Of Truth and Beasts

Chane crumpled to the floor as the snaking tail whipped away. He clawed at the tunnel wall, trying to get off his knees, but a sudden pain made him fear he had been broken inside. Dust began settling over fallen stones in the crosscut, and he struggled up, looking for whatever had attacked them. At first he could not see Wynn at all, for something blocked his line of sight.

He barely made out the huge tail as its barbed end scraped the stone floor. Though the creature faced away from him, he could see it was taller and broader than a draft horse. Its back nearly reached the ceiling. Wynn’s light from beyond it exposed something else shifting on its back.

Folded leathery wings covered its upper body.

Chane saw the glint of scales all over it, down across its flexing haunches to its taloned rear feet. But the light around it was the wrong color, orange instead of the white from a sage’s crystal.

The creature shifted suddenly, stepping away up the tunnel with a scrape of claws.

Chane’s panic sharpened as he finally spotted Wynn and Shade beyond the creature. But he also saw that the flickering orange glow came from far beyond them.

“Run!” he tried to shout, but his maimed voice was drowned out by an echo of falling stones. As he drew both swords, for an instant he thought he imagined ...

Someone stood in the tunnel’s darkness between Wynn and the distant orange light.

That light suddenly died, leaving only Wynn’s glowing crystal, and all that mattered to him was reaching her. 

Wynn saw a monstrous head snake out of the dust cloud, and the whole creature followed with a grinding scrape of claws upon stone.

Shade lunged back around her, barking and snapping.

The reptile opened its long mouth, and an acrid stench stung Wynn’s nostrils. It hissed as clear fluid spilled out of its maw. A shower of spittle sprayed out as its large, sooty rows of teeth clacked together ... and sparked.

“Shade!” Wynn screamed, grabbing the dog and throwing them both toward the tunnel’s far wall.

Spittle ignited, and flame burned along the wall where they’d been standing.

Wynn hit the far wall, toppling over Shade. She tried to keep Shade down as her staff clattered away across the floor. A curtain of fire spread along the far wall and the ceiling above from whatever the creature had spit at them. Wynn felt her forearm begin to sear.

Her sleeve was on fire!

She thrashed and whipped her arm against the tunnel floor, smothering her sleeve. While flailing, she caught a glimpse up the tunnel.

Before the flames died, Wynn clearly saw a black robe and wafting cloak illuminated by the fire.

She almost lost her fear of the beast coming at her as she saw him.

Sau’ilahk was there, watching her. 

As flames suddenly erupted near Wynn, Sau’ilahk rushed halfway to her. She had not yet led him to the orb, and he could not let her die. Somehow she grabbed the dog and rolled clear, evading the worst of the fire.

Sau’ilahk still heard a roaring far behind him, but it did not pull his attention. He could only stare at the winged, reptilian creature filling the tunnel beyond Wynn.

That noise behind him, and the blast of orange light at the breach, could mean only one thing. There were at least two of these creatures down here.

Sau’ilahk did not think Wynn could escape them. Perhaps he could save her, but she had already led him into the seatt’s deepest place. The search could not reach much farther.

He had no fear of these creatures, no matter how long he remained. Their teeth and claws, even their fire, could not touch him. He could search at his leisure, ignoring them.

Wynn froze, staring at him, as if not believing her eyes. The sight of her stricken face sparked a sudden joy within him, and then he saw the creature behind her open its maw again.

A howl echoed sharply up the tunnel.

Shade charged toward Sau’ilahk. Chane rushed the creature from behind. Wynn scrambled for her staff.

Sau’ilahk had always hoped to kill her slowly. But the orb was all that mattered now.

Wynn would die, anyway, her last sight being that of him.

Sau’ilahk focused down the tunnel past Chane, past Ore-Locks, as far as he could see. And he blinked through dormancy. 

Wynn almost screamed in anguish as Sau’ilahk vanished, and Shade snapped at empty air like a wolf gone mad. Amid terror, Wynn spun to face the creature behind her. She couldn’t help thinking that Chane had been right all along.

The wraith had survived and would now beat her to the orb.

The last thing that should happen was for the orb to fall into Sau’ilahk’s hands—to be reclaimed by the Enemy for whatever purpose it served. She couldn’t allow that at any price.

Whirling back, she saw Chane charging the creature from behind. She raised her staff, hoping to blind the creature before it spit fire again. Its maw was open and fluid dripped out, but it didn’t clack its teeth again.