The Nightmare Game (69 page)

As we continued to walk, in silence now, I began
to notice that the walls had a slightly lumpy appearance.

“This section I’ve prepared for my future work. It
saves me time,” she explained, as if reading the question in my thoughts. “When
the opportunity arises, I can expend my efforts on the more enjoyable aspects
of preservation.”

It was just a short distance later when the walls
began to shift and move slightly. Next, they suddenly became alive and lunged
forward, metallic forms straining from the walls, metallic arms with metallic
hands reaching, clutching, grasping, trying their best to get to Arrosha,
tearing at her as if they wanted to pull out her throat. These movements were
accompanied by strongly muffled, metallicized moans of anger, anguish and
frustration. Startled and frightened, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Their
cries were the sounds of the damned, and I recognized them. They were the cries
from the souls trapped in the horrible red miasma of the shower that I heard
the day after my first visit to The Crypt. It frightened me so much that I
would have jumped back, turned and run away with all my might had I been able,
but once again the traction field I in which was caught prevented me. Arrosha
proved my marionette theory correct by forcing my one foot in front of the
other, walking me forward against my will. I feared passing these figures,
frightened that their reach would increase and they might actually be able to
grab me and pull me into the walls with them. Arrosha was almost nonreactive,
behaving as if this were a common occurrence, and knowing her as I did now, I
wouldn’t be surprised in the least if it were. But one by one, as she finished
passing them, they gradually settled down until, by the time I cleared them a
few moments later, they looked like nothing more than relief sculptures that
had been molded into metal walls.

“Don’t worry,” Arrosha said, again not turning
around. I was grateful that she didn’t, because watching her walk with her head
facing backwards was something I never wanted to see again. “Like the ones at
the mansion, they’re all dead, at least mostly. They can’t hurt you right now.
In life most of them were my enemies and I would never give my enemies enough
power to harm you until it suits me.”

After a slight lull, we then passed by several
others that lunged at her as vengefully as the first group had.

“Ah,” she said cheerfully, as if she were
commenting upon a pleasant spring day. “It’s been too long since I’ve been down
this way. It’s so nice to see that they still remember me!”

As we continued our journey, the frequency of the
futile lunges, the frustrated, impotent attacks by her mostly-dead former
enemies became more and more frequent until they were constant, coming at her
from both sides of the tunnel walls at the same time. Walking through this
section of the tunnel was a terrifying, incredibly traumatizing experience for
me as Arrosha’s enemies sprang out so quickly and violently at her, with their
muffled, metallic-sounding moans, yells and screams. I took limited solace in
knowing they couldn’t hurt me, for while I wouldn’t trust Arrosha with a fake
penny, her motives were selfish and psychotic enough for me to believe that
she’d never let her enemies have the pleasure of killing me when she wanted to
save that gratification for herself.

We walked for what seemed to be an interminably
long time, the terrifying drama of Arrosha’s ex-enemies’ violent, impotent
attacks played out before me now in constant motion. I tried not to concentrate
on what lay ahead of me, and with her attention not directed upon me, she’d
released my sight so I could look wherever I wanted now. Trying to block the
frustrated violence that continued before me from my mind as much as possible,
I concentrated my attention instead on the figures, now dormant at my sides as
I passed them. They all looked so unimaginably sad. But in their sadness, some
looked hopeless while others also seethed with anger and vengeance, and yet
others had such agony written upon their faces. Except for a very few, they
were almost exclusively male. Every once in a great while we would pass a
female form and I would wonder how she wound up here. Had these women been real
enemies or just strong rivals for the affections of a man that Arrosha desired?
Every once in a while I now began to pass a few figures whose sadness seemed to
be mingled with feelings of surprise and betrayal. She’d probably entombed
these so suddenly that they hadn’t even had the time to become angry at her.

