The Dark City

by awf

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

There had been no real explanation. Curio insisted that he felt fine and Rusty Bones herself didn't quite remember if his eyes really had changed color. Ember Clover and Winter Shine were convinced that they used to be orange, but they sounded less and less sure as the discussion went on. Perhaps, Rusty thought, it really was just a strange effect of the low light. What else could it be? She hadn't heard stress or fear being able to change the color of a pony's eyes, although with an unicorn she supposed it might be possible.

It was just another strange thing in a pile of weirdness and unreason that had become their expedition. "Maybe Winter Shine is right. I don't like this. You've been behaving strangely, Curio. We should go back."

The stallion whirled on her with a shocked look on his face. "What?! You too?" he accused. "We're so close! Just one stairway and we'll know! We have to go down there and look!"

Rusty found herself agreeing, at least in principle. To have come this far and then not to take the final step betrayed every explorer's instinct she had. Weird or no, delaying their trek back by a few more hours wouldn't significantly change things.

"I'm scared, Professor," Winter Shine repeated. "I don't like this place. I feel like somepony is watching us!"

"There's nopony here," Curio replied in a stern voice. "Snap out of it. This is most foalish of you. All of you! Aren't we ponies of knowledge and reason? What kind of scholar turns back on the doorstep of discovery?!"

Gustaf and Ember Clover stood off to one side and a movement from their direction drew Rusty's eye. The pegasus brushed his muzzle against the griffin's muscular side, then came forward.

"I'm scared too," Ember said, but his eyes glinted with determination. "This place gives me the creeps, but the Professor is right. We've come this far, we should see it through. Then we can leave."

Curio Trinket smiled at this show of support. He gave a nod to his student and said: "I've always thought you'd make a fantastic scholar, Ember. What do you say, Miss Bones?"

She caught Gustaf's eye, but the bird just shrugged at her. The decision was fully in her own hooves. The weight of it made her sigh, but she lowered her head in defeat. "We'll go and see what's down there. Then we'll leave as fast as we can. Now that we know the way, we should be out in two, maybe three days."

There came a faint whimper from Winter Shine, so Rusty went to the young mare and put a hoof on her shoulder. "It's going to be alright. It's just an old ruin. The quiet and the dark is playing with our senses. Besides, there's probably nothing down there."

Winter swallowed a lump and gave her a nod, but her ears remained flat and her tail tucked in.

"Everypony, pack up. Curio, counsel," Rusty ordered.

The Professor came over, already grinning eagerly for the anticipated discovery.

"How far is it down those stairs. What did you see below?"

His smile vanished and he leaned his head to one side in thought. "I'm- I'm not sure. I don't think I came all the way down. I heard your hoofsteps before the stairs ran out, and I turned back to come meet you."

"You said we surprised you last night. Which is it?"

He shook his head and turned away. "I spoke poorly. I heard your hoofsteps and turned back, but the echo tricked me and I didn't realize how near you were. I came upon your light suddenly, before I was expecting it, which is why it startled me."

Rusty Bones wasn't entirely sure about this new, slightly different story, but she had made her decision. It was the right one, she was sure of it. "What are we likely to encounter down there?"

His smile crept back and Curio speculated: "With luck, an inner sanctum with the old cult's forbidden knowledge. Scrolls, books, perhaps explaining why the cult formed and what was their ultimate goal."

"And if we don't have that kind of luck?" she prodded.

"In that case, nothing. Probably sleeping quarters for the clergy, maybe an office or two. Still interesting, though. It could shed light on the ancient ponies' religion."

"Alright. We'll look in, you can grab any books or artefacts which are interesting, but we're not spending more than a couple of hours."

Curio inclined his head. "Fine, fine," he assured her, then went to pack up his own bag. Rusty watched him for a few moments, then walked over to Gustaf. She lowered her voice so it wouldn't carry to the others.

"I don't trust him," she murmured. "Keep an eye on him, okay?"

"Aye."

They both looked at the scholar and Rusty's muzzle scrunched up. "Use that sword if you really have to. Get the students out, that's your first priority. Last resort, though, only if he turns violent."

"Understood."

---

Four ponies and a griffin stood in front of that dark, twisty staircase. Once again Rusty Bones remembered just how impenetrable the darkness ahead of them looked. For once she thought she would prefer the unicorn's unnaturally bright light to that inky shadow.

"Curio? Winter? Can you light this up a little?"

