“Rhiannon, I think we’re here?” she whispered.
The old queen peered at the hill. I couldn’t see anything special about it. It was covered in the same drifts of ash and silt as the rest of the landscape and ringed entirely by a spiralling moat of water. All the same I felt my gorge rising in my throat as I stared at it, an anxious nausea sliding down my spine and wrapping iron bands around my arms.
“This is it,” Rhiannon said, keeping her voice low. “Where the corruption first spiralled out from.”
Belis nodded, preparing to jump onto the island. I caught her arm and she looked at me impatiently.
“I think we should go together,” I said. “All together.”
Belis glanced at Rhiannon then grunted. “Very well. On the count of three.”
We leapt through the air, landing on the soft turf of the island. For a moment nothing happened and I told myself I had been foolish to worry. Then the ground started to shake, the ash rippling into dunes that began to slough off into the moat.
I staggered forward, grabbing Rhiannon and Belis and tugging them with me as the edge of the island crumbled, falling into the water. I tripped, going down on my hands and knees in the dirt. Beside me Rhiannon had fallen, too; only Belis was left standing, leaning hard on the spear she had driven into the earth. She stretched out a hand to me and I jerked my head towards Rhiannon. She was the one we needed to preserve in order to make it to the centre. Belis gritted her teeth and caught Rhiannon by the shoulder, propelling her further inland.
The island shook again and I turned back. The still air had exploded into movement, winds buffeting the ash into stinging clouds of dust. The water was rising now, the current whirling around the little island, curdling into choppy waves and drowning out the path we had taken. Dark shapes rushed past, pale teeth and fangs flashing beneath the surface. Something brushed my shoulder and I jumped, hand flying to the sword at my belt. Belis was reaching out to me, her fingers just touching the hood of my cloak. Ahead of her Rhiannon was crawling to the centre of the island, dragging herself forward by the daggers she wasmethodically stabbing into the dirt. I grabbed Belis’s hand and she pulled me up. I slammed into her and caught the handle of the spear, using it to support me.
“We need to get to Rhiannon,” I shouted, the wind snatching my words away. “She won’t make it on her own.”
Belis shook her head and pointed behind us. I swivelled my head. The dark creatures in the water were breaking the surface now, beginning to writhe up onto the land. They were eel-like in shape, damp grey skin covering thick cylindrical bodies. Their blind heads were almost split in half with mouths lined with sharp black teeth. The first of the monsters launched itself onto the island. It squirmed back and forth, coating itself in the grime and dirt of the earth. I shrank back as the beast sniffed at the air, a wormlike tongue running along the innumerable teeth. Then it hissed and began to slither towards us.
Belis drove her spear into the ground and drew her sword. She staggered forward against the wind, leaning down to slice the creature in two with a single stroke of her blade. The disjointed halves thrashed in the dust, rolling back down the slope. More eels had landed now and the morass of mouths devoured the corpse before it met the water. Belis paled and took a step back.
I shivered in disgust at the repellent creatures and grabbed my sword. The eels were landing all over the island now, squirming their way uphill towards Rhiannon.
“We have to stop them here,” Belis called, waving an arm at the old queen. “You cover this half, I’ll go there. Kill them before they reach her.”
I swallowed, looking down at the gelatinous black blood that coated her weapon, then nodded.
“We can’t keep them off forever,” I yelled back. Belis met my eyes then turned back to the roiling knot of eels. I knew what she was thinking. We didn’t have to hold them off forever, just long enough to give Rhiannon some time. I moved forward, giving my sword a tentative swing, and then the creatures were on me.
I spun wildly, carving the blade through moist grey flesh, juddering as it hit bone. I hacked down, swinging the swordclublike at the eels. Each time I injured one its fellows would turn on it, consuming it even while it screamed. The worms were clearly trying to reach Rhiannon and I dashed around the ring of the hill, cutting them down as fast as I could. On the other side of the island Belis’s sword arced in a silver blur, raining death onto the eels.
I paused to catch a breath and something squirmed at the corner of my vision. One of the innumerable eels I had slain was beginning to twitch. I turned to look closer and saw the thin flesh begin to suck in the blood that had drained through the grass, the tendons stringing themselves together. It was already snapping at the air as its jaw rehinged and I staggered back, trying to put more space between me and this nightmare thing.
Sharp pain flashed in my ankle and I stabbed downwards on instinct, impaling another wriggling eel on my sword. I flicked it off into the morass, where it was instantly shredded, and allowed myself a second to look at the injury. It hadn’t cut an artery, but black venom was already spiralling through the capillaries near the surface, forming a dark webbing under my skin. I prodded the skin and cried out as a wave of agony rippled through me.
A pair of eels tried to go past on my right and I moved on instinct, decapitating them both in a single blow. I risked a glance behind me. Rhiannon had reached the top of the hill and was crouched down. I could see her gesturing with her hands and a pale light was beginning to glow in the ground beneath her.
There was a sharp yell from the other side of the island. I whirled just in time to see Belis flinging an eel back into the moat. Bloody toothmarks were printed around her wrist. I wasn’t close enough to see for sure, but I knew the same dark venom would be spiralling through her bloodstream. I could already feel it dampening my reflexes. I had to keep going, had to fight as long as I could. Rhiannon needed all the time we could give her.
I threw myself forward, ploughing through the eels, carving a great rent through the mass of squirming, writhing, snapping mouths. Wherever I turned to bring down my sword more ofthem were sliding from the water. I felt another bite, then a third, more bites coming as the venom slowed me down.
I slashed a few more times then staggered. My vision was beginning to darken at the corners of my eyes and my heart was stuttering in my chest. I stepped backwards, waving the blade to hold off my retreat, then sat down heavily in the dirt. The eels wound closer and I tried to slice at them but I no longer had the strength to hold the sword. Some were already past me, climbing the hill towards Rhiannon. I heard a thump in the distance then screams and knew Belis was down, too. I wanted to crawl towards her, to try and help. I wished for the clouds of ash to clear, to grant me a final glimpse before the worms took me. I felt the first of the beasts crawling over my boots, winding up my legs, and took a deep breath.
A wave of white light blasted down from the top of the hill. I blinked hard, blinded by the cataclysmic flash. I covered my eyes and tried to squint through my fingers. The eels were writhing, their flesh shrivelling up until only the bones remained, long strings of vertebrae and teeth-studded skulls. I dropped my hand to my ankle. The bite was still painful but the black webbing had faded. Whatever Rhiannon had done seemed to have burned the eel venom from my body. I stabbed my sword into the ground and struggled up, running towards Belis. She was lying flat on her back, her sword held loosely in her hand. There were more bitemarks along her arms and legs.
“Belis.” I dropped to my knees and shook her shoulders. “Belis, are you all right?” She groaned and her eyes fluttered open. I pushed her hair off her forehead, cupping her face in my hands. She blinked up at me and I felt my heartbeat slow a little.
“Am I dead?” Her voice was faint but steady and I smiled at her.
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?” She sat up and looked down at herself. “I don’t look dead. But how would I know?”
“Better assume you’re still alive for now.” I tilted my head towards the top of the hill. “Come on, Rhiannon might need us.”
Belis kicked off the bones that had collected on her feet and stood up, yanking her spear from the ground. She followed me up the slope where we found Rhiannon kneeling down to blow dust from a piece of rock, a pale marble slab embedded in the hill. She glanced up as we approached.