While the walk through Arrosha’s “gallery” seemed
endless, it finally did come to and end, suddenly and quickly, not gradually as
it had begun. I’d noticed that the garb of the poor souls entombed, those that
wore any clothes at all, seemed to be going further and further back in time as
we walked. At last we must finally reached and then passed the beginning of her
enemies’ list. The corridor now curved sharply to our right and then came to an
abrupt dead end, where we stopped. Knowing the repelling effects of the
necklace I wore upon Arrosha, I was tempted for a brief moment to rush toward
her within this traction field, repelling her rapidly and slamming her into
that wall. But my plan was nothing more than a fantasy, I realized as sense got
the better of me. It would never work. It wouldn’t even phase her. The only
thing that could accomplish would be to make her very angry; and she was far
mad enough without any extra help from me. My only possible escape was to save
Edmond.

“Are you ready to see your lover now?” she asked
calmly. She seemed completely unaware of what I had been thinking. I reminded
myself of Virginia’s words telling me that Arrosha was not infallible and could
be defeated. But how? Even though I knew what to do, being able to do it was
something else entirely. It seemed utterly impossible. Arrosha would never
allow me to free Edmond because it would mean defeating and destroying her.

“Of course I’m ready to see Edmond. But you’re
just going to give me another trick viewing like you did before, aren’t you?”

“No trick viewing, I assure you. This is where I
keep him. I like to think of him as a sort of a mascot. I find it helps. I’ll
be happy to show you Edmond, the real Edmond. And then if you don’t take my
offer, I’ll kill you.”

“You won’t be able to keep the amulet, even if I
do.”

“Perhaps not, but you’d still make a wonderful
trophy like my little Max, though.”

She waved her hand at the wall and once again it
dissolved. Her tricks no longer surprised me; I’d even come to expect them.
This new doorway revealed yet another room, rather narrow yet very long,
completely empty and bathed in the same dim, cold bluish-purple light as this
hallway.

“You will stay here,” she ordered. “I’ve released
you from my command, but don’t even try to run away. It would be pointless
anyway, as I’m sure you’ve already figured out. There’s no where to run, no
escape, so don’t even try it.”

“If there’s no where for me to go, why would you
care if I tried to escape?” I replied sheepishly. If she was so concerned about
it, did that mean that maybe there was a way out, that maybe there was hope
yet? I hoped her answer might reveal a clue.

“Because, you stupid woman,” she said, her mood
changing instantly, angered by my question, “I’m not in the mood for any
foolishness! In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m famished! Because of the enormous
amount of energy it’s taken me to deal with you, I’m ravenous and I don’t feel
like dealing with your meddling in my affairs any longer! Stay here until I
tell you to move!”

Her eyes flashed and her skull-like face contorted
with anger and rage. It was so fearful a sight that I shrank back, sorry that I
had tested her.

“Do I need to keep my eyes on you while I walk
away?” she threatened. I knew what she meant and the thought of watching her
head turn one hundred eighty degrees around again sent chills down my spine.

“No, no, you don’t. I’ll stay right here. I
promise.”

A wicked smirk of victory crossed her face. “Good
girl,” she said. “I knew you would listen to reason.”

I stood as still as I could, afraid now to move a
muscle, as I watched her turn and glide away in her unnatural, floating manner.

She walked about three quarters of the length of
the room, stopped and turned to me.

“Your precious Edmond is in this room, but I don’t
see him, do you?”

Of course I don’t, you
raving lunatic
, was what I really wanted to say, but instead I just
silently shook my head.

“Now where could he be? I could swear this room
was where I put him.” She began to float around the room, as if she were
looking for him. She obviously thought this was fun. Her sick, twisted
distortion of an innocent game for babies made me realize just how insane she
was. And this was the woman that wanted me to give her the means to rule the
world? But then again, being crazy and wanting to rule the world kind of went
hand in hand together, didn’t they?

“Edmond, oh, Edmond, where are you?” she continued
around the room as if searching for him. “Are you over here?” she said, walking
to the right side of the room. “Why, no,” she continued in a mocking, sing-song
tone, “You’re not. Now, let’s see, are you over here and I just didn’t notice
you?” She floated back to the spot where she had previously stood. She stopped,
putting her left hand on her hip and touching the fingers of her right hand to
her chin in mock consternation. “Now, where, oh, where could he be?” she asked
me in her saccharin-filled voice. “Could he be hiding from me? Edmond,” she
addressed the empty room. “Are you being a bad boy and hiding?” She now cupped
her ear exaggeratedly as if listening for a faint reply. “Why, no,” she said to
me again. “I don’t think he is hiding.” In pretense her face lit up and she
snapped her fingers. “I remember where I put him now! He’s cloaked!”

