Page 20 of The Night Prince 3
He refocused on what he was seeing. Which wasn’t much. All he could glimpse from here was the opening of the hallway. So just a slice of action. If he crept down the rest of the way…
No! I promised Rhalyf and what good would that do? I might cause someone to get hurt. Besides, I can see some of what’s going on.
In fact, at that moment Declan swept across the space. He had his kitchen knife out. The edge was gleaming a hot blue-white. The coils of a Leviathan snapped towards Declan.
Finley could only see a fraction of those smoky, oily coils as they sought to curl around his best friend’s torso and crush him in their embrace. But Declan somehow wasn’t there when the coils contracted. He’d leaped into the air and landed on top of them. He brought the broken point of the kitchen knife down, stabbing it deep into the coils. There was a rattling hiss and a shrill scream that had Finley covering his ears. Memories of the war flooded him again.
The slithering is getting closer to us! After the human cries had died away. The slithering was so loud.
Cold sweat suddenly coated his brow and upper lip. He felt it trailing down his spine. How many times had he heard those unearthly screams as Gemma huddled against his body. He’d curled over her protectively, praying that if something got past Declan that it would take him and leave her alone.
I couldn’t protect her! I couldn’t protect Declan! I couldn’t protect myself…
The coils Declan perched on thrashed and his best friend lightly jumped off, slashing with the kitchen knife downwards in an almost graceful arc. The coils were severed in two. The darkness congealed into almost a solid mass for a moment and then there was a clunk as a fang appeared and rolled away into the darkness.
One down! I think he’s better killing them now than before, Finley thought a little hysterically even as his breathing eased a little. Aquilan thinks Declan’s human, but he’ll have seen him kill Leviathan… What will he think after this? What is he thinking already?
Declan leaped out of the hallway and was lost to Finley’s sight. Whatever comfort he’d found by seeing Declan was swept away. But then Elasha appeared. Though he found her parochial and prejudiced, she was no coward. Coils boiled up from the track and attempted to curl around her ankles. She did a backflip, slicing coils beneath her with a ballet dancer’s grace. There were more of those shrieks and roars. They echoed in the room. She sprang out of view as well.
Then it was Helgrom’s turn. He heard the dwarf’s deep voice boom with laughter and satisfaction. There was a terrible clank and crash as Helgrom brought his hammer down onto yet more coils that had slithered up from below the lip of the tracks. The darkness became smoke and drifted away. There was another clink and another fang was left somewhere out of sight.
But Helgrom was not done. He gripped the hammer with both hands and he swung himself in a powerful circle with the hammer facing outwards. As he spun like a deranged top, the hammer struck coil after coil, sending them flying back. He spun out of sight.
Glom suddenly jumped into frame. His mouth was full of fangs. Finley watched as he tipped his massive head back and swallowed them down. As if in revenge, a coil snapped down from the ceiling, aiming at Glom’s back. The naki was faster. He sprang up towards the coil and clamped his mouth onto it. The coil writhed, seeking to get free.
It lifted Glom’s four squat legs up off the floor. Only the naki’s tail was touching the ground, but Glom did not let go. He worried at the coil and finally his sharp teeth snapped shut and the coil was severed. Another ear-shattering screech filled the air and then a fang dropped. Glom let out a warble of triumph and slurped the fang up to join the rest in his belly.
He was leaning out farther now. He hadn’t seen Aquilan or Rhalyf yet. He could see the colors from their magic, but he couldn’t see it. He had to see it. He leaned out further. A purple plasma blast streaked across the opening. Finley’s lips parted. It was hot white in the center, but dark purple on the outside. When it struck what had appeared to him to be a wall of darkness opposite the train tracks, he saw his mistake.
The purple plasma splattered in all directions, purple lightning crawling along coils… hundreds of coils. The whole back wall wasn’t a wall at all. It was Leviathans. Finley blinked in shock even as his insides suddenly felt encased in ice.
“Aquilan, ace ut aya vie!” Rhalyf cried. He was speaking in Katyr. Finley translated it, “Aquilan, call the dawn!”
Golden light bloomed like a miniature Sun rising as yet another streak of magic struck the “wall” of Leviathan. The coils were outlined in gold as they burned away like dead leaves in a roaring fire. The back wall was now white instead of black. The same white tile he remembered. But the darkness surged back almost immediately.
Coils! So many coils!
At some point, Finley had simply stepped out into the hallway. He stood there, open-mouthed staring, at the wall of blackness. He had to do something! There were too many Leviathan. His friends were in trouble! He…
Coils dropped down over the opening of the hallway, completely obscuring it. The light from the magic was snuffed out and complete blackness descended. Finley gasped. He sounded so loud. Echoing.
His magically enhanced vision took a moment to adjust. And when it did, he almost wished it hadn’t. A massive Leviathan was coiling there. It had separated from the group that covered the hallway and was oiling towards him. His breath caught in his throat. His heart trembled in his chest. He staggered backwards and fell, tripping over his own two feet. He kept pulling himself backwards. Crawling like a crab. He couldn’t look away from it. It slithered towards him. He thought he heard a pleasured sigh escape from a mouth somewhere in its coils.
“G-get back!” Finley gasped and stuck one hand out towards the encroaching creature as if a fireball might somehow magically bloom on his palm and streak out towards it.
But nothing happened of course.
Because humans didn’t have magic.
They were weak.
They were prey.
They were useless.
He was useless.
And he was going to die.
