A few wild creatures with burning yellow eyes lunged at them. But the tall sorceress raised her long arm with long purple nails and unleashed a surge of energy that knocked the creatures away and snapped their bones with a crack. They crashed to the ground like shapeless sacks.
The terrifying sorceress stood before him at her full height.
"Come," she said. "I will take you to a place you will never want to return from. We have many things to do together. I will reveal to you all the sorcery secrets of the Ancient Lands."
She walked toward the carriage. But the Cursed remained where he was.
She turned back.
"I know where the All-Seeing has been taken. And I know how to bring her back."
The Cursed followed the sorceress.
He could not understand how someone so tall could fit inside the carriage, which clearly was not designed for such giants. He assumed the cabin contained a distorted interior space that shifted its dimensions when needed in order to accommodate any passengers.
The carriage moved, guided by an unknown magical force or perhaps by the will of the sorceress. She sat in front of him, her long legs rising far above her in an unnatural way. She looked out the window at the passing grim night surroundings. But from time to time she turned her face toward him, her eyes burning with fire, and looked at him. In those moments, he felt an otherworldly chill crawl across his skin, sensing her unhealthy interest in him. After a while, she would turn back to the window again. The entire journey to the unknown destination passed in silence.
Inside the carriage cabin, pipes protruded from various sides, resembling the barrels of cannons. Their purpose was unknown. They evoked an inexplicable sense of unease and, at the same time, a sense of unhealthy pleasure.
Outside the windows, ancient ruins drifted by, lost in the darkness.
Then the Cursed felt as if they had slipped into another space entirely. The ancient ruins outside the window were replaced by dark walls of an underground tunnel.
The carriage stopped in a dim cavern. It was lit only by the ghostly blue glow of solitary crystals in the walls.
They stepped out of the carriage and headed toward a tall arch in one of the walls. The tall sorceress led him through the dark corridors of an unknown structure.
"This is the Dark Castle," her words reached his ears. "Now we are going to the Room Without Ears. A place where no one can overhear us. There I will tell you everything that is happening here."
They went up several floors, and the sorceress led him into a large dim room. She closed the tall double doors behind them, and they were left alone together.
Beyond the tall lancet windows, reinforced with iron bars, night stretched outside. The room and its furnishings seemed ghostly.
The sorceress waved her hand, and yellow crystals rose in the air, each containing a glowing eye within.
She sat down on a high-backed chair and said:
"Make yourself comfortable wherever you wish."
She bared her long sharp teeth, and her long arm with long purple nails traced an inviting gesture.
The Cursed sat down on another chair.
"I am called the White-Haired. I am the Mistress of this castle. It is an absolute domain of protection while I govern it. Nothing hostile can enter here or harm us.
In the ancient enchanted lands, there are several other domains of protection. Three of them belong to three Dark Lords: the Pale, the Bloodthirsty, and the Diseased-Headed. I am at war with them. All the Dark Lords fight for the right to move freely and enter the Dungeons of the Ancients. Our goal is to reach them and seize the high-tech weapons created in ancient times. That is what we were born for.
On dark nights, the Dark Lords come to attack my castle, but they can do nothing to breach its high stone walls.
The same applies to me. I am unable to take their castles as well. Not until I obtain the Ancients' weapons. But none of the Dark Lords can claim those weapons either. Despite the fact that we possess great magical power and secret knowledge, everyone who has come to the Bastion of Dusk has died.
We travel across this ancient land in search of the knowledge and abilities needed to enter that place. But we still have not succeeded."
She stared intently at the Cursed. The white lights of her eyes flared and seemed to burn straight through him, as though trying to read his thoughts.
"But you are different. Your brain emissions are different. They match the emissions that sometimes flare through the Bastion's force fields. With you, we may be able to enter it and claim the superweapon. And then kill the three Dark Lords. After all, it was they who attacked you when you arrived here and abducted your companion.
What do you say, Cursed? Think quickly while we still have time and before midnight comes."