Page 33 of The Demon's Due
From the corner of the tunnel came a dragging sound. Slow. Relentless.
Out of the gloom, a figure lurched into view. In the dim light of the torch, skin stretched tight over bone became visible, rotting eyes burning with hunger, its jaw distending as a rasping breath filled the tunnel.
Síofra’s voice shook with terror,“What-what is that?”
Ashmedai’s silence lasted too long. Then, sheepishly, “Ah. I forgot.”
“Forgotwhat?” Morgan snarled.
“The wendigos.”
The creature shrieked, the sound piercing their ears. Bone fragments rattled from the walls.
“Run,” Ashmedai said flatly.
The thing lunged. Morgan swung the blade instinctively. The steel bit deep, cleaving it apart. The body collapsed in a twitching heap.
Relief lasted only a breath. The severed pieces began to slither back together. Bones shifted, flesh reknit.
Another scream echoed further down the corridor.
A second shape dragged itself into view.
Morgan’s grip tightened on the sword. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The first wendigo’s body convulsed, twitching as it dragged itself back together, bones snapping back into place like warped clockwork. Its eyes glowed with ravenous fire as it lunged again, faster this time.
Morgan swung Freyr’s sword with all his strength. The steel sang, cleaving an arm free but the limb writhed on the ground, claws scraping toward his ankle.
Ashmedai’s voice snarled in his head.“Careful! A bite will turn you. And trust me, vessel, you do not want that curse gnawing in your marrow.”
Another scream echoed, closer. A third wendigo staggered into view, its skull-like face snapping toward Síofra. She froze, terror locking her in place.
“Move!” Morgan shoved her aside, blade flashing again. He clipped the creature’s side, black ichor spraying the bone walls. The stench was suffocating.
“Back!” Síofra’s voice was shrill as she tried to wedge herself into the narrow tunnel, her hands over her ears. “Oh gods, oh gods, they’re everywhere-”
The first wendigo lunged low, teeth snapping, and its jaws barely missed Morgan’s thigh. The sound of them clashing shut rang in his bones. If it had caught him-
“Don’t let them touch you!” Ashmedai barked, his tone edged with real alarm.“One bite and you’ll be wendigo-spawn. Mind gone, flesh rotting away.”
Bones shifted again, walls collapsing further as though the tunnels themselves were trying to bury them alive. Dust rained from the ceiling.
“We can’t fight them all!” Síofra cried.
Morgan’s chest heaved. “Run…RUN.” He grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the nearest side passage, sword clutched in his other fist.
The creatures shrieked, the sound bouncing in endless echoes. Their claws scraped the stone as they gave chase, faster than a human.
The tunnels twisted, the path narrowing, until Morgan saw it-a sliver of pale moonlight ahead.
“Go!” he roared, shoving Síofra through the opening.
They burst into the open air, stumbling into the cemetery above, lungs burning. Morgan swung the sword in a wide arc at the opening, forcing the creatures back into the dark. Ashmedai hissed words in a language older than stone, and shadows thickened over the mouth of the tunnel, sealing it like a wound.
The night went still.
Síofra collapsed onto the grass, gasping, her skirt torn and dust-streaked. “That… that was too close.”
