CHAPTER FOUR

As quickly as the mind-fog came, it lifted. Stray reeled with utter confusion. What had happened? Had an unseen portal transported him-and if so, where was he now? Questions continued to flow through his already overworked brain as he took stock of his surroundings. In front of him was the same pedestal he stood by only a minute before-minus the stone artifact. In front of that, where the shadow child had stood pointing, the intricately carved wall was gone; essentially doubling the size of the room he had first entered. The only other difference that he could tell was that there was much
more light. Several torches lined the walls providing an eerie glow to the entire expanse.

"Oh. This is not good you old coot! I do believe-you've finally gone mad!" he said to himself.

Before he could answer himself, the stone door swung open from behind him and two shadows entered the room. One of the shadows was an Umbris similar to the one he had just killed and the other a sort he had never seen before. Whereas most shadows retain their bodily form, the second one was different. Besides the fact that it was twice as big as a human, it was almost as if the shadow wore black translucent armor. Dark spikes emerging from its shoulders and head told Stray that this one was far beyond ordinary. Stray went to grab his axe but found it missing. Wheeling around to face the
expected onslaught, he put up his arms in defense to only have the shadows pass right by him as if he didn't exist. He knew that there was no way these two could have missed him standing there. Were they ignoring him?

Stray now started to feel the urge to run. Get out of this place and back to the surface. He would just forget the artifact-and leave this insanity. If he could just get to his home and his bed, everything would be ok-or so he thought. Backing toward the door, he was stopped once again as several other shadows entered the room. Moving out of the way with his back against the wall and with eyes like saucers, Stray watched as they led three people, bound and gagged into the room. A tall man came first. Following him was woman and a little girl. Again, the entire host seemed to ignore him as
they passed by.

All of a sudden, Stray began to understand-nobody could see him! And it seemed that nobody could hear him either as his heavy breathing and his fearful gulps also went unnoticed. It was as if he was watching a play. Or perhaps, he was in the same place, just at a different time-watching events as they had happened in the past or might happen in the future. It seemed like the former was more plausible as the chains on the wall looked freshly wrought, and the stone pedestal had fewer cracks than he had remembered. This thought allowed him to relax a little, and he decided that if he was not
in imminent danger, that he might as well watch the events as they unfolded.

"Chain them." A voice hissed from the far part of the room. "The time draws nigh-let us prepare."

Stray looked to the speaker and saw that the command had come from 'Spike'. It made sense that this one was in charge. Perhaps Spike was a type of shadow that no longer existed in the present time. A general or a leader that had been defeated back in the war with Bael'Zharon.

The rest of the shadows reacted immediately to Spikes request. Pushing the man, woman and child to the wall, they shackled their arms and moved to join their leader at the far end of the hall which allowed Stray the chance to more closely study the three in restraints. He wondered who they were and why had they been brought here. The man stood erect with his eyes closed. The little girl with long curly hair and striking eyes looked up at the woman and silently cried the tears of fear. The woman returned the little girls gaze and though her face also showed fear, her eyes seemed to emanate love
for the child. Though gagged, the woman also seemed to be humming a song. The melody, soft and sweet struck a chord with Stray. He had heard the tune before, but could not place it. The little girl seemed comforted by the sound of the piece and even managed what seemed like a smile, though the cords that gagged her made it difficult to tell.

Strays heart went out to these apparitions of another time. He could not fathom why the shadows would take captives, much less why they would take a little girl. Why hadn't they just killed them? No shadow had ever tried to take him captive! The ones he had met up with seemed only to have a singular purpose. To send him to the lifestone.

Stray wondered if he could make any impact on the situation he was in. He couldn't be seen, but could he affect what was happening? He could only try and hope. As he crossed the room, he looked to the shadows, who all seemed to be standing in a circle around another stone object at the far end of the room. He hadn't seen it before, as the wall, previously dividing the room had kept it from view. He also could hear low murmurs coming from the shadows; sounding in unison as if they were chanting in an unknown language. The object they encompassed looked to be a table, or possibly even an
altar. Like the wall and the artifact he had come to retrieve, it was also covered with carvings and runes. Some type of magical rite was taking place here, and the thought that these shadows might sacrifice the humans they had in chains horrified Stray. Regardless of the possibility that this scene had taken place long ago, it still filled Strays heart with darkness-such as a well-related ghost story does when told to children around a campfire.

The old axer went to the girl first, partially because he felt for her the most. He had never seen such innocence and beauty in anyone as he did in this girl. Also, the chains that held her were loose because of her size, and the manacles could easily be slid off her slender wrists if pulled hard enough. He reached to grasp the girls' arm, but instead of an arm, his hand clenched empty air. Immediately the lights dimmed and the redheaded child dissipated into nothingness. Stunned for a moment, he turned to see that he had returned to the present. His axe leaning against the pedestal where he
had left it, the chains near his hands once more decayed with rust. Even the little shadow stood back by the wall that had again returned to divide the room he had just seen in half.

"That's it. This wasn't part of the deal and I'll be hanged if I spend one more minute in this accursed place!" Stray said, feeling that he had been ridden hard and put up wet. Quickly moving to the pedestal, he picked up the stone with his oilcloth; carefully this time so as to not touch it again with his skin. Sliding it into his pack, he glanced at the shadow-which had yet to move. "Little-Bit, I don't know what's goin' on or if you had anything to do with it-but I don't really care. I've got what I came for and I'll be on my way. Good bye!" he said, turning
away from the shadow and hastily leaving the room.

It took a lot less time for Stray to make his way to the top of the dungeon than it had in making his way down. His strong desire to leave this cursed dungeon and the absence of shadows barring his way helped his speed immensely. Reaching the top, he took a deep breath of fresh air and noticed that it had become dark. This also shook him a bit, as he had only been in the dungeon for an hour- possibly two. The added mystery he took in-stride however, and pointed his face toward home. There were too many unanswered questions; and he was in no mood to try and figure them out. He wanted to put
as much road between him and this place as he could before stopping for the night.

Several hours of walking and several lengths traveled, Stray decided that he had come far enough and looked for a suitable campsite to wait on the morning light. He started a fire and laid out his bedroll. He placed his pack with the stone between him and the fire and his axe close at hand should somebody or something come along. He wanted to keep the fire going as long as he could, for he did not think he could truly sleep with all that he had just been through; so he went to gather as much wood as he could carry to keep the flames alive. Returning to the campsite with his arms laden, he
dumped the wood. And let out a yell that reverberated through the woods.

"GAAAAAAH! What the... How did-you?...", he blurted out while backing quickly away and tripped over his axe causing him to land squarely on his backside.

There, next to the pack by the fire, sat the shadow child. Cross-legged and looking at him with a questioning stare.