8 THE BIG NOWHERE
Greg was dreaming.
In his dream he wore robes of a deep, deep purple. At his side was a ceremonial bronze sword sheathed in a black jewelled scabbard. On his forehead was a circlet of dark iron. His hair was light and ragged, and his eyes were the colour of jade.
He really did not resemble himself at all.
He was wandering through the halls of an airy golden palace, past balconies with views of mountain ranges and hills heavy with purple flowers. Guards in polished armour stood in the doorways and nodded respectfully to him as he passed. Noblemen and women in brightly-coloured garments passed by him, smiling in his direction.
"Sir Alharazed," they said. "So good to see you well."
Greg smiled at them. "I have no idea who you are," he said. Except the words that came out (in a strangely familiar voice) said "And I am glad to see you, Lord Astren."
Odd.
He kept moving through the silent hallways, through drifts of rose petals and past sconces that burned with ethereal light, until he reached a silent chamber in which sat a woman of extraordinary beauty, clad in a gown of sky-blue and wearing a light circlet in her dark hair.
"Alharazed," she said. "Thank God, you've come at last!"
Unconsciously Greg moved to the woman's side and knelt.
"Princess Kitra," he whispered.
He woke up.
"Sir?" came Throth's voice. "The men are waiting for you."
"I'm coming," Greg sighed.
*
For a while Sofia and Ragak wandered in the Labyrinth, while Natalia slept on Ragak's shoulder. Ragak was staring at the ring on his hand. The gem on its back was covered in miniscule cracks, which glowed and shifted over time.
A portal materialized in front of them.
"Phew," said Ragak. "It worked."
He passed through. Sofia hesitated, then followed.
"Ucck," she gasped. "What is this place?"
Ragak frowned.
"It was once called the Enchanted Forest of the Grey Spirit," he said, "but that was before an evil god took dominion over it, and it became the Blighted Forest."
"Uck." Sofia stared at the rotten trees that surrounded them. "I don't suppose I'll find any clothes here."
Ragak eyed her naked body with interest. "In my homeland," he said, "the most beautiful of women wear no clothes, for it is said that their nakedness is a gift that should not be concealed from the world's eyes."
"We don't have that tradition in my homeland," said Sofia. "In my homeland I prefer to be dressed."
Ragak shrugged. "You'll have to learn differently, for a while," he said. "Follow me."
They trudged through the dark forest for a while. Sofia managed to stumble into several thorn bushes, and her bare feet were soon encrusted with mud, but she grit her teeth and pushed on nonetheless.
Eventually they reached a path, the dirt ground to mud by the passage of countless feet.
"Hm," said Ragak.
"Hm?" said Sofia anxiously.
"Garant is usually the reclusive type," he said. "Whatever made these footprints... it gives me a bad feeling."
They went further and came to a cluster of trees scorched by fire.
"I also don't like the look of this," said Ragak.
They went a little further and came to an enormous crater in the earth, with a faint wisp of smoke rising from its centre.
"Oh dear," said Ragak.
They crested a hill and Ragak took Sofia's hand, drawing her aside into the trees.
"Garant's house is just ahead," he whispered. "We'd better have a look first."
He laid Natalia down on the ground and crouched at the apex of the hill, peering down into the clearing below. Sofia lay beside him.
"Hm," she said.
"I don't like the look of this at all," Ragak grumbled.
In the clearing stood a small stone cottage, oozing rusticness. Thronged around it were knights in shining silver armour, wearing blue flags on their arms and carrying long spears. A white-haired man in silver robes wandered through their must, waving his arms expressively.
"Who are they?" Sofia whispered.
"I don't know," said Ragak. A moment later he was impaled on a spear.
Sofia shrieked. Someone grabbed her and dragged her to her feet.
"Aaargh," grunted Ragak.
A silver-clad knight pulled the spear out of the man's torso. "Hold her, Brenton," he said. "These savages must serve the Blighted God. We will soon tear their secrets from them."
Ragak, bleeding from the hole in his torso, stood up. "RAAAAAARGGGH," he said, and swung his axe in a majestic arc, cleaving the silver knight in half. The knight holding Sofia threw her to the ground and thrust wildly with his spear, perforating the barbarian's chest; it didn't appear to trouble him at all. "AAAAAARGGH," Ragak yelled, waving his axe wildly and missing. Another knight swept up from behind and cut Ragak's axe-arm off with a sword. "Die, scum!" the swordsman yelled. Ragak fell to the ground, rolled, and picked up his axe with the other arm. "AAAAARGGH!" he yelled again, swung once, and then fell down dead.
"By the God of Thunder," mumbled one of the knights. "What a fighter."
*
The knights dragged them down to the clearing. Natalia was bound by the wrists and hung from a post in the yard; Ragak's corpse was dumped unceremoniously on the ground.
Sofia they dragged to a strange contraption on the ground - a wooden plank of some kind, with apertures into which they locked her wrists and ankles, leaving her bent over, feeling horribly naked and exposed. Probably because she -was- horribly naked and exposed.
The man in the silver robes shuffled over and stood in front of her. His face looked like a craggy mountaintop.
"I am Castopher, Priest of the Light," he mumbled. "We have already found your compatriot, Garant, sorcerer of the darkness and enemy of light. Now reveal to us the secret of your Blighted God's dark power."
"Ummmm," said Sofia. "Hello, Mr Castopher, sir. I'm afraid I don't know of any Blighted God or anything. I was a prisoner, and that man helped me escape. Um, I really wish you hadn't killed him. He seemed quite nice."
Castopher listened to her speech in silence. Then he nodded to one of the knights.
"Correct this vile creature of the dark," he said.