The named two ponies nodded and concentrated. Two horns began to glow, followed soon by two points of light. They sent those into the staircase and the darkness receded, but there seemed to be a sharp border between the bubble of light and the blackness around it.

It looked almost like bubbles in some kind of oil and Rusty shuddered at the sight. At that moment it felt as if no light had ever pierced that darkness. It was primal, unyielding.

Winter Shine swallowed a lump and took a half-step backward.

"Alright, everypony behind me. Gustaf, you're with me at the front," Rusty ordered.

The academics stepped aside to let the griffin pass and he took position at her side. Rusty caught his eye and Gustaf gave her a nod. They stepped on the staircase. Hoofsteps behind told them that the other ponies were following. Curio and Winter Shine's lights remained in front of them, lighting up the steps, but despite those points of brilliance Rusty couldn't see very far because of the tight turn. She tried to remember how far down they had gone in the night, but her memory failed her. Perhaps she and Gustaf had walked for hours, or maybe it had been just minutes. There were no features to distinguish parts of the stairwell from others. Rusty kept her ears focused forward, but she couldn't catch a single noise other than their own hoofsteps and the faint click of claws on stone, coming from Gustaf beside her. She remembered the griffin could move absolutely silently and wondered why he didn't. It wouldn't do much good, not with the noise the ponies were making, but perhaps another reason was that the warrior had his claws ready to tear if anything came against them.

It was a comforting thought.

Gustaf hadn't drawn his sword, probably so he wouldn't frighten the youngsters, but she had caught glimpses of the handle in his open bag. The scabbard was cleverly sown into his pack to conceal the weapon from casual observers. If the flap was closed it was completely invisible, but Gustaf had left it open so he could draw it faster.

"Ho-How much further?" Winter Shine asked, and her voice seemed to carry down into the depths. The echo came back: "Fur. Further. Much further. How much?"

"Not too far," Curio replied, but he kept his voice low enough and the whisper didn't echo.

They had been walking for a while and Rusty Bones began to wonder if the air was getting warmer. Surely they weren't deep enough for that yet? Perhaps the stairs led all the way to Tartarus? She froze when the light ahead showed something new. The tunnel opened up and the stairs stopped. The end had come as a surprise and Rusty let out a breath which had caught in her throat.

"We're here," she murmured.

The opening led into a featureless room. It could have been a corridor, but there were no doors except at the far end. She saw a few iron brackets for torches and shelves which might have been intended for oil lamps. Her group spread out and the academics began looking for any distinguishing features, but the walls were bare and there wasn't any furniture around.

"Antechamber?" Curio asked. "I guess we press on."

The door before them had long since rotted and fallen off the hinges. The two large, wooden wings were lying inside the chamber and Rusty could see a faint gleam of brass handles in the crumbling mess. There was nothing else to do but step on the soft, spongy material and enter the next room. She had her lamp in her mouth and lifted it up high to brighten the room beyond. It was large, but there weren't many features in it. A few piles of wood and metal, which might have been chairs or tables.

The most distinguishing feature was a stone slab in the middle and large carvings on the walls. To her left was a relief depicting a stylized sun with its rays forming a circle of lines around it. On the opposite side Rusty could see a crescent moon, exactly like the one she had seen in the chamber above. That led her eye to the far wall, which was adorned by the eclipse. "Eclipse again, but why those other two?" she asked idly.

Professor Curio had followed her in the room and was examining the central stone pedestal, but at the sound of her voice he looked up. "Two theories," he announced after a short time to think, "either they carved these after the Sisters' rise to power, or they were part of their prophecy. You'll note that they are similar to the Princesses' cutie marks, but not an exact match, so I'd lean toward the latter."

"Looks like it, yeah."

By that time, everypony was in the room and the combined light from their two lanterns and the unicorns' light spells made the place quite bright.

"For that matter, where does that well shaft go? I was half-expecting to find it down here," Rusty Bones said.

Curio shrugged at the question and said: "I guess it misses this place. It probably really was just for water. Maybe that was easier than bringing those aquifers all the way to the temple?"

He apparently hadn't yet looked at the slab in the middle, so Rusty went to examine it for herself. She had to squeeze past Ember Clover, who was sitting in front of the sun symbol and sketching it down into his notebook. The thing was an altar of some kind, there could be no doubt. It could not be mistaken for anything else. A large, stone table with raised edges, carved with incomprehensible runes.

Her heart began to beat faster. Whatever the thing represented, it looked like the heart of the ancients' religion. The symbols didn't look like any script Rusty had ever seen, but even if she could have read it, she had a feeling she probably wouldn't want to.

