The Glass Prison

The Taint visibly laughed on the back of his hand, but Vheod had no idea if it was laughing at Orrag, at him, or at both of them.

The doors, also now covered in blood, stood open.

Chapter Twenty

Mela

Perhaps it was for the best. Whitlock had fallen in battle, and he certainly would have wanted it that way. She knew that death and failure were inevitable now for all of them. Mela

Tears rolled down her face, but she ignored them, instead wiping the brow of her brother.

Worst of all, with, each step she'd taken toward failure, Mela

In her delusion, she'd also brought her brother and Vheod to their sad end as well. Though Vheod had proven to be the master of his own life, just as he'd wanted, Mela

The flames of the dropped torches around her died, but she made no move to correct the situation, for she'd neither the power nor the strength.

Vheod, she saw in the flickering light, stood over the body of Orrag. Mela

Vheod moved through the growing shadows toward the doorway that now stood open after the battle. The bronze doors had somehow given way during the fighting. Mela

As he moved closer to the entrance, her own vision was drawn with him. She could see now that what she'd believed to be many moving objects was really a single object of many parts, all of them spi

A metallic smell rolled through the open doorway, mixed with dust and ancient, stale air. Vheod continued inside, until Mela

This was the prison of the fiend-a prison made of the green glassy rock that had once comprised an ancient idol dedicated to him. A painful chill ran slowly through Mela

Now, every hope she'd possessed was truly dead.

She heard Vheod's voice come from inside the strange chamber. "Mela

“The staff!"

What?

"Mela

Eyes wide and staring straight ahead, she still knelt on the cold stone, too shocked to move. Too afraid that if she even breathed what Vheod just said might somehow not be true, or that she would realize she heard him incorrectly.

Warmth cracked and penetrated the despair that encircled Mela

Her spirit was almost torn asunder. Never before had she found such a pit of despair within her, and now to be pulled out so quickly and completely to learn that her greatest wish had come true was almost more than she could take. She steadied herself with a hand on the stone floor.

Mela

Mela

Her hands raised above her head, and she whispered, "Great Mother, please… I don't know if I've followed your will to come here or not, but I need your help. I probably don't deserve your attention now, but my brother is dying." Summoning what i

Before her eyes, the gaping wound exposed by the tear in his shirt blurred and disappeared, leaving only healthy flesh.

"Oh, thank you! Praise Chauntea-provider and nurturer of life!”

Whitlock remained unconscious, but Mela

But the staff! How could she not go see the object of their quest? It was the culmination of all their dreams and plans. They could cure their parents and ensure that their family was free of the affliction forever. She and Whitlock could live out their lives without fear of the curse. That staff meant freedom and peace. Mela