“Got it!” I screamed, only to find my joy short-lived as the sky darkened overhead. I had been concentrating so hard I hadn't heart Cain and Inés yelling at me. Now I heard them.
Cain's head poked up over the edge of the ledge I was standing on. “Get down!” he yelled. He didn't wait for me to act but grabbed my ankles and yanked my feet out from under me. I hit the floor with a thud and a cloud of choking yellow dust rose up around me as pain exploded in my backside. That was going to leave one hell of a bruise.
“Basta--” I began to scream at him only to see the razor sharp bill that dived out of the sky aimed at my head. I decided rolling off the ledge was a better plan than berating my brother who'd clearly just saved my neck. I fell against the edge of the rock, scraping my elbows and knees as I tumbled down, but Cain caught me before I hit the floor again and pushed me flat against the jagged rock as an ear-splitting shriek rent the atmosphere and a rush of air swept past us with the force of powerful, leathery wings.
I tried to speak but just coughed as I breathed in the sulphurous dust that billowed up around us.
“W--Was that ...” I stammered.
“A Pterodactyl?” Cain finished for me. “Yeah, I think so.” Poking his head out from under the ledge, he peered out and the screaming cries intensified. He ducked back fast. “Close enough I don't want to know the difference in any case,” he said with a grimace. He crouched down and began rummaging in his own back pack which was three times the size of mine and weighed about the same as a reasonable-sized house by the look of it. As usual his body was criss-crossed with bandoliers, belts and straps, all custom-made to carry various potion vials and a terrifying array of knives, throwing stars and other things I couldn't identify but would bet were painful to be on the receiving end of. He looked like the bizarre love child of Rambo and Lina Inverse. He delved into the depths and came out with a clear plastic carrier bag that appeared to be swimming with blood.
“What ...” I began and then changed my mind, holding out my hand to stop him as he drew out a large piece of stinking meat that dripped rust-coloured stains onto the yellow ground at our feet. “Don't bother,” I said, retching as the smell got stronger. “I don't need to know do I?”
He gave me a sideways look and shook his head.
I returned a grim smile. “Fine by me.” I was learning the hard way not to ask Cain questions I didn't want to hear the answer to.
“You got the direction?” he asked me, holding the rotten meat between finger and thumb. I nodded and pulled the map I'd drawn from my backpack to show him.
“OK,” he said, glancing at it. “When I say go, everyone run like hell to that cliff over there.”
Inés and I looked in dismay to where he was pointing. It looked bloody miles away.
“Merde!” Inés cursed with feeling. She hadn't had the benefit of attending Cain's boot-camp for the best part of a year. I was surprisingly grateful that I had. We didn't have time to complain about it much, though, as Cain lobbed the meat and dozens of big leathery wings dived after it, sharp beaks stabbing and attacking those that tried to get in the way.
“Run!” he yelled.
By the time we reached the cliff, Inés and I were red-faced, sweat pouring down and dripping and our hair was plastered to our faces. Cain looked a bit hot - like he'd been sitting on a beach. I restrained myself from the need to hit him.
“Show me the map again,” he demanded. I shoved the crumpled paper at him and found a bottle of water, snatching at the top with sweaty fingers. I took a long drink and sank to the floor beside Inés who was gasping like a landed fish. Cain grunted. “Come on, on your feet. We need to move.”
Inés muttered obscenities at him but did as he said and we trudged on.
Ahead of us were hundreds of rocks jutting up from the ground. They were three times our height and covered the ground ahead with narrow gaps to pass in between. It was like stepping into a giant maze with plenty of nice secluded places to be taken by surprise and ambushed. At least it was shady.
We moved forward, our senses on alert and nerves stretched to breaking but nothing happened, no monsters lurking, and no screaming from the lost souls who were apparently condemned here. It was unnerving.
“I don't like it,” I said, glancing at Cain. He gave me a look, and I huffed at him. “No, I mean ... It's ...” I hesitated, unwilling to say it out loud even though I was thinking it. “Too easy,” I hissed.
