Struck

by Amanda Carlson

  Crap!

  Another horrid screech hit my ears. Then another. Followed by a bigger sound from Fen.

  Victory didn’t sound like a sure thing.

  What if there were a hundred this time, instead of just fifty? Or two hundred? If there were enough of them, couldn’t they overpower him and swarm the caves? I was trapped back here like a rat. That feeling was getting old fast.

  I spun, searching for another way out, an offshoot tunnel or something. But the only exit I could see was the tunnel Fen had taken to the larger cavern.

  If the demons rushed back, I was toast, with nowhere to run. I couldn’t stay here. If I made it out to the bigger cavern, where the portal was, I could at least try to find a place to hide. There were tons of dark, recessed areas I could conceal myself in until Fen was done fighting. If the demons could smell me, I’d be out of luck, but it was worth the risk.

  I hadn’t gone through everything to end up dead, skewered through the heart by a fire demon with burning blood! I wanted to go home, and to do that I had to stay alive.

  Holding on to that thought, I ran toward the mouth of the tunnel, gripping the iron rods tightly in both hands. They felt warm and secure.

  Not like Gram, but good enough.

  I stopped at the opening, cocking my head to listen. I heard screeches, but my best guess was they were coming from farther over than just the next cavern. This cave network had to boast a lot of different rooms.

  Now was my chance. I had to make a break for it.

  I crept into the tunnel. It was a long one, and after one turn, it got darker. I reached up and placed a hand along the wall, running my knuckles over the bumpy rock as a guide. The skin was going to get torn up, but there was no way I was letting go of either of my rods.

  After a few more turns, I stopped and crouched down to listen.

  It wasn’t easy to move stealthily in a skirt. Why did I have to pick a skirt to wear today? I owned a total of only three. Without hesitating, I stood, tracing my fingers along the seam on the side. Then I took the point of one of the rods and slashed it into the cloth and ripped down, tearing open the seam. Then I did the other side. Voilà.

  Now it was an oversize loincloth—a skirt I could actually move in.

  A loud snarl brought my head up.

  Fen sounded angry.

  What if he was in trouble? Was I going to stand by and let him get killed? If he died, I would die. If I joined him, wouldn’t two of us against the hordes be better odds? But I wasn’t ready to fight. I’d never done it before.

  I’d likely be a nuisance, rather than a help.

  I inched forward. I’d decide when I had to, not before.

  One more curve, and a faint glimmer of light hit the walls, casting flickering shadows and giving the tunnel a reddish glow. The big cavern I’d first landed in was straight ahead.

  Very slowly, I halted in front of the opening. With relief, I could see the noises weren’t coming from this cavern. Tentatively, I placed a foot into the room.

  Something jumped in front of me.

  It took me completely off guard. All I saw were red, glowing eyes, and I screamed.

  It must’ve been perched up on a boulder waiting. In the low light it looked like a specter—a mere shadow of a thing. Thin didn’t quite cover it. The demon was literally a bag of bones. Black, charred skin covered nothing more than a skeleton.

  A pair of hot, fiery eyes peered at me fiercely. It stood right in front of me, reaching out its dark digits, trying to snare me in its clutches, its forked tongue spitting disgustingly out of its mouth.

  I reacted instinctively, bringing up both weapons. I thrust once without thinking, and the weapon landed with a thunk in something solid.

  The thing in front of me let out a loud screech.

  The iron rod hadn’t struck anything vital, but I’d hit it! It wasn’t a total fail.

  A second later, the demon wrapped its skinny talons around my rod and tried to yank it out of its body. To stop it from succeeding, I pushed my weight against it, keeping it pinned in place while I swung my other arm around and plunged the crude weapon into its neck. It made a gross suction sound, and I choked back the rising vomit.

  Killing things was not for the faint of heart, but I had to survive.

  I kept that mantra running over and over again in my mind.

