Gardan pushed the boys forward, and the guards moved the mules to the center of the cavern. They quickly staked the two mules down andi formed a circle around the frantic animals. Weapons were drawn. Gardan placed himself before the two boys, forcing them back near the mules. Both had swords out, but held them uncertainly. Tomas could feel his heart pound, and Pug was bathed in cold sweat. The terror that gripped him had not increased since Dolgan had put a name to it, but it had not lessened either.
They heard the sharp hiss of intaken breath and looked to the right. Before the soldier who had made the sound, a figure loomed out of the darkness: a shifting man-shape, darker blackness against the black, with two glowing, red-coal lights where eyes should be.
Dolgan shouted, “Keep close, and guard your neighbor. You can’t kill it, but they like not the feel of cold iron. Don’t let it touch you, for it’ll draw your life from your body. It is how they feed.”
It approached them slowly, as if having no need to hurry. It stopped for a moment, as if inspecting the defense before it.
The wraith let out another low, long moan, sounding like all the terror and hopelessness of the world given voice. Suddenly one of the guards struck downward, slashing at the wraith. A shrill moan erupted from the creature when the sword hit, and cold blue fire danced along the blade for a moment. The creature shrank away, then with sudden speed struck out at the guard. An armlike shadow extended from its body, and the guard shrieked as he crumpled to the ground.
The mules broke, pulling up stakes, terrified by the presence of the wraith. Guards were knocked to the ground, and confusion reigned. Pug lost sight of the wraith for a moment, being more concerned with flying hooves. As the mules kicked, Pug found himself dodging through the melee. He heard Kulgan’s voice behind him and saw the magician standing next to Prince Arutha. “Stand close, all of you,” the magician commanded. Obeying, Pug closed to Kulgan with the others as the scream of another guard echoed through the gallery Within a moment a great cloud of white smoke began to appear around them, issuing from Kulgan’s body. “We must leave the mules,” said the magician “The undead will not enter the smoke, but I cannot keep it together long or walk far. We must escape now!”
Dolgan pointed to a tunnel, on the other side of the cavern from where they had entered. “That’s the way we must go.” Keeping close together, the group started toward the tunnel while a terrified bray sounded. Bodies lay on the floor: the two mules as well as the fallen guards. Dropped torches flickered, giving the scene a nightmarish quality, as the black shape closed upon the party. Reaching the edge of the smoke, it recoiled from its touch. It ranged about the edge, unable or unwilling to enter the white smoke.
Pug looked past the creature, and the pit of his stomach churned.
Clearly standing in the light of a torch held in his hand was Tomas, behind the creature. Tomas looked helplessly past the wraith at Pug and the escaping party. “Tomas!” ripped from Pug’s throat, followed by a sob.
The party halted for a brief second, and Dolgan said, “We can’t stop. We’d all perish for the sake of the boy. We must press on.” A firm hand clutched at Pug’s shoulder as he started forward to aid his friend. He looked back and saw that it was Gardan holding him. “We must leave him, Pug,” he said, a grim expression on his ebony face. “Tomas is a soldier. He understands.” Pug was pulled along helplessly. He saw the wraith follow along for a moment, then stop and turn toward Tomas.
Whether alerted by Pug’s cries or by some evil sense, the undead creature started toward Tomas, slowly stalking him. The boy hesitated, then spun and ran to another tunnel. The wraith shrieked and started after him. Pug saw the glow of Tomas’s torch disappear down the tunnel, then flicker into blackness.
Tomas saw the pained expression on Pug’s face as Gardan pulled his friend away. When the mules had broken, he had dodged away from the others and now found himself separated from them. He looked for a way to circle around the wraith, but it was too close to the passage his companions were taking. As Kulgan and the others escaped up the tunnel, Tomas saw the wraith turn toward him. It started to approach, and he hesitated a moment, then ran toward a different tunnel.