Cain raised an eyebrow. “Oh, don't worry, Nina, this place won't disappoint you I promise.”
We moved out from the last row of stones and the horizon lay stretched out before us like the mouldering dead. A black shroud of dirty clouds billowed over the valley below, casting us into darkness. I stood with my heart in my mouth and Cain gave me a grim smile. “Is that more what you had in mind?”
“Putain,” Inés said softly, awe in her voice.
We really were looking into the depths of hell. A great river coiled through the valley but there was no water here. It was a river of fire, the molten heat sending thick black smoke curling into the air, darkening the skies further and blocking out the light from the fierce sky, though not the heat. Everything close to the river glowed a burnt orange, the reflected light of the lava burnishing everything with its searing touch. The temperature down there was incredible, the view before us shimmering in the haze.
There was a bridge over the lava flow, snaking like a great glowing serpent through the valley. It was clearly the only way into the heart of Tartarus and trolls patrolled up and down the river, plus one stationed at each end of the bridge. They were huge, vicious creatures with thick, saggy grey skin, massive bellies and short stumpy legs that could nevertheless move fast enough as I knew to my cost. Overhead the pterodactyls circled, their piercing shrieks adding to the screams that were now audible from the horror of the glowering pit below us.
Occasionally we saw the brief outlines of figures as they scurried to and fro, avoiding the trolls and keeping to the shadows. Snarling glimpses of filthy, scrawny creatures that had once been men and women clawed at each other over bloody bones and any disgusting remnants left in the dirt.
I couldn't say a word. My only thought was that Corvus had endured this since he'd driven that dagger into his chest. How long had it been?
Time moved differently in Tartarus. The months he had been gone could have been years, decades - centuries even. And all of this time he would have believed I'd left him here to rot, that I'd moved on and forgotten him as he'd asked me to do. Except of course that he wouldn't. He wouldn't even remember who I was, who he had been. The madness would have taken that from him. But for how long had he believed himself forgotten before he lost his mind? The lump sat heavy in my throat as tears pricked in my eyes. I was terrified to go down the steep incline before us, but I couldn't live with myself if we didn't bring him home.
I dragged the crystal and everything I needed from my rucksack, sketching the area as fast as I could before lifting the crystal. Inés and Cain stood at my back, their eyes scanning around us for any sign of danger.
The crystal flew from my hand once again and buried itself in the paper. I took a deep breath and got to my feet, pointing into the heart of the pitiless valley beneath us.
“There,” I said, my voice thick. “He's down there.”
Chapter
10
Sweat ran down my neck, making my back itch and the disgusting lotion that Cain had made us slick over our skin looked like congealed fat and smelt revolting. It was thick and sticky and uncomfortable too but it was that or sizzle like a rasher of bacon when we crossed the bridge so we'd applied it with care.
I wiped my face with my hand and rubbed my wet palm on my trousers with a grimace. Kneeling down, I checked my boot laces were tightly done up - again - and tried not to notice my heart beating in my throat as I awaited Cain's signal.
I saw him move out, the lone figure looking far too fragile and vulnerable against the vast fiery backdrop an
d the massive trolls that were guarding the river and the bridge. Vulnerable wasn't a word that could ever be applied to Cain, though, and one after another I saw the trolls drop to the floor, their lumbering bodies crashing to the ground with a billow of yellow dust.
As predicted the fall of their comrades attracted the attention of the trolls further down the river in both directions and they came thundering towards Cain with surprising speed, despite their bulk. Their wide mouths were open with fury, stumpy broken teeth bared like ancient gravestones as they howled with rage. I waited until they passed me and then ran out behind them. The air spell was too simple, it simply plucked the oxygen from their lungs and down they went, toppling like great, ugly ninepins and rolling down the river bank where the molten flow slipped over their bodies like they'd never been. I felt a moment's guilt at having swatted them like flies, until I turned and saw six more thundering down the path towards me.
