Prompt: something nasty underground

[actionreaction]

This pretty much follows this. This came out longer than expected so to save your friends pages (who even reads this anyway?) behind a cut it goes.

Sinead should have planned better. She knew that now, hindsight being 20/20 and all that. She should have at least gotten a better hold on her abilities before heading deep underground on little more than a whim and gut instinct. She could glamor herself, make herself and Angus invisible and when she shed her glamour and her wings protruded, she could fly. But she was a creature of the air and here she was, underground. She felt claustrophobic, cornered, trapped. But she didn't let on. She kept her back straight and led the way, refusing to so much as suggest to Angus that she was anywhere near as terrified as she was.

It didn't help when she started hearing things. Or rather, when Angus pointed them out. It surprised her briefly that he'd heard it first; her senses were better than his. Be she was unfocused for one, and here, under the earth, she was sure she was less powerful. The air tasted weak, stale and made her feel sick. Why couldn't thin all be above ground, in a glen, or even a mountaintop, where she'd feel less...buried.

Angus stopped turning his head left, brown eyes fixed in the darkness. He held onto Sinead, needing her vision to guide him, since his mortal eyes couldn't make out much in the absence of light. A torch or flashlight - they used to argue over which term to use - would only have made the things living under there aware of their presence. Worse, those creatures could spot Sinead and Angus before the not-so-intrepid adventures could spot the things that went bump in the night.

A giggle off in the distance made Sinead's blood run cold. They were near the Otherworld now, and the hidden people, as those who lived there were called, weren't likely to take kindly to their presence. She shouldn't have brought Angus; she knew that now. She had a chance. She was unseelie, like her parents, and the nasty things that lived underground were less likely to make a meal of the darker fey. But a mortal? Sinead almost stopped and turned around to take Angus back, but she knew there was no way he'd leave her to do this alone. He'd probably try to follow her in the dark and get hopelessly lost, leaving her to worry about it. No she just needed to keep hm close and keep him safe. he wasn't just here because he wanted to offer her protection she didn't need. He had his own reasons, ones she was still unclear on.

Her thoughts were suddenly banished from her mind when something moved, turning the corner and stopping before them. For a moment, Sinead thought Angus lucky he couldn't see. The creature in front of them looked like some hideous blend of a troll and a pile of slime, grey in coloring, it's skin shiny and slick. Its face was terrible: hollows for eyes, no nose and a gaping mouth. It was the Gate Guardian, and their entrance, their survival, hinged on getting past. To do so, there was only one way: making a bargain. Everyone, even Angus, knew to bargain with fey was foolish and dangerous.

Sinead cleared her throat and spoke, and Angus couldn't understand a word she said. The beast could, clearly for it responded much the same, and after a lengthy back and forth, and Sinead's tone growing increasingly pleading, it gave a deep chuckle spreading its maw. A blast of hot air hit them both and it stepped aside revealing a gate that even Angus could see.

"We're in," whispered Sinead as she gripped Angus's hand and tugged him forward.

"What did you say? What did you promise him?"

"I can't tell you, Angus, I'm sorry." And she winced for she was bending the truth. She could tell him, but only at the risk of everything crashing down around them, at the risk of losing his faith, his friendship, everything.

For on her return, the only way back out, Sinead had promised the Guardian the only thing it wanted: the mortal she traveled with.

Angus.

Interesting what happens when you write with no outline, not even much of an idea. Now I know where this is going though. Oh Sinead.

Comments

[yabamena]

Okay, point.

Oooooh, I can't wait to see how that works out!

I am loving this so far, jsyk.

[actionreaction]

LOL

Yesssh I think you will be pleased at her cleverness, though I dunno how Angus will feel.

YAAAAAY! I'm glad. I'm pretty pleased with it myself.

[yabamena]

I'm sure I will. And this is usually the way with fey and humans. xD

You should be! I really can't wait to read more.

[actionreaction]

Quite. Especially unseelie.

Eee. Yay! I'll try to write more today then!