“No, I was too busy ducking and trying to avoid their wings.”
She licks her lips, which only turns them redder and more distracting. “They’ve got so many little teeth. Their wings are for cutting and disorienting their prey, and their mouths are for gnawing flesh, I just know it. Why do there have to be creepy flying things? I’d prefer a half-dozen burly guards.”
Like her, I prefer human opponents. I know people—their form, their habits, their weaknesses. A flock of bloodthirsty Fae beasties is beyond the realm of my training and experience. Not something I want to deal with.
“Is this the only way to the room with Drosselmeyer’s possessions?” I whisper.
“It’s the only route I remember.”
“Shit. We can’t use the cannon on those creatures. It might collapse the hallway and block our path to the room.”
“That’s right.”
“I might have something else that will work,” I tell her. “But let’s see what we’re dealing with first.”
We creep forward along the hallway until we can see them—hundreds of razorwings, coating the ceiling and the upper half of the walls, turning the stone hallway into a bristling black tunnel of terror.
There’s something on the floor beneath them—a skeleton, gleaming wetly crimson. I recognize the crossbow at its side. Grisly. He’s been eaten down to the bones by these creatures. The floor is slick and glossy with his blood.
My heart twinges slightly in response to his death. I’m not exactly sorry he’s gone; I’m fairly sure he would have tried to kill Devilry if they’d met face to face. But he didn’t deserve todie like that—being devoured alive by dozens of tiny jaws, sliced into ribbons by wicked wings.
Devilry grips my arm and mouths,Is that him?
I nod once.
Her throat shifts as she swallows.
Quietly I set down the big weapon and ease the pack off my shoulders, placing it on the floor as silently as I can.
Maybe the creatures are glutted on Grisly’s flesh. Maybe they won’t notice us. Maybe they’ll let us pass.
On the off chance they don’t, I need to be ready.
I unbutton one of the pockets and close my fingers around the final item in my arsenal—a small bottle with an attached atomizer, containing a liquid version of the gel compound I use for painting walls. With it, I can produce an explosive mist that’s extremely volatile and dangerous, but potentially useful for taking out little winged monsters. It’s not the ideal solution, since Devilry and I will probably go up in flames too. I’m not sure if I’d prefer burning alive or being eaten alive.
I close the flap of the pocket, take my favorite igniter from another compartment, then carefully slip my arms back into the straps. At the light scuff of the leather against my clothing, the wings of the creatures stir faster, and Devilry shoots me a death-glare. She’s white as salt, every drop of color drained from her skin. She’s fucking terrified.
Are you ready?I mouth the words to her. I’m not sure she can read my lips accurately, but I can’t risk asking the question aloud.
With a panicked look at the razorwings, Devilry shudders again. She makes no move to lead the way. We’re still practically strangers, but I’ve been around her enough to know that not many things unsettle her this deeply. Her fear of the creatures is both irrational and entirely justified. I’m scared, too,but I don’t have the same impulse to cringe and shiver at the mere sight of them.
For a thief, a phobia can be a serious drawback, because it isn’t entirely logical. Reason will only take you so far in overcoming it. There’s only so much you can handle before your body revolts and reacts against your will. The last thing I need is for Devilry to panic while we’re walking through this gauntlet of monsters. Maybe if I go first, she’ll feel better about doing this.
Signaling to Devilry to pick up the cannon and follow me, I move into the infested part of the hallway, step by careful step. The creatures are definitely batlike, but with the gloom and the way they are clustering, I can’t make out details of their form. Whatever their appearance may be, they’re terrible enough that both Seelie and Unseelie Fae decided they must be imprisoned here forever.
We pick our way around the wet remains of my former partner and continue through the rustling tunnel of gleaming, bladed wings. I could swear there are more of the razorwings now than there were when I saw them earlier.
As we pass through an area where they’re spread out a bit more, I notice that they’re arranged in groups of two, bodies glued together in pairs. They’re heaving, pulsing—possibly mating?
A shudder of cold horror runs through me as one of the winged pairs splits slowly apart, pushing something squishy and wet out of the space between their bodies. The bulbous thing squirms, bursts from its filmy sac, and spreads a pair of sharp wings.
They’re definitely breeding, and at a terrifyingly fast rate. Possibly their rapid procreation is being fueled by the meal they just consumed.
If they can multiply that fast off the fuel they gain from a single human body, what could they do with the corpses of several Fae?
With grim certainty, I understand why the creatures were trapped here. Left unchecked, they could consume every living thing in this realm.
My question is, why were they confined, instead of being eradicated completely?