She waved her arm and in the otherwise empty room,
at its farthest end, stood a stasis chamber. In it slept Edmond.

“Behold!” announced Arrosha. “Here is the man of
your dreams. Here he lies in slumber, in a sleep deeper than the deepest
trance, helpless, hapless, and completely unable to help you. Here lies your
hero, Ashley. Isn’t he marvelous? Behold him in all his glory!” she announced
before she began to laugh a wicked, nasty laugh.

While I couldn’t see Edmond very clearly inside
the stasis chamber now, I remembered him from the projection, which was both
closer and clearer. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. In the
physical world, he wasn’t the hero of my dreams. Here, he was just a poor, trapped
man, unable to help himself, let alone me. Since my arrival in New Orleans,
whenever Edmond had entered my dreams, he’d always been the one that was
strong. He had very literally rescued me every time I’d needed it, although how
I didn’t really understand. Each time, he gave me the healing, the strength,
energy and courage I needed to persevere. Had it not been for his rescue,
Arrosha would have surely dissolved me down that drain in the bathroom floor.
But he couldn’t rescue me here. Here, it was my turn to rescue him. This was
it, then, the reason I’d been pulled into this nightmare in the first place. It
was nitty-gritty time, the point of this entire quest and now it was my turn to
have to be the hero.

The little dragon on the necklace stirred slightly
in agreement that it was now getting close to the time for me to act. Every
short, tentative step I took forward would cause its little tail to flick,
letting me know that I was on the right track. Edmond had told me I’d have to
get close enough to the stasis chamber to throw the necklace toward him, so
close that the little dragon amulet would be able to do its thing. I’d have to
hit the chamber, or come darn close to hitting it, at least, before that would
work. But I was at the other side of the long, long room right now, much too
far from Edmond’s chamber. I would have to get a lot closer yet, but I couldn’t
see how that was going to happen with Arrosha standing so near by, watching me
like a hawk; and I knew from my experience at the tower that she didn’t have to
be close to me in order to stop me.

If my throw failed and I didn’t hit my mark, the
amulet would just return to its box after a few seconds and this game would
start again from scratch with someone new. It was important that I succeeded because
if I didn’t, she would kill me in way I didn’t want even to think about. My
failure might not be the end of the game, but it sure would be the end of me.
Between Edmond’s energy transfers and the essence improvements, I felt as if
I’d been an okay player up to this point, but right now was where the rubber
met the road and I was afraid that I was going to let him down. My heart sank
deeply as I looked at him, prisoner of the stasis chamber for so very long, and
I realized, more surely than ever, that he had picked the wrong person to do
this. It seems I’d said that to myself a lot since I’d gotten sucked into this
game, but I was never more certain of it than I was now. A magic potion for
strong, sure aim and accuracy was what I needed to complete this task.

I had to stop thinking this way, for these
thoughts were putting me into a funk that I couldn’t afford. It was time for me
to do my part. I judged my distance from the chamber carefully. It was far, way
too far to throw. If I could just get nearer to Edmond, at least I’d be close
enough for my pitch to stand a chance.

“I told you that I would give you one more
opportunity to avoid a painful, messy death by handing the amulet over to me
willingly,” she said, breaking my concentration. “Try not think of this as
coercion. The deal I made you in earlier in the tower room still stands if you
hand it over. If not, it’s merely a simple statement of fact that your
alternative will not be either pleasant or neat.”

I shook my head no. I’d made a promise to Edmond
and felt bound to keep it. Eventually, I’d be dead and beyond her tortures, but
if I gave in, I was certain that despite her promises, the best outcome would
be that I’d wind up like Max and she would torment me into perpetuity.

