Chapter 14
COME ON, BEASTIE
Seryn
Afew days had passed since we had discovered my mother, riddled with moments of tender reminiscing, getting to know those in her cadre, and planning our journey to the capital.
All morning, we’d wound our way through the haunted forest, across the jagged lands where dark flames licked the stone, until we stood at the brink of yet another steep mesa.
Belly fluttering, I peeked over the edge.
Its side fractured into a winding descent that we’d be able to traverse with careful footing.
I scanned the expanse of jutting spires and barricades stretching outward. A thick stain of inky mist slithered over the intricate maze and seeped over the strategically placed walls that swerved and angled before us in a dizzying display.
Far ahead, the faint outline of Nekrionn’s dark cityscape taunted us, like it knew we’d never reach its blackened border.
“It’s a fecking labyrinth all right,” Breena blurted, drawing her curved dagger.
I sucked in a breath, slowly unsheathing my own weapon. Its power vibrated against my palm, the iridescent mist languidly swirling within its faceted pommel.
“Stay close,” I murmured, stepping forward with Breena on my heels and Therrok on my left.
“If she were any closer, she’d be a tattoo on your ass cheek,” Thesa muttered.
Breena wiggled her eyebrows at her. Thesa’s eyes narrowed further, which I would have thought impossible. A low, grating noise rumbled in Therrok’s throat.
My mother had stayed behind with the rest of the Hespira. She had responsibilities beyond watching over me, and I told her so. She had only squeezed my shoulder, brushed my hair back from my face, and then ordered the Flints to tag along in her stead.
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. Mama had changed, but not entirely. Maya Nightshade had always been an unshakable force, like Yaya. When I’d told her about her mother’s capture, she had lifted her chin, certain that the eldest Nightshade would endure. Certain that she would be rescued.
And I’d make sure of it. Or perhaps, Marek had already found a way to get to her. Ancients, I hoped so.
The moments I’d spent with my mother over the past days weren’t enough, but it was a start.
Our stories had spilled out in the hours we shared.
Stolen lifetimes condensed into unsatisfying abridgments.
Whole chapters torn down to fragments, entire pages stripped to paragraphs, to fill one another in as best we could with the time we’d been given.
I sighed, focusing as we made our way down the slick incline, avoiding the dark bursts of cerulean-tipped flames and shifting piles of glassy gravel.
“So you’re sayin’ that if ya want in or out of that steaming pile of a city, you have to get through that? Every damned time?” Breena groused.
Therrok shrugged.
“And what creepy crawlies await us?” she asked.
I gawked at the entrance, its crudely carved edges like the yawning maw of a beast ready to swallow us whole.
“All sorts.” He grinned, jutting a finger out one at a time as he listed the terrors lurking within the maze. “Ya know, stuff you were told about as a child.”
“The Minotaur,” Thesa added. The corner of her mouth curled.
I choked on my next inhale. “Excuse me, but did you say a bloody minotaur?”
“The Minotaur. There’s only the one,” she replied in a haughty tone.
“How has anyone survived the labyrinth with the Minotaur guarding it? Seems unlikely. Did you have any ambrosia smuggled in? Are you feeling right in the head?” Breena chided, poking her temple.
Thesa’s knuckles turned pale blue as she squeezed her glaive. With a huff, her powerful wings flared out, and she soared high above us. “I’ll see you on the other side, humans.” She flew over the wall with a smirk.
“We’re Druiks—she’s a bloody demi-Ancient!” she shouted after the vryka. I frowned at her. She shrugged. “Damn imp.”
Breena’s mouth twisted into a scowl as she glared at Therrok. “You joining your sister?”
“Nah. It’s been a time since I had some fun in the Minotaur’s lair.” His wide chin jutted forward, mischievousness rippling over his black gaze.
We moved through the doorway, and dread nestled under my skin. Or was it the hazy air itself?
I swatted some curling strands from my face, a breath whooshing past my lips as I followed Breena to the left, away from the shifting shadows.
My palm brushed against the whittled rock wall, its chill sinking into my flesh as we twisted through lane after lane. Gummy vines, the color of pale, mauve-tinged bruises, coiled over the tops of the barriers like congealed flesh clinging to bone.
We didn’t speak. Only listened—for the scrape of pursuit, for the hiss of beasts—but were met with the muffled whirr of an uneasy silence and the shuffle of our own feet, weapons, and clothing.
As we drifted into the heart of the maze, my pulse throbbed, too loud in the stillness. My ember vibrated against my nape.
It was too quiet.
Too easy.
Breena paused, her head tilting to one side as she turned. Her eyes narrowed. “Hear that?”
I did.
A discordant scraping noise emerged from behind me. I spun around, dagger ready.
Therrok’s wings shivered, wide nostrils flaring before he glanced at the dusky path we’d left behind us.
All at once, a rush of dark, acrid vapor raced toward us, whipping my braid backward. The grinding roared nearer, shadows chasing us as the walls imploded, collapsing inward in a relentless sequence, as though the labyrinth were closing its jaws, ready to devour us.
“Move!” Therrok bellowed.
He didn’t have to tell us twice. We burst ahead in the other direction, the grinding of rock chasing us.
