Chapter 21 Part 1

THE CITADEL OF DESPAIR

Dylan drifted up from a fitful sleep. His mind became awake before his body roused. It was one of those in-between times where he could actually acknowledge within his dream that he was asleep and needed to wake up because something was wrong.

Struggling to open his eyes, Dylan could see light coming from around the curtain. His books lay next to him where he had placed them when he had become tired. He had worked on his lesson and studied for about five hours before going back to sleep. He could tell that it was daylight again, and he wondered why he had not been awakened and they were not marching on.

Stretching, Dylan noted with a start that he was soaked in sweat. The air around him was horribly warm and humid. That in itself was uncomfortable, but at least the stench of the previous day seemed much less. He could still smell the decay as it was embedded in his clothing, but the air itself seemed fresher. Dylan got up and pushed his way through the curtain. All of the others were there at the mouth of the shallow cave looking out over the wasteland of Nessus. It was raining again, but this time it was not blood.

"Good morning," Crystal greeted him as he approached.

"It's raining," Dylan observed.

"See?" Crystal nudged Gage. "I told you he was smart."

"Yes," Gage confirmed to his ward, "but do not go out into the water. It is very hot and you would be burned badly if not boiled alive."

"So we can't leave yet?"

"Not until these rains pass."

"What about your shield spell?" Crystal asked the mage.

"It isn't mobile," Dylan blurted out without thinking. Then seeing his master give him a long look, he apologized. "Sorry, master."

"It is quite alright," the mage nodded. "At least I know you are learning." Gage elaborated to Crystal. "The shield spell strong enough to withstand this rain is cast on a location, not an object, so it would not move with us."

Dylan sat with the others as they watched the rains continue to fall. The sheets of scalding water beat down steadily and as the hours passed, the temperature became unbearable. They were all seating profusely and becoming irritable. Even the normally good natured Rathe snapped at Crystal on one occasion. He immediately apologized, and Dylan reflected on how intimidating a Minotaan can be when he is angry.

The rains finally let up after another hour or so. And to their dismay, the sudden cessation of the rain was almost immediately followed by a rapid change in temperature. The air grew cold and a breeze blew into the cave sending them all scurrying behind the curtain. They were covered in sweat drenched clothing and the cold wind had a dramatic affect.

Crystal instructed everyone to change into dry clothing as she pulled another blanket from her own pack and placed it over her for modesty's sake and proceeded to change her own clothing. When they were in new clothing, they remained in the cave only long enough to bundle up and prepare to continue the trek.

Crystal left them momentarily and then returned explaining that some of the puddles of water were still quite warm, and it was too good an opportunity to wash their clothing of the stench that had built up over the last two days since the foul rain of blood.

Although they would rather have moved on immediately, the need to wash was not solely a cosmetic one. Body odor and sweat carried on the wind and they would be more easily detectable by passing creatures. It was for that reason alone that Gage relented to the delay. None of them wanted to waste time. Every minute reminded them of the danger that Cindy was in.

Dylan paced the cave while the clothes dried out. When they were marching, he could be patient because they were doing the best that they could to help his lifelong friend. But when they stayed still, it became difficult to bear. At least when he was asleep, he was able to deal with it.

Gage took note of his charge's growing irritability and sense of helplessness. He too wanted to keep moving, but Crystal had been right. It was better to take extra time immediately and eliminate the danger that they might alert every enemy who stood downwind of them of their coming.

The mage decided to try to harness Dylan's nervous energy with a lesson. He called his apprentice to his side. "I want you to dry these clothes more quickly," he told the boy. "I'm going to show you a cantrip that can be quite useful. You've already used it in one way, to heat water, all I want you to do now is use it more intensely and heat the clothes until they are dry. The cantrip has a very low magical flux and that is why apprentices are allowed to use it, but it also will not draw attention to those who can sense the use of magic.

Gage instructed the boy on how to adapt the cantrip that he had learned so long ago to heat the water out of the freshly washed clothes. Dylan worked quickly. It not only gave him something to occupy his energies and his mind, but it also lessened the amount of time they would be waiting around. Rathe came in behind the blanket. In spite of the clothes that they were wearing, the cold that blew in when the blankets were pushed back sent chills through all of them.

"It's really getting cold out there," the Minotaan complained. "The puddles have frozen solid."

"What a mad climate," Coran swore wrapping a cloth around his left hand.

"What did you expect from one of the Nine Hells?" Gage asked. "We knew it would not be hospitable."

"Can we travel in this weather?" Coran asked.

"Yes," Crystal answered. "It will be slow going, but as long as we don't start suffering injuries from the cold, we can keep moving. The moving, itself, will help us to stay warm. Just be sure to wear plenty of clothing in layers."

"You sure know a lot about survival," Rathe commended the young woman. "We've traveled together a lot, but I never asked, who taught you all that stuff?"

"My mother taught me. She was a huntress before my brothers and I came along, and she had the best teacher in the world."