There were five metal rings set into the stone, four smaller ones and a large one, all rusted. Perhaps fixtures for lamps, or other religious artifacts? Rusty walked around to try and get a sense of their positions. Perhaps, if a pony were stretched out, those would be in perfect places to hold hooves and a neck.

The raised edge, the metal restraints, there were even channels carved into the surface, leading to- a funnel. Her hear sank and Rusty took an involuntary step backward as she recognized what it all meant.

"Crap..."

The others looked at her word, all except Curio. He had already deduced the purpose of the altar and was paying it no mind. Ember Clover's ears folded down immediately and he looked away, but Winter Shine cast her a curious glance.

"Sacrificial altar," Rusty explained. "This cult was worse than we thought."

"O-Oh..." the mare squeaked. She, too, averted her eyes, but after a moment Curio addressed his two students.

"Ember! Winter!" he called sharply. "I know this is tragic, but it was a long time ago. We are scholars. Sometimes we have to look at the bad parts of history."

That seemed to buck them up and the two youngsters returned their gazes to the horrible stone slab. "Describe what you see!" Curio barked.

Winter was the first to speak up, but her voice was faint and shaky: "Uh- it- it has a rim and, um, g-grooves to c-channel the bloo- blood."

"Very good. We must remain dispassionate when observing these things. Think of it as ancient history, which it is. Ember?"

The pegasus swallowed a lump and pressed himself closer to Gustaf, who absentmindedly placed a claw on his withers. "I don't recognize the ru-runes," he began, "but they remind me of Eastern pre-Grogar earth pony script. M-Maybe a variation or an evolution of that?"

"Good, that was my thought exactly. The similarities are there, but without more text we might not be able to decipher it. What can we deduce from this fact?" Curio asked.

His two students were silent and their eyes slid away from the horrific altar. They apparently had no answers. Rusty Bones spoke up, remembering her own education, a long time ago. "Basically, the cult, or at least this aspect of it, developed a lot later than the establishment of the city. They'd need to have been separated from the surface for a significant time for their script to diverge this much."

Curio was nodding in approval, but he continued after Rusty had fallen silent: "Excellent, excellent, if not quite correct. Crucially, the cultists used a different script. Remember, we found records in the barracks and the library which were quite readable still."

"What would that mean?"

"My best explanation is that the cult was established early on and they practiced secrecy. So much so, that they developed their own script which regular ponies could not, or were not meant to, read." The Professor only paused long enough to take a breath before rushing on: "The other denizens of the city kept in touch with the surface, so their writing would not have changed overmuch, but the clergy were apart - possibly inheriting their positions - and so they diverged. It also means that contact with the surface had been maintained for quite a long time, despite what the carvings in the room above would have us believe."

The explanation made sense and all three ponies found themselves nodding to the Professor. In a way, analysing it like that had taken some of the fear from the gruesome artefact.

"Still," Rusty murmured, "pony sacrifice. Things must have gotten pretty bad down here."

"Sadly that sometimes happens in isolated communities. They probably believed they had some sort of a divine reason or justification."

The academics gathered around the altar and began taking notes and copying the runes which were carved on the sides. Rusty let them to it and went to take a closer look at the eclipse symbol.

Gustaf joined her there and studied the symbol with her. "So, cult? Pony-sacrifices? Dark stuff. Did you expect anything like that when we started out?"

Rusty Bones shook her head, but then paused and shrugged. "Not as such. I mean, I knew there had to be a reason the place was abandoned, but I thought maybe they just- you know, died out. Too few foals born with every generation until there weren't enough to continue."

The griffin put his claw on her back and Rusty welcomed the touch. It reminded her she had other living beings in the depths of darkness into which they had descended. She wasn't alone.

A faint sound caught her attention and she froze in fear. Drip, drip, drip.

She had been hearing that exact same dripping noise for days! "The dripping!" she gasped.

Gustaf looked at her in concern. "You okay? What dripping?"

The mare shook her head and stepped back, breaking Gustaf's hold on her. She swiveled her ears to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. How had she not noticed it before? The ruins were absolutely silent. They had never heard any sort of noise. How could she have thought the sound of dripping liquid was normal as she was falling asleep?!

Curio and his two students were also staring at her in surprise. "What is it? I don't hear anything," Ember Clover remarked.

"Shush!"

Drip, drip, drip.

It was coming from the altar! Rusty Bones swallowed a lump and came closer.

"Move. Let me see."

