The Shadowed Manse by David Alastair Hayden, Pepper Thorn Page A

through him, and again it felt as if two hearts thundered within his chest.
    With unbelievable speed, Arthur rushed over, dove in front of Morgan, and lifted his raygun. When the beast attacked, with its gaping maw speeding down toward them, Arthur squeezed the trigger three times, aiming toward the back of the monster’s throat.
    One shot struck the red dot.
    BOOM!
    Thunder echoed through the training hall as the monster burst into a cloud of smoke. Lexi fell to the floor, paws splayed, eyes wide with surprise. Vassalus collapsed onto his side, gasping for air.
    The smoke formed into a swirling column that sped across the room and back into the container Lexi had knocked over.
    Still clutching his ribs, Valet raced over, and then capped the container. He returned it to the shelf, which held over a dozen similar containers of various sizes. Arms staggered over, weakly, and double-checked that it was closed.
    Hurting all over — again — Arthur climbed to his feet. “Morgan?”
    “I’ll live.” She staggered over to Vassalus. “Are you okay?”
    “I am … fine, dear lady … thank you. Just a few cracked ribs. They will soon heal. We numina are built tough.”
    Lexi rubbed against Arthur’s leg. “Master Paladin, I am so very, very sorry about the container. I was just being …”
    “Curious?” he said.
    “I am a cat, darling. And if I had known …”
    “It’s okay,” Arthur replied. “It’s a good reminder that we don’t know how this place works and the servitors can’t easily tell us.”
    He examined the shelf. The canister that had opened was the third largest, and it was imprinted with a picture of a creature like the one they had fought, along with a name. Apparently, each canister contained a different monster.
    “This says we just fought a takaturio — I guess that’s a particular kind of wraith?” Arthur speculated.
    “That wasn’t a wraith or a shade,” Morgan replied. “Couldn’t you tell? It didn’t have that empty feeling to it or that same depth of darkness. That thing was more like smoke than it was pure shadow. I bet it’s some sort of Aetherial construct, probably based on a real monster.”
    Arms gave a thumbs-up to her answer.
    Arthur shook his head. “So the Paladins keep monster constructs for training? That’s ridiculous.”
    “But effective,” Morgan replied. “And at least it was just for training. There wasn’t any risk of us dying.”
    Arms shook his head and gave a thumbs-down.
    “It would’ve killed us?!” Morgan said. “What kind of training exercise is that?”
    “I think it says a lot about how dangerous a Paladin’s work in the field must be,” said Vassalus. “And I suspect each creature has a weakness. Knowing the creature’s weakness would make defeating one of them far easier.”
    “Oh sure,” Arthur groaned. “I just had to hit the red dot in the back of this one’s mouth with a raygun shot. You know, if that was easy, I’d hate to see hard.” He sat down and leaned against the wall. “But at least we survived.”
    “And now you have another fighting experience under your belt,” Lexi added.
    Everyone else sat down nearby.
    “I feel like I've been battered to a pulp,” Morgan said.
    “I think you probably have a concussion,” Arthur told her.
    “Well, I know you do.”
    Arthur tapped his steel helmet. “I’d be in far worse shape if not for this.”
    Morgan rolled her eyes. “I think I'll feel better after a nap.”
    “You can’t,” Arthur said. “You have to stay awake after a concussion. I had a bad one after my cousin hit me with a tree limb one time.” (Derek hadn’t even gotten in trouble for that.) “They took me to the hospital after I started throwing up, and they made me stay awake all night, even though I was sleepy. I don't remember why, but going to sleep is a bad thing. Of course, I had a severe concussion. I’m not sure about a smaller one.”
    Morgan groaned. “This is why I must have internet access.