Instead of punching me in the head, he grabbed my witchlight. As I raised my hands to block the supposed blow, he snatched it and threw it forcefully to the ground. The glass smashed and the light went out. Clever. Now that we were in total darkness, I could see nothing but I knew that Alan’s vampire senses would allow him to see well enough to attack me properly.
I leapt backwards before he could launch at me again. I could either pull a pinch of the Wicker witches’ light spell out of my pocket to illuminate the area or I could reach for my dagger, but there wasn’t time to do both. I opted for my dagger. It wasn’t my first time fighting blind and I knew I could rely on my other senses to help me.
When Alan came at me again, my dagger was in my hands. There was a rush of air and his footsteps thudded towards me. I sliced upwards through the darkness and he cried out with shock and pain.
Take that, you wanker. You didn’t expect that I’d still put up a fight, did you?I swiped once more but this time my blade met nothing but air.
‘Wotcha doing, Alan?’ I asked, keeping my voice light and airy.
I heard a grunt from somewhere on the ground, followed by a snarl, then Alan grabbed my ankle and pulled me off my feet. I kicked out and connected with soft flesh as I fell, but I jarred the base of my spine.
Alan’s breath was coming hard and fast next to me. I tightened my grip on the dagger’s hilt, sat up and lashed out again. I felt the satisfying moment the blade connected with his skin and the brief resistance before it pierced his flesh.
He yelled and pulled away beyond my reach. I heaved myself upright. I couldn’t do him mortal damage with this blade – more’s the pity – but I could still hurt him. I reached into my pocket. It was definitely time to shed some light on the situation.
As my fingers touched the small pouch, another sound filled the narrow tunnel and I froze. I’d heard that noise before. If I needed confirmation that Alan was behind the conjured monster attack, here it was because another bastard creation was steaming towards me. Although I couldn’t see it, I could definitely hear it.
I released my hold on the pouch and dropped to the ground, hoping that this monster was identical to my previous attacker. The tunnel was narrow and there was too little room to manoeuvre; if I wanted to beat it, I needed more space.
We’d travelled too far past the yellow marker to make moving back down the tunnel a sensible option. I had to opt for the unknown and sprint ahead in the hope that there would be a larger cavern nearby where I could effectively defend myself. Ineeded to get past the beast – and the easiest way to do that was by sliding underneath it.
The moment I’d dropped to the ground, I felt a rush of air as the monster thundered towards my sprawled body. My left hand scraped its leg as my right hand lashed out and the dagger scratched its scaly flesh. I had to be wary of its tail: one blow from that would send me flying.
As I slid a full metre on my belly, I delved into my pocket again. This time I managed to open the spell pouch and grab a pinch of the light powder. I pulled my hand free and threw the Wicker spell upwards.
The effect was even more astonishing than it had been the first time. From somewhere beyond the monster, I heard Alan shout as the tunnel exploded with light. I blinked rapidly to clear my vision and confirmed what I’d expected: I was on the ground beneath the belly of the conjured monster.
Its dangerous tail was whipping from side to side, slamming against the tunnel walls in a thumping, incessant beat. I eyed it, timing its movements, then scrambled up and leapt over it as it arced in my direction. I knew I’d succeeded when I landed on my feet and suddenly found that I could run. I darted forward, away from both the beast and the vampire.
Behind me, Alan shouted again and the monster roared in response to his command. I ran for all I was worth. Although my legs were pumping hard, I could hear that the beast was catching up. It was close. Far too close.
I swallowed as I prepared to spin around for a desperate last-ditch attempt to attack it within these tight confines, but then the tunnel curved away and the walls started to widen out. The air around me was already shifting.
I managed a final spurt of energy and sprinted into a larger cavern. My light spell didn’t extend far enough to illuminate the entire space but that didn’t matter; I had all the room I neededto mount an effective attack. Now both the beast and Alan were mine to play with properly, I thought grimly.
Neither of them appeared to recognise the danger they were in. I didn’t blame the monster because it wasn’t truly sentient and it would blink out of existence within minutes, no matter what I did. Alan, however, should have assessed the situation more accurately. He was still underestimating me, believing I was a mere cat lady and that he held the upper hand. Foolish man.
‘I am not planning to kill you, Kit!’ he called from behind his conjured beast. He was still concealed by the darkness but his voice pinpointed his exact location. ‘That’s not what this is about!’
Yeah, yeah. ‘Oh, I see. This is how you make friends, is it?’ I returned, my gaze on the huffing beast in front of me.
‘I’m still a nice guy. I’m still making the best decisions I can for the greater good.’
I rolled my eyes. Did he think I’d believe that?
‘Drop your weapon and we can talk about this,’ he shouted.
I considered his suggestion then I shrugged, tugged the small ball of poison from my sleeve. I threw it upwards into the still air. The monster’s gaze tracked its progress.Come on, I whispered to myself.Come on.
Its head jerked forward and its jaws snapped; it couldn’t deny the animalistic instincts imbued by the magic that powered it. It snatched the poison from the air and swallowed it with all the commonsense of a hungry Labrador puppy. ‘Sorry,’ I said to the magicked beast. ‘It’s not personal.’
‘What? What do you mean by that?’ Alan yelled.
I stepped back and waited. The monster’s eyes widened and it began to wheeze.
‘What’s going on? What have you done?’
The creature’s front legs collapsed, then its back legs, and itfell to the ground half in and half out of the tunnel. It looked at me with an expression that I could only describe as bitter resignation before it winked out of existence.
