Page 98 of Shield of Fire

I turned and slashed at the wrists holding the shield, severing them away from the creature’s body. The fingers didn’t move or react, but they also didn’t release it.

It didn’t matter. I sheathed my knives, grabbed the shield, and tossed it toward Lugh. He grabbed it with one hand, then reached out with the other, helping me over the creature’s body. As its limbs began to twitch, we raced for the shore, stone and stalactites spearing the ground all around us. I pushed more force into the air, felt a sharper stab of pain in my head, and knew I was reaching the limits of my capabilities. It didn’t matter. Nothing did except getting out of here in one piece.

We climbed out of the water, onto the ledge, and then ran on.

But the creature was keening again, and the cavern’s gyrations grew more violent. A huge chunk of rock splintered off the wall yards ahead of us, but before it could fall, power surged and a sling of stone caught it, pinning it in place, allowing us to get past.

The keening sharpened.

Wood rose from the lake in response, thick chunks of ancient beams that threw themselves at us. I thrust out a hand, shielding us with air, and the pain in my head became needle sharp. I gasped and stumbled, but Lugh caught me, supported me, as we ran on.

The assault of wood and stone increased, making it harder and harder to see where we were going. The ledge’s stone shuddered under our feet, then violently rose upward, creating an arched tunnel for us to run under.

Up ahead, through the thick swirl of dust, I spotted Mathi gripping what looked to be a thick slab of black rock, standing over Cynwrig—who had both hands pressed against the cavern’s floor and his eyes closed in concentration—in the center of the exit tunnel, grimly battering away the bits of rock and wood that threatened them.

Cynwrig rose when we were close to the tunnel, his face gaunt and skin gray. I wasn't the only one who’d pushed their limits here today.

Mathi caught the shield Lugh tossed him, sharply told us to follow him, then ran into the tunnel, his footsteps barely audible on the glassy rock floor.

I risked a look over my shoulder, saw Cynwrig with one hand pressed against the exit’s wall while he used the shield to batter away the worst of the wooden weapons aimed at him.

Stone shivered and moved. A heartbeat later, rock enclosed the entrance, and silence fell.

Mathi stopped and swung around, his headlamp so bright I had to throw up a hand to shield my eyes. “You’re hurt?—”

“I’m fine?—”

“There’s a three-inch cut on your forehead, and your foot is bleeding like a stuck pig,” he said, almost angrily. “So, no, you’re not.”

I waved his concern away. “In the scheme of things right now, neither is a priority. Getting out of here before that thing comes after us is.”

“I’ve blocked the entrance,” Cynwrig said as he approached. “It will take at least some time for it to pull it down.”

“If it keens too loud or too long, it could bring the whole damn mountain down on top of us.”

And finish off what the old god had started eons ago.

I didn’t say that out loud. I didn’t need to, because everyone was obviously thinking it.

“You still need those wounds tended,” Lugh said and held up a hand before I could protest. “That thing fed on blood. You don’t want to be leaving it any more than necessary to rebuild its strength.”

That was certainly a good point. Mathi swung off his pack and retrieved a first aid kit.

I sat down on a nearby rock and raised my eyebrows. “You’re the last person in this outfit I thought would be allocated first aid duties.”

“It’s company policy that all employees have a first aid certificate, and the CEO is not exempt.”

“Have you ever used it before today though?”

He glanced up, cold amusement briefly gleaming. “Probably not in the way it was meant to be used.”

He didn’t elaborate, and something within me suggested it was better not to ask. He quickly and efficiently tended to the more serious wounds on my forehead and foot, using butterfly bandages to close the wounds, then sticking a wound pad over the former and a waterproof bandage over the latter. My fingers got an array of colorful plasters.

From behind us came a low-grade boom, and the whole tunnel shuddered. I loosened the laces on my left boot and forced my foot back in, then quickly rose. It hurt like hell to put any sort of weight on it, but that was the lesser of evils right now.

“Time to go,” Cynwrig said, and motioned Mathi to take the lead again.

Lugh fell behind him, the shield now attached to the back of his pack. The creature’s fingers remained on the shield, and I had a bad feeling we should have taken the time to pry them away even if they still looked withered and unresponsive. But the booming behind us was getting louder, and thick cracks in the floor were now harrying our steps. We might not be able to hear the creature’s keening, but those cracks were warning enough that we needed to get out of here, and fast.

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