Winter Shine obeyed and stepped aside.

There was a metal funnel built into the slab on one edge, and all the grooves in the surface led into it. The spout was rusted through, but enough of it remained so the liquid dripped, rather than ran down the side.

It was blood. Rusty could see each individual drop, rich and crimson in the bright light, as it detached from the metal and flow the short distance to the floor. There was already a puddle.

"Where is it coming from?!" Rusty cried.

She didn't hear Curio's question: "Where is what coming from? Miss Bones..."

There was nothing on the altar. Or was there? For a moment Rusty was afraid to look and kept her eyes firmly on the pool of blood. Her breath quickened, despite her best efforts to control it, and she had to lock her knees in place to keep her legs from folding under her.

Even her tail pressed further between her legs and her ears turned back, but she mastered herself and looked. It was empty, of course, except... In her mind's eye the mare saw a pony bound to those rings. His eyes were wide open, but clouded with fear and pain. His mouth was open and there was a red slash down his belly. It was just a vision! Just her overactive imagination, Rusty told herself. Brought about by the strange events and the unnatural darkness and silence of the ruins. She was seeing things!

The scream came like a wall of sound, filling the small room and reverberating from the walls. It went on and on, until Rusty thought her eardrums would burst. A high-pitched, desperate yell of pain and torment.

So loud was it that it made the torches dance thorough sheer volume.

The other figures. Ponies standing around the altar, their faces hidden in deep hoods. They enjoyed the scream. Rusty curled up and put her hooves over her ears, but that did nothing to stop it. Was it all just in her head? It seemed so real!

"Make it stop! Make it stop! STOP IT!" she whimpered.

Strong claws gripped her around her shoulders. She was lifted up and looked into Gustaf's yellow eyes. "You're okay. We're here. Focus!"

She stared at his beak, examined the scar in minute detail as her only source of reality in the world of that scream. She reached out and grabbed Gustaf around his chest, then buried her face in his feathers, hoping they would muffle the sound. They didn't and Rusty Bones shuddered in Gustaf's grasp as the tormented, wailing shriek went on and on. Slowly, the cry of pain ebbed, then vanished. Rusty was left sobbing softly into Gustaf while he patted her back. She was dangling from his grip and her hind legs scrabbled to find purchase on his knees to keep her upright.

The others were gathered around, their faces full of concern and fear. "Are you okay, Miss Bones?" Ember Clover asked. "What's the matter? What happened?"

Rusty had to swallow a few times before she could speak. "The al-altar. Is it empty? Is nopony on it? Dead?"

"Of course it's empty," Curio said, but all three of them turned to look at the thing. "It's been empty for thousands of years, Miss Bones. What did you see?"

She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, but she still tried to answer. "Pony being killed. Earth pony. Stallion. S-Slash on his belly. Others standing around. Hoods. So much blood!"

There was an 'urk' sound from Winter Shine, as if she were about to vomit, and a sharp intake of breath from Ember Clover. Only the Professor seemed unperturbed. "I've read about this," he said. "Sometimes, in places of high background magic where horrible things happened, sometimes the fragments, the echoes of memories can linger about. I suppose it is possible you saw one."

Having an explanation, any explanation helped a little and Rusty forced herself to relax. She released her death grip around Gustaf and the griffin took a grateful, deep breath of air. "Sorry," she murmured to him. "Earth pony strength."

"It's okay. I don't mind," Gustaf whispered back and patted her mane before letting her slip down to her hooves.

She closed her eyes and took a few more breaths to steady herself, then looked at the altar again. It was empty. There was no sign of blood. No dripping sound.

"I've been hearing that blood drip for days," Rusty muttered.

"What do you mean?" Curio asked.

"When we were sleeping. Just before I fell asleep I thought I heard water dripping. It was the blood. I don't- I don't understand how."

"A fragment of a memory echo?" the Professor suggested. It was the best explanation they were likely to get. "We'll know more once we have a few more specialized unicorns in here."

"Did you notice anything like that?"

The stallion shook his head. "Not really."

"What about when you wandered off tonight?"

He was silent, but eventually he had to nod his head. "I guess that could have been the explanation. Anyway, now we know so we can guard against it. Let's keep looking."

Rusty shook her head firmly. There had been too much weirdness for her and even the stalwart adventurer was shaken to her core. The Professor had explained it, calmly, and she believed him, but a deep, irrational part of her demanded they leave as quickly as they possibly could. "No. We've seen enough. We know what was going on here. Let's go. We can come back with a full expedition."

