“Aylah look,” said Diago in a sober voice pointing toward the circlet.

  Aylah looked around, trying to see what Diago was seeing, but to no avail.

  “What? Is it the beast? What am I supposed to see?” She asked

  Diago shook himself free of his stare and looked at Aylah, “That right there, floating at the bottom of that tree root…top of the tree root? That’s not the point. It’s there! Right there! That has to be why we are here!”

  Aylah took careful note of Diago’s excitement. Trying not to get spotted by that demon cyclops, Aylah craned her head above the boulder toward the place Diago had described, but once again, nothing.

  Growing concerned, Aylah said, “Diago, that thing must be playing a trick on you.

  It’s a lure of some kind, like that feeling we get when its weird hair starts floating”

  Diago scratched his head, “Maybe…but then shouldn’t you see it too? Why would it just be me?”

  Aylah had no response to that, so instead she tried to change the subject, “Maybe what we are supposed to be looking for is in one of these tunnels, we should try to find-”

  Diago interrupted, “look you have to believe me, there is a head thing over there floating under the tree root.”

  “…a head thing?”

  “Yes! Like one of those head things that’s not a crown…it’s smaller?”

  “Like a- oh what is it called?…a headband?”

  “No, no, it’s more… official-sounding than that? Besides headbands are like strings and-”

  “Yes I know, I’m just offering suggestions”

  While they were busy trying to find the right word to call Diago’s floating object, the enemy had become aware of their location and had slowly crept up on them as silent as an owl’s flight. While Diago and Aylah argued over the word that had escaped them both, the one-eyed demon from below the earth had risen above them no less than twenty feet without their notice. Its mouth hung open. A great droplet of slobber dripped from the maw of the hungry dungeon dweller directly onto Diago. They both froze. Neither dared to move underneath the oppressive weight of this creature's presence.

  Feeling a tug in his gut, Diago yelled, “SCATTER!”

  Both fled in opposite directions, leaving the beast to crash into the rock behind them. Its spade-like appendages ripped into the stone, keeping the creature's head from any harm. Stone chunks flew and dust spread as the creatures burrowed through the hard surface faster than Diago would have thought possible. Its head tore through the ground beneath his feet, thrusting him into the air, tumbling heel over head. He made contact with a root, the force of his collision causing it to splinter and sending him into a daze. He was vaguely aware of Aylah’s voice calling out to him and the sound of a bowstring. The twang was followed by the bellow of the wicked beast. Quick as a whip, the creature turned on Aylah. Had she been expecting anything different, she would have met her end then and there, but she had started moving the moment after she loosed her arrow. The creature’s head once again disappeared into the stone.

  “Get up Sunburn!” Aylah cried.

  Diago stirred and rubbed his head. The body of the creature, whose true length had still not yet been seen, was still moving where its head had been moments ago when it was above Diago.

  “How long is this thing!?” Diago cried out

  “Move now, questions later!” Aylah yelled just before the revolting head of the one-eyed villain tore through a particularly bright deposit of Tarrin stone next to Aylah. The creature's head missed Aylah by a matter of inches, but one of its teeth scratched against her back. Aylah shrieked in pain as her back arched in response to the newly acquired wound.

  Diago saw the incident, heard Aylah’s scream, and immediately sprang into action. He rushed forward toward the moving body in front of him and jumped. Using the blade of his Kurigan he stabbed into the creature’s carapace. It was firm, but thankfully the blade made enough of an impact to create a good handhold. Diago was then sent whirling along in the direction the head was leading. The head had disappeared again after missing Aylah And had yet to resurface. Diago held tight as the body section he was on passed through stone. He was thankful that the tunnel was a good deal larger than the beast's body. He found his footing and began running along the moving body, careful not to lose balance in the shifts and turns it made. He made it through to where Aylah had been hit. He was going to jump off to her aid, but she was no longer there. She had moved toward the center of the cavern where a large boulder elevated her and gave her a full view of the space. Her pain was apparent on her face, but she was too focused on the battle to let something as menial as pain hinder her.

  Suddenly the head resurfaced near to where the glowing Helm in the form of a simple circlet hovered. Its tendrils flared as it surveyed the ground. The drawing feeling and the quick gaze of the beast caused Aylah to miss the arrow she had trained on the creature fractions of a second after it had appeared. The feeling almost caused Diago to lose a step, which would have sent him plummeting toward the ground at a rapid pace. The beast’s eye landed on Diago. It was neigh impossible to read any emotion into the lidless, pale eye, but Diago’s gut churned and he knew that an intense and cunning hatred poured was the prevailing emotion in the wild animal. The beast’s head dove toward the ground again, creating an arch of its great, shelled body nearby to the Helm. Diago knew this was his best chance. He sprinted along the creature’s length, feeling much like one does when swimming with the flow of a rushing current, only he was on his feet.

  He yelled out to Aylah, “Cover me!”

  “What are you doing?” She asked as she notched another arrow, standing at the ready for the beast's head to pop out again.

  Diago did not get the chance to respond as he had quickly passed into one of the newly formed tunnels. The body below him turned and dipped in unpredictable ways and Diago was barely able to see. At one point he began to slide down a steep decline, only to find himself carried upward just as sharp.

