For a moment Gabe thought he heard a woman whisper his name.
The hair on his neck stood up and with his heart racing he whirled around searching for the source.
He was in fact still alone.
Alone with his all-consuming fears of Baal finding him.
The distant voices he heard earlier were coming closer.
Without another thought, Gabe dodged behind one of the nearby suits of armor to hide.
Two pale and lanky gentlemen dressed in gray robes approached.
Gabe couldn’t make out what they were saying until at last they stopped, only mere feet from where he remained hidden.
Cupping his hands over his mouth to conceal even the noise of his breath, Gabe hoped he would remain undiscovered.
Directly across from where he crouched hidden, Gabe caught site of a stone just at the edge of the shadows.
In an instant, he recognized it as one of the summoning stones.
Somehow a stone had been separated and lost along the way when Artis was being escorted to see the Duke.
Gabe hoped it had only been his stone and no one else.
“They are taking him to the dungeons as we speak.” Gabe heard one of the men say.
“Did he have any explanation as to why he was in the castle?” the other man asked.
“He wouldn’t say a word but I bet Duke Mortiguard will get some answers out of him.
He’s meeting with that waif of a girl that came in earlier.
After that I’m sure he’ll see to our unwanted guest.”
Gabe held his breath.
He didn’t know who they had in custody, but clearly the plan was unraveling at the seams.
Gabe stayed still and hidden as best he could, hoping and praying the men would soon pass.
With each moment that ticked by, Gabe knew the chances were higher that either he would be discovered by the guards or Baal would catch his scent.
At last the men made their way, at an extremely slow pace, further down the hall; the entire time gossiping like a couple of hens.
Gabe waited until he thought they were a safe distance away before attempting to tiptoe in the opposite direction, staying as close to the wall as possible.
Gabe collapsed against one of the walls with a huff.
The men he had seen earlier were so far away he could no longer hear them talking.
Gabe felt a panic growing inside him.
If he didn’t find Michael soon they would surely all be discovered.
Even if they did manage to find the Duke they had already lost so much time, Baal surely must be closing in on his location.
“Gabe.”
The unfamiliar woman’s voice whispered.
Gabe searched once again but still could not locate the source.
“How could you leave me, Gabe?”
With those words, he realized it was Sophie’s voice that was lingering in the air around him.
“Sophie?” Gabe whispered into the darkness.
“I thought you loved me, Gabe.
How could you leave me?”
“I had to, Sophie.” Gabe pleaded with the nothingness.
“The entire reason I am here is to try and save you.”
As Gabe continued to beg forgiveness from a person who wasn’t there, he heard a loud explosion further down the corridor.
A huge gust of smoke and debris shot out into the hallway.
Sophie’s whispers faded and Gabe realized the boom must be Michael and Uri.
He took off running full speed towards the source of the explosion.
Behind him a thunderous moan began to grow.
As it came closer, Gabe realized the noise was in fact an eerie beckoning of toads.
Behind him they leapt wildly, filling the hall, climbing up the walls and, like a black wave, closed in on him rapidly.
Baal had found him.
Coming to a stop at the source point of the explosion, Gabe ran through the hole where a wall had previously been.
The river of toads was close behind.
Through the settling cloud, Gabe caught sight of a fat old man lying off to the side; his belly bloated and hanging over her pants.
A lacy shirt with a blood soaked scarf clenched at his throat.
The man was bald, but a blood stained wig he used to conceal this fact lay nearby.
His lips were crimson red, a moment later Gabe saw fresh blood begin to pour from the corner of his mouth.
It was clear the man was dead.
“Gabe!” A whisper of a voice managed to cough out behind him.
Gabe spun around and there, on his knees, only a few feet away was Michael.
He was clutching his stomach and his head was hung low.
Michael was clearly injured and Gabe was unsure what to do.
He ran to his master’s side, scooping his arm around him for support.
“Where’s Uri?” Gabe pleaded, the noise from the approaching river of toads drowning out his words.
Gabe looked over at the hole in the wall, the next moment it was consumed by a blackness that shimmered with movement.
The toads had reached them.
As they poured into the room, Gabe watched in horror as they began to form into the shape of a person.
First the legs, then they moved upward, each assembled part beginning to glow with a red hue as it was completed.
Baal was here.
Michael was injured.
Gabe was sure he and Michael were about to die.
Gabe closed his eyes, squeezing them as tight as he could.
He pictured Sophie’s face.
If he were going to die, he would want her face to be the last thing he saw.
Gabe opened his eyes expecting to see Baal fully formed and ready to strike him down with a fire ball or some other terrible, evil tool of destruction, but only saw his chambers.
He was home, at Rampart.
Perhaps I am already dead and this is what happens when you die.
Gabe thought.
He sat up and glanced over his shoulder.
In the fireplace, logs burned and Gabe thought how real the popping seemed.
Immediately his thoughts drifted to Sophie.
He wondered if she would be here with him too.
After all, what kind of heaven could it be without her?
