Chapter 40
“Cas!” Raine bellowed as his two closest friends disappeared into the sand trap below.
No, no, no. He wasn’t going to let them die. Refused. He had to do something.
The quake had stopped, the canyon now filled with panicked shouts.
But Raine didn’t even acknowledge them as he said to Maeryn, “Get everyone else across.”
Her plea of warning was the last thing he heard as he leaped from the bridge.
What are you doing? Sabriel shouted as he hit the sand, allowing himself to be sucked below.
“I’m going to get them out.”
You really are going to kill me from stress.
With a sharp inhale, he held his breath and closed his eyes, the force of the sand pressing heavily against his body.
The trap continued to pull him lower, far into the depths of the canyon.
The pressure released and he fell into nothing, arms flailing as he opened his eyes and tried to grasp onto something.
He hit the ground with a thud and a gasp.
“What are you doing?” Ava’s panicked voice echoed in the dark.
Raine groaned and pushed to his feet. “Coming after you two. What does it look like?”
Maeryn just jumped in after you.
“Shit,” Raine said.
“What?”
“Maeryn just jumped.”
“What in the five hells is wrong with you two?” Casimir yelled.
“Well, you started it by falling in the first place,” Raine retorted, brushing the sand from his clothes. “I wasn’t going to leave you. And obviously, neither was Maeryn.”
Casimir growled in the dark. “What a mess.”
“Light please,” Raine ordered.
A dim light flared as Casimir made a ball of starlight in his hand, raising it to hover nearby. Raine kept his eyes fixed to the ceiling where a trickle of sand indicated what must be the entrance to this strange trap.
Within seconds, Maeryn fell through with a yelp. Raine took a step forward and caught her in his arms.
“Why are you down here, boss?”
“Well, if you’ll put me down, I’ll explain.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“So, we are to fight a monster or find our way out while you carry me the entire time?”
He set her on her feet. “I could try.”
The sudden absence of her body against his had him taking a deep breath to settle himself. He craved the way her short frame felt against his tall lithe one. Wanted to burrow his face in her throat and inhale her intoxicating scent.
But first, they needed to get the fuck out of here.
“So…explain.” He looked at her with intensity, hands on his hips.
She didn’t break his gaze. “I…” she trailed off, seemingly thrown off by his stare. “I did not think three of you was enough to fight this…creature. And I knew my magic might be of use.”
He raised a brow. “Well, alright then.”
Raine studied the dark space. They were in a tunnel, with the sandy ground strangely suspended above them where Maeryn had fallen through. Odd.
With a flick of his wrist, he sent roots and vines through the entrance, but they were immediately sucked back toward him, following the flow of the sand.
Another attempt, this time Ava and Casimir joining him. His hand trembled as he fought against the suction in the trap. Again their magic was thwarted, the force much too strong.
“Getting out of here won’t be simple,” Casimir said. “Perhaps someone from above can send vines down to us.”
“They’d better hurry before this supposed monster shows up,” Raine said.
A skittering sound echoed in the tunnel behind them, as if speaking of it aloud had summoned the being living beneath the sands. The noise grew louder. Every muscle in Raine’s body tensed as he met eyes with Casimir.
“Run!” Casimir ordered.
They took off, heading away from the sound, their feet pounding on the rocky floor.
Raine shoved Maeryn in front of him, taking up the rear.
She yelled at him in anger, and pushed him in front of her instead.
“My magic will be more useful than yours against this monster! General, stay back with me! Use your starlight!”
Raine pushed himself faster, joining Ava. The sounds of Casimir and Maeryn shooting their magic behind them echoed in his ears.
Chancing a glance over his shoulder, his heart nearly stopped as he beheld the creature.
It was massive. Hundreds of legs moved in tandem as it pushed its segmented body through the tunnels with ease.
A nearly translucent exoskeleton protected it against their magical assaults.
Three sets of pincers snapped together, resounding through the tunnel, above a round orifice full of thousands of needle-like teeth.
“Fucking hells!” Raine shouted.
The magic didn’t seem to be doing any good, Casimir and Maeryn’s powers hardly causing any damage to the creature’s shell.
And it was closing in, gaining on them with ease. They sprinted even harder, barreling through the passageway.
“I think it’s blind!” Ava yelled.
“How do you know?” Raine asked, turning a corner and almost skidding into the wall. Ava stumbled and Raine grasped her elbow, pulling her along as they picked up their pace.
“Just trust me. I have an idea!”
