I felt your elation at beating your foe. Your desire to quench the thirst for a battle win.The bioluminescent plants started to spread out, dimming the glow by which Daisy and Tarian could navigate. So far, the tunnel was nothing new, with its packed dirt ground and the rough-hewn sides.I find your viciousnessadorable. Your passion in battle endearing. When you do finally give in to that free fall, I will have a wild ride in store for me. We will battle, but we won’t be fighting to get away from each other. We’ll be fighting to get closer. You will give yourself to me completely like you give yourself to your knife. To the fight.
She sighed softly. She should’ve known that was where it would land. Teasing. Always teasing. Or maybe he thought it was training. It all amounted to the same annoyance.And I assume I’ll then be tied to you with my body, as well? A sexual relationship with anyone else would be forfeit. Or it won’t matter because you’ll break me by then?she thought sarcastically.
The illumination dimmed even more, and the tunnel sloped downward. He slowed. His fingers tightened around her hand.
You touching another is at an end, yes. In the courts, that must be so.Even his voice in her mind was hushed. He pulled his knife from its sheath. She took out her own, her eyes straining in the growing darkness.But if you are to kill me in the end, as you claim, you might as well get an incredible night out of it, yes?
Very full of ourselves, aren’t we?
Very. Rightfully so.
The slope of the decline increased. The darkness encroached until she could barely see the ground in front of her feet. The walls turned into black blotches. He stopped moving entirely and tugged her closer. Her side bumped against his.
As quiet as you can.His mental voice wasn’t much more than a murmur.If you are right, the Celestials drew inspiration from the other caverns within the fringe’s catacombs. If they did, and if the light completely cuts out in another handful of paces, we can expect a very large serpent to be stalking our every move. They can feel the vibration from our feet as we walk. No amount of light stepping will prevent that. But noise makes it hasten, and so if we are very quiet, we won’t have to deal with it for as long.
How do we kill it?
We don’t. I’ll blind it with light and we will run. It’ll thrash. Avoid its striking tail. The spikes on the end will punch right through you. Do whatever you can to get to the other side of it. Once one of us passes a certain threshold, it won’t be able to hear us anymore. That’s safety.
Avoidance. She could do that.
Ready?He waited for her affirmation, and then he stepped forward.
Are we holding hands for this?His was starting to get slick with sweat. He knew what was coming.
Yes, until…we aren’t.
Fair enough.
Their steps were slow and shallow. The light leached away from their surroundings until it was pitch black. She closed her eyes. They weren’t any good now, anyway. Shutting them instead of straining them in the darkness would allow her other senses to become moredominant. Another step. Two. Nice and slow. Tarian was waiting for what he knew would come.
The slide of something against stone caught her ear. She slowed a moment after Tarian had. His grip tightened. He didn’t utter a word in her mind. Another sound. Was it a slither? No. Almost like a click.
Click…click…click.
Claws. Claws on stone.
The texture below her foot changed with the next step. Became harder, with less give.
Click-click-click.
She hesitated, and Tarian did so with her. The noise stopped as well. It could see them. It was waiting.
Does this large serpent have little lizard feet ending in claws?she asked.
No. And neither does the hideous creature currently staring right at us.
Her eyes snapped open. Weak, pale gold light filtered in from who knew where, gently coating the walls and lightly falling across the floor. It didn’t do much more than define the space, leaving the center of the roomy area thick with gooey black shadows. She spied what waited in the darkness, blocking their way.
A large creature had a single big eye with a faint yellow glow circling nothingness, probably a black pupil. Large teeth glistened from too big of a mouth, and those two items made up its whole face. It had two thick arms and hands with three fingers and a thumb, each ending in a claw of about two inches. Nothing toosinister, really. It probably moved fast because it didn’t have an extended reach. The legs looked like frog legs, and the claws on its three toes were twice the size. They’d disembowel someone fairly easily. It hunched patiently, watching Daisy and Tarian, and different-sized spikes rose from its spine. Its height was around six feet, not too tall by monster standards, and so it would definitely be fast. Its intention was obvious—you had to earn your passage through.
The cavern had opened into a kind of sphere, with rounded walls and a domed ceiling. The surface was rough but didn’t look like it had been chiseled from deep within a cave. The Celestials had made this, and it was obviously a fighting pit.
Fine. She could handle that.
Her toe was an inch away from the stone of the fighting “pit.” She looked over at Tarian. He looked at her. They didn’t need to communicate. He let go of her hand, and almost as one, they stepped onto the stone.
The creature burst into action, the clicks a chorus as it ran at them. Daisy cut in front of Tarian and took the lead, ready for the swipe of its hand. It didn’t disappoint, the claws sailing through the air toward her face at lightning speed. She fell into a slide, passing it by and angling as she did so. Its foot kicked out to catch her and almost succeeded. If she hadn’t twisted as she’d gone, it would have. Clever creature, and yes, very fast.
