BK1 Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

The place where Vishka's statue had once stood now had a headless figure, her hands broken. Rian and I gingerly poked our heads around the statue's body to look at the destruction her rune had caused. Somehow, the pedestal Albus' memory stone had been on was still intact. Chucks of rock scattered around it. The room that had been behind the pedestal was in pieces. Losing the back wall had shattered its integrity bringing the whole thing tumbling.

We carefully threaded through the minefield of stones towards the area we had blown up. Where the small room had once stood now loomed a cavern. A soft wind fluttered on my skin, a smell of dampness and moss filling my nose. The air didn't smell stale. My lips grinned. If the air wasn't stale, this tunnel could lead outside.

"I think we may need some of these glowing mushrooms," Rian said, noting the cave's darkness.

"Good Idea" I took off my backpack and rummaged for the small cloth bag I had made for them. Being cautious, I opened the top of the bag to allow their glow to act as a light source for us.

"Let's hope this gets us out of here", I mumbled as we stepped into the darkness.

Rian silently drew both of the Sabres and looked up. Craven bats occupied the rafters of this tunnel as well. We weren't surprised to see them. Luckily, navigating the stalagmites with the mushrooms was more manageable. So we didn't cause as much noise as we had when we fell down here. Slowly we made our way forward, using the wall for support as we still had our injuries.

We stopped when we came to a crossroads. The cave split into two separate paths. Both looked as dark as the other, no sign of which may lead us out.

"Got a coin we can flip?" Rian asked, lowering her blades.

"No, but we can always backtrack," I said, unsure of which direction to take.

"Want to go this way? The other smells a little bit like rotten eggs. It could be sulphur" Rian wrinkled her nose at the right path. It loomed deeper darkness as it steeping downwards.

"Sure", I sighed, lifting my dagger high. "Left it is, then." I did not really like the idea of going down further in this cave.

So we headed down the left path keeping vigilant. The cave structure didn't change much as we did. Stalagmites still dripped water, the walls slimy to the touch. I noticed the craven-bats numbers were decreasing. Maybe they were close by? Hidden by darkness our mushrooms couldn't show? I tightened the grip on my dagger.

A smell of faeces and rot struck us in the air. It was worrying. With a lack of craven bats, we shouldn't be smelling their acid excrement so strongly.

A drop of water fell onto my cheek as we reached a turn in the tunnel. Something snapped under my foot, and my throat closed.

I knew where the bats had gone.

The bones my foot had crushed were small, and a skull nearby indicated I had stood on the remains of a craven bat.

Raising the mushrooms around the floor for a better view, Rian and I stilled. Fear crawled into us as we saw the boneyard we had entered. Hundreds of bones littered the floor. Some were half decomposing, maggots infesting the dead.

We had entered something's nest.

Slowly, we backed away, looking at one another in fright. We should have taken the right path.

Rian suddenly held in a squeal as she stepped on another bone, and the sickening crunch echoed down the long tunnel. We both waited, our breaths the only sound.

A terrifying roar reverberated down the tunnel directly behind us. Rian and I spun towards the path we'd just walked. Had we passed it? Or had it been watching us?

Maybe we had been correct in not taking the right path.

A second roar sounded, much closer now.

"Run!" Rian cried, running directly into the boneyard.

We sprinted with all our might through the treacherous bone-littered floor. The air was rank, and I couldn't get enough into my lungs. My adrenaline spiked as my thigh protested.

It ached from our fall in here. I misstepped on a half-shattered skull and saw Rian pulling up ahead. Every step threatened a broken ankle in this darkness.

We turned as the cave grew narrower and high-pitched screeches came down from above. Craven bats fell from the ceiling in their swarm.

Rian slashed at the bats in her path, and they fell, torn apart. "Shit, they're freaking everywhere!"

The winged hairless creatures outstretched their tiny claws to my face trying to find purchase. I stabbed one that tried to put out my eye, but another was already in my hair, and a third was trying to rip my ear. They were all around me, a living veil as I tried to follow Rian.

"Faster, come on!" Rian called back, her voice an echo away from me.

One tried to bite my cheek. The bat screeched in pain as I grabbed its wing and pulled it, tearing it away. I blocked my face with my arm as another dived at me. I could barely see.

More came.

My hair was tugged, torn by their claws as I stabbed them. They were quick, agile creatures avoiding my attacks, their red eyes piercing. One bit into my right shoulder as it landed. I screamed at the shock, grabbing its head to yank it away from my body.

The roar that was chasing us angrily answered my scream. I could hear its footsteps crushing bones now. It had entered the boneyard.

"You okay?" Rian hollered as she appeared, beating the bats away with her sabre. Before I could thank her, she spun and dodged another as it swooped overhead.

"Keep moving. It's closer!" I yelled as Rian's breath came short, her footing as unsteady as mine.