“Make it quick, because our magic is doing nothing!” Casimir shouted.
“We need to hide!”
“Hide? Where are we supposed to—” Raine was cut off when Ava shoved him into an alcove in the wall.
“Here! Everyone get in here and freeze. Don’t move a muscle. And be silent!”
Casimir and Maeryn crushed themselves against Ava and Raine, remaining still and trying to catch their breath. The sound of the creature’s pincers grew louder as it approached, not slowing.
Raine held his breath, his pulse like a drum in his ears.
But it passed by and continued through the tunnel, as if it didn’t notice them.
They remained silent, waiting for the noise of its travel to die down. Raine sighed, running a hand over his face as he willed his heart to slow.
“Explain,” Maeryn whispered.
“Didn’t you see its eyes? They’re covered by skin. They don’t work.”
“You’re right,” Raine said. “Common with a lot of animals who live in caves.”
“Exactly,” Ava said.
“How can we use this?” Casimir asked.
“It likely senses its prey using vibrations. If we don’t move and speak very quietly, it won’t find us.”
“But we can’t just stay here frozen forever,” Raine responded.
“I know…” Ava said.
“Could we set a trap? Or trick it somehow?” Maeryn asked, her yellow eyes glowing in the starlight hovering above them.
“Maybe,” said Ava. “But how do we kill it? Your magic hardly did any damage.”
Casimir stroked his beard. “We’ll need to focus on the softest parts. Its mouth perhaps? Or in between the armored plates on its body.”
“What if we just run back to where we fell in and have Gisela pull us out?” Raine asked.
“It’s too fast,” Casimir said. “It’ll be upon us the moment we start to climb.”
Are you all alright? Sabriel asked.
“So far, yes. We’re coming up with a plan to get out. Wait for us by the trap and when we give the signal, Gisela needs to send down her vines.”
They needed a larger space to fight it. Attempting to do so in the tunnels would make it almost impossible to avoid injury as its body took up almost the whole channel. If they could find somewhere to hold their ground, they could lure it there and take it down. Hopefully.
“Back the way we came,” Maeryn said. “I saw a glimpse of a cave when we were running.”
“Are you sure?” asked Casimir.
“I’m certain.”
“And how do we get to this room without alerting it?” Casimir asked Ava.
She bit her lip. “As quietly as possible.”
Tension filled the air as they prepared to sneak back the way they came, Casimir leading the way. They stepped as softly as they could, making every effort not to jostle a rock or scuff their feet.
Raine scanned the tunnel around them. Gouges ran along the walls, likely from the creature’s sharp legs as it pushed itself through the maze, and sand was sprinkled along the walkway, crunching with each step.
But it didn’t sense them. They kept their footfalls light as they closed in on the open room.
Maeryn pointed ahead. “It’s just a little further on the left,” she whispered almost inaudibly.
But Casimir raised his arm. “Wait. Listen.”
Raine strained to hear, but there was nothing. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Shh…”
He listened again, trying to pinpoint what Casimir had heard. There. Growing louder. The familiar sound of the Jarǒuki’i skittering toward them. In front of them. Not behind them.
Was there more than one? Or were all these tunnels connected and it had made a loop? They weren’t far from the chamber, but the being came around the corner, rushing toward them once more. They wouldn’t make it to the room before it was upon them.
“New plan!” Casimir shouted as he wove vines and roots as tightly as he could, blocking the tunnel to buy them time. Ava and Raine joined, making the obstacle as thick as possible. “Turn around and run!”
They took off, backtracking on swift feet the way they had come, hoping the vines would hold.
Raine’s heart pounded with every stride, pushing himself as hard as he could, the rest of the group on his heels.
His eyes searched for something, anything, to help.
Another chamber, more tunnels…a way out…
“It just cut through the vines!” Casimir yelled from the back. “Faster!”
Raine could barely breathe through the pounding in his chest. Faster. Faster. Faster.
A blood curdling scream echoed behind him, and somehow he knew…knew deep within his soul whose scream he had heard. Skidding to a stop, he spun around, meeting eyes with Ava and Casimir as they froze, panting.
Someone was missing.
“Where’s Maeryn?” he shouted. She was gone. “Where the fuck is Maeryn?”
He could barely contain his terror, his eyes darting around as if she’d appear from the walls.
“She was right here,” Ava said, searching the tunnel.
Another scream. They spun toward the source. An arm disappeared into the cavern they’d originally planned on luring the monster into. Maeryn was being dragged inside.