"Boom!"
Another peal of thunder exploded, jolting Saphen awake before he could fall back asleep.
Yet amid the chaos of the thunder, he seemed to hear someone screaming outside.
His heart began to pound wildly, for reasons he could not name. Saphen clenched the front of his clothes tightly against his chest, rose straight up, and padded barefoot toward the window.
"Shhk!"
The window was yanked open all at once, but outside there was only a deathly silence. Aside from the heavy raindrops pouring down without pause, there was nothing at all.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning tore through the sky, followed immediately by a deafening crash. Saphen flinched and slammed the window shut at the fastest speed he could manage.
Only then, as the curtains were drawn back into place, did Vorthax slowly emerge, silently and without a trace of presence, like a shadowy reptile slithering back into the lair of its prey.
He was furious, furious, furious!
