Chapter 9
With eyes that are still foreign to me, I watch as the dragon drinks the life-giving water my nymph made.
He gorges himself, taking what isn't his.
Sadly, it is for the best that he quenches his thirst. If he grew weak, my Nymph would not leave the dragon behind. She is too good. Too pure for the monsters she collects. But there will be a reckoning if he continues to disrespect her. His bones will break easily with these hands.
The other men are better. The professor constantly scans the shadows, remaining alert for any trouble that may threaten Theo.
That pleases me. He has the eyes of a watchman.
The centaur doesn’t have the internal and external scars of battle like the Professor and me, but his time alone in the desert seems to have honed his senses.
And the centaur's loyalty and devotion to Theo are tangible.
He orbits her, unable to pull away.
Good.
But the hellhound just skitters around, high on his new ability. He’s currently in his human form, but the animal is only just below the surface of his skin. The line between boy and beast is paper-thin—the manic gleam in his eye makes that obvious.
It’s disappointing that he’s such a fledgling. He won’t be ready for a fight, and I fear a fight is coming. The breeze blowing through these tunnels carries a foreboding scent. Rot, sulphur, decay.
We need to move again.
“Let’s go,” the nymph says.
—Yes, it’s time—
She nods and gathers her troops, then we go on.
Each twist and turn, each winding passage, leads us to whatever world lies beyond these caverns. My cloven hooves strike the stone with a steady rhythm. I am the anchor here. The stone speaks to me, guiding my steps.
“Ahhhh!” The horse-man shrieks.
I instantly pivot around. What’s there? I search our surroundings, my minotaur eyes not needing light to see, but there is nothing.
What alarmed the centaur?
“Sorry, sorry,” he mumbles, brushing himself down. “Something brushed my face. I think it was a spider-web.”
Theo goes to him instantly, reassuring the man with her gentle voice and soft hands. “It’s OK. I think the only things alive down here are us.” She looks at me. “Right, Ludo?”
—I can’t say, Nymph—
I watch her switch on a smile. “Yep, Ludo said this place is completely spider-free,” she lies comfortingly.
The centaur still looks concerned. “Remember your therapy,” the dragon says quietly. “Feelings are not reality.”
The breeze shifts and changes, its whispered currents growing more urgent. I pay close attention, and my senses and taste detect a different odor in the air. The scent is…unsettling.
Suddenly, knowledge crystallizes in my mind. Death is carried on this current.
I let the instinctive power of the labyrinth churn beneath my hide, a dark tide flowing through my veins. My beast hums with the idea of an upcoming battle.
—something ahead…prepare…fight—
Theo takes a sharp intake of breath, then relays my message, her voice tight with nerves.
Surprisingly, it is the boy-hound who first rushes forward to join me at the battle line.
A feral intensity shines from his human eyes.
Within seconds, he shifts into the beast that is his natural element.
Maybe the puppy has adult teeth after all.
I move forward to place myself between Theo and the threat. The hellhound at my left flank is a dark and deadly shadow, and his eyes take on a predator’s glint.
Behind me, the foot soldiers discuss their maneuvers. “Should I shift too?” I hear the centaur ask.
The professor curses. “Not yet, but if things go south, you take Theo out of here—fast.”
“I’ve no room to shift.” I hear frustration in the dragon’s voice. “How long until we are out of these fucking tunnels?”
The hellhound lets out a low, guttural growl, and every nerve ending in my body tightens with warning.
—It’s coming—
“Donovan, keep Theo close. Cosmo, be ready to unleash whatever arcane magic you have,” commands the professor as he sends more and more globes of light ahead of us. I round another corner, tension burning under my skin.
The tunnel opens into a cavern with a gaping hole that fills most of the floor. It’s a black chasm so deep, even my minotaur senses cannot gauge its drop.
To continue our path, we have to navigate around the pit via a narrow rock ledge.
—Careful—
“AYYY…” The screech sounds from the tunnel we just exited. It’s close. How is it behind us?
—Hurry, Nymph. We must hurry—
The pathway is slim, dug into the rough vertical walls.
—follow where I tread—
The cavern walls welcome my body as I move along the ledge, each movement innate. I move quickly, reaching the other side within minutes; this is good. I can stand sentry while the others cross. Nothing gets past me. I am the gate.
I split my attention between the open tunnel ahead and Theo, as she scrambles across the rockface. My nymph moves with surprising agility.
“Careful!” the centaur calls out.
“Theo, slow down,” says the professor.
"Parkour." She whispers a word I do not know, frowning with concentration. When she’s halfway across, the ground starts to tremble.
“Yayayayaya.”
A crooning, chanting noise echoes up from the pit.
“Yayayayaya.”
As I move towards the chasm, Theo screams. I look up in time to see white claws appear at the rim. They grip the ground.
Something is rising from below.
I move fast, but the centaur-boy, even in his human form, is faster, taking Theo around her waist, then pulling my nymph to the end of the narrow shelf, and almost throwing her at me. I push her behind my back, preparing to fight. More skeletal claws appear atop the pit.
In less time than a breath, the hellhound takes point, the centaur-boy shifts and then the blonde Elite throws himself off the ledge, his body disappearing into the blackness.
Within a beat, he rises from the pit in the form of his dragon. Fire explodes from his jaws, pouring down on the mass of bones and claws that are now scrambling out of the darkness.
So many. A legion of death.
These creatures may be long dead—but they are still eager to attack. The dragon fire holds back some of the wraiths, but not all. There are at least forty in the cavern now.
Maybe more.
“Keep Theo safe,” the professor roars.
“I will,” the horse shouts back.
The professor would be wise to move to safety as well; his human body is too fragile.
He fights with his mind, but here, in the dark, only muscle matters.
The hellhound pounces forward, knocking at skeletons with his giant paws, taking the skull of something monstrous in his mouth, crushing it to dust between his jaws.
Fire keeps pouring from the dragon, and I lower my head to slash at the white breastplate of a long-dead beast.
Once that monster is cleaved in half, I shift onto the next. The creatures don’t seem intelligent, just relentless. From the corner of my eye, I see my former skeletal foe is reforming. Bones are knitting back together where I’d smashed them thoroughly just seconds ago.
Can these things not be destroyed? Bony bodies, charred by dragon fire, are dragging themselves upright.
I take one by the ulna, swing it violently around, then release. The skeletal frame smashes against the cavern wall.
Claws dig into my legs, piercing through the thick hide on my lower limbs. Pain flares, hot and sharp, but I welcome it. It focuses me. A loud snort leaves my muzzle, and I bend down to rip the corpse's hands off me, but as I do, I feel more dead creatures leaping onto my back.
Claws attempt to shred my hard layers of muscle.
Yet more creatures attack, and I must have a dozen at least mauling my body.
I fight, but injuries are taking a toll. I’ll stay here and fight to the death. Nothing can cross my path. Not one of these things will get near my nymph. Suddenly, I’m not able to keep standing and thump down on one knee.
The others; the professor, the centaur, the dog, and even the dragon. They fight well. They’ll protect her.
I am covered in them now. A truly dead weight, dragging me down. I will let them. I will pull them all into the abyss with me.
“LUDO!”
Her voice cuts through the clatter of bones. My name on her lips.
An ending more than I could have ever hoped for.