  The creature’s blood splattered my arm. The acid was painful, but I kept my hold.

  The thing fell to its knees.

  I was forced to relinquish my hold on the rod in its neck so I could swipe my arm down the front of my shirt. I had to get the blood off. It was eating away at my skin, burning me. Open sores bloomed along my arm, the flesh hollowed out like a bunch of bloody potholes. I would need Fen’s miracle waters to heal me up later.

  My other hand gripped the rod in its side like my life depended on it. I wasn’t about to let go of that one.

  The demon was almost dead, gasping for its last breath. Its blood was churning and bubbling, reacting with the iron. When it finally fell backward, I stumbled forward, my grip still firm.

  I stood over it, investigating. It wasn’t quite dead yet. Its eyes unleashed a volley of hatred at me as it struggled one last time, gasping and reaching out its skeletal fingers to no avail.

  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, its red orbs began to fade as the lights went totally out, dimming to a dead, jet-black.

  It went still.

  “Holy mother of gods! That was horrible.” I ran the back of my non-bloodied forearm over my mouth. I needed a drink. This one didn’t have to have an umbrella.

  I waited a few more moments to be absolutely sure, and then tugged the rod out of its body, using my foot as a brace, careful not to get any more blood on me. It took some effort.

  When I was done, I side-stepped the body and bent down, yanking the other rod out of its neck. Both rods were dripping with toxic blood. The dead demon wore clothing that resembled a burlap sack—if burlap sacks were made out of dirty, soiled, smelly material. I rubbed the blood from the rods on it the best I could.

  The fabric didn’t react, unlike my shirt, which was now shredded where the spatters had landed.

  Good to know.

  I poked the little devil just to make sure it was absolutely dead. It didn’t move. I was being paranoid, but this was the first thing I’d ever killed, and I didn’t want to have to kill it again.

  A roar rent the air.

  My head came up.

  Fen was hurt. Nothing made that kind of a sound—a growly, angry howl mixed with pissed-off grizzly bear—when they were doing fantastic or winning an epic battle.

  That was a cry of agony.

  Those little bastards were getting the best of him. I had to go at least see if I could help. Fear of being alone in this hellhole propelled me toward the only light filtering into the cavern. As I passed by the portal I’d been ejected out of mere hours ago, I stared at it longingly. I wanted nothing more than to change course and jump back through it, making it to New York by bedtime.

  But it wasn’t going to happen, at least not right now.

  I stopped short of entering a new tunnel. I noticed immediately where the light was coming from in this cavern. Two bright pools of bubbling hot lava lined the sides of the tunnel. No wonder it was so hot and smelly in these caves! I wrinkled my nose, breathing through my mouth.

  Ten paces in, I rounded a curve, right as another dark stick figure lurched into view.

  The demon and I stared at each other for a few moments, both of us surprised to find the other, its eyes firing red.

  Gross.

  Luckily, I’d already seen one of these little monsters before, so setting eyes on this one didn’t paralyze me with fear.

  It grinned at me.

  Like it knew I was its prize.

  I backed up a few paces to give myself room and brought the irons out in front of me. The last fire demon had been surprisingly easy to defeat, but I wasn’t banking on that thi
s time. My best bet would be to get the thing into the churning lava flow. Unless they were used to bathing in hot lava? How could any living thing withstand magma? I wouldn’t know until I tried. I didn’t want more blood on me, so that was the cleanest option I had.

  I sized up my competition.

  Its creepy eyes sparked at me. These things were at least two feet shorter than I was, and it didn’t weigh very much because it was nothing but bones. What did bones weigh anyway? Forty pounds? As an athlete, I excelled at swimming, but my family had always been big on fun family picnics involving highly competitive softball tournaments.

  I could swing a mean bat.

  The demon made its way toward me, and I readied my stance. It angled its hands like a praying mantis, clawlike fingers snapping. It opened its mouth, and something that sounded like greeza hummed out of its throat.