Gabe swiveled in his bed, allowing his feet to dangle off the edge.
He caught site of his hands.
They had scrapes, cuts, and bruises all over them.
Gabe tried to hop to his feet, but as soon as he stood, he immediately fell to the floor.
He wasn’t even strong enough to stand.
In an instant he knew this was not heaven, he was not dead, and this was most certainly not a dream.
He was home.
Carefully, Gabe managed to pull himself up in a standing position.
He dressed himself as quickly as he could, considering his battered body.
Gabe had no idea what had happened but if one person did it would be the person who had been with him, Michael.
Grasping each piece of furniture he could manage to reach, Gabe made his way to his door.
With a gruff he pulled it open and then rested against the door frame to catch his breath.
“Gabe!” Haim’s loud and boisterous voice bellowed.
The large boy leaped from the chair that he had been resting on outside the door and scooped Gabe up into his arms.
“Oooff.” Gabe made the sound as Haim’s hug pressed all of the air from his lungs.
“Haim…. I … can’t…. breathe…”
“Oh my God.” Haim shrieked as he pulled away.
Gabe caught himself against the door frame, managing not to fall to the ground.
“I’m so sorry.
We’ve just all been so worried.”
“What happened?” Gabe managed to squeak out between winces of pain.
Gabe rubbed his side, wondering if his friend had managed to break a rib or if it was already like that.
“What happened?
Oh my, only like the most epic battle ever according to Michael.
Oh yeah Michael, I am supposed to take you to Michael as soon as you wake up.
Here,” Haim said, motioning for Gabe to wrap his arm around Haim in an effort to alleviate his weight.
The two hobbled off slowly in the direction of Michael’s office.
Haim continuing to gush about how it was the most amazing story he had ever heard.
As glad as Gabe was to see his friend, all he could think about was Sophie.
At last he could wait no longer and had to interrupt.
“Is Sophie alright?”
In an instant Haim fell silent.
Gabe knew something wasn’t right.
The boys continued to walk as Haim remained quiet.
They approached Michael’s office when Gabe stopped.
“You need to tell me Haim, is Sophie alright?
Is she… dead?”
“No, no, it’s nothing like that.
Really, Michael should explain it.
I don’t know enough.”
Haim struggled with the words.
Not wanting to waste another moment trying to find out what was going on from an unwilling donor, Gabe turned and bracing his hand on the wall shimmied towards Michael’s office doors as quickly as he could.
Haim rushed to his side to assist, but with Gabe’s wild and rapid movements found himself useless.
Haim ran ahead and opened Michael’s door.
He whispered to the man inside “It’s Gabe, he asked about Sophie.”
Gabe felt the panic grow in him even more as he rounded the corner and entered through Michael’s chamber doors.
“Gabe!” Michael exclaimed.
Gabe noticed his mentor looked just as banged up as him, if not worse.
His skin looked even bleaker than it had at Iron Gate.
At this point it gave off an almost gray glow.
His midsection was wrapped in bandages.
Gabe could see a deep rust color seeping through them and it was clear he had been bleeding.
“Thank you, Haim, you can go.”
Michael hobbled over to Gabe and, placing an arm under his side, the two helped each other to the seating area.
Gabe couldn’t wait until they were seated, he immediately asked, “What’s wrong with Sophie?”
“Come on Gabe, sit down.” Michael instructed as they came to the chairs.
Michael turned and took a seat in one of the side chairs himself, grasping his side and letting out a sigh of pain.
“What about you?
Are you alright?
You seem pretty bad off.”
Gabe urged.
“I’ve been better but I will live.” Michael reassured him.
“I can take it Michael, I need to know.
Sophie.
Did we not kill the right guy?
I thought that was him on the ground near you.”
“Oh no Gabe,” Michael explained.
“We got the right guy, we just got him too late.”
“What do you mean too late?” Gabe gasped in horror.
“The evil was already rooted too deep in her for some reason.”
“Wait!” Gabe exclaimed.
“In her?”
“I’m having a hard time making sense of it.
We all are.
As soon as the Duke was dead, Haim said Raimie and Dina snapped right out of it.”
Michael continued.
“That doesn’t make sense.
They would have come into contact with the stones prior to Sophie.”
Gabe argued.
“From this I don’t think it’s the length of time since exposure, but I do wonder if it is the amount of exposure.
Sophie was working with the stone directly for extended periods of time.”
Gabe felt a pang of anger in his stomach.
An anger that scared him.
It was an anger he worried he would have trouble controlling.
“So what you’re telling me is that this is your fault.
Had you not tried to keep Sophie and I apart none of this would have happened.
Now that you did though, what you are telling me is that we can’t get her back.”
“We’ll get her back Gabe!” Michael exclaimed.
“How Michael?
How are we going to get her back?”
Gabe insisted.
“I don’t know yet.
The elders and I are working on some ideas.
Honestly, we don’t even know if that’s why she’s still infected.
Maybe she had lost her will to fight it sooner.”
“What do you mean?” Gabe cried.