Page 105 of The Delver
Callie released her hold on him with one arm. She was immediately jerked backward, her right shoulder on the verge of dislocating from the strain. With a pained cry, she fought her left arm free of the bag’s strap. The increased pressure on her right arm broke her hold on Urkot’s middle. Her torso tipped backward hard, aided by the steepness of the slope, and her arms flew over her head.
The remaining strap abruptly slipped off as her back slammed atop Urkot’s hindquarters, and she found herself in an inverted world, staring downslope at the pursuing spiritstriders.
The vrix that had latched onto her bag growled as it fell away, tumbling over the spiritstrider holding Urkot’s leg and knocking it loose. The two rolled down the slope. Only Callie’s legs—and Urkot’s iron grip on them—kept her in place.
Free of the excess weight, Urkot lurched forward. Several spiritstriders rushed up the slope just behind him as the two that had fallen struggled to right themselves. More were farther down, crawling up with alarming speed.
Callie’s eyes widened. There were too many spiritstriders, and they were too fast. Another delay, even a small one, and…
“Callie!” Urkot’s grip on her ankle tightened. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” she grated. “Relatively…”
She growled through clenched teeth as she sat up, her abs burning with the extreme exertion.
Would it kill you to do a few crunches every now and then, Callie?
As soon as she was high enough, she wrapped her arms around Urkot again, sliding her hands down to his pouch. She reached in and felt around until she found the collapsed lantern. Pulling it out, she switched to a one-armed hold, drew the lantern to her, and snapped it open with a sharp flick of her wrist.
Please work.Please, fucking work…
She switched the lantern on. She slitted her eyes against the intense white light and twisted, thrusting the lantern toward the vrix chasing them.
Callie saw unsettling spiritstrider faces and gaunt, bony bodies, saw the nearest of them recoil from the sudden light while the others hesitated, hissing and snarling. One turned away with such abruptness that it lost its footing and slid at least ten feet down the slope.
For once, Urkot gained some distance on their pursuers. She faced forward to find the cavern’s opening directly ahead, blindingly brilliant compared to the lantern’s glow. Urkot darted through it.
Callie closed her eyes against the glare. Her eyelids glowed red, and sunshine, deliciously scalding, baked down on her skin. With her next breath, the jungle’s scent filled her lungs—rich, cloying, complex, verdant. Nothing had ever smelled so good.
Nothing apart from her mate, anyway.
“We made it!” she breathed. “We fucking made it!”
They’d reached the surface, had accomplished what had seemed impossible.
But all the warmth and joy flooding Callie was snuffed out by the inhuman, rage-filled screeches of spiritstriders behind her, amplified by the cave’s mouth.
She opened her eyes as Urkot spun to face the cave. His lower hand caught her arm and pulled her down from his hindquarters, setting her on her feet.
Pain shot through her leg, and Callie hissed as she stumbled, but his hold on her prevented her from falling. “Urkot, what are?—”
He pressed something into her hand, something heavy, and guided her back with a leg.
She staggered backward, fresh pain searing her calf, and stared down at what he’d handed her—his hammer, with its short haft and its worn, blunt stone head.
Callie closed her fingers around the grip and lifted her gaze.
A large, pale form leapt out of the cave. Urkot swung his right arms, slamming them into the spiritstrider while it was in midair and batting it aside. It crashed into the cliffside from which the cave opened and fell to the ground, stunned.
Another pale vrix charged out into the light, and another. Urkot’s left arm hooked around one’s throat, catching it in a headlock, pinning its mandibles to the sides of its face. The other spiritstrider scrambled over his hindquarters, clawing his hide, huffing the air in search of a scent.
Its head snapped toward Callie. The vrix reached for her, blindly flailing its arms.
Growling, Urkot grabbed the spiritstrider’s stringy hair, yanking its head back. Despite restraining two thrashing males, Urkot’s legs barely budged. He looked more solid than ever.
Her rock.
The spiritstrider he held by the hair spun toward him. Its sudden change of direction finally disrupted Urkot’s balance, and it took advantage by lunging for his throat. Urkot’s musclesbulged beneath his hide as he fought to hold the spiritstrider’s head back while its mandibles snapped the air mere inches from his face.
