I sighed and set the bow aside. “Better the bow than us.” It still stung though, especially since it had beenmymisstep that landedushere.
You’re stillalive.
But for how long?I wondered as I glanced at the distant light overhead before focusing on the cavernoncemore.
I spotted the edge of my quiver peeking out from under the deer. Walking over, I lifted the back of the deer as much as I could with one hand. After some maneuvering, jerking, sweating, and unspoken swears, I managed to tug the quiver out from under the animal. I lifted the crumpled remains and turned it over to empty it out. The broken pieces bounced across the ground and scattered aroundmyfeet.
Bending over, I placed my hands on my knees and took a second to steady myself before looking to Corson again. “Can you climb outofhere?”
He didn’t look back at me as he replied, “By the time we made it to the top, it would betoolate.”
I liked the sound of that about as much as I liked the idea of having my fingernails pulled out. “What doesthatmean?”
“It means our fall and your yelling will have woken the beast. It will be looking for itsdinner.”
“And we’re itsdinner?”
“Yes.”
I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and straightened. He wouldn’t know the apprehension his words roused in me. “And what is the beastwewoke?”
“Theouroboros.”
“Whatisthat?”
“A giant serpent. It devours its own tails when it’s starving. When it has a foodsupply…”
“It eats the supply,” I whispered when his voice trailed off, and he gave me apointedlook.
“Yes.”
“A giant snake,fantastic.”
I turned back to the wall and tried to ignore the galloping beat of my heart as my mind spun. There was always a plan, always an action to take; I just had to calm down enough to think of one.Deep breaths. There areoptions.
“What about Malorick?” I blurted as I recalled the telepathic demon. “Can’t you reach out and tell him whereweare?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Corson replied. “He can reach out to communicate with me, when and if the others realize we’re missing, but I can’t talk with him until he opens the pathway intomymind.”
I gazed at the distant, unattainable circle of light as I ran through more options. “If we call for help, maybe the angels will hear usandcome.”
I wasn’t overly fond of either of the angels. Not Raphael with all his golden beauty, or Caim with the black wings the fallen angels possessed. Both of them had proven to be loyal to the king and queen, but Raphael was often an asshole,andCaim…
Well, I actually kind of liked Caim’s blunt, sort of crazy ways, but he’d been on Lucifer’s side until a few months ago, so I didn’t trust him. Fighting for us now or not, Caim had proven he was willing to changesides.
“Never trust a traitor,”Randy’s words from years ago whispered acrossmymind.
They were words I’d followed ever since, just as I’d followed most of Randy’s advice. The only reason I was still alive was him. Many had perished, but Randy had made sure I survived, and over the years, I’d come to love him as much as he loved me. I didn’t know what I would do if he were dead, couldn’t imagine the world without him in it, smiling at me and guiding me, but somehow I would survivethattoo.
However, traitor or not, I preferred riding Caim’s shoulders out of here over being the stomach contents of a self-eating, behemoth snakeanyday.
“Yes, by all means, keep shouting. I’m sure the angels will hear you all the way down here and arrive before the ouroboros does. At least the appetizer you present will keep the ouro occupied while I’m hauling ass out of here,” Corsondrawled.
I shot him a ferocious look as my hand fell to my gun. His gaze followed the movement. He widened his stance and seemed to dare me with his eyes to do it. My bullets wouldn’t kill him, but it would feel good to shoot one into hisarrogantface.
I never would though. This demon irritated me more than any other, but I’d agreed to work with the demons, and I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize our agreementwiththem.
Never trust someone who doesn’t keep their word.Randy advised in my mind. I had no idea what he would think about my agreeing to work with the demons. He’d broken his group of followers in half, entrusting me to lead half of them while he took the other half with him. If he were dead, he’d probably rolled over in his grave half a dozen times by now over my course of action. If he was still alive, then he might considermeatraitornow.
