A ball of faelight winked into existence, and I tightened my grip on my sword.
Sure enough, an amphibious creature that haunted my nightmares clung to the porous rock. Rounded head. Short, stubby legs. Webbed feet that ended in vicious claws, and a jaw that jutted out to reveal hundreds of needle-like teeth.
Avikkarni.
More scrabbling drew my attention, and my heart lodged in my throat.
Two more sets of eyes winked in the gloom, reflecting the glow from the faelight.
“Shit,” Adriel grumbled, drawing both of his blades.
I opened my mouth to tell the others to run, but then the first beast lunged.
An ear-splitting screech echoed through the tunnel as the vikkarni launched itself at Adriel. The royal guard drove his blade through the creature’s abdomen, but the monster gnashed those horrible teeth and continued to swipe with its claws.
Adriel cursed and swiped with his other sword, but another vikkarni was on him.
Darting forward, I brought my blade down in a wild arc, severing its spine with a sickening crunch.
Two more sets of eyes appeared up ahead, and dread coiled low in my stomach.
“What are they?” Sorsha whispered.
“Vikkarni,” I huffed as more rounded the corner, their short, muscular legs propelling them forward with terrifying speed. “They share a hive mind. We have” — I stabbed at the beast still skewered on Adriel’s sword — “to kill” — I slashed at another monster dashing up the wall — “the one — controlling them.”
“That’s annoying,” Adriel huffed, delivering a sharp kick to the beast speared on the end of his sword before driving the tip of his blade into the skull of the vikkarni that was snapping at me from the wall.
“Oh, and their venom is poisonous,” I added, thrusting my weapon up just as another leapt forward, my blade slicing clean through the roof of its mouth.
Still, the wretched thing fought.
“Dammit,” Sorsha bit out, using both hands to wield the heavy antique longsword Adriel had given her. She’d tried to behead the monster nearest her but had only succeeded in opening a bloody gash along its side. She hissed. “Is this thedullestfucking blade you could find?”
She directed the question at Adriel, who was struggling to fend off two beasts at once.
“Apologies, princess,” he ground out, moving his swords in a lethal dance as he paralyzed one of the creatures. “There weren’t a lot of options.”
I huffed out a breath as a vikkarni skittered along theceiling of the tunnel, perching just above my head. Gripping the hilt of my sword in both hands, I drove it up with all my strength, crunching through its skull and pinning it to the rock.
But they just kept coming.
Cursing, I withdrew my blade and impaled another vikkarni through the back as it scuttled toward Sorsha.
The thing emitted a deafening shriek but didn’t stop moving. The princess’s blade sliced through the air, severing the creature’s head.
“Don’t tell Siran about these things,” she panted, turning to fend off a vikkarni that had managed to slither along the tunnel wall and get within a few feet of her. “He’ll have them imported to use for training.”
“Fucking sadist,” Adriel grumbled, gripping his sword like a hatchet and bringing it down to decapitate the nearest beast. The tip struck solid rock, and he cursed. He’d broken the blade.
Just then, another vikkarni leapt from around the bend. I opened my mouth to warn Adriel, but he couldn’t bring his undamaged sword down in time.
He kicked out just as the beast’s maw stretched wide, and Adriel’s guttural yell echoed off the tunnel walls.
I rushed forward to end the thing in a violent slash, and the tunnel went quiet.
“You got it,” the royal guard panted, using his broken sword to pry the vikkarni’s mouth open and slide it off his boot. His chest rose and fell in an uneven rhythm, and dread seeped into my gut.
“Did it —” I broke off, too terrified to voice my worry.
