Page 67 of Akur

“Fuck!”Akur’s use of the human word seemed apt as he broke into a run with her gripped to his chest. “You should have taken the moment to run, human. These things will be attracted to me first, before they think to go after you.”

Gripping the thick muscle of his arm that was pressed into her midsection as he ran, she squeezed her eyes tight for a moment, her stomach contents heaving as he went airborne in a leap over something she couldn’t see.

She just had to trust his eyesight was as good as she thought it was in this darkness, because she still couldn’t see shit.

But she could hear. She could hear oh so well, and behind them, that humming, snapping sound was almost deafening.

“Have you stopped to think that maybe that’s exactly what they want? For these creatures to take your attention while they come and snatch me in the dark? I’m fucking useless out here. I can’t see a thing, Akur.”

“Useless?” he grunted. “No. Take this.”

Something pressed against her breasts and she realized it was one of hisswords. Trembling hands found the hilt as there was a keening sound directly behind them.

“Now, bright eyes,” Akur panted. “Run.”

He let her go suddenly, and she fell the short distance to the ground. Something clattered and skidded away, the light from the map blinking in and out as the device skated across the stone floor, illuminating the tunnel as she turned to see the creature chasing after them.

Fuck, indeed. It was a writhing mass of segmented limbs and chitinous armor, each segment lined with what looked like sensory organs. It moved like a centipede, but faster, more erratic. As Akur stopped short, it reared up, snappers at what must be its mouth orifice going snap snap snap.

Akur’s blade moved like solid lightning, catching the creature mid-lunge as the dim light from the map died. A shriek echoed through the tunnel, but the sound only seemed to excite the others she couldn’t see.

The map. She had to find the map.

Knees scraped on stone, palms being scratched to bring blood to the surface as she searched for the device. Without the map, they were blind. Without it, they were lost. Terror clawed at her throat, choking off her breath. She crawled forward, her hands sweeping blindly through the darkness, praying for the touch of metal, the faintest flicker of light. Somehow, her carefully packed bra bag dislodged, its contents tumbling out. She shrugged out of it with a stressed grunt.

“Run!” Akur shouted. “Right tunnel, go!”

“Not without you!” She blindly searched for the device still. But even as she said it, she could hear his plan working. The gragmars were focusing on him, drawn by the waves of heat now pouring off his massive frame.

“Constance.” Her name was a growl. “Run.Now.”

The command in his voice triggered something in her—not fear, but recognition. Trust. He had a plan, and she needed to trust him to execute it.

With a curse that would have made her mother faint, she rose. At the same time, her foot hit something that skirted off in the darkness. The map. It flickered alive for a moment, enough for her to see it and dive for it, before it died again.

“Constance!!”

Rising, she sprinted for the junction. Behind her, she heard Akur roar—a sound of challenge that made the very air vibrate. The gragmars responded with shrieks of their own. Shrieks that told her once they were done with him, she would be their next meal. And despite everything within her telling her to stay and fight, she had to do the thing that made her fear the most.

She had to leave him. She had to trust him with this.

She reached the junction and took the right path without slowing, ignoring every instinct that screamed at her to go back, to help him. The tunnel ahead sloped upward sharply, making her legs burn as she pushed herself harder.

Another explosion rocked the tunnels, closer than ever. This one was strong enough to create aftershocks that made her sway, Akur’s sword clanging on the walls around her as she tried to keep her footing. The sound of combat behind her began fading, replaced by an ominous rumbling that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

“Come on,” she whispered, though she wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or to Akur. “Come on, come on...”

The tunnel curved sharply, and she nearly crashed into a wall. A dead end? No. Not again. Tucking the map device under her arm, she used both hands, searching for a secret access point. Maybe it’s just another door.

There were symbols here. Etched into the rock. She could feel them underneath her palm. If she could just figure them out…

She was still trying to decipher them when she heard it—the sound of something large moving fast, heading her way.

Pressing herself against the wall, her heart thundered in her chest. If it was one of those creatures, she was dead. Akur’s sword was heavy. She could swing it, but she’d need the creature to be distracted enoughthat her blow could harm it. She had no other weapons, no way to defend herself. Nothing except…the map.

It had a light. Akur said these creatures hunted in the dark. That they didn’t like the light. It wasn’t much; it was a dim light, but maybe…

Her hand went to the device. If she was about to die, she could at least try this.

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