Page 42 of Song of Night

“I—I don’t know,” I say, my breath ragged, chest heaving. Terror is still pulsing through my veins. I whip my head back and forth, looking each way down the tunnel to see if the monster is still hunting me.

“What are you looking at?” Jaylen asks sharply.

“It was like…I was having a dream.” I shake my head, trying to explain. “The wild magic was calling to me, but then something dark chased me… dark and ancient and evil…”

Asher’s brow furrows and his jaw clenches. “You had a vision?”

I nod weakly. My limbs feel weak and a fine tremor moves through them.

“We need to keep moving,” Jaylen says. “Get her up. We’ve lingered here too long.”

Asher helps me to my feet and wraps an arm around from the side to support me as we move. I’m too flustered from what just happened to object. In this moment, after the horror of that thing stalking me, I need the feeling of his solid chest against my body, the strength of his arms holding me up. I can forget, just for a few minutes, that this means nothing at all.

We walk for hours and hours in silence. The only light is the weak orb from Jaylen’s stone, and in the near-total darkness, my other senses become amplified. I can hear my heart beating, and our footfalls sound like beating drums against the earth. Once, in the distance, I hear the dripping of water from some underground creek or spring. The smell of earth and stone and time becomes so intense it seems to fill my nose and lungs, an almost physical sensation. And on my tongue, I can taste it, too. The taste of stale magic and salt.

Sometimes when we reach an intersection, we continue straight, other times Jaylen leads us left or right. I notice that we avoid the larger passages as much as possible, the ones created by the great wyrms. Was it one of those I saw in my vision? I shudder thinking back on it. Never have I felt such unexplainable fear over something I couldn’t even see.

When the earth begins to tremble I look around in alarm, but Jaylen’s expression doesn’t change much from the usual grim set of her jaw and sharp glint of her eyes. She simply continues walking down the tunnel, not slowing her pace. I can’t help but look behind us, though all I see is midnight black.

We reach an area of the tunnels that is criss-crossed with passages, intersections every few feet. It seems the closer we get to Night, the more tunnels there are. I don’t know how Jaylen can possibly keep them all straight in her head, but she moves confidently, never faltering in pace. She leads us on a path that changes frequently, making left turns and then right, zigzagging across the maze beneath the earth.

Then, abruptly, she stops and turns to face me and Asher.

“We are being hunted,” she says calmly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I’ve been trying to lose them in the tunnels, but it’s not working.”

“Them?” I whisper.

She ignores my question. “We are nearly to Night. In a moment, we’re going to run. Do not look back, do not slow down for any reason. We will not win a fight against them, so running is our only chance.”

Her eyes flick from me to Asher, and we both nod.

“This tunnel leads straight to Night.” She points ahead of us. “Run. Now!”

And we run.

We run with everything we have, and my vision replays before my eyes. Some great beast behind me, teeth and wings and ancient darkness. My heart races and my adrenaline spikes so painfully it feels like blades. My lungs soon feel blade-filled as well, so fast are we moving.

I hear it, then, what my sister had apparently noted long before. A scuttling, like dozens of legs, and a low growling that reverberates through the earth. But I do not look back, I keep running as fast as I can.

We pass an intersecting tunnel, and then another, but we continue straight as Jaylen instructed. She’s in the lead with the meager light, Asher and I right behind her, shoulder to shoulder. The noises of pursuit grow behind us; our hunters are gaining ground. But we have to be close to Night now. So close.

Then, in the dim light, I see movement in the intersection ahead of us.

Several huge beasts swarm around the corner, blocking our path.

Chapter Thirty

ASHER

There are three of them. As large as bears, and they look like bears, too. Except that from out of their spines rise huge spindly legs like spiders which frame their ribcages. Each leg is covered in deadly-looking spikes. Their mouths are full of curved fangs and pinchers like a spider, too.

In the darkness I can’t see their eyes, though there is the impression of eyes, a glint here and there off a glassy surface. But even though I can’t see them, I can feel the weight of their collective gaze. A low growl emits from their mouths, and their legs chitter up the sides of the tunnel as if in excitement.

Behind us, two more monsters arrive, and they call to each other, a strange sound of triumph in their throats. We’re surrounded. Zara pulls both of her daggers, and I see Jaylen pull a long blade that was strapped between her shoulder blades. I pull my axe from its sheath at my waist and I hurl it at the forehead of the thing closest to us.

My blade flies true and hits the monster dead center in the face, embedding into its skull with a bone-crunching thud. The beast falls dead to the tunnel floor, and the other two rear up on their hind legs, roaring, and charge us. I can hear them coming up from behind, too.

I grab Zara’s hand and yell for Jaylen to duck. We call on the wild magic and it answers, a blast of violet light pulsating from our joined hands, sending the creatures flying backwards a dozen feet at least. I can’t tell if they’re dead or just injured, and I don’t wait to find out. We run for the exit.

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