The Professor flattened his ears in annoyance and argued: "One more hour. Ember can finish drawing the symbols from the walls and Winter and myself will transcribe the rest of the altar."

"We've seen enough," Rusty repeated.

Curio was shaking his head wildly. "No! One more hour! We have to stay!"

His vehemence surprised them all after his calm moments before, and the two students came over so they could put their hooves around their teacher. "Why are you so adamant, Professor?" Ember Clover asked.

Rusty wouldn't budge. "Everypony, pack up. We're going. Can you grab my lamp, Gustaf?"

Curio Trinket shouted: "NO!" and pushed up. He shook off his students' hooves and his horn glared into bright light. Before anypony could react a pulse of light pushed away from him and slammed the two youngsters against the walls.

Winter Shine squealed as she flew, but it cut off when she impacted and slid down to lie in an unmoving heap. On the opposite side of the room Ember tried to catch himself with his wings, but he couldn't prevent himself from colliding with the wall. He gave a grunt and fell.

"What are you-" Rusty's yell was cut off when Curio's magical glow picked her up and lifted her into the air. The whole world whirled around her as she kicked to try and free herself. She heard a grind of metal as Gustaf drew his sword. "No, d-don't kill him! Don't- OOF!"

All breath left her body as she slammed down on the altar. The metal rings dug painfully in her limbs, but luckily nothing got broken by the impact. Her vision swam, but she saw the griffin attacking the Professor with the sword. The bird was batted away and his weapon clanged on the floor. That didn't stop Gustaf and he was already reaching into his bag for his knives, when Curio's aura gripped his limbs. The Professor was straining to hold him and the restraints around Rusty Bones softened momentarily while the stallion diverted his attention. His magic plucked the throwing knives and sent them flying to his two students.

"STOP! Or they die!" Curio yelled.

"Stop!" Rusty joined in. She had been about to swing at the unicorn, but stayed her hoof. The knives were poised above the two prone ponies, if Curio let them drop they would impale.

The griffin stopped, but he snarled a curse at the Professor. His claws clenched and unclenched, but he didn't advance.

Curio smirked in self-satisfaction. "Good. Now move away. Slowly, mind you. To the entrance. Go."

Gustaf caught Rusty's gaze and she nodded desperately. Trying to fight the Professor would result in two young ponies dying and it would be her fault. She closed her eyes and went limp. "Why? Why are you doing this, Curio?"

The stallion grunted. "Shut up. All I- blood, all I need is your blood. You don't have to die."

Her eyes flew open in terror and Rusty looked at the old Professor. There was a manic grin on his muzzle and his eyes-

They were completely black! His right eye twitched spasmodically and he blinked every now and then to get rid of it. Here an there Curio jerked his head, as if trying to shake something loose.

"Please, whatever's gotten into you, fight it. Curio! This isn't you!"

All she got in reply was a wordless snarl as the unicorn floated one of Gustaf's knives to her face. She stared, transfixed, at the point just above her muzzle.

"Please, p-please don't!"

They heard a soft sigh and a shaky voice: "Professor?" Winter Shine was struggling to her hooves, but she froze when her teacher turned to her.

"Stay there!" he commanded. "I don't need you. M-Move- take a step and you die!"

The knife, which had been floating above her, moved to where she could see it and pointed straight at her heart. Winter Shine did as commanded and there came the soft sound of liquid splashing from behind her. For an instant Rusty was afraid he had already cut her, but the acrid smell of urine told her what was really happening. Her terror was amusing to Curio and he chuckled as he waved the knife around. Winter Shine whimpered as it drew nearer, but she didn't dare move a single muscle.

"Right, where were we?" Curio muttered to himself. His eyes looked inward and he intoned: "In the heart of the Sun there is the Moon. Place the unworthy in the middle and spill their life upon the stone. Their blood will part the Darkness and the way to its inner Light will be revealed to you."

It sounded familiar, but twisted. It was the rhyme Ember Clover had told her when they were trying to open the entrance to the city!

"What?! That's not how it went!" Rusty shouted.

"This is precisely how it goes. The version written in your books is a lie," Curio said. He focused on the knife above Rusty again and it moved lower. She had a sudden vision of her own belly being slit open and her muscles tensed as she prepared for the agony.

"Hmm," Curio murmured to himself. His muzzle scrunched up and the blade wavered in his magical grip. "No no no," he muttered in a low whisper, but he was near enough Rusty for her to hear. "We might- mm."