Ahead the cave narrowed further. We parred and dodged as many bats as possible, but they peppered us with small teeth and claws.

I listened to the footfalls behind us and could hear the panting of the beast, its wet breath working like bellows.

Ahead I could see a small stream of light.

"There!" I pointed to the light.

"Let's hurry. I think it's nearly on us", Rian spoke as a deafening roar approached.

The craven bats swarming us changed their actions. First, they flew away from our path, scrambling. Then, afraid, they rushed into the rafters of the cave ceiling. Some were tearing apart their own dead as they hauled bodies with them.

A pounding so close made goose bumps sprinkle on my skin, and a warm wind blew at my back. Daring, I turned my head to look as I kept running and instantly regretted it.

A dog-like demonic beast trained its glowing yellow eyes on us. Its mouth hung open, spit connecting its serrated teeth as it hunted us. It was larger than a horse and could likely crush me in one swoop of its claw. Its dark blue skin blended into the darkness as its clawed feet dug into the stone to gain traction. It weaved the cave terrain jumping onto the wall, running and snapping at a stray craven bat that had failed to escape. The beast swallowed the bat in one chomp.

My heart threatened to leave my chest; it was pumping so fast. Rian had blood trickling down her face, her left arm shaking as she struggled to keep a hold of her sabre.

We kept running.

It came towards us with the force of an avalanche.

Its claws ripped through my cloak, shredding it into tatters as I leapt away.

The beast circled in front of us across the stone walls blocking our path.

"We have to fight" Rian looked at me, and I understood from her eyes how much trouble we were in.

"Alright," I agreed, my nerves wavering as the beast's teeth glinted hungrily.

Raising her blades, Rian nodded, and I dashed right.

The dog beast leapt forward as I did. Landing where I had been moments before. I dropped the angel shrooms and readied my Jian in my right hand, my dagger in my left.

The beast swivelled its head and rushed towards us.

Rian tried to block its claws, crossing her blades and lost one in the encounter. I saw my chance and ducked, taking the fourth stance of flowing water to plunge towards the beast. I aimed for its legs, but the swing went awry and bounced off its thick hide. Its focus shifted and rushed me.

I backpaddled its snout rammed, and I went flying. The stone floor caught me, crushing the air out of my lungs.

"Lynette!" Rian cried.

Panic flooded me as its meat grinder of jagged teeth came for my face. I tried to get away, but I was too slow. I looked into its jaws as they stretched impossibly wide, and I knew death was coming.

Its jaws clamped onto my shoulder. My bones snapped, and my vision fled me as pain filled every corner of my mind. I could hear myself screaming as it pulled back, trying to rip the flesh off my bones.

"Get away from her!" Rian charged with her remaining blade. She slung it at the beast's neck. The blade sliced into its hardened skin.

But it wasn't enough.

The beast released my shoulder, and I fell to the ground in a lump. I cradled the ruin of my mangled arm close. It hurt. By the gods, it hurt so much.

The beast turned its attention to Rian and snarled. Rian snarled back.

She raised her right blade higher than her left, then attacked. They clashed together in tandem as the dog beast snapped at her head. She danced around it, narrowly avoiding its claws. Then whipped her blades upwards. They cut into the dog beast's chest, ripping through its muscle.

The beast howled and then rammed its head into her. Its two horns pushed her to the ground. Rian rolled right, slipping past the beast's paws as it tried to pin her down.

Rians screaming pierced my fog of pain, and I looked to see her limping where claws drenched her thigh in blood. She was losing. We were dying. We were as good as dead.

Rian continued to battle it, but its hide was too thick, its strength too monstrous.

I clutched my shoulder, blood coating my hand. Crawling, I pulled my limp arm with me, an idea forming. I couldn't help in this state. The muscle in my shoulder was severed.

There was only one thing I could do.

I grabbed the bag of angel shrooms.

"Rian! Bring it here!" I gasped, the pain intensifying from my movement.

Rian circled the beast as best she could and ran to me, her blades poised back. The beast dug its claws into the stone and ran up the wall after her. It scaled alongside as she ran and pounced.

"Duck!" I shouted, and Rian skidded, lowering her body. The beast had already leapt and couldn't stop its momentum as it passed her and headed for me.

I threw the bag of angel shrooms at it.

Some mushrooms scattered in the air. The cloth bag must have felt like something living because it gobbled it up.

Rian grabbed my leg and slid me across the stone floor as the beast crashed.

Its movement slowed as it stalked us, and I stumbled back.

It came at us both, and I felt a laugh bubble up inside me. Was this how my fourth life ends?

Its jaws came closer, determined to end us.

Then it dropped to its side. Its body shook, twitching and convulsing.

Rian immediately ran to it and stabbed it directly into its heart.

The dog beast wailed, its throat crackling from its paralysis.

It moved no more.