"Avery?" Rathe asked.

"Yes. You've heard the story about my parents. Armegon raised my father and he married my mother when they were very young."

"And your father's mind was stolen and your mother followed Armegon, Ultrecht and Avery on a quest to break the spell," Rathe finished.

"Yes, I heard the story from my own father. He was with them."

"I haven't," Dylan lied. Actually he had heard the story, or at least some parts of it, but he was always interested in hearing it again or at least a different version.

"I'll tell you someday," Crystal promised, "when we have time for the leisure, but it looks like the clothes are almost dry, and if they are, then I'd say let's get back on the trail."

Gage performed a small bit of magic before they left the cave. "This cantrip will take the bite out of the wind," he told them. It won't protect you from the temperature, but it will protect you from wind chill. It will last a few hours. Hopefully by then the weather will change a little bit."

The cold was terrible. Dylan had a basic understanding of temperature and how it affected different things. He knew that water would freeze before flesh, and the puddles were indeed frozen, but there was no other indicator of how cold it was. Crystal had been right about one thing. Walking helped him say warmer than standing still did. But even walking could not keep his nose warm or his fingers or toes.

Periodically, Crystal inspected everyone's fingers. She was on guard for signs of frostbite, a condition Dylan had read about at one time or another. The most irritating part of the cold, was the fact that even protected from the wind, when Dylan would inhale, the cold air would make the moisture in his mouth or nose freeze and he kept sneezing small crystals of ice. The fireworks that they had seen the night before were invisible in the day because the clouds that had brought the scalding rain were still overhead, but on occasion, they could all hear a distant rumble or feel a tremor in the ground.

They had been walking in the cold for almost two hours when the first snowflake fell. Dylan was mildly amused and tried to catch one. A searing pain erupted in the palm of his hand where the flake landed, causing him to cry out. Falling to his knees on the hard stone he quickly was surrounded by his companions; who instantly took in the bloody gash in the apprentice's hand. After a quick look, at what had happened, Gage rushed them off the ridge near a cluster of twisted and long dead trees. There he quickly erected the shield spell while Crystal attended to Dylan's injury.

"The snowflakes are like razors," Gage advised them. They are solid and sharp. We don't have a choice but to try to wait out this downfall."

"I can see why no one wants to live in Nessus," Rathe stated. "It's a wonder that any devils dwell here at all."

"Most of them live in caverns and stone structures. They are used to the climate and I dare say they have ways to predict it," Gage offered.

They sat for another hour as the killer snow fell. The flakes began to pile up and Coran finally put to words what all of them had been thinking. "How are we going to walk through a blanket of ankle high razor blades?"

Crystal finished sewing the gash in Dylan's hand closed. The pain of the stitching had been dulled by a healing salve that she had applied as soon as they were safely under the shield spell. "If we have to wait for it to melt, we could be here a very long time," she added. Gage did not have an answer. He just shrugged and suggested: "let us not worry about that until the time comes." He sat next to his apprentice. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, master," Dylan answered obediently. "It hurt, but it was more surprise than pain, I think."

"I imagine so," Gage agreed. "I never would have suspected that either, so do not feel bad."

"The wound wasn't too deep," Crystal assured them. "It looked far worse than it was." She wrapped a bandage around his hand and tied it around his wrist. "Try not to use this hand too much for the next day or so. The poultice will accelerate the healing and you should be good as new in a couple of days, but not if you keep reopening the wound by using that hand too much," she advised him.

They sat for two more hours until the deadly snow ended. Then the clouds parted and the day began to grow warm. Coran remarked that they had finally caught a break and that the heat would melt the snow. Sure enough, after yet another hour, the snow had mostly melted, turning the rocky ground slippery.

Finally Gage lowered his shield and they resumed their trek. They walked for another four hours when Crystal came to the end of the ridge that they had been following. She sighed and pointed down and ahead of them. "I guess that's where we have to go," she announced with a voice filled with discouragement.

As the others joined her, they looked out over a large expanse where the ground sloped downward and away from them for miles until it reached what appeared to be a broad flat plane. A multitude of craters, some as large as a pond, bubbled a sickening smell of brimstone and sewage. Other craters were smaller and gushed a black fluid high into the air. Still other places were remarkably flat and bland with the exception of the river which cut a meandering path through the whole mess. Far in the distance, a dark structure could be seen, though the haze from the rancid land below made it difficult to make out any details.

"Two days march," Coran estimated. "Assuming we have favorable weather and go unmolested."

"There won't be a lot of cover out there," Rathe warned.

"You're right," Crystal added. "I think if we are going to have to cross that wasteland, we'd be best to do it on a good night of sleep."

"You are right," Gage agreed. "We have been out and about for many hours. Night should be falling very soon." They searched for almost an hour before finding a suitable place to rest. It was a cluster of rocks, not unlike the ones they had taken shelter in the first night.