I dashed beside Breena, our arms pumping as we rounded another corner. Her brunette strands whipped in a halo around her as she glanced back.
One moment, my friend was beside me, and the next, her body flung forward, dagger flying out of her grip and clanging against the banestone.
I skidded to a halt, a glimpse of a familiar figure emerging from the darkness ahead, panic stealing my next breath. The pack of mare wyrms may have worn the faces of my mother, Hestia, Gavrel, and Letti, but they were soulless, insipid replicas.
“Fecking void!” Breena screamed, nails clawing at the earth.
I whirled in time to see Therrok rounding the corner, along with a wave of metallic-orange insects scurrying over the walls as they closed in.
Bloody tomb beetles.
I’d read about these little monsters. They didn’t just bite. They burrowed and scorched their way through you, or whatever they nested in.
Therrok vaulted over our heads, leathery wings flaring as his spiked hammer swung down. The sickening, squishy thud that followed told me he’d hit his mark.
My dagger clattered to the ground as I lunged for Breena, her lower half already submerged in the soot-like sand. Quick muck. The surface quivered and collapsed around her, clutching greedily at her form.
My hands locked onto her forearms, heels digging into the ground while I yanked. She slid upward an inch, but no more than that. The rumble of the closing walls thundered toward us, shadows pooling at the edge of the bend.
“Kick your legs, Bree!” I shouted.
“Pull harder. I don’t need my fecking arms!” she snapped back.
Terror jolted through every joint as my boots slipped. Slimy yet gritty tendrils coiled around her thighs, dragging her down. For the first time, horror swept across her usually unshakable visage.
Sweat burned my eyes, and my teeth sank into my bottom lip. Frantically, I scrabbled at the nearest vine, pale and clammy beneath my grip, anchoring myself. Breena’s fingers clamped around my wrist, and I hauled with every shred of strength I had as the walls slammed shut behind her.
With muscles burning, on the verge of snapping, we both roared—auras flaring wildly in a fit of fear and fury.
At last, Breena tore free of the quick muck.
We toppled backward, grabbing our fallen blades, stumbling to our feet, and surging ahead.
Her aura burst around her, and she tossed a wave of scarlet heat behind us.
A racket of clicks and screeches sounded, metallic shells shriveling in her wave of energy.
Therrok wrenched his weapon out of the flaccid belly of a mare wyrm. The beast collapsed with a wet screech, its guts sluicing across the path to join its fallen brethren.
“This way!” he hollered, already rounding another corner.
We raced after him, soles slick with gore, forcing ourselves not to think about how easily our bodies could be crushed any second. Ground to a pulp by the collapsing passage at our heels.
A shaky exhalation escaped my lungs as the rumble behind us dissolved into a billowing puff of dark mist, the corridor trembling but no longer closing in.
“Are you all ri—”
The words died in my throat. With my ember still vibrating around me, I caught sight of another swarm of beetles skittering over every surface, their flame-like auras crackling like sparks across flint.
“Don’t let ’em stick to ya!” Therrok barked, his weapon smashing through the horde, crunching the palm-sized carapaces under our boots as we ran.
I yelped, swatting frantically as the insects scurried up my ankles, their hooked legs trying to needle through my leathers. Heat seared wherever they touched, as if their bellies were full of fire.
“Bloody void!” I hollered as razor-sharp pincers bit into the side of my thumb. I jerked my hand, and the fiery creature shot sideways, slamming against the banestone with a splat.
“Always with the fecking insects,” Breena groused, skewering one mid-air as it leaped for her shoulder.
The memory of the chasm spiders crawled unbidden through my mind, and I blinked hard to banish it while I tore a bug off her back.
My stomach lurched, but I gritted my teeth and hacked through the swarm.
We battled free of the throng, leaving their shattered carcasses in our wake. Behind us, Breena lobbed an embered orb into the stragglers; the path blazed, tinged in cherry hues, and a chorus of clicks shrilled as the beetles blistered and popped in the heat.
We bolted down another path and skidded to a halt before a wall smothered in thorny red vines.
The tendrils writhed, their barbs dripping with sap that sizzled as it plopped to the ground.
The twisting ropes lashed out like greedy fingers, desperate to latch onto our flesh.
Hastily, I jumped back, my blade slicing through a vine as it whipped toward my neck.
I spun around just as Therrok and Breena’s silhouettes dissolved into a billow of inky fog. I called their names, but the silence swallowed my words.
Squinting, my gaze swept over the direction they had disappeared, anxiety tumbling through my belly as a wall of stone shot up from the ground, blocking me from following their route.
I clenched my jaw, forcing down the spike of panic as I studied the paths available to me now.
Slowly, I stepped forward, one foot in front of the other, navigating my way through the swirling darkness.
My gift thrummed around me, my star-shaped scar humming with tension. Goosebumps rippled over my arms, and my heart beat thrashed against my ribs. I’d had just about enough of this bloody labyrinth.
Coaxing my shimmering halo to sink within me, I drew a slow breath to the count of four, held it, and nearly choked when a grinding rasp scraped through the haze ahead. Hesitantly, I leaned forward, exhaling inaudibly, refusing to move until I knew what waited in the mist.
Come on, beastie. Let’s get this over with.