25. Chapter 25
Chapter 25
T hough it feels like eternity, it all happens in a heartbeat. Stunned, I watch these perforations in the walls appear, like holes in an anthill, figures spilling through them and starting to furiously crawl in our direction.
Even before my mind catches up, my body responds with a flood of visceral panic. Because the figures are humanoid, but there’s something so deeply wrong with them, even if you ignore the insect-like crawling.
The next thing I know, as one, they’re pushing off the ground and getting on their feet, maws opening and claws slicing the air as they lunge straight towards us. We have our backs pressed together and we’re doing our best to fight them off. Jaeger has her knife out, Dryden is shooting air blades at them, and even Nuala is snapping out of her haze and slamming her fists together, the earth below us shaking and cracking enough to swallow some of the attackers.
I myself am lifting my right hand and throwing it back, my Runes glowing as I use fire to keep them at bay.
The guards of Nasgard. I’ve read descriptions of them, but nothing could prepare me for the sight now before me. It’s like their bodies have been broken in so many places, they barely look human, and the maws are actually muzzles sewn into their jaws, my stomach churning as I watch them snapping at us.
“No matter what you do,” Nuala told me yesterday, “don’t let them bite you. The bite is venomous and the venom contains trackers so they can find you if you somehow manage to escape them.”
I keep fighting, avoiding the bites, but they’re getting closer and closer.
We’re losing, I think with desperation starting to flood me.
It’s then that I hear Dryden’s voice rise above the sounds of fighting. “They’re blind,” he yells out, audibly struggling to speak and fight at the same time.
I don’t stop defending us, but my eyes widen. Blind. We could use that.
“They reek,” my wolf tells me. “Slice into their glands and smear yourself with the fluids.”
I don’t wait to be told twice. I yank the knife out of my uniform pocket, zero in on the neck of the guard lunging at me and swing my arm in its direction.
The fluid that runs out makes me want to cover my nose with my hand, that’s how foul-smelling it is. Instead, I take a deep breath, grab the guard by his throat and get the scent on me.
Almost immediately, he stumbles back, starts wildly sniffing at the air and moves to attack Jaeger.
I tell them what to do and they do the same, the guards finally retreating.
My breathing heavy and my heart pounding, I turn all my focus onto the wall around us, spotting the entrance into the prison itself — a simple, low hole in the wall.
The next thing I know, Nuala is motioning for us to follow her in that exact direction.
Before long, we’re lowering our heads to go through, my breath catching when I find myself on the first of the nine levels of Nasgard.
It’s an enormous, dark and filthy cave with stacks of cells reaching the ceiling, people rotting inside their cramped spaces while guards patrol the narrow passageways.
Nuala throws me a look over her shoulder, warning me against trying anything stupid.
Gritting my teeth, I give her a nod and we get moving, advancing as quickly as possible through the first level, while still giving me time to try to find what I’m looking for.
I’ll know it when I see it, I comfort myself.
We follow the winding hallway down to the second level, then to the third and all the way to the fifth.
And I still haven’t had anything catch my eye.
Just as I register my team getting restless, my wolf squirms as well. “The scent is growing weaker,” she tells me.
I barely manage to understand what she’s telling me, when one of the guards on patrol whips his head in our direction, his nose working.
We freeze.
I watch him prepare to lunge, my ears filling with the already familiar sound of snarling.
The hounds of Nasgard.
Fuck.
All of a sudden, we’re being surrounded again, fighting both the guards and the hounds for our lives.
Trying to escape, we stumble onto the narrowest passageway yet and hide there. I see that everyone is hurt, but I can’t use my powers to heal them for fear of attracting Cain. And I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.
We get going again, advancing through the passageway until we barge into a large, cavernous space again.
There, I spot something that makes blood curdle in my veins. The walls of this particular cave seem to consist of people — living people entangled into a dome.
We don’t have time to react. The guards and the hounds start filling the room and we’re back to fighting for our lives.
In the midst of the chaos, something draws my attention to my right.
As soon as I spot her, I know she’s what I’ve come here for.
An old woman, whose body is entangled with the others.
Without a moment of hesitation, I run over to her. She’s unconscious, but what’s more important, it doesn’t look like she’ll survive the way back, which shakes my confidence in the mission ending up being worthwhile. I untangle her.
I communicate to the rest of my team that we have what we need. They’re all hurt and barely holding on, but Dryden immediately sets the escape plan in action. He spills one of the guard’s blood, making them all turn on each other.
While they’re fighting amongst themselves, we run out and jump, only using the Pull while on the way down.