Chapter 20
THIS BLOODY DUNGEON
Gavrel
This bloody dungeon.
It was nearly identical to Morpheus’. Was Phobetor so obsessed with his brother that any originality had escaped him? Or was it simply the nature of the Oneiric realms, the echoing balance between them? Either way, it seemed like a defensive oversight to have them so similar.
I had glimpsed that liquid metal, albeit copper-tinged, pool below before being tossed in my cell. It would likely be the quickest way to portal back to Surrelia.
I’d searched the entire chamber for any vulnerable spot to aid my escape, but I had come up short. I leaned against the wall, clenching my teeth as the ache in my ribs twinged, then winced when my frown tugged at my split lip and battered face.
Phobetor had learned that Seryn was his niece. That she was my khorda. About Maya. About Morpheus being released.
Thanks to Melina.
Venom raged inside me, crawling over my tongue.
I should have killed her the moment we landed in this realm.
Should have put her down turns ago.
I wrenched against my handcuffs.
“Looks like you want to have a chat again,” the demon guard said, two curved horns jutting from the top of his head.
By “chat,” he meant another thrashing while manacles shackled me to a chair and prevented me from beating him to a pulp.
“I’d enjoy chatting without these.” I jerked my wrists, the chains clanging against the floor.
He scoffed. “Mortal, it matters not if you are bound. The result would be the same. Besides, you need to be conscious when your fated arrives.”
Phobetor knew Seryn would come for me. It was a trap—and the thought of losing her, of her being used or hurt, set fire crawling up my spine.
I lurched forward, restraints biting into my wrists.
The demon chortled. A throaty, grating sound.
I’d rip his fucking horns off if he touched her.
He slapped his knee, a raucous guffaw echoing through the pit as he moved up the corkscrew incline. His laughter broke into a hacking cough, and I smirked.
Good. Let him choke on it.
Wait.
He was choking. I strained against the bars, rattling my chains, until a pair of boots flopped into view and metal jangled.
“Look alive, Commander,” Breena whisper-yelled, shoving the guard’s key into the lock.
“Seryn?” I demanded, holding up my cuffs as the door rolled open.
“Nice to see you, too,” Breena muttered.
I nodded at her and looked at Maya as she slipped into the cell and helped undo my tethers. Her jaw clenched. “She’s with Phobetor.”
I shoved through the opening, nearly colliding with Therrok and Thesa. “We have to get to her.”
“Yes, Commander Obvious.” Breena rolled her eyes. “That is, in fact, the next part of the plan.”
The horned creature lay on the ground, his eyes bulging, his veined neck raw from strangulation. I removed his baldric and secured it across my chest. I slid the sword from its sheath, the thick, curved blade shining in the dim light while I studied it.
Its guard consisted of two platinum interlocking crescent moons that rested snugly against my fist, the intricately etched banestone hilt gleaming.
A small smile tugged at my mouth as I admired the craftsmanship.
The demon had likely stolen it from another, so I didn’t feel the slightest ounce of guilt commandeering the piece. I was due a new blade.
Therrok wiped the demon’s blood from a metal rope wrapped in his fists and then clipped it securely on his belt. “Onward.”
“This is a trap. He knew she’d come,” I muttered, taking the lead up the spiraling path.
Unlike Morpheus’, his brother’s dungeon seemed to be at full capacity. Creatures and astrals cried out from their cells, claws and hands snatching at us as we passed.
Maya pushed forward. “I figured as much. Let’s make haste.”
Flaming orb lanterns bobbed along the walls, shadows lurching across black opal walls, and gleaming patches winked like neon-colored eyes.
From above, heavy footfalls hammered against stone. Metal clanged, and shadows swarmed along the walls, rushing toward us.
“We did not make enough haste,” Therrok said dryly.
Breena’s aura flared, lighting all of us in an eerie red glow.
The top of the pixie’s head poked out from Thesa’s vest pocket, copper eyes flicking about nervously. “Stay hidden, Pip,” the female vryka snapped. The pixie stuck its jade tongue out, then burrowed deeper.
My eyebrows rose. Thesa narrowed her eyes, scanning our path. “In here,” she snarled, dodging into a tunnel.
We didn’t get far before a horde of demonic guards blocked the passage, teeth gnashing and weapons slicing the air.
Breena hurled a sparking ball of ember toward them as we backtracked, and pained cries chased us.
Phobetor’s minions closed in along the ramp—a tide of horns and fangs, deformed faces twisting with malice, their ragged armor clattering like bones in a tomb.
There was nowhere to go but through them.
“Cut down every last demon,” I ordered and stepped toward the first line of attackers. The carved ledge was only wide enough for three bodies abreast, and I counted at least a hundred bodies rushing toward us from both ends.
I’d faced worse odds.
My rune tattoo blazed, and I pushed its energy over my new sword, the edge flashing.
A slow smile spread over my face, and the closest guard narrowed his eyes, his throat bobbing.
I lunged, slashing my blade diagonally. His mouth dropped open, revealing rows of sharp, crooked teeth as the metal cut through his wrist like butter.
Blood sprayed. An opus of battle cries and clashing steel swallowed his howl.
Therrok charged ahead, barreling into our enemies, his war hammer shattering shields and bones. With a feral grin, he sent several guards screaming over the edge and into the pit. His wings twitched, half flaring, but he stayed grounded. He was a wall of brute force.
I spun, slicing into another demon’s guts. And another. Another. Until we inched our way up the incline.
Breena darted past, a blur of heat and steel.
She carved through throats and bellies. Gracefully, she tossed her daggers into the air, flung her power into an advancing foe, and then caught the hilts.
One guard charged at her from the side, but she stabbed one dagger into his neck, caught his wrist, twisted, and then shoved the other blade into his chest before kicking him off her steel and into the well.
Calculated and merciless, Thesa moved like a shadow, polearm sweeping in lethal arcs. She was supernaturally fast, her movements barely registering between each blink. A guard’s head toppled, and another fell yowling as her blade severed his leg at the knee. Her wings flexed, angling for balance.
A sparkling, midnight aura burst past my left shoulder as I yanked my weapon from an enemy’s flank.
Maya’s shadowy ribbons caught hold of a guard’s gray aura, yanking on her ember as though it were a rope.
The demon jerked, but Maya’s energy was stronger as it slammed the female into the wall and knocked her out.
We made progress. Even so, they kept coming. Kept swarming. More adversaries spilled onto the ramp from side tunnels above us.
“We’re being herded,” I growled, parrying a strike and ramming an elbow into a guard’s jaw. His teeth cracked under the blow.
Maya whipped toward me. “We have to descend. There are too many coming from above!”
Fucking void.
She was right.
We hacked our way downward, Breena’s ember and blades dancing around her, Maya pitting auras against their owners.
Thesa and Therrok took to the air, attacking from above. Demons plunged past, smashing into stone or the molten pool at the bottom of the pit. Steam exploded upward with a hiss, flesh peeling from bone in seconds before the rest disintegrated.
My chest tightened. Void take me—was that what the pit did when the moon wasn’t full? A portal one moment, a cauldron of death the next.
I squared my jaw, driving my blade into another guard.
If Seryn was anywhere near it—
I gritted my teeth, rage coiling within me. I couldn’t allow myself to imagine her falling into that.
Exhaustion gnawed at the edges of my muscles, but I refused to slow. I would not falter, not while there was breath in my lungs. A heartbeat in my chest.
Not while my fated was near.