Page 11 of Monster Lover

Daemona was unsure but grabbed Harlin and Ghul Lykos and led them into the portals gaping entrance. Tish stood between them and the dark forces. She had magic of her own and shot a bolt of lightning back at the witches, but she was hit by another pair of arrows and a purple blast of energy. She screamed in pain and fell into the portal.

Daemona watched the incoming rain of arrows and magic bolts move towards them, but the opening blacked out and infinite darkness engulfed her.

Chapter 4:

One instant she saw the light of the outside world filled with a wave of arrows and spells, then as the portal closed, she was surrounded by cold darkness. The interior felt sticky and unsteady, as if she was suddenly within a giant spiderweb tunnel.

The corridor ahead of them stretched on like a road at night as if stars were at the far end, giving cold weak light. Behind them, in the dark emptiness of the closed portal, everything fell into the gloom of a bottomless precipice.

A strange sound sucked at her ears and she was momentarily petrified until she realized it was Tish at her feet. She knelt, and warm, sticky liquid met her hands.

Tish’s breath was coming in quick gasps.

“Harlin! Help me!” Daemona cried.

Muffled sound came from farther into the gloom and her eyes became accustomed to the dark spaces. The tunnel was lit with scintillating splashes of black and blue. Daemona could not tell what the tunnel was made of.

The huntsman took the sack from his head. “Are we on the spirit path?”

Daemona nodded. “Tish was hit by arrows and some other kind of magic from the witch coven.”

Harlin looked Tish over. “Don’t pull the arrows out yet. Put pressure on that open wound,” he directed. “What kind of spell hit her?”

“I don’t know. It was like purple lightning.”

“Knockdown spell,” said Ghul Lykos.

“How did you get her in?”

“She fell in behind us after opening the portal. What do we do?”

“I don’t know yet. She’s hurt bad,” said Harlin.

The ogre beckoned to him. “Closer,” Tish whispered. “Guess I’m finally even with you now.”

“No, not like this,” said Harlin, as he leaned in.

“My time was up a long time ago. You just gave me some to borrow,” answered the ogre matron with a wretched wheeze.

“No, Tish. Tell me how to patch you up.”

“I’m not going to make it. Go down the path. Be careful, the ancestors won’t be happy you’re here. Some may try and stop you. Worse things may be waiting too. Be wary.”

Harlin shook his head. “We can’t leave you, Tish.”

“You don’t have a choice. I am done and must remain. You must go on.”

“How far is it?” asked Daemona.

Tish shook her head. “I’ve never tried to make a spirit path this long before. Might take you an hour, might take you days.” She coughed up dark blood and cringed into the fetal position.

“We can’t leave her,” said Daemona.

“We can’t carry her either,” said Ghul Lykos. “Especially if this journey takes us days. We don’t have the horses or hardly any of our extra rations or supplies.”

“Go on,” croaked Tish. “I am where I want to be. You go, now.” She closed her eyes with a shiver and was still.

Daemona had lost people before and tried to be thick-skinned about it, but this ogre matron brought back all the memories of her own lost mother: the gentleness, and smell of a warm home-cooked meal. She was moved to a few tears that she quickly wiped away before the others noticed.

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