Aaron heard a grunt from Azenlond as she slung him over her shoulder. With one arm holding him in place she hurried off down the corridor weaving between fallen chunks of wall, collapsed floor and smashed furniture.

Aaron's brain registered the fact that he was immobile but he was unable to fully comprehend just what had happened to him, it was as if a thick fog was clouding his thoughts.

As Azenlond jumped over a hole in the ruined floor of the castle however his mind became razor sharp and he found out exactly how big the ?whatever' was, two stories down from the hole looking straight at them as they'd flown across the gap had been a colossal beast easily occupying the space between floor and ceiling of the level it had been on, its scaly grey-on-black body had the hind quarters of a lion and the forequarters of a dog, slightly altered to include a second canine head, its dark faces were distorted by a predatory cunning that chilled him to the bone, worst of all where its eyes, reflected in the inky black depths was pure unmistakable evil.

Azenlond stumbled under the weight of Aaron's solid iron body as they landed on the other side of the gap but managed to check her balance in time to continue their desperate escape down the dank grey corridors.

From somewhere behind them an ominous thud announced the arrival of the Hell beast on their floor closely followed by a roar somewhere between a dog's bark and a lion's roar that sent shivers down Aaron's spine.

Unable to look behind himself Aaron had to rely on sound alone and as his view of the floor shot by beneath him he heard the sound of claws on stone and the continuos thud of paws as the Hell beast gave chase.

His view spun dizzyingly as he was thrown by Azenlond into a pile of grey bricks and decayed tapestries where he landed with a puff of dust and rolled down the mound of rubble until he faced the creature who had kidnapped him.

"I wish thee luck Arlin of the dragon kin, guard my daughter well." Azenlond spoke hurriedly as the Hell beast closed in behind her.

Aaron tried to warn her as she turned but to no avail his frozen lips uttered not a peep and as Azenlond turned she was rent in quarters by claws the length of Aaron's body, falling without a sound to the ground to lie still.

The Hell beast reared back on to its hind quarters in triumph and fell back to the ground shaking the foundations of the castle.

Aaron tried to close his eyes or look away but his eyes frozen in place could only stare at the remains of his kidnapper and the beast which had killed her.

The Hell beast walked forward a few steps and stopped infront of Azenlond's quartered body which lay in a heap oozing blue blood, its paw descended towards the gruesome remains, then with one claw it drew a perfect circle around the blue-grey body.

""Arhageb dell caya semderal."" Aaron's dazed mind gave a start, the Hell beast was actually talking, he couldn't see its lips moving but a whispered chant that seemed to drain the already sparse light from the corridors, was coming from it.

""ARHAGEB DELL CAYA SEMDERAL."" The Hell beast's voice grew lower, but the power of the words increased.

Aaron had no idea what was going on but he doubted the words were just a meaningless chant and it was pretty hard to mistake the Heal beast's attention to be anywhere else but on the quartered body.

Suddenly the Hell beast reared back and swiped fiercely at the air with its pitch black claws but as the claws swept through the air they slowed as though they'd snagged on some unseen obstacle.

""ARHAGEB DELL CAYA SEMDERAL."" Aaron barely heard the chant and only saw the beast's lips move slightly but the words seemed to pound at him like physical blows.

Infront of his iron eyes, Azenlond's body slid across the floor leaving a smear of blue blood across it until the body rose into the air and floated towards the Hell Beast's slow moving claws.

The Hell beast's dark black claws twitched slightly as they came in contact with the blue-grey body then slowed even more until they were at snail pace.

Astonished Aaron watched as the Hell beast's claws slowly began to mend the broken body, flesh slowly folded back together, splintered bone mended back into place, muscles and sinew grew slowly back together, then one last time the Hell Beast chanted. ""ARHAGEB DELL CAYA SEMDERAL."" And an awful stench he was sure sulphur must stink like rolled over him.

An ear splitting, unearthly scream of pain, torment and pure agony ripped through the air then suddenly the Hell beast's claws returned to there unearthly speed finishing their descent and returning to the ground with a dull thud.