  It certainly wasn’t English, and its voice sounded like rocks tumbling around in a blender, but it had been a word nonetheless. The fact that these things could talk was unsettling. I’d already filed them away in my brain as creatures who did lots of heavy breathing but had no real means of communication with regular folk.

  It pointed at me, clasping and unclasping its phalanges, and said the word again.

  “I’m a greeza, huh?” I said. “Well, why don’t you come over here and find out for yourself?”

  Its lips opened—if you could call them lips. They were more like two thin lines stuck together. And sure enough, its horrid mouth was lined with a solid row of sharp, black nubbins, just as Fen had described. They looked like shards of black tar. What was it with things down here and their hideous teeth? What could it possibly eat here? They must snack on yummy lava rock for fun.

  “Greeza.” It kept coming.

  “Yep, that’s what you keep telling me.” I stood completely still. It took everything I had not to turn tail and run.

  The thing took its time getting to me.

  I didn’t react, not even a flinch. I had to take it by surprise. Make it think I was weak and unwilling to fight. I’m sure it thought a greeza would be an easy enough catch.

  When it was about a foot from me, stretching out its dead, skinny fingers, I tossed one rod down and whipped the other behind my head, swinging it around as fast as I could.

  There was a loud, satisfying crack.

  I should’ve been a softball player instead of a swimmer.

  The demon lurched a few feet off kilter, swaying and disoriented, but didn’t fall.

  I took full advantage of its backward momentum and kicked my leg out, solidly landing a bare foot against its bony hip.

  It stumbled to one knee.

  I was doing this. I was defeating these things!

  Fen had been right. The fire demons weren’t overly threatening, or too hard to handle. Not like having to duel Bragnon or coming face-to-face with another giant troll who didn’t care if I lived or died.

  “Who’s the greeza now?” I yelled, flooded with a rush of accomplishment. I let it flow over me like a blanket of wondrous relief. Maybe I would be able to survive in this world after all.

  If I could do that, it meant I could eventually find a way out.

  The demon snarled up at me from its compromised position on bended knee. Its red eyes blazed, sparking furiously, like two hot embers banked in a fire.

  Then, lightning fast, it sprang up in front of me.

  Well, damn.

  10

  __________________________

  ____________

  Its shriveled hand latched on to my shoulder quicker than I could blink. The inky, black nails bit deeply into my flesh. I pivoted away. Its hold broke, tearing my skin.

  I turned in a circle, swinging my leg in an arc, tripping the demon. It sprawled to the ground.

  This time I wasn’t going to risk letting it get back up.

  I thrust my rod into it, puncturing its fleshy side. The thing howled and rolled away from me, taking my rod with it.

  Hitting a vital organ was harder than it looked.

  Luckily, the motion forced the iron rod in deeper. These things were not too smart. The gunk spilling out of it didn’t resemble anything like blood—in fact, it looked like bubbly syrup. The iron rod was reacting with the blood, making it sudsy.

  The entire thing was ridiculous to watch.

  My arm still stung and my wounds were increasingly worse with each passing minute. Blood leaked from welts that still festered. Nothing was healing over. I could see why, looking at the syrupy mess coming out of that thing.

  I wasn’t interested in getting any more of that on me, so I stepped back, watching to see what it was going to do.

  In its frenzy, the demon had rolled toward the edge of the lapping lava stream. It tried to stand, staggering back and forth like a drunk. I knew I had to take my advantage while I had the chance. I ran toward it with my arms locked in front of me, and with everything I could, I rammed it, making sure to avoid the bubbly acid.

  The contact reverberated through me, but I’d hit the thing hard enough to toss it off-balance. It wobbled for a few seconds at the precipice of the lava field. For good measure, I slammed my shoulder into its bony back.

  The thing toppled, screeching as it fell. Once it hit the lava, the demon began to burn up immediately.

  Thank goodness!

