Before Night Falls

Leyade froze for a moment. What was she going to do? If she did not stop the trees, they would trap them beside the caiman and whatever had seized Silas—probably another one. But if she attacked the trees, Silas would drown.

She was not strong enough to pull him free. She knew that. If whatever was dragging him under caught her too, it would be over. They would both end up at the bottom of the stream.

She wanted to save him. With all her heart, she wanted to throw herself into the water and take his hand.

But she swallowed hard and turned towards her bow, her heart aching. She would cover him.

“ELINDRA! TRY TO GET SILAS OUT! I’LL DEAL WITH THE TREES!” Leyade drew breath and ran for her bow. If she went into the water too, they would both die. She knew she could do more from a distance. If she kept the trees occupied, at least Elindra could help him.

The dragon nodded and vanished from sight before whatever held Silas could spot her.

Leyade snatched up her bow and drew an arrow from her quiver. One of the tree creatures lunged at her, swiping with a claw-like branch. She rolled aside. Now that she could see them properly, she could have sworn their shapes were almost humanoid.

Silas struggled to stay afloat, but the creature holding him was stronger. He looked down. The teeth of a caiman even larger than the first were buried in his shin. He kicked hard, trying to strike its face, but the force dragging him towards the deeper water left him little room to move. Waves slapped his face, forcing water into his mouth and nose and making it difficult to breathe. He reached for nearby logs, but the caiman thrashed so violently that they struck his sides as they swept past. Beneath the surface, the animal drove itself onwards with its legs and tail. As far as it was concerned, dinner was served.

Silas held his breath as best he could and kept struggling. When the caiman stopped descending to tighten its grip, he pushed himself towards it. He reached out and drew on his own magical energy, forming the spell in his mind. No words. No gestures.

His hands began to heat against the caiman’s snout. Feeling the burn, the animal thrashed furiously, but Silas would not let go. He dug the nails of one hand into its gum to strengthen his grip and wrapped his other arm around its neck, holding on with both palms burning against its skin.

His hands grew so hot that they glowed red. The water around them began to boil, erupting into a cloud of bubbles. The caiman’s snout reddened, its scales slowly breaking down beneath his palms. Heat spread through its body until its bite weakened and its jaws opened.

Silas seized the chance to pull free and let himself float upwards.

Then a translucent, spectral hand glowing purple caught him by the collar of his tunic and hauled him towards the surface.

On the bank, several of the trees had surrounded the ruined house Leyade had climbed into. She fired down at them, her arrows raining onto their bodies and setting them alight. The creatures burned, crumbling into ash, but it was not enough. Even wreathed in flames, they kept advancing and surrounding the house.

Leyade bit her lip and glanced at her quiver. At this rate, she would have no arrows left for later. What if worse dangers awaited them inside?

She set her bow beside her, ducked behind the wall beneath the window and rummaged through her backpack.

“That’s it,” she whispered.

She took out a small pouch filled with elm down she had gathered near the bark dwelling to use as tinder. Rising again, she leaned out of the window and threw it. The pouch opened in mid-air, scattering its contents in a suspended white cloud.

Then she fired.

The arrow ignited as it flew. When it passed through the cloud, a burst of flame swept across the area. Leyade ducked behind the wall at the last moment.

The blast lasted only seconds, but it was devastating. She peered out and saw that the battlefield was covered in ash. The few trees still standing were cracking and falling apart.

With a sigh of relief, Leyade hurried down from the house and ran towards the stream.

Silas sat on the bank, catching his breath. He was soaked through, with an enormous bite wound in his leg. Beside him, Elindra watched anxiously, offering a potion she must have taken from his satchel.

“Silas!” Leyade rushed over. “Are you all right?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say all right. But alive, yes.”

He chuckled, still struggling to catch his breath. Uncorking the potion, he drank it in one gulp. The deep wound in his leg slowly began to close. He grimaced as flesh and bone knitted back together, leaving only a red mark, as though something had scratched him. The damage had been so severe that the potion could not heal it completely.

“I’m so glad you’re alive…” Leyade let out a long breath of relief, then thumped his chest. “Don’t ever frighten us like that again!” she scolded, frowning sternly.

“Don’t worry. Next time, I won’t bathe in gravy,” Silas replied sarcastically, though even he seemed a little shaken.

“Don’t be an idiot. I mean it!” Leyade folded her arms. Elindra copied her, fixing Silas with an equally serious stare.

He looked from one to the other, sighed and nodded.