The twitch in his eye grew more violent. "Yes! Ha! We can- we- always- why not, why not later?" he rambled, apparently to himself, but his voice was urgent and filled with strain.

He was completely insane, Rusty realized with a sinking feeling. Her bowel shriveled up in a ball of ice. The Professor had snapped, or maybe something had taken him over. His eyes! No normal pony should have eyes which are completely black, like two globs of ink.

"Please, Professor, stop this", she wailed in desperate, useless pleading. "Don't do this!"

The knife trembled in Curio's magical grip, then moved from her belly to her foreleg as the stallion grunted and jerked his head this way and that. Rusty's mind worked in overdrive and thoughts flashed through her consciousness almost before she was aware of them. Abject terror filled her with adrenaline and she tightened all her muscles, trying to break free of the unicorn's magical grip while he seemed preoccupied.

She had to- If she could break one hoof free and hit him...

The knife would find her, but it would go in her leg, not her belly now. She would lose a lot of blood if he cut her there, but at least that wound wouldn't spill her insides on the altar! The glow of bonds around her limbs brightened as Curio poured more effort into keeping her still, and his face contorted into an expression of twisted rage. The knife flicked back to her belly, but before Rusty could do much more than yell out there was a loud clang and Curio's eyes crossed.

He slid smoothly to the floor and the knives clanged as they fell. The one above Rusty's midriff nicked her, but the blade had twisted as it fell and it was just a minor scratch. Winter Shine gave a small yelp and Rusty prayed the other weapon hadn't found its mark.

Behind the Professor was Ember Clover, his pot held in both hooves. How he had moved that silently Rusty would never know, but she was immensely grateful to the pegasus. In two steps Gustaf was beside them, one claw going to Ember's withers and the other to pluck up his knife from the altar.

"Shit! Winter Shine?!" Rusty called out.

"F-Fine!" Winter managed to croak out. It seemed Ember Clover's timing had been perfect.

"Thank you! Oh, sweet Celestia, thank you!" Rusty trilled to the pegasus.

Their saviour gave her a grim smile, then looked down at the professor. His eyes were closed, but the stallion was still breathing. "What do we do now?"

She thought quickly. "He wasn't himself. I don't know if it's some kind of madness or something down here took control of him. We've all seen and heard strange things. We tie him up and bring him out with us, then we get help!"

"Um g-guys?" Winter Shine said in a trembling voice. "We- we have to go."

Rusty looked at the mare, but Winter was staring fixedly at the far wall. They followed her gaze and Rusty nudged Ember aside with her hoof so she could see. The symbol with the eclipse was gone. In its place was a pool of oily blackness. Slow ripples moved across the surface, like some obscene, vertical pool of inky water.

"What in Tartarus is that?!" Gustaf whispered.

Rusty spoke quickly: "We need to go. Grab what you can. Ember, put the Professor on my back and hold him here. Go!"

The only problem was Winter Shine, who had apparently frozen to the spot. She was whimpering in a low voice and another dribble of liquid splashed under her. The reaction was understandable. The ring of blackness was pulsing and a thousand thin tendrils of pure shadow were reaching out, seeking.

Rusty didn't know what would happen if they touched a living pony, but she wasn't about to find out. "Go! M-Move! Gustaf, bring Winter!" She slipped to the floor and braced her legs while Ember lifted his Professor up on her back. "The light! Bring the lights!"

Unfortunately, her own lantern, forgotten at the far wall, was already being consumed by the darkness. Ember took a few steps and grabbed his own lamp in his mouth, then he hurried back. He used a hoof to steady the Professor on Rusty's back and his wings to keep his own balance as they hurried around the altar.

On her other side Gustaf manually picked up the stricken Winter Shine, slung her on his shoulder and took his sword with his free claw. "Move!" he shouted. He let Rusty and Ember leave first with their unconscious unicorn, then followed right on their hooves. The chamber was growing dim as the black pool sucked all light out of it.

The tendrils were already at the altar. How far could they reach? Would they follow them all the way outside? Rusty put on more speed and her hooves pounded the fallen door to splinters. They were out of the sacrificial chamber. She glanced back to make sure Gustaf was with them, then headed for the stairs.

"Hurry. Hurry," she urged them.

A low rumble began behind them and she suddenly had a vision of the tunnels collapsing upon them. That gave her more speed and after a moment she heard Gustaf's paw-steps catch up.

In her mind's eye she remembered the countless empty passages they had walked on their way down. They were a long way from the entrance. They would need to rest, maybe sleep.