Trial and Tribulation Copyright 1997 by Renee a.k.a. Alethea All "NiGHTS" characters and related indica mentioned herein are copyright and TM by one or more of the following: Sega Enterprises, and/or Sega of America. Used without permission Etienne or "Eti" and related characters and indica, copyright Jeanette Merrell. Used without permission Dunamis, Alethea, Frost, Aldwyn, Nettle, Tarragon, Salpinx, Rhian, Talitha, and related characters and indica, copyright Renee. This document may be freely distributed as long as it is not modified in any way. Trial and Tribulation (Part 11) At first, everything was dark. Their eyes adjusted somewhat, but there simply wasn't any light. Alethea couldn't see anything. Then slowly, small fluorescent plants started glowing. The light wasn't very bright; however, it did make enough light that one could vaguely see. " Now what?" " There's another exit on the other side of the crypt. We'll leave out of that side, but at the moment, we just give them time to catch up and leave." " We have got to get Nights back to the base. I'm going to have to cauterize this injury, and he needs to be able to rest. It's freezing in here." *** Salpinx stirred slightly, and Tarragon and Nettle walked over to the bed where he was lying. They had no other patients in bad enough condition to stay in the infirmary at the moment, which helped to keep this incident from circulating all over the castle. Taking prisoners to the infirmary was very unusual. Salpinx eyes flickered open and he looked up at the 'maren and 'maren cat. " I remember the cell being a lot darker and uncomfortable than this." Salpinx clinched his teeth and groaned. " Don't try to move. Most of your ribs on your right side are broken, as is your right arm and shoulder." Salpinx sighed and flinched again. " You must have gotten them angry. I don't normally see prisoners." " Believe me, it doesn't take much." " Just try to rest." " Why bother; they're going to kill me anyway." Nettle glanced at the floor. He was right. *** Aldwyn tore through the branches, heedless as to where he was going. Snow on top of the branches Aldwyn knocked out of the way flew in his face, and he had to keep blinking it out of his eyes. Jackle was hot on his trail, and seemed to have some how pulled ahead of everyone else. As mad as Jackle was at Aldwyn, that wasn't surprising. The sound of rushing water somewhere ahead began to cover the sounds of the troops pursuing him. Rhian stared over his shoulder horrified. Clawz was amazed that Jackle could move so quickly. He would never have suspected that Jackle was capable of such speed when flying. What puzzled Clawz was why he was chasing his own spy? Jackle trailed Aldwyn with a vengeance. He was not going to let Aldwyn escape again. Aldwyn flew out of the trees. He found that he had made it to a fast moving river that ended in rather large waterfall. Massive boulders littered the ground every where. He glanced at Rhian. She couldn't run, walk, or fly fast enough to get away if she could do any of those at all now, and he hated to drag her through the forest sick and injured. He dived behind a huge clump of boulders and sather down. " Wait here, and don't let them see or hear you." Rhain stared at him. " Wait! Don't leave me here alone!" Aldwyn was already gone and Rhian peered around the boulder. He was heading down stream toward the waterfall in plain sight. Jackle burst through the trees followed by several Minions, all of which immediately caught sight of Aldwyn. She cringed against the boulder and watched with shock. Puffy's group came flying out of the woods, but there was no sign of Clawz's group. Several Minions caught up with Aldwyn and he kicked at the one nearest him. All at once, several Minions came out of the woods, flying at top speed, and ran straight into Aldwyn. Aldwyn fell into the river, and the dazed Minions managed to join the others. Rhian stared in horror as Aldwyn vanished under water. She suddenly noticed how blurry everything had become. Rhian sank back against the boulder. The last thing she saw was Aldwyn come to the surface and go over the edge of the waterfall. *** Gulpo harried his troops to find any sign of the rebels they had been pursuing. It simply appeared that they had vanished. Gulpo sighed. If the others had stayed instead of taking off after two bedraggled, tired rebels they might have actually caught Nights. Now however, the chance of that happening was rapidly getting slimmer. The longer they waited for clues, which the others could help them find, the farther Nights and the other rebels could run. Gulpo spotted a dozing Party and whacked it on the head with his fin. The Party toppled to the ground and fluttered upward in alarm. " Get back over there and help the others look!" The Party nodded agitatedly and hurried over to where the others were looking. " We don't see anything, sir. Not a broken limb, twig, foot prints, or blood, NOTHING!" Gulpo, who was already impatient, finally got sick of waiting. " Let's go this way. We might as well. The others are wasting too much time. We're going to loose track of him." *Half an hour later* Talitha paced and stared out at the snow-covered ground. She tapped her fingers nervously against the wall of the building. The strike force that had been sent after Nights and Salpinx should have come back by now. She spotted a small Snip perched on a nearby rock. Talitha grinned and crept along the ground toward him. The Snip turned around, squealed at her and ran as fast as it could. Talitha sailed through the air and pounced on him. Frost shrieked at her. " STOP IT! DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" " Awww." She let go of Frost, who stood up and shook the snow off of him. Talitha had a hard time not seeing Frost as a fuzzy, cute, adorable being, which, to say the least, got on his nerves. She tried to avoid treating him that way, but he was just so cute and cuddly looking that it was hard. Pouncing, however, was something she did with almost everyone. " Have others gotten back yet? I know the most of them have, but Alethea, Dunamis, Aldwyn, Salpinx, and Nights I haven't seen." "I don't know." " They should be back by now." " I'm going for a walk. If I see them I'll let you know." " Well since they'll be on their way back that wont do much good." Branches rustled and Talitha jumped. Dunamis, Alethea, and Nights stumbled from the surrounding forest. All of the rebels who saw them flew toward them. Dunamis and Alethea sank down on their knees, panting, and Talitha hurried over to them and picked Nights up. The other two were tired enough as it was without having to carry him any more. Alethea got up first and headed to the infirmary amid the chattering of the other members of the Nightopian army. She and Talitha had to finish patching up Nights, while Dunamis was left to answer the onslaught of questions from the troops. All of them were concerned about Nights. If had not been Nights, but another 'maren instead, it wouldn't have mattered; they still would be just as concerned. That was something that the Nightmaren army had never had, and never would have. Dunamis tried his best to stay awake, but he noticed how hard it was becoming to keep his eyes opened. They were almost closing by themselves. After not being able to sleep hardly at all in the cold Nightmaren desert, walking several miles (which 'maren are very unaccustomed to doing.), and dragging Nights around, he was exhausted. Several troops pulled him up and helped him out of the snow that was piling up around him.