“Come on!” Cain's voice was urgent, and I saw Inés running in his wake with a dozen more trolls in pursuit from the other direction. Shit.
We ran flat out for the bridge and felt my feet slide from under me as I put a foot on the shiny surface. For the second time that day I fell hard on my arse and wailed in pain as searing heat burned me through Cain's lotion and the fireproof spells Inés had cast on our clothes and boots. The spells may have stopped the damage but that didn't mean it didn't fucking hurt. Cain ignored my pain, grabbed my arms and yanked me to my feet, towing me in his wake as we ran, the three of us slipping as though it was ice beneath our feet as our boots sizzled on the scorching surface.
“Keep going!” Cain screamed as we started to descend, and he turned to attack the front runners who were crossing the bridge with no apparent difficulty as their thick, hippo grey hides seemed impervious to heat. Inés and I kept moving, confident that he could catch us up. I turned briefly to see three trolls fall one after the other as those behind crashed on top of the bodies and jammed up the bridge so nothing could pass.
Moments later and Cain was behind us. “Down there,” he yelled, gesturing ahead to a passage that led between high jagged rocks, the tops lost in the thick coiling smoke that hung low in the sky. The path was narrow and twisting and full of snarling creatures with wild eyes and matted hair, their skin was burned and blistered, running with open sores and they lashed out at us as we passed, snatching at our packs and anything they could grab hold of.
One lunged for Cain, his scrawny body no match for my brother but the madness in his expression as he leapt was not to be underestimated. Cain dodged and his attacker stumbled, too slow to avoid the fatal kick to the head that sent him crashing into the wall. I pushed away the thought that Corvus was like this now, a snarling, unthinking creature that would likely attack us on sight. No matter how many times Cain had warned me, I still held out some stubborn, irrational shred of hope that he was wrong, that Corvus would have survived. I turned at the sound of agonised screaming to see three of the poor wretches burning like torches as they'd assumed Inés was an easy target. She hit each of them with a second, stronger spell that left nothing but ashes and put them out of their misery - at least until the next morning when they'd be reborn to this hellish place all over again. I wondered how many of them deserved their punishment and how many, like Corvus, had just got in the way of a vengeful god.
We pushed on as two pterodactyls fell on the body that Cain had provided them with and I looked away in revolt as their sharp beaks tore at the flesh and snapped at each other. Turning a corner I ran straight into Cain as he leapt backwards just in time to avoid a jet of flame that stabbed upwards like a white hot spear from a crack in the ground. Unbalanced by me, Cain missed his footing and went down, landing on top of me and knocking the air from my lungs as I hit the floor with his massive weight slamming down on me.
“Merde!” Inés screamed, and I could hear the panic in her voice. “Get up, get up, get up!” Cain lurched to his feet, but I couldn't catch my breath and the twin panic of not being able to breath and whatever it was that Inés was freaking out over had me frozen in place.
I glanced at Cain and saw his eyebrows lift in surprise. This was pretty much the equivalent of Cain shouting, Fuck me, would you look at that, so I decided breathing wasn't so important and tried to shift myself but my limbs didn't seem to understand the urgency. My movements were sluggish and Cain obviously decided we didn't have time to wait for them to catch up as he hauled me to my feet and threw me over his shoulder. I was momentarily grateful, despite the indignity of it, until I realised I had a front row seat of just what was chasing us.
The air seemed to return to my lungs in a rush as screaming suddenly seemed a priority. “Fuck!”
“I know!” Cain shouted as he turned a corner and dropped me to the ground, reaching for one of the potion vials at his waist. Inés and I tried to cover him with a volley of fire spells as the giantess marched forward. She towered over us, her eyes full of hatred and a clear desire to see us suffer. The dress that clung to her massive frame was ragged and seemed to be dripping blood, our blazing spells extinguishing against the sticky, sodden material with a pathetic hiss as she left a bloody trail in her wake. She laughed at our efforts and cracked the whip in her hand - except it wasn't a whip. The massive, red snake lashed out, faster than we could track and instinctively I scrambled back but Cain stood firm and lanced the vial in her face. The tiny bottle exploded on contact and she screamed, scratching at her eyes as her skin began to bubble and froth, but I didn't give a shit about her as I saw my brother crumple to the floor.