  This was it. This must be where the body arches. He knew it. He stabbed into the carapace to hold his place on the incline. Just as the body below him began to bend into the shape he was anticipating, he saw his goal, the glowing shape of a circlet. He stood, yanked the knife free, bellowed a battle cry, and took two steps before leaping forward.

  Just as his foot left the ground, the head of the monstrous cave dweller crashed through the rock and stone. Diago felt like he was processing everything in slow motion. He felt the weightlessness. He reached for his goal, compelled by the drive given him by the Fades. He also felt the impending doom of the many fanged mouth opened wide to invite him inside where pain would be his only experience thereafter. The great pale eye trained on Diago boiled with malice and satisfaction at the end of the trespasser to his cave.

  At least it boiled with satisfaction at first, just before an arrow lodged itself in the center of the white iris.

  The wound caused the creature’s head to arch back and the cry that tore through its great throat caused the walls to crack. Meanwhile, Diago hurled through the air. He gripped tightly to the circlet with one hand and throwing his Kurigan with the other. The knife point lodge itself in the root that hung like an inverted tree above him. Diago prayed that it would be enough to hold him. It wasn’t.

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  He gripped the end of the rope with all his might. The moment it was pulled tight, he felt his momentum halt for just a moment before it began to build anew. However, that one halt in his fall was likely what kept his back from breaking or worse. He braced and then crashed to the stone floor with a cry of pain and a horrible feeling in his left shoulder.

  For a moment he wondered if he had lost his arm entirely, but when he looked it was still there, just severely dislocated. His arm throbbed while also feeling hollow, that void being filled with a pulsing agony. He groaned and turned to his uninjured side.

  “Diago!” Aylah’s voice sounded far off, but when it repeated, it was right by his side, “Diago! Thank goodness. What’s wrong- oh…okay. Listen to me okay? This is going to hurt, but it’ll feel better right after.”

  Diago’s head turned to look her in the eye, he smirked in a pained kind of way, “just put it back in, will you?”

  Aylah gave a sympathetic smile. She gently grabbed his hand and with her other hand gripped his arm. She maneuvered it into shape. She was right, it hurt. Diago groaned in pain until the moment when his muscles contracted and sent the ball joint of his shoulder back into place. An immediate rush of relief poured from his shoulder to his brain and back. He breathed deeply and sighed.

  “Are you alright?” Aylah asked after she gave him a second to experience the resetting shoulder.

  “I think so… Wait-” Diago winced as she shot up, “Are you okay? I saw you get hit”

  Aylah’s face contorted as she turned her back to him. It was bad. Not so bad as he feared, but bad enough to know that they needed to leave this place as soon as they could.

  “We have to get out of here. Where is the- the thing?” Diago asked.

  They both turned to watch the bottom end of the creature finally reveal itself. They watched as the tail followed the rest of the body until it too disappeared into a tunnel at the far end of the cavern where the head must have retreated after being struck.

  They sat in silence. Unsure if they should trust the silence or let the relief begin to spread. Finally, they relaxed. Aylah winced as she stood, her knees buckled. Diago caught her weight with his good arm. It still sent a shot of pain through his left arm, but he refused to let that show on his face. He walked her over to a rock where he lay her against it, discovering a slight limp in his right leg as he did. He took her battered cloak and ripped it. He grabbed a couple well well-sized Tarrin stone pieces and wrapped them in the cloak. He hobbled back to Aylah and wrapped the cloak tightly against her back. She groaned at first, but a relieved sigh soon followed. She thanked Diago.

  “No. Thank you Tantoos…I would have been a goner if you hadn’t shot that thing when you did,” the sincerity in his voice drew Aylah’s eyes to Diago’s

  They shared that moment before Aylah smiled, “You know, I seem to remember saying you had my back. I think I’ll ask Thatch to watch it from here on out, you aren’t so good at it”

  She smirked at him. Diago couldn’t help but chuckle, “I’ll make it up to you somehow”

  Aylah nodded, “You can start by telling me what you were doing on that thing. I swear if you say you just wanted a ride I will-”

  “I was going after this” Diago interrupted holding up the circlet

  Aylah’s entire being froze more stiffly than the stones tied to her back. She definitely saw it now.

  “Is-…is that-…is that the-? But it doesn’t look like a-”

  As she spoke the circlet began to hover again. As it floated there just above Diago’s right hand it looked like the circlet began to melt and expand. Tendrils of molten metal twisted together like vines until they wove into a solid whole. When the morphing had completed, Diago held in his hand a bright gold Helm that was accented with green plating.

  The Helm’s golden glow fought and drove back the dim blue light of Tarrin stone and created and area of light around Aylah and Diago. The Helm was a complete head covering and to Diago it looked like it would fit him perfectly. So much so that his hand began to drift toward his head.

  Aylah reached out and snatched it.

  “Hey!” Diago protested

  Aylah shot an angry glare at Diago, “Remember what I said? It goes to me!”

  Aylah brought the Helm down on her head. The moment it touched her scalp.