“No? Well, that proves that you are more stupid
than I thought. In that case, then, let’s assess this situation, shall we?” she
said in her oiliest, most saccharine tone. “Over here,” she motioned to the
stasis chamber as if it were an appliance on a TV game show, “we have your
hero, your knight in shining armor, your, dare I say it, paramour. Here he
sleeps, waiting to be released, to be rescued, to be freed. And you,” she said,
motioning to me now as if I were yet another of the game show’s prizes, “are
over here, in the very same room, just on the other side of it, in fact,
waiting to rescue him, wanting him freed so you can feel his big, manly arms
around you, so you can feel his strong caress, his hot, trembling lips upon
your own, his heart beat against your breast. Now, I’ve known women go to great
lengths to get a man, darling child, but considering what you’ve gone through
to get him, well, all I can say is that you must surely be the most desperate
woman I’ve ever met. Why, you’re just a poor little Miss Lonelyheart, aren’t
you?”

“I’ve gone through all of this because I got
trapped in this game and couldn’t get out and you know that.” My answer was
almost a low growl. She’d hit a nerve and my hatred of her now overrode my
fear.

“Tell yourself whatever you need to, dearie,” she
said dismissively. “Nevertheless, over here you are and over there he is,
together at last, separated only by the length of this room. So close, so very
close. And you have about your neck the means to free him and to make your most
cherished romantic dreams come true. All you have to do is take off the
necklace, throw it at the chamber, hit it and he will be free. Fail to do so
and he remains where he is, waiting for someone else to take the chance,
another woman, perhaps, younger, prettier, more desirable than yourself. Go
ahead dear, give it your best shot.”

She knew I was too far from the chamber to hit it.
No average person, let alone me, would ever be able to. She was just trying to
goad me into blowing my only chance. No matter how slim it was, I couldn’t
allow that.

“You just want another opportunity to get your
hands on the amulet,” I said.

“Are you really that stupid or did Edmond fail to
mention to you that it is not possible for me to obtain it that way? How
thoughtless of him.”

I knew she was being disingenuous, for she’d
played this game for so long that she knew darn well that he had told me the
rules.

“The only way I can obtain the amulet is for you
to give it to me willingly via one of my minions. I know I told you that
before. How many times do I have to keep telling you? The amulet is a product
of such an advanced technology that you could never begin to understand it. It
senses intent, you stupid woman!” she yelled, beginning to get angry. “If I had
one of my people take it from you or intercept it when you throw it, or if it
just falls on the floor when you miss, all it will do is return to its box in
just a matter of minutes and then it will be useless to me.”

“Won’t it just return to the box anyway if I gave
willingly?”

“No!” She yelled. “Then the box would be called to
it and they would both be mine forever. It’s smart. Apparently, a lot smarter
than you are! Once I have both of the pieces in my possession, I can stop
playing this infernal game forever and become great once again, unrestrained by
the distraction of the one thing that can destroy me, the one thing that is now
in the hands of those who want to murder me! Woman, that you even still say
these things means that you must be the thickest creature I’ve ever encountered
in this game. How did you get this far?”

For once she wasn’t getting angry, she was getting
frustrated. I was hoping that agitation would make her sloppy and that if she
got sloppy, I could get closer to the chamber.

She faced the wall and began to rant now, an
insane rant that became unintelligible as it seemed to grow into indignant
rage. Tentatively, I put one foot out and walked forward as silently and slowly
as I could. She seemed not to notice and since she was looking elsewhere, I did
it again. This plan was crazy, I knew, but then so was she. Maybe, just maybe,
I could get close enough to hit the stasis chamber. Her ranting had now turned
into a mad screaming which seemed to be aimed more at the walls than at me. She
was so preoccupied that not only did she not turn around to me, she thankfully
did not even turn her head backwards to check on me, so I grew bold and with a
sudden spurt of energy, burst out into a full run at top speed.

This was it, I was getting closer, I was coming up
to my moment of truth. Arrosha was still facing the other way, still ignoring
me, still muttering her unintelligible babblings at various levels of volume.
If only her attention could stay diverted for a few more seconds, I would make
it.

