The uncanny darkness generated by the Wyrm Lord covered the Grimwalk and extended in every direction as far as the eye could see. A turbulent storm continued to churn overhead. After leaving Drang, Aidan and Antoinette searched for a way to escape from the caverns inside the Gate of Despair. This proved to be long and difficult, for Paragor had left behind teams of sentries, and several times they were nearly caught. But for their efforts, they found no dragon steeds, only Drang’s horse. It was a black mare, old and tired from abuse, but it was the only thing they had.
Antoinette wanted to leave right away, but knowing firsthand the icy dangers of the Grimwalk, Aidan insisted that they find something to keep themselves warm for their long ride. Eventually, they packed or wrapped themselves in anything they could find: stable blankets, leather tarps, strips of oily cloth.
At last, the two Alleble Knights led Drang’s horse through a small side door on the far side of the caverns where the siege towers had once stood. They emerged into the strange twilight world created by the Wyrm Lord’s Black Breath. They could see within the shroud of darkness, and it was still frigid cold on the Grimwalk.
“How good are you at riding?” Antoinette asked.
“I seldom fall off,” Aidan said.
“Okay, I’ll take the reins,” Antoinette decided. “What should we name her?”
“You want to name Drang’s horse?”
“She’s not his anymore. Any ideas?”
“She looks so tired,” Aidan replied. “Like she’s really weather-beaten, y’know? Maybe something like Stormy, Thundergallop, Black Lightning, Stormchaser—”
“Stormchaser?” Antoinette exclaimed. “I like it! In a way . . . we are chasing a storm.”
Soon they were racing across the icy Grimwalk on Stormchaser. The bitter cold forced them to keep their faces covered up, and they did not speak.
They had not crossed even half of the Grimwalk before the tiring horse stumbled on a rut in the half-frozen ground, almost throwing her riders. Antoinette slowed Stormchaser to a trot, then a walk—until eventually Antoinette and Aidan were forced to walk beside the poor creature. Finally, the beast was barely moving.
Antoinette tried in vain to find some dead shrub or twisted root that the horse could eat. “There’s nothing out here!” she exclaimed, kicking at a patch of ice.
They walked along, leading the horse for a few more minutes, but finally she would not move another step.
“Do you smell that?” Antoinette asked. “It smells like pennies.”
“What?” Aidan turned and ran to Antoinette. “We have to get moving!” he yelled.
“But the horse,” Antoinette argued. “We can’t just leave her!”
“We have to!” Aidan said, urgently trying to pull Antoinette along. “The Stilling has come!”
“Stilling?”
But before Aidan could explain, Stormchaser’s front knees buckled. Then she lay motionless on the snow, her eyes open.
“She’s gone, Antoinette!” Aidan screamed. “It’s part of Paragor’s curse on this place. We have to leave now, and we have to keep moving, or it’ll happen to us too!”
Aidan looked ahead into the murk. He thought he might be able to make out a ridge of rock a few hundred yards away.
“C’mon!” he yelled. Their muscles burned, but they pushed themselves on. And suddenly, they were there at the ridge of stone. It was closer than it had appeared. Another trick of the Black Breath, Aidan figured. He searched over the craggy rock for a cave, but there were none to be found. There was, however, another find. Wedged between some rocks, they found a buttoned leather pouch.
“Open it!” Antoinette said.
Aidan took off his gauntlets and practically tore the pouch open. His hands shaking, he reached inside. “It’s food!” he yelled, pulling out a strip of dried meat. He tossed it to Antoinette and found a piece for himself. It was rock-hard, but after gnawing at it for a while, they were able to bite down.
“This is so good,” Antoinette said, chomping on a second strip.
They each managed to wolf down five or six strips before Aidan closed the pouch. “We need to save some of this for later,” he said, standing up.
“Wait, Aidan,” Antoinette said. “I don’t want to get up yet. Let’s just rest a second.”
“No, we need to keep moving, remember?” But Aidan’s muscles ached worse than he thought they possibly could. Running in armor over uneven terrain with air so cold they could barely breathe had taken its toll. A short rest sounded good to Aidan. He sat down next to Antoinette and slowly pulled his knees up to his chest.
“Cold . . . ,” Antoinette whispered. “So cold.”
Aidan took a layer of cloth off his head and draped it over Antoinette’s shoulders.
“Thank you, Aidan,” she said, and those were her final words.
Aidan curled up next to her, struggled to keep his eyes open, but succumbed at last and was still.
When Aidan woke up, he couldn’t see and he couldn’t move. He was surrounded, wrapped tight in something dark and warm. He struggled, but it was like being held in a vise. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Good morning, young Aidan,” came a loud raspy voice that seemed to vibrate through whatever it was that surrounded Aidan. “I trust you had a good night’s sleep, hmmm?”
Wait! I know that voice! Aidan thought. “Falon?”
“Yes, Aidan,” came the reply. “You remember old Falon, do you? Hmmm?”
Suddenly, the grip loosened, and Aidan fell backward. He landed in the palm of a large, dark three-taloned hand. And Falon’s huge fang-filled face hung right there in front of him. “I did not think we would meet again,” she said. “But I am glad.”
“Antoinette!” Aidan cried out.
“I’m over here!” Antoinette said. Falon uncurled another part of her long serpentine body, and there was Antoinette, smiling like it was her birthday. “I finally get to meet Falon the Great! Her son Faethon guards King Eliam’s treasuries, and he is pretty impressive, but nothing compared to his mother! She saved us, Aidan,” she said. “We fell asleep on the Grimwalk.”
“Not a very wise thing to do,” Falon said. “It was fortunate for you that I was in the area. When I found you, you had both begun to turn blue. But Falon’s coils warmed you right up, hmmm?”
Aidan sat bolt upright. “But Falon, you’re out of your lair. You’re out in the open! How is that possible?”
“Ah, you remember!” Falon laughed. “Yes, normally, to be out under sun or moon would spell the end for old Falon. But this mist, this dark canopy, is over everything from Mithegard to Alleble. I found that I could endure it.”
“What were you doing on the Grimwalk?” Antoinette asked.
“When I discovered that I could move about,” Falon explained, “I decided to pay Paragor a little visit. I owe him much, young Antoinette, for he and his brood have all but destroyed the race of mortiwraiths . . . taking the blood of my kind for their poison. But when I came calling to his little castle, Paragor was not at home. Pity. And there were very few of his knights about either.”
“Paragor has taken his armies to attack Alleble,” said Aidan. “Oh, no! How long did we sleep?”
“Since last night,” Falon replied. “It is hard to tell in this bleak mist, but I deem that it is near midday.”
“Falon, we’ve got to get to Alleble!”
“Paragor is there, you say?”
“Yes,” Aidan replied. “He has a massive army.”
“But that’s not all, Falon,” Antoinette said. “He has monsters—the Seven Sleepers and the Wyrm Lord.”
“The Wyrm Lord, really?” Falon said, laughing mischievously. “I thought King Eliam found a nice warm spot for that old dragon.”
“He did,” Aidan replied. “But Paragor let him out.”
“Dangerous creature, that one,” Falon said. “But then again, so am I.”
“Will you take us?” Aidan asked. “Will you take us to Alleble?”
“I would do this even if I was not hungry,” said Falon. “But I am starving, yesss, famished! And I have an old score to settle with Paragor.”
