Quest of the Heart: Chapter One, Cont

Of Ghosts and fiends in Twilight, Cont. A thought flashed in my mind from the old tales told The lore of the beast and I had felt his foul breath I had seconds to act or be devoured alive I had to lead in this desperate dance with death Just then a sound like rushing wind came from below I tried to swing my feet up to catch on the wall A tremendous force blasted up from behind It grabbed me up from the stone with one huge claw The myth of the dragon become fierce reality We soared upward onto a dizzying height Then downward we rushed towards the tower parapets The black-heart, crimson red beast clutching fast and tight So quick his decent the world surged up in a blur I would surely be dashed to a pulp on the stones His great wings spread wide and we slowed to a hover He loosed his grip and dropped me onto a pile of bones In his nest of decay, corpses of long dead knights Half-eaten and rotting lay the dreams of brave men I looked up into his red eyes now fixed and blazing His mouth oozing spit turned up in an evil grin His jaws moved to speak as smoke and ash poured forth He hissed, “Thou shalt never see thy Lady again!” “She is wed to my Lord and thou art about to die!” The lie was a stench on his breath offensive as sin “Thou knowest not, foul beast, of whom thou hast besieged!” Clutching Wolven Stave I proclaimed loud and clear “I hath come for my Lady for she is my bride,” “’Tis thou whom whilt die, and shouldst the Pale Rider fear!” The brute took in a vast breath and made to exhale I took up Wolven Stave and held him before me He spewed out a searing stream of fire and hot ash The blazing wave split and flowed around my body Before the smoke cleared and he saw me unconsumed By the hilt of Wolven Stave I unsheathed a sword A long, dark grey blade forged of mountain steel Wielding ‘Grey Bane’ for my Love I lunged forward With the speed of a cat I sprang at my foe “Have at thee!” I cried as I thrust for his black heart “For my Lady’s honor I send thy soul to Hell” That day my aim was never truer to its mark Grey Bane sunk deep within the monster’s heaving chest His life’s blood spilled out in a steaming river I pulled back, heart still pounding impaled on cold steel His hideous form was felled and stilled forever The heart beat its last as I cleaved it in two A great wailing arose up from the Nether World The ground shook and lightening crashed through the sky The Dark Lord awoke his wrath to be unfurled I returned my thoughts to my Fair Gennifer Lynne Restored Wolven Stave and went back into the keep To take up my quest interrupted by the beast And find the Evil One awaken from his sleep True love and honor of family name swear me To find my Lady Fair and destroy her captor To this end I am bound and glad to be so For I am alone and incomplete without her I followed a long dark corridor downward That ended at a large, locked wooden door Passing Wolven Stave right to left it swung wide Opening up to a cavernous chamber Stepping inside the door slammed hard behind me The chamber was dead calm and eerily still My pace stealthy and slow as I tread the stone floor A feeling of dread was now challenging my will The lit torches about the walls all dimmed at once A warm air stirred with the stink of rot and decay Spectral forms appeared and swarmed all around me Legions of the dammed, the undead come to prey In command of the force, a large black daemon Screaming and moaning they descended to the ground Worm ridden ghouls and bony, fleshless wraiths A maddening sight and blood curdling sound They all came forth and backed me up towards the wall I cried, “Halt, dread souls, my fight is not with the grave!” The daemon then grunted, “Thy fight ends here and now!” “We are charged by our Master thy soul to enslave!” He barked a command and the attack did begin A blood-spewing zombie, first to test my wrath Unleashing Grey Bane I sliced off his gruesome head I spun right around and sliced two more in half A vampire was next, red eyes and blood-dripping fangs I took up Wolven Stave and ran straight through his chest Another had at me and I hacked his head off They were bound to do their worst and I my best Beset by more blood-sucking beasts of the night I grabbed up a flaming torch from the cavern wall Brandishing fire I set forth to engage them Screeching they turned to ash as I set ablaze all At that moment the ghouls took to surround me Returning Grey Bane I struck Wolven Stave on the floor The blue stone atop it glowed bright as the full moon The putrid spectres dissolved to return no more ‘Twas now the ghastly wraith’s time to do me battle Skeletal warriors waving swords and spears I released Grey Bane again to meet his victims I loosed him hard upon them for holding me here I hacked off the heads of the skeletons and cleaved them in two I lunged at the wraith and Grey Bane found his stony heart I made short work of the entire evil hoard But this battle had just begun to start