Trial and Tribulation Copyright 1997 Renee a.k.a. Alethea All "NiGHTS" characters and related indica mentioned herein copyright and TM by one or more of the following: Sega Enterprises and/or Sega of America Used without permission Etienne and related characters and indica copyright Jeanette Merrell Used without permission Alethea, Dunamis, Frost, Aldwyn, Rhian, Talitha, Nettle, Tarragon, Salpinx, 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 7) Nettle walked to yet another door, unlocked it, and opened it. This particular cell was empty. She closed the door and sighed apathetically. " This could take hours, which we don't have." " Well this certainly wasn't my bright idea." Nettle scowled at Tarragon. He could be very annoying at times like this. The 'maren cat's ears abruptly straitened and he tensed. " What?" Tarragon waved for her to be quiet and turned toward the entrance to the prison. " Someone's coming." Nettle dived into the empty cell and partly closed the door. Tarragon sprang up toward the ceiling and clung to one of the wooden rafters in the prison. A pair of 'maren walked nervously into the prison. Dunamis peered around the corner and walked into the prison with Alethea behind him. " If he's alive and here at all, he'll be in the prison." " What about Salpinx? If we leave him they'll kill him." " We can't do anything about Salpinx now. There are too many guards around him. Let's just get Nights out of here if we can, then we'll see what can be done about Salpinx." Before either 'maren had time to go further, a nine and a half foot tall 'maren cat dropped from the rafters, and landed on Dunamis. Dunamis hit the stone floor with a thud, and lay underneath the 'maren cat. Alethea pulled her sword out. The 'maren cat hissed and was about to jump at her when Nettle brought and end to the fight. " Stop!" Both Tarragon and Alethea looked at her. " Get off of him, Tarragon." He obeyed her quickly and glared at Alethea. She rushed over to Dunamis. " Are you hurt? Can you sit up?" Dunamis looked over at the cat and the other 'maren. " I think so....oooh, maybe not. I think he flattened my lungs." Dunamis sat up carefully. " My back is going to be a mess tomorrow." The two of them looked at the other two beings. " You're looking for General Nights?" Alethea frowned and looked past the 'maren at a small bundle of supplies. " Yes. How badly is he hurt?" " We haven't found him yet. We don't exactly have permission to be doing this, but from what I saw of him he's in pretty bad shape." *** The strong, bright light was nearly blinding, and she winced, though for more than that reason. She felt like one big bruise. The 'maren sat up tediously and looked around. She was in a tall, beautiful forest. Many of the trees had lost their leaves and were lightly dusted in snow, and small patches of snow covered the ground. The sight of so many trees in one place was awe-inspiring. She had never seen so many before. She barely took time to look at them. Her mind raced trying to decide what had happened. She didn't know how she had gotten here. Where was here? " They must be looking for me! I have to get out of here!" She tried to stand up and fell down again. A sharp pain in her leg was breath taking. She looked down at her leg. *** Nights was somewhere between being awake and unconscious when the door to his cell opened. He didn't bother opening his eyes. It was a fairly simple guess that this was one of the guards. " Nights?" It was almost a whisper, but Nights still recognized the voice. He smiled and opened his eyes. " Can you hear me? Are you awake?" Nights turned his head and looked at Alethea. " How nice of you to visit." The others walked inside the cell, and Alethea bent down beside him, trying very hard not to start crying. " This is very, very bad. The wound is still bleeding, and this happened yesterday; it's not just bleeding a little either. How did this happen?" Nettle glanced down at him and answered Alethea's question. " An archer." " One with very good aim, much closer and I wouldn't want to move him at all." Alethea mumbled, blinking a few stray tears. " Well, everyone else was getting bashed; I was beginning to feel a little left out." Nights winced abruptly in pain. " Enough with the humor." " You must be in agony. I was rather expecting that." Alethea looked at Nettle. " Some help would be appreciated." *** Aldwyn grinned and flew back towards the clearing where he had left the 'maren. Gaos were difficult to find and even harder to fight. He sighed and flew into the clearing, then stopped and stared down at the ground. The 'maren was gone. He looked around frantically. There was no telling where she might be. " Did they find her! Where could she be!" His mind raced worriedly. *** Salpinx was jostled roughly by the guards holding his arms. The tall heavy doors swung open, and the guards marched him into wizeman's throne room. Salpinx felt like he had walked into a wall of ice. The high officials turned and watched as Salpinx stepped into the room. He kept looking strait ahead and paid no attention to them. Salpinx was surprised that he was not frightened; he felt an unexplainable calmness and peace that was miraculous. He should be terrified. He knew that he was probably going to be killed. Gillwing watched Salpinx walk into the room surrounded by guards. He knew Salpinx; in fact, he used to be under Salpinx, that was until he defected. Then he was given Salpinx's position. Salpinx had been one of the high officials. Now however, Salpinx was one of the enemy, and everyone in the room knew what was going to happen to him. After all, this was not a trial; it was an interrogation. Gillwing felt sorry for him. Salpinx was reasonable and, although he often appeared cold, kind.He had been shocked when he learned that Salpinx had left. Most of the officials had been. Many of them would not dream of giving up their positions. (No pun intended:) He knew Salpinx must know what was going to happen to himself. Still Gillwing, and all the officials, were curious as to how Salpinx would respond. The two guards that were escorting Salpinx stopped, with Salpinx between them. Wizeman glower at him, eyes blazing. " Salpinx," wizeman's voice had a restrained fury in it, " what were you doing here in Nightmare?"