  Aylah went rigid.

  “Aylah!…Aylah?” At first, Diago was angry, but then he grew concerned. Aylah began to shake and her breathing went heavy and she began to groan and moan. Diago’s instincts told him that something was very wrong.

  “Aylah, take it off”

  She did not reply, she seemed lost behind the mask of the Helm. Then she screamed. She dropped to the floor writhing. She marked around so much that Diago was unable to restrain her.

  “Take it off! TAKE IT OFF!” She began to cry.

  It took a pained struggle, but Diago was finally able to get hold of her and yank the Helm from her head. She clutched her head and was breathing heavy and saying something to herself over and over. When he leaned in, her whispering had subsided. She trembled. He gingerly took hold of her shoulder and propped her up.

  “You okay Tantoos?” Diago asked.

  She shook her head, “I don’t know what happened. The moment I put it on, I felt like it was ripping through my head. It started pushing me away and pulling me in. It’s like my mind was the rope in a tugging match, only someone started cutting it with a dull blade.”

  Diago looked at the Helm. It had ceased hovering and glowing, but it still looked magnificent in the blue light of the Tarrin cave. He looked back at Aylah who was curled up, recovering from the attack on her mind. A battle she was growing ever tired of fighting. Diago looked back again to the Helm.

  The eye holes on the ornate face shield seemed to stare at him knowingly. It beckoned to him to don it. Mindlessly, his hand drifted toward this mighty gift of Eeshak to the king of Eldarin…to his…to Eton.

  Diago grabbed the Helm and placed it on his head. Aylah saw only at the last minute and flinched, “Diago, no!”

  As soon as the Helm rested on his head, it felt like threads of water coursed their way through Diago’s mind and wrapped around his psyche. For the first time, this interference of mind felt like a boon. It felt inviting. The cool refreshing water-like threads tied themselves to Diago and then began to warm. This warmth spread through his mind and made him feel like he had just drank a gallon of cold cream cider. He felt like his eyes were fresher than they had ever been and his mind felt light, but the kind of lightness one experiences from a well-balanced sword. His mind was at ease and sharp.

  He stood. Though his body was in pain, his mind was unaffected and his thoughts were clear. Something else though. He could see more. He could feel more. His perspective on his surroundings had doubled- no, tripled- no…he couldn’t tell how much more. He felt aware and like that awareness brought understanding and precision.

  It was a lot to take in. So much, that a small part of him began to feel overwhelmed, but then it was like the Helm responded to that feeling and brought his perspective back to its original state. Curious, he attempted to expand his awareness again. It was like the Helm had become a muscle he could flex when called upon.

  He laughed. This was the most amazing thing he had ever felt.

  “Why aren’t you in pain?”

  Diago had a guess, but he didn’t want to share. So, instead, he shrugged and explained a little of what he felt. Aylah visually grew irritated, but let him speak till he was finished.

  “Why you?”

  Diago was about to answer, but then he realized it sounded like she was asking herself. Like she meant to say, “Why not me?”

  An awkward silence reigned for a time while Aylah questioned much and answered little and Diago stood there wondering what to say. Finally,

  “Fine…you can carry it for now” Aylah acquiesced, though Diago felt like she wanted to add, “But I’m tearing it off your head the moment I am capable.” The whole concept of her having any authority over the Ariochmar frustrated Diago deeply, but she also just saved his life, so he figured he’d let it slide this one time… again… She tried to rise, but struggled, “you look ridiculous by the way”

  The comment annoyed him, but before he could protest. The Helm reacted to his inclination and began to melt again, only this time it contracted and unformed itself back into a simple metal circlet, placed perfectly on Diago’s brow.

  Both DIago and Aylah were dumbfounded. Diago checked and even as a circlet, he was still able to expand his senses and awareness like he could when the Helm was fully formed. Diago laughed again. Even the Helm was annoyed with Aylah and wanted to show her up.

  Suddenly, Diago heard a voice. The voice was low and somber, filled to the brim with wisdom and understanding. It sounded ancient and knowing. It reminded him of the voice of the Fade he spoke to but without the same power. No, the power in this voice felt different. It was a faint wordless whisper at first. It built slowly until one clear word sounded loud and clear,

  “Finally…”

  Diago stiffened and looked around. He was on edge his hands started to shake.

  Aylah noticed,

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Did you hear that?”

  They both went silent.

  Nothing.

  Aylah gave up first, she was still annoyed, but she was also exhausted, “come on. We need to go.”

  Diago didn’t want to leave this question unanswered just when they were getting so many answers, but he also knew that Aylah was in pain and needed more than his help to get it figured out.

  “You are right,” he replied.

  He took her arm and helped her walk. He took one step forward toward the tunnel they came from. Then he felt it. A feeling of certain conflict. It came from the Helm. It was warning him. Something was wrong on the surface.

  Diago’s brow furrowed.

  “What’s now Sunburn?” Asked the annoyed Onterrin on his shoulder.

  He thought about explaining, but decided she would just get more annoyed, “it’s nothing,” he said trying to add a bit of cheer to his voice. But he knew better.

  They weren’t out of the woods just yet.