‘I think I can see something flickering ahead, after this curve.’
I thank whatever feathery omniscience lurks within me. ‘Wait for me,’ I tell Claret.
Crawling into that tighter space almost ends me, but breath by breath, I manage. And when I clear the turn, the darkness loses its omnipotence. A pinprick of light, closing in. An end to this ordeal. ‘Claret, I see it! We’re almost out!’ I tug on her cloak frantically, dizzy with hope.
The whispers return then, both her not-words and mine.
‘…too full o’ the milk of human kindness …’
‘…και με δυο β?γγους π?φτει παρ?λυτο κορμ? …’
‘O, never shall sun that morrow see!’
‘…και το α?μα του, με μα?ρες στ?λες φονικ?ς δροσι?ς με ρα?νει …’
I whip my head like a cow batting away persistent flies. ‘Silence, whatever god or demon rules this cave! You won’t trap us here, we’re almost out!’ I scream.
The cave starts rumbling like it’s about to collapse. And then, another scream; high-pitched and hideous, a harbinger of pain. I turn around now that my eyes are of use once more, only to see darkness unfurling, spilling towardsus like angry ink. Another wraith has found us – this one resembling less a cloaked creature and more …
‘The Erinya,’ Claret rasps. ‘How did she …’
That hideous statue from before, wings unfurled, snakes hissing, only now made of shadow. I much preferred her in her frozen blood form, when she was immobile.
‘Didn’t you say she’s sent to punish humans for their crimes?’
Which one of us is she after? Claret confessed to killing her husband, and I …
‘No matter. We need to move faster, Anassa. Hurry!’ Claret urges, while the winged shadow screams, its fingers reaching for my foot.
The walls shake, booming like thunder.
And so I hurry, crawling as fast as I can, with furious darkness nipping at my heels and walls wanting to crush us, feeling the wraith’s scalding fingers in my calf.
I scream and kick and crawl, matching the cries of Claret, this mad woman who has both tried to murder me and save me, this red tempest who now spills out of the earth’s too tight embrace, flowing faster and faster towards the light.
14. Claret
Daylight attacks me with the force of a hundred hammers, searing off my sight.
I don’t have time to squint, to shield my face. We’re tumbling downhill, with rocky boulders raining chaos behind us. Hopefully, enough to slow down the Erinya, if such a force can ever truly stop once she’s unleashed. The ground rushes to meet us, and all I can think is that we made it out of that bloodied, whispering tunnel; we outran those gnarly, ghostly voices, that screeching shadow; we broke the world that tried to break us.
And that is a much better death.
‘She looks so angry when she sleeps …’
‘Shh, do not wake her yet.’
‘Not yet, not yet, not yet.’
Soft voices flit around me, barely substantial, like buzzing insects bouncing drunk on flower petals. It must be spring in Hades’ realm; Persephone welcoming lost spirits with a gentle hand. A drop of rain falls on my lips, soothing and syrupy and –
Oh.I don’t know what death tastes like, but it can’t be this. It can’t be sweeter than ambrosia, stronger than fig wine. Not when I’ve spilled so much warm blood while still alive.
‘Still alive …’
‘Still alive …’
‘Better hide …’