“All right, all right. I’ll be careful.” Still aching, he cast a spell. A gust of wind sprang from nowhere and swept around him, drying him instantly. “Come on. Let’s leave before that caiman gets out.” He pointed towards the one that had been laughing, which was still struggling to right itself. “The grease spell won’t last much longer.”

Leyade bent to help him up. The half-elf looked at her, sighed and accepted her support, slipping an arm around her shoulders. She put an arm around his waist and helped him to his feet.

The three of them hurried away, deeper into the ruined city. The feeling Leyade had noticed earlier grew stronger: an oppressive weight pressing against her chest. Everything around them seemed dull, as though the city lay beneath a permanently overcast sky. A deathly silence hung over the ruins, and their footsteps echoed with every step.

“This feels horrible…” Leyade hunched her shoulders slightly and looked around in distress.

Silas and Elindra exchanged a knowing glance.

“That’s what happens when you enter a corrupted place,” Silas explained.

“They say corruption makes you feel uneasy. Your body senses that something doesn’t belong, that something is wrong,” Elindra added, settling on Leyade’s shoulder.

The elf nodded uneasily. She looked at the collapsed buildings, the houses, the broken furniture and the ruined belongings scattered everywhere. All of it had belonged to someone. People had lived here and made these houses their homes. Sadness and fear filled her heart. Could the same thing happen to her village?

She kept walking until she felt something beneath her foot. Looking down, she saw what she had stepped on.

“A doll?” Elindra asked curiously.

A rag doll lay on the ground. Leyade carefully picked it up and studied it.

“What is it?” Silas, who had moved a little way off to look around, came back, puzzled by her expression.

She turned to show him. Her face was desolate, and her hand trembled slightly.

“How could it all end like this, Silas?” She gently stroked Elindra as she searched his face for answers.

He examined the doll, looked at the ruins and finally replied.

“I don’t know.” He let out a long breath. “No one ever found out what happened here. It was so long ago that all we have is speculation.”

Her eyes shining with tears, Leyade pressed the doll to her chest.

“How can a place be full of laughter, voices, life… and end up so desolate?” she asked, anger and sorrow mingling in her voice as she stroked Elindra beneath the chin.

Silas placed a hand on her shoulder. He looked at her gently, but his voice was firm.

“There are many reasons a place might end up like this. Bad decisions, bad luck, fate… But there’s one thing I’m certain of: it won’t happen to your village.”

He squeezed her shoulder gently.

“How do you know?” Leyade asked, meeting his eyes.

“Because they have you,” Silas replied with a warm smile.

She stared at him, wide-eyed, then broke into a broad smile.

“Thank you, Silas. That’s very kind of you.”

Silas shook his head and gestured for her to follow. She watched him walk away, still smiling, then looked down at the little doll in her hands.

She placed it carefully in her backpack, promising herself that she would never let this happen to her village.

Rubble increasingly covered the ground, slowing their progress. Elindra had to search from the air for routes they could follow. Dust filled the air. The pressure in their chests and the difficulty breathing grew worse, as though a great stone slab were slowly descending onto them. The collapsed buildings seemed to crowd closer, narrowing the way through the wreckage. The oppressive atmosphere left Leyade feeling watched, and she kept glancing in every direction.

Here and there stood enormous black obelisks that even Silas knew nothing about, each like a solitary rock amid a storm.

In the distance, they could see the vast temple they hoped to enter. It consisted of four buildings, each more than six storeys high and crowned with a tower. It seemed to have been built from white stone, embellished with gold and designs drawn from nature. Now ash stained its surfaces, and enormous black roots pierced the stone, cracking it, punching holes through it and bringing down walls, leaving whole sections inaccessible.

Leyade narrowed her eyes to study it.

She shook her head at the thought of how beautiful it must once have been, then turned towards Elindra, who had just descended between her and Silas.

“Where do we go in, Elindra?” Silas asked as he approached Leyade, who stood on a fragment of wall surveying the area.

“Through the middle. There seems to be a gap we can get through. Part of the way is surprisingly clear,” Elindra replied.

The dragon flew closer and pointed it out with a little forepaw. Leyade nodded and turned to Silas.

“When we get there, could you check for magic? To avoid any surprises,” she asked, hopping lightly down from the wall.

Silas looked at her, then around them.

“There’s probably magic in everything here, but I’ll check if you like.” He shrugged and continued beside her.