The dragon now moved excitedly at my neck, urging
me on, increasing my speed, tugging me toward Edmond. I was making good
headway. I was still too far away, but in just a few more yards, maybe, just
maybe, I could do this. I judged my distance from the chamber and realized that
I only had about four or five more yards or so left to go before I would feel
confident enough in my ability to hit my target. Arrosha’s ravings seemed to be
losing some steam, so I picked up my pace and using all the reserves I had, ran
even faster. I felt the now-familiar, gentle motion at my upper chest as the
little dragon began to stir more and I again felt its warmth flow into me. The
warmth then turned into an energy so strong that I was running harder and
faster than I had ever run in my entire life.

The dragon began to move around excitedly and to
flick its little tail impatiently. Edmond said it would let me know when it was
time. Its fluttering wings now told me that the little dragon was anxious to be
released. All of these thoughts flashed through my mind at lightning speed as I
reached up to grasp the amulet’s chain to tear it off and break the clasp,
knowing that the necklace would make that easy. I also knew this was the best
and the last chance I was ever going to get.

Then, in the middle of my blossoming hope and
optimism, it happened. When I put my foot down, instead of the hard floor that
had been there just a second ago, there was mush. It threw me off balance, but
when I tried to regain my stability, the floor turned to quicksand, wrapping
itself around my feet. When I looked down, I watched helplessly in horror as
the metallic floor itself came to life and grew upward rapidly, encasing both
of my legs to the thigh before it hardened. I was inextricably trapped now, a
prisoner of the very floor itself. As in a nightmare, the section of the floor
upon which I stood slid backward rapidly, as the room expanded, stretching out
before me as if it were made of elastic. Helpless, I watched in shock as Edmond
and his freedom rapidly slipped away. I found myself back where I had started,
at the far end of the room. I was shocked and confused. How could Arrosha work
so effectively against me when I wore the necklace with its amulet? As when
she’d thrown me off the tower, I thought it was against the rules of the game.
This wasn’t fair. After all, I’d had nothing of hers to drink, taken no potion
to make me vulnerable.

Arrosha’s shrill and ugly laughter rang in my
ears. “Oh, my dear,” she said through her chilling laughter, “You certainly are
so much fun to play with. If I didn’t have my heart set upon killing you, I’d
keep you around for my entertainment. You’d be even better sport than Max.”

Trying hard to catch my breath, I scowled at her
now-hideous, laughing face. She looked far worse than she had earlier, currently
resembling the decomposing corpse of the walking dead. However, instead of
being frightened of her now, I was repulsed, a hatred for her bubbling up
inside of me that tasted like bile. I choked it down.

“Now that your latest little act of rebellion is
behind you,” she said coldly, “would you like continue?”

I glared at her, determined that while I might not
be able to free Edmond, I would at least try. I simply couldn’t go down without
giving it a shot. I knew now that the amulet was capable of flight when close
to its mate, and realizing there would be no more chances, and I reached up one
more time to rip it off my neck, hoping beyond hope that perhaps it could
somehow make its way to Edmond without me. Arrosha began ranting at the walls
once more, babbling incoherently. I guessed her babbling was simply to throw
off my concentration, but I was very wrong.

She had anticipated my actions, for just before my
hand reached the necklace chain, a loud, unholy shriek sounded from the floor
and on either side of me the ground ripped open violently as two metallicized
figures burst out. I screamed loudly as they grabbed me by the wrists before
sinking back down into the earth with only one arm exposed apiece, arms of
metal that now held my wrists shackled at my sides, clutched immovably in their
grips. I was now shocked beyond screaming and a dead silence filled the air,
broken only by my labored breathing as I struggled uselessly against this
prison.

A cold, shrill sound, more of a cackle than a
laugh, burst forth, cracking the air as if were a crystal goblet. I looked up
and over at Arrosha. Her body was still facing the wall away from me. Her head
was not.

“You didn’t really think that I would let you get
away with that, did you? ‘Let’s try to pull one over on the lunatic while she’s
raving at the walls’? You stupid fool. Those weren’t ravings, those were
incantations!” She looked me up and down, “They worked quite well as usual, I
must say!”

She glided over to me as closely as she could, her
head still on backwards, her eyes blazing with insanity, two round, red glowing
orbs in a face that was a now nothing more now than an ugly skull with a layer
of decaying skin stretched tightly over parts of it, coming off in pieces
elsewhere.