The Third Kingdom

He knew that she wanted him to stay in among the protection of the men of the First File. Richard was determined, though, to make sure that in the dark cave none of them missed the turns they needed to take. He didn’t want to lose any of them down in the tunnels. As men squeezed past him, he pushed them into the correct tunnel, frequently pointing the way ahead.

Cara, in back of the tail end of the men, picked up her speed. She raced past an intersection to get to Richard. She was unhappy he was slowing down and wanted to get to him so she could protect him. Finally, the last two men dashed past.

Just behind, as Cara cleared the intersection ahead of her husband, a flood of Shun-tuk spilled out of several openings to the side.

There was only one person left in line: Ben.

Sword to hand, he turned to block the tunnel.

The whitish forms of Shun-tuk crashed over him in a massive wave of bodies, taking him down.

Richard and Cara skidded to a stop.

“No!” Cara screamed as the unholy half dead ripped into her husband with their teeth.

Time seemed to stop.

It seemed like Ben had a hundred of the chalky forms diving in on him like a pack of ravenous wolves.

Richard already had his sword out as he raced back through the tunnel. He had to make it in time. He had never run so fast in his life.

Blood splashed across the savage white faces as they viciously ripped out Ben’s throat. Other mouths opened to try to catch squirting blood, hoping to catch with it the escaping soul.

Richard screamed in fury as he ran toward the terrible scene.

Cara bent at her knees and threw her shoulder into Richard’s chest as he flew by, knocking him against the wall, blocking him from diving into the pile of howling, growling, writhing Shun-tuk in a feeding frenzy.

“It’s too late!” she shouted as she shoved him violently in the other direction. “Go! Go! Don’t let his sacrifice be for nothing. Run!”

In shock at what he had just seen, Richard screamed, “Zedd!”

His grandfather was already turning back, arms thrust toward the Shun-tuk as they tore the fallen general apart with their teeth.

The last thing Richard saw before an inferno of blinding yellow flame exploded back through the tunnel was that it was far too late to save Cara’s husband. He’d never even had time to scream.

Richard panted in shock and rage. It had happened too fast.

The wailing mass of liquid fire that Zedd sent back through the tunnel was deafening in the confines of the passageway. The tumbling flame exploded across the ground, splashing up along the walls as it flooded over the terrible scene, engulfing it all in a terrible, blinding conflagration.

At least the fallen general would not be eaten by the beasts. He had given his life to slow the enemy in the hopes of saving the rest of them.

Tears streamed down Cara’s face as she shoved Richard. “Go! Hurry! Go!”

And then Richard was running.

Cara’s hand on his back made sure she was in contact with him as she pushed him ahead of her while watching his back. Behind them, Zedd was a dark, sticklike silhouette against the brutally intense yellow blaze. In the roaring heart of that blinding light, the dark bodies of the Shun-tuk were reduced to skeletons and then ash in little more than an instant.

The lethal fire roared back through the tunnel, engulfing the leading edge of the horde coming for them. The screams of the Shun-tuk were bloodcurdling.

Those screams were not enough for Richard.

CHAPTER

77

When they broke free of the caverns, racing out of the underground openings and out among the dark stone spires, they found themselves in the gloom of dusk. The day was dying in deep grays that made the craggy stone pinnacles look like shadows of spirits crowding in from all around. Yet, after the darkness of the tunnels, even this somber light seemed harsh. The silence, too, was oppressive.

The silence was short-lived.

The Shun-tuk, howling in wild fury, poured out of openings everywhere in the rock. They were aroused by the smell of blood and had their prey in sight. The lethal fire Zedd had unleashed in the tunnel had only slowed them. It couldn’t reach through all the passages to reach the masses of half people after them.

They hungered for those with souls. There would be no stopping them.

They flooded out of places in the rock that Richard didn’t even know were caves. They rushed out into the dying daylight, a howling, ravenous horde, pouring out from the rocks and flowing around the stone spires in unending numbers.

Once out of the confining caves and in the open, seeing the masses of the unholy half dead coming from almost every direction, Richard knew that if they tried to get away, they would be run down and overwhelmed. He skidded to a halt.

As he stopped, he seized Cara by her wrist and tossed her behind him, out of his way. The storm of magic from the sword thundered through him, demanding that he strike.

It was his turn, now, to unleash his own merciless hunger for blood.