The Shadow Tale

Chapter 3 - Nox

It's probably better that we ate after crossing the kudzu. Mine breakfast probably would have been at the bottom of whatever was below us. It was extremely hard to cross.  I'm not exactly a small person, so treading lightly isn't my thing.
     Tenebrae did just fine. Sometimes I saw her turn to shadow. She had it so much easier. She had done this before and she could become a shadow. Even in broad daylight. It wasn't fair.
     We were about halfway across when I lost sight of her shadow form. It must have been noon. I began to search for her. That was a mistake. I slipped and my foot fell through. Then my whole leg. I started screaming for Tenebrae as I slipped through. I knew there was nothing below me.
       "Nox!" Tenebrae screamed as she became visible.
"Help me," I said breathlessly.
     She grabbed my hand, but the weight of both of was too much. We fell into the darkness. I grasped Tenebrae's hand tighter. I could see the blanket of green above us as the sun shone through it. I didn't dare look down. I honestly didn't think the falling would stop. We just kept going.
      I heard Tenebrae say something but the words were lost in the wind whistling through our ears. Then I felt it. I was resting on something soft. I looked down and was surprised to find moss. We had sunken in to it. It broke our fall. The entire area was covered in moss.
     Tenebrae gasped. "It's beautiful!" Honestly, I was expecting something more along the lines of "We're alive!", but saying it was beautiful was okay too.
     "I've always wanted to know what was down here. I would've willingly jumped long ago if only I had known." She extolled.
      We both looked around in wonder. Everything was green because the canopy above us. I looked out in front of me and saw something moving toward us.
    "Um, Tenebrae," I said as I tried to get her attention by hitting her leg. "What is that?" I was starting to freak out.
    Finally she turned to look. "I have no idea what that is, but it's approaching so I suggest we get ready for it." She rushed.
     We hopped to our feet drew our swords. We were on a hill so we decided to stay on the higher ground. I slightly in front of Tenebrae. If it came to sword fighting I would be the first to challenge who ever it was. And I don't even know if I know how to sword fight.
     It seemed to take forever, but the figure reached us. It was man. He was taller than I and had an air of confidence. He drew his sword once he saw mine. He looked past me to Tenebrae and smirked. I took a deep breath.
     The man took another step toward me and I raised my sword. His grin widened. He began to fence with me. He didn't seem to want to hurt me which I found odd. My instincts kicked in. I parried his blows. I honestly wasn't sure what I was doing. My body was moving. I grew tired. My blocks and strikes were slow. Finally I saw a chance. There was one thing I seemed to remember and it was how to disarm someone. Pretty fortunate.
     I pushed the flat of my blade against the man's hilt. I twisted my wrist. My opponent's sword fell onto the moss.
     He began to nod. "Nice choice of a companion, Tena. Though, you could've picked a better one that I wouldn't have had to go easy on." The man joked.
     He knew Tenebrae. And he called her Tena. I was so confused.
"I'm glad you approve, Disaris, but I didn't pick him. I found him." Tenebrae's tone was completely different from usual. I think she was joking. Tenebrae rolled her eyes when she saw my face.
      "This is Prince Disaris of Cransatea." She said matter-of-fact.
"I figured that out for myself, thanks." I retorted. "Why did he fight me?" I questioned.
    They both laughed. "I thought it would be entertaining." Disaris answered me.
I glared at him. I glared a lot.
      "What are you doing here, Disaris? How long have you known about this place?" Tenebrae inquired.
     Disaris chuckled as he gave her a lingering gaze. "I'm here to recruit. And I figured out about a week after you left." He sounded upset that she left. There was definitely something between them.
      "That was a year ago!" Tenebrae said, hitting him on the arm.
Disaris laughed. This was getting annoying. Since when was Tenebrae so happy and likely to make jokes. I mean, I know I had only known her for two days, but she was never like this.
     Disaris began walking so we followed. "In case you were wondering, this place became a small village after multiple people had fallen through. They dug into the hills to create homes and have found ways of living. For a long time no one thought there was any way out until they found a tunnel at the other end of the chasm. No one dared to go through it. But one day someone came through to them. That person was me." He said as we walked down the mossy hill. "Since then I have come for a few days a month to build trust. As I told them of what I was doing a few seemed interested and this trip down was one to take a few men back with me to join our army."
     He sounded so proud, it was disgusting. Tenebrae didn't seem to notice. They continued on in their familiar way. I decided to examen my surroundings a little bit closer. And it was an excuse to tune them out.
     The chasm was as large as the Kudzu blanket covering it. I saw a fire in the distance with smoke rising above it. People sat around it. I could see little doors on the hills. Houses. It was absolutely amazing that these people had made a living here and no one knew.
     Finally we reached the fire. And the people. Disaris announced Tenebrae as his close, childhood friend Tena, and I was her companion.
     "His name is Nox." Tenebrae spoke up.
I smiled. She was much more considerate than Disaris.  After we were introduced everyone kept talking to us. There were so many of them. Some of them were obviously Disaris's men, but most were residents.
     They were all so nice. They gave us food and eventually a place to sleep. They had an extra guest house so Tenebrae and I stayed in it. I wish I hadn't been so tired and overwhelmed when that night so I could've been more engaged. I will admit the the bed was extremely comfy, though.
       The next morning Tenebrae woke me. I opened my eyes to see her looking like an angel. She was wearing a white gauzy dress and the light was coming in behind her. And she was smiling. She looked less threatening when she smiled.
    From there everything was busy, busy, busy. Tenebrae told me of all that Disaris had planned for us. Such as the fact that we were to leave the next day, just the three of us and the rest of his men and the recruits would come later.
     Tenebrae spent the day with the villagers and I was stuck with the recruits because I had told Tenebrae that I could join the army and Disaris insisted that I join in with everything. He was even more annoying in the morning. He was happy and I don't like people who are too happy.
      Eventually evening came. Everyone around us was lively. They danced and sang. I didn't notice anything was wrong with Tenebrae until she declined Disaris's offer to dance.
    "Are you okay?" I asked quietly. Her lips seemed to pout and her eyes were tired.
"I'm fine. I guess I'm just having one of my shadow days." Tenebrae snorted. I raised an eyebrow.
    "I call days when I feel the darkness more tangibly my shadow days." Her smile was small, as was her voice.
     I grinned as I stood up and offered her my hand. "You can't run from the shadows, but you can invite them to dance."