the hole around the pillar could open any wider.

Coming to a stop, he looked around the vaguely familiar hallway, turning to the right and walking towards his room. He started to stop, wanting to let Iso down, but he smiled and continued when she tightened her grip a little, resting her head on the shoulder opposite Socia.

Well, who knows who the last person to touch her was, before me. Let it be innocent, he thought, cupping her legs a little firmer as she started to slip down.

…Is that a tail on my knuckles?