As Elindra had said, they eventually found a clearer route. Some of the obelisks appeared to have caught sections of the temple’s falling outer wall. The wall seemed once to have enclosed the entire complex, with a main gate opening onto a beautiful garden. Now the garden was dead. What looked like a fountain stood among its remains, crowned by two humanoid statues that reminded Leyade of the creatures she had fought earlier.

As she studied the old fountain, she pressed a hand to her head and groaned.

“Are you all right?” Silas asked.

“Yes, don’t worry. My head just feels… clouded. It must be the corruption.” She drew several slow breaths to ease the discomfort, then turned towards him.

“Elindra isn’t feeling very well either,” he replied, pointing towards the dragon, who had landed on a nearby stone. “I can feel it too. It’s quite strong here.”

Silas rubbed his temples, looking uncomfortable.

They continued towards the entrance. He stopped to check for magic as Leyade had requested, but just as he was about to cast the spell, he looked up and caught sight of the sky.

“Shit,” he murmured.

Leyade turned.

“What is it?” she asked, hurrying towards him.

“It’s getting dark.” Silas clicked his tongue and looked around.

Leyade glanced at the sky. She had been so absorbed in their surroundings that she had not noticed. He was right. They had no more than fifteen minutes of daylight left, and the entrance was still a good twenty or twenty-five minutes away.

“Damn it! We need to hurry! Come on, Elindra! Silas! We’ll have to run!” she cried, pointing ahead. “Lead the way, Elindra!”

They raced against the setting sun. They leapt over broken steps, dodged rubble and ducked beneath fallen columns, but night was still gaining on them.

“There it is!” Elindra called from above, pointing towards the entrance some twenty metres ahead. “We’re almost there!”

Gasping for breath, Leyade and Silas reached the approach to the temple’s central entrance. Its silhouette stood against the last rays of sunlight. They pushed themselves harder, raced up the broad front steps and emerged onto the cracked forecourt.

“Come on! Come on! You’re nearly there!” Elindra urged from the air.

The entrance drew closer with every stride.

“We’ve made it, Silas!” Leyade gasped, turning towards him and waving excitedly.

“Leyade, look ahead!” Silas pointed past her in horror.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of tree creatures like those she had fought were emerging from either side of the temple. They surged towards them, closing in on the entrance. The ground began to shake beneath their feet.

“No, no! Damn it!” Leyade cried.

“There are too many!” Silas shouted. “I don’t know if we can get past them!”

He scanned the forecourt as more and more creatures poured into it.

“No, Silas! We have to keep going! We’re so close! We can make it!” Breathless, Leyade pushed towards the door.

“Turn back, Leyade! We’ll come again tomorrow!” Silas drew alongside her, trying to persuade her.

“Oh, no! Silas! Leyade! They’re coming from behind too!” Elindra cried, pointing back the way they had come. “We can only go forwards!”

The tremors grew stronger as more creatures emerged around the temple.

“Shit! Shit!” Silas stopped. “Cover me! I’ll try to buy us some time!”

He flung out his arms, gesturing rapidly and shouting the spell at the top of his lungs. As he spread his arms wide, a sea of flames rose from the ground and swept outwards, forming a wall of fire across the path of some of the creatures behind them. They collided with it, parts of their bodies catching alight.

Faced with the advancing mass, Leyade swiftly drew her bow, nocked an arrow and pulled back the string. She aimed into the crowd and released.

The arrow struck with a burst of light, blinding the creatures around it.

“It worked!” Leyade cried, breaking into a run.

From the top of a column beside the doorway, Elindra called out warnings as the creatures closed in. Silas and Leyade ran through a forest of sharpened branches and claws. The creatures thrust at them, tearing and scratching them as they struggled past. The ground shook so violently that they could barely keep their footing. They could no longer even see the door.

“We can’t get through!” Leyade shouted. “What do we do?”

She still held her bow, but the creatures were so close that she had no room to draw it.

Silas looked around. He needed space to cast a spell. If he stopped, a branch could slash or impale him.

“I can’t cast anything! We need another idea, and quickly!” he cried, ducking a pointed branch aimed at his face.

“No, no, no! WE CAN’T LET THE DARKNESS SWALLOW US!” Elindra screamed, trying to distract the creatures and draw them away.

Darkness?

Leyade’s eyes widened, and her hand went to her belt.

“I know what to do! Don’t look at the light!” she warned.

She seized Kalindra’s hilt, drew it in one swift movement and raised it above her head, shouting with all her strength:

“HELP ME, KALINDRA!”