Page 39 of With Wing And Claw

The lights blazed brighter for a moment, then began sizzling out one by one – dimming the green, the purple, the yellow, until only a sprinkle of pink remained, shrouding the enormous cave in a blushing glow.

‘Oh, you remember my favourite colour!’ Naxi clapped her hands, beaming at the dusk below. ‘That is sovery lovely of you. Do you think it would be possible for me to come down somehow even though I don’t have wings? We only had time for a short chat yesterday, and I’m so excited to get to know you a little better.’

There was a moment of silence.

Then the mountain rumbled.

A deep, unearthly thrum, echoing back from the ruined walls and arches of the bone hall … and beneath her, in the shadowy depths, the smooth rock rippled, then billowed. Rising like a wave from the floor of the cave, shaping …

Stairs.

A peal of laughter tumbled from her lips as the upper step bumped into the crumbling marble edge of the floor; she hopped onto the dark stone, hurrying down into the depths. Behind her, the staircase sank back into the smooth surface of the cave. Which meant she’d have to ask the Labyrinth for permission to leave again … but then, if it wanted to keep her prisoner, it would probably stop her before she returned to this part anyway.

She wasn’t too worried. The mountain’s emotions were subtly different to those of more conventional sentient beings, but they were emotions all the same, in the same way an unknown language still sounded likelanguage. She’d studied its reactions and responses for an hour or so the previous day, while waiting for Thysandra to show up. Unless she was terribly mistaken, the main feeling surrounding her now was one of a slightly grumpy satisfaction, like a sulky housecat who’s finally found someone to rub its belly.

‘They’ve been neglecting you terribly, haven’t they?’ she said, rolling her eyes at the castle above.

The light turned from pink to something that was closer to red – a light red, but red all the same.

‘Yes, I know.’ She skittered to the nearest wall to sympathetically pat the dark stone. It was surprisingly warm to the touch. ‘I too would prefer to burn the whole place down, if you want the truth. But my friends are trying to make it better rather than destroying it, and it seems polite to at least give them a chance, don’t you think?’

The Labyrinth felt doubtful.

‘We’ll see,’ Naxi said philosophically, making her way to the nearest tunnel. The floor was smooth like slippery ice beneath her bare feet, but much warmer, like stones that had basked in the sunlight all day. ‘For now, let’s just have a chat. You’re probably rather bored, aren’t you?’

All the colours slowly flickered back to life around her, but they remained muted. Even the pink and red were no longer so bright now, a dullness that seemed almost … sad?

‘Oh, dear.’ She sighed, glancing into the winding dark of the caves ahead. ‘Is that why you started pulling people in, now that Emelin’s opened the gates? So you would have some company again?’

The stone went a little cooler beneath her feet. Not anger – the wave of emotion that rolled in around her was nothing like that scalding sensation of true fury. Instead, the mountain seemed to be withdrawing in a way Naxi could only call …

Yes,defensive.

Like that same housecat, caught stealing bites of meat from the kitchen counter.

‘Oh, don’t worry,’ she said, an entirely genuine giggle catching her by surprise. ‘It’s not as if Icareabout the fools. You can crush all their toes and fingers, as far as I’m concerned. I’m just wondering if we can’t find you some better entertainment, because I imagine a bunch of frightened fae aren’t really doing the trick. Could you show me where you’re keeping them?’

For two endless heartbeats, nothing happened.

Then veins lit up in the floor beneath her feet.

Not gems, this time. Rather, it looked like a trickle of some sparkly pink fluid running just below the surface, drawing an almost-straight line towards the low tunnel to her left. Naxi turned and whirled after it, following the glowing trail deeper into the maze. Right, right, and left again. Past a gem-studded forest of stalactites, through a passage so narrow she only fit sideways and holding her breath …

It was then, just a faint tickle of emotion in the distance, that she caught her first glimpse of the Labyrinth’s fae captives.

Unsurprisingly, the sensation was mainly one of fear.

Good news for them, in a way. If they were still experiencing fear, that suggested there was something left of them to save.

The screaming came soon after, a bend or two past the place where she’d first become aware of the fools. Sobbing, too. Hoarse cries for help. If Lyn were here, she would no doubt remind Naxi that these were natural reactions to the shock of being held captive by a mountain and that it would be rather callous to roll your eyes at desperate people in need … but natural reactions or no, how the hell was anyone supposed to think clearly with all that useless whining in the background?

Naxi rolled her eyes anyway. Lyn wasn’t here to see, and she suspected that the Labyrinth quite probably agreed with her.

The gust of warm air brushing past her suggested it did indeed.

On she walked, more slowly now. She’d thought matters through until roughly this moment, but confronted with the unexpected fact that the Labyrinth’s guests were still alive, she had to admit she wasn’t quite sure how to save the fools. Convince them to be better entertainment from now on? Explain to them that all they needed to do was stop crying and start complimenting the caves around them, preferably with genuine excitement?

The waves of suffocating panic rolling over her demon senses suggested most of them might be well past that point.

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