Behind Dark Abode y the Poisoned Wastends. It was said that many people had vanished here without a trace.
The Cursed walked down the lifeless nd covered with dried grass. A corpse y in the bushes. Still intact. Uneaten. Which was a great rarity in these parts. Suddenly it moved. It began to crawl across the ground. The Cursed stepped closer. And saw a gray, bald creature pulling it away. Ghouls lived here, dragging corpses into their underground burrows and feeding on them.
For about an hour he walked across the dried nd. Night descended around him. From all sides came rustling sounds and the movement of many legs. Yellow lights burned in the darkness. He had to be careful, otherwise the ghouls would attack him in great numbers and devour him. Several times he fought off the most persistent — and probably the most hungry — first with his foot, and then with his sword.
Ahead, the bck mass of a mansion appeared. As he drew closer to the building, the night rustlings fell silent, and the hungry ghouls remained behind.
He approached a tall fence of iron bars with sharp tips. Inside was a garden surrounding a three-story house. The gate was unlocked. He opened it and easily stepped onto the grounds of the garden. He listened. Silence hung in the garden. The windows of the house were dark.
He moved carefully along the garden path. He reached the back door of the house, which was also unlocked. Behind it was a corridor. At the end of it burned a ghostly light, unseen from outside.
In the dim room several candles burned in antique candebras. At the table in the center sat a girl of about eight or nine. Dark hair. Large eyes. A bck dress with ce. Her feet did not reach the floor, and from time to time she gently swung them. Around the table, at equal distances from one another, sat rge dolls in gothic children’s dresses, whom the Cursed at first took for living girls, but then saw that it was not so. The dolls were motionless and stared straight ahead with gss eyes. Ptes with food stood before the girl and the dolls. Two pces at the table were empty.
The girl noticed the one who had entered.
“Ah, a new guest has arrived!” she excimed. “And not nearly as frightening as you promised, Madame Insomnia. Dear guest, please have a seat. One of the empty pces is yours.”
The Cursed sat down at the table. He took a seat two dolls away from the girl.
The girl took a spoonful of food into her mouth. She chewed, then decred:
“I know why you’ve come.”
“And why is that?” the Cursed looked at her askance.
“To kill the demon.”
At those words the gloom in the room deepened and sank lower over the table.
“Ever since the sorcerer my parents pced here to guard this pce lost his nerve and fled, there has been no one left to repel the demon’s attacks. Every night he comes in different guises and forces his way into our cozy magical house. The protection has almost worn thin and will soon vanish, and then we will all die here.”
She leaned forward toward him and waved her hand.
“But perhaps everything will be fine, and we actually have a real chance to survive this night. Only, you know what? To make it happen, one important thing must be done. Can you go up to the Chamber of Sleep at the top of the eastern tower and see if my parents, the Great Mages, have awakened? I’ll guide you to the tower myself. If they are awake, they can deal with the demon on their own, and then we’ll all be saved—and you won’t have to do anything.”
“Why don’t you go and see for yourself if they’ve awakened?”
“When my parents went to bed several years ago, they cast a protective spell so I wouldn’t be able to enter. I don’t know why they did it, but the spell really works and keeps me from reaching them.”