  It would’ve been awful if those things could swim around in there like it was a spa. The unfortunate part was it had taken one of my precious rods with it, and there was no way to get it back.

  The fire demons were definitely quicker than they looked when motivated. I’d have to be more careful next time. Now that I was alone, I could focus on the sounds issuing from the next cavern. The entrance was about ten feet away.

  Fen was snarling and shouting.

  He was keeping them busy, but obviously not busy enough if two of them had slipped by him.

  They couldn’t possibly know I was here.

  Or could they?

  The first two had appeared to be scouting and had been mildly surprised to see me. That was not a promising thought. Maybe the Norns had rung the alarm once I’d been sucked into the tree? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that they’d sent out an all-points bulletin. Or possibly just offered free dental care for life to anyone who could successfully hunt me down. That would be a significant motivator for over half of the beasties I’d seen so far.

  The demon had called me a greeza.

  It sounded sort of like girl or get her, but there was no way to be sure, as I didn’t speak evil demon.

  I crept to the edge of the tunnel, hugging close to one side so I could peek out and see what was happening while hopefully staying hidden. I wasn’t anxious to fight any more of those things.

  The scene before me made me stifle a gasp.

  This particular cavern angled downhill, so I could see most of the action laid out before me. There were fire demons littered everywhere, their piled bodies resembling burnt twigs. And yet dozens upon dozens more were flooding in from the entrance like a swarm of locusts on a mission.

  It appeared they would never stop.

  Fen was keeping them back, but just barely.

  He was positioned on a small dais where the cave necked down. He was bleeding from numerous places on his body, and as he moved, I could see blood streaming down his face.

  He fought with an intensity I’d never seen before.

  I hadn’t witnessed many professional fights in my life, but the way Fen moved was truly incredible. His body was fluid as he flung the demons back, one after another, sometimes multiple demons at once. He alternately struck out with a sword in one hand and a spear in the other, each hand indistinguishable from the other, full of liquid grace and incredible speed.

  But there were too many demons.

  There was no way he could possibly stop them all. There were hundreds, and more streamed in as I watched. That was a huge difference from fifty or sixty.

  I spotted movement high up, o
ut of Fen’s reach.

  Demons were beginning to scale the cave wall. Once they were over his head, they would land behind him. They weren’t trying to fight Fen this time.

  They were coming after me!

  There was no doubt those little inky bastards knew I was here. I watched as two of them scaled the wall, all the way up to the ceiling. Once they were past their mark, they dropped to the cave floor and ran directly toward the tunnel I was currently hiding in, completely ignoring Fen.

  He let out a howl of rage.

  Crap!

  I couldn’t take on two of them next to the bubbling lava brooks. It was too risky. I had no other choice but to meet them head on, hoping I could best them, all the while praying no more came while I was doing it.

  Raising my lone iron rod in a defensive position in front of me, I raced into the cavern. “I’m right here!” I yelled. “But I’m not going down without a fight!”

  Not only did the two take notice, but the rest of the demon masses heard me, and the entire cave erupted in kinetic demon language. It sounded like a symphony of martini shakers full of ice being rattled simultaneously. I recognized the word greeza, but nothing else.

  The two demons coming at me wore wicked grins on their ugly, charred faces.

  Wrong move, Phoebe! You should’ve been quiet about it.

  “Valkyrie!” Fen shouted, his anger palpable. “Get back! What are you doing in here? I told you to stay put.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” I called as calmly as I could manage. I didn’t want to take anything away from his focus and risk the horde breaking through his line of defense. I also didn’t point out that he hardly had it handled, as if he wasn’t covered in blood and close to being overrun.

  I leaped in the air and brought the rod around, connecting it with one demon’s head as hard as I could. It went down, and I wasted no time thrusting the rod into the stomach of the next forked-tongued beastie five paces behind the first.

  We collided hard, the rod going in so far my fist smashed into its chest.