The snake had bitten him on the leg. Two perfect, round holes were visible in the fabric of his army style trousers, and I watched in horror as he grabbed for his knife with hands that trembled and slashed at the material.
I swallowed, refusing to give into the panic that was clawing at my throat. I would not be losing my brother here. “What can I do?” I demanded.
“Antidote,” Inés yelled. “Where is it?”
“Pack,” Cain muttered, his face white with pain as he drew the blade over his thigh. Blood dripped freely from the deep wound he'd cut as well as a thick green substance that burned his skin as it made contact. I wiped it away as fast as I could while Inés ransacked his pack, cursing under her breath.
“Hurry!” I screamed as Cain's eyes rolled up in his head and his body began to jerk. Inés turned, wielding the biggest needle I had ever seen in my life and slammed in into his chest. Cain arced beneath the force of it, his body rigid, face contorted with agony before all the tension went out of him, and he collapsed.
I stared at Inés, grabbing her arm, too terrified to form words and she patted my hand slumping back against the rocks and shivering. “He's OK,” she managed, and I felt like my heart might have started beating again.
We just sat there, filthy, trembling and terrified with the body of the giantess dissolving and decomposing with soft hisses and bubbles behind us, and Cain out cold on the floor. To my right I saw shadows creeping in our direction and anger sent the flames rushing to my finger tips as I sent a volley of fire spells towards them. I heard desperate screaming and then everything went quiet again.
I figured we'd been in Tartarus maybe a couple of hours by now. That was all. I was at the edge of my sanity and shaking with fear, and it had only been a couple of hours. The idea sank in, and I blinked away tears.
Cain groaned as he regained consciousness, rubbing at his chest as he hauled himself upright. Inés had stirred herself and was getting a small vial of green powder from her own pack that I recognised was for healing scars. Cain raised an eyebrow at her.
“You're having a laugh aren't you?” He leaned back against the wall with a grimace. “Think it's a bit late in the day for beauty treatments.”
Inés rolled her eyes at me. “Alors, it will also close the wound and stop you bleeding out. Does that satisfy your macho ego?”
Cain snorted and then winced, clutching at his chest again. “Whatever.”
/> I watched as Inés sprinkled the powder over the wound and it closed over. There was a faint pink line but no scar from the cut, though the two holes from the snake bite remained to add to his collection.
“New map,” he demanded, waving his hand at me. I nodded and got to work. Not that there was much to draw, I'd have to stop and keep checking now to keep us on track.
Inés handed us out a small bottle each before we got moving again. It tasted foul but it was like no energy drink I'd ever had before, and I felt instantly more alert. I figured it was just as well as we moved on, further into the dark, forbidding depths of Tartarus.
***
“Close up!” Cain yelled to Inés as the creatures started to move forward again. I glanced up, movement above us catching my eye.
“Cain!”
He turned to me and looked up as I gestured but too late as the creature jumped him from above. There was nothing I could do, my hands fully occupied by the dozens of condemned souls who had decided we looked like lunch or at least an entertaining break from monotony.
I saw the creature hanging from Cain's neck, filthy fingernails scoring his skin while it bared rotten, yellow teeth, snapping millimeters from my brother's skin. A moment later there was a sharp crack, audible even in the madness around us and the creature fell to the floor in a heap.
“Fall back!”
We didn't need telling twice as Cain reached for a vial and we threw ourselves away from him as he lobbed it into the oncoming hoard. There was an explosion, and I covered my head, trying to convince myself that it was rubble falling around us despite the fact that it was warm and wet and sticky.
The Fires of Tartarus Page 8