The Tunel (part II)

He opened the Book, looked at it for a few seconds, then closed it again and put it away. He didn't feel like reading; so he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Rileiah's Gate appeared before him again, with his soldiers trying to take it.

He leaned against the entrance and looked inside. His men died in a variety of ways.

He looked around and saw a new battalion arriving. He reached out to a young woman who belonged to the newcomers.

He knew she was a woman because her delicate hair peeked out from the back of her helmet.

When the woman looked back, her face was gone. As if someone had pulled the skin from her forehead over the rest of her face.

He blinked and when he opened his eyes, they were both at the top of the ramp.

Whispers began to be heard. Unintelligible.

Not understanding, he tried to find some sign on the woman's face. Something seemed to move where her mouth should have been. The place started to turn red as well as the tunnel walls.

The whispers were getting louder and louder, but they remained unintelligible.

The woman's hand tightened on his arm and pulled him closer to her, bringing the two of them face to face.

The eyeless face scared him, but Lax'Bo held on and stared at the skin in front of her. A rotten smell came to his nose.

He could see that her skin was tearing where her mouth was and that within moments he would be able to speak to the woman.

The whisper now seemed more like a chant than anything else. The words floated down the tunnel.

When what looked like an invisible dagger had finished ripping through the skin, the woman opened her mouth.

- Yog katai jomon. - she said, spitting blood on him.

The sound around him became deafening and the blood coming out of the woman's mouth turned into a river, flowing down to the battlefront below. He tried to hold on but the river became so strong that it pulled him, and only the woman grabbed him by the arm.

He looked at her in what could have been her eyes and tried to figure out what she meant by those words.

- Itte yog izad katai yomon. - he said, amazed that they came out in the Ancient Tongue - I'm not killing anyone.

The woman didn't move and the noise stopped.

- Yog katai jomon. - she said one last time and let him go.

Lax'Bo slipped through the Tunnel of Zinid, carried away by the torrent of blood. When he reached the bottom, he woke up.