Page 54 of Feast

The abolith shook, sending sprays of water spiraling away from its fur.

With its coat and its layer of insulating blubber, it seemed to barely even notice the cold that was slowly killing Ika.

“Come on, you bastard,” Ika snarled when the beast was done shaking. “Let’s get this over with.”

The abolith roared.

Its enormous jaws parted, revealing the shockingly pink interior of its mouth. And at the back of that mouth, surrounding the black hole of the beast’s gullet, a second mouth clicked and chittered. The curving outer fangs were for catching prey, but these smaller, sharper interior teeth were for eating. A hundred tiny razors for chopping prey into a bloody sludge.

Ika shuddered.

Her heart was trying to claw its way up her throat.

But she stood firm. She would not run.

There was no point. No chance of outrunning a full-grown abolith. And even if Ika did somehow manage to escape, she would simply freeze to death in a matter of minutes.

She would die like a warrior. She would make Rolf proud.

Ika conjured Rolf’s image in her mind’s eye. She regretted that her last words with him had been spoken in anger. She regretted that she hadn’t had a chance to properly say goodbye.

She thought too of the four ukkur, and wondered if they would find her remains.

But most of all, she felt the comforting weight of the metal ring hanging around her neck. It was the one thing that her numb flesh could feel. The one warm place on her entire body.

The abolith charged, and Ika planted her feet.

The monster was less than seven paces now, and coming on fast. Clawed paws gobbled up the snowy distance between them.

Ika aimed the spear for the monster’s chest and recalled the way Rolf had taught her to kill a charging urwulf or krelk, both of which were far smaller than an abolith.

Five paces now. Wet grunting sounds. Footsteps that shook the ground.

Keep the spear steady Ika. Don’t flinch. Don’t stab. Let the creature bring itself onto the spear.

Two paces.

Ika braced for impact.

CHAPTER 18

A roar in the distance.

A scream.

Slaine halted, his heart hammering. That scream had been Ika. And the roar had been an abolith. It was a sound he knew all too well.

He sprinted ahead in the direction of the two sounds.

Dark storm clouds chased him, billowing behind like muddied water. Ice cold winds shoved at his back, speeding his progress.

Slaine silently prayed to the gods that he would not be too late.

Muk was somewhere out here too, farther inland. Thusar and Gunnar were searching the other side of the river. With the whipping winds rising up across the land, it was possible they had not heard the roar and the scream.

It was up to Slaine to save Ika.

He was ready. His spear was clutched tightly in his fist and his knife was sheathed at his hip. He charged ahead, leaping over boulders and weaving among the sparse trees that dotted the shore.